The hilarious front line in the tragic war against ridiculous female armor
Tag: Female Armor Rhetoric Bingo
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Couldn’t help myself but bingo the Nords: Heroes of the North ladies. And considering how generic most of their ideas look, the results surpassed my expectations by far!
For the love of Freya (no, not this Freya), the “rebel”-haired lady almost broke the bingo O_O
noticed that humans in the game also score a bit of the Rhetoric Bingo, based on info found in this screenshot (full text available here):
Adorned with traditional blue war-paint meant to invoke magical protection and enhance battle skill, Valkyries fight with grace, precision and cold cunning.
Um, at least they don’t outright say whether or not the magical paint actually works?
If it’s of any consolation for all the above absurd, here’s another pic of that exceptionally big viking lady:
Couldn’t say she’s not sexualized at all, or that her costume wouldn’t score some bingo points, but compared to other girls, her look is closer to Heroically Idealized and way more on par with the beefy shirtless men in the game.
Once again society6 holds an artist promotion, which I took as an opportunity to update the Female Armor Bingo merchandise. Now items are available both in the regular Bingo (updated to version 1.1!) AND Rhetoric Bingo design!
Items with free worldwide shipping* in my shop available exclusively under THIS link.
Promotion expires October 11, 2015 at Midnight Pacific Time.
~Ozzie
*Free Shipping offer excludes Framed Art Prints, Stretched Canvases, Wall Clocks and Rugs
I think i saw Star Ocean 5 here before but i’m not sure. They finally released some in game screenshots and the art for the main characters.
As anyone can see, the green haired girl quite a “unoptimal attire”. Her name is Fiore and here is her art.
I’ve seen a lot of crazy outfits in games but this is reaches around the “i can’t even” tier. Everything looks so glued into her i have no idea how she managed to wear that in the first place.
F:I’d like to ask about a newly introduced character, Fiore. Is there a story behind her attire? (laugh)
K: In order to use spells in this world, mages must have a spellmark*** carved somewhere on their bodies. To show off the strength of her own spells, Fiore prefers to wear the kind of outfit that you’ve taken notice to. In Randock, the country that Fiore lives in, there are outfits used specially by Spellmark Mages, and you can customize these in any which way you want. I can ensure you they are far from being indecent (laugh).
Oh, so she needs to expose her skin to use her magic and “chose” to dress like that to show of her strenght! At least she isnt breathing through her skin.(I wonder if these guys are laughing because even they can’t keep a serious face with this crap)
But despite that, he isn’t wrong. I searched a bit and found out that this is “normal” in the Star Ocean universe. For example, this is Nel from Star Ocean: Till the end of time
As you can see, she “needs” to show off her thighs because the “magical marks”. But if that’s the case, then there are some problems here.
First is that, if Fiore really needs to show her marks, she doesnt need to show that much skin, only the necessary. And second is, Fiore doesnt have any marks. I keep looking the screenshots but cant find any.
This is even more disappointing. I mean, if you’re gonna invent a stupid excuse to make the character walk around semi-naked, at least go all the way and try to convince people, don’t lie about it and leave it that.
How does that explain wearing holes all over her body, not just that one spot on the leg? Hell if I know.
Dear Star Ocean crew: if you really want to excuse obvious sexualization with
a diegetic argument, then the least you could do is stay consistent within your own logic. It would still not be valid justification, but at least a less insulting one.
I think i saw Star Ocean 5 here before but i’m not sure. They finally released some in game screenshots and the art for the main characters.
As anyone can see, the green haired girl quite a “unoptimal attire”. Her name is Fiore and here is her art.
I’ve seen a lot of crazy outfits in games but this is reaches around the “i can’t even” tier. Everything looks so glued into her i have no idea how she managed to wear that in the first place.
F:I’d like to ask about a newly introduced character, Fiore. Is there a story behind her attire? (laugh)
K: In order to use spells in this world, mages must have a spellmark*** carved somewhere on their bodies. To show off the strength of her own spells, Fiore prefers to wear the kind of outfit that you’ve taken notice to. In Randock, the country that Fiore lives in, there are outfits used specially by Spellmark Mages, and you can customize these in any which way you want. I can ensure you they are far from being indecent (laugh).
Oh, so she needs to expose her skin to use her magic and “chose” to dress like that to show of her strenght! At least she isnt breathing through her skin.(I wonder if these guys are laughing because even they can’t keep a serious face with this crap)
But despite that, he isn’t wrong. I searched a bit and found out that this is “normal” in the Star Ocean universe. For example, this is Nel from Star Ocean: Till the end of time
As you can see, she “needs” to show off her thighs because the “magical marks”. But if that’s the case, then there are some problems here.
First is that, if Fiore really needs to show her marks, she doesnt need to show that much skin, only the necessary. And second is, Fiore doesnt have any marks. I keep looking the screenshots but cant find any.
This is even more disappointing. I mean, if you’re gonna invent a stupid excuse to make the character walk around semi-naked, at least go all the way and try to convince people, don’t lie about it and leave it that.
How does that explain wearing holes all over her body, not just that one spot on the leg? Hell if I know.
Dear Star Ocean crew: if you really want to excuse obvious sexualization with
a diegetic argument, then the least you could do is stay consistent within your own logic. It would still not be valid justification, but at least a less insulting one.
~Ozzie
Posted on
Well, I’ve been looking into all the official information on why Quiet has that ridiculous outfit. It’s been a wild ride. I can confidently say that I am not ashamed and have not changed my stance. The bingo above applies only to official information – with elaboration in the cut below.
For those already typing up a response to tell me I’m a terrible person, here’s a few quick preemptive responses for the people who will tell me I can’t judge the game without providing notarized proof of having played 400 hours of each game in the series but won’t bother to search the tags of this blog:
We are aware there are some cosplayers who love Quiet’s outfit, we are very supportive of cosplayers right to dress how they want – particularly since they are real people withagency and not on battlefields.
The existence of The Boss does not mean Hideo Kojima’s work is excluded from criticism. That’s not how reality works on any level, there are no Get Out of Jail/Criticism Free Cards outside of Monopoly.
Neither does his taste in music, status as an artist, situation with Konami, his talking about who he consulted with about military experts, etc.
Theories about how this might be a sneaky commentary on society also don’t protect from criticism as these are not responsible commentary.
Warnings: Due to this involving information delivered in the game, the following contains spoilers. Due to the nature of the game the following and the sources linked to will contain references and imagery relating to torture, rape, graphic violent, mutilation and (hopefully fictional) political rhetoric.
Men are sexualized too!
Kojima actually managed to take this a step further than usual by justifying his requesting a “sexy” design for Quiet claims that not only can we argue the guys are sexualized too, but so are the military equipment. Yes, tanks are sexualized too… apparently. (source – article)
This is particularly ridiculous since as the recent femfreq video pointed out – MGS games have a history of recognizing just one kind of person as “sexy” to the viewer – often to ridiculous extents:
She CHOSE to dress like that!
If the player chooses to take Quiet captive, it is advised that even though she somehow has no problem with being tortured and kept on display in a cage – she responds violently to anyone who tries to put clothes on her.
More information on why in the next two points. (Source – video)
Her strength comes from her uncovered skin…
During the same section, it is discussed that Quiet eats (via photosynthesis), breathes and drinks through her skin – so she could suffocate if she wore clothes. (No explanation is given for her latex glove, fishnets or why her bikini is so ridiculous).
Later you do see Quiet struggling to breathe while wearing long sleeves and long pants, but she and is able to access all the air she needs to do a wuxia-esque grindhouse revenge killing sequence when her pants are removed and her shirt is ripped open. (The scenario is at least as terrible as you’re imagining, actually probably worse)
Also, anyone with a basic understanding of clothing or science knows that there’s a wide variety of fabrics that “breathe” and hence wouldn’t get in the way of her skin getting access to air. Certainly not any more than say a shower or rain would. Speaking of…
It’s just fantasy/scifi! Magic/science protects her!
You were probably thinking it sounds pretty weird that Quiet uses her skin for everything we have specialist organs for, and you’d be right! Quiet is first introduced as a normal human (and spectacularly incompetent) assassin who is sent to kill Snake but ends up on fire instead. She is then given “parasite therapy” where some sort of insect microbe things transform her body in a way that conveniently preserves her sexiness and forces her to show it off.
This makes so little sense that basically nobody can agree if it’s scifi or supernatural – it just works because they say so. Oh, and in case you’re wondering – yes there are men in the game who’ve been “enhanced” with parasite therapy – this is what they look like:
According to Kojima, part of this design idea was he spent a lot of time thinking about how characters might be effected by early life, fashion, etc. Yes, apparently he thinks this is how Russian women her age in the 80s would have been thinking of dressing.
Another early reasons given by Kojima himself to explain that sexy costume is that he wanted to encourage cosplay of the character. He also admitted that the character might not be cosplayable – so female cosplayers are supposed to automatically gravitate towards the most over sexualized costumes even if they’re not possible.
That’s the best way of marketing to men…
Kojima also stated that the heavily sexualized design was there to promote figurine sales. I’m not sure if he’s aware there’s really no shortage of heavily sexualized figurines or that some people may find this one a little awkward to have around the house… just like he was surprised to learn that Metal Gear Solid has a large female fanbase.
It fits her fighting style!
Kojima stated that his core concept for this one was a “naked sniper” – as opposed to the previously just boob flaunting female snipers…. and the fully dressed male snipers (who also use photosynthesis)
When not sniping though, Quiet simply uses her super powers to dodge bullets, throw people like dolls and leap spectacularly into the air.
She’s indestructible, she doesn’t need any protection!
Right when the character was first released, Kojima himself confirmed he understood that it would be ridiculous for someone to be dressed like that in the desert and that he wanted the player to wonder why. The reason of course, as covered above: Quiet eating breathing and drinking through her skin somehow makes her immune to the hazards of exposure.
(Never mind that baking in the Sun would mean she’d need to be guzzling water constantly for all the carbohydrates she’s producing. That’s a minor detail)
She’s so badass that she needs no armor!
When Quiet is first introduced she is wearing BDUs, has no super powers and fails in her assassination mission. Upon gaining her super powers, she suddenly dresses in… that, and becomes incredibly effective against… everyone in every way.
Great story makes up for those ridiculous designs!
Kojima started with a bold, assertive stance. Later he would state that he understood why people have concerns but they just wait and experience the game it will explain everything. Complete with reassurances!
