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:
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:
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.
Bonus male empowerment:
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:
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 CreepyMarketing 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.
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 CreepyMarketing 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.
In recent years, Magic: the Gathering has made a serious effort to improve its depiction of women. The past couple of years has seen such high-profile armor-plated badasses as General Tazri and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death.
Quick backstory: the plane of Ravnica is ruled by 10 guilds. The Boros guild is effectively a militarized police force. At the head of the guild are the firemane angels and in command of them is Razia. I guess that she thought the standard issue boobplate wasn’t empowering enough and that a platemail thong would better inspire the morale of her troops.
Wizards of the Coast maintains their baffling process of making steps forward then making jumps back when it looks like they’re really progressing.
In recent years, Magic: the Gathering has made a serious effort to improve its depiction of women. The past couple of years has seen such high-profile armor-plated badasses as General Tazri and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death.
Quick backstory: the plane of Ravnica is ruled by 10 guilds. The Boros guild is effectively a militarized police force. At the head of the guild are the firemane angels and in command of them is Razia. I guess that she thought the standard issue boobplate wasn’t empowering enough and that a platemail thong would better inspire the morale of her troops.
Wizards of the Coast maintains their baffling process of making steps forward then making jumps back when it looks like they’re really progressing.
