Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
If you have an email ending in @hotmail.com, @live.com or @outlook.com (or any other Microsoft-related domain), please consider changing it to another email provider; Microsoft decided to instantly block the server's IP, so emails can't be sent to these addresses.
If you use an @yahoo.com email or any related Yahoo services, they have blocked us also due to "user complaints"
-UE
If you use an @yahoo.com email or any related Yahoo services, they have blocked us also due to "user complaints"
-UE
Comments
Not as much as Fighting is Magic, but I might pick it up.
Also, I'm godawful at fighting games.
"Hi guys~ it's been a while. Things have been really busy here, but I think I have some time to do a small update.
I am compelled to reply to some recent controversy regarding Skullgirls and sexism. I'd rather just focus on the game, and let the product speak for itself. If things go as intended, all questions and concerns would be addressed in due time.
To be honest, people will always complain about something. That's just how the internet is. I wouldn't normally get involved with these discussions, but the issue was “officially” addressed in a rather horrible way, so now I'll need to chime in.
Our quote was taken out of context and shouldn't have been taken as an actual, serious argument against sexism. It's rather disrespectful to both Kinuko and her work, as well as the company as a whole. If you read the whole article, you will see that there is an anecdote that demonstrates the absurdity of this female-animator argument. I wish it was made more clear that we don't support the female-animator argument as a valid point against sexism at all. It has an incredibly misleading tone since the very first quote is “our lead animator is a woman.” It's also in poor taste to call out another game/character by name as an example... I feel like these quotes all came from a conversation, rather than an actual interview.
I'd like to spend a bit of time to explain why Skullgirls is the way it is, and where it's coming from.
Ultimately, the things you see in Skullgirls are there because it just happens to be stuff that I wanted to do. There are elements in the world that are just here because it's cool and was fun to make. I enjoy drawing girls and monsters. I particularly enjoy drawing monster-girls. There is something more exciting about a design that is both twisted and cute at the same time. It's more interesting than just an overly aggressive monster, or something totally saccharine. I also must admit that I have a preference to play female protagonists in a game. Whether the character is sexy or not, I think there is just something more fun and intriguing about a competent female lead character.
I totally understand that my style is not for everyone. The art style is more of a cartoon exaggeration, both in proportions and poses, with several inspirations mixed in. I would be pretty content if Skullgirls was a small project and had a niche following. If you enjoy the style of this game, I can never thank you enough for your support and welcome you to our world with open arms. If you have too much of a problem with Skullgirls, then this game isn't for you. To each their own. I'm ok with that notion, and would generally prefer to stay out of public discussions.
The idea of Skullgirls started to form back in my early college years, when I saw games like EFZ and Melty Blood. I was enchanted by the idea of independent developers making these types of games. I wanted to try something in similar spirit, but with my own style and characters. In other words, I wanted to try my own take on an all-female (or mostly female) doujin fighter. I'd design these types of characters for fun anyway. The initial cast for Skullgirls was actually a collection of ideas I had floating around, some dating back to high school. Filia ended up as the lead, because she was the last one before I said “this is Skullgirls.” All-female properties have existed for decades, and it's nothing new. However, in most of them, the girls tend to be fairly sugary, innocent, delicate, or elegant in their style of action. For my take on it, I wanted to try something that had those elements, but mixed with a more twisted, sinister, and aggressive context.
I also wanted to try something that is a reverse of what's normally common in shonen manga (and, really, most every other media of entertainment). It's usually the case that the main hero, or contributing members of the team are male, and the female characters are delegated as sideline character, supporting roles, or even damsels in distress. Most female characters that seem like contributing members to the team eventually end up depowered or shoved to the side anyway. I always found this to be a bit annoying, and wanted to try something in reverse.
It's also important to point out the difference between something being sexy and being sexist. I think the role of a character plays more of a defining element than what they look like. People complain about hour-glass figured female characters, but rarely do they complain about muscular/ perfectly fit male characters. Both of these are completely fine and acceptable in my opinion. The real issue comes from what their role and actions are. If a character is a sideline character and their sole purpose is to be a sex object, then it is sexist. If the character is a competent contributor to the story, then it is not sexist, even if they look sexy. Looking at a screenshot by itself, or judging by the artwork alone is extremely short-sighted. People who make knee-jerk reactionary judgments should have never been acknowledged.
There is crazy double standard that this is such a huge issue for Skullgirls. I would not even address this if it wasn't for that article showing up.
Trying to catch up on comments and such, but I'll have to do the rest of that at another time, maybe a bit more tomorrow. But again, thanks so much for all the support so far- it really means a lot to us! m(_)m
-Alex "
I don't think it's fair to call the game sexist, at any rate. And even if you thought it was, what's the point of labeling it as such?
•You can have crack a sexist joke without being sexist. It's not as though I honestly believe a woman's place is necessarily in the kitchen any more than a man's even if I can appreciate those jokes. The whole work does everything very tongue in cheek, in any case.
•Creating a work where a character has nothing that can be construed as a stereotype requires more effort than it's worth and doesn't necessarily help anything. Real people do stereotypical things at times. It's the reason why stereotypes even exist. For that matter, real people are sometimes sexy.
The whole complaint strikes me as oversensitive feminists being oversensitive feminists. I have a hard time seeing how it's even worth discussion other than to dispel it.
In case you missed it, the game will have some male characters as DLC. I'd expect them to be sexy as well. Not that that should really matter.
Really, all the creators had to say is that the game is tongue in cheek in nature. God Hand was sexist, but jokingly so. It didn't firmly believe in blah blah blah I'm too busy shaking my head at this interview.
Umbrella and Squigly are confirmed to be DLC characters, as I recall.
That seems like an entirely too wide definition. I could think of several examples fitting that description that would be absurd to call sexist.
I don't get why this is an issue. No one would even say anything if it were another fighter with a bunch of muscular dudes.
Because different interpretations of what precisely is sexist, and why certain interpretations get validated because they're convincingly argued and thus become a majority viewpoint, while stuff like a Rapist's View of the World remains fringe lunacy. The genderflip argument is oft countered by the fact that men aren't a suppressed group and thus don't get fed images of how they should be through vidyagames(besides, muscly isn't a beauty ideal in our society anyway).
"men aren't a suppressed group and thus don't get fed images of how they should be through vidyagames"
I wouldn't refer to either side as "suppressed" really. Certainly women can get the worse end of things, but gender expectations will sometimes affect men negatively, too. I wouldn't say that it's really on the same level of what women might have to deal with, but I don't think there is a fundamental difference, so I don't see why the "genderflip argument" is invalid.
Men certainly get fed images in all kinds of media about what they should be. That isn't unique to any group, and it isn't necessarily indicative of discrimination. Figures representing an unattainable ideal exist for men, too.
It just blows my mind that feminists can feel threatened by what a video game is supposedly communicating. Is it really off limits to draw something fan-servicey until we have total gender equality in all cultures? What were the artists supposed to do?
Note that I didn't say the genderflip argument is never valid, just that with regards to body image and behaviour role models(which is not even the central issue is they have with the game: they are the sorest about the idea the defense, I get the impression), men don't really have it is hard as women, especially in the case of videogames. The masculine videogame role model is often excessively muscled, badass and spouts one-liners: situations far removed from everyday life. The feminine videogame role model is often supermodel style and sexy: a ridiculous ideal, but more in the realm of the everyday.
And again, I feel they're more offended by the defense than the imagery, and they're never implying it's off-limits, just dispelling the notion that females fighting is somehow empowering.
Well, it's always going to be problematic discussing feminism on a forum with barely any regular female users.
"People complain about hour-glass figured female characters, but rarely do they complain about muscular/ perfectly fit male characters."
And somehow he manages to miss the crucial point of intention. The problem is that that kind of female character design mentality is treated as default, which the article pointed out.
"If the character is a competent contributor to the story, then it is not sexist, even if they look sexy."
*cough* *cough* Megan Fox. *cough* Transformers. Again, intention.
"(and, really, most every other media of entertainment)"
(yeah, I know, overused reaction video, but)
I mean, he even mentioned "shonen". You'd think he could make the connection to its counterpart.
Hmm, most men are generally invested enough because they have experience from the other side: partial complicity or naïve innocence makes them enter the discussion, and it often seems more out of genuine curiosity(along with a wish for some social learning-can't forget the nerd aspect) than defending privilege.
The sad thing is that a piece of media or a practical situation are often needed to not lift the discussion to the abstract level of academic feminism. Discussion are often sparked by the social activist brand of feminism, which eschews the esotoricism of gender theory.
nope.avi
That's a given, why the fuck should it offend anyone? Do people really feel self conscious when a majority of cartoons and video game characters don't look like them? I'm nowhere near as adorable as the average male fictional character and some girls still like me, there's nothing wrong with anything about how fiction portrays people because it is fiction.