Everyone who has seen their share of Looney Toons knows that going against a kangaroo in a fight can be a harrowing experience. Those marsupials can pack a punch with hands and especially feet. That was the idea behind the appearance of Roger Jr in the Tekken fighting series. But alas, fear of pushback from animal rights groups has stepped into the ring and knocked Roger Jr out of Tekken 7, as well as all future installments.

Tekken 7 is due out on June 2 in the United States, but it appears the kangaroo that has been a part of the series since Tekken 5 will be a no show in the Western release of the game that is already out in Japan. And we have a zookeeper punching a kangaroo in the face in real life to thank for the outrage. 

"There was a video of a man’s dog being headlocked by a kangaroo, and he punched it in the face. It turned into a big problem," Tekken 7 executive producer Katsuhiro Harada told VG247 about why Roger Jr will not be in the game any longer. "People were complaining about him punching a kangaroo. It seems that in the last few years there’s a lot more animal activists—even though they probably wouldn’t play our game they would still hear about that, about a kangaroo in our game being punched, and would complain about it."

The fact that a version of Roger has been in the series since 1996 shows what public outcry can do, and Bandai Namco just didn't want that headache. However, Harada said that Kuma the bear will remain in the game because a bear is "obviously stronger than a human being."  

Obviously.