Fem'Hadar

Addressing Fem'Hadar:

I can understand the resistance to the concept due to canon, and it would have taken more work on the part of the dev team to conceptualize just what such female Jem would look like and such. I can also understand that, even if they had the time and inclination to do so, they might be hesitant to introduce such a blatant change due to worry that it would offend the more "canon purist" segment of the fanbase. There is a line to be walked between being overly restricted by canon and going too far with originality, and they may have felt that such a concept would be too much.

However, if I were going to do it I'd restrict it to Vanguard because they'd be specifically a variation introduced by Odo into his own custom line of Jem'Hadar. I could see the justification as being that Odo was raised among Solids with at least some degree of immersion into their culture. He may the current state of Jem'Hadar as all "male" as a reminder of how restricted their lives and culture are due to the cold way the other Founders see and use them only as cannon fodder. Or it may just "feel" wrong to him considering he's spent so long among dual gendered humanoids. One justification would be that, since these Jem'Hadar are meant to operate much more closely with Alpha Quadrant humanoids, he might feel that introducing a male-female diversity would make them easier to relate to and symbolic that his are more individualized and "normal". This same justification might also inspire him to introduce a bit more individual variation into the "male" Jem as well, emphasizing that they are closer to normal beings and less like manufactured automatons. Regardless, they wouldn't be truly female any more than regular Jem are actually male, the change would be largely cosmetic and both variants would remain without reproductive capability. Their gender would be cosmetic only, just as it is in "male" Jem, and they would be just as sexless.

As to design, it's a simple process of giving them the standard female body type, more hair, less spikes and softer smoother features. They'd still be scaled reptile-people, but they'd probably end up looking more like snake-women than humanoid horned toads.

This storyline is not finished, we will probably be in this corner of the galaxy dealing with DS9 related stuff for at least the rest of the year. If they wish, the devs could introduce this with the explanation I provided above. They could also, if they chose, provide the "Vanguard Vorta" combat captain concept that has been discussed elsewhere as another option for players to explore. What we as players need to do is continue asking politely and letting them know that, if they offer these options, we will pay for them.