Contemptible Cover: Difference between revisions
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We're all taught never to judge a book by its cover. Many still do; a book's cover is one of the most important marketing opportunities it has.
Unfortunately, some books are cursed with the '''Contemptible Cover'''. The kind of cover that contains an excess of sexual, violent or otherwise lurid imagery, often at odds with the book's actual content. Though [[Sexy Packaging]] isn't always bad, Contemptible Covers' trashy illustrations appear a simple and blatant effort to appeal to the [[Lowest Common Denominator]]. You may well be ashamed to be seen reading such a book at home, let alone on a bus—or at the very least, it will make you wince.
Unlike the [[Covers Always Lie]] or [[Never Trust a Trailer]]-type articles that this wiki already has, the '''Contemptible Cover''' cannot claim that most covers are designed before the book is done. Blame falls solely on the [[Executive Meddling|marketing department]]; even world-famous best-selling authors don't normally have a say in the matter.
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* The cover of ''Load'' by [[Metallica]] features a photograph titled [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|"Blood And Semen III"]].
==
* A certain French RPG sourcebook from the early 1990s (''[http://www.legrog.org/jeux/hawkmoon/empire-tenebreux-fr L'empire tenebreux]'' for ''Hawkmoon'') featured a vivisection chamber where doctors from some bipedal reptilioid species (more exactly, humans wearing a mask) dissected screaming naked human beings ''whom they had first flayed alive''. The centerpiece involved a woman whose howling face had been stripped to the muscle, yet whose bare breasts remained somewhat intact. How such a cover made it out the door much less onto store shelves, even in Europe, remains a mystery.
* ''[[Exalted]]'' [[media:ExaltedContemptibleCover.jpg|one notorious example]] where the focus of the picture seemed to be the crotch of the scantily-clad and strangely disproportionate woman on it.
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** The BDSM-tinged cover for the ''VtM'' supplement ''[http://www.amazon.com/Ghouls-Fatal-Addiction-Vampire-Masquerade/dp/1565042301 Ghouls: Fatal Addiction]'', while not out of line with the content, was considered a bit much by many gamers. Granted, Ghouls inspire a ''lot'' of BDSM-related content (in the corebook, the picture accompanying the text about them is a out-and-out slave auction). This is just what happens when it comes full-flower.
* The proposed covers for the Fourth edition of ''[[GURPS]]'' were so poorly received that [[Steve Jackson Games]] ran a design contest. An [[Freud Was Right|unfortunately-shaped]] rocket launcher dubbed the "dildo gun" became [[Memetic Mutation|a meme]].
* Virtually all of the Avalanche Press supplements for ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' 3.5 edition had a ''[[Heavy Metal (animation)|Heavy Metal]]''-style cover (some by ''Heavy Metal'' artists) that had nothing to do with the book's contents. And the models for those covers? Actual porn stars. Really.
** A particularly notable example would be the ''[http://www.amazon.com/Doom-Odin-Tales-Norse-Gods/dp/0970796161 Doom of Odin: Tales of the Norse Gods]'' book, which has an "archer" (well, she ''is'' holding a bow) who appears to be performing a hot squat.
** They even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade]] it at one point. In ''[[Dracula|Vlad, Blood Prince of Wallachia]]'', during a discussion of period clothing, they add in the [[Stealth Pun|breezy]] comment [[Take That Us|"For an example of period female underwear, see the cover!"]]
* An ''actual'' canon sourcebook for ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' was ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldritch_Wizardry Eldritch Wizardry]'', one of [[Gary Gygax]]'s earliest works and the book that introduced many iconic villains (like Orcus and Demogorgon) monsters (including mind flayers), and artifacts (including the Rod of Seven Parts and the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords). Unfortunately, most everyone knows it for the cover, with a nude woman on a sacrificial altar.
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** They already had a live person (Erin Layne) modeling Jeanette for some fanservicey promotional material, which at least helps explain the choice of character.
* In addition to [[Off-Model|not looking]] [[Covers Always Lie|like]] the in-game graphics, the [http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/sms/image/588116.html?box=3847 Western box art] for ''[[Phantasy Star]]'' may also count as a Contemptible Cover.
* Scrolling Space Shooter ''[[Phalanx]]'' gave the world a [http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/files/605411-phalanx-kemco-1992_760.jpg very infamous example]. The fact that the cover is predominated by an old man playing a banjo and the spaceship he's startled by is little more than a subtle afterthought is funny enough, but what makes it even better (worse?) is that it still features that tagline, "The Hyper-Speed Shoot-Out in Space!" ...which does actually occur in the the seventh level.
** This was apparently changed for the American release in light of what the [http://www.4colorrebellion.com/media/pics/07/07/japphal.jpg original Japanese art was]{{Dead link}}. We have [[Sarcasm Mode|no]] [[Freud Was Right|idea why]]!
** Their official reason was to make ''Phalanx'' stand out among a market glutted with similar shooters, but the Japanese cover makes it obvious that they had to do ''something'' with it.
* Ailish features prominently on the box art and disc of ''[[Sudeki]]'', but the main character is arguably Tal. Ailish ''does'' get a decent role in the game
* ''Every single installment'' of the ''[[Spellforce]]'' series has a [[Stripperiffic|scantily-clad]] woman in the cover art, who at least is often a plot-relevant NPC.
* ''[[The Mystery Of The Druids]]'', a rather average adventure game, gets a ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120524222903/http://www.splitgames.fr/uploads/jvmedias/pc/m/y/mysdpc0f.jpg screaming druid-like man]'' for a cover.
* Acclaim did this twice with their localization of the ''[[Bubble Bobble|Puzzle Bobble]]'' series, dumping the cute characters for [https://web.archive.org/web/20120112174216/http://pwned.com/gamecovers/segasaturn/a787fcd360e6561f4edde3b965fa0436-Bust_a_Move_2.jpg
* ''[http://kidfenris.com/features.html Kid Fenris' Gallery of Hideous Box Art]'' has a good number of these.
* The infamous [http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/image/198843.html?box=28033 box art] of the first ''[[Suikoden]]'' game resembles the cover of a bad fantasy novel, with a Fu Manchu-wearing guy, a three-headed monster, and a girl on the right who appears suitably embarrassed to even be there. Funnily enough, the monster is the only character that appears in the game, and then only as a random [[mook]].
**
* The box art of ''[[Karnaaj Rally]]'' was so notoriously ridiculous that it made Seanbaby [https://web.archive.org/web/20120226133724/http://www.seanbaby.com/egm/karnaajrally.htm infamously review this game solely based on the cover]. After he eventually played it and found it a not very bad game, he congratulated the graphic artists for tricking him into avoiding it.▼
* The [[wikipedia:File:Mega Man 1 box artwork.jpg|hilariously over
▲** Making this even more inexplicable, the Japanese version had a completely serviceable cover that would've worked equally well for the US version—a white plane with the game's name and a circle containing on-model depictions of as many of the game's [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] they could conceivably fit in it.
** "Bad Box Art Mega Man" would receive more than his share of [[Call Back]]s, including the intentionally-[[Retraux]] covers for [[Mega Man 9]] and [[Mega Man 10]] (displayed [http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/3669/megamanboxza7.jpg here] and [[wikipedia:File:Megaman10.jpg|here]]), which were designed to hearken back more to the series roots.
▲* The box art of ''[[Karnaaj Rally]]'' was so notoriously ridiculous that it made Seanbaby [https://web.archive.org/web/20120226133724/http://www.seanbaby.com/egm/karnaajrally.htm infamously review this game solely based on the cover].
▲* The [[wikipedia:File:Mega Man 1 box artwork.jpg|hilariously over the top]] North American ''[[Mega Man 1]]'' NES boxart. He looks like a painted lobster.
* ''Feel the Magic'' is hit doubly here. If either the title was changed, or the bikini-wearing girl on the cover was replaced, it wouldn't do much more than raise eyebrows. Together, they unfairly make the game look like a sex simulator.
* For the European box art for ''[[BlazBlue]]'', the distributors organized a contest on [[Neo GAF]] and let fans vote in on whose artwork would be shown off on the box. [http://www.gamesetwatch.com/100112-blazblue-3.jpg This] was the winning submission, but when the distributors got in contact with the artist, they decided to use a drawing of Noel instead. [http://www.gamesetwatch.com/100112-blazblue-2.jpg This] was the result. Complete with a tacked-on placeholder logo to boot.
* The North American release of ''[[Deadly Premonition]]'' is reviled by fans for it's "[[Silent Hill]] knock off" cover, which ignore the fact that the game is an open sandbox mystery, and has a more Lynchian brand of horror.
* The cover for ''[[Amnesia: The Dark Descent]]'' has a monster stalking you on the front cover. It looks more like a duck quacking at you than a horribly deformed monster stalking you in one of the most creepy games to have come out since 2000. It also completely defies the winning formula the game has of making the creature scarier by not allowing you, the player, to get a good look at it.
* ''[[Divine Divinity]]'' features a goddess on its cover that is seen for like twenty seconds in the intro and nowhere else.
* ''[[The Guardian Legend]]'' was distributed in North America by [[Broderbund Software]], who gave it [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6a/TGL_Box.jpg this rather disturbing cover]. It has nothing to do with the game, but greatly resembles the poster for the 1985 SF/horror movie ''Creature''.
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* Amusingly subverted with the book of ''[[The Non-Adventures of Wonderella]]'' which has a purposefully "upper class" back cover styled like that of a wine connoisseurs' magazine so you can leave it on your coffee table without feeling embarrassed.
* ''[[Dinosaur Comics]]''' first book's cover doesn't have any naked ladies on it, but it might make people wonder why you're carrying around a [http://ia700809.us.archive.org/zipview.php?zip=/25/items/olcovers50/olcovers50-L.zip&file=503617-L.jpg piece of meat].
* ''[[Twokinds]]'' used to have Flora stark nude
== Other ==
* Web ads occasionally seem to be hellbent on making every site to look like a seedy den of depravity. Making an onlooker question your surfing habits, especially at work.
** Particularly if they're for online RPGs. Even if the game in question is mostly just [[Evony|a top-down view of a tiny pixellated village
** These days, even reasonably respectful sites are pestering you with [[Matchmaker.com|online dating ads]] for teens, 20-somethings, 30+, 50+, Muslims, Christians, Otherkin and Fat People.
{{reflist}}
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