Discussion History Main / PeggySue

Xenoblade 2 unfortunately has a very large PeripheryDemographic of misogynistic and queerphobic male otaku compared to the other games, and speaking as someone who was merely ambivalent towards Rex for the same reason as xVanitas, while there was definitely a portion who hated him as a character or because they thought he was too \\\"lame\\\" to be a good male power fantasy, a lot of the dislike came from queer folks who thought he was \\\'\\\'too much\\\'\\\' of one, and were uncomfortable with the then-popular reading of him as the kind of wish fulfillment typically seen from StockLightNovelHero.

Basically, a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of people view Rex as a far-right incel power fantasy who successfully tamed three impossibly-beautiful and powerful women into becoming his subservient sexual conquests with little effort[[note]]Obviously the way the game handles it is a lot more complicated than that, but Rex is an EveryMan whose virtues are generic enough that it\\\'s easy for people with lower media literacy to view it that way[[/note]]. The reason 3\\\'s ending was so controversial among these folks was that, while it could be read in less nefarious ways, the most common was that the creepy right-wing otakus were right, that Rex was an \\\"alpha male\\\", and also that it had UnfortunateImplications regarding harems with how women are usually treated under polygyny. The Chad Rex meme didn\\\'t help here because, while most of the word\\\'s sexist undertones had dissipated by then, it did originate as incel slang, and a lot of the jokes about Rex\\\'s newfound sexual dominance \\\'\\\'did\\\'\\\' push too far into endorsing toxic manosphere beliefs. But again it was never about Rex himself so much as his fanbase and what he represented in a meta sense.

That interpretation of The Picture hasn\\\'t \\\'\\\'fully\\\'\\\' gone away, but \\\'\\\'Future Redeemed\\\'\\\' has done a lot to rehabilitate his image by validating those who chose to read Rex as a symbol of tolerance and progressivism by having him support the same marginalized queer identities that his far-right MisaimedFandom are intensely bigoted towards, in effect Rex is the complete opposite of what rightwingers claim him to be. I\\\'ve seen queer people \\\"reclaiming\\\" the Gigachad Rex meme by portraying his support for marginalized queer identities as the reason he\\\'s a gigachad, and not [[AllMenArePerverts him sleeping with multiple women like the fanbase usually presents it]].

Xenoblade 2 unfortunately has a very large PeripheryDemographic of misogynistic and queerphobic male otaku compared to the other games, and speaking as someone who was merely ambivalent towards Rex for the same reason as xVanitas, while there was definitely a portion who hated him as a character or because they thought he was too \\\"lame\\\" to be a good male power fantasy, a lot of the dislike came from queer folks who thought he was \\\'\\\'too much\\\'\\\' of one, and were uncomfortable with the then-popular reading of him as the kind of wish fulfillment typically seen from StockLightNovelHero.

Basically, a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of people view Rex as a far-right incel power fantasy who successfully tamed three impossibly-beautiful and powerful women into becoming his subservient sexual conquests with little effort[[note]]Obviously the way the game handles it is a lot more complicated than that, but Rex is an EveryMan whose virtues are generic enough that it\\\'s easy for people with lower media literacy to view it that way[[/note]]. The reason 3\\\'s ending was so controversial among these folks was that, while it could be read in less nefarious ways, the most common was that the creepy right-wing otakus were right, that Rex was an \\\"alpha male\\\", and also that it had UnfortunateImplications regarding harems with how women are usually treated under polygyny. The Chad Rex meme didn\\\'t help here because, while most of the word\\\'s sexist undertones had dissipated by then, it did originate as incel slang, and a lot of the jokes about Rex\\\'s newfound sexual dominance \\\'\\\'did\\\'\\\' push too far into endorsing toxic manosphere beliefs. But again it was never about Rex himself so much as his fanbase and what he represented in a meta sense.

That interpretation of The Picture hasn\\\'t \\\'\\\'fully\\\'\\\' gone away, but \\\'\\\'Future Redeemed\\\'\\\' has done a lot to rehabilitate his image by validating those who chose to read Rex as a symbol of tolerance and progressivism by having him support the same marginalized queer identities that his far-right MisaimedFandom are intensely bigoted towards, in effect Rex is the complete opposite of what rightwingers claim him to be, and with queer people reclaiming the Gigachad Rex by portraying his support of queer people as the reason he\\\'s a Gigachad, and not him sleeping with multiple women like the fanbase usually presents it.

Xenoblade 2 unfortunately has a very large PeripheryDemographic of misogynistic and queerphobic male otaku compared to the other games, and speaking as someone who was merely ambivalent towards Rex for the same reason as xVanitas, while there was definitely a portion who hated him as a character or because they thought he was too \\\"lame\\\" to be a good male power fantasy, a lot of the dislike came from queer folks who thought he was \\\'\\\'too much\\\'\\\' of one, and were uncomfortable with the then-popular reading of him as the kind of wish fulfillment typically seen from StockLightNovelHero.

Basically, a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of people view Rex as a far-right incel power fantasy who successfully tamed three impossibly-beautiful and powerful women into becoming his subservient sexual conquests with little effort[[note]]Obviously the way the game handles it is a lot more complicated than that, but Rex is an EveryMan whose virtues are generic enough that it\\\'s easy for people with lower media literacy to view it that way[[/note]]. The reason 3\\\'s ending was so controversial among these folks was that, while it could be read in less nefarious ways, the most common was that the creepy right-wing otakus were right, that Rex was an \\\"alpha male\\\", and also that it had UnfortunateImplications regarding harems with how women are usually treated under polygyny. The Chad Rex meme didn\\\'t help here because, while most of the word\\\'s sexist undertones had dissipated by then, it did originate as incel slang, and a lot of the jokes about Rex\\\'s newfound sexual dominance \\\'\\\'did\\\'\\\' push too far into endorsing toxic manosphere beliefs. But again it was never about Rex himself so much as his fanbase and what he represented in a meta sense.

That interpretation of The Picture hasn\\\'t \\\'\\\'fully\\\'\\\' gone away, but \\\'\\\'Future Redeemed\\\'\\\' has done a lot to rehabilitate his image by validating those who chose to read Rex as a symbol of tolerance and progressivism by having him support the same marginalized queer identities that his far-right MisaimedFandom are intensely bigoted towards, in effect Rex is the complete opposite of what rightwingers claim him to be.

Xenoblade 2 unfortunately has a very large PeripheryDemographic of misogynistic and queerphobic male otaku compared to the other games, and speaking as someone who was merely ambivalent towards Rex for the same reason as xVanitas, while there was definitely a portion who hated him as a character or because they thought he was too \\\"lame\\\" to be a good male power fantasy, a lot of the dislike came from queer folks who thought he was \\\'\\\'too much\\\'\\\' of one, and were uncomfortable with the then-popular reading of him as the kind of wish fulfillment typically seen from StockLightNovelHero.

Basically, a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of people view Rex as a far-right incel power fantasy who successfully tamed three impossibly-beautiful and powerful women into becoming his subservient sexual conquests with little effort[[note]]Obviously the way the game handles it is a lot more complicated than that, but Rex is an EveryMan whose virtues are generic enough that it\\\'s easy for people with lower media literacy to view it that way[[/note]]. The reason 3\\\'s ending was so controversial among these folks was that, while it could be read in less nefarious ways, the most common was that the creepy right-wing otakus were right, that Rex was indeed a symbol of macho traditionalism, and also that it was pushing certain UnfortunateImplications typically associated with polygyny. The Chad Rex meme didn\\\'t help here because, while most of the manosphere undertones had diluted out by then, it did originate as incel slang and a lot of the jokes about Rex\\\'s newfound sexual dominance pushed too far into toxic \\\"alpha male\\\" ideas. But again it was never about Rex himself so much as his fanbase and what he represented in a meta sense.

That interpretation of The Picture hasn\\\'t \\\'\\\'fully\\\'\\\' gone away, but \\\'\\\'Future Redeemed\\\'\\\' has done a lot to rehabilitate his image by validating those who chose to read Rex as a symbol of tolerance and progressivism by having him support the same marginalized queer identities that his far-right MisaimedFandom are intensely bigoted towards, in effect Rex is the complete opposite of what rightwingers claim him to be.

Xenoblade 2 unfortunately has a very large PeripheryDemographic of misogynistic and queerphobic male otaku compared to the other games, and speaking as someone who was merely ambivalent towards Rex for the same reason as xVanitas, while there was definitely a portion who hated him as a character or because they thought he was too \\\"lame\\\" to be a good male power fantasy, a lot of the dislike came from queer folks who thought he was \\\'\\\'too much\\\'\\\' of one, and were uncomfortable with the then-popular reading of him as the kind of wish fulfillment typically seen from StockLightNovelHero.

Basically, a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of people view Rex as a far-right incel power fantasy who successfully tamed three impossibly-beautiful and powerful women into becoming his subservient sexual conquests with little effort[[note]]Obviously the way the game handles it is a lot more complicated than that, but Rex is an EveryMan whose virtues are generic enough that it\\\'s easy for people with lower media literacy to view it that way[[/note]]. The reason 3\\\'s ending was so controversial among these folks was that, while it could be read in less nefarious ways, the most common was that the creepy right-wing otakus were right, that Rex was indeed a symbol of macho traditionalism, and also that it was pushing certain UnfortunateImplications typically associated with polygyny. The Chad Rex meme didn\\\'t help here because, while that term lost a lot of its nastier undertones, it did originate as incel slang and a lot of the jokes about Rex\\\'s newfound sexual dominance played too much into incel gender roles. But again it was never about Rex himself so much as his fanbase and what he represented in a meta sense.

That interpretation of The Picture hasn\\\'t \\\'\\\'fully\\\'\\\' gone away, but \\\'\\\'Future Redeemed\\\'\\\' has done a lot to rehabilitate his image by validating those who chose to read Rex as a symbol of tolerance and progressivism by having him support the same marginalized queer identities that his far-right MisaimedFandom are intensely bigoted towards, in effect Rex is the complete opposite of what rightwingers claim him to be.

Xenoblade 2 unfortunately has a very large PeripheryDemographic of misogynistic and queerphobic male otaku compared to the other games, and speaking as someone who was merely ambivalent towards Rex for the same reason as xVanitas, while there was definitely a portion who hated him as a character or because they thought he was too \\\"lame\\\" to be a good male power fantasy, a lot of the dislike came from queer folks who thought he was \\\'\\\'too much\\\'\\\' of one, and were uncomfortable with the then-popular reading of him as the kind of wish fulfillment typically seen from StockLightNovelHero.

Basically, a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of people view Rex as a far-right incel power fantasy who successfully tamed three impossibly-beautiful and powerful women into becoming his subservient sexual conquests with little effort[[note]]Obviously the way the game handles it is a lot more complicated than that, but Rex is an EveryMan whose virtues are generic enough that it\\\'s easy for people with lower media literacy to view it that way[[/note]]. The reason 3\\\'s ending was so controversial among these folks was that, while it could be read in less nefarious ways, the most common was that the creepy right-wing otakus were right, that Rex was indeed a symbol of macho traditionalism, and also that it was pushing certain UnfortunateImplications typically associated with polygyny, but again it was never about Rex himself so much as his fanbase and what he represented in a meta sense. The Chad Rex memes didn\\\'t help here because, while that term has lost most of its political undertones and is sometimes reclaimed as a label for positive male role models, it did originate as an incel term, and a lot of those jokes would had unconfortable undertones of propagating certain ideas of male sexual dominance favored by incels.

That interpretation of The Picture hasn\\\'t \\\'\\\'fully\\\'\\\' gone away, but \\\'\\\'Future Redeemed\\\'\\\' has done a lot to rehabilitate his image by validating those who chose to read Rex as a symbol of tolerance and progressivism by having him support the same marginalized queer identities that his far-right MisaimedFandom are intensely bigoted towards, in effect Rex is the complete opposite of what rightwingers claim him to be.

Rex definitely qualifies for BaseBreakingCharacter, and I have seen RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap be considered flexible enough in the past to apply if they go from divisive to more universally-beloved. But if not that, then it might qualify for CharacterPerceptionEvolution. For what it\\\'s worth, as Perentie points out, the issue wasn\\\'t really with Rex as a \\\'\\\'character\\\'\\\'.