Bobot Bobot and the Power of Cute
This column is a reprint from Unwinnable Monthly #176. If you like what you see, grab the magazine for less than ten dollars, or subscribe and get all future magazines for half price.
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Imaginary correspondence.
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If you read Unwinnable a few years back, you might have caught my brief stint as a columnist writing letters to female characters in videogames. While I wasn’t around for long, I felt like I covered the most important characters to write to.
Except for one. The most important one, honestly. And that’s why I’m back. I don’t have a letter for you this time, but I do have an essay.
My Final Fantasy XIV character, Bobot Bobot, is one of the most important female characters to me because she encapsulates the freedom that cuteness gives me and well, she’s me. Or perhaps it’s better to say she’s a reflection of me that helps me grow as a person. She’s been with me for one move, one relationship, one breakup, one (still ongoing) pandemic, one free company merger, one wild jump into freelancing and tons of adventures. This month’s foray into kawaii is the perfect chance to share her with you.
Weirdly enough, she was almost a catgirl. I went into FFXIV a little dubious, to be honest, since most of my knowledge of female characters in MMOs was limited to the aughts era of the battle bikini. This meant I wasn’t sure where Square Enix was going with the miqo’te (catperson) female starting armor and voices, so I went with the hobbitlike lalafell race. Instead of making my character’s boobs bigger, the chest slider just kind of made her chest taller, which felt more “me” than the miqo’te’s more standard chest slider.
Add a little pompadour and a silly voice, and I had a full bit going. I was also dubious about FFXIV itself because I would have to pay a monthly fee to play it, so I just made a funny little girl with a gremlin voice. It wasn’t going to be that serious, right?
As I write this sentence, I have 145 days, six hours and 27 minutes worth of playtime in FFXIV. That’s 3,486 and a half hours. So uh, yeah, Bobot and I have spent a lot of time together. It’s serious.
Throughout that time, she’s become one of my greatest outlets of expression. While I do have an interest in cute fashion in the real world, the cost, time, energy and potential judgment involved make it difficult to wear sometimes. But in FFXIV, the work it takes to be cute is part of the thrill. Slay epic monsters, become a master at crafting and help others, and you can get all of the cute outfits you want. Plus, the FFXIV community encourages humor and self-expression, so Bobot is a hit wherever she goes.
There’s also something inspiring about watching her save the world. My friends chuckle when they see Bobot in cutscenes where they’re used to their taller characters being the hero, but I wouldn’t have the main story any other way. Bobot stands up for others, does what she thinks is right and defeats evil all while sporting a pink pompadour and sometimes Moogle slippers. When she protects the world of Etheirys, she shows that anyone can make a difference, even if they’re only three feet tall.
Plus, she can be anything she wants while being as cute as she wants. Kind of like Barbie, but shorter and shriller. In FFXIV, you can unlock and level all of the classes. In game, she’s all the healers, a ninja, a red mage, all of the crafters, all of the gatherers and whatever other classes tickle my fancy. I don’t really roleplay, but I have a backstory for her – because that’s what you do when you spend thousands of hours with a character – and she has a similar skill profile. She’s a healer, a fashion designer and a marketer. But I’d like to think she’s reevaluating her work-life balance. There may or may not be echoes of my own life where I’m girlbossing my butt off in the freelance world while trying to leave some breathing room.
I could have missed out on so much of this journey with Bobot if I had gone with my initial thought that I would go with a less cute character for once. I embraced the cuteness, and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in recent years. Even if I get off the FFXIV in the future, I’ll always have fond memories of my darling avatar.
My lesson for you is this: Do the cute thing. Be cute. If it’s hard to do through one avenue, there are many ways to be cute! Games like FFXIV are a great option if it’s hard to do in the real world. Or maybe you could update your wallpaper to your favorite Sanrio character. Cute comes in many forms, and everyone deserves to reap its benefits.
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Melissa King is a freelance writer and a triple threat at Unwinnable – contributor, social media editor and Exploits managing editor. Follow her writing or commission her work @LongLiveMelKing.
