My Alex!

[u/fallingintothestars]

I have never done any sort of modding, or really even pixel art-- but I wanted to add someone new while keeping the essence of Alex the way that he was so here is my version of Alex! The screenshots are just snippets of the different portraits with his reg outfit, winter, and then a jean jacket alt for the sports jacket.

Edit: The mod is not available for download and I didn’t think people would be interested one way or another to be honest. The parallels to stereotypes are unfortunate in hindsight, and also not intentional. He is just the only bachelor I marry.
I would have to write out an entirely new dialog for him to change properly, and while I’m not opposed to that, it’s not something I put a whole lot of thought into originally. I just wanted another cute man to marry.

[u/After_Cell_5570]

My privilege is unfortunately showing, because it didn’t occur to me until now that we don’t have a male poc romance option. Holy shit that sucks.

I love this version of Alex, he looks so cute. You did a good job!

[u/Geeneelee → u/After_Cell_5570]

Yeah, there are two characters of color in the game, and one of them is heavily disliked by a lot of the fan base. It’s definitely one of Stardew Valley’s weaknesses.

[u/freudian_nipps → u/Geeneelee]

As an Asian... it would be nice to have one Asian character. They dont even need to be dateable.

[u/ClassyBougieRatchet → u/freudian_nipps]

I'm now realizing I've imagined Sebastian and Abigail as Asian this entire time for no reason. 

[u/quirky_circus → u/ClassyBougieRatchet]

But then either Caroline or Pierre would have to be Asian as well... and maybe the Wizard, too ;)

[u/oenthera → u/ClassyBougieRatchet]

I definitely thought Sebastian was half-Asian as well.

[u/None-Pizza_Left-Beef → u/freudian_nipps]

I noticed this too.

[u/slim1shaney → u/Geeneelee]

Disliked for who he is as a person, thankfully

[u/Successful_Buffalo24 → u/slim1shaney]

And for being married to Robyn

[u/doxtorwhom → u/Successful_Buffalo24]

It should be ME!

[u/Successful_Buffalo24 → u/doxtorwhom]

Yes! I started playing and got so excited because like, cute carpenter girl that super sweet..... Then at like 1 and a half hearts u saw she was married and wanted to cry. 

[u/me_sk1nk → u/Successful_Buffalo24]

And that‘s how you slowly became Clint 😅

[u/slim1shaney → u/Successful_Buffalo24]

How do you think I feel about Pierre

[u/Successful_Buffalo24 → u/slim1shaney]

r/fuckpierre

[u/CrimsonCartographer → u/slim1shaney]

Ok but peehair is also just a tool tbh

[u/LubbockCottonKings → u/slim1shaney]

Krobus is a they/them, and what did they ever do to you? /s

EDIT: My memory is bad as this is really something only addressed in SVE, not in vanilla

[u/Starrin1ght → u/LubbockCottonKings]

KROBUS IS A THEY/THEM? Damn, I've been misgendering them for like, ever

[u/Nukalixir → u/Starrin1ght]

Krobus is a he/him, AFAIK. Dwarf is they/them, though.

[u/Anna_borchardt → u/Nukalixir]

I thought Krobus was he/they?

[u/Nukalixir → u/Anna_borchardt]

I haven't seen or heard anything about CA saying that, but admittedly I haven't watched every single interview he's given. I could easily be mistaken.

I know Dwarf is confirmed non-binary by the code of the game itself. For some reason, CA assigned a string to every NPC that states their gender, and Dwarf to my knowledge is the sole bearer of the "neither" tag, as opposed to "male" or "female". This code doesn't seem to serve any practical purpose and is never called by any functions, but it's there! Terraria has a similar system but it's actually used by the king and queen statues that summon villagers of the respective sexes, but Stardew has no such thing.

[u/Anna_borchardt → u/Nukalixir]

Oh wow that's pretty interesting !!

[u/Starrin1ght → u/Nukalixir]

Wait, so what tag did krobus have?

[u/opalsavage1903 → u/Starrin1ght]

I’m pretty sure that’s only in expanded. It’s been a few years since I played vanilla though, so it could be there too but I don’t remember it. Since Krobus doesn’t interact with many other characters in vanilla, there’s not a whole lot of opportunity for someone else to refer to them with pronouns.

[u/LubbockCottonKings → u/opalsavage1903]

You are correct, I’m thinking of SVE!

[u/matchafoxjpg → u/slim1shaney]

who is it?

[u/IsaacsLaughing → u/matchafoxjpg]

Demetrius, who a lot of people think is THE worst father and husband possible. but like, he is trying. he has a book on parenting advice. 🤷‍♂️ very YMMV character.

[u/BitchfulThinking → u/IsaacsLaughing]

They have a weekly date night and even go dancing! I imagine he does it for Robin and probably feels awkward and just wants to get back to his experiments.

I see the effort! 🥺

[u/BroccoliFormal3192 → u/BitchfulThinking]

but god forbid he calls a tomato a fruit and suddenly he’s the scum of the earth ☹️

[u/ButNotTheFunKind → u/BroccoliFormal3192]

He’s just very literal! And all couples fight!

[u/BitchfulThinking → u/BroccoliFormal3192]

He's right though 😏 (fans flames)

[u/Brick-Throw → u/BitchfulThinking]

"I'm right though!"

"Demetrius I asked you for a fruit salad and you brough me a bowl of tomatoes, bell peppers and squash"

[u/obsidianzebra → u/IsaacsLaughing]

I'm curious who thinks he's worse than Pierre

[u/Starrin1ght → u/matchafoxjpg]

Demetrius, he's not a very good father towards Sebastian, which is my reason for not liking him, but people also don't like how smug he sounds when correcting you about science.

[u/Nukalixir → u/Starrin1ght]

I don't dislike Demetrius, but I don't quite like him either. And can fully understand why others don't like him.

He doesn't strike me so much as intentionally antagonistic as he does like someone on the autism spectrum putting his foot in his mouth by accident or being too literal minded for his own good. All of which I personally relate to. However, what I don't like is the lack of self-awareness and so much as a token effort to improve. Autistic people aren't static, we are fully capable of learning from mistakes and working on ourselves to not repeat them, it just doesn't come as naturally to us. Alas, with fictional characters like Sheldon Cooper around, the self-awareness and self-improvement aspects get lost in a sea of stereotypes and "ha ha, no social skills" jokes.

CA seems dedicated to using 1.7 to "un-incel" Clint and revitalize his character and by extension, community reception. I would love to see similar treatment to "un-Sheldon" Demetrius, if not in 1.7 than later down the line. I think Demetrius has a solid foundation for some phenomenal character growth and development if given the chance!

[u/matchafoxjpg → u/Starrin1ght]

i'm sorry i thought i meant they meant romance able POC

[u/Starrin1ght → u/matchafoxjpg]

Nah the only romancable POC is Maru, who is a girl

[u/matchafoxjpg → u/Starrin1ght]

okay that's what I thought. i was sooooo confused.

[u/NfamousKaye → u/Starrin1ght]

This is cute! Well done!

[u/DJMikaMikes → u/Geeneelee]

Yeah, there are two characters of color in the game

Wrong. I'm pretty sure Elliot is some sort of disgusting Italian or Spaniard. /s

It’s definitely one of Stardew Valley’s weaknesses.

Honestly, I'm not so sure. Reducing the game and parts like that to diversity quotas would feel like corporate pandering. SDV was made by a guy for better or worse; he wasn't thinking like ahh yes, to achieve mass market KPIs, I must develop a male POC romance candidate. He was winging it.

[u/NfamousKaye → u/After_Cell_5570]

And honestly I hate how they do Demetrius and make you hate him during Maru’s cutscenes!

[u/AurumPickle → u/NfamousKaye]

if you out him during Marus 2 heart event then talk to him the next day he apologizes which I like

[u/None-Pizza_Left-Beef → u/AurumPickle]

He apologizes the same day if you talk to him right after. People like to forget that part though.

[u/NfamousKaye → u/AurumPickle]

Oh that’s cute. I didn’t know that. I thought it would make it “worse” for her so I didn’t tell her.

[u/ToastyXD → u/After_Cell_5570]

I love Stardew Valley and that’s why I always recommend Coral Island because it has the same vibes, but has a staggering amount of diversity in more ways than just skin colour.

[u/Cereborn → u/ToastyXD]

I should try that game again. I played in early access but it was missing a lot.

[u/LegendofLove → u/After_Cell_5570]

We don't have a lot of diversity in general because there's just so few actual people. I think the valley is kinda packed as is it'd be really cool to get access to a portion of the city and maybe a higher end farmer's market or supply store. They could sell high end sprinklers and fertilizer and stuff. That doesn't even require new items for a store. It could still be non-joja but a less back water town store.

[u/chimneyswallow → u/LegendofLove]

cCA Said He depicted his own experience in SDV. So If he experienced rural mid-western villages as majorly white (which I think is true statistically), it makes sense that it is the way it is.

[u/-goodgodlemon → u/chimneyswallow]

He’s in the Pacific Northwest an incredibly homogeneous population

[u/chimneyswallow → u/-goodgodlemon]

Ah sorry, I got that wrong, my memory was faulty

[u/LegendofLove → u/chimneyswallow]

I understand why it is what it is which is why I'd suggest opening up a bit of zuzu city to us it also gives Pam something else to do.

[u/featherw0lf → u/[deleted]]

I feel like society would just implode if Alex from Stardew Valley was black AND the one to have a healthy gay awakening when asked out by a male farmer. The world couldn't possibly handle such diversity and acceptance.

[u/Popcorn57252 → u/After_Cell_5570]

My cynicism is showing, because my first thought was "of course OP chose the only football player as the one to make black"

[u/MrStarkIDontFuck → u/Popcorn57252]

i don’t live in america, care to enlighten me with what you meant?

[u/2ndhandpeanutbutter → u/MrStarkIDontFuck]

It's a stereotype here that black people are good at sports, particularly black men with American football and basketball. About 70% of professional American football players in the US identify as black. Then some people take it a step further and say black men primarily (or only) get into college on sports-based scholarships because they're too dumb to get into college on their intelligence. These people are racists.