not a clever title

less literal than it maybe should be, but there was a bunch of stuff I wanted to try to get in there, and eventually I just had to call it done. :U (...for now) (we'll see how it goes)

anyway I'm continuing to enjoy this RSA time! they really are on a totally different plane of emotional existence than we're used to from these guys, aren't they.

what a fool I was for saying we weren't going to get any new characters in chapter 3, because those were some A+ excellent supporting mobs. they deserved sprites. >:( ...although that does mean that there's nothing stopping me from adopting Clair and Taris (Talis?) as the IgniPom duo from the 2024 New Year Beyblade Tournament. that's them to me now. congrats on getting screentime and voices, guys!

it's hard to pick out all the individual Influences; I think overall it's kind of...an unholy mishmash of late 90s/early 2000s anime and western animation? for specifics though I usually cite Sailor Moon, Batman Beyond, and Ciné si/Princes et Princesses (which itself is a visual homage to the The Adventures of Prince Achmed). plus everything else that just gets picked up and unconsciously absorbed into my brain. :B

my love of whackadoodle style shifting in particular I think I can trace (at least mostly) back to Sailor Moon...I aspire to someday be as fucking funny as the animation in that show was. 😔

you gotta wonder what exactly he thought was going to happen...

honestly, I feel like any attempts at a Swing origin story should answer nothing and raise more questions. the only concrete part is that it involves a lot of bugs...somewhere...in there. the rest? maybe it's better we don't find out.

re-emerging from the underworld like a Cerberus 🐾

no shade to Mr. Burton, I just needed a name and his was right there for the taking! 🤷 and isn't taking things thematically appropriate for them anyway?

...so to heck with it. they fell through a time portal or something. it's not important, don't worry about it ⏳

the squeakquel

out of all of them? I am of course extremely biased towards Malleus' card story, in which he very proudly shows off to his tsum that he knows how to use this arcane tool the humans call a (each syllable carefully pronounced) "mi-cro-wave", almost drops it in the washing machine, and then throws it a big special party where everyone fights over who gets to dance with Malletsum. I still don't know how exactly they were dancing with a six-inch blob. it's magical.

however, it's hard to top "Jadetsum helps Jade hide a body except the twist is that it was actually setting him up to take the fall". watch out, you little bean, Jade'll get you back someday...

happy pride!! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 the Twst Yuri niche may be small, but we are determined (and also kind of lowkey thinking about Georgina and Dylla 24/7 anyway) (...or that might just be me) (regardless!)

Alexandria's gotta be in full Tournament Mode by now, so I like to imagine her juuuuust offscreen in every scene, shouting furiously at the RSA boys to Chin Up and Gird Those Loins and Stiffen Those Upper Lips! if you don't know her then she probably sounds like a weirdly Enid Blyton-esque drill instructor, but they all know that actually she's being very supportive and encouraging (and of course Dorothy is there to encourage her :)

bear with me here, because this actually ties into something else I've been thinking about: between the Knight, Leia, and Henrik, Silver is basically the last remaining heir to all the land the Silver Owls stole, yes? but what with all the global territory disputes and treaties and general drama, it'd probably just be a huge mess that would get tied up in red tape for centuries if he, you know, tried to just give it back. however, for times like this, there is the traditional solution...

what I'm saying is, 99% of Briar Valley's political issues could be instantly solved if Silver marries Maleficia.