Aren’t old men in dusty shops selling magic items ubiquitous across storytelling and culture?
For every Gremlins there is a Neverending Story.
Wandering Shop - Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki
Pratchett satirises the idea in the Light Fantastic too.
This is the problem I guess. People see something and assume it’s all about them without recognizing the bigger picture. All of a sudden an old man selling magic items isn’t a racist stereotype, it’s just a trope.
I cannot think of more than... one? Example where the old peddler with the mysterious magical artifacts wasn't shown as Chinese or Japanese.
Of course, part of that could be I haven't seen Neverending story in... 20 years? Never read Terry Prachet (keep meaning to, sounds like I'll enjoy it) So, it could just be coincidence. But, there are two things that make me ponder.
1) The majority of old men selling magic items seem to be from the Far East, as are many of the relics.
2) Outside of modern corporate adventurer stories I have a hard time thinking of an old Chinese man who was not a) A martial arts master, b) an old pawn shop owner, c) a chef or d) some combination of the above.
Sometimes, the details of a trope, make it a bit racist.
The usual cop out why its ok to be racist against white people (when you consider it to be racist to strip a culture for commodities like you put it then its racist no matter which culture).
As for why its usually not brought up. Because most people don't consider it to be a problem. And that is not something specific to people from "white" cultures, but applies also to most people from your so called minorities (as if for example the Chinese are a minority with a population size of 1 billion). Only some people want to make it into a problem to have something to fight against.
Not a cop out if it is true.
For example, the Ancient Greeks, the Ancient Romans and Colonial Age England pretty much went out of their way to shove their cultures down as many people's throats as possible Kind of hard to turn around and say people shouldn't use that culture that they were sometimes killed for not using previously.
Same can be said of the Spanish and Dutch too.
If it is problematic for Asian Americans but not Asians in Asia then can we stop calling whatever it is racism?
Do you think Mexicans are disciminated against in Mexico, the same way they are in Texas? How about African Americans in Ethiopia compared to Manhattan?
So, an American company (WoTC) getting told to be less racist by a group of Americans who face discrimination due to their culture should instead look towards the people who don't buy their products, don't know who they are, and don't deal with the same issues?
That seems to miss the point.