Poll of the Day > There's not a lot of cool older women protagonists in games...

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yaknow?
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I will never forget watching my brother play Metroid Prime 1 waaay back in the day. On the Gamecube. Christmas break of 2002.

It was fucking epic.

And at the end...Samus took her helmet off.

http://images.nintendolife.com/news/2014/08/talking_point_a_history_of_the_sexualisation_of_samus/attachment/4/900x.jpg

She wasn't exactly a sex symbol. Her hair wasn't glowing fluorescent blond like it is now. She didn't have perfect make-up or a "fuck me" mouth. She looks average. Tired. Hair a dirty blond and kinda matted down from being in her suit for days on end.

She looked like a real woman.

And I loved it so much!

She could have been in her 20's, 30's, or a very well maintained early 40's even. Who knows how that Chozo blood affects her aging?

But she was a woman. Not a girl.

The Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3 was also extremely similar. In fact, she looks a LOT like Samus' design in Metroid Prime.

https://www.metalgearinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/The-Boss-Final-Battle.jpg

We need more women like this in gaming. Realistic women. Badasses who don't need to be sexualized.
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To be fair, I can't think of any cool older women in reality.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

To be fair, I can't think of any cool older women in reality.

Yeouch! lmao
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GreenKnight127 posted...

Kyuubi4269 posted...

To be fair, I can't think of any cool older women in reality.

Yeouch! lmao

Maybe Betty White?
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GameReviews posted...

GreenKnight127 posted...

Kyuubi4269 posted...

To be fair, I can't think of any cool older women in reality.

Yeouch! lmao

Maybe Betty White?

I've always been partial to Helen Mirren.

Sadly, Hollywood in general is very sexist against woman. Once they hit 40, they get type-casted into boring "mother" roles, or comedy supporting roles.

Alien and Aliens with Sigorney Weaver were very close to awesome. But nothing quite did it like that ever again, without needing to pointlessly sexualize the main character, or add some romantic spin on the narrative.

I really hope they make a live action Metroid movie some time. And they either never show her human body throughout the entire movie, or when they finally do....she's muscular, serious, older, and not at all sexy or feminine. A believable female bounty hunter that kills giant aliens. Not some precious little flower of an instagram model.
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The Boss in mys3 is a total badass.
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only one that comes to mind is Wynne (had to look up name) from Dragon Age 1

there's maybe also the merchant lady (shrine handmaid) in the chair in Dark Souls 3

if those aren't "cool" enough maybe cool and old are to contradictory

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Kyuubi4269 posted...

To be fair, I can't think of any cool older women in reality.

Me and my grandma make fun of religion when we go out to eat because she's also an edgelord.

@dancer62
is pretty cool too. She's done all kinds of things.

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Yellow posted...

Me and my grandma make fun of religion when we go out to eat because she's also an edgelord.

@dancer62
is pretty cool too. She's done all kinds of things.

Edgelord =/= cool, its like the exact opposite bro

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Kyuubi4269 posted...

To be fair, I can't think of any cool older women in reality.

I was going to say it.

Granted, I was going to say it as a joke, and maybe connect it to the idea that Hollywood considers all women to be useless once they turn 30 (except for a couple they have to keep around to play old women in movies), but in retrospect I'm having trouble honestly thinking of any "cool older women" I can point to in pretty much any media, even outside of video games.

Even in cases with a popular older woman protagonist, I'd be really hesitant to ever use the word "cool" to describe them.
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GreenKnight127 posted...

We need more women like this in gaming. Realistic women. Badasses who don't need to be sexualized.

Wow, way to body shame attractive women. There's nothing stopping a woman from being good looking and badass at the same time.

As a side note it seems weird that so few of the people who complain about demographics in video games have the ability, motivation, and fortitude to make their vision a reality unlike the people they constantly complain about and try to manipulate.

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The granny from the new watchdogs at last years E3 got a little attention.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I was going to say it.

Granted, I was going to say it as a joke, and maybe connect it to the idea that Hollywood considers all women to be useless once they turn 30 (except for a couple they have to keep around to play old women in movies), but in retrospect I'm having trouble honestly thinking of any "cool older women" I can point to in pretty much any media, even outside of video games.

Even in cases with a popular older woman protagonist, I'd be really hesitant to ever use the word "cool" to describe them.

Theres an older actress thats playing a great character in the Watchmen series right now that also played a badass in Legion

this lady

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005443/


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PO doesn't think his wife is cool. Hilarious!

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Kyuubi4269 posted...

To be fair, I can't think of any cool older women in reality.

Ming-Na Wen?

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Dreaming_King posted...

Wow, way to body shame attractive women. There's nothing stopping a woman from being good looking and badass at the same time.

There's nothing stopping a woman from being good looking and a badass at the same time?

You're absolutely right.. There's nothing stopping that from happening. Only problem is: I havent seen a single movie or game that has successfully done it.

If you want it to be grounded in REALITY....and be believable....she can't be a sexy little twig of an instagram model.....and be expected to destroy an entire biker gang of grown ass men with her bare hands.

It's laughable.

It's always the same overly choreographed "dance fighting" bullshit. In every movie.

Every. Single. Time.

Cartwheels, handsprings, and twirling around. Landing in the classic superhero pose, flipping her hair back, glaring into the camera with a sexy little expression. And every one of her punches blows them across the room like they were hit by a truck.

No.

Her wrist would have shattered on impact.

And they have perfect make-up and never a hair out of place.

She needs to be muscular to back-up the power behind her hits. Believably beating the shit out of a man twice her size.

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Sage Crest from Dark Cloud 2 was a cranky, badass old lady.

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My dark elf in Skyrim is 200 years old.

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Nichtcrawler X posted...

Ming-Na Wen?

She represents the disparity. She is one woman, she plays many cool older women. Reality lacks cool older women.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

She represents the disparity. She is one woman, she plays many cool older women. Reality lacks cool older women.

Many older sportswomen then?

Especially Erica Terpstra comes to mind. (A Dutch celebrity, former Olympic swimmer, former Politician, Human Rights Activist and Connoisseur of Culture)

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Nichtcrawler X posted...

Many older sportswomen then?

Especially Erica Terpstra comes to mind. (A Dutch celebrity, former Olympic swimmer, former Politician, Human Rights Activist and Connoisseur of Culture)

Being a sports nerd isn't cool. Being an activist practically bars you from being a fun person too.
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There are VERY few. You can find lots of cool old male characters- even a lot of playable ones.

Wynne from DA is a very rare example of a playable older woman. Compare to, say, the Final Fantasy series. I'm pretty sure that (magically young people aside) the oldest female PC is Rosa in the sequel to FFIV, who is in her 30s in that game. Ah, there's an old lady boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. She's cool.
Society at large, particularly media, tends to see older women (especially if they are not wealthy) as more or less worthless and not worth consideration unless they're comic relief or some sort of tension (typically as villains or as people to kill off for feeelz).

Also, if you think they're aren't many cool older women, that's because your social spheres don't include them, not because they don't exist. I really rather doubt many of you have old women as friends who aren't also related to you by blood (this is not a condemnation, before someone jumps down my throat, just a consequence of the way society is roughly structured).

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Mead posted...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005443

She used to be in Designing Women. That is pretty much the opposite of "cool".



SunWuKung420 posted...

PO doesn't think his wife is cool. Hilarious!

Not married, she's not old, and she a total nerd, so no.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

She used to be in Designing Women. That is pretty much the opposite of "cool".

not according to my mom

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Mead posted...

not according to my mom

Clearly, your mom is also the opposite of cool.
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