Body Types in Fiction

So I've noticed that a lot of people here in the west have gone about changing the way characters look in comic books, artwork, and stories lately and calling it 'realistic'. However, I must stress that a lot of these changes are not actually based on realistic body types for that character but rather they are based on what's currently politically correct. I won't go too much into the politics behind it as I want to tackle the actual body types themselves.

First off let me be the first to say that people are athletic, practicing things like running from rooftop to rooftop, climbing, or serious fighting tend to be very thin. Taking a super hero and making them have average body types is not realistic for the character's profession, it is instead a strange, and perhaps even offensive change to make. I know for a fact when I when I was doing two hour walks every day for a few months I got real skinny, but since I stopped doing that and fell off my diet I put the weight back on. But a lot of the character changes I'm seeing make these super heroes make me look thin. This change is unrealistic but it's also kinda offensive as it takes a lot of work to get into good shape, the work put in is hard, really hard, so it should be celebrated when people are willing to put in that much work. Instead the message becomes, 'no matter how much hard work you put in, you'll be fat' and that's not good.

Another weird choice that is based on politics and not at all realistic. A lot of these fat characters actually lose boob size... I'm sorry, but I'm a dude and I call tell you that when I don't take care of myself I get boobs! Boobs just get bigger when you gain more body fat, that's part of the place that the body fat is stored so that you can stay warm during the winter. It's a strange choice to be sure and far from realistic.

Finally one of the most hilarious choices I've seen is something that was almost right. Someone took the Iron Man suit, as in the robotic suit made of metal and machines and made it have a 'dad bod'. Now as hilarious as this parody art is, in truth it's the closest to a realistic change I've seen yet. The Iron Man suit would be a beautiful muscular or bulky machine, because it's metal and not real. The user of the suit may be over weight though. Tony Stark himself is unlikely to be fat as he does take his physical health very serious, but I could see people with Powered Armor being very out of shape in it as the suit may not actually exercise the body as there is little to no physical strain on the body itself, all the 'muscles' used are from the machine, not the person. So if Tony Stark gave up on his diet, he could very quickly have a 'dad bod' but the suit would look the same.

I want to just end with a note saying that if your writing a bunch of heroic characters who are skinny or have giant boobs, or muscles you should never feel bad or pressured to change their appearance for someone else. Your characters should look the way you want them too, I for one try to look at what a character in this position would really look like, and have had to make some cutting to characters in the past to keep up with realism. I had an overweight hero myself once, but after realizing how hard it would be for her to be a super thief and how she might get stuck climbing through a vent, I decided to cut her out of that role and place her in one that was a lot more fitting, aka she became a very powerful political figure instead. Don't be afraid to have characters that are in shape for you story, especially if it make sense.

As always, thanks for reading.

Review: My Little Pony Season 9 Episodes 1 and 2: The Beginning of the End

Once upon a time I loved this show more than any other, but in recent years I've began to see some issues with the writing, characters, and even the setting. As this is the final season of the show that was one of the largest influences of my art I decided to take a good look at some of the episodes in this season.

Today I start with the first two episodes in this season. A quick summery of the episode is; Twilight Sparkle and friends are tasked becoming Princess Luna and Princess Celestia's replacements as they want to retire out of the blue. Twilight struggles with this sudden task and responsibility as King Sombra returns to take over the world. 

Out of that summery let's first tackle the major issue I saw right away. The only pony upset about this new responsibility is Twilight Sparkle, everyone else was fine with it. Given what we know of the characters Applejack, and Fluttershy, I'd imagine they'd both have major issues with this new role as Applejack has a family to look after and a farm, and Fluttershy never struck me as someone who could take responsibility for a country or deal with politics, in fact she seems to break down when things get too hard socially. Yet only Twilight, and possibly Discord actually had problems with this responsibility being given to the group. It felt a bit forced if you ask me.

Next we have the issue of King Sombra's actual return. In the comics they spent a lot of time giving him backstory so you could understand why he hated ponies, and especially the Crystal Empire. You could understand and relate to him, so his journey there was really emotional. In these two episodes he's one of the most flat villains I've ever seen. I know this series has had a real problem with badly written villains but they already had a wonderful resource to draw from, the comics, and they chose to yet again completely ignore the good writing in favor of flat writing. His goals are boring, and his defeat wasn't even predictable, it was poorly handled. He was defeated by Twilight and friends when they were told why they were good enough to defeat him, they didn't discover why they could win, but were told very directly by Discord of all characters. It took away the emotional triumph that should have been there. 

But at least they pulled a dragon ball z style death for Sombra, that was something.

Speaking of telling and not showing, there were quite a few instances in these two episodes of the characters telling us how they felt, or why they were doing something instead of showing us. To call back to Sombra's defeat here, it was a poor mirror to the first two episodes in the series where the mane six discovered they represented the elements of harmony through trials that tested them and realized it only at the end without anyone giving them the answers. Show don't tell has never been more important.

Other elements that don't exactly make sense, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna just wanting to quit without properly teaching the characters anything. Sure Twilight and friends can beat up the bad guys, but other than Twilight none of them know much about politics at all. Twilight on the other hand has consistently almost started wars, destroyed the country or gotten everyone in deep trouble with her lack of understanding some basic things. It's like giving a very flammable object to a pyromaniac and saying, "I know you won't light this on fire because I am too lazy to take care of it myself."

The animation on the other hand was pretty decent as far as My Little Pony goes. The super cute and brightly colored visuals were actually really nicely balanced against the dark colors used with regards to the bad guy, unfortunately it also made it look a lot like what Discord did to Ponyville back in season 2, only... not as cool or emotional. 

One good point I can add to this is sadly bittersweet. Discord actually seems to have grown into a real good guy, and was there as a supportive role for Twilight helping her and the others grow into their new responsibilities. Unfortunately this is bittersweet as it does go against what Discord stood for, and who he is as a person. His character was shafted to fit this role of support character when just about anyone really could have fit here.

Another issue was something that has been an ongoing problem for a long time, but with the series coming closer to an end, it is more important now than ever before to get this right. The characters have special abilities and are competent in unique ways. For example there were perfect opportunities for Rarity's ability to sense gems, aka Sombra's big deal, Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom, Pinkie's Pinkie Sense, and Fluttershy's Stare. None of which were used when the characters were trying to use their own power to take back their home. I'm giving the writers the benefit of the doubt here only because I hope they will cover this at the end of the season, but at this point I think the writers have forgotten what made the characters so special in the beginning. 

In all honesty unlike Adventure Time's amazing but short ending, or the Diamond Days special from Steven Universe, I hold very little hope for this final season of MLP to be good. The magic that made the series good was in the early days, when the characters having unique abilities were key to the stories which all served to cause good drama and conflict. Now the stories are very liner, too obvious, and the unique character attributes are all but gone completely.

I can only hope that the series can end with a rainboom, and not a dying whimper.