Somebodies got PHB3!

[RangerWickett]

I never really got that analogy.

"So... so she's a sturdy place to poop?"

From Wikipedia:

A "Brick House" is slang for a voluptuous woman. The original expression was/is "She's built like a brick house". It dates back to the time when few people had indoor plumbing. Most "outhouses" were made of wood, flimsy and frequently knocked down with strong winds or harsh weather. It would be unusual, rare and impressive to find an outhouse made of brick. Hence, if a woman were "stacked" or had a figure you likely only saw in your dreams (before breast augmentations), she would be described as being built like a "brick house" - impressive and solid.


For obvious reasons, Shirley Hanna-King (lyricist) modified the expression for the song. The term "Brick House", has since become part of mainstream American slang. The song is noted for its catchy rhythm, and thirty years after its recording it is still popular in night clubs and on radio stations all over the world.

 

[Rechan]

RW, I understand in general what it's supposed to be saying, it just doesn't make sense. Because you're comparing them to a place you dump human waste. Not much of a compliment there.

I went to the trouble of looking this up; the author tracks it back to the origins and suggests the first guy to use the term to describe an ATTRACTIVE woman was being sarcastic, as the phrase has traditionally been used for unappealing women (and very muscular men). Since y'know, anything made of brick typically isn't very aesthetically voluptious or svelte, but rather very STOUT and BLOCKY.

Although I can imagine a dwarven woman might take it as a compliment. Since "STOUT AND BLOCKY" is prety much Dwarf.

 

[Plane Sailing]

And even if none of this is true - if they were just generally humanoid in form - the basic female shape is just as humanoid as the male shape. The odd thing then would not be that they have breasts, but that they have sexual dimorphism.

I sigh at the lack of interesting degrees of sexual variation outside of Empire of the Petal Throne (where the Shen, the Ahoggya and others have multiple sexes). Why doesn't anyone include that degree of interesting backgrounds nowadays?

 

[Plane Sailing]

BTW, in the UK I've only ever heard of 'built like a brick outhouse' to mean big, tough and ugly. I'd never have guessed that it might be used to describe women with visual assets.

 

[Dannager]

Regarding breasts on non-mammalian fantasy races, James Cameron's comment on the topic is the top story on Digg right now. It pretty much sums up my thoughts on this whole issue, as well.

 

[Victim]

BTW, in the UK I've only ever heard of 'built like a brick outhouse' to mean big, tough and ugly. I'd never have guessed that it might be used to describe women with visual assets.

That's the only sense in which I've seen the phrase used as well, and I live in the US.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Regarding breasts on non-mammalian fantasy races, James Cameron's comment on the topic is the top story on Digg right now. It pretty much sums up my thoughts on this whole issue, as well.

Man, this thread is taking a weirder and weirder turn. Discussing the finer points of voluptuous women being built like brick houses (which may or may not be a complement), and now people basically saying "I like breasts on things," citing James Cameron's personal fetish fuel like chapter and verse.

Breasts on dragons (and maybe crystal golems) is kind of dumb like beards on dwarf women is kind of dumb. But, hell, if Rule 34 of the Internet can become Rule 34 of D&D, I don't really care. It doesn't make ME dumb. It just makes the artists/designers/people who emphasize the fact that their nonmammal has bewbs dumb.

I don't really even care if the dragonpeople IMC have bewbs or not. It's not really something I'm going to spend much time on, other than to note that it's kind of dumb, but whatever.

D&D has owlbears. D&D can stomach a few things that are kind of dumb. If breasts on a dragonperson are very important to your way of having fun, well, whatever, roll that d20, I don't care.

 

[Rechan]

There's one really easy explanation of "Why x has boobs" in D&D:

It lets us determine which is feminine or female and which is not. Long hair, slenderness, that doesn't seem to work with some races/species/whatnot (dwarves aren't slender, most of the men have long hair in braids, elves have long hair and are quite slender, etc). Boobs = It's a girl.

Even if it isn't a FEMALE sexual organs, even if it's female in personality, then boobs make sense to telegraph "Hay I'm a girl in my head".

Gettign into the in-game explanation of it all doesn't even matter. Because this is the thought process that goes through the artist trying to depict the entity in question. If they want to differentiate thsi one a female, they give'm boobs.

Not more complex than that.

And before someone says "Well why would the ARTIST do that?" Well I'm willing to bet that the artist is just told "This is the concept of the race, this is what we're thinking, here's sort of a concept sketch. Draw some more pictures" and the artist just goes to town. I don't think anyone tells the artist "hey, draw boobs" or "Hey don't draw boobs". If the artist isn't told they don't have females, or the females don't have boobs, I'm willing to bet the artist just draws'm that way to differentiate.

 

[Intense_Interest]

Man, this thread is taking a weirder and weirder turn. Discussing the finer points of voluptuous women being built like brick houses (which may or may not be a complement), and now people basically saying "I like breasts on things," citing James Cameron's personal fetish fuel like chapter and verse.

Breasts on dragons (and maybe crystal golems) is kind of dumb like beards on dwarf women is kind of dumb. But, hell, if Rule 34 of the Internet can become Rule 34 of D&D, I don't really care. It doesn't make ME dumb. It just makes the artists/designers/people who emphasize the fact that their nonmammal has bewbs dumb.

I don't really even care if the dragonpeople IMC have bewbs or not. It's not really something I'm going to spend much time on, other than to note that it's kind of dumb, but whatever.

D&D has owlbears. D&D can stomach a few things that are kind of dumb. If breasts on a dragonperson are very important to your way of having fun, well, whatever, roll that d20, I don't care.

If anyone is going to call the everything-has-mammaries style dumb and and stupid, couldn't we just call it Schindehettal style (after the senior Art Director) and move on? It has been the same argument for AGES and no one is going to change minds.

Even the advertisement on the side of the page RIGHT NOW is for Warmachine and has a white girl with a D-cup. It seems to be a constant rather than a surprise.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Regarding breasts on non-mammalian fantasy races, James Cameron's comment on the topic is the top story on Digg right now. It pretty much sums up my thoughts on this whole issue, as well.

Love it.

Here's the way I figure. When women play D&D, they probably want a character that is recognizable and identifiable. It would seem odd to play a character missing some standard parts.

Turn the tables a bit (and I'll keep this safe for Eric's grandma). What if male characters in D&D didn't have male parts? How would you feel?

It's a non-issue. To paraphrase Cameron, this is a game for human beings. So let the races have some human traits, something for female players to identify with, even when they don't always make scientific sense.