#and then obviously I had to design a matching princess

[teacupchimera]

y'all I am Vibrating with excitement about this new piece I've just started working on 👀

[linderosse]

Guys.

Super long post; read at your own peril (tl;dr at the end).

But I just had a brilliant possible idea about where Echo (the new Zelda from Echoes of Wisdom) fits in the Wisdomverse, so I’m documenting it in case I decide to use it.

See, merging Echo into Fable would be cool. They seem very similar already (relevant post), and it’s a good option.

Yet there are a few small problems with this. I can get around them, but they’re still something to consider.

Fable’s already in four separate games (Most Zeldas get one game or less). Adding EoW makes a fifth.

Fable is already quite powerful amongst the Zeldas. Adding EoW makes her a bit OP. I’ll have to balance that carefully.

Fable has a planned story arc in the Wisdomverse. This might conflict with EoW (for example, this is why LU decided against adding TotK to Wild)

So while I still think it could be cool to merge Fable and Echo, I’m also looking for other possibilities. I don’t want to introduce a new Zelda between Fable and Dawn unless I have to.

And then I realized:

There is already a canon Zelda between Fable and Dawn.

I’ve literally already introduced her.

I have plans for her that could totally work with what we see in Echoes of Wisdom.

She’s vastly underpowered and could use the abilities from EoW very well

I could totally see myself writing her personality into EoW Zelda— it’s a different take than how I’ve depicted Echo before, but it would work equally well imo

And she’s also the Zelda with the least canon information; the one we know the least about overall— especially since we never meet her in her own time.

Guys, if Fable doesn’t work out, I think it might be awesome to merge Echo with Aurora— Hyrule’s second Zelda.

Imagine this:

Aurora woke up centuries in the future, after the Great Decline. She’s trapped in a vastly different world with Dawn and Hyrule as her only solace. She loves them, but she’s not from here; and she can’t shake the dread that she’s left everything behind: her friends, her realm, her brother, who she still cares about despite everything he did to her— and also, of course, her Link, who she loves, and went on an entire adventure to save.

When she was Echo, she was a hero. But as Aurora, she’s an echo of the past; a mournful ghost of a bygone age

Tl;dr: What if Echoes of Wisdom is the era Aurora came from— and where she desperately longs to return?

Masterpost

(More thoughts on the timeline under the cut.)

So— Echoes of Wisdom seems (so far) to take place around the time of Legend’s era, with enough ambiguity that it could be either before or after Legend’s era of ALttP/Oracles/ALBW/TH.

Currently leaning towards “EoW before Legend” considering the similarities to OoT, but I could very well go with “EoW after Legend,” which would be necessary for the Aurora merge. The Oracle games, after all, have a lot of similarities with OoT in terms of races and characters present (Zoras, the Deku Tree, Zelda’s design, etc), and they come after ALttP, which doesn’t have quite as many. Same thing with FSA, which is canonically after Twilight Princess but obviously resembles Four Swords more, and both Wisdomverse and LU have shifted the timeline to match. So there is precedent for similarities to skip a generation or two, even in canon.

I also doubt EoW is going to include a Prince of Hyrule (the one character we know of from Aurora’s backstory). This is fine, because I’m confident I can come up with a reason the Prince was away during the events of EoW. Perhaps during the events of EoW, the Prince left on a journey of his own and first encountered the Wizard that leads to Aurora’s downfall.

Anyways, these are just tentative plans. We’ll see what happens when the game comes out!

[the-nosy-neighbor]

Time in the Julie Update

Whose fault is the early spring and ensuing actions?

Spoilers

It’s the clock’s fault.  Barnaby states in the radio show: 

WALLY: Thank you. Onto the going-ons… Tick-tock, tick-tock- The friendly face of our clock has spun! That means it’s time we bid our Homewarming season a heartfelt farewell as Springtime springs into Home once more! 

BARNABY: Feels like he spun a couple’a turns too early if you ask me! Whatever happened to askin’ a ground-dog if he’s seen his shadow before bringin’ in the spring? There just ain’t any courtesy left in this town! 

Now, we haven’t had this clock the entire time.  It is a new addition.  Also, they don’t have clock hands, so we don’t know precisely what is meant for clock spins.  I am assuming it is days, since we are early, but not super early, but also not .  If we don’t have hands, perhaps what is meant is that the clock unit itself spins, though with the same face, it’s hard to say.

Interestingly, we have two very close views of the clock face:

This concept says the eyes and the mouth moves, so potentially the clock face changes.  There is also the possibility that the nose spins to indicate time.  I’m not sure, though. 

But:  we have our first good look at Eddie’s watch, which we know from the above is the only other timepiece in Home.  Now, we know there is a clock in the rainbow monster den, but they aren’t in Home. We have seen something that looks like it might be Julie's clock (shared by Clown) but I haven't seen it on the site.

We can see that is shares the same face, and it is probably in the same orientation with no change to the features.

Earlier art depicting the watch:

The design has obviously changed.  This matches with the concept art for the clock, though.  I have suggested before that the watch is split into day and night because we have the horrors after dark.  I’m assuming the Eddie has the watch because he is out most of the day and not near the clock.  Could be something else, but that makes sense to me.

Julie confirms for us that they can’t be out after dark when she tells the flower that she has to go in because they can’t be out at night, but she will be back.  Sally introduced the idea in the Halloween storybook. She also points out the flower will be safe, insinuating that the neighbors would not be.

Regardforgetfulnesssilence:

Julie:  It’s gonna get dark soon and we’re not supposed to be outside.  You’ll be safe though!  I’ll come back soon.

Wally (Remember?) Did all that really happen, Julie?

Back to the original thought:  Clock turns.  Barnaby points out that the clock itself is early.  Concepts of time show up:

Sweet Briar: 

SALLY: For many clock turns, the good fairy Howdy would raise young princess Julie into a big and strong rainbow monster. But to keep her origins a secret, he would give her the name Sweet Briar.

Radio Show:

JULIE: (Doing a light, silly voice.) I’ll say! (Doing a low silly voice.) No! Me first, me first! (Doing a 3rd silly voice.) I’ll tell you, Mr. Frankly, it’s so lovely to be blooming in the same town as THE Julie Joyful!

FRANK: Is it? (Playful snort.) Even with the earlier Springtime?

JULIE: Wha-! (Doing a 3rd silly voice.) Especially for that! The early Springtime wake up call was just what mother nature ordered! Now Home can see my beauty for even longer than before!

Tearsremembranceinstability:

Julie:  (She sounds very sad.) Was that not enough?  Do you want to get me into trouble? Why are you doing this to me? Was it because of the early spring? Are you mad at me for that?  I don’t know why that happened.  It’s not my fault!

Regardforgetfulnesssilence:

Julie:  (She says it sternly.) You should be opening up by now.  I thought giving you some time to yourself would help…But spring sprung so many clock turns ago!  What do you have to say for yourself?

This does make me wonder about the length of clock turns. Spring sprung so many clock turns ago could mean that it is hours, but it could also be days. We don't have any indication that it is one day that this occurs. I don't think that flowers would notice the difference between 2 clock turns if it is hours.

[insert-thenewbl-here]

Super Mario Princesses if I did it

ngl I love these characters but for such a cartoony world, I am bothered by the fact they all look super similar.. so I hopped on the redesign train! I wanted them more cartoony😊 I gave them each a primary shape like a real tooner (these are adjustments of some older designs I did))

❗Rosalina: I wanted her to look more like she was lost in space for a million years lol, so she's super skinny and has washed out skin. I wanted her clothes to be inspired by cliche God attire. also her hair is now star shaped. I tried to make her look more powerful and sad lol. (her shape is long, there's no emoji for that)

🔴Peach: I really like how she looks in Paper Mario and wished she always had that shape language.. I love when the body is just a circle on a circle! I wanted her dress to look less like a European royal gound cuz it didn't match the vibe of the toads to me. speaking of which, I gave her a mushroom hat instead of a crown :) and put spots on her "pearls?" I made her hair red because of her old design and her lips are heart shaped ye!

🔺Daisy: I'm not a "new daisy design hater", despite wanting to give her a unique dress, I also love that her and Peach match, so tried to keep that. (like most redesigners) I wanted her to dress more appropriate for the desert which she apparently lives in. The three jewls that match Peach didn't work on her head piece so now it's just on her forehead lol. (ya see.. Peach is made of round shapes so Daisy's made of sharp shaped🤯🤯🤯)

🟥Pauline: I made her OLD!!! because Cranky is OLD and cuz she's a referance to an OLD game!!! but more then that, I wanted her to look more like a cartoony mayor, so her being a little old lady is just cute (she still was super tall back in the day). I like Paulines suit from Odyssey more than her dress so Ima treat it like her defult attire. obviously she still rocks the form fitted dress hehehe.

(idk how yall make ur rough sketches look so good T-T)

[lightlycareless]

I finally got it out of my system but omg you do not know how much it took me to write this, like??? I wanted but words simply did not come out. I feel burnt outtttttt :( it must be stress.

Anyways, I still hope you enjoy it.

warnings: none. fluff. you have a baby girl with naoya but what's new? and before anyone comes for me he is REFORMED hahahahah 🙈🙈🙈

Happy reading!

Imagine your and Naomi’s first slumber party. Obviously, everything you do with her is special, your highlight of the day, but this particular event stood out from the rest.

Firstly, because you got to see your adorable baby’s reaction to things she’s never seen before, or more like try out such as manicures, pedicures, make-up, and her favorite: press on nails.

The endless possibilities with such when it comes to designs are enough to keep Naomi thrilled, though she always goes with Hello Kitty.

And secondly, because of a surprise you have prepared for the end of the night; but for now…

“Mama, I want that one please!!” she gasped enthusiastically, not wanting to miss the opportunity to decorate her nails with her beloved cat. “Please mama!!”

“Of course, dumpling. I got them solely for you!” You grin, glad to see your baby having a good time.

“Can you also do my make up?” she quietly asks, as if afraid you’d tell her no. When in reality you had long prepared for this request; it was no secret to you how fascinated Naomi was with you whenever getting ready, rushing to your side as soon as you approached the vanity table so she could see all the magic that entailed makeup.

Luckily, that mystery was to end now.

“Do I look pretty like you mama?” Naomi asks, causing you to coo.

“Oh, even prettier!” you gush, taking her into your arms and kissing her flushed cheeks.

“No mama, you’re pretty!” she counters. “Like a princess!”

“Stop it, mochi. You’re going to make me cry…”

“No crying, only smiles!” Naomi insisted, making you giggle.

“Alright, I won’t cry. Now, do you want to do my makeup?”

Naomi gasps.

“Can I??”

“Of course! It’s what you do in slumber parties!”

Naomi undoubtedly has the time of her life trying out all the things she always wanted to do with your makeup, careless of her inexperience, if she knew which colors matched well with other or what would make your features stand out, because in her mind, she was already the best! Just as you continuously encouraged her.

From there, the rest of the night continued on by watching movies and eating your and her favorite snacks—mochi. Naomi was nothing short of a delighted ray of sunshine before these treats, giddily enjoying all of the things that’s she’s normally limited on: like endless snacks and of course, a child’s ultimate defiance! A thing that totally made her close to being a grown up���

Staying up past her bedtime.

However, your darling pumpkin, not being used to doing that, quickly succumbed to slumber just after the first movie ended, though it might be because her overexcitement for the whole ordeal exhausted her more than usual.

And while it wasn’t necessarily in your plans, the sight of her breathing peacefully underneath the warm covers made you smile, the natural response to a successful, fun night.

“She’s completely knocked out, isn’t she?” Mariya, who came in to check on you before eventually staying around after Naomi begged her to, noted. You giggle.

“Yeah, my poor baby, but sometimes it seems she’s unable to stop, you know?” you jest, gently caressing Naomi’s tummy. “She’s growing so fast; I wish she would stay small a little longer…”

“I think it might be time for the second one.” Mariya teases, you blush.

“Oh, shut up…” you murmur, she laughs.

“You’re not denying it.”

“I’ve thought about it, but… well, Naoya and I rarely have time to ourselves now that he’s of a higher rank, so I don’t know how that’s going to happen.” You lament.

“Hmmm… but it seems to me you always make the best out of it, don’t you? Naoya always leaves the estate with a smile that implies satisfaction, after all.” you turn bright red.

“Mariya!”

“I’m just teasing you, Y/N.” She smiles, you laugh along. “But now that we’re talking about it… I guess it doesn’t hurt to say that Naomi-chan sometimes asks me if she’s ever going to have a little brother or sister to play with.”

“Really?” you breathed, she nods.

“Yeah; it’s not frequent but, you know, she has her moments.” Mariya recounts, carefully one of Naomi’s hair locks behind her ear. Such a beautiful angel, she wonders if she’ll ever have her own.

“I’d like a boy.” You confess. “To have a set, as many say. Can you imagine? Another baby that looks just like Naoya! Though whatever we end up having is fine by me, really. To have a family is a blessing by itself.”

“And Naoya? Has he told you what he would like?”

“No, but I’m sure he’d like another girl, no matter how much he tries to deny it.” Because you’ve seen it through how gentle and doting he is with your baby.

How he’s always asking for her every time he’s away, not a single second is she out his mind… and with how Naomi calls for him too, constantly asking you if her papa is to return soon, because even to her videocalls and gifts are not enough to ease her unbearable yearning.

Oh, how you miss him.

Thankfully, your pleads would no longer continue unattended when a servant suddenly knocks on your door to brief you of the event you’ve been eagerly waiting for; immediately glancing at Mariya who gives you an encouraging nod in return, as if letting you know Naomi will be ok, before standing up and heading towards the exit.

To the arms of your melancholic husband whose face lights up as soon as his eyes land on you. A homesick man that was glad to finally be back home.

“Naoya! Oh, Naoya, you’re back.” You breathe, quick to embrace him and press your face against his chest, hiding your tears between his clothes.

Normally, he would’ve teased you for your reaction, make his best to cheer you up, but in the wake of months of absence, all Naoya could do is take your presence even deeper into his soul, hoping that he wouldn’t succumb to his own tears either as he tries to imprint your warmth, your scent, your love into his body to never forget.

“I missed you.” You confess, Naoya kisses the top of your head. “I can’t believe you’re here! It—it almost seems like a dream…!”

“I know. I can’t believe I’m here either, after so long…” Naoya responds, hugging you tighter. “But I am, and I missed you too, so much.”

“Please tell me you’re not leaving soon; you just came back.” You plead, looking up to him with that teary, dreadful look that always made his heart tighten.

More so if he knows he’s to disappoint you.

“I…Y/N—”

“No, you’re right. We don’t have to talk about that right now.” You shake your head, putting aside the sour thought of his departure for another time. Right now… “All that it matters is that you’re home. With us. With me.”

“Where’s Naomi? I wish to see her, if it’s not too late of course.” Naoya smiles, you giggle.

“Actually, there was something I was planning to do for you that involved her, but I think I failed.”

“Let me guess, you tried keeping her awake to see me?” He rightfully assesses, you nod.

“Yeah, I planned a whole slumber party to do so, but, well, you know how our baby is. She gets too excited and then, she passes out!”

Naoya laughs, his heart warming up at these small moments he missed dearly. Thankfully, he’s now able to partake in them once more.

“But she’ll still be excited to see you in the morning nonetheless.” You add before grabbing his hand and guiding him to your shared bedroom, where your precious angel slept. “Come now, I don’t want to keep you waiting any longer!”

And it takes great effort for Naoya to not cry at the sight of his baby girl soundly sleeping in his bed, though he is unable to resist joining her, carefully laying by her side as you joined him soon after, resting your face on his chest, where home is.

“You did her nails?” He notes at her small, clenched fist. Naoya wishes to hold it but decides against it in fear of waking her up.

“Yeah, do you like them?” you smile. “I did mine too—we can do yours later if you’d like.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Naoya smirks.

“I wholeheartedly believe you’d look good with black nails.” You affirm.

“No better than inside you.”

“Naoya!” you playfully smack him, a noise that inadvertently wakes up your small dumpling up.

“Ma…ma?” Naomi’s soft voice makes you and Naoya’s breath hitch to their throat, keeping still as she seems to appear unaware of her papa’s presence, as seen in the following question. “Is papa home yet…?”

To know that her first waking thought is to wonder about her father makes your heart soar, and unable to keep her in the dark any longer, you rush to give her the good news—

Only for Naoya to stop you, planning instead to unveil the surprise tomorrow morning, just when all the gifts he got for her were set to arrive.

A splendid moment to signify his official return he wishes to conduct perfectly, happy to finally be back home, in the presence of his two beloved.

His loving family Naoya would do anything in the world to protect.

[pigdemonart]

So Scarlet and Violet's Indigo disk dlc has introduced Lacey (Beautiful perfect angel) and it's implied she is Clay's daughter

What do you there relationship is like? Do you think Clay whould be a good dad?

hahaha i have been tweeting about this actually. First link is a joke, but you should still click it lol

I always thought of Clay as an unofficial father of the region, so YEAH!! The news made perfect sense to me! I do believe its been confirmed also and it’s not just implied.

I ramble about clay for paragraphs:

I like to imagine Lacey and Clay have a good relationship. We can see from her design, she is wearing hair clips that match the gems Lian and Clay wear, which is super cute! Confirmed family tradition, like I theorized hehe!

Clay seems like the kind of dad that is blunt and straight to the point, but would spoil and support wholeheartedly! He’s a “down to earth” (haha) pragmatic kind of guy, telling everyone the hard truths when they need to hear it and not mincing words. Like you’re a kid when you meet him and he’s like whats up dummy, you fucked up. I imagine Lacey is fully used to this attitude and doesn’t get phased by it much. She probably tells people with a wave of a hand that her dad is actually quite nice, you just gotta cut through the hard exterior first.

I like to imagine Lacey got her drilbur (excadrill) from her dad (maybe a starter) but not just as a gift — she had to prove that she was ready to be a trainer! And she did, because she’s Clay’s daughter and Lian’s descendant so nice as she looks she must be headstrong as shit.

Like I can’t see Clay being a pushover dad, even if we imagine he calls Lacey petnames like “princess.” Personally, I always saw Clay as a little chivalrous with girls and femmes, in that Southern cowboy kind of way. I’m sure that comes through whenever he is decidedly softer with his own daughter.

Also Lacey lives in Nimbasa and uses fairy type, so she is clearly a kid that has her own ambitions and dreams. Which is why I imagine (if she has good relationship with her dad) that Clay must fully support it. Rocks and mining have been in the family since Lian’s time, so it’s possible she isn’t really interested in inheriting Clay’s business and has different goal for herself. Maybe there was some tension with this and maybe they butted heads, but I’m sure it could be worked out.

Would be cool to imagine her as the future Fairy type gym leader of Unova. That being said, I don’t think she’s against or ashamed of it. Her hair clips prove she’s proud of her origins after all!!

Also Clay sent his little girl to this new fancy shmancy school UNDER THE OCEAN, and sure its a little flashy, but he cares about her being educated and kicking other kids’ ass. Before she left he was probably like “give ‘em hell!” and she furrowed her bushy eyebrows like >:)))

Now ahem…obviously I still ship Clay x Drayden, this hasn’t really changed anything for me LOL in fact it makes it very interesting, because Drayden also has a confirmed grandson. Old man yaoi is still old man yaoi even if they’re bisexual, but also surrogates are a thing, not to mention divorce arc maybe??? All great, big fan. 👍

Tldr: YEa HE’S A COOL DAD.

[stars4krios]

Spirit Blessed Zuko AU Fire Nation lore stuff!!

Back when the Fire Nation was still run by the fire sages it was actually fairly common for the members of the Royal family to be sprit gifted/blessed and the Fire Nation being well the Fire Nation, made crowns about it.

There are 3 sets of 8 crowns, each set has 8 distinct designs for each of the Original 8 Benders. The crowns were worn by the princes and princesses of the Royal family no matter how far away from the throne they were as long as they were spirit gifted/blessed, once a spirit gifted prince/princess became Fire Lord they'd add the Fire Lord's crown to the back of their top knot and keep wearing their spirit crown at the front. There's 8 versions of the Fire Lord's crown because each spirit crown is a different shade of gold so they obviously had to match the golds!

Some examples of the crowns:

The reason there's 3 sets of the crowns is that when the Fire Nation was at its peak spirituality it was so common to have spirit gifted royalty they simply ended up needing that many. I'm talking multiple generations packed full of spirit gifted/blessed people, family portraits used to be alive with so many shades of gold and red! But now, as the Fire Nation loses it's connect to the spirits less people are gifted. Crowns sit untouched in the royal vault for decades. Family portraits devolve into the same deep reds and yellow golds. It used to be a bad sign to have a whole generation be skipped by the spirits but now it happens so often that no one bats and eye at it. No one truly understands, or cares to understand, the reasoning behind why the spirits haven't touched the Royal family in 5 generations.

With the birth of Agni gifted prince Zuko and La gifted princess Azula, it seems the Royal family has finally regained the spirits good graces, but I don't think they'll like the reasoning all that much.

[my-plastic-life]

Behind the Scenes: Making Melody

Ah, Melody. The daughter of Ariel and Eric. Ariel, the only princess to have a child (Descendants doesn't count). Since the sequel to The Little Mermaid launched in 2000, I've wanted a Melody doll. To this day I can't believe the Disney Store hasn't made one.

Technically, one was released back in the day. I remember going to Toys R Us to get it, and upon seeing it, put it back on the shelf. Why? Because it looked nothing like my favorite princess's daughter.

A bit scary, right? Her eyes, for one, are brown and they should be blue or at least greenish-blue. And her face overall just gives me an uneasy vibe. I can't explain it, but she just doesn't look right. Even back then I couldn't fork over the money for her. Now, try to find her on eBay, and I swear she's ranged in price from $400-$800. Definitely out of my price range for a sub-par doll. Yes, I'd like to have the clothes, but no way am I forking over that kind of cash for clothes that I'm sure I can have someone make. And while I've come a long way with customizing and could easy change her eye color, it doesn't change the fact that she looks... off.

And thus began my journey of creating my own Melody doll. Again, Disney Store should really make one. A lot of us fans and collectors want one, and we know they have the ability to make smaller dolls because we've gotten Alice, Wendy, and Tinker Bell. Come on Disney Store...

But when a company fails to provide a doll you desire, you do the logical thing - you make your own!

The first step was determining the best candidate to transform into Melody. Obviously I wanted her to have one of the aforementioned Disney Store bodies designed for smaller characters. It would match the Ariel dolls I have, and I'd been eyeing an outfit made for that exact body (Melody's primary outfit, her bloomers).

So the body was simple. Next was the face. Obviously either of the three heads that came with the body would have sufficed. Skin tones were a good match to the Ariel dolls I have, so another easy step. The face, though... Melody is often portrayed as having a very large, toothy grin. I've seen people create Melody dolls using Ariel's face, and while that does make total sense, I felt her smile was a bit too "small" for this girl.

If I wanted to keep the original head with the body, Tinkerbell was out because of her pointed ears. That's one thing I can't fix LOL. Sculpting and drawing are definitely out of my area of expertise.

That left Alice and Wendy:

Great candidates, but their smiles definitely aren't right. Melody rarely had a closed mouth smile, if ever, and while I've seen some people customize these dolls into Melody and other characters and add painted teeth, the original issue still exists - the smile isn't big enough.

And yes, Tinkerbell, of course, has the open mouth smile - but the ears!!! Why?!

Another issue with using a Disney Store doll is the head itself. Disney Store doll heads are significantly harder than Mattel and Azone dolls, meaning it takes extra strength/work to reroot them. I could try dyeing the doll hair or using fabric markers on it, but A) that could possibly stain the doll, and B) I've tried fabric markers before and it makes the hair feel like straw.

I was convinced I'd inevitably have to use Wendy or Alice and have someone else reroot her for me, but then I thought of something else. Mattel has reacquired the rights to make Disney Princess dolls. That, of course, includes Ariel. I've made hybrid dolls before (my Inuyasha dolls combine two or three different dolls into one amazing creation), and I remember seeing the princess dolls when Mattel brought them back - particularly Ariel, who had a large toothy smile.

Plus, because she's Mattel, I know how the mechanics work with swapping heads and that the head is a lot softer and easier to work with in terms of rerooting. So I ordered her, but I wasn't yet sure if she'd work. Would her skin tone match either of the Disney Store bodies? What about the head size - would it be too big or small compared to the Disney Store Ariel? And of course, Mattel = pixelated faces... though I'd be repainting the lips anyway for sure because Melody's lips are a more natural pink shade rather than the bright red Ariel has.

Well, luck was on my side - the Ariel head not only matched the skin tone of the smaller bodies (which were also very close to the Disney Store Ariel), it was actually smaller than the original Wendy and Alice heads! I don't know what's up with that, but what a happy accident!

However, there was still another step. I've put Disney Store heads on Barbie bodies before, but not vice versa. And these are smaller bodies. How would it work? The verdict was a bobble head, but some rubber bands around the neck peg took care of that. I think it completely works!

The next step was the rerooting process. I don't know why it's so satisfying to pull all those little plugs out of a doll head, and then poke new hair right into it. :D Of course, before the poking, I had to use acetone to remove the factory paint on the scalp, then paint back over it with black and seal it. This time I was determined not to use too much hair, as in making it too long. When I rerooted my Azone Kagome, I didn't trim the hair until it was completely rooted, and not only did it make a huge mess, it was very wasteful because of how much I had to trim off to get it to the right length. Melody's hair isn't that long (it seems to hit just past her butt I think), so I felt fine cutting each piece I plugged in half. In the end, that proved to be a good decision because I only had to trim a very small amount to even it out and get the look I wanted. Yay!

Once that was done, I gave her a boil wash, allowed the hair to dry overnight, and then added the special glue inside from The Doll Planet Hair (I also got the hair from them). After that dried overnight, it was time to start on the face. I decided to start at the top and work my way down to lower my chances of messing up something that was finished. So I did the eyebrows first. Melody has significantly thicker eyebrows than Ariel, and of course they're black rather than red. Surprisingly enough, I was able to get them thicker and still even... this coming from the person who spent two hours on eyebrows on a different doll. >.<

Next was the eyes. At first I wasn't sure if I should leave them or not, but in the end I decided they needed to be changed. They were way too blue, and they're really supposed to match Ariel's and Eric's. She is their child, after all. Plus, thanks to Mattel, they were also pixelated. BOOOOO!

Many of the scenes in the movie show Melody as having green eyes, so I started there. But then I thought, I better make sure they match Ariel. So I got an Ariel doll out and used her as a guide. Let me tell you, matching that color was insanely difficult. Too green, too bright, too blue, too dark, etc... Then I kept going back and forth because, again, she seems to have green eyes. But then again, they should match Ariel's eyes. Remember, being a perfectionist can be super exhausting.

I finally had what I thought was a good color, so I used that to help shape the eyes. I kept the original white part of the eye and just painted over what was already there, trying to match the Disney Store style (large portion in the darker color, small ring in the lighter color, and then the pupil). But then, after holding it next to Ariel, I was still dissatisfied with the color (way too bright). I kept looking at Ariel, and then I even saw some other custom dolls with blue eyes and some shots of Melody do depict the eyes as being more blue than green (Ariel, too):

So, after literally a week of just trying to get the best color, I finally got it!!! Victory dance!

Last was the lips. Should be simple, right? I like the color of my Barbie self's lips. They're a natural shade of pink, and I have the combo of paints I used to pull that off saved, so I could just replicate that, right? WRONG! I didn't factor in the original factory paint, which serves as a base coat and affects what goes on top of it, plus this doll has a warmer skin tone than Mini Me, so the color turned out to be super bright and very unnatural-looking. So I did a ton of mixing and modifying the paint recipe until finally I was satisfied with the shade. I had to go over the teeth a couple of times too because A) pixels and B) I went over the white a bit with the lipstick.

Once her face was done, I could start styling her hair. Melody just has a simple ponytail with large bangs like her mom. The hardest part was definitely those bangs. They're not straight or flat bangs, but they have kind of a "poof" to them.

The part was a little off - it should have been more to the side and less to the center. However, I was following the original factory root line, so I didn't really pay attention to where it was. That was my fault lol. I took a few strands of hair and held them out of the way as I tied the rest into a ponytail. To give the bangs their ideal effect, I tied that hair back separately with a hair tie I'd bought that resembles Melody's green one. Then I started pulling them out little by little, hoping to achieve the desired look. This was the first result:

Not bad, but I thought I could make it a little better. I noticed some small bald spots around that area in the scalp (oops), so I added some more hair to those areas to make the bangs a little fuller. I re-tied the bang strands (didn't boil wash the second set of hair because I didn't want to risk messing up the paint and I wanted them to stand up somewhat anyway), manipulated the positioning a bit, and came up with this:

I think that's a little better and gives the desired effect. I may still try to manipulate it some more, but I did put some of my special doll hair spray on it to hold it in place. The ponytail bottom just needed a small curl, and while I tried my curling iron on it, I found it to be better to just curl it by hand and spray it.

The final part was the outfit. I got the outfit from malanedoll on Etsy (she makes gorgeous Disney outfits!) The outfit also came with Melody's symbolic seashell locket.

I know what you're thinking - where the heck is her tail? Well, I can't sew that well (I can make little pillows, relatively decent curtains, and maybe some garden flags, but outfits? Nope lol), and I haven't been able to find a tail that would work with this body in the right color. By next year I might have her tail, but for now, she'll stay in her signature bloomer outfit. That is what she's wearing most of the time, and she did ultimately decide to stay a human in the end. :D

And with that, Melody was complete! Probably not 100% perfect, like most of my creations, but satisfying enough for me! Of course, if Disney Store makes an official Melody doll, I'll buy her - and totally do a comparison LOL. And I do intend to eventually get her that iconic red tail!

Thanks for reading my journey on creating Ariel's daughter! To this day, she's still the only Disney princess to ever become a parent lol.

[paraonyx]

Smitten won the fourth poll :]

And...

Puff ball smitten.

(Sorry for the kind of blurry picture, I struggle getting it to focus T-T)

While Smitten's design isn't my top favorites I do really like his, and I also had fun drawing him. I felt like making him very fluffy worked well with him. I also added a little crown and some gloves to match the charming prince vibe.

It's kind of hard to tell, but I also added a ring on his ring finger in relation to his connection to the princess.

I also made him kind of chubby because chubby Smitten :P

Since I'm kind of doing little drawings of the voices in the posts, mainly just as random doodles or showing off features and stuff. I thought a drawing of Smitten holding the Damsel :)

And here's a drawing of him colored. I felt like a dark pink for his feathers worked well with him (because love, obviously) and I also made his arms and legs a dull dark blue to contrast.

Next poll will be posted tomorrow as usual :]

[annjo-wolfe]

I think my key frustration with twilight's design in the show finale is that she just doesn't look like her. It alienates her from her previous design, and I couldn't figure out why?

until now,

see my biggest hang-ups are around her height/build, her face and her wings (and her clothes, we'll talk a bit about them at the end).

First off, most obviously, she's way too tall. It makes little sense for her to be taller than Luna especially in such a short timespan, since Luna is thousands of years older than her. It's about design symbolism, Celestia is tall as heck because she's larger than life in the eyes of Twilight (and the audience). Luna is shorter than her because she's the younger sister and she has a lot to learn about life and friendship after being gone so long. Approachable but still of high status in Twilight's eyes. Cadence is the most approachable to her, so is shorter than Celestia AND Luna. She's family, a close friend, and they can see eye-to-eye, represented by their character design.

For this reason, she shouldn't be taller than Cadence, maybe equal height at most. Because she's the princess of friendship and has only been ruling a few years, her character designers shouldn't have made her much taller than her previous alicorn design.

The mane 6 and other people she knew are still alive and remember her mistakes and time learning to be a princess. Making her as tall as Celestia communicates to the audience that she's now separate from her subjects and her friends, and is not as approachable as before, like Celestia was. Its fine if she would be eventually that tall but not after such a short timeskip.

Next is her face. Throughout the show, we're used to twilight having a round face shape like many mares in the show. Her snout/muzzle should be rounded, and more importantly her snout should be proportionately small compared to her head. Her usual snout face proportions are 1/3. Communicating change by making it slightly longer/bigger , but not to the extent we see in Celestia (1/2). Celestia's proportions match how tall her body is, you make Twilight's design shorter, you have to change other proportions too. It's not like Celestia's face proportions and shape are the default, look at Cadence, her snout is tiny (too small to match twilight I think). Luna's snout to head proportions seem to fit.

As for the roundedness, this can be communicated in the design by lengthening and curving the line that indicates the curve of the cheek. It's really short for Celestia and Luna, and that's because it makes the eye think long and smooth which registers as refines and regal (take fleur de lis or sassy saddle for example).

The wings are also unforgivable. Their shape is all off. Celestia's wings are kinda concave and very angular, it matches with her design. But twilight's wings are convex and smooth, like Luna, like Cadence. It completely alienates her from how she previously looks. It makes her look like not Twilight at all. They don't need to be super curved like Cadence's wings are but at least keep it consistent with her previous design.

And finally her clothes. Each alicorn princess has a distinct fashion style. And Twilight's style was already established in both the crown her element was embedded in and her coronation outfits. A smaller gold crown with finer metal details, her hoof guards silver (if she wears them at all) and dressed in a dress. This is unique to her, and imo she looked stunning in them while Luna and Celestia (and even cadence occasionally) always looked out of place in dresses. Not only does the Celestia royal jewellery look too chonky on twilight, but it feels like a copout. If she had to wear something similar, smaller replicas with finer details would've matched better. And it would make sense character-wise, since twilight has always been hesitant to parade her status, and it would communicate that not only does she rule her way but that despite being ruler of equestria, she is still approachable.

[mangakachan]

I need some help with my Rue design. I was originally going to go with A, but I realized her red ballet practice costume doesn’t have a lot of details and will make her fade into the background. So I decided to draw her in her school uniform.

However, for this Princess Tutu series I want each variant of the character to have somewhat mirrored poses to reflect how they each had different roles within the meta story of PT. The Kraehe design is final, but I have a hard time deciding between B and C. 😕 B obviously more closely mirrors Kraehe’s pose, but to me her expression doesn’t quite match her body language. C doesn’t mirror Kraehe’s poses as much, but is more expressive and is also based on Rue’s stage entrance when she steps in to dance with the Ghost Maiden in episode 4.

I think I am leaning slightly more towards C, but please let me know which one you prefer by voting in this poll!

[ranchycowgirllover]

Alright so I made a Stella Re-Design, this post ‘ill be kinda long cuz I wanna explain things and such

My main problems with this design are 1- Details that are unneeded that lead to inconvenience in the animation department (like seriously watch scenes with her and focus on her lashes) 2- This outfit isn’t very regal, I’m guessing the bottom of the dress is supposed to resemble feathers idk it just doesn’t look good.

Alright so we have that out of the way, I have made a few different possible re designs. You’ll see the one I prefer at the end.

This one I tried to keep more in line with the original pink princess theme. Simplified the dress and hair (I imagine that her hair can fluff up when she’s angry) and I replaced the dark purple with a maroon. I also made her hair white. This way the only purple is her make up which should cause you to look at her face more.

This one is a more evil Queen inspired Stella, used the purple as a main dress color, I gave her green/blue eyes and grey hair which she had in the pilot. The eyes are help tell her apart from her husband, and the hair change is to make her look older and more regal. I changed the style of dress now she looks less little girl costume princess. (No hate to princess peach)

This is a younger Stella design that I did. My canon is that she was dressed this way as to appeal more to Stolas.

Now this is the final design that I chose. The purple is for royalty, I did away with the dark purple as to make her look less threatening. And the dress is rococo era inspired just because I those dresses no real reason

I also did a design for her brother.

His changes were simplify his outfit, and the other stuff like his hair were changed to match his redesigned sister

Alright so that’s all the art. The rest of the this is just going to be me ranting and raving about her character.

Okay so I think we should acknowledge how fucked Stella’s situation is. She’s in an arranged marriage and her only purpose in hells society was to give birth to an heir.

Stolas and her brother are shown to have magic powers, and Stolas we know he has princely duty’s so we can assume the same for her brother. Stella doesn’t have any of these she was meant to be a baby a maker. Even her name Stella compliments Stolas’s role as star prince or whatever.

Now in the first episode of season 2 we have Stella making fun of her husband how he’s bad in bed and how she’s glad she doesn’t have to fuck him because she’s given birth. I think this is Viv’s attempt at making this situation seem less fucked up.

I don’t even know it just makes me really uncomfortable that this very feminine woman in a shitty situation is being vilified. Like if I was in Stella’s situation I’d probably have anger issues too. I’m just so tired of being told that feminine outrage and displays of anger make us monstrous bitches.

Now obviously Stolas being forced into a loveless marriage also sucks and is an awful situation for him too. But he’s not that much better than Stella. Both are shown to be physically abusive to the castle staff, and Stella for all her faults isn’t black mailing someone into sex.

Now having two shitty people wouldn’t bother me if the narrative didn’t bend over backwards to make Stolas seem like such good guy, just an uwu gay bean. His wife is SO mean she won’t let the gay people be happy 🥺. Also painting abusers as cartoonishly evil monsters does a disservice to people who have been abused is all I’m saying.

Anyways I’ll hopefully have a Stolas Redesign up next

Bye now

[fourswords]

starting sketching out light and like. HES 12??? like I get it- he's about to be 13- And knight is the oldest at a grand total of 15 but like-

BRO DOESNT EVEN HAVE AN ATTENTION SPAN YET???

like I know they're dumb in the manga but 😭 every 12-13 year old I've ever met is like a certified dumpster fire, which you might wanna consider in his character lmso

but I just feel like after the manga it wouldn't even matter that he saved Hyrule, he's just getting grounded until he's a legal adult 😭

like azure THATS A BABY- Aint no way he's smart enough to have even survived half the manga even with his dumb luck!

im crying please add like one year to all their ages im on my hands and knees is your goal to give this tiny child some form of PTSD because he is IN CONSTANT DANGER.children need to have a sense of safety (and their stupidity doesn't count, blue got swallowed alive and frozen, vio was lying to SAVE HIS LIFE, green was straight up about to kill vio and had to deal with attacking another knight, and couldn't bring himself to attack their own dad, and then red got chased by an angry mob and then lost all will to LIVE with blue in that one temple-) 12 is barely even conscious and self aware 😭

like I know 12 year olds have complex emotions and can handle abstract concepts and start getting into deeper moral understanding- but my human of earth the self awareness is either ONE THOUSAND OR ZERO AND THERE ISNT A BETWEEN AT THAT AGE-

im sorry if I sound rude or something btw I'm mostly just joking and I tend to overdramatize for comedic effect but I genuinely cant wrap my head around him being just 12- like at least 14??? maybe bump knight to 16 while ur at it? ?

also I'm gonna figure out some way to incorporate the different colors into his hat probably, its big so its like a bag lol since in the manga blue just shoved his whole hammer in there I'm pretty sure

smithy will be extremely small without complaint.

feel free not to take my words seriously tho lol I just cant imagine a 12 year old going thru the manga, like look me in the eyes and tell me a 12 year old-

if I misunderstood anything lmk lol I am a lil stupid sometimes

HAHAHA YES HE IS IN FACT TWELVE. The Legend of Zelda is a series that's all about "yeah let's hand this child a sword and let him go nuts" (to use a popular example, BOTW Link being canonically handed a sword at age four and is said in Mipha's diary to have been able to best grown men in fights: "At the request of Hyrule's king, a group of outsiders came to greet us at the domain. One of them was a Hylian child of only about four years of age. His name was Link. He made quite a first impression. He was curious and full of energy, with a ready smile. Are all Hylian children that way? One thing that surely sets him apart is his swordsmanship, which I hear is exceptional. He has even bested adults. He must be somewhat reckless, however, as he was covered in bruises.") and I absolutely intend to lean into that as much as possible. Light's age comes mainly from comparing Akira Himekawa's designs for Links of varying ages side-by-side with each other; for example, you have Minish Cap Link, who's very obviously drawn like a young child:

You have Twilight Princess Link and Ocarina of Time Link, both drawn to look like older teenagers (and we know OOT Link's older age is 16-17 depending on who you ask):

We have Skyward Sword Prequel Link, who is a fully-fledged adult (his other panels illustrate the difference more sharply, but this is what he looks like, so):

And then we have FSA Link in the manga, who is drawn to be VERY visibly younger than OOT, TP and SS Prequel Link, but is definitely visibly older than MC Link (he's got the rounder face + eyes, the shorter stature, and it becomes even more visible when compared to the knights in the FSA manga itself):

His maturity level also does, to me, match that of an average 12-year-old nepo baby (which he really kind of is)—kid who thinks he knows everything & that he's hot shit but is kind of a giant train wreck internally.

All three Four Sword heroes prior to him were explicitly stated to be "young boys", and FSA manga Link is really no different in that regard—in the context of my own AU, he's actually the one who went on his adventure at the oldest age (with Smithy going on his around 8-9, Four going on his at 10, and Knight now going on his at 11). It's just been a shorter time since his adventure than it has been for the others ^^;

[morethanaloveinterest]

A Textured Look at Merida's Costumes in Brave

The computer animated princesses may have fewer costumes than the previous ones, but they do have more complex designs. Discussion of Merida's under the cut.

This is the dress Merida wears for most of the movie (I'm pretty sure - sometimes it looks greener than it does here, but the designs are the same, so I don't think it represents two different dresses). In any case, like with Rapunzel, the three-dimensional animation gives a lot of texture and weight to the dress. It certainly looks like it is made of wool, which is both historically accurate and practical for her adventures in the chilly Scottish wilderness. This article gets more into the historical accuracy, if you're interested, but let's talk character. Obviously this is a great color for a redhead to wear (trust me, I know). Compared to what her mother wears and what she wears later, it is clearly more casual and practical. It tends to look more blue at the beginning, before she wears the sky blue dress against her will, and then is greener at the end. Green is Merida's color symbolically, so this can be a representation of how comfortable with herself she is at the end.

Female Representation: 10/10 A perfect dress for little girls to wear to match

Practicality: 10/10 The sleeves are especially practical for shooting a bow, the skirt might get in the way because of its size but Merida is shown capable of doing whatever she wants in this (and she gets up to quite a bit).

Disney princesses always need a fancy dress, right? Well, this one subverts those stories but not having Merida wear it at the culmination of her arc and rather putting it as the catalyst for her arc to begin. One thing I do not like about this sequence is that she is put in an overly tight dress, on top of a period-inaccurate corset, just to show how oppressive women's clothing can be. The only head covering the noble ladies wear in the film is a way to repress our heroine, rather than something that every woman did for hundreds of years. I'm not saying that women are never oppressed through what they're expected to wear, but 1) I don't like how Elinor is so happy to be continuing that cycle of oppression if that's what's happening and 2) that doesn't fit the time period. Like, putting on one's Sunday best can be an issue for a rambunctious teenager regardless of gender; making it so pointedly a woman's issue without really delving into that or reconciling it is a weird choice.

But anyway, the dress itself is lovely. It's clearly satin or silk, with beautiful gold embroidery on the hem. The kirtle is similar to Elinor's while not being as grand. It has more embellishments than Merida usually wears, as well as a crown, and makes sense for something her mother would wish her to wear to meet her suitors. And it does make sense for Merida's wild mane of hair to be tamed for this situation - as a character moment, it works perfectly to remove her wimple and show off her hair, and then rip out of the constricting dress in order to shoot better. A great example of synchronous character design and motivation (I just wish some more thought had gone into the gender implications of it).

Female Representation: 10/10 Again, fantastic outfit for little girls to wear as a costume.

Practicality: 7/10 Clearly it is not practical - I mean, she has to rip the seams to move properly and it gets even more destroyed when she runs off into the woods. However, it obviously wasn't meant to do more than just be worn while sitting on a throne, so it works great for that.

Check out my other costume reviews here

For more on my thoughts about Disney Princesses, check out my youtube channel (Merida episode out now!)

[thedawningofthehour]

Making Fun of Rich People Round 2

This one's a little bit different. This house is in Arizona, listed for a clean 20 mil, eight bedrooms ten baths, 16,000 square feet. The outside is really nothing special, looks like every other southwestern wanna-be movie star mansion so let's

Kicking things off with a bang.

You know. I can't even say anything bad about this. Like, the other house, they were people who clearly had more money than taste and built their house as a shrine to their bank accounts. It was not meant to live in, but to prove their wealth. It was ridiculous and stupid and they deserved to be made fun of.

These people. These people know their house is ugly. They know that table was an obscene waste of money. They know that couch screams "my coke dealer was redecorating." They do not care. They love bringing people in and watching their expressions of horror. They rub their hands together gleefully as people try to think of a compliment that isn't too obviously pulled out of their ass.

I mean, come on. That green chandelier, they're absolutely trolling us.

And I'm going to be honest, this looks like a living room I'd actually feel comfortable hanging out in. I can see someone on that couch eating ice cream out of the carton at 3 AM. People sit on that rug and play board games on that table. These people furnished their house to live in, not to display.

I am still going to tease them about it, however.

I'm laughing with them, not at them.

Is it just the angle or does that bed seem super short?

I...don't even know what I'm looking at here. I think this is the closet?

No, okay, they have a whole mall outlet store in here. This is like that one scene in Princess Diaries 2 except Julie Andrews would politely show herself out.

Why the marble. Why do you need a sitting area in your closet.

I will admit, I'm disappointed that the owner of such an interesting house has this many black pumps. I get that they go with everything, but-that's the point. They're universal. You don't need over a dozen of them. I expected better shoes.

Nobody:

Rich People: "make the bathroom...ROUND."

fr, their insanity always seems to come out full-force in the bathroom. I legitimately think rich people might not poop or bathe, because it's always some crazy shit that would be incredibly uncomfortable or downright impossible to use.

Another thing I've noticed, rich people all seem to want bathroom doors that open to the outside. Why?!

Especially when this is the outside they're opening up to!

Seriously, what is the point of this?! You're buck naked and decide to go have a smoke next to some cactuses and your giant patio geode. That's all that's out here. Why. Why.

Actually, it looks like there's little paths, which...just makes this worse, honestly. Imagine you're taking a leisurely stroll through the cactus garden and you pass your parents' bathroom patio, getting a full view of your mom taking a bath through the floor-length windows.

"Yes, in our dining hall with the light fixture that looks like birthday sparklers and our collection of Totally Real cactuses."

I've seen designers rag on those unfinished wood tables before, and while I didn't really agree with them at the time I kind of do now. I think this would look cool as like, a side table or accent table, but on a dining table it's just kind of awkward.

This is the same room, they just kept panning out.

While I made fun of the other house for their grand piano, I have no doubt that someone in this family is a drug-fueled musician. This room looks mega-comfy to lay back and watch a movie in, and I love the sheep.

I'm just...in awe of the audacity.

They didn't even try to match. Didn't even pretend like they cared. And I'm not gonna lie, the red countertop is doing something for me.

"When we want the bugs to join us for dinner."

I can't stress this enough, they have multiple patio sets.

See, the last people didn't show off all their alcohol at their bar because they thought it looked more refined not to. These guys probably have art supplies tucked away in their bar just to keep you on your toes. (they don't need a bar, these are the kind of people who carry flasks around with them)

So like...objectively, this bathroom is hideous. It's way too much, the feather thing is ridiculous, that cabinet is ugly as sin.

But I kind of love it?

Just a reminder: this is in Arizona.

...I have nothing to say here.

WHAT IS UP WITH RICH PEOPLE AND THEIR UGLY BATHROOMS?!

Again with the doorway to the outside! And I see this a lot, but so many rich people bathrooms don't have storage spaces?! Like, look at those sinks. What.

More to my theory that rich people don't have any need for bathrooms.

This is the bedroom I wanted as a thirteen-year-old and just now realized I still do.

THE WALLPAPER IS EVEN BIRBS!

Like, I can't even make fun of this. I am just in awe. This entire house looks if sixth grade me had access to the Sims 3 Create-A-Style and the motherlode cheat, and I honestly love that for them. I hope these people find a new house to be extremely fucking cool in.

Leaving with these calming lemons in the backyard! Pay no attention to all the bathrooms that open up directly to the garden.

[rockybloo]

I'm curious, who would Jack end up with if Nana didn't exist? It's kinda cursed imagining the red beans with anyone except each other

Aight so when I started Beanstalked and was fleshing out Jack, I just KNEW I wanted him to end up with somebody. He had the vibes of a character who needed somebody to be in love with. I dunno how to explain it but that farm boy was the most "bonded pair-do not separate" coded fella but he didn't have another half to be bonded with

This is gonna be a long one

SO I tried to play match maker with some Beanstalked characters. I'mma just put a list and explain each character listed and why it didn't work:

Goldilocks: Very simple reasoning which was just "She's cute and dense-he is also cute and dense". However, because it was so simple it didn't have any meat to it and I just settled on them being pals. Goldilocks eventually became Maple and Maple winded up with her girlfriend Amelia instead.

Unnamed male Red Riding Hood: I went through two designs for Little Red Riding Hood before settling on Nana on a whim, who eventually stuck. The first little red was a little girl who very much fit the expectations of the fairy tale character. Obviously-she was a child so she was never in line for romance because...ew. But the second Red was an antagonist and a wolf boy. He had very Kisshu vibes to him and was obsessed with Jack...I should state this was a character I drafted up in my early teens during my peak time of discovering yaoi so...once again no meat to it. I also just didn't like the bitch because he had no personality other than bully Jack. I eventually scrapped him. Thank god too because just thinking back to him makes me cringe.

Cinderella: So...I was basically like "Well Cinderella is a fairy tale about a peasant who winds up becoming royalty after hardship. And Jack and the Beanstalk is about a peasant who winds up becoming rich after hardship...THAT'S LIKE A PERFECT MATCH FOR SOMETHING RIGHT?" I was fuckin' wrong. I can't even remember if I had any cute interactions planned between them. I scrapped the romance for friendship. Cinderella eventually became Ashe who eventually winded up with Pinokuni and Kai. Speaking Of Pinokuni...

Pinokuni: This puppet got super fuckin' close to becoming Jack's love interest. They literally had the fun dynamic of friendship and the banter and them risking it all to keep the other happy and safe. But the thing that sunk this ship was the simple fact that Pinokuni was and still is an asshole. And Jack is a guy who needs someone who isn't so hard due to him being a sensitive fella. The dynamic of their friendship ultimately would have been healthier for the two. Plus two masculine characters having a close friendship and being comfortable with it instead of questioning their sexualities is always a breath of fresh air. Eventually, Pinokuni winded up with Ashe. I winded up discovering that Kai had a similar relationship dynamic like Jack has with Pinokuni and realized he would work romantically with Pinokuni as well and even better than Jack because Kai, while he is sensitive, isn't afraid to bully Pinokuni back. And rather than ditching Ashe x Pinokuni for Pinokuni x Kai-I just tossed Kai into the mix because Pinokuni has two hands. So does Ashe. Now all three of them are in a happy polyamorous relationship together.

Odette: I dare say her and Pinokuni tied for the closest any Beanstalked character got to holding hands with Jack. SHE WAS SO DAMN CLOSE AS WELL! She was a princess and Jack was a peasant so it was practically a fairy tale romance writing itself. Plus, she is basically a swan and Jack had and still has duck energy to him. And one of the first drawings I've ever drawn and posted of Jack was with a character who is meant to be the Ugly Ducking, who is basically Odette's little duck friend that follows her around everywhere. So there's that cute concept of him being a little wing man. But it didn't work out for the simple reason that around that time, I had gotten around to working on a new Little Red Riding Hood who was more unique and not the same Red we've seen again and again. And what was just a random shot in the dark for a design winded up becoming a character who would eventually be the Nana we all know and love. Odette eventually became Anatina. Unlike the others on this list-she didn't wind up with anyone else romantically. She got pretty close to Kai being the one but it never worked out in my head. Currently she is close friends with Charming because girl and guy best buds is another underrated thing.

I think the major reason Nana won in the end over Odette is because she was just more fun to write for when it came to interactions with Jack. Princess x Peasant is a cute dynamic but it's also very common. Which isn't a bad thing but because it's so common all the possible interactions between Jack and Odette kinda wrote themselves.

For Jack and Nana, it was free range. Especially when I realized I really liked monsters during the early days of shipping them which lead to Nana becoming a Lupine. And that made their potential interactions even more fun for me to write. There's also the added cuteness of neither of them being royalty so they didn't gain anything from being together. And over the course of developing Beanstalked, it actually winded up becoming a point of potential conflict over what they lose ending up together since they aren't part of the same story.

So I am very happy picking Red Beans in the end. I don't know where I'd be without them and I love drawing them together.

I also think it's very funny that Nana is one of the strongest Beanstalked characters AND she literally beat everyone else when it came to holding Jack's hand. She truly is powerful.