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  1. #1
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    Default Why can't some characters keep their classic look?

    I am an old fashion guy. I see characters today with shaved heads, goatees, and longer hair. Their costumes either look slightly different or completely different. Anyone miss Wolverine's 90s yellow outfit from the Fox cartoon or the brown and yellow one from the 80s?
    Last edited by DCCoolness; 08-29-2014 at 08:23 PM.

  2. #2
    Cosmic Curmudgeon JudicatorPrime's Avatar
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    Do you seriously want Luke Cage running around in that yellow satin shirt with the 1970s era wide butterfly collar, afro and metal headband???

    And which one of Wasp's costumes would you consider her "classic" look? Hopefully, not the one with the pointy hat. ha ha

    I think you have to update a character's costume, if for no other reason than to show a change in era. Same applies to a character's diction.

  3. #3

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    Variety is important. Seeing the same old costumes over and over again ad infinitum would get boring.
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  4. #4
    I'm Drowning For You Imraith Nimphais's Avatar
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    For the same reason we are not all running around in animal fur.
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  5. #5
    Spectacular Member VideoGameCinema's Avatar
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    Because change is good? Because it is, you know... Having a character wear the same thing for 30+ years would definitely get boring and tiresome. Personally, I love when they switch their costumes, I get a sense that Marvel is ready to move on, and that always makes me happy.

    (Superior Spider-Man is a great example of a good costume change)

  6. #6
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    Everything changes with time.

  7. #7
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    I miss Beast as the world's largest dwarf and Iceman looking like he misplaced his button nose.

  8. #8

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    Where would be the fun in that? Plus, a lot of "classic" looks are, to be completely honest, really frigging stupid. Psylocke's "classic" costume would be the purple swimsuit. (Or, alternatively, that really baggy, puffy outfit she had in the '80s.) Her current costume is easily the best she's ever worn.

    But mostly, it's just nice to change things up now and then.

  9. #9
    Mighty Member jphamlore's Avatar
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    I still think Deodato's version of Thor was the best (since Walt Simonson of course).

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by DCCoolness View Post
    I am an old fashion guy. I see characters today with shaved heads, goatees, and longer hair. Their costumes either look slightly different or completely differently. Anyone miss Wolverine's 90s yellow outfit from the Fox cartoon or the brown and yellow one from the 80s?
    Sometimes the comic industry doesn't know enough about color theory, and then a new artist introduces them to a new style.


    This is most obvious when they try to bring literal comics costumes to the movies and they realize it's really ugly on real actors.

  11. #11
    Father Son Kamehameha < Kuwagaton's Avatar
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    You guys almost make it sound like keeping an older costume is a bad thing. Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Nightcrawler still have their classic looks. No one would care if they FF went back to the old costumes. Black Widow and Black Panther essentially look the same as their '60s incarnations.

    Suspension of disbelief is very tricky and individual. Some comic fans go hard for new costumes, as if having a blank crotch makes Wolverine's bright yellow look any less silly. Pretty much any of the casuals and non-readers I know don't give a rat's ass. DC had Jim Lee redesign everyone, but all those costumes are looked down on by the fans.

    IMO, the original Cap costume shouldn't have been messed with. First, the scales and hard mask made it ugly. He never really used the utility belt he got shortly after. And then the Ultimovie style was never consistently drawn. They tried to make "functional" out of something that can't ever exist.

    Wolverine's last costume was a mess, even less consistent than Cap's. The yellow jumpsuit was okay, but I don't think the brown scheme will ever be beat.

  12. #12
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    Keeping an updating image is part of the art. If a character keeps his image the same, he will end being categorized as "retro" or fixed to an specific timeframe.
    "Never assign to malice what is adequately explained by stupidity or ignorance."

    "Great stories will always return to their original forms"

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  13. #13
    Astonishing Member Arfguy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kuwagaton View Post
    You guys almost make it sound like keeping an older costume is a bad thing. Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Nightcrawler still have their classic looks. No one would care if they FF went back to the old costumes. Black Widow and Black Panther essentially look the same as their '60s incarnations.

    Suspension of disbelief is very tricky and individual. Some comic fans go hard for new costumes, as if having a blank crotch makes Wolverine's bright yellow look any less silly. Pretty much any of the casuals and non-readers I know don't give a rat's ass. DC had Jim Lee redesign everyone, but all those costumes are looked down on by the fans.

    IMO, the original Cap costume shouldn't have been messed with. First, the scales and hard mask made it ugly. He never really used the utility belt he got shortly after. And then the Ultimovie style was never consistently drawn. They tried to make "functional" out of something that can't ever exist.

    Wolverine's last costume was a mess, even less consistent than Cap's. The yellow jumpsuit was okay, but I don't think the brown scheme will ever be beat.
    I find some classic looks should not change. Spider-Man is one of those characters that, I say with all sympathy, has a very pain-in-the-ass-to-draw costume. All those webs must take a lot of time to draw. But that is one suit that I think is absolute perfection. In fact, I loved the way the Raimi movie suit and the suit in ASM2 looked, because they both were very close to the classic Spider-Man look.

    I find the new Captain America outfit to be really ugly. I mean, truly ugly. So...was he getting scraped knees all this time that he had been fighting bad guys? Is that why he needs pronounced knee pads? If you're going for functionality, then just take him out of the red, white and blue outfit. Just put him in something a soldier would wear.

    Some classic costumes, IMO, are ugly and I think definitely needs to never be revisited, but I can't deny that that same costume has fans. I always hated and always will hate any Wolverine costume that puts him in that bright yellow and blue outfit. It's really ugly looking. But, I know it has fans.

    You can't completely win. But the side that scores the most "goals" will win over. In this case, people would much rather spend time adding seams, ribbing and coils to Captain America's costume than spending that time doing work faster by drawing a simple looking costume that doesn't look stupid in a very brightly coloured comic.
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  14. #14
    Rachel Grey-Summers Sardorim's Avatar
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    Because the story sometimes calls for new looks and merchandising.

  15. #15
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    I can see female characters changing costumes frequently, especially moneyed ones like Wasp and Medusa or the X-Women. Women get bored of wearing the same old thing all the time. I don't like Psylocke's new costume; it looks too generic. Agreed, though, on the Luke Cage costume--it was so 70's, needed fixing. But something like Spider-Man or Thor, those are classics.

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