ottolla:

Text post got me thinking. Now, I want a world, or whatever, where the female “bikini armor” really is as strong as normal. Protects with magic or something, I don’t much care. And pretty much every woman wears them. I mean, same protection, but loads less weight? Sign me up! And then over the bikini armor, you wear whatever you want. Cute sundress? Fully protected. Tee and jeans? Fully protected. Leather armor? Double protected? Idk. 

Just a verse full of ladies in bikinis with normal clothes on top, so you never know who is a secret badass. It’d be great.

That sounds like the only acceptable reason to excuse the existence of magical bikini armor.

It’s still laughable how a simple logical question like “if the bikini gives her total protection, why wouldn’t she wear it over or under more comfortable clothes?” is always handwaved. Usually with something akin to “but she needs to wear bikini and only bikini for the magic to work”, which translates to “fanservice is mandatory!”.
Dear writers, if you can’t explain that in another way than “cause that makes me (and my presumed audience) horny” (and believe me, you can’t), please stop pretending that your story is something else than dramatized softcore porn.

~Ozzie

dragon age wiki, uploader Eganogarddragon age wiki, uploader Леди боли

Armor from Dragon Age 2

As lots of our posts pointed out already, elements of good armor are basically always the same, no matter the wearer’s gender and body parts. 

And this here handy graphic on the left* is no different from any similar we featured before that showed a (presumably) male model wearing plate.

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*Though honestly I’m a bit disappointed how painted-on the under-armor looks in the picture on the left. And how because of that I can’t tell if there’s supposed to be some other protective layer (maybe gambeson?) beneath it.

~Ozzie

While the armor was a bit thing, I was exceptionally happy with how they took the simple concept of making warrior armor “heavier” by simply adding more protective layers on top of basic armor.

It’s more or less how most heavy armor has worked throughout history and cultures.

– wincenworks

more reference/resources on BABD | more on armor design on BABD

So if you want to wear some sculpted armor to the Ren Faire because you feel fabulous-looking in it, go forth and have fun! But if you’re drawing lady soldiers, or creating female characters who are depicted as actual warriors, please err on the side of reality when designing their armor. Science says your boob plates are killing the women you hoped they would protect. And none of us want that.

So if you want to wear some sculpted armor to the Ren Faire because you feel fabulous-looking in it, go forth and have fun! But if you’re drawing lady soldiers, or creating female characters who are depicted as actual warriors, please err on the side of reality when designing their armor. Science says your boob plates are killing the women you hoped they would protect. And none of us want that.

It’s Time to Retire “Boob Plate” Armor. Because It Would Kill You. (via bikiniarmorbattledamage)

I dedicate this quote to everyone who wants to put cosplayers (and/or LARPers) under our scrutiny, as if real people could be judged in the same way as fictional characters are.

~Ozzie

more cosplay on BABD | more about agency on BABD