JessKo’s Clash Blog

Graham looking good in a fresh new rebuild, thanks 1002!

Gary finally found his hotshot…

I thought it was just WILD! So, of course, my mind went to ‘what if she got away with it’. At the same time, as I still had just started playing really, I didn’t know too much about the lore, so I was playing with the idea of the Androids AU where some of the cogs had more human origins. At this point ADP was two stories, the ‘Flint finds Human!Graham’ story and then the ‘Captured Flint’ plot. Part of my creative process is to sketch out little moments, so the very first sketch became this comic integrating that NPC text…

Somewhere along the line Nell got turned into a mouse, but the sentiment remained. Obviously, that didn’t translate directly to the story, but if you’ve read it, you know exactly what scene this is from. And speaking of the taskline, at the time I was in YOTT and reached Winston… what a shock that was! It’s really the first time that the Toons pretty much commit a war crime in response to the Cogs… thus the plot was born. To what extreme can either side justify? How far can they go before a rift forms. The Wizards, in my opinion, crossed that line, and frankly the Suits crossed it a long time ago- something for our not quite so programmed Androids to mull about than act on. Thus, the two stories became one and I realized this thing was growing legs. Many, many legs~

It was almost too perfect… So of course I had to toss some gunk in the gears! The primary of which being a bit of a misunderstanding between Flint and Graham when one of them finally confessed their affection for the other. Of course, the feeling was mutual, but Graham has a way of jumping to conclusions, and Flint tripping over his own words… Cue that visual of Graham standing there, literally bearing it all for Flint, and being let down… He pulls his robe shut, you can see the exact moment his heart breaks, and Flint has NO IDEA how he’s going to fix this. Meanwhile, there might also be an entire Lighthouse in his way!

Art by JamiPurple for me of this moment, it was too good not to have illustrated!

Chip was another character I was immediately fascinated by. I thought he could be a great glimpse into ‘pure’ suit culture and just how self-destructive it was to the Suits, and maybe Flint could help him overcome that, even if just a little… At this point i don’t remember where it originated, but the idea that Chip and Flint are ex-lovers really just catalyzed this plot point, and made it fit in pretty seamlessly with Flint’s own journey of healing after his capture and escape!

Next, let’s talk about the superstar- Graham! I could only keep his ego down for so long, and know he needed some big event to really blossom and show off. Cue the Banquet! While important for the plot, this was also such a fun excuse to dress him up in something fancy!

But, amid all that glitz and glamor, I also wanted to make it PAINFULLY obvious how much of a toll all of this has taken on him, too. He’s a performer, for better or for worse, and he was just at his rock bottom. But, I had plans to make it worse. Plans from his past… The reason for the Android AU- the story of Graham’s rather sad human past, of a man past his prime and in a rough place, unsure of where to go from here…

No, even worse! Skin peeling off his face worse. First though, there needed to be a reason for this! Cue that B-plot with Tipps’ call center. The original outline had that shaking out much differently, but some last minute tweaks filled in a lot of plot holes, and let that little guy shine! Plus, it let me highlight a really unique aspect of this fandom- many of our Toons are Cog sympathizers to a point. Not full turncoats, but willing to work with the bad guys if it means peace.

So that takes us to the final battle, and the rescue squad!

I just thought this looked badass LOL! And am a sucker for a big fight. I really enjoyed writing what a ‘real time’ toon battle may look like, gags flying everywhere and the Suits able to really use their abilities.

Anyways, of course the ending was a bit of a reset of the status quo, it is a MMO after all, but I wanted to give both sides a bit of a ‘win’ so Flint got his safe haven, and the Toons operate a little more democratically now. Oh, and Winston finally got those repairs he needed <3