Yeah, this proves my point. You are complaining about Terry being a stereotype when that is one of the reasons everyone loves him.
You are acting like something is a problem when it's not. It's the same for people who think Terry is the worst pick ever because he's another human male, it's warped identity politics judging a character as 'negative' in some form instead of looking at why people love the character.
I DO want politics to stay out of gaming, unless that's the point of the game itself. Every time politics get involved, it ruins games. I have lots of evidence to stupid socio-political garbage ruining games during development and causing controversies that shouldn't even exist.
Detroit Become Human is an example of socio-political in games done right, as that is part of the game. Dogging on developers because their artistic freedom doesn't fit your views and causing fan-funded games to lose that funding because you attack and insult those fans who funded the game?
That's not how you do it.
*Sees a chance to play Devil's Advocate.*
*Smirks.*
TIME FOR THE PLUNGE! I'll excuse myself in advance for escalating too, but I think this needs to be noted:
Anyhow, whether it's conscious or not, socio-political factors have a habit to seep into art whether they're political or not. That's
human behavior, and it's linked to those who create and consume media. Video games
are not immune to this, being an art form. Sure, Contra may not be political as such but just take a look at its playable characters - its heroes. They are not-Arnold Schwarzenegger and not-Sylvester Stallone. What are those two actors most known for again? Their connection to a
idealized manliness. Dudes who can take on entire armies shirtless while flexing their pecs. Who cares about the rest of the cast? The big buff dudes are stars of the show, and are portrayed as "
real men". And Contra does a similar thing to the movies - Contra's heroes fight hordes of aliens without worrying about such a pansy thing as "protective gear". Contra's not an isolated case when the legendary Bad Dudes and Duke Nukem were created from the same cloth.
I'm saying this as someone who absolutely enjoyed Arnie's Commando (the most Arnie of Arnie films) and considers Rambo II a weird guilty pleasure (Rambo III hasn't aged well. Guess why.) : how a fictional character's framed has its roots in sometimes serious matters. I don't believe for a second that Contra was made to send a serious message, but it does send a message regardless. Whether the creator wanted it or not.
It's really hard to avoid.
Is it truly wrong to at least dive deeper? Sometimes asking those questions can be extremely difficult to do. Or uncomfortable. But even though the whole plate might taste awful, knowing about stuff one might take for granted (like how one defines ones identity contra others) can be a major benefit. Because identity has strengths and weaknesses. Always.
As for Geno? From an outsider's perspective (me) he kinda seems like a JPRG take on Pinocchio. When one thinks of Pinocchio, what does one think of? The Disney movie, most likely, but also the older stories. Coming to think of it, Geno's similarities to Pinocchio are uncanny. Wooden boy, connected to a star in some shape or form, as well as wishes. The Disney film has also been subject of serious historical study, to qoute Wikipedia:
Nicolas Sammond argues that the film is "an apt metaphor for the metaphysics of midcentury American child-rearing" and that the film is "ultimately an assimilationist fable".
This qoute was pulled from Susan Honeyman's "Consuming Agency in Fairy Tales, Childlore and Folkliterature.". That's as far from serious political stuff as you can go, and it's still subject to academic interest 50+ years after the film was released.
What's to say that some academic, writing in lets say 2070, won't write about Geno, his story and his fanbase? And frame it in serious matters? It might be of interest to said academic, for example, to ask questions such as how Geno attracted such loyalty, how his fans reacted to (un)welcome news and what they do right now. The 2070 scholar might even decide to qoute your very post to prove a point about the social climate right now.
Geno wasn't created to send any serious message, but it's easy for non-serious characters to be caught up in serious matters. Would A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh's creator, ever believe you if you told him China decided to outright ban Winnie's image?
♪!? 
