Hmm really want to rant about how people with 2000s themed OCs just perpetuate the same old stereotypes and bring nothing new to the table, but I don’t want to have to call out specific people. But it’s crazy how along with “Y2K” and “90s” aesthetics they also bring the same old misogyny and racism to make it “realistic”.
I think that having misogynistic, racist, and or homophobic characters can be interesting, as no way we live in a monolithic world where everyone has perfect PC internet morals. BUTTT it does get to a point where the people making these “loser, incel, bad people” characters don’t have the skill to actually depict it in anyway that’s interesting or nuanced I guess. And on top of that, these creators don’t take kindly to critique, often dismissing it as pure hate. The more popular artist who do things like this, just let their overly parasocial fans dog pile on anyone who even has a modicum of concern.
It’s hard having this conversation as well, because on the opposite end you have people who cannot consume any media that doesn’t align with their personal morals, even if that media is a cirque on said thing. So it kind of comes off like I’m advocating for more racist characters but that’s not it 😭, I just want people to be a little bit more aware when making “problematic character #5”.