So the Male Wii Fit trainer was revealed to be in the new Smash Bros. today. It’s unclear exactly how he’s going to manifest, but he didn’t get an official introduction video, so it’s most likely he’s just a costume swap for the female trainer revealed at E3. (He may just be an assist trophy? Costume swaps haven’t actually been confirmed yet, I don’t think. He may be the confirmation.)
So anyway, this was a pretty predictable move, actually, because if you have one, it was sort of inevitable you’d have the other. He was shown doing the exact same move set as the Female Trainer, and that’s what has people slightly concerned - because who wants a clone taking up a slot in Smash Bros.?
I was super excited back at E3 when they revealed Female Wii Fit Trainer. I thought it was hilarious, and let’s be serious - she’s kicked all our asses already anyway when we played Wii Fit. She’s capable. She has no personality, but then neither does Pikachu (outside of the anime). Who cares? It was funny, and we got a chick!
There are currently 17 confirmed characters on the new Smash Bros. Roster and three of them are female - Peach, Samus, and Female Wii Fit Trainer. I don’t really think that’s Nintendo’s fault - well, OK, it is - but they don’t have a super big wellspring of well known females to drawn from. I’m hoping to see Zelda again, but it’s not looking too hopeful at this point. If we’re costume swapping, a female Villager would be nice. Frankly, I’m going to resign myself here to 2.5 ladies on the roster (one of whom people still sometimes don’t know is a girl…).
Anyway, the part where I called forth an MRA!
There was an article on a site I frequent for Nintendo news, and it asked how we felt about this “gender equality” of adding in the Male Trainer and said if we thought it was good, we were awesome! (Not quoting exactly, because it was an otherwise good article and I don’t want to bring down the wrath of the internet on these nice folks.)
I replied that I guessed I was a terrible person then. I talked about the general under representation of women in games and how I felt it kinda sucked, as a women. How men are still assumed to be the default gamers, even though 45% of gamers are female these days. That this usually leads to the male character (when there is an option) being the default option.
So, I said, I was a terrible person because in this instance, “gender equality” meant adding yet another dude. I mentioned how cool I thought it was when Nintendo offered the Female Wii Fit Trainer at first and that I doubted the Male Trainer would take up a slot, and that it was cool that for once, the lady appeared to be the default.
I was not super crazy in my reply. I apologized for the derail and tried to make it very clear that my statements were mostly arising because of the two sentences toward the end of the article that could have been worded better. I also said I was done talking about it and would not reply to any posts directed to me, in an effort to keep the comments section on track. (I actually lied and said I was leaving.)
The next post directed at me told me to deal with it because “Life is not fair.”
Then someone came along and told that guy not to be an ass, I had a valid point. (Thank you nice person!)
Then ass revealed himself to be an MRA by posting a link for Nice Person:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/mens-rights-movement
And I lol’d and lol’d because I had called forth an MRA by talking about SMASH BROS. Dude, get a life.
(And then literally the next comment after that agreed with me about how female characters are under represented and talked about how when they are there they aren’t represented well, so HOLLA!)
