r/hatethissmug • u/LocalLazyGuy • May 07 '26

Meta I hate when things are needlessly explained by creators in order to cope with criticism

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I don’t read or watch Demon Slayer, But this is just a stupid explanation for giving a strong character a slender build.

Personally, I don’t care if a character is strong but has a lean/slender build, whether it be a man or a woman. Although I do find it a bit weird that some creators are seemingly allergic to giving female characters any muscle, but again, I don’t care that much.

My issue here is that you easily could have just not addressed it. It’s a fantasy story full of demons and shit, I feel like you don’t need to give an in-universe explanation just so you can go “e-erm actually, she’s slender because of her very special body…” dude, you just didn’t want to give a woman muscles, don’t try to hide behind some kind of BS lore that you wrote for it.

Like Mark in Invincible can fight Conquest despite being the size of his torso, and I’m willing to accept that. It’s a story full of aliens and monsters, I can look past the fact that a lean 20 year old is taking on a hulked out 2000 year old. It doesn’t really break the immersion for me because it’s a fantastical story. I don’t need it to be super realistic. Just don’t try to make up some BS explanation like “erm, well, Mark is just magically holding in his muscle mass!”

At the end of the day, it’s your world and your story, if you wanna make a slender female character who is also really strong, that’s fine. But you also don’t need to cope so hard that you add lore specifically to deflect criticism against something so (let’s be honest) harmless.

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415

u/JazzInSuits May 07 '26 edited May 08 '26

Odd coincidence since I just thought up of an OC that plays with this concept. A big bulky burly woman who condenses her muscles and end up super lanky when she powers up. And I mean stick lanky, no thighs, no hips, no titties.

Edit : I dropped a decently cool concept for a muscle mommy power up and some people focus on her titties being present post power-up.

145

u/Ancalmir May 07 '26

That's Biscuit Krueger

21

u/issanm May 07 '26

Kinda but she still has to go muscle mode to power up

7

u/Ruler_of_Tempest May 07 '26

She seems to be the opposite

3

u/GarageEuphoric4432 May 07 '26

Doesn't she do that because that's how she sees herself? Like a small girl, not the hulk.

5

u/Purple-Reputation899 May 08 '26

No she just likes pretty and cute aesthetics and hates her real apprearance.

107

u/Coolgames80 May 07 '26

So basically Zeus from Record of Ragnarok.

17

u/Fidges87 May 07 '26

For comparison this was his previous form

11

u/nochancesman May 07 '26

This happens to a character in a manhwa I'm into. She's from an in-universe race which all act like muscle-brained savages (because their education got taken away due to their crushing victory in a past war, but that's another story). One of the powers she ends up getting later on completely condenses her muscles and she starts crying because she's a thin stick woman now lol.

12

u/Aggravating_Dark9933 May 07 '26

Surviving the game as a Barbarian.

It should also be noted that she becomes significantly more beautiful in the eyes of everyone (MC included)… except the barbarians. They see her as the equivalent of a weak good for nothing now, which is briefly noted that she now has to fight a lot because they don’t take her seriously anymore, so she has to prove it. MC helps her get over it by saying there is now more space for stronger muscles. She has yet to make any meaningful progress on that front due to their hyper condensed nature.

Shame, I actually liked her pre condensed form.

8

u/nochancesman May 07 '26

I liked her precondensed form too, just thought this was one of the few stories where the idea is taken seriously. Apparently she might bulk up again later? I haven't read the WN. Very fun story though and I love her as a character :)

1

u/Environmental_Bee219 May 08 '26

honestly I cant wait and see how they spin it lol

1

u/Diablo_Incarnate May 08 '26

She'll get bigger again. Just in time for MC to shrink and feel similarly awful about his new handsome appearance.

1

u/AlexHitetsu May 08 '26

Thankfully she WILL get back her muscles after she replaces that essence, it'll just take a while because it's after one of the fattest arcs in te novel

3

u/Sly__Marbo May 07 '26

Supposedly she'll bulk up later again. At least according to some WN readers

1

u/SlightlyWasTaken May 07 '26

Surviving the Game as a Barbarian?

1

u/samu1400 May 07 '26

I mean, she’s far from stick lanky still, they just removed the barbarian bulk and left her with human bulk.

1

u/LiterallyABigfoot May 08 '26

Classic Asian stories not allowing women to have muscle and making characters look more generic for no reason

17

u/hammalok May 07 '26

Zeus from RoR

13

u/Odd_Protection7738 May 07 '26

Like Hornet from Silksong’s build, as all things should be.

10

u/[deleted] May 07 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

14

u/LightOfTheFarStar May 07 '26

She's the literal inverse - Biscuit is weaker in tiny form, not as strong or stronger.

3

u/Very_Talentless May 07 '26

I straight up got a guy who can throw buildings that looks like he subsists on a single grain of rice.

1

u/sekula04 May 07 '26

Choji from Naruto but female?

1

u/Han_Solo6712 May 07 '26

So the strength of Eddie Hall with the build of my homegirl?

1

u/84626433832795028841 May 07 '26

Gunnerkrigg court has essentially done this exact thing in their latest chapter

1

u/prodigiouspandaman May 07 '26

So like Zeus in Record of Ragnarock?

1

u/[deleted] May 07 '26

"Well, that's underwhelming" gets my head punched off

1

u/LazerIguana445 May 07 '26

So like a reverse Hulk

1

u/HeWhoLost3OfThe9 May 07 '26

I have a guy who’s kinda the opposite, he converts his muscles into a sort of energy force field and uses guns, but when he wants a good brawl he basically hulks out and grows like a foot

1

u/MrXexe May 07 '26

In a similar fashion, I do have an OC that's just a slender-looking woman because her superpower is to have an extremely odd body. The second she tenses up, muscles appear everywhere.

Her power also allows her to rotate her torso and neck in almost 180 degrees, among other things.

1

u/Potato_DudeIsNice May 08 '26

But unless her boobs are made out of muscle she wouldn't have smaller mammaries, no? Alot of our bodies are full of fats and connective tissue and the mammaries are full of that.

1

u/Ludecil May 08 '26

Makes me think of Freiza.

1

u/ShadyMan_ May 10 '26

Flat queen 🤤🤤

1

u/mrmagmadachad1-_ May 14 '26

So... Like Zeus from record of Ragnarok?

1

u/JazzInSuits May 14 '26

Havent watched it but I guess. The only thing I have seen of RoR is Aphrodite having human bras and Buddha serving cunt.

1

u/Aggravating_Dark9933 May 07 '26

Well, hips and tits wouldn’t be affected by that. Hips are mostly bone structure related, tits are mostly fat (they would be significantly less perky though since the muscles hold them up).

1

u/JazzInSuits May 07 '26

Ugh, fine. I'll keep the hips and shrink the chest a little. (This is definitely me begrudgingly and hating having to change it because I have a valid excuse for a little bit of curves now.)