Game is great, but too sexualized

[GooglyMoogly!]

Good god, does every character in this game need a fetish outfit/large boobs?

One big male fantasy

Other than that it is a top notch fighting game

[unclassified]

Originally posted by ♦Nappa:

Originally posted by cf melonLord DREW:

Peacock, Ms.Fortune, Squigly, Double, Painwheel, Big Band.
So no.

I dunno, big band is pretty sexy

does someone know when bigband will be implemented into the "real" game?

[Kan-el]

Originally posted by appomo:

Originally posted by ♦Nappa:

I dunno, big band is pretty sexy

does someone know when bigband will be implemented into the "real" game?

Soon.. (valve time)

[melonLord]

Originally posted by Uueerdo:

Originally posted by appomo:

yeah..nami has just now so big breast because the air on the high sea is so good....

Didn't watch a whole lot of One Piece, but that came to my mind too...especially since she is one of the relatively few female characters in the first place.

Then I would have to ask if your definition of a sexualized show is just having a character with big boobs (keeping in mind that theyre completely covered and don't even jiggle around too much if I remember right). If thats the case I think it would be hard to find a show period that doesnt meet that description.

[unclassified]

Originally posted by cf melonLord DREW:

Originally posted by Uueerdo:

Didn't watch a whole lot of One Piece, but that came to my mind too...especially since she is one of the relatively few female characters in the first place.

Then I would have to ask if your definition of a sexualized show is just having a character with big boobs (keeping in mind that theyre completely covered and don't even jiggle around too much if I remember right). If thats the case I think it would be hard to find a show period that doesnt meet that description.

they jugle around and she even press children to theire boobs which seems to enjoy it...

[Uueerdo]

Originally posted by cf melonLord DREW:

Then I would have to ask if your definition of a sexualized show is just having a character with big boobs (keeping in mind that theyre completely covered and don't even jiggle around too much if I remember right). If thats the case I think it would be hard to find a show period that doesnt meet that description.

Not my definition, and that (along with the fact that I didn't watch a whole lot of One Piece) is why I didn't bother mentioning it. Heck, I don't even think "pantyshots" are necessarily sexualizing. Edit: Of course, I don't even thinking "sexualizing" is necessarily a bad thing...I mean none of us would be here if each and every one of our ancestors didn't have sex at least once.

However, for some people just modest cleavage is more than enough to "sexualize" something...and some would even try to argue there is no such thing as "modest" cleavage.

[Trivial Man]

Look I like this game, but saying it isn't really sexualized is just dumb. There are the obvious and blatant examples like the copious panty shots, the blatant molestation of Fillia in her very first story mode scene, or the entirety of Valentine as a character, but it goes deeper than that. For brevity's sake though, I'll only talk about a few of the alleged "counter-examples" to this claim.

Ms. Fortune has the most revealing outfit of all the characters. Now, you can argue it's practical since she splits off body parts and can't have clothes holding her back, but that doesn't change the fact that a belt and panties is all that's covering her butt. And if you want to argue her outfit is practical, then how do you explain the completely pointless underboob? Not only is that blatant fanservice, it also serves to undermine the entire outfit since I'd think it's pretty dang impractical to have your breasts halfway between falling out in the middle of a fight. Either cover them completely or don't cover them at all, but don't open yourself up to wardrobe malfunction in the middle of treasure hunting or combat for no good reason.

Painwheel also isn't that traditionally sexualized, but there are still some traces of it. The official art of her jumping makes it a point to flash her panties for example, and for looking pretty shabby that cloth thing she wears still seems fitted in such a way to accentuate her breasts even when you might expect it wouldn't. The real sexualization comes from the incredibly submissive elements of her character. She is controlled completely by Brain Drain, a much older masculine (but maybe not male, irrelevant to the point at hand) character, who subjects her to intensely painful experiments and combat against her will. She even wears around shackles and has a mask to deemphasize her humanity. While these elements could be repurposed in a similar character and seem innocuous enough, coupled with the rest of the cast and tone of the game in general it seems very BDSM-ish and more like it's playing into a male power fantasy than anything else.

Double's a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sexy nun. You cannot argue that she's not over-sexualized when her introduction, both in the narrative and at the start of a match, is always going to be as a cliché fetish character. She could have just as easily been a regular nun, completely the same except without a form fitting habit (like most habits outside of costume shops, worn by those who have sworn off pleasures of the flesh, are), but instead the shape shifter with limitless potential looks like she wandered out of a porn shoot.

Similarly, for some reason the barely pubescent Marie is a French maid; another ridiculously cliché fetish. I won't insinuate that her character designer intended for her to be sexy since frankly she isn't and I don't think anyone who worked on this game is an awful person, but intentional or not her outfit is loaded with sexual connotations. Its use in this context is both unfortunate and more than a little baffling.

Peacock and Squigly are the only playable female characters in the game that aren't grossly sexualized in some way, and they are also, along with Marie, some of the youngest characters, each just barely in their teens. And that's not even getting into NPCs or upcoming/proposed characters (not all of which, I will admit now, would support my claim).

Like I said, I like this game, but ignoring that it has flaws or trying to justify these flaws as being symptomatic of the genre or art style that it is an example of does nothing to help it improve. Trying to say that "only" half the cast (more by my reckoning) is pointlessly sexualized is also a pretty hallow counter. Imagine if instead this was some other complaint about the characters but the justification was the same. What if "only" half the cast was racist, or if "only" half the cast was homophobic?

Don't just let media get away with this stuff because you personally aren't affected.

[melonLord]

I can see where youre coming from with some of that (like Fortune's underboob) but most of that is a hell of a stretch (like the Painwheel example).

[DuckieMcduck]

Originally posted by Trivial Man:

Similarly, for some reason the barely pubescent Marie is a French maid; another ridiculously cliché fetish. I won't insinuate that her character designer intended for her to be sexy since frankly she isn't and I don't think anyone who worked on this game is an awful person, but intentional or not her outfit is loaded with sexual connotations. Its use in this context is both unfortunate and more than a little baffling.

dude what
I like how you're a man doing all these argument stretches, too. I know feminists who'd call you crazy.

[Trivial Man]

I really think Painwheel is a clear cut case of BDSM sex appeal being fantastically exaggerated like most sexualization is in video games. You got a clear master/slave relationship between Brain Drain and Painwheel, you've got a masochistic/sadistic element of Painwheel's attacks causing her pain and Brain Drain (and the opponent for that matter) inflicting this on her regardless, and you've got bondage in the mask, shackles, and mind control. The fact that she isn't outright enjoying it is what keeps sub-text from being just text, but the player doesn't have to leap through many hoops to see this if that's what they're into.

[Kan-el]

Almost every fighting game i've played has some female character way too sexy. MvsC Series, DoA, Tekken, Bloody Roar, Rival Schools, Killer Instinct, etc...

[123 Casual Player]

You know you watched too much fetish porn if

1. Painwheel makes you think of BDSM
2. Double makes you think of Hentai
3. Maid outfit makes you think of Sex

[melonLord]

Originally posted by Trivial Man:

I really think Painwheel is a clear cut case of BDSM sex appeal being fantastically exaggerated like most sexualization is in video games. You got a clear master/slave relationship between Brain Drain and Painwheel, you've got a masochistic/sadistic element of Painwheel's attacks causing her pain and Brain Drain (and the opponent for that matter) inflicting this on her regardless, and you've got bondage in the mask, shackles, and mind control. The fact that she isn't outright enjoying it is what keeps sub-text from being just text, but the player doesn't have to leap through many hoops to see this if that's what they're into.

Yeah. I still consider that a hell of a stretch lol. Its just the mind controlled test subject trope akin to the handymen from Bioshock Infinite. I honestly think its kinda silly to get "grossly sexualized" out of that.

[Trivial Man]

Originally posted by 123 Button Masher:

You know you watched too much fetish porn if

1. Painwheel makes you think of BDSM
2. Double makes you think of Hentai
3. Maid outfit makes you think of Sex

Google maid outfit. Tell me how many results are not about them being sexy. The Wikipedia page for French maid talks about it in the very first paragraph. For better or worse, that's exactly what they are equated with nowadays.

And you are literally the first person in this topic to mention hentai.

[123 Casual Player]

Originally posted by Trivial Man:

Originally posted by 123 Button Masher:

You know you watched too much fetish porn if

1. Painwheel makes you think of BDSM
2. Double makes you think of Hentai
3. Maid outfit makes you think of Sex

Google maid outfit. Tell me how many results are not about them being sexy. The Wikipedia page for French maid talks about it in the very first paragraph. For better or worse, that's exactly what they are equated with nowadays.

And you are literally the first person in this topic to mention hentai.

You google any outfit, there are porn of it. School Uniform? Nurse? Teachers? Secretary? Police Officer? Even Stay at Home Mom? It's all there.

That's just how the internet works.

[FibS]

The character design is disgustingly slutty and tacky, but the writing is much better than I'd expect from such a game and the characters' personae generally make up for their hideous designs.