“I’m the one manifesting her humanity. Soulcalibur hasn’t done that...”
November 30, 2018 7:49 PM   Subscribe

The Inexplicable Sexiness Of Ivy Valentine [Kotaku] “From the first day I played Soulcalibur in the early 2000s up to playing Soulcalibur VI in the present day, I have felt every possible feeling about character Ivy Valentine’s tits and ass. Alienated. Angry. Sad. Jealous. Embarrassed. Bored. Horny. Amused. Jaded. Ivy hasn’t changed much throughout the life of the series, but I’ve changed my mind about her many times over the years.” [YouTube][Soul Calibur VI Character Trailer][History of Ivy Valentine]

• Finding the Truth Between the Male Gaze and Female Empowerment in Video Game Heroines [The Mary Sue]
“As a busty woman, I try not to hold sexy outfits against female characters as an inherent flaw because women with big chests exist, some like to be sexy and I don’t think having elements of tasteful fan service automatically means you can’t be a good character. Plus, I’ll admit it those styles of outfits were ones I gravitated towards as an insecure, awkward girl/teen. If I was an ultimate badass fighter like Black Canary or an alien princess who would shoot green fire from my hands like Starfire, I’d wear lingerie outside. Those women were my empowerment fantasies. Starfire especially because I loved how her sexy appearance belied a very innocent person. The problem is that these characters are being designed, mostly, by men and therefore the empowerment and pleasure I may have gotten out them, while valid for myself, is also dipped in the male gaze. The reality is they didn’t create Ivy with queer women in mind. They made her for straight men.”
• A Soulcalibur History Of Ivy Valentine’s Fashion Sense, Or Lack Thereof [Kakuchopurei]
“If this is your first time seeing this lady in action, you’re probably thinking whether her dress sense has a place in 2018. Yeah, Ivy’s outfit does leave little to the imagination but to be fair, her fashion sense has seen its low points in the past series. Plus, she wouldn’t be an iconic Soulcalibur character if she didn’t look like how she was and is now, snake sword and all. Even the fan wiki page stated so: “Since her first appearance, she has become one of the most recognizable and iconic characters in the franchise, mainly due to her snake sword, large breasts, revealing clothing, and silver hair. “To pay tribute to the return of Soulcalibur’s titular lady in purple, let’s take a look back at her outfits in past Soulcalibur games; from the late 90s until now. Set your cringe-o-meter to max, if you have to.”
posted by Fizz (11 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
I really liked SoulCaliber - 2 was the one when I was playing a lot - but it's hard not to be self-conscious about it with some of those character designs. Not that it's even the most sexualized fighting game.

Anyway, Ivy was never the one that really stood out to me in a bad way, because at least she's clearly an adult, and the dominatrix thing seems... I dunno, not the worst theme I've seen for a fighting game character?

(And the one I played was the one where she had the awesome pirate outfit.)
posted by atoxyl at 10:37 PM on November 30, 2018 [2 favorites]


My guy was Voldo, who has definitely also been taken as a queer icon.
posted by atoxyl at 10:43 PM on November 30, 2018 [8 favorites]


There is also a good Waypoint Radio podcast episode discussing this article.

They bring up the idea of representation. The hosts had recently watched The First Purge as part of another podcast. Most of the characters in that movie are people of color, which means there isn't just one black person who has to bear the scrutiny of every possible stereotype. You can have a character with potentially problematic elements (like Skeletor, who is violent and addicted to drugs) because he is not the only representative of the black community.

Similarly, the more female characters you have, the broader your possible range of representation. If all the female characters are hypersexualized, then of course women are going to identify with a hypersexualized character, because there are no other options.

It would be refreshing to have a wider palette of character designs to choose from.
posted by JDHarper at 8:04 AM on December 1, 2018 [3 favorites]


Similarly, the more female characters you have, the broader your possible range of representation.

With one big caveat: It's possible, but you also need to have creators who can empathize with women as people, and recognize that they have more variety than what kink they can satisfy.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 8:14 AM on December 1, 2018 [4 favorites]


I've always loved the Soul Calibur games, they're the only fighting games that actually feel fun for me to play. But I've always told my wife and friends that I wish they put as much effort into game modes as they did into boob physics.
posted by charred husk at 8:54 AM on December 1, 2018


The badass pirate style costumes from 1 and 2 should definitely make a return.

Soul Calibur was my jam back in the Dreamcast days, I'm kind of almost afraid to revisit it though to see what it's become.
posted by davros42 at 11:40 AM on December 1, 2018


I really liked Ivy's 2P outfit in SCII (the only one I've played). The 2P outfit from SCI also looks pretty cool.
posted by Canageek at 11:57 AM on December 1, 2018


I really liked Ivy's 2P outfit in SCII (the only one I've played). The 2P outfit from SCI also looks pretty cool.

I think I might still have an iso for the SCII gamecube port somewhere. I probably don't have an emulator for it anymore, but that's fixable.
posted by mikelieman at 12:14 PM on December 1, 2018


Something about the character design (face texture, movement style, body shape, voice pitch?) in GC SC2 made Ivy seem like she's a couple of decades older than the other female characters, which seemed oddly progressive at the time. Then some in game text takes pains to point out that, no, she's also supposed to be a teenager. Hrm...
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 4:47 AM on December 2, 2018


Then some in game text takes pains to point out that, no, she's also supposed to be a teenager. Hrm...


I just looked up some SoulCalibur wiki and it says she's officially 32, which is about what I thought.
posted by atoxyl at 10:34 AM on December 2, 2018 [1 favorite]


Huh. Well, there you go. A misremembering I've had in my head for 15 years. Kinda glad I read this thread now.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 1:39 PM on December 2, 2018


« Older Landry Lies   |   How High School Gamers Can Be Varsity Athletes Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments