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![[1258] Bikini Armor](/comics/2021-04-05-1258-bikini-armor.png "[1258] Bikini Armor")
Update (1 hour after posting this strip): I’m sorry, but I had to restart the poll. My change to include the two new options completely messed up the vote count and I was unable to restore the correct values.
- Caption: The alleged problem
- Caption: Proposed solution A
- Caption: Proposed solution B
- Sandra: We would like to know your opinion on the matter. Use the voting widget in the right sidebar to cast your vote.
- Larisa: Solution B! Solution B!
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Sandra and Woo by Oliver Knörzer is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. See the About page for details.
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@ Random Chance:
Conan wasn’t wearing skimpy armor, he just wasn’t wearing armor, period.
Hetero male here, and I don’t care if it is A or B. I want my armor to be what it looks like. If you show me A in the inventory then you better not give me B.
@ BottasHeimfe:
+1 Right on; Though if you are going to do option B the male character needs a different physique; Conan not Screech.
I’m non-binary/trans and vote option A.
I’m male & I prefer solution C…
Its basically solution B, but even more scant and cheeky with the cheesecake/beefcake. 😉
I’m boring and prefer solution A.
On further reflection, Option B violates the “no capes!” rule. 😉
If the armor is physical, I’m not going into any fight without my solar plexus covered, and preferably other extra sensitive/vital bits as well. If there is magic or a force field involved, I want enough clothing to keep googly bits from flopping painfully around, and then whatever the environment requires for reasonable comfort while exercising.
I don’t care much how other people want to dress their characters, so long as there are choices.
Could be interesting to let the player set the “bikini” level globally for the whole game, all genders. 😉 Run around in a universe populated by nudists wearing jewelry, if that’s your cuppa. At the other extreme, everyone wears full opaque veils and conceiling robes (or full body armor with face plate). Why not?
I dub option A “Joan D’Arc” and option B “Achilles”
I vote for Option A
(and yes, I’m heterosexual)
I would say the answer is tone, if the story is more fantasy and doesn’t care for realism or very stylised (300 as an example) then option b will work better
If the story is more historical and wants to feel like the medieval period (game or thrones) or wants armour and weapons to be key elements of the story (shadow of the conqueror) then option a
B, on heavily overmuscled hairy characters. While the enemy are rolling on the ground laughing, beat them to death with a very, very large stick, ideally with hacky-sticky pointy thingies on the end of it.
I also like shooting elves with steel crossbows at distances they can’t possibly reach.
As always, why not both? I’m male and hetero, and can happily appreciate either. Even when playing games, which I choose largely comes down what I feel fits the mood and character. I also tend to shy away from particularly racy outfits (a la, skimpier than bikini mail) as they’re just distracting or feel very out of place most of the time. (why are we fighting the demon lord in swimsuits?!)
Why am I in the minority with Option B? Like A 1% Minority!? WHY?!?
It’s equal, fair, and still lets people have their eye candy!
I mean why even have a rocking six pack if you’re not going to use it as natural body armor.
Both is good….as long as B provides as much protection as it looks like it would.
I mean it must have some neodymium magnets in it to pull the attacks to the armor right? /s
Certainly both for me (I’m a bisexual lady). Personally though, the man’s armor-bikini is not designed too well. So my answer is both are good in the general case, but in the specific I strongly prefer A. Skimpy male “armor” is admittedly harder to make look good, if only because most artists have less practice at it (or less practice at skimpy armor in general).
Much like Novil, I find this a fascinating question and really enjoy reading all the different answers and seeing the poll results! I’m slightly amused by the people saying they don’t like option B, though. I’m with Larisa: sometimes we all want a little cheesecake. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that, as long as it’s equal-opportunity cheesecake! More scantily-clad himbos please. MOAR.
Cearda wrote:
Got a laugh out of the ‘high heels in combat’ in the comic RWBY once.
One of the characters wears High heels EVERYWHERE and thinks she’s the top warrior EVERYWHERE.
At a dance, another female tries to wear high heels and asks “How does Weise FIGHT in these things?”
@ Harmony:
I think it’s because the majority are going for the “both” option. I think most people who might go for solution B most of the time still like to have the OPTION to go for solution A.
Even though both do look quite nice, I go for the bovious: Use the armor for what its supposed: Protection.
So you’d better cover as much of yourself as possible, both male and female. If you want to impress your opponent with flashy styles: Go Celtic: Bare chest all the way! And that might be possible for both male or female.
I can imagine roman warriors seeing bare chested women fighting alongside their bare chested men, trying to fight while covering their eyes for nudity.
I wonder, though, what Woo was doing in my hometown?
https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/nederland/artikel/5223546/slapende-wasbeer-boom-opgevangen-stichting-aap-verdoofd-vught
More options are better. There’s no need to ban those who like “barbarian armour” for men and women from wearing it just because other players like more armour. “Realism” is a stupid reason in fantasy games anyway.
As a buhurt fan I am all for solution A to this non-existent problem.
Valkeiper2020 wrote:
Probably in same way as some paladins who CLOSE EYES in combat. So much magic it doesn’t matter.
Or … Leif & Thorn has magical girls outfits ( https://leifandthorn.com/storyline/sundays/thorn-explains/page/2/ ): Magical girls outfit vary, but they are always visually impractical when compared to combat gear. That’s because what makes them durable and functional isn’t their form – it’s the magic power. Therefore: Free-flowing hair never out of place ; long frilly bow never gets caught ; skater skirt never flips up ; heeled shoes have balance and grip.
Lucario wrote:
… because with magic, it’s completely plausible B offers bigger protection.
Compare, for example, ordinary full plate armor combined with machine gun with witchblade: witchblade is skimpy and clearly deliberately sexy. Yet it’s obviously superior for both defense and offense.
Both options, depending on the genre. High Fantasy goes with solution “A”, while Sword and Sorcery goes with solution “B” (c’mon, Conan and Sonya in full plate? be serious…)
Why not have both male and female versions of armor, sold seperately, and able to be worn by both genders?
I’m male and don’t have a problem with either solution. People should be able to dress however they feel comfortable.
What I do have a problem with is the poll assumes that male and female are the only genders.
I’m not non-binary but it’s annoying that there isn’t any nb inclusive options for in the poll.
Hi,
I would like a solution C, where the man and the woman have the same posture (or attitude), showing either strength (like the man in A and B) or cuteness (like the woman in A and B).
Otherwise, I can not vote.
Thanks,
Zcactus
Sad that Only B, true meme option, isn’t selected more.
A problem? Where?
Many years ago, when I was given my first DnD game, Baldur’s Gate, I was also given a walk through book (they were printed back then). The author said that in spite of his friends questioning his taste or sexuality, he played female characters. His reason was that if he was spending days visually following a character on screen, he’d rather be following a cute female. Made sense to me and I followed the philosophy.
My ultimate A, B choice came in Neverwinter Nights 2 where they horribly unbalanced the armor formulas for a time in one of the online permanent worlds. If you went with A and wore armor, your max armor value would be, 35, I think. If you skipped all clothes and robes and jewelry and stacked on spells, you could get into the 80’s, which is near invulnerable. So for about 3 months until they fixed the glitch, my halfling sorcerer was known in public as the “Naked Wizard”. It was fun use of a flaw to entertain the rest of the gamers. After it was fixed, I was back to light chain and bracers and all, but it had been fun to see a naked mage running around a valley incinerating trolls and giants.
Really depends on style, context and characters.
However, on an important aside…
Where is the option for ‘I’ll vote B, because I am too afraid of Larissa to disagree with her. ‘
I’ve thought about this issue for a long time, and honestly, I’ve learned that it is a bit more nuanced than that.
Honestly it comes down to more than simply “how x gender is dressed.” There are other factors that set the tone. How do these characters act? How widespread are these dressing habits, and how do others dress? What other tones does the work give about genders and sexuality?
9 times out of 10 these days it is usually just trying to deliver sex appeal for men, just as accused. But I don’t want to make a blanket statement over just how they dress because 1) it will falsely accuse those who are justified and 2) is ignores the real cause of the issue and only attacks a superficial symptom.
I would BY FAR support a work that depicts the imbalance is dress/armor but actually properly depicts the character of genders, rather than one that dresses them equally but still depicts the women as sex objects by their character.
As a male, just give me the option to play as a girl character.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiO-yVpU0AEHpkE?format=jpg&name=orig
Option B for me. Improbable ridiculousness is already a staple of fiction. Why not go full hog?
I’m for A. If you want to show fanservice, just throw in some scenes where they aren’t in armor. I think it’s strange that women have to be sexy all the time, let them do their job in peace. It#s way more interesting if you create a gap in appeareance.
Artie O’Dactyl wrote:
After due consideration, this is THE best response. I fully endorse and agree with his response.
I have to go with option A only on the grounds that I can’t support option B unless the girl also has abs
Option C
As a Conan the Barbarian fan, B is the way to go.
The proportions are very similar in both genders. That’s very interesting
Option A is more practical but who is to say that option b isn’t just a glamour to make you appear nude.
Though option B definitely
I voted for solution A because this is clearly tank gear, as that’s a sword, and DPS don’t use swords unless they’re a samurai, because DPS should be using silly weapons instead. That and I wanna spite Larisa. I remember enjoying her before she was only lust drived. Now she’s just a broken record that keeps skipping any development and just talks sex. Yeah, I get it, that’s her character. But it’s become over done, can we do more fire. Or finally find out how she’ll die in the next year or so?
@ Brett P Bellmore:
In the very first Conan Story The Phoenix on the sword Conan wears full plate armor, so your argument Is invalid sir….
But why is this an „alleged“ problem? 🤔
There’s also always going the Celtic route. Full nude and covered in paint!
@ Pat:
Maybe because on a female you don’t see abs at all, unless they’re overtrained and undernourished. ( think bodybuilders and the like)
I know quite a few ladies in the re-enactment/buhurt scene ( who obviously wear option A, steel weapons, even blunt, are… tricky.. with B ) , and I’ve never been able to spot abs on them. Flat bellies, but no abs.
And that’s for ladies able to go 5 2-minute rounds in their private mobile steel sweat lodge, so strength and stamina is a given…
J Grimm wrote:
This is what Sandra would vote for. 🙂
Meanhwile, I found this:
https://www.facebook.com/100044361732476/videos/1165174573840769
Ah… bikini armor. That silly anachronism in fantasy art and the games inspired by it. The practicality is all over the place, but most games usually have the dang things offer as much, if not better, protection than full-plate armor; the only hit you usually take is to your modesty.
Even more hilarious is that the male equivalent to the bikini armor is basically a chain-mail speedo with covers even less, but offers the same protection.
Go figure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vI5tdORhC0
I had hoped I could vote for nothing at all. 🙂
‘toon world? whatever the artist wants.
real world? I’m male & I prefer solution B.
why?
full armor only worked for “show” and horseback jousting.
“bikini” armor worked great for gladiotors, allows the fighter to move , and get back
up on their own when knocked down… no “downed turtle syndrome”