Beast Jacket | Glass Diamond

I drew this to celebrate that I FINALLY FINISHED THE FIRST DRAFT of the NeverFell Projects’ first installment. The script is 20 pages long, and I haven’t even added the design breaks yet…is this shaping up to be my first hour-long video…??

In any case, it’s still just a first draft, and it will definitely need some more work before I even start recording it. After I have a nice long break to reset the ol’ brain, of course. ^^

So these designs are successors to these two from before: Adam basically just went shopping for a more protective coat (which he wears on top of his previous outfit) and new shoes. Cinder, on the other hand, jumped into a totally new look as usual. ^^ I love that she’s the Barbie of the RWBY universe, and I’m more than happy to feed the stereotype by giving her lots of different designs~. 

This is my answer to her V7 outfit, where she loses the reds in her design as the ‘flame goes out’. Unlike the V7 outfit, however, this design's symbolism is intentional, as Cinder puts this on when she’s at her lowest point. I like to imagine she was meditating over the direction of her life while she crafted all that glass armor…

Anyway, speaking of direction-- just so I don’t forget (and as a small preview of what I’m working on~) here’s some things I hope to improve with my next draft of this proto-story:

1] Emphasizing reciprocity As in, Adam helps Cinder develop AND Cinder helps Adam develop; it’s supposed to be a two way street. Unfortunately, I think the tail end of the story kinda paints Adam as the ‘savior’ in this relationship…and his lingering superiority complex does not help. ^^;

It may be because he goes through a whole arc over the course of the story, while Cinder just starts hers in the last act, but I think if I just add a bit more introspection on Adam’s part, I can probably fix this. I mean, despite having a more stable sense of self that he can rely on, Adam is clearly the weaker half of this partnership-- he gets beaten up twice in a row while Cinder just keeps coming back stronger despite her suffering. Add to that the fact that Cinder can read him like a book and does so constantly, and there’s no reason Adam has to come off as her superior if I’m actually doing my job as a writer. ^^;;

2] Cinder’s turning point I’m afraid that she might have fallen into the classic writing pitfall of “having a bunch of bad things happen to her and then suddenly changing her mind”...y’know, without a clear line of reasoning that takes her from “this is painful but necessary” to “this isn’t okay anymore”. It’s the difference between a character simply running away from something scary (like any animal can do…) vs. actually developing as a person.

There is a final conversation at the end of the story that I was supposed to use to make this clear, but I think I got too caught up in making it ‘realistic’ and establishing Adam and Cinder’s future dynamic. Which was admittedly very fun, but at the same time there’s probably a reason why it feels like a lightweight conclusion to a heavyweight story, and I’ll have to correct that eventually. :T

Yo, the Splatoon video I've been working on for 6 months is finally up on YouTube! If you'd appreciate some gameplay tips from a certified Splatoon addict, give it a watch~

A lot of my old inkfish OCs, like Meri here, are cameoing in this video, and will likely be popping up in future installments too. Might as well use 'em for something. ^^;

“Some of us…will always be alone”

Skipping forward a bit in this re-concept, just because I can~ (loooong post ahead)

So one of the many things I found underwhelming about Return of the Mammalians is the lack of villainous impact Mr. Grizz has on his own story.

For starters, he’s straight up absent from 80% of it. =/ Just a vaguely threatening disembodied voice that does weak comedy bits with Cap’n Cuttlefish from time to time…and that’s basically it until we face him in the final battle.

The worst thing he’s responsible for in the story (as in, a successful act we have to contend with, rather than a work-in-progress that we interrupt) is dehydrating Cuttlefish…which is very temporary and played for laughs immediately afterwards. We don’t even get the opportunity to engage with this “tragedy” by actively rescuing the Cap’n in gameplay, we just suddenly find his body during a cutscene.

Compare this to Commander Tartar manipulating the player and lying directly to their face throughout the game, attempting to kill the player during the reveal of its treachery in one of the most memorable scenes of the entire series, brainwashing a former protagonist into fighting the player, and then attempting to destroy an entire city while quietly confessing that it murdered thousands of victims just to get to this point.

I’ll let you guess which one of these antagonists feels like a genuine threat, and which one just feels like a disappointment. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now, I don’t mind Mr. Grizz being less violent and deranged than Commander Tartar…the two have different personalities and slightly different goals, and anyway a body count isn’t really necessary to be a convincing villain. But I DO mind him being so totally uninvolved, despite being a character that we already knew and interacted with beforehand. Like, at the very least…talk to the player. o_O Care about the player. Do something to interfere with the player sometime before the last minute! The fact that Grizz just doesn’t give a damn about our existence for most of the campaign is baffling from a writer’s standpoint, and heartbreaking from a Grizz-fan’s standpoint. ;_; Notice me, Kuma-san!!

…Anyway, there’s a million ways to remedy this, because it’s such a simple and obvious problem that really shouldn’t exist. ^^; And the one I chose for #re_rise (besides having Grizz haunt the game like an ever-present specter, as explained here) is one of my old tried-and-true favorites: using the villain to parallel the protagonist.

Basically, both characters are lonely at heart. Agent 3 left home for the Splatlands in search of a “fresh beginning”, after spending most of their life feeling like they never fit in anywhere. Throughout the story, we get subtle clues that what they want most is belonging and friendship…which they’re clearly discovering through their interactions with Deep Cut and Smallfry, although it’s not until the climax of the final battle that they can truly believe in it and accept it.

And of course, Mr. Grizz lost his home and entire civilization, and even in the midst of a thriving new one (that he actively engages with through his corporation…!) he’s apparently such a massive bigot that he doesn’t consider it worthy of his company. ^^; Fish-people do not count to him, thus his loneliness is self-inflicted and intensified. He believes his only recourse is to transform the world back into something he can accept.

These parallels, plus the desire-manifesting powers of Alterna’s crystals (discussed in this post) eventually brings the two characters to an understanding of sorts. Without having to exchange words, they can see and consider the similarities of their innermost feelings.

This doesn’t have much of an effect on Grizz, outside of something he might muse about while Agent 3 ascends the launchpad (and maybe quietly internalize as proof that fish-people have feelings too, just to give his last-second change of heart at least one leg to stand on). But it weighs heavily on Agent 3, especially since they’re being physically changed by their adventure in a way that makes these parallels even more relevant…yes, I’m finally gonna talk about what I actually drew. ^^

My idea was that spending too much time around Fuzzy Ooze will affect you even if you don’t touch it (i.e. through splashes/aerosols), just to a lesser degree. And since Agent 3 was the first to actually enter the underground lab spaces and spends more time fighting there than anyone else, they’ve had an unprecedented amount of secondhand exposure to it.

Through O.R.C.A.’s files, they can understand why this mild fuzzification is happening to them, and that it may not be reversible, although they press on anyway (I’d like to imply that they’re willing to ignore it to impress Deep Cut~). But Grizz’s offhand comments make them realize that they may be unintentionally setting themselves up to be cast aside again, slowly turning into a repulsive mutant monster that no one will want to be around. The only one of their kind in the world, just like a certain Ursine Anomaly…and if they succeed in stopping Grizz’s plan, that’s all they’ll ever be. 

…On the other hand, if they were to sit back and let him fuzzify the world, then…no, they couldn’t do that. They…wouldn’t…

Currently trying to resume work on the next installment of Gatchaman Eternal (before another 7 months passes me by…). It’s been very relaxing to play with these characters again: recently I finished writing out Gel Sadra’s origin story, and it was so much fun I immediately drew these pictures to go with it.

I think Gel (or as they’re known at this point in the story, Sami Pandora) is my favorite antagonist to write; they just have so much emotional depth, which usually manifests as this impulsive ruthlessness that makes them a perfect kid-villain. When I initially wrote their section of the script, I thought maybe it was a little too cartoonish how fast Sosai X decided to recruit them…but then I thought, y’know, if I was an evil alien who came across a 16-year-old genius who mods weapons and isn’t afraid to kill people and has the guts to mouth off to a dude who threatens to crush their skull with a bear claw-- AND, has obvious mommy issues that I could probably exploit later-- I’d be pretty eager to get them on my side, too. ^^;

So about Frye's recent Splatfest victory...even in the beginning, playing on her team felt different from usual, and I had a suspicion about it... And after reading a tweet about the Autobots vs. Decepticons Splatfest from way back when, the suspicion grew stronger. And after seeing the final results, the suspicion was basically confirmed: The one factor in these lopsided Splatfests that's gone largely overlooked is how well each theme attracts older vs. younger players.

For many sets of themes, like the food themes, this isn't as noticeable. Everyone likes food, so the stats are gonna be muddier. But for more philosophical themes like the one we just had, I think the contrast was strong enough to actually affect the results. 'Save the World' (as it was localized pretty much everywhere outside of Japan) is a VERY kid-oriented option, especially compared to the other two choices. What child wants to do the Same Ol' thing at the end of the world?? How many kids even have a concept of what a 'Bucket List' is (and even if they do, would they recognize the phrase)...?

This would explain why Team Big Man, which usually either matches Team Frye or wins outright, did so poorly this time around...their performance was likely dragged down by an aggressively younger player pool.

It would ALSO explain why the Splatoon developers' obvious attempts to give Frye the most attractive themes kept backfiring: crowd-pleasers tend to attract kids. ^^; Meanwhile, Big Man and Shiver would have older player pools thanks to their more niche options, and end up winning more of the matches anyway.

If they really wanted to hand Frye an easy win after her year-long losing streak, rather than thinking along the lines of "Moldy Shoelace vs. 10-CARAT DIAMOND vs. Piece of Lint", they should have been trying stuff more like "New Club vs. New Apartment vs. New School". Y'know, make sure Frye's theme is something adults specifically can relate to, in order to attract older players (and thus, more experienced players) to her team.

WE DID IT, BUCKET LISTERS!!! 🎉🎉🎉

Salvation

Most of the leftover Dream Alliance content actually comes from its 'AU of an AU'-- while the premise of DreamAll is that Magolor leaves the Jambastion cult, in this alternate-alternate universe (which I nicknamed Bad!DreamAll~) Magolor stays, and eventually joins his father in his murderous rituals. Unsurprisingly, this takes a devastating toll on his mental health, and he quickly devolves into a living weapon.

At the heart of this story is Magolor's relationship with Princess Sectonia, a valiant swords-mage who joined the Dream Alliance after her fiancé was killed during Void's emergence. Basically, she's the first person he meets who can actually keep up with him in a 1-on-1 fight, so he immediately goes from wanting to kill her to wanting desperately for her to kill him, as he believes she's the only one who can. Unfortunately for him, Tony has a terminal case of protagonist-brain and believes she can 'save' Magolor, given enough time. ^^; So she refuses to back down when he challenges her, but she also refuses to ever deal the killing blow.

Eventually the two end up locked in this twisted dynamic where he's constantly stalking and attacking her, hoping that if he's cruel enough and hurts her enough, she'll finally decide not to let him live. Meanwhile, she's determined to show him mercy even at the cost of her own life, and even with the rest of the Dream Alliance pleading with her to see reason.

...It was a fun concept~. ^^ Before GONE, this was probably the darkest AU I ever wrote, particularly Bad!Magolor's tragic backstory and self-loathing mindset, which inspired this picture. I do believe that these versions of Magolor and Sectonia like each other a lot, in their own weird ways. For Tony, I think her unresolved grief over her boyfriend's death manifested into a self-destructive hero complex/rebound crush. :9 For Mags, I think he sees Tony as a sort of holy figure, simultaneously the perfect unblemished victim for him to destroy, and the perfect avenging angel to grant him the death he craves. But she won't do it for him until he earns it...until he lays out all the darkness in his soul for her to see, until he offers up enough pain and bloodshed to satisfy her judgment, until he proves that the need for him to be removed from the world outweighs the well-deserved punishment of his continued existence.

...Despite all that, he still understands what it's like to be loved, and he can't help but feel flattered that she actually wants to befriend him (his conclusion is that she's delusional, but still). Between the melodrama and deathmatches, they tend to have very cute conversations~.

I know DMC is not coming back, but at least tell us what happened to Kirby after his fight against DM Swordsmen! Did he ended in a hospital or domwthing like that?

...So the last time you asked this, I was thinking to myself "are they for real, or just super immersed in the story???" ^^; But now that I know that you, in fact, are for real, and I'm reviving old AU stories anyway, what the hell:

Short answer: ...Nothing...? ⚆_⚆ Even if I had continued with DMC after that, Kirby would not have shown up again; that was his last appearance in the whole series, I believe.

Long answer: I assume you started worrying about him because he got all bloody during that final fight? (long image incoming)

...I never really meant for it to be a big deal, though. ^^; I mean, I guess it's a bit graphic, but that's just how I roll...I was one of those kids who hated when characters would get slashed up in cartoons and just bounce away unscathed for censorship's sake. When you show me swords in a fight scene, I expect to see blood. 😤

Anyway, all that is to say that Kirb probably just magically healed offscreen and went back to his carefree daily life. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I mean, after all, he won the fight: I was trying to use the BGs to imply that the influence of the Rainbow Sword was destabilizing Swordsman's body, so Kirby's victory was pretty much sealed from the get-go. ^^;

SAY SOMETHING…!!

I’d like to go ahead and finish with this AU series soon…I never really had that much I wanted to draw for it. ^^; So to start off its second premiere, let’s go into some of the details:

This AU is titled ‘Parallel Canon’ mostly because Agent 8’s relationship with that boss forms the backbone of the plot: at first, they simply notice its resemblance to Agent 4, and learn from Marina that it’s most likely a direct copy of them. Then, after being locked in the Spire, they grow to resent it, as if Order is mocking them with these mindless facsimiles of sentient beings. A few hundred climb attempts later, though, Parallel Canon’s leader begins to behave strangely…Agent 8 starts seeing it appear on different floors, watching them battle from afar, and especially while they die.

Naturally, Agent 8’s first thought is that they’re simply hallucinating (it wouldn’t be the first time…) but later they decide to try to interact with it, and discover that it really is physically present. Agent 8 quickly becomes fixated on it, as the only element of the Spire of Order that seems to change its behavior over time, and sacrifices quite a few runs trying to communicate with it…to no avail.

They’re convinced that it’s more than just a copy; that somehow the real Agent 4 is in there, trying to defy Order’s control. They may even be in the exact same position as Agent 8: climbing the Spire in a parallel reality, forced to face off against them on the boss floors, but occasionally reaching through outside of them, if only to let 8 know that they’re not alone.

Agent 8 never really finds out if their theories are correct, even as the PC gradually morphs from an enemy to a silent bystander to an ally, helping them through the higher floors and leading them closer to victory than ever before. Near the end, Order calls it an aberration generated by Agent 8’s mind, proof that even after all the PUNISHMENT they’ve endured, they still haven’t learned “the value of an unchanging world”.

My intention is that the PC really is just a Jelleton, but one with the capacity to observe the person climbing the spire, learn from them, and respond to their emotional state, as Marina likely intended for them to do. Order tampered with its code as it did with the entire Memverse, but between Agent 4’s Palette data (which, as a digitized soul, can’t fully be controlled or predicted) and Agent 8’s excessive repeated climbings, eventually something was activated that allowed part of the Memverse’s original purpose to shine through, despite it all. In that sense, whether or not the PC “is” Agent 4 is really a matter of interpretation. ^^

Battle of the Bands

Finally designed all the members of those holiday Splatbands I came up with before~

M4R1N3SN.0 Cyan (Octoling): Lead singer, songwriter, and sole stage performer, with seemingly limitless energy. Functioning alcoholic, which makes her a bit emotionally unstable. As the face of the group, she is often simply called ‘Marine Snow’ by casual fans who don’t know her name. Alice (Birdbeak dogfish): Cyan’s manager, who also helps with backup vocals and songwriting occasionally. Feels motherly towards Cyan, always trying to make sure she eats and shows up for rehearsals. Sky (Sea urchin): Composer, hired by Alice. Very professional and emotionally detached from the other two; basically just here for the money. She considers Cyan her ‘muse’, however, and believes her work for M4R1N3SN.0 is her best yet.

whaleFall OSEDAX (Halloween lobster): Vocalist, bassist, and lead composer. Soft-spoken yet very blunt, to the point of garnering a reputation for cruelty. In reality, he’s simply emotionally honest, and can be genuinely sweet under the right circumstances. Absentminded, and gets lost easily. Eunice (Ping-pong tree sponge): Guitarist, with a vicious personality. Extremely protective of her friends, ‘cursing’ anyone who slights them with some unknown form of witchcraft. Often gets into fights with Alvin (and Cyan, when she’s around). The Late Atdabanian Fossil Known from the Lagerstätte (Salmonid): Drummer. Tried and failed to join a traditional band with other Salmonids back home, and reluctantly turned to inkfish society for a chance to follow their dreams. Hides in Mudmouth form so none of their friends or family will recognize them. Simply called ‘Fossil’ by the other members. Alvin (Horseshoe crab): Keyboard/synth and assistant composer. Prickly and rude to everyone except OSEDAX (who he only insults under his breath) and his beloved wife and children. Very passionate about the band’s spooky aesthetic. Alitta (Super Sea Snail): Vocalist, recruited on the spot when OSEDAX heard her shrieking in fear of being eaten, and decided to rescue her. Since then, she’s been deeply in love with ‘her prince’, although it’s not something she will readily admit to. A hard worker who enjoys being part of the band, and is well-liked by the other members.

Our Hero

Looks like Dream Alliance is gonna win the poll-- in any case, even if it slips into 2nd place by the end, it’s the oldest AU on the list so it takes priority. ^^ The art train has already left the station~

I thought it’d be nice to start off with a picture of good old Mad Scientist Magolor. I’ve never actually drawn what he would look like after his big adventure is over, during the brief year or two when he’s considered the universally-beloved savior of the world…y’know, before Consequences™ start to muddy the waters. ^^; He’s basically the same; the only changes are his scar and Nova-freckles, updated vambraces, and of course, the wheelchair. I originally intended for his dimensional overcoat to carry his weakened body around, and I guess it could, but visually I like the actual chair better. :] It makes him feel more down-to-earth.

So, if you remember, a while back I wrote out a “bad ending” epilogue for Dream Alliance, which I admitted I didn’t actually consider “canon” to the AU. "So then," you may be wondering, "what IS the canon ending? What actually happens to Mags and Division Six after they save the world…?"

Well, I gave it some thought, and as painful as it is…I think the true ending would be very similar to the “bad” one. Hyness is the problem-- after all’s said and done, the various leaders of the world would probably want him dead for inciting a global genocide. And it would be hard to blame them…but at the same time, I simply cannot imagine a Magolor who would sit quietly and let his father be executed. Even if it meant having the whole world turn on him, even if he truly felt the punishment fit the crime, he would still have to try to save him. He just loves him too much.

There would only be two major differences, and the first would be the position of the Dream Alliance: one of the conditions of the “good ending” is that Susie discovers the truth about Magolor, but understands where he’s coming from, due to her relationship with her own morally-bankrupt-yet-loving father. She does have a talk with him, but keeps it under wraps, and generally ignores the issue until the public finds out that Hyness exists. And even then, although she’s duty-bound to respect the wishes of the rest of the world (and kinda does want to avenge President Haltmann Sr., who died during the Void fiasco) she feels bad about having to oppose Magolor on this, and holds back a bit during the final fight.

The second (even more painful) major difference would be…I think Magolor would decide to sacrifice himself to end the conflict. 🥺If the world wants a life to take, let it be his-- after all, that would be the harshest possible punishment for his father, and he knows it. Nothing would hurt Hyness more than to live out the rest of his days knowing his beloved son died for his crimes.

And it would also quell any concerns regarding all the power Magolor amassed during the story: if he dies, the Void Destroyer System dies with him. No one has to worry about the god-killing mecha or alien auxiliaries falling into the wrong hands; it will all be gone. That extra detail, I think, would be enough to convince other world leaders to accept the deal.

His angels would agree unanimously to die with their creator, because that’s how they are (Morpho might even pull a “see you on the other side”, being part death-god, after all…he knows they’ll meet again in some form~); Gryll and Adeleine would be inconsolable, the other generals would be low-key devastated too (I think MK would be hit the hardest); and Hyness would probably still be alone in his cell, able to ‘sense’ the loss of his child even without anyone telling him…and wishing for nothing more than to join him from that moment on.

So I'm realizing I haven't posted any standalone Kirby art in 3 months...and if you don't count Dream Discoveries Tour stuff, it's been 4 months...

It's not that I'm finally getting tired of Kirby artwork; on the contrary, between the Magical Friends episodes, "comic dub" shorts, and the new Dream Discoveries Tour project, it's kinda becoming a part-time job for me. ^^; So I guess maybe, when I wanna relax and do the 'fun' art that I usually post on Tumblr, I tend to avoid it these days.

I still think about all my old AUs constantly, though...and tbh I'd like to return to one of them; they all have unfinished business. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But I don't know which one to revisit first, so I thought I'd let y'all decide~

A Cat Most Curious~

-So it turns out I was right about the Curious Cat way back when. They were basically an Ironwood 2.0: enjoyable and engaging as a supporting character, deliciously evil as an antagonist, with surprisingly sympathetic motivations…all undermined by contrived emotional stakes and an anticlimactic character arc, and capped off by an ignominious death. T_T Fortunately, by the time they got viciously mauled I was too jaded about RWBY to feel anything beyond vague annoyance.

-They’re still my favorite aspect of Volume 9, though, and the only Afteran that really left an impression on me. So I’m trying to give them a role in NeverFell…something very close to the end of the story, after the Gods come back to Remnant, but before they’re ultimately defeated. Someone to help usher in the 2nd Era of Magic and show Team RWBY around.

-Do they have to be anthropomorphized for this purpose? No, but it’s fun, so why not? ^^ Tbh, once I thought up that crazy hairstyle I couldn’t help but go through with this design~. I don’t know if it’s actually physically possible…it might be. It was inspired by a type of friendship bracelet knotting pattern, BECAUSE THE CAT IS A FRIEND 😤

-...In truth, they’re more like an amoral spirit-type character, a being who simply craves knowledge and will aid whoever seems to have the most to give. The RWBY girls will have to employ some clever strategy to keep them on their side…

-Much like the god who created them, Curio here has a sort of existential rivalry with their twin sibling, the Jabberwalker. While they seek answers to questions, it simply provides unintelligible “information”, which they find much more irritating than its destructive habits. Meanwhile, the Jabberwalker just wants the Cat to stop fixing things and let them stay broken. Essentially, the direct descendants of Light and Darkness are Order and Chaos, respectively.

The Diary of Penny Polendina

The other day I was inspired to try working on a different NeverFell Projects installment, one that would probably be a lot shorter and quicker to write, because it's not like I care that deeply about Penny, right??

Well, I was incredibly wrong. ^^; So wrong that I'm actually having trouble with this story now...essentially, Penny goes through a bit of a 'rebellious phase' (gross oversimplification, but that's all you get for now) and there are, surprisingly, a lot of aspects of that character arc that I want to explore. Plus, a pivotal connection with Pyrrha, the climax of which I haven't quite figured out yet...

God only knows if I'll be able to finish, or if I'll just write the first 2/3rds of the story and leave it at that. But I figured I might as well warm up by talking about the designs. ^^

Penny's new look is basically 'Disney's Pinocchio, color picked from Arthur Watts' character design'~

I didn't necessarily want her to look evil, just...bolder. Like she specifically picked 'daring' items that maybe her father or Ironwood's PR team would rather she didn't wear, at least not compared to the more innocent frilly pastels she had on before. Between the chest window, midriff, and short sleeves, she's actually showing a lot more skin than before, despite still being 90% covered up. ^^;

Those multicolored wrist accessories are prototype weapons invented by Dr. Watts, that mix and pressurize Dust from the cartridges to cast "artificial magic". This way I get to do a bit of the 'Winter Maiden Penny' stuff in this Vol. 3-locked AU~

Penny's magic usage is one of the things that stumped me when writing this story...In NeverFell, magic isn't just glowy rainbow lasers or weather powers-- it essentially allows the user access to any conceivable semblance at any time; its potential is limitless. Being a beginner, Penny would probably just come up with one signature 'spell' to use in tandem with her Floating Array...but I can't decide what I want her to do. ^^; I think I'd like for her to do something connected to dance, because I feel like that's something unique to her, the way she dances with her weapons before striking. Nobody ever points out how the "robot" in the cast is the one who chooses to spend energy on unnecessary movements that aren't even used to maneuver around an enemy; they're just cute and fun. ^^ I think that's a great encapsulation of who Penny is~

Redesigning Pyrrha is always super difficult, because her original design is so perfect. But I like this end result a LOT. ^^ I may need to adjust the pant legs a bit, but overall it feels like a very believable alt outfit that keeps the spirit of the character.

Pyrrha is another one of the stumbling blocks in this story, because I'm now forced to create at least one malleable personality trait for her-- i.e. one that isn't intrinsically tied to Jaune and/or the plot. Something that she could actually take into a meaningful relationship with a different character... I had the idea to expand her "I'm sorry!" gag into a real guilt complex, where she has trouble letting go of instances where she's made mistakes or hurt someone. In this case, dismembering Penny 1.0 and essentially ending her life. :T She seeks out 2.0 in a desperate effort to make things right, and ends up helping her with ...things, and growing as people or whatever, and all that other stuff I have yet to write. ^^;

I just realized that Pyrrha could use her polarity semblance to pull Penny towards her in a situation where they need to reach each other...that's so cute. ^^ I gotta remember that~

As a card-carrying Mr. Grizz stan and a fan of Big Man (at this point I'm certain that he's my favorite member of Deep Cut...fascinating how the character who doesn't even say words in-universe ended up with the most unique characterization), I feel very compelled to be on Team Bear Cubs in this upcoming Splatfest...

...However, I will be fighting for Frye's team-- the Li'l Bunnies-- as usual. ^^ I figure, since I'm not actually that invested in winning Splatfests, I might as well stick with Frye until she gets her long-awaited second victory.

I'm in too deep to turn my back on her now; I just have be there when it happens. And it will, someday! WE JUST GOTTA BELIEVE

This game really feels like it should have one of those promotional companion manga where the characters are all slightly sillier and weirder than they are in the canon in order to be more entertaining for the kiddies~

Been watching a playthrough of the recently-released Princess Peach: Showtime! It's very cute and fun; I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how it ended up being structured. ^^

The other day I heard that some people were mocking the game, calling it too easy and silly and childish, and most notably, comparing it to the Kirby series. Well, as a Kirby fan, I take that as a compliment! :D The similarities ARE noticeable, and if HAL were to try making a Kirby game that leaned into PPS's particular strengths-- theatrics, characterization, episodic storytelling, and a heavy emphasis on REALLY COOL VISUALS-- I would be overjoyed. ^^

Since Kirb is kind of a simple character with a limited (and already well-established) range of expression, I doubt they'd try it with him, but I think any one of the franchise's fan-favorite side characters would fit right into the formula. MK, DDD, Magolor, even Bandana Dee could work. I'd really love to see them in a game like that...now I have something else to wish for and dream about, I guess~