I’m trying to be generous here, ‘cause I used to hate-watch things, I get it, you get a buzz from being angry week after week, it’s fun for a while.
But so much of it from Critical Role fandom is transparently “I hate that a woman is taking up space in the narrative.”They hate that Keyleth is so powerful. They hate that she’s a leader. They hate that she’s got a major arc. They REALLY hate that she has a drawn out romance. They PARTICULARLY hate that she has flaws and nuance.
They hate that she is there, taking up space, speaking, existing.
Why don’t they hate Vex as much? Because she takes up less space in the narrative. Her romance is shorter, more subtle, and tied to Percy – who even the haters like. Her arcs do not span dozens of eps. (But she’s not safe either, remember Broomgate?)
They hate women taking up space.
Vex also tends to get a lot of flack once she does something out of her own agency. The best example is getting naked.
When she does it to inspire Grog or when Scanlan tells her to, it’s funny fanservice. When she gets naked for her own (and, okay, Percy’s) benefit and it’s about her own sexuality, suddenly she’s assaulting Percy by shoving boobs in his face and also their relationship has less value because all the do is fuck, which totally erases all the talking they did before that.
(Of course, when your relationship is mostly talking, it also sucks because lol roleplay so cringey. Keyleth just can’t win.)
See also: People complaining endlessly about her greed. Not just the broom, when that is at least somewhat applicable, but any time Vex tries taking up space by spending a little time on getting a better deal for the party. How dare she.
Overdressed & Underappreciated 