They say thick thighs say lives. In Emma Frost's case, they might be designed to do the exact opposite in Marvel Rivals.
If you've been living under a rock or are too caught up in the Nintendo Switch 2 hype and/or discourse surrounding its incredibly good-looking games and weird pricing situation, Emma Frost was revealed as the next Vanguard to join Marvel Rivals. She looks quite more bulky than any iteration we've seen of the White Queen. It's a night and day difference when compared to her Fortnite version, for example.
But could there be a legit gameplay reason behind her voluptuous and pronounced figure beyond just fan service? Turns out, yes, that's likely very possible.
Obviously, fan service is welcomed, and this theory I'm about to present is merely speculation. An educated guess if you will. Bear with me as I try to explain why Emma Frost's thick thighs are needed to balance Marvel Rivals.
Yes, Emma Frost's Thighs Are For Balance Purposes
Let's begin with the fact that The White Queen is a Vanguard. If you're not familiar with the term or are still an Overwatch-only player in the year 2025, that means she's a tank. Tanks/Vanguards are the front liners of any good team in a hero shooter. They can soak up damage and open a way for their team to achieve success.
As such, you need a big frame to spot this archetype. Emma Frost not only has killer thighs, but she's also surprisingly tall in comparison to other characters. It makes perfect sense.
Junkerqueen and Zarya, the two female tanks that don't require a hunk of metal to be of service to their teams in Overwatch also have bigger frames. The precedent is right there.
Size plays a factor gameplay-wise in certain characters. Take, for instance, Hulk/Bruce Banner. He works similar to D.Va in Overwatch. As Hulk, he's a total menace that can wreck an entire team if not dealt with properly. Once you manage to subdue his rage and transforms into Bruce Banner, he becomes a nimble character that's harder to hit but has severely less impact in the game.
You want more evidence of developers tampering with a character's design for gameplay purposes? Okay, let me present my next case: Peter Griffin in Fortnite.
In Family Guy, Peter is rather fat. He has a very distinct shape that some would call iconic. That doesn't really work in Fortnite. Buying and using a skin that's noticeably bigger than the rest would quite literally handicap you. You'd be spotted and shot with more ease due to the bigger hitbox on your character.
How did Fortnite solve this? They gave Peter a slurp juice to buff him up and adjust his frame. Mind you, there are still some wacky hitbox issues but it's more manageable with a slimmer figure.
The way Epic Games has to make similar frames for the skin to not become noticeable disadvantages has turned companies like SEGA off from working with them.
A rumored Fortnite x Sonic crossover was seemingly scrapped because Epic and SEGA couldn't reach an agreement when it came to dealing with the hedgehog's proportions in the battle royale. This made the Japanese company pick up his toys and leave. So if you were wondering why we haven't had any characters from them join Fortnite, that's your answer.
Now, I hear some of you saying: "Simply adjust the hitbox duh, what's the big deal?" Well, at that point, you are messing with the player. Imagine you're in an intense 1v1 against a hypothetical fat Peter Griffin skin. You hit a perfect headshot only to realize that you didn't actually ping the hitbox, you just missed it, barely, while still clearly hitting the in-game model.
Still not convinced Emma's thighs are needed for gameplay reasons? Fair enough. What happens if you don't mess with a character's original design, surely all this hitbox and character frame talk is just gooner copium? Alas, I introduce the ace up my sleeve: Yoda in SoulCalibur IV.
If you're a young chap, you probably don't remember that SoulCalibur was one of the first fighting game franchises to lean into guest characters. Yes, you're probably aware of Link in SoulCalibur II, but did you know that Yoda, Darth Vader, and Starkiller were the guests for the fourth entry?
Back then, we didn't know any better. We happily accepted console-exclusive characters since it was such a cool novelty. As such, while PlayStation users got to enjoy Vader, Xbox fans were treated to a ferocious, hard-to-hit, annoying rat that was technically bad but also frustrating to fight against due to his size.
You can't hit Yoda with high attacks or grab him. So that renders a lot of your moves useless. Sure once you know how to exploit his weaknesses he's nothing more than a mere nuisance, but you see the issue right? At a fundamental gameplay level, he just doesn't work due to his design. He is neither good tier list-wise or fun to play against by virtue of rendering moves useless simply by existing. Size matters.
I'm not saying the thick thighs were the only way you could've solved this issue. A great Twitter artist reimagined Rivals' design to be a bit more lore-accurate and you know what? It works, I dig it. Fits into Emma's personality while retaining a more standard figure.
But ultimately, and hopefully, after this quick dive into what makes a character design function in a multiplayer game, you've come to the understanding that Emma Frost's thighs are more than just fan service. They're an integral part of the core competitive experience offered by Marvel Rivals and their thickness will help uphold the integrity of the game by not making her an overpowered Vanguard.