To be fair if I could augment my body as I wish you can bet one of the first thing I’d do is install a liver that metabolizes fat always exactly as much as i need to keep a healthy weight and a heart that can pump as much oxygen I need it it pump without getting tired
I’m a fat fuck, I dont need super human strength to be happy, I just need to be healthy. If that gives me a better looking body at the same time that’s a plus
That being said, after a few years I’d most likely have more chrome than meat because having a grappling hook for an arm sound dope as fuck
DingusKhan418
I mean realistically, the type of cyberpunk we’re headed to will have massive obesity rates. Unless some huge over the counter Pharma pills come online that help metabolize fat, which I wouldn’t rule out.
But artists’ renditions are always fantasy/idealization in some way. Not sure why it always triggers people.
ThreeOneFive
TANK, PLEASE.
LazyLich
So, like…. the regular Cyberpunk RPG world?
People of every shape can exist, so long as they have the cash for the mods.
flatulencewizard
literally The Mox and Maelstrom
elmanchosdiablos
Correct me if I’m wrong but I think in the foundational cyberpunk stories, the average person can’t afford to get vanity body mods, they’re forced by the demands of the labour market to get body mods on credit just to keep up with their job. A grand metaphor for workers’ bodies being commodified.
So what I’m trying to say is, the only ones body-modded into super fuckable cyborgs would be vain rich people and sex workers.
The_FriendliestGiant
Edgerunners does some of this with its core cast; you’ve got slinky little folks like Lucy, Rebecca, and teen David, and then you’ve got absolute brick walls like Maine, Dorio, and adult David.
varmisciousknid
True elegance is to have both
callmejetcar
Perfectly describes Rolling Fuck citizens from Robert Evans After the Revolution book lol
TheWebCoder
Clearly not all punks adhere to style over substance 🤣
MotorballPlayer99
In Cyberpunk everyone is young except for corpos.
Also its still escapism and art. People like pretty fit women over ugly out of shape ones, so they will draw that.
Taint0Taster
I’m gonna go full borg. MaxTac isn’t going to do shit when I start cranking 90s.
ookapi
I think both are valid. You can be whatever you want, as long as you have the credits, but it’s a good point that there should be a variety of body mods if you’re depicting an interesting and varied world.
xhappyassassinx
You better believe if we lived in a cyberpunk Dystopia I’m gunna turn myself into a sexy lady. (I’m a dude)
TET901
If archon of flesh is to be believed this is just 40k’s mechanicus
Eris235
Yeah, in the ‘origins’ of Cyberpunk, ‘sexy augmented lady’ is a metaphor for the commercialization of humanity, and how capitalism unchecked will spread across any barriers it can, even biology. To get jobs, you must get augmented, and to get augmented, you must afford it, but you can’t afford it, so you’re at the mercy and in debt to your employer to pay for it for you.
Its like, an extension and conclusion of US employer based health care.
But also, the ‘capitalism turns ladies into products!’ is extra ironic, considering that *that is what putting sexy cgi ladies front and center in their ads is doing for products today*. Things like the new bladerunner, or Cyberpunk 2077, using sexy ladies as one of their main advertising strategies, when those ladies use the likeness and voices of real women, and how hard it is to get work in so many acting/voice acting fields as a women who can’t/won’t be *sexy*, isn’t too many steps away from Cyberpunk.
Obviously, actresses aren’t literally forced to get ‘augmented’ IRL. But, there is pressure for them to undergo cosmetic surgery, literally having permanent medical changes to their body for a better chance of employment. Some might have done that anyway, because they want it and like it. But the inherent *pressure* from their bodies being tied to their livelihood is kinda fucked up, and is what Cyberpunk, the genre, is playing off of.
AtomicSamuraiCyborg
I’ve always been in the tank side. I want four arms, tank treads for legs and big shoulder cannons.
felds
D.Va: *Why not both?*
Shigide
As an artist I can confidently say sex sells. Especially among the cyberpunk fan base, aka nerds.
Lee_337
Sealab 2021 vibes. Murph gonna be an Adrian Barbo-bot.
“My nipples are getting hard just thinking about it” Murphy
Xaielao
> Ah yes the two genders, ‘kpop star’ and ‘tank’.
This basically describes most the characters in my Interface Zero 3.0 table-top campaign lol.
Inevitable-East-1386
I love it😂 I would be a tank so damn bad
WuetenderWeltbuerger
Tonight in news that isn’t news: artists prefer to depict beautiful people rather than ugly ones.
Daniel_The_Thinker
I think all the people who imagine themselves as becoming inhuman masses of cables are lying to themselves.
90% of us are going to become superhumanly hot given the chance. It is way more practical than becoming a monstrosity
Clevererer
This is what happens when you confuse cyberpunk with anime.
compacta_d
Crushinator ideal body form.
NoobSailboat444
It’s just art. Why would you choose to make someone ugly when you can make someone beautiful in your art instead?
mindlessgames
Aesthetification really sucks the joy out of everything.
I probably would turn myself into a cyberpunk kpop idol though.
The_Easter_Egg
*Phyrexia intensifies*
Kaninchenkraut
100% on point.
victoriayelle74726
Now I wanna be a kpop tank
bethany_katherine
people just like to draw hot women. and yes, i’m one of those who likes to draw hot women just because, why not?
RiotRun25
“I just want to be able to scale walls, snatch helicopters out of the sky and throw them at Jeff Bezos”
Based commenter. This is what being a cyberpunk is about
Scx10Deadbolt
In the words of my gf: “I want hands that can open jars!”
ReferenceExMachina
It’s one of the things I really liked about Alita. Most of the cyborgs were function over form. Aside from a few specific exceptions the people who had been augmented just went for pure power or functionality.
Dazzling_Art_1409
Nah. It’s still gonna be one of the two: average people with maybe some cybernetics here and there (because they can’t afford anything serious) and idealized hot people. Because they’re rich. Being rich makes them well-protected. Being well-protected will allow them to go for good looks. Those huge metal gorillas, like described in the screenshot — those will be very rare.
diogenic_logic
I haven’t drawn many women so far in the 13 pages I’ve released, but I do make it a point to draw “average” people in my web comic (https://zero-25.com). Please have a look and lmk what you think 🙂
sourpuz
This is a brilliant discussion.
arielif1
For those wondering the real reason every woman is a super stylized and sexualized version of herself is because cyberpunk art is both complaining about economic and political decline (hence the symbolism for the commodification of workers and their bodies) but also of a cultural shift towards the commodification of the self and of people at large in a personal sense, where people are forced to keep up a persona that is as attractive as possible. We are closer to that than we realize, tbh. My point is the women are sexualized on purpose to criticize the hypercapitalist “sex sells” culture and the coerced sexualization of the self
monkey_sage
Let’s also remember there will *always* be the hippies who will fetishize not having any implants of any kind, choosing to be “all natural”.
Drunken_Nun_Stumbles
You just named two things I hate most about my body. If I could have pouty lips and killer hips I’d be on that as soon as I had the eddies in hand.
Yeah, I’d get the mantis blades and the smartgun interface too, but I’m gonna look fucking fabulous while I cut the heads off of Malestromers and shoot them with my eyes closed for laughs.
scalectrix
“I could care less”?? So… you care a lot? Definitely not the minimum possible amount of caring, at any rate.
*I could***n’t*** care less
ObieFTG
It’s lost on these people who make these statements about “realism” in a fantasy genre how anti-Cyberpunk it actually is to censor an artist’s expression to satisfy your own fragile sensibilities.
Like, that’s the exact kind of dystopian behavior that the Cyberpunk genre makes commentary about.
kinglokilord
The octopus arms body mod costs 400,000 credits.
But the bodymod where I can sit on a toilet after eating a 3d printed sleeve of burritos and not feel like a fat sack of shit is just 5,000 credits.
47 Comments
Lizzy Wizzy Vs. Adam Smasher?
im so in love with this post
To be fair if I could augment my body as I wish you can bet one of the first thing I’d do is install a liver that metabolizes fat always exactly as much as i need to keep a healthy weight and a heart that can pump as much oxygen I need it it pump without getting tired
I’m a fat fuck, I dont need super human strength to be happy, I just need to be healthy. If that gives me a better looking body at the same time that’s a plus
That being said, after a few years I’d most likely have more chrome than meat because having a grappling hook for an arm sound dope as fuck
I mean realistically, the type of cyberpunk we’re headed to will have massive obesity rates. Unless some huge over the counter Pharma pills come online that help metabolize fat, which I wouldn’t rule out.
But artists’ renditions are always fantasy/idealization in some way. Not sure why it always triggers people.
TANK, PLEASE.
So, like…. the regular Cyberpunk RPG world?
People of every shape can exist, so long as they have the cash for the mods.
literally The Mox and Maelstrom
Correct me if I’m wrong but I think in the foundational cyberpunk stories, the average person can’t afford to get vanity body mods, they’re forced by the demands of the labour market to get body mods on credit just to keep up with their job. A grand metaphor for workers’ bodies being commodified.
So what I’m trying to say is, the only ones body-modded into super fuckable cyborgs would be vain rich people and sex workers.
Edgerunners does some of this with its core cast; you’ve got slinky little folks like Lucy, Rebecca, and teen David, and then you’ve got absolute brick walls like Maine, Dorio, and adult David.
True elegance is to have both
Perfectly describes Rolling Fuck citizens from Robert Evans After the Revolution book lol
Clearly not all punks adhere to style over substance 🤣
In Cyberpunk everyone is young except for corpos.
Also its still escapism and art. People like pretty fit women over ugly out of shape ones, so they will draw that.
I’m gonna go full borg. MaxTac isn’t going to do shit when I start cranking 90s.
I think both are valid. You can be whatever you want, as long as you have the credits, but it’s a good point that there should be a variety of body mods if you’re depicting an interesting and varied world.
You better believe if we lived in a cyberpunk Dystopia I’m gunna turn myself into a sexy lady. (I’m a dude)
If archon of flesh is to be believed this is just 40k’s mechanicus
Yeah, in the ‘origins’ of Cyberpunk, ‘sexy augmented lady’ is a metaphor for the commercialization of humanity, and how capitalism unchecked will spread across any barriers it can, even biology. To get jobs, you must get augmented, and to get augmented, you must afford it, but you can’t afford it, so you’re at the mercy and in debt to your employer to pay for it for you.
Its like, an extension and conclusion of US employer based health care.
But also, the ‘capitalism turns ladies into products!’ is extra ironic, considering that *that is what putting sexy cgi ladies front and center in their ads is doing for products today*. Things like the new bladerunner, or Cyberpunk 2077, using sexy ladies as one of their main advertising strategies, when those ladies use the likeness and voices of real women, and how hard it is to get work in so many acting/voice acting fields as a women who can’t/won’t be *sexy*, isn’t too many steps away from Cyberpunk.
Obviously, actresses aren’t literally forced to get ‘augmented’ IRL. But, there is pressure for them to undergo cosmetic surgery, literally having permanent medical changes to their body for a better chance of employment. Some might have done that anyway, because they want it and like it. But the inherent *pressure* from their bodies being tied to their livelihood is kinda fucked up, and is what Cyberpunk, the genre, is playing off of.
I’ve always been in the tank side. I want four arms, tank treads for legs and big shoulder cannons.
D.Va: *Why not both?*
As an artist I can confidently say sex sells. Especially among the cyberpunk fan base, aka nerds.
Sealab 2021 vibes. Murph gonna be an Adrian Barbo-bot.
“My nipples are getting hard just thinking about it” Murphy
> Ah yes the two genders, ‘kpop star’ and ‘tank’.
This basically describes most the characters in my Interface Zero 3.0 table-top campaign lol.
I love it😂 I would be a tank so damn bad
Tonight in news that isn’t news: artists prefer to depict beautiful people rather than ugly ones.
I think all the people who imagine themselves as becoming inhuman masses of cables are lying to themselves.
90% of us are going to become superhumanly hot given the chance. It is way more practical than becoming a monstrosity
This is what happens when you confuse cyberpunk with anime.
Crushinator ideal body form.
It’s just art. Why would you choose to make someone ugly when you can make someone beautiful in your art instead?
Aesthetification really sucks the joy out of everything.
I probably would turn myself into a cyberpunk kpop idol though.
*Phyrexia intensifies*
100% on point.
Now I wanna be a kpop tank
people just like to draw hot women. and yes, i’m one of those who likes to draw hot women just because, why not?
“I just want to be able to scale walls, snatch helicopters out of the sky and throw them at Jeff Bezos”
Based commenter. This is what being a cyberpunk is about
In the words of my gf: “I want hands that can open jars!”
It’s one of the things I really liked about Alita. Most of the cyborgs were function over form. Aside from a few specific exceptions the people who had been augmented just went for pure power or functionality.
Nah. It’s still gonna be one of the two: average people with maybe some cybernetics here and there (because they can’t afford anything serious) and idealized hot people. Because they’re rich. Being rich makes them well-protected. Being well-protected will allow them to go for good looks. Those huge metal gorillas, like described in the screenshot — those will be very rare.
I haven’t drawn many women so far in the 13 pages I’ve released, but I do make it a point to draw “average” people in my web comic (https://zero-25.com). Please have a look and lmk what you think 🙂
This is a brilliant discussion.
For those wondering the real reason every woman is a super stylized and sexualized version of herself is because cyberpunk art is both complaining about economic and political decline (hence the symbolism for the commodification of workers and their bodies) but also of a cultural shift towards the commodification of the self and of people at large in a personal sense, where people are forced to keep up a persona that is as attractive as possible. We are closer to that than we realize, tbh. My point is the women are sexualized on purpose to criticize the hypercapitalist “sex sells” culture and the coerced sexualization of the self
Let’s also remember there will *always* be the hippies who will fetishize not having any implants of any kind, choosing to be “all natural”.
You just named two things I hate most about my body. If I could have pouty lips and killer hips I’d be on that as soon as I had the eddies in hand.
Yeah, I’d get the mantis blades and the smartgun interface too, but I’m gonna look fucking fabulous while I cut the heads off of Malestromers and shoot them with my eyes closed for laughs.
“I could care less”?? So… you care a lot? Definitely not the minimum possible amount of caring, at any rate.
*I could***n’t*** care less
It’s lost on these people who make these statements about “realism” in a fantasy genre how anti-Cyberpunk it actually is to censor an artist’s expression to satisfy your own fragile sensibilities.
Like, that’s the exact kind of dystopian behavior that the Cyberpunk genre makes commentary about.
The octopus arms body mod costs 400,000 credits.
But the bodymod where I can sit on a toilet after eating a 3d printed sleeve of burritos and not feel like a fat sack of shit is just 5,000 credits.
NEW TANK BEEP (I’m sorry if you understood this)