#bc of the way ballet training builds muscles and trains them to lie flat or something

[loregoddess]

in reference to your FE engage buff women post: it’s extra funny to watch etie’s supports for this reason. like, she has the same skinny model as all the other female characters, but she’s constantly saying things like “I’m ripped” and commenting on other characters’ “noodle arms”. like bestie you have the same character model????

Yeah, like Etie and Panette's base battle models aren't exactly identical (Etie at least looks like she's got a normal ribcage compared to Panette who is so, so thin), but both are too thin to be considered muscular like, my god, Charlotte of Fates had more beef than these two combined and she wasn't nearly beefy enough to account for the brute strength she allegedly wielded.

Now, as soon as you start trying to switch the characters into the outfits you gain access too, then yes, the same model with maybe a few changes to the color palette was used for all the extra outfits. I just unlocked the bathing suits recently, and while I didn't flip through all the characters, I could more or less tell that all the men got the same base model (with changes to match skin tone and their personal color scheme), and I'm guessing the women as well? Again, only got far enough into the men to be like "you're all too skinny and you're all using the exact same bathing suit model, and I want to cry" bc if you're gonna go for fanservice, the least you could do is put some body variety in.

To be fair, I think the art style and direction of Engage is partly to blame (mind that's only partly) bc like, Ike's floating over here and his arm muscles just. Don't? Look right? At all? Like his biceps look like they're continually flexed, and I'm like...that's not how muscles work. If you were going to go for Ike's older, beefcake look, at least like, maintain him being a beefcake. His arms are also too skinny and wiry. I'm not saying make everyone look like Alex Louis Armstrong, but my goodness muscles are not quite that hard to draw right.

I'd like to finish this up with I spent far too many hours in an anatomy drawing class while I was working on my art degree, and after spending 15 weeks drawing nothing but skeletons, and muscles on the skeletons, (and having models come in with a wide range of body types), I have much higher standards for muscles (and body type variety in general) in art than I honestly, reasonably need to have. Therefore my bias is very much blown way out of proportion bc "I would have flunked my class turning in a design like this" is always at the back of my mind while critiquing character designs.