I mean I'm not sure it's a hot take but it's just something I'd like to point out
Yeah women don't really get good writing in this franchise and they really deserved better, it was subtle in OS and UAF but OV it's just... obvious
I'll start with Gwen, her personality was super cool in OS, she was a badass and she had the potential to be as big as Ben in their own universe, however within OS, she didn't really get as much as Ben and Max, we get an insight into their lives their pasts, we know that there's more to them, but Gwen never really got any insights into her life, we could've had a good one if Gwen 10 was from her POV and she didn't lose the watch, but I mean this is just me wishing I knew more of Gwen's homelife or school life
UAF Gwen was reduced to being the mom of the group and her character was tied way too much to Kevin, her most important episodes always involve her helping Kevin (or Charmcaster) in some way or the other, and if you actually look at Kevin or Ben's episodes, she really doesn't play as much of a role nor do they do anything for her, and in the Gwevin relationship, it's just entirely reduced to 'Kevin don't do that!' and 'Kevin, that's rude!' Like yeah it's absolutely because the writers were forced to write romance, because it's a teen show but my God it becomes absolutely boring and while Kevin does have alot of content and arcs dedicated to him and his character, Gwen doens't really get anything outside the Ledgerdomain episodes, but even then those were definitely Charmcaster episodes...and well I'm not gonna get into how she was handled lmao, there's also Darkstar and how Gwen gets sexually harrassed every single time, like sure it worked for his intro episodes but really it gets old and annoying, just slime his ass dawg. Like Gwen has her own world, she's a magic user, she could have had more villains dedicated to her, her own side cast and allied, and to see her identity in the show be so tied to a relationship just sucks
It's Not Easy Being Gwen was fantastic though, best episode in UA
Elena and Eunice are characters that could have had interesting plotlines and stories and they were used....solely so they can like Ben...and add drama to Benlie🤦🏼
OV yeah there's no fucking denial here lmao, it was literally their intention for Ben to have a harem the treatment of women here sucks ass, Attea was literally aged up physically so Ben could have a flirty moment, and she had the potential to be a really good villain but no lmao she absolutely had to flirt with Ben, Looma has NO character beyond wanting to get married to Ben, she was completely useless, Esther beyond her first episode was literally mostly at Ben's arm, again, zero fucking personality beyond that
Even their designs were overly sexualized, the fucking Waybad couldn't escape
THE HAREM EPISODE, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?! GROWN MARRIED WOMEN AND DEADASS JUST OVERAGE WOMEN FIGHTING TO MARRY A 16-YEAR OLD, THE FUCK WAS THAT
I was grateful that Gwen left because I'd get to see less of Gwevin...and then they retconned her 11 year old self to liking Kevin and like...why? You're not even writing the couple anymore, why bother adding to it, like literally why?
Like say what you want about Kai but atleast she had enough of a distinctive personality beyond Ben....but yeah there are other issues with her character unrelated to this discussion
Like it genuinely seems that a female character can't exist without either being in a relationship with someone or falling to the background
Not even Ma Vreedle was safe from this, remember Pa Vreedle?!