#so they stick to safe territory with pre established love interest

[t4tails]

ive gone on before about how sega hates women in a very specific way. I feel like a lot of unused characters people keep asking for back is women, and sega refuses to deliver. the most they get is into sonic speed battle if even that.

ive noticed a pattern in these women, think about sally, sticks, shade, tikal, cream, marine, etc. (all of which they have full rights too. sega has rights to shade. at least from what I've seen and heard) (also im counting cream bc she hasn't been in a game in 10 years, despite being part of the main character line in X when shadow wasn't)

The female characters i consider used are Amy and Rouge, lesser so Blaze and Zeena

The first visual thing I noticed that's different is that none of these characters are pink or purple. The characters used have this, even if Zeena is primarily green she still had to have pink on her.

Next is the unused characters don't dress the most stereotypically feminine, cream and tikal are the most.

But the thing i noticed most about the unuseds is that most don't act stereotypically feminine.

Since she's my blorbo ill use marine as an example. She's oranges and greens. Her character starts as just an annoying little girl until you learn more about her and understand her more. She wants to be a captain, is hot-headed and easily distracted, but surprisingly clever in the heat of the moment. She's introduced as Blaze's Tails and hasn't been used in 15 years. None of her aspects are stereotypically feminine, if she was a boy, her personality wouldn't change.

The only thing feminine about Sally is the fact she's a princess (and you cant have bunnie without sally so even tho she'd fit in what they have she's also been kicked). Sticks is so feral I don't think she knows what gender is and Dark Brotherhood doesn't even make a big deal that the fact that their leading warrior is a woman, they were focused much more on the fact that she's an echidna.

Tikal and Cream are the most used of the unused, and I always saw this as that they are the most feminine. Tikal is the helpful dead girl princess who belives in peace and love. Cream is a little sister character, who is nice to everyone has tea parties and makes flower crowns.

The used ones, are girlish however. Amy is clingy and hot-headed and previously seen as possessive, she's been seen enjoying many feminine activities. Rouge, although not sexualized by the camera, is obsessed with jewels and shiny things as well as speaking in a stereotypically feminine femme-fatale fastion. i didnt mean for that f thing. Blaze is the least femanine of the four however has the more modern steryotype of the closed off badass who is more open and sweet and kind when gotten close too, maybe even a love intrest which was hinted at in the beginning, also her deisgn makes up for that lack where she is very femanine. Zeena is the girl one of her group. she worries about her nails and looks and shit, the most femanine of the four.

Having a femanine character isn't bad. i fucking love rouge and blaze, it's just on it's own, give me a minute.

I'm going to go into the difference between Sonic Lost World's women and Sonic Boom (show)'s Women.

Sonic Lost world TECHNICALLY has multiple women However Amy is in like... 2 cutscenes. The most prominent one is Zeena, who is the only woman in the deadly six. This could have been fine if done right but it wasn't. Part of me wondered why she was so much better in the IDW comics, and part of it is writing and not being the butt of a joke for being a girltm, but also, she's with other women. She's pitted against Cream, one of the more used unused, and it's fucking excellent, their scene together is the best deadly six scene ever.

This is what my sister calls "the b99 effect" Rosa doesn't represent all hispanic women if you have another hispainic woman who acts completely differently. captain holt doesn't represent all black men if you have another black man who acts completely differently. Gina doesn't represent all women if there are a whole crew of other women, you get the picture.

This effect was very well used in Sonic Boom. Amy, is a stereotypical girl character and we know this. However, Sticks is not at all. They have a whole episode about this when it's just the two of them it's great. Sticks acts like the rest of the boys, reckless and messy. It's a perfect dynamic because when Amy acts the way she does it's clear she acts like that because she's Amy, not because she's a woman. Amy has multiple moments where she's separated from the rest and it's because she's being Amy. When Sticks is separated it's because she's paranoid, not because she's a girl. Even the boys have their separation moments. Because of writing and this effect, Boom Amy is probably my favorite Amy I've seen outside of IDW.

If Zeena had been less stereotypical it might have been better, but being the only girl on the deadly six automatically made her "the girl one." if there was another girl or they just made another one of them a woman and not changed anything Zeena would have been infinitely better, which is why she was amazing in the scene with cream.

Sega, in their love for only using feminine girls, never sees this. Despite the fandom being in love with Tangle and Whisper who have no pink or purple and don't have feminine personalities, unless you count Tangle looking stereotypically lesbian (she has the same hair as my lesbian sister legit) They keep asking for Sally, they keep asking for Sticks (especially since she was in an olympic games game and has been the only non-mainline character in sonic channel art) they keep asking for cream to be in the GODDAMN GAMES and they don't

only reason i can think of? sega hates women.

this ask was way too long but enjoy.

holy shit i dont have much to add this it is all so so true. the only thing i really disagree with is re boom amy because i have problems with her personality in that show being made into the Most Responsible one when i already have a dislike for sitcoms using girls as straight men (not common nowadays but old shit like mash, and early seinfeld and iasip) but thats just a personal gripe on where id prefer her character to go; she is written the most consistently in years in it and youre right she plays GREAT off sticks. this is all really interesting like i didnt make the femininity and pink/purple connections myself so its very eye opening. loved reading this

[gascon-en-exil]

Dark Deity Pre-Release Character Opinions

This isn't actually a tier list, but someone helpfully created a template for this game and it's as good a way as any to do a little visual showcase for this cast. Characters are listed by their class sets, which are fixed but offer a nice variety in terms of promotion options. My opinions on each are as follows, from left to right in each row. Most characters have introductory profiles written up on the DD subreddit, if you'd like to check them out yourself.

Warriors

Alexa

You know those buff female blacksmiths in Echoes and Three Houses that some people wish were playable characters? That's pretty much Alexa. Can't say I'm too hyped about her myself, but warrior + tomboyish female character will do that for me...or not do it, I suppose.

Benji

Seems to have been written to become a meme, and I still can't decide whether that's clever or stupid. Kind of like Raphael only with a bigger emphasis on training than on eating, and with brotherly devotion replaced with brotherly angst that might theoretically go somewhere if the character isn't reduced to being a goofy joke all the time.

Fenton

Doesn't have a character profile, so as far as I know he's just a generic dwarf because DD swaps out its inspiration's loli dragons and other vaguely fetishistic shapeshifters for the two most cliché non-human races in Western fantasy. I wonder whether his VA will voice him with a Scottish accent, to go all in on the (ironic?) laziness. There are a handful of elves in the playable cast, but Fenton is the only dwarf so for better or worse he's representing.

Helena

She's the embodiment of the FE exotic swordswoman archetype, but curiously DD seems to have turned that broad ethnic brush inward. Helena's last name is apparently a Japanese verb, her art shows her with a spear (as in the association of the naginata with women), and she studied and trained in a monastery that seems to blend elements of Buddhism and Shintoism. Not sure how all that fits into the larger setting yet, but at this point she's still got more background development than Petra.

Irving

Our Hero, the one front and center on the cover art. He sounds a bit on the blander side as far as lords or lord equivalents go, with his most promising hook for me being his established friendship with Garrick (see the ranger section). At best I can hope for a bit of a romantic friendship dynamic, although they sound a bit rougher overall as they're military academy schoolmates I wonder why DD went with that instead of lordlings of different territories.

Rogues

Brooke

Looks like Camilla; has a backstory like Niles. Cleavage aside though the sexual element of both is toned down here, and there might be some sapphic bodyguard shenanigans to be had as her current employers are a pair of highborn sisters further down this list.

Cia

For some reason she reminds me of Tressa from Octopath Traveler, only bustier and a bartender rather than a merchant. She's still just a small town girl with big city dreams, and this being a tactical war game following those dreams will inevitably involve stabbing people.

Corvan

Hard to judge him at the moment, as his profile was only the second written and so isn't terribly detailed. He's a moon elf with scholarly interests, apparently. Still, as of right now he's the only rogue who doesn't slot loosely into either a ninja/assassin or pirate aesthetic, so that's kind of neat. Also, he's one of several characters to have FEH-esque beach fanart made of them already, so clearly someone's into elf twinks.

Ford

A former officer at the military academy Irving attends and a smuggler who dotes on his niece, Ford has major dad energy. Per developer reveals he's also bi, and as I mentioned before I'm totally fine with that. More bear sex, please - but what guy in this cast would hop in the sack with Ford? Only time will tell. His personal skill makes him extra dodgy, which combined with the mug of booze in his art makes me think of WoW brewmasters who dodge-tank through the power of being wasted.

Wren

Like Brooke, he's an assassin from a foreign nation - in his case the same one as Helena so presumably he's a not!Japanese ninja. I'm not really feeling him at the moment. What is it about Hao'Fen (the city/territory he and Helena come from) and massive families? That comes up in both their backstories.

Rangers

Caius

I feel like this is the third or fourth character to grow up in some slum or other; at least they've all been in different towns so far. The relative rarity of noble characters is certainly different from FE, but it reduces the political stakes which leaves me wondering a bit about the story. Anyway, Caius is a small town desert hunter who learned how to make arrows out of animal bones. How aerodynamic is bone, I wonder?

Garrick

Irving's BFF and seemingly the Hector to Irving's Eliwood, only with more flirting (his intro doesn't specify that Garrick is flirting with women, but I'm not going so far as to say that indicates anything). He's the academy headmaster's son, with a strained relationship with his father for some of that hotheaded lead tension. Notably, his VA is the one I'm most familiar with in this cast, as he's the voice of Revali from Breath of the Wild as well as love interests in two different erotic gay dating sims I've played. In other words, I know what this guy sounds like making awkwardly simulated sex noises...and I have no idea what to do with that information.

Maeve

She's a half-elf with a very storied background, so much so that it's all rather hard to follow her exploits when little of what's being described has been fully revealed yet. I'm expecting her to be a mid/lategame recruit, unless she's dropped in early on to reveal that (sun) elves exist or something.

Rose

Imagine if Bernadetta were a commoner, although we can only hope they'll be less screaming. Alternatively, Neimi without an obvious boyfriend. She won the beach contest so now she has official swimsuit art, which I guess makes her a top-tier waifu in the eyes of players who care about such things.

Sophia

A ranger in the "has animal companions" sense, although whether that will come into play mechanically aside from her personal skill - Butter the ferret can attack with her! - remains to be seen. Her preference for the company of animals is explained by a lack of social graces, so prepare for klutz-related humor. Of note to those interested in F/F is that her introduction specifically brings up her connection with Sloane (see the mage section) and how close the two of them are.

Clerics

Faust

Doesn't have a profile yet, so not much to go off other than his decidedly unhinged look. The cleric class set does feature some darker-flavored options, so presumably he's more naturally aligned with those. His VA was announced to be the YouTuber behind So This is Basically Fire Emblem and other similar videos, so I'm picturing a kooky and somewhat demented Henry type.

Lincoln

Also lacks a profile at time of writing...clerics get so little love. The Discord has identified him a bland blond paladin sort, but as we know from the likes of Perceval and especially Dimitri that doesn't necessarily mean he'll be boring (or not gay).

Maren

The soft-spoken healer type, and also a childhood friend of Garrick although her intro sibling-zones him but then this game is inspired by FE so who knows if that'll stick. She may have some interesting thoughts on the theology of the setting, as there seem to be several faiths and she's said to have a complicated relationship with her own. I will be utterly shocked if she's not either Irving or Garrick's eventual love interest.

Samara

One of two princesses of the country of Aramor, which appears to be loosely inspired by the Middle East. Heaven help us if the Khalidstans ever get wind of this game. Unfortunately aside from her bond with her older sister (in the mage section) and the knowledge that Brooke has been hired as their bodyguard there's not much to Samara at the moment. Hopefully the clerics all do some comparative theology in their bond conversations, and this isn't like Sacred Stones where none of the clergy characters from different countries ever compare notes. The succession crisis involving Samara and her sister vs. their less-loved cousin the king's son might be a major plot hook? It's still too early to tell.

Vesta

Much like Maeve her backstory has entirely too much going on to really follow at the moment. Basically she's a human who grew up in a sun elf city because Reasons (seriously, I don't know what they are) and was called to a clerical vocation and also something about taking a journey. Has an unfortunate case of silly boob armor, which unlike a certain other character probably won't be rectified this close to release.

Mages

Alden

Maren's precocious younger brother, also basically Ricken up to and including the comically oversized hat. As a unit he follows the tradition of Donnel, Mozu, and Cyril of having a personal skill that buffs his stat gains, so it's safe to say he's a growth unit. At least he'll probably join early.

Liberty

Comes with dead brother angst and a connection to the "aspects" system that will hopefully make more sense once I've played the game and know how it functions both mechanically and from a storytelling perspective. Otherwise she looks to be a busty older - as in, not a teenage - mage in the vein of Calill.

Monroe

Got the first ever character profile, so it's really short. He's the son of a duke and sounds like a bit of a snob, albeit one that can make explosions happen to back up his haughtiness. He's got some scarring around his eye that surely must come with a story. Someone also made featured fanart of him in Heroes summer banner style, so I guess he's got somebody horny already.

Sara

Samara's half-sister, with comparable fantasy Middle Eastern flavoring. Has an interest in discovering magical artifacts and being a just ruler in the event she winds up on the throne (so, almost definitely), and she and Samara travel around with the assassin Brooke as their bodyguard. There's maybe some lesbian possibilities there? Either way, Sara has enough development where I could see her as a major supporting character.

Sloane

Comes with a genuinely fascinating backstory involving manipulative double-crossing parents, an education in the cruelties and deceptions of social life (reflected in her personal skill), and disinheritance - and yet it's all likely to be overshadowed because she may go down as DD's equivalent to Fates's face-touching. Her initial art is even more revealing than Camilla's, and while the developers later gave her a more modest redesign after negative feedback I get the feeling that this controversy may live on. Her introduction mentions her hunting for both heirs and heiresses and she's now been linked to Sophia, so safe to say she's another confirmed bi character.

Adepts

While the other class sets are standard fantasy fare adepts require a bit more explanation. They have innate magical abilities and appear to be feared and distrusted most places in the setting. Functionally they remind me of adepts from the Golden Sun series, if anyone is familiar with those games. The classes in the adept group tend more toward physical/magical hybridization than those of other sets, so that will probably be their mechanical niche. Oh, and their default weapon type is lances, which is a plus in my book.

Aurima

Along with Caius and the royal sisters, he's another one from the desert nation of Aramor. An arena fighter who got touched by a god in what I assume was a non-sexual way and came out of it with a new appearance and adept powers. Also, he's confirmed to be over 40 - how often do you see that in games like this?

Bianca

Looks like a more carefree Mathilda from Echoes. She's a ranking officer in the Delian army which sounds like it'd sit uneasily with her adept powers. Her profile describes Lincoln as her close friend, which is still about the most we know about him at this point.

Elias

This guy's writing plays more into the fairly standard coding that comes with adept powers, as we know they manifested shortly before he was going to confess his feelings to a male paramour and afterwards he was forced to flee his homeland and wander the world. He also spent time among dwarves, so insert short bear jokes here? In the present he's attached to Cia in what seems to be a platonic way; maybe she's a fruit fly, or maybe she just likes having a friend who can light drunken assholes on fire? Elias is definitely into guys, but I would still be a little surprised if he turned out to be totally gay as that's such a rarity in these sorts of things.

Iris

Oof, another lengthy and rough backstory. Iris had better parents than Sloane, but she also had to deal with permanent facial scarring (hence the mask) after a bandit kidnapping and the stigma of manifesting as an adept pretty much eliminating the prospects of her making a good political marriage. Also, she and Elias both come from Neullais, which is prominently featured on the continental map on the DD subreddit but doesn't seem to come up all too often in backstories. I think it's a not!France? Hard to tell.

Thae'lanel

A World of Warcraft blood elf, flowing anime hair and apostrophe'd name and all. I like WoW so that's not terribly grating, but as he has no profile yet there's little else I can say. Thae'lanel is mentioned in Maeve's introduction as a member of a sun elf group called the Exiled, which I'm guessing is tied to his adept status in some way. He and Maeve form yet another adventurer/bodyguard duo.