OK, y’all know I’m all about xenoergonomics around here. Let’s point out everything wrong with what Fox James is wearing in this picture and what I would do instead.
Minor caveat: I’m extrapolating some of this from what I know of dog anatomy and behavior, so I could be wrong.
First, his helmet. What is it covering? I’ve already ranted about exposed ears on animal characters, namely that they themselves would never design a piece of protective headgear that leaves the ears unprotected. However, there’s another tidbit to consider. The bones of a fox’s skull do not protect the tops of the eyeballs, so he’s extra vulnerable.
It’s also not clear if that mic boom brushes against his whiskers. Whiskers are very sensitive, and touching them typically results in a reflexive movement away from the stimulus. It’s also not clear how he’s getting sound output from the headset. There may be an earpiece in his left ear, but I doubt the interior of an arwing is quiet enough to just have a loudspeaker on the helmet or integrated into the cockpit.
Next, those aviator glasses. Setting aside the crappy helmet design, it was smart to depict the glasses attached to the helmet. Yinrih HUD specs have a broad bridge that friction fits against the muzzle, though they wouldn’t wear them in a situation like this where they could get easily knocked off. Instead a doggles-like visor is worn.
The last thing I’ll complain about is the zipper on his jacket. I have to wonder if the teeth get caught in his neck fur. Yinrih go nekkid where possible, but clothing fasteners, such as on rain gear or cold weather gear would probably use snaps, magnets, laces, or velcro St. Starlight’s Fabric[1].
named for its inventor, Saint Starlight, a research monk, botanist, and healer who lived during the yinrih’s age of aviation. She was inspired by the plant burs that would stick to her fur. ↩︎
I keep thinking of more examples. What about Slippy’s permeable skin? His clothing should account for that. Speaking of clothes and dermal coverings, or lack thereof, just on the star fox team you have feathers, fur, and the aforementioned amphibian skin. Scaled reptiles also exist. Do different fabrics exist to accommodate these integumentary features? What’s too warm for one species will be too cold for another. Some species have tails and others don’t. There are (or should be) fairly wide differences in size and weight as well.
This is what I mean when I say worldbuilding and story are different. If you just want to tell a story, you can leave out stuff that’s unimportant. Nobody ever does their taxes or brushes their teeth unless it’s important to the plot. But that’s the sort of stuff I live for.
Armies and militarized groups have an obsession with uniformity that I imagine would extend to, well, uniforms. For a multi-species fighting force like the Star Fox team, or Halo’s Covenant, I bet there would be constant and very difficult tension between the needs of individuals of minority species and the desire for uniformity from the ruling / command class that would probably make uniforms very unpleasant if not downright dangerous for some members.
At least in terms of Star Fox, I think there are answers. The Cornerian military appears to consist mostly or solely of dogs. General Pepper is a bloodhound, Bill is some sort of bully breed, the soldiers you see in Assault are all GSDs. Lore implications abound, but in terms of xenoergonomics you can make some safe assumptions, fur, a muzzle with whiskers and a rhinarium, usually a tail, dichromatic vision, etc.
Uniforms don’t have to be literally uniform. They could incorporate common elements like colors or heraldry while accommodating different species. I think any friction would arise more out of logistics. Different species probably prefer different fabrics due to having different dermal coverings and thermoregulation strategies, but you get what the lowest bidder can offer, so compromises must be made in the name of economy. That’s where I see interspecies tensions bubbling to the surface. The most numerous species would probably get favored, even if only unconsciously. So it’s less about “We gotta put those dirty chihuahuas in their place” and more “60% of our troops are Alsatians, so we had to design around them.” The result is the same, though.
Star Fox itself is an independent private military contractor, not part of the military proper (at the end of SF 64, General Pepper gets a bill based on how many enemies you down). The SF team can do whatever they want regarding uniforms