Poor Image: Go Through Me

I'm having a hard time making out what's going on in the image on Go Through Me; the image is lacking in contrast. In particular, I'm not seeing that the girl is defending anyone, which is what the trope is about; she appears to be standing in front of some rocks, or perhaps a fallen tree.

I think we can do better. From the page's own webcomic section, this one (panel 2+3) or that one (panel 9) would be an improvement. Other suggestions are also welcome.

Agree on the current being poor. Either of your suggestions are good, although I think 1&3 of the first suggestion may work even better than 2&3. Panel #9 of the second suggestion is excellent, too.

Here's 1 and 3 vertically:

The reason I suggested 1&3 rather than 2&3 is that 2 doesn't show who she's attacking — the only thing indicating that it isn't Hinjo in the first place is the speed lines behind him in 3 and they're easy to miss seeing. Using 1 instead makes it abundantly clear that she's attacking Belkar and Hinjo has stepped in between them, even if you don't notice the movement lines.

edited 8th Jun '14 7:35:09 AM by Madrugada

That looks very good.

This shouldn't need more than one frame. Also, both the suggestions contain spoilers. I'm not a fan.

I'm not sure it's an example, but what comes to mind is the famous/infamous Tiananmen Square tank man◊.

That's not a spoiler. This character attacked the protagonists from the very first time she appeared (and several times in the middle as well), so the fact that she's once again attacking a protagonist is completely expected.

Neither of the Order of the Stick ones are spoilers, unless you consider "anything that someone might not have read yet" a spoiler.

I have no issue with the current. There's the waif-like girl in front of what looks like a suit of armor. I guess I can see someone having issue telling it's armor, but it's not good enough to replace without a good suggestion...

... which the OOTS examples are not. First off, they're extremely light on the "weaker character is defending someone" part, and are more about plain defending someone. Secondly... they're OOTS. Which is a a webcomic I love, but much like XKCD I only think we should use if it's a trope that we can't otherwise illustrate because they're very visually... uninteresting.

I have the same concern. I don't think the current image is poor or unclear, just a bit dark. But even if the armored dude behind her isn't very distinct from the background, what the girl is trying to do is clear enough from her pose.

The defender in the OOTS suggestion, on the other hand, looks stronger than the protagonist, so I'm not sure it even qualifies as an example.

Here's a brightened version of the current, if it helps.

edited 8th Jun '14 8:20:36 PM by theAdeptrogue

Gotta admit, that's certainly more succinct than the OOTS pics.

I prefer 10.

10 is good.

10's an improvement on current... which is still better than the suggestions. I'd be fine with it as a quality upgrade.

I've switched out the current with @10 for now (since it's the exact same image, just brightened)

The swap looks good...the caption is terrible.

10 is best so far.

Maybe "The compassionate soul may provide a stronger shield than steel or stone." as a new caption?

Seems alright.

Yep, that caption is good.

Bump; any other thoughts on 18?

EDIT: Actually, I'm going to close this and take the discussion to the new thread for captions. Locking up.

edited 10th Jul '14 4:27:26 AM by Willbyr