Tag: bikini armor battle damage

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Spin Angels a comic about secret agents working the Vatican… who apparently have updated their dress code to include mandatory bared bellies.  Initially it was published by Marvel and now is being republished by Delcourt (a major publisher in France).

They may choose a different cover, but by the fourth issue Marvel’s “progression” of desperately attention seeking cover art reached a stage where it doesn’t even really fit on Bikini Armor Battle Damage anymore…

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Spoiler: This didn’t save the comic.

– wincenworks

(edit: We have been informed it was originally published by a different French publisher, Soleil, under a different title in French. Apparently there is no end to the optimism that somehow this marketing strategy will work this time. h/t: Haplo)

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Sherry

the-midnight-doe submitted:

While we’re sort of on the subject of unlockable outfits, I wanted to bring up Sherry from Resident Evil 6. Sherry was originally from Resident Evil 2, where she was a young child.

Pretty standard stuff. For Resident Evil 6, Capcom surprised fans by bringing her back as a (really awesome) playable character, where she became an agent for homeland security after being inspired by Claire Redfield’s actions in the second game.

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Her design looks great, and it makes practical sense. This still holds true for later in the game, where all the characters have an outfit changes due to the game skipping six months ahead in the story.

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And then…we get to these outfits.

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The one on the left is an unlockable outfit that players can use in the Mercenaries mode, essentially a survive to the end with an increasing amount of zombies type of minigame. The developers thought it would be cool to give Sherry her original outfit…and I guess they meant the actual outfit, because wow that is really small.

The context of the one on the right is even worse, and pretty disgusting (RE6 story spoilers to follow:) at one point, Sherry and her partner, Jake, are captured by the villain organization and are experimented on for six months. Apparently they had absolutely nothing for Sherry to wear while in the facility, so they took a few rags and tied them together. Meanwhile, her partner was just shirtless with some sweatpants on.

This is also the point of the story where the clothing swap happens, and even though the outfit is fine, the changing cutscene is shot in a veeerrrryyy particular way.

Resident Evil has some particularly great women, but recently they’ve been going a little downhill with how they’ve been treating them (and the franchise in general.)

Some say we shouldn’t criticize bonus video game character outfits (unlockables/DLCs/pre-orders), because they’re optional and therefore even more in the vaccum of “just fiction”/”just fanservice” than the default character looks. 

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We gotta keep in mind that optional costumes, unlike, say, fan mods, are still intended by the developers to be the part of the experience, sometimes even the selling point for some specific edition of the game. It’s just as valid to be critical of them as of the game’s marketing, even if (or rather, especially if) they’re not faithfully representing the game as a product.

As @femfreq puts it in their newest video, the double standard of defaulting unlockable female outfits to “sexy” is especially harmful when the character is otherwise appropriately dressed for her job. And Sherry is just one heroine on the long list of Resident Evil’s capable-women-turned-eyecandy. 

Maybe, just maybe, the idea would be more valid if male unlockable costumes were also all about sexyness and showing skin. And if the rare cases where this actually happens weren’t getting revoked as soon as possible.

~Ozzie

edit: Something’s very wrong with tumblr lately and it has been repeatedly deleting the first two paragraphs the-midnight-doe wrote. Apparently they didn’t make it into a single reblog of this post, of which I’m sorry both to the submitter and the rebloggers.

~Ozzie

Posted on

Sherry

the-midnight-doe submitted:

While we’re sort of on the subject of unlockable outfits, I wanted to bring up Sherry from Resident Evil 6. Sherry was originally from Resident Evil 2, where she was a young child.

Pretty standard stuff. For Resident Evil 6, Capcom surprised fans by bringing her back as a (really awesome) playable character, where she became an agent for homeland security after being inspired by Claire Redfield’s actions in the second game.

image

Her design looks great, and it makes practical sense. This still holds true for later in the game, where all the characters have an outfit changes due to the game skipping six months ahead in the story.

image

And then…we get to these outfits.

image

The one on the left is an unlockable outfit that players can use in the Mercenaries mode, essentially a survive to the end with an increasing amount of zombies type of minigame. The developers thought it would be cool to give Sherry her original outfit…and I guess they meant the actual outfit, because wow that is really small.

The context of the one on the right is even worse, and pretty disgusting (RE6 story spoilers to follow:) at one point, Sherry and her partner, Jake, are captured by the villain organization and are experimented on for six months. Apparently they had absolutely nothing for Sherry to wear while in the facility, so they took a few rags and tied them together. Meanwhile, her partner was just shirtless with some sweatpants on.

This is also the point of the story where the clothing swap happens, and even though the outfit is fine, the changing cutscene is shot in a veeerrrryyy particular way.

Resident Evil has some particularly great women, but recently they’ve been going a little downhill with how they’ve been treating them (and the franchise in general.)

Some say we shouldn’t criticize bonus video game character outfits (unlockables/DLCs/pre-orders), because they’re optional and therefore even more in the vaccum of “just fiction”/”just fanservice” than the default character looks. 

image

We gotta keep in mind that optional costumes, unlike, say, fan mods, are still intended by the developers to be the part of the experience, sometimes even the selling point for some specific edition of the game. It’s just as valid to be critical of them as of the game’s marketing, even if (or rather, especially if) they’re not faithfully representing the game as a product.

As @femfreq puts it in their newest video, the double standard of defaulting unlockable female outfits to “sexy” is especially harmful when the character is otherwise appropriately dressed for her job. And Sherry is just one heroine on the long list of Resident Evil’s capable-women-turned-eyecandy. 

Maybe, just maybe, the idea would be more valid if male unlockable costumes were also all about sexyness and showing skin. And if the rare cases where this actually happens weren’t getting revoked as soon as possible.

~Ozzie

edit: Something’s very wrong with tumblr lately and it has been repeatedly deleting the first two paragraphs the-midnight-doe wrote. Apparently they didn’t make it into a single reblog of this post, of which I’m sorry both to the submitter and the rebloggers.

~Ozzie

Posted on

Petition for any game with boob armour to also feature dick armour.

domhnall-na-feanaig:

typicalfae:

domhnall-na-feanaig:

mailidhonn:

domhnall-na-feanaig:

mailidhonn:

domhnall-na-feanaig:

Omfg DÒMHNALL

STOP

DÒMHNALL STOP I AMF AT WOWKR

Ok…………….

For the beach.

Fun fact which we totally should have mentioned before: while there is no historical evidence of boob armor (let alone battle bikinis) ever existing, dick armor was totally a thing!

Next time someone brings up “historical accuracy” as an argument for some ridiculous double standards in costume design, don’t forget to bring up this Renaissance fashion curiosity. And how conveniently it is never incorporated into male characters supposedly inspired by the era of codpiece popularity.

Thanks to she5los for tagging us in one of the reblogs to this 🙂

~Ozzie

Posted on

Petition for any game with boob armour to also feature dick armour.

domhnall-na-feanaig:

typicalfae:

domhnall-na-feanaig:

mailidhonn:

domhnall-na-feanaig:

mailidhonn:

domhnall-na-feanaig:

Omfg DÒMHNALL

STOP

DÒMHNALL STOP I AMF AT WOWKR

Ok…………….

For the beach.

Fun fact which we totally should have mentioned before: while there is no historical evidence of boob armor (let alone battle bikinis) ever existing, dick armor was totally a thing!

Next time someone brings up “historical accuracy” as an argument for some ridiculous double standards in costume design, don’t forget to bring up this Renaissance fashion curiosity. And how conveniently it is never incorporated into male characters supposedly inspired by the era of codpiece popularity.

Thanks to she5los for tagging us in one of the reblogs to this 🙂

~Ozzie

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Some people have been claiming this “hot Ryu” or “hot dad Ryu” pre-order outfit is as sexualized as the Chun Li, R Mika or Cammy outfits… but I have to disagree.  If Capcom really thinks outfits should be running on the sexualized outfits sell games principle then they should be giving us Ryu in a fundoshi.

People have already made mods for it on Street Fighter IV and fan art!

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So come on Capcom. One way or the other!

– wincenworks

Image sources: (1) (2)

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“Sex-positive” women in gaming (or lack thereof)

the-midnight-doe:

Far too often I see people jump at feminists who criticize sexist designs on female characters with, “They’re just showing how confident they are in their sexuality! We need more sex-positive women!”

Yet, these characters never in the game ever make any hint of their sexuality, whether it be through flirting, being unashamed of their sexual behavior, defending the sexual choices of others, or wearing revealing clothing as casual wear (i.e. not wearing battle armor that exposes their entire chest.)

Instead, anytime there are “sex-positive” women in gaming that are vocal about their sexuality and confidence in such, they are almost always a villain. Yet, I never see these people defend these characters, or take note that the only time that a woman in a game is confident in her sexuality, it’s because she’s an ~evil seductress~, and the game developers use it as an exploit rather than a character trait.

How about instead of shouting at feminists that point out the needlessly and nonsensical revealing clothing on female game characters that it’s supposed to be because they’re “sex-positive”, you instead take the energy and criticize game developers that everytime there is a “sex-positive” women in gaming, she’s evil and it is instead seen as a character flaw?

I’ve alluded before that it’s possible to create a female character who dresses skimpily to express how sexually liberated and confident about her own body she is… possible in theory, at least. 

I mean, everyone and their grandmother brings up Bayonetta and/or Emma Frost as heroic examples of this trope that actually work. Somehow, they’re basically the only two widely recognized heroines like that. And their depictions of empowerment still reek of male gaze all over (and no, unsolicited reminders that Bayo was co-designed by a woman don’t automatically make her impervious to critique).

Also, as I mentioned in my Stafire-design-through-years article, character’s personal affairs DO NOT excuse what costume she “chooses” to do her job in, particularly when that job is FIGHTING.
Especially while warrior men who are equally, if not more, sexually empowered, somehow don’t go around fighting crime in sexy male underwear. And again, a loincloth* on someone like Conan or Kratos is not the same as battle lingerie.

* unless it’s this semi-translucent loincloth

~Ozzie

I feel like a large part of the FemShep fandom was that while much of the attire in Mass Effect is questionable – FemShep actually comes pretty close to meeting the “sex positive, not sex toy” criteria.  Regardless of the options you pick, she’s competent and complicated.

When she goes into battle she’s kitted with armor, guns, badassery and the potential to be saintly or scary… then when you’re in the safety of your ship you can pick an outfit for her and go talk to your favorite crew member:

image

Making her vastly more sex positive and personally empowered than pretty much any other female protagonist… even if her outfits are not perfectly equal to BroShep’s and tend more towards hideous than hot.

I also feel it’s worth mentioning here that there is this very strange perception that we receive messages over that suggests by criticizing the outfits we “downgrade” these characters and somehow think less of them.  This is absolutely not true, the problem as we see it is that they characters are not being given their due.

– wincenworks

Femshep image source (as immature as you’d expect)

(For those asking: We have the explanation for Quiet’s ridiculous outfit, and information on how her character is handled… a post will be forthcoming!)

Posted on

“Sex-positive” women in gaming (or lack thereof)

the-midnight-doe:

Far too often I see people jump at feminists who criticize sexist designs on female characters with, “They’re just showing how confident they are in their sexuality! We need more sex-positive women!”

Yet, these characters never in the game ever make any hint of their sexuality, whether it be through flirting, being unashamed of their sexual behavior, defending the sexual choices of others, or wearing revealing clothing as casual wear (i.e. not wearing battle armor that exposes their entire chest.)

Instead, anytime there are “sex-positive” women in gaming that are vocal about their sexuality and confidence in such, they are almost always a villain. Yet, I never see these people defend these characters, or take note that the only time that a woman in a game is confident in her sexuality, it’s because she’s an ~evil seductress~, and the game developers use it as an exploit rather than a character trait.

How about instead of shouting at feminists that point out the needlessly and nonsensical revealing clothing on female game characters that it’s supposed to be because they’re “sex-positive”, you instead take the energy and criticize game developers that everytime there is a “sex-positive” women in gaming, she’s evil and it is instead seen as a character flaw?

I’ve alluded before that it’s possible to create a female character who dresses skimpily to express how sexually liberated and confident about her own body she is… possible in theory, at least. 

I mean, everyone and their grandmother brings up Bayonetta and/or Emma Frost as heroic examples of this trope that actually work. Somehow, they’re basically the only two widely recognized heroines like that. And their depictions of empowerment still reek of male gaze all over (and no, unsolicited reminders that Bayo was co-designed by a woman don’t automatically make her impervious to critique).

Also, as I mentioned in my Stafire-design-through-years article, character’s personal affairs DO NOT excuse what costume she “chooses” to do her job in, particularly when that job is FIGHTING.
Especially while warrior men who are equally, if not more, sexually empowered, somehow don’t go around fighting crime in sexy male underwear. And again, a loincloth* on someone like Conan or Kratos is not the same as battle lingerie.

* unless it’s this semi-translucent loincloth

~Ozzie

I feel like a large part of the FemShep fandom was that while much of the attire in Mass Effect is questionable – FemShep actually comes pretty close to meeting the “sex positive, not sex toy” criteria.  Regardless of the options you pick, she’s competent and complicated.

When she goes into battle she’s kitted with armor, guns, badassery and the potential to be saintly or scary… then when you’re in the safety of your ship you can pick an outfit for her and go talk to your favorite crew member:

image

Making her vastly more sex positive and personally empowered than pretty much any other female protagonist… even if her outfits are not perfectly equal to BroShep’s and tend more towards hideous than hot.

I also feel it’s worth mentioning here that there is this very strange perception that we receive messages over that suggests by criticizing the outfits we “downgrade” these characters and somehow think less of them.  This is absolutely not true, the problem as we see it is that they characters are not being given their due.

– wincenworks

Femshep image source (as immature as you’d expect)

(For those asking: We have the explanation for Quiet’s ridiculous outfit, and information on how her character is handled… a post will be forthcoming!)

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