from the safety of our television sets." Reception of the character's sex appeal has been varied, however, with many outlets describing her outfit and appearance as oversexualized and unrealistic. In a 2016 study done by researchers at Indiana University, Ivy was found to be the most sexualized character out of 571 playable female video game characters created between 1989 and 2014. The study used a character's "nudity, over-enlarged breasts or hips and unrealistically narrow waists" as "signs of hypersexualization". Giant Bomb lists her as the most famous example of a sexualized woman in gaming. Books and studies written about Ivy have cited her sexualized design as the result of cultural standards for female characters in video games, which some say stems from the male gaze. Her bodily proportions, specifically her bust and buttock size, have been criticized as over-the-top, unrealistic, and unnecessary by publications such as Joystiq, GameSpot, VentureBeat, The Spinoff, Vice, and Kotaku. Her outfits have also been a point of contention, with MSNBC calling them "the pinnacle of preposterous", while GameCentral referred to them as "problematic". Writers from Forbes and Bleeding Cool remarked upon the inverse relationship between her bust size, which increases, and the amount of clothing she wears, which decreases, with each new installment. Other criticisms have been leveled towards her relatively youthful appearance in later installments despite technically being middle-aged. At the 2011 PAX East convention, an all-female journal panel led by The Escapists Susan Arendt agreed that while the character was strong and difficult but rewarding to master in the original Soulcalibur, she was reduced to "a nice ass bouncing around the room" in later games. In contrast, some publications, including CVG, IGN, and GameSetWatch have suggested that her sexualized appearance makes her experience as a playable character more enjoyable. Other discussions of the character have identified her sex appeal as having the potential to be empowering and relatable to women, while others have said it serves as an essential aspect of her character. Writers have also questioned the discrepancy between the apathy towards the sexualization of underage characters in the series, such as Talim and Seong Mi-Na, as well as that of male characters in the series, such as Mitsurugi, and the outrage towards Ivy's sexualization on the basis of her large breasts. See also List of Soulcalibur characters References External links Fantasy video game characters Female characters in video games Fictional alchemists