So there's been some talk lately about how the aliens in XCOM2 are unnecessarily sexualized. Upon examination, it certainly seems that the enemies have certain... amplified features.

Some people find these designs just plain silly, others call them unnecessary sexualization. And while I would agree that this is sexualization - the deliberate amplification of sexually attractive features - let me tell you why I think it is anything but unnecessary.

Let's take a look back at one of the enemies features in XCOM: Enemy Unknown: the Thin Man.

As we know from the XCOM lore, the Thin Men are a type of alien that are bred specifically to resemble humans for the purposes of infiltration. However, to our human eye the creatures do not look quite right; they move in a disturbing manner, their skin has a weird green hue and a number of lizard-like spots, and their eyes pretty much give it all away - hence the need for the shades. Nonetheless they have made a good enough job of infiltrating the human race, as concluded through the now canon outcome: the aliens have won.

The alien invasion is now officially referred to as 'Unification', and propaganda does a good job of presenting the now out in the open aliens as an otherworldy ally. Through the carefully constructed narrative of cooperation however there seeps through a subliminal message that ultimately, our extraterrestrial guests are our superiors.

With all of this important narrative background in mind, let's reevaluate the weirdly looking abguy and snakelady.

In the recent QL EX we've been given some insight into way that the big cities are constructed following the Unification. The aliens use them to lure humans in, and they are designed based on the aliens' notion on what humans would find aesthetically pleasing and awe-inspiring. The genetically engineered beings designed to reside in the wealthy cities that are meant to be a testimony to the power of the aliens have features that the aliens would from their limited understanding of humanity think humans would find beautiful, like a Greek God torso embellished with golden ornaments. It would also make sense to them to enhance the already existing species by gifting them with features they believe are attractive to humans.

The human ideas of aesthetics and beauty cannot simply be researched, however, but are inherent to our way of thinking. Because of this, to the human eye the carefully crafted environments seems artificial and sterile. The same goes for the creatures inhabiting them. The way they are put together to us looks grotesque and eerily aritificial. Their features are out of place because thousands of years of humanity's various arts dedicated to celebrating the human form cannot be dumbed down to sticking a pair of boobs on something to make it pretty.

So there you go. That's my personal explanation. It might not be canon and there might be more than a few things I've missed. However, I still think the developer deserves more credit than a knee-jerk reaction to their work and instead an attempt to critically engage with the material they've put forth.

If the idea was to make something that looks attractive to humans, why didn't the go all the way though? They had a pretty good template with the Thin Man.
Are the aliens really so dumb that they think humans are going to find a snake lady attractive just because she has boobs, or will love a flying dude without legs and only half a face because he has an exposed torso?

I, for one, welcome our new snake titty overlords

You make some good points, I am interested if that gets somehow used in the story. I heard from an streamer invited to play the game early that the snake is actually the new form of the thin man. Because now they don't longer have to disguise themselves as human. The snake and the Thin man have the same attacks: spit poison and jump around the map, but the snake has some new moves.

Also the fact that there are people making a fuss about unnecessarily sexualized units in >>> XCOM2<<< is just sad beyond words. How childish is it that the first thing some people talk about is the fact that an alien snake soldier might have breast armor. And of course this happens before most people have played it, because all we need for a fully formed opinion is 1 screenshot.

That could all sound more hostile than it is meant, but i get so tired off all these internet fuss about nothing moments. And snake boobs and floater abs seem like a new low.

When you know why these aliens look like that, you'll feel ashamed of your words and deeds.

For some reason, looking at those designs just made me think of this song:

I dunno if you're aware, but snakes don't actually have boobs! Reptiles don't need 'em! There's literally zero reason for that snake to have titties other than "we want to let you know they're girls and we don't have any other ways to tell you that other than long hair, eyelashes and titties so we settled for titties"

Sexist garbage is pretty common no matter what form of media you're exploring, and it's not really your place to decide what is or isn't degrading to women. Trying to say it's "childish" or "fussing over nothing" and somehow not valid because the game isn't even out yet is a really bad attempt on your part to silence discussion and take the validity of people's feelings and opinions away.

They did go all the way through. Or at least according to them. What makes you think that 20 years is enough to figure out perfectly what an alien species with thousands of years of art history would find attractive?

And the torso is meant to be an imitation of something that the aliens would think that humans would see as a the pinnacle of beauty. You know, something like this:

But because they see themselves as superior to humans they combined it with what the primitive species sees as a status symbol in the form of a lot of golden jewelry.

Again, my point is that all what you consider obvious - that you simply can't put gold on a fit body to make something beautiful and awe-inspiring - is an effect of both being human and being brought up in human culture, both of which you are forgetting the aliens don't know almost anything about.

It took you two sentences to contradict yourself.

I dunno if you're aware, but snakes don't actually have boobs! Reptiles don't need 'em! There's literally zero reason for that snake to have titties other than "we want to let you know they're girls and we don't have any other ways to tell you that other than long hair, eyelashes and titties so we settled for titties"

Did you miss the entire post where I state the reason?

Well the snakes don't have boob armor, they have chest armor over their boobs. The color design mimics boob armor though.

Why the snakes have breasts in the first place is the real question, maybe they aren't 100% "thin men" but a hybrid with humans.

Also their armor is designed to look like ancient gods for the humans to worship and obey.

I think the enemy designs are interesting. Why does it matter that the snake thing has boobs? They're aliens. We don't know how they work. They could need them. There's also pre-release marketing that states that the Sectoids have been spliced with human DNA, why not the Thin Men too? That might give them a more outwardly human appearance. I'm not saying that it's not a little bit odd, but it doesn't bother me. I'm going to be looking at it from a super pulled out 3/4ths view 90% of the time anyways.

Really to me what matters is that the game is good, and from what I've seen it's really shaping up to be.

Snakes also don't have arms

Conclusion: They're not just snakes, they're snake-people-things. They can have boobs. Its fiction. Why hate boob?

Your hypothetical reason, one that isn't substantiated by Word of God, so trying to yell at me like you're presenting a fact that I just ignored is uncalled for. You're also doing the thing known as "The Thermian Argument."

It's not a contradiction; if you aren't a woman, you don't get to dictate how it makes women feel to be represented in this way or tell them they're overreacting. Trying to tell people they're acting like children because they have feelings about something that does not affect you at all is what shuts discussions down and tries to tell them their opinions aren't valid.

In regards to the first paragraph - for the love of Christ, read the OP before you reply to a thread.

Furthermore, it is childish to make a big fuss about fictional boobs on a fictional alien creature from a fictional alien civilization that doesn't fully understand human sexuality. Not everything that has a pair of boobs in it is sexist. You've just instantly jumped to conclusions without reading what anybody else has to say and have based your entire opinion around a single screenshot. Not that it's surprising, seeing as most of the people in the sexualization in video games camp often just judge books by their covers without even bothering to dig just a couple centimeters deeper into the games they're criticizing. It's just "boobs = bad". Sounds juvenile to me.

Not only that, but you've just accused somebody of silencing discussion and taking the validity of "people's feelings and opinions away" one sentence after you've told them that you are an authority on what is or is not degrading to women and they're not allowed to have an opinion on it. Deary me.

Was the point really that they were too sexualized? I thought it was more that they look...bad. All the designs seem very amateurish, to me at least. It's not like the designs in the last XCOM were mind blowing or anything but this seems completely out of left field and terrible looking.

I can understand not being familiar with a Lamia, but are people not familiar with anthropomorphism anymore or...?

Alien civilisation that doesn't understand human sexuality or game developers that don't understand human sexuality?

You be the judge.

You dont get to dictate how other women feel just becouse you are a women either so what is this nonsense?

No matter if you are a woman or man you are just as entitled as your next fellow to say something is rubbish when it is.

I yelled at you through an internet post? How does that work?

Also... did you miss the part when I wrote that this is just my personal explanation and an analysis on a work of art? When did I ever present my opinion as fact?

You're also doing the thing known as "The Thermian Argument."

I haven't done anything like the argument in the video. In the video the hypothetical position you're accusing me of defends the use of alien orcs raping women as just author's imagination. What I'm talking about is simply an alien that has breasts. There's nothing dehumanizing, degrading or exploitative in making an alien have breasts as there is in making a race that rapes women.

Furthermore, at no point have I said that the snake ladies *have to* have breasts (which is the fault in the Thermian argument). I said that it is justifiable from a narrative standpoint; it has place in the world that the developer has created.

I also haven't said that you cannot disagree with me or hold a different opinion. Unlike...

It's not a contradiction; if you aren't a woman, you don't get to dictate how it makes women feel to be represented in this way or tell them they're overreacting. Trying to tell people they're acting like children because they have feelings about something that does not affect you at all is what shuts discussions down and tries to tell them their opinions aren't valid.

I am not dictating anything, I am giving you my artistic analysis of a game. Saying that I can't do so because I'm not a woman (and apparently you are a representantive of all women's opinions?) is an attempt to shut down discussion.

I find the character designs disturbing in the way I believe the creators intended. They are half human abominations. It's sort of like the uncanny valley effect.

I personally don't find the designs offensive, but I don't find sexualization inherently offensive. Either way, some stuff just isn't for everybody.

Kinda confused about why these new species exists in the first place within the XCOM universe. They just don't seem to fit in with the XCOM style, they feel more at home with the worlds from Blizzard. But then again if you say they're from an alien race, anything is possible.

That's exactly how I'd put it, but I think it as a bonus has possible narrative justifications. To the aliens the Thin Men probably looked just like humans, so it would make sense that other creatures that they design to us don't look as well as they would've thought.

I cannot believe this thing is getting the amount of attention it is. I find absolutely nothing wrong with the enemy design. Is it a bit silly if you examine it and think about it too much? Sure, but I bet that goes for a lot of video games.

Wait to see the tentacle dicks on the new berserkers.... :D

@imsh_pl: I appreciate your post and understand your point, but i do feel like it's kinda early to make it. If that is the theme around the vast majority of the new designs i could agree; but already some other aliens they revelead have a much more alien appearance even compared to xcom-eu. Also it will be nice to see if the earlier and much more common aliens (which are probably more in contact with the human population than the elite ones) have the more human-like features and then they move towards more disturbing one for the rarer, more advanced units

"Snakes don't have tits" is the silliest argument in the history of arguments.

Its a sci fiction game with aliens attacking earth.

Boo-hoo the snake ladies are not anatomically correct in this complete fiction game with completely fictitious races.

Also, sexy != sexist.

I'm usually one to side with the people calling out sexism in video games, but nothing about that one screenshot looks sexist to me. It's just a humanoid snake with boobs. It's not revealing or sexual in nature or demeaning to women.

It's literally just a picture of an alien snake thing with boobs completely covered up in armor. It kinda looks silly, but nothing about it to me seems like anything to fuss about.

@imsh_pl: Interesting thoughts for sure.

Video game developers can't please everyone. Oh well, can't wait for this game.

I think it looks silly, but I like it, it's unique, and anyway I don't come to X-com for serious world building, I come for the game play.

@dragon_puncher: I think you're underestimating how little people need to be able to masturbate to something.

I think it's much more likely that one or more artists on the XCOM team just really likes boobs and/or abs and so now the aliens have boobs and abs, but even if sexy aliens turn out to be somehow, inexplicably rooted in the XCOM fiction those models would still look bad. I mean, they look like something from a third-rate, iOS-only MOBA. Sexy snake ladies and floating Egyptian torsos deserve better!

In before thread gets locked.

My response to them being sexualized or not, male or female? Meh. The designs look cool and that's all I care about.

I just think it looks dumb. I can see what they're going for, I guess: it's an extension of the last game's B-movie approach to sectoids, cyberdisks, etc. But I simply don't care for Lady SnakeBra's design.

That is so stupid. Immediately makes me think much less of this game and the team making it.

I suppose the idea of using "sexiness" to obfuscate the humans makes sense... Until it becomes obvious that the aliens are sending these soldiers into BATTLE with an outfit like they're auditioning for Miss Alien Universe. I don't think the "take a look at these, my man" approach will work too well on a hardened soldier filled with hate over the death of countless comrades. Between this and legit battle armor that looks like it could at least take a shot from a paintball, I'll take the armor; y'know, if I'm going to WAR. But you never know. Maybe everyone is easy in this alien-oppressed future. Will there be a "seduction" mechanic in this game? Honestly, that's what it would take to justify this to me.

Surely the most embarassing gaming-related issue since the whole 'But 50% of Polish people are actually black!' debacle.

@poobumbutt said:

With the number of times I've seen X-Com soldiers kill themselves or their comrades, I don't think the alien design would affect their ability to fight either way.

I don't care at all. I just want X-COM 2.

Yeah, I basically thought the same after the QL, OP.

The default sexualisation of female characters is definitely a thing, and boob armour is the perfect manifestation of that, but I don't think that's what's going on with this character design. Knee-jerk condemnation of anything that looks like it could be offensive without taking any time to figure out if there's actually a problem is counterproductive and, yeah, a little childish.

In this interpretation the design of the armour isn't for XCOM soldiers, it's for the general populace. They're maybe going for something scary but also awe inspiring and not quite hitting it? I dunno. And it's alien armour with, like, special technology that means it really strong or something...

I like the designs! This is actually super surprising to me that there is any controversy at all about this. It just looks like a sci fi Naga, which has been depicted in games forever without much of an issue.

I thought the designs looked dumb, but the idea that the aliens were trying to fashion gaudy mythological creatures of their units to both lure and establish dominance is super duper interesting.

@original_hank said:

There isn't actually any significant controversy over this, at least as far as I can see. It's mostly just people poking fun at the idea of voluptuous snake warriors from space.

I just like sexy snake ladies.

It's 2016. Never be surprised about any controversy or outrage.

The sexism complaint has no bearing and is just sensationalistic.

That aside i think people are missing the really important question... Why a snake tho?

The snake looks like a naga from fantasy and i don't like the first unit design at all, it looks way too generic, as if it had been in alot of other games before. This leads me to a bigger issue with both of the designs, both of them feel out of place.

Enemy Unknown had great unit design, sure they weren't fantastic but they were great together, they felt like they were all from one faction and from what i've seen of the new enemy units, plenty of them look radical different, not just in design but also in color palette. I'm having a hard time thinking of all these many different units as being on the same faction, it seems more like they're not.

EDIT: Apparently there were snakemen in the original xcom games and that's why snakes.

I thought it was obvious that they were going for the whole "god-like perfection" thing.

nothing like the exploitation of idealized iconography to make people worship you.

but having a "narrative" reason doesn't mean it can't also be critiqued. or that doing so is "knee-jerk."