#chaz development document

While the development of the project progresses slowly, I decided that it would be a good idea to continue posting development documents here. I'll probably make more once I have enough art, but for now let's discuss Axl a bit.

I already had a similar post here two years ago, but some stuff had changed since then. So let me have a quick re-cap:

I had made two designs before the project was born. The first one was made in early March 2020, long before I actually got into MMZ properly. He was written as a hermit who lived in Area Zero in a shack he made from scraps of metal. He also had a dog that a Caravan member left in the forest to die... yeah, I really didn't know what I was working with, reading the first few paragraphs from a fan wiki is not enough.

This is probably the most different iteration of MMZ Axl that I have, even from the design perspective. He is even supposed to have one of the strands of his hair dyed red (to look more... modern?). The only design element to carry from on from this design were shorts on suspenders, attached to the bolts because that's how I read Axl's MMX design.

The dog does look cute, maybe we can repurpose it somehow?

Then I made Halloween Axl art a few months later, where he was wearing a grim reaper costume reminiscent of Red. I had a reference art made for the design as well but I had since lost it unfortunately, but largely it was me trying to manifest X DiVE Halloween alt design for Axl (didn't work but I got some praise from my mom for the artwork o3o)

Then in August of 2021, I decided to make a sequel drawing for this one, with Axl with the MMZ design in Grim Reaper costume instead. By that point, I started to get interested in MMZ and chose to scrap the original idea I had for MMZ Axl in 2020. The design below was done by August 24th.

I did notice by that time that MMZ Zero had the same helmet silhouette as MMX Zero despite how different they actually were. However, I had no idea how to do the same with Axl's helmet so it became a bit of a mess and the addition of two new scars also didn't help it in the slightest as I look back at it. Another major difference there are the backpack wings; they're very different but they look more like they were made with the purpose of proper flight rather than hovering above ground. I ended up reverting this change later on.

Then I started working on the Halloween art. I have been drawing it for the entirety of October actually but it really became my magnum opus at the time. I made the outline for it in 10 minutes between classes which you can also see below.

In the middle of the drawing process, I thought to myself: "Damn, the idea actually sounds quite good, what if I develop it further?". And thus ROCKMAN ZERO, Chapter: AXL was born. The design shifted around a bit between 2021 to 2023, but mostly remained the same (you can see all of those iterations below, in the order of their completion).

Most of these changest were done for simplification reasons, either in the coloring department, or in the amount of details Axl's body had rendered. At some point we (me and my team) decided to ditch the reaper cloak altogether, too... it's not like he wore it more than once in the entire story anyway.

Then I left the project hanging for two years and now that I am back working on it, I have redisigned Axl again. Changed the shape of the helmet once more and removed other elements that I thought were too much. Then I redesigned him again to change the appearance of the forehead/chest crystals and the eye (and by extension the scythe light) from green to blue to reduce the color pallete again.

I am yet to actually make a character sheet for the final design but it should be the same as pictured above.

I wanted to also write about every design decision I have made for the final design (I have put too much thought into it), but I guess I will do that tomorrow. Writing this thing for the whole 3 hours made my head hurt ^^;

Hello, everyone! Like promised, here's another development document, this time on the meaning behind Axl's MMZ design and (less so) his own role in this larger story he wasn't meant to be a part of.

Unfortunately I don't have any new artworks to share this time so I apologise for the lack of any images in this post.

As you saw in the previous post, Axl's appearance went through a lot of changes over the years. The main goal with the design, however, always was to have Axl appear a bit old-fashioned and youthful.

In Chapter: AXL, the story of what happened to Axl between the ending of X8 and the start of Chapter 1 is purposefully left ambiguous as even the old data archives struggle to bring out much regarding the existence of Lord X's other loyal companion. Yet, despite the many decades that he had spent in stasis, Axl hasn't aged a day, he still is the same kid he was in 22nd century. That's why the new reality he woke up to was so weird to him, that's why he got lost in it so easily (and also why some characters continue finding new ways to call him old).

The old-fashioned part of the design got reduced as the time went on but I believe it still does a good job at conveying that. Axl's body has changed less than X's or Zero's, because it wasn't getting upgraded during the stasis. His chestplate in particular still has the same design as in MMX, it was only reduced in size and had its edges smoothened, and the same can be said about the shoulderpads, side-boot jets and backpack wings. The helmet also looks very similar to the one Axl used to have.

The youthful part of the design can primarily be seen in the clothes Axl wears. Unlike the reserved and serious Zero who has a closed repliroid jacket, Axl has an open jacket with a high collar (which he can't close anyway because the chest gem gets in the way), and unlike Zero, Axl also wears something over the codpiece, that being shorts on suspenders. The suspenders also have a another practical use aside from keeping the shorts on, as he keeps the folded Red Scythe behind his back with them. It's all a bit of a mess, but it still conveys that Axl is a kid with an attitude. He does mature over the course of the story, but he would still have the same heart of gold that he had as a kid back in his age, which perhaps is another way to explain why he keeps wearing these shorts even in Z4 chapter, hehe.

Hmmm, what else... Ah! I can tell you the reason why I removed the burn from the right side of Axl's face, as well as the scar on his left cheek. It was because no one ever mentioned a thing about those scars in the original chapter 1 and chapter 2, not even Axl himself who wouldn't remember how he got them in the first place. While cute references to other two characters linked to Axl (Red and Grey), they didn't do anything but hint at the guy apparently going through absolute hell prior to him being put into stasis, which also aged up his appearance even more and ultimately became unnessesary noise on his face when I got back to working on ChAZ. And so, I removed them, Axl has a clean face again (almost)!

I think that's all for today! It's not much but I think I did OK at conveying my thoughts here. Not sure what will I talk about next, but feel free to send me asks about the project, I have re-opened those! I would be happy to answer your questions :D