the-dark-mirror-beckons

[the-dark-mirror-beckons]

Table of Contents

Welcome to "The Dark Mirror Beckons" Blog! In this blog, I've discussed the story me, Mochi, and my friend, Datura, have created based on the mobile game, "Twisted Wonderland."

Here is a table of contents:

1: Introduction

2. David

3. Cookie

4. Akasha

5. Orchid

6. Gideon

7. Gabriel

8. Coda

9. Val

10. Final Note

[the-dark-mirror-beckons]

What Else is within the Dark Mirror...?

Here we are, the end of this blog (or not, who knows). It's been over a year since revealing this project and story to our friends. Me and Datura have worked together into further developing this project ever since.

One example of this is creating birthday events, in which we create different birthday cards of our friend's characters and give it to them on their birthday. It's a reference to Twisted Wonderland's character birthday events, but also a fun gift for our friends to have.

In addition that, me and Datura created two different Halloween events since the making of the blog. The first is we made designs for all the characters in matching Halloween costumes as the grim reaper. We did almost like a questionnaire like game and if answered correctly, the designs and art would be revealed.

The second event is set in a Google Slide presentation formatted as a visual novel game, in which players must "watch" through multiple recordings about certain characters' backstories and find morse code within to unlock the secret ending. It was a fun experience to try, especially since I've always wanted to try this sort of thing and many of our friends loved it!

Me and Datura have more planned for the future, but I shall not reveal such ideas since I know that many of my friends are probably going to read this (hi guys, no, you ain't getting any special hints, sorry (insert smug face here)).

But that aside, thank you for reading this blog and I hope you enjoyed me and my friends' project. To this day, I still enjoy coming up with ideas for the story and continue to develop more with my friends, hoping for it to grow into something more.

Have a lovely day!

All images used in this post are from the game "Twisted Wonderland" and is not owned by me.

[the-dark-mirror-beckons]

Val, The Sweet Glitch

Our final character is Val! A former Royal Sword Academy student that transferred into Night Raven College after visiting the campus during a school event. This individual didn't feel right at home back at Royal Sword Academy, but witnessing the atmosphere within Night Raven College, they decide to transfer in an instant and moved into Ramshackle dormitory after having an encounter with one of the characters within.

This character was actually not a part of the original cast of character that me and Datura created when we first revealed the project and story. It was only until when we reunited with an old friend in the friend group months later that we decided to create a brand new character based on him. Because this character was made a few months later, we didn't have a new list of Disney characters to choose from. And so we allowed him to choose another character, which happens to be Vanellope von Schweetz from "Wreck it Ralph."

For Val's unique ability, we decided to call it "Sweet Glitch," in which he is able to essential "glitch" around while teleporting multiple times at short distances. This is based on Vanellope's ability in the film, in which she is seen teleporting multiple times as a form of glitching.

In terms of curses, Val in the story does not get one. The reason being is that back in a Cookie's post, it is explained that many characters that me and Datura created for this project met an individual at some point in their lives that put a curse upon them. However, Val never met this person, and is thus curse free!

Here's a fun fact: Val's hair is actually made of licorice! Actually that may not be fun depending how you look at it, but because of that, he tends to bond with Cookie, who has a curse that is subsided if eating sweet. He also most likely has candy on hand, so many will expect a little treat when Val's around. Although, he does tend to do risky things for others, much to dorm mom Akasha's demise.

All images used in this post are from the game "Twisted Wonderland" and is not owned by me.

[the-dark-mirror-beckons]

Coda, The Musical Wonder

Our next character is Coda, an awkward individual with a love for music. This tall individual is known to keep to themselves, but once someone voice an opinion on music, both positive and negative, don't expect Coda to back down on an hour long discussion! Despite their awkward and clumsy personality, Coda is more open towards their dorm mates in Ramshackle dorm. But that won't stop her from arguing with any of them if they voice poorly about music.

When making this character, our friend we based this character on chose Peter Pan from the film with the same name in the list of Disney characters me and Datura has created. As mentioned in both Gabriel's and Gideon's post, this Disney character is one of the characters in a pair in this list. Our plan with this that any character that were within this pair had some sort of connection between the two. And because of this, that meant that Coda would have a connection with Gabriel in some way. What may be that connection, you may ask? I shall explain to you in a moment!

For her unique ability, we were very unsure how to reference it as. We already had flying for Gabriel with Tinkerbell, so we couldn't use that. And then it hit us. Peter Pan goes to a world called "Neverland," in which no one can grow up! So we decided to create a unique ability for Coda called "Into Neverland," where she would be able to drag individuals into a world she can create temporarily and used the environments around them to her advantage. We thought this ability will be more tough to use considering the range of magic Coda would need to use it.

In terms of the curse, this is where the connection between Gabriel and Coda comes in. For Coda's curse, if distressed, she will turn into a child. The only way to turn back is to listen to the sound of bells ringing. Now, which character has something to do with bells? That's right, it's Gabriel! If Gabriel is mad and is speaking, his voice would turn into bells, which allows Coda to turn back to normal. To avoid annoying and tiring Gabriel, Coda wears bell earrings in cause this situation occurs. However, me and Datura does joke around about the idea that the other characters call in Gabriel and poke around with him just to make him mad and turn Coda back.

I would like to mention that after revealing this project and story, our friend that we based this character on made an entire backstory and fully developed Coda more. That is how the name "Coda" and her musical background came to be!

All images used in this post are from the game "Twisted Wonderland" and is not owned by me.

[the-dark-mirror-beckons]

Gabriel, The Expressive Bell

Next up is Gabriel, also known as Gabe, is known for being vocal and not afraid to fight for others. He is close towards his boyfriend, Gideon, who he's known since childhood. Unlike his boyfriend, Gabe is more expressive and makes sure to be vocal about his opinions and statements. He also has a caring side towards the rest of his dormmates back at Ramshackle dormitory (the characters we've created).

Out of the list of Disney characters we had our friends choose from, our friend we based Gabriel on chose Tinkerbell from "Peter Pan," one of the characters in a pair. As mentioned in Gideon's post, me and Datura had Tinker Bell and Peter Pan listed and hoped that the he and his boyfriend would choose the pairing. However, that did not happen, and it resulted in them realizing their mistakes once we revealed the characters. But no worries, it all went well (I think... maybe I should check in on that).

For his unique ability, we decided to go for flying, because in the original game, the characters are known to be flying on brooms. However, since Gabe is referencing an actual fairy, we wanted him to fly! And so, we named his unique ability "Fly to the Sky," in which he is able to not only make himself fly, but anything around him, whether it's a person or a random object.

In terms of curse, me and Datura weren't sure at first what to use as a curse based Tinkerbell. But then we remembered... Tinkerbell doesn't speak in Peter Pan... she speaks in bells. And so we made Gabe's curse into whenever he's aggravated, his voice turns into the sound of bells ringing! Isn't that annoying? Imagine trying to express your feelings to someone while angry, and then your voice turns into bells? Terrible! Perfect for a curse!

When creating both the characters Gabe and Gideon, we weren't sure whether to keep their characters together as a couple, or have them meet each other in the main story, develop feelings, and get together in the end. That was when me and Datura asked our two friends based on these characters and they decided, "let's have them together from the starts!" And here we are!

All images used in this post are from the game "Twisted Wonderland" and is not owned by me.

[the-dark-mirror-beckons]

Gideon, The Quiet Deer

Our next character is Gideon, a quiet deer-like individual who mostly keeps to himself. He is known to stay close with his boyfriend, Gabriel, who've known each other since childhood. Others see this character as the type to not be able to fight for themselves, but that is not the case. Instead, he is well trained in fighting and can beat someone to a pulp (literally). It's common to see this deer individual with the headphones on 24/7 on full blast while in public, so many had to try pretty hard to get their attention.

With our list of Disney characters, our friend we based our character on chose Stitch from "Lilo & Stitch." And you may think that's great and all, however, to me and Datura, it always makes us giggle thinking back. You see, there are two Disney characters that are considered a pair in the list we've created, which are Peter Pan and Tinker Bell from "Peter Pan." We originally wanted our friend and his boyfriend to choose either one in the pair to go together, but instead, his boyfriend chose on of the characters in the pair while the other chose Stitch. To this day, we can feel the screams of agony when the two first discovered this.

For Gideon’s unique ability, we decided to call it “626” which is a reference to Stitch being experiment number 626 in the original story. With this ability, the character is able to grow an extra pair of arms. The inspiration for this is from Stitch himself, in which he sometimes grows another pair of arms. Me and Datura made a discovery that because of this, Gideon would most likely be known as the person to carry the most weight in the group of characters we've created. We also made a revelation that because of this, there will be moments where individuals will be shock at how much Gideon can carry because of his additional pair of arms.

For his curse, me and Datura referenced certain moments from Lilo & Stitch, in which Stitch would go on a rampage where his eyes are glowing. Similar to that, Gideon would "glitch" when distressed and go on a rampage, wreaking havoc where ever he goes with blue, glowing eyes. The only way to stop him would be to have him listen to music to help calm him down.

Now you may be thinking, why is Gideon described as a deer?

Well, that idea is actually from our friend who is based off this character! After revealing this project and story to the rest of our friends, he wanted to have his character have antlers and deer features, and that is what we did. We thought it was a nice signature touch because of his love for deers (amazing creatures indeed).

All images used in this post are from the game "Twisted Wonderland" and is not owned by me.

[the-dark-mirror-beckons]

Orchid, The Observant Listener

Next is Orchid, the one character that keeps everyone’s secrets hostage. This is not a joke, they know people’s secrets. They’re known as the quiet person in the back of the class that doesn’t like to interact with anyone. However, don't be fooled. They are willing to pull pranks on you if you dare step into their boundary lane. So while others may think they’re not a threat, they are secretly planning someone’s demise (not really, but possibly).

As mentioned before, me and Datura created a list of Disney characters for our friends to choose from before creating their characters. Our friend that this character is based off chose Dolores from Encanto from our list of characters. However, since their favorite character from that movie is Bruno (obviously because of the rats), we added a bit of Bruno’s character into theirs. 

With that in mind, here's a lovely fun fact about Orchid! They themselves own a few pet rats that keep them company and help them when needed. Now, that may seem unsanitary, but Orchid does makes sure their little friends are well cared for (or else lovely dorm mom Akasha will come in screaming).

In term of their unique ability called “Curious Ear,” it is similar to Dolores’ ability, in which they are able to hear from far away, even the littlest sounds. Me and Datura are known to joke around about Orchid’s ability, especially with how the character could use it for their advantage and use it against someone they don’t like. However, sometimes, this ability can allow Orchid to hear things they wish they didn't want to hear. But it's only things that are verbally and can be heard when close by, right?

Well, for their curse, me and Datura went for something similar to their unique ability, but with a downside. Their curse involves learning about a person’s worst and darkest secrets at random times, even if not spoken verbally. Now, it may not sound bad at first, however, these secrets become more and more overwhelming and louder as Orchid gets more anxious and around crowds. The only way to get rid of this curse is to stay calm or wait until it dies out. 

As for their name, it was actually changed after me and Datura revealed this project and story. Our friend we based this character on wanted to change their name to Orchid, and it has been since then!

All images used in this post are from the game "Twisted Wonderland" and is not owned by me.

[the-dark-mirror-beckons]

Akasha, The Motherly Vice Housewarden

Next is the lovely Vice Housewarden, also known as the Dorm Mom of the group, Akasha! She is known for her motherly personality towards the people she cares about, but is not afraid to wreak havoc when something comes amiss. As mentioned in Cookie’s post, Akasha is known as the Vice Housewarden of Ramshackle Dormitory. Many individuals sometimes view Akasha as the Housewarden rather than Cookie with how responsible she is unless mentioned.  

This character is based on my friend Datura, who worked with me on this project. When making this character, I wanted to give Datura more free range on Akasha since this is their character. They decided to base their character on Rapunzel from "Tangled." When looking at all the other characters, Datura’s character is the only one that is based on a Disney character that is more… Well, “heroic?”

When analyzing all the characters that we’ve created for this project, Rapunzel is the only character that is mostly more on the “good side” both in the Disney version and original story. And also because Datura apparently was nicknamed after her. 

For her unique ability, we decided to make a direct reference to Rapunzel’s own abilities, also known as her healing ability with her glowing hair. The name of this unique ability is called “Healing Melody,” essentially making Akasha the healer of the group, because this group of chaotic children needs a responsible healer! Seriously, the more we worked on this project, the more we realized that Akasha is a gift based on how many times these characters get hurt. (tired mom moment).

Because of her curse, we decided to go for a more… gruesome direction. You see, I may have left out the part of how me and Datura write our stories. With me, I… “torture” my characters (according to everyone I told my stories to), and so Datura sometimes have to approve my interesting ideas. This idea was approved (thank goodness!) and I shall share this idea with you! For Akasha’s curse, we decided to call it “Princess Curse,” where she has extremely long hair similar to Rapunzel. If cut in any way, the hair strands that were lost would grow back and create an agonizing pain within her scalp while growing. Yes, it is very gruesome, but that’s why it’s a curse! 

So where did the name, Akasha, come from? I don’t know, ask Datura. 

Well, I did... by spamming them with a million messages.

Allow me to share with you Datura's reasoning.

"It's because it's the name from a character from one of my favorite vampire movie, "Queen of the Damned." Akasha (Queen of the Damned character) was an ancient vampire who is like the mother of all vampire. Her blood can increases a vampire's life, but the taste of it make them addicted it, making them want more. Kind of like Akasha's (our character) healing, people kept coming back and taking more and more from her. And they both like music."

Originally, Akasha was also going to be named Rapunzel, however, that may have been too obvious with the reference.

That being said, it is time for our next character!

All images used in this post are from the game "Twisted Wonderland" and is not owned by me.

[the-dark-mirror-beckons]

Cookie, The "Lucky" Housewarden

Our next character is Cookie, the Housewarden of Ramshackle Dormitory. You may be wondering, what are Housewardens? Well, sit tight, very curious one, allow me to enlighten you. 

In the original game, each dormitory has a Housewarden to keep control of the students within and a Vice Housewarden to assist the Housewarden. 

In our story, Cookie is the first character that David interacts with when he is first transported into the world of Twisted Wonderland. They are known as the Housewarden that is very energetic and cheerful, but is more calm and observant than people can imagine.

This character is actually based on myself, so I had a lot of free range on what I can do for them (and some of those ideas I had were denied by Datura). I wanted to make them more outgoing to the public eye and seem harmless until things got serious. However, I never expected for my character to be chosen as the Housewarden. 

It was during a discussion I had with Datura after we developed all the characters on who shall be chosen as Housewarden and Vice Housewarden. That was when they explained that because I brought up this idea and they wanted to help make it happen, it would be logical that my character would be Housewarden and their character would be Vice Housewarden. 

For their reference, I decided to make Cookie based on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who was originally a character created by Walt Disney that was given to Universal Studios. Since the main character interacts with Mickey Mouse in the original game, I wanted to base Cookie on a Disney character that has some sort of resemblance to Mickey Mouse, however keep that somewhat villain theme.

Unlike David, the rest of the characters have magic, and each one has their own unique ability that represents who they are. In Cookie’s case, they have a unique ability called "Limitless Nightmare," in which they summon ink-like creatures with little to no magic. This is more in reference to a Disney game known as Epic Mickey, in which Oswald is featured.

However, that is not all. When creating these characters, me and Datura wanted to add more into this story. For instance, curses! I will not go over the backstory of it (possibly in the future), but the main gist of it is that these curses are from an individual that most of the characters we’ve created have interacted. In Cookie’s case, their curse is known as “Unlucky Nightmare,” in which they turn into a little ink creature. While in this form, they lose the ability to speak and are reduced to speaking in sounds similar to cartoon bubble popping sound effects. The only way for them to turn back is to eat something sweet. This curse is referenced to Oswald being known as a Lucky Rabbit and a mix to their own unique ability. 

Now you may be wondering, how did you come up with the name Cookie?

…

I like cookies. 

NO, COME BACK, THAT’S NOT THE REASON-

The real reason lies upon who Cookie was originally going to represent, which was Alice from "Alice in Wonderland." However, since there’s a dormitory in the original game based on Alice in Wonderland called "Heartslabyul," we didn't want to conflict with that. The name Cookie was based on the “Eat Me” cookies that Alice ate. However, because of the change in reference character so suddenly and lack of inspiration, I didn’t make a new name. However, the backstory of Cookie involves them having memory loss, including not even remembering their name. So they used the name “Cookie” as an alternative name. 

Now that we’ve discussed the Housewarden, it’s time for the Vice Housewarden!

All images used in this post are from the game "Twisted Wonderland" and is not owned by me.

[the-dark-mirror-beckons]

David, The Direct Protagonist

To start our character introductions, we have David, our protagonist! Out of all the characters, he is the only one with no magic within his body. As mentioned before, he was transported into the world of Twisted Wonderland through a video game that he did not realize his copy was defective.

Before we discuss how this character came to be, we must go back to the start of this project. Since the original characters within Twisted Wonderland are all based on Disney characters, it was important that we followed that pattern for our own characters as well. 

So during me and Datura’s “secret operation,” we had to ask our friends to choose between a list of Disney characters, including Stitch from Lilo & Stitch and Tinker Bell from Peter Pan. However, our friend we based this character on NEVER choose a character. Therefore, we had to improvise.

This also connects to our other question on who would take the place of the main character of the original game. And then it clicked. “Ah, he!”

We rejoiced upon this discovery and selected this character as our protagonist. Then, we had to create a backstory on how the character, David, came into this magical world. That is when we remembered our lovely friend's love for isekai animes, in other words, a genre of japanese animations with stories that fall around characters being transported into different worlds. And so, we set it to which he was buying a video game, only to realize it was defective! (Oh no!) And now he is stuck in a magical world with no magic (tragic).

Now, we could’ve made this main character a little oblivious and all. However, this character is based on a friend that is very straightforward and understands when to step out of certain situations and decided instead on making our lovely protagonist not hold back on his remarks. For instance, expressing his harsh opinions on a situation and his interesting…taste. No, I’m not going to elaborate. 

Jokes aside, David is our lovely protagonist that we hold dear and are not afraid to play around with.

Now that we have the main character, let us go into the rest of the colorful cast that David has to deal with!

All images used in this post are from the game "Twisted Wonderland" and is not owned by me.

[the-dark-mirror-beckons]

The Dark Mirror Beckons You...

Have you ever played a game so immersive, you feel like you could get sucked into the fictional world if you played too much?

Well, that became a reality to David, a working adult who just wanted to play the latest sought out for video game! All he wanted was to buy a physical copy of a game he's been looking forward to at his local game store, only to realize that it would transport him to another world! 

This story is based on the mobile game, “Twisted Wonderland,” created by Yana Toboso and Disney, about the main character who is suddenly transported into the world of Twisted Wonderland. The characters within the game are based on Disney villains and takes place in a magical school called Night Raven College, in which the main character goes to in hopes to find clues of going back home. ��

Within the game, there are seven different dormitories, each based on a Disney villain. These villains include the Queen of Hearts from "Alice in Wonderland," Scar from "The Lion King," Ursala from "The Little Mermaid," Jafar from "Aladdin," The Evil Queen from "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs," Hades from "Hercules," and Maleficent from "Sleeping Beauty." The students chosen by the Dark Mirror to attend Night Raven College are sorted by him based on their talents, strengths, academics, and more. However, where does our main character, David, fall into? 

The answer? None of them! In fact, due to his lack of magic, the Dark Mirror couldn't sort him to any of the dormitories. So where does he land? Because of the most gracious headmaster, Dire Crowley, with a graceful personality, he allowed David to live in Ramshackle Dorm, a once abandoned dormitory taken in by a group of students chosen not to be the Dark Mirror, but the headmaster himself. 

Now you may be wondering, how did this story come about? 

Well, curious one, allow me to tell you a story from long ago (which is actually just a year or so since posting this). 

In May 2022, I once had a dream that me and my friends were in the game, Twisted Wonderland. Fascinated by this dream, I told my friends during a voice call on Discord all the details. It was more of a passing thought, and I didn’t think to develop it more. That was until my lovely friend, Datura (alias name), messaged me that night to go further into depth with my dream.

Over the course of two months, me and Datura secretly worked together unbeknownst to our friend group about our plan. The goal was to create characters based on each person within the group, a story on how these characters would fit into the original game’s story, and surprise them at the right time. Once revealed, me, Datura, and everyone else within group worked together to further develop our story.

So, what are the results of our labor? Well, allow me to show you in the next few posts, where I will discuss the details from the behind the scenes process.

All images used in this post are from the game "Twisted Wonderland" and is not owned by me.