High Heels, Nintendo, Fanservice, Assorted Topics

Yarrun XIX

http://io9.com/jurassic-world-director-talks-about-that-infamous-runni-1710722223

And a lot of people remarked on the fact that Bryce Dallas Howard is running in heels. Why doesn’t she change into flats? She could put on boots!

I know. I mean, look, I had that conversation with her so many times, and she insisted on wearing those heels. They meant something to her personally. She felt like, this is her talking, that those heels were her shield in a certain way as a woman. That’s just how she felt. She felt like surrendering the heels felt like surrendering the femininity of the character, even though women are — I don’t want to say forced to wear heels — but you’re expected to wear heels in certain environments.

glennmagusharvey

Other people can do what they want with their characters.

If I create a female character in an action role, she won't wear high-heel shoes.

Heck, the female characters I come up with generally don't wear high heel shoes anyway, regardless of their role.

Tanya

There's a scene where the character in question is told "not if, when you have kids".

Plus dinosaurs are already impractical

Anonus

Counterclock said:

There's a scene where the character in question is told "not if, when you have kids".

this bugged the shit out of me, the implication that childlessness is somehow a fault

Yarrun XIX

It's just

That's the one thing she hardlined for?

Yes, the insistence on heels can be interpreted as the strength of femininity, but that's not the obvious interpretation. Taking that interpretation would be fishing for a diamond in a toilet, and considering the demonization of the career woman in the film, it's basically looking for a diamond in the floating trash island in the ocean.

Tanya

Also let's mention Samus, because she got heels grafted onto her face.

and not even good heels. 

One-Winged Eagle

Her face?

Yarrun XIX

Yarrun XIX

I love how people arguing against the jet heels go back to Samus's outfits from the earlier games to say that the new Zero Suit isn't kind of iffy.

Except that, for most of them, Samus looks a hell of a lot taller and more muscled than her ZSS incarnation

One-Winged Eagle

It's basically Bayonetta heels, and it's okay as long as we all accept that.

Tanya

The evolution of the metroid series has been one slipperly slope.

Yarrun XIX

I'm more forgiving of the Bayonetta heels because Bayonetta is magic and Bayonetta is outrageous. Magic characters are free from a lot of practical concerns because they're already breaking the laws of physics; breaking a few more to keep their ankles from breaking isn't that much of a fuss. And Bayonetta is stylized to contain as many sexiness tropes as possible, so it can get away with that. Complaining about Bayonetta's heels would be like complaining about the fanservice in Panty & Stocking or Kill la Kill. It serves the characters and serves the themes of the work.

The Jet Boots can't get that free pass because both Samus and Metroid are fairly straight-laced in terms of sci-fi. Sure, there's the whole Morph Ball thing, but besides that, the series doesn't stray into outright camp. The Jet Boots are camp.

I'd actually buy this sort of thing with Captain Falcon or Snake over Metroid. F-Zero runs on wackyness, and it's not a Metal Gear game if Snake doesn't do something weird.

One-Winged Eagle

Smash is hardly straight-laced or sci-fi.

glennmagusharvey

Morph ball is in fact justifiable if you assume she curls up into a meter-wide ball and has an out-of-body experience.

Yarrun XIX

^ I personally prefer the 'conversion into energy' theory myself

^^ Yes, Smash is camp, but Smash's camp represents itself by putting bunny ears on established characters and using the large roster to create silly situations. Like Captain Falcon fighting Lucina in that one trailer.

And they generally showed restraint with the designs of the other characters. The new gals from Fire Emblem didn't get high heels. Same with the Wii Trainer. Rosalina got her star stand, and Duck Hunt got a pet duck and cowboys, but those are still previously established elements in either their own games or games that they're intentionally referencing, respectively. In short, they usually try to stay within what's canon in the original games. The only major exceptions would be Captain Falcon (and again, the F-Zero verse has space samurai, quirky androids, racing monkeys and octomen; Captain Falcon having fire moves is hardly out of place) and the Up-B shared between all Starfox characters.

Samus doesn't wear heels, outside of Other M. So either Nintendo's giving her a somewhat silly set of boots in a vague attempt to ape Bayonetta, or they're referencing the one game that almost everyone agrees was lame duck

One-Winged Eagle

I think they were trying to make Other M's Zero Suit to look less shit. Because that thing makes her look super-naked.

Which I feel does work, kind of, but why they felt the need to use Other M is something I find inexplicable.

glennmagusharvey

They thought they had a magnum opus but instead they have a magnummed opus and a bunch of art assets lying around, in some cases literally.  So they repurposed those assets.

Sorry, I just had to write that, with the number of puns that line has. It's not hugely meaningful but it's still probably correct.

Yarrun XIX

Nintendo's treatment of anything besides the Big Four (Mario, LoZ, Pokemon, and sometimes Kirby) is kind of baffling.

If I was Nintendo (yes, the entire corporation), I'd have excommunicated Other M and made a short but good Metroid game to wash the bad taste out of my mouth.

And while I was at it, I'd also revive F-Zero as a No More Heroes-esque brawler with racing elements, make the Pokemon MMO that should have started development years ago, and see if I could make Mario an interesting character without ruining his status as a mascot.

Anonus

Mario is a surrogate for the player though, he's supposed to have no personality

Yarrun XIX

Scratch that, I meant make Year of Luigi every year until he's taken seriously as a character.

Alduin

I wouldn't put Kirby on the same level as Mario or Pokemon. Hell, I'd hesitate to put Zelda on the same level.

Those things make a shit-ton of money for Nintendo, yes. But Kirby simply doesn't have the same power to sell consoles as Mario and Pokemon do, and Zelda only sometimes does. Remember how one of the best-regarded Zelda games ever couldn't save the GameCube?

Yarrun XIX

Fair.

I'm just saying that they're the four that have the most visibility in the gaming community. 

Imipolex G

I would've assumed that Metroid is bigger than Kirby, but maybe I'm too old skool or something

I don't get the appeal of high heels generally

Tachyon

Kirby is popular with children i think

Metroid might be more of a cult thing?  The Prime games might have brought the series more mainstream exposure but they're not exactly conventional FPSes.

Imipolex G

seems I vaguely remember that, in the days of the NES at least, Metroid was pretty much one of the big titles along with Super Mario Bros. and Zelda.

of course, this was circa 1988, it's possible things have changed

Alduin

I don't remember a Metroid game ever being as big as KSS.

Yarrun XIX

I picked Kirby over Metroid because Nintendo generally knows what to do with Kirby. Also, Nintendo's generally more willing to experiment with Kirby than Metroid, with stuff like Air Ride or Canvas Curse. Metroid doesn't have the stability or authority to pull that kind of stuff. If it did, Federation Force wouldn't be nearly as reviled as it is now.

Tachyon

at a slight tangent

i notice Nintendo have a way of treating the Mario and Zelda titles as a mythology of sorts which they can call back to at any point in any subsequent game

i kind of wish they would do the same with Donkey Kong, and i slightly resent that they have shown more willingness to license that name to other developers with lower quality standards than Nintendo proper

King K. Rool and the Kremlings were as much a part of the old DK series as Bowser and the Koopas are a part of Mario

idk, not important to gameplay i know, no doubt this is the kind of fan complaint some people here find risible, but i should like to see the Kremlings become more prominent again, as well as other aspects of the Rare DK games

Yarrun XIX

Man, I've spent literal hours in the past few weeks arguing about story elements in games. Don't sell yourself short.

Wouldn't mind seeing the kremlings back too, myself. Then again, I haven't been able to really get into the recent DK games, so maybe I'm not what Nintendo wants to market to.

Tachyon

admittedly i still hold opinions on recent nintendo releases despite only infrequently buying or playing the games

but then i never did buy them all that often, they're expensive

Salix Babylonika

Tachyon said:

at a slight tangent

i notice Nintendo have a way of treating the Mario and Zelda titles as a mythology of sorts which they can call back to at any point in any subsequent game

i kind of wish they would do the same with Donkey Kong, and i slightly resent that they have shown more willingness to license that name to other developers with lower quality standards than Nintendo proper

King K. Rool and the Kremlings were as much a part of the old DK series as Bowser and the Koopas are a part of Mario

idk, not important to gameplay i know, no doubt this is the kind of fan complaint some people here find risible, but i should like to see the Kremlings become more prominent again, as well as other aspects of the Rare DK games

nah that's understandable

for all their "we are your friend!" posturing, Nintendo chucks anything that's not a reliable hitmaker under the bus. They're not good to most of their IPs.

Yarrun XIX

I just watched a few videos of in-game interviews for F-Zero

I second my previous insistence on F-Zero becoming a game with fight mechanics. Half of these characters wouldn't be out-of-place in Street Fighter.

Yarrun XIX

Also, maybe redesign all the F-Zero ladies.

They all look like the original Lara Croft with better graphics and skimpier outfits

Imipolex G

I liked the original Lara Croft

Yarrun XIX

Scratch that, original Lara Croft has reasonable proportions compared to the F-Zero ladies

They all look like mammary-enhanced supermodels. From the 50s, if you know what I mean.

Imipolex G

...I need pix

Yarrun XIX

Just search Jody Summers. All the others look basically the same.

Odradek

Odradek

Imipolex G

Jody Summer looks...reasonable

Odradek what the hell are you doing

Obā-san

she is hot

Odradek

Imipolex G-cup said:

Jody Summer looks...reasonable

Odradek what the hell are you doing

I have no idea.

A cemetary fence halter top is commitment to your craft, tho

Imipolex G

true enough

Salix Babylonika

this is kind of incredible, if we're being honest

not good, but incredible.

Calica

.dlc was obsessed with rumble roses and convinced it wasn't a fanservice game

Yarrun XIX

Who in blazes brought Rumble Roses into my thread?

Odradek

Yarrun XIX said:

Who in blazes brought Rumble Roses into my thread?

Or that Tarot comic, for that matter?

*raises hand* I think it was probably Calica.

Imipolex G

this thread has strayed from its origin

Yarrun XIX

Also, wow, that is some boring cover art for a fanservice game.

Crystal

That Hex woman has nice hair.

Odradek

I think what we've learned is that Nintendo doesn't know how to handle Metroid, and also Tarot: Witch Of The Black Rose is great and we should all read it.