I’ve been thinking so much on what Silver’s retained and changed from the Knight of Dawn’s armor that I have to over analyze it. Before I begin 1) all photos used are from @/twstassets and 2) this is just my thoughts and I still don’t have full context for everything yet since I don’t play on jp or know Japanese myself, if things are wrong/vague feel free to jump in with your own thoughts!
To start out, just a general full body view of each outfit.
Most obvious here is that what I’m calling “Dream Armor” is less ornate and less “battle-ready.” Specifically, the plate armor has been removed, leaving only the underlayer. This shows that while Silver accepts the past and parents he was born from, he will not take their ideologies and violence into the future.
Last (for this part of the post the image count is kicking me whoops).
At first I was sad to see such a blatant emblem from the Silver Owl’s retained, seeing the thorny rose badge beneath it makes me slightly less sad. Like his shedding of the plate armor, Silver wishes to follow Malleus and protect Briar Valley without denying his past. I do wish the badges were swapped in size and placement tho, the owl should be secondary to the rose imo.
This is it for the first part!! The next section is more me connection strings which may not be real with dots that are more spectral, and with be linked here whenever it’s posted!!!!!!
Firstly, is the cape, where you can see the Dream Armor has new inner fabric pattern alongside being worn differently. The diamond can be seen as a simple pattern, and the roses the same as the badge, but let me connect non-existent dots here.
Looking at the other special outfits for Diasomnia, I think the patterns are references design motifs in two other outfits specifically: Sebek’s armor underlayer and the floral patterns of Malleus’s royal robes. I believe the Sebek connection is more apparent, but I think both patterns have been adjusted to be more references to his cousin-friend-rival thing and adoptive brother.
Last is the Dream Armor’s boots, and this one is definitely a stretch, HOWEVER. His pattern is not explicitly from Briar Valley or the Silver Owls, infact feels more of a mix. Specifically with General Lilia’s pauldron pattern. It’s like he’s acknowledging both the biological father and his father that found and raised and loved him.
That’s it for the analysis!!! As I said in the beginning, feel free to correct or add on!!
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“And if you’ll give me 40% of the MOST POPULAR VOTE, I’ll give you my SPECIAL REWARD... A year’s supply of NON-GLOOBY SLIME!!! Never or BARELY used!!!” Tenna concluded his speech with a huge smile, jetting his hands up in double peace signs.
The crowd roared in confused enthusiasm as Tenna gave a gracious flurry of low-FPS bows, pausing only for the occasional stink-nose at his audience plants who weren’t throwing enough 3D roses.
Eventually, the room fell silent. It was Senshi’s turn to speak.
He puffed out his chest, took a long, sweeping look over the audience… and shook his head.
“I can see not all of you are eating properly.”
The crowd murmured with embarrassment.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s time to take the turkey out of your icebox. I have seen the ingenious technology with which your people store food... and I have also seen the waste which results from such convenience.
“The food you take had a life. Beasts grew fat on the grass of the field, plants grew from the sun’s rays, and mushrooms grew from minerals in the cracks of caves. And yet, it sits in your iceboxes, collecting moisture until it perishes.
“Eat what is given to you. Because its life will make you stronger, too.”
Without another word, Senshi left his podium and stepped away from the stage. The crowd murmured in confusion. “Is he really like that?” somebody said. “I only remember reblogging the photosets of him tripping and showing ass.”
--
Back in the Green Room, Tenna wrung his antennas nervously.
“Y-y-you think they liked me!? They HAD to!! I mean, I don’t know what Asgore was thinking, getting that weird haircut and running that food waste campaign, but… YOU thought I did good, didn’t you, Kris?”
Laios nodded aggressively, a streak of blue face paint peeling from his forehead.
“You did AMAZING, Tenna! By the way, now that we’ve seen all your insider campaign secrets, do you have any more videos of Susie? Especially her tail... If I could get a look at that, I could finally tell if she’s a dinosaur or --”
THWACK. Fake antlers butted Laios’s head.
“LAIOS?? Weren’t we dressed up to help SENSHI???” Marcille hissed, gesturing awkwardly with her hooves.
Suddenly, Tenna turned to the two adventurers.
“Hey, WAIT a second. SOMETHING’s not right here...”
Laios and Marcille held their breath.
“Where the heck are my POINTS!?”
Just then, the door opened. Chilchuck took one step into the room, whistling and holding a large bag.
Everyone turned to him.
Chilchuck paused, took a step backwards, and closed the door.
“CHILCHUCK!!!” yelled Tenna.
“How come Chilchuck got to stay Chilchuck!?” yelled Marcille at the same time.
--
Meanwhile, in outer space somewhere, some guy was making out with a rock.
I did an edit of the Sparklink Stars stand-in for Goofy since the design annoys me so much as 1) a goofy fan and 2) someone with a Yuusona inspired by goofy
Edited Original
Here’s what I adjusted:
- Increased the saturation of the skin
- Added a tooth gap to have an appearance of buck teeth
- Turtleneck to follow Goody’s main clothes, pins on the side of Mickey heads as a smaller touch that the rest of the blatant in your face pins
- Adjusted the hat coloration to be more like goofy’s original hat (a “band” that’s a separate color from the rest of the hat)
The only thing my design lacks is the detail in the center chest area created by a neck accessory but I think I also don’t know how to shade a turtleneck so
(Edit breakdown below the cut which includes an alternate hat coloration)
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I did an edit of the Sparklink Stars stand-in for Goofy since the design annoys me so much as 1) a goofy fan and 2) someone with a Yuusona inspired by goofy
Edited Original
Here’s what I adjusted:
- Increased the saturation of the skin
- Added a tooth gap to have an appearance of buck teeth
- Turtleneck to follow Goody’s main clothes, pins on the side of Mickey heads as a smaller touch that the rest of the blatant in your face pins
- Adjusted the hat coloration to be more like goofy’s original hat (a “band” that’s a separate color from the rest of the hat)
The only thing my design lacks is the detail in the center chest area created by a neck accessory but I think I also don’t know how to shade a turtleneck so
(Edit breakdown below the cut which includes an alternate hat coloration)
My personal thoughts + warnings about coly inc. and AI usage here. Just be aware that this doesn’t necessarily mean they will use generative AI for the final illustrations. ]
I wanted to comment on the character designs as they come out (since that's a topic I'm really interested in), so that'll be its own series of posts.
PLEASE NOTE: I may not necessarily be super positive about the designs, so if you feel this will affect your enjoyment or excitement for the project, then I advise you not read.
UPbeats! is a fresh-faced 5 member idol group of best friends based in Dream Plaza. They are cheerful and will lift your spirits!
Neo Michel (Mickey Mouse)
CV: Shoya Chiba
“UPbeats!--and your smile, too--are what keep me going.”
His icon is the ☀️ (which may get confusing for Twsties since ☀️ is also used to refer to Kalim sometime)
The reliable leader and the center of UPbeats! Neo leads the group forward with a cheery, positive attitude.
Described to be a natural mood maker and a charmer who captivates everyone he talks to.
… Why does bro look like a combination of two Enstars characters???With his eyes being the same colors as Mickey’s torso, pants, and shoes??? And his name literally being “New Mickey” is INSANE work, such a silly name 😭
He looks so… generic? More Kirito SAO or literally any dark-haired Japanese protag-adjacent than inspired by Mickey Mouse. I wouldn’t even be able to tell he was supposed to be The Mouse without context and some of the accessories on his jacket. I wish the sneakers were at least yellow and they tried to incorporate the ears somehow (maybe as a hat/hood, headphones, hairstyle, sunglasses, or hair accessory).
As expected, he is… the genki leader. No shocker there.
Hugh Gardner (Goofy Goof)
CV: Fumiya Imai
“Come on, let’s try smiling. Something good is sure to happen if you do.”
His icon is 🧢
The big brother figure who watches over UPbeats! with a smile.
A mysterious presence who always manages to pull through almost any situation thanks to his innate and extraordinary luck.
Wow, uh… the Spalik designs continue to not impress. I think the colors on Hugh are really off—not just the lack of green hat or even orange shirt (Goofy’s signatures; I guess maybe everyone’s in red and black for more group unity), but also his SKIN?? Why does he look so grey washed??? Were they attempting to give him tan or slightly darker skin? 😭
The one element on him I like is how the hair bangs resemble the shape of Goofy’s ears. However, remove other indicators like the “gawrsh” pin, and I would have difficulties guessing what he is supposed to be.
“Hugh” makes me think of “hue” like a color. “Gardner” may be a reference to Goofy’s English VA, whose surname is “Farmer”. The name’s definitely more creative than NEO MICHEL.
I wonder why they decided to make him a big bro figure…? Is it cuz Goofy is canonically a father? But obviously he’s a bit young here so they had to interpret that as something else for this version?
Didi Cedric Bird/Bard (Donald Duck)
CV: Yuya Hirose
"My voice is too loud? Heh heh heh, I guess I’m just overflowing with energy!”
His icon is 🪽
A passionate guy who rallies and motivates the team.
He’s a competitive go-getter with a positive personality, tackling everything with his all/full effort.
This one is… slightly better than the ones that were revealed before him, but not by much. He still has the lack of iconic character colors, generic idol smile, and bland outfit. Is the little puff of hair atop his head supposed to resemble Donald’s beak…? Or is that just me overthinking it and giving the design too much credit?
Didi looks the most like his Disney counterpart, but that’s mostly because Donald has the iconic sailor suit and there’s a version of Donald where he is wearing a black variant. The pose is also less meh than the others; he does look more combative, even if his smile is still leaning bright and peppy. A detail I enjoy is that Didi doesn’t have very blatant accessories like Neo and Hugh do; he has more subtle patches that are in the shape of a duck’s webbed feet.
The name of this one is killing me 😭 “Didi”, like Donald’s initials, “DD”??? (“Didi” means “little brother” in Mandarin Chinese too, but I don’t think that’s the intended reference.) I think he has a middle name because Donald also had one as a reference to his sailor. And the surname being “Bird”/“Bard” (バード/bardo) is pretty on-the-nose.
I was expecting Donald to be a tsundere or have a rougher attitude… I guess being competitive is fine and all, but it seems everyone in this group is super positive.
Raska Moncliff (Chip)
*Note that this name may not be the correct spelling, since JP isn’t always clear with r/l, c/k, ea/i, etc. differentiation
CV: Hiromu Mineta
“Well, I have no intentions of showing you anything unseemly/unsightly, so look keep your expectations high.”
His icon is 🍿
He’s the brain behind UPbeats!, meticulously planning their stage performances. A reliable anchor/pillar that supports the team.
He’s always bold and confident, often tellinf his teammates “Come on, you can lean/rely on me.”
THAT’S JUST SOME GUY… 🤡 The one thing I like on him is the acorn earring. That’s about it.
I don’t have much else to comment on here since I’m not familiar with Chip or Dale. However, a friend pointed out that Chip has a black nose and Dale has a red one, so this guy could have had a black tie to better indicate which brother he is.
Since I don’t know the OG character well, I have no clue what his name is supposed to be about. Maybe “raska” as in “rascal”?
Raska looks to be the reliable type, but Hugh is described as a “big bro” type, which I also assume would be reliable…? How will they be differentiated? Maybe Hugh is not as competent since Goofy’s silly?
Ranka Munk (Dale)
*Note that this name may not be the correct spelling, since JP isn’t always clear with r/l, c/k, ea/i, etc. differentiation
CV: Gen Sato
"When you're feeling sleepy... The best thing to do is just go nap without a care in the world.”
His icon is 😴
The youngest member of UPbeats!
He’s extremely laid-back.
Usually teams up with Raska to pull pranks; this is Ranka’s cherished way of bonding with others.
This one looks like he has Ace’s hair if it were styled differently (closest I could find is Luxe Couture) and paler + Cater’s lazy eyes. I noticed he has the same acorn earring as Raska, but that’s the only thing on the design I like. There’s unfortunately a consistent pattern of the Spalik characters just not representing the designs of their Disney counterparts that well…
A-Are they… not brothers???? The Chip and Dale characters seem to have different surnames. Not sure where the first name comes from.
His + Didi’s personalities stand out the most to me. Maybe it’s because Didi’s competitiveness and Ranka’s penchant for sleeping and pranks can potentially lead to conflict www
General Thoughts
Those designs were ROUGH could have been… much better. My major issues can boil down to:
There’s not enough representation of the Disney characters’ colors; this was traded in for a group color scheme of black, red, and white.
It’s impossible to tell what Disney characters each boy is based on if you strip them of the accessories that blatantly have the character’s heads or key phrases on them. In fact, the accessories feel like they were slapped on with little thought as a shortcut to indicate what the inspirations were.
The poses and smiles are generically pleasant; there’s very little variation among the 5.
Not related to the physical design, but the personalties also read to me as “cookie cutter” idols. Could just be it seems that way because we haven’t seen them in action in a story yet.
It’s possible to make designs that read closer to the Disney inspirations!! Just take a look at these character designs by @ug0nba; the Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Chip and Dale DNA comes off much stronger in the shapes, colors, poses, styles, and faces:
This can be done with other characters as well! Look at Fragaria Memories, in which the characters are knights inspired by different Sanrio mascots. I would not need to tell you which knight is for which Sanrio character, because you can already tell a lot by the various design elements on display.
I’ve also seen lots of fan works of the UPbeats! boys that alter the designs or make their expressions more lively. The fan artists really improve upon the originals.
I definitely think Yana’s designs have spoiled many other anime-style gacha game designs for Twst fans because it made me realize a lot of them can read as generic 😭 In Twst. you can easily tell what a character’s personality is like based on just the subtleties in their posing or the differences in how they choose to wear their school uniforms. These sensibilities also often extend to other outfits. Certain characters wear their designated event outfits in a more loose way, or there are additional items that help express their individuality.
This has become a topic of discussion in the JP fandom lately, too. For example, this one really blew up:
“I think the strength of Yana Toboso’s character designs lies in their vast knowledge (of fashion); she could explain the intent behind every single detail (on a character) if she wanted to. There’s nothing in her work that’s vague ‘lace for the sake of having lace’. It’s more like, ‘This specific type of lace appears here because it was fashionable among this specific social class in Britain during a particular century, so its placement/presence is entirely natural.’”
I think that, if more character designs were as intentional as Yana and her team’s are, we would not have as many bland designs in animanga and especially in the gacha game industry 🥲 It’s such a shame that Spalik’s designs are as boring as they are, because they will always be compared to Twst’s and seen as lesser 💦
The fact that these designs fail short also do not help the generative AI allegations, which will make potential fans doubt the project. While the final product does appear to be done by actual artists, this doesn’t mean the designs given to the artists to render weren’t processed or conjured up by a machine.
We haven’t seen the silhouettes and designs for the remaining groups + characters, so I’m wondering of there will be different artists or designers per group… Maybe it’s cope on my part, because I think it’d be such a shame to waste perfectly good ideas like Monsters Inc, Beauty and the Beast, and Cinderella boys for this project.
Can a Mickey nerd share their thoughts real quick?
Ahem
Okay so when I first saw Twinkey (Twink Mickey) I also thought of that Enstars lad but also got reminded of Ichiro and Saburo from Hypmic (Ichiro for the jacket and Saburo for the babyish face)
And while my mind does automatically link anything red and black with Mickey, this is such a bare bones design for a character referencing him and TRUST I’ve seen my fair share of anime boy Twinkey’s
A nice mouse eared hoodie or hat would’ve made the silouhette (however you spell that)
ALSO COME ON YELLOW SNEAKERS WOULDVE BEEN SO OBVIOUS
Then Goofy Guy…..
Least favorite here. Why is it always the grey skin siiigh
I wouldn’t look at this guy and go “GOOFY!!!” I get they wanted similar clothing palettes to emphasize that this is a group but come on you could’ve added just a little more green and orange accessories he looks so boring and dry
I like the side hairs representing his floppy ears but the colors are just so frustrating
I actually like the concept of a teen goofy being an older bro figure as a replacement for him being a father (….Sighs yeah I did that for my twisted Goofy)
Guy with mysterious luck is a….choice
Donald Donald Donald
I mean the design itself ain’t bad…..I guesss
I would’ve preferred some yellows here and there although I do love the sailor boy fit it’s perfect for him
But
The concept…of a Donald character….having a positive outlook
The concept of a Donald character being respected enough and rallying people together……
The fuck is this kingdom hearts
The main thing about Donald is how he’s like a foil to Mickey
Mickey is upbeat and positive and Donald…..is a DICK
He’s a hot tempered asshole with an unlucky streak half the time when bad stuff happens to him it’s either to teach a lesson or laugh at him getting his comeuppance
Now these characters don’t have to be 1 to 1 with their counterparts but like shouldn’t the leader aka Mickey aka twinkey be the one to bring everyone together? You also got Goofy as the Big brother type so what’s the point here?
And Chip and Dale
I’m not the chip and dale guy as much as I am as the basic Mickey and Friends guy. I just found out that they weren’t actually related in fact
The most I know is that they’re a mischievous duo that like to cause trouble (Think Jerry from Tom and Jerry but split him up)
Frankly, I’m a bit fond of these mainly cause I like brown/orange palettes a lot (I wish they were tanner though why is everyone besides Goofy the same shade)
Raska being the brain behind the group is interesting I’ll say and I do fancy myself a mischievous duo
Still I come to wonder, what makes Twinkey so special as a leader? Goofy Guy is described as the big brother, Donald Dude is described to rally the team together, Chippy is the brains and Dale is the only outlier
Yeah I know these are just intros but they don’t really do that good of a job in differentiating and showing what makes each character unique which should be important if you’re like PROMOTING SHIT
Goofy was a klutz and not the sharpest tool in the shed
As stated Donald is kind of selfish and can be hotheaded
Mickey had a heart of gold and cares a whole lot about his friends and those around him
And I could not tell you who chip and dale are as characters I’m afraid
These traits have been usually consistent for each interpretation of them and added onto or dissected in different medias
I wouldn’t be surprised if AI was used for writing as well cause the descriptions already seem bare bones af
Shame as someone who has a MAJOR fixation on Mickey and related medias I have zero hopes about any of this so far and what the hell they’ll do to other characters I’m fond of
That is NOT HIM. I guess the uniform style makes sense but the designed would be improved by 3 main things (noted I am saying improved, not good but at the very least puts goofy into a guessable spot)
1. Swap the button up and tie for a turtle neck (think of p5’s protagonists’s winter uniform) to have him in a vest and turtleneck even if the colors are wrong
2. It’s been commented already but the skin tone. Make it not the color of ash
3. DO SOMETHING WITH THE TEETH. I won’t even ask for buck teeth bc gachas need pretty boys but a one of goofy’s key design points is the teeth. Do a tooth gap, some crookedness, some sort of distinction other than a perfect set of pearly whites that’s not him
Writing wise he’s not like goofy at all. Why is this guy a reliable older brother with good luck. Who is that?? If idol boy were the oldest and attempting to be a big brother figure while being a clutz and failing to be viewed as how he wished that would be more accurate and more importantly, more interesting! It would also make him distinct from the reliable one based on one of the chipmunks and make his dynamics more interesting. But idol boy doesn’t have that. He has good luck. For some reason. Goofy broke through spacial dimensions on Mickey’s Runaway Railroad on accident and then got into another railroad accident soon after, and that’s just me using his characterization in a park ride vs getting into the shows and movies.
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Deltarune chapter 5 spoilers beneath the cut!! (PSSST THIS INCUDEDS SECRET BOSS TALK IF YOU WANT TO AVOID THAT)
So I’ve never played Undertale and all I know about it is cultural osmosis so this was certainly an experience for me. I wanted to make bullets on some stuff on this bc I thought it would be funny
With no experience going against Omega Flowey it is absolutely kicking my ass, I’ve had to redo many fights that I know should be simple and the final boss is extra kicking my ass but I’m also just bad at deltarune so who knows
I know generally about the 7 souls but I freaked out at HOLY SHIT COWBOY WE FOUGHT A COWBOY AND HE KINDA LOOKED LIKE WOODY FRIEND INSIDE ME IS REAL????
When Asgore’s adjusted theme started playing instead of thinking about how it goes back to it’s version in Undertale I immediately went to “driving my truck right after a beer”
Back to the prior point, why would there be a cowboy flower, what’s design choices here (this is rhetorical since I do plan on playing Undertale soon-ish but still the traits and designs left me a lil confused besides Green bc I’m deciding to push confusion aside and simply enjoy their presence)
Mew mew?? I thought she was a running bit I didn’t know she was an actual thing??? Also vocaloid knowers I would love to know if it’s Hatsune Miku playing in the boss fight or another vocaloid or like, none of them ig
I actually haven’t beaten Flowder or whatever this name is yet bc it’s very late where I am. Also I can’t remember his name bc he keeps saying Flowey and crossing wires
That’s it besides AAAAAAA AAAAA AAA AAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAA AAA which are my thoughts all in all on the chapter so far
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SPOILERS FOR WITCH HAT ATELIER BELOW THE CUT! SKIP THIS IF YOU ARE ANIME ONLY‼️‼️‼️‼️
Opening with the scalewolfs….. I haven’t read the manga in a bit so I nearly screamed oh what unsubtle foreshadowing when you know a little boy’s life is about to be irrevocably changed
And speak of the little guy himself!!! I forgot how maternal he made me I’m going to be so upset when he gets forbidden magicked.
