glisteningmirror

[glisteningmirror]

I dunno who does all the dialogue, but sometimes, it feels like they pick character archetypes that they don't fully know how to execute writing-wise.

Glisten's official dialogue has a disturbing lack of petnames (Darling/Dear/Sweetie ETC.) when you know damn well he'd use them.

[glisteningmirror]

"Sprout is obsessed with Cosmo" MFs when the guy who's characterized as constantly thinking about others tends to think about the person he's closest to a lot

[glisteningmirror]

This is the future Liberals want.

[glisteningmirror]

If Shrimpo was a non-challenge toon

By @glisteningmirror

I don’t know how to draw tpepple or tdandy

Anyways

[glisteningmirror]

I put too much effort into this.

[glisteningmirror]

If Shrimpo was a non-challenged toon @glisteningmirror

[glisteningmirror]

Vee Redesign

As a follow-up to this post, here's a drastic redesign concept that attempts to fix the issues I have with Vee from a character design angle. Notes/elaboration under the cut.

Most obvious changes are ones done to better convey that she's a vintage gameshow host; a proper suit, antennae bent to resemble well-kept hair and a schmooze-y expression

Pallet has been expanded to have more diverse and distinctive colors, with a distribution that hopefully breaks up her features and draws the eye a bit better

The computer-ish robot angle has been cut out entirely, and her design reflects this. She has more details on her head to make the fact that she's a television more clear, and her face, while still a screen, has its green oscilloscope-esque appearance replaced with an organic-looking b&w one

I recommend you read the last post for my reasonings, but with this hypothetical Vee, I'm envisioning that her writing would be different. I'm thinking that she's a more charismatic, smooth-talking presence; probably to the point of coming off as smarmy at times. She's probably still got insecurities and a temper, but her sense of showmanship allows her to put on cool front when need-be

I'm in no way claiming that this design is objectively better than the official one -- nor that it's even good -- this is just my way of doing something constructive with my complaints.

[glisteningmirror]

I don't like to complain about AUs and stuff directly like this, but Havu's Rave AU is incredibly weird, and nobody talks about it.

OK, sure, let's make drug abuse look fun and normal in front of a community full of impressionable kids, make the gay-coded guy an avid party druggie and the one canonical Mexican character a dealer. Nothing weird or wrong about that.

Not saying they're doing anything on purpose, but it's incredibly short-sighted at best.

[glisteningmirror]

I'll never finish the follow-up to my last post because I just started making a bunch of useless fucking edits.

Pic unrelated, this is the most crucial one.

[glisteningmirror]

Vee's design isn't very good [Critcism/Rant]

I'm back on my medication, so let me rant about why Vee's design bothers me, as someone who's real into character design and a big fan of gameshow host characters.

I think it's important that I start with things I like about her design.

Vee's a television that's a television host; that's very satisfying connection of themes.,

She's specifically a CRT that invokes a 70's-80's vintage-styled gameshow host, which lines up well with the timeline of the character's in-universe conception.,

She's a lady host, and a fairly GNC one at that. Female television hosts are less common than male ones, especially within the gameshow genre. Female hosts are typically referred to by the title of hostess, and, moreso back in the day, are usually expected to wear feminine formal attire (Dresses, jewelry ETC.) as opposed to the suits you're used to. Vee is canonically shown sticking to the masculine counterparts regardless,

She's portrayed to have an ego from her status,

Basically, she has some good ideas going on, so lets move on to what about the execution disappoints me.

Conceptually:

I never understood why she's a robot. Is it because she's an electric appliance? Because Brightney (and likely Astro) contradict this by remaining organic. Not to mention, the game treats her more like a computer than a television because of this, and it's way too convoluted to make much sense.,

I don't like her writing. Why is she pissed off all the time? Like, I'd get it if she had a temper boiling under the surface, and I know she's meant to be upset by how centre treats her, but they seem to just forget that she's a showman, and supposed to maintain some semblance of charm that a disgruntled, snippy attitude contradicts. Like, she's even shown to be like this when she's on stage.

A host's whole job is to be the face of their show; keep up a charismatic persona that keeps the show engaging and guide their guests with a playful hospitality. Of course, every host is going to have a different personality, but cold and pissy simply doesn't work for for a family-friendly gameshow. She can have complexities, but an approachable stage presence should come first, even if it's just a front.

This is more of a nitpick, but functionality-speaking, I don't think she should be a main. Mains are the main characters of the show, who we presumably are given the perspective of in every episode. A famous show host just seems like the type of character that would be hard to follow alongside the humble suburbanites she's friends with; celebrity status gives her a higher and much more scrutinized position in society, and she'd probably spend too much time busy at the studio to keep a good grasp on her neighborhood relationships. She seems more like a character that would be restricted to posters and episodes taking place on her set, with the occasional appearance outside of that. In gameshows, hosts are, for a lack of better words, a set piece; sure they're an important part, but you're more supposed to root for and identify with the contestants. Even in episodes on her show, she'd probably take a backseat most of the time, while the conflict surrounds the show's challenges and the other characters taking them up (we're even show this very thing directly with Winning Big).

Speaking of her show, we've never been given an actual name for it. It's been shown multiple times, and you'd think she'd take the opportunity namedrop its cheesy title, but no. We're stuck calling it "Vee's Show".

Visually:

Her design doesn't invoke what it should correctly. All she has to portray her occupation is a lone bowtie and the microphone that she only sometimes has. When I first played the game, I remembered having no idea what her character was supposed to be until I saw her TV animations. And, with her green monochrome display for a face, the only thing visually tipping you off that she's a television at all is her antennae.,

The shapes for her face are unappealing, at least to me. Her expression fits how she's written, and though that's good in a vacuum, it's just another manifestation of the issues I detailed above.

Her colors are not very good. Discounting neutrals, the only color in her pallet is green, and it's not well distributed or contrasted. Take a look at the green of her face and bowtie:

It's a weird shade of bright green that's hard to look at, and not distinct enough from her body color to stand out very well. This especially looks bad on her model.

A neck accessory with good contrast could've helped break up her head and torso being the same color, but it very much doesn't do that.

I don't like the butt-microphone. I don't like that she's a robot in general, but even with that it's just weird-looking and too high-concept. My best buddy made the good point that it could've come out of the back of her head, where televisions keep all their ports and wires, but I guess she had to have a tail for no reason.

I don't have enough space to touch upon her Twisted or answer the question of "Well, then how would you fix these issues?", so those'll have to be a seperate part.

[glisteningmirror]

Chit-Chat. Alt. version below.

[glisteningmirror]

can i steal some of your last name ideas 🙏

Go ahead! I love it when people agree with my headcanons, LOL.

[glisteningmirror]

Fuck it, this shouldn't be a special privilege: I'll give them ALL full names.

ꓷɐʍuןıƃɥʇ (Astro Novalite) *

Bassonette "Bassie" Forgetmy-Knott

Blot Inkwell

Bobette Jingle

Boxten Tinkertune

Brightney B. Edison

Coal Jingle

Cocoa Bon Bunnie

Connie Boolynski *

Cosmo Estrelar

Dandicus "Dandy" Dancifer *

Eggson Cadbury

Finnegan "Finn" Flotank

Flutter Butterwings

Flyte Butterwings

Gacha-Gacha "Gigi" Odoroki

Ginger Breadhouse

Glisten Glimmers

Goob Luvcraft

Looey H. Ballooney

Dandicus "Pebble" Dancifer Jr. *

Poppy Fizzyblow

Razzle T. Dramma

Dazzle M. Dramma

Rodger I. Spai

Rudie Sleighlite

Scraps Luvcraft

Shelly Fossilian *

Shrimpson "Shrimpo" Cockingtail

Sprout S. Seedly *

Teagan Kettleman

Letitia "Tisha" Lemonfresh

"Toodles"

Virtual Host "Vee" V1.0 *

Yatta Cartonería

(Names with a star are canon/partially canon, rest are headcanons)

[glisteningmirror]

YES, THERE IT IS! THANK YOU!!

THERE'S A POSTER. THERE'S A CERTAIN POSTER IN THE VEE ROOM. I'M GOING INSANE BECAUSE I WASN'T ABLE TO SCREENSHOT IT BUT I SWEAR TO GOD.

[glisteningmirror]

THERE'S A POSTER. THERE'S A CERTAIN POSTER IN THE VEE ROOM. I'M GOING INSANE BECAUSE I WASN'T ABLE TO SCREENSHOT IT BUT I SWEAR TO GOD.

[glisteningmirror]

Cuddle Buddies.

[glisteningmirror]

Cosmo Moodboard.

A test to see if the people would be interested in my very specific interpretations.