Tag: Character Design

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At this point I feel that it is also worth pointing out that Shantae’s magical abilities allow her to transform into a variety of creatures.  So people arguing she needs the outfit, that wouldn’t work for belly dancing, at all times are apparently fine with her being an elephant in game:

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But not with the idea that maybe she should wear something that doesn’t look like a sex shop parody of a Genie/Bellydancer outfit.  It’s puzzling.

That and we should also mention, there was a vote for backers to decide which design for the “rival” genie would be used.  Let’s look at the variety of options.

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Gotta say, I’m actually impressed the design that eventually won was the one with bra straps so at least some suggestion of breast support and the least impractical shoes.  Of course, we’ll have to wait until release to see if those are “in execution”.

– wincenworks

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Tenchu: Fatal Shadows was a game that showed how disappointing it gets when you decide to put more emphasis on an action focused female cast and decide that they’ll count of sex appeal to make up for bland designs.

While it’s true they are looking to Feudal Japan for inspiration and hence trying to match those, it’s also true the the previous games managed to incorporate much more interesting designs for important male characters.

wincenworks

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Hi! First of all thank you for your hard work, this blog opened my eyes about the game industry and made me realize how sexist it is. I’m sending you this cause I have some mixed feeling about one one of my favorite characters: Bayonetta. I know she’s sexualized to the extreme and thats sad, cause she’s awesome, and I still like her. My question its if you think its okay to like a sexualized character like her and still be against the bikini armor, or maybe that’s hypocrite? Thanks for reading.

bikiniarmorbattledamage:

It’s perfectly okay, normal and healthy to enjoy things that are problematic.  There is a DIRE shortage of media that isn’t problematic and nobody should be expected to just sit in a corner and wait until something perfect comes along.  Furthermore, media creators can’t be expected to create better media unless they release things to be critiqued so they can do better next time.

The problems come when people deny media they like has problems and want to hold it above critique or when they decide that if anything detracts from the media then it’s not worth worrying about.  Not only does it lead to a lack of progress – it leads to people normalizing and internalizing the problems.

As an example: Bayonetta core concept is pretty awesome and open to all kinds of interpretations – super witch with unlimited access to magic and fashion who battles all kinds of powerful and weird stuff.  The gameplay exists essentially independent of the concept and is really enjoyable for many people. 

It’s just unfortunate that literally everything in the production sets cranking the male gaze up to 11/10 as the top priority.  Whether the problems offset the fun aspects is a matter entirely up to the individual experiencing it at the time- what aspects could have been improved is a matter between critics and creators.

– wincenworks

How to be a Fan of Problematic Things

Bringing this back since the new @femfreq video has got the Internet in a giant flame war over whether Bayonetta is an textbook example of sexism in media or a flawless depiction of female empowerment.

It’s absolutely fine to like problematic things, because no matter what you fave, your fave is going to be problematic.  There will be issues of representation and ways things could have been done better.

– wincenworks

(edit: It appears Social Justice League’s site is having some issues, an archived version of the How to be a Fan of Problematic things is available here.) 

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lidoxia:

Hi! First of all thank you for your hard work, this blog opened my eyes about the game industry and made me realize how sexist it is. I’m sending you this cause I have some mixed feeling about one one of my favorite characters: Bayonetta. I know she’s sexualized to the extreme and thats sad, cause she’s awesome, and I still like her. My question its if you think its okay to like a sexualized character like her and still be against the bikini armor, or maybe that’s hypocrite? Thanks for reading.

bikiniarmorbattledamage:

It’s perfectly okay, normal and healthy to enjoy things that are problematic.  There is a DIRE shortage of media that isn’t problematic and nobody should be expected to just sit in a corner and wait until something perfect comes along.  Furthermore, media creators can’t be expected to create better media unless they release things to be critiqued so they can do better next time.

The problems come when people deny media they like has problems and want to hold it above critique or when they decide that if anything detracts from the media then it’s not worth worrying about.  Not only does it lead to a lack of progress – it leads to people normalizing and internalizing the problems.

As an example: Bayonetta core concept is pretty awesome and open to all kinds of interpretations – super witch with unlimited access to magic and fashion who battles all kinds of powerful and weird stuff.  The gameplay exists essentially independent of the concept and is really enjoyable for many people. 

It’s just unfortunate that literally everything in the production sets cranking the male gaze up to 11/10 as the top priority.  Whether the problems offset the fun aspects is a matter entirely up to the individual experiencing it at the time- what aspects could have been improved is a matter between critics and creators.

– wincenworks

How to be a Fan of Problematic Things

Bringing this back since the new @femfreq video has got the Internet in a giant flame war over whether Bayonetta is an textbook example of sexism in media or a flawless depiction of female empowerment.

It’s absolutely fine to like problematic things, because no matter what you fave, your fave is going to be problematic.  There will be issues of representation and ways things could have been done better.

– wincenworks

(edit: It appears Social Justice League’s site is having some issues, an archived version of the How to be a Fan of Problematic things is available here.) 

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No, but guys, picture this:

irregularjohnnywiggins:

A retelling of Wonder Woman’s origin story…

…Where the reason she’s got the Bikini of Power is that the Amazons sent her out into the modern day to ‘fit in’, but they looked at pop culture and our media first and just assumed ‘really unrealistic bikini armours’ are just how our female soldiers dress.

And when Wonder Woman finds out it’s not, she goes and finds herself some pants.

…I think I’m going to write this at some point.

Now THAT is a sensible excuse to have Wonder Woman wear something as ridiculous as she usually does! Also it reminds me of her old origin story where basically it was decided she’d wear USA’s colors, so that she’ll be a better ambassador to the outside world.

I’d totally read that take on the character.

~Ozzie

more Wonder Woman on BABD

Posted on

No, but guys, picture this:

irregularjohnnywiggins:

A retelling of Wonder Woman’s origin story…

…Where the reason she’s got the Bikini of Power is that the Amazons sent her out into the modern day to ‘fit in’, but they looked at pop culture and our media first and just assumed ‘really unrealistic bikini armours’ are just how our female soldiers dress.

And when Wonder Woman finds out it’s not, she goes and finds herself some pants.

…I think I’m going to write this at some point.

Now THAT is a sensible excuse to have Wonder Woman wear something as ridiculous as she usually does! Also it reminds me of her old origin story where basically it was decided she’d wear USA’s colors, so that she’ll be a better ambassador to the outside world.

I’d totally read that take on the character.

~Ozzie

more Wonder Woman on BABD

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batmanisagatewaydrug:

Trends that should stop: having “evil” versions of female characters wear more revealing clothes and act more sexually aggressive than the “good” version, because that demonizes women’s sexuality and ties it to having lower morals and it’s just generally a shitty gross trope

Agreed so much! 

The “evil is sexy” trope is as bad, if not worse, excuse for sexualization of female characters in media as any other rhetoric we address regularly. It (sometimes literally) demonizes female sexuality, on top of objectification that is already there. Sending the gross message that women can look and act sexual on their own accord, but they’re far likelier to do that if they’re wicked.

Which, of course, is most obvious either when a good character becomes corrupted and gains more seductive attitude while her outfit all of sudden looses a couple square feet of fabric… 

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…or when there’s an evil equivalent to a good character/class/race, and that equivalent is designed as significantly more sexualized. [x]

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~Ozzie

see also: “Sex-positive” women in gaming (or lack thereof) | Cia | Regime Wonder Woman | Bladestorm’s Joan of Arc | evil Sue Storm (Malice)

edit: My apologies for not also highlighting the even more reprehensible trend of using darker skin to signal evil – because there’s apparently still not quite enough racism in the world.