Viera male design poll

[Lauront]

It's in the OP:

Ultimately, the final decision is down to SE as to whether to add them and how to make them look, but I thought to create a poll here to see what the overall forum sentiment is.

If people get hyped, that's on them, not me.

In any case, SE are reviewing feedback on the matter at present. This is just that. They can choose to ignore it, factor it in, do further research, whatever.

[Theodric]

I'd suggest posting it on Reddit, too, though...everything there seems to get downvoted these days.

[Canadane]

Is there a "I'm okay with the current design choice of no male playable Viera" option?

[Beki_Bayaqad]

Is there a "I'm okay with the current design choice of no male playable Viera" option?

No. There isn't.

[Lauront]

Is there a "I'm okay with the current design choice of no male playable Viera" option?

No, but there is a "go to a thread devoted to the topic of genderlocks" option. Such as this.

[Tizzy_Tormentor]

You forgot to add this woodland assassin to your poll.

I would like this if only because an inverse of the Au Ra would be a fun addition to the race selection and male bunnies are smaller than female ones, so it would even make sense.

But people keep snidely insisting that anyone who wants that is a creep, so that's off the table.

[Theodric]

I imagine they insist as much because it is creepy. Given how the Viera women look, it'd come across as very predatory for them to mate with men who physically resemble children. Then there's the awkward implications of the men being forced to live in isolation in the forest. If they resemble adult men it isn't nearly so uncomfortable in its implications as it is if they resemble children.

Furthermore, only some species of bunnies conform to the women being bigger than the men and the difference in size isn't particularly drastic. Judging by the poll, though, there's luckily very little appetite for the men to resemble that image.

[Lauront]

Also covered that here:

If people want that, there is the recourse of creating a separate poll for a distinctive subrace designed along those lines. Or just pick "considerably slimmer" and "more than a head shorter"...

[Iscah]

I would like this if only because an inverse of the Au Ra would be a fun addition to the race selection and male bunnies are smaller than female ones, so it would even make sense.

But people keep snidely insisting that anyone who wants that is a creep, so that's off the table.

I do like the concept art for the "small and cute" male Viera, as a design on its own, but there's an important thing to remember - it's not an isolated design. The full image has it paired with an equally small and cute female character. They make sense as a pair, visually, and they're clearly either children or a completely separate concept for Viera - most likely filling the "size gap" between Lalafells and the shorter 'human-sized' characters.

The female Viera we ultimately got are nothing like the counterpart for this design, so at this point I don't think it should be counted as "an official concept" that they might still be considering. It was valid when we didn't know what either gender would look like in this game, but that is no longer the case.

The only male concept we've seen paired with the now-official female design is the (much-posted) taller "warrior" concept art. They suit each other, but the tall female and cute male might as well be different races. The two sets of designs are unlikely to be intended as interchangeable.

[Tizzy_Tormentor]

I imagine they insist as much because it is creepy. Given how the Viera women look, it'd come across as very predatory for them to mate with men who physically resemble children. Then there's the awkward implications of the men being forced to live in isolation in the forest. If they resemble adult men it isn't nearly so uncomfortable in its implications as it is if they resemble children.

They don't even have to resemble children, just short men, if this is a problem, then sure you would agree the Au Ra are a particularly egregious offender? Given how the males stand much taller than their females, who barely stand 5 feet tall, where the males can stand a whopping 7 feet tall. Also, given how small and dainty the females are, its still canon they are still powerful warriors, particularly the Xaela, who are far stronger than they look, its not too much of a stretch to assume shorter guys could survive in isolation.
A lot of the argument hinges on them looking like children, I would argue that an inverse of the Au Ra would be neat, with the males standing around where female au ra would, with them just being shorter men, not children.

I do like the concept art for the "small and cute" male Viera, as a design on its own, but there's an important thing to remember - it's not an isolated design. The full image has it paired with an equally small and cute female character. They make sense as a pair, visually, and they're clearly either children or a completely separate concept for Viera - most likely filling the "size gap" between Lalafells and the shorter 'human-sized' characters.

A fair point, we know nothing of how they will look other than a vague idea, so its interesting to talk and discuss, its not like talking about them having a differing body type is going to hurt anyone. These kind of things go through a fairly lengthy conceptual period, where very early art can depict something drastically different from the finished product, look no further than the Au Ra, whose old concept art depicts them as uniquely demonic and bestial looking, very different from how they actually came to be, still an interesting point of discussion, given how the males could look very different to how anyone is expecting them to, given how its apparently impossible to tell what gender a viera is until they are much older, making it more interesting to talk about.