A Discussion of sexualised design of male/female characters

[Argentus]

During the week I got ti actually use my ps4, I tried Witcher 3. Didn't really keep my attention and I almost immediately dropped it when I decided I wasn't going to wait to play mgsv.

So I admit I like the slight sexiness of the sneaking suit over regular camo fatigues but...I like that over Quiet, who I actually find kind of repulsive by comparison. I like how the sneaking suit is only slightly snug in certain places without being just a skingtight catsuit

I mean my girl the only pronounced thing is butt and boobs but only slightly. Quiet is...ugh. and not just the outfit, but overall. She's kind if a butter face to begin with. And I get the explanation of she needs to keep her skin exposed but then...why a bikini and pantyhose leggings? She's still a combatant, so I feel like they should have gone for like a sports bra and just the panties serioisly why the torn leggings?!

Quiet makes mk9 Sonya Blade look practical lol

But yeah I stopped ever using snake lol.

 

[KasumiLover]

I don't like Quiet's outfit, but I love her character and the default render facial expression....idk, I just kind of like cold, detached, silent, or tsundere characters in videogames, they seem so relatable. If they would've made her a more practical outfit that wasn't just designed to show her assets and actually highlighted her style as a character, she'd be perfect.

And lol, I kind of like her butterface, her sad look just appeals to me, kinda like how I love Kitana's prominent jaw in MKX. It just suits her character and gives her a more sophistication in her appearance.

 

[Argentus]

I don't like Quiet's outfit, but I love her character and the default render facial expression....idk, I just kind of like cold, detached, silent, or tsundere characters in videogames, they seem so relatable. If they would've made her a more practical outfit that wasn't just designed to show her assets and actually highlighted her style as a character, she'd be perfect.

Yeah the outfit looks ridiculous. They could have still had exposed skin without looking like a used up hooker.

And I dunno about "cold and detached". I'm not far into the game but she came across more like a quiet child who doesn't know anything else, or any better for that matter.

 

[KasumiLover]

Yeah the outfit looks ridiculous. They could have still had exposed skin without looking like a used up hooker.

And I dunno about "cold and detached". I'm not far into the game but she came across more like a quiet child who doesn't know anything else, or any better for that matter.

Oh, like a man child? I always find that weird how they use that trope for sexualized women. MK9 Mileena was completely stripperfied, but she was basically a little girl trapped in a woman's body. In Quiet's case, her clothes don't suit her, she looks like a sad, sad, cosplayer dressing up as a sexy MGS soldier for Halloween.

 

[UpSideDownGRUNT]

Well I'd like tell you she does get a full costume but how you get it is super spoilery, but yeah, she gets a costume that covers her everything except head.

Also the reason why she's "quiet" will become clear soon enough but I literally can't talk about it at all as again its related to super heavy spoilers D:

 

[Tyaren]

@Argentus, better change the screen taking settings of your PS4 to png instead of the very compressed jpeg. That image quality is horrendous. If you don't know how to, go look it up somewhere on the last couple of pages in the DOA Photography Thread or online yourself. I won't explain it for the hundredth time in detail again. Also why would you upload those to Facebook to share them which also compresses everything even more? x__X

Regarding Quite everythig was pretty much said in this thread already but I have to add that she actually has really unattractive facial features:

Her actual actress however is a cutie:

 

[Argentus]

@Argentus, better change the screen taking settings of your PS4 to png instead of the very compressed jpeg. That image quality is horrendous. If you don't know how to, go look it up somewhere on the last couple of pages in the DOA Photography Thread or online yourself. I won't explain it for the hundredth time in detail again. Also why would you upload those to Facebook to share them which also compresses everything even more? x__X

Regarding Quite everythig was pretty much said in this thread already but I have to add that she actually has really unattractive facial features:

Her actual actress however is a cutie:

Because Facebook was the only place TO upload it to. I don't have access to my ps4 anymore so I can't fiddle with the settings and that was the first time I ever tried the upload feature

 

[Kodachi]

yeah her face didn't translate well in game for some reason :/ Stephanie is really pretty.

 

[UpSideDownGRUNT]

That doesn't stop all the Quiet SFM and nude mods lol

 

[Goarmagon]

During the week I got ti actually use my ps4, I tried Witcher 3. Didn't really keep my attention and I almost immediately dropped it when I decided I wasn't going to wait to play mgsv.

So I admit I like the slight sexiness of the sneaking suit over regular camo fatigues but...I like that over Quiet, who I actually find kind of repulsive by comparison. I like how the sneaking suit is only slightly snug in certain places without being just a skingtight catsuit

I mean my girl the only pronounced thing is butt and boobs but only slightly. Quiet is...ugh. and not just the outfit, but overall. She's kind if a butter face to begin with. And I get the explanation of she needs to keep her skin exposed but then...why a bikini and pantyhose leggings? She's still a combatant, so I feel like they should have gone for like a sports bra and just the panties serioisly why the torn leggings?!

Quiet makes mk9 Sonya Blade look practical lol

But yeah I stopped ever using snake lol.

lol

Spoiler

You can eventually use the fatigues that quiet was wearing when she tries to kill you in the beginning of the game as well as the ones that sniper wolf used in MGS1. Also have the butterfly emblem in the front of your logo if you dont want her running away from you in the end of the game. trust me kojima loves fucking with you.

 

[UpSideDownGRUNT]

Spoilery stuff

Is the 2nd one for beating her extreme difficulty mission? I never did any of those lol

 

[Goarmagon]

Yes.

Spoiler

I fultoned a shitload of tanks to circumvent her one shot kill perfect accuracy bullshit. She can still blow the tanks/armor trucks after about 20 hits so when its about to explode park it somewhere where theres cover and drop another one.

 

[Russian-chiropractic19]

I recently stumbled across a rare male example of censorship of pointless exposure that i found interesting. When Gunvolt was originally going to come to the west there were actually plans to alter his appearance to make him seem more "masculine" by conventional standards. so they were going to cover up his stomach and cut his pony tail all off

Spoiler

thankfully they left the hair as is and just covered up the stomach which gave us the best looking version imo.

Spoiler

whats interesting to me is this really mirrors the issue of the boob window except for a male. completely functional outfit that you can image giving some protection and then theres just a blank spot where your vitals are just because you had show some skin. its especially obvious when you look at his Gunvolt 2 design concept where he has more armor and then you just place that little spot that says "please stab me". im actually quote curious what the designers notes are about it but alas i can't read japanese.

Spoiler

 

[KasumiLover]

*Sigh* They always do this, which annoys me. I don't see how showing some of your stomach and having significantly long hair makes you not masculine, that idea is somewhat stupid, especially the hair part. There are plenty of brawny and rough and tough men in video games that show stomach and have longer hair, like Alex from Street Fighter.(Not in SFV, since some genius decided to chop off his hair in favor of a shorter cut).

 

[Russian-chiropractic19]

*Sigh* They always do this, which annoys me. I don't see how showing some of your stomach and having significantly long hair makes you not masculine, that idea is somewhat stupid, especially the hair part. There are plenty of brawny and rough and tough men in video games that show stomach and have longer hair, like Alex from Street Fighter.(Not in SFV, since some genius decided to chop off his hair in favor of a shorter cut).

its not showing your stomach and having long hair, its wearing a belly shirt and having long braided hair.

 

[KasumiLover]

its not showing your stomach and having long hair, its wearing a belly shirt and having long braided hair.

The belly shirt is understandable to a degree, but I still dont see the problem with long braided hair either. There's plenty of guys out here in games and IRL who are manly as can be, but have way longer hair than even a girl does. Some girls also have very short hair, but are very feminine. But my point is that hair length shouldn't appoint whether someone is effeminate or masculine, and it pisses me off a little when VG male characters who originally had long hair are forced to have a shorter cut, while girls get off scotch free, like it's a strict rule that men have to have shorter hair than the girls do. That's just ridiculous to me, and puts this strange idea in people's head that it's too feminine or wrong to have hair that equates girls in terms of length.

 

[Tyaren]

@KasumiLover69 you go on how manly man also have long, braided hair or show their stomachs but you fail to mind that the main protagonist of Gunvolt looks very androgynous and not manly at all. Even I (accustomed to anime and manga) would have a hard time figuring out if this is a girl or a boy in his original getup. I'd actually come to the conclusion it was a girl. If the braid wasn't giving it away, the midriff was.
Maybe they just wanted to make it very clear to the Western audiences that this is a guy and they asked themselves how to do it best. Getting rid of the braid would be one way...but that is actually a big change in the overall character design, so they probably just went for the midriff, which is a small thing. And there, he really looks a little more masculine all of a sudden.

 

[KasumiLover]

@KasumiLover69 you go on how manly man also have long, braided hair or show their stomachs but you fail to mind that the main protagonist of Gunvolt looks very androgynous and not manly at all. Even I (accustomed to anime and manga) would have a hard time figuring out if this is a girl or a boy in his original getup. I'd actually come to the conclusion it was a girl. If the braid wasn't giving it away, the midriff was.
Maybe they just wanted to make it very clear to the Western audiences that this is a guy and they asked themselves how to do it best. Getting rid of the braid would be one way...but that is actually a big change in the overall character design, so they probably just went for the midriff, which is a small thing. And there, he really looks a little more masculine all of a sudden.

I looked at him carefully, and honestly he doesn't look too androgynous, or at least to me. He just looks like some young kid that you would probably see in various anime, and the body build isn't feminine enough to make me think he could be a female. If they would've just covered the stomach, than I think that change would have been enough, chopping off the hair(Which to me plays a big part in character design and makes the character) would be akin to Guile losing his gelled up haircut or lili suddenly losing her hime cut hair in favor of a generic bobcut.

 

[Tyaren]

If they would've just covered the stomach, than I think that change would have been enough, chopping off the hair(Which to me plays a big part in character design and makes the character) would be akin to Guile losing his gelled up haircut or lili suddenly losing her hime cut hair in favor of a generic bobcut.

If I understood correctly they didn't cut off his hair.

 

[KasumiLover]

If I understood correctly they didn't cut off his hair.

They didnt? Oh, so was that comparison thing I saw on Google just a what if comparison thing?

EDIT: Yes it was, I just saw the final image Russian posted where they didn't touch his hair. XD. What a relief, that final design looks alot more solid than the original before the censorship.