What Are The Worst Character Designs You Have Ever Seen?

[_blank_]

Okay folks, I got another bone to pick with comic character designs I'm pretty only myself and maybe 10 other people in the world give a shit about. But since Deadpool 2 is coming out, I wanna talk about X-Force. The actual, classic X-Force, not the bullshit let's have Wolverine and Deadpool on a team X-Force because money.

First, there was the initial lineup of X-Force created back in 1992...

...which ran pretty much like this until the Age of Apocalypse saga in 1996. Feral left somewhere in 1994 and eventually got a haircut, losing the Dorito-bonnet look, Shatterstar got a white and red ensemble, and Domino's getup progressively got more holes in it, but otherwise the costumes remained fairly consistent.

...and then 1996 happened. Age of Apocalypse happened, and when X-Force came back, a new creative team was put onto X-Force as Tony Daniel decided to head off to make other funnybooks involving women losing their shirts every third page. Marvel signed on jeans fashion model turned comic artist Adam Pollina to be the core artist and his designs were... something.

http://sneed.ecrater.com/stores/217254/50313fec1b3e7_217254b.jpg

Instead of characters having their own unique look, they were placed in similar purple and yellow "uniforms." Really, the only one who could wear purple well was Domino. But the biggest travesty was Warpath.

Warpath, in the first picture, is the fucking 20-foot tall Apache, adorned in the same costume his older brother, Thunderbird wore when he was first with the X-Men before dying by taking a plane to the face. However, Marvel realized, y'know, maybe the whole Feathers and tassles thing is a bit... y'know... silly. How about we change it?

HOW ABOUT WE GIVE HIM A CHOKER, A BRIGHT PURPLE JUMPSUIT AND PISS YELLOW LEATHER CHAPS.

YEE-HAW DOGGIES!

Needless to say, after Pollina left the book, Warpath went right back to - OH WAIT STOP GUYS HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MATRIX MOVIE?!

BLACK LEATHER AND TRENCHCOATS FOR EVERYONE!!! NOW NOW NOW!!!

Thankfully, after Marvel returned back from Detox, they finally got some people that could give ol' Warpath a decent getup, and gave him a nice pair of knives, because, hell, we got a 20-foot tall Apache that can run over 100mph, drop kick pickups trucks, and apparently has senses as keen as Wolverine's, how about we give him a nice pair of fucking Vibranium knives as well.

Granted, he looks like a roided up Nightwing, but I'll take it.

 

[Hail Nyarlathotep]

Now I usually quite like the designs, Atlus makes.
But then you also have ones, like these two

Spoiler

If you were to tell me this was supposed to be a parody of a ''badass demon'' I'd believe you

I get that it's nyarlathothep and he's supposed to be weird. but come on this is just fucking dumb

And seeing how castlevania has been mentioned a few times in this thread, I'm suprised nobody mentioned this fucker.

Spoiler: Not a pleasent sight

 

[neverendingmidi]

Okay folks, I got another bone to pick with comic character designs I'm pretty only myself and maybe 10 other people in the world give a shit about. But since Deadpool 2 is coming out, I wanna talk about X-Force. The actual, classic X-Force, not the bullshit let's have Wolverine and Deadpool on a team X-Force because money.

First, there was the initial lineup of X-Force created back in 1992...

...which ran pretty much like this until the Age of Apocalypse saga in 1996. Feral left somewhere in 1994 and eventually got a haircut, losing the Dorito-bonnet look, Shatterstar got a white and red ensemble, and Domino's getup progressively got more holes in it, but otherwise the costumes remained fairly consistent.

Whose legs are detatched on the far right (as you look at it)? Is Shatterstar sitting on an invisible toilet, or are his thighs only 6” long?

 

[AutistocLolCow]

Whose legs are detatched on the far right (as you look at it)? Is Shatterstar sitting on an invisible toilet, or are his thighs only 6” long?

Thats our boy Rob Liefeld allright!

 

[SirQuicksand]

Honestly, I think these shows had worse designs than whatever LoCH had.

 

[NARPASSWORD]

This thread needs more Olympic mascots.

 

[Teri-Teri]

Lucky Chloe from Tekken

 

[Shokew]

Lucky Chloe from Tekken
View attachment 426089

At least the gameplay is still good... From what I've heard. But yeah, that really does look like it belongs in something destined to branch out into a hentai (-type platformer / beat em' up) for free on some shady area online, not a fucking fighting game you're going to pay serious money for to get it fresh.

 

[Trilby]

This thread needs more Olympic mascots.

The London 2012 ones always take the cake for me!

 

[NARPASSWORD]

The London 2012 ones always take the cake for me!

It will honestly be easier to list the Olympic Mascots that aren't terrible.
I can only think of three, TBH (Misha (Moscow 1980) and Sam (Los Angelos 1984) are at least something symbolic of their nations (a bear and bald eagle, respectively), And I thought Cobi (Barcelona 1992) was kind of cute, in a way).

 

[Trilby]

It will honestly be easier to list the Olympic Mascots that aren't terrible.
I can only think of three, TBH (Misha (Moscow 1980) and Sam (Los Angelos 1984) are at least something symbolic of their nations (a bear and bald eagle, respectively), And I thought Cobi (Barcelona 1992) was kind of cute, in a way).

I wish we had more Misha's, Sam's and Cobi's in our lives (Seoul's Hodori wasn't bad either).

Thinking back to Cobi, he was probably the start of that sudden trend to be 'different'. Of course Cobi takes his inspiration from Picasso and Cubism so it made sense for Spain to honor that. Ironically the popularity of Misha and Sam (designed by a Disney artist) led to an unusual production of animated programs seen mostly in Japan at the time before those games were held, Misha also saw several animated shorts in the USSR too. Cobi had one in his home country too, and maybe Hodori as well, but I think Film Roman's production of a TV special for Izzy was the last we've seen of these mascots getting full-fledged animated projects outside of short promos.

Spoiler: Olympic Mascot Toonage

 

[AutistocLolCow]

This thread needs more Olympic mascots.

You shut your whore mouth about Olly, Syd and Millie!

The London 2012 ones always take the cake for me!

Lol agree, because the fuckers looked like the security cameras they push an orwegian watch on them all.

Coby from Spain.

Also the Korea and Japan one from the soccer world cup..

 

[Sinner's Sandwich]

the fucking expo 2000 world's fair mascot. Even as a child I hated this abomination.

 

[Trilby]

the fucking expo 2000 world's fair mascot. Even as a child I hated this abomination.

Damn.

Reminded now of Winter Game mascots like Vucko, at least he looked decent when they did some loose drawings of the wolf for postcards.

 

[_blank_]

Lucky Chloe from Tekken
View attachment 426089

DONCHU TALK SHIT BOUT MY WA....MY MAIN. MY MAIN CHARACTER. DON'T READ INTO THIS.

Seriously though, yeah her costume is fucking ridiculous but she is super fun to play since 1)she's tricky to read; and 2) the amounts of unmitigated rage you can garner when you beat someone with Chloe.

Also helpful since Bandai Namco decided to deprive us of Zafina.

EDIT:
Just noticed this...

Whose legs are detatched on the far right (as you look at it)? Is Shatterstar sitting on an invisible toilet, or are his thighs only 6” long?

Looking at this again, I actually own some of the comics these images come from so this is decidedly a 'shop. And a poor one at that since it looks like Warparth's torso is now and additional 7' long.

LIEFELD DID NOTHING WRONG (this time (technically)).

 

[JohnDoe]

Taking a stroll through Olympic mascot history makes my head hurt. Look at some of this shit;

Spoiler

What is this Adventure-time looking monkey-cat thing?

Spoiler

Is this a man? A star? A fucking starman? Who gets paid for this?

Spoiler

A snowball? An ice cube? This is so abstract and lazy that I dislike it even more than the stylized 'ugly' ones posted upthread.

Really, how hard is this? Pick an animal from around the country and make some simple vector lines;
Look at these easy-to-read outlines;

 

[Trilby]

Taking a stroll through Olympic mascot history makes my head hurt. Look at some of this shit;

Spoiler

What is this Adventure-time looking monkey-cat thing?

Not a pleasant design in the slightest, and I'm tired of that AT look too.

Spoiler

Is this a man? A star? A fucking starman? Who gets paid for this?

Or a living ornament?

Spoiler

A snowball? An ice cube? This is so abstract and lazy that I dislike it even more than the stylized 'ugly' ones posted upthread.

It is lazy.

Really, how hard is this? Pick an animal from around the country and make some simple vector lines;
Look at these easy-to-read outlines;

Someone loves Vucko!

Speaking of wolves, at least the FIFA World Cup mascots tend to look pretty decent. This year's mascot for Russia at least follows this trend well.

Nowadays it's almost like they have to make up animals on the fly, it's never an actual animal that represents the country at all these days, it's some mythical/fantasy sort of thing. Here's what Tokyo's mascots for 2020 are...

https://www.olympic.org/news/tokyo-2020-unveils-mascots

 

[Red Hood]

I don't know that seems to be the one that stuck, as even the awful reboot series had simons apperence based on it.

Even if it stuck I think it's a shit design. I was born in the 80's, I want Conan-ripoff Simon back.

 

[JohnDoe]

Someone loves Vucko!

Everybody loves Vucko, and seeing the guy in the mascot costume drunkenly pass out very casually on the floor of a bar mid-interview while Karma Chameleon plays was worth watching the video. Eastern Europe's culture of casual quasi-functional alcoholism, everybody!

Seriously, its so easy to like Vucko because he's got such strong, simple design elements. With the busy, poorly designed ones you can't even tell whats going on in a static pose, but if you start with strong design even in action things are clear.
See some of those postcards and one of the animated clips they used for commercials.

Another strong Olympic design:

Spoiler

What do Hodori and Vucko have in common? Strong, crisp outlines and a limited palette of color and pattern. You can immediately tell at first glance what they are, what they are doing, and what they represent. Among the bad designs we see in this thread, ignoring two or all three guidelines (outline, color, pattern) is pretty universal.

Not a pleasant design in the slightest, and I'm tired of that AT look too.
Speaking of wolves, at least the FIFA World Cup mascots tend to look pretty decent. This year's mascot for Russia at least follows this trend well.
View attachment 427085

Russia tempted fate. This is the price they pay.

Nowadays it's almost like they have to make up animals on the fly, it's never an actual animal that represents the country at all these days, it's some mythical/fantasy sort of thing. Here's what Tokyo's mascots for 2020 are...

https://www.olympic.org/news/tokyo-2020-unveils-mascots

There is no way that they've already run out of animal mascots in Japan. There can't be. This are the culture that have mascots for police precincts! You think they could manage better than this!

Actually, they are pretty hit and miss with their police mascots. I'll take a closer look and maybe do a whole post on them.

 

[Trilby]

Everybody loves Vucko, and seeing the guy in the mascot costume drunkenly pass out very casually on the floor of a bar mid-interview while Karma Chameleon plays was worth watching the video. Eastern Europe's culture of casual quasi-functional alcoholism, everybody!

I'm glad to have linked that!

Seriously, its so easy to like Vucko because he's got such strong, simple design elements. With the busy, poorly designed ones you can't even tell whats going on in a static pose, but if you start with strong design even in action things are clear.
See some of those postcards and one of the animated clips they used for commercials.

Those were cool clips as well. Sorta wonder what studio was behind them. I know Croatia's Zagreb Film was quite a world-reknowned studio during that time in Yugoslavia.

Another strong Olympic design:

Spoiler

What do Hodori and Vucko have in common? Strong, crisp outlines and a limited palette of color and pattern. You can immediately tell at first glance what they are, what they are doing, and what they represent. Among the bad designs we see in this thread, ignoring two or all three guidelines (outline, color, pattern) is pretty universal.

Seems to be.

Russia tempted fate. This is the price they pay.

It happens. The character was also a little TOO much for some fans to go that far. Of course Russia has had a history of creating such appealing cartoons designs for animals like in the famous Soyuzmultfilm studio films, of course nobody was probably doing R34 of Nu, Pogodi! during the final years of the USSR if their lives depended on not getting caught.

There is no way that they've already run out of animal mascots in Japan.

Which is something when you consider Tokyo had already hosted the games in '64 (shortly before animal mascots were a thing), so they really had no excuse not to use one..

There can't be. This are the culture that have mascots for police precincts! You think they could manage better than this!

True, I would've used a tanuki myself!

Actually, they are pretty hit and miss with their police mascots. I'll take a closer look and maybe do a whole post on them.

Love to see that, I know the baseball ones have some appeal.