#rambling here because she's underutilized in the underutilized group 😭

[colorfuldream]

It's crazy that even now people still are mitigated on Frye like they literally have her everything to be a fan favorite?? Girlie is an amalgam of the best traits of the previous idols but people got stuck on her forehead

Droopy but big eyes, nice body, fun and bubbly personality with the hints of a more feisty/harsh temper along with being cunning whenever she's being a bandit, kicks ass, overall loving person and very silly, cool boss fight... And she still has some sassy comebacks to round her up

The difference between her popularity and the others' is crazy, they gave her everything to win everyone over. Genuinely if they hadn't given her such a big forehead as they had planned, she'd be a fan favorite or a string contestant. Even her beta designs have a stronger feel than Shiver's who got a more mellow vibe (side note but it did fit her wanting to be edgy and cool along with her being into fashion! They haven't shown it yet but the early designs, particularly the punk-ish one, did. Her being able to create a desired image of herself through her style would have been a great detail!)

Another thing is how Frye's flaws are underplayed, a bit like Big Man's, and just played as her being silly, cute, and a bit feisty. Shiver's are obvious. She's greedy, jealous, petty, passive aggressive but still quick to anger, and prone to violence. Her personality is properly displayed at all times, though personally I think we should see more of it as Deep Cut are supposed to be villains and not as prim and proper as the other idols, and her flaws are a big part of it. The same goes for Big Man.

So even when Frye is the least obviously flawed of the three and the closest to a regular idol, she's the least popular. Her Splatfest options are often the "obvious" ones (either to her character or to the question).

The devs really, reaaaally tried to make her liked and they miserably failed. Yes, they can't force it but by trying so hard, they set her up for failure. You know why people love Shiver? Because she's flawed, bitchy at times, boasting when she wins, lying to make her team more popular. When she said who she would be without Deep Cuts in the dialogue instrument Splatfest, it was believable. Ofc same with Big Man. Yeah, with everything we know about them, I can believe that she would be a loner and getting into fights and that he would stay far away from the spotlight.

But with Frye? Nope. I don't buy that she'd hop from band to band, from project to project. The only thing that makes it work is that she's bubbly. We don't know enough about her to imagine how she could be and how she normally acts. At most, her look when she was in school hints that she was popular/outgoing but nothing more.

All Frye gets is hints. She hints that she also gets into fights herself and possibly with Shiver, though Shiver has a need to prove herself and do it alone, but she doesn't get caught. She was said to not have been good at stealing at first, which in itself hints that Shiver taught her and was good at a young age (worrying, she doesn't seem to have a good childhood!), but now she's hinted at being the better of the three. She can use the smoke bombs, she's actually threatening, she wants to fight and doesn't goof around (even if she gets distracted before the rematch but by then you aren't enemies). She's greedy, less than Shiver and possibly not because she wants money (Shiver is highly implied to want money for the sake of it and not (just?) because they donate it (and are constantly broke)), she's resentful and petty, she's quick to anger but hides it for a while. This last thing? Implied. We get hints that she puts on a persona, possibly amplifying certain traits, to be more idol-like. She slips up sometimes but nothing bad. One could theorize that she started it when she was young, putting on an innocent and sweet persona to cover her misdeeds and that it made her well-liked/not as isolated as the other two, but it has little to no proof to justify it. One could theorize she's not the most emotionally stable person but apart from Marina's statement in Side Order and how quickly she gets angry there isn't much to back it up.

Frye is thus flat. Information about her is too scarce and too vague to properly build her up as a character. Not to mention that her flip-flopping on things like her hatred of Inkopolis. It makes her inconsistent, which is a problem that applies to the entire group but not to this extent, instead of nuanced. She doesn't have to be as obvious as Shiver but my God just give us details and let her flaws shine through. Deep Cut barely having any development impacts her the most, in my opinion. At least it's obvious that Shiver's silliness doesn't show in the Anarchy Splatcast because it's a more controlled environment, she doesn't want to appear cool in the same way, and she's more natural (though still a try-hard) and it's obvious that Big Man's not just a softie but also a coward and doesn't think of warning/communicating with his friends and frequently goes behind their backs. We get to see just enough of them to have an idea of who they are while Frye is just... Silly hot-headed woman who's cute but gets into (dance) fights. Her biggest accomplishments are her picking fights with OTH with Shiver on her tail.

It isn't helped with the news dialogue: what do we learn about her? She likes food. She has a big family that she adores (which took a LONG time to be talked about, the dialogues were so dry at the beginning!) and, while this is realistic, it makes up for most of her lines. What about her friends? Pearl, for example, had a devastating line about having a best friend... While Marina thought she was her best friend, implying that Pearl is HER best friend but SHE isn't. That's such a nice tidbit of information! We get similar details about Shiver and Big Man: Shiver doesn't have any other friends, never has, and it's stated a few times; Big Man is open to other people but shy, and a bit afraid because Shiver is possessive and one could argue that so is Frye, but he sometimes tries to reach out and succeeds (yay Big Man and Mariana friendship!). But we don't get squat about Frye. Does she have a lot of friends? Acquaintances? Has she narrowed her circle to Deep Cut and family? Since she gets angry easily and they're all competitive but somehow not for Splatfests (except Shiver who gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss to victory), are her friends an exception or is she keeping it in? Can't we have a line along the lines of "you're lucky it's you" while the other two rag on her choice (or when one of them boasts about something) or something like "Splatfests are about having fun and partying!" to show that she doesn't care about results? We do have a small hint that she sees them as parties (and it makes sense with her being influenced by Indian culture and Splatfests in Splatsville having religious connotations). Just a little quip to get more information out. The Splatfest dialogue is so dry, I get that they don't care and there's no stakes for them but jeez, please come to another conclusion that "yay all three options are nice" and "let's do them all!"

Deep Cut has a lot of information about them repeated but not a lot of additions. With the end drawing near, I really hope the next few events drop some information about them before they inevitably get pushed aside for the new idols (or OTH again. Please Nintendo, give us a Deep Cut DLC. I don't care if it doesn't make sense for them not to be in the Splatslands, give us ANYTHING)

Side note, they keep switching which yellow Frye is even in things that use her 3D model. I get that the main 2D art is more orange-y/less bright because it was made before and then there's an orange hue on the concert image but why is the Anarchy Splatcast segment in the latest concert has her colors be different?? It's a lot more pleasant to the eyes. I get they (originally) meant for her to be on the same side of the color wheel as Marie and Marina but gosh they could have done something to make her less bright. Their refusal to use her canon colors just goes to show that it wasn't the best choice,,