Like, what is she even doing????

son

Low effort meme made at 2am*

I've been seeing weird takes about Violet since the voting began, and while I can't place it, I feel like a lot of people's arguments around her are rooted in misogyny, racism or both. I understand and agree with the critique that her backstory and motivations need more sauce but I think there's some people hiding their prejudices underneath the guise of criticism.

The forbidden tech that stuns them for the rest of the game

I didn’t even vote for her but this is the most annoying and obnoxious the community has ever fucking been. It’s nothing but whine whine whine whine fucking whine whine whine. Who the fuck cares if she has boring lore compared to the rest of the cast just please shut the fuck up.

https://x.com/467Doggo/status/2111207142447255968

Pretty much the title, i really like the old face, and if they changed it i'd be sad because i voted on her alone since ratking pretty much.

(Don't mind the 2nd slide...)

I posted a meme about silver and violet being lesbian. After more research, nah their bi

(big essay incoming from an art school grad that expected so much more)

I voted for Violet. I was excited for Violet. I had been theorizing about Violet. I was so eager to see what twist Valve would take on a trope so deeply entwined with my life. Now that she's here, I love her design, and I love her kit; but I find her character to be painfully boring.

I went to art school. I have been in classes with hundreds of people exactly like her. I have been friends with dozens of people exactly like her. I have dated many (arguably too many) people exactly like her. About 2/3 of my romantic history would proudly use the phrase Asian Art Hoe to describe themselves, and Violet is the embodiment of that archetype, complete with the weed and parental issues. She is my type to a T if we're talking about the kind of person I would actually relate to, befriend, and date in real life.

I am one of the people this character is designed to appeal to the most, but she doesn't, because I already know her.

And that's why she's so boring. She doesn't subvert anything. She is literally exactly what I would expect her to be and nothing more. She has no interesting flaws, no interesting motivations, no strange powers hidden beneath the surface. Her reason for being in the ritual where godhood is on the table is to gain artistic opportunity, even though she's already receiving awards and recognition.

Imagine how much more interesting she'd be if there was anything else to her at all. If she was an artist tormented by her own mind like Van Gogh. If her painting was a compulsion, not a passion. If her powers came about because in her artistic hubris, she glimpsed into the abyss seeking to put it to canvas. Can you imagine how she'd react to The Doorman? To Seven? To Dynamo?

Or if that's changing too much of her design, imagine how much more interesting she'd be if she wasn't an artistic prodigy at all. If she was a nepo-baby stuck in the frustrating and awkward phase every artist knows all too well, where no matter how hard you try, you don't yet have the skill to depict what you see in your mind. Someone who only got into art school because her parents pulled the right strings, compelled by her insecurity into joining the ritual for the chance to gain innate artistic talent and skip the struggle of learning to draw, just so her peers stop laughing behind her back. Imagine watching her cast her Still Life on someone, getting frustrated while she struggles with the anatomy, crying out in exasperation and tearing the paper if it gets cancelled. It'd wrap the clunkiness of drawing with her Living Ink into her character itself, and the only thing that would need to change is her writing.

She's not even a little weird, either. What kind of artist isn't weird? People keep making all these posts about how she's horny and goonerbait, but she's really not, outside of being an Asian woman (which says a whole lot more about you if you think that qualifies for "goonerbait") that's thirsty for Silver and Victor like any reasonable bisexual. She's fairly restrained, especially compared to Vyper, Paige, or Silver. Even if everything about her backstory, insecurities, and motivations were kept the same, her character would be so much more interesting if she was just an artist that embraced her own degeneracy. Artists are horny. Artists make people uncomfortable. Artists love drawing weird shit. Imagine how funny of a retort "I'm gonna draw you pregnant" would be to a threat from someone like Seven or Drifter. Imagine how they'd react.

But her art is tame; it's hamsters and still lifes. Her voicelines are tame; she's just a regular college student. Her problems are tame; she just wants more recognition, but she's not even driven by ego. She could have easily been one of the most unapologetically weird characters in the game, landing somewhere between Paige and Vyper. She could have easily been a horrifying glimpse into what sinister powers lie beyond the Astral Gates. She could have easily been a scathing commentary on nepotism in higher education, or on those today making Faustian bargains—sacrificing their own art's humanity to an eldritch machine intelligence just to skip the grueling struggle of learning craft. She could have been someone that said so much about the real world. She could have been someone that deepened this world's lore. She could have at least been someone that brought levity with great interactions.

But she's not. She's just a fairly well-adjusted art student with the same regular-ass impostor syndrome every single one of them has.

Except even the impostor syndrome is hollow. She's recognized, she's getting awards, she's on a full-ride scholarship somehow complaining about student debt—and Seven doesn't even call her out on it? He's respectful??? McGinnis doesn't say "I had a full-ride too. How the hell are you in debt?" Not even Billy hits an "ain't the school paying you?"

That's what's so disappointing to me. She is both vapidly pedestrian and completely one-note in a game where you're fighting on behalf of eldritch deities, and nearly every character has some twist, subversion, or commentary to them. There is no counterweight to her narrative, and not even a single voiceline that acknowledges that her wish to a cosmic power could be met by a god damn networking event; instead, they all validate her. This literally just feels like any one of my peers, friends, or girlfriends from art school was given magic powers and dropped into the game, complete with the same motivations, insecurities, and history. She is a stereotype of half the people I went to school with, with all of the annoying parts, and none of the actual personality, contrast, or depth that made the real people interesting. My expectations were so much higher for her character.

In the words of The Drifter: "I've known hundreds of yous."

I REMAIN. You understand? I REMAIN. As a performance artist.

( I think her being boring juxtaposed with her willingness to kill and maim people all for a publicity stunt can really define Violet as an era-defining controversial artist )