The Grand Unified Appearance Trope Clean-up:

Though we do have Superheroes Wear Capes, which seems like it would be analogous to the proposed trope. My main problem with it is that I still don't think it's really meaningful.

Sorry, maybe I worded that weirdly.

I didn't mean that Thigh High Boots themselves are a trope. I think "thigh-high boots that are given to female heroines to show they're powerful and not too nice" is a trope. In that cape list you mentioned, there's a similar cape trope called Badass Cape.

Superheroes Wear Capes is more about the stereotype that most superheroes wear capes, I think.

Oh, yeah. In that case, carry on, you've got the right idea.

I feel like Badass Cape is pushing the boundaries of chairness, but if Cool Chair is a trope, then Badass Cape can certainly be tropeworthy. As long as the cape is actually Badass.

I think Superheroes Wear Capes is tropeworthy for the reason mentioned in this post. Superheros being a trope in and of themselves, it's a little interesting that there's such a tendency for them to wear capes, which is quite an esoteric article of clothing when you think about it.

edited 9th Apr '15 9:16:07 AM by SolipSchism

Superheroines wear capes. It's not as typical an accessory, but the boots are not the distaff counterpart.

Well, yeah, you're right. Some superheroines even wear both a cape and thigh high boots. I meant to say it has a similar meaning to a Badass Cape, not that it's its direct Distaff Counterpart, sorry if I wasn't clear.

Sorry, I might have been unclear: I don't have a problem with Superheroes Wear Capes. I was giving it as a potential precedent for the proposed Superheroines Wear Thigh High Boots, and saying that I'm still not sure whether that is meaningful. It's certainly not visual shorthand or stereotypical like capes are.

Is there another trait that enough examples on the page share, so that the boots are a signifier of that trait?

edited 9th Apr '15 12:50:22 PM by DragonQuestZ

I'm not sure there's a stereotype like that. What I'm proposing is less "superheroines wear thigh high boots", and more "superheroines are designed with thigh high boots to signify their power".

edited 9th Apr '15 1:36:44 PM by Rjinswand

Honestly, thigh high boots on Superheroines don't really come off as strong. They come off as part of the larger issue of Female Superheroes Are Impractically And Improbabky Sexualized. There's not a correlation between how Superheroines are dressed and their powers or personalities. They just seem to get dressed in a random assortment of slutty clothing. It's like they do all their costume shopping in lingerie stores.

The boots for Superheroines is just one part of the random sexualitzation. They also get bikinis, leotards, skintight spandex that somehow vacuum seals their boobs, cleavage down to their navels, tiny skirts, a whole host of other things. It doesn't mean strong. It doesn't meant powerful. It just reads random sexy.

edited 9th Apr '15 7:57:25 PM by shimaspawn

I'd say that's an oversimplification.

There is an issue that female superhero costumes in general feature more fanservice than male ones. But it's not as omnipresent as it may seem, and of course it's not like every element of a superheroine's costume is there just for fanservice.

Looking at examples, we can notice that Thigh High Boots are at times present in the least fanservice-y costumes. E.g. Jean Grey's Phoenix and Dark Phoenix costumes were full-body-covering bodysuits ^note (which at the time of their creation weren't drawn with boobsocks, the bane of skintight heroine costumes of the 90s) The same could be said about Phyla-Vell (one of the former Captain Marvels), and Jade from Green Lantern. Heroines like Jean Grey and Carol Danvers wore small boots with their most fanservice-y costumes, and donned Thigh High Boots with less skimpy ones. The recent "modest redesign" of Wonder Woman's costume also features Thigh High Boots, and the designers' goal was quite the opposite of Hotter and Sexier. So it doesn't seem that Thigh High Boots = fanservice.

However, there are some fanservice-y costumes with Thigh High Boots. Interestingly, most of them are directly inspired by dominatrix outfits. E.g. Black Queen ^note (certain versions) and White Queen from X Men (inspired by a BDSM-themed Avengers episode), Malice from Fantastic Four, Goblin Queen and Goblin King (X Men again), Mary Marvel's "corrupted" costume. So, here Thigh High Boots play the fanservice role due to being a part of a reference to BDSM, not by themselves.

There are also a few male examples. E.g. Kang the Conqueror (time-travelling archvillain from Marvel), Gladiator (Marvel's sometimes evil Superman analogue), Darkseid from DC, Mr. Sinister (an X Men foe). Their common theme also seems to be power, intimidating power even.

As for practicality, a lot of superhero costume elements are impractical (e.g. capes). That said, the trend to put superheroines into Hotter and Sexier costumes (or sexualize the existing ones) ^note (this trend's heyday were the 90s, when even teenage heroines were drawn with huge breasts, boobsocks, bikini-like costumes etc.) possibly deserves a trope (though, wouldn't it be just an extension of Hotter and Sexier?). Sorry for the long post

edited 10th Apr '15 9:16:31 AM by Rjinswand

All that is exactly what I'm very skeptical that the trope you're proposing is actually meaningful. There isn't enough consistency in what thigh-high boots in comics actually indicate.

Maybe, I'm not sure myself really. I actually just pointed out what could be a trope, in response to someone asking if there's any common trope about Thigh High Boots in media, or whether it should all be cut. I didn't expect it to become such a discussion.

I feel I could be on to something with the "power" theme, though, it's just that it doesn't concern 100% instances of thigh-high boots, only a certain part. I could make a list so that we could all look and discuss whether there's a trope or not.

edited 10th Apr '15 11:31:07 AM by Rjinswand

Thigh-high boots in media are most generally a signifier of one of two things: that the woman wearing them is a fashionista, or that she is overtly and openly sexual (sometimes both equally, but more often it's predominantly one or the other). Not aggressively sexual, but overtly; she's not downplaying or trying to minimize her sexuality. Instead she's calling attention to it. She may also be sexually aggressive, but she doesn't have to be.

Which is why they are called 'fuck me boots'.

However a lot of the time they are just simply worn because of coolness factor, following the leader with the true meaning being lost or follow another trope.

So would that make two tropes from this? Or just one?

edited 10th Apr '15 12:02:50 PM by DragonQuestZ

That meaning could probably work with Phoenix, since Jean Grey's transformation had certain sexual symbolism. It was basically a coming-of-age story, with Jean becoming more confident of herself, her powers, etc. Could be extrapolated to becoming confident with her sexuality.

I don't think it really works with other comic examples, though (besides the "dominatrixes", of course).

Was it really that? I think we need Word of God to say what it was about.

I don't know if there's any definite Word of God about that. The comic itself makes a direct parallel between Jean's transformation into Phoenix and her growing up from a teenager to a woman. Some parts of the story deal with her sexual repression etc. But nothing's stated outright.

Do you mean at the time or just the comics now retcon it as though it was?

At the time. I remember Storm (iirc) kind of equating the Marvel Girl - Phoenix transformation to Jean growing up from a girl to a woman.

As for Jean's sexual repression, it was dealt with right after that, during the Dark Phoenix Saga.

edited 10th Apr '15 1:23:46 PM by Rjinswand

"Wears thigh-high boots because they're cool" isn't a trope. Thigh-high boots may contribute to a character being a The Fashionista or a Fashion Victim, but just being cool isn't enough to make a trope.

Not every character who wears thigh-high boots has to be an example of a trope about them. Sometimes they're just Garnishing the Story.

Well sex appeal is on them by default really as long as it shows some leg or tights.

It is also a staple of Magical Girl costumes, there is almost always at least one, invoking the Boots version of Zettai Ryouiki. Its often as fanservicy as is allowed as parents take issue with Bare Your Midriff and other things.

I didn't see that in the story. She got brainwashed, and then just turned into a scenery chewing villain. Where's the sexual repression allegory?

And it's not me nitpicking, because without it, it's just her wearing the boots, and not really an example of "high boots = sexual character".

edited 10th Apr '15 2:37:52 PM by DragonQuestZ

That would require me braving the chaos of my comic collection , finding and rereading that story arc, since my memory may not always be full and correct. Anyways, the Dark Phoenix Saga happens after she already became Phoenix, so it doesn't have much bearing on this.

Memers Ok, it's a staple of Magical Girl costumes, but what does it signify there? No significance beyond "looks cool" or "fanservice" means no trope.

Again, we don't have to create a trope to cover every instance of a female wearing thigh-high boots.