So the other day i was browsing warhammer 40k stuff at the game shop with some friend and ended up on a page talking about the Battle Sisters. I was just reading it when one of my friends complained about female armor in fiction and how it is often sexualized in unrealistic ways.
that was when another one of my friends perked up and came up with a decent reason as to why they would appear the way they do. his points were as follows: 1) the breast plates dont actually contain the sisters boobs. they are just ornamental and that under them is armor which is actually covering the womans chest. the reason they have them is more for showing off that they are the Daughters of the Emperor. 2) anything that the armor cant stop is going through the armor either way and odds are it will kill them even with a glancing blow. with the weapons used in the setting deflected shots arent really a thing to the sisters as anything their armor could deflect probably couldnt penetrate it. 3) most of the sexualizing is faked by the Imperium. as has been made some what clear is that stuff is often edited by the Imperium before hand to make them look better. (a somewhat reasonable way to excuse inconsistencies in the lore) in this case the images depicting the sisters is sexed up to make them look better when in reality they probably just look like female guardsmen in power armor. so they are sexed up to make them stand out.
i kind of like this argument and was wondering what you guys think?
Chase Williams
The core problem most people have with the boob armor outside of "sexism" is the fact that it funnels impact force into the center of the chest, unlike a standard cuirass. In this regard the "kill you anyways" theory holds the most ground.
Real reason they look like that in a meta sense IS to be somewhat sexual. Warhammer has always placed looking badass over looking sexual, unlike something like, say, Warcraft, so it's not a dramatic move, but it still is there to make the statement "These are female, they are defined in part by their being all-female".
One fun theory I've always liked is that the boobs on Sisters armor only contains the breasts of particularly busty Sisters, while most of them use it as a storage space akin to how women store chapstick and money in their bras.
Thomas Sanchez
>akin to how women store chapstick and money in their bras Only high schoolers, poorfags, and trashy sluts do that.
It's about as trashy as a guy using the front of his jeans as a gun holster.
Ayden Kelly
I want boobplate complaint threads leave
Hudson Davis
gw is getting more diverse in its models lately too. then only difference between male and female harlequins is the chest, for instance. it's not always about sex
Ryan Lee
that is a funny way to look at it. maybe they are just there so the girls dont get jealous of their sisters breasts.
im not complaining about it sir. i was just discussing things. sorry if it's annoying.
Jacob Reed
Maybe they have such massive boob plates in order to house energy units.
Dominic Davis
>sisters >getting jealous >implying they think about anything but the emperor ever
Jeremiah Reyes
We DO have a lot of boobplate threads. Usually they're obvious bait, ie: "GRR Y GEEDUBS SEXIST"
Yours seems to be a bit more of an earnest question. Fact remains that, as much as neckbeards can rage over actual in-lore justification for booblate, a regular cuirass is just better. The boobs are there to show they are the SISTERS of Battle, and reinforce their femininity as opposed to the all-male Space Marines and more nondescript Imperial Guard.
Dominic Jenkins
Here's an on topic question, do you feel there are ramifications (social or otherwise) of outright sending women to their death in games, TT or vidya?
Point, in eternal crusade you can play as a female eldar. When you execute one I'm not really sure if they use all the execution animations meaning they take it easy on the girls as not to be potentially sexually violent. You rarely see girls in FPSs but there are some (ghost in a shell but you are a cyber puppet, cod Blops 3 you could playas a female operative). So as far as the sisters coming out has GW been on guard as to prevent wymyn hate in their community? I mean it's obviously ok to kill guys just look at the DoW 3 trailer, but what if it were all girls on the pile....
Jason Russell
>has GW been on guard as to prevent hate in their community? GW deleted their official forums. They (rightly) don't care about the dumb shit the community whines about and do their own thing, for better or worse.
Eli Lee
They're Dalek Bumps!
They can detect ion charged emissions and operate as etheric beam locators at a distance of up to 20,000 light years!
They're also extremely firm!
Brody Lopez
>DoW 3 trailer, but what if it were all girls on the pile... user, there were banshees in that pile. Banshees with tits. 40k doesn't give a fuck what gender you are. Except boizonli spess muhrens.
Oliver Lewis
>inb4 virtfaggotry
Colton Lewis
Women == Men
Women Dying == Men Dying
Is there anything more to it?
Jonathan Carter
They're actually reactive armour. When they detect a kinetic weapon strike or plasma blast, the boob armour explodes, disrupting plasma and deforming projectiles. They only activate for heavy weaponry, though.
Luke Hernandez
Appendix carry is a real technique which you should use if you aren't a fatty.
Elijah Anderson
If you say so user. Point being, if a woman pulls cash out of her tits you can bet it's gonna have sweat and skin residue all over it. Most women just get a fucking wallet, like normal people.
Dylan Young
Banshees are not human females though correct? Wonder if response would be different.
Either way there definitely is inequality of the sexes when it comes to the battlefield IRL, but as far as games go I feel it shouldn't matter, in fact they should promote strong female representations. Not every man is a wife beater right?
Tyler Rogers
Maybe they have bood armor because...well they have boobs.
Current military has had to revise current PCs because of female anatomy not meshing well with rectangular, straight chested male equipment. Bounding/having constant pressure on boobs hurts dog. A rigid holder to fit your boobs in keeps off pressure, yet leave room for them to move a bit.
Plus, have you ever had to do activities with unrestrained boobs? There is a reason girls wear sports bras for heavy physical activity.
Landon Bell
Women have tits. Women like to show off their tits. Women buy bras that push up and push out their tits. Women are proud of their tits.
Ugly women without tits hate women with tits. Ugly women without tits don't want women with tits to be proud of their tits. Ugly women without tits don't want men to be interested in women with tits. Ugly women without tits don't want to erase femininity from popular fiction because they are jealous of women with tits. Ugly women without tits will go to great lengths to remove women with tits from all fantasy and will mainly do so by calling it "sexist", "objectifying" and any other such excuse they can think of.
Carter King
>women >heavy physical activity
Xavier Jenkins
>Complaining about "unrealistic" things >In Warhammer 40,000
This is a setting where genetically-enhanced super soldiers that are excessively muscled and eat brains to gain memories, and Sisters having boobplate is considered oversexualized and illogical? Jesus.
Blake Sanders
Also the same setting and faction that turned a missile-launching tank into a pipe organ.
We shouldn't be over thinking this.
Parker Allen
>>women >>heavy physical activity you have no idea
Jaxon Walker
"Realistic" means "Consistent within the bounds of reality as we know it". Someone in a high-fantasy world would consider our world to be "unrealistic" because of our "technology".
Alexander Edwards
Oh, so tanks with PIPE ORGANS THAT SHOOT FIREBOMBS are fine and realistic, but boobplate is where brains break?
Xavier Foster
If men can have chestplates with abs and tits, why can't girls?
I mean, I sure as fuck doubt it really matters whether or not the armor might against all odds "deflect" a blow into the middle of the chest, as long as it's sturdy enough for the weapon not to penetrate it in the first place. And if it does, wouldn't you rather have it do that than go off to the sides and into the arms or straight through, seeing as the sternum is hard as fuck to pierce as well?
It's like you're assuming that a chestplate hard enough to turn aside an arrow or a sword would suddenly yield like butter between the tits. Why would it be specifically vulnerable there if it's the same thick material as the rest of it? Don't talk shit about "concentrating the force", if it's already been deflected it's lost a lot of the momentum already and isn't going to pierce anything. And it won't deflect the weapon upwards either any more than your standard flat/convex plate.
Henry Evans
functionally speaking, they're not much different from a katyusha
just on a tank instead of a truck
William Anderson
Except the organs actually work and play inspiring music.
Isaiah Hall
>implying katyusha is not also of playing inspiring music
Easton Campbell
>PFFWEEEOORRRRH >PFFWEEEOORRRRH >PFFWEEEOORRRRH
>Ivan, they are playing our song! Charge, charge for the motherland!
Alexander Cruz
>funnels impact force Seems a case of armchair expert to me, especially since Mk.5 armour and IRL bossages have the same form and are designed this way to cushion projectiles.
But yeah, they're porbably ornemental, as is the corset, and the real armour is under it. It's 40k, we got marines going in battle with togas and crests, or books strapped to their chests. And IIRC the cover for the SoB 2nd ed codex had a canoness with mini-flamethrowers on her heels.
I remember a thread a few days ago where an user made some good point about how the ecclesiarchy could want to sexualize the SoBs, since it shows their respect of the decree passive.
Nathan Cruz
And then you reinforce the impact point, making the armor more effective for women than for men.
That is your complaint, that the impact force gets channeled to an important place? Well, fix the problem by reinforcement and bladecatches.
But that isn't really the problem, we know.
Brayden Peterson
>And then you reinforce the impact point, making the armor more effective for women than for men. You're still getting a point slammed into your sternum on impact, and there's a point where layering on more shit is worse than just designing armor that doesn't require finangling a bunch of extra weight around to work about as well.
They have boob plate because it's stylish, and it works because technology. that's the only answer of relevance
William Harris
>implying boob sweat on bills is a bad thing Who're you, Adrian Monk? Sniff that shit bruh.
William Green
>Not using Prodos figs as replacement Sisters Why even play Sororitas.
Landon Perry
Wouldn't boobplate be better? Since bullets magically are attracted to the middle of the chest why not make the middle more armoured and so reduce the amount of material needed on the rest?
Camden Lee
>Not using the better version of SoB replacement for SoB
Leo Ross
Considering the reasoning behind having them. I'd go with it being more symbolic. They want to show that these are female warriors, and their armor is structured in a way to emphasize this.
Asher Brown
I'll activate her with my heavy weaponry if you know what I mean. With a KV128 Stormsurge, if that wasn't obvious from the context.
Brandon Murphy
Boobplate will deflect the shot INTO the chest, not away from it.
Josiah Smith
Read it again.
William Roberts
That is why you make the chest area between the boobs thicker! Why bother with all the rest of the plating if everything goes magically into that particular area!
Jeremiah Miller
The whole deflecting to the middle despite being a stupid argument in the first place, also assumes they're staying square ahead, and the shot/blade hitting the middle center of the breast in the first place. Assuming the deflection did nothing to dampen the force, which it actually would, the damage done is about the same as it would have been if it just penetrated where it would have originally.
Easton Torres
I assumed you meant middle from top to bottom. Still, wouldn't a bulkier chest with angles like that deflect shots into the face instead?
Not sure why it shots would magically go towards the bewbs though.
Parker Hughes
>even their fortifications have boobplate.
Jonathan Sanchez
With a deflection only a part of the force is absorbed and you generally want to have that force directed off your body, especially away from your vitals.
Isaiah Martinez
Yes, but if it was a square plate, there would have been no deflection anyways and since it's strong enough to Pierce between the boobs, it would have just went straight through your lungs or heart.
Jayden Hughes
Power armor isn't flat, it's convex. Modern tanks work like that too, so as to not absorb the entire impact on a small area.
Samuel Johnson
Disregarding the cups, I mean.
Brody King
Hord the Dragonslayer, my Barbarian has worn nothing but a fur loincloth, bracers, sandals and a golden chain necklace for like 20 years. (Yes, I am super gay).
I really don't see the problem with boob plate.
Jackson Fisher
Fair enough. that would help with some excessive force and side glances. But something that would hit the inside of the breastplate like that is unlikely to me shot off to the side, resulting in a penetration somewhere in the middle even on conventional power armor.
Nathaniel James
He's joking about the whole "boobplate would be instakill" attitude some have, which is extra funny in a setting like 40K where close to nothing makes sense.
Brayden King
Sad thing is the scale on those is way off. They're 32mm minis and tower over Space Marines.
Jason Moore
What's the point off genetically modified super human physique if they'll be using power armor anyways?
Isaiah Hernandez
>modern tank armor is convex so the impact is distributed on a wider area Go say that to the threadhead general on /k/, they'll be delighted to hear it.
This thread is full of bullshit misconceptions and uninformed opinions on armour and physics in general, it's a real mess.
Jaxon Sullivan
Doesn't this make it easy to scale the walls?
Juan Mitchell
Welcome to Veeky Forums, its a silly place.
Thomas Allen
I dont' know. I feel like if some motherfucker manages to slam you in the chest with a warhammer you're probably fucked either way.
Maybe a little more fucked with boob plate, but still fucked.
Probably less fucked then the person whose unarmored chest gets hit with a warhammer, though
Joseph Carter
Just compared an Armored Crusader to the Dark Angel Librarian you get in Dark Vengeance, she was about 1mm taller from foot to the top of the head (helmet-majig on the Librarian). Not that bad I think, they have heels too so can blame it on that - at least that's what I will do! It goes to shit when you look at it in lore heights thought, but using these Prodos models isn't exactly lore anyway.
Noah Lopez
I don't know the exact details of the science behind it but our APC had oblique angles that were supposedly supposed to deflect shells betting coming straight on, but really what saved our hides from RPGs were theses metal grates that jut out about two feet from the armor that they would hit, blow off a chunk of the grates and leave the stuff behind it mostly intact, but scorched.
Liam Ramirez
I meant that the principle of deflecting shots with angled armor. I don't think any tanks are convex.
Blake Gutierrez
It doesn't matter if it isn't 'real'. The problem is that it enhances the kinetic force of blows to the sternum, thus liqeufying/cracking anything underneath. A hypersonic bolt shell (typical of those used by space marines and their chaos brothers) will fuck a sister up with a center of mass shot to the sternum whereas she might normally survive if her breastplate was sloped.
Ryan Cooper
>Maybe they have bood armor because...well they have boobs.
The boob armor does not actually cup the boob, user. They wear the equivalent of sports bras and a bodysuit underneath, as unlike Space Marines they don't have access ports riddled across their body to interface with the armor, and therefore need the undersuit.
There are also multiple "layers" to Power Armor - the ceramite plating on the outside that provides the "Armor," the exoskeletal system underneath the plates that provides the "Power," and, on non-Astartes, the undersuit that allows the wearer to use it without chafing or pinching while ensuring a snug fit around the body.
The boobs are purely ornamental, which, for Sisters of Battle, is 100% acceptable, especially given how much ornaments Sisters put on their expensive as fuck armor to begin with.
Easton Morris
I think the reality of things is that 40k is ultimately a high fantasy setting. Realism and practicality are not high on the list of things for a genre that cares more about style and theme.
Juan Ross
Whats super, super funny about this comic is the "girl" is the one whose supposed to be the 'right' one here.
Jack Adams
Nice pseudoscience.
Angel Bennett
>The boob armor does not actually cup the boob, user. Maybe that's why they require power armor, to alleviate massive back pain - not for protection.
Adrian Peterson
>It doesn't matter if it isn't 'real'. The problem is
The REAL problem is that you spergs are criticizing one of the most absurdly over-the-top rule of cool settings because it's not realistic enough.
Landon Davis
All three of these actually make quite a bit of sense to me Op.
Also, they're used as promethium tanks.
Kevin Gray
with the force behind the space marine weapons i doubt a little slope will save them if they get hit.
Parker Long
As they can not be "Men under arms" it is a deliberate statement that the wearer is female. Your point 2 is also good.
Joseph Moore
Bewbies hehe
Thomas Gutierrez
You're gonna need a ladder to reach the top in any numbers that matter, anyway.
Ethan Gonzalez
I think people tend to not like watching women get outright brutalized like you see in some video games. You're never going to see a Saving Private Ryan opening-esque scene with majority women.
We're getting there though. I think more games are starting to have "mook" enemies as women. I know the Columbia police/army in Bioshock Infinite had some women and that made me pause and go "huh" for just a second before I resumed murdering everything.
As for 40k you point out DoW 3 but if you watch the DoW 2 opening cinematic you can watch a number of howling banshees get absolutely fucked up. Crushed by an assault marine, chainsworded, flamered, slammed into a cliff by a dreadnought. So it is there.
I think it's not as common because it tends to make people either uncomfortable or there just haven't been as many "generic female trooper" type characters in the past so there haven't been that many opportunities for it.
Juan Harris
Not super familiar with 40k but in this case the boobplate doesn't seem so bad. Sure, you can make the whole "deflects towards centre of the chest" arguement, but that's only for DEFLECTIVE armor, and it seems that most of the plate-looking armors in 40k are mostly ballistic in nature, absorbing and crumpling and slowing projectiles instead of deflecting them away, essentially like how modern body armor works. The misconception just comes from it's resemblence to deflective steel plates, which work best against primitive projectiles or bladed melee weapons. I think deflective armor is probably pretty useless in 40k, since most melee attacks are just going to crush/melt/punch/rip their way into armor anyways.
Like chainswords, which seem to be able to cleave through plate-like armour, somehow. Admittedly most of it sees to be "rule of cool"
Aiden Hernandez
Gears of War backed out of it in 2, but 3 had chainsawable wimmen.
Xavier Davis
>why not make the middle more armoured and so reduce the amount of material needed on the rest? Stupid logic, powered armor is supposed to be fully protective gear, along the same lines as articulated plate (but in space). You COULD stick a slab of concrete between the tits to absorb or disperse the extra force directed there. Or you could just make a piece of gear that doesn't require extra weight (and in this case, extra power to lug that extra weight around) to be viable.
Boobplate can be "better" for stylistic/thematic/fashion reasons. But it can't be "better" when looking at purely defensive capabilities. Since this is 40k, purely defensive capabilities don't matter. But If we must be looking at things realistically, marine powered armor is significantly better designed than sister of battle powered armor.
Jaxson Myers
Marine power armor is pretty shit too from a practical point desu.
Jack Lewis
What about male plate ? You know, the roman one with male muscle decoration ? I figure that the impact force wouldn't be funneled as much as a boob plate, but maybe the aesthetic and the psychological impact on your own soldiers is worth it ?
Christopher Sanchez
Right because it's stupidly huge and hinders movement. But as far as protection goes, thick, rounded surfaces aren't bad.
They benefit from having an extremely simple design. Unlike most space shooting men, they don't have a million little shot traps all over their person.
Chase Johnson
Missing the point. He was making fun of people going boob plate = Insta kill due to boob plate some how attracts bullets and sword to that particular area.
In that stupid logic, making the magical cleavage of doom with extra protection would solve the problem
Kevin Robinson
Banshees are kind of unique in that they register less as female because of their masks.
Elijah Brown
>1) the breast plates dont actually contain the sisters boobs. they are just ornamental and that under them is armor which is actually covering the womans chest. the reason they have them is more for showing off that they are the Daughters of the Emperor. This is already canon. The (idealized) human form is literally holy in the Imperium. As representatives of the Ecclesiarchy, Sisters' armor could be specifically designed to evoke Renaissance art and nobody would bat an eyelash.
It's not there for titillation, at least in-universe.
Just like how skulls have a different connotation: in our world they're a spooky symbol of death, while in the Imperium they're a symbol of purity and human unity.
Joseph Peterson
I read that as beam lactatiors, and now I'm imagining some sort of breast milk gun installed in the chest. Thanks Slannesh.
Cameron Gray
> Well the Russians got big into the whole conical turret thing on the BTR's and BMP's for a bit.
Their MBT's since the T-54 have all had upturned soupbowls for turret with the idea that the rounded shape would be quicker to induce a ricochet due to a higher chance of shots against it being at a higher critical angle (as high speed projectiles will eventually bounce off a solid surface at a certain angle and beyond... it's a whole mess of physics).
Still not concave though.
The closest you can get to concave is the extended plating on the Leopard 2A6 and I think the Chinese Type-99. The actual turrets within are still not concave though.
Levi Martinez
Let's call it a "celebration of a remarkable trait of pure humanity: sexual dimorphism... As the Emperor willed it."
Brayden Wilson
What if Bolter Bitches have boobplate as a fuck you to the High Lords? Like "well lookie here oops we aren't men are we fuck your decrees".
Aiden Rogers
...
Leo Edwards
Why would I give a shit about the gender of the enemy I kill?
Juan Lopez
Because love can bloom on the battlefield.
Isaac Butler
yeah a bolter round would go right through that.
Matthew White
>What about male plate ? You know, the roman one with male muscle decoration ? ROCK. HARD. OLD MAN NIPPLES.
Mason Gonzalez
The females are modeled with thigh-high boots or leggings and the males are modeled with combat boots and slacks according to the instructions, but everything is interchangeable, so it's entirely up to the modeler.
Brandon Gutierrez
Raging Heroes does way better than those. Plus they're 28mm, not 32mm.
Ethan Richardson
>he doesn't know about BA
My reaction is in this image.
Joseph Scott
>the painter has literally highlighted the nipples
This just makes me laugh. Especially since this kind of orientation was reserved for the Greeks... The BA are certainly not Greek. Minotaurs are Greek. Custodian Guard are Spartans.
Charles Nelson
Dark Eldar were like that long before Harlequins. All Dark Eldar torsos are compatible with all of their legs, which have no distinctive difference between the various legs, and it goes for both Kabalites and Wytches, which are primarily Male and Female respectively. (I believe the kits are 7/3 each way.)
Because Elves make the best traps, regardless of if they're in space. Or clowns.
Gavin Gray
I'll never understand that whole "force redirection off boobs" complaint. I've seen people point to some bs article on tor.com that makes a lot of claims but doesn't really back them up with, you know, anything. Like somehow a sword that hits a metallic boob curve will strike unerringly at the heart as opposed to slipping to an awkward angle so the weapon flies out of the hands of the person wielding it. And if we're talking bullets it makes even less sense. If you're using metal armor in a sci-fi gun setting it'll be some badass super metal that doesn't exist which are generally hyper resistant to bullets. But even then a ricochet depends on the angle it strikes and bullets actually lose force as they deflect since energy is transferred to every surface they come into contact with. Basically you don't want to be shot in the chest period. The heart isn't dead center but the spine still is. You have the lungs and any bullet that cracks into ribs can send bone fragments into internal organs. Not pretty regardless of the shape of your armor.
And that's just if you're dealing with real life. Most tabletop games, I would imagine, don't have mechanics for bullet deflection off boob armor. Whether the setting has magic or aliens or elder gods or magic alien elder gods, I don't know, for some reason boob armor is such a huge sticking point. I suspect people actually just really want to talk about boobs.