“It all comes down to the amount of times Laura is hurt, or taken out of action. Just because she has a healing factor, doesn’t mean she enjoys pain, or bullets ripping through her internal organs. She has had her issues with pain before, and she’s moving through this. This suit is designed to be bulletproof and generally more protective.”
Another step in X-23′s costume evolution is definitely appreciated, as the creators openly address that even such awesome power as healing factor is not a good excuse for an action hero to run around with deep cleavage and/or bared belly.
Also good to see Laura get some individual touches in her Wolverine-like costume. Personally, I was never sold on replicating Logan’s yellow-blue color scheme verbatim for her.
We sympathize with the disappointment so much. Even if it’s not particularly surprising, especially SMITE churning out another generically boobastic lady that conveys nothing about what goddess she’s supposed to be.
BTW, for those who don’t see what’s wrong with those characters, please don’t insist the OP explained it to you. We recommend instead checking the characters’ respective tags on our blog: Angela | Terra
We sympathize with the disappointment so much. Even if it’s not particularly surprising, especially SMITE churning out another generically boobastic lady that conveys nothing about what goddess she’s supposed to be.
BTW, for those who don’t see what’s wrong with those characters, please don’t insist the OP explained it to you. We recommend instead checking the characters’ respective tags on our blog: Angela | Terra
When Symbiotes in Marvel bond with women, the results are usually….atrocious. Scream, Agony, Scorn and first She-Venom are horribly sexualized, something that cannot be said about Venom or Carnage.
I’d dare to even say they break the theme symbiotes had going – Venom is twisted, evil reflection of Spider-Man and Carnage is the same for him. Yet all of these women could be described as “just like Venom, only sexy”. They pretty much look naked. There are, however, two notable exceptions, both hosts of the same symbiote, that I want to bring to the spotlight.
Patricia Robertson, the second She-Venom, was a host of artificially created clone of Venom symbiote and was notable in that she looked exactly to her male counterpart. Marvel Database mentions the artist would give her a more feminine look, but only occasionally, when the main measures taken to tell her and male Venom apart (coloring them with different sheen and having She-Venom’s tongue hang out more often) would not be sufficient. However, as she only meets Eddie Brock towards the end of her short-living series, for the most of the book she simply looks like him.
The symbiote clone would end up being absorbed by the original only to separate in 2012 and find a new host, Andrea Benton, who took codename Mania. She gets a look that, while still having some issues overall (Sonic the Hedgehog hair, for one) it does not look like painted on her skin, nor does it feature boobsocks. And thank heavens for tat, since she is still a teenager. It even visually reflects her personality – an angry teenage punk – just like Venom’s modern, militaristic look reflects Flash Thompson’s history in military.
I’m sure some would argue that Marvel universe symbiotes are supposed to look naked, therefore clearly visible boobs are obligatory when the host happens to have a pair… But why exactly would that be? It’s not like Venom or Carnage are fully anatomically correct either with their primary or secondary sex characteristics.
Also, since symbiote tends to distort the host’s body, it’s highly suspicious how when bonded with a woman, it would make sure to always fill that thin feminine silhouette with big, round perky boobs and butt (and “sexy” posing, of course!).
It’s refreshing to see at least two takes on female Venom that deny double standard and either make the host equally monstrous as male counterpart or look more experimental.
~Ozzie
I think it says a lot about comics that when the symbiot suit joined with Eddie Brock, it immediately transformed to give him the monstrous mouth – but it’s taken a few iterations for Marvel to be comfortable with the idea of having a female character with a symbiot suit express some individuality.
X-23 outfits, in order of chronological aperrance:
1) Uncanny X-Men
2)X-23: Innocence Lost
3) X-23: target X and early New X-Men
4) Late New X-Men
5) X-Force and X-23 ongoing series
6) Early Avengers Academy
7) Avengers Academy alt outfit (not pictured because of 10-pictures limit: a variation of this outfit from Avengers Arena)
8) All-New X-Men
9) All-New Wolverine
How come that among all the different X-23 costumes, most include a midriff and/or a cleavage and/or spaghetti straps? Oh yeah, because the most important thing about this Wolverine clone character is to show that she’s A GIRL, right?
Saddest part of it is, she originates from X-Men Evolution series, where she wore a fully-covering and practical costume:
Which, while being basically a standard biker outfit, looks way more memorable than a random crop top to me.
Even her “sexy” future self (shown only in the epilogue of the last episode) dresses in something that won’t slip of a boob.
Another thing I noticed is that most of the subsequent versions of the character look significantly whiter than the original. Even one in the Wolverine and the X-Men, which was the next X-Men cartoon after Evolution:
Also, again, bare belly and cleavage, because that’s what mutant clone assassins wear unless they’re dudes, apparently.
