Full Series Women in TCW

Armor is not the end all decider of all combat.

In Africa and the middle east, many warriors didn't wear armor at all, either because it was too hot. And you don't need to be collapsing from exhaustion during combat. In ancient times many people didn't wear it because they didn't know how to manufacture anything beyond light leather armor.

In Western Europe, the vast majority of soldiers didn't wear armor at all. When it is talked about chain mail and plate mail, those things are highly expensive and so are pretty much restricted only to Knights that constituted the aristocracy.

The Mongols were nomadic. They're not going to be manufacturing any kind of elaborate armor and on top of that, their style of cavalry warfare was very different than that of Europe, and wearing plate mail isn't conducive to a strategy involve light/highly mobile cavalry archers. And the defeat of Western forces isn't necessarily indicative of the failure of armor since the peasants conscripted by a lord to fight are generally going to be unarmored, untrained, and fighting with improvised or very cheap weapons.

 

I would think that the Jedi men (since they're all we see in armor) would need protection for the belly and groin just as much as the limbs, if not more so.

Right on - that was weird, I thought, since it wasn't like they'd just come from the battlefield (and even if so, coming or going, one might think they'd not don armor until ready to hit the battlefield or upon reaching the ship bringing them back to Coruscant).

anakinfansince1983: That's a new TCW diet. Eat all you want after viewing this picture - you'll not want to eat at all.
As far equality of "eye candy" I won't stand in your way regarding your wish, but eye-candy to me is empty calories, to stay on that theme. I'd rather have great character moments than flashes of flesh, myself, male and female. But I wouldn't hide from any scantily clad Obi-Wan moments - say, right out of the fresher, dripping wet and a slipping towel - 'er, blinks, no, I don't *need* any eye-candy moments.

I seem to remember reading a fanfic sometime back where a character - maybe Orn Free Taa, maybe not, but similar in bulk if so - turned out to be a great lover, much to the female's surprise. While the story was "interesting" and I don't remember much, I seem to remember that a female Jedi or at least Force-sensitive female was asked to "get close to him" to garner intelligence. Sounds bad, but in execution it wasn't bad - just not my cup of tea.

 

Actually Dave said the reason for the armor was animating the clothing, specifically the sleeves, was too difficult and expensive when they first started the series. It was in one of the Season 4 commentaries IIRC.

 

That's the justification for the ubiquitous clone gauntlets, which are worn by most of the Jedi even as part of their standard, largely unarmoured attires. The expansive plate armour - ranging from Anakin's upper chest and shoulder protection to Obi-Wan's cut down clone armour with Vader-ish upper chest armour - together with the bodysuits and other functional elements, are the points of distinction.

It's unfortunate that LFA are probably not going to show Anakin and Obi-Wan in any more distinctive outfits between now and the end. It really would not have required much more than an extra pair of character models that would have been regularly re-used to show the Jedi in a slightly broader variety of outfits from the very beginning. Considering how many character models are painstakingly designed and rendered only to never be seen again, showing Anakin and Obi-Wan in both armour and ROTS robes would be a very cost-effective means to enrich the show, IMO.

 

You would think it would be simpler to cut material out of the armor then for smaller sizes then to add material for big guys like Krell. Perhaps your right Tarados and armor would come in a few set sizes and this is what Mace and Obi-wan and them are using to fit them. This just never seemed to catch on with the girls and perhaps for someone as small as Ahsoka it would mean distroying a perfectly good set of armor. The best reason I can come up with for why Obi-wan and Anakin stopped wearing armor among other is theirs must have fallen into disrepair and there isn't enough of it.

The men wearing it don't even wear enough of it IMO. Clone armor seems effective at protecting from impacts and even the fire from explosion. There is no other explanation for how Captain Keeli got back up after being face planted by a detonator exploding at his feed. However, would that take a full suit of armor? How much good is a bit of armor on the legs and arms and then a breast plate really going to do? Hit your head when you get knocked down you could die like that and then your entire torso is exposed. Maybe that's just not a big deal medically in the GFFA. It also doesn't seem to do much good at stopping blaster fire. I think my Thinkpad's lid could do a better job stopping that. Jedi are probably better off without it, without the pinching or the weight so they can swing their sabers as fast as possible.

Ahsoka has worn more clothing and been able to move just fine. I can see why she wouldn't wear the armor but it wouldn't hurt her to wear more clothes. Her new outfit is somewhat more gaughty than the old one with all the slits in it. This is just some sort of personal choice that she is getting away with. Really there doesn't seem to be a single uniform, just most Jedi wear full robes. I used to think she might even be immitating someone like Aaya herself. I've also thought that Ahsoka actually has an inner inferiority complex which is why she is so skilled. She forces herself. The skimpy attire could play for an inferiority complex as well. She only really seemed to display anything like that in The Citadel arc however.

Personally I like the Jedi without the armor better myself where they look more like the peace keepers they are supposed to be. It does make them look funny out infront of a battle. It drives home the point that the Jedi weren't supposed to be Generals. Its a role they've been square pegged into. They aren't really that much like Samurai.

 

Adi Gallia does wear clone gauntlets that are narrower than what the male Jedi wear. Krell also wears a very large pair of gauntlets. Size is not a problem for whoever makes the Jedi armour, it seems.

 

Maybe then it really come down to it you got to have the know-how to successfully mod the armor. Adi Gallia had them and Ahsoka does not.

 

That foolish Ahsoka. She's no match for a human near-human intellect. /jk

 

Ahsoka might have taken something like clear acrylic to it when she mods it. =b

 

I never said that armor was always more trouble than it's worth. Just that it often is - especially for those who it will encumber disproportionately, or who depend on speed and agility in their attacks.

 

You say that like it's a bad thing...

 

I would say artistic licence, tbh; in Season 2 weren't sleeves difficult to animate for the crew? (notice their scarcity)