In Apex Legends arrived with Season 5 the new heroine Loba into the game. She is designed as a “sexy thief”, but in the opinion of our MeinMMO author Jürgen Horn, the developers went too far here. However, our author Leya Jankowski sees it a bit differently.
Who is Loba? In the recently released 5th Season of Apex Legends, a new legend once again entered the game. The last time the creepy cyber-killer Revenant appeared and brutally slaughtered the family of a little girl in the intro, we are now allowed to play as that same now-adult girl named Loba.
Loba is a nimble support character who tracks down loot, steals it, and then provides it to her team. She plays very dynamically and fits well into the game. After all, there are now finally 2 support heroines.
Loba is meant to be an attractive, strong woman
This is Loba’s design: I love to play agile characters and enjoy supporting. Therefore, Loba was exactly the heroine I wanted to play, and I was looking forward to the release of Season 5 with great anticipation.
But as soon as I unlocked Loba, one thing hit me right in the face: Loba’s voluptuous butt in super tight pants and the accompanying mega hip swing. Additionally, there were further sexualizing aspects of the new heroine:
- She wears a tight corset with ample cleavage
- Her first finishing move resembles pole dancing
- Her voice lines, delivered with a seductive voice, are largely quite ambiguous, such as “A strong woman knows what she wants, and it’s down there”
- She wears totally impractical boots with huge heels
- Her name “Loba” means “she-wolf” in Spanish/Portuguese but can also be used as a somewhat derogatory slang term for a sexually promiscuous woman (via Wikipedia)
This is the background of Loba’s design: According to the developers, they wanted to create an attractive, feminine heroine with Loba. The responsible developer Tom Casiello looked back to his previous career as a writer for female wrestlers in the WWE, according to an article on Gamerant. There, the female fighters wanted to come across as strong, but still feminine.
Does a sexy femme fatale fit into Apex Legends?
This is why Loba’s appearance bothers me: That in itself is not a bad thing; no one demands that female characters all look like men. However, in my opinion, the developers have gone a bit too far with Loba.
After all, Apex Legends has always placed great emphasis on the appropriate presentation of its heroes. There are diverse ethnicities and sexual orientations present. The characters all have a developed story, and the women in the game are tough fighters in their appearances and not sexualized supermodel girls, as is often encountered in other games.
This is how the other heroines appear: You immediately believe the veteran soldier Bangalore can disassemble and reassemble an assault rifle blindfolded in record time, Wattson is equipped as an engineer with tons of tools and techno stuff, and the grim Wraith does indeed look like a battle-worn mutant killer.
Here, Loba is meant to come across as an attractive, feminine heroine who walks confidently and beautifully on her path and knows exactly what she wants and gets it. A classic femme fatale. However, in my opinion, the developers have really gone too far with the “feminine aspects” and instead have rather resorted to cheap over-sexualization.
These aspects of Loba are, in my opinion, too much: It’s one thing when a heroine has a style that focuses more on attractiveness than pure utility. But that she can reasonably walk in those high heels, not to mention fight in rough terrain, is something no one believes. Ironically, she even has a voice line about it: “If you think that hurts, try fighting in 6-inch heels!”
And the extreme hip swing, combined with her full butt in tight pants, is simply too much. It seems as if Loba embodies all the sexiness that has been consciously avoided in the other women in the game. For me, this is a harsh break with the supposed design philosophy behind the game.
Loba feels to me as if she doesn’t belong in the Apex Games at all. Rather, it seems like an elegantly dressed spectator has accidentally fallen into the arena and somehow still hasn’t realized that in a battle royale, one arguably shouldn’t be wandering around in high heels, perfectly manicured nails, and super tight clothes.
This is a shame because I really like Loba’s gameplay. However, I probably can’t come to terms with what I think is an over-sexualized design. The role intended for her as a femme fatale, the dangerous seductress, somehow doesn’t unfold against the background of a battle royale game.
Moreover, her skills are all focused on theft and mobility rather than deception and seduction. Thus, her appearance seems more like fan service and “eye candy” than a design decision fitting for the game.
That’s my opinion on Loba. When we discussed the article in the editorial team, however, the topic sparked a long, controversial, and heated debate within the team. Therefore, Leya Jankowski, who is part of the editorial staff at MeinMMO, wanted to weigh in as well. Leya has a slightly different opinion on the matter, as you can read here.
Leya’s Opinion – Loba is good just the way she is
I see Loba as an attractive young woman who likes to emphasize her feminine side and makes use of her charms. A typical femme fatale indeed.
Sexualization primarily occurs when individuals are reduced to mere sexual objects, disturbing the power dynamics. However, this impression does not arise from Loba’s characterization for me; this woman seems incredibly tough. She consciously uses her sexuality to distract and provoke.
Now, Loba is of course made of pixels, and her character and story have been crafted for her. One could say that it was a conscious decision by a design team to incorporate a personality like Loba into their game. However, there were many other ways to approach Loba, considering she leans on a Bayonetta, who fights almost naked.
In real life, there are precisely these types of women, like Loba. There are women out there who have an hourglass figure, with wide hips that sway naturally when they walk. There are women with large breasts that jiggle when they walk, provided they are not wearing a sports bra. There are women out there who like to walk in high heels and have learned to do so on any terrain and at any speed.
Hero shooters like Apex Legends, Overwatch, or the upcoming Crucible thrive on a diverse cast of characters. They live from the fact that there are various characters with whom the person behind the monitor can identify. So why shouldn’t the women out there who resemble Loba also have someone to relate to? Perhaps just out of fear that it might get too sexual?
Here, one may need to consider that the sexualization might only exist in the eye of the beholder.
But what do you think? Is Loba too sexy? Or does she actually fit well as a counterpoint to the previous fighters? Or do you only care about the skills and stats of the heroes, and their appearance is irrelevant to you?
