(5) DVA – OVERWATCH (2016)

 

“Nerf this!”

D. Va from Overwatch, a “team-based multi-player first person video shooter game developed and published” in May 2016 by Blizzard Entertainment, the same people behind World of Warcraft, and which has become equally as prolifically popular, at least in art and cosplay.

It was hard to choose as there are an number of female player characters, some of which came very close to claiming this spot (hello Widowmaker!), but ultimately I went with D. Va because she’s simply too adorable – and iconic of the game (and gaming in general).

As for the game background story, Overwatch is an “international task force of soldiers, scientists, adventurers and oddities” that was formed in 2046 in response to the global catastrophe known as the Omnic crisis – that standard trope of SF, a Robot War, after the so-called Omnic line of construction robots went rogue and militarized themselves. It was subsequently de-commissioned, only to be called for again thirty years later (in 2076) due to the activities of the mysterious Talon terrorist organization.

As for D.Va herself, that’s the call sign of South Korean girl Hana Song, a 19 year-old professional gamer – who reads something like a characteristic blend of anime and gamer dream girl, with some K-pop diva thrown into the blend. Her combat strength comes from her mecha robot suit, with the archetypal anime mecha backstory to match. During the Omnic crisis, an Omnic robot ‘monster’ rose like Godzilla from the East China Sea (presumably from a background of constructing deep sea rigs or something like that) to wreak devastation on coastal cities in South Korea and neighboring countries.

In response, South Korea developed the Mobile Exo-Force of the Korean Army (MEKA). Originally a unit of drones, they had to adapt to piloted mecha (due to disruption of the drone units), but struggling to find suitable pilots, they turned to the country’s professional gamers, because of course they did – it’s set in a video game. Top stars were drafted, including reigning world champion D. Va.

And how! Clad in a skin-tight cat suit with a pink bunny girl theme – “her gameplay icon consists of a white bunny, she has a bunny decal sticker on her chest, and her gun even has a pink rabbit keychain”. For that matter, her mecha suit even resembles something of a stylized pink bunny and she often resembles a bunny girl herself, with her face markings evoking whiskers and her headset bunny ears.

 

ART & COSPLAY

 

For her iconic feature image (and similarly to 2B), I couldn’t go past this iconic in-game screenshot, replicated on occasion by cosplay models (although it’s a hard pose to pull off!).

 

ART – SCIAMANO & DANDONFUGA

 

Again similarly to 2B, she scores both Sciamano and Dandonfuga rankings as both have done art of her – but even artists that more usually work in comics couldn’t resist her allure, such as Artgerm and Nathan Szerdy.

Here’s my top ten on the spot for DVa art:

1 – Sciamano

2 – Dandonfuga

3 – Kikol Draws (one of their favorite – and best – recurring subjects)

4 – Artgerm

5 – Nathan Szerdy

6 – Neoartcore

7 – Logan Cure

8 – Ayyasap

9 – Kittew

10 – Naughty Neurals

 

COSPLAY – HELLY

 

Sadly no Yummychiyo or Hane ranking, but she does score a Helly ranking – indeed, one of my two favorite Helly cosplays.

As for other DVa cosplay in order – next are Anxi, Nami, and Vampy Bit Me.

 

RATING: 4 STARS****
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(4) AHRI –
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS (2009)

 

Foxy lady!

I could just continue with the lyrics of Jimi Hendrix’s song but…

League of Legends (or LoL – lol) is a multiplayer online fantasy role-playing game in a similar style to World of Warcraft, although it has surpassed the latter in popularity since its release in 2009. The game’s popularity has also extended into merchandise and other media. The game mechanic is essentially that players control a character or ‘champion’ with distinctive abilities in the fantasy world of Runeterra, who then battles against other champions – “the champions and setting blend a variety of elements, including high fantasy, steampunk, folklore, and Lovecraftian horror”.

This insanely popular game has an insanely massive backstory or ‘lore’ to match – it has evolved from the original titular League of Legend (a magical battle arena used used to settle disputes between the competing fantasy factions) to the aptly named Universe, an extensive encyclopedia website (as well as written stories, artwork, comics, animations and other media).

So the choice of fantasy girl for this entry was tricky (and indeed deserving of its own top ten list), as there are again an insanely large number of characters from which to choose – 136 champions as at April 2017 – of which there are a number of female characters that are insanely hot. That’s even more so as each character has a number of variant appearances or ‘skins’, as well as other customizations.

In the end, however, there could be only one – Ahri the Nine-Tailed Fox. With her shapely form in her revealing, ah, skins, she has consistently appeared at the top of lists or polls for “the most desirable girls in the League” – which is only apt, as it reflects her seductive nature in the game itself. “To wit, she is so attractive that the sheer amount of s€xiness she puts out is a canonically-accepted game mechanic”. So much so that even other girls, not to mention otherworldly beings and eldritch abominations can find her attractive – and if they don’t, she can make them, as the most distinctive of her game abilities is a charm spell in the form of a blown kiss and shape of a heart.

As for her backstory, she was a literal fox, albeit smarter than the average fox, given that she was that foxy magical being known in Japanese folklore as a kitsune (or more precisely the somewhat more vampiric Korean equivalent known as a gumiho) – with intelligence and magic (including enchantment, illusion and shapeshifting) right down to the additional tails they grow as they get older, up to nine in total.

However, Ahri had ambitions to shift to a human shape and so she absorbed the life essence of a dying mage on a battlefield. With her newfound humanoid form, magic and seductive charm, she continued to absorb the life essence of men, until she contracted a case of conscience from – and about- sucking souls. (She can still do it but she’s just nicer about it).

In-game her character is a “deadly mage-assassin reliant on a heart-shaped Charm spell with a seduction-heavy theme and backstory”. She has taken to her human shape, although she retains such fox-like characteristics (or vulpine characteristics, if you want to be fancy about it) – her brightly colored eyes, whisker-like facial markings, cute fox ears and above all those nine fluffy and incredibly agile tails, which resemble luxurious pillows on which she often lounges seductively.

And how! She’s seductive in her classic variant, but then there’s her variant ‘skins’ (some of which sound like various fashion or fragrance lines) – Arcade, Challenger, Dynasty, Foxfire, Midnight and Generation ‘skin’.

 

 

ART & COSPLAY

 

For her iconic feature image, what better than the promotional art for her classic skin or appearance from League of Legends itself?

 

ART – SCIAMANO & DANDONFUGA

 

She scores both Sciamano and Dandonfuga rankings for their art of her – particularly Sciamano as his art of Ahri is among my favorite both for the character and for his art.

Here’s my top ten on the spot for Ahri art:

1 – Sciamano

2 – Dandonfuga

3 – Artgerm (coming close to Sciamano’s art for my favorite image of Ahri)

4 – Logan Cure

5 – Kittew

6 – Neoartcore

7 – Prywinko

8 – Ayyasap

9 – Olcha S

10 – Naughty Neurals

 

COSPLAY – HANE & HELLY

 

No Yummychiyo ranking but she scores a high Hane and Helly ranking, particularly the former. Ahri is one of Hane Ame’s favorite characters to cosplay and her signature cosplay in all of Ahri’s various skins.

As for other Ahri cosplay in order – Kalinka Fox (aptly enough) and Hedy.

 

RATING: 4 STARS****
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