Bingo filled by Twitter user @GTPsijic

Since when talking about difference between Wonder Woman movie and Justice League movie Amazon costumes this week we mentioned two articles that praised the former, let’s set the record straight: NOPE. 

Amazon armor is not good, let alone perfect, in Wonder Woman. At best, it looks like leather/metal fashion wear with some neat Greco-Roman references for armor history geeks… Given we accept the reality where Ancient Mediterraneans invented boobplates and wedge heels as combat wear. 

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But now at least we can make an informed guess that those old costumes were some sort of hard-earned compromise between giving the actresses wearable armor and meeting the “sex sellsdemand from higher ups.
It’s obviously no coincidence that once there were no women in power over the next movie Amazons appear in, any restraint over shamelessly objectifying them was gone

I’m still very angry that the new costumes make old ones look so much better just in comparison, making our criticism look weirdly harsh in hindsight. Lowering standards below the ground level doesn’t invalidate the points already made regarding the old standard

~Ozzie 

see also: fan-submitted bingo for the old Amazon armor

I have to admit that Oraco has been impressive in their dedication to minimizing the amount of creativity in their designs. Sometimes I joke about some studios using a spinner to pick random design elements, but it seems genuinely possible (example: nature + League of Angels)

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Seriously the recycling art assets on the front page and committing to this level of generic imagery, is impressive in a terrible kind of way.  Not to mention the combining with @eschergirls​ type anatomy.

No surprise that it’s not only incredibly generic in gameplay, but often accused of another game which is essentially a game that plays itself (so not quite an asset flip, but close enough it may was well be).

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This is why we say that if you’re counting on sex to sell, it’s probably because you don’t have anything worthwhile in your game.

– wincenworks

lesbianantiiope:

ithelpstodream:

turbocunt:

albotas:

GENDERBENT LARA CROFT COSPLAY

Genderbending cosplay is nothing new, we see it all the time. Usually it’s hot chicks dressed as sluttier versions of male characters, but we rarely see manly-men, like Dr. Teng above, dressed as scantily-clad lady characters.

I’d actually kind of like to see this idea pushed all the way to the opposite end of the spectrum — like dudes cosplaying as super suave and macho versions of half-nekkid chicks. I wonder if the character’s would even still be recognizable.

(top pic via Anna Fischer)

CHECK IT: More cosplay posts on Albotas.com
BUY: Cosplay Made In Japan (Japanese Edition)

omg

I fucking love this!

@bikiniarmorbattledamage some empowering male cosplay and a lovely example of giving men the same skimpy outfits as their female counterparts. A truly wonderful cosplay, if I do say so.

Always open to a sexy male take on Tomb Raider! We had a CG 3D one and 2D colored pencil one on the blog already, so real life version is welcome as well! 

This really is an equal opportunity sexy costume.

~Ozzie

Why Wonder Woman Deserves More

bikiniarmorbattledamage:

realms-master:

Help me out here guys….

Okay, I may not be a huge comic book buff (yet still a huge fan!), but I’m willing to learn if there’s something I’m missing. I’ve always loved the idea of Wonder Woman – a powerful female warrioress from Ancient Greece/Amazonian culture (iirc), a Xena-like character who fights for virtue, honor, truth, all those good things. She plays with the big boys, and not only keeps up, but shows them how it’s done.

If that’s so, then…whywhyWHY is she most always shown in a skintight, strapless, pantsless, thong/swimming suit/flimsy piece of spandex???? I know she’s pretty indestructible, but do you know how HARD it is to fight in a leather corset, where there’s no straps to keep that gigantic chest in place?

It makes me VERY sad that such a famous, prominent figure of feminine power is mostly seen as a sex icon, mostly featured in sexy/escher-esque poses, wearing “clothing” that looks like it was sprayed on or hanging on with a wing and a prayer (and maybe ample amounts of superglue?), or any variation thereof? I say ‘mostly’, because I have seen some versions where she’s more practical, with pants, real armor, heck I’ll even settle for the Greek/Xena-style skirt in some versions. Bravo to those people for giving our poor warrioress some semblance of dignity.

If I understand correctly, like in the Xena universe, that is the ‘style’ of the era, the leather skirt with the bodice and shoulder armor, reminiscent of Romans and Greeks from Sparta, etc. Well okay then, give WW an outfit that actually looks/works like real armor from that period, instead of the spandex thong/corset she’s most often depicted in. Also, iirc, maybe she doesn’t wear full armor because that’s the ‘Amazon way’, IE: she’s so OP that she doesn’t need full covering. But give her SOMETHING that isn’t so obviously designed to sell sex first, and practicality last!

Spandex may be all the rage for comic books (and it’s probably easier to draw), but I’d like to direct your attention to some of these wonderful blogs for many, many more reasons why our beloved Wonder Woman deserves more than a minimal-coverage, maximum-bust corset (and why practical armor can be even more BA and gorgeous):

Unless there is a practical, logical reason why WW is nearly always shown in the aforementioned ILLOGICAL ways, let’s face it: Sex sells, and too many people are buying. And that is no excuse, because women like myself want to see our gender treated with more dignity, respect, and understanding than what is given. You know what, I’ll bet Superman is chivalrous. And so is Wonder Woman.

I challenge any WW artist to design her with something more akin to Lady Sif (from the movie version), instead of just going with the flow.

TL;DR – Wonder Woman is too freaking amazing to be treated as a sex icon. She deserves a whole heck of a lot more from us, her fans. She deserves something befitting who she is, and what she represents.

My post isn’t intended to insult anyone, I know we all have different ideas and viewpoints. I’m just expressing my own views and frustrations with society :/

/end rant (btw, I have no problem with the comic book world; check my blogs, I’m a huge nerd! But I do have a problem with how prevalent the sex industry is, especially in my fandoms! Move over boys, girls are nerds too!)

Bolding mine. I share this sentiment.

We had posts regarding both on how questionable Wonder Woman’s strapless cleavage cut is and the rare (official!) alternative designs that are more practical and/or pay tribute to ancient Greek aesthetic, unlike the iconic outfit everyone remembers most.

~Ozzie

I really find it baffling that after sixty-four years and countless re-boots, re-designs, re-imaginings for different mediums, etc.  DC Comics keeps coming back to basically her original costume but with no skirt:

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Epic creativity.

– wincenworks

Even when she gets a skirt, it’s like a swimsuit equivalent.

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It’s shaped like a W, get it?? …For Wonder Woman!

-Icy 

This was the most appropriate throwback we could think of, with Justice League film and its degraded Amazon costumes coming so soon. Diana, as well as her people, really deserves better. 

Even the cover above, which Icy added, is a perfect  example of Wonder Woman costumes which @realms-master​ talks about! That armor is literally painted on her (impossibly narrow-waisted) torso, especially the boobplate that somehow conforms to gravity along with the breasts. No amount of intricate shading would mask that.
Also note the dissonance between Wondy’s serene expression and triumphant pose. It’s obvious that the artist, Liam Sharp, aimed to make her more “appealing” than powerful. 

~Ozzie

The Amazons’ New Clothes – The Golden Lasso

The Amazons’ New Clothes – The Golden Lasso

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SamBeringer submitted: 

Zack Snyder took one look at the boobplate in Wonder Woman and went “hold my beer.” Christ, this is awful.

Worst part? Here’s something the article above points out:

Wonder Woman began filming in 2015, the year before Justice League started filming in 2016. The Amazons’  design was finalized and most of the costumes completed while Justice League was still in pre-production. That means that there were discussions about what the Amazons should wear into battle in Justice League and the epic designs from Wonder Woman were rejected in favor of leather bikinis. Let that sink in. They rejected already finished costumes to redesign and remake the armor so that more skin would be showing.” 

Thanks to all readers who sent this our way! 

This makes me angry on a visceral level. We covered the problems with the costumes and the way the were pitched in the Wonder Woman movie, but this is twice as bad with none of hat tips toward real historical armor.  This has all those problems and then some. And is, frankly, just generic bikini armor trash.

As the article points out, the Justice League movie has an essentially all male executive team as well as a male costumer.  There’s presumably also a Creepy Marketing Guy (or even a small army of them, seeing as this is a DC/Warner Bros production). 

No matter who to blame, this is just self-demonstrably shameful.

~Ozzie

See also: Buzzfeed’s take on the same topic (ht: @itsgoodtobeming)


What’s really baffling about this is that Zack Snyder and same costumer, Michael Wilkinson, did manage to create a fairly decent (fantastic by comparison, but certainly not without it’s faults) female costume design in Man of Steel, as worn by the glorious Faora-Ul:

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Most of the high end production staff from Justice League also contributed on Wonder Woman.  So that leaves us with several equally terrible possibilities:

  • Someone with executive power literally saw the early sections of Wonder Woman and decided that what it needed was more women’s body on display so asked for “sexy versions of that”
  • The executive(s) in charge have been starting with “playing it safe” to build hype on the initial movies, and now have concluded that since those were a success they can throw female characters and fans under the bus in favor of their own puerile fantasies
  • Warner Bros or some other executive power only allowed the Wonder Woman amazon armor to be as not-terrible-as-possible because they assumed it would be a limited interest movie and not the highest grossing Superhero Origin Story at the time of it’s release. (which would explain this comic)

You may notice a theme of this being an executive with very poor judgement, and as much as a suspect otherwise I really hope it’s NOT Zack Snyder.  Because if it is, this does not bode well for the future:

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– wincenworks

New SMITE skins

Nais submitted:  

So, I was watching the Smite 4.21 patch notes, and I was really impressed by the quality of the skins. 

Nemesis’ new skin actually looks like half decent armor, minus the high heels. 

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Discordia looked cute and mage-y. 

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And then there was this. 

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This is “Exterminator Kali”, who is supposed to have a “superhero feel”. She looks like one of those flag girls from car races. Had me going there for a minute with the improvement, Smite… 

Ok, that Nemesis skin looks surprisingly interesting and not particularly sexualized in SMITE’s very low standards, especially compared to her default design. It’s not perfect, of course – you mentioned high heels, but there’s also spandex chainmail on her legs and skin-tight material around waist… Though this is probably the closest they ever got to practical female breastplate. 

Dicordia could use a longer skirt, but her design at least has some personality, something nonexistent among other goddesses in this game.
As a side note, her lore starts as a coherent story (Eris flees Troy after successfully spreading chaos of war there, reinvents herself as Dicordia) and quickly spirals into something that spits into face of everyone even remotely familiar with Greco-Roman myths and history (she makes a character who is neither the ancestor of Romulus nor

and

Remus the original founder of Rome instead of the twins). 
Sometimes I feel this game exists only to troll mythology nerds with blatant disregard for everything that makes those stories and characters special.

Speaking of which, can we ALL, as the humanity, please stop sexualizing the Hindu goddess Kali FOREVER? 
What’s video games’ problem with her? There was a super-porny version (NSFW link!) in Rise of the Incarnates (the game doesn’t seem to exist anymore). Overwatch also felt justified in turning this powerful female deity of a living religion into a “sexy” skin for Symmetra, because the character is Indian.

We referenced SMITE’s disgusting treatment of Kali in this 2015 post about exotification and it’s as topical now as it was then:

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Other than sporting four arms and blue flesh, that “Exterminator” skin doesn’t even have anything to do with Kali’s default SMITE design. And what’s “superhero” about it, too? The biggest connection I can think of is that she looks like an ultrasexualized Guardians of the Galaxy reject.

~Ozzie 

edit: A reader informed us that SMITE Wiki misspells the character’s name in Discordia’s lore: the article says Aeneus, an unrelated Greek mythology character, rather than Aeneas, the protagonist of Virgil’s Aeneid, bridge between Greek and Roman myths and ancestor of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome.

No Stream This Week

Too much spookyness from the October streams means we have to recuperate. Or, more likely, things just came up and we have to cancel.

We’ll see you another time for our regularly scheduled programming!

-Icy and ~Ozzie