sigiledpaladin

Thank you! I’m really glad to hear this. It’s always nice to hear positive feedback once you return from such a long break.

The main admin Tica, however, is still at hiatus. It’s currently mostly being run by the secondary admin, Uggla, who’s doing a great job at keeping this blog alive. You have her to thank!

anomenon submitted to ria-rha:

I cherry picked the worst from the second link, the first looks like what I wore to prom (minus the sword, though I would've if I could've), the second honestly looks like something out of a Rob Liefeld comic, and the third is the DLC costume based on Final Fantasy XIV, meaning we actually have two games with crappy armor here.

As I've mentioned a few times before, I'm a huge fan of the first FFXIII, but even it has some problems with Lightning's outfit. However, the lone issue of "combat miniskirt" pretty much pales in comparison to some of the "armors" from Lightning Returns. The worst problem with this is that the combat system combines the paradigm system of the first two games with the dressphere system from FFX-2, meaning that your combat abilities change with what you're wearing. So if you want to use certain abilities, you have to switch to some of these awful outfits. And on top of being highly impractical, wildly sexist (Lightning's breast size was increased for this game because the developer wanted more sex appeal) and completely out of line with Lightning's character, who is supposed to be completely ignorant of fashion and prefers practical clothing, the outfits are just plain bad aesthetically. Loads of people love giving Tetsuya Nomura crap for basically sticking to belts and zippers for all of his designs, but look what happens when you let someone else design the outfits. At least Nomura understands color balance and how an outfit should flow, even if they're impractical for battle. 

I was basically done with the series once they decided time travel was a good idea but even if I wasn't, I'd avoid this game simply because I don't want my eyes to bleed. 

-Astro

Things I (Tica) Answered during the RHA Chat

A. Noyd: Well, I was wondering if you had any comments on how "female" versions of armor seem to so often leave the thighs bare even if everything else is covered.

A. Noyd: Same here. At least boob plates cover (unless they're all cleavage-y). And I think it's especially terrible if the character rides some sort of mount.

A. Noyd: Like... ow?

A. Noyd: Anyway, it creeps me out because it seems to indicate not just sex appeal but access to that area for the sake of the viewer/player.

followerofthemightyyahootie: elder scrolls v: skyrim. Generally has good armor for women. You just get the occasional boob plate.

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A. Noyd: Another thing that really gets to me is when there's no padding under the armor.

A. Noyd: The more sexualized the armor, the less I bother imagining that. Though, if it's just clothes, that's another thing.

A. Noyd: Well, sexualized armor, my mind is just like "hell no, that's too wrong." Doesn't compute. If you're doing something you need armor for, you wear something that makes sense.

A. Noyd: Clothes you can get away with revealing more because, in my mind, it's normal not to cover everything.

A. Noyd: So I can relate to that whereas I cannot relate to skimpy, sexualized armor.

A. Noyd: On the other hand, my mind is happy to mentally "try on" non-sexualized armor, but if it has no padding--if it's metal directly on the skin or something--that just ruins my suspension of disbelief.

A. Noyd: Yeah, and guys should have more variety. Give them sexy and cute, too. Especially in MMOs.

A. Noyd: Yeah, and I think some of the lack of variety for men is there's this idea that it's "unmanly" to play dress-up. But guys frickin' LOVE that.

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Heemiliation: Greetings! I'm just going to get right to business: Are you worried about copyright infringement for tracing professional art, and encouraging others to do so as well?

Nammish: Also, you can technically claim the altered art under parody

Heemiliation: Good. Still gets my blood boiling as an artist though when I see people altering artwork. It's like scribbling over a good print with crayons half the time. Or sonic recolors.

Ozzie Scribbler (BABD mod): let's be real: Sonic recolors are famous for the "Original character, PLZ don't steal", while RHA or Escher Girls makes it really clear that redraws are for critical/educational purposes, which is a-okay in the light of copyright

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Ozzie Scribbler (BABD mod): Tica: (sorry if someone asked before) how does your indefinite hiatus look right now

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Citrine: Oh! I do have a question, actually: Is it okay to submit a redraw that mostly fixes her weapon stance?

Citrine: Pretty much every time I see a picture of a fictional archer, I cringe. One especially bad one isn't up on eshergirls but it is on rha, so I wondered.

brainstemsofthoughtflowers replied to your post: thejohnnyringo: repair-her-armor: OH...

The problem is that she is an sexualized child-like character. Period.

She got every childish feature there is; baby-face, childish body (even with the lil baby-fat still on), cutesy clothes... For example, you can't look at this and think "adult woman", when you see her compared to the other ladies in the game:

Trust me, it gets worse. She has a childish voice (in the original version) and even an childish posture. She even got childish emotes. Yet she's always pictured like this. Now, let's not forget that this game is pretty much built ONLY to sexualize women. And no, it's not me saying that just cause how they look; I actually played it to really see how it was. There was constant sexual puns (often how the girls would "serve" the player who was obviously supposed to be a heterosexual male... although you play as a girl. And I suppose you know what I mean by "serve"). And not only that; if you pay some real money, you can see the girls completely naked. No need for armor when you can have bouncing boobs - Except for Sentinel. Well, at least you get to stare at her butt. This guy explains this game pretty well. Scarlet Blade in a nutshell.

Or, if you go to their Wiki, here's what they have to say about Sentinel:

Yes. They even have to point out that "she's not a child" and that "she's old enough for this game" but yet they admit that they "made her that way". When you have to explain something like that, you know something is fucked up. Also, her age is 18. That's just by the "acceptable" age, because hey, she's NOT that old yet. *rolls eyes* And take note how all classes want someone to "have as company".

It went to the point where they had to censore her so that she wouldn't get banned. Which, ended up with them making this;

Which is not what I'd call an improvement.

Anon: I don't play games to be dressed as boringly as a man

Sorry, you're missing the obvious points here.

In a perfect world, Skullgirls would be one of my favorite things. A game with all-female fighters! How cool! But, alas, we do not live in a perfect world.

Skullgirls rather overtly caters to male-gaze. Which is a shame because it detracts from an otherwise solid game. The art is wonderful and, from what I hear, so is the gameplay. (Admission [in case this paragraph hasn't made it clear]: I haven't played this game.)

I guess what I'm saying is that sometimes there are good things that could be great things if only they didn't have that one element of exclusion. That one element can change from thing to thing, but when it's there, it becomes hard to overlook. Ideally, I should be able to research a game and just think whether I want to play it or not. With Skullgirls, my first thought is, "Oh, this is for boys." Even though there's no reason for that to be my first impression, not with a few tweaks to presentation.

Peacock, by the way, looks great. I love the classic cartoon vibe she has.

-Staci

[OH HEY ADMINS has someone actually played Skullgirls? If so, please hi-jack this post and erase the nonsense I have written. I think someone who's played it'd be able to give a much better response. Thank you :) ] 

Turns out my master Kill La Kill post wasn't so masterful after all. Here's some of the feedback we've gotten:

Now, first, I want to say I am not familiar with every piece of media out there. I'd like to be. If it were possible to get an IV drip of all the video games, anime, comic books, and movies going directly into my brain, I'd be all over that. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist (as far as I know?).

So, no, I haven't seen Kill La Kill.

That said, we have an open submission system. I'm not going to turn something away if I don't agree that it needed to be fixed in the first place. There have been some like that. There will be more in the future, I'm sure.

Back to the feedback:

This is something I know about Kill La Kill. I haven’t watched the show yet, so I can’t give my personal impressions yet; but I get from other sources that it’s right. Basically it says that the deliberately ridiculous sexualization in Kil La Kill is the Point of the show, and that’s it’s supposed to be a satire and a metaphor for Puberty.

I suppose I shouldn't expect people to have known who's talking this whole time. This is Staci. Hi. I'm female. So, hey, I went through that coming-of-age thing that appears to be the theme of Kill La Kill. I remember when I started to be treated as a series of parts instead of a person. That's terrifying.

Right. Now, keep in mind all this commentary from me, I'm going off this feedback we got. Including this one that's on the opposite side of the fence:

Weaponization of female sexuality is a really difficult subject to tackle. I can't pretend I'm comfortable with the idea of someone telling me that horrible, sinking feeling I had when adult men started noticing and treating me differently, is something I should accept and use to my advantage.

Now that I know what Kill La Kill is about thematically, I'm going to try to watch it. I don't know right now if it's successful in conveying it's message, and I'm almost certain I won't agree with it, but I'm going to make a concerted effort to check it out. Hopefully by the end of the month. Maybe I'll report back here.

Thank you everyone who sent in stuff about Kill La Kill. If nothing else, you've gotten one person to add to their much-less-efficient-than-an-IV-drip media consumption.

-Staci

Toodx said:

Anyway, I wanted to mention on of my pet peeves in fantasy armor design. Armor over bare skin. The boob plates have been gone over many times but this seems to get overlooked. When it is addressed it’s done so in the context of covering up but usually focuses specifically on the torso. However there’s more then just modesty at play here. Have you ever strapped bits of leather and metal to you bare skin and then engages in some form of physical activity? It chafes. It pinches. If it’s cold, you sure as hell don’t want that steal on your bare skin. If it’s hot, then welcome to slimy, sweaty hell. Some types can even draw blood if they pinch you properly or get dented in an unfortunate way. Under layers, such as gambesons and even plain old gym clothes provide, padding, insulation, and moisture wicking. They protect you from your armor. Anywhere there is a buckle, strap, or point of articulation, you generally want a layer between you and your armor. There are types where this is less necessary but in generl, the more elaborate the armor, the more you want something between you and it.

Here's some armor advice for any budding armor makers/drawers/enthusiasts, courtesy a couple of our readers. Thanks for sharing!

-Staci

These asks are best friends. So say my magic pairing powers.

I definitely agree that while there are outfits that are pretty, but impractical, there are those that fall squarely into the ugly category y'all are talking about. I don't know that the percentages are quite that high, but I do wonder how many character designers seriously study fashion...

...Or armor.

-Staci

I believe this is in response to this post.

First, on behalf of smaller-breasted girls, I'll go ahead and let you know that no matter the size, not strapping breasts down when doing any real physical activity: ow. OW.

That said, I think a lot of the time it's very easy to tell when something was made by a dude with zero experience in boob-having. I know we don't normally cover books, but there's a bit in Red Dragon (slight Hannibal fan girl, sorry) where the author describes a bit of video that goes like this:

"The best view of her is in the softball game with the neighbors' children. Only about fifteen seconds of her; she takes a lead off second base, faces the pitcher and the plate, feet apart ready to dash either way, her breasts swaying beneath her pullover as she leans forward from the waist."

How is that sexy or realistic or anything but OW?! Clearly made/written by a dude.

Conclusion: we're all in this together. Feeling for fictional women.

-Staci

Ahhh, isn't it just wonderful when you can just spot the male gaze in writing? It's so awkward. This gal here explains this issue pretty well, although short. I can't find the original source I was looking for.

But yeah everyone, big-chested or not, would want to have something to keep them in place and protect them when moving around - especially in battle! I'm sure everyone with breasts to know how painful it is when you accidently hit them, or just accidently touch them too hard. Ouchouchouch. - Tica

andy354 submitted to ria-rha:

When she first showed up in-game, with that Yeti on her head, I thought she was the coolest! And then she took the Yeti off...She's certainly well armored at first glance, but look what's protecting her heart! Nothing but mammaries. Oh Nintendo...

-Astro

I'm going to have to disagree... not about it not being a functional armor (because well, obviously) but just about her needing armor at all. Long story short: she doesn't.

Long story long: the Resistance are some of the few people we can actually confirm move about outside of towns, meaning they're the only people who really need to worry about their safety since monsters only appear out and about and, presumably, none of them move as fast as the Postman.

Since Ashei is only known to travel to the Snowpeak area, there are two ways to get there from Hyrule Castle Town. The first (and easiest) way involves going through North Hyrule Field straight up to Zora's Domain. It's unlikely she'd go this way as Link has to bomb it to make it accessible, and it's not like he'd tell anyone he's done so.

This means that unless there's a secret way to get to Snowpeak (which I do suspect... cheating NPCs), she'd most likely travel through North Hyrule Field toward the Upper Zora River by boat. Admittedly, she'd have to go against the current for a bit, but I think it's manageable (because, again, unless there's a secret way, this is how she'd have to travel). From there she goes to Zora Domain and Snowpeak.

Taking this path means she'll most likely have to face off against Lizalfos and, if she can't run as fast as Link ("and if she's carrying a boat? Where's she going to keep a boat?" Shhhhh), Bulbins.

The sword she's carrying is made for finessed thrusting; I know I was able to defeat Lizalfos using only thrusts no problem (I wasn't able to get Link to even try on the Bulbin, but they lack shields so it should be possible to defeat them without swinging)... so even if she engages these guys in combat, she shouldn't need armor to take them on. If they do manage to get a hit in, she should be able to deflect with the stuff on her arm.

My argument is moot, however, because we know Shad travels much further and in more enemy riddled areas without any survival skills or armor.

Which only leaves whether or not the outfit serves her character. Well, we know Ashei is from Snowpeak, and even without her yeti coat, her armor and even her pants are reminiscent of the area. And by area I mean Yeto and Yeta's place. And by Yeto and Yeta's place I mean I hate the Snowpeak Ruins so much.

Alright, so her clothes remind us of yetis and Snowpeak, that's good. As for her personality, all we really know is that she's blunt and was raised by her father to be good at fighting. Getting even more basic than that, we know she's in the Resistance.

She definitely looks different from the other people in Hyrule Castle Town, so I'm going to call that a win in the Resisting area of the equation. The armor pieces and visible sword serve the fighting part, and I'm going to go ahead and say that I think her face/hair serve the blunt part.

And I can now add "spent way too much time thinking about a video game character" to my resume.

-Staci

To turn this into a postable conversation, I pretty much agree with you. In fact, for the most part, Twilight Princess is the most well-researched Zelda title ever in terms of the design choices for the armor, weapons, environment and architecture. The entire thing is so deeply rooted in real historical periods that it feels familiar, but also has just the right blend of fantastical elements (and an Escher painting to boot).

I just think that even a fencer should have some protection, and her design is one of the few that is very hit and miss. The problem here is that as a fencer, you need to be able to move your arms and core, and her armor not only doesn't protect her upper chest (which as you pointed out is probably unnecessary but let's pretend it is) but also restricts her lower torso and arm movement. Having giant weights on the forearm that you're using a sword with is not a good idea, period, especially if you're using a fighting style that requires speedy thrusts of all things. Also, while the asymetrical armor is a good idea for a fencer, because it saves weight, most fencers point their strong side to the opponent, so having the weak arm more heavily armored helps nothing at all. If she wore armor beyond a basic breastplate, segments along her stomach and greaves, she should have much thinner bracers and a thin pauldron on her sword arm, and leave it at that. 

-Astro

nursury0 asked:

I think she looks like Gonzo after that torture bit in Muppet Treasure Island:

But in all seriousness, I've mentioned before that I think Bayonetta works well as a sexual character, and I may as well use this opportunity to talk about that in a bit more detail. By which I mean link to the Game Overthinker's breakdown of her design (warning: contains profanity as well as quite a bit of... appreciation of Bayonetta's assets >_>) and pretend that counts as giving my own opinion on the matter.

The video concludes, "Tongue-in-cheek or not, Bayonetta may represent the first time someone's actually made the exhibitionism as empowerment angle, work." ... "If nothing else, (she's) the best example yet of femininity and power not being irreconcilable opposites."

Now, I don't think he mentions her hair-as-clothing deal, so I'll at least weigh in on that in my own words (aren't I sweet). At first, demon hair that leaves Bayonetta in various states of undress during certain attacks, seems like an excuse to get her naked. Which, okay, yeah, it would've been just as easy to leave her as clothed as she always is, but I do think the hair clothes work.

Mostly because it's yet another thing on the laundry list of things that are slightly off about Bayonetta (refer to Gonzo, above).

See, hair clothes are pretty gross. Just sit and think about it for a few seconds. Hair. Covering your entire body as a skin-tight jumpsuit. Yeah, that's pretty dang gross. But Bayonetta goes around like this is not only the most natural thing in the world, but also like it's the sexiest.

It isn't. We know it isn't. We thought about it for a moment and, barring any fetishists, we know it's gross.

That conflict between what we know and her attitude? That's funny. That matches the tone of the game, and suits (heh) the character to boot.

Don't get me wrong, this game isn't perfect (I could go into detail about jokes that didn't work for me, plot points that seemed to undermine everything the game'd been going for, etc), but I do think Bayonetta's design was thought out and serves its purpose. Which is a heck of a lot more than I can say about some characters.

 -Staci

Anonymous asked ria-rha:

Dude, really. There's so much variation in each "race" that it's a disservice to only feature pale people in a game, even if the game was made exclusively starring Japanese characters. There are tan and brown Japanese! Why is this so hard to understand? 

-Astro