Wynne
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Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Wynne on Feb 20, 2017 11:08:50 GMT
One thing I doubt was a conscious decision, but which stands out to me, is apparent--blonde-washing. Not just in DA, but this series does leap to mind since I've been playing it a lot lately, and since we've had 3 incarnations of two characters in particular. It seems to me that Cullen became increasingly blonder until he became a fully blonde LI in DAI, and that Alistair's faintly strawberry-esque hair grew redder after he ceased to be an option. It has me wondering whether it's perceived that people wouldn't want to romance a red-haired hero, considering how rare those are in general, even in fantasy where you see plenty of redheads, but not so many companions--especially not male. I don't like the weird gender-biased stereotypes that some people in society display, where red-haired women are super-sexy and fiery and red-haired males are just unappealing in every way. There are some really terrible and offensive stereotypes in certain parts of the world. I had to wonder if that affects character design in games. The advent of the Red Hot 100 (Googling that for you: www.google.com/search?q=Red+Hot+100&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjO7a_ElJ7SAhUFRiYKHe9jDzMQ_AUICSgC&biw=1920&bih=974 ) has done a lot to change the perception of redheads in the media, but personally, I've always kinda had a thing long before it became a trend, so DAI Alistair is just tormenting me no end. Somehow even more so as a Grey Warden than as King. (There is actually a mod to make Cullen red, but it also makes him look about 20 years older, and the red is way darker than it looked in DAO, so it's a no for demipurist me.) I personally think red hair is absolutely beautiful, and freckles are adorable, and I prefer natural skin tones at all times. (I cringe at skin-lightening creams, freckle erasers, and those gross fake orange tanners.) Whenever I hear a redhead repeat something negative about their appearance, I try to make it crystal clear that I feel quite differently. Frankly, I've always considered hatred of the MC1R gene to be no different from, and no better than, racism. If you don't get what I'm talking about because you've never seen any redjudice--great, awesome, but nevertheless there are lots of people who when interviewed (and you can find documentaries on Youtube) will say they could never consider a red-haired partner, not even necessarily because they don't like the color, but because they might have red-haired children who would be bullied in school or something crazy like that. While I loved that Solas's eyebrows were kinda reddish, I'd really love to see Bioware take the plunge and give us a full-on redhead. Maybe an elf, like that sassy violet-eyed Jethann from DA2. (Preferably with that same saucy Electric-Six-medieval-style attitude!) They've always been forward-thinking proponents of diversity, though I accept that if it's just me who would be delighted, I'll likely have to just shrug and watch the next parade of blondes and brunettes and baldies. Granted, character is always paramount. I know our sample size is going to be a bit on the small side, but I am still curious to have an idea--what do you think? Can you just not stomach a male redhead as an LI, do you not care either way, or would you actively enjoy a crimson-capped companion?
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lynroy
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Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by lynroy on Feb 20, 2017 11:55:46 GMT
What? Seriously?
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Andraste_Reborn
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Post by Andraste_Reborn on Feb 20, 2017 12:51:59 GMT
My Hawke already romanced Sebastian. *shrug*
Honestly, we could use more brunettes as well. We've had Alistair, Zevran, Anders, Cullen and Fenris, if we're counting unatural magical bleaching as 'blond'. Take out in Solas and Bull - who don't have much in the way of hair at all - and you're only left with Dorian and Blackwall.
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Post by Iddy on Feb 20, 2017 13:57:15 GMT
No more blond guys, please.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 14:08:58 GMT
No more blond guys, please. This guy gets it
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Post by Tekehu's booty on Feb 20, 2017 14:31:24 GMT
Redhair is good. Yes yes and yes.
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Post by Catilina on Feb 20, 2017 15:04:09 GMT
No more blond guys, please. I like blondes. On topic: and reds as well.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 15:31:33 GMT
My response is:
First of all, having hair at all is a step towards my liking the character.... I think red hair is attractive, but my personal preferences go with darker complexion, hair and eyes.
Then:
Yes, if he is Oriental, and dies his hair red... honestly, I'd just really want for once to be able to romance an Oriental guy if I am romancing a human.
OR
Indifferent, if he does look attractive & is a great character.
Tbh, to be called Blondie, Anders should have been... well, blondier.
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Post by vertigomez on Feb 20, 2017 16:36:27 GMT
Well, a redheaded male LI and a bald female LI (Safiya! Jack!!1) would balance things out, I suppose. Though I thought Sebastian had reddish auburn hair? Even Varric's chest hair is looking kinda strawberry blond in DAI.
But anyway: I don't particularly care. It's just a hair color. We could have all brunettes or baldies going forward and I wouldn't care.
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Post by MarilynRobert on Feb 20, 2017 17:17:37 GMT
Yes, and I'd actively prefer a Red Hot LI because they absolutely light my fire! Not Oghren though.
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Post by gervaise21 on Feb 20, 2017 20:18:29 GMT
I'd be happy with any hair colour and definitely hair because I'm not really attracted to bald, although that said I have romanced both Solas and Jack. To be honest face and physique and more important to me - I'd like an elf with a less emaciated look, like the Dalish hunk in the Core Rule Book. I find red hair attractive but not too many freckles. A copper beech type red or burnt orange rather than bright orange for preference but hair colour on its own doesn't put me off.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 20:25:46 GMT
Yes, and I'd actively prefer a Red Hot LI because they absolutely light my fire! Not Oghren though. What're you talking about Oghren is a goddamn player
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Post by MarilynRobert on Feb 20, 2017 20:34:42 GMT
Yes, and I'd actively prefer a Red Hot LI because they absolutely light my fire! Not Oghren though. What're you talking about Oghren is a goddamn player I'm pretty sure he smells bad.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 20:39:59 GMT
What're you talking about Oghren is a goddamn player I'm pretty sure he smells bad. It adds to his charm
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 22:07:21 GMT
Yeah, that would be nice to see...
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Wynne
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Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Wynne on Feb 20, 2017 23:49:38 GMT
My Hawke already romanced Sebastian. *shrug* Honestly, we could use more brunettes as well. We've had Alistair, Zevran, Anders, Cullen and Fenris, if we're counting unatural magical bleaching as 'blond'. Take out in Solas and Bull - who don't have much in the way of hair at all - and you're only left with Dorian and Blackwall. True, there was Sebastian! But he was auburn and tanned, a DLC character, and also chaste unless maybe you rivalmance him--but even then, it sounds like just an alliance with no real love and maybe no sex in it. More an... ambition-mance than a romance. Not being able to drive him wild and seduce him made me all like Wynne disapproves -100 You're right about the light-haired LIs thing! I actually kinda like it in the sense that most mediums I've seen seem to have this weird rule of, if there's ever a blond guy, any potential LI has to be at least as blonde as him, or blonder, so I can romance blonds as a brunette and subvert that weird cliche. But at the same time, when they're kind of ALL light-haired for the first two games, it gets... odd. The only ones we've had so far, discounting Fenris and Bull who were facially black-haired, have been one dashing gay man and one straight guy with a criminal past who let a dog die, both of whom had very pronounced facial hair, which is not for everyone. Great characters, but kinda limited in scope and who can have them. The more I think about it, we've had Leliana the LI, Scout Harding and Tallis the Sebastian-style LIs though Tallis at least had a kiss scene, and Aveline the angsty un-LI. The rest were black-haired. On the other hand, the only blonde female? Sera, limited to female PCs. Curious. We've also had the dusky-skinned black-haired Isabella and Josephine, but all males except maybe Iron Bull have been very caucasian. I love diversity, so I'd like to see more options for any PCs I make. In fact, I love diversity so much, I am totally gonna bang that monocle rat lobster thing. FOR SCIENCE!!! Really, after Thane and Garrus, it's not a stretch. Character does come first, after all, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be thrilled to see more visual differences--I totally would. If DA4 featured two male LIs available to female PCs, a pale and maybe freckled elven redhead and a dusky goateed Rivaini pirate, then assuming they're great characters, I would flip out from joy and have severe trouble choosing like I did with Fenris and Anders. My guy would chuckle endlessly at the puddle of sighs and squees I'd become. And that would be something Bioware has never done before--I can't recall them ever doing a male redhead or a truly dark-skinned male as an LI before; certainly not in their non-scifi projects. I'd love to see them go there.
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Post by Tekehu's booty on Feb 21, 2017 0:00:16 GMT
Yes, if he is Oriental, and dies his hair red... honestly, I'd just really want for once to be able to romance an Oriental guy if I am romancing a human. If we ever get a asian character to romance, I hope he is something like Ian Anthony Dale, I love that man
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Wynne
N2
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Wynne on Feb 21, 2017 0:08:59 GMT
I don't mind that red-haired women are portrayed as super-sexy & fiery. Nothing wrong with that. Red, brown, blond, black, bald, gray, white and any other color haired male LI's- sure all of these are good. You should change the indifferent line to: indifferent: it's the character that matters to me, not the hair color. *lol* Intelligent brunettes and fun blondes probably don't mind those stereotypes, either, but if you're a red-haired asexual woman with a calm temperament/a serious blonde/a somewhat dim brunette, it can probably get annoying to have people make assumptions about you. I mean, we're all more than the sum of our hair colors, of course! Sadly, I can't edit the poll now, I can only remove it--but that's essentially what I meant, for the record. I just didn't want to swamp people with an excess of options that might skew the range of results.
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Post by Catilina on Feb 21, 2017 1:41:16 GMT
My red Fallout sole survivor (the second one) My red Hawkes: my red Inquisitors:
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2017 1:55:03 GMT
Part of it is probably because red hair looks so bad in video games, and facial hair save for dark/black looks terrible. Though most facial hair in Bio games is horrid, the black stubble is passable. Any othe color stubble and brows look terrifyingly bad.
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Post by Catilina on Feb 21, 2017 1:58:10 GMT
Part of it is probably because red hair looks so bad in video games, and facial hair save for dark/black looks terrible. Though most facial hair in Bio games is horrid, the black stubble is passable. Any othe color stubble and brows look terrifyingly bad. I can agree with this. Bioware really bad at hairs and facial hairs.
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Post by Tekehu's booty on Feb 21, 2017 2:49:09 GMT
Catilina You are gifted in making Hawkes in Inquisition! your characters are very bangeable
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Post by Artemis on Feb 21, 2017 21:18:33 GMT
Red heads can be cute, same as any other color hair... I don't understand this poll.
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Post by Sifr on Feb 21, 2017 21:26:58 GMT
I wouldn't mind romancing the DA equivalent of Tormund Giantsbane.
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Post by BansheeOwnage on Feb 22, 2017 0:02:33 GMT
It is a bit odd that DA ended up with so many blonds available for women, and at the same time, ME didn't have any blonde women as romances. That's changing with Cora, so maybe DA will have a male redhead romance now, too? As for the poll, I voted for "Indifferent, character matters". In the past I would have voted for "Wouldn't romance a male, but happy to see it portrayed positively", but then Cullen happened And for real life, I'd never reject someone because of something as silly as hair colour I like freckles, and though I like brown/black/red hair more than blonde, it wouldn't be anything near a deal-breaker. That would be awfully dumb and I could miss out on someone awesome.
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