Masculine vs. Feminine: REI Style

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

;
;
;

Purpose and Introduction
Scoring Key
Current REIs
Resources and Acknowledgements
A - D
E - H
I - L
M - P
Q - T
U - X
Y - Z

Disclaimer: I acknowledge much of the content of this thread is subjective and that many users might disagree with my definitions, my observations and my conclusions. If you disagree, please do politely post and say why. I am all for altering scores and such, should you provide a good case for it. But please don't 'shout' at me or be a jerk. I'm unlikely to acknowledge you at all if you can't communicate like a reasonable human being. For those who fear I'm biased, I want to note that I started this thread thinking that I was going to end up with far more male items than I did, and started out thinking all the people asking for male items were being kind of whiny. This thread put things into perspective for me, a little.

Welcome everyone! Some of you are probably here wondering what the heck is this nonsense? Why would I make such a nutty thread? From where stems this madness?

Well, simply put, I've always been kind of intrigued by the debate on masculine items vs feminine items. It's not that I agree more with one side or the other so much as I just find the debate itself kind of intriguing. So while satiating my own curiosity regarding the state of gender representation in the site's Rapid Evolving Items (REIs, here on out), I realized that dividing them up into distinct categories really isn't as easy as all that. They seem to be some of the most notorious items for leaving males out in the cold (some of them quite literally--yes, I'm looking at you, Polar Tear.)

But while I was doing my fancy (not really) investigation, it just became apparent that drawing a clear line in the sand with boys on one side and girls on the other was just kind of difficult. Because, while everyone seems to have a clear definition of "feminine," in today's society, defining "masculine" is no where near as clear cut. When it comes to clothes and fashion (which is the focus of most REI poses), gender divisions are beginning to blur from the female to male side, but not so much the other way around (note that this is based on Western culture and ideals because that is where Gaia is based and also is where I'm from, thus what I'm familiar with. I'm aware that other cultures have different views regarding gender association). I also noticed that a lot of items sometimes referred to as "male" are more neutral than distinctly male. And a lot of items often called "female" have far more neutral poses than they're given credit for.

Of course defining things like feminine, neutral or masculine has a significant degree of subjectivity from the start. So I've taken the first few posts to try to explain how my thought process works when 'rating' an item. I've also given a summary/explanation for each REI to explain the reason for my conclusion.

Many REIs have both male and female poses, and also contain neutral poses as well. You can't really call most belts, swords, coffee cups, tables, etc specifically male or female unless it has flowers and ribbons spewing out of it. This is why I ended up focusing on making a scale that rates each item for masculinity, femininity and neutrality rather than labeling it as such. Some items are mostly female but do have some masculine poses so there's a degree of manliness there. It's just kind of a matter of how much.

Personal Observations

First of all, as I mentioned, with a lot of REIs, it's hard to give them a completely black or white score. But I do try to give everything an overall score of masculine, feminine, both or neutral. I felt it was important to distinguish between REIs that are geared toward both male and female vs those that are geared toward neither male or female. The difference is subtle but important to me.

I looked at a lot of different things for each REI when 'rating them.' The points I looked at are as follows (note that some of the things I look at do involve traditional gender stereotypes in Western society just because I really did need some kind of standard to differentiate between 'masculine' and 'feminine,' but I tried to be as open minded as possible. Often, the easiest way to differentiate is determining if a pose is overtly female--like a dress--since masculinity is often more subtle and difficult to define for reasons mentioned above. And, let's face it. Not many people are going to feel offended if I label a dress with bows as feminine, but many girls are likely to feel offended if I imply all pants and weapons are inherently masculine.) :

~Description/Title: Do these designate a particular gender right off the bat? Having a specific gender here doesn't necessarily mean the item matches the gender of the main character but it can impact the overall tone of the REI and much of the time, a title with a female character is prelude to a mostly female themed REI.

~Pose names: Do these designate genders? I felt this was important for determining if any neutral looking poses might have been specifically geared toward guys. A bow tie may be neutral no matter what but if it's labeled for a male character, I do take that into consideration.

~Color scheme: Are the colors generally associated with one gender or the other, or are they neutral? This is particularly important for REIs in the neutral category as the color scheme may push it more toward one gender or the other. Unfortunately, there are no specifically masculine colors but there are colors that have a high degree of association femininity (pink, pastels in general, lavender, etc). I try to take into consideration that some colors (like cream) might be neutral, but are associated with one gender or the other here on Gaia, specifically.

~Item theme: Does it revolve around activities associated more with one gender or the other? I don't really subscribe to the belief that violence is inherently masculine (I feel that's kind of...offensive towards guys...) or that cooking and fashion are only for girls. But I try to be as reasonable as possible, here because whether I personally like it or not, no matter how many guys I know that collect dolls, most people associate dolls with little girls.

~Poses: Are the individual poses overtly female--like skirts or items with cleavage--or not. Or, are they neutral--like backgrounds or accessories? Many times, counting the actual overtly female poses of an item typically considered "female" revealed surprising results. As always, male poses are harder to define so I often had to look at a combination of things to determine if it was male, really.

~Pose details: Do the clothing items/accessories have lace or bows, are they bulky or form fitting, cropped or long, are the wigs long or short, etc? Just because something has trousers doesn't mean those trousers are masculine. Most accessories, I count as being neutral unless the details are somehow feminine.

~Pose significance: Are the more important poses aligning more with one gender or the other with only smaller poses being neutral? Even if an item has a lot of neutral or male poses, if they're smaller accessories while the more significant poses like major clothing articles, wigs, face mods, etc. are female, then the item would get a higher female score since the male or neutral poses hold less weight. I tend to consider the large clothing items (coats, skirts, dresses), wigs, body and face mods as more important than accessories, props and backgrounds. I rarely see people say they decided to buy an REI for a belt or tea cup pose.

~Balance: Do overtly female poses have male counterpart poses of equal significance? I felt this was important to look at too.

~User Feedback: how do users feel about the overall tone of the item? This holds less weight than other areas because I wanted to be objective but I do take it into consideration to a small degree.

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

Scoring Key

Each REI is scored in three areas, on a scale of 1-5, then is giving an overall classification of feminine, masculine, both, or neutral. Each REI will have a scale that looks like the one below. The key for colors and meanings can be found below as well.

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Masculine:
▲▲▲▲▲not at all manly
▲▲▲▲▲hints of manliness
▲▲▲▲▲somewhat manly
▲▲▲▲▲pretty darn manly
▲▲▲▲▲significantly manly
▲▲▲▲▲exploding with testosterone

Feminine:
▲▲▲▲▲not at all girly
▲▲▲▲▲hints of girliness
▲▲▲▲▲somewhat girly
▲▲▲▲▲pretty darn girly
▲▲▲▲▲significantly girly
▲▲▲▲▲loaded with sugar and spice

Neutral:
▲▲▲▲▲not at all neutral
▲▲▲▲▲hints of neutrality
▲▲▲▲▲some neutrality
▲▲▲▲▲pretty darn neutral
▲▲▲▲▲significantly neutral
▲▲▲▲▲completely neutral


Current Standings at a Glance

So where do we stand so far in terms of how many of each category do we have? Well, here are the numbers and ratings in a quick list format. Remember that the difference between "neutral" and "both" is that anything listed as neutral means that it really doesn't have a clear gender--or that the overall neutrality beats out any gender specific poses. Both means that it's fairly equally divided between poses that are clearly obviously masculine (or obviously meant to be), and clearly obviously feminine and that the gender specific poses beat out the neutral poses in number or importance.

A lot of these REIs are no where near as cut and dry as this list makes them seem, and barely managed to scrape by into the category I put them in. Others were really difficult to put into one category or the other, so I kind of just had to make a call on them. But I did want to include a quick and dirty list for people who nearly passed out at the amount of text in this thread. It's interesting to note that "masculine" is the only category in which none of the REIs have recolors.


Masculine
Total: 9 (9 with recolors)
Deen's Potion
Galactic Soldier
Master Alchemist
Mineiro Scroll
Monstrosity
The Watchmaker
Hoarfrost Pass: Centurion
Hoarfrost Pass: Northman


Feminine
Total: 22(38 with recolors)

All-Star Cheer: Devils/Hornets/Skulls
Band of Bremen
Daughter of Snows
Dark Heart
Haute Modena
Keiko's Cake
Le Carousel
Little/Lovely/Lamenting/Lavish Lucie
Mana Seed
Moira's Fashion Flashback
Mystery of the Stolen Sapphires
Parcel Post
Petit Cherie
Pistolera/Pistolera's Revenge
Rosamund's Revenge/Devotion/Redemption/Rage/Passion
S-Pop Club: Rayna/Odele/Taja
Sainte Ciel: Agape/Storge/Eros
SOF Taiga
Sugarsuite
Trilune's Covenant/Promise
Wisteria/Whispering


Neutral
Total: 16 (17 including recolors)

Anesidora's Woe/Gift
Apprentice Charm
Art of Espionage
Cafe Miam
Custom Cut
Deinocti's Oath
Firefly's Flame
Lady Jayne and the Mummy
Peyokon
Polar Tear
Ravenwood Manor
Seven Day Love
Song of Amour
Stinger
Antipathy
Vivacenote



Both
Total: 7 (10 including recolors)

Checkmate/Void/Rematch
Dream Town
Lumiere Noire/Reborn
Pandaista
Paramour's Break
Ruined Souls
Runcible Spoon

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

Current REI Standings

I decided that for all current REIs, I shall try to keep them updated in this post as they evolve, before simply placing them into the long list, that way they're easier to find. As we only have a couple of REIs out (...often just one) at a time, this shouldn't bee too much of a problem to keep updated.



Current REIs: Tale of Clarion, Josie's Journey

Tale of Clarion

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: Both the title and description are neutral.
Characters: Two heroes of, as of yet, unspecified gender.
Color and Theme: The color scheme so far is pale gold and a sort of violet blue. The theme so far is just a generic adventure of two random people.
Poses: The starter poses for Clarion were very, very neutral, and continued that way through the first evolution. It took until the third evolution for a skirt to appear. Nevertheless, the REI is currently still holding a strong neutral stance and will, hopefully, continue that way.
Summary: In Progress.


Josie's Journal

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: Title and description both reference a female NPC.
Characters: Josie.
Color and Theme: The color scheme on this REI looks like it's going to involve lots of vibrant colors--so far, orange, purple and teal (a blissfully neutral combination). However, considering the theme is Josie's fashion adventures, we shouldn't expect it to burst with manliness, for sure.
Poses: So far, the poses for Josie include one pair of sunglasses and one teal headband unlikely to be a chosen hair accessory for many males. But considering this is another trip through fashion history with a female NPC, an expectation of masculine poses is unrealistic.
Summary: In Progress.

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

Resources and Acknowledgements

=
=
=

****************

-
-
-

Acknowledgements and Thanks
Just a quick note to people who helped me with this thread in some way or fashion. It's a pretty huge undertaking to put all this together so I wanted to be sure to thank anyone who helped!
❤❤❤❤❤❤

xLieselotte - whose creativity inspired the rating system
Ridley Starsmore - whose master E.I. list was a lifesaver
Emperor Zensekai - who helped with proofreading and feedback
Cheeva Catkin - super editing and proofreading

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

A - D

All-Star Cheer: Lovely Devils/Sapphire Skulls/Uni-Hornets

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: All-Star Cheer was one of our 'choose your path' REIs. There were three possible choices. Sapphire Skulls and Uni-Hornets are pretty neutral as far as the title and description but Lovely Devils is a little more girly with the references to being "lovely" and the power of love and typical Magic Girl fare.
Characters: Though there were no specific characters mentioned, the EI reports tended to refer to the character as "girls."
Color and Theme: Sapphire Skulls and Uni-hornets both have neutral color themes but Lovely Devils' predominant color is powder pink. Traditionally, cheer leading seems to be viewed as a mostly female activity though there are, of course, male cheerleaders. So from the start, the item has a definite girly slant but definitely leaves the possibility for neutral or male-oriented poses.
Poses: Unfortunately, hopes of male cheer-leader representation fall flat amidst the emale oriented poses. All the uniform poses involve dresses, skirts and cropped vests, and the three wigs in each item are, without a doubt, female--basically, this includes all the major poses. The arm mods can be considered neutral(ish--they're pretty thin, and have small, delicate hands), but I have a difficult time considering the leg mods neutral since they're obviously in tights and male cheerleaders typically wear pants. There were a handful of neutral accessories such as a visor cap, baton, tennis shoes, etc but the majority of the poses are feminine attire, including all the more important "seller" poses.
Summary: Basically, this a feminine item. There's really nothing masculine about it and very little gender neutrality outside items like batons or visors, that would be difficult to assign a gender to, to begin with. (With the exception of Lovely Devils since it's saccharine sweet pink and white just needs a few sparkles before it starts giving you cavities.)


Anesidora's Woe/Gift

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: Neither title, nor description make any reference to gender or characters of a specific gender.
Characters: There are two characters featured in this REI--Amartia, who is referred to as male in EI reports and Elpis, who is clearly female. Most of the REI focuses on poses for Amartia.
Color and Theme: The theme of this REI is very neutral (evil being released from bindings, defeated by good guy). It has two color schemes--Amartia's colors which are black and violet, and Elpis' colors which are lilac, white and silver.
Poses: Most of the poses until the finale, revolved around Amartia, an evil guy being slowly released from his sealed box. His poses include two tops (which is basically the same top with different sleeves), a leg mod, armor, a face mod, a wig, cape, scarf..and so on. A lot of these poses could be called neutral by virtue of being accessories, or the fact that females also wear pants. But the fact remains that they were for a male character. There's a lack of lace, frills and so on, as the detailing mostly includes chains, plain edging and buckles. The leg mod looks a little strange on the male base and has visible heels on the shoes, which are pretty dainty at that--but to be fair, this leg mod looks odd on both bases. The more important finale poses, however, were decidedly female as they were for a female character and had more delicate detailing, or were things like...flowing dresses. There were some neutral accessories in the finale as well such as lilac wings and a giant key.
Summary: Over all, I would label this REI as neutral, but with a masculine slant. The fact that there were several significant female poses (the arm mod and dress) as well as a very high number of gender neutral accessories are the main things that keep me from calling it a "male REI" specifically.



Antipathy

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: The title is neutral but the description does reference a male prisoner and a king.
Characters: Characters are mostly male or not assigned gender. The main two characters are both male--the prisoner and the king but the REI runs the gamut of castle denizens from guards, to the prince, to the queen and king.
Color and Theme: With red and black colors and a fairly generic horror theme (evil demon rampages and kills people in creative ways), there isn't a lot of gender sway one way or the other in this regard. People have been quick to label Antipathy as a "Male REI" because it is gore oriented but for the record--blood isn't masculine.
Poses: Most of the poses are gender neutral. Even though some of them are assigned a gender by character association, the poses themselves are completely neutral because they're base modifying gore poses rather than clothes or things where gender might be more obvious. There are poses for the male demon/prisoners legs, arms and mask but these mods are non-human in design and, again, it's really hard to say they're more masculine than feminine other than the fact that the character is male. The finale did give us a wig (a major pose) that involved a beard. And overall, there's not a lot about it that could be called specifically girly.
Summary: Overall, I would say Antipathy is really a mostly neutral REI with a bit of a masculine slant owing to the fact that the major characters are male but because the REI focuses on body mods that are either mere injuries or non-human, it's really hard to assign gender specifics to them.


Apprentice Charm

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: The title itself is neutral, but the description references a witch (which are traditionally female).
Characters: The characters are a novice witch and her familiar (IE a cute animal).
Color and Theme: The colors, by themselves, are neutral. Gray, light blue and white. The theme of a novice magic person with an animal familiar is pretty neutral--Harry Potter has, basically, the same thing. However, the female character and super-cute familiar lend a slightly more "magical girl" feel to the theme.
Poses: Despite being oft touted as one of the more "frilly" REIs, there are surprisingly few actual frills in this REI. There are few sparkles but detailing, for the most part, is confined to belts and buckles rather than lace and bows. Most of the poses in the REI are companions and accessories and with their neutral colors and detailing, they're not really all that girly. Only the inclusion of sparkles (not really a common accessory for manly men of the non-stoic vampire sort) might push some slightly more to the feminine side. The major poses all appeared toward the end of the REI and while there are some decidedly feminine ones (long braided hair, a dress), they have male counterparts (short hair, robes). The boots are fairly neutral in appearance as they're low heeled and clunky, with thick soles.
Summary: Surprisingly, I would consider this REI to be neutral with only a slight feminine slant due to the main character and rampant sparkles. Still, given the theme, the sparkles aren't horribly out of place as magic is often portrayed as sparkly. There are some nods to the magic girl theme (like the wand) so I can't deny there's a bit of a nudge toward the girly side of things. But I believe it does stay within neutral territory considering its focus on accessories and the balance of male poses to counter the female poses.



Art of Espionage


Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: Both the title and description are completely neutral.
Characters: Like many REIs, this story is told in second person, which means the primary character is a genderless "you" however, a secondary character that appears in the REI is the Empress "you" serve.
Color and Theme:The color palette sticks with white, black and orange--very neutral colors. The theme is a young person training to be a ninja for their ruler; a fairly generic, neutral story.
Poses: The starter poses were all completely neutral and halfway through, the REI still had no real gender leaning. Toward the end, some of the poses take a more feminine feel and for the pre-finale evolution, as well as the finale were dominated by the Empress character and some of the major poses belong to her (including the only full wig in the item). Though it's true that, aside from the gown, hairpin, make up and wig, none of the rest of the poses are overtly feminine, it's worth noting that many of them have detailing that lends them a slightly less neutral feel. The sleeves are shoulderless, the shoes slightly trim and shrink the feet, the inner mail has slightly more feminine design, and the belt actually cinches the waist area, the delicate, perked up pinky on the arm mod, eye make up on the eye pose...and so on.
Summary: Overall, the REI stays in neutral territory. The neutral poses out number the overtly feminine poses but it's worth noting that is mostly because they are accessories like scarves or handheld items like knives and fans. The more major neutral poses often have a slightly feminine feel to them due to the details which does give the REI a slightly more feminine overall feel.


Band of Bremen

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: The title and description are neutral and reference a fairly neutral faerie tale with mostly male characters.
Characters: Unlike the original tale, the REI features three female leads to a single male lead, reverse from the original tale.
Color and Theme: The theme of the REI is a neutral music/band theme. The colors vary from character to character from neutral reds and blacks to softer, more feminine creams and pinks.
Poses: There is no denying the heavy focus on female poses. With a single male character and lots of clothes, it's hard to get a lot of neutrality out of this REI. There are lots of dresses and heels and while even the male character got important poses, they were just far outnumbered by overtly feminine bows, dresses, heels and female hair. It's also worth noting that the only two full wigs were both female while the male character's hair pose is an extension rather than a full wig. For a quick and dirty pose count, there are 10 pretty obviously feminine poses, 5 neutral accessories or handhelds and 2 male poses (if you count the hair).
Summary: Overall, despite the neutral poses, I feel this is a more feminine item simply because of the numbers. The neutral poses are either insignificant (like a handheld photo) or just hugely outnumbered by the overtly female poses. Because of the way the EI was set up, there was far more focus on the female characters than the male so it simply turned out unbalanced, gender-wise.


Cafe Miam

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: The title is neutral but the description identifies the focus as a female character.
Characters: The main character of the REI is Cariana, though the mysterious shop owner makes an appearance. Of course, he's a dog. Male, but a dog.
Color and Theme: The color scheme itself is neutral--light blue, beige, cream and, possibly, brown. These colors, in an of themselves, are neutral. However, the track record for this type of color scheme is that it tends to be used for feminine themed items and this is not really an exception. The theme is coffee shop with a dose of cute--again, not really feminine in and of itself.
Poses: From the get go, this REI sets up a slightly feminine feel to it. In addition to the light colors (which are used in predominantly feminine items rather than male items on Gaia), copious lace, hearts and bows abound. The item does have a lot of gender neutral hand helds and background poses, as well as a companion pose. With four backgrounds, three handhelds, a companion and I am of a dog, over half of the 17 poses are gender neutral. That said, it's impossible to ignore the fact that all the clothing poses are geared toward girls--heels, a bonnet, a ruffly shirt, a skirt. The hair and eyes clearly belong to the female character. It's also worth noting that the detail work of even the neutral poses often involved bows and lace (such as in the plaid and bows background, or the decorative key) or had detailing (like long, obvious lashes) that made them feel a little more feminine.
Summary: While the high number of gender neutral background and hand held poses really constrain me to label this a neutral REI, like some of the previous REIs (Lady Jayne and the Mummy comes to mind) like it, it's impossible to deny that it has as strong feminine feel to it. In the case of Cafe Miam, I really don't think any real attempt to make it at all masculine was made. However, there are a lot of backgrounds and cafe-themed handhelds that are completely neutral. But still, this REI would have been just as good, and probably would have felt less like a cafe-themed repeat of Keiko's Cake, had it been about a male character instead. Nevertheless, it manages to stay just on the right side of neutral due to the clothing poses being outnumbered by the backgrounds/handhelds.


Checkmate/Void

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: Title and pose are neutral and don't have any references to gender in any way.
Characters: There is one male character (the king) and one female character (the queen). There are poses that reference other pieces but they're not assigned a gender.
Color and Theme: There are two distinct color themes that play out in the REI--blue and black for the king and cream and gold for the queen. The theme of chess and battle is pretty neutral and the colors themselves are also fairly neutral. Though cream is often referred to as a feminine color on Gaia, off white is really a gender neutral color in and of itself.
Poses: This is probably one of the most balance REIs we have in terms of gender distribution. Most evolutions involved one pose for the king and one for the female. In addition, this is an extremely accessory heavy REI--even the major poses involve things like tabards and boots rather than major clothing articles like coats, shirts or trousers. There is a distinct stylistic difference between the "white" poses (which are softer lined and more flowing) and the "black" poses (which tend to be more angular, with hard lines but many of the poses are not gender specific. It is worth noting that one of the major poses is the queen's wig and that the original item did not have the king's wig--though it was released in Checkmate Void, the recolor.
Summary: In the end, more than just being neutral, this item represents both genders in a fairly balanced way. There's a clear stylistic and color distinction between the male and female poses but many of the poses are neutral accessories like crowns and such.


Custom Cut

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: Though the title itself is neutral, the description refers to a male fashion designer.
Characters: The main character is Luka, a male fashion designer. There are two models that appear later, which appear to be male and female based on poses and reports.
Color and Theme: The color theme is neutral gray and burgundy for the most part. The theme is based on reality fashion shows like project runway. Though fashion is considered, by some, to be more of a feminine past time, with the prevalence of male designers, I consider it a neutral theme--everyone wears clothes.
Poses: The poses have a pretty good mix of major clothing pieces and accessories. Many of the initial poses were Luka's clothes--having said that, apart from his shirt and pants, which have a more masculine silhouette, the hat and scarf and such are more or less neutral. The poses involving the models are more strongly delineated according to gender, but each female pose is balanced by a male pose. There are also a few completely gender neutral poses like a runway and dress form. From the entire REI, about 4-5 poses I would call feminine, about 5 poses are male, and the rest are gender neutral/unisex.
Summary: A very neutral REI that is quite balanced as far as poses that are more gender specific, but has a high number of poses not gender related at all.


Dark Heart

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: While the title itself is completely neutral, the item description references a female lead, Desmona, and her inner conflict.
Characters: The initial EI announcement references two female characters--Desmona (the lead) and Annise, her sister. Mephiste, a well known male antagonist, also appeared in the story.
Color and Theme: The color palette appears to be black/gold/cream/...cerise (that "Rosamund's red). The theme is a typical evil vs. good battle. Both the color scheme and the story theme are neutral but the theme is slightly skewed toward the feminine by revolving around two sisters, one of whom seems oddly obsessed with her wardrobe.
Poses: The starter poses were entirely neutral, all of them being handheld type poses--a knife, a cauldron, and a book. The initial evolution, as expected, gave us a feminine clothing article as Desmona apparently can't go out and be evil without contemplating her wardrobe. From there, the REI focused on first Desmona's wardrobe, then Annise's wardrobe. Both wigs are long and feminine, and the eyes come with heavy eye make up and/or blush. With the exception of Desmona's hat, all clothing articles are overtly feminine (such as dresses and corsets), or have overtly feminine details--such as delicate high heels, delicate flowers, or puffy sleeves. Overall, there are a total of 7 gender neutral hand held accessories, or backgrounds. However, the 11 poses are staunchly feminine, including all the major poses that people tend to look forward to in REIs.
Summary: Overall, this REI is pretty plainly on the feminine side of things. Though there are poses that are neutral by virtue of being things like knives and cauldrons, all the major clothing articles, wigs and such, revolve around the female characters and have overtly feminine overtones. There's definitely nothing remotely masculine about this REI.

Daughter of Snows

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: Both title and description indicate a female protagonist.
Characters: Shashenka, the beautiful, brave and brilliant princess and Dima, her jerkface cousin.
Color and Theme: White, cream and pale blue. Normally I would call these colors neutral but white and cream tend to be frequently used on female items, for female characters so there's a strong association with white and cream being feminine on Gaia.
Poses: Shashenka is, without a doubt, the main character of this REI. Most of the poses, whether they have her name attached or not, are white, puffy and lacy. By itself, the color scheme wouldn't immediately make the poses feminine, but the soft, lacy puffiness makes even the more neutral poses like the coat or sleeves, look very feminine. Dima has three poses (a military style coat, a fur cloak, and knife) and there are a few other neutral poses like antlers, a Faberge egg and frozen skin. Nearly all of Shashenka's poses are significant clothing articles. While Dima has only a coat and cloak (no pants, the poor guy), Shashenka has a full outfit and then some. Overall, there are 2 masculine poses, 6 neutral poses, and 9 feminine poses, many of which are the poses everyone looks for--like a face mod and wig.
Summary: Basically, really feminine. The female character received more poses than the other character in the REI-she can be decked out quite literally head to foot in multiple layers while the male character has to freeze his nether regions off because all he has is a shirt and fur cape. Frozen skin, indeed.



Deen's Potion

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: Title and description both mention Deen, a male (albeit slightly androgynous) NPC.
Characters: Deen, and a slew of disturbed minor characters.
Color and Theme: The color scheme is slightly more varied than we usually see in REIs, with gray, black, white, blue and gold all being showcased at various points in the REI. The theme is, well, Deen himself--and his adventures in streaking.
Poses: There's a fairly diverse bunch of poses that come with this REI, including body mods, clothing, backgrounds, and a few accessories. For the most part, the poses are masculine or gender neutral. Certainly, there is a lack of typically feminine detailing (such as bows, lace and ruffles. The wig is a short, boyish style and the eyes do not come with attached blush, making them more useful for those who prefer a more rugged avatar style. The arms in the arm mod are not particularly thin or delicate either, so they definitely feel more like they are suited to a male character.
Summary: Overall, a pretty masculine REI. It focuses on a male character throughout, and really doesn't deviate from that. Because Deen is a fairly androgynous male, and because there are a lot of more neutral poses (like the backgrounds, or other accessory poses, there is also a high degree of neutrality. But I feel the focus is still more masculine than neutral.

Deinocti's Oath

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: Both the title and description are genderless.
Characters: The description and EI reports are vague, using "you" rather than naming a character.
Color and Theme: The color scheme of blue, black, gray and silver is very neutral but could be considered more on the masculine side. The theme is assassin oriented which could be male or female.
Poses: There's nothing really overtly feminine about the poses in this REI. Most of the detailing is comprised of silver metallic bits or frayed looking cloth. Some have accused the pants of having "frills" but I think it's supposed to be fur or frayed edges, as several other poses have a fur-like trim on them as well. It's hard to call the poses masculine, specifically either, however. There are lot of accessories like scarves, belts and knives and the actual clothing articles have neutral detailing and style elements.
Summary: I label this as a neutral REI--it's probably one of the more neutral REIs we have as nothing really stands out as particularly feminine or masculine.


Dream Town

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: The description and title of this REI are both neutral.
Characters: Rather than specific characters, the REI explores some icons of a bygone era. There are male and female "characters" that pop up during the course of the REI but they're mostly made clear by an obvious distinction in the clothes.
Color and Theme: There's no specific color scheme and the theme itself is completely neutral as it's exploring a past era and some of the better remembered iconic imagery.
Poses: The poses themselves are very evenly divided between male and female. There are a few neutral backgrounds and accessories scattered in, then many poses that are obviously meant to represent one gender or the other. The male items are bulky or referencing obvious male stereotypes from the time period. The female items are dresses or feminine hairstyles. The more important poses like major clothing, leg mods, wigs, are pretty evenly divided between male and female. There are as many various backgrounds as there are masculine poses or feminine poses.
Summary: I would say this is another REI that represents both genders fairly equally more than being specifically gender neutral. The whole thing is incredibly balanced between the male-oriented poses, the female oriented poses and those that are completely neutral.

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

E-H



Firefly's Flame


Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: The title of the REI is neutral, but the character specifies the main character is a female (a princess, no less) though it also vaguely references her potential suitors as well.
Characters: The bratty Princess Firefly and a legion of ill-fated suitors including a Dragonfly, Moth and Beetle. (More to come, I'm sure.)
Color and Theme: The main color theme of the princess appears to be black and gold, but each suitor comes with his own personal color scheme, increasing the diversity of the item. The theme is a typical bratty princess practicing emotional extortion on a bunch of men who really ought to have better sense (and taste.)
Poses: This REI was pretty evenly divided between poses belonging to male characters and the ones belonging to the princess. That said, a lot of the "male" poses were actually neutral accessories, while the female poses were larger clothing items like dresses or other significant items like wigs. Since the male characters followed a pretty distinctive pattern of coat + accessory, there were really only four somewhat overtly masculine poses, comparing to the six overtly feminine poses. But this is balanced out by around eight fairly neutral accessories including several hats, backgrounds, wings, etc.
Summary: Overall, the REI is fairly neutral but there is also a slight leaning toward the feminine--mostly due to the fact that the lead character was a female.

Galactic Soldier


Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: The item description and title are both neutral
Characters: The main character of the REI is never named but is referred to as male in at least one EI report.
Color and Theme: The color scheme involves a mostly neutral palette of colors involving muted green, gray and gold. The REI theme is based around science fiction alien invasion and seems reminiscent of SF alien fighting games--not a distinctly feminine theme, but not really entirely masculine either.
Poses: The poses in this REI are mostly armor, weapons and alien monsters. The armor is bulky rather than being fitted or sexy. It's worth noting that there are not any actual pants with the armor, though there is a loincloth (not usually a female accessory). There is one wig pose, and wigs are always an important factor when determining gender. In this case, the wig is short, tousled and referred to as "hair of your typical hero"--all implying male. (Not that females can't be heroic...)
Summary: I think it's clear Galactic Soldier was trying to be a male REI so I definitely refer to it as being Masculine. Of course, we all know that now that we're out of the days of women vacuuming dutifully in heels and pearls, women are just as likely to like guns and blood covered battle axes as men so I will also note that it's probably impossible to create a fully male REI unless it has only cod pieces and chest hair. So there's a degree of neutrality in Galactic Soldier as well.


Haute Modena

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: Neither the title, nor description reference gender.
Characters: The REI report mentioned two characters, Meilland and Etoile--lovers who find out their love is not perfect (shocking...)
Color and Theme: The colors appear to be burgundy, black and gold--fairly neutral. The theme appears to be dramatic romance, again.
Poses: This REI had two female characters and a male character. Predictably, there were about twice as many overtly feminine poses as there were masculine poses. There were six neutral poses--most of which consisted of very small accessories that hold little weight against the major clothing articles and wigs that were not gender neutral. Feminine poses include more than a single complete outfit and two hairstyles, plus accessories (such as an obviously feminine hat). Masculine poses include a single outfit (with a leg mod) and one wig.
Summary: Honestly, this one is hard to call. I feel it's pretty heavily weighted toward feminine poses, though. Too heavily to really call it completely neutral or say it's balanced for both genders.


Hoarfrost Pass: Centurion

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: Like its companion, this REI starts out with a title and description with strong hints to a more male-oriented storyline, though the description does reference a possible female character.
Characters: Cicero, the noble Centurion, the Emperor (who stays off-screen, so to speak), and princess and her doppleganger who technically did get a pose. To everyone's surprise, Mephiste was Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-REI (unless the evil princess was Mephiste in drag).
Color and Theme: The theme is a burly bromance adventure to rescue a wayward princess from a mysterious enemy who decided to kidnap her--typical adventure-fantasy fare, replete with armor, weapons and blood and secrety fire-side romance. Like Northman, the Centurian path has a varied color scheme. The clothing is maroon, gray and dark brown, all very neutral.
Poses: Like Northman, Centurion doesn't spend a lot of time focusing on what our hero is wearing and since we don't delve into the character's wardrobe very deeply, it means that there are many background, handhelds and accessory type poses that are gender neutral. In fact, they make up nearly half the REI. But where the REI does have character specific poses and clothing, they are inherently masculine. The clothing is bulky and figure hiding, rather than enhancing. The face mod emphasizes the large nose, and downplays the eye-detail. The wig is a short, clearly masculine hairstyle. The princess, to be fair, actually did get a pose. But it's a birthmark/tattoo that is completely gender neutral. I suppose it was the least the artist could do, considering one of the main characters murdered her by mistake...
Summary: In summary. This is a masculine REI. There's no doubt. Not only are the main characters male, but all the gender-specific poses have very masculine designs. Though about half the REI consists of neutral story-related poses, all the major poses center around a very masculine character, and have not a hint of femininity to them.

Hoarfrost Pass: Northman

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: The title of this version of the dual-path REI could be considered to indicate male gender since it is 'Northman' but since the description details Steig, the vile, smelly berserker...it pretty much radiates man vibes from the get-go.
Characters: Steig! An exiled, slightly angsty barbarian (?) guy from the north who wants to change his fate...but apparently not enough to not vow to kill Cicero, the honorable Centurion. Cicero, an off-screen Emperor, and two princesses.
Color and Theme: The theme is a burly bromance adventure to rescue a wayward princess--typical adventure-fantasy fare, replete with armor, weapons and blood and secrety romance. The color scheme for this REI is pretty varied, but the clothing stick with a dark blue/gray theme. Overall, the colors are very neutral.
Poses: The poses in this REI tend toward bulky with spikes, buckles and torn cloth. However, the clothing isn't really a focus as the REI is more heavily themed around story-oriented poses and backgrounds. For that reasons, nearly half of the poses are actually fairly neutral things--two backgrounds, letters, tattoos, a birthmark, a companion. However, nearly all the major poses are very heavily masculine--the clothing is bulky and utilitarian, the hair has a high forehead and heavy brows--though it's longer, it's not at all feminine. The copious amounts of body hair. The face mods are also very masculine as they emphasize the nose and simplify the eye shape without any added lashes or blush.
Summary: In short...this REI is exploding with hairy, muscled, manly goodness. Though there are a lot of neutral poses due to the fact that the REI has a heavy focus on backgrounds, handhelds and accessories, the gender specific poses are very, very gender specific. There is absolutely zero that is feminine about this REI

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

I-L


Keiko's Cake

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: The description is neutral but the title identifies the lead character as female.
Characters: The lead character in the REI is Keiko, a 'sweet young lady' who sucks at cooking.
Color and Theme: This REI has a slightly wider range of colors than most, utilizing white, cream, pale blue, pink and red. But overall, it seems mostly heavy on pink and cream, leaning heavily on more feminine, soft colors. The theme is cooking and confections, which would normally be neutral as there are plenty of male chefs and men who love cooking, the prevalence of cute things, bunnies, and lots and lots of pink make it feel more feminine than neutral. And in the end, the theme was more focused on magical transformations than actual cooking.
Poses: There are about six 'neutral" poses in the form of backgrounds and cooking ingredients, as well as plates of cakes and sweets. There is also a male companion. However, all the major poses are decidedly female dresses, long, sparkly hair, girly shoes with lacy stockings, and the like.
Summary: There's really no denying Keiko's Cake was aimed at girls. There is a very, very high degree of femininity and nothing remotely masculine about the REI.


Lady Jayne and the Mummy

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: The title and description identify the lead character as female but reference a secondary male character.
Characters: The main character is Lady Jayne, a high society lady who prefers running about fighting mummies rather than daintily sipping tea in lacy dresses. Other characters include the mummy, her 'dear friend' Jasper Smythe and Professor Oliver. Despite the man harem, Jayne is clearly the lead.
Color and Theme: This REI's colors are surprisingly neutral despite the female lead--a dark, muted teal and desert brown are the predominant colors. The theme is sort of Indiana Jones with a female slant. Owing to the fact that it's set in a Victorian setting, it should be noted even male clothes will be on the elegant side, possibly even with frills.
Poses: Lady Jayne has a high amount of neutral or male poses to its five more obviously feminine poses. Though there is a brown coat, the puffed sleeves and longer train make it more feminine than masculine. The highwaisted aviator pants have small bows, the boots are heeled and have small feet, the wig has long curls--basically Lady Jayne's poses are very feminine due to their details. However, there are twelve non-female poses. That's a pretty high number and it does involve some backgrounds and male clothing poses (a loincloth and jacket). There are quite a few accessories such as pistols, scarves, skeletal parts, mummy wraps, etc.
Summary: Lady Jayne is a kind of hard REI to class. There are some significant neutral and male poses and there are a lot of them. But the female poses are definitely the more important ones. I would say this REI was aimed at females but there was a really strong attempt to make it more neutral. Overall, it's got a high degree of neutrality but I would say the more significant poses being female does tip it slightly more to the feminine side.

Le Carousel

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: Both title and description are neutral and reference the carousel theme rather than gender
Characters: The only characters mentioned in any reports or poses are "show girls" and, given the poses, I'd say it's clear the characters are meant to be female.
Color and Theme: The colors of this item are fairly neutral--a dark blue, mustard yellow and cream--but the theme itself, while it initially appeared it might be carousel or carnival themed, turned into a burlesque show girl theme, so it ended up with a strong feminine slant.
Poses: There are a few neutral hand held or accessory poses in this item, but the total number of small, neutral accessories is under five. The rest of the items are clearly female dominated--skirts, dresses, female hairstyles, lacy sleeves, feminine eyes, etc. The poses are already feminine, and despite the neutral colors have detailing like flowers or lace.
Summary: Overall, the item is pretty obviously feminine. There is very little neutrality and, really no masculinity in the item.


Little/LovelyLucie

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: Both name and title include a feminine name, setting up expectations for a female item from the start.
Characters: The predominant character in the REI is a female doll named Lucie.
Color and Theme: The color theme is black, cream and pink, definitely on the girly side. And the theme itself revolves around a possessed doll; dolls are not usually something associated with masculinity in most cultures.
Poses: The item does contain a smattering of smaller, neutral poses like skins or handheld accessories (a teapot, a present, etc). The more significant poses are all female clothing and wigs--pink ringlets and pig tails, dresses, a female leg mod, skirts, aprons, etc. There are no strictly masculine poses or poses specifically aimed at males or a male characters.
Summary: Some of the accessory poses might be useful for those going for manly characters and avatars, but the overall theme of this REI is clearly female; there's not much about it that is really masculine.

Lumiere Noire/Reborn



Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: The title of this REI is neutral (side note: I don't speak French but I believe both Lumiere and Noire are feminine words...but still). The description references star crossed lovers but doesn't mention gender.
Characters: The two characters referenced in the REI are Lumiere (a male) and Noire (a female).
Color and Theme: The monochromatic color scheme of this REI is very neutral with the focus entirely on black and white. The theme itself is a romantic Romeo-Juliet like story. It could be considered slightly on the feminine side as dreamy romances that end in tragedy might be more associated with females.
Poses: The poses themselves are very evenly divided between the male and female characters. There are eight poses that are accessories (like lanterns and daggers), or skins. The remaining eight poses include four clothing items for each character. It's worth noting that the female character technically gets a full outfit (stockings, veil, boots and a dress) and the male does not. All four of the male's poses are for the upper body, and there are no pants or shoes specifically geared toward that character.
Summary: Lumiere Noire is a very gender balanced REI. Both genders receive the same amount of poses, and the poses are, for the most part, equally significant. Despite the lack of pants or shoes for males, there are still four poses clearly meant for boys. Overall, it's one of the more balanced REIs since obvious effort was made to include both genders.

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

M-P

Mana Seed


Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: Both title and description are gender neutral
Characters: As the first REI, I do not believe there were actually any EI reports so I'm unsure if any characters were mentioned at any time.
Color and Theme: Mana Seed's colors are slightly on the feminine side with the three primary colors being green, cream and light pink. The theme itself is more neutral, seemingly something along the lines of nature spirits and...alchemy? There's nothing overtly feminine about the general theme but the focus seems to be on the cuter, girly side of of things so it definitely has an overall feminine feel to it.
Poses: As the first REI, Mana Seed has slightly fewer poses than other REIs. There is a huge focus on accessories and the REI has no major clothing articles outside a cloak and hat. As such, a lot of the poses are fairly neutral things like a staff, trees, floating crystals and back grounds. Among the more significant poses are a large, very puffy hat with pink flowers, large, sparkly eyes with blush, a cloak and belt with drapey fabric and pouches. The cloak and belt are fairly neutral but the hat and eyes definitely have a feminine feel to them.
Summary: Mana Seed is kind of difficult to class because there really are a lot of neutral poses in this REI and I'm loathe to label something feminine simply because it doesn't have blood an armor. But the REI seems really focused on being cutesy, which does lend it a pretty strong feminine slant so overall, I'd say it's mostly neutral but leans toward being feminine. There's certainly nothing overtly masculine about it.

Master Alchemist



Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: Both title and description are gender neutral
Characters: In the EI reports, the alchemist is identified as the main character, and referred to as "he" throughout all the EI reports.
Color and Theme: Master Alchemist has a neutral color scheme of blue, gold and black with hints of cream/off white. The theme itself is of an alchemist student, well, learning alchemy, which is pretty neutral.
Poses: There are a few hand held items and accessory poses that go along with the alchemy theme (such as potion bottles or scrolls). The clothing includes two jackets, trousers, boots, an armored sleeve, and some accessories like gloves and a sash. The detailing on the clothes is very simple rather than ornate. The coats are broad shouldered and knee length (kind of piratey, really). The boots are kind of clunky, but they do have moderate heels on them--sort of like old fashioned, male dress boots. Poses also include a short haired wig and two faces--obviously meant to be male and female. Other than the female face, there aren't any overtly feminine poses. The trousers are form fitted but my assumption would be that this was done so they would layer properly under the boots.
Summary: Master Alchemist, I believe, was meant to be a masculine REI, something I believe it achieves fairly well. There's also a fairly high degree of neutrality, as there is with most of the more masculine REIs just because all the poses can be just as easily used on a female avatar, and a female face was included. Regardless, I do count this as a masculine REI.

Mineiro Scroll


Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: Both title and description are gender neutral
Characters: There is no specific character for this REI. All EI reports use second person.
Color and Theme: The theme of Mineiro Scroll is treasure hunting and general adventure, a pretty neutral (perhaps slightly masculine by traditional definitions) theme. The colors are predominantly brown and silver.
Poses: Around eight or nine of the poses in this REI are hand held items of some kind, or backgrounds. It's worth noting there are several weapons and scars which might appeal more to males than some girls. The clothing includes a few genderless poses like a hood, belt and cloak. Most of the details are simple silver trim but there are also bits that are armored or have a military-like feel (like the closures on the top). The trousers are slightly loose fit and utilitarian, and the boots are clunky and low-heeled. The jacket has broad shoulders but is more like a bolero than an actual jacket. Still, none of the major poses are overtly feminine in feel and many of them do appear to be aimed more at males as they lack feminine details or designs.
Summary: Like Master Alchemist, I believe this was meant to be a more masculine REI. The overall grungy feel is not particularly feminine and the overall design of the clothing items feels more masculine. Of course, like all REIs that don't involve copious amounts of body hair, there's a high degree of neutrality as well.

Moira's Fashion Flashback

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: Title and description both mention Moira...who is a girl.
Characters: Moira. Since the REI is exploring her fashion choices through the years, it seems unlikely that anyone else is going to show up.
Color and Theme: Normally fashion is a neutral theme but the theme of this REI is, more specifically, an exploration of a female character's fashion choices. The color scheme is dark blue and magenta. That said, the magenta is close enough to red that the color scheme is still pretty neutral in and of itself.
Poses: The poses are, predictably, pretty feminine. The vest that was one of the starter poses is fairly neutral, as is the leather jacket as are a few of the other accessories (like the face mask, collar and tattoo). But the bulk of the poses are, unsurprisingly, feminine. The wigs are all more feminine hairstyles and the clothes range from off the shoulder blouses to skirts and dresses. This isn't shocking since the REI was set up from the start to follow the fashion adventures of a female character, though. Moira's style isn't exactly frilly but the basic design of some of the clothes lends to a more feminine feeling.
Summary: Basically, this is a feminine REI but it would have been unrealistic to expect anything else so I don't think it delivered in a way that was unexpected in the slightest.



Monstrosity

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: Both title and description are completely gender neutral
Characters: The characters revealed during the course of the story are primarily the mad scientist and his unnamed creature, which is obviously Stein, an NPC shopkeeper.
Color and Theme: There's a looser color scheme in this REI than we normally get, but it's more on the black, red, white end of things. Thematically, it's a pretty typical mad scientist-monster story--both are neutral.
Poses: Monstrosity, predictably, has a lot of neutral poses. There is a large focus on background elements such as dirty laboratories, mutilated body parts, skins and the like. However, as both characters are male, all the poses have a very overtly masculine feel to them, lacking the usual delicate feet or lines that we see with feminine poses. Neither the facemod nor the eyes have typically feminine traits like long eyelash sparkles or blush. Two of the three wigs are short and masculine.
Summary: This is, I feel, a truly masculine REI. There's really nothing remotely feminine about it and while there are a lot of neutral poses, with both characters being male, all poses lack any delicate or "pretty" qualities that might make them feel feminine.


Mystery of the Stolen Sapphires

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: While the title of this REI is neutral, the description focuses heavily on the female lead character, cluing us in that there are bound to be a lot of female poses.
Characters: This REI has a fairly large cast of characters including the Countess, the maid, the cook, the butler and the chauffeur.
Color and Theme: The color scheme is a fairly neutral palette of blue, white and black, while the theme is sort of a who-done-it mystery--also neutral.
Poses: This REI is almost exclusively clothing with only a few handhelds, backgrounds, and the like. Each evolution gave us clothing from the character of the week. However, there are more female characters than male, so there are a total of 9 (including the female wig) female clothing items to only 6 male items. The male items do include about two nearly complete outfits (sans shoes), but the male items are still outnumbered by dresses, girly shoes and fluffy girl hats. Each pose is clearly labeled, per character and there's a strong visual distinction between the male and female items so it's clear that both genders are represented. But there are still more overtly feminine items than there are male and neutral items combined.
Summary: Overall, a clear effort was made to include male poses in this REI but due to the lack of balance in the amount of male and female characters, the item is more feminine than neutral or masculine.

Pandaista

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: Title and description are pretty neutral overall, as no gender references are to be found.
Characters: Ling, a female panda-lover and Qin, a male-panda lover and potential pervert (though he claims innocence...)
Color and Theme: Colors are pink, brown and cream--fairly neutral except the tendency for cream to be used for items more on the feminine side...Theme appears to be typical shoujo-manga fare revolving around an unlikely couple being, well, an unlikely couple together with copious amounts of cute interjected at appropriate intervals.
Poses: The initial poses were not exactly the most neutral poses we've ever seen. The first pose involves a cute little panda dangly..thing. And the second pose was women's underwear. The next poses were 'neutral' accessories with a heavy emphasis on cute detailing like bear ears on the hat. Though there seemed to be an emphasis on including a pose for the girl and boy characters each, in every evolution, Pandaistia went the route of many of our neutral REIs where the poses are 'technically' gender neutral for the most part, and the two characters have an equal number of poses, but there's such a heavy emphasis on cute many people mistake it for being feminine. Sometimes it's difficult to tell which poses were meant for the boy character and which were meant for the girl character but I would say around half the poses are neutral (or at least seem to be meant to be neutral), while half are more on the feminine side.
Summary: Overall, this REI is hard to class. I can see that it was meant to include both genders but the color scheme and focus on pandas and cute things like hats with ears, sweaters with panda faces, scarves with bows, and such, lend a super cute, childish feeling to it that keep it from really feeling completely neutral. I still say it's neutral, but with a really strong feminine slant to it.


Paramour's Break

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: Title and description are neutral.
Characters: The characters in the REI are male and female--Knox and Vera. In love, yes. Badass, also yes. There is also Slater, who is apparently the lead jerk antagonist, who makes a couple of brief cameos.
Color and Theme: This REI mostly follows separate color schemes for each character--black, blue and silver for Knox and purple, black and silver for Vera. The theme revolves around two lovers fleeing a crime syndicate--sort of action movie stuff but definitely gender neutral.
Poses: As expected, Paramour's Break turned out to be one of our more balanced REIs. While the female character was outnumbered by two males, she still managed to mostly hold her own in terms of the number of poses she received though there were slightly more 'masculine' poses. There is a decided lack of ruffles and frills in this REI, due to the theme, which lends a lot of neutrality to some of Vera's poses--but the same holds true for the masculine poses. Unlike many of the gender balanced REIs, there is not a significant difference in detailing between many of the main and female poses. Zippers, buckles and leather abound for all the characters. There are also some significant gender neutral poses--such as the motorbike. Because some of the male character poses (like the face mods and wigs) might appeal less to those with more feminine avatars due to harsher facial features or heavy eyebrows, it does feel that males came out slightly on top as far as poses, which is unusual for an REI with a strong female character.
Summary: Overall, I feel this REI is pretty balanced in terms of gender. There was a clear effort to give both genders a lot of poses--in this case, the males came out slightly ahead due to the fact there were two male characters but overall, I do feel it was very balanced, gender-wise.



Parcel Post

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: Title and description are neutral.
Characters: The REI makes no real mention of specific characters and the reports were written like letters. It's worth noting that outside the initial announcement, no male avatars were depicted in relation to this item.
Color and Theme: The theme basically revolved around sending souvenirs from a foreign land to a friend. The dominant colors in the REI were pink, white and a muted shade of lavender (or, possibly, blue).
Poses: This REI was definitely a feminine dominated REI. The vast majority of the poses had an overtly feminine feel. The hairstyles were long, shiny, and feminine styles. The two t-shirts were off the shoulder, and heavily reliant on pink and the other two major clothing articles were dresses. There were three hair accessories (a clip, a 'towel bow' and the jellybao) that are feminine accessories. The eyes were styled to have long, prominent lashes and the leg mod has a very feminine look--heels and delicate calves and ankles. All in all, there were only 4-5 neutral accessory poses. The arm mod could also be considered neutral. But the major clothing articles, the three wigs/hair mods, eyes and other major accessories were pretty clearly designed to look more feminine.
Summary: This definitely ranks as one of the more feminine REIs. While there are a couple of neutral poses (like a box, letter, and so on), the bulk of the poses were overtly feminine. There was definitely nothing even remotely masculine going on here.


Petit Cherie


Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: The description and title are somewhat vague and confusing, gender-wise. Petit Cheri or Petite Cherie are both French terms of endearment that means something along the lines of "my little dear one". Spelled one way (Petit Cheri) it is meant for a man, and spelled another (Petite Cherie) it's meant for a woman. Petit Cherie, then, is either just poor French or an attempt to include both genders in the title.
Characters: There are no specific characters in this REI, as it (like many others) uses second person in the EI reports. However, the avatars displaying the items were consistently female until the end when 'someone" wanted to keep "you" company --at which point the first male avatar appears. So that makes it seem as if the main character was female.
Color and Theme: The color scheme is spring green, brown, cream and kind of a peachy color. Over all, these colors are not really feminine but given the theme of spring and romance, they take on a more feminine slant. Light colors and cream are usually considered feminine, on Gaia. The REI also has a somewhat Victorian, or old fashioned feel to it.
Poses: This REI is heavily clothes oriented however, it's worth noting that despite the lacy details, because the styles are more old fashioned, some items like the blouse and bow tie are difficult to pin a particular gender on. Overall, there are around 8 poses I would label as overtly female (skirt, lacy shawl, stockings, two female wigs, a purse, etc). There are around 6 poses that are difficult to pin a gender on, or are obviously neutral (like the blouse, bow tie, towelette, porch bench, etc.) And then about 3 poses that I would say were clearly meant to be for a male character.
Summary: Overall, I would say this REI does have a fairly high amount of neutrality but there is also a very obvious female slant due to the colors, theme and copious amounts of lace. There are also more obviously female poses that hold a lot of significance. Most of the neutral poses are accessories and such.



Peyokon

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: This is another 2nd person REI so there's no gender specifically associated with the characters, and the title is a reference to the plant-animal that 'you' raise, during the course of the REI.
Characters: 'You' and Peyokon
Color and Theme: Both the green/yellow/white color scheme, and the theme of...gardening (?) are neutral.
Poses: There are a few overtly feminine poses in this REI (such as the dress, the hair, and so on) but these are balanced out by a male variant (a coat to match the dress, a short hairstyle to match the longer style), as well as a slew of other neutral poses--including two sets of eyes, neither of which has blush attached. Most of the poses, by far, are completely gender neutral.
Summary: Basically, a very balanced REI. The few specifically female poses are balanced by a "masculine" variant, but most of the poses lean toward neither gender, and are completely neutral.

Pistolera/Revenge

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: Both title and description are feminine.
Characters: The story of this REI is told in second person with "you" as the main character but it seems apparent, based on the description that "you" are in the shoes of a female warrior named Pistolera.
Color and Theme: The theme of this REI revolves around an RPG style adventure, fairly neutral despite that the main character is female. Colors are a very neutral red, black and gray.
Poses: There are quite a few neutral poses in this REI--a total of twelve accessories, backgrounds, companions, weapons, etc. As with all hats, I consider the hat neutral but I do feel the fact that it's slightly undersized, gives it a slightly more feminine feel to it. Other items like the guns, quest available prop, game over pose, chests and warthog are very clearly gender neutral. However, all the major clothing poses are very obviously female. The details are fairly simply and non-frilly but the overall design of several items point to them being more gender specific. The "jerkin" has an open area above the cleavage, the bolero has puffed sleeves, the leggings are basically a panty-stocking-garterbelt combo, and the boots are high heeled. The only wig in the item is an extremely long, flowing ponytail. The recolor, while still in neutral colors, contains two extra poses--both of which are female. The "jerkin" with the cape still has a female design.
Summary: I would consider this a female REI but I do think it's worthwhile to note that a lot of the neutral poses are very useful things like weapons and belts. Still, the fact that all the 'larger' poses and clothing items are female, offsets those in terms of gender equality.

Polar Tear


Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: The tile of this REI is neutral but the description appears to be written from the perspective of a man.
Characters: The main character is identified as Peter, a widower who has recently lost his wife Isa, due to illness.
Color and Theme: The theme is clearly winter (and lost love) but also appears to hint at a sort of Pygmalion and Galatea type story. As Peter is listed as the main character, the romantic undertones don't necessarily lend an overly feminine feel to the theme. The colors are mostly a blueish-white and red, also neutral.
Poses: The poses of Polar Tear are almost disappointingly slanted toward the feminine despite that the only female character is dead during the entire REI. Peter's main clothing articles are a sweater and a pair of snow boots. Of the four wigs in this REI, three are female and one is male. There is also an obviously female face. While there are a high degree of neutral hand held poses, or background and accessory type poses (8 total), there are 5 major, and distinctly female poses. Peter only received 3 major poses (hair, boots and a sweater), and a few accessories (his belt and a scarf) that, while labeled with his name, are gender neutral. It's worth noting that the boots, while they are bulky and heelless, do modify the feet and shrink them quite a bit.
Summary: This REI is hard to label. The number of neutral poses is pretty high but the female character received more significant poses than the main male character (despite that she is dead). On top of that, the female poses are distinctly feminine, while the male poses are not as distinctly masculine. I would say this REI is equal parts neutral and feminine but there's really nothing particularly masculine about it other than the fact the main character is male.

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

Q-T


Ravenwood Manor

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: The title of this REI is neutral, but the description mentions both a female and male lead in the story.
Characters: Ravenwood manor has a fairly balanced cast of characters: Mathilde, Jackdaw/Mephiste, and Mathilde's parents. However, much of the story focuses on Mathilde alone, as she wanders through the manor.
Color and Theme: Ravenwood's colors are extremely neutral, as the REI focuses more on somber grays and dark blues, with black and red sprinkled in. The predominant color is a dark, muted blue.
Poses: Though many poses are labeled with a specific character's name, the number of poses that are clearly male or female oriented, is fairly small in comparison to the large number of neutral poses. As Ravenwood is a horror REI, most of the poses are 'props,' backgrounds, skins, handhelds and the like. There are around 11 non-wearable (as in, not clothing/clothing accessories) poses. Of the clothing items, five are for male characters and two are for female characters. Things like the monocle, cape and face mod, despite being for male characters, could possibly be considered neutral. The hair, while long, has a more masculine feel, due to the jagged bangs, simple style and lack of ornate decoration.
Summary: All in all, I would label this a neutral REI with a very, very slight male slant. All in all, most of the poses, by far, are gender neutral story-related poses rather than male/female clothing poses.

Rosamund's Revenge/Redemption

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: The description of this item is neutral, but the title clearly identifies it as part of the Ciel series, which has been a very female-oriented set of REIs.
Characters: As with the other Ciel items, the cast includes a princess, a warrior nun, and Mephiste, the evil guy who can't seem to get a date without using force.
Color and Theme: This REI uses the same black, gold and rose/magenta color as the Eros Ciel, lending the color scheme a more feminine slant for most of the items.
Poses: All the poses of this REI center around Rosamund's rather sultry battle attire and hair. Aside from the background and companion pose--and maybe one or two other accessories (such as the rose vines or sword), the poses are overwhelmingly feminine with heeled leg mods, corsets, skirts, ruffled cloaks, female hair.
Summary: All in all, this is another very obviously feminine REI. There isn't much to analyze as you can see it's overwhelmingly female at a single glance. There is nothing remotely masculine to be found, and very little that could be considered neutral.


Ruined Souls


Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: The title is neutral, while the description references a male and his lost love.
Characters: This REI names two characters off the bat, Daegal and his dead lover Charise as well as a host of evil spirits.
Poses: The initial poses of this REI were all mostly backgrounds or hand held type poses that were perfectly genderless. About midway through, there was a shift toward the wardrobe pieces of the two characters. The witchdoctor (the male character) actually got a total of seven poses, while the spiritualist (female character) only got six. However, because not all the poses of either character overtly lean toward a specific gender (like the staff, incense burner, markings and other accessories), the end result is a very balanced REI. Most of the poses match up pretty well--each character got a bottom piece, foot/leg piece, top piece, wig, etc). The male wig has darker, heavier brows and is swept back without wispy bits around the face, leading to a more masculine look, despite that the wig is long, while the feminine style is more overtly femine--left full, long and with locks falling over the face.
Summary: This is probably one of our most balance REIs--it has a lot of gender neutral poses, a lot of more masculine, bulky poses, a lot of delicate, feminine poses. With the very different styles for each character, one cannot deny that both characters are represented very equally, with a lot of neutral accessories that either gender can use as well. It definitely is geared toward both genders.

Runcible Spoon

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: Both the title and description reference the poem on which the REI is based and are fairly neutral in and of themselves. The description references the characters but doesn't really clarify gender.
Characters: The characters in this REI include the two leads, a male owl and a female cat. A vague reference is made to the pig that appears in the poem (who is male), but the actual pig character doesn't make an appearance.
Color and Theme: This REI has two color schemes, one for each character: cream and cobalt for the Owl, and cream and pink for the female Cat. Other colors like brown or mint green make appearances. The overall feeling is that of lighter pastels, but it's offset a bit by the obviously male poses centering around dark, cobalt blue. The theme itself focuses on the romance of the owl and cat, which is more or less neutral.
Poses: Nearly every evolution gave a pose for the owl and pose for the cat. In the end, there were 7 fairly overtly female poses, 5 overt masculine poses, and 5 gender neutral poses. It's worth noting that in some cases, the owl's poses leaned toward the more neutral side, such as with the evolution that contained the cat's purse and owl's mandolin. While the purse has clearly feminine detailing (like pink flowers), mandolin can't really be called masculine though it was clearly the owl's pose. Some poses, like the 'piggy wig' fringe are more feminine due to color. There is a clearly distinction between the male and female poses though, for the most part, and all the more masculine poses are definitely, overtly male.
Summary: I would label this as an REI that represents both genders fairly equally. All the major female poses are balanced by an obviously male pose. There are a few neutral poses as well, that balance out the fact that there are two extra poses that are more on the feminine side.

S-Pop Club: Odele/Rayna/Taja

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: The titles in this REI set are neutral, as are the descriptions, however the band member names (Taja, Odele, Rayna), which appear in the individual REI titles, are obviously female.
Characters: The main character in each REI is a member of all girl band. There are nameless males that make a brief appearance in the REI as well.
Color and Theme: Like most REIs that follow the recolor set model, two color schemes are neutral (blue/back, yellow/black) while the third is a more distinctly feminine color palette (pink/black). Males can, of course, wear pink. But in most cases, pink is associated with females. The theme itself is neutral, as the REIs follow the story of a new pop group on their way to success, however because the band members are all girls, it sends the theme down a more feminine path.
Poses: For the most part, the poses are clothing oriented and focus on the wardrobe of each band member. The REIs are basically identical apart from colors and the initial hairstyles. The ending arm mods are also different in each REI. There are only three poses in each REI that are obviously for a male character (they are labeled as such), but there are also a varying amount of poses in each REI, that could be considered gender neutral. For instance, the uniform top, leather jacket, headphones, glasses and bangs, are all gender neutral. (Note that all neutral poses mentioned, could be considered to have more of a feminine slant in the Odele recolor, due to the color scheme). Overall, each REI has 3 male poses, 5 neutral poses, and around 10 overtly female poses. The more overtly female poses, make up the bulk of the more important poses (such as wigs, face mods, etc).
Summary: Overall, these are more feminine REIs than they are neutral or masculine. But there are a surprising number of more neutral poses lurking in them as well. They are not quite as overwhelmingly feminine as other REIs that focus on female characters. The blue and yellow versions could be considered a little more neutral due to the colors giving the male/neutral poses more appeal to those seeking more masculine poses.

Sainte Ciel: Agape/Eros/Storge

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: The title of this REI recolor set may seem deceptively neutral as Ciel is not an obviously female name like, say, Mary. But Sainte is the feminine form of the word, and Ciel is generally identified as a female name. The description mentions a pious young woman, who is identified in each individual description as well.
Characters: The characters who play a significant role in the Ciel story are Ciel, the warrior nun, Princess Rosamund, and the evil Mephiste (who is still not having a lot of luck in the realm of romance apparently.)
Color and Theme: As frequently seen with the recolor model, two color schemes are more on the neutral side, and one is more overtly feminine. The theme itself is a pseudo-romantic fantasy adventure involving two female characters. There is a lurking male character but he is really only mentioned in the REI reports. The 'saving the princess from the evil guy' theme is fairly neutral even with the romantic overtones, but the female characters lend it a more feminine slant.
Poses: The REIs in this set have mostly the same poses, with some variations to follow the individual story lines. The more significant poses include face mods, and clothing for the female characters. Roses are a recurring theme throughout the set. The only really neutral poses tend to be backgrounds and a couple of handhelds. Due to rose motifs, and delicate swirling designs, the detailing of most of the clothes and even some of the handhelds lends them a more female feel. Even the 'sword' is so ornate and non-functional that it looks more like a sort of girly decoration than an actual sword. The armor includes heels, skirts, bustiers and puffy, shoulder-less sleeves. Face mods and hair are all distinctly female in appearance and style. At most, each REI contains between 2-4 poses that are gender neutral (such as agape's famous scissor pose).
Summary: Overall, these items are pretty distinctly female oriented. That's not to say there is nothing in them that males can use, but there's really nothing even slightly masculine about them, and very little that is gender neutral. The entire focus is really on female characters.


Seven Day Love

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: The title is neutral but the description references the lead character as a "heroine" and, thus, female.
Characters: Our fickle heroine and all the guys she falls in love with, apparently.
Color and Theme:The colors are white and red--both neutral (though the red does edge more to the pink side of things than true red). The theme is...typical shoujo highschool romance stuff which is something that may not appeal to as many guys.
Poses: This was a very accessory-heavy REI which means that most of the poses are smaller articles rather than significant pieces of clothing. This lends itself to a gender-neutral feel to the REI despite the hearts. The copious amount of hearts. There are three wig items, two of which are long, one of which is short. There are three arm mods which are gender neutral, but more on the delicate side, as far as design. Most of the clothes are school uniform oriented, which means that the shirts are gender neutral. The only clothing articles for the lower half of the body are feminine (tights and a skirt), however. There are only five distinctly feminine poses--all of which are heavy poses. Everything else is gender neutral, including several major clothing articles and body mods, and a slew of smaller accessories like ties arm bands. There are a lot of hearts.
Summary: Overall, this one ends up as surprisingly gender-neutral with, maybe, a slightly more feminine feel due to the dark pink color and heart spam.

SOF Taiga

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: The title and description of this oft-hated REI are both neutral. Description is in second person, only referencing the story being about "you."
Characters: The two characters in this REI are "you" and your eccentric female partner.
Color and Theme: The color scheme of this REI are neutral military type colors--muddy green, black, gold. The theme seems neutral at a glance: a secretly military operation. But truthfully, the theme is more non-military clothing in military inspired colors.
Poses: The saga of the SOF Taiga was a strange and weirdly dramatic one as more and more froo-froo made its way into what users first thought would be a butch military REI. Overall, it is fairly typical, pose wise. There are around 6 overtly feminine poses (the corset, skirt, dress, female wig) and 11 neutral poses. However, it is important to note that most of the neutral poses are less significant accessory poses such as hats, headphones, and the like. There are two capes and a coat, but the cropped, asymmetrical waist of the coat, and the design of the shoulder area make it more androgynous than masculine. There are six very significant female poses, to four significant neutral poses and a slew of smaller neutral poses. The only wig in the REI is overtly female, with flowing pigtails. Poses that could have been more masculine--such as the trousers or finale coat, are designed in a way that makes them ultra feminine (not many men wear black knickers underneath their sheer pants) or androgynous. The sling bag is still neutral, but the purse-like design has caused many to feel it is more feminine than if it had a more satchel-like appearance. I'm not sure anyone knows what to make of the loincloth belt...thing.
Summary: Overall, there is a significant portion of useful neutral poses in this REI, but the lion's share of important clothing items are cute, female clothes which lends a very strong female slant to the item. It's not the most feminine REI on the site, but the disconnect between the initial impressions and how the REI actually turned out make it one of the most hated REIs and a very frequently used example of the horrors of feminine REIs.


Song of amour

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲


Title and Description: Both the title and description of this REI are neutral, indicating no gender.
Characters: The characters are identified in EI reports as Faith, her manager who seems as if he wants to protect her, but just turns out to be a jerk, and a masked stranger. It remains to be seen how prominent a role the manager and mysterious stranger actually play.
Color and Theme: The color scheme is white, pastel blue, and pink--almost cotton candy like. Because the release of this REI coincided with Gaia's 10 year anniversary, the colors could be thought of as a nod back to the original Gaia colors rather than them being meant to be feminine.
Poses:At first glance, this REI does not have a very gender neutral or masculine feel to it. The clothing poses tend to be puffy, with pink accents and decorations, which wouldn't typically be considered to be particularly masculine. However, a closer look at the poses shows a slightly higher degree of neutrality than one might initially suspect. There are a total of 7 pretty distinctly female poses--hair, face mod, skirt/dress, bustier, hair pin, etc. 6 poses are more on the gender neutral side of things--the sword, cage, bouquet, hood, etc. These things are all accessories or backgrounds, or things you can't really attach a gender to (the stand alone sleeves could be considered feminine since it's likely they were meant for Faith, since Fidel's shirt has sleeves. But it's hard to say one way or the other, so I count them as neutral.) There are around 4 poses that are somewhat more overtly masculine, or lean more toward that side than plain neutral. But it's worth noting that some might consider that a bit generous considering, for instance, that the "male" eyes have eyeshadow. However, Fidel's wig is clearly a masculine counterpart to Faith's wig and his shirt broadens and squares off the shoulders--and the pink accents are very subtle. Fidel's leg mod doesn't unnecessarily taper the legs or shrink the feet and the boots have a more masculine appearance.
Summary: Overall, the item still has more poses that are obviously female than it has poses that are obviously male. But given the high amount of neutral poses, it's clear there were obvious attempts to balance it out. I would say it's neutral but it has a really high amount of feminity to it as well. The balance was offset a bit because the feel of some of the "masculine" poses, and the color scheme. It's a little harder to class for that reason but since the overtly masculine poses are still out numbered, I don't think one can really say it's completely balanced.

Stinger

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: The title of the item is neutral, while the description makes a gender reference to a male character.
Characters: The actual characters that appear in this REI are a male warrior, a princess and a queen.
Color and Theme: The colors of this REI stay in neutral territory, focusing on orange, black and yellow. The theme is that of a warrior, sneaking into the enemy's lair to steal a legendary sword--fairly neutral, but could be considered more on the masculine side due to the main character being a male.
Poses: The male character received a total of 8 poses throughout the REI. It's worth noting that a few pieces could be considered more on the neutral side (such as the horned laurels) due to the fact that they're accessories. However, the detailing on the male poses remained simple. Armor and clothing were fairly bulky, as suited to more masculine poses. There are a total of 6 poses belonging to female honey bee characters. Again, several of these are more on the neutral side (such as the wings and crown), but most have a decidedly more feminine feel with delicate shapes and poses. In total, I would say there are at least 4-6 more masculine poses, around 4 feminine poses, and 7-9 more neutral poses. There are several handhelds, and backgrounds that are completely genderless and a few poses that are assigned to a gendered character but have a more neutral appearance. The eye pose belongs to the male character, and the small shape, angry appearance, low brow line do give them a more masculine look. By contrast, the only wig in the item belongs to a female character. It is short, but the perfectly coiffed, side swept bangs, long side pieces in front of the ears, and subtly shiny appearance give it a slightly more feminine feel to me. Personally, I consider it a female wig.
Summary: In the end, I feel the female characters played too significant a role and got a significant enough portion of the important poses to really label this a masculine REI. It certainly does have a strong masculine component, but it has an equally strong female component. I consider this REI to be one that represents both genders with, perhaps, slightly more emphasis on the male side of things. But not enough to really say it's a fully masculine REI.

Sugarsuite

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: Title and description are completely neutral.
Characters: There are really no named characters in this REI. There are a slew of minor characters mentioned (a king, queen, performers, etc.) "You" are the main character, as mentioned in the first EI report.
Color and Theme: There's no really set color scheme as in many REIs. Many smaller color sets are visited throughout the REI. But cream/off white is really the only color that recurs through the entire story. Other colors that are visited include brown, red, mint, gold, and pink. The theme revolves around holiday sweets and ballet, which could be considered slightly more feminine than masculine by some.
Poses: Many of the poses in Sugarsuite are a little hard to peg as they would naturally be considered neutral, but have details that give them a more feminine feel--yet still aren't overtly female. There are around 7 neutral or androgynous poses in the REI. There are around 8 feminine poses and three male poses. The male poses have pale colors, and are ballet themed but there is a visible contrast to the female poses as far as shape, style and details (the female legs have slippers with ribbons, while the male legs do not, for example) that makes them clearly male. There are two dresses, poofy shorts, a corset, a female wig, and female leg mod--all very important poses. By contrast, there is a male wig, male leg mod, and male arm mod to counter the significant female poses. There is also a nice, neutral cape.
Summary: My impression is that sugarsuite is more feminine than masculine or neutral. I do feel there are a large number of neutral accessories, but the general theme and detailing of the items makes it less likely to appeal to anyone wanting a more masculine avatar. There was obvious effort to make sure there were poses that could be used by both genders, but I feel the item still has more feminine appeal because the 'larger' poses tend to be feminine.

The Watchmaker

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: The title and description do not specifically reference gender.
Characters: The main character in the REI is a male watchmaker. No other characters are mentioned unless you count the apparently possessed watch.
Color and Theme: The color scheme is a neutral one, with a palette of green, gold, brown and black. The theme is of a watchmaker...and a weird, magical watch. Very neutral.
Poses: There are no feminine poses in this REI. The majority of the poses are either neutral backgrounds or neutral handhelds, or clothing accessories (such as watch-wings, the hat, gloves, apron, eye piece). There are a few overtly male poses such as the shirt and vest, coat, boots, etc. The detailing on the items is fairly simple and involves chains, watches or black wings. The boots are very bulky, as is the coat. Because of the period feel to the REI, the clothing is more obviously meant to be masculine. The trousers are straight legged, rather than fitted around the ankles, and the boots layer over most pants. The shirt has a high collar, left a bit open at the neck, also giving a more masculine feel. There is one, short wig in an obviously male style. The more significant clothing poses are just obviously male. Most of the neutral poses, are either small accessories, or backgrounds. I count the top hat as neutral, as I do with all hats but I think it's important to note that the item has a vaguely Victorian/period feel to it and during that time period, top hats were a male accessory.
Summary: Overall, this is clearly a male REI. There is nothing feminine about it and there were obvious attempts to make the clothing have male designs. There is a high degree of neutrality due to the amount of backgrounds and such (three backgrounds in this one), but the focus is more masculine than note.

Trilune's Covenant/Promise

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: The title of this REI (and its recolor) are neutral, but the description references goddesses, and sets the tone for the REI.
Characters: Like many REIs, this story is told in second person so the main character is "You," the user. However, the entire REI focuses on the three goddess aspects: maiden, mother, crone.
Color and Theme: The color scheme is lavender. The end. The theme of this REI is magic, goddessy, vaguely pagan/wiccan type stuff, with vague focus on the power of femininity. That probably speaks for itself.
Poses: There are no male poses. Nothing even vaguely implying testosterone or guy stuff. There are, however, some neutral poses lurking--around 8 of them actually. (book, pendent, tabard, mark, chalice, shield, staff, and moon). The lavender color scheme, however, likely detracts from the neutrality somewhat, but the poses themselves are genderless. That said, there are about 10 overtly female skirts, accessories, and so on. The single wig is long, wavy and fairly girly. It's also lavender. The few accessories that might be otherwise neutral in Trilune's covenant, are made less so by the overwhelming lavender-ness and swirly, delicate detailing. It's worth noting that in the recolor, which has a black and white color scheme, things like the hood and crown could be considered more on the neutral side. And all the neutral poses are more versatile for all due to the lack of pale, cloying lavender. Nevertheless, it's important to note that the more significant clothing items, and the wig are overtly female things like heeled boots with delicate little feet, corsets, bodices, fishtail skirts, off the shoulder scarves, and the like.
Summary: As a whole, this REI is pretty clearly feminine. There are some neutral poses, but in the end, the obvious focus is on goddesses and the inner power of womanhood, and the like. The neutral poses are all small things like books or pendants, while the more significant poses are things like skirts and feminine legs.

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

U-X

Vivacenote

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: Both title and description are neutral. Description is vague and makes no reference to gender.
Characters: "You" and a lonely traveler who tells you his story, and the floozy who breaks his heart.
Color and Theme: Vivacenote has a yellow/black/white color scheme and the theme is sort of a vague pseudo-romance bard tale. There is a renaissance type feel to the clothing.
Poses: Many of the poses in this REI feel gender-neutral and, as they are often not labeled as to what character they are for, it's hard to determine if they're meant to be male or female. There are a few poses that, based on the period look, seem to be more masculine. And there are around the same amount that are distinctly feminine. The bulk of the poses are gender-neutral. There are boots that have a more bulky look to them, with low heels, and the pants, while puffy, are long enough to reach the top of the boots rather than the usual puffy shorts. There is a wig labeled as being for the male traveler, and another for the female dancer. The female character also has a leg and arm mod--by contrast, the pants, boots and jacket seem more masculine based on the style, and bulkiness. Most of the poses have minimal detailing but when there are details, it's mostly gold trim or dangling jewels--no real lace or frills.
Summary: For the most part, this REI feels very gender neutral to me. There are some feminine poses, and some male-ish poses but most of the poses are pretty ambiguous and could easily be used by either gender.


Volant Reverie

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: Title is neutral but the description tells us the story of Babette, our female protagonist.
Characters: Babette and her unnamed companions and family.
Color and Theme:The color scheme is pastel pink and purple--definitely not what immediately comes to mind when one says 'masculine'--and the theme is a greater, overarching theme of one finding one's place in the world (as told through the ideas of a cute, frilly circus girl).
Poses: Volant Reverie is an epic adventure through Babette's wardrobe as she travels around via pink balloon-sperm. Though there are quite a few neutral poses and accessories, the ice-cream colors lend an extremely feminine feel to what might otherwise be considered a neutral pose. So far, the poses are typical clown attire and in and of themselves, are pretty neutral. Around half the poses are distinctly feminine with delicate flowers, sparkles, ruffles and high heels. The full wig is long and girlish, while the hair mod sports pig-tails. The face mod comes complete with blush and pouty lips. Several of the gender neutral poses (such as the arm-mod and clownish top) could technically be considered neutral,but have more feminine, delicate lines or details that make them feel a bit more feminine than neutral. The rest of the neutral poses,such as the scarf, coat and top hat are neutral, but feel childish and cute due to their pink and purple pastels and emphasis on flowers, sparkles and lots of poofy things.
Summary: Overall, despite that around half the poses could be considered neutral, I really do consider this a mostly feminine REI. A lot of the more hefty poses are feminine, for one thing--including a facemod, two wings and several dresses. The overall color scheme contributes to the feeling a great deal. There are a lot of neutral poses but I feel it's going to be a pretty limiting REI for someone who wants something that isn't cute and girly, much less actually masculine.


Wandering Maestro

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲
Title and Description: Both the title and description refer to a male character.
Characters: The bard, his brother, his daughter and his dead lover who (yet again) makes an appearance despite being dead.
Color and Theme: It's hard to pin an exact color scheme on the REI just yet but, for the most part, brown, cream, gold, silver and black are the colors being used. The girls have their own dusty rose schemed poses. The story follows a wandering bard as he visits people from his past and reminisces about his lost love--a very neutral theme that can appeal to both genders.
Poses: This REI starts out very heavy on the arm mods, all of which have very neutral detailing. The hands are not overly tiny and delicate, nor are the arms overly thin or noodly which gives them a neutral (almost masculine since they are apparently for male characters) feel to them. There are two eye-mods, neither of which comes with blush or long, sparkly lashes. Both eye mods are very neutral, with one leaning slightly to the masculine. Unsurprisingly, when it comes to the clothes, the female characters--in spite of the miniscule role in the plot, come away with more clothing poses--an off the shoulder dress, a heeled leg mod, a dancer's top and a hairclip, which are all overtly feminine. Discounting the gender neutral arm-mods,the boys came out with three clothing articles--one of which is a scarf. All in all, there are 4 overtly feminine poses, 4 more masculine poses and 11 neutral poses.
Summary: As a whole, despite the large number of neutral poses, I would still class this as a masculine REI if nothing else, because the main character is male and most of the neutral poses lack any sort of defining, feminine detailing. Several were also clearly for male characters based on pose names. Still, it's a very heavily gender neutral REI; it has just enough of a masculine oomf to it, though, to tip the scale.

Wisteria

Masculine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Feminine: ▲▲▲▲▲
Neutral: ▲▲▲▲▲

Title and Description: Title and description are vague and genderless.
Characters: The description identifies the main character as "you" but as it turns out...the main characters are actually siblings Tyrian (a boy) and Victoria (a girl). There is also a possessed rabbit plushie.
Color and Theme: The color scheme is lavender, black, white and dark purple. The theme is horror mansion/possessed doll and, overall, is neutral.
Poses: There are a total of three poses (maybe four, if you count the hat) for Tyrian--a coat, boots, vest and, possibly, hat. Of the four, the hat itself is neutral. The coat is labeled for Tyrian but has a girlish feel due to the ruffles. This is understandable, as there is a vaguely period feel to the REI and Tyrian is a child. The vest has a more boyish feel to it, and the boots are nice and bulky, making them more obviously male. By contrast, there are 11 fairly overtly female poses, including two a dress, very long hair, an arm mod with lacy sleeves, hair bows, a bodice/corset with matching skirt, leggings, lacy collar... There are about three neutral poses (four if you count the hat)--two bunny plushies and a ring/eye pose. Most of the more significant clothing articles are very overtly female, the wig is female, and some of the male clothing has more feminine detailing (like ruffles.) It's worth noting, somewhat, that the Agape scissors pose trims the wig in a way that makes it seem like a male counterpart to the more feminine long version of the wig. But I can't count that as an actual pose in the item--it just seems that the artist did take measure to make sure those wanting a masculine alternative could have it, provided they possess the Agape item.
Summary: Pretty much, this is a feminine REI. Though there was a male character, he was sidelined early on and the focus was clothing for the female character. There are only a few, weak attempts to insert male poses and all the more significant poses are feminine.

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

Y-Z

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

Reserved for potential future reorganization

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

Reserved for potential future reorganization

[Elen_Gilthoniel]

Reserved for potential future reorganization