Venting the Anger: New Power Girl costume

I have talked a lot how DC has screwed up costumes over the years, well with the new DC Universe some more characters got some new looks. The latest is Power Girl. Now for those who don't know who Power Girl is (or whatever she is now), she is a clone of Supergirl, a more mature version...which is funny that she keeps the "girl" tag in her name.

Anyway, here is a look at her suits through the years.

There seems to be one constant of her suit...the hole right in front of her chest. I really don't know how this started, but as you can see it has been a staple from the beginning. Heck they even made fun of the blatant sexual nature of the suit.

So now they are bringing her back into the new universe and here is the new look

What the...? How do we go from this

to this?

Let's look past the obvious chest and focus on the hair...it looks like Black Canary's hair from the 80's.  By the way, if Power Girl's suit wasn't so bad I might focus some of this anger on The Huntress' new suit.  What is up with those freakin' ears?!?!

Now if DC was getting rid of all sexual costumes I would be fine with it...but here is the new Starfire look

Yeah...explain that DC.

Video Killed the Radio Star: New Spider-Man Trailer

I could have turned this into a Venting the Anger post, but let's try and be positive here. Spider-Man does have web shooters again and he does appear to have some of the classic wise cracking humor going on here.

So I won't mention Peter creating the formula to turn Connors into the Lizard or the fact that once again we will have a super long scene in which Spider-Man runs around the city without his mask on. Or the fact that Peter's parents are somehow related to Connors, even though they are best remembered for a 90's storyline in which they were spies/traitors/SHIELD agents...so I am sure this movie can clear that up.

Video Killed the Radio Star: Is this what I sound like?

A short video of what comic book nerds say. I will admit to saying some of these. The one that sticks out is the whole "Galactus is a cloud?" because every time I talk about FF2 I always say that.

Thoughts Without Words: Are you kidding me??? Again

I can't believe I am doing this again, but why do movie executives always want to change something that is fine the way it is? Seriously, we have seen it with Wonder Woman, Spider- Man, X-Men and many others and now it has come to the iconic Superman. Now I already discussed his new costumes in the relaunch of DC Comics, and I even pointed out the new suit. But there was one thing I didn't discuss that post. And that is the lack of the red undies. In the promo picture it was hard to tell if they were on or missing because of the lighting. Now it is official...they changed one of the most iconic and most recognizable costumes of all time to this

*sigh* when will they learn to leave things alone? The cape is gone too, but since there have been pictures of him with a cape I am assuming it's missing for a reason. And what's up with the stripes down the side? What was wrong with the original design? Now since I don't want to be too negative I will add two things; first the hair is better than it was in the promo pic and second Henry Cavill looks like Superman...his arms are huge! Is it enough to make me look away from the stripes and missing red trunks? We'll see, but I'm gonna say...no.

Venting the Anger: Catwoman needs ears

Maybe I should change this blog to a comic book costume blog...

So the new Batman movie is going to have Catwoman in it and they released the first picture today;

Really? That's it? She looks like she could be any generic spy from any generic spy movie...heck even Spy Kids. Now if you look closely, she does appear to be wearing some sort of mask under those blue blockers. But really what makes Catwoman's costume a Catwoman costume? Let's look;

Every one of those suits (minus the golden age green one) has ears. And why not...she's supposed to be a cat! Even that train wreck of a movie Catwoman with Halle Berry had ears. Here's a comparison of the ladies, including Michelle Pfeiffer's iconic suit;

When you look at it this way, you can clearly see why fans are a little worried about this. Catwoman needs ears!

Thoughts Without Words: New Superman costumeS

Yes I said costumes.

Back in June DC announced it was rebooting the entire DC Universe and giving everyone a makeover. Now I have talked a lot about comic book costumes on here, so of course I will talk about these. Now I was always going to talk about the new Superman comic costumes, but it just so happened that they released an image of the new Superman costume for the new movie, so I will throw that one in here too.

So first up are the new comic costumes. Here is the one from Action Comics, which supposedly tell stories from his earlier days on Earth...in fact he can't fly yet, just jump.

What the?!?!?!? Is Superman wearing jeans and a t-shirt? Wow. Seriously, it looks like a commercial for Wrangler jeans...Brett Favre is in trouble. And how can he be wearing a t-shirt of his logo if he is just getting in the public eye. Did he go to like Cafepress or something and said "hey, I got a cool idea for a shirt..." It just looks bad.

Next up is the costume for the Superman title;

If you have read any comments online about this costume, they are all true. This costume looks like it was ripped from the 90's with the armor. I also don't like the fact that the red "underwear" is gone. The high collar isn't the worst thing about this, so it gets a pass. But seriously, if you are Superman...why do you have armor? Clearly, he was ok running around in jeans and a t-shirt, so why the upgrade?

Finally, the new movie suit;

Things I like about it;

• The big 'S' is back
• Those arms are huge!

Things I don't like about it;

• Cape is super long...I like it better than the original but I thought they got the length right on Superman Returns.
• The texture on the suit.  What's the purpose of it?  The new Spider-Man has it too...why?
• Colors are dark again.
• The hair...he needs a haircut...hippie.

Compare it to the other suits;

I felt the worst thing about the Returns suit was the small 'S'. The dark colors weren't too bad, especially on the film.  I am sure more pictures will come out in the next few days and I will post them and of course give my thoughts on them.

Thoughts Without Words: DC at it again...

DC Comics that is...I can get political at times, but this is more about DC's new costume makeovers.

I will put up the new Superman design tomorrow, but tonight I'll focus on Supergirl. Now there have been a ton of Supergirls and costumes for each one. If you don't believe me, take a look at this photo, this is most of the Supergirls;

See...a lot. But the one that seemed to stick was this one;

It was so well liked that they even changed Supergirl's look on JLU (she was in the white shirt suit above), except they kept the classic red skirt, but the midriff look was because of the comics.

So now, like Harley Quinn, DC is giving their comics a reboot and a new look;

I'm not sure what to say. The skirt is gone, which a lot of people thought was too sexy. The midriff is gone, which was her go to the last few years. The cape is a lot longer and has that weird collar thing going on. I guess the weirdest thing is the boots. They did a pretty good job of toning down the sexuality, but then they put on those dreaded thigh highs. I can't say I am totally offended since Supergirl has had so many different looks over the years. Now I can't say they same for Superman.

Thoughts Without Words: Harley Quinn's new costume...what the?

I guess I will go ahead and critique the new Harley Quinn costume since I spent so much time with Wonder Woman and other characters.

Harley Quinn was created for the Batman animated series of the 90's. The character was so popular that she was put in the actual DC comic universe. Her original costume was a great design. It had the perfect look to be a side kick for the Joker.

 

Well when they decided to make a Batman video game they decided to put Harley in the game.  When they released a video of her, everyone was shocked at her new look.  I would go ahead and put myself in that category.

  

Seriously...what is that?  There is nothing that connects her to the Joker.  The original suit had the diamonds, like cards.  This is something you would see at a rave.

But I don't think that's as bad as the latest design.  DC is relaunching their universe (again) and giving some of the characters a new look, like Harley.

 

Wow...that's just bad.  Seriously, as if the video game version wasn't slutty enough, they go for the corset top and bikini bottoms with thigh high boots.  If I wasn't told this was Harley Quinn, I'm not sure I could have told you who it was.  The diamonds on the gloves and maybe the mallet.  But other than that, how can you tell who it is?  This is bad...so bad.

Thoughts Without Words: More Emma Frost from X-Men First Class

Well a couple of months ago I posted the first picture of January Jones in her full on Emma Frost costume. Emma Frost definitely has a lot of ... well sex appeal and it's going to be hard to pull it off. So today a couple more photos of her popped up and well...

I might be in the minority here, but it's still not working for me. There is something that is still a little off.  Maybe it is that lack of a choker or maybe it is the fact that January Jones has the same facial expression in every single photo.  I gotta say that photo of her on the couch...not flattering.  She looks very old in that photo, I think it's the hair style to be honest with you.

Much like the rest of the movie...it's just not working for me.

Thoughts Without Words: Final Wonder Woman costume...

I think.

You would think I would have run out of Wonder Woman costume posts by now (HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE), but apparently not. Now for those somewhat out of the loop, NBC piloted a new Wonder Woman TV show. They released one design, with the blue boots, that pissed off the entire comic nerd world. So they touched them up and made them red. The other travesty was that she was wearing pants instead of shorts. Now I actually didn't think the blue pants with red boots was all that bad, it was a good update. Now at the time the producers claimed she would wear shorts, but no one really thought they would do it...until now.

That is hands down the best version of the suit. I looks like Wonder Woman came off the pages of a comic and into real life. The plot was kind of stupid, but at least they got the costume right...and then they cancelled the show before it aired.  Nicely done.

Venting the Anger: X-Men 1st Class

Seriously, how hard is it to make a movie based on a comic book that has such a vast history to pull from. And when you call a franchise "First Class", seems like it would be pretty easy to just look up who the "First Class" was and go with it.

Of course, I am talking about the new X-Men movie. I talked about it HERE once already. And I just can't see how they messed up the team. Everyone knows Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast (human form), and Angel.

Seems easy enough right? Well here is a screen capture from the new trailer. Let's see;

WTF?!?! Banshee?  Havok?? Who is now Cyclops' dad instead of younger brother???? Magneto? Mystique???? Seriously HOW CAN YOU SCREW IT UP!!!!

And what is up with Havok's costume? He looks like a character in Tron that has his Identity Disk on backwards. At least they got Emma Frost's suit somewhat right.

On it's own it might be a fine movie, but come on too many X-Men fans are familiar with the back story to believe something like this.

Thoughts Without Words: New Spider-Man costume

I must really love doing these comic book costume posts because I have done my fair share of them. In fact, I have talked about Spider-Man a time or two as well. Heck, the Ben Reilly costume made my Most Controversial Comic Costume Make-Overs of all time.

So fast forward to today when Marvel announced a new Spider-Man in the works, in the Ultimate Universe. BTW, the Ultimate Universe basically updated all of the old character for the new century...marketing ploy. So what does it look like? Is it worse than Ben Reilly's? Well...

It's not bad. It's not great, but not bad. But it reminded me of another Spider-Man suit I saw before...

That's right...it's almost identical to Alex Ross' costume for the Spider-Man movies (the first ones). While I like the first one, let's face it it's missing that iconic red mask.  It looks like it is trying to be different to Alex Ross' version, but it fails.  The spider on the chest is better, but that's it.  It's not horrible though, but if you are going to go that route, why not just copy the one done already?  I mean the whole triangle chest, red on the gloves, and bigger chest spider logo.

By the way, this new costume isn't as bad as Electric Superman or 90's-rific Wonder Woman.  I think it would have been better with a red mask somehow.  Oh well.

Thoughts Without Words: Emma Frost, X-Men: First Class

I have ripped on X-Men First Class already. And today they released a picture of January Jones in full attire.

Now Emma Frost has been around for awhile and started out as a bad guy. Recently though, she has been fighting for good. So before we get to the new photo, here are a couple of her comic appearances.

Her first style was this one. Pretty risque to say the least.
Her current look is a little more...modern?
At least she has pants on now right?

Anyway here is the movie version
Complaints? Can I nitpick on the hair? It has changed since the "fake" team photo was released, even though the outfit is the same. I guess it's that 60's style? I don't know. It seems like it is missing something...can't figure it out though. Maybe it's the lack of a choker? Just seems a bit off to me.

Thoughts Without Words: Final look at Wonder Woman

If you didn't know better you might think this is a Wonder Woman blog. I mean I did a post on her new comic costume, one on her new tv costume, and then for good measure another one on her tv costume with some fan photoshops to make some obvious corrections....I'm looking at you red boots.

So here is the fan photoshopped corrections;
Of course, the middle is the original press release one. I think we all agreed that the blue boots had to go. And I didn't think the darker blue pants were that bad. So today we got the first look at WW on the set;
And it looks like we got our wish. RED BOOTS!!! The darker pants are...whatever. They aren't as shiny as before I guess that's a plus. One final difference would be the dark hooker red lipstick is gone too. You know how those Amazons love their red lipstick.

The one thing that jumps out now are the stars down the leg. They were on the original picture, but not noticeable. They remind me a bit of the original TV WW, Cathy Lee Crosby, the way the stars were down the sleeves. By the way after looking at Cathy Lee's version, I know where the blue boots come from. It's a stretch, but overall I am happy now. I doubt I will watch it, but at least it feels like Wonder Woman.

Thoughts Without Words: Another look at the new Wonder Woman costume

A few days ago I showed the new Wonder Woman costume for the new TV show. It was good, but the one thing I noticed, and a lot of other bloggers, was the lack of red boots. Well, in the age of photoshopping, it didn't take long for someone to correct that. Here is the original (the middle) and two variations of it;I think we can all agree the red boots are a HUGE improvement over the blue. And at first, I thought the dark blue pants was too similar to the Jim Lee design, and we know how I feel about that one, but I realize it's pretty different. First, it has actual boots, not slippers or whatever those are. The pants are a navy blue, not black. So the core colors remain. And finally, no 90's leather jacket.

As much as I like the far left, I could actually see the far right one in a tv show or movie. I think I have to come to grip with the fact that whatever incarnation of Wonder Woman we get now will have pants, not shorts.

Thoughts Without Words: New Wonder Woman TV costume

Since I seem to talk about costumes quite a lot around here, I might as well give my thoughts on the new Wonder Woman costume for the new tv show. Heck, I even talked specifically about Wonder Woman when she got her new comic costume awhile back.

Well for those that still haven't seen it, here is the new suit.
This might surprise followers of this blog, but I really don't have that big of problem with it. You can clearly tell it's WW. There is no black pants or leather jacket, just the classic colors. The one thing that really jumped out at me and does each time is the boots. The boots should be red. Not just because that's the way they have always been, but it just becomes too much blue from the waist down.

Here is a nice side by side comparison with the Linda Carter WW suit;The tops are pretty similar, but it's the boots. I like the new gold trim on them, but they need the red. And I will be honest with you, the missing stars aren't that big of deal to me and the shocking thing is that the pants don't really bother me either, which is funny considering I blasted the Jim Lee comic re-design for not having shorts. I read somewhere that the 3 red stars on WW seem out of place and I didn't really notice them, but if they were to dump one of the stars from her belt or chest it wouldn't hurt.

Overall, it's a nice suit. If they were to give it some red boots, I might even say it was a perfect updated look.

Thoughts Without Words: Another Spider-Man movie picture

I'm not going to turn this into a spoiler movie blog. But I do want to talk about the suit again.What the heck is this thing? I got nothing. The red streak down the legs is another reminder of the Ben Reilly suit, the same with the gloves. I think the most troubling is the red eyes. Oh well. I have a feeling the suit is going to suck, hopefully the movie isn't too bad. And on the plus side, it's better than X-Men First Class.

Venting the Anger: X-Men - First Class

Seriously...WTF?!?! I didn't like any of the previous 3 X-Men movies because they didn't follow the comics, I won't talk about the horrible suits. The first class of X-Men will always be Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, and Angel...that's it. None of this Storm, Wolverine, Cyclops, Rogue, and whoever else they put in there. The first 3 movies were so messed up and then they tried to bring in Beast and Angel ... nevermind. Well it was announced last year that they were rebooting with X-Men First Class. Heck there is even a comic serious of the same name with the original 5 X-Men. Cool, right? Well today we were graced with the first official photo of X-Men First Class.What the...?!?!?! Who are these people? I recognize 3 people. Beast in the middle who looks like a blue afro-haired Vulcan and Emma Frost, who actually looks like she does in the comics, which by the way is very hard to pull off if you have ever seen her costume in the comics. And Mystique who looks like a head was photoshopped on some random body.

Where is Cyclops? Jean Grey? Iceman? Angel? Why is Mystique in an X-Man costume? Who is the red faced guy? And who is the other chick? I found out the guy to the right of Beast is Havok...yeah Cyclops' brother. So that makes sense, let's have a movie called X-Men First Class and have only one member be apart of it. Better yet, let's put in one of their brothers so it's like he is in it too.

This movie is going to suck worse than X-Men 3 or Spider-Man 3. I don't understand how you can't just make a movie about the original 5 X-Men.

Thoughts Without Words: New Spider-Man & Captain America movie costumes

Well I wasn't going to talk about the movie designs, but then I realized that I have talked quite a bit about comic book costumes, so why not some more.

First up is the new Spider-Man suit.At first glimpse it looks ok, but then the comic book nerd in me starts to pick it apart. Where is his little red belt (which never really served a purpose)? What's up with the little designs on the gloves? Are the spider legs going all the way down to his waist? And are those web-shooters on the outside of his suit? Well at least he has web-shooters again.

The Toby Maguire Spider-Man suits were not perfect by any means. The webbing on the suit always seemed a bit much...too silvery. But other than that, they nailed it. I won't talk about the Spider-Man 3 "black suit" because well... it sucked. And if I talk about it anymore this will turn into a Venting the Anger post. It is the worst adaptation I have ever seen. Ok enough of that.

It seems like they are trying to throw a little of the Ben Reilly Spider-Man suit into the mix. And I will be honest with you, there's nothing wrong with that. It's a good design. And if you aren't going to go with the original look, you might as well try something new. But look at the new suit and Ben Reilly's. No belt, check. Web-Shooters on the outside, check (not as bad as Ben's). Spider legs go all the way down, check (although once again not as bad). If I was going to stray away from the normal Spider-Man suit I would also look at this one. Change up the funky legs and you have a winner. I think the execs want to go away from the Toby Spider-Man movies that they are willing to tweak the suit a bit to distinguish itself from those movies.


Next up, Captain America.
I have nothing bad to say about it. They do a good job of making it look realistic. I mean he was a soldier during WWII. I'm not happy about the brown helmet under his helmet, but other than that...this looks good.

I will update this as more pictures come out.

Who Decides: Strawberry Shortcake

Now I have a daughter and she adores Strawberry Shortcake. I don't know how it happen and neither does my wife, but it happened. Well, if you didn't know this her (Strawberry's) look has changed over the years and I will take a quick look at the different designs. This actually would have fit in well with my post on comic book costume redesigns, but whatever.

I remembered Strawberry Shortcake from the 80's. She kind of looked like an old grandma, yet she was young. It wasn't a flattering look at all. I'm sure that the kids loved it at the time, but the big puffy hat, short yarn like hair. Man, I don't know how my wife liked this. She had a definite country style going on, but it was the 80's I guess. But it became iconic. The striped green tights, the apron diamond pattern, the puffy hat. It became the look.

Enter the 90's.

Strawberry Shortcake was no longer the dress wearing grandma from the 80's she was a cool hip girl who wore jeans because we all know that wearing dresses in the 90's was

uncool. And what better way to make Strawberry cool again by taking away one of the most identifiable things about her...her dress. So no dress, no green tights, no puffy hat...this is just some generic cartoon character. And it's nice that they even managed to give her worse hair

than her 80's style. Besides the strawberry on her hat how are to supposed to know who this is?

Now there was sort of an updated version of this Strawberry in the mid 2000's, I guess. I'm no expert. This was a little better. First off, the jeans are gone and the dress is back. Another plus is the hair actually looks good. But that's where it ends. No green tights, no apron. Once again, without that strawberry on her hat, how do you know who it is? This is nothing like the original iconic figure.

Enter 2009. This is how you do a redesign. You take all the iconic elements from the original and update them.

Much like the Ben Reilly Spider-Man suit. I still say if that suit was introduced with Peter Parker and not during that horrible Clone Saga, we would have a new Spider-Man suit...but I just got off topic.

Look at how much it mirrors the original. Dress...check. Green tights...check. Puffy hat...check. Diamond pattern...check. It has it all. And right away you are connected with who it is. Not only is the look iconic, but the hat looks like a strawberry!
I am glad that my daughter actually likes this version of Strawberry Shortcake. It is by far the best version and really stays true to the original look. We picked her up a dvd of the 90's Strawberry Shortcake and she told us quickly that this wasn't Strawberry Shortcake...too funny.

I know this post seems a little out of place, but it has been weighing on me for about 4 months now. While getting the pictures for the post I found this one which shows the looks through the years. Pretty interesting.

The 2007 one bothers me a bit because I can't really find anything else but that picture. The design looks close to the one up above from the mid 2000's, but she has pants on again. It's also interesting to see the one thing that connected the first 3 designs was the strawberries on the hat, whereas the new design brought the puffy hat back, but turned the little strawberries into little seeds.

That's it. Enough of this, my wife will probably make fun of me for posting something like this here.