Skinnier and Sluttier: A Downgrade

[Gossy]

Lolli Of The Army

@_@

Seriously.

It is art they do not have a life so they cannot "drop 10 lbs." That's just ridiculous to even try use as an argument, as they you know aren't people, they are drawings.
If your going to use that then why haven't you questioned that they have been wearing the same clothes all these years, or even better why the children haven't grown up? Or even how they stand in the same exact position and say the same things all the time. OMG, they must be some kind of robot. :0

Please. Stop acting like they are human, because they aren't.

Gaia is not an anime?? o_O Hmm, they seem to have a MANGA that revolves around Gaia and the NPC's. Oh hell, you must have missed that.

They may not be bond to anime style, but have you ever thought for a moment that all of the artist the Gaia has hired uses an "anime" style? Do you really think that there isn't a reason for that?

I AM WELL AWARE THAT THEY ARE NOT REAL PEOPLE. However they represent people. IT IS ALL GOOD AND WELL that Gaia is INFLUENCED by anime style. But Gaia is NOT AN ANIME.

ANIME: Japanese animation

Gaia: NOT JAPANESE and NOT ANIMATION

Gaia might be anime INSPIRED by that is not to stop them from drawing how in their own style, which they have since THE VERY BEGINNING.

They created personas for these NPCs, albeit fantasy ones. I KNOW THEY AREN'T REAL PEOPLE. I AM NOT DAFT. Cartoons aren't real. THIS I KNOW. I am not a toddler, please don't treat me like I am some dumbass who does not know the difference between fantasy and reality.

However, they are characters portrayed in 2D form.

A CHARACTER: A character is any person, persona, identity, or entity that exists in a work of art.

I KNOW THEY AREN'T REAL. Again, many people seem to miss this point so let me repeat myself.

I KNOW THEY ARE NOT REALLLLLL. NOT REAL NOT REAL NOT REAL.

Now that we have established that, I have an issue with their character design, aesthetically speaking.

Artists should not only know how to draw one body type. A very skinny body type. Any artist who only knows how to draw very skinny girls with no variation should be sacked. It is not my fault they hired that artist. Maybe they should chose a different artist, someone who could capture the NPCs a little better.

[Bleeding Apocalypse]

lol@possible elitsm due to join date and personal attacks.

Back on topic, plz.

Overall, while I was displeased at how strangely thin Sasha looked (I'd love to offer her a hamburger and a hug) I really like the rest of her redesign. The overly large shirt, the hair, the body language--it's a very good makeover. Let's just pretend that she stopped eating for a bit to save money so her store didn't foreclose, mmkay?

My concern with Moira was less about her body type and more about how she seemed to lose some of her bite. She looks a lot tamer than she used to. But going with the current theme of "they've grown/matured," it seems like Moira just made a natural progression. She's still my punky little firecracker. She just doesn't have to prove it so hard.

[Gossy]

I don't mind her beach-y loose shirt. It still reminds me of Gambino Outfitters.

[K. Ueno]

Gossy

A Victoria's Secret angel, maybe.

I thought she looked like a tastefully clad Greek goddess... An odd clothing change, but whatever, I think it suits her well.

Really, my only complaint is that this art seems to be of a lesser quality overall than what we used to have. I'm thinking the excessive skinniness and odd proportions (Sasha's head is bizarre looking) is somehow related to that and is just the artist's personal style when drawing humans. Reminds me mostly of fashion drawings, so I'm not really bothered by it.

I won't even go into how ugly and blah Vanessa now looks, but she's a good example of them NOT slutting the girls up--she's totally covered now. Sasha is, too. Moira's sleeveless vest =/= slutty.

[Origami Virgin]

Lolli Of The Army

Gossy

Enix Leroux

Oh, so since I'm so skinny and with a super fast metabolism [I'm 15, 5'5, and weight 95lbs.], I'M anorexic? neutral Last time I checked, I just ate two bowls of scrambled eggs this morning.

First off, there ARE skinny girls out there who will eat tons of food a day, and NOT gain a single pound. Ever thought that NPCs could have a high metabolism or they just eat the right stuff?

Second of all, THEY'RE CARTOONS. Oh, and GAIA has ALWAYS been Anime Style. In Anime, you'll see skinny girls, with huge ******** boobs. Because Anime-Fanboys love those skinny girls.

Thirdly, they're not slutty. Sasha looked like a slut BEFORE this update. I like her look NOW. She's covered up, and looking mature.

Honestly, why bawl over some pixels? All of them look AMAZING.

I don't share your opinion that they look "amazing." I didn't say you were anorexic. But if suddenly one day you dropped 10 lbs. I would question your eating habits, because you were ALREADY small to begin with. And then to get even smaller? That is just unnecessary. Gaia is not an anime. It might possess some anime influence in style but it isn't anime, nor are the Gaia artists bound by the rules of Japanese animation.

Anime girls come in a stock size because Japan has a thinner population on average. Also it is easier to animate using the same size for all the girls. Gaia arists only have to draw ONE body for every NPC store, not thousands of frames.

@_@

Seriously.

It is art they do not have a life so they cannot "drop 10 lbs." That's just ridiculous to even try use as an argument, as they you know aren't people, they are drawings.
If your going to use that then why haven't you questioned that they have been wearing the same clothes all these years, or even better why the children haven't grown up? Or even how they stand in the same exact position and say the same things all the time. OMG, they must be some kind of robot. :0

Please. Stop acting like they are human, because they aren't.

Gaia is not an anime?? o_O Hmm, they seem to have a MANGA that revolves around Gaia and the NPC's. Oh hell, you must have missed that.

They may not be bond to anime style, but have you ever thought for a moment that all of the artist the Gaia has hired uses an "anime" style? Do you really think that there isn't a reason for that?

Well for one, this isn't an anime.

Wikipedia

Anime (アニメ ?, taken from half of the Japanese pronunciation of "animation", pronounced [anime] Anime.ogg listen (help·info) in Japanese, but typically pronounced /ˈænɪmeɪ/ or /ˈænɪmə/ in English) is animation in Japan and considered to be "Japanese animation" in the rest of the world.[1] Anime dates from about 1917.[2]

Revolving around the style commonly seen in Japanese cartoons, yes, but aside from that one halloween movie type event, the NPCs have remained largely un-animated.

One cannot argue that the style in its appearance has changed, leading everyone to the assumption/to infer that there is a new artist that Gaiaonline has hired to do the NPC/comic/whatehaveyou art. However, in the transition, the NPC's designs have in affect lost a good ten/twenty in some lbs.
Sasha was terribly thin before, yes, but given the musculature in her stomach we can no longer see, that can be excused as a natural body type(such as yours). However, this is not the same for all of the women NPCs, who have, in effect, appeared to have dropped weight to unhealthy levels.
(This isn't even touching on the lackluster effort that appears to have gone into the art itself, such as pixilated lines and the obvious difference in Vannessa's art, as compared to the others.)

However, I think a good thing to keep in mind is that not everybody is fortunate enough as to have your body type. Hollywood, the media, fashion, have been presenting a largely unatainable body to young women for a very long time now, something that has largely affected social views on women, how they should look, how they should dress, etc. This has led to a very large drop in self esteem for girls who look and watch these images, and cannot obtain them, therefor becoming 'freaks' or 'outcasts' or simply 'not good enough' in their own eyes.
Gaia Online, as a sight that reaches out to thousands of children not only across the country, but in other countries as well(I happened to meet a good friend who lives in New Zealand, actually) should be sensitive to these things.

An artists style can, believe it or not, be changed to produce a healthier look overall. The artist has certainly been able to do this with the newly designed men, why not the women as well? Creating an unhealthy thinness comparable to Linsey Lohan's anorexia stage is simply silly. There's no reason for it.
Under the guise of ageing? 'They're older, get over it'?
Why not add a few pounds if they're older? They're probably into their twenties now, their metabolisms have likely slowed down as compared to what they were when they were teenagers, why not?
And yes, of course I know they're not real people, simply drawings, but when one draws something based on the human form, in the little Gaiaonline universe/manga, they probably have innards and hearts and blood as well...hence, vampires.
That applies the logic used on humans in the real world, to them as well.

And really, there's no need to get insulting.

[Kthulah]

I also don't like the new look of the NPC's. It's not that they're thin. It's that they're skeletal.

Anime style generally has thin characters, but then so does real life. Most of the world isn't fat, so it's normal. Anime's style was borrowed heavily from Disney, and the design for the bodies was kind of a "blank slate".

It had to deviate from a normal body to give a sort of "cartoonish" effect, but be close enough that it would stay plausible in the mind. Alot of money went into developing just the right look on the Disney end, and then the Japanese took it to a whole other wonderful level.

Our NPC's adhered to that "blank slate" style until the recent updates. They were slim, but their additions added to the personality image of the character. Moira needed her curves and muscle combo so she'd appear to be confident, brave, and tough. That's what an animated/illustrated character's image is supposed to do: tell you about the character.

Now? All I'm being told is that there was a famine in Gaia but nobody noticed or something.

[Gossy]

Greek Goddess:



Victoria's Secret angel

[Origami Virgin]

Kthulah

I also don't like the new look of the NPC's. It's not that they're thin. It's that they're skeletal.

Anime style generally has thin characters, but then so does real life. Most of the world isn't fat, so it's normal. Anime's style was borrowed heavily from Disney, and the design for the bodies was kind of a "blank slate".

It had to deviate from a normal body to give a sort of "cartoonish" effect, but be close enough that it would stay plausible in the mind. Alot of money went into developing just the right look on the Disney end, and then the Japanese took it to a whole other wonderful level.

Our NPC's adhered to that "blank slate" style until the recent updates. They were slim, but their additions added to the personality image of the character. Moira needed her curves and muscle combo so she'd appear to be confident, brave, and tough. That's what an animated/illustrated character's image is supposed to do: tell you about the character.

Now? All I'm being told is that there was a famine in Gaia but nobody noticed or something.

Agreed. Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Skagen Blue]

anime/manga illustrations have a habit of making female characters "anorexic" (ROFLMAO FO' REAL?! BAAHAHA). The anime/manga fanbase, many of them, however are not and are just chub or bigger and don't really think or care about their appearance. I'm sure the anorexic cartoon peoples are so impressionable to them as they continue to eat their pocky and junk food.

[K. Ueno]

Gossy

Greek Goddess:



Victoria's Secret angel

Her dress is exactly the same as the Egyptian Linen Dress (now in the Barton Boutique) and it does resemble Athena's in that pic.

There's nothing even vaguely offensive about those VS models--those are very conservative, tasteful outfits compared to what they typically wear when you think of the angels. Even then, that's just them showing off their underwear while wearing heels and gimmicky wings. If anything, Ruby's wings could be seen as an emphasis on one of Gaia's symbols--a white wing.

[Gossy]

I don't think it's particularly racy, I just think it has more of a cheap, "I'm a milf" quality to it, rather than, "I am a noble goddess!"

[Lady Rebellion]

Gossy

I don't think it's particularly racy, I just think it has more of a cheap, "I'm a milf" quality to it, rather than, "I am a noble goddess!"

And what, may I ask, is wrong with sexy hot mommies?

[Pain Princess]

Gossy

Greek Goddess:



Victoria's Secret angel

Other Grecian women statues -
http://image44.webshots.com/44/5/10/15/363851015KRyRuf_fs.jpg - on display in a British Museum

http://images.touchofclass.com/images/en_US//local/products/detail/J178-002.jpg - recasting of an image on a clay pot

Ruby looks more Grecian then Victoria's secret angel to me.

[Pain Princess]

Gossy

I don't think it's particularly racy, I just think it has more of a cheap, "I'm a milf" quality to it, rather than, "I am a noble goddess!"

If you're looking for something sexual in an image you're gonna find it. I think she's self assertive and less self conscious. My own mother looked drab and frumpy when I was young, but now that her children are grown or nearly there (my brothers are still living at home in their teens) she's paying more attention to herself. And at the risk of sounding creepy, I think she's beautiful and glowing! She looks more attractive then she did in her wedding photos. My lovers mother did the same thing. It's not uncommon for women to think they need to look a certain way to be a good mom, only to realize that looking good makes them feel good, and looking frumpy makes them less patient and loving. Looking "sexy" or looking more their true age makes them a better parent. Ruby isn't the 70 year old woman she was dressing like!