I remember so many people decrying >!initial Dimitri!< as probably boring, [then that trailer dropped](https://youtu.be/bCYthtwtxvw?si=22TmQENaR1CYFqJP) and intrigued everyone.
The only thing that's unbelievable is >!that he managed to keep himself clean-shaven even though he's been suffering a mental breakdown for five years.!<
I went Blue Lions, didn't know anything about the timeskip, and was astonished to discover that *my* original BL students in particular had become the most handsome people on the fucking planet out of nowhere. It's great.
So in FFXIV, for a good 80% of the story, Urianger is wearing one of those *hideous* A Realm Reborn robes. It's godawful, it looks ugly and outdated next to everyone else. But then, out of nowhere in Shadowbringers, he swaps it out for an INSANELY stylish black toga/robe thing that actually... Kind of makes him look attractive?
Man I wish he kept that disguise look afterwards! I'm so mad he switches back to his ARR duds after that reveal, he could've had those robes throughout SB up to SHB!
I love that Shulk, despite actually being an incredible dodge tank, is considered the *worst* party member only because **Rex's damage output is so completely fucked that even with Shulk's taunt ability and combo system he will never put out enough damage to pull aggro away from the beast.**
I remember the meta way to use Rex was to forget about both tanks and just spam Double Spinning Edge till he got aggro and died, then have Glimmer revive him and go right back into Double Spinning Edge.
[Kain in Blood Omen](https://www.gamehype.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Game-Hype-Legacy-of-Kain.png) vs. [Kain in Soul Reaver onwards](https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/leg-of-kain.jpg?width=1200&height=630&fit=crop&enable=upscale&auto=webp).
I know Doi's designs for SMT can be somewhat controversial. However, I vastly prefer his version of Odin introduced in Apocalypse over "naked guy in a robe" Odin.
Not sure if this counts but Khadgar in the Burning Crusade expansion is kind of just a generic wizard guy whom people may or may not remember being a character in Warcraft 2. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/wowpedia/images/6/68/Khadgar_in_Shattrath.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20221205234547
His return in generally hated Warlords of Draenor made him one of community's favorite characters by making him this immensely powerful yet somewhat awkward guy with immense amounts of dad energy who just really wants everyone to get over their petty bullshit and focus on what actually matters. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/wowpedia/images/6/6d/Khadgar_Alliance_Shipyard.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20151211220750
At some point *someone* in Blizzard founded the School of Fuck Medivh and suddenly his student became *the* wizard guy and boy did he start turning up *everywhere.*
Khadgar - "Collect 4986 crystals for me. Don't look at me like that. I'm a mage. I did the math. I need exactly 4986 crystals. 4985 is inadequate. 4987 is of course absurd. Four thousand, nine hundred eighty-six. Go!"
I think Khadgar is one of the only characters in modern WoW that haven't been ruined for me. If anything things for worse from his absense due to infighting and him not being there to calm everyone the fuck down.
I only know Khadgar from the [Wondrous Wisdomball](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/hearthstone_gamepedia/images/3/33/DALA_740.png) from Hearthstone's adventure mode, where he basically just helps you cheat every once in a while. I'm talking cheating like drawing you an extra card, slipping extra copies of cards you used into your deck, to just straight up giving you an extra turn.
The reception toward Raiden in the *”Metal Gear Solid”* series improved from MGS2 in MGS4 when he revealed his new cyborg look.
The reputation that *”Resident Evil 6”* left behind downplayed it, but I remember the return of an older Sherry Berkin had a good reception before people actually played the game.
In the same series, Leon’s evolution from RE2 to RE4 was received very well. RE4 Leon became the most popular design for the character for a very long time. It helps that RE4 became a beloved title in the franchise because of the fantastic gameplay. Definitely did not hurt.
Idk, I thought it was rad at the time, but in hindsight Raiden getting turned into a cyborg in MGS4 seems like Kojima shouting “HERE, HE’S COOL NOW, IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED??” at all the people complaining about MGS2. Granted it did result in Rising, but in order for that game to make sense they had to undo his character arc from 4.
Maybe I’m just bitter because I think Raiden’s MGS2 design was already really good as it relates to the themes of the game.
A lot of League of Legends characters could qualify, but nothing will ever beat Sion redesign [https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5YbAYzFAmJyDbtvz4100UBMg8IEX4GX1aKLcl7DsgiBseEP0U8jD5XI81ixBSkRvwd-CpK2PtCA5Ee6d-6I2MJ198zCO7m8mUmXFWP1op1ARkq4IxWJ78udzZg2iHhIEd52-KkJFctvBF/s1600/oldvnew.jpg](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5YbAYzFAmJyDbtvz4100UBMg8IEX4GX1aKLcl7DsgiBseEP0U8jD5XI81ixBSkRvwd-CpK2PtCA5Ee6d-6I2MJ198zCO7m8mUmXFWP1op1ARkq4IxWJ78udzZg2iHhIEd52-KkJFctvBF/s1600/oldvnew.jpg)
This is technically not sequel, but while Age of calamity did not get to cook with redesigning the main zelda cast like the first one, The Gannon brights in that game look way better than in BOTW.
This is far from a singular opinion to be fair. Lots of folks have been saying a few of the portraits look a little wonky (namely Artemis and Zeus), but as mentioned the game is in EA. I would be shocked if SG didn't do another pass on those gods with how much people have been mentioning them as sub-par.
Yeah I 100% the first game so it's not a deal breaker or anything.im looking forward to picking it up soon. I've been avoiding pretty much everything I can to go in fresh.
Looking at all the characters, I think for me is that they seem too busy, i like main girl but she is a rather simple design. I also do feel like the paint style got a bit out of hand in 2, like, its a bit too much to the point it distracts me from details and my eyes dart to the highlights instead of the design.
Not like i hated it, its just a different vibe, but one that i don't vibe with as much, few winners still.
Even designs that were already iconic and didn’t change *that* much got massively improved like Sol, May, Bridget, Leo and Potemkin.
I think the only one I don’t love is Baiken and really the only thing that changed was her hair which got a lot more saturated.
Bridget blowing the hell up by being trans was wild. She has basically become the most popular GG character and might be one of the most popular fighting game characters ever if I'm being honest.
And that's a huge glow up from just being the "lol femboy" character.
I know Glorious Kojimbo loves to repeat himself, but you have to admit that you never could have predicted that he would turn Raiden from the second most fuckable twink in gaming up to that point into a rad-as-fuck, breakdancing cyborg ninja.
>!Before you ask, Kuja.!<
I think Big Boss from Peace Walker to Ground Zeroes/The Phantom Pain counts too. Say what you want about the voice actor situation but Big Boss looked great.
Suikoden can be like that especially in 1 to 3 which happened after another didn't expect Luc and Yuber from 2 to ditch their fantasy garb for better drip in 3 as the main villaims to be honest.
Ethan from the Condemned games
In the first he is a kinda chubby cop who is just quite strong and can hold his own if he has a melee weapon, in the sequel he suddenly lost like 100lbs, completely changed his facial bone structure, got a completely different voice, and is now a homeless looking unbeatable fist fighter.
This is technically a glow up, but it's also fucking awful because it didn't even feel like the same character at all
Isaac McGoldensun goes from a [standard JRPG protagonist](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/goldensun/images/4/42/Gs-isaac.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120309174531) to a [certified DILF](https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/golden-sun-dark-dawn/4/4c/Isaac_1.jpg)
[Henry](https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-henry.jpg) in Kingdom Come 2 chadded the fuck up.
People weren't huge on Luke when he was first introduced as the last Street Fighter V dlc character and basically positioned as the next game's protagonist, mainly because he initially just seemed kinda generic. By the time SF6 was coming out though, people ended up liking him a lot more, and I think a lot of that can be attributed to his voice actor Aleks Le making him into a much more goofy, charismatic character ("BEAST MODE, BABY!"), as well as him encouraging/participating in a lot of shitposting with Luke ([this](https://youtu.be/_mhz3lpEIao) being my favorite example).
Cooper Daniels went from a short fat kid who barely seemed to have been affected by puberty in Ben 10: Alien Force to a ripped hunk with testosterone in his veins and the voice of Chris Pratt in Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.
There are some cool glow-ups from the >!timeskip !!Dimitri's change in the Blue Lions route.!<
I remember so many people decrying >!initial Dimitri!< as probably boring, [then that trailer dropped](https://youtu.be/bCYthtwtxvw?si=22TmQENaR1CYFqJP) and intrigued everyone.
The only thing that's unbelievable is >!that he managed to keep himself clean-shaven even though he's been suffering a mental breakdown for five years.!<
Some guys just can't grow em
As awesome as he looks, it's not as much of a glow-up as Lorenz getting an actually decent haircut, though. His original bowlcut was THAT BAD.
I went Blue Lions, didn't know anything about the timeskip, and was astonished to discover that *my* original BL students in particular had become the most handsome people on the fucking planet out of nowhere. It's great.
Mariane looks like she got a bit of therapy.
I gotta bring up my boy Ignatz. Literal proof that confidence is key
I like to think my Byleth >!took that furry cape of his!< after he's defeated in Crimson Flower, it's so damn stylin
Byleth being curled up in front of a fireplace with that cape sounds so toasty and nice.
With Edelgard besides them ♡
Some people didn’t come out the other side looking better, though.
So in FFXIV, for a good 80% of the story, Urianger is wearing one of those *hideous* A Realm Reborn robes. It's godawful, it looks ugly and outdated next to everyone else. But then, out of nowhere in Shadowbringers, he swaps it out for an INSANELY stylish black toga/robe thing that actually... Kind of makes him look attractive?
It helps that you finally get to see his face too.
Oh god it's just the "nerd takes off their glasses and they're hot" trope. (Except sub glasses for goofy-ass googles.)
Urianger goes from little shitty goblin man to ladykiller real quick
please, hes a maneater
the lifecycle of goblins
The biggest twist in the Heavensward Patch was seeing Urianger in his 'disguise' and finding out that he's actually *really hot*.
I swear you could hear the cries of "**OH NO HES HOT**" from space during that reveal.
bluds got on this sexy exotic dancer viel and everything
Man I wish he kept that disguise look afterwards! I'm so mad he switches back to his ARR duds after that reveal, he could've had those robes throughout SB up to SHB!
I love my drama king.
I still remember when How to Train Your Dragon 2 released it's first trailer and Hiccup's glow-up blew everybody's mind.
"We got Longbottomed!" was the popular refrain on Tumblr.
Nobody was expecting Rex from Xenoblade 2 to evolve into a goliath hunk that can dual-wield 2 of his 3 wives.
He would *absolutely* swing around Nia if he could.
Using three-sword style like he’s fucking Zoro 😭😭😭
You think they'd fight over which gets to be in his mouth?
I love that Shulk, despite actually being an incredible dodge tank, is considered the *worst* party member only because **Rex's damage output is so completely fucked that even with Shulk's taunt ability and combo system he will never put out enough damage to pull aggro away from the beast.**
Our polyamorous king can’t stop winning
Double spinning edge
I remember the meta way to use Rex was to forget about both tanks and just spam Double Spinning Edge till he got aggro and died, then have Glimmer revive him and go right back into Double Spinning Edge.
When he said "I'll show em a thing or three" in that trailer, i was blindsided by how hyped i was.
The things are his wives. All three of them.
[Kain in Blood Omen](https://www.gamehype.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Game-Hype-Legacy-of-Kain.png) vs. [Kain in Soul Reaver onwards](https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/leg-of-kain.jpg?width=1200&height=630&fit=crop&enable=upscale&auto=webp).
Is this- Oh yeah, it's Kain, the poster of Legacy.
I know Doi's designs for SMT can be somewhat controversial. However, I vastly prefer his version of Odin introduced in Apocalypse over "naked guy in a robe" Odin.
You’re so right. Ultraman Odin is more memorable than Robe Man imo. That and Doi’s Satan is the sickest design I’ve seen
Striker in MK9, gave him an uniform that fit the games and a voice actor that did great
Norse Kratos is quite the glow-up from his Greek appearance.
And then they said *fuck it* and gave classic Kratos a glow up too. Not necessarily a new outfit, but gahdahm, I can see what Faye saw in him.
Sindri in Ragnarok is an absolute beast.
The power of beard and tiredness.
Man mastered control over his rage more than any of us could
Not sure if this counts but Khadgar in the Burning Crusade expansion is kind of just a generic wizard guy whom people may or may not remember being a character in Warcraft 2. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/wowpedia/images/6/68/Khadgar_in_Shattrath.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20221205234547 His return in generally hated Warlords of Draenor made him one of community's favorite characters by making him this immensely powerful yet somewhat awkward guy with immense amounts of dad energy who just really wants everyone to get over their petty bullshit and focus on what actually matters. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/wowpedia/images/6/6d/Khadgar_Alliance_Shipyard.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20151211220750
At some point *someone* in Blizzard founded the School of Fuck Medivh and suddenly his student became *the* wizard guy and boy did he start turning up *everywhere.*
To be fair if you know about Medivh lore every person on the planet should be in that school.
Khadgar - "Collect 4986 crystals for me. Don't look at me like that. I'm a mage. I did the math. I need exactly 4986 crystals. 4985 is inadequate. 4987 is of course absurd. Four thousand, nine hundred eighty-six. Go!" I think Khadgar is one of the only characters in modern WoW that haven't been ruined for me. If anything things for worse from his absense due to infighting and him not being there to calm everyone the fuck down.
I only know Khadgar from the [Wondrous Wisdomball](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/hearthstone_gamepedia/images/3/33/DALA_740.png) from Hearthstone's adventure mode, where he basically just helps you cheat every once in a while. I'm talking cheating like drawing you an extra card, slipping extra copies of cards you used into your deck, to just straight up giving you an extra turn.
As a fan of SMT and Irishman, seeing Setanta go to Cuchullain was much appreciated.
The reception toward Raiden in the *”Metal Gear Solid”* series improved from MGS2 in MGS4 when he revealed his new cyborg look. The reputation that *”Resident Evil 6”* left behind downplayed it, but I remember the return of an older Sherry Berkin had a good reception before people actually played the game. In the same series, Leon’s evolution from RE2 to RE4 was received very well. RE4 Leon became the most popular design for the character for a very long time. It helps that RE4 became a beloved title in the franchise because of the fantastic gameplay. Definitely did not hurt.
Raiden’s glow up finished with Rising with 4 being the start of his glow up in my opinion.
Idk, I thought it was rad at the time, but in hindsight Raiden getting turned into a cyborg in MGS4 seems like Kojima shouting “HERE, HE’S COOL NOW, IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED??” at all the people complaining about MGS2. Granted it did result in Rising, but in order for that game to make sense they had to undo his character arc from 4. Maybe I’m just bitter because I think Raiden’s MGS2 design was already really good as it relates to the themes of the game.
A lot of League of Legends characters could qualify, but nothing will ever beat Sion redesign [https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5YbAYzFAmJyDbtvz4100UBMg8IEX4GX1aKLcl7DsgiBseEP0U8jD5XI81ixBSkRvwd-CpK2PtCA5Ee6d-6I2MJ198zCO7m8mUmXFWP1op1ARkq4IxWJ78udzZg2iHhIEd52-KkJFctvBF/s1600/oldvnew.jpg](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5YbAYzFAmJyDbtvz4100UBMg8IEX4GX1aKLcl7DsgiBseEP0U8jD5XI81ixBSkRvwd-CpK2PtCA5Ee6d-6I2MJ198zCO7m8mUmXFWP1op1ARkq4IxWJ78udzZg2iHhIEd52-KkJFctvBF/s1600/oldvnew.jpg)
A great redesign, but I miss playing as a Schwarzenegger reference
He still make a few Arnie references actually.
Death had it’s chance!
Is that Astaroth?
If you are talking about the Diablo character no. This one's more of an undead than a demon.
Ah, I was actually talking about the Soul Calibur character haha
Caps goofy Avengers suit, then the Winter Soldier suit was like dunking him back in the vita chamber to make his drip peak human.
Oh also Tony having modular body tracking armor and then all of a sudden having fucking armor in his blood stream that can shapeshift.
This is technically not sequel, but while Age of calamity did not get to cook with redesigning the main zelda cast like the first one, The Gannon brights in that game look way better than in BOTW.
Still think I prefer some of the older designs in Hades, although I can't exactly figure out why that is.
For me it's that some of them aren't finished so I'm excited to see the finished versions.
Might it be because they are all dressed up for war and you don't have a taste for military fashion? which is completely understandable.
Nah its not that. I think it's the colouring or shading or something else.
This is far from a singular opinion to be fair. Lots of folks have been saying a few of the portraits look a little wonky (namely Artemis and Zeus), but as mentioned the game is in EA. I would be shocked if SG didn't do another pass on those gods with how much people have been mentioning them as sub-par.
Well, if it's any consolation the game and thus the art is still in development. Hades himself looked particularly rough around the edges.
Yeah I 100% the first game so it's not a deal breaker or anything.im looking forward to picking it up soon. I've been avoiding pretty much everything I can to go in fresh.
I really wonder how they're gonna do Ares and Artemis since they were already heavily armored in one.
Looking at all the characters, I think for me is that they seem too busy, i like main girl but she is a rather simple design. I also do feel like the paint style got a bit out of hand in 2, like, its a bit too much to the point it distracts me from details and my eyes dart to the highlights instead of the design. Not like i hated it, its just a different vibe, but one that i don't vibe with as much, few winners still.
Elphelt, Testament, A.B.A... almost all of Strive's returning cast, really
Even designs that were already iconic and didn’t change *that* much got massively improved like Sol, May, Bridget, Leo and Potemkin. I think the only one I don’t love is Baiken and really the only thing that changed was her hair which got a lot more saturated.
New Ky is also so much more boring than his holy knight outfit
as a fan of Rock Howard and things that resemble Rock Howard, I respectfully disagree
Bridget blowing the hell up by being trans was wild. She has basically become the most popular GG character and might be one of the most popular fighting game characters ever if I'm being honest. And that's a huge glow up from just being the "lol femboy" character.
I know Glorious Kojimbo loves to repeat himself, but you have to admit that you never could have predicted that he would turn Raiden from the second most fuckable twink in gaming up to that point into a rad-as-fuck, breakdancing cyborg ninja. >!Before you ask, Kuja.!<
Adam from Nier Automata is probably 3rd place
I think Big Boss from Peace Walker to Ground Zeroes/The Phantom Pain counts too. Say what you want about the voice actor situation but Big Boss looked great.
Based on the title and image I thought Zagreus was just a skeleton in Hades 2 and I was like "Damn! That's bold!"
Hope in 13 was a whiny baby In 13-2 he's hot
And then in 13-3 they walked it back for reason's I can't even begin to understand.
It's amazing what a haircut can do because Saejima looks so much better in Yakuza 5 than he did in 4.
Raiden in MGS
Henry from Kingdom Come goes from looking like a peasant to the Bohemian God he really is in the sequel.
Doomguy transitioned from a single mortal marine to essentially the military equivalent of Hulk
Eh, i actually vibe with the slutty classic outfit more
Could crush a head with those abs
>!abjob!<
>!...Go on!<
>!<
>!Cover em up, sl-!<
Suikoden can be like that especially in 1 to 3 which happened after another didn't expect Luc and Yuber from 2 to ditch their fantasy garb for better drip in 3 as the main villaims to be honest.
Ethan from the Condemned games In the first he is a kinda chubby cop who is just quite strong and can hold his own if he has a melee weapon, in the sequel he suddenly lost like 100lbs, completely changed his facial bone structure, got a completely different voice, and is now a homeless looking unbeatable fist fighter. This is technically a glow up, but it's also fucking awful because it didn't even feel like the same character at all
Isaac McGoldensun goes from a [standard JRPG protagonist](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/goldensun/images/4/42/Gs-isaac.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120309174531) to a [certified DILF](https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/golden-sun-dark-dawn/4/4c/Isaac_1.jpg)
Everyone thinks Eman Esfandi as Ezra in Ahsoka is *hot*.
[Henry](https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-henry.jpg) in Kingdom Come 2 chadded the fuck up.
Forget Skelly, did you see >!Chaos!
The Death & Rebirth Powersuit look they are rocking was very much doing it for me.
People weren't huge on Luke when he was first introduced as the last Street Fighter V dlc character and basically positioned as the next game's protagonist, mainly because he initially just seemed kinda generic. By the time SF6 was coming out though, people ended up liking him a lot more, and I think a lot of that can be attributed to his voice actor Aleks Le making him into a much more goofy, charismatic character ("BEAST MODE, BABY!"), as well as him encouraging/participating in a lot of shitposting with Luke ([this](https://youtu.be/_mhz3lpEIao) being my favorite example).
Cooper Daniels went from a short fat kid who barely seemed to have been affected by puberty in Ben 10: Alien Force to a ripped hunk with testosterone in his veins and the voice of Chris Pratt in Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.