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R. Mika's popularity in Street Fighter is baffling
- Thread starter Goodstyle
- Start date
While not going to comment on the wrestler thing, what I am going to say is. Men looking sexy sometime doesn't stop, the objectification of women. The issue is that women tend to look sexy... and thats it. They don't get the plethora of options than men do. Street fighter does this, like cammy's consistant lack of pants. Not for her character, but for the viewer.
Also you post urien. But I find actually women tend to like the thinner taller characters with handsome faces, their tastes are more complicated than " this person is naked they must be for women ". I find that Yun, Yang, Cody, Remy, tend to be popular with the ladies . Its not all about muscley shirtlessmen. its why say free is so popular, swimmer bodies.
scoobidoo112
Member
R. Mika is awesome and there is nothing wrong with liking her.
DryEyeRelief
Member
...you're like the type of dude who looks at justin bieber or twilight and can't figure out why they're popular.
SixMachine
Member
He's a good lyricist and Twilight is a good love story, just like how R. Mika is a good character in A3.
Kappa
ohhthegore
Member
I can't wait for a Bishoujo statue of her
You're like the type of dude who got smacked in the face with a giant boating oar with the word "Sarcasm" scrawled on the side but still didn't get it.
DryEyeRelief
Member
Because you're comparing one of the freaks of 3s to Mika, a character someone earlier in the thread was going to masturbate to and attempting to act like they're one in the same? I think I get it.
And the remark "It's not like men are never objectified in anything." implies that Urien is fan service, not that Mika isn't. Tips from someone who does a lot of sarcastic posts himself.
Its cool how you can take the character with the huge ass and gigantic breasts and use it to try and dogwhistle your opponents to call them paedos. This comes up time and time again with japanese character designs
Are they hypersexualized? Or are the bait for pedophiles? Which is it? Youre contradicting yourself
You and me both. Been wanting a beard since man of steel, worked hard for the bod only to realize I can't grow a full beard...it was heart breaking.Augh seeing this bearded Ryu love makes me even more sad I can't grow a full beard.
ohhthegore
Member
Augh seeing this bearded Ryu love makes me even more sad I can't grow a full beard.
they are overrated anyways, only hipsters have them these days
djplaeskool
Member
TheChillyAcademic
Member
Now all you need is the bod!
Arc Christelle
Member
subjectivity and opinion. You need to learn to respect others taste. If people can like
, Mika fans are more than justified.
No offense
fans.
Blanka
No offense
Blanka
blitzkrieg184
Neo Member
You must not be very fun to hang out with.
The Lone Dragon
Member
Umm...people can masturbate to anything. I hope you aren't implying that that can be used as evidence for...anything, really.
ZeroGravity
Member
In a game full of beefed-up, impossibly-chiseled, overly-muscled men, how dare they introduce a female character with a hint of sexuality to her.
Jesus Lord
How come no one is bringing up this sexy ass beast. You ask me, I think some people had heart attacks when they saw this specimen today. He's showing more skin than she is.
What's Joel doing with Ryu's gi? :O
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
Beard Ryu is my current wallpaper.
Think I'll hold onto this for the rest of my life.
Funny, considering I didn't even like Ryu before.
Think I'll hold onto this for the rest of my life.
Funny, considering I didn't even like Ryu before.
The characters in Street Fighter are supposed to be some of the best fighters in the world, many of whom have dedicated their lives to contests of physical strength. Muscles = logical
Finaika
Member
But boobs is not?
PhineBuyM3
Member
What's baffling is that sexy female characters continue to be an eternal source of ass pain for some people. I'm not an avid SF player anymore, but my dad rented SFA3 for me when I was a kid and R. Mika was one of my favorite characters to play with back then. At the time I didn't think she was sexy, I thought she was a cool looking wrestling chick with funny moves. Now that I'm older, she's still all the things I mentioned, but she also excites my senses.
Just my personal opinion, but since Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter - the series which has served as a base inspiration for every fighting game ever created after it - has been around vaguely racist caricatures battling with ridiculous super powers. Each character has a theme to them and pushes it really hard, You're not supposed to take them seriously or think they have any depth, you're just supposed to pick the ones you like and enjoy using them.
Rainbow Mika isn't the first sexualised fighting game character and she certainly won't be the last, but since the genres creation, it's been full of that stuff.
I'm not really one to throw myself into debates on deep issues like misogyny, but I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that fighting games are dumb and people shouldn't take them seriously (on an aesthetic level, at least). No one of sound mind is going to look at a character like Rainbow Mika and think - "This is how all women should look, dress and act", but it doesn't mean that we can't see a character like her, appreciate the stupidity (creativity?) and laugh along instead of getting super serious about it all.
Personally, I'm still waiting for Cammy to realise that clothes exist for the lower-half of the body.
Rainbow Mika isn't the first sexualised fighting game character and she certainly won't be the last, but since the genres creation, it's been full of that stuff.
I'm not really one to throw myself into debates on deep issues like misogyny, but I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that fighting games are dumb and people shouldn't take them seriously (on an aesthetic level, at least). No one of sound mind is going to look at a character like Rainbow Mika and think - "This is how all women should look, dress and act", but it doesn't mean that we can't see a character like her, appreciate the stupidity (creativity?) and laugh along instead of getting super serious about it all.
Personally, I'm still waiting for Cammy to realise that clothes exist for the lower-half of the body.
not psycho
Member
They should all be fighting in jeans and jackets.
Seriously, I like Terry's design in theory, but not for Street Fighter. And Street Fighter is my favorite fighting game series partially because I love its design style, in which many fighters aren't wearing much.
When a character has an acrobatic fight style and flies all over the screen, it's gonna break suspension of disbelief when they wear jeans and a jacket. Gymnasts don't wear that. Boxers don't wear that. MMA fighters don't wear that. Olympic athletes don't wear that.
Vega is the character who clearly doesn't belong in Street Fighter. Puffy shirt and deadly blades? R. Mika and Cammy are both muscular, and would lose impact if they were covered up (along with making their moves harder to believe).
At least we got shirtless Ryu now, that bumps him up next to Cammy as the ones I want to play as.
But R. Mika has some pretty big damn muscles. Look at her legs and back.
It's not just Mika, all of the female characters in SF have muscles
It's the only fighter I can think of where the female characters are actually muscular. You'd expect the female characters in MKX to have some muscle detail, but they don't.
Point rebuked. Try again.
Just marry me already.
The thing with Vega is that he is batshit crazy (just look at that critical art), so he wears what he thinks is fashionable and beautiful disregarding logic.
Y'all turning this into a "hot women" thread is not helping Mika's case, tbh.
I like Mika a lot, but I feel like they should have gone in the other direction with her outfit. I'm kind of amazed that it ends up looking more revealing than what she had on before.
Yeah, she looks like a wrestler, but that costume would still be borderline by wrestling standards.
As it stands, I kinda think her tag partner has a better character design than she does.
I like Mika a lot, but I feel like they should have gone in the other direction with her outfit. I'm kind of amazed that it ends up looking more revealing than what she had on before.
Yeah, she looks like a wrestler, but that costume would still be borderline by wrestling standards.
As it stands, I kinda think her tag partner has a better character design than she does.
as a gay male who loves facial hair, i gotta say that it's the only thing i dislike about that skin. doesn't look right.
Oi oi oi, say what you want about Ivy's character design but Ivy has an awesome moveset and her chain whip sword is one of my most favourite types of weapons in games period.
Fun fact, I never paid attention to Ivy's boobs until waaaaaay later, probably around the time I had Internet that focused on that stuff, because I was so enamoured by her weapon.
I really don't see a problem here. Male gamers (a lot of them) can appreciate a good looking female playable character. If a character in game seems to cater to that, and ONLY that, then i don't have a problem with it. And obviously i'm not the only one. And as someone else said, we can also appreciate good looking male characters, regardless of your sexual orientation. I know i do.
Her outfit is over the top and crazy. And yes, it clearly caters to the male audience, especially with all that T&A. But i don't mind it. And i never will. Because it's a game.
Her outfit is over the top and crazy. And yes, it clearly caters to the male audience, especially with all that T&A. But i don't mind it. And i never will. Because it's a game.
MissDeviling
Member
Her design is unappealing, especially that shade of blue and the dumb pigtails. Basically as unattractive as El Fuerte is, and just as annoying. I have no problems with scantily clad female characters in SF (I love Elena, for instance), but R.Mika just rubs me the wrong way.
entremet
Member
Lol
NeloAnjelo
Member
I guess it's okay for the men to be half naked.
Just look at any magazine cover with a man on it... not necessarily fitness magazines, but women react and gawk at those... no one is complaining about that are they? I am an not complaining about either, just comparing reactions. Equal treatment and equality is what I think this should be about.
Ryu is revealing more than anyone else. Is that okay because he's a man? Is it wrong? These characters are hyper fantasy versions of reality. Nothing here is meant to be real. SF should be complimented for having strong characters of both sexes (played by both men and women) and variety of races being represented.
Just look at any magazine cover with a man on it... not necessarily fitness magazines, but women react and gawk at those... no one is complaining about that are they? I am an not complaining about either, just comparing reactions. Equal treatment and equality is what I think this should be about.
Ryu is revealing more than anyone else. Is that okay because he's a man? Is it wrong? These characters are hyper fantasy versions of reality. Nothing here is meant to be real. SF should be complimented for having strong characters of both sexes (played by both men and women) and variety of races being represented.
Snacks the sober sea lion
Member
There's nothing unusual about a shirtless martial artist. It's not really seen as sexualization, and I don't think most people would be able to explain what a sexualized male character even does or looks like. And overtly sexual male characters are generally played as a joke.
Dr Funfrock
Member
It's been a while since I played games like this but I guess most (all?) of current fighting games have some sort of fanservice character for young people both male or female as it makes a lot of sense sales-wise. Doesn't this usually come in the form of someone with tight or little clothes to attract males, or a really androgynous person for the women to like? While I highly doubt this was intended in SFII, it's a great sales tactic, and they're not going to change it. Can't really say Honda, Dhalsim and Blanka are particularly pretty to look at, but variety is a great thing in looks and more importantly playstyle, which is why these games have been so fun to play.
Ryu's alternative costume looks fantastic. I wasn't too sure at the choice of art-style at first, but it's really growing on me and I can't wait to play it.
(A slight derail but for anyone interested in the history of SF II, this is a really good read: http://www.polygon.com/a/street-fighter-2-oral-history)
Ryu's alternative costume looks fantastic. I wasn't too sure at the choice of art-style at first, but it's really growing on me and I can't wait to play it.
(A slight derail but for anyone interested in the history of SF II, this is a really good read: http://www.polygon.com/a/street-fighter-2-oral-history)
It seems strange to me that R. Mika has caused so much discussion. Most people were either
a) interested in SFV and enjoyed the character reveals
or
b) not interested in SFV and ignored most of the press, going about their merry way
but suddenly R. Mika has generated a lot of attention from people who
1) will never play SFV
2) don't care about fighting games in general
3) are only interested in using R. Mika as a jumping off point to talk about sexualized female character design.
#3 is all well and good, but I think it's important to keep in mind that most of the discussion focuses on her revealing outfit rather than
a) The subculture / fandom of female wrestling in Japan (which has always been ludicrously sexualized)
b) The generally exuberant / positive / fun attitude R. Mika displays that could be considered empowering and body positive.`
Personally I think it's a fun and silly character added to a fun and silly franchise...
a) interested in SFV and enjoyed the character reveals
or
b) not interested in SFV and ignored most of the press, going about their merry way
but suddenly R. Mika has generated a lot of attention from people who
1) will never play SFV
2) don't care about fighting games in general
3) are only interested in using R. Mika as a jumping off point to talk about sexualized female character design.
#3 is all well and good, but I think it's important to keep in mind that most of the discussion focuses on her revealing outfit rather than
a) The subculture / fandom of female wrestling in Japan (which has always been ludicrously sexualized)
b) The generally exuberant / positive / fun attitude R. Mika displays that could be considered empowering and body positive.`
Personally I think it's a fun and silly character added to a fun and silly franchise...