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cecilioque · 2 years ago

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VOLO’S OUTFIT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BAD. And here is why I think so...

To begin, we are not talking about the Ginko guild design, we are talking about the “final boss” fit. We all know that Volo’s outfit is dumb, but I’m mad because it was actually thought out and VERY symbolic in the sense that it essentially represented things Volo said/wanted.

I, like everyone else looked at this outfit and went “wow, that is dumb” and then hated on it. Although it is not the most appealing or cool outfit, there was actually a lot of thought that went into it. I could be really over analyzing this, but here is my interpretation.

To begin with, the concept art is a lot more revealing about the intention of the design then the actual game play. On a surface level we see Volo in what I can only assume is a Arceus gijinka cosplay. So the hair, the stars, and color scheme are all elements of Arceu’s design. Cool. Good job especially since Volo had in fact never seen Arceus before.

To fully understand this outfit we have to go back to Hisui and the remains of this so called “ancient civilization”. In the Pokemon world, there is this general idea that the ancient culture was either Roman or Greek inspired. We see evidence in Legends of Arceus by the obvious column heavy architecture and use of Greek Doric columns ( one of the earliest styles of columns used for temples) and in the ruins and temple.

The Temple of Sinnoh is obviously based off of the Parthenon. It’s funny because game freak went as far as to even mimic both Ionic and Doric styles in the Temple of Sinnoh just like the Parthenon. I will go as far to add that the Sinnoh temple is much simpler than the Parthenon due to the fact that it was not embellished with an elaborately carved frieze or any decoration on the exterior for the most part. Bizarre when even the broken ruins have evidence of some sort of ornamentation. It makes complete sense why the game developers chose this style seeing how is is know for being very simplistic. But it also dates it in context. It makes the Temple of Sinnoh the first temple that was build and the others that followed were build as the civilization grew ( thus more elaborate but we can only see the crumbled remains).

I will be ignoring the Snowpoint temple because it is a weird combination of styles and almost seems alien and out of place which very much fits the Regi theme. It is also based on the early game design which was limited and blocky for game space sake.

Ok, heavy Greek and Roman influence. Back to Volo and his obviously Greek and Roman fit. Volo’s name itself means “I wish” in latin and could possibly be a reference to the phrase “volō, ergo sum” (I wish, therefore I am). Very in character since it is the wish for more” and he did everything he could to achieve that.

The actual influence for the design is more Roman in nature. This bothered me because we can see that research and thought went into it, but they just simplified it. And this actually has a point.

To begin with the obvious stuff, we see that volo’s shirt is definitely toga like. It even goes so far to be decorated with a Fibula (brooch)in a way that indicates a higher rank or status. Cool Volo, we get that you think highly of yourself. Color choice is also same as Arceus, but we also know that white togas were also used by senators and high political officers.

Next , the shoes. These are just the basic stereotypical Spirit Halloween Greek god/goddess type of sandals you can get at your local costume shop. This was actually the most disappointing part of the outfit for me. But it makes sense they went with the most simplified and recognizable style. They wanted us to look at this outfit and go “ Wow, Volo has been studying his myths and recreated an outfit”. This is what you could expect someone to create with just a written description of the clothing used during that time.

The necklace is interesting because it stands out so much compared to the gold colors. I am no sure what they were going for here by making it so prominent, but it brings us to an interesting thought. If they necklace does have meaning, it is related directly to the design/shape. The waterdrop could be the Greek symbolism for "tears of grace” or in a sense “gods grace”. The idea that the tears of god water the harvest and provide life. Alternate interpretations could simply be water as a source of life, or a symbol or sadness a mourning. If it is a symbol of of mourning, this might be a clue to why Volo might desire to rewrite the world so much.

Last but not least, the pants. I think we can all decide this is one of the worst parts of the outfit, and to me it is just straight up confusing for two main reasons. For starters, the color green is so prominent when green is an accent color on Arceus. So maybe the color has meaning itself. But if you look at the image above, the color mainly refers to life and “the harvest” (possibly like the necklace). It has a weird connections to life and creation itself, which probably is why it was included in Arceus’ design and makes sense as Volo essentially wants to become the creator of life in a new world.

But this isn’t the part that gets me the most. The second thing that confuses me is the fact that the Greeks and Romans did not use pants. This was because pants were associated with non-Roman/Greek cultures (the Germanic tribes and Vikings) who they looked down upon. On top of that, the Greeks thought pants were feminine and silly. This could also just simply be a design choice because they didn’t wanna draw Volo in a full toga and accidently make him look like Christ. But this leads to my final point of the physical outfit itself.

VOLO’S OUTFIT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD. IT’S SUPPOSED TO LOOK DORKY AND BAD BECAUSE IT WAS FLAWED! This is based on the real world cultures it was based on. And although Volo may have done a lot of research, he still didn’t completely understand ancient culture. It’s bad because Volo made it himself. His outfit was flawed just like his ideology. It is his own interpretation of a culture that he had idolized without truly understanding that this great and ancient culture crumbled. And based off of the architecture of the ruins and temples, it never even reached a prime before it fell.

But Volo thinks its correct/cool/accurate. He is being a fool about it because he didn’t understand the bigger picture and had become consumed with this desire for power and control. This as an idea is really cool and I find it funny that you can also wear the outfit. Its essentially mocking him. If we look at the outfit in this light, the design was a success in getting us to dislike it and evoke this distaste. We didn’t know why, but this is why.

SO IN SUMMARY, OUTFIT WAS BAD ON PURPOSE. It wasn’t thoughtless, in fact there was a lot of research behind it and yet that seems to be thrown out to simplify the design in a way that looks like someone hand made it based off of what they had put together themselves.

But this isn’t my favorite part of the concept art. My favorite part is the hands.

Look at his hands. Why are they in those positions? Wouldn’t it have been easier to create more standard poses? To me the hand gestures here are just too specific. So I started digging around for what they could be on a Art history level. I looked at Non Christian art first and then Christian symbolism within their mosaics, illuminated manuscripts, and paintings. And I found some verrrry interesting similarities. I am not trying to make this religious. I just found some interesting similarities between old Christian art and Volo’s design. Which makes sense if we go back to this Greek/Roman influence because these cultures eventually converted to Christianity. And Arceus is kind of a weird goat god Jesus.

The left hand is where the biggest symbolism is. Basically, this hand gesture has been used to indicate “the hand of god” or the “hand of justice”. Christ sometimes is draw with a similar hand position and could be a sign of the cross, but this would also refer to some sort of divinity. I will also note that Volo is in no way making the classic “blessing” hand gesture.

As for the right hand he is making what I assume is a Greek/Roman orator (speaker) gesture. This would mean that Volo is calling for attention. Note, that I didn't’ compare this to prophets. That’s because orators speak for themselves and prophets for god. And Volo thinks he is god.

Under this context, in the concept art Volo is essentially saying “I am God”. If we add the symbolism of his outfit, it only further solidifies this idea. Volo’s outfit/concept comes together and screams “behold, I am god , the hand of justice. I will be the creator or the new world”. Which is so freaking clever because that’s literally what he tells you.

Sure his hands are switched and lowered compared to actual real world art examples (thank you Game freak for not throwing in actual religious symbols/gestures), but I think the intention is still there. It’s so good that I am mad. So as much as I hate this dumb outfit, I cannot deny that it was well thought out, that the character was well thought out.

To conclude, these are my assumptions. I am not an expert on art history or religion. If you have further insights on this feel free to share. I’d be interested with what others had to add. I the end this could all be wrong and just crazy for overthinking the designs of a pokemon character, but it just seems too intentional to be carelessly thrown together. This is just one possible interpretation.

Though its just more evidence in my mind that a lot of love and care went into developing Legends of Arceus. Despite their limitations and resources.

#volo #arceus #pokemon legend of arceus #legend of arceus #giritina #art history #temple of sinnoh #i can finally rest after typing up this mad assumption #sunny speaks #a special thank you to my friends who heard me ramble about this #and thanks to game freak for actually doing research for their games #its not perfect but an effort was made #pla

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dean23456 · 3 months ago

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6 11 characters that I like

The 6 boxes seperated plus an all black eye version, the background and the one without Rubilax sword form and the Peppermint Patty and Marcie voice boxes. This took me over 8 hours to make.

My favorites range from 8 yr Olds to fucking demons 😭

Honorable mentions: Monster (fnf) Cynthia and Green (girl option) (Pokemon) Beheaded (Dead cells)

short descriptions on each box.

Sue and Mary (Papa Louie): I talk about these 2 the most. I love their relationship even though they don't have a lot of lore compared to others. Sue i like more than Mary.

Jun (DDR, wii series): She has even less lore compared to the last one. She has a pretty cute design. I especially love her DDR 2010 design compared to the rest. Too bad that she's very obscure.

Peppermint Patty and Marcie (Peanuts): OK I can actually get merch from them without spending $10000000 and my soul for. I recently finished the og run of strips and Im watching the specials (also if you have a link to all of them plz send) I like Peppermint Patty more than Marcie I think. Also is Marcie white or asian I genuinely don't know. (I can't draw noses well, I wanted Peppermint Patty's nose to be bigger since she says and is shown to have it but i fucked up. Ah well least it looks ok)

Alakazam, Aegislash and Giritina (Pokemon): I haven't seen or played every pokemon game but I really like these 3. Idk if they're my all time favorites but I needed to fit at least 1 to 3 characters. Kadabra was amazing in my fire red run (played on an emulator website)

Rubilax (Wakfu): When I first saw him I thought he looked really cool and it kinda sucks that he doesn't have a ton of screen time compared to the rest of the main cast. Also he actually saw 2 of the main characters fucking. Not joking. (Not saying who because some people who see this post haven't seen it) Also also he partially inspired one of my ocs (Cythral) and it kinda changed like a part of the story of it. (Also x3 I've only seen the first 3 season on Netflix so idk about season 4)

Ghost and Hornet (Hollow Knight): I kinda just like these characters a lot. They're pretty cool. I think I might like Hornet more once Silksong releases whenever. I need to get merch for this game. I just don't have much to say on one of my favorite games of all time sorry.

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