#also somepony... anypony... help Melora translate more of her collection

[inspiteofganon]

@bloobluebloo replied to your post “does anyone else play "does the artist think...”:

I play a broader game of "does the artist actually appreciate the character" because, as you mention, there are traits an artist might give him that may seem undesirable to me but are desirable to the artist in question. There are certain kinks and tropes that some people really like (for example, those people that really are into draw very large very well defined muscles which admittedly, not my thing) and a lot of those people also really like Ganondorf. Anyways the only time I really see Ganondorf draw in an "ugly" way imo is if the purpose of his portrayal is to show him being a threat or menace because ugly = evil. I find this is reflected in the way many people's initial reaction to wanting or desiring a Ganondorf with more character development was "you just want that because you think he's hot"

​That's the idea! And that's why trying to sus out context is such a big part of it when getting more specific than that (the game is rendered mostly over if the artist comes out and says their opinion on his looks, or does something obvious like selfship with him). Usually I don't have enough of a sample size-- especially for artworks where not a lot is happening-- to determine a more certain "hot or not?" It's easier to determine if the artist may struggle with him, or find him uncool, what features they try and bring out or minimize when depicting him... Ganondorf has such a distinct look about him that he varies a lot when people draw him because it's honestly kind of hard to capture, which is part of the fun of the game.

Plenty of times one isn't actively trying to make Ganondorf ugly-- he is a fit and well-dressed fellow with a cool visage-- but even if all the "handsome" ingredients are there... it just won't combine into the right vibe. Heck, even if a work is pornographic and Ganondorf is a key figure, the piece can still radiate major "doesn't really find him attractive" vibes! (this usually being result of him either just being there as a vehicle for an act rather than a facet of the big picture to be oogled, or looking so off-model he basically becomes an OC) "Finding Ganondorf hot" is a wide spectrum, so in playing this game I gotta be mindful that yes indeed... the artist might simply be into things I'm not.

A lot of people seem to just be trying to make him recognizable at all. Like "OK, here's Ganondorf", and they succeed well enough. It's a harder game outside of art that's longform sequential or shippy. He's not a common focus with depth, sadly.

I hesitate to give any contemporary examples of Ganondorfs I could clock as "artist probably thinks he's on the ugly side" in public since I don't wanna make any online artists who're up and around offended (though it's not a game I play to be mean), so I'll pull a few vintage 'Dorfs from History of Hyrule's library to give everyone a brief session of the game. This one's easy.

At a glance of these three... which artist probably found Ganondorf the most appealing?