Why can't characters keep their classic look?

[Exciter]

Namor is one of the few characters it makes sense to just wear the speedos, what with his water-based lifestyle and overt, aggressive sexuality.

[Master of Sound]

If a look is out of date, they should get a new costume. However, some characters get new costumes to often, some to little.

Like Storm and Psylocke recently got a new look. But for me a bit to late. Warmachine and Cap get an update so often, when you just get used to one, they change it.

The one that deserves a new look asap is imo Black Widow.

[MyriVerse]

Who wants to wear what they did 40 years ago?

[gurkle]

With the movies moving away from it, I don't think its a guarantee. I hope it never returns.

The movies won't last forever, at least not this particular series of movies. The characters on the other hand will be around basically forever, like Mickey Mouse. So while a return to the underwear look isn't going to happen in the next few years, it will happen someday just because that's still the version a lot of people see when they pick up old comics, toys that aren't movie tie-ins, etc. Spider-Man's marriage lasted a long time, but it eventually got undone because everything in these comics eventually goes back to the status quo, and it's the same with costume design.

[Drucifer]

Some costume changes are good, but some are boring or just plain bad. None of Wolverines updates have been great. If you ask me his best was the brown and tan outfit. The yellow and blue was acceptable at best, but what ehs got going on now I don't like.
I find it very lazy and ineffective when they take an existing costume that is considered good and start adding thinks like piping or ribbed padding, various "tactical" elements (tactical seems to be a word people like these days), etc.

[Talkie Toaster]

Costume changes can be a good thing.
For instance, this is what Boomerang used to look like

[The Overlord]

Costume changes can be a good thing.
For instance, this is what Boomerang used to look like

Yeah, I would say a lot of the Non A-list villains often have start off bad costumes and either got better ones later or still wear fashion nightmares.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt8lgI-9RiY

Heck I think Mr. Fear looked way better with just a different color scheme, now he looks like the grim reaper rather then Skeletor.

[Punisher007]

I've always preferred Wolverine's black and grey X-Force costume myself. I hate the blue and yellow ones. I also think that Storm and Psylocke's current looks look far better than many of their past ones. Of course certain characters should keep their classic looks. Spider-Man's costume is pretty much perfect, as is Black Widow's (if certain artists could remember to keep the damn thing zipped up), and I even like Spider-Woman's classic look (although certain artists draw it as basically body paint, but that's a problem with them and not the costume itself). But to say that costumes should NEVER change/be updated, no I don't agree with that.

[ExcelsiorPrime]

For the same reason we are not all running around in animal fur.

speak for yourself. Growllllllllllll

[dahllaz]

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.

I'm not sure that the New 52 should be your example of new costumes not going over well - Jim Lee does not seem to be a very good costume designer.
Other than Rogue, all his X-Men redesigns pretty much sucked, even if they are the best known because of the cartoon.
And he is the one that brought back the blue and yellow for Wolverine. Blech. It seems a really weird color scheme for a character like Wolvie, though it is the original colors.
According to this: http://www.scifinow.co.uk/news/wolve...s-infographic/ Lee told Bryne he brought back his "real" costume, not knowing that it was Bryne who had created the brown costume. Whoooops.

Oh, and the iconic Daredevil costume? Not the original.

Not all original costumes are created equel and not all new ones are either. Some are good, some are brilliant, and some suck. And then there's the ones like noseless Wolverine (with or without bandana) that you wonder just WTF they were thinking.

[Kuwagaton]

I said "classic" Daredevil costume. The one he's worn for like 98% of his time as a comic character. He's basically unchanged since the mid '60s, even if someone like Lee Bermejo comes along and gives him a bunch of seams for one cover.

I brought up the New 52 because that covers an entire superhero company, pretty much. And yeah, Lee was the most popular during his era at Marvel as well, so he's something of a shot caller. Now Marvel varies greatly, as you'd expect. I think Coipel's Thor (abandoned after a few years, where his "classic" look lasted decades) was awesome. Psylocke looks great now and I hope that costume stays.

Change were minimal, but they were present(often in detail you did not notice at first glance). Example how it is exactly the patern of the wep on Spiderman costume? And the Spider on his chest, how big it is, and the size of his "eyes", and the waist line, and the space between his gloves and the blue part of the arm, web shooters insider or outside? Is red and blue or red and blakc, and what type of red and blue then?

You're talking about artistic quirks. Unless you can link to a style guide saying to make minor changes?

Change is necessary, pivotal. Sometimes is more extreme and sometimes not

If you have to debate whether or not a change actually happened, like with Spidey, then it's not really necessary or pivotal.

And beleive me nostaliga is almost always wrong. Misguided. Because you don't really want exactly what you experienced in past(whenre-watching MoTU i realized how bad those toons were, destroying any nostalgic feeling i got about it) but you miss yourself when you experienced it(Where is the 10-12 years me?)
classic is one of those term that should not be taken as a form of crystallization in artistic field, as it bring to creative sterility. It should be instead a base to start with something to learn for and improve, or even BREAK from it, going for sudden change that could become the next classic. This is how art progress. Nothing is sacred in art and is a good thing.

Nostalgia informs opinion, and opinion isn't a right or wrong sort of thing. When you say "toons" you're talking about a product, which has different quality than just a style by itself. A bad Wolverine comic has nothing to do with whether or not he looked like he did when I was a child, for example.

[dahllaz]

I said "classic" Daredevil costume. The one he's worn for like 98% of his time as a comic character. He's basically unchanged since the mid '60s, even if someone like Lee Bermejo comes along and gives him a bunch of seams for one cover.

But if they never take chances on changing a costume, we would never have had that "classic" Daredevil costume. It would still be the yellow one. Yes?
I don't see any need to change his costume. It works, brilliantly and is iconic. But that doesn't make change in and of itself bad.

Sometimes it's good. Like with Daredevil. Like 80s Wolverine. Like Luke Cage. Like Captain Marvel.

[Kuwagaton]

Homer Simpson was originally much different looking. He was still at the testing stage, so it was more of an attempt to lock something down and make it work than reinvent something that already works and is well known.

[Arfguy]

Sometimes, the update to the look works really well. I was very impressed with how they changed the look of the Mandarin in Iron Man 3. It was pretty cool. While the twist changed my opinion of the character, there was no denying that visually...the movie Mandarin was very cool.

[Myetche]

Homer Simpson was originally much different looking.

Because someone in The Tracey Ullman Show's staff saw the concept sketches and thought that the ugly sketch was what Homer was actually supposed to look like, so they didn't bother cleaning his design up.