Costumes in cartoons - classic or contemporary?

[Spider-Man]

What sparks this question for me was Doc Ock from the 1990s Spider-Man: The Animated Series. We all know him at the doughy supervillain from the comics but int he cartoon they gave him a ridiculous suit of armor. That's the most extreme case I can think of but how do you think costumes should be approached for shows? Are there pros and cons to both sides?

[Stu]

A nice mixture of both, whatever fits the character best in my opinion. What bugs me about the Doc Ock design in Spider-Man, is that he didn't seem to be a supervillain, at least not in the first episode. He was a disgruntled scientist who was getting his due, in his opinion. The shirt and tie look would've fitted the character much better, especially if they had gone for a look similar to the one Erik Larsen used in his interpretation of Octavius.

Despite a lot of fancy redesigns taking place recently, some of the characters still work better in thier classic suits. Mysterio is nothing without his fishbowl, Shocker doesn't work without his yellow and brown/black pillow suit (as seen by his embrassing portrayal in the Ultimate universe) and some of the later redesigns of Hobgoblin were embrassingly bad.

Not to say all modern suits are crappy, however. Ultimate Rhino is truly the most frightening version of the character (check out the video game - he is huge!), the new Green Goblin costume is really, really cool when anyone but Humberto Ramos is drawing it and the short lived Vulture revamp in Marvel Knights looked pretty snazzy too.

It's a case of mix and match basically. I thought Kraven looked better in the MTV show than he had ever done before.

[Shantosh9500]

A mix of both would be better like Spider-Man and Doc Ock having their movie costumes, Green Goblin having his current design, Kraven's MTV design, Rhino and Scorpion's Ultimate designs and Venom's classic design.

[Atomic_Duck]

X-Men wise, I think Wolverine should always keep his classic costume.

[ifthismeansevos]

X-men wise I thing the Evo design could work in another cartoon, but I like the old 616 design. the Astonishing Cyclops is nice a lil of classic and modern at least for me.

[AdamYJ]

It depends on the character, the design that's already there and the show it's for.

Personally, I usually like seeing characters redesigned for animation, just because I like to see what people can come up with. There are times, though, that they would have been better sticking with something more traditional.

For example, one thing I liked about the Avengers cartoon (the one everyone else hates) is that for the first time they actually redesigned some costumes for a cartoon series. Mind you, the armor was definitely a bit much, but they came up with a nice take on Wonder Man's suit and a streamlined take on Tigra's rather minimal costume that seemed befitting a more athletic character and got rid of the goofy little tribal flourishes (the little cat-head pendant and the little tooth things hanging from the edge of her trunks).

For Doc Ock's suit in the '90s Spider-Man, I can go either way. The armor may have been an odd choice, but I don't think I would have wanted him in the white "ice cream" suit with the black tie like in the '90s comics.

[redlion]

"It depends on the character, the design that's already there and the show it's for."

I agree with this.

Take for example, Ironman from the 90's animated show and compared with the UA version, I think the latter works better because it has a more hi-tech, armored look. This coincides with Tony's character very well because he is constantly on the edge and leading the way in futuristic technology, updated versions of the suit should reflect this in the toons, IMO.

On the other hand.....

The version of Thor from UA was my least favorite. I prefer the classic look of the red cape, winged helmet and Mjolnir as a mallet as he appeared as guest star on the 90's FF show or maybe tweak it with the chainmall armor that he would sometimes wear, in order to show his warrior status as the god of thunder and protector of Asgard. Since Thor is a god and immortal, I see him as a constant and I think his look should be consistant. IMO.

I guess I'm saying it has a lot to do with the character. Some shouldn't be tampered with or maybe their look should be tweaked just a little and some characters could stand some updating visually.

[Mynd Hed]

The version of Thor from UA was my least favorite. I prefer the classic look of the red cape, winged helmet and Mjolnir as a mallet as he appeared as guest star on the 90's FF show or maybe tweak it with the chainmall armor that he would sometimes wear, in order to show his warrior status as the god of thunder and protector of Asgard. Since Thor is a god and immortal, I see him as a constant and I think his look should be consistant. IMO.

I think updates (or lack thereof) should be chosen on the basis of where they're going with the character in the current incarnation. The "hippy" Thor design works better for the Ultimate / Ultimate Avengers' charismatic new-age religious leader "is he a god or is he just a super-powered nut job?" characterization of Thor, so that look was the best choice for the UA version.
Of course, if you'd rather they had stuck with Thor just plain being an Asgardian god, no question in anyone's mind, it's kind of a moot point. But other characters (especially rationalists like Tony Stark) just accepting Thor as truly being a god always seemed a little silly to me (especially since the UA movie doesn't contain any other references to magic or the supernatural), so changing Thor around to make his godhood a little more "fishy" seems like a good update to me.

[AdamYJ]

I think updates (or lack thereof) should be chosen on the basis of where they're going with the character in the current incarnation. The "hippy" Thor design works better for the Ultimate / Ultimate Avengers' charismatic new-age religious leader "is he a god or is he just a super-powered nut job?" characterization of Thor, so that look was the best choice for the UA version.
Of course, if you'd rather they had stuck with Thor just plain being an Asgardian god, no question in anyone's mind, it's kind of a moot point. But other characters (especially rationalists like Tony Stark) just accepting Thor as truly being a god always seemed a little silly to me (especially since the UA movie doesn't contain any other references to magic or the supernatural), so changing Thor around to make his godhood a little more "fishy" seems like a good update to me.

Personally, I go for the way it works in the regular Marvel Universe. The other heroes know he's really a god, but the average man on the street just thinks he's a superhero with a weird mythological gimmick (like how the average personm tends to think Spider-Man is a menace).

[Mynd Hed]

Personally, I go for the way it works in the regular Marvel Universe. The other heroes know he's really a god, but the average man on the street just thinks he's a superhero with a weird mythological gimmick (like how the average personm tends to think Spider-Man is a menace).

I think that works in the 616 universe, where the other heroes have been hanging around Thor (and other supernatural weirdos like Dr. Strange et al) for years and years, long enough to know that they're legit.

But in the Ultimate and UA universes, where most of the heroes are only just now meeting Thor for the first time, either you have to make their first meeting all about Thor and the other heroes realizing that gods walk the Earth, or else you have to have them have their doubts about Thor's godliness, at least at first.

That's my perspective, anyway.

[Spider-Man]

I guess I'm saying it has a lot to do with the character. Some shouldn't be tampered with or maybe their look should be tweaked just a little and some characters could stand some updating visually.
I can agree with that and the material they are adapting from. The characters introduced into the mainstream Marvel Universe are more naturally inclined to the costumes. That's what we're used to and it works. But in the "Ultimate" universe I like that the costumes are more contemporary and the approach for "real" when it comes to costumes. But if a cartoon is based off the mainstream universe than I like the idea that the costumes are inspired by those classic suits. Then again I also understand that designs and suits can be a product of their time which likely explains that ugly armor that Dr. Octopus wore in 1990s Spider-Man: The Animated Series.