Tidy Up Tuesday #44

A longer tidy-up this week:


While tangentially related to BABD, we gotta thank all the readers who directed us at @wackd‘s Bad Genderbend Bingo, a very acute look into double standards in redesigning an established character to be of different sex/gender (in this bingo’s case, male to female).


Few more facts regarding Frank Cho storming off DC due to “censorship” of his optional Wonder Woman covers:

  • It was not disclosed to Cho that Greg Rucka, the writer for recent Wonder Woman run, was given creative control over all the cover art.
  • Cho seems to regard “artistic freedom” of his optional cover freelance contract equally (if not more) valid to Rucka’s script freelance contract with DC.
  • While Rucka asked for several changes in Cho’s covers, cropping of the gratuitous pantyshot in issue #3 is what ultimately prompted the artist to quit.

For those confused why we didn’t heap unconditional praise over Ana Amari’s design is because Blizzard has a long history of taking a very safe half-step forward and expecting praise (and then halting all progress indefinitely).  Overwatch has an abundance of problems that aren’t going to be fixed by adding a new character or pretending the game has something close to gender equitable representation.


Thing we addressed before:


~Ozzie & – wincenworks

Tidy Up Tuesday #44

A longer tidy-up this week:


While tangentially related to BABD, we gotta thank all the readers who directed us at @wackd‘s Bad Genderbend Bingo, a very acute look into double standards in redesigning an established character to be of different sex/gender (in this bingo’s case, male to female).


Few more facts regarding Frank Cho storming off DC due to “censorship” of his optional Wonder Woman covers:

  • It was not disclosed to Cho that Greg Rucka, the writer for recent Wonder Woman run, was given creative control over all the cover art.
  • Cho seems to regard “artistic freedom” of his optional cover freelance contract equally (if not more) valid to Rucka’s script freelance contract with DC.
  • While Rucka asked for several changes in Cho’s covers, cropping of the gratuitous pantyshot in issue #3 is what ultimately prompted the artist to quit.

For those confused why we didn’t heap unconditional praise over Ana Amari’s design is because Blizzard has a long history of taking a very safe half-step forward and expecting praise (and then halting all progress indefinitely).  Overwatch has an abundance of problems that aren’t going to be fixed by adding a new character or pretending the game has something close to gender equitable representation.


Thing we addressed before:


~Ozzie & – wincenworks

eschergirls:

loverofmythology:

i get these ads while i’m playing a tamagachi-type game about cthulhu.

CTHULHU

I wonder what would be fitting to say… Boobthulhu? Cthulboobs? Cthbooblhu?

Joan of Arc looks like she’s not going to be very effective if she has to fight one handed to have one arm supporting her breasts at all times :

Nothing is ever more baffling than the combination of plates of armor and a leotard so flimsy you can see her navel through it… particularly since this game gives the standard mixed message of being unable to decide if it’s about fighting or fapping.

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It really says a lot about their assumptions and the relative success of the industry that this is their game they promote out of their line-up…

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Oh well, at least Casual Warrior will be a nice non-sexualized game right…

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This is why we can’t have nice things.

– wincenworks

Gate – Thus The JSDF Fought There!

@the-hittite submitted:

I think the biggest problem I have with Gate – Thus The JSDF Fought There! is how inconsistent it is. Because the animators obviously know how to draw practical modern armor.

And they can draw practical fantasy armor based loosely on historical armor.

And they clearly know how to draw badass women in practical modern armor.

But when it comes time to draw a warrior woman in practical fantasy armor…

They just can’t do it!

(Granted, the Rose Knights’ armor isn’t entirely terrible, but it’s still not as protective as the male equivalent.)

Of course the character in the skimpiest, most blatantly sexualized armour is a brown lady (making her an elf doesn’t make it better).  On top of that, this serves as a pretty good discussion piece for another common query we get:

What about armour that’s impractical but not sexual?

The question is, largely impossible to address specifically because of it’s open nature, but there important thing to understand with designing fictional anything is that everything that makes it stand out from “real” should stand out for a reason – or the audience will assign a meaning.

In this case, it kind of feels like the main reasons they assigned them were Creepy Marketing Guy and because everyone else in fantasy is doing it to so we may as well too – which suggests that a lot of potential was compromised for the sake of cheap, generic sexualization.

– wincenworks

Gate – Thus The JSDF Fought There!

@the-hittite submitted:

I think the biggest problem I have with Gate – Thus The JSDF Fought There! is how inconsistent it is. Because the animators obviously know how to draw practical modern armor.

And they can draw practical fantasy armor based loosely on historical armor.

And they clearly know how to draw badass women in practical modern armor.

But when it comes time to draw a warrior woman in practical fantasy armor…

They just can’t do it!

(Granted, the Rose Knights’ armor isn’t entirely terrible, but it’s still not as protective as the male equivalent.)

Of course the character in the skimpiest, most blatantly sexualized armour is a brown lady (making her an elf doesn’t make it better).  On top of that, this serves as a pretty good discussion piece for another common query we get:

What about armour that’s impractical but not sexual?

The question is, largely impossible to address specifically because of it’s open nature, but there important thing to understand with designing fictional anything is that everything that makes it stand out from “real” should stand out for a reason – or the audience will assign a meaning.

In this case, it kind of feels like the main reasons they assigned them were Creepy Marketing Guy and because everyone else in fantasy is doing it to so we may as well too – which suggests that a lot of potential was compromised for the sake of cheap, generic sexualization.

– wincenworks