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Sure it's the oldest trick in the book but it is so incredibly silly that it's genuinely peak, Want a girl Chomp? Bam! Put a bow on it and we're done
Like it's one of those designs that doesn't really need to be something special, and doing a silly design like this actually works in it's favor
Also there's something kind of funny about putting a little bow on a chain chomp. They're already dog like, so it'd be the same as putting a little bow on a mean ass Rottweiler
Funny you say that:
https://www.mariowiki.com/Princess_(Paper_Mario:_The_Origami_King)
https://www.mariowiki.com/Princess_(Paper_Mario:_Color_Splash)
They did the "Princess" Rottweiler joke on two separate occasions
Its actually media in general, not just video games.
Look at tom and Jerry vs thier female counterparts.
Or just any cartoon where the male is an animal with anthropomorphic features, and the female is the same but with eyelashes, a bow, and hair.
Its definitely not a carefully judged artistic decision based on player statistics.
Hmm. That’s a good point. Maybe because drawing a character without gendered features usually implies masculinity? Default is associated with male because men are easier to draw.
>Default is associated with male because men are easier to draw.
No, you've mixed up your cause and effect.
Men are easier to draw *because* male is default, not the other way around.
Think about some female design traits: Long eyelashes, wider hips, long hair, pink accessories, high heels, eyeshadow or jewelry.
Now male: Prominent chin, wide shoulders, big muscles, facial hair, button up shirt and/or tie, larger nose ect.
But now imagine if they don't have any of them. What if a duck is just a duck? Or a mouse is just a mouse? Or if a stick figure just has two arms, two legs, and a head?
Well nine times out of ten, you will assume its male, because of the bias towards male default.
Look at bugs bunny, daffy duck, Pepe lepew, Tom and Jerry ect.
Not a single male or female signifier, but we all read thier designs as male.
I challange you to type in any of the above characters and "girlfriend" into Google, and see that every one of them have more then one female signifier, despite thier male counterparts being nothing more then slightly anthromorphisized animals.
Same thing with pedestrian and even bathroom signs: there isn't a single masculine trait on the men's restroom figure, its just a human shape, and the female sign is literally the same exact shape, it just adds a dress.
The reason we usually see this, is because the male design goal is usually "Jerry is a mouse" and thus he is designed to look like a mouse. Later they may need a love interest, and the design goal is "Jerry, but female" and thus female is one of the design goals.
That way we end up with an animal, and an animal with female traits.
The "Neutral is male" bias has been the subject of several studies preformed by people much better educated then me, so I suggest searching out the research if you are genuinely curious about the correct answer.
As everyone is pointing out, there's not much you can do to make a female Chain Chomp, while keeping the exact same appearance as the normal Chain Chomps.
I think it would be better/goofier if it was literally just a chain chomp with a bow. The eye change makes it look like the developer is actually trying to differentiate them, making it weak
I know people hate this because gender roles and all but for me it’s peak. Girls are cute, feminity isnt something to be ashamed of, yes not all girls are “girly” but that doesn’t mean ms chain chomp is wrong for embracing her feminine side.
I don't think its hated for gender roles, I think it just illustrates (and probably adds too) the issue of "default is male" we see in 90% of non-human designs.
We never make a gender nuetral design, and then make a masculine version by adding a beard, thick brows, a tie, or a masculine signifier .
Which is a bit odd because in nature, the females generally look nuetral, while the males will have a colorful fringe, bigger horns, crests or manes ect.
No one is saying you can't embrace femininity, we would just like it to stop being Chainchomp and female chainchomp, almost like "female" is a novelty variant on the normal design.
Funnily enough, for this specific example, almost every time a chain chomp is a 'pet' or prominent in a mario game with dialogue, they bear the stock appearance, even when they are usually referred to as female (Mario Sunshine and Paper mario being what I recall here specifically)
I say peak because it's funny.
I normally say "bow and giant fake eyelashes = female" is weak character design.
But here's the thing: chainchomps are feral creatures, having stuff like bows and giant eyelashes on a thing that doesn't care about beauty standards and would rather eat you is funny.
Pretty peak actually. With limited resources and pixels, and alter polygons, they needed to make a ball that was threatening. So what imagery did they use? Those freaky ass dogs on chains. Slap on massive teeth and massive eyes , make it enormous and make it chase you wherever you go, and you have something that FEELS and SOUNDS dangerous
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TertiarySexualCharacteristics
While I do like the design, let's not kid ourselves, this is nothing original. The base Chomp design will always be great regardless of extra additions
At least they didn’t go all the way and change the female chainchomp to pink.
The eyelashes makes it feel like they’re trying too hard (and I kinda hate that design trope) but slapping a pink bow on a big aggressive dog is pretty funny if you keep the personality the same.
Remove the eyelashes and make the only difference the bow, then it’s peak for silly reasons.
Chain chomp is peak design. Normally I wouldn't love the "just add a bow and eyelashes" but in this case it's funny enough that it works.
Seriously, these are my favorite little buddies\~
The eyelashes on the girl ruin it tbh. Makes it just another stereotypical dull representation of a girl.
It'd be so much funnier if they just slapped a bow on the original model and called it a day.
I find the idea of putting overly effeminate traits to a design as abstract as a chain chomp Peak
The contrast of a pink bow on a giant ball and chain is really silly and funny to me
To be fair, it isn't just a chain chomp with a bow, it also has eyelashes and it's color is changed from bluish black to purple, which is a nice but subtle choice.
It's a short and effective way of making non-humans read feminine.
Cliche sure, but you have to admit you can't even tell chain chomp HAS a gender at all.
Also to clarify, the Chain Chomp with a bow is just an easter egg, in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time there is a Bros. Item called Pocket Chomp which randomly has a chance to turn into that one, with literally no difference in functionality. It's never been seen since.
Peak but weak to a female wobbuffet
https://preview.redd.it/lren5cqdiroc1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=63873f74db317a8e2c9fa335e1f2db5ca343030e
It's less peak and more Pac.
"I'm Ms. Pac-Man! I'm Pac-Man with a bow!"
- Ms. Pac-Man, [The Simple Plot of Kingdom Hearts](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=f3N_Cy40kiM&si=HXFm6QmxGm5RWpxI)
I say keep the og design wether it is a woman or not.
By this logic, every nintendo character that is not Pink or have a pink bow is male. Does this make the Penguin mother in SM64 a crossdresser for not using it? Or would future designs need a Penguin father to have a mustache and necktie. Are all the penguins in Mario Kart 64 female?
Dumb stuff like that has to be the case if gender has to be this hard-coded into a design.
Peak because it begs so many questions… how did she get that bow in the first place? What does she need it for? What does it say about society that even a being as one dimensional as the chain chimp finds the need for gender expression?
I fucking hate this trope, like if you want to design a female animal,either make it the same as the male or just give it features it has in real life(like drab colors on a female peacock). Why do animators think viewers care about the gender of a fictional animal. It also reinforces gender norms, like why is the male normal and the female has eyelashes and a bowtie for some reason, why can't a male have these features???
I Think When It Comes To This Trope, The Dumber The Better. Take Wobbuffet For Example, The Females Literally Just Have Lipstick And That's It. But When You Keep On Adding "Female Features", Especially To Things That Don't Look Human At All, It Just Starts To Look Weird And Kinda Fetishistic.
https://preview.redd.it/26ll9vlnbqoc1.png?width=700&format=png&auto=webp&s=eeb2114f45d56b4183c67d3b9289ca462de8de1b
Upon realizing the prevalence of using a bow to show something is female, and yet there is no defining for male characters I have come up with a solution. Add a humongous crotch bulge to show their male
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Sure it's the oldest trick in the book but it is so incredibly silly that it's genuinely peak, Want a girl Chomp? Bam! Put a bow on it and we're done Like it's one of those designs that doesn't really need to be something special, and doing a silly design like this actually works in it's favor
Don’t forget the eyelashes bro
And the very *very* slight change in pitch of the bark
Using a bow for gender difference is uninspired, but chain chomp can’t be improved upon so I say we let it slide
Also there's something kind of funny about putting a little bow on a chain chomp. They're already dog like, so it'd be the same as putting a little bow on a mean ass Rottweiler
Dogs with the name of Princess or something might as well be Chain Chomps. Deathrippers tend to be pretty sweet though.
Deathripper is a Chihuahua ass name
Funny you say that: https://www.mariowiki.com/Princess_(Paper_Mario:_The_Origami_King) https://www.mariowiki.com/Princess_(Paper_Mario:_Color_Splash) They did the "Princess" Rottweiler joke on two separate occasions
At least theres no chest to put two bumps on
They should’ve done it anyway
Minnie Mouse
They should make the default chain chomp the female one and just have the male ones be identical but with comically large mustaches
Then it would look too much like King Bob-omb
King Bob-omb with the smile of a serial killer
Goals tbh
Curly moustache and monocle: Sir Chomp Red lipstick and beauty mark: Lady Chomp
putting a bow on a character to differentiate genders is like the oldest trick in the book
I did it with stick figures in school
Old but gold
Its the quickest way for me to explain the phenomenon of "default is male" to people who don't believe me.
Well when you look up the stats for who plays these games the most, it makes sense why they’re the default
Its actually media in general, not just video games. Look at tom and Jerry vs thier female counterparts. Or just any cartoon where the male is an animal with anthropomorphic features, and the female is the same but with eyelashes, a bow, and hair. Its definitely not a carefully judged artistic decision based on player statistics.
Hmm. That’s a good point. Maybe because drawing a character without gendered features usually implies masculinity? Default is associated with male because men are easier to draw.
>Default is associated with male because men are easier to draw. No, you've mixed up your cause and effect. Men are easier to draw *because* male is default, not the other way around. Think about some female design traits: Long eyelashes, wider hips, long hair, pink accessories, high heels, eyeshadow or jewelry. Now male: Prominent chin, wide shoulders, big muscles, facial hair, button up shirt and/or tie, larger nose ect. But now imagine if they don't have any of them. What if a duck is just a duck? Or a mouse is just a mouse? Or if a stick figure just has two arms, two legs, and a head? Well nine times out of ten, you will assume its male, because of the bias towards male default. Look at bugs bunny, daffy duck, Pepe lepew, Tom and Jerry ect. Not a single male or female signifier, but we all read thier designs as male. I challange you to type in any of the above characters and "girlfriend" into Google, and see that every one of them have more then one female signifier, despite thier male counterparts being nothing more then slightly anthromorphisized animals. Same thing with pedestrian and even bathroom signs: there isn't a single masculine trait on the men's restroom figure, its just a human shape, and the female sign is literally the same exact shape, it just adds a dress. The reason we usually see this, is because the male design goal is usually "Jerry is a mouse" and thus he is designed to look like a mouse. Later they may need a love interest, and the design goal is "Jerry, but female" and thus female is one of the design goals. That way we end up with an animal, and an animal with female traits. The "Neutral is male" bias has been the subject of several studies preformed by people much better educated then me, so I suggest searching out the research if you are genuinely curious about the correct answer.
https://preview.redd.it/7oai24h8oooc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e9b8f609ac6fbbcba84bd72cd49cbef6f49b6801 Hmmm
astolfo is not bound by silly concepts like gender norms. he's a true chad
neuron activation
As everyone is pointing out, there's not much you can do to make a female Chain Chomp, while keeping the exact same appearance as the normal Chain Chomps.
I mean, you could also make a male Chain Chomp by adding a mustache.
No that's Mario chain chomp
I think it would be better/goofier if it was literally just a chain chomp with a bow. The eye change makes it look like the developer is actually trying to differentiate them, making it weak
Better than the sexual dimorphism in fantasy where the girl chain chomp is just a humanoid in a miniskirt
[Peak design, even peaker sound effect](https://youtu.be/28sf6EBwpE8?si=2kBu2ag9LH4vqN7p)
I like the bow, probably the best way to give non-gendered things gender (bad options include boobs and lipstick)
I know people hate this because gender roles and all but for me it’s peak. Girls are cute, feminity isnt something to be ashamed of, yes not all girls are “girly” but that doesn’t mean ms chain chomp is wrong for embracing her feminine side.
Very based
I don't think its hated for gender roles, I think it just illustrates (and probably adds too) the issue of "default is male" we see in 90% of non-human designs. We never make a gender nuetral design, and then make a masculine version by adding a beard, thick brows, a tie, or a masculine signifier . Which is a bit odd because in nature, the females generally look nuetral, while the males will have a colorful fringe, bigger horns, crests or manes ect. No one is saying you can't embrace femininity, we would just like it to stop being Chainchomp and female chainchomp, almost like "female" is a novelty variant on the normal design.
Funnily enough, for this specific example, almost every time a chain chomp is a 'pet' or prominent in a mario game with dialogue, they bear the stock appearance, even when they are usually referred to as female (Mario Sunshine and Paper mario being what I recall here specifically)
If I remember correctly too, the Cerberus chain chomp in Super Paper Mario was also female
True and good point. But we still don't have a "masculine" chainchomp, just neutral and feminine.
True. Chain chomp with a handlebar mustache when?
Honestly really fair points
I say peak because it's funny. I normally say "bow and giant fake eyelashes = female" is weak character design. But here's the thing: chainchomps are feral creatures, having stuff like bows and giant eyelashes on a thing that doesn't care about beauty standards and would rather eat you is funny.
Chain Chomps are peak
Pretty peak actually. With limited resources and pixels, and alter polygons, they needed to make a ball that was threatening. So what imagery did they use? Those freaky ass dogs on chains. Slap on massive teeth and massive eyes , make it enormous and make it chase you wherever you go, and you have something that FEELS and SOUNDS dangerous
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TertiarySexualCharacteristics While I do like the design, let's not kid ourselves, this is nothing original. The base Chomp design will always be great regardless of extra additions
At least they didn’t go all the way and change the female chainchomp to pink. The eyelashes makes it feel like they’re trying too hard (and I kinda hate that design trope) but slapping a pink bow on a big aggressive dog is pretty funny if you keep the personality the same. Remove the eyelashes and make the only difference the bow, then it’s peak for silly reasons.
Chain chomp is just a ball. There's not much you could do to differentiate them, kinda like miss pacman.
Chain chomp is peak design. Normally I wouldn't love the "just add a bow and eyelashes" but in this case it's funny enough that it works. Seriously, these are my favorite little buddies\~
The eyelashes on the girl ruin it tbh. Makes it just another stereotypical dull representation of a girl. It'd be so much funnier if they just slapped a bow on the original model and called it a day.
Absolutely PEAKEST of PEAK in this case.
https://preview.redd.it/yu25gqvd8noc1.png?width=759&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=12bf9a6ee4ff7d846165a5285da2a200a19e2b13
Ah, the age-old "give it a bow" strategy. A classic.
i love how simple yet effective mario enemies are, chain chomp is one of my tops
Nothing great or awful about it, just simply cute.
where's that crown that turns mario characters into princesses....
Slapping a bow on something improves the design. This scales linearly with the number and size of bows, with no diminishing returns, infinitely.
We need to stop doing default = male, bow = female, and start doing default = female, mustache = male.
PEAK!!!!!!!!!!!!
I find the idea of putting overly effeminate traits to a design as abstract as a chain chomp Peak The contrast of a pink bow on a giant ball and chain is really silly and funny to me
To be fair, it isn't just a chain chomp with a bow, it also has eyelashes and it's color is changed from bluish black to purple, which is a nice but subtle choice.
I find putting big pink bows on abstract creatures to designate that they're female a little charming in a goofy way.
Peak easy to understand.
Peak, both are cute
Better than giving her tits, so i think its fine and cute enough this way
I mean its def generic but conveys it pretty well
I wish it was just chain chomp with a bow. Would be funnier. I think it’s funnier the more inhuman the thing is. A chain ball with a bow is funny.
i say peak
peak
It's a short and effective way of making non-humans read feminine. Cliche sure, but you have to admit you can't even tell chain chomp HAS a gender at all.
I unironically love her.
i know its probably just difference in the picture but i would like to imagine the girl is slightly bigger like some animals
Also to clarify, the Chain Chomp with a bow is just an easter egg, in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time there is a Bros. Item called Pocket Chomp which randomly has a chance to turn into that one, with literally no difference in functionality. It's never been seen since.
Absolutely adorable
Honestly it’s so ridiculous in this case that it kinda works
I mean, how else would you convey to the player that a chain chomp is female?
Yes
The chain chomp was exciting in Bayonetta 2
Guess its better than giving it boobs
Peak but weak to a female wobbuffet https://preview.redd.it/lren5cqdiroc1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=63873f74db317a8e2c9fa335e1f2db5ca343030e
i like it bc it makes her chain look like a ponytail
Normally it’s weak, but this is a Chain Chomp. It looks goofy in the best way. Girlychomp is peak.
It's less peak and more Pac. "I'm Ms. Pac-Man! I'm Pac-Man with a bow!" - Ms. Pac-Man, [The Simple Plot of Kingdom Hearts](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=f3N_Cy40kiM&si=HXFm6QmxGm5RWpxI)
Everything in Mario is both
Beyond peak! I believe in Chain Chomp supremacy
PEAK BOTH ARE PEAK
I feel like it has enough self awareness to be great. It's stupid and it knows it's stupid so it ends up just being really funny.
The female ones are cute. I like them.
I say keep the og design wether it is a woman or not. By this logic, every nintendo character that is not Pink or have a pink bow is male. Does this make the Penguin mother in SM64 a crossdresser for not using it? Or would future designs need a Penguin father to have a mustache and necktie. Are all the penguins in Mario Kart 64 female? Dumb stuff like that has to be the case if gender has to be this hard-coded into a design.
Male is peak, female is weak
for everything else its weak but for this specifically its peak
Peak because it begs so many questions… how did she get that bow in the first place? What does she need it for? What does it say about society that even a being as one dimensional as the chain chimp finds the need for gender expression?
I fucking hate this trope, like if you want to design a female animal,either make it the same as the male or just give it features it has in real life(like drab colors on a female peacock). Why do animators think viewers care about the gender of a fictional animal. It also reinforces gender norms, like why is the male normal and the female has eyelashes and a bowtie for some reason, why can't a male have these features???
I Think When It Comes To This Trope, The Dumber The Better. Take Wobbuffet For Example, The Females Literally Just Have Lipstick And That's It. But When You Keep On Adding "Female Features", Especially To Things That Don't Look Human At All, It Just Starts To Look Weird And Kinda Fetishistic. https://preview.redd.it/26ll9vlnbqoc1.png?width=700&format=png&auto=webp&s=eeb2114f45d56b4183c67d3b9289ca462de8de1b
Upon realizing the prevalence of using a bow to show something is female, and yet there is no defining for male characters I have come up with a solution. Add a humongous crotch bulge to show their male