Character Musings: The Queen of Sweet

Where do I even begin with this girl... Might as well start from the beginning. The very beginning...

Long, long, LONG ago - over ten years ago, in fact - I first became aware of Final Fantasy 1's white mage through 8 Bit Theater-inspired flash cartoons. Not even 8-Bit Theater itself - just Flashes done with the same sprites, given similar characterization. Back then, I was much more into Black Mage, preferring his design over all the other classes. White Mage was second. Time passed and I read the original 8-Bit Theater strip, wrote the two mages into early fanfics and other such things, and began drawing them, eventually culminating in me getting a copy of Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls for Game Boy Advance. Eventually my interest flipped and White Mage became my favorite while Black Mage was secondary.

An early prototype version of Sarah rose from these initial depictions. The original character, named simply "White Mage", had a number of differences from Sarah. She was more assertive and less "cute", as well as taller, and I paired her with Black Mage in a relationship that started off just as one-sided as in 8BT but slowly developed into a sort-of friendship over time. This mage did however have Sarah's trademark appetite.

Flash forward to 2011, and the infamous "ONE VOTE" incident. I'll repeat it for the folks who weren't around for it: In the first round of Zoofights 6, a giant praying mantis competitor was revealed and pitted against a lobster driving a giant robot lobster. Widow Maker, who had lost all three previous matches, went all out for this one in support of her fellow mantis. The mantis ended up losing the fight by a single vote - if the RNG had been just a little off, or if she had gotten just one more vote, she would have won. This heartbreaking result led to Widow Maker getting hospitalized due to a grief- and shock-induced heart failure, and I roleplayed as Hella Jeff for two weeks while she got fixed up. Her attendants? Four white mages - prototype Sarahkin. They were originally simply referred to as White Mage 1 through 4. This was initially done because they were minor characters (and also because I am historically bad with names). And why four? Because of that old influence, 8-Bit Theater, and its' famous gag. "Four white mages? It will never work!"

Next, after Widow Maker's return, a Fite Yer Mates battle took place that left several characters in need of medical attention. I brought back the white mages for a joke, but three of them got scared off, with a single mage staying behind. I randomly decided this was "White Mage 3". This mage healed the hurt fighters, and then stuck around. For the last week of the first round of the tournament, White Mage 3 was Widow Maker's goofy sidekick. She was cute, naive, and provided the CSI "YEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHH" every time Widow Maker made a pun. Her main reason for existing was that at the time Zoofights was a bit more dark than it is now. There were no fluffy relationships and the vast majority of our interactions were centered around watching bloodsports, be it Zoofights itself or the earliest Fite Yer Mates battles, which were pretty brutal. Because of the darker tone, I thought it would be funny to see how a very cute, childlike character would react to it all. And it was all very innocent, silly fun for a while.

Then the first Big Bar Brawl happened.

Harpy entered Alex into that brawl, but JRM had asked for good pictures of the entrants for help with drawing them, so Harpy exchanged her sprite pic of Alex for the official character art of Ramza from Final Fantasy Tactics. I happened to like this design and art style quite a lot, so I reacted with a joke - White Mage 3 used Widow Maker's vote for the Brawl on Alex, with no reasoning beyond a picture of her with hearts for eyes. Then Alex followed up on it, asking 3 for her name. I flailed for a minute in panic before throwing out "Sarah".

And off we went. The pairing developed quickly and simply, as befitting the first pairing of ZFRP. Over time, Sarah developed into the character she is today - sweet, kind, caring, bubbly, and a bit ditzy. Despite using her constantly in the most active season of RP, I've done my best to keep her fresh by using her in different ways. Season 2 focused on Sarah without Alex, as Harpy largely sat out that year. Sarah got time to be on her own, most notably getting involved with helping Morgana and Kayle accept one another again after their severe falling out. In Season 3, I gave Sarah a break and she did very little of importance, only showing up in person at the very end of the season. And in Season 4, Sarah was meant to remain a rare cameo, but she once again defied expectations, this time thanks to the Tractor, and became a regular for the second half of the season. In the Season 4-Season 5 offseason, Alex finally popped the question on Valentine's Day, and ZFRP's original pairing is getting a wedding in Las Vegas! Rest assured, there will be all sorts of grand plans to make this wedding as adorable and full of sweets as possible.

One of the things about Sarah that proves to be the most fun to roleplay is when she does unexpected things, and sometimes those weird things become regular parts of her character. Her drinking contest participation was among the first of these, and her tendency to ride motorcycles, her shutter shades and feather boa won in a bet from Delmond, and her sudden transformation into a theme park owner added to the fun. With our Season 3 setting change, many of these traits vanished - there was nowhere to ride her bike and Tridenland was a poor choice themewise compared to the Star Festival's fairgrounds. We return to urban America this summer, so look for old Sarah habits to return as well.

I really enjoy roleplaying as Sarah. She's a ray of sunshine, always eager to help people regardless of whether they need encouraging words, white magic, or a tasty snack. She gets mocked every so often for her height or her weight, but she refuses to let the haters keep her down. As one of the two "founding mothers" of my roleplaying, Sarah is an important character to me. I hope I can continue to find ways to keep her a fresh and fun character to interact with.

Character Musings: I'm-a Livin In A Box

Ace Attorney is one of those video game series that I just knew I'd have to crib from at some point. Not every series I enjoy is good for roleplaying, but Ace Attorney provides strong, multifaceted characters, and I've been tempted to use several of them. Of the rejects, Franziska von Karma got the closest, as seen in my last Rejected Characters Depot, but ultimately I went with Myriam Scuttlebutt.

Now, you may notice that when I pick characters to roleplay as that are from existing media, I pretty much never choose the main protagonist or lead. I might choose a character that is very important to the original material, like Edea Lee or Browny, but they aren't the star, they aren't the dude that's front and center on the cover. I didn't pick the Warrior from FF1, I picked the White Mage. I didn't pick Ultraman, I picked his archenemy Baltan. I didn't pick Axel or Blaze, the Streets of Rage leads, I picked Electra and the bikers. And so instead of roleplaying as Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth, or even Athena Cykes, I went with the relatively minor Myriam.

I think that generally the lead characters don't have the fun personality quirks the side characters do. They're usually somewhat "everyman" and have a minimum of personality, or are kind of generically heroic. Meanwhile, I do my best work with unlikely heroes and quirky characters with appearances or shortcomings that aren't often seen in the heroes of an action-packed story. Plus, lesser-seen characters often feel like they have more to tell, as they weren't the focus of the initial story. We've seen Phoenix Wright in a half-dozen different games by now, so we know his deal. Myriam appeared in one case as a secondary character. She got a little arc to herself, but it was nothing compared to the series mains.

So on to Scuttlebutt herself. I initially considered her for a less heroic role, but instead of writing the tabloids, I decided to make use of the character development she received in the game, where she goes from a snoopy, annoying little git to a pitiable shy girl. After she got the courage to make friends in a more normal way, she swapped classes from Judge to Journalist and began a real pursuit of the truth. This is the Scuttlebutt I wanted, a character that fought for good with the printed word instead of with physical attacks (particularly because, an inch shorter than Sarah and with Ariel's body type but with neither Sarah's magic nor Ariel's physical ability, Myriam was the smallest, weakest human I'd ever roleplayed).

Myriam had two main roles. The first, her uncovering of rumors, was rendered unimportant quickly as I rarely found the time to interview other users' characters and (aside from Samus) couldn't think of much material to use anyway, so most of the onscreen rumors she debunked were related to my own characters. Instead I focused on her newspaper in general, and she had a nice little arc with Janet where the two eventually joined forces. The second role was her intelligence gathering, which generally consisted of her tagging along on adventures and then doing her trademark Box Park and sitting in the corner doing nothing while everyone else fought. She did get active a few times, though. While her attempt at The Hermit's hermitage didn't end well, she was able to fend for herself in Looney Land and during Wheelerplot. She even tried the Fite Club right at the end of the season, and won the match!

Myriam and Viola seemed to make a natural pair, so when Viola wasn't around Tenshi, I often had her team up with Myriam instead. While Viola initially disliked Myriam, I imagined that after breaking Viola's Psyche Lock, Myriam and Viola would gradually start working together. Both share a passion for information, and they are both shy and socially inept, but in different ways. Plus, it gave Viola something to do besides cling to Tenshi.

Myriam wasn't hugely important, and her planned return in Season 5 isn't going to change that. And that's fine. She's not supposed to be a major player. Myriam is on the sidelines, rooting for the movers and shakers and helping them with good press. She may not be able to suplex a train or punch a god in the face or nuke The Warp, but she has her niche and she does it well.

Oh, and for those of you unfamiliar with the source material: Myriam's hissing laugh and the choking "khak-khak" noise she makes when surprised, flustered, or nervous are both direct from the game and I have no idea what inspired those quirks. *shrug*

Chatzy Madness Volume 184: Tender Vengeance

Cornwind Evil: "All the most iconic covers are full of weird unexplained shit. Who's the terrified guy Spider-Man is carrying? Why is Superman destroying a car and terrifying everyone? If laser beams and rocket launcher haven't done the trick why does Iceman think that snowballs will - and where the hell is Beast swinging from?"
Cornwind Evil: "I googled "comic book cover backstory", and didn't get anything useful except for this picture"
SteelKomodo: batman
SteelKomodo: batman why did you drop that acid
SteelKomodo: batman take off the hat and stop talking to those flowers
SteelKomodo: BATMAN D:
Cornwind Evil: ........I guess Afterlife With Archie was decades in the making
Cornwind Evil: Del actually posted some of these panels earlier
Cornwind Evil: Now I'm posting others
SteelKomodo: BETTY NO D:
SteelKomodo: man, Riverdale is just full of backstabbing, treachery and vore
Cornwind Evil: His father may not yell at him, but The Spectre will make sure he faces retribution for his terrible grades.
SteelKomodo: hahahaha
RubyChao: link 1
RubyChao: link 2
SteelKomodo: "you're a weenie"
SteelKomodo: really, may? that the best you could come up with?
Cornwind Evil: Ah, Fletcher Hanks....boy do you deserve the legacy you got
Cornwind Evil: I was wrong Chao
Cornwind Evil: This is the actual story of Stardust
Cornwind Evil: http://i.imgur.com/moKcM41.jpg
Cornwind Evil: http://i.imgur.com/zyeS9Mz.jpg
SteelKomodo: wtf is going on with Stardust's torso there
SteelKomodo: Adventures of GOD-MAN
SteelKomodo: this is what this basically is
SteelKomodo: Stardust just quirks an eyebrow and bam, problem solved
Cornwind Evil: Stardust was done entirely by one man: written, drawn, etc
Cornwind Evil: It was comics' earliest days and there was no rules
SteelKomodo: i can tell :U
Cornwind Evil: I have to wonder...does this count as an UNUSUAL day for Thor?
SteelKomodo: I know I should say something about Thor's attitude here
SteelKomodo: but I keep being distracted by that incredibly blatant crotch-shot of Susan
SteelKomodo: seriously, was that really necessary?
Cornwind Evil: I imagine this is what it would be like if Wulf and Sheep wrote a comic together
SteelKomodo: hahahahaha

Chatzy Madness Volume 183: Ruck Fules

SorrowKing: Good people! Settle down! The Goldfish is slain! There is no longer need for panic about the freak within our sewers! Though the cost in bullets was a little high.
SorrowKing: Minigun, my shebs. :l Nothing mini about it or those bullets.
SorrowKing: :x
Anyway, there will be a tax hike. You understand.
iKomodo: Pfffft
RubyChao: the problem with it costing $400,000 to fire for 12 seconds
SorrowKing: Yes, Governor Chao. :l That problem.

---

Cornwind Evil: Man the end of ZF 6 still steams me
Gooper Blooper: >​steams
Gooper Blooper: kek
Saberwulf ba dum tish
Tableter: Top lel
RubyChao: lel

---

Gooper Blooper: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81OKw7uOqUL._SX425_.jpg
Gooper Blooper: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81K4PtW5ciL._SX425_.jpg
Harpy: AAAAH FUCK GIMMIE

---

Cornwind Evil: It's time for TERRIBLE WRESTLING SHIRTS
Gooper Blooper: HOW TERRIBLE ARE THEY?
Cornwind Evil: Let's open with a classic in a 'Joker's boner' sense
Gooper Blooper: yeah that's pretty terrible
SteelKomodo: Dirk takes up wrestle- *NUKED*
Gooper Blooper: more like "always grabbing ass"
SteelKomodo: that would be AGA, goops
SteelKomodo: and that makes me think of that awful agga-doo song and argh
Cornwind Evil: Rock's like 'Really? Really?"
Cornwind Evil: Either terrible or amazing
Gooper Blooper: I have to lean towards amazing
SteelKomodo: terri-mazing is the word, CW
Cornwind Evil: Getting away from shirts
Cornwind Evil: ...yes? Yes? Yes?
Cornwind Evil: NO! NO! NO!
Cornwind Evil: And now an infamous shirt
Cornwind Evil: In that the guy who got it quit two weeks after it came out
Cornwind Evil: "I remember an interview or something with Morrison a couple months ago. He said he always thought monkeys were hilarious, and the "gonna eat your lunch" was something some friend of his said and Morrison was sure he could get it over. Turns out no."
Gooper Blooper eats lunch
Cornwind Evil: Cena once had better or worse shirts
Bree: I'm less "astonished by the shirt" and more "surprised it's a Cena shirt"

Character Musings: Dead Again, One More Time

Thanks, Obama.

My initial idea for Ariel's job change was to make her a soft-spoken Dark Knight, purely due to finding it funny that the smallest, most waifish member of the mage family would be a tanky, tough class (sort of a proto-quasi-Tenshi, if you will). I ditched this idea due to the job class being exclusive to Final Fantasy Tactics' PSP remake, and therefore being both less familiar to me and less familiar to readers at large. Instead, I perused the FFT job list for a job that would be unique and interesting and picked "archer". From there, Ariel's tree-hugger side was an easy addition, as archers, hunters, and other similar job types are frequently associated with forests and nature.

At the same time, in 2012, I went on a sort of political kick and took a serious interest in politics leading up to the big US election showdown that November. However, I made a few missteps in conversation with friends due to getting too invested in the topic. This added two elements to Ariel's character. First, I expanded her being a simple nature lover to being an outright activist, pushing for change on multiple fronts. Second, my negative experiences with politics warned me to not turn Ariel into a moral-spewing agenda-pusher, so I worked hard to make her non-preachy and non-offensive. Ariel's two main desires - a wish to see less blatant pollution and a wish to see people treated fairly - are not very politically charged in our community and have therefore been safe bets. I've also indicated she's passionate, but not hardcore - the most notable instance being that Ariel isn't a vegetarian and doesn't criticize people's food choices. I knew she'd be a walking buzzkill if she got too caught up on what people eat.

As part of the concept of each of the four sarahkin having different builds, Ariel is the fit one. It fits really well - while Sarah and Josephine are big eaters (so they're chubby/curvy) and Gloria is less so but sedentary with a job class that lets her summons do the work (so she's average), Ariel's job, personality, and her work at places like parks and nature preserves means she's naturally the thinnest and most agile of the four. The tradeoff seems to be her infamous frailty. We need to talk about your Defense stat, Ariel.

Unfortunately for Ariel, her constant jobbing in Season 3 makes just as much sense as her physical fitness. She is the worst of her family at white magic, unable to perform many of the strong spells her sisters are famous for. And once an enemy gets through her underpowered Protect and Shell spells, her tiny frame isn't exactly going to offer much resistance. As a result, Ariel was frequently taken out of commission, especially because Ariel's participation in Season 3 largely revolved around an extended war with The Society, and practically every member of the group was more powerful than Ariel and threw around their superpowers with impunity. She was KOed again and again, and I began buffing her out of desperation to have her survive more than one attack in a feasible manner, but the tractor didn't cooperate until the final week of the plot, when I was finally able to make Ariel look like a reasonable threat and to gain some measure of respect back.

While I'm talking about Ariel, I'll also talk about Penny. Penny isn't very important - she's mostly just 'Ariel's friend and partner in activism' and has no role beyond helping Ariel. Activists work best in groups, however, so I chose Penny to represent the people Ariel has teamed up to fight alongside her in Manhattan. I enjoyed making the two of them derp around in Gloria's library, but with my roster as massive as it is, I have no plans to feature Penny as anything more than an Ariel satellite character who appears whenever she needs a second pair of hands. We all know what RP can do to plans, though. On another note, I actually have more than once considered making Ariel and Penny a legit couple, but decided against it due to not wanting to enlarge the sarahkin family even further and to keep Ariel open in case she somehow gets roped into a "real" pairing with another user. They're just good platonic friends, and shall remain so.

Ariel sat out almost all of Season 4, only appearing for Wheelerplot and a background joke plot about her and Penny mismanaging Gloria's library. She's likely to get more screentime in Season 5. Will Ariel be able to shake off her jobber reputation like Samus did hers?

Chatzy Madness Volume 182: My Client My Original Character Blidorah

Draco: Why is it I only now think to say "Harpy Birthday"?
Draco is shamed.

---

SteelKomodo: how goes it?
Harpy: its all good, although once i woke up, the internet shat itself
SteelKomodo: it was all like "OH SHIT HARPY'S AWAKE AAAAAAH D:"
Harpy: i can think of two other times the system went down
Harpy: one was during class
Harpy: the other was when I went shopping at the bookstore
Harpy: the biggest problem is that the school net is interconnected, powering everything
Harpy: if it shits itself, everything is down
Harpy: even the registers and the testing centers
Draco: And the dinosaur electric fences.
Harpy: and there's no alternative TO it that's good enough
SteelKomodo: D:
Harpy: yeah we're fucked when dinosaurs invade when the net is down
SteelKomodo: damn it dinosaurs
Draco: Good thing Jurassic Park State has a good nursing program.
Harpy: they took away our nursing program due to funding iirc
Harpy: those dinosaurs get a better education than I do
SteelKomodo: god damn it dinosaurs
SteelKomodo: why do you get better education than us humans

---

RubyChao: frands
Tableter: Fronds
Harpy: frappes

---

Tableter: HE
Harpy: HAS
Tableter: NO
SteelKomodo: STYLE
Tableter: HE
SteelKomodo: HAS
Tableter: NO
RubyChao: GRACE
SteelKomodo: THIS
Harpy: KONG
Tableter: HAS
SteelKomodo: A
Harpy: FUNNY
Tableter: FACE
Tableter: We did it gang
SteelKomodo: yaaaaaay
Tableter: We won the internet
SteelKomodo: :D
RubyChao: go us
SteelKomodo: walnuts peanuts etc.

Vaguely Dinosaurian Plastic Things

UPDATED JUNE 30, 2024: It took a long, long time, but a comment outside our community from someone who stumbled onto this post and wanted to see the broken images got me to finally go back and fix this old thing up after Dropbox's stupid changes years ago broke all the images. As most of you know, my "dinosaur collection" has taken a dramatic turn since this old post as I am now specifically a Jurassic World collector, with hundreds of Mattel's figures added to my collection since 2018. I only have interest in generic dinosaurs if they're cheap and nostalgic (as in, they look like the old inaccurate figures of the 20th century instead of modern renditions), so almost no new figures have been added to my collection in the past nine years besides Mattel's offerings (and some old Kenner figures based on the first two Jurassic movies).

 

The text of the original blog has remained unaltered, but trust me, I know a lot more about Chaos Effect now.

***

Dinosaurs! I've had many major "interests" that figured very heavily into my life for a year, or several, or many, and dinosaurs (and other prehistoric creatures) were among the first. Alongside living animals (particularly bugs, reptiles, and amphibians) and Garfield, dinosaurs were the movers and shakers of my earliest memories. I spent endless hours playing with my ever-growing dinosaur collection, which continued to expand in size regularly until the late nineties, and later experienced a revival period in the early-mid 2000s when my interest in dinosaurs was reinvigorated for a time.

For the most part, my collection has been dormant for a full decade, only very rarely being added to in the form of the occasional old toy I'd find at a yard sale, which became my number-one dinosaur toy hunting ground years ago. This week, though, I've been inspired to excavate the collection and take a look back. What follows are photographs of some - but far from all - of my collection.

My dinosaur collection is very different from my kaiju collection. While I like my Godzilla figures to be fairly true-to-screen, pretty much all of my favorite dinosaur toys are outdated depictions, scientifically inaccurate, or simply wrong. I am fascinated by old-school dinosaur designs. I like tripod tyrannosaurs and inexplicably toothy Triceratops and things that never existed shoved into "REALISTIC DINOSAURS" playsets. It's not to say I don't appreciate the new discoveries made since the eighties... but the old stuff just makes for fun toys! We'll be seeing a lot of that in the following photos.

Valentine's Day

Different people celebrate in different ways. Even if they live in the same town, or even if they're family.

Two sisters were going about their February 14ths in just such separate ways...

-----

"Will you marry me?"

The question hung in the air in the Triden kitchen for a few seconds as Sarah's brain overloaded. It was like her life flashing before her eyes, except instead of her whole life it was just the last four years.

Arriving in Manhattan. Peeking at Alex shyly from afar as he did janitor work in the Zoofights arena. Their first awkward meeting. Sarah struggling to work up courage, playing the lute on a rooftop.

Then... the second meeting. Alex had brought flowers. He'd felt the same way.

So many memories, good and bad. Watching movies together. Conquering the Sweet Behemoth and the Black Legend. Enduring the Servitor. Saving Alex's heroic, knightly half when it became separated from his soft-spoken janitor half. Alex rescuing Sarah from Marilith. Sarah rescuing Alex from Atma Weapon. The fight against Dr. Vile-y. Founding a theme park. Visiting Steamcrab Springs, where they had massive ice cream cones and floated on a lazy river. Sarah becoming a janitor to help Alex with work. Alex learning white magic and transitioning from knight to a sort of paladin. Taking down Regal. Alex learning Ultima and Sarah learning Judgement Bolt.

The notes. They had written love notes to each other, both sides still shy about their status until they finally got it down on paper. And, of course, they still had them. Sarah no longer read hers every night - she didn't need that kind of reassurance these days - but she did make sure to look at it every now and again, especially on their anniversary.

It had been a long time. In a way, they'd settled down, though the call to adventure still tugged at Sarah often, and Alex, though usually staying away, had popped up at the King of Beasts again last year for a few battles. And now this...

Less than five seconds had passed, but for Sarah and Alex it had felt like more. All of her memories rushed back at once. Sarah was, for the briefest of moments, overwhelmed.

But she found her voice. The little white mage did not squeal or scream or jump for joy. Instead, with trembling hands, she took the ring and stared deep into its opal depths. Then, that done, she gently placed it aside so she could hold Alex's hands.

"...Yes." she said, a whisper. Then she gripped tighter, pulling Alex into a soft, cuddly hug.

"Yes, Alex."

-----

But while that was happening, one of Sarah's sisters was celebrating in a different way. Though, perhaps, maybe not quite so different?

"Oof."

Josephine leaned back against her pillow and sighed in content. "Whew. Almost didn't think I could polish that thing off, but there's no stopping the sephine!"

A few moments passed as a very full Josephine mused on her next move. She opted to pick up the empty box of chocolates, then called out.

"Oh, Dirrrrrrrkyyyyyyy~~~"

When he'd show up, he'd find Jo waving around the empty box with a look in her eyes that could only mean one thing.

-----

And, incidentally, somewhere else a certain succubus put her own twist on the idea.

The only things Morgan knew about Lily's grand plans were that they involved two heart-shaped cakes and a tub of pink icing. Beyond that, she could only speculate. But succubi did so enjoy speculating, so Morgan let Lily go on her merry way and returned to her perusal of Las Vegas travel guides with a knowing smile on her face.

Character Musings: Too Spooky

One day in 2013 I came up with the idea of roleplaying a gothic-type character. From this idea, Viola was born. She began life as Violet, an OC inspired by the MySims character of the same name, but with a different design and a giant scorpion familiar. While I would eventually select DJ Candy to represent my interest in MySims, Violet lost that aspect of her character and became Viola when I played Pokemon Y and discovered the redesigned Hex Maniac trainer class, and the scorpion familiar was swapped out for Pokemon. I thought the design of the Hex Maniacs was pretty great, and apparently a lot of people agree as Hex Maniac appears to now be far and away the most popular generic Trainer type in Pokemon - a big change from the class's original overlooked Hoenn appearance.

I waffled a bit when trying to decide whether Viola had legitimate supernatural powers or was just a huge dork, at one point even considering revealing her to be a ghost. Ultimately I went the dork route - she has a very strong interest in the paranormal but possesses no paranormal qualities herself. Her personality has also shifted a lot - initially more of a snarky, anti-establishment goth chick, Viola was much quieter and more mysterious in her first few appearances on the blog and at the very beginning of the season, and soon after she was introduced a side of her that had been hinted at previously - a deep-seated, enduring fear of socializing and bullying - came to the fore as Viola's Achilles heel and the cornerstone of her character.

Viola is quiet and withdrawn. Many of her attempts at making friends ended in failure before ZFRP. She was bullied for most of her life, and has spent many a night wishing for strength and confidence that she doesn't possess. With the help of ZFRP, she has improved noticeably, but remains an awkward introvert that has difficulties understanding the complicated ins and outs of friendship. And she's a lesbian, and we can all be thankful the bullies never found that out.

But the real reason you're reading this post is to hear me talk about Tenshi. Like so many things in ZFRP, it was an accident. Viola wandered into a conversation between Tenshi and Richard initially just to make a joke about the portal that connected Sheryl's Diner and The Drunken Gryphon, but Tenshi stuck around and kept saying all the wrong (or right) things, making Viola more and more interested in her. The stalking phase was brief but memorable (Viola pretending to be Myriam to get photos of Tenshi is one of the times I've laughed at my own RP) and the comedy gave way to feels when Tenshi, Apollo, and Myriam broke open Viola's Psyche-Lock. Like Lily taking interest in Sonia, I found there was a surprising amount of evidence to point to that showed the pairing was a valid idea, and so Viola and Tenshi began influencing each other and causing character development.

Late in 2014 I realized that Viola had become too attached to Tenshi - she almost never did anything that wasn't Tenshi-related, and rarely interacted with other characters. As fitting as that is for an antisocial introvert with a grand total of like three friends, I didn't want to pigeonhole her as a Tenshi satellite character, so I plan for Viola to do more things that don't involve Tenshi in the future.

Viola will return in Season 5 - she has a plot hook already set in the form of Clair, and despite what I said in the above paragraph this particular subplot is custom-made for Tenshi to get involved. Will they ever be more than just friends? You can never say anything for sure in RP, but I think you can count on something changing there one way or another...

Chatzy Madness Volume 181: Chocolate Edition

Draco: B( They shut down Star Trek for server maintenance.
Draco: NOW I'M BORED.
Draco flips tables.
Jumpropeman joined the chat
Jumpropeman: *burns the tables to the ground*
Draco: MY CABBAG....TABLES.
Draco carefully hides his Horde of Cabbages. BI

---

Draco: I come with vitally important nonsense.
Draco: I had a dream last night that I was cruising through a Sharknado with Mythbusters' Adam Savage. He was super excited to see sharks flying by.
Draco: I also had a dream where I had to help Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock defeat Godzilla. My job was to distract King Ghidorah by teaching him how to deliver packages to office buildings in Florem.
Draco: That is all.

---

Kogasa: i have defeated the E4
Del: werewolf jonesy gonna score
Del: nice
Del: we made a rhyme
Kogasa: yiss

---

Saberwulf: My hair stuff and lip balm came in, lip balm smells like potpourri and taste like mulled cinammon
Saberwulf: AKA it's amazing
SteelKomodo: yay
Del: nice
Saberwulf: Also the leaves in the conditioner is made from HAND-CRUSHED EGYPTIAN DATES HARVESTED FROM ONLY THE BEST NILE CROP which I'll be sure to remind everyone of constantly to sound rich
RubyChao: hahahaha
RubyChao: but wulf; is it as rich as a prrrrrrrremium chatzy
Saberwulf: It's 18 dollars a bottle so technically yes

Character Musings: Celestial Body

Before there was Buttsephine, there was Celestiass.

The literal Mother Of All Sarahkin has definitely been one of my more unique characters to play. Her origins are unique, too. One day in 2011, I was bored and doodled a female black mage in MS Paint with no specific plans for them in mind (I don't know why I gave said mage purple hair other than that it just felt right). Later, Alex visited Sarah's house, and I had the opportunity to develop Sarah's family (an opportunity I have milked for all it's worth :V). Originally Celestia, not Helios, was to be the deceased family member, but plans changed. I eventually wound up with her working for Tiamat as an elite guard with a specialty in mechanics. She was then fought, converted, and joined the kobbers as a semi-regular (reminder that Celestia was a villain goes here).

At first Celestia wasn't good for much besides constantly repairing the group's robots (especially Zephyrus, to the point it became a running gag), although she had a few cute moments with her daughters and told some embarrassing stories. Late in the first season, a few jokes about her attractiveness came up courtesy of Wall, but it wasn't a major deal.

Season 2 was the season Celestia came into her own as a real character, thanks in part to Dirk and his failed attempt at hooking up with her. It was here we firmly established the gag that Sarah's mom did, in fact, have it going on, particularly in the lower half. She also faced several other conflicts and challenges, from Sarah entering a game show to her family's nemesis Garland resurfacing and nearly killing her. Essentially, Celestia became a fully fleshed-out (no pun intended) and multifaceted character. She's a mechanic. She's a doting mother. She's a strategist. She's a great chef. She's ZFRP's Team Mom, always ready and eager to help with a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, and a warm cookie or twelve dozen.

Celestia holds a very rare distinction: she has never been killed in ZFRP. Considering she's been around since Season 1 and made regular appearances in every season but the third, that's saying a lot. She stayed out of trouble pretty frequently in Season 1, but she made numerous battlefield appearances in later seasons and just always managed to get away. It also helps that although she's entered several Fite Yer Mates matches, only one of them (vs Rafflesia) had lethal KOs as part of the equation, and it wasn't particularly likely to happen, either. Celestia just seems to have a knack for survival.

Celestia and Helios have a relationship that is very "sitcom parents"-esque, without the usual bitterness and hate. Helios tends to play straight man to Celestia's over-the-top inventions and bombastic business ventures. I knew it'd be likely Helios would be revived to rejoin the family if I dwelled on him too much, but I went ahead and did it anyway because I felt Season 2 and early Season 3 had wrung all the sadness out of Helios' death that I needed it to, so I might as well give the Sarahkin a happy ending. Of course, just like how "Final Fantasy" keeps churning out sequels despite the name, the Sarahkin's major plot arc coming to a close didn't mean a thing for their own appearances, and the whole group of them still regularly find ways to get involved in battles and plots.

Will Celestia appear in Las Vegas? I seem incapable of keeping the sarahkin out of RP, so probably, yeah. Will she do anything particularly important? Well, it's all about the hook. I'd need a good hook for Celestia to join in a major plot thread.

I may or may not already have said hook.

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SteelKomodo: ...oh, goops!
SteelKomodo: 60 posts in your blog are tagged with#Butts
Gooper Blooper: it's a butt milestone
SteelKomodo: and also the 60th post featured Celestia!
Gooper Blooper: oh god
Gooper Blooper: it's a sign
SteelKomodo: guess it's time to celebrate!
Gooper Blooper: celestia opens new vegas bakery, advertises with a banner saying "NOW WITH BIGGER BUNS THAN EVER"
SteelKomodo: hahaha
SteelKomodo: maybe add a "60th BUTT MILESTONE" in the post somewhere :U

Character Musings: The Sound of Silence

My thought process for making new characters is a bit different depending on whether I'm adapting a character from another medium into RP or if I'm making an original character. If it's the former, I start with the character and consider what I could mold them into and what they would do. If it's the latter, I start with a concept I want to roleplay, and then build a character that lets me try that concept.

Silence accomplishes two things. Firstly, I wanted a character that fought with sheer brute force instead of fancy weapons (Widow Maker, Kauket, Dr. Bulgrave) or magic (the sarahkin). Additionally, I wanted to try writing a major character that couldn't speak. Silence was just what I wanted - there's nobody else like her on my roster.

Silence was, as I've mentioned before, inspired by a couple of real-life wrestlers I've seen here and there on YouTube and whatnot, those being Kane and Jessicka Havok. I bring it up again because of a little cutting room floor: Silence's initial design had a lot more black clothing and she wore a gas mask instead of a leather mask. This, however, made her look way too much like Havok so I swung the pendulum more towards Kane. The red mechanical eye is my attempt at giving Silence something neither of her inspirations possessed.

Normally in the world of wrassling, people like Silence are the bad guys. After all, if you took Silence and placed her amongst the "Divas" of WWE, she would be by far the tallest, heaviest, and strongest. She's more than twice the size of the most successful girl on their roster, AJ Lee. When you have such enormous statistical advantages over your opponents, of course you'd be the villain. You're the odds that have to be overcome. But that's where the magic of ZFRP comes in. Silence is an ordinary human with absolutely no special powers. For all her height and muscle, her opponents are monsters and aliens with guns and magic. In a lot of fights, she's actually the underdog, and it's suddenly easy to make her sympathetic and someone to root for.

Silence was originally supposed to be more rough around the edges, as befitting her appearance, but she revealed herself to be a big softie pretty quick. She makes friends surprisingly easily for someone who can't properly communicate with them. Although she is rather rough-and-tumble, there are plenty of people in ZFRP who love a good fight, so that's not a huge barrier either.

I wanna mention Blade here, too. There are a lot of things in ZFRP I don't see coming, and when I came up with the idea of Blade returning as a regular to be Silence's manager, I was surprised at myself for digging him back up from his relatively minor role in Season 2. Blade helps Silence communicate, which I felt was important. I didn't want a cop-out on the "silent character" idea, so I had even gone so far as to make Silence illiterate so she couldn't just write her thoughts, but she still needed some way to help get people's attention and announce her intentions, and it made sense for a wrestler to have a manager anyway. So instead of a new character, out comes Blade. I think the idea of Silence being "normal" made him a great fit - the Storm Bikers' plot in Season 2 was all about the concept of "normal" and how the kobbers could so easily disrupt the lives of normal thugs.

Silence hasn't yet had too much of a chance to really develop in RP, as she took a sort of hired-gun role in Season 4 - instead of having stories happen to her, she simply joined in on plots whenever I felt like using her. She's on tap to get some development this year, though, mostly in the form of people finally uncovering her past. It's taken me a long time to iron out the kinks, and I still don't have everything, but I finally have some form of backstory for her planned that I think is acceptable, unlike last year where I didn't know what my own character's deal was. All you Silenceamaniacs out there can find out for yourself this summer.

It's Back

"TONIGHT ON WORLD CREATURE WARS: Tentacles meet spinning blades! Then, an aerial gunfight for dominance! And in tonight's MAIN EVENT, what happens when razor-sharp claws the size of a man meet a carapace that can resist cannon fire?!

World Creature Wars - the world's leading monster bloodsport organization!"

A brief teaser glimpse of a scorpion with a buzzsaw tail facing down a pigeon with a laser gun for a head. The crowd cheers...

-LAS VEGAS-

Life was good for Rex Maximilion. But then, wasn't it always? Deep within his shining golden tower at the heart of Las Vegas, Nevada, the billionaire CEO sank deeper into the velvet plush of his favorite easy chair and contemplated again how he came to his current position.

A niche. There had been a niche to fill.

About three years ago, Zoofights Corporation ran into financial difficulties. The reason a company begins to decline is never simple, and a huge number of factors combined to make life hard for the once-mighty bloodsport promoter. One problem was the final tournament's winner, Hardcore Prawn, who wasn't popular. But a combination of computer cunning and lots of funding from Cray Computers ensured that not only could Zoofights Corp not be rid of the lobster, but he now had a hand in many of their business decisions, as he was now part of the upper crust of the company.

Low on options and prepared to try anything, those old blueprints dug up by a janitor came to the fore. Zoofights rebranded itself. Reinvented itself. Now ZF Interstellar Contractors, they took to space with their new cruiser...

And the niche was left wide open.

Chatzy Madness Volume 180: Emperor Brock's Dancing Empress

RubyChao: status report:
RubyChao: errand 1 done, errands 2, 3, and 4 cancelled
Del: oh hey
Del: whys that
RubyChao: places are closing early because 2snowy
RubyChao: it's expected that there's gonna be a shitload of snow tomorrow as well
SteelKomodo: 2Snowy4U
SteelKomodo: good luck, hope you survive out there! \o/
RubyChao: my beard will last another couple days because no barbers
RubyChao: beard confirmed for creating snowstorm
Del: beardstorm
RockCandyGuy: MEGASTORM 2015 has so been been little more than a mild breeze for me
RockCandyGuy: This is bullshit
RockCandyGuy: I got my lawn chair and sunglasses, just, WAITING for it

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Harpy: i have a necklace now that contains my DNA, even though I really don't want it
Harpy: because someone might take it and use it to frame me for a murder :I
SteelKomodo: pfffft
RubyChao: i'd only frame you for a minor felony, harpy

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SteelKomodo: Tamagotchi update
SteelKomodo: Jo is now a small bear
Gooper Blooper: I bet she can bear-ly believe it
Del: ONE MILLION YEARS PUNGEON
 

Character Musings: A Whole Lotta Sephine

I remember when I first introduced Josephine. She wasn't supposed to be anyone special. In fact, that was the driving concept behind a lot of initial design decisions. She was a chemist, a very plain job that, in FFT, has the claim to fame of... the ability to use items. She wore plain dull-colored clothes. I gave her the height and body type of "the average woman". She worked a nothing job in a mall. Her text color was brown. Everything about Josephine was meant to say "This is an average girl with an average job living an average life. She is not exciting". The most she contributed in her earliest days was to play straight man to Sarah's ditzy, bubbly antics.

And then ZFRP happened.

First, the body insecurities. What started as a simple joke about Sarah's "Magical Weight Gain Prevention" became a significant part of Josephine's character, and when I realized I'd given the girl that worked in a clothing store a body image problem, I thought to myself "Welp, looks like I accidentally made perfect sense again". Then, Ariel started her "Rally For Reality" campaign and all of a sudden the joke wasn't a joke, it was a serious inner conflict. But with help from Ariel and Dirk, Josephine slowly but surely grew and changed.

Now Dirk, there's another fine example of character development. Dirk and Josephine played off of each other throughout the third season of RP, gradually growing closer as I worked on my first "slow burn" pairing, wanting to make this couple distinctive from Sarah and Alex falling in love quickly. It paid off, and the long-awaited big moments - Josephine's hallway confession of desperation followed by Dirk's reassurances, and then the climax on the Ferris wheel - were definitely worth the weight wait.

I love the contrast between the two pairings. Saralex is a fluffy, sweet pairing with very little lewdness to it, built around lots of small cute moments and dramatic rescues. Dirksephine, too, was built on a foundation of saving the girl (this time courtesy of Sir Periwinkle) but the slower development really helped it work in a way a quick pair-off wouldn't have after RP had seen so much. It's also a lot more "racy" than Saralex ever was, which of course led to taking Dirk's already-well-established love of butts and it leading to Josephine becoming a confident gal with a backside to match her newfound attitude.

Now she's heading to Las Vegas, where a side of her character that often doesn't see as much attention - her greed for cash - will no doubt take center stage. I initially added this bit to her character to try and make her more multifaceted, and it's been seen here and there in RP but has been more of a Chatzy gag than something that saw a lot of time in actual play. But this year, no doubt, Josephine will be able to make her pursuit of riches loud and clear.

In sum, then: Plain-Jane, meek, shy, self-conscious, yo-yo-dieting everygirl becomes brash, curvy, confident, gunslinging treasure hunter. Thank you, ZFRP. You do us proud.