Body Types in Fiction · 2:34am Apr 13th, 2019
So I've noticed that a lot of people here in the west have gone about changing the way characters look in comic books, artwork, and stories lately and calling it 'realistic'. However, I must stress that a lot of these changes are not actually based on realistic body types for that character but rather they are based on what's currently politically correct. I won't go too much into the politics behind it as I want to tackle the actual body types themselves.
First off let me be the first to say that people are athletic, practicing things like running from rooftop to rooftop, climbing, or serious fighting tend to be very thin. Taking a super hero and making them have average body types is not realistic for the character's profession, it is instead a strange, and perhaps even offensive change to make. I know for a fact when I when I was doing two hour walks every day for a few months I got real skinny, but since I stopped doing that and fell off my diet I put the weight back on. But a lot of the character changes I'm seeing make these super heroes make me look thin. This change is unrealistic but it's also kinda offensive as it takes a lot of work to get into good shape, the work put in is hard, really hard, so it should be celebrated when people are willing to put in that much work. Instead the message becomes, 'no matter how much hard work you put in, you'll be fat' and that's not good.
Another weird choice that is based on politics and not at all realistic. A lot of these fat characters actually lose boob size... I'm sorry, but I'm a dude and I call tell you that when I don't take care of myself I get boobs! Boobs just get bigger when you gain more body fat, that's part of the place that the body fat is stored so that you can stay warm during the winter. It's a strange choice to be sure and far from realistic.
Finally one of the most hilarious choices I've seen is something that was almost right. Someone took the Iron Man suit, as in the robotic suit made of metal and machines and made it have a 'dad bod'. Now as hilarious as this parody art is, in truth it's the closest to a realistic change I've seen yet. The Iron Man suit would be a beautiful muscular or bulky machine, because it's metal and not real. The user of the suit may be over weight though. Tony Stark himself is unlikely to be fat as he does take his physical health very serious, but I could see people with Powered Armor being very out of shape in it as the suit may not actually exercise the body as there is little to no physical strain on the body itself, all the 'muscles' used are from the machine, not the person. So if Tony Stark gave up on his diet, he could very quickly have a 'dad bod' but the suit would look the same.
I want to just end with a note saying that if your writing a bunch of heroic characters who are skinny or have giant boobs, or muscles you should never feel bad or pressured to change their appearance for someone else. Your characters should look the way you want them too, I for one try to look at what a character in this position would really look like, and have had to make some cutting to characters in the past to keep up with realism. I had an overweight hero myself once, but after realizing how hard it would be for her to be a super thief and how she might get stuck climbing through a vent, I decided to cut her out of that role and place her in one that was a lot more fitting, aka she became a very powerful political figure instead.
Don't be afraid to have characters that are in shape for you story, at the end of the day it's your story to tell the way you want to.
As always, thanks for reading.
I think even non powered armor Supers have a bit more of an excuse for being chubby if not outright flabby, honestly, at least to a point.
I mean, if your entire power is something akin to, say, Magneto, where you fight, move, and outright travel long-distance by that one power... Not every Super is going to have the self-discipline to actually keep their body in tip-top shape.
Was actually addressed in a webcomic I read called Strong Female Protagonist: The lead is one of those classic flying brick style heroes, but if she wants actual muscle definition she has to work out like everybody else because otherwise her power (self-only telekinesis) does all the work for her.
(Alison Green, said protagonist, looks like this, by the way.)
static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/99939e0420618e72692f171605bb4143.png
Still, yeah, only to a point. If your smashing things, blasting things and jumping around in hell's jungle gym on a daily basis? Your going to be pretty darn fit after a while, no matter your actual superpower.
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Fair point with things like Magneto, even though as a terrorist i'm sure he does lots of exercise it would still be cool to just see him doing crunches once in a while lol. Most supers I see do lots of running, punching, ect, but not all. I hadn't thought about supers who had more laid back powers but it makes sense that someone who only reads minds could easily become the worlds best, but not exactly healthiest detective. I think it might be a cool future idea to go through a list and see who would or wouldn't be a candidate for being in athletic shape lol
Also I like the look of Alison Green. That's a well designed character if I've ever seen one.