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Fantasy Armor and Lady Bits. (Original Post) Neoma Sep 2012 OP
Oh, yes. The old "bikinimail." Like any sensible warrior woman would ever GreenPartyVoter Sep 2012 #1
Xena's is actually pretty reasonable. JoeyT Sep 2012 #4
Yeah, it's not as bad as it could be and I am sure they based it off the Greek leather armor, but it GreenPartyVoter Sep 2012 #5
True. JoeyT Sep 2012 #6
Yeah, "SpeedoMail" had me laughing too. *grin* GreenPartyVoter Sep 2012 #7
Be sure to leave the kidneys, viscera, heart unprotected! REP Sep 2012 #2
That article was great, JoeyT Sep 2012 #3
Cool article. I love armor. MadrasT Sep 2012 #8
That's the kind of crap armor FloridaJudy Sep 2012 #9
I was amazed at the blatant sexual pandering to the middle school and high school geek squad the art LanternWaste Sep 2012 #10
Kudos for the FloridaJudy Sep 2012 #11
Love BG :) Marrah_G Jan 2013 #24
Yeah. Warren DeMontague Sep 2012 #12
Great point with the Maid of Tarth, Warren obamanut2012 Sep 2012 #13
I don't even remember what Cersei was wearing during that. Warren DeMontague Sep 2012 #14
This what she wore obamanut2012 Sep 2012 #15
Yeah, I agree. Warren DeMontague Sep 2012 #16
Terrific -- thanks! obamanut2012 Sep 2012 #17
Sometimes the people who take on the nastiest roles FloridaJudy Sep 2012 #18
And he NAILS it. Warren DeMontague Sep 2012 #19
Just about everyone in that series does. FloridaJudy Sep 2012 #21
Point of historical fact FloridaJudy Sep 2012 #20
Sci-fi and fantasy book covers are pretty bad, too. Odin2005 Jan 2013 #22
My platemail wearing characters on World of Warcraft are completely covered Marrah_G Jan 2013 #23
awesome site man antigop19667 Jan 2013 #25
As an avid RPG player, I've found this tumblr to be a good counter to that stuff; Scootaloo Jan 2013 #26

GreenPartyVoter

(73,036 posts)
1. Oh, yes. The old "bikinimail." Like any sensible warrior woman would ever
Wed Sep 19, 2012, 07:39 PM
Sep 2012

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

(6,785 posts)
4. Xena's is actually pretty reasonable.
Wed Sep 19, 2012, 10:18 PM
Sep 2012

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

GreenPartyVoter

(73,036 posts)
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
Wed Sep 19, 2012, 10:45 PM
Sep 2012

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

JoeyT

(6,785 posts)
6. True.
Wed Sep 19, 2012, 11:12 PM
Sep 2012

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.

REP

(21,691 posts)
2. Be sure to leave the kidneys, viscera, heart unprotected!
Wed Sep 19, 2012, 07:54 PM
Sep 2012

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

(6,785 posts)
3. That article was great,
Wed Sep 19, 2012, 10:14 PM
Sep 2012

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

(7,237 posts)
8. Cool article. I love armor.
Thu Sep 20, 2012, 08:55 AM
Sep 2012

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

(9,465 posts)
9. That's the kind of crap armor
Fri Sep 21, 2012, 02:09 AM
Sep 2012

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

(37,748 posts)
10. I was amazed at the blatant sexual pandering to the middle school and high school geek squad the art
Mon Sep 24, 2012, 03:01 PM
Sep 2012

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

(9,465 posts)
11. Kudos for the
Tue Sep 25, 2012, 07:30 PM
Sep 2012

"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.

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)
12. Yeah.
Sun Sep 30, 2012, 04:15 AM
Sep 2012

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

(27,806 posts)
13. Great point with the Maid of Tarth, Warren
Sun Sep 30, 2012, 07:24 AM
Sep 2012

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.

FloridaJudy

(9,465 posts)
18. Sometimes the people who take on the nastiest roles
Sun Sep 30, 2012, 08:13 PM
Sep 2012

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.

FloridaJudy

(9,465 posts)
20. Point of historical fact
Sun Sep 30, 2012, 09:09 PM
Sep 2012

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.

Marrah_G

(28,581 posts)
23. My platemail wearing characters on World of Warcraft are completely covered
Wed Jan 23, 2013, 07:18 PM
Jan 2013

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

 

Scootaloo

(25,699 posts)
26. As an avid RPG player, I've found this tumblr to be a good counter to that stuff;
Fri Jan 25, 2013, 07:06 AM
Jan 2013
http://womenfighters.tumblr.com/



And of course...



As for World of Warcraft, well...

and

Go Horde!
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