Equal Fanservice?

by Laura Organa Solo

Original Editorial: It's a Man's World

I've been following the various replies and rebuttals to "Wanted: Leading Ladies" but I haven't really felt the need to step in and state my opinion until reading "It's a Man's World" by ZealPropht, as I feel she either forgot or ignored the fact that some of her requests have already been filled.

As a female gamer, I too have noticed the frequent lack of strong, female leads overall. I think that this fact has been balanced out by many beloved and popular female leads, as previously stated by other writers of this subject: while weak as a fighter, Yuna is still a strong woman; although not necessarily the main character, Terra is no less incredibly powerful and as far as I have seen, almost universally loved; even if many consider her nothing more than eye candy, I still thought Lulu had quite a bit of presence and strength without seeming weak or wussy -- the fact that she was all but screaming "male fanservice" also means that there are few that dislike her; and no matter what anyone says, I still think Tifa was a fabulous female character: she was essentially the game's equivalent of a monk when it came to fighting and she was a rock of loyalty to all her friends.

The frustration ZealPropht expresses is more due to the long-standing character archetype Square and others picked up on: there is always the (mostly) masculine male lead that does some kind of physical fighting of some sort (Cloud, Squall, Zidane, Tidus, Dart from Legend of Dragoon, Fei from Xenogears etc.). The "primary female" if I may is always the love interest of the male lead and they are usually White Mage/ Summoner hybrids (Aeris, Rinoa, Garnet, Yuna, Shana, Elhayym), the strong, less feminine "back-up" chick that is usually more physical than the primary female (Tifa, Quistis, Freya to an extent, Lulu, Rose). Lulu is the one character that leads me to say "usuallyimore physical." Lastly there is the perky, happy-go-lucky, and occasionally ditzy tertiary female that is usually a bit younger than the rest and more and more often, the thief (Yuffie, Selphie, Eiko, Rikku, Meru).

When I think of all these characters and the people I've talked with, I can understand ZealPropht's annoyance with this archetype system: I would run out of fingers and toes before I finished counting all the times I heard someone say they couldn't stand Aeris and Rinoa for being, "emotional," "annoying," or just plain "lame" -- my husband and a girl friend both coincidentally named Rinoa "Bitch" in their FFVIII games. And don't get me started on all those times when I've argued with someone over whether or not Tifa is a "slut," usually because of the size of her chest.

Despite all the stereotypes though, there are still a number of tough female leads that stand out as strong leading ladies and as I said, it's been discussed and proved thoroughly.

What I think ZealPropht has forgotten about is how much female fanservice we recieve from Square. She asks,

"Why can't we ever have a fully dressed woman and a pretty-boy wearing a thong?"

We've had a number of fully dressed females in lots of video games! Yuna's outfit is like a virtual representation of the saying, "Less is more," Aeris covers up a ton (fanart doesn't count ^_^), the list goes on. And although it was not exactly a thong, I would say Kuja's codpiece and heavy eye make-up would more than qualify. The FF games have had lots and lots of gorgeous bishounen to balance out all the uninhibited girls: FFVI had a few good ones, FFVII is overflowing with them, FFVIII has several, let's not go into FFIX, and FFX has not just a couple of good bishounen but for once an attractive and *gasp* manly man.

So the next time you get tired of Lulu almost falling out of corset or the latest jiggle engine, just try to look forward to Final Fantasy XII: will we be treated with another beautiful white-haired villain with enough charm to make the previous one cry? Or perhaps another enigmatic half-breed with some other colorful hue of hair.