long-hairedhotmen submitted:

It’s not the greatest example, but I found a largely positive video game example of women in clothing/armor. “Tomb Raider: Relic Run”, a “Tomb Raider”-themed endless running game for mobile/tablets. The above is the loading screen when you start the game, which I find pretty awesome because even though Lara is wearing one of her skimpier outfits, she’s not objectified. She’s powerful and angry and ready to kick ass and personally I think it looks sexy, too.

You start out with her “standard” uniform: the old tanktop and short shorts she wore in the original games, plus a small backpack and combat boots (she wears the last with all her outfits). It’s the “classic” look and seems kind of useless to me for the jungle environment she starts out in (I mean at least give her something to protect her knees and arms) and personally I hate running/climbing in short shorts (particularly ones made of thicker material, like Lara’s seem to be; I’ve done it and it SUCKS), but nostalgia, I guess.

The important thing is that you can unlock three other outfits: “Bomber Pilot” (a warm jacket and pants over her standard outfit),

“Biker”: a thinner jacket with a gray low-neck top that looks like an alternate skin for the standard top, plus pants (sorry I haven’t unlocked it yet),

and “Stealth Suit”, which looks like a generic black catsuit/wetsuit (like what she wore in “Chronicles” in the last area) and for some reason leaves her lower arms exposed but otherwise she’s completely covered, plus goggles. Ironically (or perhaps someone on the creative team did it on purpose) the catsuit’s special ability is that it decreases enemy accuracy, and it comes with her regular boots and gloves. Although you see more suggestive skin on her standard uniform or the biker outfit, where her neck and cleavage are exposed.

On the waiting screen, when she’s ‘waiting’ for you to pick something, she cycles through different waiting motions. She has a rather large number of them (mostly stretches or checking her guns or looking around), and there’s one stretch where I’m pretty sure the purpose was to show off her cleavage, but it’s the only one I’ve seen. It’s shocking because even though you spend most of the game watching her butt (cause it’s an endless running game and she’s running forward and away from the “camera”), she’s not objectified. She looks powerful and capable in her movements and I don’t feel creepy playing this in public. And you gain more clothes as you “level up”! (lol low bars…)

I have noticed that much of the excitement about the upcoming Rise of the Tomb Raider game is that it is literally the first one where Lara starts in practical clothing as default (no DLC or mods required!).  

I certainly do welcome the trend of giving Lara action worthy clothes being applied to even nostalgic products.

– wincenworks