Tag: bikiniarmorbattledamage

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Shard Mortal Trespasser 

@the-midnight-doe submitted (and Ozzie bingo’d):

Here’s a good example of how “fully armored” doesn’t mean a thing if said armor is still sexualized: this is Shard, Sideshow Collectible’s original character from their ongoing series “Court of the Dead”. The series already has plenty of questionable designs, but Shard here really stands out due to her backstory: she’s a mortal knight Templar that somehow wound up in the Underworld, whose inhabitants then made her armor for her. Highlights include the absolutely bizarre crotch plate (hard to tell if it’s a thong as the cape blocks the back view,) the insignia on her chest that just winds up looking like a literal “stab here” sign, and interesting footwear. It’s a shame, too, because her backstory sounds really interesting and the Court of the Dead series has some pretty beautiful dolls, but also has a metal bony groping hands bra because reasons.

Oh goodie, Sideshow Toys figures, we meet again! ? And this time you guys don’t even have the excuse of adapting someone else’s sexist design – it’s your own all original creation! 

Obviously the bingo score isn’t very high, and I stretched definition of “male equivalent” to “all male-presenting characters in the series”. However, while not bikini-shaped or skimpy, impossibly skin-tight armor is still a staple of BABD content.
The fact that metal gives no additional girth to any part of her body made me confident in marking off the “No padding, just bare skin.” square, despite no bare skin at display.
And no, the “fine bone filaments of this protective encasement were woven around her form by the osteomancers and artisans of the dead” Thermian argument doesn’t excuse the sexualized design one bit. 

Saddest part is that this is what she looked like in her backstory: 

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This is so much more interesting in every way: costume, posing, expression, even painting detail. Textbook positive example. What a downgrade! 

Thank you for the submission, @the-midnight-doe! Hope you don’t mind me bolding part I found most telling about Shard’s problem. 

Considering how other female Court of the Dead characters look, we’re likely to revisit the property, with bingos and/or redesigns, later. 

~Ozzie 

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Jennifer Scheurle on Twitter

Jennifer Scheurle on Twitter

bikiniarmorbattledamage:

This whole thread is definitely worth reading for a better understanding of The Creepy Marketing Guy and why so many games, particularly in early campaigns, seem to rely on generic strategies like sex sells.

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So the next time you see a promotion for a game that seems to focus entirely on boobs, butts and explosions then you can be sure that it’s because the marketing guys are getting paid for the campaign, not the sales of the game, and they probably got to interfere in the process of game development, messing with the original vision of the developers, to make that happen.

– wincenworks

Jennifer Scheurle’s Twitter | Website

I completely forgot it’s been over two years since we posted this. And, of course, still every word about the “sex sells”-driven marketing rings true. 

And since some iteration of “you just hate for women to be sexy!” continues to be an “argument” constantly brought up in defense of such advertising (and of in-game framing – just look at the predictable replies under our Tuesday reblog), let’s quote the closing tweet from the thread: 

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As we’ve been saying since the beginning of the sex sells tag, you won’t go far with “selling sex” unless sex is the actual product. And the Creepy Marketing Guy will laugh at you all the way to the bank. 

~Ozzie 

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Fixin’ Up Some Figurines, part 2 –  Lizard Boobs Edition

While we’re likely to go back to fixing some Dark Sword Miniatures in the future, this here dragonkin lady was the reason I proposed redesigning the figurines in the first place. 
The butt cape window was always amazingly mesmerizing, considering it displays her very human glutes with no trace of reptilian tail, which would be much expected in such character design. 

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So I simply changed her metal thong into a decorative belt that rests on the base of her new big tail. 

Another obviously non-lizard anatomy on her were the human breasts, adorned with a really ugly boobplate. So I flattened her chest and redesigned the breastplate to be more interesting, while still exposing some of the pec. 

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Also added a tiara with a matching jewel, for some non-tiddy-based feminine touch. Her weapon/scepter got a matching jewel as well. 

It’s one of the subtler redesigns, but also one with more deliberate process behind it. Hope you like it! 

~Ozzie 

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adobsonartworks:

In MGSV if you ogle Quiet, she “poses” for you suggestively. In Death
Stranding if you stare at Sam’s crotch, he punches you. The framing of
both of these are bad. One is framed as a reward, the other is framed as
“no homo!” despite the player’s action in both being the same. I don’t
care if you worship Kojima, we REALLY need to talk about the “male gaze”
perspective in his games, and stop giving him a pass because you love
his games.

On the one hand, I do appreciate that ogling a character who isn’t comfortable with it comes with consequences. On the other hand, I doubt there are consequences for ogling any of the ladies. I also agree with the “no-homo” and violence criticism. Are guys not allowed to say “hey, could you stop staring at my crotch? It’s making me uncomfortable”? Wincenworks, please confirm.

This really points out the big double standard in the last 2 games from Kojima, as well as most of the media we criticize on this blog: that men have agency and women are just objects meant for consumption, whether that’s for fan-service, being a plot device, or being a lamp. The two lady characters I know from the reveals from Death Stranding are named Mother and Fragile, so that’s…. not promising at all. 

-Icy

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Punching people in the face for looking at their crotch is generally frowned upon in society, as it is usually customary for the other party to demand you be removed from premises or charged, even in places which still have “gay panic” defenses on the books. (What I’m saying is this normalizes the absurd justifications cishet men use for real violence against real men-loving-men)

I’d also like to point out that while Kojima apologists are quick to blame Konami for everything from Quiet to climate change, the last time Kojima had near total creative control was Policenauts (where he famously even controlled the music queues via scripting rather than directions).

Policenauts is a game where nearly every female character’s breasts are an interactable item and the first appearance of Meryl from the Metal Gear Solid series, specifically so he could include a mini-game where she invites with her boobs if you score high enough at target practice.

Oh well, at least we’ll always have this helicopter ride.

– wincenworks

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Okay, so Tumblr has permanently blocked the Mercenary Suit (which may or may not be available on the backup site… not that I would ever want to subvert our corporate overlords) so let me propose a different outfit from the same, empowering armor manufacturer: The Anti-Venom Suit!

Not only does it empower men with badassery, it stops us from being harmed by venom, poisons, toxins or Venom Snake (aka Keiffer Snake).  I mean it doesn’t promise that explicitly, but it’s right there in the title!  You can always trust what it’s in the title!

– wincenworks

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Fixin’ Up Some Figurines, part 1

It’s been a while since we redid some figurines, so here we are! I decided to redesign a vampire lady made by Dark Sword Miniatures. This was a pretty fun and lighthearted one for me; I wanted to keep her Killer Abs uncovered, so I decided to make her into a gym instructor, getting that blood pumping in her students! …. Get it, cause she’s a vampire…. I’m hilarious, okay?!

It’s not armor, but I just decided to have some fun with this, considering how awkward the original is. So yeah, I just gave her a workout outfit that I’ve seen at my local gym. Here’s an example off the Internet.

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I also gave her some muscles, and some dumbbells! I thought a ponytail would be more gym instructor-esque, but I was too lazy to redraw all the hair on her shoulders, so we got a… half pony. It’s fine. It’s not like she sweats… depending on which version of vampires you subscribe to.

Enjoy my terrible handwriting too!

-Icy

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Tidy Up Tuesday #96

Time to wrap up all stuff, mostly what’s stuffing our inbox.

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If you’ve ever been told by an Internet Ranty Man that curves on breastplate don’t matter because hardened steel is just great – there’s recently been an awesome video created by experts talking about arrows vs armor that talks about the importance of the curve and the subtleties in design.

It turns out that armor was in a constant stage of development through all of history because it’s complex and every little bit helps when the stakes are literally life and death.

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Please, instead of sending us asks saying “Do you want me to submit XYZ?”, send the submission, even if it’s a short one. 

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In the same vein, “Have you bingo’d/talked about XYZ?” or “Please talk about/bingo XYZ!” messages rarely get our attention, unless we were already planning to talk about their subject. 
We’re way more likely to make a requested post if sent pictures and/or commentary. 

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If we already talked about something on our blog, it is likely available via search option or an appropriate tag. Please consider checking for obvious variations before messaging us.
(tip: PC browser version of Tumblr is more reliable for searching/looking through tags)

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~Ozzie, – wincenworks & -Icy