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radio_aspenI recently read an article that was making a case for the most unintentionally homoerotic horror films, and it had me thinking about unintentional gay subtext in general, fandom foundation that it is. I think that a really great example of this is the Star Fox series. And have thought so for so long.
Two things to note:
This is an argument for subtext. This is not nor is it intended to be an airtight defense of any particular character’s sexuality.
This is an argument from overall impression of the universe/series continuity. I’m going to be using evidence from all over rather than any particular game. In fact, the scope itself is part of what informs my reasoning.
Now, keeping those two things in mind, let’s start with the basics.
For the majority of the franchise, the cast has been almost exclusively male. Star Fox 2 tried to interrupt this way back at the start by injecting two female characters to the main crew, but was rendered non-canon by the Nintendo 64 and development of Star Fox 64. These two were also much better characters than the now canon female characters, but alas.
So without that, what we have is a small ensemble of male characters. These characters are understood to live together, in space, with no outside contact, for long stretches of time.
In Star Fox: Assault (which is, incidentally, the first “standard” Star Fox game with a female in the main cast, but more on that later) two of the main characters frequently refer to Fox by specific nicknames, both of which have not-terribly-distant sexual connotations.
One is a leather and spike wearing crime lord, who refers to Fox as “Pup.”
The other looks like he’s posing for glamour shots in all of the official art, and refers to Fox as “Foxy.”
That’s not even getting into the banter (“I think you look better in a tank.” “Why don’t you come down here, Falco?” anyone?).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIvZWdUgkGE#t=2m8s
The subtext is there.
Now if we look at the canon love interest, Krystal, there are some problems with how the relationship is presented. Krystal is introduced in Star Fox: Adventures, and the interaction between her and Fox in that game is essentially that he finds her attractive, as she’s helplessly encased in a crystal, and then at the ending scene her proximity gives him an erection or something.
Now forward to Star Fox: Assault, where Krystal has been pigeonholed into the main cast (Adventures’s development hijinks is another topic in itself) and we are more or less told that she and Fox are together. Why? It’s certainly not because of chemistry, or any relational development. The extent of their romance seems to be “You’re the exotic attractive token girl, you’re the main character, ergo you two are an item.” Other than this explicitly stated status of their relationship, we don’t really get a sense of it in the game itself. The only thing we’re given is the exactly one significant scene that they have together, on a planet in the peace of a successful mission, where instead of even speaking themselves their relationship is brought up by another character. Know who else has a scene with Fox on a planet in the peace of a successful mission, where they have a heartfelt conversation?
Let’s take a look.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu4qr7L0Tns#t=10m38s
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB_nbSswAD0&feature=relmfu#t=2m2s
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB_nbSswAD0&feature=relmfu#t=4m14s
(Assault is so quality, as you can tell. Also Wolf’s previous appearance in the game involves him getting into a dogfight with Fox because “I’m owed an apology, and I WILL have it.”)
Beyond that scene, the only real interest Fox shows is that he seems to be very protective of Krystal. Particularly when it’s revealed that her telepathy makes her weaker in the presence of the Aparoids, the primary antagonist in the game (. . .).
Interestingly, Star Fox: Command, whether it’s intended or not, sort of brings this distance that they have into the writing. At the beginning of the game Fox and Krystal have separated, and by the end only one of the nine endings has them getting back together permanently—and it’s not even the default ending. Said ending has them leaving the space mercenary business to start a new life together away from conflict. Know who else gets an ending where they leave the space mercenary business with Fox to start a new life together away from conflict?
Anyway, I think this choice is interesting—but again, not necessarily intentional. It’s just that when you try to rationalize the universe/canon, you can say that this happened because they never really had a relationship in the first place. It was just sort of forced, and then after it didn’t work out (because they have no chemistry) Krystal left and that was the end of it.
So taking all of that into account, the only thing that the relationship between Fox and Krystal actually has going for it is Word of God. Literally everything that’s done to develop their relationship happens to (at least) the same extent with other characters (usually Falco, who also completely rejects the female character romantically interested in him). Considering this along with Krystal’s relatively small role in the overall series and, well yeah.
(Let me take a moment here to point out again that none of this is supposed to be definitive or intentional, it’s just that they add up.)
Of course, that was focused mostly around Fox. Let’s take a look at Star Wolf. I’ll let this scene speak for itself:
www.youtube.com/embed/Vg7Ex-IXWgU#t=23s
So it’s an objective fact that Leon wants to (sado-masochistically) jump Wolf’s bones, is what I’m saying.
No but seriously how did that script ever get into Brawl.
Two things to note:
This is an argument for subtext. This is not nor is it intended to be an airtight defense of any particular character’s sexuality.
This is an argument from overall impression of the universe/series continuity. I’m going to be using evidence from all over rather than any particular game. In fact, the scope itself is part of what informs my reasoning.
Now, keeping those two things in mind, let’s start with the basics.
For the majority of the franchise, the cast has been almost exclusively male. Star Fox 2 tried to interrupt this way back at the start by injecting two female characters to the main crew, but was rendered non-canon by the Nintendo 64 and development of Star Fox 64. These two were also much better characters than the now canon female characters, but alas.
So without that, what we have is a small ensemble of male characters. These characters are understood to live together, in space, with no outside contact, for long stretches of time.
In Star Fox: Assault (which is, incidentally, the first “standard” Star Fox game with a female in the main cast, but more on that later) two of the main characters frequently refer to Fox by specific nicknames, both of which have not-terribly-distant sexual connotations.
One is a leather and spike wearing crime lord, who refers to Fox as “Pup.”
The other looks like he’s posing for glamour shots in all of the official art, and refers to Fox as “Foxy.”
That’s not even getting into the banter (“I think you look better in a tank.” “Why don’t you come down here, Falco?” anyone?).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIvZWdUgkGE#t=2m8s
The subtext is there.
Now if we look at the canon love interest, Krystal, there are some problems with how the relationship is presented. Krystal is introduced in Star Fox: Adventures, and the interaction between her and Fox in that game is essentially that he finds her attractive, as she’s helplessly encased in a crystal, and then at the ending scene her proximity gives him an erection or something.
Now forward to Star Fox: Assault, where Krystal has been pigeonholed into the main cast (Adventures’s development hijinks is another topic in itself) and we are more or less told that she and Fox are together. Why? It’s certainly not because of chemistry, or any relational development. The extent of their romance seems to be “You’re the exotic attractive token girl, you’re the main character, ergo you two are an item.” Other than this explicitly stated status of their relationship, we don’t really get a sense of it in the game itself. The only thing we’re given is the exactly one significant scene that they have together, on a planet in the peace of a successful mission, where instead of even speaking themselves their relationship is brought up by another character. Know who else has a scene with Fox on a planet in the peace of a successful mission, where they have a heartfelt conversation?
Let’s take a look.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu4qr7L0Tns#t=10m38s
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB_nbSswAD0&feature=relmfu#t=2m2s
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB_nbSswAD0&feature=relmfu#t=4m14s
(Assault is so quality, as you can tell. Also Wolf’s previous appearance in the game involves him getting into a dogfight with Fox because “I’m owed an apology, and I WILL have it.”)
Beyond that scene, the only real interest Fox shows is that he seems to be very protective of Krystal. Particularly when it’s revealed that her telepathy makes her weaker in the presence of the Aparoids, the primary antagonist in the game (. . .).
Interestingly, Star Fox: Command, whether it’s intended or not, sort of brings this distance that they have into the writing. At the beginning of the game Fox and Krystal have separated, and by the end only one of the nine endings has them getting back together permanently—and it’s not even the default ending. Said ending has them leaving the space mercenary business to start a new life together away from conflict. Know who else gets an ending where they leave the space mercenary business with Fox to start a new life together away from conflict?
Anyway, I think this choice is interesting—but again, not necessarily intentional. It’s just that when you try to rationalize the universe/canon, you can say that this happened because they never really had a relationship in the first place. It was just sort of forced, and then after it didn’t work out (because they have no chemistry) Krystal left and that was the end of it.
So taking all of that into account, the only thing that the relationship between Fox and Krystal actually has going for it is Word of God. Literally everything that’s done to develop their relationship happens to (at least) the same extent with other characters (usually Falco, who also completely rejects the female character romantically interested in him). Considering this along with Krystal’s relatively small role in the overall series and, well yeah.
(Let me take a moment here to point out again that none of this is supposed to be definitive or intentional, it’s just that they add up.)
Of course, that was focused mostly around Fox. Let’s take a look at Star Wolf. I’ll let this scene speak for itself:
www.youtube.com/embed/Vg7Ex-IXWgU#t=23s
So it’s an objective fact that Leon wants to (sado-masochistically) jump Wolf’s bones, is what I’m saying.
No but seriously how did that script ever get into Brawl.
