I'm hoping someone can explain to me why so many games like to show increased power/gear via ridiculously oversized shoulder pads/pauldrons.
Just two examples of many: In SWTOR when playing a Sith I actually kept less powerful armour sometimes because the better stuff had shoulder pads that looked like kites. Playing Skyrim just now, and the Daedric pauldrons make it look like I have 3 heads, with two of them being Heat Miser's. Not only do they look silly to me, but such attire would be vastly impractical for combat.
I don't understand -- why is this such a popular theme/style?