Quote Originally Posted by Orspeth View Post
Hope the platekini style doesn't come into play later - not quite 40 yet...
While most tank armor is, well, armor, there is a platekini in this game. You don't have to wear it, but it does exist - the Colosseum set for DoW classes (also the Light Steel glamour set, which is the same thing except minorly dyable). The pants are BiS for level 44 only (then you get AF) and the top is BiS for level 44-45, if I'm remembering right. But, there's another dungeon tank set at level 44 that's also BiS (the Sentinel set) which is actual armor.

So, while there is a platekini, it's just one set, the exception rather than the rule, not endgame gear, an alternative option exists, and it looks just as bad on guys (it's like a jock strap for the pants and just a shoulderpad for the chest). Basically, the set is supposed to be patterned after what a gladiator in a Colosseum IRL would have worn - very minimal and intentionally not protective (except, in the game it is protective, because fantasy).

Most female tank armor is identical on male and female. You can see people whining on the forums about how the armor "hides their figure" (ie: no boob bumps*) and how the armor "give them abs." There are a very small number of sets that look totally different on male and female characters in this game overall (Dragoon AF chest has an inexplicable boob window for women, and NIN AF pants on women are sheer except for a tiny loincloth, but are opaque on men, and the chest piece also has a boob window if I'm remembering right). The vast majority look the same, except if the chest is exposed (Kirimu Coat, Picaroon's Jacket, Buccaneer's Shirt, Taffeta Shawl, etc), the female version has a bra (or strip of material) covering that part of the anatomy.

While the vast majority of "masculine" armors look the same on women as they do on men, that's not to say that there aren't "feminine" sets, and the converse is also true. There are a few extremely feminine armor sets (Evenstar, Scylla's) and they (usually) look the same on guys as they do on women, which leads to things like this topic. (Some are edited a bit though to remove some feminine accents, like I think the Taffeta Loincloth on guys lacks the butt-skirt?)

* "Boob bumps" are actually deadly on platemail IRL since they direct all force from chest hits directly into your ribs - if you trip and fall in IRL costume boobplate and your chest his the ground, you are very likely to be either in critical condition or dead (assuming we're talking about costume armor made with real metal). Besides, regardless of a person's gender, underneath real platemail you wear so many layers of padded clothing that there is no practical difference between male and female body shapes when you get to the platemail itself.