r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Ed0909 • 22h ago
Powers Sexist Superpowers
By this, I mean cases where power systems or specific abilities are restricted to people of a certain gender.
Ichi the Witch: In this series, there are beings called “Majiks,” spirits that grant humans magic if they defeat them in a challenge of the Majik’s choosing. However, only women are capable of using magic, which is why only women can complete these challenges and become witches. But there was one Majik whose challenge required a man to pierce its heart. This essentially made it invincible, since no man could use magic and therefore no man could complete the challenge. Or so it would have seemed, if the protagonist hadn’t taken advantage of the moment when the Majik was weakened after a fight against the strongest witch, seizing the opportunity to stab it and becoming the first male witch.
Goddess of Victory Nikke: In this world, Nikkes are cyborg super soldiers with mechanical bodies and the brains of human women, they were designed to fight the Raptures, mechanical monsters of supposedly alien origin that committed genocide against humanity. During the first invasion, most men had died in the war, meaning that most of the test subjects used in the creation of Nikkes were women, on top of that, the process had a higher failure rate in men, as male test subjects tended to become violent. This led to the entire process being redesigned to be used exclusively on women, since it was more efficient that way, and nowadays, only women can become Nikkes.
Fire Emblem: Throughout the series, one recurring gameplay mechanic has been gender-locked classes, as well as certain spells and weapons being restricted to either women or men. In some cases, the lore explains these restrictions. For example, Pegasus Knights are women because pegasi generally refuse to let men ride them, while the Aura tome can only be used by women because its creator deliberately placed that restriction on it. However, this isn't always the case, as there are several instances where the only explanation is gameplay balance, one example is the War Master class, which is only available to men in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.