Because of this thread, I'm going to make an entirely anime styled Oblivion install. Why you ask? Because merely knowing of its existence will grate on your very souls and that pleases me.

Just because you don't want to be an argonian, a necromancer or a woman, it doesn't mean you shouldn't play one. Anyway given how certain teenagers dress these days (not so much in north London for some reason), some players using the mods you're talking about may be doing just that.

I remember a very long time ago, someone made a mod where you are driving the one and only Corvette in Morrowind.

I still scratch my head over the "whys and wherefores", but in the end, since our Elder Scrolls games are standalone and not on some shared server, as they say, "it ain't hurtin' nobody".

Anime in general may look soft to some, but pick up a few titles and I have to honestly tell you, Skyrim itself is just catching up to what you'd experience in some anime. As for the "bishy" looks, clearly to each their own.

I wrote an entire fan based novel about my own Nord character, Dandowin, who is an atypical Nord by ES standards. He is as he would say, "built for speed, not punishment". Hence, an archer extraordinaire.

The ES games are great for breaking the stereotypes for the most part. My best friend still believed that Nords and such should be stout bearded tanks that wear kilts and speak with a Scottish lilt. The same for the Orc, as brutal and tankish too. Until he played the series and saw that you'll have Orc lords and librarians, and thespian healing Nords, and yes...Elven folk with facial hair. In a game such as these the world is your oyster, and modders are the Prometheus' of that world. Like a certain fantasy novel series? A modder can whip up that world that will lay right over our games, and your characters that you envision will become digital lives that blink, breathe, figit, and fight.

When I create my characters in a game that allows me to generate the full face/body, I will often tweak those slide bars to capture my own likeness, because when I want to be immersed, I am going for the full treatment. If I am going to slay the dragon, I will enjoy it better doing it looking like the 52 year old in my avatar, than to dress it up to look like my former 20 year old dockworker appearance.
But that's me. Some prefer more flair, others less. There is no "it should be this way" with the ES series. Otherwise like one of the Playstation Badur's Gate games, they would have limited you to your choice of the tank Cleric, the gruff theiving Dwarf, or the lithe and spunky Dark Elf. Thank the Divines that these games are nowhere like that.

Well I can at least respect that. You evil [censored].

LAWL, okay, so what you are kind of saying is, "What guy wouldn't want share my superior opinion on how playing a extremely masculine looking character is the only way to go? I mean, really, my way of thinking is the universally RIGHT way to think!" DUDE, can I quote your outrageousness for future study?