mlai
If you want Harley to be more than a caricature, then she has to change clothes like anyone else.

I would argue that her new costume makes her far more of a caricature than her old one ever did. It's trashy eye candy, there's nothing harlequinish about it. It was purely a design decision to give her an outfit like that, which is fair enough- but for a game that is trying to be 'faithful' enough to be so Batman-ish in every other respect, it really sticks out as a bunch of guy designers just wanting to shoehorn in a sexy cliche.

This all makes it sound like I really hate sexy outfits or something. I don't have a problem with that, it's just the stupid one they did I hate. :]

Miller's work was iconic because it bucked the trend. Once other people started doing it too, it stopped working.

@ Ozone:
Your kind of opinion is why the American superhero genre sucks, hard.

@ Skool:
You are free to say that her new costume is bad. But it makes the opinion biased, if the person goes on to say that the new costume is bad because he/she likes the old costume forever. Some ppl here feels the new one is bad purely because they want the old one.

Would a nice compromise been a scary outfit that's somehow based on harlequins?

If you can make scary clown suits then I'm sure you can make scary looking harlequin outfits.

Lovin' the voice work for this.
I have mixed thoughts about the costume change. Traditionally, the Batman license gets re-invented for mainstream media every few years. But it's mostly a merchandising thing, I think. As for Harley's new outfit... meh. DC characters aren't realistic, especially Batman's world. I mean just look at the real names of the villains, it's usually just a convenient excuse for their code names. So I do think it's within the theme that these characters look the part. At least in one of the newer Batman series, the Joker is running around with a straight jack. I prefer his gaudy purple suit, but at least there's a theme. Harle's new outfit looks like she mugged a Hot Topic store and then went back to ask the clerk what went together as an ensemble. Not impressed.

ozoneocean

mlai
Costumes don't define anybody.

I go't think you get the point of the genre...

That's not necessarily true Oz.

Invincible changed costumes like, 3 or 4 times already. :P

mlai
@ Ozone:Your kind of opinion is why the American superhero genre sucks, hard.

Hey, don't blame me lol!

Ryuthehedgewolf

ozoneocean

mlai
Costumes don't define anybody.

I don't think you get the point of the genre...

That's not necessarily true Oz.

Invincible changed costumes like, 3 or 4 times already. :P

Yeah, but if he was named "the blue stingray" he'd be blue and fishy...

It's not necessarily the "costume" that does all the defining... but each character has to be defined in some way like that, you know? If there's not something about themselves that stands out enough to account for the crazy name then it has to be the costume etc.
That's how things work.

Product Placement
Would a nice compromise been a scary outfit that's somehow based on harlequins?

If you can make scary clown suits then I'm sure you can make scary looking harlequin outfits.

This is exactly what I've been (indirectly) arguing. I don't mind that they changed the costume, I'm just annoyed that they didn't put much design thought into it. There are plenty of better things they could have done if they'd tried even a little harder.

I'm not a crazy fan who rejects changes, I'm a mature consumer with design expectations. :] I realize a costume change is a small thing but since we know so little about the game, I would worry that there are a lot of small disappointments like that which would ruin the game for me.

mlai: All opinions are biased, silly.

skoolmunkee

lefarce
Seriously though, women in Batman have been over sexualized since the 60'. Catwoman was a slut, tru fact.

I don't disagree with that. I just don't think fake urban overdone goth is really in the "style" of Batman. Although sexy and so on, the villainesses always had a distinct amount of class. Harley's outfit is just trashy. (I'd also argue that kind of goth is already out of style - even NCIS has a goth girl.) I think they could have pulled off something equally 'revealing' and also in-character and stylish, but they went for the easy way out, which is to cash in on the fetish.

I do want to play this game though. Scary Batman is the best kind of Batman.

Yeeeeah, ya' got me there. Although I do think it's nice to see that they're doing their own thing with it. It's clear they're trying to be a departure from any other Batman story.

But it's true that she does look pretty trashy, almost like some ICP fangirl.

I def. can't wait for this game to come out. It looks great and everything. I heard the date has been pushed back though. =/ It's alright, if there is a bug, they should take their time and fix it. Don't want to release it and have a bug ruin what could be a great game.

ozoneocean
Yeah, but if he was named "the blue stingray" he'd be blue and fishy...

It's not necessarily the "costume" that does all the defining... but each character has to be defined in some way like that, you know? If there's not something about themselves that stands out enough to account for the crazy name then it has to be the costume etc.
That's how things work.

That reminds me of something from a comic book actually: there's the Iron Man villain, Iron Monger (who you may remember as "The Dude"/main villain from the Iron Man film). He was called that because, well, he sold Iron for a living, and decided to make a suit out of it and do crimes. Years later he's replaced by this kid who's a bit of a tech whiz and also a bit crazy. Marvel pretty much just wanted to keep the name. However, it didn't make any sense, since "Monger" isn't an inherently dangerous or evil term: it just sounds kind of nasty. They eventually started poking fun at it when the kid appeared as the villain in a Spider-Man comic. The name of a character is important, I think. If you're called a certain thing, then what you do or how you dress etc. should reflect that in some way. Kind of like how a person gets a nickname: it's usually based on something they've done or a way they look. Unless it's an ironic nickname, but whatever.

I don't really feel too strongly either way on this particular issue. I've nothing against the idea of Harley Quinn dressing up in a nurse's outfit while wandering around a mental health facility: it's within her character to do so, or within the Joker's to have her do it. I just don't think the design itself is very good.

Product Placement
Would a nice compromise been a scary outfit that's somehow based on harlequins?

If you can make scary clown suits then I'm sure you can make scary looking harlequin outfits.

Sounds like someone misses Dark Knight to me...
Also, I don't think the outfit is horrible. It does remind me of lolita girls however.