PeridotYoshi

I’ve lacked much motivation to write lately, to say nothing of drawing, but I remembered I made this back in June. I’d planned to release it shortly after ‘A One-Time Glitch and a District Reset’ but I forgot :P

I’ve been wanting to give Ladybug’s usually-patched eye a proper appearance in my art for a while. I was initially planning to have something ‘edgy’ or ‘deep’, but figured some casual slice of life would work just fine.

I think that Cogs do have some capacity for emotions, but it’s extremely limited. There are a lot of emotions that Cogs would consider ‘unnecessary’ or ‘detrimental’ to their business, but they require some level of emotion in order to relate to their customers or whatnot.

If we’re getting into specifics, negative emotions like anger and hatred are permitted, and even encouraged. Positive emotions, obviously, are off-limits. Cogs shouldn’t be permitted to love, and they definitely shouldn’t be seen as happy. They are capable of some enjoyment of certain jobs, but that is about as positive as a regular Cog would get. Though most interestingly, fear is another emotion that is considered unacceptable, as most Cogs are going to end up fighting Toons, and they can’t be afraid or else they might choose not to fight.

This is the glitch that allowed Chase to become who he is. Unlike most other Cogs fresh off the assembly line, his fear wasn’t properly limited. As he started to fight Toons, he started to fear Toons. That fear bred some level of hate, as well as some basic free thought, another aspect that is expressly discouraged. He became a little more adaptable than the average Cog, which led to his downfall. 

After being beaten up by a few fellow Cogs, and subsequently being rescued and partially reprogrammed by a Toon, the combined ‘fear’ glitch, freedom of thought, and the realization that maybe the Toons weren’t the enemy he’d always considered them, all led to him finally siding with the Toons. It was all due to the circumstances aligning perfectly, and a teensy oversight in his programming that allowed him to feel fear in the first place.

Aww, thank you for the kind words, Cupcake! Telemarketers are just adorable little things. Funny you should mention it, because part of my inspiration came from Piranhartist on DeviantArt, who also has a Telemarketer character, Telle! Her Toontown stories were originally what drew me in, and even inspired me to create a Cog character of my own! But as she stopped drawing and writing Toontown stuff (except for commissions), I ended up looking around for other Toontown stories.

I eventually found and fell in love with the story A Toon in Cogs’ Clothing, which spanned three websites - fanfiction.net, DeviantArt, and Tumblr. The writing and art were beautiful and well done, if a bit dark and gritty. I incorporated several themes from that story into my own writing, and still look back at A Toon in Cogs’ Clothing fondly. Sadly, as it has been several years, the Tumblr and DeviantArt have long since been abandoned, and most of the posts deleted, but it was a fun ride while it lasted.

Beyond Toontown related artists, a great deal of my inspiration comes from various movies and television. Marvel movies, Disney movies, and even the multiple series of Star Trek all have excellent writing and visuals. The TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the anime Attack on Titan, and the movie I, Robot have also heavily influenced a lot of what I create. And if we’re specifically talking about writing style, I draw a lot of phrasing and structure from White Fang by Jack London. Call me old-fashioned, but I thoroughly enjoy the larger paragraphs and longwinded descriptions that writers from that era tended to use.

And of course, none of this would have been possible if Toontown Rewritten hadn’t come along to lift me back onto my feet after Toontown Online closed, so I owe a lot to them. They gave me my childhood back.

Here’s my entry for Community Day at ToonFest. Just a nice exchange of platonic affection and metaphor.

(If the image looks slightly fuzzy, you should be able to click for full resolution)

It had been just another standard duel with a Cog. Ladybug had faced a few hundred by now, and her Gags were improving with time and effort. Though to the cat that was so fond of blowing those bots to smithereens, it seemed nothing less than a game. She reveled in the destruction she wrought, as her recent series of solo battles allowed her to really open up and unleash her abilities. She was quick, darting in and out, tossing pies and leaping out of range of the Cogs' quick-flung attacks to continue on, unscathed. She was built for speed and endurance, and ran all over Toontown that day in search of Cashbots for one of her tasks.

In her search, she had wound up looping through Toontown Central for a little bit, dispatching of several smaller Cogs without too much effort. With the nearly even distribution of all four Cog types, Cashbots weren't as easy to come by, but the quickness of their encounters always made up for the lost time. Her sharp eyes were keen for the slightest glimpse of a green suit, and as her task neared its completion, her little patience was swiftly wearing thin.

Ladybug's scanning gaze finally fell upon her next prey, and a twisted smile spread across her face. There was a level 3 Tightwad strolling down Punchline Place, and even walking toward her. It was the perfect target.

It was down, among the tall office buildings, steeped in nighttime shadow and illuminated only by their glowing windows, that the remnants of a battlefield lay. A little trainyard, once filled with the comings and goings of its robotic residents and the constant, deafening screech of trains arriving and departing, was now left utterly silent. An expanse of carnage was all that remained. Those same trains, once carrying important supplies, now sat derailed and overturned, lying defeated along the tracks as far down the line as was visible. One upside-down train was peppered with numerous banana peels, while the engine car of another was crushed beyond any hope of repair by a massive ocean liner.

In lieu of the robots that had once patrolled throughout the facility, now ran the colorful bunch of Toons – Resistance Rangers. Soft laughter and the moving of boxes now dispelled the silence. The contents of the freight cars were being investigated by some, while others brought in crates and barrels of their own, setting up a small outpost right in the epicenter of what had previously been a calamitous battle. Boxes full of supplies were being thrown open and scooped out, Toons scurrying about to get everything ready for the second part of the operation. Then, at last, one final crate was cracked open, revealing a multitude of spray paint cans. The colorful creatures grinned at each other.

A smirk rested on the snout of the leader of the Toon Resistance, Lord Lowden Clear, as he watched the Toons that turned loose upon the boring, gray walls of Cashbot HQ. Even the Toons that had been doing other things stopped to join in the fun. Graffiti was soon scrawled everywhere. Lowden couldn’t withhold a chuckle at that. The janitorial staff would likely be struggling to scrub the bright colors from their walls long after the operation ended.

Ladybug’s only regret was that she had missed all of the fireworks.

Ladybug and Scooter have had their quarrels, but nothing brings family together quite like the holidays.

“It’s not good manners; it’s the constant fear that one of these days, they won’t be here...” - Random Toon’s ‘Welcome to the Internet’

Back in the day, Ladybug would constantly find herself rushing to the aid of Toons that the Cogs had nearly beaten. In Toontown, it’s a given that newer Toons will often attempt to bite off more than they can chew, so despite it thoroughly annoying her, she never stood idly by to let a Cog finish off a Toon that merely didn’t know any better. Such it was, that Ladybug would have never anticipated rushing to the aid of a Cog, and even then, she’d been too late to prevent most of the damage. Let’s just say that while curiosity may kill the cat, Ladybug has a regular habit of cheating death - in the end, she dragged that Cog back to her house, spent days fixing him up like new, and they’ve been close friends ever since.

Decided to give my characters their own theme songs last year, then spent hours upon hours of my time scouring the internet in search of the ‘perfect’ song for every last one of said characters. There are still some additional characters that I have to draw up and find theme songs for, but this covers everyone in my ‘#meet the characters’ tag thus far.

Ladybug’s theme, ‘Me Against the World’ is by Simple Plan

Lily’s theme, ‘Fly on the Wall’ is by Thousand Foot Krutch

Chase’s theme, ‘R0Mx Series III’ is by Em Harriss

Scooter’s theme, ‘Hey Brother’ is by Avicii

Blake’s theme, ‘Vampire Heart’ is by HIM

Sahara’s theme, ‘New Soul’ is by Yael Naim

I wrote this story at the end of 2015/ beginning of 2016 for a winter media contest on Toonbook. I ended up winning first place, much to my surprise. Despite quite a few older writing quirks of mine and a number of characters I haven’t acknowledged in years, this remains one of my proudest published stories.