With a very few exceptions, pretty much every time I see a game brag about diverse body shapes – I wonder if they hired the same “expert” consultant that Levi’s did:
Since everyone can predict us talking again about Overwatch in the near future, this week’s throwback is the video game industry’s bafflingly narrow definition of what “diversity” among female characters looks like.
After many far less subtle empoweredReaperredesigns we featured, it’s time for one that sexyfies him just with addition of high heels and posing.
Amazing how little must be changed to completely reverse the framing of the character – almost as if half-nakedness wasn’t the main factor in the lusty gaze design, huh… >_>
I really love those flowing lines. Thank you for drawing this, @radiocga!
After many far less subtle empoweredReaperredesigns we featured, it’s time for one that sexyfies him just with addition of high heels and posing.
Amazing how little must be changed to completely reverse the framing of the character – almost as if half-nakedness wasn’t the main factor in the lusty gaze design, huh… >_>
I really love those flowing lines. Thank you for drawing this, @radiocga!
I re-read the comic in question and beside the helmet, back armor and part of arm guards, there’s very little detail of how Widomaker’s then-costume actually looked like. So, most of the awesome stuff in this design, like the reasonable breastplate, seems to be @artbytesslyn‘s invention, not Blizzard’s.
In the official comic we can see an outline of her boob from the profile (first panel here) and what seems to be her blue cleavage (second panel), so it definitely lacks chest protection:
Ironicaly, in the story Widow is almost killed by Ana, whose bullet shatters part of this helmet…
But, what identified her as Brigitte, what kind of character is she? Was this depiction of her accurate to previous material?
The woman depicted in the short is the second-most muscular woman we’ve seen in Overwatch (second only to Zarya) with a cog tattoo on her left shoulder and a t-shirt which has the sleeves torn off and reads “I like exercise because I love eating” and she has the standard issue Disney-face.
This is Brigitte in her only other speaking appearance, note how she started with a strong jawline, narrow lips and freckles:
And here she is in her other follow up appearance, arms like twigs and half-way to the final Disney-face, no more freckles or jawline:
So really what identified her as Brigitte were these elements:
Proximity to Reinhardt during his pre-game period
Tendency to tell Reinhardt that he shouldn’t do what the audience is specifically eager for him to do (ie, be a hero)
Her hair is kind of the same and she has practical pants (a rarity for women in the world of Overwatch)
Nobody refers to her by name while she’s around
There’s also that one in-game spray graphic where she’s shown sporting even more “prettified” face, posing for a photo with her dad (good luck knowing that relation without digging up lore):
The greater irony of this is that the single exchange between Reinhardt and Mercy where Brigitte’s name is mentioned actually undermines her role in the video. According to the in-game content she goes off with Reinhardt on his adventures… not keeping him company in the castle while he avoids risks. Note how in the short she isn’t shown to change her mind and support Reinhardt’s decision at the end.
(Also worth noting is people have been asking, by name, for her to appear more often and be shown helping Reinhardt in the game for over a year now but this is the closest Blizzard have come, that and they had to confirm her who father was in a tweet because again… zero priority elsewhere.)
At this point, if you look at what Blizzard have provided: Brigitte has no consistent look beyond pants, skin tone and hairstyle. Her only consistent behavior is telling Reinhardt not to go be a hero. In the video she isn’t even shown doing the other support aspects such as enabling travel, fixing his armor, gathering intelligence, being the social one of the pair, etc.
The point is here is Blizzard doesn’t care enough about a female character to give her a consistent appearance, have her name be used so the audience can identify her or give her any sort of motivations of her own – you shouldn’t take the time to act like she’s an important character who everyone should know.
I promise you that defending Blizzard’s failures to do the basics when it comes to their promises of better depictions of women and better diversity will not result anything good for anyone other than Blizzard’s shareholders.
– wincenworks
@otherwindow has done a beautiful edit of what Brigitte would have looked like in the short if they stayed true to her initial comic appearance.
I said this on the Moira post, but really… what could have been.
-Icy
This is exactly what I meant by “asking us to “do our homework” before we comment will make the commentary far more critical, not more lenient.”
