Fantasy Armor and Lady Bits.

[Neoma]

This is a pretty long article with lots of pictures. I'll just link it: http://madartlab.com/2011/12/14/fantasy-armor-and-lady-bits/

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Oh, yes. The old "bikinimail." Like any sensible warrior woman would ever

wear that. (And Xena, I love you, but if you weren't so gifted you would have died in your first battle. Same goes for you, Gabby!)

[JoeyT]

4. Xena's is actually pretty reasonable.

Assuming she's the tall one. Her armor is actually pretty close to Roman and Greek leather armor.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Yeah, it's not as bad as it could be and I am sure they based it off the Greek leather armor, but it

still doesn't cover up to her neck like the armor you have in your post.

[JoeyT]

6. True.

I didn't notice because of her hair the first time I looked.

Mostly because I was still giggling at the dude in implausible armor on the linked page.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Yeah, "SpeedoMail" had me laughing too. *grin*

[REP]

2. Be sure to leave the kidneys, viscera, heart unprotected!

Yeah, I've noticed that a lot of fantasy armor (300, anyone? Leather bikini pants and flowing capes make for the least sensible battle gear ever) is designed by people who know nothing about fighting. Or anatomy.

[JoeyT]

3. That article was great,

and I was with him until he spoke ill of Aribeth. Them's fightin words.

Another downside to the useless fantasy armor for women is that it's necessary for plate to shift as you move. You can see what he made as a boobplate: A solid piece of metal that allows for padding. Without that padding your enemy wouldn't even have to hit you. They could just make you move around a lot and wait for you to die from infection.

[MadrasT]

8. Cool article. I love armor.

I was a studio metalsmith in a previous life, the armor exhibits in museums are still my favorites. I would *love* to build armor.

Thanks.

[FloridaJudy]

9. That's the kind of crap armor

Designed for fantasies for adolescent boys. You'll notice that Eowyn in LOTL and Brienne in Clash of Kings were wearing more practical outfits. One of the reasons I like grown-up fantasy is that women can kick butt!

[LanternWaste]

10. I was amazed at the blatant sexual pandering to the middle school and high school geek squad the art

At the urging of my friends, we began playing D&D again after a 25 year hiatus. Purchasing many of the books, and thumbing through dozens of others at the local hobby store, I was amazed at the blatant sexual pandering to the middle school and high school geek squad the artists and designers obviously had in mind.

I wrote the gaming company expressing concern regarding the over-sexualization of just about every picture of females in the players books, but no response.

[FloridaJudy]

11. Kudos for the

"Go for the eyes, Boo! Go for the eyes!" reference. As a Lady Geek from way back, I appreciate the reference. I still play that game when my Internet is down. Both genders wear appropriate armor.

[Marrah_G]

24. Love BG :)

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Yeah.

I mean, the fact of the matter is, and this is borne out by the historical record, that full body plate armor in general is a piss-poor thing to try to wear into battle. Add to that invariably bad sanitation, several rotting teeth, poor nutrition and god knows what other communicable or chronic ailments, and it's amazing any of these people even made it to the damn war in the first place. I'd suspect half of them passed out from exhaustion or heatstroke after the first 5 minutes.

I'm not sure old school Armor of the Knights and Swords variety is redeemable, in a practical utility sense. Of course, we're talking fantasy, so.. I agree it's absurd to have a sword-wielding female wearing a metal plated bikini and little else. Yeah, right.

Again, Game Of Thrones gets it right:



And it's interesting that the article notes Mass Effect as doing a good job in terms of futuristic body armor. Sci Fi probably provides more latitude in envisioning body armor made of protective materials that don't weigh more than the actual body.

[obamanut2012]

13. Great point with the Maid of Tarth, Warren

She is a REAL warrior, and thus has practical armor forged for her body shape. A good counterpoint is Cersei's "Viking Bra Attire" during the Blackwater episode. Also, all the female Free Folk dress in practical and realistic battle gear.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. I don't even remember what Cersei was wearing during that.

I remember she was plastered, that's about it.

[obamanut2012]

15. This what she wore

And, Lena Headley was terrific in that episode.

[Warren DeMontague]

16. Yeah, I agree.

Speaking of which:

http://www.vh1.com/celebrity/2012-04-05/12-photos-of-game-of-thrones-tween-king-joffrey-baratheon-that-will-make-you-hate-him-a-little-less/

[obamanut2012]

17. Terrific -- thanks!

[FloridaJudy]

18. Sometimes the people who take on the nastiest roles

Are pretty decent IRL. Maybe they've acted out their base feelings on stage or screen, and get it out of their systems. My aunt knew Vincent Price, and was completely shocked to discover how he'd made his living. She was no movie buff, obviously!

I've got to give that kid chops for taking on that character. He must have known he'd be wildly hated, and he doesn't do anything on screen that would make you hate him any less.

[Warren DeMontague]

19. And he NAILS it.

I mean, if you aren't grinding your teeth at Joffrey, you're not watching the show.

[FloridaJudy]

21. Just about everyone in that series does.

The casting was effin' brilliant.

[FloridaJudy]

20. Point of historical fact

Most "battle" casualties were due to infectious disease, not to wounds received in battle (though when any deep cut could give you gangrene or lockjaw, those were no picnic either). The only reason the English won the battle of Agincourt was that the French were so debilitated by diarrhea that they could barely stand up, let alone fight. The first war in which more soldiers died in combat than died of disease was WW I.

Kudos to Game of Thrones for going for historical verisimilitude, but don't take it too far! It would be really disgusting.

I'm a medical history Geek as well.

[Odin2005]

22. Sci-fi and fantasy book covers are pretty bad, too.

Especially ones from the 70s and 80s.

[Marrah_G]

23. My platemail wearing characters on World of Warcraft are completely covered

The night elf pictured is not representative of what they look like in the game it is a artists rendering of a rogue. They wear leather armor and are much more covered then that.

But I do agree, many games have ridiculous female armor, I just wanted to point out the example used is not what you see in the game.

Here is a link to pictures of this expansions armor sets.


http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=moz35&sz=all&va=wow+tier+14+set

[antigop19667]

25. awesome site man

[Scootaloo]

26. As an avid RPG player, I've found this tumblr to be a good counter to that stuff;

http://womenfighters.tumblr.com/



And of course...



As for World of Warcraft, well...

and

Go Horde!