Wrestling with TERA’s anti-fashion Part 2
Yikes.
So I decided to challenge myself yet again by picking this number. Back in an older post on TERA, I talked about how some of the armor designs are good designs for runway fashion, and I think the high elves, which is what this lady is, embody that most of all. I think each race has their, like… fashion niche? Like the demons are all Victoria’s Secret angels, ironically. And we don’t talk about the children with animal ears.
(And because I needed to fill in all those little details, I didn’t have time to do the back of her :(. )
I started with the face as usual, because I honestly hate the original in this regard… Like, what is with this Stock 3D Model face?? I tried to make it less human-looking since, you know… she’s not a human. (I kind of ripped off Dragon Age 2 in this regard, I guess.)
And then I changed…. everything else, as usual. Poofy pants, a whole 3 layers of shirts, and shoes you can actually walk in, we’ve got the whole package. I tried to make the shirt patterns work together, but I think I was a little overzealous… I also ran out of ideas. Oh well.
Hopefully my redesign still looks more like actual cloth armor than that big empty void of skin.
-Icy
Cadeyrn, deuteragonist (in SR1, anyway), then recurring “antagonist”, former mercenary who put it all behind him for love.
I love it when a male character design is at the same time unironically very sexy empowered in skimpy clothes (without need of commenting on that) AND has a ton of detail put into him and his costume.
He even manages to rock a mullet, of all things, probably by the power of those cute silver hair strikes 😉
~Ozzie
h/t: our friend Spag
Compare: @guild-snail‘s Rycerhun, another unironically empowered male original character
Wrestling with TERA’s anti-fashion Part 1
It’s no secret that TERA Online is the quintessential of gratuitous skimpyness and double standard in character and costume design in video games. As Icy pointed out before, some of the costumes would work fine as pieces of high fashion, but definitely not a believable wear for a fantasy warrior. So we devoted a livestream to maybe try fixing that.
Not my most inspired of redesigns, though I concluded that it’s a win as long as I make it wearable. Maybe with more time to think it through I’d give her a different colored second pant leg, but she had to do with just symmetrical jeans this time.
As usual, one of the most important things to do was getting rid of this absurd cleavage that clings to her boobs. I shamelessly copypasted her metal (?) back piece and adjusted it slightly to now be a matching front collar. then just painted over the excessive fleshy parts.
Copypasting pant leg also required adjusting the hem of her top, so I gave it a slightly different shape, with white trim to make it stand out better. Also, spikes on her gloves aren’t as ridiculously spiky anymore.
The part I’m actually pretty satisfied with are the shoes, which I managed to turn into a lot flatter heels, without making the design completely unfamiliar. Also got rid of completely pointless (ha!) spikes at the sides. Now that’s wearable and can fit a human foot inside without liquefying it.
I admit, overall that’s far from my best, but with TERA you can’t go any more wrong than the original.
~Ozzie
I really hate the female Nergigante armor in MHW, so I decided to try my hand at a really quick redesign. Tried to keep it mostly close to the original, but also using the male version as the main source of changes.
The funny thing is- the skin showing isn’t even the part I hate the most. I don’t like how miss-mash the armor is. Most of the major parts of the armor look like they came from different clothing. And Nergigante is supposed to be a ferocious beast. The armor from the female set doesn’t look fierce at ALL.
Whatcha guys think?
While I’m usually not for overly stabby armor, this is a very fine redesign done with the original’s over the top aesthetic in mind, just without all that sexism.
For the record, this is what the difference between male and female version is in the game:
I really like how you retained the original’s silhouette and detailing while inserting actual armor in place of a generic bikini. And even though the armoring is based on the male version, it still has unique features, like the toothy helmet. Very good job at shape breaking and contrasts, too!
Amazingly, a female costume design doesn’t have to be sexualized to be stylized. Who knew? ?
~Ozzie