Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Gender Reassignment Challenge: Enchantress to Enchanter, Part Two

Today I'm revamping the Enchantress' best-known costume. And boy, is it a tough one! Why? Because I say so, that's why! Never question me! Sheesh!

legench

Fine, I'll explain. The Enchantress' 1980's outfit is a weird androgynous affair* that would have looked perfectly at home in a mondern dance company's interpretive ballet about Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu. Plus? It had a kooky hat! But mostly the look screams "1980's!!!" The top is all loose and flowy, and the bottom is... stirrup pants. A girl could have worn this ensemble to the mall in 1986 Minneapolis and been the toast of Teentown! So my challenge was to somehow make it even more butch without going too far afield from the original design.

What I came up with is very "John Byrne." Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as it doesn't involve those weird chunky metal boots he likes to draw... y'know, the ones that look like upended spittoons. Or Donna Troy's "business casual prom" costume from near the end of his Wonder Woman run. (Remember? The spiky off-the-shoulder number? Yikes!) Anyway, goes:

enchanter2

Or maybe it's more like the costumes John Romita, Jr. designed for the X-Men comics in the 80's. Can't you just see Rogue in this? Minus the hat, I mean? Okay, enough nostalgia. Let's break this thing down:

Long hair on a sorceror in the 1980's? Sure, I'll allow it! It's very "David Copperfield meets Aerosmith" so why the hell not? I opened up the front of the blouse/robe thingie and lengthened it on the bottom for more of a loincloth effect. Then I paired the black tights with a black top, so the Enchanter wouldn't show as much skin as the Enchantress. The boots are in a manly, swashbuckling mode, with the "V" shaped flap mirroring the shapes of the hat and the top. I finished it off with a stylized, Kirby-esque Fourth World-type goatee.

*Y'know, I once had a weird androgynous affair. I thought I'd finally gotten Lightning Lad to "switch teams" and then it turned out I'd actually gotten it on with his twin sister, Lightning Lass! Or so they claimed...!

Tomorrow: The Enchanter's final costume! How will I reinterpret yet another bustier? Yeah, I'm not sure either. Let's find out together!

5 comments:

Bill S. said...

I liked the Enchantress's 80s costume when I was a kid. It seemed very... flappy.

Could we get an example of Byrne's upended spittoon boots? I have no idea what you mean, and I doubt if googling "Byrne boots upended spittoon" will do much good.

Jon the Intergalactic Gladiator said...

It's all in the boots, right?

Anonymous said...

So far, both of these costumes can be created in City of Heroes. Provided that you complete the Katie Hannon Task Force to get the hat.

Maybe I should create a new character to see if it's possible.

Jeremy Rizza said...

Bill S.: I think the 1980's as a whole was very flappy! John Byrne didn't use the upended spittoon boots much (if at all) on his heroic characters, which might be why you can't recall them. I suppose Rog-3000 is an okay example, but since he's a robot it's not quite the same. Try googling "Smart Alec Omega Flight" and you'll get an idea of what I mean. They're really odd, bottom-heavy boots with the toe part barely protruding from a shiny beer keg, basically.

Jon: You know it, pal! *winks lewdly* Okay, I have no idea what I meant by that. Let's move on, shall we?

David: I had no idea! That's kinda cool. Any game where you have to complete an adventure to get a hat is my kind of game!

Bill S. said...

OH! Those kind of boots! For some reason, I always associate them with one of the incarnations of the Legion.