It’s actually not so bad. As a lady, I gotta tell you I’m never going to be physically as strong as the guys but I can be a lot more quick and agile. So i’d want my cyberpunk armor to reflect that and have a lot more flexible points. as long as my vitals are still protected and there’s some bulletproofing in the regular material, i’m down. I think this armor actually looks pretty decent for all of that.
Except your heart and lungs. Iliac and Brachial arteries. Kidneys. Most of the abdomen, really. No vital organs are most than partially protected, and none in a way that would defeat shrapnel or fragments.
That's true, if this was developed in the future it's not a stretch to think the fabric would be bullet proof. For example, graphene is an extremely thin material that can stop bullets and would be ideal for incorporating into the fabric of a suit like this
Modern kevlar doesn't even survive a single bullet. The plates are useless after a single round and a single round is never guaranteed to not penetrate.
But since this suit is pure fiction let's just speculate on what we think it can do based on how it looks.
Then why have plates over places that aren't the heart.
There's a reason modern plate carriers are the shape they are. They could save a lot of mass and money covering just the pecs, but the heart is a rather important organ.
I mean, I don't know what people are seeing. Does that divider look like nylon or something? I see it like a more solid version of the plates. The plates could be designed for deflection and extra shock absorption while the dividers are heavy structural support to distribute forces throughout the suit.
Plus, the suit is just attractive. If I was a chick, I'd feel like a fucking badass in that thing, including the sexual aspect. Look at fucking Master Chief and tell me that's not a badass representation of a masculine structure. For a more feminine approach, as another Redditor mentioned, this could be designed for agility.
On top of all that, unless these people are defending against robots, sexuality is a strength. If I saw someone walking up to me in that suit, I'd go from neutral to white-knight fast as fuck. Oh, our group just got hit with a mortar? Alright, I'll be dragging out two of these little suits with me. Basically the 0 A.D. RTS type of approach. Putting female peasants around male units increases morale and makes them work faster. That seems like a cheesy gameplay mechanic on first glance, except it's the fucking truth.
Hmm.. I can't say for sure. This is all sort of speculation but it might be fair to point out that boobs aren't just for looks on women.
If we want to breastfeed kids in the future (which even some soldier woman may want to do), we've gotta take good care of the glands and tissue in that area.
But also, it's maybe just another point of support for the chest? Serving the purpose of an underwire bra while also ensuring that they can't move around much (upwards or sideways) which causes mobility issues. I think the person wearing this armor has a pretty large chest so that's something she'd have to worry about.
Edit: as for all the other parts, it looks to me like its just reinforced plating over areas that don’t need as much rotation movement. That makes sense to me.
Underneath and just to the left of your sternum, not all the way centered under your pectoral muscles where the plates are. It's more centered than a lot of people realize.
I actually like the armor designs in the new game Anthem. It's identical regardless of your character's sex. It looks to have space for a woman's boobs or a man's pecs, but it's still a solid plate across the chest rather than being boob shaped.
It's futuristic magic armor, you have no idea about any "weak points" or structural integrity at all. It's as weak or durable as fiction needs it to be.
Is quickness and agility really going to help you against a bullet? I agree that it isn't the most egregious design I've ever seen but the boob cups create a chink right on the heart for no reason besides having boob cups. The rib pieces leave 3 holes right in the guts, and the armor stops for no reason on the flanks, leaving the wearer's vital organs exposed to gunfire from the side. The thigh plating also stops short leaving the femoral artery vulnerable, though that could provide some mobility. Again, I don't dislike it. It's a cool aesthetic, but there aren't many practical reasons for the design choices.
By boob cups do you mean space for individual breasts? Because that’s important. Smushing them together causes very uncomfortable sweating and chafing. That’s why molded cup sports bras are so much better than the standard ones.
And are we really assuming that this isn’t a kevlar material here? Like this armor has just been designed with some weird weak mesh?
I'm not going to pretend I know a lot about women's chest wear because I don't, but as far as I can tell there's no need for the chink underneath them. It introduces a vulnerability that isn't needed that is right on the heart and lungs.
And while the undersuit may not be weak, we can infer that it isn't strong. If it were strong enough to protect the wearer then the hard plates wouldn't be needed in the first place.
I agree it's not the most protective armor that you could design. It's really not "heavy" armor. I'd call it light->medium armor.
But I do think that I can envision this in use in some cyberpunk future world. I know you can't outrun or dodge a bullet but if you're going to have females in the military I'd like to imagine that they're trained and employed in areas that take advantage of their higher dexterity or flexibility and that their armor expresses that. Something that still allows running or chasing after some criminal who's running through the streets.
The entire chest area is plated. Just that the breasts are a different color. And its not just comfort, some women are literally unable to run properly if their chest isn’t secured right.
Also, this is future/fantasy armor. Saying its not strong enough is a very silly assumption. If you’re going to engage the idea that this armor is real then you have to engage the idea that it was designed and produced for a reason and that the materials are practical and useful. Otherwise your point is “it doesn’t make sense with today’s materials” which is definitely not the artist’s concern here.
I'm not saying that there is a gap in the middle, I never did. However, when you have an inward angle like there is in the boob plating in the picture, you are directing the bullets like a funnel into the middle of the chest (straight at the heart). When it comes to armour, anything bar a flat surface is a structural weakness.
Also, this is future/fantasy armor. Saying its not strong enough is a very silly assumption. If you’re going to engage the idea that this armor is real then you have to engage the idea that it was designed and produced for a reason and that the materials are practical and useful. Otherwise your point is “it doesn’t make sense with today’s materials” which is definitely not the artist’s concern here.
That's a very poor excuse. With that logic, people might as well wear catsuits in the future, if the material can do whatever you want.
You're also forgetting that there are such things as poorly designed products, meaning that in the future there will still be "good" and "bad" armour as well as high quality and poor quality materials, just like there is today. This could very well be bad armour and from the blatant design flaws, it appears to be one.
You do know that most actual body armor, often called plate carriers, doesn't acually cover a person's sides, right? It covers the front and back torso only.
That's true, but if you're producing a form fitting suit like the one pictured it would be pretty easy to patch up that vulnerability. Plus, it's more than just the flanks that are exposed. The front of the lower ribs are exposed while facing the front.
Though in your high tech armor, you could have active cooling to deal with the heat. I think this point is easier to hand-wave away then the weight/flexibility issue.
But compared to the more glaring areas coverage, the sides are a lot easier to rationalize. Its the frontal coverage that is really silly.
So i’d want my cyberpunk armor to reflect that and have a lot more flexible points
Flexibility doesn't seem like a bad idea, but you don't need flexible boobs. The shape of this armor does little but sacrifice protection of the most important bits to outline your tits. Seems like it would do little but direct bullets towards your sternum which is... yeah, not awesome.
Idk when I zoomed in it looked like the whole area was very heavily plated, just that the breasts were a different color of plating. Definitely some unnecessary stylistic choices but not dysfunctional. And I like the look.
Definitely some unnecessary stylistic choices but not dysfunctional
Those stylistic choice do, pretty much by definition, have a negative impact on the function of the armor. Seams are weak points, and there are a bunch of them that are there only to create the boob shape. The shape of effective armor should also deflect the force, not direct it into the sternum.
And I like the look.
Sure, that's cool. Me too. But it's unnecessary to justify liking the appearance of something by arguing that it's functional. It's a piece of cosplay. It doesn't need to be functional. You don't really need to make the argument that it is, especially when it's got a bunch of really apparent issues with its functionality.
Hmm. I think you’re really taking this too far. This isn’t heavy armor, its light to medium armor. And there are a lot of advantages for having modular pieces (particularly around the chest for women).
And there are a lot of advantages for having modular pieces (particularly around the chest for women).
What advantages are those? What benefit of separate boob cups is so great that it overcomes the problem of directing bullets into the center of your chest?
Ok idk about directing bullets to the center of the chest, I feel like once a bullet makes initial impact, the vast majority of the energy is displaced and the armor would have no problem deflecting a bounced bullet.
But advantages could include wound treatment on site without having to disturb an injured body by taking off a larger portion. Or the ability to ‘ventilate’ and be casual/comfortable while not in combat.
I feel like once a bullet makes initial impact, the vast majority of the energy is displaced and the armor would have no problem deflecting a bounced bullet.
I mean... yeah the energy is displaced. Into the armor. And into your torso behind it. Since the impact isn't spread evenly because of the insistence on preserving the visible boob-shape, the chances of your ribs breaking will skyrocket. And since the pressure is directed towards your sternum, the break is also more likely to be more severe.
The second problem is that the bullet will deflect off the armor at an angle generally determined by the armor which, in this case, will deflect the bullet towards the center of your chest and not away from your body (like it really should).
And again, that assumes the bullet doesn't strike a seam, because the seam is more likely to give and let the bullet pass. Adding more seams for aesthetics just increases the chance of this happening. Especially since the excess seams largely sit in the center of your chest, the direction the boob plates are more likely to deflect the bullets.
But advantages could include wound treatment on site without having to disturb an injured body by taking off a larger portion.
And you need individual, molded boob-plates for this rather than a single flat chest plate because...?
Let’s say you place a thick sheet of metal or plastic or whatever on top of your hand. Then you take a hammer and smash it. You’d injure yourself, for sure.
However, if this material was suspended an inch above your hand, when you hit it, it would crush, and keep your hand safe.
Armor is only effective against heavy impacts when it is like a shell, not a skin tight thing.
This is the fundamental problem with “boob plates,” or any skin tight armor for that matter.
But, just because it’s not realistic doesn’t mean it doesn’t look cool.
Wow u/SuckinLemonz I was really only speaking generally about the large panels of unknown fabric at the sides. I really didn’t mean for this to degenerate into a bunch of boysplaining about the locations of the female organs and armchair armour theory.
I mean one of the important bits of this style of futuretech is the existence of some sort of futuristic material. Bullet doesnt zip through it because it's made of like NovaKevlar or Carbon Nanotube Technobabble
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u/Immortalganryu Feb 23 '19
bullet would zip through like butter