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Diversity in Malifaux


Ludovide

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Yeah! That's one of the things I so much like in Malifaux.

One thing took me a while to regocnize. That was the use "her" in the rulebook.

Adding to #2 the generics: it's not only to have female sculps, but the sculpts themselves don't differ from the male ones. No use of multople twistet joints and bones to create a "sexy" appearence. All the models have the same design

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It's also of note that there's at least two canonically gay couples in the game as characters you can play. I know it doesn't sound super important, but it's a big part of what pulled my spouse and I into this game! We hadn't ever seen a minis game do that and it means a lot to see a company make characters like you, especially when no one else does. Wyrd's been great from what I can see for a long time, and I hope they keep up the good work for years to come!

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Absolutely. Wyrd has both been really proactive around issues of diversity, and more than usually responsive when people have brought up problems. There was a big discussion a couple of years ago on the forums that got a bit heated, but honestly I think the game (and art, etc) came out the other side stronger for it.

Of course there are always more stories that can be told, but this world is already richer than any other minis game I can think of.

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It’s good to play in a more human faction and have a variety of plausible sculpts to pick from when I only want to hire in one of a particular minion. It’s good that Malifaux metas aren’t at all bound to a color palette so I can try out lighter skin tone here and darker skin tone there without reference to the official art. (Myself I don’t dare change masters, but anyone else may be whatever skin tone I think I can get right this day.)

And I love that this year, after a few years of the community jokingly asking for it, the ‘Miss’ alternate went from female sculpt to male instead, with a quality godawful punning name like the Miss line is notorious for having*.

It’s a good time to play.

 

Now, if anyone has advice to offer on paint repair, as I took one of those realistic, sensibly dressed field reporters and idiotically washed her with the yellow pot instead of the sepia, please share it...other than ‘next time don’t paint models’ flames at the same time as the clothes, ya idiot’ as I’ve already made that resolution!...

 

*The annual ‘Miss’ resculpts have names like Miss Ery, Miss Fire, etc. This year, the shikome was instead resculpted as a ...he-kome. *

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15 minutes ago, Gnomezilla said:

Now, if anyone has advice to offer on paint repair, as I took one of those realistic, sensibly dressed field reporters and idiotically washed her with the yellow pot instead of the sepia, please share it...other than ‘next time don’t paint models’ flames at the same time as the clothes, ya idiot’ as I’ve already made that resolution!...

Did you try just putting the sepia wash over-top of it? Might darken things up too much, but should cover it up in one or two coats given it's darker and if you don't like the result you can strip it away after. 

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2 minutes ago, lusciousmccabe said:

Did you try just putting the sepia wash over-top of it? Might darken things up too much, but should cover it up in one or two coats given it's darker and if you don't like the result you can strip it away after. 

I haven’t tried anything yet. Just keep looking at her and disbelieving what the wash did to her formerly pinkish trousers. It’s like dirty eggcups.

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10 hours ago, Thedeadclaw said:

It's also of note that there's at least two canonically gay couples in the game as characters you can play. I know it doesn't sound super important, but it's a big part of what pulled my spouse and I into this game! We hadn't ever seen a minis game do that and it means a lot to see a company make characters like you, especially when no one else does. Wyrd's been great from what I can see for a long time, and I hope they keep up the good work for years to come!

I didn't think there were any certainties in this regard... I'm guessing the two you're referring to are Colette/Cassie & Tara/Karina (more likely to be a couple of the pair).  To mind my they could still go either way (& I have absolutely no issue with which way they go) because it hasn't actually been spelt out. They could be lovers or just really close friends. If the do go the LGBTQ+ route, I just hope it doesn't become their main schtick, exactly like the Lady J/Judge romance wasn't their main schtick and they never actually spelt it out (only a few jokes here, a "my love" there), just a little extra on the side.  Otherwise, it would be a bit tokenistic for my tastes. 

It would be kind of interesting if they made a male-male couple (& at some point, I hope they do... Fransisco-Joss for example would make for some awesome story-telling!).  As long as it's well written and not too overbearing (unless it's their main schtick, like Kirai's romance was), that's fine. It's not Twilight!! Kirai-Molly could actually develop something...

10 hours ago, Gnomezilla said:

It’s good to play in a more human faction and have a variety of plausible sculpts to pick from when I only want to hire in one of a particular minion. It’s good that Malifaux metas aren’t at all bound to a color palette so I can try out lighter skin tone here and darker skin tone there without reference to the official art. (Myself I don’t dare change masters, but anyone else may be whatever skin tone I think I can get right this day.)

I remember there was a huge S**t-storm on AWP when someone painted Ironsides white... Personally I couldn't care less, they're your models, if you want an African Lady J or white Ironsides, go for it!  I'm converting McCabe into a samurai...

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9 hours ago, Da Git said:

I didn't think there were any certainties in this regard... I'm guessing the two you're referring to are Colette/Cassie & Tara/Karina (more likely to be a couple of the pair).  To mind my they could still go either way (& I have absolutely no issue with which way they go) because it hasn't actually been spelt out. They could be lovers or just really close friends

Not at all to start a fight but the writer for Tara's story has on multiple occasions explicitly confirmed that they're together and Colette and Cassandra, who both confirm that they're both into men and women, kiss each other in a TTB module and iirc they do in one of the main stories too, which isn't really just friendly behavior, so they've both been pretty spelled out and are both confirmed to be lovers. (Just wanted to let you know because it's one of my favorite parts of the game and I wanted to be sure you knew they're both explicitly together, although I suppose Colette and Cassandra could have broken up offscreen at some point theoretically!)

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On 7/30/2018 at 1:29 PM, Thedeadclaw said:

there's at least two canonically gay couples in the game as characters you can play. I know it doesn't sound super important, but it's a big part of what pulled my spouse and I into this game!

That's super important, I can't believe I missed it. That's really cool.

 

I'd like to make a note here that wyrd doesn't do everything right, there are plenty of models that are too sexualized (Ronin and Viks I'm looking at you) but they are still miles ahead of most other miniatures games and I wanted to take a moment to appreciate that.

Steam powered scoundrels did a good podcast about sexism in malifaux and I think its worth a listen: https://steampoweredscoundrels.podbean.com/e/friday-night-faux-down-10202017/

 

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On 7/31/2018 at 10:01 AM, Thedeadclaw said:

Not at all to start a fight but the writer for Tara's story has on multiple occasions explicitly confirmed that they're together...

Just remember, a writer having subtext in the mind when they write a story doesn't necessarily make that subtext canon.

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*closes stompybot ranks in front of the little mechromancer and hustles her away lest such scurrilous words reach her ears* You have your canon, I have mine....

On 8/1/2018 at 12:37 PM, Ludovide said:

I’d like to make a note here that wyrd doesn't do everything right, there are plenty of models that are too sexualized (Ronin and Viks I'm looking at you) but they are still miles ahead of most other miniatures games and I wanted to take a moment to appreciate that.

Steam powered scoundrels did a good podcast about sexism in malifaux and I think its worth a listen: https://steampoweredscoundrels.podbean.com/e/friday-night-faux-down-10202017/

My second-favorite change coming up for Viks (just behind ‘finally it won’t matter which Vik is which, they’ll have the same damage track’) will be that all Viks models will now be mix-n-match such that you can pick any two with an aesthetic you like. Two armored standing Viks, two battle bikini Viks, two referential Viks...

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17 minutes ago, Gnomezilla said:

*closes stompybot ranks in front of the little mechromancer and hustles her away lest such scurrilous words reach her ears* You have your canon, I have mine....

My second-favorite change coming up for Viks (just behind ‘finally it won’t matter which Vik is which, they’ll have the same damage track’) will be that all Viks models will now be mix-n-match such that you can pick any two with an aesthetic you like. Two armored standing Viks, two battle bikini Viks, two referential Viks...

Two bunny cosplay Viks!

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2 hours ago, Kaptain_Konrad said:

In my opinion, there isn't anything wrong with some sexy models. We have stuff like Viks, ronin and Carlos. Maybe sensei yu and shenlong? I don't swing that way but they are well toned shirtless dudes. We don't need to cover and desexualize everyone. I'm a staunch anti-censor.

Well the guild absolutely aren't, so there's probably 2-3 figs in boring but practical dusters and jeans for every one in underwear if you want to go that way.

 

2 hours ago, Gnomezilla said:

*closes stompybot ranks in front of the little mechromancer and hustles her away lest such scurrilous words reach her ears* You have your canon, I have mine....

My second-favorite change coming up for Viks (just behind ‘finally it won’t matter which Vik is which, they’ll have the same damage track’) will be that all Viks models will now be mix-n-match such that you can pick any two with an aesthetic you like. Two armored standing Viks, two battle bikini Viks, two referential Viks...

What about the armoured, standing battle bikini version? 😀

Or Kiara Knightley lookalike daiklave Vik? Best use for an avatar model anyone's had in years.

I'd love to see a conversion/alt sculpt of a second trenchcoat Vik. I know I normally give out about all the long coats, but that was one of the originals and has a gloriously 1990s aesthetic that could only be improved with a second sword.

 

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I think diversity works in Malifaux because it doesn't feel insincere. You see a lot of companies in videogames for example insert minority characters, but they exist as a minority first, character second if that makes sense. Often its accused of being for goodwill brownie points and as such little care is put into it. For example Mass Effect Andromeda had a character whos entire character was being transgender. The first time they meet the player character its like [BEEP BOOP TRANSGENDER CHARACTER PROGRAM RUNNING. I AM TRANS DID YOU KNOW. THIS IS ALL I AM] and it feels out of touch and kind of dehumanising and patronising in equal measure.

In something like Malifaux the setting is at its core a new gold rush. Its everyone from Chinese Secret Societies to destitute migrants from 'the old world' wanting their chance of striking it rich on the new frontier. That by its nature is not exactly exclusive. Everyone from every walk of life is chasing this impossible dream after a bitter world war. That naturally leads to a natural melting pot of all sorts of people.

Then you just gotta write them as people and not tokens defined by one facet of their totality as a individual. Its not hard but boy do a lot of other companies drop the ball on it. 

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1 hour ago, Thedeadclaw said:

Is that explicit confirmation that they aren't canonically together?

I think its more a case that canon has not confirmed either way.

I certainly wouldn't say Mason's post explicitly confirms or denies anything. 

 

Edit- just been back to a post where the author speaks about Tara and Karina, and how he based the interaction on his aunt and her partner because they had been together " forever". That's not the same as explicit confirmation. I may have missed other posts about it elsewhere. 

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On 8/4/2018 at 1:31 AM, Thedeadclaw said:

Is that explicit confirmation that they aren't canonically together?

I'd say it's a definite, possible, maybe either way confirmation that they haven't decided which way to go yet! 

On 8/4/2018 at 2:23 AM, Adran said:

I think its more a case that canon has not confirmed either way.

I certainly wouldn't say Mason's post explicitly confirms or denies anything. 

 

Edit- just been back to a post where the author speaks about Tara and Karina, and how he based the interaction on his aunt and her partner because they had been together " forever". That's not the same as explicit confirmation. I may have missed other posts about it elsewhere. 

This is what I was trying to say above. 

They may be together, they might not be. Same forum Colette and Cassandra. That's up to Wyrd to decide and until they do, people's imagination to decide what they want to imagine. 

I imagine my own possible futures up all the time for different characters from where I see them and they can be very different from someone else's. Doesn't mean either of us is wrong. 

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