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[Bones]

Personally I like over the top stylized characters.
It's that one particular unique trait that makes a character what it is, not belt straps and buckles or less clothing.

But maybe that's because my roots are deep in cartoons and comics.

[Kevin]

Man, I love EWJ's designs.

[s0]

what castle said. Doesn't change the fact that skyward sword's bokoblin design is complete balls compared to wind waker's.

never said anything to the contrary

[Derek]

lets compare from this

to this

uhm i dont like skyward sword but its kind of unfair to compare these two like that. one of them is concept art the other is an actual in-game model. bokoblins don't really look like that in wind waker.

I prefer the squat bokoblin from Skyward Sword. That top one is just a bunch of long pointy things sticking out at different angles (arms, legs, tail, ears, horns)... it doesn't feel particularly well-designed to me.

That said, I like Wind Waker's design in general much better than Skyward Sword.

Also, Twilight Princess's are the worst, apparently:

[EdgeOfProphecy]

Yeah, Nomura ruined Final Fantasy with his Harajuku androgyny bullshit. Way to suck the creativity and art out of characters and reduce them into every other vapid teenager who's got a Hot Topic gift card.

I can't decide if that's worse or the "generic mid-30's white guy" that's been plaguing the Western AAA studios for the past couple years.

Look at Sora, Sion, and Tidus. Granted Sion's not a jrpg character, but he's one of Nomura's crappier designs. All of them suffer from an abundance of superfluous chains, belts and zippers; Tidus is wearing a pair of unlikely odd-legged shorts, mismatched gloves and a... corset with suspenders? Sora's the least offensive of the three, and he has zippers on the toes of his shoes, which are also held together by belts. I dunno, to me it seems like Nomura takes the approach that more stuff = more better design, and so just throws as many "details" onto his characters as possible (be they the aforementioned belts and zipper, or the various chains, tights, vests and general layers of clothing/gear he tends to pile on.

I actually wear shoes that are fastened with both zippers and buckles

[baconman]

^ I am so sorry to hear that.

^^ And yeah, I was sold until the skivvies.


You can already tell where this is going? That's a good thing.[/img]


Time to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And I'm all outta gum.


He's got a bull ring, so you know he's hard. WANK.




It's what every 30-yo-looking scruffy guy in every brown shooter today is trying to be. Except that last one, that was a doozy.

[tylerjhutchison]

Duke Nukem
It's what every 30-yo-looking scruffy guy in every brown shooter today is trying to be. Except that last one, that was a doozy.

I agree that Duke Nukem is very iconic, but I am not sure if you can actually give the credit to him.

Duke Nukem's design is basically just a  caricature of Arnold Schwarzenegger + Kurt Russell + RoddyPiper and  80s/90s action heros.

When I see Duke Nukem, I think: Bad Ass Action Hero.  But, I question if it because his design and character is so strong that he has turned himself into symbol, or is it because he is a mimic of characters that were already very iconic Bad Ass Action Heroes.

[EdgeOfProphecy]

Duke Nukem
It's what every 30-yo-looking scruffy guy in every brown shooter today is trying to be. Except that last one, that was a doozy.

I agree that Duke Nukem is very iconic, but I am not sure if you can actually give the credit to him.

Duke Nukem's design is basically just a  caricature of Arnold Schwarzenegger + Kurt Russell + RoddyPiper and  80s/90s action heros.

When I see Duke Nukem, I think: Bad Ass Action Hero.  But, I question if it because his design and character is so strong that he has turned himself into symbol, or is it because he is a mimic of characters that were already very iconic Bad Ass Action Heroes.

I think distilling the memorable qualities from the seminal actors in a genre of film and building a character out of it is a totally legit way to do character design.  It does require you to get it right, to know which features define the genre, select those, mash them together, and keep things cohesive and recognizable to the audience.

[phubans]

AAHHH!!! I hated Aaahh Real Monsters since it came out. The character designs are ugly and I couldn't even piece them together if I was asked to draw them without looking at an image; they're forgettable. I even forgot that nasty, disgusting one with the pubes jutting out of his armpits, even though looking at him again he's probably the most recognizable... I probably forgot him just to have that image erased from my mind. I also hate that Klasky/Csupo sloppy, shaky outline bullshit. Man, I hate that production company and want to punch someone for making it part of my childhood (well, early teens)... Though I will say RugRats was actually pretty good until later in the series.

Anyways, I hope I'm not shitting on anyone's childhood... I just don't like that show... lol

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i don't think there's any reason that copies can't be good design. merely being derivative doesn't make a design bad, it just makes it unoriginal

examples:



the cast of lunar eternal blue is generic, but it still has a style to it, interesting details, recognizability, etc., which make the designs good, even if they aren't especially original

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

AAHHH!!! I hated Aaahh Real Monsters since it came out. The character designs are ugly and I couldn't even piece them together if I was asked to draw them without looking at an image; they're forgettable. I even forgot that nasty, disgusting one with the pubes jutting out of his armpits, even though looking at him again he's probably the most recognizable... I probably forgot him just to have that image erased from my mind. I also hate that Klasky/Csupo sloppy, shaky outline bullshit. Man, I hate that production company and want to punch someone for making it part of my childhood (well, early teens)... Though I will say RugRats was actually pretty good until later in the series.

Anyways, I hope I'm not shitting on anyone's childhood... I just don't like that show... lol

you're probably old enough to remember these guys, phubans:







now these were some good designs, i wish toys were this good today

[phubans]

Of course, I had a ton of MUSCLE men. I was just talking to Derek about those recently, and I made the correlation that Pokemon is basically the new MUSCLE... Well, in terms of a huge and diverse variety of different collectible avatars, in the case of MUSCLE, they were humanoid wrestlers, in the case of Pokemon its monsters... But you get the idea; it's really the same thing.

I did love MUSCLE men, but my favorite figures of all time had to be Battle Beasts... Now THOSE were awesome!



I'm not sure what kid's toys these days look like, but I somehow doubt they're anywhere near as cool as what we played with back in the 80s *nostalgia*

[GordonCSA]

Holy crap I had some of those. And some similar ones with little 'Z' and 'V' emblems. Not sure if they were the same series.

[Bones]

I remember watching the Ultimate Muscle television show, didn't know they had collectable toys.
I was a pog kid myself in terms of collectables.

[Player 3]

Think I remember the show. Wasn't there one who's head/shoulders resembled a butt and had a pail+shovel referenced to a lot of the time?

[phubans]

Holy crap I had some of those. And some similar ones with little 'Z' and 'V' emblems. Not sure if they were the same series.

You're thinking of ZBots, which came some 5 years later... They were pretty cool, too.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I did love MUSCLE men, but my favorite figures of all time had to be Battle Beasts... Now THOSE were awesome!

I'm not sure what kid's toys these days look like, but I somehow doubt they're anywhere near as cool as what we played with back in the 80s *nostalgia*

ya i had those too. but as far as my "favorite" toy line goes, i raise you one battle beasts and challenge you with dino-riders

[phubans]

Dino Riders were OK but I still liked Battle Beasts more.

I'll see your Dino Riders and raise you Starriors:



Dude has a FUCKING DRILL in his chest!

[IzzyReggie]

Executioner Smough.

Just wanted to say I've been wanting to post this guy for ages but was always too lazy to go out and find a picture. I mean everything about him screams opulence and egotism. He looks like the kind of guy who lays on one of those long chair/bed things and gets fed grapes, and when he needs to execute someone he lazily smashes them with a hammer, says something about how inferior they are, giggles, and goes back to being fed grapes.

I'm narrativizing a bit but I think it is a very strong character design.

[Tumetsu]

Just wanted to say I've been wanting to post this guy for ages but was always too lazy to go out and find a picture. I mean everything about him screams opulence and egotism. He looks like the kind of guy who lays on one of those long chair/bed things and gets fed grapes, and when he needs to execute someone he lazily smashes them with a hammer, says something about how inferior they are, giggles, and goes back to being fed grapes.

I'm not sure but if I remember correctly he liked to eat the remains those who he executed which prevented him to raise in ranks :D

At least according to Tvtropes:

Executioner Smough used the ground bones of his victims as spice for his food, appalling the Four Knights (including his buddy Ornstein). The Butcher enemies are also mentioned in flavour text to be cannibals

But yes, he is good design.