A photo of a Starbucks barista from 2016 has started making the rounds again on social media in our plague year of 2020 thanks to comparisons being made between the barista and popular video game characters.
We thought it was a fun topic of conversation so we’ve decided to revisit the image. Slow news day? Yes, yes it is. We’re very self-aware here.
Anyway, the main post that people are replying to compares the barista to a character from Devil May Cry. Others have chimed in saying that he looks more like a Final Fantasy character. People who are just now seeing the image are questioning whether the photo or the individual in the photo (or both) are real.
The answer, which may or may not surprise you, is yes. The photo and the barista are real.
Is This A Starbucks Barista Or A Final Fantasy Character?
They still making DLC for FFXV??? pic.twitter.com/GtDx45tKvX
— Bone-kun (@0Bonekun0) October 20, 2020
The photo of the magical barista that looks exactly like a video game character was taken back in 2016 and shared by Starbucks Partners. The photo wasn’t originally shared to remark on how Jordan looks like a video game character that’s been brought to life and made to work at a Starbucks.
Instead, the photo was tied to a post about their love of making coffee and how they enjoy working for Starbucks. After people outside the Starbucks circle spotted the picture, it began to be shared within anime and gaming circles.
It’s not hard to see why this would happen, either. When you first look at the picture, you may think you’re looking at an image from a video game, or an edited photo of a video game character as a Starbucks barista, or a skillfully rendered anime character.
Dig a little deeper and you’ll find out that Jordan is not only a real person, but an extremely talented cosplayer as well. Looking at some of his other cosplay images on his Instagram you get a similar uncanny valley feeling as you do with the Starbucks photo. This is a result of stellar makeup skills, dramatic hair and wig styles, and clever costuming.
Running through the images, it seems like Jordan primarily cosplays anime characters though he also attends renaissance festivals (pre-COVID). The number of cosplay posts from Jordan has dwindled recently, likely because COVID has caused the cancellation of all in-person events where one would normally cosplay.
As sad as this is, we still have his iconic video game character barista image to fall back on during the days when we miss attending events like New York and San Diego Comic-Con. If Jordan were to attend an event next year, do you think he’d cosplay one of the Final Fantasy characters people have been comparing him to lately?
The top Final Fantasy comparisons that’ve been brought up have said that Jordan looks like Hope from FFXIII or Chadley from the FFVII remake. Other game nods include Raiden, and Ashe from Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
Another worthwhile comparison has been made between Jordan from Starbucks and Elios from My Deepest Secret. This one is pretty spot on if you ask us.
If you want to make your own comparisons, you can read through the latest Twitter thread here. You can also check out Jordan’s Instagram for more cosplay images, and for fun images like this one where someone drew Jordan as a real anime character in his Starbucks image.
Other than that, we hope you’re having a wonderful week and are looking forward to the rush of new games and consoles in November. We’re going to have tons of content for all of it here at Prima and we can’t wait to share it all with you!
Published: Oct 21, 2020 10:50 pm