Tag: zenoscope

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Zenescope – Sweater Edition Part 1

Right around Halloween last year we decided to fix up some poor Zenescope comic heroines with Autumn-appropriate sweaters, similarly as we did with Applibot ladies before. 

Wicked Witch of the West 

In case this wasn’t clear from this old bingo, we hate what Zenescope’s Grimm Fairy Tales franchise did to Oz characters, especially the Wicked Witch of the West. Attempts at reinventing this villainess since the 1939 movie were hit and miss (mostly miss), but this one is easily the laziest and most insulting one. 

What the hell was the thought process behind the outfit is beyond human or Munchkin comprehension. I refuse to believe that evil magic is what keeps this thing on her body. It’s just too nonsensical.
Thankfully, with the sweater theme I didn’t have to reinvent the costume from scratch, just throw something comfy on top. I went with a loose turtleneck tunic, matching in color the inside of her cape and her hat’s detailing. I didn’t fix anything about her pose, but she did get pants/tights that match her gloves.

Thing I noticed rather soon was that after covering all the gratuitous flesh she became a blob in various shapes of purple, especially since her hair blended with the hat and cape. I figured that if her skin isn’t supposed to be green, then at least her hair can be, both for contrast and to match the overall image’s composition better. 

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I didn’t remember it while editing, but other images of the Witch we had on the blog actually did sport very dark green hair, along with sickly pale greyish skin. Whoever changed the color scheme for that particular cover made a mistake and stripped the character of the last bit of distinctness. 

Very casual redesign overall, and while much less detailed than the rest of the image, I’m rather happy with the improved color scheme and the shading I did to match the cape. Hope you like it too.

~Ozzie 

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I feel ya, Dorothy, I am also appalled at what passes for clothing in Zenescope’s Oz. Are clothes taxed per inch of fabric in the West?

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Have you ever looked at L. Frank Baum’s books about a land ruled and influenced by strong, complicated women, and thought “man, I wish these characters were drawn like plastic dolls by J. Scott Campbell so I could masturbate to them”? Well then, do we have the series for you!

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(We also recommend you find actual people to interact with, we’re worried.)

Not technically armor, but I know 0 people who would wear this fabric scrap in real life. I guess J. Scott Campbell* knows more people than me… who are imaginary. At least Dorothy over there is wearing what might pass for clothes. I don’t even know what to call the Wicked Witch’s…. bodily coverings.

At least the series doesn’t fall into the Evil is Sexy trope, since everyone is barely allowed clothes? Yay?? ?

-Icy 

My eyes, upon seeing Zenescope’s idea of what “Kansas Farmgirl” and “Powerful Evil Witch” look like: 

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~Ozzie 

* I realize Campbell may not have had any input on these character designs, but it’s just the sort of thing he would design, so he still gets 0 points.

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While Grimm Fairy Tales is an extremely low-hanging fruit, I couldn’t help but snicker at how “creative” not only the costume, but all of those covers with the same heroine are – at least two poses get reused a lot with very slight modifications, like a closeup. And her expression on a vast majority is all the same.

Also it sums up GFT’s “mastery” at conveying character through their design – I suppose this is meant to be Snow White by the apple motif on her arm-warmer and the vaguely Disney-esque color scheme (aaand that alternative #2 cover).
Though didn’t she wear glasses and dress differently in those comics? Is that… a reboot? No, apparently it’s a sequel series and this is her daughter. Even in a legacy-based relaunch, Zenoscope isn’t capable of changing the status quo. 

But, of course, random conventionally attractive women in battle leotards* posing “sexily” with swords totally tell me all I need to know about this mature take on fairy tale stories and characters.

~Ozzie

I wonder what they could have been inspired by…

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I mean we all knew, but I just wanted to put it here so it highlights the @eschergirls type anatomy.

– wincenworks

That… “outfit”… looks like crap. Tagging this for a livestream somewhere down the line, hope y’all look forward to it.

-Icy

*Should I really call it that? It looks like a mix of lingerie, swimsuit and bodypaint.

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Okay, so generally speaking we can usually summarize Grimm Fairy Tales costume design with one gif.

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However, in this case I think they’ve managed to highlight two points of particular interest:

Point One: If you’re going to put buckles on an outfit think about where they will rub, what they might pinch on and where they’ll be pushed into if anything touches the wearer.

Point Two: You outfit can look all dark leather intimidating or it can tear like tissue paper – you cannot have it both ways.

– wincenworks