What costume should Wally West wear now?

[Robanker]

His rebirth costume is cool, just make a combination with his 90's costume like i did here to honor that era and it's all good!

You maniac. You actually did it.

Wrap it up, boys. Thread's concluded.

[BlueRuggo]

Nah. Definitely not. A+ for effort though.

[9th.]

Let the ginger mane flow, it shall not be locked away again.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

I generally like the Rebirth suit with the closed cowl but I also would bring back the second prong to the lightening bolt as it looks also lacking as is. Also that stupid chin strap has to go and I really don't see the need for the different shading - most colourists tend to not bother with it and just make the whole thing kinda purple, which is weird. And the boots... not so sure about the red... and the blue lightening should be yellow...

Oh. I see what I just did.

Really, though, I'm pretty AOK with Drako's redesign. Except that stupid chin strap has to go. It's a must for live action Flash but it seems redundant when drawn. And I really do quite like the different shading, I just do think that it will often get lost in translation.

Also, if they really insist on giving Wally a noticeably different look to Barry, could they please put Barry back in his proper suit. The Nu52 design is total crap - it's basically Wally's post-Morrison suit but with stupid yellow bits squiggled on and with that awful chin strap. You want Barry as the main Flash? Fine (if they can actually find someone who knows how to write him) but then give him back the bloody main Flash suit as well. It's a perfect design that still screams Barry to me, which is why I actually didn't like that Wally's suit changed back to being just Barry's suit with Wally's V belt when the '90s suit was such a great fit for Wally.

[lemonpeace]

His rebirth costume is cool, just make a combination with his 90's costume like i did here to honor that era and it's all good!

this looks cool, I definitely can give you that, but close cowl just makes it too close to Barry's suit; the silver/white lighting does make it stand out from Barry's more than I thought tho. that's what blows my mind about this whole discourse about the suit, close the cowl and his suit is basically a typical Flash suit so I don't understand how people can still be disingenuously arguing that just because his hair is out "bah! it's too evocative of Kid Flash". anyway, if they give this the Manhattan blue I could probably let it rock, even tho the Manhattan blue works so well for me because of the away it contrasts with his red hair flowing out the top. regardless, as cool as this looks it's a hard pass on my side.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

I just don't think it should come down to stuff like:
-is there a chin strap or not
-is the belt a zig zag or a V
-white eyes or no
-jim lee lines or no
-even if the boots are yellow or red

These kind of details that come and go with the standard silver age Flash costume template, might help a little with distinguishing Wally and Barry but they'll only go so far. Most of these are barely associated with one of them over the other, some are like I don't think Barry's ever had white eyes but the others eh not so much. ideally Wally would have a costume that you look at and can instantly know it's him. And the exposed red hair arguably does a lot more than any of the other features above to distinguish him. Not really feeling the blue manhattan as something permanent either. That's a great edit though Drako.

anyway i like both Barry and Wally, (though I like Wally slightly more.) Thought I'd throw that in. But cynically I think Barry is always going to be better off when Wally is just his underling sidekick. And Wally is always going to better off when Barry is a dead martyr/uncle ben. I'm rooting for them both to do well, but I don't envy the writers and artists who are stuck having to do justice to both of them at the same time.

[Drako]

this looks cool, I definitely can give you that, but close cowl just makes it too close to Barry's suit; the silver/white lighting does make it stand out from Barry's more than I thought tho. that's what blows my mind about this whole discourse about the suit, close the cowl and his suit is basically a typical Flash suit so I don't understand how people can still be disingenuously arguing that just because his hair is out "bah! it's too evocative of Kid Flash". anyway, if they give this the Manhattan blue I could probably let it rock, even tho the Manhattan blue works so well for me because of the away it contrasts with his red hair flowing out the top. regardless, as cool as this looks it's a hard pass on my side.

People already said here, multiple times, that having the hair out is a sidekick thing. When they grow-up and become the Flash they close the cowl.



The hair out is a Kid Flash thing, so i don't see what is so difficult to understand that some people don't want that on Wally's costume.

I like his rebirth suit, but it can be better.

[Digifiend]

What's that silver Wallace from?

[9th.]

Cowl out doesn't have to be a Kid Flash only thing he still looks like a grown man.

[Drako]

What's that silver Wallace from?

The Flash #35 from the New 52. It's that storyline where Barry from the future is kinda evil and wears a blue suit. If i'm not mistaken, it's the arc where they introduce Wallace for the first time.

[lemonpeace]

People already said here, multiple times, that having the hair out is a sidekick thing. When they grow-up and become the Flash they close the cowl.



The hair out is a Kid Flash thing, so i don't see what is so difficult to understand that some people don't want that on Wally's costume.

I like his rebirth suit, but it can be better.

it's an arbitrary distinction because there are a million adult heroes who have their hair out. Aquaman, Nightwing, Mr. Terrific, all the Green Lanterns sans Simon, etc. also mind you, all of these are takes on these characters when they take over as The Flash; these are their take on Barry Allen's suit. none of these characters are running around with in these costume with Barry regularly, nor were their costumes designed to do so. the fact people can't grasp why Wally running around with a Barry Allen costume while Barry Allen is alive isn't reasonable is what escapes me.

hair out being a "Kid Flash" is a weak excuse because nothing about a grown ass man letting his hair out is juvenile and pretending it is just reads as intellectually dishonest to me. it's especially silly when Kid Flash's iconic look is a design created for Wally specifically and the suit he currently has is as damn-near as close a suit can get to a typical Flash suit anyway; just without the cowl. adding the cowl at this point with Barry does nothing for the character except pander to fans who want him still running in Barry's suit. why? because nostalgia and DC fans have not realized that nostalgia =/= good stories. if it was reasonable to have Wally running around in a tweaked version of Barry's Flash suit, we wouldn't have the Kid Flash suit in the first place

[Ascended]

hair out being a "Kid Flash" is a weak excuse because nothing about a grown ass man letting his hair out is juvenile and pretending it is just reads as intellectually dishonest to me. it's especially silly when Kid Flash's iconic look is a design created for Wally specifically and the suit he currently has is as damn-near as close a suit can get to a typical Flash suit anyway; just without the cowl. adding the cowl at this point with Barry does nothing for the character except pander to fans who want him still running in Barry's suit. why? because nostalgia and DC fans have not realized that nostalgia =/= good stories. if it was reasonable to have Wally running around in a tweaked version of Barry's Flash suit, we wouldn't have the Kid Flash suit in the first place

It *is* intellectually dishonest; everyone complaining about this knows on a intellectual level that open hair does not automatically mean sidekick. But this isn't a reasoned, intellectual issue, it's an emotional one, and that's a perfectly valid driver too; we're talking about art, which strives for an emotional resonance, not a scientific thesis where only the cold logic matters.

And while plenty of other adult heroes have their hair exposed, we're talking about the Flashes and their distinct visual identity. And in the "family visual" open hair is reserved for kids/sidekicks and not the independent adults. Yes, that's because all the sidekicks mimicked Wally's Kid Flash costume. It's a self-fulfilling cycle. We know that. We still don't like it. Wally was demoted from "head of the franchise" to a guy who's been lucky to get any panel time at all. You can't blame fans for looking at that, looking at the exposed hair, and not liking what they see.

On a intellectual level, Booth's Rebirth design is great; it's a quality design on basically every level and is distinct enough for Wally to not be confused with Barry while still retaining the essence of the Flash visual. Objectively, it's a damn good suit. But emotionally? I look at that open hair and all I think is "Yup, DC has f*cked Wally over and turned him into an adult sidekick with no clear direction, and his costume reinforces the fact that he doesn't matter to DC anymore."

Had Wally not been so poorly abused since Barry's return, people likely wouldn't feel this strongly about it. I mean, it's exposed hair. Even for us, this is a weird damn thing to take issue with. But even though it's not *logical* a lot of us see the exposed hair as nothing more than a visual indicator of Wally being demoted into a homeless adult sidekick who has had everything we loved about him stripped away.

Does Wally need to be wearing Barry's suit? No, and it's better for everyone if he's not so the characters are easily distinguished. But going back to the sidekick era mask after what's been done to him....intellectually it's just a costume that honors Wally's entire history, but emotionally it's a slap in the gods damn face.

[Dred]

it's an arbitrary distinction because there are a million adult heroes who have their hair out. Aquaman, Nightwing, Mr. Terrific, all the Green Lanterns sans Simon, etc. also mind you, all of these are takes on these characters when they take over as The Flash; these are their take on Barry Allen's suit. none of these characters are running around with in these costume with Barry regularly, nor were their costumes designed to do so. the fact people can't grasp why Wally running around with a Barry Allen costume while Barry Allen is alive isn't reasonable is what escapes me.

hair out being a "Kid Flash" is a weak excuse because nothing about a grown ass man letting his hair out is juvenile and pretending it is just reads as intellectually dishonest to me. it's especially silly when Kid Flash's iconic look is a design created for Wally specifically and the suit he currently has is as damn-near as close a suit can get to a typical Flash suit anyway; just without the cowl. adding the cowl at this point with Barry does nothing for the character except pander to fans who want him still running in Barry's suit. why? because nostalgia and DC fans have not realized that nostalgia =/= good stories. if it was reasonable to have Wally running around in a tweaked version of Barry's Flash suit, we wouldn't have the Kid Flash suit in the first place

Oh wow it's almost like different characters and franchises have different histories and context. Almost like whatever the hell Aquaman's wearing means absolutely nothing to The Flash.

Hair out being Kid Flash isn't weak. It is literally the exact reason they made that design choice at all. The entire point of his current costume is to make people think he looks like Kid Flash instead of The Flash. Like, I'm not sure how many times we've had to repeat this exact point but you're demonstrably wrong.

For better or worse, Kid Flash is a fairly iconic look and the most important parts are the split upper and lower torso colors and the free flowing hair on a Flash costume (New 52 "Wally" had the same color splitting design choice notable to Kid Flash). And that's why they designed his costume like that. They had other, distinctly different from Barry designs on the table and threw them all out because they didn't look enough like Kid Flash. There are clearly ways to make him look like The Flash that is not a direct copy of Barry without it being a design expressly designed to make people think of Kid Flash.

You are conflating you not caring about the distinction with thinking the distinction doesn't exist. When it's a known distinction that DC enforced.

[Drako]

it's an arbitrary distinction because there are a million adult heroes who have their hair out. Aquaman, Nightwing, Mr. Terrific, all the Green Lanterns sans Simon, etc. also mind you, all of these are takes on these characters when they take over as The Flash; these are their take on Barry Allen's suit. none of these characters are running around with in these costume with Barry regularly, nor were their costumes designed to do so. the fact people can't grasp why Wally running around with a Barry Allen costume while Barry Allen is alive isn't reasonable is what escapes me.

hair out being a "Kid Flash" is a weak excuse because nothing about a grown ass man letting his hair out is juvenile and pretending it is just reads as intellectually dishonest to me. it's especially silly when Kid Flash's iconic look is a design created for Wally specifically and the suit he currently has is as damn-near as close a suit can get to a typical Flash suit anyway; just without the cowl. adding the cowl at this point with Barry does nothing for the character except pander to fans who want him still running in Barry's suit. why? because nostalgia and DC fans have not realized that nostalgia =/= good stories. if it was reasonable to have Wally running around in a tweaked version of Barry's Flash suit, we wouldn't have the Kid Flash suit in the first place

This has nothing to do with other characters or them having their hair out, i don't even know why you are bringing them into this. It's a issue specifically of the Flash brand that have distinct aspects to their costumes.

'the fact people can't grasp why Wally running around with a Barry Allen costume while Barry Allen is alive isn't reasonable is what escapes me"

It's not unreasonable and DC has done before pre-flashpoint, in a time where undermining the character was not their top priority.
And even then, the designer were given a specific order to make his costume "not as cool". And now, Booth had the order to make him look like Kid Flash. Except, he is not Kid Flash anymore.

But whatever man, it's not like DC is going to change his costume anyway just because of this thread.

Hair out being Kid Flash isn't weak. It is literally the exact reason they made that design choice at all. The entire point of his current costume is to make people think he looks like Kid Flash instead of The Flash. Like, I'm not sure how many times we've had to repeat this exact point but you're demonstrably wrong.

It's also very easy to see with them all side by side.
Also also, Wally can't have a full cowl in his costume cause remind too much of Barry Allen, but we can have another character with his NAME and with his original costume running around.

[wonder39]

How 'bout a Speedo, cuz he's fast.... ����