fucking cold and female warriors

[salinea]

It's that time of the year where it's freaking cold, and it's night so fucking early, and there's holiday decorations everywhere and I HATE IT. But most of all I hate the cold, makes me want to crawl to bed and stay there until spring x_x

Pretty interesting thread over at RPG.net Female warrior in fantasy art that look like credible threat, image heavy and NSFW but there's some interesting discussions, on posing, emphasis, fighting stances and cheesecake, and some very cool pictures. I think my favourite was these ones:

Comments

[metzhead.livejournal.com]

yeah I wouldn't fuck with any of those ladies.

I also loathe this time of year. even worse, it's raining here, so my planned distraction of tearing up the roadways on my bike has been scrapped. I enjoy watching MotoGP competitors crash in the rain, but personally I like my bike and my body the way it is.

I have determined there is absolutely NOTHING of interest to do today that doesn't cost money. Similarly everyone I know is home today with family and loved ones.

Maybe things will look different after a trip to the gym.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

for things that don't cost any money, there's always the internet!! but even that can get old :(

hope things will look up after the trip to the gym!

[metzhead.livejournal.com]

yeah anger lifting for the win.

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

I don't hate Christmas as much as I hate the cold.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Likewise.

But it is a tight fight. I might change my mind when they start having Christmas carols in supermarkets.

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

;_; Yeah that's bothering. And Christmas trees up before even Halloween.

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

You gotta love female "warriors" who wear short skirts and tight tops. Nice defensive "armour" there. Fanboy fantasies galore. at least the above look capable of taking care of themselves.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit like the OP of that thread, I don't mind nudity and sexiness in itself so much as I mind when it totally objectify the character into looking only like a sex kitten.

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

Agreed. It's not only the submissive/sexually suggestive pose that bother me, but the lack of proper armour and protective clothing. Not to mention strangely erect nipples, slightly open mouth, etc. It's like an invitation for sex rather than a challenge to the death >_<

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly! And I thought people made a great work explaining what was wrong with the porntastic poses so frequent in fantasy art (and some comic books).

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I think the pirate one is my favorite. They're all pretty awesome.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

she's very cool looking in term of attitude, yes! many more cool pics at the thread ^_^ (you have to look through some less cool ones though)

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that thread is simultaneously uplifting and depressing. Lots of good stuff, and lots of facepalm-worthy stuff.

The nudity/sex appeal can be done well, but so often I wish there wasn't an element of stupidity present. Why is that woman wearing a chainmail bikini when all the men in the picture are in full armor? Or while she's trekking through a snowfield during a blizzard? (It's probably a bit silly to complain about lack of realism and logic in fantasy art, but still...)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

That's RPG.net for you. There's some intelligent, articulated people who explain what's wrong with something, but there's always some idiots feeling obligated to keep on being sexist and annoying pigs (or racist, or homophobic, etc. depending on the subject).

I agree with you, it's the double standard that annoys - especially with some really ridiculous and nonsensical kinds of armour. At least when the males are half naked as well, it doesn't feel so bad x_x

[littleduchess.livejournal.com]

I LOVE n*2. That is attitude! Pirate is cool but the one above her looks so overladen with so much stuff! Well protected but it looks so heavy!

Thanks for sharing.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

yeah, she looks very badass! I think the paladin with all the armor is actually my all time favourite of the lot. She just looks very determined and ready to hurt you if she needs to.

[luzisrighthand.livejournal.com]

I always liked the pics from Icewind Dale II.
That's my favourite.


Although in general I'm more into sf art than fantasy art.
Ray guns>>swords. ;)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

wow! very pretty! thank you for posting it.

I don't dislike sf art, but I have a bigger weakness for fantasy art, I think :)

[rainmage.livejournal.com]

I hate cold, too ;_____;

The pics you chose are pretty cool. I'm amazed at the detail on #4's armor.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I wish I lived in Spain ;____; we should both move somewhere where it's even hotter XD

it's very amazing, isn't it?

[rainmage.livejournal.com]

I live in the Northern coast and apparently my region is less colder than most of Spain. I'm dying with 8-12ºC, so I can't imagine what it's like to be even colder since I was raised in the Tropics (;_;). But I heard the center of the country is FREEZING and full of snow, actually, so it kinda depends of the zone.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

freezing and full of snow? O_o that's crazy, I don't wanna live there either!

[la-vie-noire.livejournal.com]

WOW. What an awesome thread! Thank you for linking!

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

glad you found it interesting :D

[rebbe]

That thread is super awesome; I'm just scanning for pics right now, and it's a fun time.

ALSO, THERE IS A PIC OF SUKI

THIS MADE MY DAY

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

glad you enjoyed! :D

[matitablu.livejournal.com]

Wow, that thread is... endless? I'm at page 44 and it's 2:32 AM O__o;; Some interesting art, tho *bookmarks Jeremy Mohler*, and an interesting issue being raised. I'm not that knowledgeable about fantasy art, but I guess that reasoning applies to many Western comics and mangas as well... I admit I'm a bit on the fance about the issue - stuff like Greg Land's poses, which are obviously traced from porn in a non-porn context, should be burninated IMO. Also because the art ultimately sucks. On the other hand, I also agree with the statement by Frank Frazetta - "art is not painting and not drawing - it's total effect, it's hitting people right between the eyes". So yes, while I can see the point in wanting a female warrior who can be believable and not just male fantasy fodder, I would also be willing to sacrifice a certain amount of accuracy to the Cool Factor.

And re: the other half of your post, YES, COLD SUCKS, I am already thinking of when I'll go to work tomorrow morning and the temperature will likely be around zero -_-;;

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

oh, that's nothing. You should see their motivational posters threads. Now, those are epic threads!

So yes, while I can see the point in wanting a female warrior who can be believable and not just male fantasy fodder, I would also be willing to sacrifice a certain amount of accuracy to the Cool Factor.
It's not an either/or thing, though. They are many pieces of arts, of different styles in the field. Some can play sexiness for the rule of cool, some can be realistically credible. The problem the OP was pointing out was, however, that a ridiculous high proportion of art obeyed to the objectifying sexiness. Personally, I like diversity.

aww, I feel your pain, for tomorrow. Be brave.

[shiinabambi.livejournal.com]

I went into that thread with a certain image of a female warrior in mind, and had to scroll a very long time before I found anything remotely resembling it.

I remember looking at RPGs like D&D (Third edition, IIRC) and WoW, and ending up playing male characters (well, I never actually played WoW, but I still probably would have played a male) because the female characters were just too sexy. Now, I am bisexual. I notice and appreciate sexiness from both genders. And I think that certain species (like the various kind of elves) should have a delicate beauty in both genders. I guess it's just when female trolls, orcs, and other what-have-yous all look sexalicious in their own way while the males just look monstrous or badass or whatever...yeah. It looks stupid to me.

I find it's actually easier to role play a male than to role play a male's ideal of a female. In my writing, I don't tend to lean that much one way or the other (going from a selection of 20 or so unfinished stories I did a while back, I tended to use male and female POVs pretty evenly) but it feels like when I RP the male I'm playing a person. I don't know what the heck that chick's supposed to be.

Even though some of the women looked competent and even dangerous, which believe me, I appreciated, they all seemed to be young and pretty. I have nothing against young and pretty women. If I may be so bold, I am a young and pretty women. But if you look at men in fantasy, you see males from their teens to their sixties, some gruff, some grim, some pretty, some burly, some lanky, some stout. The women have much less variation in body type, age, and build. Female warriors must not be competent after all, then, because we never see any old ones.

Another thing that bugged me was the lack of disfigured women. I mean, this is fantasy. There's a disfigured man everywhere you look. But women's scars are smaller and daintier, as if the dude swinging a blade at her face had to be more careful, because she's a lady or something. There was an eyepatch or two, which I liked. I wanna see a really grizzled, messed-up, stout, thirty-something-or-more badass woman who will mess your shit up and not have to seduce you to do it.

Incidentally, I could have sworn Balsa from the Moribito books wasn't as young and pretty as she looks in the anime. I was disappointed by that, because from reading the book I thought she was really a different kind of heroine. Hopefully her personality at least comes through.

I really, really appreciate the Avatar girls after seeing this. I've heard some bitching about how it's too woman-powery, but I didn't get that impression at all. (Well, maybe some episodes very early in the first season.) What I love about Avatar is that the girls and the boys all feel like people to me.