Q&A: December 2022

Hello again, dear readers! Time to ANSWER some QUESTIONS.

As always, thank you so much to all the patrons that took their time to ask a question!

1. Does Taz have any strong feelings/concerns over Arcjec's Code Red habit? Or does she not even know about it?

AUSTIN: Given that we know Taz has seen Arcjec's block, it's safe to say that she has an idea of what he's been going through, and even if she doesn't expressly show it, I feel any troll would be rightfully concerned about how much they slug down on the regular. 

The reason she doesn't crack down on it at current is because she doesn't fully understand his situation, and doesn't want to push him away by being overbearing as they're just now starting to mend the gap of their relationship after two sweeps. You'd probably feel equally as uncomfortable if someone told you that you need to curb your Vast Error addiction after being away for four years. 

But you'll never stop. You're past the point of no return. If you're reading this? You're in it for the long haul.

2. On a scale of squeaky clean to deepfried jpeg, how crunchy is Dismas?

EDDIE: I can safely say that Dismas is one of the crunchiest motherfuckers you could possibly know. I mean, have you looked at him? That guys lives inside an underground cave and mines ores. He is ALL up in that rocky business, every day, made of nothing but grit and grime. Sounds pretty crunchy to me!

3. Does Mimesis have bones? How does their anatomy work with the shapeshifting?

EDDIE: Gotta be honest, that's not a question I ever expected anyone to ask, much less to word like this. Does Mimesis have bones. I mean, I think Mimesis can have pretty much whatever they want at any given moment - many bones, fewer bones, a regular amount of bones, one single giant bendy bone, who knows. The possibilities are literally endless. Which is to say, their anatomy is just like... whatever the fuck they feel like it should be. Operating on pure vibes alone. What an enviable gift!

AUSTIN: Mimesis is purely metaphysical. They're a strong concept floating around a nebulous space that is nothing but concepts, only tangible within the confines of the ANOMALY SPACE, along with other probabilities and artifacts they make manifest. Within their little zone, Mimesis can really do or have anything they damn well please because they're the one in control. Outside of it? It's worse than no bones. They just don't have corporeality at all! 

Imagine not being able to visualize yourself in meatspace. Couldn't be me.

4. What is Albion and Serpaz's relationship like? Sova is very important to both of them, so would that mean that they have at least crossed paths before?

AUSTIN: They actually do talk once! There's also that time Albion messaged her after the fact, only to be met with the world's crustiest man (not Dismas) on these pages right here.

I feel like their relationship is cordial and that they banter every so often, but it's not especially deep. Though, to be fair, a lot of Serpaz's relationships aren't given the chance to be very deep, because she avoids emotional responsibility like the plague. She's the queen of social distancing, much to Albion's chagrin. Albion wishes that she was as good at being emotionally avoidant as Serpaz, and because of that, she secretly resents her (much like she resents everyone who is better than her at anything).

5. What would Dismas' lusus have been if he was never kidnapped?

EDDIE: Oooh, that's a fun thought experiment! Under normal circumstances, Corporate offers any freshly graduated grubs a selection of pre-cloned lusii, who are more run-of-the-mill regular animals unlike the parade of freak parents most of the main cast is sporting. Mutt is an example of a Corporate-provided lusus, and he's a pretty normal dog (and very good boy). 

I think that given the chance, Dismas would have gone with the meanest looking lusus of the bunch, just for the edgy Cool Factor, because he HAS always been like this. I kind of can't disassociate him with lizardom, so maybe he'd have ended up with a grumpy iguanadad? Or a komodo dragon, if he was feeling particularly spicy. I could even see a snake lusus. Dismas could have been a certified snake guy, imagine that.

6. How is Laivan's aim still so shoddy? From various flashbacks, it appears he's been a hunter for sweeps.

EDDIE: Now that's an EXTREMELY good question. Austin?

AUSTIN: I think it's pretty simple! Sometimes you work at something for a long time and you simply aren't great at it. You can still be a hunter and not get your kill in the most ideal way, much like how you can be a painter but only know enough to do early aughts How To Draw Manga style oily catgirls with Dorito faces and broken arms.

In all seriousness, I think his disability plays a major role in his bad aim. You don't just have lungs too small for your body and get away with it. Not having stable breathing can mess you up big time in a lot of areas, not to mention the other physical hindrances. I'd guess it gives him the shakes and that he doesn't have the ability to concentrate for as long as he needs to, so he has a bit of a hare trigger to compensate.

7. Was Arcjec inspired by or based off any other characters?

AUSTIN: Arcjec was inspired by many characters! I actually redid his funion recently. I planned to release it to the public, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. You guys can have it, though, since I think it explains him more succinctly than I ever could.

From the center out:

• Shinji Ikari (Neon Gensis Evangelion)
• Soul Eater Evans (Soul Eater)
• Shintaro Kisaragi (Kagerou Project)
• Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)
• Miles Morales (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse)
• Hinata Hajime (Super Danganronpa 2)
• Scott Pilgrim (Scott Pilgrim)
• Sunny (OMORI)
• Ness (Earthbound)
• Yuta Okkotsu (Jujutsu Kaisen)
• Lars Barriga (Steven Universe)
• Edd (Eddsworld)
• Neku Sakuraba (The World Ends With You)

8. Are there ways that Turnin and/or Racren are commonly misinterpreted or is there an at least decent understanding of the two? Who is the cold lizard and who is the sun warmed rock in the relationship?

EDDIE: I don't think I've seen any wild misinterpretations of Racren out in the wild, mostly because people don't like... discuss him much in depth? Which is fair, he's a pretty side character who's only had a singular appearance. 

And as for Turnin, I wouldn't say it's a misinterpretation per se, but I've yet to see any fans touch on the worst tendencies of their personality that have been on display so far. I think that's because they are such a bombastic and fun character that you get swept up in their cyclone of bullshit, which is... yeah, kind of exactly what happens in the story too! And very much present by design. Let's just say that Hamifi isn't cross with them for zero reason.

AUSTIN: They'll be explored more later on, for sure. They both are MAIN secondary characters and have explicit ties to our even MAIN-ER secondary characters on top of that, ripe for the personality picking!

Racren might be the cold lizard and Turnin the sun warmed rock on a surface level, but if you look into it deeper - into the SOUL of the entire affair - you'll find that in actuality, they flip flop more often than you would think. Just not in the ways you'd typically expect from their personality types. 

Racren is hard boiled but he is beholden to what he views as his responsibilities - relationship, work, or otherwise. Turnin is a fun-loving free spirit but because of that, they aren't actually grounded and don't know how to handle anything bigger than what's going on in the moment.

9. What starter / starter type of Pokemon do you think each of the main 12 would pick?

EDDIE: Okay, we normally don't like to answer these list type of questions because they can be a little dull, but I'll make ana exception because we love Pokeymans. Here's the skinny:

• Sova: rowlet 
• Dismas: charmander 
• Jentha: pikachu 
• Arcjec: mudkip 
• Albion: chikorita 
• Ellsee: fennekin
• Serpaz: popplio 
• Laivan: totodile
• Occeus: grookey 
• Taz: litten 
• Murrit: treecko 
• Calder: snivy

Austin also wanted me to point out specifically that he's very sad no one got turtwig, his favorite starter.

And that's all from us folks for this month's Q&A! To our $12 and up patrons, you'll still hear from us before the end of the year for those good good sketch requests, and to all of you lovely people, we hope you have a fantastic holiday season! 

We'll be seeing you again... next year. Have a good one!

- Eddie & Austin