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The bald horse

I made him even more inconveniently tall than before

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It's an art character dynamic thing, friends and me made a while ago, and I never posted mine for Mephi and Faust! I'd be overjoyed to see more people join in with using this template to draw some character dynamics!

In case you were asking yourself the same question as Mephie...

Friends and I made an oc drawing chart template thing!

Feel free to use♡

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The Faustling out on adventures🌻

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red

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Birthday art for the bestiee @hirngespinst-phi

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Here's my personal interpretation of Faust's character development from Xrd to Strive because I love to ramble about tall doctors in embarrassing length. Only open the "Keep reading" if you are feeling insane enough for my silly fictional brain rot.

I'm writing this as somebody who used to struggle with depression and relates to him in this way. I see his mental state represented through his visual design but overall I interpret him to be doing better mentally in Strive than in any of the earlier games, even if it might seem counterintuitive looking at his current state.

First, I'll talk about the events in "Another Story". Here, Ramlethal tells him to not use her or the entire Delilah rescue mission as a tool for his personal atonement. Something that makes him genuinely pause and think. This rarely happens with him. Her input leads to his "Square One" quote that he keeps repeating while channelling the giant portal door.

I interpret this as him taking Ram's advice and focusing on what his original (square one) motivation for being a doctor was: Saving lives (as he clarifies in his arcade mode). He had been so consumed by his guilt that he made it his first priority to atone for his sins, instead of acting out of the intrinsic wish to help others.

This change of priority is what I see as the reason he doesn't overexert himself through the magic he is casting to a degree that would kill him in the process. No, just like Ram told him to, he is taking care of his own life too, surviving in the end. Even though he was fully prepared to sacrifice himself prior to Ram talking to him.

In the process he turns into his skinny, sickly, scary looking Strive self with the ominously red glowing eye. I interpret this as him for the first time since picking up his Faust persona to drop the facade and be real with himself. Allowing himself to show weakness and sadness.

In his Xrd win quote against Elphelt he says "Lies can become truths. I still find those words difficult to understand. I only hope that the smile you wear is not merely a mask like mine." The silly, cheerful Faust is an act he is playing. Behind the mask, he had always carried the sad face of Strive Faust. He was just hiding it very well during Accent Core and Xrd.

The fact that it is an act is nothing negative, though. We ar all actors to a degree. The Faust role he is playing is what gave him the strength to move on from being Dr. Baldhead and his kindness is always genuine. The mask metaphor is of course visualized through his paper bag that he clings to so desperately, it seems to give him more of a sense of identity than his actual human face.

The character development that Ram caused in him is further touched upon in his arcade mode story. When Ram asks him, "Who is going to save you?" He answers, "I, save me. Finally found, my answer." After all this time, he is able to start finding the solution to his grief within himself instead of trying to externalize it. While his previous cope was to hyperfocus on redeeming himself by helping others at any cost even if it would harm himself, he is now at a point where he can reflect on himself and see that he can help others and himself better if he forgives himself internally.

Towards Nagoriyuki he also says "It's okay, to ask for help." This is a big step for Faust since he acts very lone-wolfish and purposefully unapproachable through the entirety of ACR and Xrd. Being silly and friendly on a surface level, but never letting any real vulnerability show or building deeper bonds towards other characters, always sticking with his mysterious wandering doctor schtick.

The use of his flowers and Mini Fausts is interesting to me too.

It is implied that his flowers partly grow as involuntary emotional reactions as seen in his idle crouch fidget animation where the flower grows on his butt against his will and his reaction to Stimulating Fists of Annihilation 😅... So we can assume they are at least in part a representation of his emotions and how he handles them.

During the Accent Core and Xrd era he used his flowers as weapons. In Strive he only uses them in his respect and crouch fidget animations and doesn't cause damage with them, which leads me to believe he is more in peace with himself and his emotions.

Now if we look at the flower designs in comparison even though the flowers used to have brighter, happier colours they used to look straight up terrifying in ACR, not specifically happy in Xrd and even though they are creepy in Strive, they smile and seem happy.

The Mini Faust design in Strive is more on the creepy side too in comparison with the earlier versions, but if we look at how he actually interacts with them in game now, there is a lot more care and appreciation. Prior to Strive, I don't know of any Mini Faust appearances outside the "What Could This Be?" attack. In Strive, however, they show up in his respect animation, in his "Bone-Crushing Excitement" reaction and in his timeout animation, where the Faustlings and him act very sweet and caring towards each other (like the Mini Faust pulling his soul back into his body).

So to conclude, like with his flowers and Mini Fausts, his dark change in visual design reads to me as him being able to show more of his true inner world to the outside, opening up and allowing himself to show weakness as a step towards inner healing. It may not be a pretty truth to look at, but he's being honest to himself. And even through the obvious sadness and grief that is expressed in his Strive design, he is still so full of whimsy and silliness in his animations and interactions with others. He makes jokes, he goofs around, he shows joy for the little things like clovers/doughnuts/etc., and he chuckles a lot more during combat than before too. His way of talking is more calm and at peace with himself, instead of the overly energetic way he used to act. He used to seem like he was always on edge, running from himself and running to do more to atone for his sins.

In Alone Infection, the last repetition of the chorus has "blue, red and black paranoia" replaced with "joy, grief, fun paranoia". I think it's a beautiful message that we are allowed as people to exist in grief, let it happen and feel it truly while still feeling joy and fun. Like Faust, we are complex beings with lots of emotions, and we don't need to always act out the happiest, strongest version of ourselves. He is working through his sadness and that's okay.

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guh

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FAUST

I’ve plans to turn him into a sticker

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(read from left to right) Dr. Baldhead remembered that murder is bad after the Second Holy Order Selection Tournament.

The ominous tiny dog who seems to occasionally appear out of nowhere around him has a gift for him to make her favourite serial killer feel better.

She's sure a good doughnut will bring the joy of murder back into him :)

This is part of my OC Mephie and Faust's story that has been ever expanding in my brain for the past months and a bit of a continuation to my last story comic which you can read here.

Their shared story is inspired by Faust I by Ghoete from 1829. That's also why Mephie turns into a small black poodle to get his trust. It's how the devil character in the book does it...

Here is a bonus panel that I ended up changing because it felt illegal to draw his face this exposed.

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He is teaching the Minifausts about medicine. Unless they would rather be an airplane. Then he will support that too.

Low Poly Faust for your consideration.

I made this whole thing in a day and bullshitting the rigs was a bad idea. Even this simple animation was a pain😭

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GGST Faust Gardening vs Xrd Faust Gardening

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my favorite creatures

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Hands. Long.

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🔺🔹🔸▫️▪️

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What if the cure to an alone infection is a pool and a goat girl?