A Little Less Than 1080p
There's a word people love to throw around when it comes to MOCs, artwork, and sets. But not just any examples, oh no. It only really pops up when the subjects are female.
You don't get to be surprised that's what this blog entry in this blog is about.
I've seen some great female MOCs get posted in BBC. Streamlined yet well-armoured, minus the woefully out-of-place ponytail, and in footwear you can actually fight in. I often regret not publically recognizing them as they come up for just plain getting it. Something always comes up and before I know it, I've lost the chance. And believe me, it is regret. It is a deep regret that I never manage to post in these topics and applaud the builders. I can't tell you how much I regret not offering a voice counter to what's heard instead.
These MOCs are great, you see. Maybe some general technical and/or aesthetic qualms, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any MOC without them. But that's rarely the problem. Instead, I see people talk about how these MOCs are 'great, but not very feminine'. These MOCs, with silhouettes and lines of movement that have captured je ne sais quoi in a jar and put it on a shelf. These MOCs, already a step ahead of the general crowd. These MOCs, that for once, are actually feminine.
And then it dawns on me like a smoggy sunrise.
These MOCs also tend to avoid the trend of putting two things on her chest just 'cause girls have two things on their chests. And believe me, they're things. They're not breasts. They bear no resemblance. Sometimes they're round? But that and the numbers are the only resemblances. They stick out terribly. Did I ever mention in this or any other entry that they always stick out? There is no room for anything less than a D-cup in Bionicle, it seems. Even that's on the small end of things.
And then, the MOCs with spine-shattering chest tumours are the ones deemed 'feminine'. Really. Never mind that they could have shoulders that'd be out of place on Onua. Never mind that they could have the hips of an especially elfin 10-year-old Matoran boy. Never mind they could have all the grace of a herd of half-tranquilized gorillas. I guarantee you, the vast majority of posts in topics like these will praise the 'femininity' of the featured MOC.
So near as I can tell, according to the Bionicle fandom at large, 'femininity' isn't a set of subtle qualities that work together to convey a general aesthetic sense. To be 'feminine', all you need is huge round things on your chest. That is the definition I have determined from countless posts and topics. That's the definition that seems to be on the books.
That is an absolutely terrible definition.
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