The Last of Us Part 2 fans wage war over Abby concept art vs. final design

The Last of Us Part 2 fans are again waging war over Abby with many arguing that early concept art is better than the final design.

[-Foxtrot]

Concept is better, she looks more like a parallel to Ellie

[Furesis]

I'm with you and the concept looks more real to me that fits the world and theme better.
And i never was a fan how some of the characters look too... modern or too clean i guess? It makes sense but i would have liked more of a rough and rugged look closer to the first game even if it makes less sense. It's just the vibe you know

[_SilverHawk_]

The last of us 2 is one of the most amazing game I've ever played and I'm glad it was made by one of the best game development studio in the world and not cardboard developers.

[Vits]

Yes, definitely agree.

Admittedly though. The final model does align more seamlessly with the game's absurd levels of ludonarrative dissonance. Integrating it with the conceptual design would likely accentuate the already glaring gap and hurt the immersion even more.

[S2Killinit]

I think I really liked everything about TLOU2. It was on another level. I can’t think of game like it. Truly an amazing achievement regardless of what subjective criticism might be thrown its way. No one can take away the fact that TLOU is a rare game.

Opinions are like assholes, everyone got one.

[Jin_Sakai]

Concept art is much better. Sucks that we got WWE Abby instead.

[xHeavYx]

People bitch about everything. The concept looks like a black woman so if they had used her, then people would bitch about that.
I don't understand why people have a hard time believing that people would be jacked in that kind of universe. If you think about it, even Ellie should be a bit more buff

[Sarcasm]

@xHeavYx

Do you know how many calories you have to consume for a woman to have a build like that? Hell, even a normal male would need at least 5000 calories a day to get anything close to her build, and work out 5-6 hours per day.

It's unrealistic.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

@xHeavYx because she needs at least 3,000 calories and 1 hour of gym daily. Also no one else is as jacked as Abby, not even ex-military or marines. The amount of supplements and exercise Abby needs to maintain that kind of muscle mass, especially during her 'trips,' is simply not possible in a post-apocalyptic world.

Biologically, higher levels of testosterone help men build muscles bigger and faster. Men have up to 20 times higher levels than women. Getting your muscles bigger isn't even the obstacle—it's preventing your body from devouring those muscles to preserve energy. It's hard for men to grow and keep a build as big as hers naturally; it's impossible for women (if she's one that is).

At the end of the day it's a fictional work that needs a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief.

[frostypants]

The one they went with was unrealistically buff unless she was taking steroids or HGH. She looked ridiculous.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I agree, concept looks better, game Abby doesn't look realistic for the setting.

[Crows90]

Precisely the problem. Not to mention you'd think there'd be other bug buff guys but there really isn't. She's bigger than everyone else...doesn't make any sense.

[-Foxtrot]

Yeah this is the issue

People keep saying “scared of big muscular woman” or “how fragile” but it just doesn’t make sense for the universe the first game introduced for us

Regardless of the WLF base having cattle stock, food, a gym they had they would still need to ration hard as f***, extra burritos or not she would not get to the size she is with all those circumstances in play and achieving this a few years after her dad was killed? No way. She’s even bigger than most men on the game which is even more puzzling.

We have bodybuilders today of course but that’s our world full of almost unlimited calories, the right equipment and steroids

The funny thing is during the early reveal trailer of Abby, back when we thought it was Ellie’s mother originally, she was actually less muscular than the final product

Neil has some weird point to prove and if you’ve seen his video game panel where he talked about misogyny in the gaming industry along with female characters and their designs (echoing Anita Sarksian), I think her final design starts to make sense.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

@Foxtrot,

That's precisely why it's unrealistic, she doesn't have the conditions/prerequisites that would enable her to get that big, no one does in that setting, it's too hard to survive as it is. I didn't want to pull the woke card, especially since I'm a progressive person myself, but Neil's agenda is to really push those kinds of politics in this game, I can ignore it, but the character doesn't make sense for the setting otherwise.

[victorMaje]

Agreed. I loved the game but Abby always felt weird, messed with my willing suspension of disbelief.
Concept art would’ve been way more realistic.

[Kyizen]

I think she looks to much like Ellie on the concept and like Trish

[SeTTriP]

@_SilverHawk_ I agree this was one of the best games I ever played as well.i can see why some people dislike it story wise but the gameplay and the script (except for some contrived bits) and acting was leagues above everything.even Xboxes lord and savior Phil came out and said, it was a couple of levels beyond anything Microsoft or Nintendo had produced.

[anast]

the script (except for some contrived bits) I agree, the story is probably the best in gaming, but it is nowhere near the best in literature and entertainment.

[Crows90]

Story is not the best. It's got great graphics and animations. Awesome attention to detail too...the first was much better overall.

I can remember every single...or most encounters in the 1st game...the second...I only remember a few.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Island has the best story out of any game I've played since 1989, if I'm being honest.

[anast]

Too many ads not every would load, so I had to find the images myself. Any way, I am happy they decided to scrap the original concept art, Abby needed to stand out and that was accomplished.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I sometimes get this issue too, where the images just don't load, except the ads.

[CrimsonWing69]

Man, I don’t know if it’s because I already played the game and the character is established for me, but I prefer what we got over the concept art.

[babadivad]

Her character model made her stand out unrealistically for the world she inhabited. It's completely inconceivable that a woman would look like that in a post apocalyptic setting.

Hell, even now. It would take tons of "gear" and copious ammonts of calories and supplements for a woman to look like she does in the modern age.

It would be a little more plausible (not much, but a little) it we didn't see her as the ordinary looking girl she was in the past before her Hulk transformation.

[CrimsonWing69]

I don’t know if it’s because I enjoy games where a spikey-haired dude carries a sword the size of a Volkswagen Beetle or people that shoot balls of energy from their hands, but her model not being “realistic” due to working out or caloric intake in a world of fungal people never really took me out of it.

[babadivad]

@Crimson Wing

Naughty Dog crafted a "believable" and plausible dystopia. When TLOU 1 came out, they specifically said they didn't want to create a genetic zombie game.

They sought out a real world examples of how something like this could happen to humans. There are fungi in the real world that infect animals, take over their bodies, and turn them into mindless husk that serve the interests of the fungal host.

That's is the world THEY created and why it's so interesting. They set the standard for their world being as real and believable as possible. That's what made it so great.

In TLOU2, they decided to throw out all the grounded world building by introducing such an unrealistic character.

There are no spiked haired claymore carrying people in TLOU. That's probably the most pathetic attempt at a strawman I have ever seen.

In a setting where you wanted to keep the story as grounded in reality as possible (per Naughty Dogs own intentions when creating this universe) Abby's character model completely breaks that part of the world building.

It should be impossible for a girl like her to go from a normal girl to a hulk-esque physique going by the rules of dystopian universe they created.

Like I said before, in reality, you will need a cocktail of "gear" and an obscene amount of calories for a worman to go through that kind of transformation.

[generic-user-name]

In TLOU1 you pop pills to buff Joel. In TLOU1 you, as Ellie, a 14 year old girl who has lived in a QZ most of her life; kill multiple armed, muscular men. As Joel you kill many more, including the hospital base of a military group, single handedly. In TLOU1 a fungal infection gives people the power of echolocation.

What do you think is more believable? All this, or one muscular woman in the world, who could be dosing, is well fed and trained and could be a genetic freak?

[jznrpg]

It’s a video game and I don’t mind games having video game type elements even in serious games. The first game wasn’t hyper realistic either. 13 year old miniature Rambo girl killing all over the place is so realistic!

[babadivad]

@Generic and jznrpg

"You pop pills to buff Joel". You are conflating gameplay with world building.

Buffing stats is a part of gameplay. In world, Joel is just a normal human and behaves this way in every narrative section of the story.

Ellie never overpowered any grown "muscular" men. Her part of the story is all stealth. Even the gameplay parts. You could not overpower the enemies. You had to use weapons and stealth.

Even with her "boss fight", she had to hide and sneak attack David with a knife several times. Even then, when he got his hands on Ellie, he over powered her easily. Even after getting stabbed multiple times. Because as a grown man, even injured, he has enough strength to overpower a little girl.

Abby on the other hand was shown not to be a "genetic freak". They showed her as a small waifish girl. A person like that could live in the gym night and day and never achieve the physique Abby has in TLOU2.

Ellie was captured because David and his team were scavenging for food. Like everyone else in that world. It's is completely implausible for Abby to have a spare 3-5k calories, a cocktail of gear, and time to hit the gym everyday to maintain a body like that. Not with resources being so scarce.

It's ridiculously hard to go through a body transformation like that with all the modern medicine and resources we have in our world. It borders on absurd for that to be available to Abby in her post apocalyptic world.

[thecodingart]

Should have ran with something more like the concept art.

[Crows90]

Making Abby attractive and much more likeable or deadly instead of what they did would've been a much better approach.

Instead we got an average beefed up jockie

[ChasterMies]

“Making Abby attractive”

Dude, it’s not that kind of entertainment.

[jznrpg]

I’ve met some really tough women before who could fight but none of them were what I would call attractive.Not saying there isn’t any but I’d guess a lesser percentage of good looking women are willing to get their pretty faces punched in to become a capable fighter. I wouldn’t care either way but if people are talking realism than say she should be pretty it just doesn’t add up

[Stanjara]

This is good article... fantastic read.
Terrible story and characters. I hate the game. There it is. I hate it.

[Fonsecap]

Why did they not made the character a dude, I don't get it, is it girl Vs girl they're goal? Because Elly looks like a girl, Abbey looks like a hybrid between a guy and a girl... Idk, is she trans?

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I'm pretty sure trans was the idea, I believe Neil is a big advocate for this kind of thing.

[TheProfessional]

I agree it should've been a guy or someone totally different. A girl avenging her father going against another girl and taking out her father figure. Really contrived.

[generic-user-name]

"A girl avenging her father going against another girl and taking out her father figure. Really contrived."

How is it less contrived if Abby is male?

[bunt-custardly]

Oh, not this again. Nice one Videogamer to drag this old thing up again. And yes actually, I did have issue with Abby's size. It just felt like pandering to the "women are just as badass/tough/strong as men" crowd, yet the two games are full of that already without the need for female lead characters to look like steroid taking lunatics.

ND should have revealed at the end of the game that Abby was actually trans as icing on the cake /s.

[jznrpg]

There is an actual population of super buff women.

[bunt-custardly]

Yes, I've seen the UFC fighter Gabi Garcia and Cris Cyborg.

[Pepsi_Man3000]

lol just one of this games many fuck ups I guess

[gold_drake]

wow her concept art makes her look really badass.

i feel like the Abby we got isnt bad per say, but she always looked like Chaning tatum to me ha.

[DrDoomer]

She had to be a strong woman. And we all know that the only way a woman can be strong, is if she lifts some serious iron and takes anabolic steroids.

[mastershredder]

The idea of muscle bound dude bros / and gals in a dire post apocalyptic setting was beyond dumb, considering food is scarce, and then everything Abby needs to stay roided and ripped would have either been used up or expired long ago.

[Magog]

Such a trite take. Food wasn't scarce for her group and especially for the front line fighters which she was. She reminds me of Bobby from the Expanse. If you devote your every waking moment to being a warrior you're going to be built like one.

[Magog]

@davidliam did you even play the game? They had domestic animals and agriculture.

[generic-user-name]

You literally collect pills in the world to buff your characters. In TLOU TV show it's mentioned that drug production is up and running in Boston.

[Magog]

Concept art is generic. The real Abby is iconic.

[Mr_cheese]

What does it matter at this point? The game was made with the developers vision, released and played years ago.

You either liked it or didn't, we move on

[bunt-custardly]

Well yeh, except VideoGamer wants to retread old ground again for the sake of some clicks just cos now the PS5 audience is going to play the game next year.

[GrizzliS1987]

I don’t have a problem, it is what it is. I will say, as a gym rat myself and a muscle juggernaut at one point, the amount of food and protein I had to eat to be the size that I was, was nearly impossible for an average person to eat, let alone do it on schedule for years.
It really irks me to see Abby the size that she is in an apocalyptic zombie infested world and still manage to find enough protein for a woman to reach the size that she is given the scarcity of food in that world.
She would be eating way more than her fill and portioned rations to maintain that size, it’s so unfitting for the reality she’s in that only a geeky nerd in a development team would think of such a design

[Magog]

In a wartime environment the soldiers absolutely get better and bigger rations. Maybe she just has better genes than you. She could easily have a myostatin deficiency.

[AKS]

They know how to make a great rugged female character demonstrated clearly by Tess. A character like that would have been so much better than a female Hoarah Loux from Elden Ring.

[KicksnSnares]

I'd love to see Abby as a guest character skin in Gears of War multiplayer. She'll look sick/fit in that universe lol

[Murdability]

Druckman is the Kathleen Kennedy of videogames

[P_Bomb]

Hmm. I prefer the concept art.

[raWfodog]

Funny how many people getting bent out of shape over 'unrealistic' buff Abby in a fictional story in a video game.

[Elda]

Exactly!

[Silly Mammo]

"The main issue with complaints about Abby’s character design is that naysayers probably wouldn’t mind the muscles if Abby wasn’t completely unlikable."

I liked Abby more than Ellie by the end of the game. They both lost a lot, but Abby was able to let the anger go in the end while Ellie couldn't.

[RhinoGamer88]

It is interesting that Abby and Ellie needed to be LGBTQ. Disney was not involved in the development, so why was a straight female protagonist/antagonist so toxic? Did the gaming community want this? Gina Carano's straight female design for Abby would be been just fine.

[raWfodog]

Uhh, what game did you play? Abby is not LGBT or Q. You thought she was just because they have her muscular?

[RhinoGamer88]

Abby is definitely an L or T in process. 100%

[raWfodog]

Maybe you think so in your opinion, but it is definitely not fact.

https://gamerant.com/last-o...

“There were some rumors based on the leaks that Abby is a trans character, but that is not the case. She identifies as female and is merely in incredible shape”

Btw, here is a list of all LBGTQ characters in the game (Spoiler alert: Abby is not on the list): https://wegotthiscovered.co...

And if you still think Abby is gay or trans, then you must think Owen was queer since he and Abby had sex, but he was cheating on his pregnant girlfriend, Mel.

[Andrew336]

I clicked the link and what a trash ass website. Do you need 30 ads in one article?

[Games1st]

Meh don't care for either.

[gerbintosh]

Concept looks badass and I think it fits better in the world. Maybe they will use this for the next sequel, I can only hope so.

[generic-user-name]

Abby's physique is used as a tool to drive home how far she has fallen at the end of the game when she no longer looks like that. But no, 'muscle waman bad'

[Zenzuu]

What I don't like is how they changed Ellie's face from the first game to how it is in Part 2. They should have kept the same face from the initial reveal trailer of part 2 when she was singing and playing the guitar.

[Walweeze]

To me its just a video game character. The people who take the hate against her too far are really sad

[GhostScholar]

Yeah let’s rage about if a fictional character looks butch enough when there are actual wars going on and people dying.

[Pyrofire95]

I'm so tried of the internet freaking out over Abby.

[DynDasE]

Concept is superior.
Current Abby is a muscular woman who is somehow has accesses to steroid and protein in a post-apocalyptic world...

[Games1st]

Don't like either.

[Hereandthere]

Game of the last gen on any console, this made red dead 2 look like a last gen game graphically when compared.

[Lexreborn2]

Love how everyone became nutritionists and talk about realism in a game where fungus control humans like zombies. Yup, everyone just immediately forget it’s a game and that it is what it is.

Forget the fact Abby had a dedicated organization that had gyms, gardens and farming. That they routinely had hearty meals and had no entertainment other than fighting and staying alive.

None of that matters because dudes have to do certain things in the real world that gives them a different build because they are dudes. Forget the fact that the woman they based her body on is a very real woman. You guys know what’s best for sure

[mike32UK]

"wage war"... Seriously?

[Inverno]

It's not just her design, her character makes it a bit hard to care for her cause. If they had built up to Joel's death and shown how obsessed she was with finding him and how pissed off she was during the years leading up to it, really showing the psychological affects of her revenge driven emotions, then Joel's death would be better justified. But when you play as Abby she's just some ripped chick who enjoys killing everything with her bare hands. She comes off as being happy, even in the flashbacks of her early WLF days.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

It's a shame that they wasted so much time and have nothing to show for. Hopefully this will be a lesson that single-player, narrative driven games if their wheelhouse. Can't wait to see what they're working on in that department.