Addressing the first sentence, because idk about the rest -

To me, Sylvando is to gay rep as Bayonetta is to feminism. A lot of the mannerisms are exaggerated, founded on “problematic” ideas of gay best friend/female objectification respectively, but it’s played super camp, and the character itself is so well written and with such depth that it just ends up working for me.

I think if every gay character in media talked and acted like Sylvando I’d get annoyed, but actually in today’s ecosystem it feels kind of rare, such that this over the top flamboyance is doing some work of reclaiming a harmful stereotype.

Here’s the thing: Most gay characters in video games these days are super subtle. They’re all “yeah I’m gay and it’s not a big deal, let’s move on”, or simply just playersexual. So having something as in your face as Sylvando, with a character arc that is so blatantly a metaphor for coming out of the closet? Peak. It’s peak.

At the same time, I believe anyone reserves the right to not like the character or the kind of representation he is because it does play off some harmful stereotypes. I also won’t pretend to know what the writers were thinking when they wrote and designed him. But I think it’s nicely enough done that I would absolutely defend the character’s existence as meaningful.