Dude this is a video game, and I'm drawing parallels to other media where the original writers left or weren't available anymore and instead of telling a cohesive story, decided instead to pander. I have absolutely no idea what that has to do with male insecurity (I suspect you saw that phrase on Tumblr once and now you use it all the time to put people on the defensive about something they're not even talking about). The comparison is apt here, and both properties have been criticized by their own fans for it. Zavala did, in fact, turn into a lunatic after that mission and charged headlong and alone into danger, and his ghost did in fact have to sacrifice itself to save him, and the Zavala's lack of faith in the traveler started with his wife and kid going away, as per the season of the haunted. It got worse because of external factors, but that's definitely what started it. Keep your Tumblr talk on Tumblr please. I have no problems with gay or trans people, and I have several of both in my clan and I play with them every time I'm online. What I have a problem with is poor storytelling that leans on the fact that criticizing it in any way immediately draws dumb, overused buzzwords that take away from the actual context of the conversation. Their little love monologue being done over public radio at the beginning of a season that has nothing to do with either of them is pandering, plain and simple, and it's just like RWBY did it. It didn't work then, it doesn't work now, and pandering is for losers.