How I feel about this character

I love him. I love him sooo much. 

Of course I love him because he’s a child you can adopt in Pathologic 2. Of course I love him because he very obviously cares a lot about Artemiy, of course I love him because he basically clings to you into the game. Of course I love him as a constant by my side in game. But of course I also love him because of his own character as well.

A few months ago I had realized that it was inevitable for him to become my favorite character. It wasn’t just that I had run out of ideas to think about with Murky, or that I already loved him so much (so much that he was pretty much the sole reason I bought Pathologic 2), but also because he somewhat fits into my favorite character archetype. I once compared him to Dieter from Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, which I understand that’s something that only a few people will really get, but like... it’s just the whole “stubborn kid trying to raise himself above his past and pursue his passions (and also clinging and caring a lot about a doctor I guess?)” thing that they both share.

It’s hard for me to explain why I like him. I love his personality. I love that he’s snippy, that he’s so stubborn and like... rough around the edges. He’s fun to read, his way of talking is just so.. fun sometimes! It may not be a lot but he just... talks like a kid. I love the times when he mispronounces words, I love it when you ask if he knows what a serum is and he is just like “a thing that makes people tell the truth.” Like he’s... just a kid! He seems like he tries to act older than he is, he’s someone who doesn’t know a lot but he’ll put the things he does know to use, even if he’s wrong. He wants to help! 

I love his story and arc so much, too. It’s not especially present in the game, but it’s interesting to think about this kid who has known thievery for probably almost his entire life to be the way to survive, but then getting incredibly... interested in being a doctor, and wanting to help people. Like, I just love to think about his dedication towards being a doctor, why hes so passionate about it... Like, he’s INCREDIBLY dedicated. In Marble Nest, he’s there because he wanted to learn how to be a doctor from Daniil, the third person he’s tried to learn from... He’s just so passionate about helping people. And I love to think about what could possibly be the reason, or how this connects to his past. Not in a sort of “Why is he so desperate to help people,” or in any sad sense, but more of how him becoming a doctor could relate to his skills or how his world was like before. Like, my favorite line of his is, “I know the Lines, too. How else could I find my way around all the attics, and the cellars, and those twisty yards?” Just the connections between who he was and now is trying to be... is incredibly interesting to me. 

Everything I’ve said so far mainly applies to Pathologic 2, mostly because he’s in that one more and has more of an arc there, but I also love him so, so much in Pathologic 1! Maybe not everything, but I love how fucking weird he is. And I love his facial expressions! He looks like he’s in on a secret, or like he knows something about you that you yourself don’t know... And, just, he’s just SUCH a kid in P1. And I love his voice lines sooo much, like how unfazed he seems by weird shit, like the line like “Someone's leaned against my window at night. Ooh, spooky!” is SO fun to listen to. He’s just a fun character to talk to in P1!

Like, overall, he’s just such a nice character to think about, and he’s become such a big comfort character for me.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

I don’t think about him in a romantic relationship often. I think that him and Notkin could be potentially interesting, or him and Khan, due to the whole sort of triad thing they have, and how that could factor in a relationship, but it’s a little boring for me to think about him in a romantic relationship otherwise.

My non-romantic OTP for this character (im just interpreting this as other relationships i find interesting)

Murky. You all know it’s Murky first and foremost. I love, love, LOVE sibling relationships, especially their’s. I love the dynamic they have, they both love and care for Artemiy, and are connected through him, but have incredibly different opinions on Isidor, both of which are just... so interesting! Like, I love that they both come together, are both connected by showing the different sides of the same coin, of Sticky seeing Isidor as a mentor, as an incredibly good, helpful person, but of Murky knowing what Isidor has done and how much his own actions have hurt people, that he’s not always the best man you, or Artemiy, think he was. And even beyond that, even beyond just that tiny piece of their relationship, I LOVE them. I love thinking about how they might get along, how their personalities might clash (because wow they would!), but overall they’re both just... siblings who have suffered, who both would probably do anything to help one another. I love thinking of how much they must care for one another... Murky saying, “I don’t hate having a brother at all,” literally made me sobbbbb the first time I read it. I love sibling relationships, I love that they’re both explicitly siblings, I love that the writers didn’t keep it vague at all which I feel like must happen, or else I wouldn’t feel so strongly about this. I just love them. I love them. 

Artemiy, of course, is another relationship I find incredibly interesting. I feel like I focused on a lot of it here already, so I won’t have as much to say, but I love how much Sticky cares about Artemiy, and maybe Artemiy doesn’t deserve that, but... It’s really sweet. And... I don’t know. I feel like Artemiy is someone that Sticky needs. Not the Artemiy that yells at Sticky, of course, but more of the Artemiy in those last few days, someone who is more of a friend to Sticky. Of course Sticky would need a father figure, and Artemiy isn’t really the greatest person for that, but I also think that Sticky... wouldn’t want him to be strictly a father figure. I feel like if Sticky had been adopted by a parental figure that was just... overtly caring, or something of the sort, he wouldn’t be comfortable with it. I think he would feel a little too old, a little too able to take care of himself to handle having someone else take too much care for him. And... I don’t know. I just feel like Artemiy could be a good match for him. Plus, Sticky already cares and trusts him a lot, and wants to learn from him... I just really enjoy thinking about their dynamic. It just can be really sweet. 

The rest of the Termites! I just will be brief with this one, but I love every sort of interaction he could have with the rest of them: 

With Notkin and Khan, the sort of triad thing I spoke about before, what their friendship could possibly be like. I typically think of it more in a silly way, like Notkin and Khan are arguing, while Sticky is just like, “You’re both wrong and dumb.” Like he would just be an intermediary between them, which I think is really interesting? Sucks that he finds them annoying, though. 

With Grace, I find their dynamic interesting. Niru pointed out how they’re both self-sacrificing (well, Grace more-so), which... I don’t know. They have interesting parallels in regards to that. I feel like it would be such a... soft friendship, and like there’s many ways they would get along, many things they have in common. Plus, I’m just thinking of playing Sticky in MOTW with him yelling SO much at Grace for her putting herself on the line, and trying to care of her as much as possible or like whenever Grace stayed over (outside of the game), Sticky would play games for her, and I don’t know... I just see their friendship as being maybe not exactly super established or deep, but they care for one another a lot. It just would be very soft which is nice to think about. 

With Capella, I have less thoughts in regards to them. I feel like they would have a respectful relationship towards one another. Maybe they get together and complain about Notkin or Khan or something, but other than that I see it more as a friendship built on mutual respect towards one another, and I can’t quite see them hanging out as much. Still, a very interesting dynamic to think about.

And finally with Taya, I love the idea of Sticky telling Taya stories! I don’t think it would come up in P2, as the changes in Sticky’s character may take that out, but it’s so cute! I love, love, love it!!! I love thinking of what kind of stories, and it’s just... it’s a nice dynamic, and I feel like it fleshes out both of their characters in a nice way. 

Before I move on, I have to say. Read Niru’s fic on Sticky’s relationship with the other Termites please it’s so good!!! 

Outside of the Termites, I have to say I find the parallels between him and Clara interesting. Both are thieves, and I just realized both of them are healers in a sense, who just want to help. I don’t have quite many thoughts on it, but I think the parallels between them could be so interesting to explore. 

And, finally, Shrew!!! I love Shrew so much, her dynamic with Sticky is so interesting. I love how while she’s trying to let Daniil pass on, she also seems hopeless and scared, and she’s so frustrated with Sticky for not allowing her to help. And I just find the fact that despite all we ever see of Sticky and Shrew is them arguing, and disagreeing heavily on what the situation needs, Sticky still says they’re quite good friends... It’s interesting to think of what their friendship could be like. In MOTW, I had Sticky and Shrew be childhood friends who have grown apart in all of these years, but still care about each other, but not really relating like they once did... I just feel like they have the vibes. I love thinking about them.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Hmm... I don’t think Sticky really, truly cares about Daniil in Marble Nest. I can only see him caring about Daniil being because Daniil is a doctor, someone who can help him help people. Well, I mean, of course he cares about him, but not quite like as much as other people seem to think. I also don’t like people only focusing on Sticky only in relation to Daniil or Artemiy. I want to see more people think about Sticky as his own character, rather than a character that cares about their favorite. However, I tend to stay away from most Sticky content I think, so who knows what the popular opinion on Sticky is.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

gonna start this off with im no expert Nor have i taken any sort of official art class this is me just analyzing characters from what i found that makes them memorable to ppl (most of these examples are going to be from games sorry i got them on my mind)

ok so basically making a memorable revolves around personality and appearance now theres different ways to go about showing these things and i think from consuming media you like will help narrow down how you wanna go about it, basically thinking about your character inside and out!

SO shapes and hyperstylization is a good way to get a fun appearance across in a cartoon esp media and is often what a lot of artists stress on an example of using shapes and a good silhouette to make a memorable character is sonic!(specifically comic sonic)

(had to google idw sonic for a non...u know image)

but not only do they use lots of triangles for this hedgehog they also made him blue! you’d be more likely to remember a blue headgehog over a realistically colored one!(also almost all of the sonic characters have a combination of fun shape + unusual color to help you remember them! the designs werent afraid to use color to make a bold statement)(he’s also segas mascot so of course they put a lot of work in his design)

now sonics appearance is not the only reason why people like him or remember him so much he’s also got personality! he’s cocky, fast, always getting into trouble, “you’re too slow!”, accompanied by shitty butt rock and a cool guy persona ie he’s got personality! and they weren’t afraid to give him some weird interests(see the butt rock) and he’s not perfect( see arrogance) if youve ever played a sonic game you have almost always remembered the crush 40 theme that went with it

all in all to go with his unusual appearance he’s got some unusual traits! it helps make him believable! admittedly he’s not the most embarrassing of the sonic crew (see knuckles or shadow) but he’s definitely rounded and not boring from an objective standpoint(you can not like sonic or his games i dont care)

(another example of something that requires good shapes is pokemon altho they arent really like very depthy since there are 600+ and some only have like a pokedex entry worth of info but still they have good and memorable designs)

NOW something that doesnt have the most “good shapes” design off the top of my head is link

now in the most recent zelda game his most memoriable physical attribute is that he’s on the androgynous side w his longer hair and smaller build but in his older designs he looked something like this

(art for a loz:link to the past)

not really that much of a striking silhouette, but what do we look at and kinda leaves an impression on us? his hair and hat! its very silly to see someone in such a big green hat with that big of bangs/mullet, the hat at least became so ridiculous of a look that in botw nintendo didnt include his hat in links main outfit bc it was too hard to make look good, its silly! thats good! its fine to have a normal human looking characters because sometimes stories are about humans, but if you want us to remember them include something that will strike us as strange for them

also probably a good thing to note is the noises link makes when he swings his sword, jumps, pushes something, ie any action they have always been something that has stuck with me

(another example similar to this is in mgs solid snake in mgs is this cool super spy but is rocking a full on mullet which is considered a joke hairstyle. this leaves an impression on us. a spy with a mullet! how ridiculous! another example is raiden who was specifically made bc a woman wrote that she didnt want to play as an “old man” so the protagonist of the super spy game is a longer haired pretty boy (with a huge ass))

now ive explained a little on a character with good shapes and personality and a character with a more “boring” shape design that makes up for it with almost quirky design choices but i feel like theres another series thats what originally got me thinking about how even a memorable silhouette doesnt need hyperstylization

ace attorney! (which is out on switch now if u havent played it i would def recommend it)

if you dont know the protagonist is the guy in the blue suit(phoenix), which well he looks like just a guy...with ridiculously spikey hair enough so that in his silhouette you can recognize him but also his posture (the pointing) makes for a sticking recognizable image bc if you’ve played the games you can practically hear objection just from looking at phoenix’s silhouette

which is another thing id like to talk about! not only are a good shape a way to have a good silhouette but posture is also important! how the character holds themselves can say alot about them just from a glance! such as meekness, arrogance, confidence, sadness, anger, happiness its a very important too especially when you arent relying on stylization

now onto the characters of ace attorney ive gone over phoenix's design a bit but theres a few others id like to look at with some Weird style choices that make us remember them(just going to glance over them since this post is so long)

now, this woman, franziska von karma, she dresses kind of strange for a prosecutor but her outfit is not too out there and her silhouette is not striking

but you see that whip? remember how i said she was a prosecutor? yeah she will strike people in court for getting off topic and will even hit phoenix when he starts breaking down her witnesses testimonies, which what literally strikes up about her

another prosecutor, godot, now his hair could provide a somewhat memorable shape but what we first notice is the strange mask on his face which is weird, but not the Same weird as franziska bringing a whip to court thus having both of these prosecutors being Weirdly memorable for different things (another note is his liking of coffee that he does not give up even in court ha ha)

now onto the other protag for the aa games

apollo! who also has weirdly spikey hair, but even if you put a silhouette of him next to phoenix you could tell there some was a difference between the two! its showing a pattern with the protags while also keeping them distinct enough to be able to tell who is who! although you cant say the pointy haired guy from ace attorney and not get just One answer unlike saying the prosecutor who has a whip but still they are distinct to people who have little experience with the series

sorry i dont have any sort of conclusion on this this was just sort of me rambling on about character design, but my main point is if you are discouraged bc all your characters dont have wildly different silhouettes thats ok! there are other ways to establish a good memorable character! dont be afraid to make them a little weird! give your character pink hair in a medieval setting, have them be ridiculously in love with tigers they have a striped shirt and pants, let them love childrens tv shows and have them never miss an episode, give them wacky hair or an extreme love of gum, show us some personality!! but dont forget about how they act and their values and dont forget that posture can go a long way for establishing a first impression

there are also many other methods to making a good character! like colors and dress!

silly is the way to go! have fun with it!!