Line of Sight
I made the pauldrons overly large in this strip, but looking at them now, I think it’s almost too subtle. We’re so used to giant shoulder armour, that it just doesn’t stand out. Massive ornate pauldrons have become a trope. Especially from Blizzard entertainment, with Starcraft and Warcraft. There’s a few reasons. First, because the arm has such a range of motion, shoulder armour does need to be large and loose. Second, because of angling of video games above the head and relative proportions of the characters, the most recognisable clothing pieces in a video game will be the helmet and shoulder gear. There’s also a slight sexist element: broad shoulders are considered a masculine trait, so large shoulder pauldrons are hypermasculine and suggest strength and power.
You’re really really stretching to call that sexist.
Large muscles suggest strength? How dare they.
Not large muscles: broad shoulders. Which is a secondary sex characteristic of men.
There’s a reason women’s suits in the ’80s had shoulder pads after all. It was designed to look more masculine and thus impart male stereotypes onto the wearer.