What would a female power fantasy character look like?

[mental_looney]

For me it's not muscles using intelligence is the real power, femshep for me is good and diplomatic and willing to take risks for the right things, but isnt a cold man hating ***** which seems to be all too often a characteristic for strong female characters.

 

[LiquidGrape]

BioWare is very good at providing equal power fantasy opportunities, and Lady Hawke of Dragon Age II fame is, in my opinion, their best realised female equivalent to date.

Spoiler: Her design alone oozes a kind of integrity which *very* few female characters in games are permitted.

 

[Manji187]

If one looks beyond games and comics, there is always Buffy.

 

[Charisma]

I might take all the theories offered in threads like these and distill out two simple words, independence and confidence. Man or woman, you have to respect a person who doesn't need the approval of anyone.

I might do that, but then I might realize that's just as stupid, flawed, and narrow as anything else. What I really think is what's already been said a couple times and gotten no attention, that it's not a gender issue at its core. It's a human issue, that may or may not have some gender-related caveats attached to it. I believe there may be a single paragraph, or even a single phrase, that encapsulates it nicely, but I'm not smart enough to think of it.

 

[LilithSlave]

BioWare is very good at providing equal power fantasy opportunities, and Lady Hawke of Dragon Age II fame is, in my opinion, their best realised female equivalent to date.

Spoiler: Her design alone oozes a kind of integrity which *very* few female characters in games are permitted.

I agree, this is a good example of a character who is at the very least, drawn more to look capable than for sex appeal.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Spoiler: Jennifer from Primal was the first video game character that made me feel like she was made as a proper female character and and not just male fanservice.

FemShep and FemHawke are good examples too but I'm not sure if they count because they were first written as guys.

BioWare is very good at providing equal power fantasy opportunities, and Lady Hawke of Dragon Age II fame is, in my opinion, their best realised female equivalent to date.

Spoiler: Her design alone oozes a kind of integrity which *very* few female characters in games are permitted.

I agree, this is a good example of a character who is at the very least, drawn more to look capable than for sex appeal.

Yeah she looks like she there for herself not posing for the lads. I was really happy that my female agent in TOR has femHawkes voice. I liked Hawke as a character even if the rest of the game was a bit meh.

In fact I think that picture of FemHawke should be shown whenever they ask how women want to be portrayed.

 

[Minjoltr]

It depends how you define power - whether you mean raw strength, in which case, any female power character will be a male power character in a different body, or something more abstract.

I don't know if it's a British phenomenon or something which exists elsewhere too but over here we have something called the Battleaxe - Intimidating women who do not have to resort to physical strength to be effective. Examples include Professor McGonagal, Molly Weasley, Granny Weatherwax, Ma Lillywhite and Margaret Thatcher. Women like Anna Wintour may also fit. They don't need to be muscular, gun-toting martial-arts experts to be powerful.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

Fems Shep and Hawke come about as close as I think we've been - simply because they were first written male, and then replaced with female without removing any of the power elements - power is power regardless of what gender is wielding it and kicking serious ass isn't exclusively a male power fantasy.

However, if there was a study done, I suspect it would find a tendency towards masters of manipulation in fem games - lots of maxing cunning right away and picking diplomatic options and/or karma powered special dialog options to avoid conflict or gain greater rewards through dialog when possible. Yes, fighting is always going to happen and kicking butt when it does is key, but when you can just make people do what you need or want them to by intimidation or persuasion, that's always fun too (for me, fem player) and I usually say to the screen "Yup, because you better listen to me or it's a whuppin."

Power and influence balanced out, I think I'd go for influence most times, given the choice, because that's a power I'm more familiar with.

 

[DrgoFx]

I don't see them here, but then again I skimmed.

Ellen Ripley from the Aliens franchise, played by Sigourney Weaver. This character is phenomenal. She's just as "badass" as the other guys on the ship and can hold her own, she doesn't dress herself in full body armor, nor skimpy clothes. She's logical, practical and knows how to fire a gun. Win. Hell, she fucking saves a girl.

Spoiler

Video game wise? Hmm...Sheik. Sheik from Legend of Zelda. Hell, I'll just say Zelda. The fact she desguises herself as Sheik makes her a pretty strong character and not your typical damsel in distress.

Spoiler

Comics, I would say Stephanie Brown, as absurd as that may sound. Her original hero identity is The Spoiler, and is actually a lot more interesting than the title makes her sound. She then takes the name Robin and rather forcefully to be on Batman's side. She's then the 6th Batgirl and through all of this, she's still a pretty strong female character, very independent but also a bit teasing, mainly with Tim Drake since they kind of had a thing. But that's beside the point.

Spoiler

Also. This is pretty funny with Stephanie.

Spoiler

 

[ChupathingyX]

In fact I think that picture of FemHawke should be shown whenever they ask how women want to be portrayed.

Yeah, but she is leaning to her side to show her curvy hips.

Ginchiyo tachibana from the Samurai Warriors series I believe is a better example of "fully armoured female ready to kick ass"...

Spoiler: Samurai Warriors 2

Spoiler: Samurai warriors 3

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

In fact I think that picture of FemHawke should be shown whenever they ask how women want to be portrayed.

Yeah, but she is leaning to her side to show her curvy hips.

Ginchiyo tachibana from the Samurai Warriors series I believe is a better example of "fully armoured female ready to kick ass"...

Spoiler: Samurai Warriors 2

Spoiler: Samurai warriors 3

I like the first picture but I'm sure a lot of people would have a problem with the pink. It's suggest that she shouldn't be taken seriously.

I think the femHawke picture is awesome because she looks powerful,attractive and mature. Someone you can respect. Also I like her jeans.

 

[Nyaoku]

In short - Fem-Shepard. *shrugs* Also, Samus might be another example as long as we're talking before the whole strip-tease with the suit thing.

 

[Safe in the Dark]

Well, I'm seven shades of wapanese, so I'd probably say:

Lightning(Top image) isn't scantly dressed, and isn't designed for massive boobies, plus she punches Snow, and every other cast member a lot, and is the lead.

Saber(middle image) is pretty much the strongest Servant that isn't archer or Berserker, plus she's king Arthur.

And Makise Kurisu (CHRISUUUUTINA~~(bottom image if not already obvious) is powerful in the sense that she's smart, and outwitted Okabe, and her dad, and was a well respected Scientist.

These are just opinions, and like I said, using the wrong western use of the word, I'm a huge Otaku. Also I pee standing up and have a Y chromosome.

Spoiler: Plus my male power fantasies look like this

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

No one can resist the power of David Bowie the Goblin King!

I find it bizarre that so many female power characters are anime though. I always found them a bit eccentric. Then again I've always been a personality kind of guy. Sure she may be pretty and tough, but if every word that comes out of her mouth is idiotic she doesn't even belong in my dreams.

Why not

Catwoman

Or Darla (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Perhaps I just see "powerful" women as dark and lost in the morality of life.

 

[Captain Chemosh]

Though it might seem a bit odd, I view Asuka Soryu (Neon Genesis Evangelion) as a female power fantasy. Not in her being physically built or anything, but she is proven stronger than Shinji on varying occasions.
One of the reasons, I believe at least, that there are so few female power fantasy characters is because visually they don't tend to sell as well (makoto from street fighter being case in point).

 

[JediMB]

Samus Aran, before Team Ninja completely ruined her, anyone?

*twitch*

Again, Team Ninja were in charge of gameplay.

If anyone ruined Samas Aran in Other M, it was the series' lead writer/director/producer, Sakamoto Yoshio [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshio_Sakamoto], because the man simply isn't a competent writer... or voice director, for that matter.

(Meanwhile, cutscene visuals are to be blamed on either D-Rockets for creating them, or Nintendo's people for accepting them.)

 

[zefiris]

If anyone ruined Samas Aran in Other M, it was the series' lead writer/director/producer, Sakamoto Yoshio, because the man simply isn't a competent writer... or voice director, for that matter.

I stand corrected, thank you. I want to blame the proper people for this FAIL.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Samus...? That is, before Other M Samus

In any case, it wouldn't be a thinly veiled male-perspective sexual Fantasy in disguise. So if you are going to try and give a serious answer, then no characters like Catwoman, guys... seriously, come on.

Toph from 'Avatar the Last Air-bender' also seems like a good choice?

 

[boag]

There were two articles on Kotaku about the prevalence of the male gaze in comics and games,

http://kotaku.com/male-privilege/
http://kotaku.com/5873885/nerds-and-male-privilege-part-2-deconstructing-the-arguments

The author gives examples of

Spoiler: the male-perspective Power Fantasy:

Spoiler: the male-perspective Sexual Fantasy:

and he did some research to find some examples of

Spoiler: a female-perspective Sexual Fantasy:

But he stopped short of describing any kind of female-perspective Power Fantasy character.

So my question is, what would that character look like? How would she act?
Are there any examples of such a character?

And why don't I already know these things?

This is the only indicator we have right now.

A Perfectly normal girl, that is loved by everyone, has an unmatched skill set and is incredibly popular.

http://images.sugarscape.com/userfiles/image/JULY2010/Martiena/2nd/bellaswangtl.jpg

Aside from her, I havent seen any other character that might be unilaterally claimed as a Female Power Fantasy.

 

[boag]

Hm.. Interesting. The only character I can think of.. Is Caska from the Anime/Manga Berserk, well before all the spoilerishy shit happened. Great character. A good representation of female strenght (that's a tad sexist, isn't it?)

Caska is a well rounded, well written character, not a female power fantasy

How about Ripley and Vasquez from aliens?

Well rounded characters

Those

A strong, attractive, intelligent, eloquent and charming individual who can kick arse whenever she deems it neccesary. Does not need to take bullshit from anyone but doesn't act like an anti-social ***** for no reason. Ta-dah!

So... FemShep, basically?

Nope, thats still a male power fantasy character, Because you can boink Asari. /joke

Bayonetta, basically. Strong, independent, desired without letting on to any reciprocal desire... and powerful enough to take on God.

Male Sexual Domination Fantasy

Samus Aran and Sheik.
But Sheik is basically trying to convince people she's a he?
Well Samus Aran!!!

Samus was a Male power Fantasy that happens to be female. Gender Issues or identity werent much touched upon until Metroid 2, then Zero suit happens and its been declared Male Sex Fantasy since then.

Sheik would have been a female power fantasy if; she wasnt going around pretending to be a guy, and didnt immeadiatly become useless when her identity is discovered.

So I guess Nightcrawler is kinda the Tali (Mass Effect 2) of the female nerd demographic.

Female power fantasy characters that aren't total jack off material for men as well? How about Nausicaa from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and San from Princess Mononoke? Both remarkably strong willed characters whose epidermis is mostly covered.

Then again, I'm a man.

Nausica is Miyazakis Male Domination Sexual Fantasy, he has a total hard on for strong independant women that can do everything and in the end rescue the prince.