Exactly. George Takei is cooler, more interesting, better-looking, and had a better character who actually got to captain a ship and save the day in ST 6. Harry Kim sat on a bridge and occasionally got beaten up for seven years.
She was completely useless. Sulu was a martial artist with sword training and manly muscles. Again, I want George Takei.
Not if the writers say they're not.
Kim is captain of the Rhode Island, was numerous times Enterprise would of been destroyed if it wasn't for her linguistic skills...sorry they didn't make the other 2 asians racial stereotypes that are rampant in this day and age.
Can't have a honest conversation because of a white knight with power
Kim is captain of the Rhode Island, was numerous times Enterprise would of been destroyed if it wasn't for her linguistic skills...sorry they didn't make the other 2 asians racial stereotypes that are rampant in this day and age.
Now hold on!
Both Sato and Kim were useless bricks who just stood around and occasionally got beaten up. Mr. Sulu saved the Enterprise, a whole bunch of Klingons, and the most important peace talks in Federation history (the Khitomer Accords) as Captain of the Excelsior.
Also, George Takei is a terrific person with a sexy, sexy voice. I also happen to like his character more simply because he was first, and Harry Kim always felt like a bad Sulu ripoff.
Sato, at least, had her own role and was occasionally useful, and did an admittedly great job in the MU episodes. The only Harry Kim moments I can remember are him being turned down by Sexed-up of Nine and him getting the sh*t kicked out of him by an Undine.
Compare Mr. Sulu, who showed up Shatner in a shirtless scene, saved half the galaxy from war in ST 6, helped save Earth in ST 4, and is shown with multiple hobbies and interests, including botany, gymnastics, and fencing. Compare Harry Kim; did that guy even HAVE a hobby?
Look, I've got nothing against Garret Wang, I just find Harry Kim to be a bad, boring character and a shoddy Sulu ripoff. Also, I am a sucker for George Takei's voice.
You know what they should do is have Kim mention that he just made Captain at the start of this new episode, and then have him TRIBBLE up on his first mission as captain and end up getting demoted to ensign again.
Even better - have Quinn be the person that demotes him.
You know what they should do is have Kim mention that he just made Captain at the start of this new episode, and then have him TRIBBLE up on his first mission as captain and end up getting demoted to ensign again.
Even better - have Quinn be the person that demotes him.
This.
Would be mildly amusing. And make the character mildly enjoyable for a couple of seconds.
Look, I've got nothing against Garret Wang, I just find Harry Kim to be a bad, boring character and a shoddy Sulu ripoff. Also, I am a sucker for George Takei's voice.
I woudn't cal him Sulu ripoff. Just because he has Asian heritage.
He was just a completely underdeveloped, forever static character in a TV show that should have been about something very non-static and moving. Chakotay really was just as bad off, except he also got the mystic Indian stereotype stick when it suited the authors.
I don't know if it is just the authors fault, or the authors and directors also felt Garret Wang wasn't up to do more than what he did.
But he had nothing to do with Sulu. He is a completeyl different character, with a completely different background. At best, he might be a Checkov clone, since Checkov was also young and inexperienced. But he's also totally not Checkov, because he lacks the accent and belief in Mother Russia.
You know what they should do is have Kim mention that he just made Captain at the start of this new episode, and then have him TRIBBLE up on his first mission as captain and end up getting demoted to ensign again.
Even better - have Quinn be the person that demotes him.
Not sure why that would be great. It's not like Kim was shown to be incompetent. If the character had been taking serious, I think he would have become promoted once or twice, and had seen some character development. F
But the only kind of plot they may give him aside of sidekick seems to be falling in love with a women that dies/betrays/rejects/leaves him.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Everybody keeps saying "George Takei!" Umm by this time sulu is LONG dead. And frankly I don't want another temporal mission just to get Sulu in.
And lets see Kim has saved voyager a few times, also saved Naomi Wildman.
Sorry Kim was a good character, tad underused is all.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
I woudn't cal him Sulu ripoff. Just because he has Asian heritage.
He was just a completely underdeveloped, forever static character in a TV show that should have been about something very non-static and moving. Chakotay really was just as bad off, except he also got the mystic Indian stereotype stick when it suited the authors.
I don't know if it is just the authors fault, or the authors and directors also felt Garret Wang wasn't up to do more than what he did.
But he had nothing to do with Sulu. He is a completeyl different character, with a completely different background. At best, he might be a Checkov clone, since Checkov was also young and inexperienced. But he's also totally not Checkov, because he lacks the accent and belief in Mother Russia.
Fine, he's a bad Chekov/Sulu hybrid.
The POINT is that the writers f*cked Kim (and yes, Chakotay as well) over completely, to the point that I just wanted both men to die already and make room for some more Doctor action.
I DON'T want to see either of them in STO. That would be just a massive waste of money and time for everyone involved.
In fact, I don't want to see ANY more Voyager characters except the Doctor. Stick to TNG and DS9, with ENT for Shran and TOS for Sulu and Spock.
Voyager characters sucked (Doctor and sometimes Tuvok excepted). TNG only had Wesley and Troi to be useless. And heck, even Wesley got mildly interesting later on. And Troi was OK once she put on an actual uniform.
You have to remember that the Voyager writers had a tendency to not give a damn on keeping their characterizations constant. Hence the "Captain Bi-polar" and "HMS Reset Button" jokes. Chakotay wore a Lt. Commander (Provisional) rank insignia all seven years, but was only ever addressed as "Commander," which begs certain questions of the costuming department as well. Lt. Commanders are usually only addressed as Commander informally.
So can we give poor Ensign Butt Monkey a little bit break? it's not all his fault.
Everywhere I look, people are screaming about how bad Cryptic is.
What's my position?
That people should know what they're screaming about!
(paraphrased from "The Newsroom)
You have to remember that the Voyager writers had a tendency to not give a damn on keeping their characterizations constant. Hence the "Captain Bi-polar" and "HMS Reset Button" jokes. Chakotay wore a Lt. Commander (Provisional) rank insignia all seven years, but was only ever addressed as "Commander," which begs certain questions of the costuming department as well. Lt. Commanders are usually only addressed as Commander informally.
So can we give poor Ensign Butt Monkey a little bit break? it's not all his fault.
No, it's not his fault. But I STILL don't want him, unless he gets killed or assimilated or demoted for complete incompetence, because those are the only things that might make me CARE about him.
I actually just finished reading Ship of the Line, it tells the story of Bateson, from getting stuck in the anomaly, right up to the events of First Contact. It was a pretty good story that ends up with Bateson commanding a Bozeman (though in the book it's listed as a destroyer, but in another story it is hinted that it was a sovereign), So I could totally see him in STO.
Yeah, I think he commanded the Bozeman-A at the end of "Ship of the Line"... Something must have happened to that because in Cold Equations: Silent Enemy he's shown as being in command of the USS Atlas, although I think they should have renamed it to Bozeman.
I always liked Harry Kim, and was always annoyed that the character was so under-used. They could have done so much with him, but didn't. The part he played in Endgame as captain of the Rhode Island demonstrated some of that actual potential, and I think that if STO draws on and expands upon that, some pretty cool storytelling could be done.
Agreed. I think that if we see Endgame Kim rather than Ensign Butt-Monkey it could be fun.
I will not compare Kim to Sulu, two different characters and actors equal in their own rights. I just prefer watching sulu shirtless fencing the security officers on the enterprise during "The Naked Time" episode.
Defending The Galaxy By Breaking One Starfleet Regulation After The Next.
I will not compare Kim to Sulu, two different characters and actors equal in their own rights. I just prefer watching sulu shirtless fencing the security officers on the enterprise during "The Naked Time" episode.
I will not compare Kim to Sulu, two different characters and actors equal in their own rights. I just prefer watching sulu shirtless fencing the security officers on the enterprise during "The Naked Time" episode.
Indeed. The two characters were absolutely nothing alike; Sulu was full of bluster and bravado and liked playing with knives, whereas Kim was a very quiet and unassuming type. Insisting that Kim was a "Sulu-ripoff" simply because they're both Asian is extremely racist.
Hahahaha Harry Kim. The most boring Star Trek character ever to get featured in STO.
Can't wait for them to get expansion #2 out of the way so they can get this stupid Voyager content over and done with and get back to TOS/TNG/DS9 stuff.
Indeed. The two characters were absolutely nothing alike; Sulu was full of bluster and bravado and liked playing with knives, whereas Kim was a very quiet and unassuming type. Insisting that Kim was a "Sulu-ripoff" simply because they're both Asian is extremely racist.
Kim was only quiet and unassuming because the writers didn't give the actor anything to use to give the character even a shred of personality.
He had a similar job to Sulu, only he was superfluous because the annoying smug white dude was the one actually flying the ship, which sucked because if you're trying to duplicate Mr. Sulu you kind of HAVE to have him in Mr. Sulu's seat at least.
My point is that the writers CLEARLY wanted an Asian badass s*x symbol with a beautiful, beautiful voice (like George Takei). What they got was...Ensign Butt Monkey.
Which was partially their own fault for shoving the part at an actor and assuming that he'd turn Ensign Random into a ninja botanist s*x god with a voice like liquid chocolate overnight without actually giving him any material to emote against.
So yeah. Bad...not so much a Sulu ripoff as a bad ATTEMPT at a Sulu ripoff.
Kim was only quiet and unassuming because the writers didn't give the actor anything to use to give the character even a shred of personality.
Hahahaha now he has the good fortune to have the STO writers rescue his character from bad writing and make it better than they could in 7 years of Voyager
Kim was only quiet and unassuming because the writers didn't give the actor anything to use to give the character even a shred of personality.
He had a similar job to Sulu, only he was superfluous because the annoying smug white dude was the one actually flying the ship, which sucked because if you're trying to duplicate Mr. Sulu you kind of HAVE to have him in Mr. Sulu's seat at least.
My point is that the writers CLEARLY wanted an Asian badass s*x symbol with a beautiful, beautiful voice (like George Takei). What they got was...Ensign Butt Monkey.
Which was partially their own fault for shoving the part at an actor and assuming that he'd turn Ensign Random into a ninja botanist s*x god with a voice like liquid chocolate overnight without actually giving him any material to emote against.
So yeah. Bad...not so much a Sulu ripoff as a bad ATTEMPT at a Sulu ripoff.
Or not an attempt at all, as you've just outlined yourself, he shared none of the character traits that made Sulu well... Sulu. No botany, no conn duties, nothing. If he was a "ripoff" as you claim, he would clearly have some manner of similarity beyond his race, but since he doesn't, he's not.
Hahahaha now he has the good fortune to have the STO writers rescue his character and make it better than they could in 7 years of Voyager
Let's hope.
I should note that I wouldn't have actually minded a good Sulu ripoff. I could do with a little martial arts and sexy man-muscles and smooth baritone in my Star Trek. But what Voyager's writers gave us was a half-@ssed attempt to remake Sulu. Only they didn't even pretend to try to give the character anything to go with, so he just ended up being...there for seven seasons.
I honestly would've LIKED a black-haired generically Asian helmsman with a smooth baritone and a penchant for martial arts and cool swords and plants, even if the writers copped out and called him Lusu or something. Because at least then I could enjoy a half-decent copy of Sulu.
But Harry Kim was just...boring. The only time I cared about him was in Scorpion, when I wanted him to just die already so that Robert Picardo could do the whole self-aware-program-self-discovery thing. And when I have that response to a character? I know that the writers have failed that character and his/her actor.
Or not an attempt at all, as you've just outlined yourself, he shared none of the character traits that made Sulu well... Sulu. No botany, no conn duties, nothing. If he was a "ripoff" as you claim, he would clearly have some manner of similarity beyond his race, but since he doesn't, he's not.
You're just being racist.
Nope.
I'm just majorly p*ssed off that the writers put a random Asian guy on the bridge of Voyager, gave him exactly zero unique traits, and then expected me to react to him like I did to Sulu.
That's like putting Spock on the Enterprise and expecting me to care for him because he has pointy ears, rather than because of his mannerisms and character traits.
Or like putting New Uhura on the Enterprise and expecting me to care because she's black. I was actually quite annoyed at Zoe Saldana until about 1/3 through STID, because New Uhura just wasn't as INTERESTING as the original Uhura.
Or like putting Tuvok on Voyager and expecting me to care because he's an alien security chief, like Worf. I don't like Tuvok because he's Mr. Alien Security Officer. I like him because he's got an interesting personality, and he doesn't act like a complete idiot in all circumstances.
I'm just majorly p*ssed off that the writers put a random Asian guy on the bridge of Voyager, gave him exactly zero unique traits, and then expected me to react to him like I did to Sulu.
There's where you're being racist. You see an Asian character and think he's supposed to be like Sulu.
Whether YOU like it or not, Voyager is as much Star Trek canon as TOS, TNG, DS9 and ENT.
So what. It was still the most boring Star Trek series ever made. Who cares about going to the Delta quadrant and fighting stupid Kazons. That doesn't beat anything TNG and DS9 has to offer. Voyager offered nothing over those except for an examination of the themes of Nelix trying to breed with with a 9 year old Ocampan.
Or like putting New Uhura on the Enterprise and expecting me to care because she's black. I was actually quite annoyed at Zoe Saldana until about 1/3 through STID, because New Uhura just wasn't as INTERESTING as the original Uhura.
HOW? She had, what 4 lines in the entire TOS / TAS?
Chekhov (who came in after series 1) had more lines than her.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though. JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
There's where you're being racist. You see an Asian character and think he's supposed to be like Sulu.
...
Well, you throw a character who's pretty obviously styled to look like Sulu onto the bridge of a ship, and you expect me to NOT go "oh, that guy's a Sulu ripoff"? Especially when that guy's the first Asian main character on a Trek show since Sulu himself? I mean, by "Caretaker", we'd had black, Asian, female, and alien Captains. We'd had Worf, Jadzia, the Sisko, Admiral Sulu, and so forth. We had an obvious attempt at a Kirk clone (Riker) who later got his own personality. We had a Ro Laren ripoff who got her own character (Kira). We had a Worf ripoff who quickly became his own...blob (Odo). We'd had multiple hyper-logical bridge officers (Spock, Data). When you throw a young Asian man with Sulu-ish looks onto a Star Trek Bridge after that history, I EXPECT him to be a Sulu ripoff or attempt at such until proven otherwise.
Heck, you might as well call me racist against white people for assuming Riker to be a Kirk ripoff the moment he walked onto the Enterprise with his jaunty smile and obvious attempt at boyish good looks that looked SO much better once he grew a beard.
And I can remember pretty clearly Harry Kim being touted as the first Asian Trek main since Sulu. The writers pretty obviously threw him in the cast and expected to get the same reaction that Sulu got.
And they didn't, because they didn't put in any of the scripts or traits or generalized personality that got put into Sulu.
So I think you're partially right, that Kim isn't a Sulu ripoff. He's a bad ATTEMPT at a Sulu ripoff.
A proper Sulu ripoff would've at least been the helmsman and been reasonably competent and interesting. And I would've been OK with that.
Comments
Kim is captain of the Rhode Island, was numerous times Enterprise would of been destroyed if it wasn't for her linguistic skills...sorry they didn't make the other 2 asians racial stereotypes that are rampant in this day and age.
Now hold on!
Both Sato and Kim were useless bricks who just stood around and occasionally got beaten up. Mr. Sulu saved the Enterprise, a whole bunch of Klingons, and the most important peace talks in Federation history (the Khitomer Accords) as Captain of the Excelsior.
Also, George Takei is a terrific person with a sexy, sexy voice. I also happen to like his character more simply because he was first, and Harry Kim always felt like a bad Sulu ripoff.
Sato, at least, had her own role and was occasionally useful, and did an admittedly great job in the MU episodes. The only Harry Kim moments I can remember are him being turned down by Sexed-up of Nine and him getting the sh*t kicked out of him by an Undine.
Compare Mr. Sulu, who showed up Shatner in a shirtless scene, saved half the galaxy from war in ST 6, helped save Earth in ST 4, and is shown with multiple hobbies and interests, including botany, gymnastics, and fencing. Compare Harry Kim; did that guy even HAVE a hobby?
Look, I've got nothing against Garret Wang, I just find Harry Kim to be a bad, boring character and a shoddy Sulu ripoff. Also, I am a sucker for George Takei's voice.
Wait, he played the clarinet? When the hell was that?
Also, being the flyboy's sidekick doesn't count. That's not a hobby, that's his buddy dragging him along to fill a holonovel role.
Even better - have Quinn be the person that demotes him.
This.
Would be mildly amusing. And make the character mildly enjoyable for a couple of seconds.
He was just a completely underdeveloped, forever static character in a TV show that should have been about something very non-static and moving. Chakotay really was just as bad off, except he also got the mystic Indian stereotype stick when it suited the authors.
I don't know if it is just the authors fault, or the authors and directors also felt Garret Wang wasn't up to do more than what he did.
But he had nothing to do with Sulu. He is a completeyl different character, with a completely different background. At best, he might be a Checkov clone, since Checkov was also young and inexperienced. But he's also totally not Checkov, because he lacks the accent and belief in Mother Russia.
Not sure why that would be great. It's not like Kim was shown to be incompetent. If the character had been taking serious, I think he would have become promoted once or twice, and had seen some character development. F
But the only kind of plot they may give him aside of sidekick seems to be falling in love with a women that dies/betrays/rejects/leaves him.
And lets see Kim has saved voyager a few times, also saved Naomi Wildman.
Sorry Kim was a good character, tad underused is all.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
Fine, he's a bad Chekov/Sulu hybrid.
The POINT is that the writers f*cked Kim (and yes, Chakotay as well) over completely, to the point that I just wanted both men to die already and make room for some more Doctor action.
I DON'T want to see either of them in STO. That would be just a massive waste of money and time for everyone involved.
In fact, I don't want to see ANY more Voyager characters except the Doctor. Stick to TNG and DS9, with ENT for Shran and TOS for Sulu and Spock.
Voyager characters sucked (Doctor and sometimes Tuvok excepted). TNG only had Wesley and Troi to be useless. And heck, even Wesley got mildly interesting later on. And Troi was OK once she put on an actual uniform.
Dwight Schultz as Reginald Barclay
Alexander Enberg as Vorik
Tarik Ergin as Satan's Robot
So can we give poor Ensign Butt Monkey a little bit break? it's not all his fault.
What's my position?
That people should know what they're screaming about!
(paraphrased from "The Newsroom)
No, it's not his fault. But I STILL don't want him, unless he gets killed or assimilated or demoted for complete incompetence, because those are the only things that might make me CARE about him.
I also want George Takei because that VOICE.
Defending The Galaxy By Breaking One Starfleet Regulation After The Next.
I loved that scene sooooooooooooooo much...
The sexy feels...
So much win.
Indeed. The two characters were absolutely nothing alike; Sulu was full of bluster and bravado and liked playing with knives, whereas Kim was a very quiet and unassuming type. Insisting that Kim was a "Sulu-ripoff" simply because they're both Asian is extremely racist.
Can't wait for them to get expansion #2 out of the way so they can get this stupid Voyager content over and done with and get back to TOS/TNG/DS9 stuff.
Kim was only quiet and unassuming because the writers didn't give the actor anything to use to give the character even a shred of personality.
He had a similar job to Sulu, only he was superfluous because the annoying smug white dude was the one actually flying the ship, which sucked because if you're trying to duplicate Mr. Sulu you kind of HAVE to have him in Mr. Sulu's seat at least.
My point is that the writers CLEARLY wanted an Asian badass s*x symbol with a beautiful, beautiful voice (like George Takei). What they got was...Ensign Butt Monkey.
Which was partially their own fault for shoving the part at an actor and assuming that he'd turn Ensign Random into a ninja botanist s*x god with a voice like liquid chocolate overnight without actually giving him any material to emote against.
So yeah. Bad...not so much a Sulu ripoff as a bad ATTEMPT at a Sulu ripoff.
I still prefer George Takei.
Hahahaha now he has the good fortune to have the STO writers rescue his character from bad writing and make it better than they could in 7 years of Voyager
Kim was my favorite Voyager Regular. I am happy to have Mr. Wang.
And since you mentioned her, bring in Miss Pomers. Give Wildman the Enterprise.
Cover story.
Or not an attempt at all, as you've just outlined yourself, he shared none of the character traits that made Sulu well... Sulu. No botany, no conn duties, nothing. If he was a "ripoff" as you claim, he would clearly have some manner of similarity beyond his race, but since he doesn't, he's not.
You're just being racist.
Let's hope.
I should note that I wouldn't have actually minded a good Sulu ripoff. I could do with a little martial arts and sexy man-muscles and smooth baritone in my Star Trek. But what Voyager's writers gave us was a half-@ssed attempt to remake Sulu. Only they didn't even pretend to try to give the character anything to go with, so he just ended up being...there for seven seasons.
I honestly would've LIKED a black-haired generically Asian helmsman with a smooth baritone and a penchant for martial arts and cool swords and plants, even if the writers copped out and called him Lusu or something. Because at least then I could enjoy a half-decent copy of Sulu.
But Harry Kim was just...boring. The only time I cared about him was in Scorpion, when I wanted him to just die already so that Robert Picardo could do the whole self-aware-program-self-discovery thing. And when I have that response to a character? I know that the writers have failed that character and his/her actor.
Nope.
I'm just majorly p*ssed off that the writers put a random Asian guy on the bridge of Voyager, gave him exactly zero unique traits, and then expected me to react to him like I did to Sulu.
That's like putting Spock on the Enterprise and expecting me to care for him because he has pointy ears, rather than because of his mannerisms and character traits.
Or like putting New Uhura on the Enterprise and expecting me to care because she's black. I was actually quite annoyed at Zoe Saldana until about 1/3 through STID, because New Uhura just wasn't as INTERESTING as the original Uhura.
Or like putting Tuvok on Voyager and expecting me to care because he's an alien security chief, like Worf. I don't like Tuvok because he's Mr. Alien Security Officer. I like him because he's got an interesting personality, and he doesn't act like a complete idiot in all circumstances.
There's where you're being racist. You see an Asian character and think he's supposed to be like Sulu.
So what. It was still the most boring Star Trek series ever made. Who cares about going to the Delta quadrant and fighting stupid Kazons. That doesn't beat anything TNG and DS9 has to offer. Voyager offered nothing over those except for an examination of the themes of Nelix trying to breed with with a 9 year old Ocampan.
HOW? She had, what 4 lines in the entire TOS / TAS?
Chekhov (who came in after series 1) had more lines than her.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
...
Well, you throw a character who's pretty obviously styled to look like Sulu onto the bridge of a ship, and you expect me to NOT go "oh, that guy's a Sulu ripoff"? Especially when that guy's the first Asian main character on a Trek show since Sulu himself? I mean, by "Caretaker", we'd had black, Asian, female, and alien Captains. We'd had Worf, Jadzia, the Sisko, Admiral Sulu, and so forth. We had an obvious attempt at a Kirk clone (Riker) who later got his own personality. We had a Ro Laren ripoff who got her own character (Kira). We had a Worf ripoff who quickly became his own...blob (Odo). We'd had multiple hyper-logical bridge officers (Spock, Data). When you throw a young Asian man with Sulu-ish looks onto a Star Trek Bridge after that history, I EXPECT him to be a Sulu ripoff or attempt at such until proven otherwise.
Heck, you might as well call me racist against white people for assuming Riker to be a Kirk ripoff the moment he walked onto the Enterprise with his jaunty smile and obvious attempt at boyish good looks that looked SO much better once he grew a beard.
Mr. Sulu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:George_Takei_Sulu_Star_Trek.JPG
Ensign Butt-Monkey: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ec/HarryKim.jpg
Look, they even have similar hairstyles.
And I can remember pretty clearly Harry Kim being touted as the first Asian Trek main since Sulu. The writers pretty obviously threw him in the cast and expected to get the same reaction that Sulu got.
And they didn't, because they didn't put in any of the scripts or traits or generalized personality that got put into Sulu.
So I think you're partially right, that Kim isn't a Sulu ripoff. He's a bad ATTEMPT at a Sulu ripoff.
A proper Sulu ripoff would've at least been the helmsman and been reasonably competent and interesting. And I would've been OK with that.