Tag: magic the gathering

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Royal Trooper Bingo

dimestoretajic submitted:

*sigh*

I stump for Magic the Gathering hard. I often feel like, in a sea of boring design and policies written by the Creepy Marketing Guy, Magic stands out as really trying to do better for inclusivity and diversity, even if it does stumble from time to time.

But this time, they REALLY stumbled.

Behold, from the recent Battlebond set… Royal Trooper! 

… like… what the hell.

This is my first time doing one of these bingo cards, so if I missed one or didn’t interpret one properly, let me have it:

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Now, the hilarious thing is, I passed this by my fiancee in case I missed one, and she said that the male version of this card was probably better. That sparked an idea, and lo and behold, there was an earlier version of this card: 

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…it’s also a woman, in MUCH BETTER ARMOUR… FORWARD, Wizards of the Coast. We’re supposed to go FORWARD. Yeesh… 

Thanks for subsmission and the commentary! We learned not to have high expectations of Magic and Gathering’s illustrations. At best, they’re a mixed bag. 

Occasional positive female example or sexy man doesn’t justify the fact that Wizards of the Coast aren’t all that bothered with keeping their card artist guidelines more than a little vague about what’s encouraged in depictions of women. So we end up with whole variety of generic sexy fantasy chicks with bared skin and boobplates galore. 

Just the fact that every version of Chandra Nalaar sports prominent boobplate says a lot about their dedication to never strive for actual change. 

So yeah, WotC, you’re supposed to go forward, not… sideways?

~Ozzie

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the-hittite:

Just so we’re clear, Chandra, Torch of Defiance wears the most practical version of her armor to date. (The least practical goes to the manga adaptation of The Purifying Fire.) But compared to the armor designs worn by other residents of Kaladesh, it seems a little out of place.

For those curious regarding the fore-mentioned manga:

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Essentially the spectrum highlights the problems that happens if a company like Wizards sets a vague design for a character then tries to “fix” it (depending on their priorities on any given day) without ever changing it in a meaningful way.

In this case, if you compare to the previous images of Chandra from the official Magic the Gathering imagery, the changes are:

  • Swapped chainmail for scalemail (both of which are absent in the manga)
  • Given her more substantial faulds (which are decorative in the manga)
  • Given her a weird collar/gorget thingie
  • Added extra cloth to her loincloth and made it heavier
  • Made her boots go all the way up to (presumably) her groin
  • Given her actual hair instead of just fire

So essentially all her redesigns and attempts to redevelop her were all preemptively critiqued in 1994, by known intellectual Lisa Simpson:

– wincenworks

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Chandra Nalaar’s costume never ceases to amaze us in how unapologetically it ignores even the most basic things about how armor (or any material involved in making it) works.

Let’s once again list all the nonsense here that goes beyond the usual sexualized armor tropes:

~Ozzie

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Oh Magic: The Gathering

@the-hittite​ submitted:

Magic: The Gathering’s Commander decks are going to be released soon, and as usual with Magic, the women commanders are something of a mixed bag. Presented here without comment. If you want to learn more about these characters and the stories behind them check here.

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Bonus male empowerment:

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Sadly, while taken as a whole Magic is a major mixed bag, it’s pretty clear from a casual examination of their site shows  which side of the fence the marketing crew is on:

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Sigh.

– wincenworks