cartoon trash

(Forgive my wobbly little markup, I did this with my laptop mousepad lol)

[Image Description: Two images. The first is a bird's eye view of the Goyen's round table, with each of the four Goyen seated around it. The second is the same image but marked up. It highlights five markings on the table denoting seats for five Goyen. The empty seat has a star, and is spaced differently from the others. End ID]

The Goyen themselves seem to be seated equidistant from each other around the table (makes sense), but when you look at the table itself, you can see markings for each of the five Banner teams. Because of this, each Goyen is a little off center from their marking, which I found to be a cool detail.

But what really piqued my interest is that the five markings are not equidistant around the table. Based on the distance between the markings, the Knights place seemed special, like the head of the table.

My one guess is that it might be a symbolic place of honor based on whoever won the Banner's tournament. But I kinda doubt that's the case, because the present Goyen have no problem with symbolic honors (like how the Dragon's Banner was raised higher because they were the champions), but they don't carry on the tradition of one of the Goyen sitting at the table's head. It makes me think the Knight's place had real power attached to it at one point, and they dismantled and/or moved away from that.

My main theory is that the Knights' Goyen was likely their last real leader. Perhaps it was a rotating power structure based on whoever won the Banner's tournament, and the Knight's happened to have been their leader when whatever event happened that caused them to be disbanded. And then, as a result of that event, the Goyen rearranged their power structure so they would each have equal power at all times.

One last thought is that if the head of the table is a place of power earned through winning the Banner tournaments, and the Banner's Helm is the symbol of that power, then all of beheaded Knights' statues take on an almost mutinous or revolutionary connotation (think French revolution).

Some of the backgrounds I did 3 years ago at La Chouette Compagnie for Dragon Striker !! :D

We're happy to announce the prompt list for the MagnetMirror week that'll be held from July 27th to Aug 2nd! A special week dedicated to the lovable doomed yaoi couple we all adore 🧡💚

During this event, you can participate with art, fanfictions, or anything your mind can imagine, but there's rules that must be respected.

No NSFW.

No AI.

That's it, those are the rules.

Aside from that, you can do whatever your heart desires while following the prompts! Just keep in mind to be nice and have a good time! It's not mandatory to do all the days of the week, if you want to do one or all it's welcome, just have fun!

Key Nagatatsu

Good to see they had Key locked in from the beginning. Though our boy looks like he stepped out of Breath of the Wild.

On the Knights uniform, I understand the design was simplified for animation purposes (the less complex the design the easier it is to animate), but it’s interesting how much it’s just a knight’s regalia.

Straight up, I’m pretty sure this is an armor set in Dragon Age the Veilguard.

Now, in the transition from concept to final, they grounded the design into something that could believably be a sports uniform.

We actually also have another example of this early Knights uniform.

Now, I haven’t been able to find a name to this character, but I’m willing to bet this is an early version of Ssyelle. Or, more accurately, this was the character that filled Ssyelle’s role as the female lead for the series.

Any suggestions for a name? I’m thinking Alya, it shares a meaning with Ssyelle’s name (‘sky’).

Anyways, Alya here lacks the armor Key had. Which almost gives off the vide of a squire.

In combination with the cloak, really leans in to the more into the ‘Knights of the Round’ vide it seems that this version of the team had.

Pregrina Freaks

Everyone’s favorite ghost princess was another character who seems to have been around since the start.

Though the difference is staggering. (I’ll call her Perrin, but if anyone has suggestions please give them)

I think the changes in design really highlight the change art style. As well as the change of both characters’ ‘vibes’.

Overall, both are similar designs. Both are full of themselves princess bullies. But where Pregrina has immense bratty gremlin energy, Perrin reads more like she would’ve been the popular mean girl Ice Queen.

Now if you think that’s a stark contrast in early concept to final, get ready.

And I’m going to preface this by say that, like Alya being a potential concept predecessor to Ssyelle, this is very much that for a character we now know and love. Though in this case it’s confirmed.

Ragno Garanthar

Yes

Ragno was a pretty boy at one point in development. (I don’t know why, but I’m calling him Shen. He feels like a Shen)

This character feels designed to be Key’s foil in every way. Key’s the small town farm boy, this guy’s a complete prep. A high class prodigy raised and trained to be a Gorotama star.

His gear has a much more obvious dragon motif to follow concept Key’s more knightly style. And his tama was electricity based, an elemental equal to Key’s dragon.

It’s then interesting that, going from “Shen” to Ragno, it’s almost like they went in the opposite direction.

Slim to buff

Short black hair to long white hair (though both cover the left eye)

Western dragon motifs to Eastern Japanese Armor

Green dominate color palette to red dominate color palette

Elemental lightning tama to Telekinetic Dragon(?) tama (though the manifested ‘claws’ carry over)

A fantasy prep school uniform with scale designs to a letterman’s jacket with the Dragon’s logo

Okay, maybe this idea is so obvious, that everyone has already thought it and I'm being redundant... but it's so perfect that I have to say it. It makes so much sense, that I'm, like, 75% sure it will actually happen.

Odward will leave the Knights and rejoin the Bards.

This works so well on so many levels:

I sincerely doubt Odward would forgive Key for injuring his lover so badly. This seems like something so severe, that it would start a long-lasting grudge between them. The entire season 2 arc will likely involve Key trying to earn Odward's forgiveness.

Given this, it's basically impossible for the Knights to play together, since Odward would likely completely refuse to cooperate with Key. He probably wouldn't even want to play on the team.

But... the Bards are down a player. Odward is very good, and has already played for them in the past. And he has a very strong, personal reason to want the Knights defeated.

To Odward, rejoining the Bards would probably feel like "redemption" for his "betrayal" of them earlier.

It would also allow Odward to be closer to Casper throughout his recovery without feeling embarrassed or guilty about still playing for the Knights (you know, the team which caused the whole injury in the first place).

In terms of the relationship between him and Casper, I can see it going two ways: 1) Casper sees how much Odward cares about him - that he quit the Knights and rejoined the Bards in hopes of getting revenge - and forgives him for his betrayal. They make up and start dating again. 2) Casper refuses to forgive and pushes Odward away. This would both give Odward a lot of guilt and self-loathing for having joined the Knights in the first place, and further strengthen his anger towards them. He may become obsessed with defeating the Knights, hoping that this will earn Casper's forgiveness.

Odward leaving the Knights also creates a lot of interesting tension on their front, as they have to scramble to find a brand new player from Kal Asterock to replace someone as strong as Odward.

Plus, if Milo choses to stay with the Knights (which I think he will), that will once again bring him into conflict with his brother. I imagine Milo will try to advocate for Key, pleading with Odward to forgive him and rejoin the Knights.

I mean... come on, tell me that this is not the JUICIEST direction they could take this? Oh Lord, the drama! The angst! And (in my opinion) it all makes PERFECT SENSE in terms of character motivations! Odward has always been the most self-driven member of the Knights, seemingly motivated more by his own feelings than any sense of loyalty or comradery. He totally would leave his team to pursue revenge.

Yeah! Okay, bring it on, season 2! This will be so awesome! I just need to... wait until... 2027...

In TOH, the school has a monster in the basement that threatens to destroy it once a year, and it's a kid's job to prevent it alone every time. Every single class teaches something dangerous enough to kill the students. Their sports are played flying in the air, or using fire magic and such. This fits in with the overall tone of the world, which has a bunch of dangers and violence in every corner. Sure, there's one Big Bad who's fucking it up for everyone, but there's also just a bunch of unrelated or semi-related shitheads who would happily scam you out of your soul and/or skin. The human main character who is introduced to the world alongside us acknowledges the constant danger and is charmed by it. To her, being a "chosen one" is the fun part of a fantasy adventure, but so are gryphons with spider breath that are training to be nurses despite not having been trained to not bite people. Sure, Luz never utters a line like "I can't believe the school board allows you to have a detention pit that eats people!", but that's not because she doesn't recognize how that's worse than regular detention, it's because she does recognize the genre that she's in, and she embraces it. It's fantasy with ridiculous fantasy tropes from the POV of a huge fantasy nerd.

Similarly, Dragon Striker manages to incorporate child endangerment into its school plotline without handwaving it away. It takes the trope of 'school that is way too dangerous to be a school' and places it into a high fantasy setting with different societal rules. One of the most dangerous aspects is Gorotama, which is heavily publicized and glorified in this setting, so it makes sense why so many people are fine with kids participating. There's a tomb in the school full of ghosts that tried to attack some kids? It's a holy tomb of Gorotama players in their rightful resting place! The school aspect is incidental to the fact that this is the national institution of Murder Soccer. Which brings me to the other most dangerous thing about the school, the teachers! three of the four teachers we've met so far have either attacked students or conspired to kill students. The only thing that really stops them is the politics of getting caught killing a student by other teachers, but like, nobody got fired or even demoted for trying, despite the fact that a student was almost expelled for property damage. The child endangerment of the series is structurally embedded in the school, and the story follows students having to navigate that institution because it's how their world works.

Something both stories lack is a single all-knowing adult mentor for the child main character. Having one of those in the story can sometimes mean that the mentor character has their flaws overlooked, they might be presented as a perfect reliable figure, while being the cause of at least some of the issues plaguing the MC's life if you examine the story more closely. Instead, our mentor figures are Eda Clawthorne and Goyen Noreen Sugoi. Eda stumbled into 'adopting' a human. We learn more about her life as the story goes on, seeing her on her own adventures and not just through Luz's perspective. We see her trying her best to be protective and caring and a Good Mentor, and we understand her feelings. Her perspective is an important part of how we interpret the world, of course, but that doesn't mean she is always right or that she isn't shaped by her experiences. Eda's story fleshes out the world of the story, and she and Luz learn from eachother mutually. Sugoi, on the other hand, has some Pearl from SU bullshit (affectionate) going on. She repeatedly vouches for the child MC, but can only protect him so much within the institution the story takes place in. She purposely hides details of her backstory from the MC, and by extension the audience, and I have a feeling she's not done revealing it all yet. She tries to conceal her feelings/motivations for certain actions, but can't help an outburst when the situation looks particularly helpless in her eyes. Both mentors are well-versed in the rules of the fantasy world the MC is being inducted into, and they also are both personally affected by that system. Their stories tell us something about the institutions of their worlds + the fantasy society overall. Neither of them is the single most important person in the fantasy government or anything like that, but they're both very talented and wise while also having to contend with structural problems they're very aware of.

You and Me

against the rest of the world

Here is a Dragon Striker fancomic I've made about the twins. It's only my own interpretation of the characters and what I personally imagine of their childhood, but I hope you'll still enjoy it!