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[Toxi]

Interesting to see the changes. I love Lady Death's redesign; the cape and elegant dress look good together and fit the supernatural setting perfectly.

I don't really like the Samus redesign. She looks too down-to-earth military with the dull colors, straps, and rivets. I don't like the Zero Suit either though, so it's not like the artist ruined a good design.

I don't see a lot of differences besides the fact that they covered them up.

To summarise, more clothes then?

Maybe you should actually look at all the illustrations?

 

[Skux]

This one doesn't look very 'superhero' at all. I could walk down the street and find a dozen women wearing chucks, a voluminous skirt and a loose singlet with exposed bra.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Peach and Zero suit Samus are just flat out no's, the rest aren't particularly bad but there are some really questionable ones like Jean Grey in a full dress... As the pheonix she can fly ffs, that shit ain't practical.

Considering she's one of the most powerful beings in the universe, I don't know why the aerodynamics of what she's wearing should be a consideration.

 

[striferser]

I like some of the design. Some of them, not so much...
Dizzy, Emma Frost, Storm, and seven of nine design is so much better than her original one IMO.

 

[cj_iwakura]

The Betty Boop is really great, so's the Phoenix. By and large they're improved; much classier.

 

[Anton Sugar]

This one doesn't look very 'superhero' at all. I could walk down the street and find a dozen women wearing chucks, a voluminous skirt and a loose singlet with exposed bra.

I'm not crazy about the design, but she does explain the look in the caption:

Scarlet Witch redesign by Belinda Morris "Since the Scarlet Witch’s origin story includes growing up in a Romani family I wanted her costume to reconnect with that - but with a modern twist."

 

[FlyinJ]

So...it's more like "What a bunch of women concept artists want in women characters", right?

I'm sure that a lot of women prefer the original designs.

So... it's more like "Read the article before commenting".

 

[HueyFreeman]

This nariko re-design is actually a big improvement.

Some of the other ones... well de-sexualizing them is a step in the right direction, but more than a few of them are just... not very good.

This is embarrassing and should be rightly held up as what is wrong with female character design.

Yeah Jesus. I really hope Kojima gives us the option to clothe her - it's just so out of step with the direction games should be moving in.

 

[Toxi]

This is the same person who created arguably the best female character ever.

I love the Boss, but "arguably the best female character ever"? Really?

 

[Steroyd]

Considering she's one of the most powerful beings in the universe, I don't know why the aerodynamics of what she's wearing should be a consideration.

If I'm floating in the air, the first thing to gets burned is that annoying skirt flapping in the wind, or non gravity if we're taking this into space.

Hell there's been plenty of movies where women rip off their oversized skirts because it gets in the way when shit gets real.

 

[SolidSnakex]

I love the Boss, but "arguably the best female character ever"? Really?

Yes, there are quite a few people that view her as the best female character ever and even the best character in the MG universe.

 

[Betty]

I love the Boss, but "arguably the best female character ever"? Really?

She's stronger than every character in the game.

She is respected on both sides of the cold war.

She helped lead the allies to victory in ww2.

She is the mentor of Big Boss.

She's not egotistical, she's not petty, she's not vain, she's loyal, she's smart, she's precise, she's a near perfect soldier.

There are some really good female characters out there, but there's none that feel so powerful yet so human as The Boss... in my opinion at least.

The only female character I can think of who comes close is Ellie from Last of Us, and that's only because she's likeable and relatable and also very human, something most creators don't bother to imbue in any character male or female.

 

[golduck342]

I like a lot of these designs, mostly the ones I recognize
Samus reminds me of Lin from Breath of fire DQ

 

[cj_iwakura]

This one doesn't look very 'superhero' at all. I could walk down the street and find a dozen women wearing chucks, a voluminous skirt and a loose singlet with exposed bra.

I think the idea is for her to look Wiccan.

 

[Anton Sugar]

If I'm floating in the air, the first thing to gets burned is that annoying skirt flapping in the wind, or non gravity if we're taking this into space.

Hell there's been plenty of movies where women rip off their oversized skirts because it gets in the way when shit gets real.

Again, we're talking about a being that can set herself on fire. You might be surprised to know that many dresses/skirts are styled so that they are extremely comfortable and don't get in the way. I'm just pointing out that it's stupid to say "That dress makes no sense for a super-powered woman who can fly and light herself on fire".

Also, if "annoying shit that gets in the way" is the concern, she should burn off most of her back-length hair or that stupid little belt sash thing.

 

[Bishop89]

Sounds like she just doesn't care about things. I mean, she literally has no preferences about types? She likes any character just for being a woman? I'd be interested to hear an elaboration on your point.

Well yeah she has no preference. But I wouldn't say she likes any character just because they are a woman. Much like myself she doesn't care if the character is a male or female, the sex of a character doesn't even cross our minds.

 

[Corpekata]

In that defense of Quiet why didn't you include his comments about making her more erotic to encourage cosplay and sell action figures?

 

[Metalingus5150]

The Samus design is cool. Reminds me of Alien.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

I feel like several of those designs look like men in dresses (Peach, Samus, Sonja, Drow Ranger) almost to the point of having no female distinguishing qualities in them (Pirotess looks like a tanned Legolas).

What the hell? The only one who could possibly pass as a male is the drow ranger.

Maybe that's the idea, perhaps they reject the current concept of femininity

I have no idea how you could think that from those artworks. Boggles the mind.

 

[MiszMasz]

I think the idea is for her to look Wiccan.

Supposedly it's inspired by her partially Romani backstory.
Unfortunately, said inspiration appears to have led to anything but Romani and instead whole-foods hippie in appearance. It's easily the weakest change of the lot.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

If I'm floating in the air, the first thing to gets burned is that annoying skirt flapping in the wind, or non gravity if we're taking this into space.

Hell there's been plenty of movies where women rip off their oversized skirts because it gets in the way when shit gets real.

lol, once again, practicality matters to justify sexiness but not the other way around. Can't make this up. xD

"Don't you see, she has to rip off her shirt! It's science!"

 

[Toa TAK]

I can't say enough how much I LOVE this. I've never been a fan of ZSS, so this is pretty much a dream come true for me. Samus deserves better.

 

[Shouta]

Looking at the designs, most of them lack any sort of context or direction for where they'd show up. Like the ZSS redesign doesn't make sense for when the ZSS suit shows up but it would make sense if she needed to mount a mission to get her suit back and it required actual fighting instead of improptu stealth. Peach and the Phoenix redesigns are in a similar boat too.

Nariko, Lady Death, Red Sonja, and Tayils are fairly improved. Emma Frost is by far the best one and should be adopted as her current design, lol.

All the others are both bad or are whatever.

 

[John Rabbit]

What the hell? The only one who could possibly pass as a male is the drow ranger.


I have no idea how you could think that from those artworks. Boggles the mind.

i'm assuming the poster you quoted means "boobs and visible ass cheeks" as "female distinguishing qualities" because every single one of the re-designs is very obviously a woman.


and that Zero Suit redo is amazing.

 

[Palculator]

In that defense of Quiet why didn't you include his comments about making her more erotic to encourage cosplay and sell action figures?

Probably because of what you're thinking: It'd hurt the argument.

Though in- or excluding Kojima's statements about a game/character that's unreleased is pointless either way since it's liable to be Kojima fuckery and authorial intent is irrelevant anyway.

 

[Anton Sugar]

I can't say enough how much I LOVE this. I've never been a fan of ZSS, so this is pretty much a dream come true for me. Samus deserves better.

For real. Boggles my mind that anyone thinks this design is bad or ugly. I can see the argument that it's unsuited for "canon" Zero Suit Samus, but it's easily my fav out of all of them.

Probably because of what you're thinking: It'd hurt the argument.

Though in- or excluding Kojima's statements about a game/character that's unreleased is pointless either way since it's liable to be Kojima fuckery and authorial intent is irrelevant anyway.

Also, I don't give a shit if Kojima is Virginia Woolf reincarnate: you're going to get criticism if you design a character that is a hot woman, wearing underwear and fishnets in combat, and who doesn't say a word (but does grunt, of course).

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

This is the same person who created arguably the best female character ever.

And knows full well how a combat ready female soldier would look.

Who made one of the most bad ass OLDER women ever, I mean seriously, old women in anything are rare, old women in video games are one in a million, but bad ass old women in videogames? Fucking holy grail rare.

And in general has created tons of female characters that have entire individual identities, power, intelligence and cool.

Is Kojima the only guy to have ever had an old women like Eva dress sexually and still be awesome? Or include so many female characters from different cultures in Peacewalker? I consider Peacewalker to have some of the best written female characters. I could listen to Streangelove's audio recordings all day.

 

[Oogedei]

I love the redesigns. Would be glad if they could find their way to an actual game one day. The amount of sexually displayed women in video games is just stupid imo (and yeah there are exceptions)

 

[Betty]

In that defense of Quiet why didn't you include his comments about making her more erotic to encourage cosplay and sell action figures?

He clarified by saying he wanted to make her unique, not erotic, but sexy.

And why didn't you add the fact that people have already cosplayed as her?

Here's some more, all different people.
http://th04.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2013/217/5/7/quiet___the_phantom_pain_by_ixiserenityixi-d6ga3yt.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BQ4dAUYCMAAOGgK.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/7b/7f/cb/7b7fcb0bc9354bca7d4877771e9a394d.jpg
http://41.media.tumblr.com/f4cac04218eb72ec5ba50640402b88c0/tumblr_n1603lbWes1rztdgoo1_500.jpg
http://www.allthatsepic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/quiet-cosplay-2.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BoI9t5oIgAAmAfQ.png:large(< This one is a guy cosplaying, omg right?)

I won't get into the whole cosplay scene, but people like dressing up as sexy characters and adding sexiness is something Kojima does for many of his characters, male and female.

Is Kojima the only guy to have ever had an old women like Eva dress sexually and still be awesome? Or include so many female characters from different cultures in Peacewalker? I consider Peacewalker to have some of the best written female characters. I could listen to Streangelove's audio recordings all day.

I personally can't think of anyone to rival Eva in that regard.

And even more amazing is how many female characters he's created overall, each with deep backstories and integral relevance to the plot of each game. I can name tons of big AAA gaming franchises that have barely a handful of female characters and most of which aren't even developed at all.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

I like pretty much all of the with exceptions of Peach and Samus, they seem to miss the mark, especially the tone of Peach in those games.

 

[george_us]

Considering she's one of the most powerful beings in the universe, I don't know why the aerodynamics of what she's wearing should be a consideration.

This is one of the reasons her redesign makes even less sense to me. Phoenix is literally a force of nature and she generally acts as such unless they've written her differently. She shouldn't give a fuck about mortal concepts such as modesty. If anything, I'd say a Phoenix redesign should look closer to something like Silver Surfer or Nova (Frankie Raye).

 

[Kinyou]

I won't get into the whole cosplay scene, but people like dressing up as sexy characters and adding sexiness is something Kojima does for many of his characters, male and female.

.

 

[WrenchNinja]

i guess you didn't include paz or the beauty and the beast unit cause they were garbage

 

[FATALITY]

lol chun li looks horrible

 

[Yarbskoo]

Was the second one Other M? Because I haven't played that one for obvious reasons.

Yes, yes it was.

Also, there's no reason to target Sheik because she's not controversial.

That's not particularly relevant is it? If anything, the fact that people talk about ZSS is even more reason she belongs in Smash. How often do you see a hundred page thread discussing Dr. Mario? Or Ice Climbers, outside of Smash threads?

 

[Betty]

.

Stupid sexy snake.

i guess you didn't include paz or the beauty and the beast unit cause they were garbage

Pas was a triple agent who fooled everyone, including the player, so she's not weak or garbage.

And the B&B unit is comprised entirely of women in war machine outfits, how many games can you mention that has an almost entire female boss roster? Yes, underneath they are in slimline outfits, but only because bulky clothing wouldn't allow them to fit in those armored suits and it did make a change from staring at Snake's skin tight ass crack revealing suit.

I can also mention Paramedic, Mei Ling, Dr Naomi Hunter, Olga Gurlukovich, Ocelot's personal guard unit, Nastasha Romenenko, all strong independent women who stand up alongside the male in importance and design.

 

[Toxi]

Is Kojima the only guy to have ever had an old women like Eva dress sexually and still be awesome?

No, there's a few examples I can think of off the top of my head (Dragon Age's Flemeth).

But it is always nice to see older women in more kickass roles; there are a lot less of them than old men in fiction.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

That Samus one is ugly and so is the Chun-Li. I don't fuck with most of these.

 

[H.Protagonist]

Ooooo, I like the new Samus design much better than the silly Zero Suit. She actually looks like a fighter now, and one that can see because her hair's out of her damn face.

This is a great re-design. Love the changes.

Not really digging the hair covering, but I like the general style. She actually projects magic-user now, and the artist has her character spot on ("Morrigan seems the sort to look sexy for her enjoyment, not yours."). Credit to her original design for not having exaggerated proportions, though. I did appreciate that when I played the game.

And, it doesn't really fit with the series and wouldn't work unless they did a gritty Mario, but I actually like the Peach re-design.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Supposedly it's inspired by her partially Romani backstory.
Unfortunately, said inspiration appears to have led to anything but Romani and instead whole-foods hippie in appearance. It's easily the weakest change of the lot.

I happen to think that's a cool look, so... definitely unique.

 

[akidnamededdy]

I will go one step further and say the Zero Suit redesign is good for, say, a female Galactic Federation soldier getup, but has no reason to exist as an outfit for Samus.

If Samus needs to get strapped, she's got the Power Suit. If she needs to get sneaky stealthy, she's got the Zero Suit. There's literally no good reason for an in-between suit, which is all that artist's take on it could ever be.

EDIT: for further clarification--the redesign has no hope of matching up to the firepower of the Power Suit, and it's too bulky to replace the Zero Suit.

The point of zero suit Samus is to dress up the hot blonde in a skin tight suit

There's nothing else beyond it

Ugh. Aren't you usually a good poster?

 

[Roto13]

And the B&B unit is comprised entirely of women in war machine outfits, how many games can you mention that has an almost entire female boss roster? Yes, underneath they are in slimline outfits, but only because bulky clothing wouldn't allow them to fit in those armored suits and it did make a change from staring at Snake's skin tight ass crack revealing suit.

The B&B skintight suit conversation is basically exactly the same as the Zero Suit Samus one.

 

[Metroidvania]

The zero suit redesign, to me, feels like Samus in the start of a horror game, where her suit has been deactivated, and she's stuck in a situation where she's had time to cobble stuff together, and she's just about to put on a standard helmet and go out the airlock. Kind of an alt-dead space/horror-action vibe.

It's a game I'd like to see, but not a re-design so much as it'd be taking place in an entirely different game, with a different Samus and a different set of rules.

 

[Corpekata]

He clarified by saying he wanted to make her unique, not erotic, but sexy.

And why didn't you add the fact that people have already cosplayed as her?
.

Why would I add that people cosplayed as her? That has no bearing on what I was saying, just like if action figures were selling well, it would not.

 

[MrHoot]

One thing that always struck me with Morrigan in dragon age 1. I haven't played the game in a while so i don't have a good memory but...didn't she live in a swamp ? WHY WOULD YOU DRESS LIKE THAT IN A SWAMP ?

I would already be covered in mosquito bites

 

[Astral/H3X]

For real. Boggles my mind that anyone thinks this design is bad or ugly. I can see the argument that it's unsuited for "canon" Zero Suit Samus, but it's easily my fav out of all of them.



Also, I don't give a shit if Kojima is Virginia Woolf reincarnate: you're going to get criticism if you design a character that is a hot woman, wearing underwear and fishnets in combat, and who doesn't say a word (but does grunt, of course).

This is my only beef with the ZSS redo. It looks good, it just doesn't work for what the ZSS is supposed to be.

 

[Kinyou]

i guess you didn't include paz or the beauty and the beast unit cause they were garbage

imo was Paz kind of rectified through the story twist in Peace Walker. Listening through her audio diary made the character deeper than I initially thought it was.

 

[Toxi]

And the B&B unit is comprised entirely of women in war machine outfits, how many games can you mention that has an almost entire female boss roster? Yes, underneath they are in slimline outfits, but only because bulky clothing wouldn't allow them to fit in those armored suits and it did make a change from staring at Snake's skin tight ass crack revealing suit.

Uh, maybe not the best example with their cheap and contrived tragic backstories or their bizarre "naked" scenes post-boss fight. The Beauty and the Beast Unit really were terrible, from their lack of individual characterization to the fact that every single one has the same backstory.

 

[bigjig]

I kinda like the Zero Suit look, it reminds me a bit of Patlabor in style. The Peach redesign looks terrible though. Admittedly I'm not really sure why the original design is considered bad though when the characters in Frozen are apparently ok.

 

[i-Lo]

I don't understand the redesign for Samus' suit. I have never played any of the Metroid games but isn't the suit more than just a glorified undergarment?