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Aug 2021

Yo, if anybody wants to read a story with a nonbinary main character, my novel has action and adventure without weird gender stereotypes :kissing_heart:

I believe in well written characters, gender should follow the well written characters story.

You can’t make the main character in Kill Bill or Aliens a male.

But if you give me two visual characters with no story. Then I prefer to look at the female

@crowstories is totally worth recommending, and on the comic side, my manga has a nonbinary character and somehow has been recommended by Tapas staff 3 times since I started publishing this January, so it seems like nonbinary characters are interesting after all? :neutral_face: And uh, let's say gender stereotypes bore me to death...

jesus this post turned into a shit storm just from one comment by OP

honestly, stereotypes are cringe and unbased.

Both characters look like they would work fine, my biggest advice is going to be the same I give anyone working out their MC's design and it's "Do you want to draw this character well over 1000 times?" so go with which character you would prefer drawing over the other if you can't decide.

As for an androgynous main, it's really not big a deal, there are lots of straight androgynous men irl (not that being straight matters but for some reason people think that only queer people can be androgynous), probably more in irl than you see showing up in comics and other media because they're not as common for character design choices. As an example my dad also prefers androgynous leads because not only are they easier to relate to, but because 'they look like they take care of themselves, I don't like when they look like they don't bath or wash their hair'

Welll....I'm a dude and I have to say, I've never been into harem stories. In my opinion they are some of the most, unrealistic and misogynistic stories ever.

And I also don't believe a female main character has to beat down all the male characters for herself to be a good character. I also think it's kinda close minded to assume that the only way a guy will pay attention to a female lead is if she gets into lesbian situations.

I think you should reevaluate some of your ideas on "what male readers" want. It feels like your ideas are more in line with corporate or mainstream media, but far from the nuances of actual people.

As far as the characters themselves, I don't really have an opinion any which way. The male and female look so alike, they don't really give me anything to work with mentally. I think they're designs could be a little more creative over all. Right now the body suits look pretty generic, and their silhouettes aren't special either. I will say, they are well drawn, but I probably won't remember either of them after looking away for 5 minutes.

thanks for telling me I am a comedy for being androgynous (I'm a man, not gender fluid, but this was still disrespectful to all androgynous and non-binary people)

Samesies!! ^^
My MC is also genderfluid!! Also it's a Fantasy/Action comic hehhe
I'm currently injured but I'll continue updating KMO as soon as I recover ^^

can i request a third option on the poll that says "who gives a shit about gender as long as the character is interesting and well written?"

if not that, then maybe a disclaimer at the top that says "the author really only cares about cis men's opinions on this, as evidenced by the barely there, back-handed invitations for 'female creators and readers' to poll."

edit what's up, I'm an adult trans dude and consider myself very pretty so maybe stop trying to force certain concepts of gender on strangers.

Wow, you’re not even trying to hide how much you’re an awful person, are you? If you’re gonna do nothing except disrespect every single nonbinary person you may as well just leave.

Soo.... frat bros that only watch currant iskeai cus its popular to like and never venture out to anything else of fear of being made fun of by other frat bros?

I personally think that the female harem trope is objectifying and misogynist. It's hideously dehumanising to have a bunch of female characters who only exist to swoon over the male lead, as if they're nothing but brainless objects designed for pleasure.

Yeeeaaah this guy's just digging himself deeper and deeper at this point, lol. I'm out.

I'm Cis, Male, Hetero and not even through half of my 20's, so I guess I can "fit well" for the public you are aiming for.

After reading everything so far, and because I think my immature 14's self would have share some similar ideas, I'd like to give some honest advice:

  • I'll play the devil's advocate and say that there may be a place for harem to show in a healthy way, but all the examples of harem I've seen are just unhealthy fantasies for horny teenagers on the internet. It's not like some power fantasies that inspire you to do more, to persist and believe in yourself, but rather something more harmful and egoistic, and that makes an action story dull.

  • About the GL, assuming from the other comments you've posted, it seems you are just putting it there for mere fetish. Not that only us cis or men or heteros or all the latter are to blame of fetishizing relationships, but neither an excuse to do so, even more when it isn't the main story focus.

  • I can understand that dealing with all of the LGBT+ ideas and concepts at once may be hard to digest and even understand (more if you come from a somewhat conservative background like in my case), but at least there should be respect in disagreement. What's comedic of a genderfluid character? Or an androgynous one? You could just say you are not comfortable drawing gf or andro characters, or prefer to keep it either male or female because you still don't know how to handle other characters, or even that you fear it wouldn't be as accepted and it'd be a better response than what you said.

  • By no means a male looking female or vice-versa is an actual reason as to why someone on the internet would not read your story, even ignoring the people with the femboy/trap fetish, there are those who don't care as long as the story is good, or the scenes look great, or the characters are engaging.