Culture Ratchet and Clank: A Rift Apart Character Artist Reveals Writing Team Took Issue With Directors Over Rivet’s “Feminine” Appearance - The lead character TD was a trans person who, at the time, had not transitioned,” while “everyone else in the discussion was a white cis male.”

Ratchet and Clank: A Rift Apart Character Artist Reveals Writing Team Took Issue With Directors Over Rivet’s “Feminine” Appearance​

July 23, 2021

In light of the recent news that Activision Blizzard has been hit with a lawsuit over their alleged fostering of a “frat boy” workplace culture, Ratchet and Clank: A Rift Apart character artist Xavier Coelho-Kostolny recently put forth a disagreement between the game’s writers and directors over the “feminine” appearance of the game’s lead female, Rivet, as a purported example of a studio environment which was “hostile to women and all kinds of other marginalized people in gamedev.”

Source: Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart

Coelho-Kostolny recalled the incident on July 21st, taking to his personal Twitter account to tell his “fellow men in gamedev, especially those just now entering the industry,” that There are a lot of things you may run into that aren’t directly harmful to people in the same way as sexual harassment, but they still contribute to hostile environments and harm.”

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

“There’s a strong chance I’m going to get flak for saying this publicly,” he continued, “but it’s worth bringing up because it’s an example of how small things contribute to building environments that are hostile to women and all kinds of other marginalized people in gamedev.”

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

The character artist then detailed how, “When I was on the latest Ratchet and Clank game, there was an incredibly heated discussion that happened between the game director, art director, the lead writer, the lead character TD, and myself,” about “Rivet, the female lead.”

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

“Note that three of the people above, including myself, are no longer at Insomniac,” he added, before noting that he was “not going to tag them because they’re adults I trust to comment if they feel it’s appropriate.”

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

According to Coelho-Kostolny, “the discussion — or argument, really — was basically about whether we should make Rivet look more stereotypically feminine looking,” specifically whether she should “have wider hips, visible breasts (or bumps in her suit), and other physical traits we normally associate with cartoony women.”

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

“The argument basically broke down like this:” he explained. “The game director and art director wanted her to have a visibly, fairly stereotypically feminine look. The lead writer, the lead character TD, and I wanted to keep her as-is.”

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

Noting that “this is where things get into territory that men like myself in gamedev need to pay REALLY F—ING CLOSE ATTENTION,” Coelho-Kostolny also described how “the lead writer was a woman. The lead character TD was a trans person who, at the time, had not transitioned,” while “everyone else in the discussion was a white cis male.”

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

“At the time the argument occurred, there were two women and one female-presenting trans person on the team. That trans person had lived their life up to that point as a woman, and had the lived experience thereof. Everyone else on the 20+ person team was a man,” he described.

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

“So,” he said, “Two thirds of the women on the team, as well as one cis white man (me), were telling the art director and game lead that Rivet should not, as an alien space fox, have wide hips and titties.”

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

As listed by Coelho-Kostolny, the main sticking points for those opposed to Rivet being depicted as more ‘feminine’ were their beliefs that “It went against the message of the game, which is that anyone can be a hero regardless of how they look,” “You don’t need to be stereotypically feminine to be a woman,” and “RIVET IS A F—ING ALIEN SPACE FOX, JUST LIKE RATCHET.”

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

“The argument had been going on for about half an hour before I finally pulled one of the framed Ratchet and Clank posters down from the wall, put it in front of both leads, and told them to look at the damn thing and tell me how much Ratchet looked like a human man,” he revealed.

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

Eventually, said Coelho-Kolstony, “The argument largely petered out after that point, with all parties leaving incredibly frustrated, and myself leaving the company a few weeks later.”

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

In conclusion to his thread, Coelho-Kostolny summarized, “So. Fellow men in gamedev. This is an example of one of the VERY SMALL THINGS that build up over time to make life miserable for women and marginalized people in our industry,” and declared that “something as simple as putting titties on a space rat can harm people.”

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

“It breaks people’s trust when you allow things like this to happen unchallenged,” he clarified. “If you don’t push back against tiny little things, like giving Rivet tits, you’re essentially saying those things don’t matter. If the small things don’t matter, where’s the line for bigger things?”

Archive Link Source: Xavier Coelho-Kostolny Twitter

What do you make of Coelho-Kostolny’s stance against a more ‘feminine’ Rivet? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!

Ratchet and Clank: A Rift Apart Character Artist Reveals Writing Team Took Issue With Directors Over Rivet’s “Feminine” Appearance

Rivet's 'feminine' design in Ratchet and Clank: A Rift in Time was reportedly a battleground topic between the game's writers and directors.

boundingintocomics.com

 

[TowinKarz]

Cope and seethe, male feminist, cope and seethe.

And realize that nobody outside the Twitterverse cares you torpedoed your own career to make a stand against the idea that female characters should have identifiable female features. All that time, money and effort down the drain because the world refuses to bend to your illogical notion that EVERYTHING can and should be equal, a notion that can only exist in the mind of an economically and socially pampered first-worlder. And your notion of "fair" is so out-there that you actually believe sex is just a social construct......and that ANYONE can be ANY gender.

That "Female" is a state of mind (or more likely, politics) that transcends chromosomes and actual female body organs.

And when we said "lol, no" you felt the need to burn yourself at the stake and scream LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO ME BY REFUSING TO ADMIT GENDER ISN'T A THING!!!!! ?

Congratulations, you martyred yourself for a church that only had you in the congregation.

And actually, you've got it backwards, it's the LITTLE things that do matter, like, watch how fast an entire building gets slathered in graffiti the first time someone tags it and nobody immediately cleans it off.... it sends the signal "any vandalism goes" and before you know it, there are 50 kinds of tag on the building and the windows got broken too.

Conversely, if just one "too feminine" thing isn't allowed, it's not long before the nutcases start arguing breasts and wide hips for childbirthing have to go as being "too feminine" as well. Despite the fact they are the biological descriptors of "female" itself, hard-wired into the mammalian brain to be instantly recognizable on a subconscious level.

These far-gone ideologues have declared reality itself wrong for being misaligned with their own political truths and are literally burning villages to save them from thinking the sky is blue, that birds lay eggs and other "problematic" things that we can just change by refusing to acknowledge and "look at the big picture".

"putting tits on a space rat can harm people"

No it can't

Fragile people so neurotic and so unable to cope with anything unwanted can't handle it, and that's on them. Nobody anywhere in the world, sight unseen, drops dead of a heart attack if I draw a mole with boobs.

NOBODY.

 

[Crazedking]

Im pretty sure theres whole tribe of furry faggot artists who are fine with tits on a female space fox.

The fact that wide hips and breast somehow send your non presenting mtf trans (and its fellow beta faggots allies) into absolute hysteria will never not be funny to me.

Cant believe i gotta deefend fucking furry titties but here we are.

 

[Pixy]

only furries would care about it not being feminine enough/having too exaggerated proportions

 

[Kane Lives]

So when's the sexpest allegations gonna come out for Mr Xavier Coelho-Kostolny here?

 

[Internet's Boyfriend]

I'm getting really sick of seeing men going on woke rants like this and acting like they're doing women a favor by speaking for - and sometimes over - them. Like hey asshole, women don't give a fuck. As long as the design looks good no one's gonna care.

So when's the sexpest allegations gonna come out for Mr Xavier Coelho-Kostolny here?

Hopefully soon.

 

[JamusActimus]

Trans ssjw culture made it so cis white males can pretend they are not cis white males

 

[TowinKarz]

Trans ssjw culture made it so cis white males can pretend they are not cis white males

It's why there's so many simpering, immature, whiny, creepy, soy-tier "men" in the feminist camp.

If they can help tear down the idea of gender to the point that what makes a "woman" becomes 100% subjective, not objective, then they can do the same for men too.

And then? Well, nobody can call them what they are: failed men

Can't fail at something that doesn't exist anymore! CHECKMATE CHAD!

 

[Finder]

Please don't let trannies and lefties ruin one of the only enjoyable modern series of games.

 

[Bungus Scrungus]

Reminder he left the company over this shit. Dude looks like a textbook child molester. We all know where this guy is going.

 

[The Valeyard]

“So,” he said, “Two thirds of the women on the team, as well as one cis white man (me), were telling the art director and game lead that Rivet should not, as an alien space fox, have wide hips and titties.”

Krystal from Star Fox Adventures: Am I a joke to you?

 

[Screw Danlon]

The lead character TD was a trans person who, at the time, had not transitioned,” while “everyone else in the discussion was a white cis male.”​

So then, everyone in the discussion was a white cis male.

 

[dry roasted]

In general I dislike this trend of erasing normal female anatomy but in this case I think the design is appropriate and a more mature-looking body wouldn't fit the aesthetic of the game. If you have a female character with a flat chest and narrow hips, especially with cartoonish qualities like a big head, big eyes, small nose, the character reads as prepubescent. I didn't like it for Lola because they took a strong athlete and made her look weak and childish, it seemed like a downgrade. But I think it works here because Rachet also looks juvenile. Having a female equivalent with boobs would be weird when he basically has the same body as Gumby.

I disagree with the guy though that the reason is just "space fox" and I definitely agree he looks like a child molester.

 

[Chan the Wizard]

FYI the tranny is FTM for a change.

 

[Unpaid Emotional Labourer]

So we had a 20+ person team, four members voted one way and the others voted another. How many of the majority were motivated by market research and a desire for a financially successful game? Many, probably. How many of the four dissenters were? None. Ideology only, sales be damned.

Why would three women and a male feminist know more about what the game’s target demo want to see? Is the target demo liberal women and male feminists?

 

[BubbleButt]

I'm going to jerk off to that lombussy out of spite instead of lust then.

 

[Product Placement]

I'm going to jerk off to that lombussy out of spite instead of lust then.

The guy whose tweets are in the post legit wants that, he had another post about trying people into furfags or something.

 

[Don't Tread on Me]

only furries would care about it not being feminine enough/having too exaggerated proportions

Furries will undoubtedly make up a large portion of the market for a Ratchet and Clank game in current year.

 

[ShadyPineapple]

I don't understand the moral of the story. The game lead and art director want to go one direction, some people disagree, and it's bad because there's a troon there?

I couldn't care less about the game, just sounds to me like this is a case of a faggot getting salty because higher ups didn't care about his opinion enough and didn't bow down to a troon. And since he's soy filled, instead of shrugging and thinking 'can't win all the battles' he tries to play it like 'BUT THESE DECISIONS KILL PEOPLE'.

 

[Cousin It]

It's not like she even has colossal milkers or anything. This reminds me a lot of that nontroversy over the 'boob armor' in the Mandalorian that was hardly more than a bump. Why do these people hate women's anatomy?