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By David Futrelle
Angry gamers are somehow still up in arms about the body of the character Abby in The Last of Us 2. You may recall, back in April the angriest gamers — the perpetual Gamergaters — were outraged after a studio leak revealed that the character Abby would be returning in the sequel as a newly-buff fighter with notably jacked arms.
At first the angry gamers assumed that any woman that buff had to be trans, so they accused the game studio, Naughty Dog, of pushing an LGBT+ agenda on innocent gamers. Then, when it turned out that Abby was not trans, the angry gamers got mad at Abby for a whole other reason — declaring that her body was “unrealistic” because where would she be getting enough food to bulk up like that in a postapocalyptic world and did she even lift, bro?
The game has been out for some time now and they’re still mad.
But now the angry gamers think they have found DEFINITIVE PROOF that Abby’s body is too good to be true — in the form of a workout schedule for Abby they discovered somewhere in the games assets that reveals, well, that she doesn’t lift enough to have arms like THAT.
“[A]bby is more muscular Than 90% of the Guys in the gym where i was workout,” complains another gamer on Twitter. “No girl in the gym looks as ugly as Abby.”
Other, er, critics make much of the fact that food is rationed in the dire dystopian world of the game.
“Her food is rationed,” insists one of Abby’s critics. “They SHOW that in game. She’d never be able to get the lean protein required to get that big.”
“Abby … has a muscular physique … in an environment where proper diet is so rare that food is rationed out,” another Abby non-fan grumbles. “You can say you don’t care but you can’t claim that this all about hating women.”
Like hell I can’t.
In case you’re wondering just how jacked this woman is, here’s what she looks like.
This is the body that these guys are declaring so “unrealistic”that it destroys any feelings of immersion in the game — a game that also features, yes, ZOMBIES. You know, creatures that DON’T ACTUALLY EXIST IN REAL LIFE
Come to think of it, has anyone found the zombies’ workout schedule?
More to the point, has anyone even gone looking for the workout schedules for any of the far-more-improbably buff bodies of assorted male video game heroes — say, the top-heavy soldiers in Gears of War, Batman in the Arkham series, Zangief in Street Fighter — or any of the other imaginary video game men on this handy list?
Of course not. It’s almost as if there’s a double standard. It’s almost as if Abby’s critics just can’t stand the thought of a strong women, or something. “It’s such a weird, ultra-specific way to be misogynistic while claiming to appeal to logic,” notes podcaster Jubel Brosseau on Twitter. That it is.
Re: Skimmingway
I can almost (almost) feel bad for him because it hurts when you write something you’re super proud of and have people tell you that the way you presented it is bad. It must feel doubly bad when you’re told that both the presentation and the message are very, very bad. (Which they were/are.)
If you’re reading this, Skimmingway, please remember that Shakespeare said, “brevity is the soul of wit and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes”. (Hamlet, Act-2, Scene-2). Simpler words used exquisitely inform more than complex ones used with wild abandon.
@Lainy
Same.
@Cats in Shiny Hats
I have a hard time feeling sorry for Skimmingway because of his fascist apologism. If he wasn’t racist, misogynistic, homophobic, and fascist I might feel sorry, but in the mean time I just can’t muster it.
@Naglfar
This one gal has legs like a tree tunk and she’s very nice to me but everytime we talk I’m sitting there thinking
“yes, throw me in the trash, with your legs”
Lol, I like how Skimmingway thinks that he opinion how a attractive a woman is matters at all. Little creep has some big nerves before he has a tantrum and then takes his ball and goes home. It’s always funny how the trolls think we care even a little bit about how what they think or feel.
@numerobis
If it goes bad it’s usually a gradual and predictable slide with them for me. They start off seeming cool about it then comments about my appearance (but not in a sincere way but as in you can kind of tell they have other intentions). Then it goes to questions and comments about my art and what I like to do in it. Then it’s questions about my guys. That’s all cool if a person is sincere because there aren’t many people who get me or what I do and are open minded enough to get me (especially men) so if there are ones who are able to and form a friendship that’s awesome. When the questions go to my art and how I dress and my guys and “why him? What do you like about him?” *after they already know the answer because I told them* I know a NiceGuy(TM) entitled complaint is coming.
This guy was ok today and I enjoyed his company. My living arrangements now are in a bigger place than my apartment is I had last year (thank goddess I got this place arranged before Covid). I have a space big enough and open all the way up to the second floor and then some so I have enough room for receiving guests and just socializing with a 2-3 friends and still be up on my pedestal when I want with still enough physical space to do a circus crack and overhand flick with my guests at a physically safe distance.
This guy knows me and knows who I am and what I do, so it’s less him being all surprised and befuddled by what sure obviously isn’t a normal livingroom set up and a regular friend saying yeah come over and hang out and drink coffee and keep me company while I do my stuff. My mentor and one of our sponsors was hanging out with us too and they know it’s normal for me to be camera-ready and dressed just for regular guests and friends coming over to hang out. He made some comments about that and said several times he thought my whip is really cool but they were respectful compliments and I mean that’s nice if sincere and not with NiceGuy(TM) motives, you know?
@Lainy
Right, I know. I think he had no idea I was super-ironic mocking him by asking him the stuff I asked the way I asked it.
@Stacey
The far right is really bad at humor and irony. If they could recognize humor they’d be a lot less insecure, as they wouldn’t have to get angry any time someone makes a joke at their expense. When they call leftists “snowflakes” they’re projecting hard.
It’s a little concerning that anyone would get so wrapped up in fiction like this. When people like MRAs and such get that way, it’s even more so.
Counterpoint: Abby has been obsessed with her father’s killer for years, in a way that’s hard to describe without sounding ableist. That’s plenty of workout inspiration for her to get jacked to the point she is. And if you want to play devil’s advocate maybe she’d become even more muscular if she could, but hit a plateau already and in a post-apocalyptic world doesn’t have the time or calories to overcome it
@Naglfar: My personal experience is less that right-wingers (especially the far ones) are bad at recognizing humor, it’s more that they’re really bad at processing that they can be the butt of jokes too. Probably because most of their humor is usually mean-spirited and meant to be insulting, so they figure it’s the same for everyone else (to be fair, there are several jokes aimed at the right that are meant to be mean-spirited and insulting, just nowhere near as much as they think). So when it happens to them they tend to either not get it (if they really can’t wrap their head around being laughed at) or piss and moan about it.
And yes, people who constantly gripe about “MUH PERSONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES” calling other people snowflakes must break quite a few irony meters each time.
Right-wingers are bad at humor because their brand of humor punches down, and relies heavily on stereotypes and racism and sexism and other -isms. They think offending people is the highest form of comedy, and the more offensive the funnier it is. Anyone who isn’t a racist misogynist shitbag isn’t going to find that kind of nonsense amusing.
@Katherine the Adequate – Protip: Never get involved in any Japanese media-based fandom. Ever. I’ve been peripherally involved (i.e. mostly lurking and sometimes posting on forums and Reddit) in many for the past quarter-century, and I’ve seen some shit.
@Paireon, PoM
That is all true, but I think they’re also just bad at humor in general. Why else do they repeat the same two jokes over and over again? Or, why else do they suck at making memes? Attack helicopter jokes and frog memes aren’t funny, especially once you’ve seen them a million times. I don’t even find attack helicopter jokes offensive, they’re just boring. Could they maybe make an original joke once in a while?
@Naglfar
I did say almost. Please don’t get me wrong:
Everything he says is awful. It’s also worded badly, but even if worded well it’s evil. I agree with nothing he says.
This reminded me of a thoughtful article I saw recently about why Grey Worm (GoT) being as lean and muscular as he was was implausible, given the known physiological effects of castration.
That this was set in a fantasy world with fire-breathing dragons and White Walkers didn’t seem to register with the earnest writer.
@Naglfar – True enough; as for creating original material, well, it’s probably really counter-intuitive for people whose entire worldview centers around “status quo/turning back the clock = good, change/progress = ALL THE SATANS”.
Even the NPC meme is basically just a 21st century videogame-“savvy” (in that you have to know really basic videogame knowledge to get it) update on the classic dehumanization propaganda of late 19th-early 20th century regimes.
@Cats in Shiny Hats
I know, I’m not trying to imply you are any of those things. Apologies if I sounded like I was accusing you, I’m merely explaining my own reasons for not sympathizing with him, I’m not trying to accuse you at all.
@Paireon
Worse, none of the positive things of the past get brought back, only the negatives. We don’t get any stegosauruses or hoop skirts, instead we just get rollbacks of minority rights and global warming.
The thing that gets me about the NPC meme is how much projection it is. The left is extremely diverse ideologically encompassing many different strains, and on some level conservatives recognize this as they make fun of microlabels all the time. The idea that all leftists are the same is patently ridiculous, anyone who’s ever been in a left wing space (like this one) knows how much leftists argue amongst ourselves. OTOH, the right is not diverse at all ideologically. Although they may disagree on minor points, the whole party basically just goes along with what populist leaders say. One would be hard-pressed to find, for instance, a well-known vocal pro-choice or pro-gun control conservative, while there are many of the inverse (i.e. anti-choice or anti-gun control leftists). There is little room for disagreement in conservative ideologies, so they are far more like NPCs.
Indeed, when they were originally promoting the meme they created a bunch of fake accounts to pretend to be “leftist NPCs.” But presumably if leftists actually acted like NPCs, they wouldn’t have to do that to prove their point. It’s a hard self own.
Their disagreements may be on minor points, but the right will definitely fight over those points. The big one currently is how fascist should they be. The more right-wing, the more fascist, and they do impose purity tests on one another, with the more fascist ones having the bragging rights and tearing down the less-fascist (but still fascist) factions.
Don’t be fooled by how disciplined McConnell makes the GOP look. Without him or someone like him, the right would eat itself.
@PoM
I’m not sure how much their debate is over how fascist to be rather than how openly fascist to look. They generally seem to care far more about optics, as if they know their ideas are reprehensible to everyone else.
Even then, the point stands that unlike the many factions of the left that commonly disagree, it’s rare to see warring factions of conservatives in America. The right seems to be far more reluctant to criticize people in power. Plenty of leftists have criticized Democratic presidents, yet few conservatives are willing to criticize Trump.
There’s also the issue that the Democratic Party is really on the right compared to most places, yet conservatives seem to think that the left = Democrats, so there’s also a terminology issue.
I’ve never posted before. I really like reading the comments though. All the regular commenters here could out-write that guy so I hope no one took his insults seriously. Stay healthy. He also reminded me of an unfunny version of onyx the fortuitous
@salguod
Welcome!
Abby, honing her predatory instincts in a past life:
?w=800&h=320
Food is apparently a bit scarce in that world as well.
In my experience, conservatives can have wildly different/opposing views, but there might be more of an emphasis on (perceived) unity in conservatism itself…although that’s speculation on my part.
@Naglfar – And no stegosauruses in hoop skirts, alas. That would be fun (though maybe not for the stegosauruses) 🙂
@Crip Dyke – Kitty is so cuuuuuute 🙂
@salguod – Welcome!
Whoa, super welcomed.
To the point of the post I’ve seen the entire game and the reactions have been largely terrible. In my opinion:
1. from a narrative standpoint Joel was always going to be killed because of his actions in the previous game. There was no where to take the character. Even when he behaves like a father figure it’s before being truthful to Ellie and arguably grooming her emotions to prevent her from leaving him later. This narrative that he’s a heroic father is very flawed.
2. Abby lives on a large settlement with visible food at many points in the game and is expected to undertake labor in the settlement as well as outside fighting zombos
3. In a world of zombies controlled by fungus that destroyed civilization and also can be easily dispatched by being sneaky and having a brick; a muscular woman is the most unbelievable thing.
Sorry for poor grammar
The projection here would impress Edison!
dumb donald thinks he’s a “wordsmith,” too