My shoulder is better, so I’m going to actually stream this week. Same bat time, same bat channel;
9 AM PST at twitch.tv/icysketchbook
-Icy
Amusing bug in Vindictus that happens when a character’s armor fails to load.
Yes, this is what everyone supposedly wears beneath their costumes by default.
Sad part of this game is, when approaching a view like this, especially on a lady character, it’s genuinely hard to tell whether it’s a glitch or one if their “finer” designs.
~Ozzie
h/t: @kkakoart
While we addressed that this amazing article’s header image references the removal of Tracer’s “look at my butt” pose from Overwatch – I wanted to illustrate how it applies to any censorship vs creative freedom “controversy”, not just Overwatch.
Here are some older “vile acts of censorship” in video games which we covered on BABD that match Point & Click’s satirical text just as much:
- R. Mika’s butt slap reframing
- Skullgirls select panty shots edited-out
- Fatal Frame’s skimpy costumes replaced for the US release
- Divinity: Original Sin’s artist asked to “self-censor” a metal bikini, GamerGate makes him their martyr saint of creativity
- Mobius Final Fantasy’s dude protagonist having his skin covered… and that’s good? (because dude)
Similarly, the older article that features a pic of R. Mika, could apply to the Overwatch butt case as well.
Hope this sufficiently summarizes how predictable and repetitive the sexualization defense rhetoric really is.
~Ozzie
Time to bring this back, since there is currently a new ruckus in the gaming world that isn’t related to bikini armor (at least yet).
Yes, after four games of white* guys going over to take over exotic locations, and one game that sort of did that in prehistory, Far Cry has created upset by going in a new direction. (tweet) Certain people are really, really unhappy about this.
– wincenworks
Edit: * It has been pointed out by Will113 that the protagonist of Far Cry 4 was in fact Asian, though this is easily overlooked since you rarely see more than his hands and his voice actor was American.
Art is not made in a vacuum. It is tangible communication – a powerful object formed from varied experiences and views, and the implications it derives from the world in which it was born.
(via hannahcarbons)
A good wording for the sentiment we referenced a couple of times on the blog, particularly while discussing the “why care?” rhetoric and the Thermian argument.
Pretending that something is “only” a piece of art/fiction/game/whatever and therefore can’t possibly be emblematic of its creator’s own biases (and form further bias among the audience) is ignorant at best.
Art and entertainment are, by design, media for transferring ideas. Not always intentionally in the propagandist way, but the transfer happens constantly. That’s one of the reasons media criticism is needed: to seek out and analyze what media communicate.
This is why we don’t buy “Oh, let those hundreds upon thousands of fictional ladies fight wars in metal bikinis, what bad could possibly be taken from all those stories they are featured in?” argument.
~Ozzie
Tidy up Tuesday #65
Just a few things we have addressed before:
- Epic NPC Guy’s “Breastplate” episode
- Charlotte from Fire Emblem
- Just because a design is marginally better than the usual sexist stuff, it doesn’t mean the creators deserve credit for progress yet.
- Women are not really that much smaller than men, they often just appear so due to casting calls or the limitations of sponsorship.
- Why do sexy male parodies exaggerate genitals as an equivalent to boobs?
~Ozzie, – wincenworks, & -Icy
Lady knights and their trophies for MoCCA fest
@bikiniarmorbattledamage , just thought you could use a little happiness in your day.
Such amazing illustrations! Beauty, badassery and proper armor for women.
Current link to the original post on the artist’s renamed blog.
~Ozzie
So, as exciting as it is that from time to time, Blizzard makes progress in their newest product: Overwatch – I am still more than a little bit bothered that this is the image of a “hunter” that they put forward on their World of Warcraft site.
The game has been updated that much that people are now trying to run bootleg “original build” servers, and they’ve never gotten some better character art for this class than this.
– wincenworks
Livestream #6
As promised, I’ll be streaming Part 2 of the Hel redesign we started 2 weeks ago. There might be a part 3 in the future.
The stream will begin on Saturday 9 AM PST at twitch.tv/icysketchbook.
See y’all there~
-Icy
So I screwed up my shoulder and it’s worse than I was expecting. Because of this, I’m afraid that I’ll be cancelling my half of the steam this week.
I’ll try to make an epic comeback next week.
-Icy
(submitted by Jury)
Whoah. The absurd of Tera, the universal example of logic-defying female battle outfits, advertising itself to have “practical armor”… that is skin-tight and boobsock-y on women leaves me astonished.
This armor is so totally practical that even Erik Larsen, the devoted anti-practicality in women’s costumes guy, probably wouldn’t mind it.
Dear Tera’s Creepy Maketing Guy: Just because boobplate and figure-hugging metal cover more than what you usually call “armor”, it doesn’t mean you should label it as “practical”.
~Ozzie