Fable

Fable gets hate for ‘unattractive’ protagonist

Fable gets hate for ‘unattractive’ protagonist
Images via Playground Games

Written by 

Tom Chapman

Published 

13th Jun 2023 11:33

Quelle surprise, the gaming community has a toxic take on a woman in video games. Looping back to those who called out Horizon: Forbidden West's Aloy for having a 'hairy' face, they're now attacking the new Fable game for having an 'ugly' protagonist. 

Putting the rest of this year's gaming showcases to shame, June 11's Xbox extravaganza gave us Star Wars: Outlaws, Avowed, and an extended look at Starfield. For many, it's Playground Games' Fable reboot that piqued our interest.

Toxic fans turn against Fable 

Bringing The It Crowd and The Mandalorian's Richard Ayoade on board to narrate the trailer might've been a hit, but the same can't be said for the rest of the fantasy favourite. At the time of writing, IGN's upload of the trailer has 11k dislikes compared to 8.5k likes. Maybe they just weren't a fan? Well, let's look at Twitter.

Over on the Twitterverse, it's clear why the dislikes are outweighing the likes. Notorious internet troll Ian Miles Cheong started the pile-on, and things only got worse from there. Responding to him, someone else wrote, "I honestly can't tell if that's supposed to be a man or a woman, and I think that's the point."

Elsewhere, someone added, "I know y'all are excited for the upcoming Fable…….. but she's ugly." A third said, "Are you defending the ugly ass Fable girl? I think it's okay for fans to say no to woke sh*t like that dude."

If you thought it was just dungeon-dwelling men, that's not the case. One woman wrote, "I'll never feel insecure without makeup on again after seeing this monstrosity." Namely, there were a lot of comparisons to the barmaid from Shrek - sigh, we always knew this would happen.

What about character customisation?

 

Some seem to be missing the point here. You've been able to customise your character since Fable 2, and while not confirmed, it's fully expected for the next game. The hero in the trailer is clearly a stand-in, unlike the hate Star Wars: Outlaws is currently getting for Kay Vess. 

Thankfully, there was plenty of defence for the MVP of the Fable trailer - with most calling out these toxic corners of fandom or claiming they're just making up something to be angry about for the engagement. Of course, most of these have never played Fable and know the characters have never been stereotypically 'attractive.'

It's interesting discourse to have, especially when we can go from playing as everything from Trevor in GTA to an anthropomorphic bandicoot in Crash Bandicoot without a single complaint. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and to be honest, some of these haters should take a long, hard, look in the mirror. 

Tom Chapman
About the author
Tom Chapman
Tom is Trending News Editor at GGRecon, with an NCTJ qualification in Broadcast Journalism and over seven years of experience writing about film, gaming, and television. With bylines at IGN, Digital Spy, Den of Geek, and more, Tom’s love of horror means he's well-versed in all things Resident Evil, with aspirations to be the next Chris Redfield.
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