Gender locked race?

[Duskane]

The ears are different bit hard to tell at a quick glance but they are definitely different

[MrKimper]

Yeah the ears are definitely different.

[Alesone]

I threw together some more screencaps in case it still wasn't the most clear. Definitely 3 different types, there's a difference to their overall shapes too, not just the tufts. I also suspect given the concept art that we'll be able to adjust the angle of the ears somewhat, likely in place of ear length like Lalafell/elezen have.

[artyport]

I’m pretty sure the ears will be like miqos in that they change with hair styles.

[Alesone]

I’m pretty sure the ears will be like miqos in that they change with hair styles.

Unlikely, actually. Most races have roughly the same number of "areas" they can customize. Elezen/lalafell can pick ear types and ear sizes. Au Ra and Miqo'te can pick tails and tail lengths. Hyur and Roegadyn have neither, and it's why they have muscle tone sliders instead. Viera have no tails to customize, and have been shown with 4 distinct ears in concept art labelled separately from the hairstyles. As a result, it's safe to assume that their additional customization option will be ear style, with either an ear size selection, or what I suspect will be an ear angle selection, since we have seen concept art for the same ear styles but at different angles.

[Gwenorai]

What did she say about the 'young elezen' type ears again which seems to be the focus of attention? Did she mention young elezen type body or was she specifically talking about the ears?

If so can - because I'm tired as heck - can someone do a compare on the size of the child elezen ears compared to the adult? I'm assuming the younger elezen has smaller ears, for which if turned upright to sit on top of the head would look extremely small when compared to the ears of an already seen female viera's ears. And of course all of the young elezen I've seen so far have the same ears due to the same model? They'd still be bigger than miqote ears, however. If this is right then the mane of hair would more than likely dominate the 'head' more than the ears. It should be noted that 'hares' have much smaller ears than rabbits and smaller limbs - on the other side they're a lot more muscular.

This of course, is me focusing on the fact she was simply using the 'young elezen' ears as a base mark for the ears... Not their body.

[MrKimper]

What did she say about the 'young elezen' type ears again which seems to be the focus of attention? Did she mention young elezen type body or was she specifically talking about the ears?

If so can - because I'm tired as heck - can someone do a compare on the size of the child elezen ears compared to the adult? I'm assuming the younger elezen has smaller ears, for which if turned upright to sit on top of the head would look extremely small when compared to the ears of an already seen female viera's ears. And of course all of the young elezen I've seen so far have the same ears due to the same model? They'd still be bigger than miqote ears, however. If this is right then the mane of hair would more than likely dominate the 'head' more than the ears. It should be noted that 'hares' have much smaller ears than rabbits and smaller limbs - on the other side they're a lot more muscular.

This of course, is me focusing on the fact she was simply using the 'young elezen' ears as a base mark for the ears... Not their body.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/373886703 specifically it's from right here.

[Alesone]

She was talking about customization options for Viera, talking about how they were making variants for the hairstyles to have bangs or no bangs, and then they showed floppy ears to which she confirmed floppy ears would be available. She then said the line that there was a variation that looked like a young elezen. Her words could also be translated to mean combination, not just variation, but that's the way the translator opted to translate it.

Viera already look like elezen, she was in all intents talking about customization features for the viera, and that with their faces and hair they could look like a young elezen (likely with bunny ears). This picture here already looks exactly like an elezen except with bunny ears:


We can also see from the Viera reveal trailer that they potentially have quite a diverse range of height available to them. We see a group of them standing together and the two in the back are quite significantly two very different heights despite appearing to be standing on the same elevation. So it's easy to see how picking a certain face and hair, and adjusting a height, one could easily look like a young elezen.

It really feels like people are jumping to conclusions regarding her comment to meaning there was some completely new subrace when that really isn't all that likely.

[artyport]

I think that people forget this is also kind of a performance for the team and that the translators use of words were probably already pre determined. It’s was a cute hint at something.

[Gwenorai]

Snip.

Ah, thank you! Then yes, it does seem like quite a jump to make regarding the young elezen variant then, at least in regards to a subrace.

There did seem to be a big difference in height with the Viera in the video, so the possibility of a larger height scale difference compared to most races? If Hrothgar is the 'male' version then I expect them to also have some sort of similar scale.

I think that people forget this is also kind of a performance for the team and that the translators use of words were probably already pre determined. It’s was a cute hint at something.

We can't go by that because it can be argued both ways; such as 'this is likely to be our last race' yet we have Hrothgar - or Yoshida's lines on 'gender locking'. And of course when asked about the male his words were to go look at the lore from the dramaturge which didn't give us an answer. So, eh, doubt they had the words predetermined - she was silenced for a reason and the poor woman was extremely nervous.