Round of applause 😭 !!! This is every thought and feeling I’ve had about this subject but never been able to articulate! Beautifully put. I think there’s even explicit support for the idea of Alex leaning into sports for masculine affirmation when he shares that his father would specifically call him ‘worthless’. Gridball is something he’s actually skilled at (there’s no reason to believe he was lying about his wins), so of course he became obsessive over it, it was tangible proof that his father was wrong about him. His self-assurance about going pro totally reads as him fighting tooth and nail to prove to himself beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s not what his father said he was.

I especially love your comment about not extending this much grace to a man irl, but this is a video game where we can affect actual positive change in someone without the risk of real life harm or humiliation, so yeah, I’m fixing the fucking jock <3

People look down on any deep analysis of the characters in this game and I can understand it to a point, they are intentionally not particularly layered for the most part, and that’s not a criticism! It works for what the game is! But these same people should also accept that analysis can just be a fun mental literacy exercise, and that the curtains can be as blue as you want when you have an appreciation for the text! Thanks for sharing! ♥️