Tag: improvement

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Bingo-ing her was a bit of  a challenge. Not necessarily because Slash checks out too little or too many squares, but because a lot of elements, like the original’s crotch window and the new version’s crotch belt would require custom bingo to actually score.

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~Ozzie

So, some of my friends started Quake Champions and I figured… this should be relatively safe game.  I mean, the original Quake guy had a cube for a head and Quake 3 was… well for you kids who don’t remember the 20th century, it was what we killed our friends in before Fortnite and PUBG.  The games industry has moved on in a lot of ways since then.

But apparently Slash’s outfit design (originally from Quake 3) has not moved on… just like, weirdly sideways and swapping out a garter-belt dress for a crotch belt. (and like… a leather garter belt under spandex shorts as well)

Please take a moment to consider how uncomfortable that would be to wear normally.  Like, just standing around.

Now remember that Quake is the property that originally popularized (in first person shooters anyway) the gaming stunt we know as the “rocket jump” where one sets off an explosion underneath themselves mid-jump so the force of the explosion will launch them up.

For those of you typing comments frantically, yes it is true that Quake has never placed much emphasis on realism or even making sense – but I’m supposed to grimace in pain when I get gibbed with a rocket… not when I open up the character selection screen.

Hence it is now one of the few games/properties/products which I truly wish would return all the way back to it’s roots and the glory of 1996.

– wincenworks

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In case anyone forgot that Paladins comes from the same developer as SMITE (if you couldn’t tell by their absolutely “creative” designs), here’s original costume of Furia, one of their newest champions. 

Somehow even people at HiRez concluded that visible panties and completely out-of place garter belts are too ridiculous combination, because apparently after some fan feedback she received a slight redesign that includes pants under those garters.

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Fret not, perverts! Her original look is preserved through red recolor “Iron Maiden” skin! 

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And just in case you wondered whether some actually creative designs got discarded during Furia’s development, don’t worry! No matter how many revisions she went through, there was always at least one “beloved” Female Armor Bingo element in there, like boobplate, cleavage/boob window or otherwise uncovered skin! 

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~Ozzie

h/t: @randomrobin 

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So, I’d like to start this post by saying if you haven’t seen Black Panther – go see Black Panther.  As soon as humanly possible.

From a BABD perspective, there’s a couple of really interesting and exciting aspects of the armor of the Dora Milaje (royal guard, aka bald women in red).

Firstly is while they do put an odd amount of emphasis of broadcasting that the wearer has breasts – they still read quite clearly as practical (very decorative, but practical) battle attire. It doesn’t rely on the lore to convey the purpose, and is easily some of the best female attire in a Marvel movie to date (and much, much better than the previously featured comic, seriously).

And they look so amazing when they’re together as a unit:

(Also if you love costume design in general you’ll want to see this movie simply to appreciate the authentically African inspired Wakandan outfits)

The second is that the all female royal guard, in Africa, is not without historical precedent.  The Dahomey Minos (referred to as amazons by Europeans because… colonialism) who started as royal guards, became a militia and ultimately fought in wars against colonizers (who spoke highly of their courage and ability)

– wincenworks

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So when a recurring character in Overwatch looks vastly different between her 3 appearances, we get told that different artists have different styles, and that Blizzard is allowed to change their character designs over time. But when Alexstrasza, queen of the dragons, gets a makeover and a pair of pants in Heroes of the Storm, there’s outrage on the forums. 

This is her original WoW model:

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You might notice that her clothes look a lot like Sylvanas’, even after they gave her pants. Even down to keeping the thong!

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They did try to differentiate her with the leg armor and cape, but they couldn’t bring themselves to actually design her properly, despite the fact that they supposedly redesign their characters all the time. She has the exact same coverage as Sylvanas, even down to the upper arm bands. Doing a bingo on her would just be redundant! 

I’ll give them props for giving her an interesting jawline, but that seems to be the extent of their creativity.

Also, is it just me, or does the jewelry she wears in her dragon form not resemble her humanoid jewelry at all? Even the rings on her horns seem to be different.

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And if the answer is, that’s what she chooses to appear as when she’s not a dragon… well, we already have stuff written up about that.

-Icy

h/t: @ghostoftom

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New SMITE skins

Nais submitted:  

So, I was watching the Smite 4.21 patch notes, and I was really impressed by the quality of the skins. 

Nemesis’ new skin actually looks like half decent armor, minus the high heels. 

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Discordia looked cute and mage-y. 

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And then there was this. 

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This is “Exterminator Kali”, who is supposed to have a “superhero feel”. She looks like one of those flag girls from car races. Had me going there for a minute with the improvement, Smite… 

Ok, that Nemesis skin looks surprisingly interesting and not particularly sexualized in SMITE’s very low standards, especially compared to her default design. It’s not perfect, of course – you mentioned high heels, but there’s also spandex chainmail on her legs and skin-tight material around waist… Though this is probably the closest they ever got to practical female breastplate. 

Dicordia could use a longer skirt, but her design at least has some personality, something nonexistent among other goddesses in this game.
As a side note, her lore starts as a coherent story (Eris flees Troy after successfully spreading chaos of war there, reinvents herself as Dicordia) and quickly spirals into something that spits into face of everyone even remotely familiar with Greco-Roman myths and history (she makes a character who is neither the ancestor of Romulus nor

and

Remus the original founder of Rome instead of the twins). 
Sometimes I feel this game exists only to troll mythology nerds with blatant disregard for everything that makes those stories and characters special.

Speaking of which, can we ALL, as the humanity, please stop sexualizing the Hindu goddess Kali FOREVER? 
What’s video games’ problem with her? There was a super-porny version (NSFW link!) in Rise of the Incarnates (the game doesn’t seem to exist anymore). Overwatch also felt justified in turning this powerful female deity of a living religion into a “sexy” skin for Symmetra, because the character is Indian.

We referenced SMITE’s disgusting treatment of Kali in this 2015 post about exotification and it’s as topical now as it was then:

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Other than sporting four arms and blue flesh, that “Exterminator” skin doesn’t even have anything to do with Kali’s default SMITE design. And what’s “superhero” about it, too? The biggest connection I can think of is that she looks like an ultrasexualized Guardians of the Galaxy reject.

~Ozzie 

edit: A reader informed us that SMITE Wiki misspells the character’s name in Discordia’s lore: the article says Aeneus, an unrelated Greek mythology character, rather than Aeneas, the protagonist of Virgil’s Aeneid, bridge between Greek and Roman myths and ancestor of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome.

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shiapolux submitted:  

You know what’s funniest about Saint Seiya? 

Putting the Online game aside, in the original manga and anime the characters belong to a religious order which was originally males only.

You know how women managed to get allowed to join? They have to wear these stupid and totally impractical masks (hello? How does she even see? Or breathe? how does that shit attach? They live in GREECE, for Gea’s sake, who decided putting metal against DELICATE bare skin under such punishing sun was a good idea?) to “give up” their femininity so men won’t feel guilty hurting them.  And besides that, if a man ever sees them without the mask they have to either kill him or love him.

They literally made female warriors cover their faces 24/7 so “dudes wouldn’t get distracted” and then threw some metal lingerie at them. Yep, so much less distracting, sure thing… Thankfully we only ever see about three of them, so the other literal 85 male warriors won’t need to feel pressured.

Even funnier. This particular armour is supossed to be a second tier one, which for males supossedly protects more than the third tier ones, while hers… well, has barely any protection at all.

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(Second tier)

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(Third tier)

Didn’t you know? Weird mask and Madonna bra are totally less distracting than just being a regular knight, like your male peers are! 

So I guess, in a very sad way, Saint Seiya Online is a questionable improvement over manga and anime, since the ladies at least are allowed to show their faces (and see and breathe)… For the low low price of trading ridiculous boobplate for skimpy bikini armor full of sharp, stabby parts!

~Ozzie

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Angela, as seen in the Guardians of Galaxy cartoon

Amazingly, in transition from comic book to animation aimed at children, her bikini armor transforms into a skin-tight full body armor with a cleavage. Reminds me of that time Dagger’s catsuit somehow managed not to have a huge cross-shaped cutout on her boobs in the Ultimate Spider-Man show. 

I guess, in a way, superheroine costumes are kinda like pokemon who evolve only via trade (except pokemon are always awesome). They need a change of medium to be even a little bit less awful.

~Ozzie

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There’s been some excitement over Valkyrie’s full armor for Thor Ragnarok… but frankly I’m disappointed for the most part. 

Even Tessa’s Thompson’s badass attitude can’t fix the weirdness of this design. Top plate even has a literal hole between the breasts. It shows the layer of armor beneath instead of bare skin, but it’s still a weakening and blow-directing point on the chest. And even though relatively flat, the breastplate overall brings plenty of attention to the boobs with the shapes and colors (could it be any less subtle than painting the titties gold?).

I’m starting to think that the other, vacuum-sealed chest Valkyrie costume was some sort of “See? We can do worse!” decoy, so that the audience’s expectations are lowered enough to accept just a slightly less insulting boobplate as an improvement.

And that’s a shame, because with a better chest piece (and without the wedge heels) this could have been a cool, believable female warrior costume (even if more on the aesthetic than practical side). 

Seems to me like boob ornamentation always gets in the way of Valkyrie looking truly great, no matter which iteration of the character it is.

~Ozzie

Is it just me or does she look like she’s a party member in Mass Effect? I mean…

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She does not look like she belongs at all… Is she maybe Space Valkyrie from the Future??

-Icy

h/t: @olofahere

more of Marvel’s Valkyrie on BABD

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So, to go alongside the Wonder Woman movie, DC Comics has released this series of fantasy / superhero comics: Amazons of

Themyscira. They seem to have a lot of potential and a lot going for them.  Including a rather diverse cast. But, well there’s some common themes with the first three (primary) covers:

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And well, the first page of the first issue:

It really makes you wonder who this DC Comics was hoping to sell this comic to.  I mean if there was ever a series where they should have felt comfortable dropping the old myth sacred among marketing departments and just making a comic that’ll appeal people who like warrior women… this was it.

At least it seems they’ve moved away from this and toward imagery that is both more badass and more referential to the topical movie.

– wincenworks