randominstance

Cure Wing so far is the strongest attempt to subvert the form as far as Toei’s cash cow goes anyway - he’s a literal soft boi, and doesn’t easily slot into expected cliches for male characters like ‘the genki one’, ’ the mysterious third party outsider’ or 'the aggressive one’. He’s been more useful to the team already than Tuxedo Kamen ever really was, without being pressed into a love interest slot in any way.

I know Toei only really let the writers get away with it because he’s not human, but actually a magic bird that can take human form, so there’s still some plausible deniability there. See, they’re not REALLY making a male cure see, they’re making a mascot Cure, which the series has been a bit more comfortable toying with in previous seasons. See also: Laura in Tropical Rouge basically taking on both the mascot and deuteragonist role while being distinctly Not Human To Start With.

This is also why the jokes about Cure Kabaton are running wild with this series, and not with some of its predecessor villains; we’ve already established animaloids that shape-shift in-verse, so it doesn’t feel like a huge leap for a series that’s poking at the edges to take it just that one step further.

But Toei is being kind of careful and keeps hedging its bets. They can’t afford to lose their young-kid audience or piss off the parents that buy all the accessories.

Wing’s main power of subversion is being a different model of masculinity, as he is reaching toward being 'the prince’ for baby Ellee. (uh oh, says the Utena fan in me, but if Precure was ever gonna go there it would have done it in Go Princess where the reference was explicitly drawn)

And honestly I think that’s a good model for young boys to have to play with, the potential pitfalls of the Dios archetype not withstanding. That kind of problem is for adults to deal with, after all. Let young boys be soft bois if they want, I guess is my point, and in that sense Wing is modeling a comforting alternative to being the rowdy hero.

At least he’s not going down the path of Griffith or Gilbert, lol.