Month: November 2019

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Today (well on 22 November I suppose) in fragile masculinity * – concerns that they won’t be able to immerse themselves as a female character in a game where your exposure to the character:

  • a voice
  • a pair of hands

(The poster would later update to advise that he thinks any VR protagonist having a gender was “bad” while spouting ignorant opinions on gender – without ever really addressing his assumption everyone reading his post would be male)

The main marketing material showing Alyx Vance doesn’t show much about her.. except for she’s got junk in that trunk.

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This is kind of ridiculous given that Merle Dandridge, Alyx’s original (not returning) voice actor talked in the director commentary about how important Alyx was for representation.  Valve seem to be toning back on it but the worst people are leaning hard into it:

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(Unsurprisingly this member was also banned from the Wolfenstein: Youngblood community hub… in case you wondered if they are really dedicated to being terrible in every way they can be)

Thankfully there is at least one quality wallpaper available if you go the official site… and scroll down… past the butt shot and way down to the bottom.

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– wincenworks

* For those of you who skipped reading this to write a comment about how outraged you were at this being anti-man, anti-masculine, etc. I assure you I am a very masculine cishet man who happens to be secure enough that he doesn’t have to get upset at a game having a female protagonist.  It’s pretty great.

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So, Control has rightfully been nominated for and received many great awards.

The game has many, many great things going for it including being of the best pieces of New Weird (with the proper implications).

But I personally think we should be talking about how Jesse Faden’s wardrobe is utterly amazing not just within the themes of the game, but just in each outfit tells a story and is perfectly designed for its stated purpose.

Every one of them is a distinct outfit which maintains the dignity and practicality of the protagonist, they are consistent with her personality and circumstances.  None of them sexual her, even when specifically depowering her to create the feelings of helplessness and vulnerability.

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A lot of that can be boiled down to two factors:

  1. Commitment to creating an entire world and complete story that will be compelling to the audience and a foundation for further expansion
  2. Hiring women into positions of creative influence and letting them take the lead in conversations that are relevant to women *

This is fantastic costume design, and I cannot recommend this game enough.  It’s currently available on PlayStation, X-Box and the Epic Games Store.  It will become available on Steam in August next year.

– wincenworks

* For those rushing to type a response about creative freedom etc, I can assure you that this game is very much still a Sam Lake story (perhaps the most Sam Lake story every) and he considers it to be one moreso than Quantum Break.  The enemy of creative freedom isn’t diversity and inclusion, its risk adverse executives who believe in simplistic but comforting myths.

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A New Take on The Old Republic costumes

Star Wars: The Old Republic typically has pretty good gender equality in their armors, but rarely there pop up some designs that are just old-fashioned. Not cause they’re 18th century tuxedos, it’s the double standard that’s old-fashioned… let’s just get into it.

Darth Sion Armor Set

I completely forgot about this guy cause I played Knights of the Old Republic 2 162 years ago, but Darth Sion is a shirtless angry man with scars(?), and this is his SWTOR armor set. I wasn’t too mad about the bare midriff in this since the dude version is bare-chested. 

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I was, however, and will continue to be, petty about the default for “lady equivalent of a shirtless man” being a literal bikini top. They had it so good with the back, but then dipped the neckline so far down in the front that it lost all of its support. There’s a reason sports bras have more than just an underwire.

(On the other hand, just adding a top means the pauldron isn’t nailed into her shoulder blade, like it is for the dudes.)

So my main effort went into adding the support back in, as well as giving her some girth. That’s my main complaint about the ladies in SWTOR: They’re all sticks! Even the “thicc” body type is miles off from the dude version. Granted, I didn’t give her the buff woman build I’d usually go for, but that’s because I was trying to prove a point; that the initial model wouldn’t have to change much to make her look like a fighter.

I also gave her some Sick Veins, cause that’s what the Siths get in SWTOR. (Where are my cool crackled-rock-scars, BioWare??) But I only drew that on one of the closeups, cause it was One of Those Days.

-Icy

Bold Hellion’s Armor Set

How anything about this glorified biker costume, male or female, says “armor”, I do not comprehend. 

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Since the dude version is also shirtless, I took much more issue with the suspicious dimorphism in how their bodies are depicted and gendered double standard in the cut of the costume, rather than with protective value.

It was one of Those Days, so I limited the redesign to giving the lady version a non-stick-figure body, which included replacing her teeny crop jacket with his, that also covered a lot more of her mid-section. 

Basically my lowest effort redo so far, yet still just making her buff made quite a difference, I’d say.  

~Ozzie

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Weekly BABD Stream #89

Weekly BABD Stream #89

Last week’s stream was advertised as 78 but that was Wrong, now we’re back to our actual numbers. Sorry about that.

This week, we’re putting the “rag” back in Dungeons and Dragons! As in, we’ll be putting clothes on the poor women of first and second edition promotional art.

With the clocks all turned, we’re back to our New Regular time of Saturday at 10:30 AM PST / 7:30 PM CET. See you there!

~Ozzie and Icy

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The Masculine Beauty of Superhero Figure, Part 2

I decided to empower Daredevil, cause his premise lends itself well to wearing a skimpy outfit. After all, he’s an acrobat who cares about mobility and flexibility. He dodged all those shurikens(?) by doing all those backflips (I haven’t seen the movie since it came out, okay?)! Him doing that while fully-clothed was the most unrealistic part of that movie, honestly. Also, the rustling of the cloth against his skin would get in the way of him hearing important things. His design was really careless. :

So to improve it, I started by cutting out some key pieces of his existing bodysuit, to increase his mobility and reduce fabric noise. I also made sure that we can tell exactly how big his empowerment is. Rendering those abs was a lot of fun! (And the belt buckle says “Juicy” thanks to a viewer suggestion.)

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I also adjusted his face a bit. I got rid of his laugh lines and gave him fuller, more shaped lips. He’s supposed to be hot, Elektra kissed him and everything! And since his face is now hotter, I removed some of his mask to show it off. Mmm, that crisp jawline!

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I was going to give him a feather crown or something, but decided against it.

This one was definitely fun, especially since I never saw the TV show or read the comics, so my memory of DD came only from the unfortunate movie (you’re welcome for being reminded of it). Maybe we’ll empower Bullseye sometime too.

Hope you enjoyed!

-Icy