#BLADE_Princess

[dokidokitsuna]

BLADE_Princess

…I’m glad this AU idea came along, because I’ve been in WIP hell for so long…I really needed some reward doodles that I could actually feel motivated to draw~

So about 1 in 5 Kirby AU ideas takes shape as a game concept rather than a normal narrative, and this is one of those, the first one that’s JRPG-inspired. ^^ The main protagonists are a 5-member party of villains, but these two are the central characters, whose choices can affect the outcome of the story.

Blade The title character, who eventually becomes the most powerful in the group…due to a debilitating sickness that slowly destroys her mind and body. After losing her home, family, and entire civilization to similar strains of bio-magical warfare, she alone is resurrected by a strange wizard and his evil allies, and agrees to take part in their plans. During the story, Blade is continually confronted with memories of her past, and the destruction wrought by her happy family on the rest of the universe. She starts to wonder whether they all deserved to be exterminated, as her illness progresses and the idea that she should rejoin them consumes her thoughts. Meanwhile, she gradually loses control over her actions in the present, and in the end is torn between begging her adoptive father for help, or using the last of her self-awareness to take him down with her, for dragging her into this hell in the first place. +++ In this AU I really tried to break away from my usual depictions of the characters, and I think going from my usual portrayal of Dark Matter Swordsman as a classic “crouching moron hidden badass” to this more somber, sensitive character is probably the most dramatic example here. ^^; A little of that old characterization remains, however, as she’s not much of a deep thinker…she only joins the adventure because war is all she understands, and because Magolor really does remind her of her own father. Whether she remains fully loyal to him, or tries to choose a different path before the end, is up to the player, I guess. ^^;

Magolor The secondary protagonist, and the leader of the group. After his previous attempt at world domination centuries earlier, he’s back for a second try, and this time he’s assembled a whole team of formerly-defeated villains to help him out…including a strange alien girl that, until now, he had written off as a failed experiment. During the story, he comes to realize that the universe has changed a lot since his younger days, and that maybe his ultimate goal of taking it all for himself might not satisfy him as much as he’d hoped. Whether this shifts his priorities or makes him more hungry for destruction, desperate to feel something, is up to the player. And whether he decides to show concern for Blade’s suffering, or purposely take advantage of it to accelerate his plans…is also up to the player. ^^ +++ Since I’ve written so many Magolors over the years (I think I’ve done at least 10…I do have a problem, yes) I’ve formulated a basic breakdown of the essential aspects of his character: Charisma, Deception, Sweetness, Fury, and Bloodthirst. So every time I make a new Magolor, I try to emphasize different ones. For example, for Dream Alliance Magolor I downplayed Fury and removed Bloodthirst entirely, creating a very heroic and likeable version of him to serve as the main protagonist. This time, I’m going to downplay Charisma and remove Sweetness…so I’m sure you can guess what this version of Magolor is like. ^^; By default, he doesn’t really care about Blade, and reciprocates her concern for him only as far as it helps him manipulate her. I don’t think seeing her in pain would actually affect him emotionally (he’d probably just be wondering how much longer she’ll be useful…); what would get to him is her flipping the script and lashing out at him, even if she ends up backing down. Y’know, some tangible proof that his influence is having an effect on her, and that, in a strange way…she might be the only person left in the universe who still cares enough about him to truly be hurt by him.

[dokidokitsuna]

Slowly, I think I’m getting a handle on this…I tried studying the character art from my favorite dead MMORPG, Maple Story 2, and I think it helped me find a style for the shading and rendering that’s more dramatic but still sort of cartoony.

Plus, I’ve been doing a bit of script writing, which always helps me figure things out. ^^ So please enjoy the additional work I’ve done on these character concepts.

-Between these two, Magolor definitely needed the most work: you can tell because I basically drew a full character design sheet, which is something I almost never do because I don’t like repetition. XP But it doesn’t feel repetitive when I’m totally lost to begin with. ^^; I think I got a little too abstract that first time I drew him, so my focus here was to figure out the specific shape of his body and rebuild outward from there. In stark contrast to my usual Magolor designs, he’s very tall and muscular, with an imposing silhouette (especially with his cape on). Yes, he IS hiding something under all those purple bandages, but we won’t talk about it today. ;)

-I also like that his outfit gets darker the further inside you go, from the solid white cape and glittering chains, to the silver armor and gray scarves, to the skintight navy blue fit underneath. Symbolism??? Perhaps~

-Blade’s design was already pretty solid, so I just adjusted her cape a little, and then dove straight into the Rainbow Malady concept art. ^^ Phase 1 has her sprout a second eye and wings on one side of her face. Her head catches fire, as the power of the Rainbow Sword attempts to ‘burn away the darkness’. In this phase, Blade is already in a lot of pain, but remains fully conscious and can even speak, when she isn’t coughing up multicolored blood. She can recover from this on her own with a day of rest. Phase 2 is much more serious, forcing her organs outside of her body, and growing star-shaped welts over the rest of her skin. At this point, she can no longer recover without Magolor’s help-- essentially, he uses magic to shove all her organs back where they belong and stitch up the open wounds. It’s like setting a bone after it’s broken-- just as painful as the injury itself (if not more), but necessary for proper healing…which takes about a week.  Phase 3 is the last and worst, transforming her arms into elongated wings and her whole body into burning plasma, on top of all the issues from Phase 2. Thankfully, she can’t really remain conscious in this phase-- she’s usually delirious from fever, blood loss, and her brain literally burning away. ^^; Storywise, she needs about a month to recover from this, so she doesn’t use it too often…of course, as the 'player', you can put her through it as many times as you want. =T

-Fun fact, I guess: So the primary love language between these two characters is food. ^^ I was musing about what I could do with a protagonist arc centered around worsening illness (which is…surprisingly rare), and I thought, “so what do you do for sick people? You put them to bed, you manage their symptoms, you clean and comfort them…and most importantly, you feed them.” And then ^that little doodle basically came to me in a dream, and from there evolved the idea of Magolor showing kindness to Blade by cooking for her.

Most of the time, the little affection Magolor shows to Blade is…basically performative. Think of it like a hammy supervillain petting their cat-- it’s more of a character stim than anything else. ^^; The way Magolor talks to Blade (and especially the way he talks about her…) makes it clear that the hand-holding and headpats don’t mean much.

But on the other hand, giving Blade food and watching her cutely devour it, especially during the times when she’s bed-ridden and he doesn’t see her as often…I like to think that might genuinely endear her to him a little, enough to make it a sort of stand-out gesture. Like, if he strokes her forehead when she’s sick, that’s whatever; but when he spends 5 hours making a Maxim tomato consommé for her to eat, that’s him trying to say he cares. Maybe it’s just a tiny bit, maybe it’s just in that moment, but a small part of him truly wants her to be happy.

[dokidokitsuna]

Story Mode Boss: Galactic Envoy - Bandana Knight

One of my more unique gijinkas; I’m really proud of this one. ^^ I usually don’t pay much attention to Bandana Dee, which I guess brought forth a lot of fresh ideas.

So Bandee here isn’t the first boss of BLADE_Princess’ story, but he is the first of Kirby’s closer acquaintances to confront the villains…in a moment where Magolor is kind of expecting Kirby himself to show up, and is massively disappointed with the arrival of this “sidekick” instead.

What Bandee (or I guess BanKnight) reveals after he’s captured, however, is that Kirby is sort of…retired. No one has seen him for a long time, and most of his friends and Helpers have taken over his role as defenders of the universe. If Magolor expected to be confronted by the most prestigious and experienced hero the galaxy had to offer, technically BanKnight IS the best candidate at this point.

Unfortunately, he still doesn’t possess Kirby’s ‘Kirbyness’, and as such isn’t really a match for the mid-life crisis wizard and his crew of supervillains. ^^; And I have a feeling Magolor might feel insulted and frustrated enough to treat BanKnight very cruelly once he has him in his clutches…as the player, you can choose to have him brutally slaughter him OR keep him imprisoned until later in the story. ;)

[dokidokitsuna]

Story Mode Boss: Crystal Guardian - Ribbon

…So it seems like everyone in this AU is gonna have a fun & easy design EXCEPT the main characters. Okay then…

Seriously, I think this Ribbon looks really cool; of all the gijinka designs I’ve done for her this is officially my new favorite. ^^ It’s revealing yet tasteful; imposing yet delicate; perfectly embodies that ‘warrior fairy’ aesthetic I was going for.

I think it would be cool if she and Blade had a sort of rivalry dynamic, for the brief time that she’d be alive in the story. Y’know, fighting to the death, yet connecting over their shared experience of being raised as ‘warrior princesses’. ^^ Maybe the “player” could even choose to have Blade hesitate to kill her after their final encounter…which would result in Magolor finishing the job and lasering a hole in her face. Just to display the dynamic between our two protagonists~

[dokidokitsuna]

Inventor/Invention

-In case you didn’t notice, I’ve been trying to make most of the characters in this AU look like they’re age 50+...which is something I’ve never done before, and it might explain why the designs have been so hit or miss. ^^;;;  Fortunately, Susie seems to be a hit; I like how this drawing came out. ^^ I think this body type + clothing aesthetic + age demographic is a particularly rare combination; personally I’ve never seen a character who looks like this before. And yet, I managed to make it work~.

-Susie (the current ‘President Haltmann’, btw) is basically Magolor’s right hand, and helps him with all the technological aspects of his conquest-- not only did she create Auto-Nightmare, she also had a large hand in cloning Blade, and studies the progression of her disease throughout the story. In return for playing the tech support role, she’s allowed to have the Haltmann Works Co. drain resources from all the worlds that Magolor conquers-- which he would agree to, of course, since it would be an easy way to keep his new subjects in line (read: oppressed and afraid) while he’s off looking for more heroes to murder.

It makes me wonder, though, what would happen if the “player” chooses to have Magolor become nicer over the course of the story…like, if he really does turn himself around, he and Susie would have to come into conflict over this deal eventually. ^^; Maybe I just won’t let him get to that point; maybe the best he can do for the purposes of the story is learn to love Blade and take care of her…while completely ignoring all the evil he’s done to the rest of the universe, and simply not giving a damn about letting the HWC consume everyone and everything he left behind. XD

-P.S. Susie basically has two main designs: she’d appear in this physical form for certain cutscenes, but fight exclusively with her mecha (which I totally will draw at some point…I promise…⚆u⚆; )

-Auto-Nightmare is the result of me wanting to finally use Nightmare in an AU for once, but wanting to do it in an unorthodox way. ^^ Besides, I can’t really see a more canon-esque Nightmare willingly being subservient to someone like Magolor…and in terms of traitors/fickle allies, Mags already has his hands full with Marx. I don’t need another character in the party who plays the same role…

So Auto-Nightmare was born, combining the Power Orb with some of Nightmare’s accessories to create this cuter, more unassuming design. Which eventually informed his character concept.

-”Auto” is not really Nightmare; not even an amnesiac-reset version of Nightmare. Technically he’s just a machine that was designed to force Nightmare’s Power Orb to awaken…but ultimately failed, and now simply draws from its power to create his own identity and abilities. The result is this walking bundle of anxiety who feels inferior to his “former self”, and tries to make up for it by doing everything his bosses tell him to do. ^^; However, over the course of the story, he befriends Blade, and starts to become more assertive. He may not be able to stand up for himself, but he quickly learns to stand up for his ailing friend, even to the point of openly criticizing Magolor for his treatment of her.

-As you might have guessed, this is where his “death” comes in. ^^ Soon after I decided he should be Blade’s only real friend, I kinda knew he had to die, because he would end up getting in Magolor’s way. Isolation is a large part of what makes an abusive relationship work; a victim with a staunch supporter who genuinely wants what’s best for them will escape your control eventually... …Besides, Magolor is terribly petty, and would probably be offended by this ‘magic tin can’ talking back to him…enough to snap and shatter his face while Blade is unconscious, if the "player" so chooses. =T

Because Auto isn’t really alive, he doesn’t exactly die…the Power Orb itself can even reform on its own. But breaking it in the first place causes his whole system to reset: he reverts to a silent, emotionless shell who just stands around and follows simple commands...and this is a devastating, soul-crushing event for Blade. Especially if you go one step further and choose to have Magolor lie about what happened to Auto, and/or imply that she killed him accidentally during one of her Malady flare-ups.

-On that note, if you don’t choose to have Magolor go down ^that sickeningly cruel path and just leave Auto alone, Blade actually does kill Auto accidentally, leading to a similar outcome. But at least then, it becomes an opportunity for Magolor to help Blade through this traumatic experience, and start to form a genuine bond with her. Again, if the "player" so chooses~.

[dokidokitsuna]

[dokidokitsuna]

This Old Man

Often, when I write a story centered on a parent-child relationship, I like to throw in an ‘enemy adult’ to come between them and mess things up (for example, in the Dream Discoveries Tour this role is played by Fecto Forgo). And BLADE_Princess is no different…which is why we have Marx, the “true” villain of the story. ^^

He starts out as an “old friend” that Magolor decides to seek out and add to the party. But after he’s revived/unsealed, he realizes that he’s incomplete-- when Marx was originally defeated, his body was split, and only one half was kept in the Fairy Queendom on Ripple Star. None of them know where his other half is, at least not until much later.

And although Marx doesn’t really show it, he’s secretly very frustrated by this. It’s like an ever-present hunger…and once he does get an idea of where his missing half might be, he quickly becomes willing to do anything to get it back. Like maybe…betraying his “old friend” and trading a certain princess to certain people who might find her valuable…

Even before that happens, though, he’s not a nice person at all. Magolor might be a bloodthirsty tyrant, but he’s at least decent towards his allies. Marx will bully anyone and everyone, and tends to focus on Blade due to her innocent, sensitive personality. He actually helps her Rainbow Malady progress by constantly taunting her, over her one-sided loyalty to Magolor, over the “death” of Auto-Nightmare (more on that later…), and over her illness itself, and her inevitable demise. Although he no longer looks like a jester, that’s still very much the role he plays in the cast: sort of pointing out the truth of their reality, framing harsh criticisms as dark comedy. ^^

[dokidokitsuna]

Why does Magolor in the Blade Princess AU look so hot?

That's just how he is~

I think attractiveness is another one of those essential aspects of Magolor; it feeds into the 'Charisma' and 'Deception' aspects-- i.e. when you're very cute/hot it's easier to emotionally overwhelm people and get them to trust you immediately. ^^ Even against their better judgement...

[dokidokitsuna]

I don't know which AU is more tragic. The GONE AU or Blade Princess AU!

Well, I suppose it depends on who you sympathize with the most. ^^;

Although B_P at least has some timelines where things aren't quite as bad, thanks to the "player's" choices...if you wanted, you could create an ending where Magolor regrets (some of...) his decisions, realizes he cares about Blade, and tries to save her before it's too late.

In GONE...what happens is what happens. ^^;

[dokidokitsuna]

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~

[dokidokitsuna]

…I’ve actually been struggling a lot with this AU’s designs. ^^;;; It’s probably because it doesn’t have a solid artstyle yet-- I’ve never been good with super-polished RPG-esque art, so my brain’s been thrown for a loop. Which I would be fine with, if it wasn’t for the fact that BLADE_Princess has been living rent-free in my head for the past week. :9 I gotta start getting these ideas out eventually…

Until then, here are some rough chibis for the whole main cast:

Magolor A balanced character, designed to be sturdy enough to take care of himself while actually playing a support/healer role to the rest of the party. He has the unique ability to Connect buffs and status effects for other party members to his own spells, allowing his allies to grow in strength along with him.

Blade A character designed to be fast and powerful; able to demolish lower-level enemies in seconds and wear down tough bosses. Her unique Rainbow Malady attack mode charges up from damage taken, and when activated, transforms her health bar into a burning fuse, offering even stronger attack power for a limited time. Be ready to revive her after she collapses, or save this attack mode as a last resort.

Auto-Nightmare A character specializing in status effects, designed to strengthen allies and weaken enemies with psychological spells. Makes a good counter against bosses and enemies who are similarly effect-inclined, but is relatively weak-- works best with a strong attacker whose fighting strength he can enhance.

Susie A character designed to tank strong attacks and dish out equal punishment-- unfortunately, she is lacking in magic ability, and is thus less effective on magic-using enemies. To get the most out of this character, emphasize her defense or attack power depending on the situation, and feel free to use her as a shield for weaker characters.

Marx A character designed to evade attacks and exploit enemy weaknesses, landing hit after critical hit. He tends to be one of the ‘last ones standing’ after difficult encounters, so it’s a good idea to outfit him with some healing/revival abilities. Nevertheless, don’t count on him to look after the rest of the party-- his first priority is himself. ^^

[dokidokitsuna]

DDT Preview 7

This is barely even a sketch; it's little more than a loose draft. ^^; However, I wanted to go ahead and show it for two reasons:

Just wanted to let y'all know I haven't moved on from DDT/GONE just yet, despite appearances to the contrary. I don't actually spend as much time on BLADE_Princess as it may seem; it's just simple and fun to design the characters while I work on all my bigger ongoing projects...like this comic.

I've just been having a fun experience with this upcoming chapter~

So when I talk about my writing process, I often liken it to watching the characters act on their own, and simply writing down what they decide to do. And this also extends to comics, where sometimes the characters start delivering their lines differently from what I planned, and I just draw what happens.

When I first wrote this part of the script, I planned for Elfilin to be more or less calm-- that's how I saw it in my mind's eye, anyway. He would talk to Fecto Forgo as if he were just casually confiding in a friend about a minor concern.

But then I sat down to draft it, and a couple lines in, Elfilin started to cry, and I was like "hm...this works too, actually". And I ended up re-boarding the entire thing, and splitting up the lines differently to allow him more space to vent his feelings. I think I like this new version better, because it lets him show that sensitive side of himself that his parents don't get to see. Sometimes I forget that 13 is so young; he's still just a baby...it makes sense that he would let those emotions out as soon as he felt safe enough to do so, especially after what he just overheard.

...In-story, he won't feel that safe again for several weeks, so he might as well. :/

[dokidokitsuna]

…For those of you who voted 'Trust him': Is this the result you expected? ^^ If not…well, let this be a lesson to ya~.

Drawing this comic was actually pretty fun��despite that, I think I’m gonna take a break from BLADE_Princess. Hopefully it won’t be a permanent one…although I am mentally exhausted from working with this AU, and it’s become clearer than ever that I am not cut out to be a high fantasy character designer, I would still like to come back to this later, for 5 main reasons:

1] Auto-Nightmare 2] Blade is actually really precious and cute too~ 3] Magolor’s eyes. ^^ I’m not even kidding 4] The idea of a choose-your-own-adventure AU is super cool; I haven’t done this kind of audience interaction since my DeviantArt days~ 5] Auto-Nightmare ❤