ok since lads twt and rednote are going crazy because of the new love interest here's my take that everyboddyyyy (note sarcasm) asked for bc i like analyzing people's reactions to things and if u dont have twt (stay blessed) heres your daily news
For whatever reason I do know there's been a lot of 6th LI truthers, I don't exactly understand why because it doesn't make sense to me to main him before we know literally anything about him, but now that he's actually debuted, he's under fire for various reasons.
The Chinese reaction: CN girlies are PISSED. on Rednote, the comment to like ratio on Valko's trailer is insane. There are 100k+ hate comments under it, mainly because of 1) his appearance and 2) the fact that Caleb and Sylus are still missing content and yet they're adding another LI instead of fixing it. On the topic of his appearance, he's honestly pretty hot in the trailer but the more I look at the official art, I kind of get where they're coming from. He's different for sure, but imo he's not hideous like they make him out to be.
But apparently, he appeals less to the Chinese beauty standards (a more pretty boy look like Rafayel) and has a more American/westernized appearance, with a broader jaw and chin, heavy masculine look to him that CN girlies complain makes him look like an "American frat boy." For this reason, they suspect that Valko is an appeal to the global audience and a money-grab, which they don't like because CN girls want to remain the target audience and think it's unfair that Infold pushes something appealing to foreigners. Strangely enough, I've seen so many people claim Valko is also an appeal to gay men because apparently he looks like a BL top? They're upset about this too and I've noticed many saying homophobic things in the process, which is just not ok.
I think people boycotting LADS solely because of Valko's appearance is just straight up superficial and unfair. CN fans are making plans to call Infold HQ like every day and demand that Valko be made into half of a love interest like in MLQC or whatever or they'll stop spending on the game. Over his appearance, this is just unfair, because many have been waiting for the 6th LI (again, for whatver reason) and for him to leave because people decide that just because they don't find someone attractive, Infold should cater to their whims, would be so upsetting. I'm kind of intrigued about Valko and I think learning his lore would be fun, so if fans keep pushing like this and he leaves, me and a lot of others would be pretty annoyed.
On the other hand, the argument about Caleb and Sylus content is completely valid and is the main reason I'm very happy with Valko's release. Sylus got his main story update 1 year and 1 month ago. What's even crazier is that Caleb got his main story update 1 year and almost 7 months ago (over 500 days). Neglecting like half of the fanbase like this is such a foul move on Infold's part and make this whole money-grab situation a lot more disappointing. There are CN players spending hundreds of dollars, some even thousands, on these men, and Infold can't even provide the missing content people have been begging for for ages already. Also, this makes people's chances of getting their main during banners lower (1/6 chance instead of 1/5 chance). For F2P players like myself this is a nightmare. This whole thing really sets up Valko for hate, and it's actually a terrible move on Infold's part. And I especially hate when people call people who are complaining about it "negative" and overdramatic. Like, people 100% have the right to complain. About Valko's appearance, less so (i feel for the artists behind his design because it must hurt seeing their work be torn about like this), but there's no reason why everyone should be happy go lucky about it.
The global side: I've seen semi mixed reactions about this. I'd say 30 percent are happy about it and 70 percent are unhappy, mainly for the same reasons stated above. As an international fan myself, the concept of Infold finally paying attention to global fans would be great, but doing it in this manner is just a very greedy-corporation move.
TLDR; I don't really want Valko to be taken away, because I do think exploring his character would be fun, It's mostly that I just want Caleb's missing content to come out already and for Infold to prioritize existing players instead of trying to lure in new ones.
ok rant done. And with that I turn my attention to the JJK fandom as i try to speed write my hockey!gojo fic with the same vigor i wrote this
