The All New and All Different(ly dressed) Freedom Five!

Games Sentinels of the Multiverse
1

I admit that the visuals to the new promos for the team-theamed Freedom Five might take a little bit to get used to for most players, but here are my opinions on them:

Legacy: The 'safest'(Not too different from his normal costume, but not to simular either.) of the updates, I think the changes to his look are pretty good. It gives his 'Golden Age' style an update without straying too far from the original design, still uses his three primary colors, but putting in some new lines and a different style of cape. Looks good on him.

Bunker: Where's his feets? :O Joking aside, the suit looks neat, slimmer than almost every version of Bunker we've seen so far, but I'm still not used to that style of foot/boots that the suit has. Getting my opinion out of the way, it makes sense that the power-armor user should have the most promos out of anyone since he has the need to update and upgrade his suit to keep up with new threats and dangers, but I'm an Iron Man fan, so whatever.

Tachyon: She looks rather plain to me(compared to the others who have drasticly different looks) but at the very least she has all her trademark costume bits like her side-circles and goggles. And looking at her original costume it wasn't too outlandish to begin with, so I think I just need to get used to this one.

The Wraith: I'll happily admit that the Wraith's new costume is probably my favorite out of the bunch(Especially the mask). Not as stealthy as I'm sure Maia prefers, but this is supposet to be her 'tricked-out and in public' suit, so I suppose the stealth concept goes out the window. I'm almost positive that those are 'thigh windows' and not white patches. Which in all honesty I think are not really a problem. I doubt Maia minds showing off a relativly modest part of the human body(We ARE talking about a character whose base costume in comparison[though admitedly not in the same spot] shows more skin than this one).

Absolute Zero: ...Okay, total honesty. I really hate to say it, but AZ's new suit is my least favorite of the bunch. Don't get me wrong, I can dig most of the design like the new glowing inlays and the streamlined-at-parts-but-bulkier-at-others new shapes, but the two big problems I have with it are the main color(I get blue is relatable to ice, but this shade is a bit too muted to have AZ really 'pop' in his new suit) and his face plate's new shape(Does he even have a full range of vision with that?). I get that the glowing triangle is his symbol, but really, does it need to be on his face? Maybe Adam put it there so this suit doesn't look too much like AZ's Tactics suit? Even so, I don't think it was a wise desicion.

You agre with me? Think I'm all wrong? What are your opinions of the official uniforms for the new Freedom Five Promos?

Edit: Tweaked the name of the thread.

2

I think the costumes are meant to represent red, white, and blue for the most part which is why we get the colors that you see.   I'm a fan of them overall but I think Adam has some polishing to do on them.

3

Yeah, I noticed the color motif as well.

It's a good choice for the team, and I will admit after sleeping on it the color for AZ isn't TERRIBLE. I just hope that Adam uses something more...solid(?) of a color. (Bluh, sorry. Still early morning for me, can't word-think right now.) Something more vibrant.

4

Legacy: I like his design overall  I think his face is a little rough though  

Bunker: I'm not thrilled about another bunker variant. on the other hand, if it provides a new way to play him it might be ok  the new design is interesting  

Tachyon : good overall I like the blue color, could be a little more to it but otherwise good  

Wraith: I'm fairly certain the holes near her hips are part of the fabric. You can see the wrinkle line crossing over between the red to the grey. Also the chest and neck color is slightly different than arms and hips. 

AZ: I'm liking this look. It might not be flashy, but it's still neat!

Ra: I really like the fire on this version. Really well done. 

Omnitron-U: the concept of this one I really like. It gives omni a new side, and a new look rather than simply another upgrade with another number. 

Parse Fugue State: I like this costume for Parse, but I'm also a huge fan of the original look for Parse. This look brings out her intelligence, getting rid of her bow and just throwing arrows? Awesome!

Stuntman: I like the casual look heroes. And it works well for this guy too. The bandaid could be a scar instead, but it works I spose. 

SkyScraper: I like the idea of her shrinking smaller and growing larger than before. The arts for the three sizes are great. The blood cell one is probably my favorite of the three. 

Captain Cosmic: I was t expecting this twist in his story. I like the half and half look and the two different energies together looks great! 

Visionary: this look for visionary is a little stronger in the girly colors department. But the colors look great. 

Luminary: I like this look for Blade. Did he lose weight? XD I really like the vibrant colors. 

(More later) 

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My issue with the costumes is mostly with Wraith and the thigh cut-outs (and, to a lesser extent, her clevage).

To preface this: I believe a woman should be free to wear what she wants and her choice of clothes should be first, and foremost, about what she enjoys, her tastes, and what she feels empowers her.

BUT...

Superhero comics have a long, LONG history of showing female flesh through revealing costumes as a way to excite and titalate the male audience. Such displays have almost always been about appealing to horny guys and the female gaze and not about sensible crime fighting or tactical choices.

So, to be blunt, I'm disapointed in Adam and Christopher over this design. Sentinels of the Multiverse has always been a forward thinking and inclusive game. LGBTQ folk, people of color, those on the autism spectrum, and women have all been well represented in the various expansions. In Marvel and DC, women rarely get to be the smartest person in the room and, when they are, they are almost always the bad guy. In Sentinels, the world's smartest person is both a woman and a lesbian. The world's greatest detective (and an engineering genius in her own right) is a woman. 

Sure, Wraith wants to look good. That's awesome. She, like every individual, has a right to enjoy how they look and control how others perceive them. But why would an engineering genius with no powers go with LESS clothing instead of more? Why isn't she wearing some really awesome but light-weight battle armor? Why would she leave her thighs, and thus her femoral arteries, open to attack? I imagine she knows exactly how quickly she can bleed out if she takes a nick across the big target those arteries represent.

I don't know. I don't begrudge Adam And Christopher's right to make their characters look however they like. But I'd love to be able to show this card to my daughter and say, "Isn't what she's wearing awesome? She's wearing it not because it looks sexy and shows off her thighs, but because it looks good AND protects her in combat."

I think Wraith can be gorgeous and smart. This costume just says gorgeous to me.

6

After The Visionary's amazingly silly get-up, I am not surprised by Wraith's thigh windows, but that doesn't make me like them.

 

And I still think that Bunker stole Baron Blade's old suit of armor.

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I am 99% sure that those are white patches, not cutouts. To me the color is very clearly not a flesh tone.

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I don’t like Wraith’s new suit, because the mask looks too much like Spite’s. I don’t think she’d want to invite the comparison.

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I'm surprised they don't look like more of a team, since I thought that was the point of their five-years-later promos.  Wraith's and Bunker's looks don't really match the others, IMO.  Heck, to really sell the Team concept, all five pix could actually be parts of a single overall pic that went together when you laid the cards out next to each other.  That'd be cool.

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Maybe that's for the incapacitated side?

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Uh, "thigh windows?" I keep my thighs in a very different place. These are "hip & pelvic windows," if anything, which is a strange place for "windows" (is that, like, an actual fashion term?)

Although I'm also pretty sure those are supposed to be fabric, like the sleeves. They are not her skin tone. Either way, as many have noted (and the window-patch-related confusion supports), this seems to be a bad/awkward design. Sort of a Spite-ified and garbled version of the Rook City costume, with fist-tazers.

I'm also hoping, for all of the F5 variants, that these are just early concept sketches. They do seem rushed, and not up to the standards of his previous artwork. Look at the snow pile between Ab Zero's legs...

12

 

Agreed. Honestly, I always felt that their original outfits sold the Freedom Five as a team, in the Justice League/Avengers style of "different backgrounds, but working together for a common goal".  The part that feels weirdest to me is that in five years (Tactics era), they go back to an updated variant of their original outfits.

 

Legacy's makes the most sense to me; Bunker I assume is still hurting from losing his armor from Termi-Nation and needed something in a pinch (as others have said, it looks like a repurposed Baron Blade armor). Tachyon's is hardest to update, since her base outfit is so simple, so a color change makes sense if it needs to be done (homage to Sonic?). Absolute Zero looks cool, but the triangle visor is jarring. I can probably get used to it with time. Wraith is…interesting, and that's all I'm gonna say on that subject.

 

 

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I can't wait to hear the comments about the new Fanatic Promo. 

I understand the concern, but I really disagree that Adam drew the the wraith in a way that objectifies women and I know that was not his intent. He has never drawn her as anything, but a strong female character. Look at Ra. Was he drawn with the intention of tantalizing the female game players? Most of the characters are portrayed was being in Good shape and wearing tight clothes. I think the most important thing is intent. Did Adam intend to draw something that young boys will drool over? I think the answer is clearly no. Those may or may not be holes or fabric. To me it is all about intent. I think his goal was to draw something fashion forward that the wraith would find stylish. 

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We've got to keep in mind that while we're hoping every detail is perfect, these are just a few of the >100 character cards that Adam has to draw before July/August. And we've been begging to see more of them faster. So we will probably see some first drafts and revisions of them over time. There's a lot to be done for one artist.

15

I just realized I can't tell what direction AZ is looking in his promo pic.  He could be looking directly at me, which would mean the white triangle is basically his face.  But he could also be looking to the side in which case the triangle is more like Spider-man's eye coverings when they're drawn super huge by some artists.  It's like an optical illusion - I can make myself see it both ways equally well.

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Those pictures aren't done.  Wraith's coloring needs to be fixed so what is skin and what is fabric is more obvious.  (if you block out the purple cape and letters beneath you can tell the patches and her arm are slightly different coloring, she doesn't have sleeves)

 

This is a topic worth being sensative about, but all appearances are that this is a result of being a rough draft, and not a really horrible costume design.

17

The Ra thing is a false equivalency argument in that powerful, well muscled, shirtless men aren't drawn in comics to satisfy female gaze but to be a male power fantasy. Exceptions are characters like Nightwing and Namor who are, these days at least, drawn to satisfy the female (and gay/bisexual male) gaze. At least two characters (Midnighter and Batgirl) have recognized Dick Grayson based on his butt alone. Most muscle men in comics aren't made for women.

I don't think Chris and Adam did it on purpose and if the sleeves and hip windows are cloth, that's cool. But intention isn't the entirety of the law here, either. Like I said, there's a history of objectification in comics and this often happens when they are given new costumed. I'm thinking Sue Richards/the Invisible Woman when she was given a cut-out FF boob window or Huntress when she got her belly window. All for no real reason other than an artist thought it looked sexy.

18

[quote="waedens"]

I can't wait to hear the comments about the new Fanatic Promo. I understand the concern, but I really disagree that Adam drew the the wraith in a way that objectifies women and I know that was not his intent. He has never drawn her as anything, but a strong female character. Look at Ra. Was he drawn with the intention of tantalizing the female game players? Most of the characters are portrayed was being in Good shape and wearing tight clothes. I think the most important thing is intent. Did Adam intend to draw something that young boys will drool over? I think the answer is clearly no. Those may or may not be holes or fabric. To me it is all about intent. I think his goal was to draw something fashion forward that the wraith would find stylish. 

[/quote]

Objectification and sexualization are different things. The female characters in this game are definitely more sexualized than the male characters (who are generally idealized, not sexualized, from a male perspective), almost all with large (and occasionally magically growing) breasts, although the artwork in SotM is generally not gratuitous or offensive and avoids plain objectification of its characters—much better than most comic artwork—and I appreciate it for that reason.

I don't know if "windows" are gratuitous sexualization that suggests objectification (like mindphyre), but it's still sexualization, and worth questioning.

Mainly though, I take issue with the idea that her costume is actually "fashion forward" or "stylish." Just looks awkward.

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The difference between sexualization and sexual objectification is this: Objectification is treating a woman as an object, and often treated as an sexualized object. Sexualization is treating a woman as if she exists to titillate.

That is, the difference ain't that big.

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[quote="Belle Sorciere"]

Sexualization is treating a woman as if she exists to titillate.

[/quote]

Not necessarily. If a character has enough agency and authenticity, her sexuality could be an aspect of her personailty, and something she has (implied) control over, and not a (male-controlled) feature intended for objectification. Sexuality and sexualization are, in theory, fine.

In practice though, female characters are almost always sexualized (in often dumb ways) and male characters almost never, and I would question whether sexualization is ever really appropriate in a context like this. My point was: whether objectification was intended or experienced, it's still legitimate to question whether or not a character is too sexualized.

But yeah, the difference ain't huge.