Taking A Female Character Who Belongs To A Non-majority Group Of Bigger, Muscular Women In A Video Game

If Abby Anderson had been plus sized in the game and HBO shrank her down for the show, the internet would be on fire.

People would be writing thinkpieces, calling it fatphobia, analyzing every goddamn frame, and frankly, they'd be well within their right to.

Why is it different now?

Why is it okay to completely erase her body and minimize what defined Abby's arc and most importantly, the trauma that led her entire storyline?

Abby wasn't just muscular for aesthetics. I've said it before and I'll say it a million times. Her body told a story of grief, discipline, obsession, and survival. It meant something. To flatten that into something more "palatable" for TV is not some neutral act. It's erasure in a media space that badly needs accurate representation.

Stop acting like it's not a big deal. Stop telling me I'm somehow being mean to Kaitlyn Dever because I'm speaking out about my lived experience. If Abby had been plus sized, this would be a discourse storm and you know it. But she was built like a brick shithouse, and that strength made people super uncomfortable so they downsized her.

Male gazed the everloving shit out of her.

They didn't even bother looking for actresses that better fit the role. They didn't ask Abby's actress to hit the weights like many, many performers before her. She is meant to be a soldier in a militia. Come on, people.

They simply didn't care. And it has fueled the hatred against Abby's game character tenfold as a result. The misinformation about muscular women is skyrocketing and it will only continue to do so.

That should make you just as angry. We're supposed to show up for all women. Not just cherry picking what we think deserves attention.

Fuck Craig Mazin and fuck Neil Druckmann for refusing to acknowledge the hurt here.

And if you're a woman, and you're gaslighting other women into feeling shitty for speaking up about this, give your head a genuine shake.

I show up for your right for representation.

Where are you now?

I'm sick to death of having to defend myself so I'm not doing it anymore. I've been called a misogynist and a body shamer.

What is more misogynistic, more body shaming than erasing a strong ass woman and replacing her with the opposite body type?

Cease with this bullshit.

A look into the firearms used by the WLF

1: Although never seen in the hands of other WLF fighters, Abby’s choice in rifle is a VEPR HAMMER chambered in .308. The VEPR is a semi auto rifle primarily used for hunting. Part of the AK family the VEPR is a reliable and trustworthy man stopper.

2: The WLF is commonly seen wielding the Remington 700 bolt action rifle also chambered in .308. Remington is a trustworthy brand and it’s normally pretty hard to fuck up a bolt action, simple action, easy to clean and maintain, powerful cartridge, it’ll put down an infected or scar in a well placed shot from the chest or above.

3: Many WLF soldiers can be seen using the SIG P226, a common sidearm used by police in the United States, the P226 is a trusted and reliable 9mm semi automatic handgun, it’s made by snarky Europeans so it has to be good right?

4: A personal favorite of mine, the Taurus .357. A revolver made in Brazil, some fighters prefer a revolver, easier to clean and maintain, a lot less likely to jam than a semi auto would.

5: The Remington 870, one of the most mass produced shotguns ever made, the ones in the hands of the WLF have been cut down, the stock shaved off and the barrel shortened, most likely done to be able to get in and out of vehicles quicker if need be, or simply by personal choice, if there’s an infected coming at you there’s nothing better than a short BoomStick.

6: The rifle of choice for most of the WLF. The Rugar Mini-14, the mini 14 is a sporting rifle chambered in 5.56, there’s a lot of them in Washington state because of the strict gun laws, when you can’t get an AR15 this is the next best thing.

7: (Concept Art) A WLF soldier can be seen wielding a CAR-15 a shortened down AR15, most likely was picked up after the war with FEDRA.

8: (concept art) A WLF soldier wields an AKM pattern rifle, most likely a Romanian WASR-10 or other civilian derivatives, highly doubt its a military select fire one.

Her hands. Her veins. Her eyes.

This is for those who claim Abby couldn't achieve such muscle definition without steroids. Have you actually played the game? The WLF stadium features a large gym equipped with a variety of training equipment, along with ample access to protein. It's absolutely possible for her to attain that level of fitness! 💪🏻

I’ll be posting more photo modes soon!

yeah so the thing is that no one is hating on kaitlyn as a person or as an actress. i hope she does show abby justice.

but the point is that it’s not abby.

neil admitted he wanted to work with kaitlyn regardless so changed the role to accommodate her. that’s not fair. he vehemently defended why he gave abby that physique when the game first launched, and her body alone is so important to who she is as a person, it’s quite literally what her character is built on.

there are plenty of talented actresses who are a few inches taller and not naturally petite that could have fit the role better. they don’t even have to be entirely as muscular as abby but to have zero time in the gym is insane. also saying there aren’t really buff women who are talented is kinda misogynistic but i digress.

neil changed abby’s character to be more digestible to the general public, and conform to hollywood’s beauty standards. that’s the root of the issue. he’s satisfying the incels who have complained for the past 5 years straight, calling her every name in the book for years because they don’t like her body type and they think she looks like a man. strong women are severely underrepresented and her backstory of turning herself into a human weapon was detrimental to her and symbolic. it’s erasure.

as a tlou fan, (SOME of) it’s fan base is genuinely insufferable.

i’ve seen men and women complain and complain about bella ramsey and kaitlyn dever, with no actually valid argument.

now look, does bella ramsey look like ellie? no, not really.

does bella ramsey portray ellie with literally no flaws whatsoever? YES.

it’s okay for you to want someone else to be ellie, it’s okay if you don’t like bella as ellie.

but there’s a difference between that, and being just blatantly disrespectful.

i’ve seen people say bella looks like they have down syndrome, that she’s ugly, and overall people just being disgusting and hateful towards them for absolutely no reason.

that is NOT criticism, that doesn’t have anything to do with her performance as ellie or the show.

that is PURELY you being disrespectful.

and there’s no justification or reason for that kind of behavior.

now onto kaitlyn.

is she buff? no. does she look like abby? no, not really.

will she play abby perfectly just like bella as ellie? i have no idea.

but here’s the thing, there’s not a lot of buff, tall, and intimidating women who can act.

especially ones that conveniently look like abby.

did yall really expect them to cast people with PERFECT looks to the character AND the flawless abilities to play said character? do yall know how rare that is?

so the point is, you can dislike bella as ellie, you can dislike kaitlyn as abby (since NO ONE is FORCING YOU to watch the show btw) as long as you remain respectful to the actresses.

and the tlou show is literally one of the only good game adaptations to live action EVER but yall still wanna complain.

and as a final side note, most of the men trying to shame bella ramsey’s appearance are just mad they don’t have another version of ellie to sexualize🤷

Butches were literally MADE to wear boxers and oversized t-shirt. That is genuinely my lingerie, I feel so hot in that, and other butches look so hot in it, and when they lay back and their shirt rides up and you can see the tummy??? Perfection.

❦ abigail anderson; beauty, brains AND brawn

chess, lit fic novels, classical music. she’s such a lowkey nerd, it’s adorable. a beautiful brainiac with an intense workout schedule- what’s not to love?

ABBY ANDERSON’S BOOK COLLECTION

book textures found here [x]

CITY OF THIEVES

written by david benioff, 2008

the main character’s name is lev, perhaps a nod to abby’s future ward

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

written by alexandre dumas, 1846

some of the story’s key themes are revenge, redemption and forgiveness.. sounds a bit familiar, abigail

THE ILIAD & THE ODYSSEY

written by homer, c. 8th century BC

THE INGENIOUS GENTLEMAN DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA

written by miguel de cervantes, 1605

HEART OF DARKNESS

written by joseph conrad, 1899

DIVINE COMEDY

written by dante alighieri, 1321

LITTLE WOMEN

louisa may aclott, 1868

THE MOONSTONE

written by wilkie collins, 1868

THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN

written by mark twain, 1884

ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, TALES FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS

written by various authors, c. 1706-1721

MEDEA

written by euripides, 431 BC

THE ROSE GARDEN HUSBAND

written by margaret widdemer, 1915

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

written by H. G. wells, 1898

WAR AND PEACE

written by leo tolstoy, 1867

ROBINSON CRUSOE

written by daniel defoe, 1719

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

written by oscar wilde, 1890

THE DREAM-QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH

written by H. P. lovecraft, 1943

THE SCARLET LETTER

written by nathaniel hawthorne, 1850

NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR

written by george orwell, 1949

TREASURE ISLAND

written by robert louis stevenson, 1883

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

written by charles dickens, 1859

FISHING IN UTOPIA: SWEDEN & THE FUTURE THAT DISAPPEARED

written by andrew brown, 2008

STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE

written by robert louis stevenson, 1886

my favorite girl ever

ufc!au Abby

you don’t wanna cross her on the cage, believe me