#ec-4o!dust

[spotaus]

Finally did that doodle of Ec-4o!Dust!

My greyscale alcohol markers are dying so badly rn so the background looks rough, but also I do enjoy the more messy vibes lmao.

And... bonus wips my beloved!

[satsukidoodles404]

Merry Christmas ft. Ec-40 Verse Reaper Geno and Dust!

*Casually switches art style* So, Holidays am I right? I've been on a Ec-40 verse brainrot recently and just had to draw something with them for the holidays, and ended up with these dumdums! :D if you don't know what Ec-40 verse then stay confused-

Ec-40 Verse belongs to: @spotlightstudios and me!

Also, little close ups of their outfits!

[spotlightstudios]

What's your favourote Ec-4o moment?? (Remembered that epic scene you drew a lil while ago)

I really like this ask. I'm not gonna do any doodles for it, but I'll have to say it's probably between two scenes I have planned.

One isn't technically a moment, but it'll be any time Abyss' gang (Abyss, Cypher, Ganz, Blackberry, Razz, or Paper Crane) get involved with the main cast. Whether they're just bringing back stolen parts in the middle of the night, fighting monsters on the horizon, or directly protecting the group and escorting them as more and more enemies lock onto the location. They're just really, really cool! (Plus their base is an old gas-station and they're the prime example of an apocalypse group :D)

The other is probably the pre-story where Geno gets injured and becomes a Semi for the first time. (Spoiler Territory Here) He's the guy who singlehandedly stopped the war after helping with it unwillingly for so, so long. He played a careful game of chess, sacrificed so many friendships and broke so much trust, and wouldn't have survived his plan if it weren't for a creation he was planning to destroy. (Said creation later drives his only trusted friend a bit insane.) I have a lot of fun making all sorts of plot twists and terribly angst moments for these guys, but this one is my all time favorite!

Bonus scene: In the oldest version of this story, Killer's big secret was revealed a lot earlier on. Aka, Dust shoved his hand into Killer's eye-socket and screwed in a little L.E.D. bulb. And it WORKED. Originally the bots call him out on it, but this was how they confirmed it, and this was the funniest and stupidest lil draft I have in my docs for this project lmao.

[spotaus]

Trying that one redraw again here eventually 🙏

[spotaus]

Princess Monoke reference anyone?

But fr just a silly (non-canon) doodle of Dust and Reaper's first encounter in Ec-4o.verse <3

[spotaus]

Migrane at work fo today. So here's some Dust on my lunchbreak :]

[spotaus]

I uhh, had an idea and had to run with it lmao-

At first it was just gonna be Reaper looking at Geno and Dust, but when I was sketching I ended up making a whole scene before remembering to add Reaper-

Geno broke his arm (tried to program and modify it, but he's not the modify-guy) and Dust is staring at it in confusion (cuz how did he get everything so tangled that it exploded???). Reaper is just admiring from a distance.

[spotaus]

So that one trend...? But DustedAfterDeath instead ♡

(Gif version below the cut. Flashing lights warning!!!)

GUYS

I couldn't help myself. I just think that some electronic posters would still work in the city and like...

Idk guys, I just love these funky lil guys!!! This is Geno (pre-injury) in the poster, with Dust (center) and Reaper (right)!

Canonically, Dust met Reaper years before the plot of the main story in Ec-4o.verse. In a city. Where there would very likely be posters and signage showing mantras from before the downfall.

I think it'd be interesting if Geno (one of the head programmers of the Ecto-reprogramming) got put up as the poster child for the initiative. A new upstart programmer with the people in mind would sway hearts, right? Well, it did. Geno's lucky he got so many prosthetics, because a *lot* of survivors blame him for the incident thanks to how often he was publicized, even when he didn't want to be.

And idk. I think it's a cute fate moment, where Reaper just saved Dust and they're traversing the ruins of the wastes of the city, and Reaper shows clear distaste for the sign, but Dust stops and stares for just a second longer. Somewhere inside he recognizes that the guy in the ad is someone who was responsible for all this, for all the destruction and bloodshed. He's not sure how to feel about it. He seems larger than life.

Interesting how Reaper's seen it a hundred times and doesn't even look back (despite how he'd gaze at that face, changed but yet the same, every day with love later on) and how Dust takes a moment of the life he nearly just lost to stare at the image of someone he's never seen before (and wouldn't recognize for ages again, because Geno isn't who he was back then anymore). Interesting too how Geno's face was seen by both of them before he could see them in person and prove himself to be larger (than them both, he's tall, but not larger than life) and more of a character than either of them could've ever dreamed. Someone with enough heart to hold both of them.

And for context:

The composition of this is so good and I fell in love just a little ♡

[spotaus]

Haha... The Boys in Ec-4o.verse! (Reaper, Geno, and Dust!)

[spotaus]

Posting this wip incase I don't get around to coloring it anytime soon, but here's my take on my silly Shape-shifting Monster oc Pretender in a universe where the Shape-shifting is too op and so I had to nerf him! (It's my own au, I do what I want- It's great for Worldbuilding-)

[spotaus]

Wip! ♡

[spotaus]

Not sure when/if I'll finish this redraw so I'm just posting the wip sketch with the old one lmao--

Paps is so fun on both of them, but I hate how Dust's head looks for both lol. Plus the new sketch has Dust's updated/correct body-type and height 😭

[spotaus]

Thinking about my ec-4o babies again and I like. I feel like I need to flesh out Reaper some more... like, I'm going one character at a time, but many of them already have basic motivation or plot beats they overcome. Reaper has that... but not enough

Okay, so I got thinking about Dust (technically a Main Character alongside Blue) and then Geno (a side character with a LOT of plot relevance). And I subscribe to DustedAfterDeath for this au, so next my mind went to Reaper. But like. Reaper never naturally got much extra depth from my working on the story...

Reaper's jist is that he was raised in a long, long line of folks who lived alternatively from the rest of society. He was raised to believe that society without tech would be better. That everything from convenient vending machines to life-saving medical technology, everyone would be better off without it. That Technology was choking out the natural and magical worlds it relied on.

And... the mindset wasn't entirely wrong.

Only, they weaponized that into an irrational fear they set upon their communities, and isolated them from the outside world. They doomsday prepped, for decades, abd when the war finally came, they were too well prepared. They largely survived.

Reaper, a fit man who could leave and not be swayed by others, ventured out onto the wasteland. He was armed with rudimentary tech which allowed him to over-load and disable any tech he came in contact with. He was cleaning up any loose ends. Killing bots, and anyone who dared to have modified their own body with Tech in any way.

So, off he went. He worked mercenary jobs for free, killing bots and semis that bothered organic civilizations. He gained a reputation. "Death". He stumbled upon Geno, and unable to kill him, it starts a whole journey of renouncing his beliefs and turning over a new leaf.

Quick Note: Geno's soul absorbed a lot of electrical energy, so while the war ended, he was one of the few power sources left in the world. Reaper couldn't disable the tech *or* kill Geno because of this overwhelming magic that would drag him back together DT style.

I never thought beyond that. The biggest factor here, his renouncing his old life, has very little prompting in the og tale. I'm going to try abd fix that here thru brainstorming lmao.

So, Reaper, as he lives, has a *very* strict moral system, as well as a loyalty system. As he sees it, there are personal grudges, and there are betrayals of his faith. The latter is what gets people killed. He also has a strict rule with trust. Certain people he registers in his mind as 'ally' and when they make that list, the only way they'll be harmed by him is if they go against his core beliefs.

Geno, aside from being unkillable, manages to *redeem* himself in Reaper's eyes. When he frustratedly explains that he was the one who ended the war and temporarily destroyed all the tech. This information is vital to Reaper. He thinks he can get a secret from Geno, a way to make his life's goal cone true. And so he allows Geno to live. In fact, Geno swears to him that when he finishes this last task of his, he'll tell Reaper what he did to make the EMP.

Of course, this is a beneficial meeting of two with completely opposing beliefs. Geno loves ectos, at least he loves some of them, and programming/tech have been his whole life. He lets Reaper join him willingly, because Reaper is obnoxiously good at being a bodyguard and warding off threats which Geno physically can't (chronic pain). Also, the secret he'll tell Reaper won't endanger anyone, because the only way Geno made an EMP that big was because he sabotaged the main power source. Now a lot of electricity was magic-infused and didn't abide by the same rules at back then. It'd be too late for Reaper to do anything.

Meanwhile, Reaper, of course, thinks he's getting a free way to destroy all tech if he follows this half-dead science guy. And, ontop of that, Geno is a useful beacon to discover wandering bots and semis. So of course he follows him. He's civil at Blue's when they finally arrive, because he's biding his time to simply slaughter them all later.

But. Geno and Reaper don't get along. The prejudice they hold for eachother gets in the way of most meaningful conversation, and they end up bickering. Geno once told Reaper he was no better than the bots after he slaughtered a group of Semis, abd after that neither of them could get a glance at the other without a hostile 'what?' Or a slur or jab. By the time they arrive at Blue's, Geno is so sick and tired of Reaper, and Reaper really, really wishes he knew how to kill him.

Then there's Dust. Dust was on Reaper's 'ally' list. Reaper taught him how to properly fight, and how to use manual guns, years ago during the war. Seeing Dust again was a treat. Seeing him harboring ectos and semis and a Techie was less than charming. Dust himself didn't break any of his morals, though, so they remained on shockingly good terms. Reaper was their ticket inside, and he was *only* amicable to Dust, and occasionally Horror when he came by. He often joked about short-circuitinh the bots or would fry one of Blue's or Geno's work stations. It happened so often that Dust had to chew him out for it.

And honestly, he wasn't giving up. Geno nor Dust could change his mind, and even the revelry around the base did nothing to persuade him to loosen up.

Until he met Saejun.

Saejun was an ecto made for farming and tending to plants, years ago before the war. He was never upgraded or installed with the virus, and Rust had found him out half-buried along a dirt road. When he was fixed up, Saejun insisted he could bring some life back to the desert waste they were stuck in.

He did just that. He tended to plants across the property, encouraged magical abd non-magical creatures to habitate the place (mostly bugs + small nature spirits) and he would grow green life again. Hydroponics lined the sides of the warehouse, and during Reaper's stay they just kept growing. It was once when he'd been out looking for Dust that he noticed Saejun tending to the garden and playing with little nature spirits. He'd approached, doubtful, but upon inspection found that the magic in the area really was thriving. So close to walls of machinery, amd running along the body of tech itself.

It was his first proof in his whole life that the two things *could* and *did* co-exist. That it was Tech which was now bringing it back. He wasn't even programmed for anything beyond basic crops, Saejun just had a passion for plants.

*that* is Reaper's turning point. Where he finally starts looking at everyone differently. Asking Blue about why he builds and repairs bots. Why the bots stuck around, their purpose, what they do now. And, eventually, he asks Geno to explain coding to him. Just a bit. <- This last bit is met with hostility from Geno, which perpetuates this social barrier between them. Meanwhile Reaper really did want to reconcile.

It takes Dust, seeing this change and noticing the effort, for him to force the two of them to sit down and talk things out.

And after that, Reaper understands a lot more about hinself, and the world, abd everything he's done. He doesn't really regret it, but he doesn't let himself forget to change his ways.

Also it's still that Reaper talking things out with Geno makes them both really vulnerable by the end. This weakness displayed breaks them past eachother's shells and manages to get them to hang out more often, talk about eachothers interests, be normal guys.

And then Geno and Reaper fall in love (Not a quick turn-around, I prommy), and after time amd discussion, Dust is pulled in (because he and Reaper have history and mutual Crushing, and Geno and Dust have an obnoxious amount in common). The three of them all get along.

But, yeah, finally fleshed out Reaper some more. His past was so isolating that all he needed was the little push to see that not everything was bad and horrible and evil <3

[spotaus]

I love when characters have a special space all their own that only ppl they love (platonic, familial, romantic, etc) are allowed into.

[spotaus]

Did some redesign mock-ups for Ec-4o.verse Cross, Fresh, and Error!

These guys didn't really *need* redesigns but I was having a ball with Trech (Ec-4o!Fresh) and gave him Arcade Carpet designs and decided I needed to redesign some others too! (Check below the cut for Old Designs, Lore, and a Stupid Screenshot from my pal @/Neonsix67)

So OLD DESIGNS:

(We're gonna act like I drew Trech more than twice-)

So, old art, yucky, whatever. We know the drill lmao- but because Ec-4o.verse is such an ongoing project these guys have been through a bunch of redesigns. Regrettably, me from 2 years ago was unaware of Layering and Shape Language, so they look kinda gross.

Cross' design has consistently been my favorite I think, just because he was a later addition and so had a bunch of my newer ideas integrated. They all have their flaws tho (Cross was too lean and got thrown between Baby and Grown Guy too often in my art. Error uhhh... yeesh. When I say I couldn't draw him, I meant it. I never knew what to do with his wires and I kept putting him in armor? Fresh just wasn't fleshed out enough. He was that SparkleDog of my verse.)

Also: I wanted Fresh to be top-heavy, like, big baggy round clothes on his upper half then lil guy legs. Cross I wanted to be more flat and strict, hense his clothes being all Tube-shaped. Then Error needed Triangle vibes. His old design was too Rectangle for me. The exposed limbs are mostly just for me because I love a-symmetry and also I don't keep a consistent clothing style, so I like to keep a visually interesting element (like a limb) exposed for clarity's sake when I draw them in new poses later.

LORE:

Cross: A robot (Ecto) who was initially a Guard-Model ecto. He was one of the last to be turned over when the government was rallying citizens to donate their bots to fight in the war. He was remodeled and supplied with a special task by his Programmer: Protect THE FILES at all costs. He's rather small for a guard-bot, but makes up for it with his agility and sheer stubbornness. Blue finds him heavily damaged and on low battery in an old lab, guarding a room that was sealed tight. His Old design utilized Shields (scarf detached to become them) but his new design is much more focused on quick bursts of offense. If he gets you first, then you're no longer a threat.

Error: an Ecto who was one of the first bots handed over. He was a former data storage bot that worked at a small library. As one of the first data-bots to come in, he was immediately modified and put to work alongside other Ectos to compile all of the nation's history into their data banks. Error was particularly receptive to overloads of data, so he continued to be modified and made into the prime data-bank. When the war started, he was eventually hidden away and sealed in an air-tight room. Eventually Cross was sent to guard the door. They were eachother's only company for... years? Error isn't fond of touch or tampering with hid systems, as everything he knows is barely abd haphazardly stored on unsafe files. Each Crash he endures takes more and more of his own personal data away, and he refuses to lose any more.

Fresh (Trech): A Parasite that was created by Sci to repair living beings in the same way that an Ecto can auto-repair itself. Fresh is actually a liquid that, when placed in contact with a wounded/dying person, it can invade their systems and stop all forms of bleeding/dusting. Fresh wasn't supposed to be sentient, and was meant to be scrapped, but he ended up being vital in stopping the war. In turn, Sci granted him freedom. Fresh can inhabit humans, monsters, and Ectos, but prefers skeleton monsters. He often defies the logic of his world, but what Fresh doesn't? Blue meets him far into the story after he's unraveled a lot of mysteries. Fresh just drops by after hearing rumors of Blue's repair work, and is met by less-than-warm reception from Error and Geno.

Other:

I was trying to save the image and my phone was bugging out, so I sent it to Neon. Safe to say she has peak comedic timing 😌💖 (For the record, we are both adults, and also my parents are aware I draw utmv stuff, so she had to make the threat actually a threat lmao---) I also love Chilchuck talking with the Operator. We are the dynamic duo frfr.

[spotaus]

Thinking I might redesign and/or finally design a smarter base for ec-4o!Dust. Because a farm-house is funny, but doesn't make much sense anymore.

So, I think it's smarter to have an old government base as his location. It'd have good space for storage when Blue eventually comes along, a bunch of old firearms for Dust's obsession, and would be a safe and defensible location as long as Dust's Paps keeps an eye out for intruders. It makes sense for a lot of plot points too, and adds an extra symbolic layer?

Like, Dust being there, he wasn't familiar with the government so he just clears out and burns whatever is left in the "office space" so he can make it into a house. He patrols the other two or three buildings every once in a while, but for some reason he doesn't know, folks avoid the place like the plague. He lives the solitary life he wanted.

Then Blue shows up, and he lets him and Rust share the space with him, for supplies and money in turn. Society is rebuilding, and Dust is gonna need to catch up. Blue has no clue why it's intimidating for his shop to be set up in an old government lab. He's unaware of the implications, but he's such a friendly guy that customers eventually warm up to him. The scariness of the government is lessened, because the old government that destroyed the country is gone, and now there's a kind soul helping others in its place. Rebuilding trust and comradery unknowingly.

And later on when other characters interact with the space, it gets Life in a way it never had. When Ink gets his hands on it and paints murals on the walls of the workshop in vibrant colors. Saejun is my favorite, because when he moves in, the other extra workshop is transformed into a garden, a green-house. He does hydroponics and breathes life slowly but surely back into the dead dirt, flowers cracking through the concrete style. It's a bright green spot that branches out in all directions like veins. Plants grow up the sides of the office, and harmless nature-creatures reside there.

When Cross, and Error, and Night and Dream find this place, when they're repaired, it has very little life. They're afraid of the war just as the organics are. Will it happen again? Are these people tampering with our codes? But no. They get to see this place turn into a home. Shelter others. Recreate lost things from scratch. It's a paradise they never got to see in their lifetimes. It was never in their calculations.

And then when Geno and Reaper show up. Geno, a guy who'd been stripped of his whole life, forced to start and finish a war that took millions of lives. The answers he seeks are all in an old government building, a place that ruined his life. He swore he'd see things to the end, though, so he approaches it expecting the worst. And instead of government officials that somehow escaped his vengeful wrath, he finds a ragtag group of monsters and robots, who are living peacefully in the location. Some of them resent him for what he did, but others accept him with open arms. He's not sure how to react for a long time. The belief that something good prospered through the war us unthinkable.

Then Reaper. He's under the belief that tech is his enemy. He was raised to resent the robots, even before the war. The war only proved his family right. And so seeing this place, with robots living freely? It made him furious. He'd been stripped of his weapons after attempting an attack, though, so he had to bide his time. And yet, the longer he stayed, the more he heard of each robot's story. How they were manipulated, and had their very essence altered. Their bodies and functions forced to do something they never wanted to. That struck a bit closer to home. But it was Saejun and Axe that really hit hard for him. Axe was raised in a Cult. That was what he'd called it. One that made him believe things that harmed him. One that forced him to do things against his will. For everyone else this was a place of relaxation, but for Axe it was a place of healing. And Reaper realized, begrudgingly, that Axe's story felt a lot like his own. And maybe, just maybe, he might've been in the wrong.

And idk this place that once brought so much fear, a place where robots were customized for a horrible war? One that Dust barely survived, one that Blue was too young to remember, one that everyone either participated in or was forced to live through? The place that started it all heals the damage done by it. Smth smth story symbolism?

Oh, one last thing: Lust's recovery was initially meant to be in a hidden room of the farm-house, but now I'm thinking there was a scrap room in the warehouses that no one ever got to, and Lust was put in there because his model was just too impractical for the remodeling for war-machines. There's a lot in that room like him, but he's the only one with his files still in his ecto. So, his experience with this place is jarring too. Last he remembered, he was being ushered into a building with other ectos, and they were being scrapped. Now he wakes up in the same location, but none of that horror is to be seen, instead replaced with a bright workshop and even brighter eyes looking him over worriedly. He was freed from his programming constraints while Blue worked on him, so he has to learn to be an actual person, and this place he was sent to to become a pile of scraps became his first real home.