There’s been some excitement over Valkyrie’s full armor for Thor Ragnarok… but frankly I’m disappointed for the most part. 

Even Tessa’s Thompson’s badass attitude can’t fix the weirdness of this design. Top plate even has a literal hole between the breasts. It shows the layer of armor beneath instead of bare skin, but it’s still a weakening and blow-directing point on the chest. And even though relatively flat, the breastplate overall brings plenty of attention to the boobs with the shapes and colors (could it be any less subtle than painting the titties gold?).

I’m starting to think that the other, vacuum-sealed chest Valkyrie costume was some sort of “See? We can do worse!” decoy, so that the audience’s expectations are lowered enough to accept just a slightly less insulting boobplate as an improvement.

And that’s a shame, because with a better chest piece (and without the wedge heels) this could have been a cool, believable female warrior costume (even if more on the aesthetic than practical side). 

Seems to me like boob ornamentation always gets in the way of Valkyrie looking truly great, no matter which iteration of the character it is.

~Ozzie

Is it just me or does she look like she’s a party member in Mass Effect? I mean…

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She does not look like she belongs at all… Is she maybe Space Valkyrie from the Future??

-Icy

h/t: @olofahere

more of Marvel’s Valkyrie on BABD

10 Stupid Arguments People Use To Defend Comic Book Sexism

10 Stupid Arguments People Use To Defend Comic Book Sexism

bikiniarmorbattledamage:

An article from 2014 that is no less relevant today. Not surprisingly, all the arguments listed have their place on the Female Armor Rhetoric Bingo.

Here’s one of the summarizing paragraphs of the list which I find most important:

If people only “lose their minds” when the comics industry objectifies women or ignores its female audience, that’s because it’s not happening the other way around. Male readers are not being ignored, and female readers are not being pandered to at the cost of men’s dignity.

~Ozzie

more debunking of pro-sexualization rhetoric on BABD  

Given that there’s currently an issue with an editor at Marvel being harassed for existing posting a selfie with coworkers, it’s probably a good time to bring back this core point that there’s a demographic that’s definitely intent on trying to keep women (among others) out of the mediums like comics or games.

And on the topic of these despicable individuals blaming women (and diversity in general) for Marvel’s reduced sales, there’s also an a great thread by Kurt Busiek talking about how comic’s decline can be linked to the industry actively focusing on only the straight white cis male demographic.

– wincenworks

SMITE: Artio

@ultrapastaprincess submitted:

Smite’s newest goddess, Artio, seems to be an improvement. Reasonably dressed for a girl on the battlefield, and she switches to a bear form that is actually bearlike (although with some feminine hair). (full size)

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Unfortunately, the same patch that’s bringing her is bringing this Awilix skin…

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Oh SMITE, I’m not sure if I should be congratulating you on moving on from ripping off Dragon Age to ripping off Horizon: Zero Dawn (rather than, I dunno, looking up the difference between Gaulish Celts and Gaelic Celts… I see that tartan and faux woad), but it seems you also chose to rip off League of Angels as well.

As a side note, remember that time SMITE released Bellona, an almost reasonably well armored goddess?  Check out what skins she has now:

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With SMITE, hope truly is the first step on the road to disappointment.

– wincenworks