this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2024
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The people involved in The Good One know historical armor, and how it's supposed to fit, while also knowing how to blend in the fantasy elements that make them pop
The New One just wants to look pretty, while clearly having vastly underestimated the needed budget to make good costumes.
Honestly, I think I've seen some repainted Spirit Halloween stuff.
Granted, a good prop/costume department can make anything cheap look good. I've seen a lot of plumbing parts attached to Sci fi guns. (some ship guns are literally entirely plumbing parts with vfx lasers done in post)
I'd love to see a total breakdown of the expenses. I'd wager the costume department is one of the lowest on the list.
LPT: If you want armor that allows proper motion, you need sliding joints, or narrow areas with less protection. The chest piece should not be flat across the bottom, nor should it come down to your waist. You can't bend properly with the one on the right. Range of motion on the arms is also severely limited, which makes combat basically a death sentence for you since you literally can't move your arms to block high.
Boromir on the other hand, everything allows for greater range of motion. The chest piece flares out once it goes a little past the ribcage, which while probably wouldn't win you any yoga competitions, allows you to bend and ride a horse. The pauldrons are oversized to cover the thinner shoulder straps, so the arms can rotate up properly, and the armor around all the joints slides nicely over itself.
Once you know how to make GOOD armor, you start realizing a lot of modern movies just clearly have no consideration for it. It's all about what looks cool to the average person.
Skallagrim on youtube has some breakdowns of historic accuracy in movies, but he usually focuses on the combat itself. Though every point I've brought up comes up in one way or another during combat.
Also the pecs fairing out on the right would guide a blade in, while the left flairs out in the center to be convex everywhere and guide a blade away. It's the same concept as tank armor. Convex armor allows an incoming object to slide away instead of having no where else to go and all the energy coming in.
OTOH a gambeson under an ill fitting breastplate was pretty good armor for most people for a couple thousand years. To this day getting armor to fit right and be used correctly is a struggle. Including orders to wear pieces that severely restrict movement. But that kind of realism kind of misses the point of fantasy as a genre.
Honestly the gambeson is underrated.
It's crazy how good densely packed cloth can be at stopping cuts, and the padding basically makes a mace strike feel more like a barefisted punch.
Weta Workshop are some cool motherfuckers.
Yes, but good prop departments aren't cheap.
Also, fully agree on the difference between actual armor and crappy lookalikes. I've seen and worn plenty of shitty larp armor to know how incredibly annoying they are. I also own a historical replica, and you can do everything in it (except sit on a chair with a backrest).
For the record, a modern infantryman can't do that either. Someday we'll solve that problem!
One on the right is more accurate based on my museum tours. Can't hate on either imo
I'm genuinely curious, do you happen to recall what museums you may have seen similar designs at? I'm interested to see when their estimated age was and from what regions, because I can totally see people making armor like that, it's just not as effective as actual combat armor as what's on the left.
I've seen some pretty wildly impractical armors, and weapons over the years.
All of the metal ages all had wonky weapon designs at the starts, as we were still figuring out how to work things, how to kill each other, and how to use the new shiny stuff to our advantage.
And don't get me started on ceremonial outfits/weapons... Those are just..... No. Just no.
*to the average person
I regret to inform you that a great many people find it "cool", including a lot of the people I know who are huge fans of the Peter Jackson films.
Im not sure I'd say anywhere near half the people who have seen it would say it's "cool" but unfortunately the average person doesn't really know much about what makes good armor. I don't fault them for it, but I do fault the show for it.
Boromir is infinitely cooler even without the armor.
Regardless, you know someone looked at that thing, and said to themselves "yeah, this is good. This is correct." which is just.... Unfortunate.
One on the right looks like Immortan Joe's muscle armour