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Uniform Updates for the Star Army of Yamatai

Aendri said:
The hats aren't a bad idea, but I think you need to make a design focused on enlisted if you're going to make something like that for officers, since most players aren't officer rank.
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I don't think it should be used for enlisted soldiers. We already have a dedicated design for the enlisted; I don't want to change the headwear for the whole Star Army. The sailor cap currently used is fine and appears in over 200 artworks that would be outdated if we changed it. I love how it has the site name on it. So if I add the peaked cap it'll be optional and for higher ranks. I'm thinking I'll use this one:

ai.imgur.com_4H2EBbN.png
for warrant officers and officers up to Taii. and then
ai.imgur.com_qWulzMd.png
for Shosa and above.

Doshii Jun said:
Male skirts ... ugh. As long as it's an option, and we're prepared to be laughed at. I vote no on them all the same, if there's a vote to be had.
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Why would we allow skirts for woman but not men? Is there any legitimate reason that makes sense in the far-future universe of Star Army? Also, for some species, like Phods, a skirt would probably be a more comfortable option because of their large feet. And male Separa'shan don't even have legs.
 
For hats, I think the junior/senior officer divide looks good but maybe the flag officer version could use even more scrambled eggs. That's certainly true of contemporary US military uniforms.
 
Wes said:
Why would we allow skirts for woman but not men? Is there any legitimate reason that makes sense in the far-future universe of Star Army? Also, for some species, like Phods, a skirt would probably be a more comfortable option because of their large feet. And male Separa'shan don't even have legs.
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Phods can wear pants made for them. Seems pretty simple.

Separa'shan can have a uniform tailored to them. Again, simple.

I could make the argument that we shouldn't have skirts at all. The U.S. military doesn't have them as combat uniforms for any branch, just service/dress/mess uniforms. Stick males and females in pants, which tactically make more sense — skin's not exposed to elements or environment. I could accept that outcome. That, in the far-future universe of Star Army, makes a lot more sense.
 
We're not talking about a tactical uniform, we're talking about the Star Army duty uniform (which is a dress/service uniform). And I'm certainly not going to ban skirts in the duty uniform, considering the vast majority of illustrations of female Star Army characters shown them in skirts.

Pics related:
Why skirts?
  • Yamatai's Japanese culture is cool with unbifurcated garments, for example:
    • Kimono and yukata are worn by both genders and are not worn with pants
    • Note that Japanese hakama come in bifurcated (pants) and unbifurcated (skirt) varieties
  • The Star Army is against arbitrary gender restrictions (for example, there's no female version of the cap we're working on, it's unisex)
    • This also underlines that Star Army is not set in modern times or culture
  • Skirts are comfortable (good ventilation, loose fit, etc)
  • Some soldiers may want to present themselves as the other gender, but not want to switch bodies (?)
 
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The issue is the length. The hakama is a long skirt, and the star army skirt is way too short for men to be comfortable doing anything in. Using the examples on the uniform page, the current skirt is a mini-skirt. So unless the skirt is made a lot longer, I do not see too many men ever wearing it.
 
Nashoba said:
The issue is the length. The hakama is a long skirt, and the star army skirt is way too short for men to be comfortable doing anything in. Using the examples on the uniform page, the current skirt is a mini-skirt. So unless the skirt is made a lot longer, I do not see too many men ever wearing it.
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Good point. I'm thinking the length for the male one would be knee-length, like kilts and the Marc Jacobs example in my last post. It would also be worn with leggings like the female one is. Although I suppose we could look at allowing bare legs for both genders.
 
Marc Jacobs is wearing what essentially is a kilt. Picard cosplayer looks ridiculous. Postal workers in kilts.

Kimono and yukata are designed to be worn by both genders. They have different versions depending on gender. So that argument holds no water.

Hakama are battle dress uniforms, meant to be utilized by both genders!

Skirts are not. They are not normal in the world, they aren't even normal in high fashion. They aren't normal for the simple fact that skirts flatter a typical woman's body (the hips, butt, the thighs even) and not a typical man's.

It's not about being post-modernist or ultraliberal or all-inclusive or any of that. It's shape. Pure shape.

And leggings? Honestly? At that point, why not wear pants?

If men or women want to crossdress in the other's uniform, just make a rule allowing that.

Or just make them kilts.
 
I'd be in favor of Doshii's last point. If you want men to be able to wear skirts, remove the sex restrictions on uniforms, so either sex can use any of the uniform variations as they like. We've had a couple characters in the past who probably would've worn the miniskirt, and the women can already wear the pants, so it seems like the simplest solution would be to just make all uniforms wearable by anyone, rather than design special uniforms for men and women.
 
I'm a huge fan of cross-dressers. I love men in skirts in ways that I can't talk about outside of the 18+ forum. So with this in mind, I'd like to say a few things about skirts in a military setting; and hopefully not toss around the word 'unbifurcated'. I have read that word three times more than I'm supposed to in a twenty-four hour period.

When I want a practical garment, a skirt is not the first place I go. Personally, I like that chocolate woman in her Star Army slacks. I would totally engage in maneuvers with her docking ring. Or something. Pants are awesome. I love pants. There is a broad world of clothes out there and pants are my very favorite. Shorts are assholes, little teases of pants that make all the promises of skirts with none of the unbifurcated goodness. Skirts, equally, are huge dicks. They have no form to them, no shape. They go everywhere and get on things and get dirty or snagged. Sure, ventilation is prime; but that's about all you've got going for you. And then, then, to top it all off everyone is winging about how there's a fat guy outside in a dress and you can see his junk when the wind picks up. (Okay, that's just for me, but it's still pretty pertinent.)

Now pants... Pants are my buddy. Pants are that one bro who you've known since you were little. This isn't a cultural thing, this is based on pure experience. I've worn all three. And pants are the best. No, take it from me, I'm an expert on wearing stuff. I've been wearing stuff my entire life. A nice comfortable pair of pants will take you to the moon, keep you warm, not get snagged on anything, and make you look good doing it. Even when it's hot outside I still wear pants year round because I own good pants that know how to breath. I guess they took classes or something.

My point is this: Skirts should be allowed because that makes some people feel sexy and rule of cool and hawt oversexualized female characters. Men should be allowed to wear skirts, too, for similar reasons. (Oh, Eastwood-heisho, hike it up a little more so I can see your fishnets!) Star Army respects all genders, right? Good. So we have skirts because some people want to wear skirts. Make them cut for men, too, if you want. Sure. That's pretty cool. Gender-based uniform restrictions are dumb. So long as you've got it clean, pressed, properly marked, and so forth, you can wear whichever uniform bits you want. Remove your cover while indoors, though. Stop chewing gum!


Now that I've said those things, I wanna say a few unrelated things:

First, I wanna apologize to Kokuten for the 'Eastwood-heisho' comment. That wasn't nice to Rolf.

Secondly, I wanna give a huge shout out to the NEW PEAKED OFFICER CAP! I AM ALL ABOUT THAT! THANK YOU WES FOR MAKING THE DREAM REAL! Seriously, give it up for that damned visor-cap; cuz' that mug be pimp as hell. Hella swag, hella dope, hella tight, fresh, clean, and so on and so forth!

Man.


Love that thing.



ungh




yea

EDIT: Just coming in again to say how much I loved that freakin' hat, man. It's such good stuff.
 
Rolf, garbed in his hentai kamen regalia (panty mask 'obtained' from Kotori's closet included),with a mini-skirt showing off his hairy legs in all their glorious glory.

You know not to which horrors you will subject us in permitting this, Wes. We implore you to have mercy!
 
Honestly, whether you call it a kilt or a skirt is just semantics. They're just two different words for the same thing with one being considered more masculine than the other.
 
Abwehran Commander said:
Honestly, whether you call it a kilt or a skirt is just semantics. They're just two different words for the same thing with one being considered more masculine than the other.
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Exactly. If people want to call it a kilt to feel more comfortable, they can. And it's already an option under the regulations so I'm not even sure why we're arguing anymore.
 
I might be coming too late, but why was Engineering Protective Jumpsuit deemed obsolete uniform? It is not even uniform persay but something techs wear to work with. Why? Cause it protects them. I never noticed it gone until now and it makes me frown. It was a thing for engineers and I liked it a lot. Not to mention there was quite a bit of cool art for it, which I guess we can now toss out of the window or something.
 
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