Girls! Girls! Girls!

So, that title oughta get people in here.

Have you ever stopped to wonder why there aren't more females in the various villain groups? It seems odd to me that there are a scant smattering of them throughout a few groups and then a group or two that are ALL female. What gives? I suggest adding in a bit more diversity!

Some of the groups that are sans the fairer sex completely, or nearly so (and an idea on what to do about it):

Fifth Column/Council: The 5th and Council already have a TON of different units on offer, so adding yet another wouldn't really make sense. Instead, I propose simply mixing in some female models with the existing male ones.

Circle of Thorns: There is but one female entity: the Succubus. Perhaps adding some more feminine ghosts with less obnoxious powers (i.e. ones that don't floor your chance to hit).

Nemesis: Here I propose adding in an entirely female mounted division of the Nemesis army. The oft requested steam-powered pony could be used as their mount, and kill two birds with one, errr, pony, as it were.

The Family: Though the mob (no pun intended) is pretty much dominated by men, it seems unlikely that there wouldn't even be a single "employee" who happens to be a girl.

So, what do you think? Is this ridiculous? Do you have your own suggestions?

As always when this comes up, I'd love to see more female opponents. Even down into the lowest levels, an all grrl gang similar to the Hellions or the Outcast, the Family, and definitely into the middle levels - there really should be a precursor to the Knives. The Warriors are all boys, aren't they? Silly things. They won't get very far. Amazons would rule

Quick Reply to the thread.


Yeah no. The 5th wouldn't really want/have female soldiers in their groups, fascist tend not to be the best feminist at heart.

Circle of Thorns are ghosts from thousands of years ago, yet again, I don't see people who have lived long enough to have seen people owned before would be very progressive.

Nemesis is a fairly similar story as the CoT. A reminder that Nemesis grew up around the 1800's And back then most women didn't get to vote let alone fight in the military.

So all in all I can't see that sort of thing happening. At least with those guys, Family and Freakshow I could see having females in their ranks.

Good point on the 5th there, Space. Not sure that the Council (Italy-based fascism) would be quite so strict.

I think I would have to disagree on the CoT and Nemesis conclusions though. There are in fact many female deities in the mythos behind CoH, thus it makes sense that there may be female spirits.

As for the Nemesis, it doesn't seem to me that he has much of an issue with women... after all they are used as Automatons. Likewise, his plans are so far reaching and "brilliant" that I would think he would see how beneficial being an equal opportunity employer might be.

Let's have an all female villain group of strippers! >.>

... whaaaaaaat?

... Feh, fine... keep yer silly 'T' rating.

Woman are less inclined to adopt a criminal lifestyle based on random violence. Not having a lot of testosterone has its advantages . For the few that are interested choosing an organization that is more female adjusted like the knives of Artemis sounds like a better idea then joining random streetgang where you will have to fend of fellow gang member Casanova's.

On the Rogue Islands however I can see why woman want to join a gang. If you don't belong to a gang, then you are just prey in a land filled with predators.

And this thread inspired a new Custom Critter faction I made in AE just now; The Black Cats Gang.
Formed by a mixed of rough and tough girls and even some Hellion and Skulls girlfriends who wanted in on some real action, these girls live up to their name as fiercely independent, proud, and possessing an air of class in their confident strides.
They arm themselves with stolen firearms, knives, skill, and their trademark black outfits and hit the town. Rarely are they interested in cold cash but instead favor the most cutting edge electronics, the most beautiful jewelry, the latest fashions, and the finest works of art they can steal.

All in all, these girls are a throw back to the classic cat burglars the golden age.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.

Historically,I mean waaay back in beta, the decision was put to the players.

Females in existing groups
or
More Variety of groups

the players chose the latter.

That is how we kinda of got into this situation. I have always thought that a nice little project for a newish hire into the art department would be to create several new skins for most groups, some of which could be female.

There was the push for COV with its new grousp, then into the Freem-15 period and a lack of resources.

Im guessing that a lot of art development time is beign tied up with Going Rogue, but maybe after that hits the shelves we could try to get a comitment to flesh out some of the thinner groups, and include some female skins.

As I recall, at some point during the beta the devs had to make a choice. Either they could add female models for every villain type, or they could add several more villain groups with male models.

Besides that, the argument is ICly specious at best; most of the 'male-only' villain groups are modeled on real life groups that tend toward severe sexism (Family, Tsoo, Council/5th), or are physically mutated beyond easily recognizable levels (Lost, Rikti, Trolls - if you want to argue the latter, look up the effects of large doses of testosterone on the female body), or just weren't human in the first place (Clockwork, pumicites, redcaps, Tuatha, etc).

That pretty much leaves the Skulls, the Hellions, the Outcasts and the Circle of Thorns -- and low-life street gangs aren't commonly known for their affirmative action recruitment policies...

Places where I /would/ agree female models wouldn't go amiss: PPD cops and detectives of all levels, RIP, /maybe/ Warriors despite the earlier argument about gangs, Sky Raiders and the Shadow Shard expeditionary forces.

Nemesis I don't see recruiting females into his forces. Look at how he treats Lady Grey. "Don't worry your pretty little head about it." If he needs a female "recruit" somewhere, he seems to stick automatons in.

With the COT, there's also (as mentioned, somewhat) the fact we don't see much body shape at all - just eyes out of a heavy, dark robe. But we do see them performing rites on random female civilians. The Succubi are the only obviously female mobs, yes, but not necessarily the only females.

In any case, I could see this tying in with another thread ("red headed stepchildren") - there's no reason that, while updating with some Luddite arcs, they couldn't add female Luddites, for instance. They're an underused group as is.

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I could be wrong, Techbot, but I think that during one of the mini-events, one of the Devs turned themselves into that.

Yeah, I just read up on the wiki...
Gods DAMN! Do want! I wish I coulda been there...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Hmm the Council DOES allow women to be in positions of power...we do have Arkhan for example who, apparently, is leader of the Galaxy section of the Council, so there would be allowance for female Galaxy troops but only female Galaxy troops, the rest of them, as mentioned, are faschists and they tend to prefer that women 'stay at home and do the cooking while the men fight'.

Freakshow could easily see women gang members, the Freakshow is all about being cyberneticed up the nines and providing they could smash heads with the best of them would easily gain entrance. Being disenfranchised, angry youths isn't soley a male teenage past time. Infact in Sharkshead you frequently see women running over to the Freakshow and starting to party, yelling "Wooo I'm partying with the Freakshow!". So there's obviously some appeal there.

Besides...someones got to look after the guys who swapped their arms for cybernetic hammers and being fed by a man in a gang already filled with atypical leet speaking muscular types probably isn't a big appeal for a disenfranchised youth who gets cybernetic enhancements to cause chaos and impress the girls...