Monday, March 05, 2007

Gender Reassignment Challenge: Snowbird to Snowbeast

I was going to tackle this challenge last year (your time) but I put it off. Not because it was too hard, but because it seemed too easy! After all, Snowbird's costume is barely more feminine than, say, Dove's -- er, the first Dove's, I mean. The only girly elements are the color scheme and the ubiquitous Marvel Tiara. That damned tiara! Who knew the Scarlet Witch would be such a trendsetter? And of course it has a freaking cameo or some shit set smack-dab in the center of it. That meaningless little piece of bling is the element Storm added to the template. So yes, I suppose it's a challenge to try and incorporate the Marvel Tiara into a masculine design without repeating myself. But the rest of the costume is strictly generic superhero. I finally realized I could up the challenge factor by trying to hew more closely to my chosen name for Snowbirdboy: Snowbeast. How could I change the theme from birds to beasts and still keep the basic lines of the costume? Well, I think I came up with a happy solution.

Here's the Snowbird everybody knows and loves:

snowbird-bigcostume2


And here's Snowbeast, rough-and-tumble Canuck drinking buddy and all-around flamboyant dresser:

snowbeast


See what I did with the tiara? I turned it into hair! I initially had Snowbeast's chin and upper lip totally hairless, but then he really looked like Lion-O. I changed the oval jewel/cameo/lozenge/thingie into a rocky crystal. No wonder he's grimacing! You try maintaining a sunny disposition with a freaking New Age crystal embedded in your skull. Also, he just realized he's standing in a puddle of Kool-Aid and now his socks are all squishy. Back to the crystal... I moved it further down on his head, Adam Warlock-style. It's butcher that way. No, I can't explain why. Just trust me on this, okay? Sheesh! I pushed the sky blue of the original costume towards a grayer, storm-cloud blue, and I roughed up the feathery, scalloped edges of the cape, gloves, and boots into Marvel-esque Byrne Tatters. But then I screwed that up with an ill-advised inking job. D'oh! And I did a Timber Wolf thing with the chest. Not bad... eh? (See what I just did there?)

Previous Gender Reassignment Challenges:
Next week: another Gender Reassignment Challenge, this time with Dazzler! (Her first two costumes!)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very well done. Cleverly adapted, and strong design. Stronger, I'd warrant, than the original--which really is rather generic; it's too bad her and Shaman's looks were already established, considering the neat stuff Byrne did with Northwestern tribal motifs for various gods and demons during the run of Alpha Flight)

Anonymous said...

Very nice. Granted that Snowbird has already dealt with gender reassignment issues when she was the host body for Walter "call me Wanda" Langoski. But this look pretty good.

I didn't realize that the cape was only tattered around the edges. To me it looked like it was made of some kind of animal skin, like bear or badger or were-moose.

Kavonde said...

That thing with the hair is exceptionally cool. Good stuff, BB.

Phillip said...

Very nice. Inspired solution to the Tiara Crisis.

Bully said...

Fantastic! That hair and the cape will look dynamic in action and the costume is simple but bold.

There was a wacky and slightly disturbing* Star Trek gender reversal short story in one of the early Bantam Star Trek: The New Voyages anthologies in which the entire crew of the Enterprise (except Spock) reversed gender. Your gender reversal designs remind me of that story, only much more kickass.

*Only because it was a vehicle for another Sondra Marshak/Myrna Culbreth introspection-fest.

Anonymous said...

Ewww. Bully, don't remind me of the "Procrustean Petard"--it was bad enough I tried to read one of Marshak & Culbreath's overwrought "Phoenix" series after that.

Not that I don't think there's no value in exploration and playing with gender roles. It's just that the authors seem to have an odd predilection for domination and humiliation that informs their writing for suspicious reasons (not unlike Chris Clarmont, come to think of it...).

LurkerWithout said...

Nice change up. Still it would be nice to see a version of an Inuit goddess that didn't look like a white chick...

Anonymous said...

I think this is hands-down my favourite of your gender reassignments. Jolly good show, old chap.

Anonymous said...

Ooh, double negative doesn't mean what I meant to say. Fneh.