The boob wars continue
The Dragon’s Crown “thing” shows no sign of stopping, with vehement and sometimes venomous opinions flying this way and that. To bring you up to speed, Vanillaware’s upcoming brawler features a big-boobed Sorceress, the design of which is causing a ruckus.
Now an artist from a completely different studio is in the mix, Gearbox environmental artist Shaylyn Hamm. To say she’s not impressed by George Kamitani’s mammary magician is putting it lightly.
“I want to see more women getting interested in games and game development, but stuff like this only serves to further cement the idea that you’re stepping into a male hobby rather than something that is more inclusive,” she wrote on The Escapist’s forums.
“Also, this is the first time I’ve seen that character and holy shit, ahahahahahaha. That’s actually something that made its way into a basically finished video game, fucking lol! Some juvenile delinquent kid in my 5th grade class used to draw girls that looked like that (only without the creepy blank, featureless samefaces and wizard hats), and I think he was actually better at it. I also think he’s in jail now. This is amazing.”
As one might expect, Hamm’s comments have drawn considerable heat from Dragon’s Crown fans, particularly on NeoGAF. Gearbox’s own history of female design has been brought up multiple times in response to the criticism, with Borderlands‘ Mad Moxxi and Duke Nukem Forever‘s entire existence providing alleged examples of similar female objectification.
Images such as the one above have been used to refute Hamm’s point, though to be fair, it’s worth pointing out that Hamm is responsible only for Gearbox’s environmental art, and her own designs of female characters are both tasteful and quite excellent. Still, gender issues are treacherous waters, and it’s inevitable Gearbox’s history would be part of the splashback.
That said, it’s also been argued that Gearbox’s designs as they stand can’t be compared to Dragon’s Crown‘s overtly exaggerated characters.
“Nothing in Borderlands posted so far is remotely in the same ballpark,” said one NeoGAF poster.
Indeed, while Moxxi clearly has her breasts on show, she is at least sensibly proportioned and her costume actually fits the context of her character. She’s not going out to battle dressed in that attire, she’s supposed to be an entertainer and the owner of a bar with a deliberately titillating aesthetic. That’s not to say she’s designed inherently “better” than Tamikani’s characters, but it’s hard to compare the two in this particular discussion.
In any case, the Dragon’s Crown debate rages on, even as those who claim to be tired of it continue to post in forum and comment threads every time it comes up. Indeed, this shows no signs of going away yet.
Still, this is probably the most advertising a Vanillaware game’s ever gotten.
