Is it still fanservice if it's in prose?

efreysson

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I'm piecing together a space opera setting, and one of its elements is an order of superpowered mystic warriors. I'm working on designing their signature outfits: A red and black suit, partially inspired by comic book superhero costumes.

I'm considering, in true comic book fashion, to make them skintight. On people who keep themselves in top physical shape.

I have an in-universe justification for the tightness, related to the use of their powers, but the real reason is simply for fun.

IS it still fanservice when it's just description, rather than a visual? I'm not going to write them acting all slutty or striking poses all the time, but I feel it would just be human nature for other characters to be a bit nonplussed upon meeting the mystics, and comment between themselves about the, ah, revealing outfits.

What do you think?
 

frimble3

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Compared to leotards, leggings, bike shorts, and tight t-shirts, leather pants, and dresses that make you wonder how she's going to sit down, you mean?
I suspect that people might mock them behind their backs for 'dressing like Superman', but, if they're in the contemporary world, they'd probably have to set their hair on fire to draw a crowd for 'skintight clothes'. Or, take the clothes off.
 

efreysson

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Compared to leotards, leggings, bike shorts, and tight t-shirts, leather pants, and dresses that make you wonder how she's going to sit down, you mean?

Fair point.
 

pharm

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I don’t really see the issue. Even if the outfits seem inherently sexy by description, sexiness is not the same thing as “fan service.” There’s a big difference between depicting attractive people in sensuous situations and fan service in the traditional sense. Fan service, at least where the term originated, has more to do with a very specific, male-gaze heavy objectification of young women and girls in anime for the sake of (a presumptively male, straight) audience titillation. It tends to be excessive, one-sided, and voyeuristic, which are the elements that often make it a problematic trope. The most reviled kind of fan service usually has to do with children; anime in particular gets a bad rap because of the abundance of shows that revel in ogling underaged girls’ bodies for the audience (not that you won’t find similar treatments in animation from other parts of the world as well).

None of that really seems to apply to your work as you’ve described it. There’s nothing wrong with sex positivity as a narrative perspective, if that’s even the case for your story. You certainly shouldn’t feel bad about depicting a world where some beautiful men and women happen to wear form-fitting costumes.
 
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pharm

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For that matter, not all fan service is even inherently bad; like most things it’s an issue of moderation and context. It’s possible to use it in an equal opportunity fashion with adult characters that’s a lot of fun for the audience. Captain America ogling his (Chris Evans’) own butt in Avengers Infinity War is absolutely fan service, but it’s in good fun and used sparingly.

Not that the heroes aren’t running around played by beautiful actors in skin tight suits the rest of the time anyway. Superheroes are conceptually sexy. The slight kinkiness is a part of their appeal and often a very intentional element of their design origin (see Professor Marston & the Wonder Woman for more on one of those stories). The whole reason their suits are the way they are is because some artists wanted to draw naked human figures and just color ostensible (skin-tight) costumes over them. Batman & Robin is pretty much an entire movie playing with and poking fun at this aspect of the genre.

Of course, go too far in this direction and you run the risk of writing erotica, which is also fine but maybe not the market you’re looking for in this case.
 
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efreysson

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The most reviled kind of fan service usually has to do with children; anime in particular gets a bad rap because of the abundance of shows that revel in ogling underaged girls’ bodies for the audience

Ugh. Anime. Yeah.

But thanks.
 

Thomas Vail

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I'm piecing together a space opera setting, and one of its elements is an order of superpowered mystic warriors. I'm working on designing their signature outfits: A red and black suit, partially inspired by comic book superhero costumes.

I'm considering, in true comic book fashion, to make them skintight. On people who keep themselves in top physical shape.

I have an in-universe justification for the tightness, related to the use of their powers, but the real reason is simply for fun.

IS it still fanservice when it's just description, rather than a visual? I'm not going to write them acting all slutty or striking poses all the time, but I feel it would just be human nature for other characters to be a bit nonplussed upon meeting the mystics, and comment between themselves about the, ah, revealing outfits.

What do you think?

It's fan service if you linger on it, especially in textual form. A form fitting spacesuit because that's the way they work isn't fanservice on its own, but if every time the characters put them on or appears in them the narration lingers over displayed abs, shapely butts, etc. that's when it's fan service.

That would be the difference between a written medium and a visual medium, because if the design is supersexy skintight, but you never mention it past the first time in a story, it's not a thing. Whereas a visual medium means every time they appear to the viewer, it's reinforced.
 

D. E. Wyatt

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Batman & Robin is pretty much an entire movie playing with and poking fun at this aspect of the genre.

You're giving that movie a LOT more credit than it deserves. It wasn't nearly that clever.