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Return to Soul Calibur: Cassandra, Part  2

Soul Calibur IV/V: The Worst One

I don’t know why I do this to myself, but I decided to tackle the worst out of Cassandra’s outfits. The design started kind of silly at first, with me giving her a butt armor plating pretty much immediately. If she’s going to have a bunch of butt attacks, she might as well pack a real punch with those cheeks.

But as I was trying to figure out how to redo her entire upper half, which I hated all of, I ended up looking up some traditional Greek clothing for inspiration. Even though this is a while after Cass left home, I still wanted to include something that tied her back there. As I was explaining during a stream, SC has all these varied characters from all over the world, all with their own motivations, and yet their designs (especially in the later games) are so focused on the fan-service that any actual storytelling is lost.

In the end, I maintained the color scheme, and even the overall shape spread, with the legs being the biggest shapes (although reversed), and the small shapes breaking up the larger shape of the jacket. I guess the only shape I really broke up were in the arms, because I hate her stupid gloves lol.

I got rid of all of her pink ribbons because they just seem out-of-place no matter how you look at it. Guess they were tying the pink of the shield into her outfit, but they were too stupid. Rest in Pieces, ribbons.

This design would probably suit an earlier game, but whatevs. Overall, it’s pretty passable, if I do say so myself.

-Icy

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No stream this week

bikiniarmorbattledamage:

Not sure whether it will be a longer hiatus than one week, but Icy’s wrist been acting up and  asking for some rest. 

See you next time!

~Ozzie & Icy

One more week of Bad Wrist. 😔 Thanks for your patience, everyone!

~Ozzie and Icy

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No stream this week

Not sure whether it will be a longer hiatus than one week, but Icy’s wrist been acting up and  asking for some rest. 

See you next time!

~Ozzie & Icy

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otherwindow:

otherwindow:

Concept: A typical baggy robed male mage but his behind is exposed like a modern backless dress.

Can  we get all the overheated wizards dress like that from now on? I wouldn’t need to dress Ezren down if he had party in the back like that! 

~Ozzie 

PS: Completely BTW, the wild mix of fandoms in the notes of this post is delightful. Everyone sees their best boys in him. 👀

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Return to Soul Calibur: Cassandra, Part  1

Soul Calibur’s Cassandra, much like her Greek mythology namesake, is cursed. But instead of no-one believing her accurate prophecies, no-one ever gives her adequate costume!
And, as per usual in the franchise, designs basically only get worse over time. So we agreed to do a double-Cassandra stream and fix two different outfits of hers. 

Soul Calibur 6: Orange-white minidress 

While this is her latest iteration, I wouldn’t call the SC6 Cassandra dress the worst by a long shot. Still plenty shitty, though! See its bingo here.

It is rather surprising that after years of her main color scheme being blue and pink with white details, latest game changed it to orange and white with blue detail. The new, complimentary, colors look nice together. I don’t think the palette change was necessary, but unlike many designs we comment on, this one’s artists have their basic color theory in check. 

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Obviously, first thing to change was the boob window. I decided to color in that whole part white (not orange) and connect it with her collar, to give the remaining orange part a vest-like look. Moved its hem a bit higher, too, so that it stops implying low cut cleavage. Some subtler, but still annoyingly sexualized parts, like sideboobs and the belt on her chest, also had to go.
I usually don’t mind bare shoulders, but this design looked better with some poofy sleeves, in lieu of our stream redesign staple, the poofy pants.

I decided to extend the front and back flap on her dress, and to add two side flaps under the tassets, as an additional splash of color and some padding. And while I appreciate how comfortable her shoes looked, I turned them into longer boots that look much better with this cut of costume. 

Rather than a massive overhaul, it was the kind of redesign that consists of many small changes that add up. And I’m quite happy with the whole thing. Hope you enjoy it!

~Ozzie

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caitsketches:

Daytime reblog and also I’m gonna tag @bikiniarmorbattledamage

caitsketches:

I wanted to do one from the front so it’s easier to see what I did with her chest plate! I just made it a lil more protective while keeping with the design

What do you think?

I think she would not get an arrow through her cleavage if she wore this armor!* 

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Good job in fixing Pyrrha, @caitsketches​! I appreciate how much difference such a simple change can make. 

Personally, as a big opposer of Sameface Syndrome, I have a huge beef with RWBY’s character and costume designs in general. I welcome any fix to their absurd double standards and obsession with making everything look gratuitously “cool” and anime-like without questioning how much it fits the characters and worldbuilding. Especially the casual sexualization of teenage girls. Uuugh. 😖

~Ozzie 

Comparing between this and the original honestly points out how embarrassingly close the creators were to a good design. 

Literally connect the neck thing to the chest piece, and give her pants, and we wouldn’t need a redesign. 

-Icy 

*Sorry not sorry for spoiling ancient seasons. 
Also, while plate armor isn’t considered a fool-proof protection against arrows, it’s obviously better than no protection at all. 

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redtallin:

An Aasimar Cleric for a friend of mine! Painting the gauntlets and flames was so much fun!

Oh, I really like how her outfit is overall uncomplicated, so the eye is drawn to the flaming gauntlet and her golden eyes. The choice to break up the shapes in this way, with the big central shape surrounded (and bisected) by smaller ones, also helps the eye take in the entire design. It’s also just a nice way to “casually” wear armor.

Even though this design is made up of “simple” clothes, it’s still interesting and pleasing to look at, and I really like the color scheme. And the rendering is just so crisp and nice!

-Icy