I am mostly convinced this was kind of a happy accident rather than intentional worldbuilding, but this here’s a thing I get a kick out of regarding Gerudo fashion;
In Gerudo society, this is women’s armour that armoured warriors would wear;
When you crack even the regular not-Nabooru Iron Kuckles open there’s a unique, not-Nabooru Gerudo lady inside of them, Iron Knuckles are covered in Gerudo motifs, this is all around a pretty Gerudo construct.
BUT, this is Ganondorf’s armour when he was young and functioning as their king;
We got a skin tight black leather catsuit under sculpted muscle leather armour topped off with thigh-high boots. Ganondorf comparatively wears the masculine equivalent to form-fitting titty breastplates. I’d go so far as to say this is like the Gerudo saying “But if they can’t see his sweet abs and manly, narrow hips how will they know he’s a guy? Better hammer some pecs into that chest plate just to be sure. Put some weird beads on his big bulgy biceps, it’ll draw people’s attention and he’ll get the upper hand while they’re distracted.”
The in-universe implications of of the character with the most aggressively on-display masculine secondary sex characteristics also being the character who was most likely dressed by women are kind of interesting to consider. It’s kind of taking “male power fantasy” and looping it around into some kind of “strong male character” situation, like some Gerudo fashion designer is standing there all “okay, so the fabric might not breathe at all and you’ll probably get your sternum crushed by the first guy who tries to punch you in the chest, but just get a load of how masculine and empowered you look!”
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone did female society worldbuilding deliberately and unironically like that?
Matriarchal society (say, drows?) where female warrior attire is designed with functionality and coolness in mind, while male fighters are dressed to look as masculine and conventionally attractive to the women as possible.
It’s quite sad that no-one in the mainstream media seems willing to try the idea.
I am mostly convinced this was kind of a happy accident rather than intentional worldbuilding, but this here’s a thing I get a kick out of regarding Gerudo fashion;
In Gerudo society, this is women’s armour that armoured warriors would wear;
When you crack even the regular not-Nabooru Iron Kuckles open there’s a unique, not-Nabooru Gerudo lady inside of them, Iron Knuckles are covered in Gerudo motifs, this is all around a pretty Gerudo construct.
BUT, this is Ganondorf’s armour when he was young and functioning as their king;
We got a skin tight black leather catsuit under sculpted muscle leather armour topped off with thigh-high boots. Ganondorf comparatively wears the masculine equivalent to form-fitting titty breastplates. I’d go so far as to say this is like the Gerudo saying “But if they can’t see his sweet abs and manly, narrow hips how will they know he’s a guy? Better hammer some pecs into that chest plate just to be sure. Put some weird beads on his big bulgy biceps, it’ll draw people’s attention and he’ll get the upper hand while they’re distracted.”
The in-universe implications of of the character with the most aggressively on-display masculine secondary sex characteristics also being the character who was most likely dressed by women are kind of interesting to consider. It’s kind of taking “male power fantasy” and looping it around into some kind of “strong male character” situation, like some Gerudo fashion designer is standing there all “okay, so the fabric might not breathe at all and you’ll probably get your sternum crushed by the first guy who tries to punch you in the chest, but just get a load of how masculine and empowered you look!”
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone did female society worldbuilding deliberately and unironically like that?
Matriarchal society (say, drows?) where female warrior attire is designed with functionality and coolness in mind, while male fighters are dressed to look as masculine and conventionally attractive to the women as possible.
It’s quite sad that no-one in the mainstream media seems willing to try the idea.
Years ago, unbeknownst to the public, the U.S. government began to capture more and more various creatures, building a walled city and setting up an experimental testing facility on an abandoned island in the Pacific Ocean.
Within a few years the island was filled with hundreds of different creatures, and government scientists worked to understand them.
But in 2012 disaster struck and the island was evacuated. Now the inmates have taken over and gangs of different species fight for control within the city walls.
But something was left behind on Monster Island, something the government desperately needs. And the only way to recover it is to send an elite unit into the most dangerous place in the world: Monster Island.
How convenient that one of the iconic “monsters” happened to be an extra from “Generic Fantasy MMORPG” – to the extent where the only other monsters showcased on covers are a horned cyclops and an extra from 60s Planet of the Apes movie. (Zenescope’s collective creativity continues to shine)
I can’t help but feel that if I was going to pitch a project based on the idea of an island of monsters… that you might want to focus on a variety of horrifying monsters rather than horrifying and cliche outfits.
And oh, the “sexy Boba Fett” outfit in the middle, that’s a “cosplay” variant cover… that’s how committed to not showcasing their core idea on the cover that they are. They’d rather use other people’s ideas and use it as an excuse to put sexy women on the cover.
Probably a good time to bring this back since, well we’re still having people assuring us that Blizzard – a company with literally billions of dollars and armies of talent people… is really trying! Just look at them trying so hard with Overwatch! Examples include going from this:
To this:
This is not, by any stretch of the imagination – trying. There is no classroom in the world where this would be considered a passing grade improvement despite the claims of caring by lead. (If you missed the outrage by… people claiming others are outraged, there’s a great summary here.)
Yes, it is scary for companies to change up imagery when working with an established brand – but making the actual changes is the only way that it still perpetuates all the problems. Ultimately, all they’re doing is well…
The only way they’re going to fix things is to really take an actual whole new direction with it – and they probably won’t get that right the first time either.
Neither of these games improved by trying to get credit for minimalist changes and writing nice quotes about how their game is for everyone. They did by actually digging into what was wrong and looking at ways to avoid doing that.
Probably a good time to bring this back since, well we’re still having people assuring us that Blizzard – a company with literally billions of dollars and armies of talent people… is really trying! Just look at them trying so hard with Overwatch! Examples include going from this:
To this:
This is not, by any stretch of the imagination – trying. There is no classroom in the world where this would be considered a passing grade improvement despite the claims of caring by lead. (If you missed the outrage by… people claiming others are outraged, there’s a great summary here.)
Yes, it is scary for companies to change up imagery when working with an established brand – but making the actual changes is the only way that it still perpetuates all the problems. Ultimately, all they’re doing is well…
The only way they’re going to fix things is to really take an actual whole new direction with it – and they probably won’t get that right the first time either.
Neither of these games improved by trying to get credit for minimalist changes and writing nice quotes about how their game is for everyone. They did by actually digging into what was wrong and looking at ways to avoid doing that.
