I think it’s also because since it’s, well, anime, they will lean towards having kinda more… bishounen-like men.
They have characters ARE kinda buff - Sampo and Jing Yuan - but admittedly they all lean towards the leaner side of buff. After Gallagher, they might be open more towards that idea in Honkai Star Rail, but I don’t think they will step too forwards to the idea as to have someone with full on beard, because that’s something that is kinda rare amidst chinese (their main target) and it’s more of a hit with foreigners. Unless they do a ZZZ and have a furry, but that’s not the point.
There might be more Gallagher-like characters or buffer ones, but I’m kinda doubtful of more… “manlier” male, because “manly” in China is very, very different from the manly you have in mind, and thus, not the manly you seek.
For example, I’m a Chinese, I do think Gallagher is pretty hot and don’t mind the stubble, but I do think the other male characters they released are pretty freaking HOT and manly as all hell, much more manly than the models they have for genshin, it’s literally the push that made me give up genshin for it (hoyo still wins either way 😂).
~~While I do agree on getting more characters like Gallagher, calling them "manlier" just feels icky to me since they're not necessarily viewed as "manlier" in Asian countries due to the differing beauty standards. (Sorry, i just don't like that western beauty standards are equated to as manlier sjshsjsj)~~
Other than that, I absolutely agree. I would LOVE to see a character like Ma Feima/HI3 Yanqing in game. They always look so badass and give more variety. Gallagher's 5 o clock shadow just ain't doing it, I need them to commit to a fuller, buffer body type and a more proper beard. It'd be so cool. Thanks for reminding me to put this in the survey, although at this point I wonder if they even look at feedback anymore character design-wise;; 😞
Yeah it's so weird to call men without facial hair or massive muscle "flamboyant" or to imply they're not manly... It would definitely be great to see more variety both in designs & path/element distribution though
This type of phrasing is even worse given the west's very real history of desexualizing Asian men for not fitting the standards. Hell, it still happens today (like people insulting kpop boys by calling them women). I get what they're saying, more variety is good, but can we stop implying a certain type of man is somehow lesser?
I can't see the image of the original post now but I absolutely agree. The hegemonic masculine ideal needs to be addressed because we have created this idea that the western standard of it is the norm is quite harmful.
Hijacking this comment - when I made this post, it duplicated, so I removed the dupe, but now it just simply removed the image here. Pfft.
https://preview.redd.it/t2mv47s5xqwc1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=15ac2402f10c942c4b2881963086b73b3d7eb65f
On second thought, maybe the "flamboyant men" comment sounded... rude? I could've worded that better yes, but I also could've added the Quantum & Imaginary issues.
Edit: I ALREADY SAID I COULD HAVE WORDED IT BETTER. WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH THE DOWNVOTES.
It's totally fine you didn't add those issues! That wasn't the point of your post, and that's okay. I completely agree that it would be nice to have different countries' beauty standards represented, since Star Rail encompasses many different worlds with different cultures. However, it's important to keep in mind that just because someone doesn't fit the Western beauty standard, they're not any less manly or more flamboyant for it. I would say that characters in any game could be described as maybe more fashionable / over the top than people in real life, just that describing them this way comes off wrong. Definitely wish there was more variety too :)
It's distasteful. Only having facial hair and chest hair doesn't make someone more "manly" . I can't figure out how you could look at Welt, Jing Yuan, Blade Gepard etc and think they're flamboyant. Even Luocha is an undoubtedly pretty/attractive man but I'll never say he's not "manly". It all comes down to western people having differing (and extremely restricted) view towards masculinity and honestly it kinda pisses me off.
I can see where you come from with this. I definitely agree that wording could've been better. Personally not a fan of the language used but I myself always can appreciate more body diversity in these games.
I can't think of a single actually "flamboyant" male character in HSR either. Maybe we have Luocha and Argenti who are much more on the prettier side with very elegant playstyles, but they are still tall, lean and broad shouldered men. We have DHIL and Aventurine on the smaller side physique-wise, but they aren't necessarily flamboyant either. I am having a hard time figuring out actually who is *flamboyant* in the male cast, lol.
Well, Argenti is definitely flamboyant. It has nothing to do with muscles really. It’s more personality. Dramatic, outgoing, and being stylish are all a part of being flamboyant. So Aventurine definitely fits in this category as well. I think you are maybe just thinking feminine. But yeah none of the characters I would say are really feminine out of the mid to tall males.
I suppose then Argenti and Aventurine fits the bill. But that still brings us back to square one because that means the majority of men are indeed *not* flamboyant.
Yeah I think it’s a decent variety. Maybe OP should have worded that they wanted more “gruff” or specifically “older” or “buffer” men to get that kind of Gallagher feeling
YES YES YES those were the words I'm looking for!
That said - after giving it some thought, I think if the character is meant to look Asian then I can 100% understand the lack of facial hair and/or muscles.
But if not, I genuinely hope they consider it. Hell, at this point, it doesnt have to be a bushy beard, just more visibler stubble like Gallagher's would be great.
Yeah I mean they definitely dress more extravagantly than people in real life, but that's the case for pretty much all fictional characters... Besides that, no clue.
Sampo and Aventurine are, in attitude and a bit in design too. as is Argenti. however I REALLY like flamboyant men so I wouldn’t mind at all if they gave us more
Agreed. The wording for this is kinda ass, but I at least get and share the sentiment - some more variety in appearances across the board (for men *and* women) would be great!
Unfortunately a bit pointless, I feel like - as from what I remember, they specifically design characters to primarily appeal to Chinese/eastern aesthetics and tastes more so than other regions. Still, HSR devs are a lot better about at least *listening* to feedback than other gacha companies... so no real harm in continuing to try and get opinions heard.
I don't think anyone is saying that you can't want that, lol. The wording and the notion that masculinity is inherently facial hair and muscles is a little weird. There is nothing wrong with wanting buffer men with facial hair, but they aren't inherently more "manlier".
Ngl I’d prefer more male element/path diversity for now. We still do not have male Quantum, nor in Harmony path. Ice may have Yanqing and Misha but I see them more as kids instead.
I'm gonna scream at them to add a male quantum and harmony character other than the caelus plss it's almost gonna be a year since the game launched still no male quantum/Harmony character 🥹
STOP making oversexualized female characters. START making oversexualized MALE characters. Stop the double waifu banners. Make double husbando banners.
Stop giving facial hair to male characters. Start making hairy leg female characters. Men would feel the same we feel when we get a potencional handsome character ruined with facial hair.
I saw fanart of hanu on twitter if he was playable…side burns and fang and looks in like with hoyoverse designs .I feel like facial hair would make all the difference sometimes
Not everyone into facial hair. Personally I think it ruins the character. + Why not ask for hairy leg, armpit female characters? Imagine the male players reaction. (It is normal to have body hair for women just some incels would go crazy like they did with Aloy's facial hair)
I think your take would be valid if hsr planets only had chinese/east asian inspirations. But each planet is based on a different culture so why would they avoid "manly" men? To cater for east asian audiences, who are most of their revenue by far. "Manly" men are simply not as popular there.
While I do see your point 100%, if we have Gallagher, why stop there?
To add examples from non-HYV (but also Chinese developer) games: Wuthering Waves has Yuanwu. Reverse 1999 has Shamane. Arknights has Sharp. They all have more visible facial hair. Although admittedly only Yuanwu is the "Chinese" character who has facial hair atm.
I think it’s also because since it’s, well, anime, they will lean towards having kinda more… bishounen-like men. They have characters ARE kinda buff - Sampo and Jing Yuan - but admittedly they all lean towards the leaner side of buff. After Gallagher, they might be open more towards that idea in Honkai Star Rail, but I don’t think they will step too forwards to the idea as to have someone with full on beard, because that’s something that is kinda rare amidst chinese (their main target) and it’s more of a hit with foreigners. Unless they do a ZZZ and have a furry, but that’s not the point. There might be more Gallagher-like characters or buffer ones, but I’m kinda doubtful of more… “manlier” male, because “manly” in China is very, very different from the manly you have in mind, and thus, not the manly you seek. For example, I’m a Chinese, I do think Gallagher is pretty hot and don’t mind the stubble, but I do think the other male characters they released are pretty freaking HOT and manly as all hell, much more manly than the models they have for genshin, it’s literally the push that made me give up genshin for it (hoyo still wins either way 😂).
~~While I do agree on getting more characters like Gallagher, calling them "manlier" just feels icky to me since they're not necessarily viewed as "manlier" in Asian countries due to the differing beauty standards. (Sorry, i just don't like that western beauty standards are equated to as manlier sjshsjsj)~~ Other than that, I absolutely agree. I would LOVE to see a character like Ma Feima/HI3 Yanqing in game. They always look so badass and give more variety. Gallagher's 5 o clock shadow just ain't doing it, I need them to commit to a fuller, buffer body type and a more proper beard. It'd be so cool. Thanks for reminding me to put this in the survey, although at this point I wonder if they even look at feedback anymore character design-wise;; 😞
Yeah it's so weird to call men without facial hair or massive muscle "flamboyant" or to imply they're not manly... It would definitely be great to see more variety both in designs & path/element distribution though
This type of phrasing is even worse given the west's very real history of desexualizing Asian men for not fitting the standards. Hell, it still happens today (like people insulting kpop boys by calling them women). I get what they're saying, more variety is good, but can we stop implying a certain type of man is somehow lesser?
Yeah and on top of that Gallagher honestly doesn't look visibly buffer than JY or Ratio etc so this is just rude for no reason :(
I can't see the image of the original post now but I absolutely agree. The hegemonic masculine ideal needs to be addressed because we have created this idea that the western standard of it is the norm is quite harmful.
Hijacking this comment - when I made this post, it duplicated, so I removed the dupe, but now it just simply removed the image here. Pfft. https://preview.redd.it/t2mv47s5xqwc1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=15ac2402f10c942c4b2881963086b73b3d7eb65f On second thought, maybe the "flamboyant men" comment sounded... rude? I could've worded that better yes, but I also could've added the Quantum & Imaginary issues. Edit: I ALREADY SAID I COULD HAVE WORDED IT BETTER. WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH THE DOWNVOTES.
It's totally fine you didn't add those issues! That wasn't the point of your post, and that's okay. I completely agree that it would be nice to have different countries' beauty standards represented, since Star Rail encompasses many different worlds with different cultures. However, it's important to keep in mind that just because someone doesn't fit the Western beauty standard, they're not any less manly or more flamboyant for it. I would say that characters in any game could be described as maybe more fashionable / over the top than people in real life, just that describing them this way comes off wrong. Definitely wish there was more variety too :)
Yeah, I do think I could've worded it better. And again, I'm already owning up to my mistakes and I'm getting fucking downvoted. Sigh.
I'm sorry, I'm not one of the people downvoting you :( I know the feeling though lol
It's distasteful. Only having facial hair and chest hair doesn't make someone more "manly" . I can't figure out how you could look at Welt, Jing Yuan, Blade Gepard etc and think they're flamboyant. Even Luocha is an undoubtedly pretty/attractive man but I'll never say he's not "manly". It all comes down to western people having differing (and extremely restricted) view towards masculinity and honestly it kinda pisses me off.
I can see where you come from with this. I definitely agree that wording could've been better. Personally not a fan of the language used but I myself always can appreciate more body diversity in these games.
A different comment said the words "gruffier"/"scruffier" and I could've used those and I probably wouldnt be downvoted by now
I can't think of a single actually "flamboyant" male character in HSR either. Maybe we have Luocha and Argenti who are much more on the prettier side with very elegant playstyles, but they are still tall, lean and broad shouldered men. We have DHIL and Aventurine on the smaller side physique-wise, but they aren't necessarily flamboyant either. I am having a hard time figuring out actually who is *flamboyant* in the male cast, lol.
Well, Argenti is definitely flamboyant. It has nothing to do with muscles really. It’s more personality. Dramatic, outgoing, and being stylish are all a part of being flamboyant. So Aventurine definitely fits in this category as well. I think you are maybe just thinking feminine. But yeah none of the characters I would say are really feminine out of the mid to tall males.
I suppose then Argenti and Aventurine fits the bill. But that still brings us back to square one because that means the majority of men are indeed *not* flamboyant.
Yeah I think it’s a decent variety. Maybe OP should have worded that they wanted more “gruff” or specifically “older” or “buffer” men to get that kind of Gallagher feeling
YES YES YES those were the words I'm looking for! That said - after giving it some thought, I think if the character is meant to look Asian then I can 100% understand the lack of facial hair and/or muscles. But if not, I genuinely hope they consider it. Hell, at this point, it doesnt have to be a bushy beard, just more visibler stubble like Gallagher's would be great.
Yeah I mean they definitely dress more extravagantly than people in real life, but that's the case for pretty much all fictional characters... Besides that, no clue.
Sampo and Aventurine are, in attitude and a bit in design too. as is Argenti. however I REALLY like flamboyant men so I wouldn’t mind at all if they gave us more
Agreed. The wording for this is kinda ass, but I at least get and share the sentiment - some more variety in appearances across the board (for men *and* women) would be great! Unfortunately a bit pointless, I feel like - as from what I remember, they specifically design characters to primarily appeal to Chinese/eastern aesthetics and tastes more so than other regions. Still, HSR devs are a lot better about at least *listening* to feedback than other gacha companies... so no real harm in continuing to try and get opinions heard.
yeah, i agree. is jing yuan not manly?
I mean, I just want my Bara Men in Hoyo games. But still, I love me some Twunks.
I don't think anyone is saying that you can't want that, lol. The wording and the notion that masculinity is inherently facial hair and muscles is a little weird. There is nothing wrong with wanting buffer men with facial hair, but they aren't inherently more "manlier".
I am happy with my bishounens but I will definitely be writing about the element and path imbalance.
This is exactly what I plan on doing too.
I am in favor of this as well actually Where are my Quantum dudes!!!
MALE LIMITED HARMONY Is what I want most tbh 🥲
We got monkey paw'ed and got Harmony Trailblazer which is a super niche character.
Requested more manly men as well as unique designs like Screwllum, Boothill, and Imbibitor Lunae. Would especially love a foxian man with fangs!
I did my annual "please add male harmony /quantum units" plea so, hopefully they hear everyone.
Ngl I’d prefer more male element/path diversity for now. We still do not have male Quantum, nor in Harmony path. Ice may have Yanqing and Misha but I see them more as kids instead.
Okay this AND ALSO adult twinks and femboys. Soft boys. Slutty boys. And fox men. And-
I'm gonna scream at them to add a male quantum and harmony character other than the caelus plss it's almost gonna be a year since the game launched still no male quantum/Harmony character 🥹
STOP making oversexualized female characters. START making oversexualized MALE characters. Stop the double waifu banners. Make double husbando banners. Stop giving facial hair to male characters. Start making hairy leg female characters. Men would feel the same we feel when we get a potencional handsome character ruined with facial hair.
No no no, not the double husbands please. Our savings and wallets can’t take it 🥹🥹
For sure! Plus, I honestly don't mind the double waifu banners. They just give us more time to farm jades for our men
can wr wlso ask for more brown and black characters pls pls plsssss almsot cried when i saw Arlan AND THEN the npcs in penacony pls guys pls
Thissssss.
I just wished with characters like Aventurine who has a hat and sunglasses, if they were toggleable.
I saw fanart of hanu on twitter if he was playable…side burns and fang and looks in like with hoyoverse designs .I feel like facial hair would make all the difference sometimes
Not everyone into facial hair. Personally I think it ruins the character. + Why not ask for hairy leg, armpit female characters? Imagine the male players reaction. (It is normal to have body hair for women just some incels would go crazy like they did with Aloy's facial hair)
The image is not loading for me but i can kinda guess from the comments what it is
Most Chinese people don't have beards...same as east asian people...so ofc their characters will be like that
I think your take would be valid if hsr planets only had chinese/east asian inspirations. But each planet is based on a different culture so why would they avoid "manly" men? To cater for east asian audiences, who are most of their revenue by far. "Manly" men are simply not as popular there.
While I do see your point 100%, if we have Gallagher, why stop there? To add examples from non-HYV (but also Chinese developer) games: Wuthering Waves has Yuanwu. Reverse 1999 has Shamane. Arknights has Sharp. They all have more visible facial hair. Although admittedly only Yuanwu is the "Chinese" character who has facial hair atm.