I am mostly convinced this was kind of a happy accident rather than intentional worldbuilding, but this here’s a thing I get a kick out of regarding Gerudo fashion;
In Gerudo society, this is women’s armour that armoured warriors would wear;
When you crack even the regular not-Nabooru Iron Kuckles open there’s a unique, not-Nabooru Gerudo lady inside of them, Iron Knuckles are covered in Gerudo motifs, this is all around a pretty Gerudo construct.
BUT, this is Ganondorf’s armour when he was young and functioning as their king;
We got a skin tight black leather catsuit under sculpted muscle leather armour topped off with thigh-high boots. Ganondorf comparatively wears the masculine equivalent to form-fitting titty breastplates. I’d go so far as to say this is like the Gerudo saying “But if they can’t see his sweet abs and manly, narrow hips how will they know he’s a guy? Better hammer some pecs into that chest plate just to be sure. Put some weird beads on his big bulgy biceps, it’ll draw people’s attention and he’ll get the upper hand while they’re distracted.”
The in-universe implications of of the character with the most aggressively on-display masculine secondary sex characteristics also being the character who was most likely dressed by women are kind of interesting to consider. It’s kind of taking “male power fantasy” and looping it around into some kind of “strong male character” situation, like some Gerudo fashion designer is standing there all “okay, so the fabric might not breathe at all and you’ll probably get your sternum crushed by the first guy who tries to punch you in the chest, but just get a load of how masculine and empowered you look!”
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone did female society worldbuilding deliberately and unironically like that?
Matriarchal society (say, drows?) where female warrior attire is designed with functionality and coolness in mind, while male fighters are dressed to look as masculine and conventionally attractive to the women as possible.
It’s quite sad that no-one in the mainstream media seems willing to try the idea.
I am mostly convinced this was kind of a happy accident rather than intentional worldbuilding, but this here’s a thing I get a kick out of regarding Gerudo fashion;
In Gerudo society, this is women’s armour that armoured warriors would wear;
When you crack even the regular not-Nabooru Iron Kuckles open there’s a unique, not-Nabooru Gerudo lady inside of them, Iron Knuckles are covered in Gerudo motifs, this is all around a pretty Gerudo construct.
BUT, this is Ganondorf’s armour when he was young and functioning as their king;
We got a skin tight black leather catsuit under sculpted muscle leather armour topped off with thigh-high boots. Ganondorf comparatively wears the masculine equivalent to form-fitting titty breastplates. I’d go so far as to say this is like the Gerudo saying “But if they can’t see his sweet abs and manly, narrow hips how will they know he’s a guy? Better hammer some pecs into that chest plate just to be sure. Put some weird beads on his big bulgy biceps, it’ll draw people’s attention and he’ll get the upper hand while they’re distracted.”
The in-universe implications of of the character with the most aggressively on-display masculine secondary sex characteristics also being the character who was most likely dressed by women are kind of interesting to consider. It’s kind of taking “male power fantasy” and looping it around into some kind of “strong male character” situation, like some Gerudo fashion designer is standing there all “okay, so the fabric might not breathe at all and you’ll probably get your sternum crushed by the first guy who tries to punch you in the chest, but just get a load of how masculine and empowered you look!”
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone did female society worldbuilding deliberately and unironically like that?
Matriarchal society (say, drows?) where female warrior attire is designed with functionality and coolness in mind, while male fighters are dressed to look as masculine and conventionally attractive to the women as possible.
It’s quite sad that no-one in the mainstream media seems willing to try the idea.
It is crucial to understand that a character design has to be informative of who the character is. And that sexualized designs do not inform us of it, just break the immersion.
Quiet’s a mercenary with a fictional condition that requires her to uncover as much skin as possible? Fine, then either make her totally nude or give her minimal clothing that is actually comfortable for her job.
Hey Nintendo, I have an idea for a game for you – make a new Zelda game but use bits of these comics from 1990 as the concepts. The bits where Zelda is kicking ass, rescuing the innocent and helping people overthrow evil.
