Quote Originally Posted by stormygabe View Post
Wouldn't it also be pandering if they were muscular and..."classically handsome?" I doubt they'd make them look like Alphinaud and I doubt they'd make them short. But to say that making them one way is pandering would also imply the same for the opposite. Fierce warriors of the forest need not be enormous beefcakes. And finally, I take them to be more akin to mystical wood elves than hulking barbarians. I mean...the Elezen are pretty thin and "pretty" but a lot of them are portrayed as being tough and manly. (Estinien anyone? And who can forget Aymeric?) With the way the ladies are portrayed, I can't see the men being that much different.

Edit: I also want to add another non-FF example of tribal, fierce forest people. The Na'vi! They have the same "living with nature hearing nature's voice warrior" thing going as the Viera do. The guys in that universe are every bit as rough and tough as you'd expect them to be, but they're still pretty wispy. Nevertheless, I doubt you'd want to get into a tussle with one of them.
It wouldn't be pandering. Players in this game aren't exactly starved for the short, slender and androgynous aesthetics. Miqo'te and Midlander Hyur can be designed to be very short, androgynous or feminine with the right options. Every other hairstyle added to the game these days is also very feminine or androgynous in nature with some exceptions. It's a myth that players who favour masculine aesthetics have it better.

Reading between the lines, some of what is being requested is also legitimately creepy - and some of the visual examples of fan art only serve to solidify that view in my mind.

So rather than appease the fairly small crowd that wishes for them to resemble children or young teenagers, I think the developers would appeal to a broader audience by making them at least somewhat muscular.

Those who want to play a slender character can push for more customisation options elsewhere if they so wish. Viera men don't need to conform to child-like, androgynous or feminine aesthetics.