Heyaaa kip!! I wanted to ask, what drew you to King Dice / The cuphead show in the first place, and what do you find in him appealing that makes you yume him romantically? As someone who yumes him platonically, I’m very curious to understand your view on him more!!
and since I’m Spidey I have also stolen your wallet byeeeeee 👋
AUGHHH...it's kind of a cornball answer, if that's okay. LONGGG sappy answer underneath
It was my verrryy last semester in college, and I had basically just gotten dumped on Valentine's Day by my partner of seven years. And then right after, I got a nasty case of Covid and was stuck in bed for a whole week. Which, in your senior year, gets you VERY behind on everything. I was at a very low point emotionally and had lost interest with drawing and art as a whole. I had like...kept up with The Cuphead Show's updates and upcoming release up to that point? Trailers, clips, I was familiar with the game, at least. I decided to binge the whole thing on a whim a few days after this all went down, on the show's premiere date, and it was the first thing that had made me smile in a really long time, and the first thing that made me want to actually *try* drawing again. It was probably my first spark of inspiration in years. I was actively drawing, and the show had blessed me with the perfect muse. When King Dice's episode ended, my first thought was, "I miss him. I hope he shows up again." I immediately knew I was cooked. It brought me to rewatch the show over and over, join the community, save a thousand pictures of him to my poor phone, and I had also watched his voice actor, Wayne Brady, for a very long time on his improv shows, so it felt like I was already really acquainted with his character as an extension of that. With the artistic flame back after watching the show, I was able to put more effort into not just my art, but also my final college projects, and it was probably what moved me to get everything together and graduate.
His style, his charisma and popularity, but also being a complete pathetic loser is what sold me. Something about presentation =/= temperament is an instant way to get me on board with a character. He's canonically handsome, beloved, and influential, but he's also a total sycophant and rather weak behind the overblown persona. And he's SILLY!! To quote Jessica Rabbit, "He makes me laugh." To me, his story in the show felt like it had a lot more yet to be told, as if there were bits and pieces missing. I wanted to cultivate that aspect of the show and give it more narrative depth, while also touching on what Dice's character would be written like romantically, or how he might interact with different characters. So I wrote Kip to be his parallel, and to give him someone to talk to and grow from while staying on the set of his show. Real-life theatre events a few months later inspired me to go all-in on writing them as a full-fledged couple. And it just...never really stopped.
It's crazy to think it started almost five years ago. Sooo much has happened between now and then. But Dice is more than just a character to me at this point. He was what reinvigorated my passion for art, for writing, for creating in general. And not only that, but he's helped me improve more than I ever anticipated. He signals the closing of one long, arduous chapter of my life, and the opening of a new one. He's what led me to meet so many amazing people, and grow my community and audience. The outpouring of love for Kip and Dice has just been unprecedented, and moves me to continue doing what I love. The guy's not even real, but he's done so much for me. I can't really explain what one specific thing of his it is that brings me such comfort, but that's okay! He was just the right person, at the right time, I suppose.
