Sso’s story is all over the place. I played some old quests where Justin leaves and it was an odd mix of both new and old quest dialogue so it was a complete mess.
YES SOMEBODY FINALLY TALKED ABOUT IT! Alex's character development used to seem so solid in the days where she had feelings for Justin. And, I remember when they first mentioned that Alex and Maya were best friends, and gave them a little story with the red string trail ride. They weren't showing any romantic feelings and everything was quite normal between them. Then all of the sudden when Christmas rolled around we got them blushing and Alex and Maya first showing romantic feelings. This is the main problem. They showed their relationship development over the course of EVENTS and not through the mainstory quests, which is a huge issue. This is something they are now doing with the Dark Riders, having them be introduced in events throughout the year instead of the MAIN STORY! This is confusing for new players no matter how you look at it, and it's also confusing for players who are returning to the game and trying to catch up with the mainstory. SSO has no quality control anymore when it comes to the consistency in their story. In the past things were so much better and it was clear they were slowly building up Alex and Justin toward being a thing (and doing a great job with all of the little hints, might I add!) So this is a huge bummer to see. They could have totally given Lisa a gay romance while keeping her old rock vibe instead of changing her race and changing her vibe to western, and giving her a disney princess dead mom backstory. Honestly, so many things in the mainstory need to be completely re-done and fixed. They have completely ruined it over the years and it's going to be their doom someday.
i always thought lisa was gay, sso really needs better character development. these random relationships just come out of the blue to me because i only play the game and don’t follow them on other social platforms so it’s honestly pretty annoying and it feels like i’m missing out on a lot of stuff.
Honestly I thought sso just put Maya and Alex together as a couple during June as a way to get brownie points from the community to look like they are inclusive.
it's funny how they have no problem with giving straight characters a backstory for their love intrest (like bonny x evergray or loretta x justin) but if it's about queer people they get represented so poorly. i think maya and alex could've been amazing if they would've had a better backstory... it just feels like they're trying to get sympathy points for adding queer rep.
Me neither. Not that I really care. I just think love is cute regardless. But I never felt anything cute between the two. They were not written (at least when I played the story) in a romantic relationship up until recently. So this is catching me off guard. But I like the idea. I'll get used to it.
To be honest for me it's still weird to this day that we only have girl x girl couples in game (idk about the horse couple and what gender are they but still they are horses not humans) Anyway, for me it's just weird that they are so supportive towards "everything" yet in pride month they only represent lesbian couples (I don't have a problem with any gender or couple don't get me wrong) and nothing else. Like they could just add a nameless npc couple with another gender or idk. Also, before their relationship was announced I for some reason thought Alex gonna be together with Anne. I don't even know why, they just interacted a lot after she got saved (if I remember right) and they would have just fit well together in my opinion. Sso's lore and character developments are rushed and weird lately but it is what it is.
True, we have yet to see guy x guy or anything like that. It's very cringy when feminist games do things like this and claim to be for equality 🤦♀ like nah you're actually just third wave feminist and only care about women
Ok I have a lot of thoughts about this so don't mind me ranting. Before you get angry at me remember to read everything. This is just my opinion and I agree that the way things are in the game right now is not great. I also agree with the overall message of the video and I don't mean to defend Star Stable in any way, they really need to do better with their queer representation, like actually developing these relationships in the game instead of adding them after the fact. However, I wouldn't go about incorporating Alex's queerness in the way you suggested. I'm talking about how it would best be worked into the game as it is right now. First, let's address the relationships in question overall. For example, Sigry and Dr. Eiren didn't come out of nowhere for me. I doubt SSO fully intended to have them be in a relationship when they made the characters, but, to put it informally, the vibes were there. (They really do need to update Dr. Eiren's model, she looks so bad.) I don't mind SSO officially making them a couple, god knows we need more representation. Could they have gone about it differently, YES. No doubt about it. But I don't think it feels as forced as people say. On Alex's crush on Justin: I think removing it completely would be counterproductive. Here's how I would go about it. Alex could be bi, or alternatively, people just assume she likes him. Isn't it the height of sapphic (and queer in general) experience to have friends and family jump on every opportunity they get to ask you if you have a boyfriend yet, constantly nagging you about that boy you totally secretly like and have a crush on? It certainly was like that for me. And Alex being very adamant about saving Justin and breaking him out of druid jail doesn't need to be romantically motivated at all, if anything it's just Alex being Alex: Having experienced a lot of hardship in her life, she stands firmly against injustice and sticks up for her fellow underdogs, so to say. It's very in-character for her. Maybe that's why people assume she likes him in the first place. Another thing, about Clouds over Silverglade. It's very funny to think that Alex and Maya's relationship is forced because they were really close friends before? It's a trope in straight romance all the time, friends to lovers and all that. Also, the whole "being friends for years unsure whether the other one has feelings for you when you're both clearly queer" thing is a common joke among sapphic women. Not that it has to be exactly like that in game, but it's still a little wink at the girls who get it. I really like their dynamic and chemistry in the comic and I wish they'd give Maya some more of that personality in game. Again, I wholeheartedly agree with the message of this video, SSO needs to put a lot more effort into actually developing Alex and Maya and their relationship to make it work and I'm not making any excuses for them. I just feel like this video lacks a queer perspective. But of course I don't want to assume anything, and I don't mean this as an insult or a means of calling you homophobic or anything like that, I just really want to make that clear! In conclusion, SSO could totally get away with adding these relationships in hindsight if they put in more effort and maybe used the existing lore as a bit of a tongue in cheek self-aware jab, for example Alex's friends assuming she has a crush on Justin. Maybe they should let actual queer people do some of that writing.
This is a very insightful perspective! I'm not queer myself, so I'm solemly looking at this through the lense of storytelling and character development. I fully agree with you on Sigry and Eiren's relationship - many believe that their relationship is rushed, but I say that the development is there, only that they don't focus on their relationship per say. Their love life is never referenced in the Mistfall questline, but we witness the whole process from Eiren meeting Rania and Sigry, to her helping them solve the water mystery, to cheering Sigry on in the election, and all along she's staying in the Varanger household, where she remains after the quests. Even without the information of the journals, one could easily theorize that Sigry and Dr. Eiren were a couple, since she seemed to have moved in with them. And I think this is just how it's supposed to be: the story is there, the relevance is there, but they don't put so much emphasis on the relationship that it becomes a defining factor, it's kind of just an "easter egg" for what happened after the questline ended. I wanna say that I see what you mean with the Justin thing and how the crush should remain. I have given this some thought after reading your comment and realized that there could be multiple ways to tackle the crush without removing it, that would still make it seem realistic. Like you said, they could make this a thing where people keep assuming that Alex is into Justin, when they're really just buddies or something. Or we could have this whole "love triangle" thing where Alex moves on from Justin after he joins DC, seeks comfort in Maya and ends up in a relationship with her instead. I think it would definitely be reasonable for her to be didappointed and lose interest in him when he joins the dark side, and that we'd see a process of her moving on from it. The biggest problem I have with the whole Alex/Justin/Maya thing right now, is that the early Justin hints are still there, while Alex simultaniously is in a relationship with Maya, no questions asked. We just don't know anything about why they're a thing, and what the deal with Justin is, and I feel like this is something that needs to be either adressed or resorted in the game 🤔 Gee, looks like I ended up ranting too 😅 thank you for your insight, it gave me something new to consider
I agree with everything you said! although i dont think we should slap a sexual orientation on everyone in a horse game. Linda for example not hinting romantic crushes in the game does not make her nececcarilly asexual nor should this be the case necessarilly
I feel SSO took the stereotypical route by making the tomboy girl a lesbian/queen, hence why I never bought it. It feels way to forced, like majority of other things they have added in sake of inclusively. Nothing feels natural anymore. Other games have executed inclusively perfectly without it feeling forced down your throat. Lately I've been dragged back to RuneScape, a question line I just finished, lgbtq was introduced but it wasn't forced down your throat. No idea if others were introduced as well as I just have returned. But in a decades old game, they manage to do inclusively way better, it has been such since the day I picked it up for the first time. Sso in other hand goes the woke route where they force shit down your throat in order to fit what ever is "mainstream" at the moment
I love your suggestion for the soul riders romantic orientations, it really felt spot on with their characters and personalities and I think it would've been great to actually represent those four orientations equally, and not just put a heavy emphasis on being gay as it feels like sso is currently doing. From someone who's been relating a lot with asexuality the past 6 years I'd find it really refreshing to see some sort of recognition of it in the game, might actually be why Linda was always my favorite of the soul riders.
As a queer person myself the thing between Alex and Maya seems so forced and I don't feel the chemistry between the characters. Also it feels very stereotypical to have the tomboy be in a lesbain relationship. Out of any of the soul riders I more expected Lisa or even Linda to be the queer ones x)
As an ace and demiromantic person! I have to correct something ,:> I believe you meant to say Aromantic when assigning an orientation to Linda Asexuality is the absence or lack of sexual attraction While Aromanticism is the absence or lack of romantic attraction! It's a common to mistake these two orientations for being the same thing so there's nothing wrong with that but I still felt the need to correct it ^^ I really love the idea of Aro Linda!
Personally aside from the comic i dont think alex had a crush on justin after/during sso beyond the comic. It just feels to me like a character thats friends with someone especially since aside from the kidnapping portion of the game she doesn’t mention justin, even before maya. Maybe its just because i don’t personally think it would make sense but i just dont see it.
that's what i've started to hate about sso. their main story was meant to be the sequel of the starshine legacy, and for some time it has been. now it has completely changed and we're left with a game that is half old lore and half new one, and it doesn't make any sense anymore...
They can shove this couple in our face, but we cant have Valentine's day in game anymore? I couldnt care less about who is dating each other. I just want good story quests and for my character to not look like a refrigerator with legs. Also, why are half the girls in this game obsessed with Justin? That boy needs an update badly!
Personally i never saw them as anything else expect good friends, untill the quest where you help with the dead far game along, it pretty much showed even the parents perspective of things, saying how Alex was always "Hanging around" or something similar. Yes they could have been still good friends, but it was by sso made clear they were more than that, which is fine and all, but they still appear to me more as friends than actually dating individuals...
I am really happy that you brought this topic up, because It has been pretty obvious that star stable has been adding things to the story "just because", without any logical link in the story to them. But especially when we get to Queer representation, I belive that the players deserve a lot more then a random love story, that isnt fleshed out. I also really like the idea to make the sexualities of the soulriders more divers, however, i see the asexual representation in Linda a little more critical. Since i am asexual myself, i may just be way too invested here, but one problem that I see with many asexual characters is, that they are really shy, prefer to stay by themselves, or that they are just "too smart and rational for feelings". I am not saying that this has to be the case, but i am just worried that this stereotypes could be reinforced when making Linda asexual, since her main character traits are her smartness and her clear mind. I really hope that star stable will do something about this, since Alex and Maya are literally written as BFF in the beginning.( In the book where we had the info sheets they even are called each others best friends). If starstable really wants to hold onto them, changing the beginning of the game is the best decision here, because it was writting in that time where they were just friends. I really hope they will do something about this.
Actually even if I like these two together, I feel like it was very rushed. It happened at the same time they made other couples but the problem is that they didn't included them for the character development or the story but rather for the pride image. Compared to AlexXMaya or the vetX Rania's mom, I feel like the two horses were better introduced in game and felt more natural, less forced. And yeah, SSO breaking the lore for the pleasure of doing it. All of that is sad, they had tons of opportunities to write it better.
@@midnightlilly123 Because you didn't check at the notebook with all the characters in game? That here where they said it and only mentioned it one time during christmas quests in 2021.
I have the same opinnion as you. I was really surprised when Maya + Alex were announced. Because there were no mentioned during the story line that would indicade that they are something more than friends. Same for Sigry and Eiren. When I read the journal right after I finished Mistfall quests, I was like ,,wait.. did I miss something in the dialogues?" It just was wasn't pointed more deeply and especially not much clearly. Anyway I am not against any LGBTQIA+ relationship or individuals being presented as part of it. If it's done clearly. Btw Linda having no relationship yet might not mean she is Asexual. Yes, she can be. But not wanting romantic relationship is more like Aromancy.
Initially I was surprised and super excited that Alex and Maya were together. I myself am gay, and it's really nice seeing representation in a game I really enjoy. However, as time went on, I sort of became disenchanted with them. Where was their development? Their conversations? Their arguments? How does Maya contribute to the story? From the standpoint of a writer (I myself am one), Maya contributes nothing major to the story. She's not even really a supporting character. She's more of a background character. Just inclusion for the sake of it, representation for the sake of representation. It felt forced and a little stale. What SSO could've done: Include Maya in the main story quests, rushing to Alex's side after we come back from the quest where Elizabeth Sunbeam dies. Maya could've been super worried about her, asking her what happened and then comforting Alex while Alex cries. Make Alex more angry at GED and Dark Core knowing they had something to do with what happened to Maya's family farm. Have Maya worry about Anne as well; or, if Maya hasn't been introduced to the Soul Riders yet, have a little mini quest where she's introduced to the Soul Riders by Alex and the other riders tease them a little. Could be a really cute little thing. Have Maya show up to help us, ask us questions before we go on our next big quest. ALEX IS LITERALLY TAKEN BY THE VALA WITCH, MISSING FOR DAYS AT /LEAST/ AND WE NEVER GET A WORD OF WORRY FROM MAYA. WHY. WHY ISN'T MAYA THERE AT THE SAPLING TOO? WHY DOESN'T MAYA PESTER US CONSTANTLY FOR INFORMATION? But Maya contributes NOTHING to the story except for giving SSO the 'congrats ur gay' sticker.
What I can remember about their relationship starting is they were a bit weird around each other in one misson. A few missions later they run off together and someone says "Yea they've been dating for months, what rock have you been living under?" It really reinforces the fact that, WE don't hang out, WE don't talk about stuff, WE are not included, WE are not friends! The "it was covered in other media, we don't need to mention it in-game." is definitely an issue. At least Blaze is glimpsed in the woods and is a standout coat in the breed, Bluebell has a mission associated with it and it is the app coat so it doesn't exist in-game the same way. It isn't much, not nearly enough, but it's there. Galaxy? Is in Fort Pinta. (Go buy it!!! ugh..) All they had to do was let us talk to the girl, or talk to Maya or any Bobcat about the girl, and it would be on par with Blaze and Bluebell, lacking as they are. Yes, they are cute together, and I really like them together, but it's so poorly done. A usual.
I feel most ships in this game are forced and just there for representation, especially this one. Why choose Alex when she already had a love interest in Justin? I agree that Lisa would be a better alternative, especially if she kept her old design. The thing is, they did this just so one soul rider could represent the queer fans, and they probably chose Alex because she’s a tomboy. Doesn’t that feel so shallow? Since SSL (and probably early game SSO) is no longer considered canon by the new developers, let’s just throw everything that we’ve worked on all these years out the window, right? They literally got rid of Derek and Anne’s romance in SSO because “she’s an independent girl and she doesn’t need a man!”. If Derek was a woman it would be “empowering”. They only make relationships official if they’re lgbtq+, just to give shallow representation instead of actually giving it meaning. Building Anne and Dereks relationship would show so much more depth and authenticity, I feel like… but we all know they don’t care about that. Literally what they could’ve done that would’ve been so much better and that wouldn’t alter any existing gameplay or anything would be to just have Lisa mention a girlfriend that lives in Jorvik City or something. Just throw it out there. A persons sexuality doesn’t have to be their whole personality, and I feel like even just through text - or even maybe photos in her room - they could build a nice, strong queer rep relationship.
No, no, don't worry, Eleanor. I'm actually glad to know how people feel about Alex and Maya since your opinion makes sense. It would've been better if we got more introductions to why things happened in the game. I personally didn't mind the sudden plot-twist relationship revelation because in real life, we also don't really get the story of other people's relationships. However, since Alex and Maya are characters we've seen many times, know and love, and we the players pretty much bought the game and therefore also the story, we should at least get a glimpse of their relationship development so that we could fall in love with their relationship as well. Thanks for sharing your opinion. It's always interesting to hear different opinions without just hearing someone aggressively ranting without really explaining it in a mature way.
I can guarantee that the queers arent happy because maya and alex are a couple. It is very cheap queer representation and id rather not see any of it than this mockery. (Tbh most of the game lore is a mockery since its so inconsistent). Queer or straight i hate all relationships that happen "just because" like no. We arent in elementary school anymore.
This. I always disliked their relationship because it felt so fake. I wasn't up to date with the main story so I asked a friend if there were any signs in the story of them being more than friends. There weren't. SSO only did it to score some virtue points. Sad and cheap!
People ask me why my favorite SR is Linda... Sweetie, she's an aspec woc nerd who reads and write fanfics, has a thing for the moon and her color coding is purple... She's just me !
I didn’t notice they were a couple until we had our first picnic (in that moment i felt both like a third wheel and an idiot for not noticing earlier). I get the desire to have a proper leadup to their relationship, but I also wonder if it's actually necessary or may even have the opposite effect? I just assumed Alex and Maya were together before my character went to Moorland. I didn’t think people wanted them to explain why they were together - that just feels nosey, and seems contradictory to the idea that people in the community should be represented without being questioned. I could be wrong, of course, but this is just how i see it. The question of them being a thing was never an issue, for me. I like seeing them hang out in the game.
The reason it gets questioned is due to the often times heavily implied romance between Alwx and Justin, more than the fact of 'oh no, two girls are together suddenly?!' It's more, 'wait, wasn't she interested in this other person..?' With stories there is a difference between being nosy and having the normal hints/development in place that say, a friend in real life observing a friend and their crush would get
Personally I really adore the fact that they are a cannon couple and I don’t mind that they had been presented so suddenly, but I agree with your opinions. Though, what I think happened was that maybe, because SSO is a game targeted for younger audiences, the company might’ve had their concerns on making the couple too obvious and really decided to keep it low in case parents went wild. I prefer that than to not have any queer representation at all. But, yeah, we could definitely have some kind of explanation as to how they met/fell in love in the first place. And I love your head cannons for their actual sexualities! Honestly, the only character that I always knew was gay was Syntax (and I’m impressed that he has never been shown to be interested in anyone). Also, Rocco x Juniper seems like the only good ship that we have… and they’re horses! Lol!
I am all for queer representation in media, it normalizes the lgbtq+ in communities, but to slap it onto preexisting characters that rarely interacted let alone showed little to no romantic interest is just lazy and poor decision overall. Instead sso could have showed us preexisting gay characters in side quests or main quests, or hell if they really wanted Maya and Alex to be a thing, show us more interaction that lead into them being together down the line, don't rush it.
This whole thing is such a mess icl. There could have been a nice relationship building between Alex and Justin because they set that up IN THE GAME. I don’t mind that she is queer, that’s not the issue. The problem I have is that it was so sudden and Justin just got dumped. My favourite couple in game will always be Anne and Derek, but I would have enjoyed Alex and Justin
Alex would still be queer even if she was a bisexual girl dating a guy. Yeah we wouldn't see a queer relationship on screen, but Alex having feelings for both Justin and Maya and ultimately dating Maya is bisexual representation. I don't think bisexuals are any less queer.
I 100% agree, I'm myself lesbian and I'm happy that we atleast got something but like you explained it could be much better queer rep. It feels like their relationship came from nowhere and was rushed as hell, idk It doesn't feel like their relationship is real lmao
This is a bit weird but ever since I got introduced to Linda in game I’ve always imagined my character being in a relationship with her 😅 like whenever I do roleplays and stuff Linda is my characters partner
You know why this ship bothers me? Maya looks like a child Her face and expressions, her clothes, the way she styles her hair, everything about Maya induces me to believe she is between 13 - 14 years old. Alex on the other hand looks like 18 - 19 years old. This ship creeps me out because of that, whenever I look at Maya i can only see a young girl, she doesn't look like a teenager
I wish a tomboy/tomgirl could be just that without media always turning thoes characters to lesbians. :/ I alway have the original characters from the cd-games in the background in my head. The thing that is hardest for me to accept is Lisas change or n appearance and personalety. She was more unique and cool before, now she is almost boring.
i was... so confused when i found out they were in a relationship? like i only found out about it via a dialogue point linda (i think?) made where she spoke about alex's girlfriend. i was like? huh?? since when??? i've thought they were cousins since i started playing - idek why so it never struck me that they were talking about maya.
Linda being aroace would be so cool! She also reads lots of (probably romantic) fanfic, so her liking romantic stuff while not wanting a romantic relationship herself could be great representation I think (I'm not aro myself, this is just what I saw on the internet so please correct me if I'm wrong)
As a queer person myself this feels not like representation but almost like queer baiting :/ I didnt know they were a thing, they were just recently refered to as friends by Anne, and like maybe she doesnt know yet but like why? I kinda wish I never learned about this. I feel so let down by Star Stanle already but this is just...idk. And if someone comes at me for being dramataic, please stop. I am tired of constantly being treated bad and companies just using queer content to get more money. I would rather have no representation yet than this. This is not me saying that they dont have any potential, they do even if Alex liked Justin for a while. We could see her falling in love with Maya over time. But in a realistic way way were they take their time and then maybe have Alex come forward later to tell us soulriders about it in a cute side quest. This just feels really fake and I kinda expected better :(
I was very happy finding out that Maya and Alex were together as in having queer representation in major side characters but I was very disappointed how they never explain their stories. It's like SSO just picked up two friends and decided to make them together with no explanation why just for selling the game to an even bigger audience.
I’m all for Alex and Maya and as individual characters I can totally see them together but SSO a needs to work out what the hell is going on in the lore. Maya's been an iconic character in the game and I agree she should be more apart of the lore. I had no idea they were dating until the Insta comics 😭
I personally don't really mind the Maya and Alex ship, to me they fit together quite well personality wise... but as I didn't see the specific part of the Christmas event where they were confirmed to have romantic feelings for one another in-game, them appearing as a couple in quests felt like a sudden addition to the story. I really feel like the quests should expand on why they're together a bit more, instead of just keeping it locked to these parts of seasonal events that some people haven't seen. And when you mentioned Alex having feelings for Justin in one comic- I had absolutely no idea that was a thing, not even when I was quite literally obsessed with SSO's lore. In the game, I've never interpreted Alex's words as implications of a crush- I just always saw it as Alex just... defending Justin because she doesn't want the blame to be put on a person that is seen as innocent in her eyes. But I agree that it should've been our character that defended him... I don't know, I don't even like the game as much anymore and this is just... something that I never knew about. Also, aroace Linda has been my headcannon ever since I found out I'm queer myself, so it's cool to see her being seen as ace or aro by other people as well. But on the topic on queer representation within SSO... I don't engage with the community as much anymore aside from... well, watching your videos on occasion, and I've found games that handled queer representation better in my personal opinion, so I can't really say that it impacts me much. I do wish that Alex and Maya's story would have been shown in quests more, though.
I really love that couple, but yeah, as a lesbian I always felt that SSO put them togheter to say: "look, there is a sapphic couple! here you are, lgbt people". and well, i know that if their were a straight couple Im sure that they wouldn't be people reclaimin about that "they are forced", that "we don't have any context"... look, i think, and don't missunderstend me, but at the moment that LGTB stories won't need a "justification" for existing as straight relationships do, then I'll be happy. we don't need justification or context, because sapphic people we exist. But yeah, Maya and Alex feels so... yeah, what I said before: "look, there is a queer couple, look how inclusive we are! buy our game" and not like "we are trying to normalize this type of relationships in a game for kids, something that it's not usual but it's need to be".
As a lesbian SSO player, I had no idea these two were even canon. I agree with all the points in this video. I think adding queer representation is important but that queer representation also needs to be good representation. If most of the representation is shown through social media and limited time events that leaves a lot of people out of the loop. Also cuddling on a picnic blanket can be interpreted as just friends because friends do that. I mean when I first saw it I was confused and figured I just forgot some lore about them being friends (which I clearly did) because I have played the game for so long and took a 3 year break. The problem with not including any actual character/relationship building when making a character gay is that it leaves the representation feeling forced and unbelievable to actual queer players. Even straight relationships don't show up out of nowhere and it feels as though this one has. It feels like when a show or book is finished and then years later the creator claims a character is queer even though none of the original media really supports it. Good queer representation has to be believable. I also think SSO has lost a lot of consistency with their lore and I think queer representation could be added way more tactfully without changing it. Like they could have slowly shown Alex losing feelings for Justin and have shown a gradual interest in her friend Maya. This would have been a great way to also show younger players that self discovery and questioning is okay. This theme also doesn't have to just be applied to Alex and Maya. Most of the characters we talk to in main quests are minors and they aren't all going to have a simple journey regarding their sexuality or gender. Going forward they can easily slowly include other gay storylines into quests and make it feel more natural. Heck! They could even just have some characters off handedly mention them dating someone as a real life person would. Overall, I am glad SSO has made an attempt to include queer characters and I would never be mad at them for doing so. Queer representation is really important especially with what is happening around the world right now. I really hope however they have queer members on their team going forward and always aim to improve and expand upon that representation.
To be honest, it kinda feels incredibly forced with their relationship, there wasn't anything that really said they were a thing until that hoilday event, and it continued to feel forced. I restarted SSO, they had a new quest where we meet the soul riders and Maya before Lisa and Anne went missing, while it kinda nice, but again, they don't seem very close at all. So again, it felt like their whole friendship and relationship was forced, every time Alex and Maya 'be friends' or 'relationship' wise, I just felt awkward as it just felt nothing but forced and it just felt... Meaningless... If we actually had a quest that showed how close they were before they became a thing, it might feel less awkward, meaningless and forced. Like I love the Sigry and Dr Eiren, as they had a following story to how they met and now a thing, the whole Alex x Maya just has no story in the game to make most of us 'happy' about them, and as we older players continue, they clearly force Alex and Maya to be a thing when we as an older player base, know they had no friendship, or any kind of quest to let us think otherwise. Like I said, I just feel like the whole Alex x Maya thing a forced relationship and friendship to how poorly they were introduced us as a couple. SSO should have made a few quests for us to see the friendship grow first before introduing us older players as them as a couple, or something... Instead, most of the quests we are getting about Maya and Alex are mainly just romance shit, or two close friends just randomly flirting for laughs (as many of us most likely have flirted at our friends for laughs and jokes). That's how forced the relationship and friendship for Alex and Maya are for me.
all of the lgbt+ characters (except maybe Syntax) feel like they're just boxes to be ticked for the company, otherwise we would have the pronouns and orientations for at least the characters in the in-game info book smh
As a straight tomboy who also happens to look exactly like SSO Alex, I feel like this sudden development (or rather, lack thereof) really promotes stereotypes about tomboys and lesbians. Not to say that tomboys cannot be lesbians, but you get the idea. I've only played the original Starshine Legacy series, reading about SSO with no access to Instagram (being Russian, I have no access to the platform and since I never really had a proper account I have no reason to deal with VPN to make it work; no access to the game either as I cannot pay, which is why I am reading and watching instead of playing), so it does surprise me. Not because Alex is gay but because I've always taken issue with random last-minute romance that had no development whatsoever yet we're supposed to believe that it's totes canon, you guys. Bleach comes to mind with its ending. Kimetsu no Yaiba too. And those were straight couples with creators stepping over much more obvious pairings, if they existed, so it is not a matter of sexuality whatsoever. Honestly, I cannot help but feel like this is a very cheap and lazy attempt to stay relevant and earn brownie points by exploiting a cause that is currently big and important. As in, "Look at us, look at how progressive we are, are you not impressed?" And... maybe I do not understand something, being straight and coming from a country that is not known for its progressive views, but I feel like such half-assed hand-me-downs are not exactly the win they probably think it is, when relationship development could be more natural and well-paced, if that's what they wanted to do? And since I have only played Starshine Legacy plus the free part of SSO, I've never really thought of Alex as a character that is interested in romance in the first place. Not that there was no room for it, of course, but stuff like this is the very reason why people usually treat LGBT characters like pandering for extra reputation points, even the ones that are done well. Because quite often the intentions of the creators are driven by greed and desire to be relevant. But then again, if the original games' lore is now its own thing and SSO's story is all over the place, according to some commenters, I'll just... stick to the original. It's a shame, I really wanted to play SSO as well, but if they tend to skip character development or hide it in obscure places whereas the quality of writing is inconsistent for reasons unrelated to pairings in general, I'm going to think twice at the very least. And, perhaps, as a straight woman, I do not fully understand the need for representation, and I'm definitely not going to lose sleep over fictional characters and their relationships, but in my opinion, just representation, the "happy pride month now bye until next year" kind, shouldn't be enough. It must be natural and well-written, developed like a normal human relationship because that's what it should be. What it is. I really hope I do not come across as preachy and/or condescending, but I strongly believe that exploiting the relevant topic is not it.
Good points. I agree. Star Stable is excruciatingly awkward in presenting romantic relationships. I'm just kind of grateful Maia and Alex and Sigry and Eiren didn't have idiotic, vomit inducing stories like Mary and Lance and that ludicrous old heavy metal couple - that woman who looks like Mrs Packard but wears Goth socks and the GED guy 🤮🤮🤮
The size difference take is weird btw. Me and my fiancé (both adult women) have really big size differences on every measurement (as do most straight couples fyi). You got your own headcanon of them being "like siblings" in the way. Size difference doesn't matter at all :D I actually like the TINIEST little size difference rep
Actually linda could be into Ydris. . . The story quest gives some hints, tho it could be, that it is in the story just to mock her about her fanfiction writing and I think, that this ship is absolutely absurt and problematic and does not belong into SSo, but it is in the story non the less. . .
still at the very start of the video, but personally I think anne and alex would have been way more interesting together there's tension and bickering, one grew up rich, with everything she could possibly want, feeling very important all the time, while the other grew up poor, basically raising her own brother, almost feeling like an outcast in her own friend group it would've been a very interesting dynamic imo, and they could explore it much deeper as both characters are, well, actually important, rather than 1 important character and some random chick who was relevant for 3 quests at the very start of the game
You are actually so right about this, I immediately thought of when it was Alex who was most eager and determined to save Anne when we did that quest in sso
So i’m a rare breed, aka a trans gay queer person that plays sso. Lmao. But listen. The queer rep in the game is quite frankly nonexistent. Alex and Maya barely fill the bare bones of legitimate queer rep, the rest are labels that sso put on some characters for one post. A SINGLE social media post. And don’t even get me started on the fucking horses. It’s actually disgusting imo. The only man on man romance in the game was given to a pair of talking horses, and one of them had such a feminine named most people even assumed he was a mare (yes Juniper is not a masculine name, and i know sso did this on purpose) No characters besides Alex and Maya have been relevant to the game since the characters were introduced, so no this is not queer rep, it’s more like corporate pride. Sso does not care about their queer or trans players, and i think we should stop pretending that they do. Alex and Maya are cis lesbians, the only openly accepted type of queerness in sso. Which is so sad.
maya is in high danger since the dark riders and dark core could kidnap her and use her as hostage, if sso put the two together just for the sake of having a lesbian couple in game then its just lazy. and we dont need any "queer" rep in sso, if the lgbtq community gets angry because there isnt any rep for them in games or shows then they should get off their high horse and stop thinking they deserve it just because they're gay or trans or pan, they're not any more special then straight people
and we dont need any "straight" rep in sso, if the hetero community gets angry because there isnt any rep for them in games or shows then they should get off their high horse and stop thinking they deserve it just because they're straight, they're not any more special then gay people
No one is asked SSO directly to have queer representation in-game. SSO themselves added it with the intent to include people from different walks of life, like the same way they made bigger bodies accessible. I have never seen any LBGTQ+ folks rage about the lack of representation even while back. Plus, there's only so many queer folks in media among the sea of straight cis characters. It's a nice change and lets kids know that if you like only this gender or that, there's nothing wrong with you. You're completely normal :)
@@life0nloop Oh there's plenty of LGBT people complaining lol, it's almost all they do a lot of them. In my opinion pride shouldn't even be in the game or celebrated in the first place. Why celebrate if it's normal?
@@danaisnotcool I'm sorry you had a run in with that side of the LGBT, though I haven't encountered them yet regarding SSO's handling of representation. I think it's nice that the game includes pride, not everyone (kids and or adults) can openly celebrate it nor express themselves in fear of repercussion from friends or family. Pride represents the people who have been oppressed and outcasted for not fitting the status quo. It's about love and acceptance, giving people a chance to express themselves regarding their parters, gender, and or identity in general etc. etc. something the story of Jorvik heavily promotes - discovering who you are. I think it's a lovely inclusion even if you don't want to or care to celebrate it. It exists for those who want it and for those who care after all 💕
I'm kind of on an unannounced break. I had some videos filmed after this one was posted, but because of technical difficulties they didn't turn out well and I lost motivation. Since then I've come to realize that youtube should be something I do for passion and creative outlet, so I want to put extra effort into my current projects before posting them
Oh dear... You know I'm gunna feel really sad when starstable shuts down. I hope parents know what is going on here and don't allow this pride stuff to continue. I really don't want to have things go too far here and have starstable shut down but that's just me.
It's not the pride stuff that's the problem, it's the lack of consistency in the story and characters. They keep changing things to fit their agenda rather than caring about what has led each character to where they are.
Sso’s story is all over the place. I played some old quests where Justin leaves and it was an odd mix of both new and old quest dialogue so it was a complete mess.
Lmao that sounds so fun actually
@@thegirlonpointe9866i am replaying the old quests too and believe me it is not. It’s a mess and just so frustrating
YES SOMEBODY FINALLY TALKED ABOUT IT! Alex's character development used to seem so solid in the days where she had feelings for Justin. And, I remember when they first mentioned that Alex and Maya were best friends, and gave them a little story with the red string trail ride. They weren't showing any romantic feelings and everything was quite normal between them. Then all of the sudden when Christmas rolled around we got them blushing and Alex and Maya first showing romantic feelings. This is the main problem.
They showed their relationship development over the course of EVENTS and not through the mainstory quests, which is a huge issue. This is something they are now doing with the Dark Riders, having them be introduced in events throughout the year instead of the MAIN STORY! This is confusing for new players no matter how you look at it, and it's also confusing for players who are returning to the game and trying to catch up with the mainstory.
SSO has no quality control anymore when it comes to the consistency in their story. In the past things were so much better and it was clear they were slowly building up Alex and Justin toward being a thing (and doing a great job with all of the little hints, might I add!) So this is a huge bummer to see. They could have totally given Lisa a gay romance while keeping her old rock vibe instead of changing her race and changing her vibe to western, and giving her a disney princess dead mom backstory. Honestly, so many things in the mainstory need to be completely re-done and fixed. They have completely ruined it over the years and it's going to be their doom someday.
i always thought lisa was gay, sso really needs better character development. these random relationships just come out of the blue to me because i only play the game and don’t follow them on other social platforms so it’s honestly pretty annoying and it feels like i’m missing out on a lot of stuff.
Honestly I thought sso just put Maya and Alex together as a couple during June as a way to get brownie points from the community to look like they are inclusive.
it's funny how they have no problem with giving straight characters a backstory for their love intrest (like bonny x evergray or loretta x justin) but if it's about queer people they get represented so poorly. i think maya and alex could've been amazing if they would've had a better backstory... it just feels like they're trying to get sympathy points for adding queer rep.
alex and maya should've just stayed best friends
Facts
Agreed
had absolutely no clue thouse two were together... 😂
Me neither. Not that I really care. I just think love is cute regardless. But I never felt anything cute between the two. They were not written (at least when I played the story) in a romantic relationship up until recently. So this is catching me off guard. But I like the idea. I'll get used to it.
To be honest for me it's still weird to this day that we only have girl x girl couples in game (idk about the horse couple and what gender are they but still they are horses not humans)
Anyway, for me it's just weird that they are so supportive towards "everything" yet in pride month they only represent lesbian couples (I don't have a problem with any gender or couple don't get me wrong) and nothing else. Like they could just add a nameless npc couple with another gender or idk.
Also, before their relationship was announced I for some reason thought Alex gonna be together with Anne. I don't even know why, they just interacted a lot after she got saved (if I remember right) and they would have just fit well together in my opinion.
Sso's lore and character developments are rushed and weird lately but it is what it is.
True, we have yet to see guy x guy or anything like that. It's very cringy when feminist games do things like this and claim to be for equality 🤦♀ like nah you're actually just third wave feminist and only care about women
This, agreed.
Thought the same! They definitely had way more interactions and kinda still fit (??) better together than AlexXMaya, just my opinion..
Well, considering SSO's pride is to be a female only game... I'm pretty sure it's related.
because girl x girl is generally more accepted than boy x boy :') That's my guess. They're really just playing it safe.
Ok I have a lot of thoughts about this so don't mind me ranting. Before you get angry at me remember to read everything. This is just my opinion and I agree that the way things are in the game right now is not great. I also agree with the overall message of the video and I don't mean to defend Star Stable in any way, they really need to do better with their queer representation, like actually developing these relationships in the game instead of adding them after the fact. However, I wouldn't go about incorporating Alex's queerness in the way you suggested.
I'm talking about how it would best be worked into the game as it is right now. First, let's address the relationships in question overall. For example, Sigry and Dr. Eiren didn't come out of nowhere for me. I doubt SSO fully intended to have them be in a relationship when they made the characters, but, to put it informally, the vibes were there. (They really do need to update Dr. Eiren's model, she looks so bad.) I don't mind SSO officially making them a couple, god knows we need more representation. Could they have gone about it differently, YES. No doubt about it. But I don't think it feels as forced as people say.
On Alex's crush on Justin: I think removing it completely would be counterproductive. Here's how I would go about it. Alex could be bi, or alternatively, people just assume she likes him. Isn't it the height of sapphic (and queer in general) experience to have friends and family jump on every opportunity they get to ask you if you have a boyfriend yet, constantly nagging you about that boy you totally secretly like and have a crush on? It certainly was like that for me. And Alex being very adamant about saving Justin and breaking him out of druid jail doesn't need to be romantically motivated at all, if anything it's just Alex being Alex: Having experienced a lot of hardship in her life, she stands firmly against injustice and sticks up for her fellow underdogs, so to say. It's very in-character for her. Maybe that's why people assume she likes him in the first place.
Another thing, about Clouds over Silverglade. It's very funny to think that Alex and Maya's relationship is forced because they were really close friends before? It's a trope in straight romance all the time, friends to lovers and all that. Also, the whole "being friends for years unsure whether the other one has feelings for you when you're both clearly queer" thing is a common joke among sapphic women. Not that it has to be exactly like that in game, but it's still a little wink at the girls who get it. I really like their dynamic and chemistry in the comic and I wish they'd give Maya some more of that personality in game.
Again, I wholeheartedly agree with the message of this video, SSO needs to put a lot more effort into actually developing Alex and Maya and their relationship to make it work and I'm not making any excuses for them. I just feel like this video lacks a queer perspective. But of course I don't want to assume anything, and I don't mean this as an insult or a means of calling you homophobic or anything like that, I just really want to make that clear!
In conclusion, SSO could totally get away with adding these relationships in hindsight if they put in more effort and maybe used the existing lore as a bit of a tongue in cheek self-aware jab, for example Alex's friends assuming she has a crush on Justin. Maybe they should let actual queer people do some of that writing.
This is a very insightful perspective! I'm not queer myself, so I'm solemly looking at this through the lense of storytelling and character development. I fully agree with you on Sigry and Eiren's relationship - many believe that their relationship is rushed, but I say that the development is there, only that they don't focus on their relationship per say. Their love life is never referenced in the Mistfall questline, but we witness the whole process from Eiren meeting Rania and Sigry, to her helping them solve the water mystery, to cheering Sigry on in the election, and all along she's staying in the Varanger household, where she remains after the quests. Even without the information of the journals, one could easily theorize that Sigry and Dr. Eiren were a couple, since she seemed to have moved in with them. And I think this is just how it's supposed to be: the story is there, the relevance is there, but they don't put so much emphasis on the relationship that it becomes a defining factor, it's kind of just an "easter egg" for what happened after the questline ended.
I wanna say that I see what you mean with the Justin thing and how the crush should remain. I have given this some thought after reading your comment and realized that there could be multiple ways to tackle the crush without removing it, that would still make it seem realistic. Like you said, they could make this a thing where people keep assuming that Alex is into Justin, when they're really just buddies or something. Or we could have this whole "love triangle" thing where Alex moves on from Justin after he joins DC, seeks comfort in Maya and ends up in a relationship with her instead. I think it would definitely be reasonable for her to be didappointed and lose interest in him when he joins the dark side, and that we'd see a process of her moving on from it. The biggest problem I have with the whole Alex/Justin/Maya thing right now, is that the early Justin hints are still there, while Alex simultaniously is in a relationship with Maya, no questions asked. We just don't know anything about why they're a thing, and what the deal with Justin is, and I feel like this is something that needs to be either adressed or resorted in the game 🤔
Gee, looks like I ended up ranting too 😅 thank you for your insight, it gave me something new to consider
I agree with everything you said! although i dont think we should slap a sexual orientation on everyone in a horse game. Linda for example not hinting romantic crushes in the game does not make her nececcarilly asexual nor should this be the case necessarilly
I feel SSO took the stereotypical route by making the tomboy girl a lesbian/queen, hence why I never bought it. It feels way to forced, like majority of other things they have added in sake of inclusively. Nothing feels natural anymore.
Other games have executed inclusively perfectly without it feeling forced down your throat. Lately I've been dragged back to RuneScape, a question line I just finished, lgbtq was introduced but it wasn't forced down your throat. No idea if others were introduced as well as I just have returned. But in a decades old game, they manage to do inclusively way better, it has been such since the day I picked it up for the first time.
Sso in other hand goes the woke route where they force shit down your throat in order to fit what ever is "mainstream" at the moment
Absolutely, other games do that very well and since a rather long time now. But SSO still manages to disappoint because of their laziness.
I love your suggestion for the soul riders romantic orientations, it really felt spot on with their characters and personalities and I think it would've been great to actually represent those four orientations equally, and not just put a heavy emphasis on being gay as it feels like sso is currently doing. From someone who's been relating a lot with asexuality the past 6 years I'd find it really refreshing to see some sort of recognition of it in the game, might actually be why Linda was always my favorite of the soul riders.
I agree!
As a queer person myself the thing between Alex and Maya seems so forced and I don't feel the chemistry between the characters. Also it feels very stereotypical to have the tomboy be in a lesbain relationship. Out of any of the soul riders I more expected Lisa or even Linda to be the queer ones x)
The couple just seems so out of the blue and random, just for the sake of rep.
As an ace and demiromantic person! I have to correct something ,:>
I believe you meant to say Aromantic when assigning an orientation to Linda
Asexuality is the absence or lack of sexual attraction
While Aromanticism is the absence or lack of romantic attraction!
It's a common to mistake these two orientations for being the same thing so there's nothing wrong with that but I still felt the need to correct it ^^
I really love the idea of Aro Linda!
Oh, I had no idea! Thank you for telling me 🙌🏻
Thanks for correcting fellow ace / demiromantic ! 💜🤍🩶🖤
I was about to comment something similar! Fellow ace~
I think that Linda could pass as both aromantic and asexual (Im aroace myself too).
ace and aro literally go hand in hand so this point is kind of nitpicky
Personally aside from the comic i dont think alex had a crush on justin after/during sso beyond the comic. It just feels to me like a character thats friends with someone especially since aside from the kidnapping portion of the game she doesn’t mention justin, even before maya. Maybe its just because i don’t personally think it would make sense but i just dont see it.
that's what i've started to hate about sso. their main story was meant to be the sequel of the starshine legacy, and for some time it has been. now it has completely changed and we're left with a game that is half old lore and half new one, and it doesn't make any sense anymore...
They can shove this couple in our face, but we cant have Valentine's day in game anymore? I couldnt care less about who is dating each other. I just want good story quests and for my character to not look like a refrigerator with legs. Also, why are half the girls in this game obsessed with Justin? That boy needs an update badly!
They need to update Justin so he looks like a model, that would be a good explanation for how so many of the characters love him...
Personally i never saw them as anything else expect good friends, untill the quest where you help with the dead far game along, it pretty much showed even the parents perspective of things, saying how Alex was always "Hanging around" or something similar. Yes they could have been still good friends, but it was by sso made clear they were more than that, which is fine and all, but they still appear to me more as friends than actually dating individuals...
I am really happy that you brought this topic up, because It has been pretty obvious that star stable has been adding things to the story "just because", without any logical link in the story to them. But especially when we get to Queer representation, I belive that the players deserve a lot more then a random love story, that isnt fleshed out. I also really like the idea to make the sexualities of the soulriders more divers, however, i see the asexual representation in Linda a little more critical.
Since i am asexual myself, i may just be way too invested here, but one problem that I see with many asexual characters is, that they are really shy, prefer to stay by themselves, or that they are just "too smart and rational for feelings". I am not saying that this has to be the case, but i am just worried that this stereotypes could be reinforced when making Linda asexual, since her main character traits are her smartness and her clear mind.
I really hope that star stable will do something about this, since Alex and Maya are literally written as BFF in the beginning.( In the book where we had the info sheets they even are called each others best friends). If starstable really wants to hold onto them, changing the beginning of the game is the best decision here, because it was writting in that time where they were just friends. I really hope they will do something about this.
Actually even if I like these two together, I feel like it was very rushed. It happened at the same time they made other couples but the problem is that they didn't included them for the character development or the story but rather for the pride image. Compared to AlexXMaya or the vetX Rania's mom, I feel like the two horses were better introduced in game and felt more natural, less forced. And yeah, SSO breaking the lore for the pleasure of doing it. All of that is sad, they had tons of opportunities to write it better.
Why have I never heard of the vet x ranias mom and why does it actually work so well
@@midnightlilly123 Because you didn't check at the notebook with all the characters in game? That here where they said it and only mentioned it one time during christmas quests in 2021.
I have the same opinnion as you. I was really surprised when Maya + Alex were announced. Because there were no mentioned during the story line that would indicade that they are something more than friends. Same for Sigry and Eiren. When I read the journal right after I finished Mistfall quests, I was like ,,wait.. did I miss something in the dialogues?" It just was wasn't pointed more deeply and especially not much clearly.
Anyway I am not against any LGBTQIA+ relationship or individuals being presented as part of it. If it's done clearly.
Btw Linda having no relationship yet might not mean she is Asexual. Yes, she can be. But not wanting romantic relationship is more like Aromancy.
Initially I was surprised and super excited that Alex and Maya were together. I myself am gay, and it's really nice seeing representation in a game I really enjoy. However, as time went on, I sort of became disenchanted with them. Where was their development? Their conversations? Their arguments? How does Maya contribute to the story?
From the standpoint of a writer (I myself am one), Maya contributes nothing major to the story. She's not even really a supporting character. She's more of a background character. Just inclusion for the sake of it, representation for the sake of representation. It felt forced and a little stale.
What SSO could've done:
Include Maya in the main story quests, rushing to Alex's side after we come back from the quest where Elizabeth Sunbeam dies. Maya could've been super worried about her, asking her what happened and then comforting Alex while Alex cries.
Make Alex more angry at GED and Dark Core knowing they had something to do with what happened to Maya's family farm.
Have Maya worry about Anne as well; or, if Maya hasn't been introduced to the Soul Riders yet, have a little mini quest where she's introduced to the Soul Riders by Alex and the other riders tease them a little. Could be a really cute little thing.
Have Maya show up to help us, ask us questions before we go on our next big quest.
ALEX IS LITERALLY TAKEN BY THE VALA WITCH, MISSING FOR DAYS AT /LEAST/ AND WE NEVER GET A WORD OF WORRY FROM MAYA. WHY. WHY ISN'T MAYA THERE AT THE SAPLING TOO? WHY DOESN'T MAYA PESTER US CONSTANTLY FOR INFORMATION?
But Maya contributes NOTHING to the story except for giving SSO the 'congrats ur gay' sticker.
What I can remember about their relationship starting is they were a bit weird around each other in one misson. A few missions later they run off together and someone says "Yea they've been dating for months, what rock have you been living under?"
It really reinforces the fact that, WE don't hang out, WE don't talk about stuff, WE are not included, WE are not friends!
The "it was covered in other media, we don't need to mention it in-game." is definitely an issue.
At least Blaze is glimpsed in the woods and is a standout coat in the breed, Bluebell has a mission associated with it and it is the app coat so it doesn't exist in-game the same way. It isn't much, not nearly enough, but it's there.
Galaxy?
Is in Fort Pinta. (Go buy it!!! ugh..)
All they had to do was let us talk to the girl, or talk to Maya or any Bobcat about the girl, and it would be on par with Blaze and Bluebell, lacking as they are.
Yes, they are cute together, and I really like them together, but it's so poorly done. A usual.
Ngl I think SSO just puts queer relationships in the game for brownie points, they don't really care about them.
I feel most ships in this game are forced and just there for representation, especially this one. Why choose Alex when she already had a love interest in Justin? I agree that Lisa would be a better alternative, especially if she kept her old design. The thing is, they did this just so one soul rider could represent the queer fans, and they probably chose Alex because she’s a tomboy. Doesn’t that feel so shallow? Since SSL (and probably early game SSO) is no longer considered canon by the new developers, let’s just throw everything that we’ve worked on all these years out the window, right?
They literally got rid of Derek and Anne’s romance in SSO because “she’s an independent girl and she doesn’t need a man!”. If Derek was a woman it would be “empowering”. They only make relationships official if they’re lgbtq+, just to give shallow representation instead of actually giving it meaning. Building Anne and Dereks relationship would show so much more depth and authenticity, I feel like… but we all know they don’t care about that.
Literally what they could’ve done that would’ve been so much better and that wouldn’t alter any existing gameplay or anything would be to just have Lisa mention a girlfriend that lives in Jorvik City or something. Just throw it out there. A persons sexuality doesn’t have to be their whole personality, and I feel like even just through text - or even maybe photos in her room - they could build a nice, strong queer rep relationship.
No, no, don't worry, Eleanor.
I'm actually glad to know how people feel about Alex and Maya since your opinion makes sense. It would've been better if we got more introductions to why things happened in the game. I personally didn't mind the sudden plot-twist relationship revelation because in real life, we also don't really get the story of other people's relationships.
However, since Alex and Maya are characters we've seen many times, know and love, and we the players pretty much bought the game and therefore also the story, we should at least get a glimpse of their relationship development so that we could fall in love with their relationship as well.
Thanks for sharing your opinion. It's always interesting to hear different opinions without just hearing someone aggressively ranting without really explaining it in a mature way.
As someone who never reads any comics on social media it seems like they just randomly shipped this main character with this random npc lol
I can guarantee that the queers arent happy because maya and alex are a couple. It is very cheap queer representation and id rather not see any of it than this mockery. (Tbh most of the game lore is a mockery since its so inconsistent). Queer or straight i hate all relationships that happen "just because" like no. We arent in elementary school anymore.
This. I always disliked their relationship because it felt so fake. I wasn't up to date with the main story so I asked a friend if there were any signs in the story of them being more than friends. There weren't. SSO only did it to score some virtue points. Sad and cheap!
Queer here, can confirm. Alex and Maya makes no sense, it feels incredibly forced and out of the blue. SSO can do better.
but if sso didn't make a lgbt couple then y'all will also not be happy
People ask me why my favorite SR is Linda... Sweetie, she's an aspec woc nerd who reads and write fanfics, has a thing for the moon and her color coding is purple... She's just me !
I didn’t notice they were a couple until we had our first picnic (in that moment i felt both like a third wheel and an idiot for not noticing earlier). I get the desire to have a proper leadup to their relationship, but I also wonder if it's actually necessary or may even have the opposite effect? I just assumed Alex and Maya were together before my character went to Moorland. I didn’t think people wanted them to explain why they were together - that just feels nosey, and seems contradictory to the idea that people in the community should be represented without being questioned. I could be wrong, of course, but this is just how i see it. The question of them being a thing was never an issue, for me. I like seeing them hang out in the game.
The reason it gets questioned is due to the often times heavily implied romance between Alwx and Justin, more than the fact of 'oh no, two girls are together suddenly?!' It's more, 'wait, wasn't she interested in this other person..?'
With stories there is a difference between being nosy and having the normal hints/development in place that say, a friend in real life observing a friend and their crush would get
@-ix-3152 Ah, ok. That does make sense. I guess I just didn't see it in the dialogue clearly enough.
Personally I really adore the fact that they are a cannon couple and I don’t mind that they had been presented so suddenly, but I agree with your opinions. Though, what I think happened was that maybe, because SSO is a game targeted for younger audiences, the company might’ve had their concerns on making the couple too obvious and really decided to keep it low in case parents went wild. I prefer that than to not have any queer representation at all. But, yeah, we could definitely have some kind of explanation as to how they met/fell in love in the first place. And I love your head cannons for their actual sexualities!
Honestly, the only character that I always knew was gay was Syntax (and I’m impressed that he has never been shown to be interested in anyone).
Also, Rocco x Juniper seems like the only good ship that we have… and they’re horses! Lol!
i think you should check out the new quest! it mentions star academy and alex tells us about where her childhood home is!!
I am all for queer representation in media, it normalizes the lgbtq+ in communities, but to slap it onto preexisting characters that rarely interacted let alone showed little to no romantic interest is just lazy and poor decision overall. Instead sso could have showed us preexisting gay characters in side quests or main quests, or hell if they really wanted Maya and Alex to be a thing, show us more interaction that lead into them being together down the line, don't rush it.
As a queer person, Maya x Alex just isn’t good representation in general.
This whole thing is such a mess icl. There could have been a nice relationship building between Alex and Justin because they set that up IN THE GAME. I don’t mind that she is queer, that’s not the issue. The problem I have is that it was so sudden and Justin just got dumped. My favourite couple in game will always be Anne and Derek, but I would have enjoyed Alex and Justin
Alex would still be queer even if she was a bisexual girl dating a guy. Yeah we wouldn't see a queer relationship on screen, but Alex having feelings for both Justin and Maya and ultimately dating Maya is bisexual representation. I don't think bisexuals are any less queer.
I 100% agree, I'm myself lesbian and I'm happy that we atleast got something but like you explained it could be much better queer rep. It feels like their relationship came from nowhere and was rushed as hell, idk It doesn't feel like their relationship is real lmao
This is a bit weird but ever since I got introduced to Linda in game I’ve always imagined my character being in a relationship with her 😅 like whenever I do roleplays and stuff Linda is my characters partner
i dont mind alex and maya, though i do understand people's points that it just kind of seems like forced rep
their relationship just always seemed forced and performative to me especially since it was just shoved into the game with no context
You know why this ship bothers me? Maya looks like a child
Her face and expressions, her clothes, the way she styles her hair, everything about Maya induces me to believe she is between 13 - 14 years old. Alex on the other hand looks like 18 - 19 years old. This ship creeps me out because of that, whenever I look at Maya i can only see a young girl, she doesn't look like a teenager
I wish a tomboy/tomgirl could be just that without media always turning thoes characters to lesbians. :/
I alway have the original characters from the cd-games in the background in my head. The thing that is hardest for me to accept is Lisas change or n appearance and personalety. She was more unique and cool before, now she is almost boring.
Just a little correction: Asexual is not a romantic orientation, that would be aromantic
I was thinking that! I’m aroace
i was... so confused when i found out they were in a relationship? like i only found out about it via a dialogue point linda (i think?) made where she spoke about alex's girlfriend. i was like? huh?? since when??? i've thought they were cousins since i started playing - idek why so it never struck me that they were talking about maya.
Linda being aroace would be so cool! She also reads lots of (probably romantic) fanfic, so her liking romantic stuff while not wanting a romantic relationship herself could be great representation I think (I'm not aro myself, this is just what I saw on the internet so please correct me if I'm wrong)
As a queer person myself this feels not like representation but almost like queer baiting :/ I didnt know they were a thing, they were just recently refered to as friends by Anne, and like maybe she doesnt know yet but like why? I kinda wish I never learned about this. I feel so let down by Star Stanle already but this is just...idk. And if someone comes at me for being dramataic, please stop. I am tired of constantly being treated bad and companies just using queer content to get more money. I would rather have no representation yet than this. This is not me saying that they dont have any potential, they do even if Alex liked Justin for a while. We could see her falling in love with Maya over time. But in a realistic way way were they take their time and then maybe have Alex come forward later to tell us soulriders about it in a cute side quest. This just feels really fake and I kinda expected better :(
this video is how i found out about the ship
I was very happy finding out that Maya and Alex were together as in having queer representation in major side characters but I was very disappointed how they never explain their stories. It's like SSO just picked up two friends and decided to make them together with no explanation why just for selling the game to an even bigger audience.
No dating in star stable ❌
Unless your an NPC ✅
I’m all for Alex and Maya and as individual characters I can totally see them together but SSO a needs to work out what the hell is going on in the lore. Maya's been an iconic character in the game and I agree she should be more apart of the lore. I had no idea they were dating until the Insta comics 😭
I personally don't really mind the Maya and Alex ship, to me they fit together quite well personality wise... but as I didn't see the specific part of the Christmas event where they were confirmed to have romantic feelings for one another in-game, them appearing as a couple in quests felt like a sudden addition to the story. I really feel like the quests should expand on why they're together a bit more, instead of just keeping it locked to these parts of seasonal events that some people haven't seen.
And when you mentioned Alex having feelings for Justin in one comic- I had absolutely no idea that was a thing, not even when I was quite literally obsessed with SSO's lore. In the game, I've never interpreted Alex's words as implications of a crush- I just always saw it as Alex just... defending Justin because she doesn't want the blame to be put on a person that is seen as innocent in her eyes. But I agree that it should've been our character that defended him... I don't know, I don't even like the game as much anymore and this is just... something that I never knew about.
Also, aroace Linda has been my headcannon ever since I found out I'm queer myself, so it's cool to see her being seen as ace or aro by other people as well.
But on the topic on queer representation within SSO... I don't engage with the community as much anymore aside from... well, watching your videos on occasion, and I've found games that handled queer representation better in my personal opinion, so I can't really say that it impacts me much. I do wish that Alex and Maya's story would have been shown in quests more, though.
I really love that couple, but yeah, as a lesbian I always felt that SSO put them togheter to say: "look, there is a sapphic couple! here you are, lgbt people".
and well, i know that if their were a straight couple Im sure that they wouldn't be people reclaimin about that "they are forced", that "we don't have any context"... look, i think, and don't missunderstend me, but at the moment that LGTB stories won't need a "justification" for existing as straight relationships do, then I'll be happy. we don't need justification or context, because sapphic people we exist.
But yeah, Maya and Alex feels so... yeah, what I said before: "look, there is a queer couple, look how inclusive we are! buy our game" and not like "we are trying to normalize this type of relationships in a game for kids, something that it's not usual but it's need to be".
As a lesbian SSO player, I had no idea these two were even canon. I agree with all the points in this video. I think adding queer representation is important but that queer representation also needs to be good representation. If most of the representation is shown through social media and limited time events that leaves a lot of people out of the loop. Also cuddling on a picnic blanket can be interpreted as just friends because friends do that. I mean when I first saw it I was confused and figured I just forgot some lore about them being friends (which I clearly did) because I have played the game for so long and took a 3 year break. The problem with not including any actual character/relationship building when making a character gay is that it leaves the representation feeling forced and unbelievable to actual queer players. Even straight relationships don't show up out of nowhere and it feels as though this one has. It feels like when a show or book is finished and then years later the creator claims a character is queer even though none of the original media really supports it. Good queer representation has to be believable.
I also think SSO has lost a lot of consistency with their lore and I think queer representation could be added way more tactfully without changing it. Like they could have slowly shown Alex losing feelings for Justin and have shown a gradual interest in her friend Maya. This would have been a great way to also show younger players that self discovery and questioning is okay. This theme also doesn't have to just be applied to Alex and Maya. Most of the characters we talk to in main quests are minors and they aren't all going to have a simple journey regarding their sexuality or gender. Going forward they can easily slowly include other gay storylines into quests and make it feel more natural. Heck! They could even just have some characters off handedly mention them dating someone as a real life person would.
Overall, I am glad SSO has made an attempt to include queer characters and I would never be mad at them for doing so. Queer representation is really important especially with what is happening around the world right now. I really hope however they have queer members on their team going forward and always aim to improve and expand upon that representation.
i think we need more people like you who criticize what happens and that we need original lore back
To be honest, it kinda feels incredibly forced with their relationship, there wasn't anything that really said they were a thing until that hoilday event, and it continued to feel forced. I restarted SSO, they had a new quest where we meet the soul riders and Maya before Lisa and Anne went missing, while it kinda nice, but again, they don't seem very close at all. So again, it felt like their whole friendship and relationship was forced, every time Alex and Maya 'be friends' or 'relationship' wise, I just felt awkward as it just felt nothing but forced and it just felt... Meaningless... If we actually had a quest that showed how close they were before they became a thing, it might feel less awkward, meaningless and forced. Like I love the Sigry and Dr Eiren, as they had a following story to how they met and now a thing, the whole Alex x Maya just has no story in the game to make most of us 'happy' about them, and as we older players continue, they clearly force Alex and Maya to be a thing when we as an older player base, know they had no friendship, or any kind of quest to let us think otherwise.
Like I said, I just feel like the whole Alex x Maya thing a forced relationship and friendship to how poorly they were introduced us as a couple. SSO should have made a few quests for us to see the friendship grow first before introduing us older players as them as a couple, or something... Instead, most of the quests we are getting about Maya and Alex are mainly just romance shit, or two close friends just randomly flirting for laughs (as many of us most likely have flirted at our friends for laughs and jokes). That's how forced the relationship and friendship for Alex and Maya are for me.
all of the lgbt+ characters (except maybe Syntax) feel like they're just boxes to be ticked for the company, otherwise we would have the pronouns and orientations for at least the characters in the in-game info book smh
I like Alex and Maya, because I despise Justin. 😊
(Yes I have a bormal reason too, but I wanted to say this forever)
I really hope we will get a Quest with them together (not like the one where Maja got her horse)
Sso made alex and maya together because sso is targeted for girls, i bet they dont dare adding boy couple xd
I mean, there is one... two talking horses 💀..
As a straight tomboy who also happens to look exactly like SSO Alex, I feel like this sudden development (or rather, lack thereof) really promotes stereotypes about tomboys and lesbians. Not to say that tomboys cannot be lesbians, but you get the idea. I've only played the original Starshine Legacy series, reading about SSO with no access to Instagram (being Russian, I have no access to the platform and since I never really had a proper account I have no reason to deal with VPN to make it work; no access to the game either as I cannot pay, which is why I am reading and watching instead of playing), so it does surprise me. Not because Alex is gay but because I've always taken issue with random last-minute romance that had no development whatsoever yet we're supposed to believe that it's totes canon, you guys. Bleach comes to mind with its ending. Kimetsu no Yaiba too. And those were straight couples with creators stepping over much more obvious pairings, if they existed, so it is not a matter of sexuality whatsoever.
Honestly, I cannot help but feel like this is a very cheap and lazy attempt to stay relevant and earn brownie points by exploiting a cause that is currently big and important. As in, "Look at us, look at how progressive we are, are you not impressed?" And... maybe I do not understand something, being straight and coming from a country that is not known for its progressive views, but I feel like such half-assed hand-me-downs are not exactly the win they probably think it is, when relationship development could be more natural and well-paced, if that's what they wanted to do? And since I have only played Starshine Legacy plus the free part of SSO, I've never really thought of Alex as a character that is interested in romance in the first place. Not that there was no room for it, of course, but stuff like this is the very reason why people usually treat LGBT characters like pandering for extra reputation points, even the ones that are done well. Because quite often the intentions of the creators are driven by greed and desire to be relevant.
But then again, if the original games' lore is now its own thing and SSO's story is all over the place, according to some commenters, I'll just... stick to the original. It's a shame, I really wanted to play SSO as well, but if they tend to skip character development or hide it in obscure places whereas the quality of writing is inconsistent for reasons unrelated to pairings in general, I'm going to think twice at the very least. And, perhaps, as a straight woman, I do not fully understand the need for representation, and I'm definitely not going to lose sleep over fictional characters and their relationships, but in my opinion, just representation, the "happy pride month now bye until next year" kind, shouldn't be enough. It must be natural and well-written, developed like a normal human relationship because that's what it should be. What it is. I really hope I do not come across as preachy and/or condescending, but I strongly believe that exploiting the relevant topic is not it.
I think they’re cute together but I really just don’t care about them or any couple in this game 🫠
as a lesbian im so glad that sso finally added some lesbian rep!!
also a lesbian here and i think their representation is so bad...
Good points. I agree. Star Stable is excruciatingly awkward in presenting romantic relationships. I'm just kind of grateful Maia and Alex and Sigry and Eiren didn't have idiotic, vomit inducing stories like Mary and Lance and that ludicrous old heavy metal couple - that woman who looks like Mrs Packard but wears Goth socks and the GED guy 🤮🤮🤮
The size difference take is weird btw. Me and my fiancé (both adult women) have really big size differences on every measurement (as do most straight couples fyi). You got your own headcanon of them being "like siblings" in the way. Size difference doesn't matter at all :D I actually like the TINIEST little size difference rep
Actually linda could be into Ydris. . . The story quest gives some hints, tho it could be, that it is in the story just to mock her about her fanfiction writing and I think, that this ship is absolutely absurt and problematic and does not belong into SSo, but it is in the story non the less. . .
Alex and Maya remind me of Sundew and Willow… idk but yeah, just from the small time that I had seen how they interact with each other.
still at the very start of the video, but personally I think anne and alex would have been way more interesting together
there's tension and bickering, one grew up rich, with everything she could possibly want, feeling very important all the time, while the other grew up poor, basically raising her own brother, almost feeling like an outcast in her own friend group
it would've been a very interesting dynamic imo, and they could explore it much deeper as both characters are, well, actually important, rather than 1 important character and some random chick who was relevant for 3 quests at the very start of the game
You are actually so right about this, I immediately thought of when it was Alex who was most eager and determined to save Anne when we did that quest in sso
So i’m a rare breed, aka a trans gay queer person that plays sso. Lmao.
But listen. The queer rep in the game is quite frankly nonexistent. Alex and Maya barely fill the bare bones of legitimate queer rep, the rest are labels that sso put on some characters for one post. A SINGLE social media post.
And don’t even get me started on the fucking horses. It’s actually disgusting imo. The only man on man romance in the game was given to a pair of talking horses, and one of them had such a feminine named most people even assumed he was a mare (yes Juniper is not a masculine name, and i know sso did this on purpose)
No characters besides Alex and Maya have been relevant to the game since the characters were introduced, so no this is not queer rep, it’s more like corporate pride. Sso does not care about their queer or trans players, and i think we should stop pretending that they do.
Alex and Maya are cis lesbians, the only openly accepted type of queerness in sso. Which is so sad.
maya is in high danger since the dark riders and dark core could kidnap her and use her as hostage, if sso put the two together just for the sake of having a lesbian couple in game then its just lazy.
and we dont need any "queer" rep in sso, if the lgbtq community gets angry because there isnt any rep for them in games or shows then they should get off their high horse and stop thinking they deserve it just because they're gay or trans or pan, they're not any more special then straight people
This!!!
and we dont need any "straight" rep in sso, if the hetero community gets angry because there isnt any rep for them in games or shows then they should get off their high horse and stop thinking they deserve it just because they're straight, they're not any more special then gay people
No one is asked SSO directly to have queer representation in-game. SSO themselves added it with the intent to include people from different walks of life, like the same way they made bigger bodies accessible.
I have never seen any LBGTQ+ folks rage about the lack of representation even while back. Plus, there's only so many queer folks in media among the sea of straight cis characters. It's a nice change and lets kids know that if you like only this gender or that, there's nothing wrong with you. You're completely normal :)
@@life0nloop Oh there's plenty of LGBT people complaining lol, it's almost all they do a lot of them. In my opinion pride shouldn't even be in the game or celebrated in the first place. Why celebrate if it's normal?
@@danaisnotcool I'm sorry you had a run in with that side of the LGBT, though I haven't encountered them yet regarding SSO's handling of representation. I think it's nice that the game includes pride, not everyone (kids and or adults) can openly celebrate it nor express themselves in fear of repercussion from friends or family.
Pride represents the people who have been oppressed and outcasted for not fitting the status quo. It's about love and acceptance, giving people a chance to express themselves regarding their parters, gender, and or identity in general etc. etc. something the story of Jorvik heavily promotes - discovering who you are. I think it's a lovely inclusion even if you don't want to or care to celebrate it. It exists for those who want it and for those who care after all 💕
wait what, i thought alex and anne were together- or at least had “something”
Same xd
i feel like anne and alex even would make more sense, and just make alex bi
Exactly! I always thought these two were a thing, no idea how they ended up with Maya.. No hate btw.
Hey Eleanor, you haven't posted in months, are you active on patreon, or are you just inactive?
I'm kind of on an unannounced break. I had some videos filmed after this one was posted, but because of technical difficulties they didn't turn out well and I lost motivation. Since then I've come to realize that youtube should be something I do for passion and creative outlet, so I want to put extra effort into my current projects before posting them
@@eleanornightwalker Okay, thanks for answering
Even though I do kinda like them I feel they were rushed
I didn't know that thank you for the video
I though they were siblings. 💀
5:57 I’m curious what is your player character’s sexuality?
Mine is also asexual.
(This is a question to everyone.)
probably pan lol
It's an mmorpg, not a dating simulator. They don't have an orientation
speed
I think Alex and maya should have not became gay. I love sso bot I hate this. This just ruined the game for me.
Lol it’s not even important hahaha it’s a game to just play and enjoy….❤
Oh dear... You know I'm gunna feel really sad when starstable shuts down. I hope parents know what is going on here and don't allow this pride stuff to continue. I really don't want to have things go too far here and have starstable shut down but that's just me.
It's not the pride stuff that's the problem, it's the lack of consistency in the story and characters. They keep changing things to fit their agenda rather than caring about what has led each character to where they are.
Who the fuck is talking about sso shutting down? They're clearly not
@@leanashine Say that to the lgbtq+ mob when sso starts getting boycotted by parents and the mob starts going after them like bud light and target.
@@leanashine I have just logged on sso and I'm now ashamed to know that I've spent real world money on something that isn't even sso.
@@artgirlgammer4662 This isn't a new or recently added thing, you know that right? Sso is not being boycotted by anyone