#lizarr7

I'll be honest that a big part of it is nostalgia, having memories of enjoying the franchise as a kid alongside my siblings and then being able to return to it years later and find new ways to look at things. (And of course fun colourful creature designs.)

But that being said I think the formula is kind of interesting because each new instalment both builds on what came before while also mostly leaving things untouched; long running series have a tendency to run characters and storylines into the ground. While there's always potential for older characters to pop up here and there, each game is generally its own little time capsule.

okay, so, some context: this is during the hiatus between V5 and V6. it's middle of the night, and i'm neck deep thinking about raven's "family. only coming around when they need something." because while that fits yang, it hardly fits qrow; that was raven seeking him out, not the other way around.

the sensible part of me was having a wonderful time connecting this to summer—i.e. summer found raven because she needed help with her mission—however, the gremlin in me that revels in chaos went welllll... cinder & co showed up days later, needing something from raven.

now. this is also during the time when i'm already thinking it's a bit suspicious that words such as "dead" and "killed" were avoided when talking about summer (directly or in-directly), so to nib this chaotic thought before it had a chance to bloom, i had to check if the word "need" comes up at any point during raven's talks with qrow, yang, and cinder & co.

unfortunately for me, it does. qrow says it: "i don't know where the spring maiden is, either, but if you do, i need you to tell me." yang says it, too: "i just need you to take me to her." and finally, cinder says it not just once, but twice: "and now, all we need is the key to the vault." // "we just... need... the relic.", while watts doesn't.

so with that little thing established, the gremlin was free to roam as it pleased, creating a perspective that made certain other things look a little bit different, such as:

the parallels between cinder and yang that were at their peak during V4 and V5, including their interactions with raven

raven knowing 'fall' isn't cinder's original last name but one she chose (something something last name denotes family connection and cinder chose hers, essentially hiding hers), as well as describing emerald and mercury as "two children you've tricked into following you", implying that she has been keeping an eye on cinder even before beacon.

the feathers in cinder's brooch are described as "iridescent feathers (dark green & black)" in her concept art, pretty much what you'd expect from feathers of corvids (especially ravens and crows)

this brooch also sticks around for all of cinder's main outfits, perhaps implying it's important in some way (e.g. ruby's brooch was more than just an emblem, it belonged to summer)

raven's portals and cinder's explosions (that she creates with her semblance) look extremely similar—if not exactly same—outside the change of color; and being real here if summer's semblance also emits rose petals like ruby's does but white, i might just lose it here lmao

this is more funny to me but like. you can't go "you sound just like your mother" and then have both raven and cinder say similar things, e.g. some variation of "it's nothing personal", or even just raven being smug and referring to qrow as "little brother" only for cinder to come in moments later, smugly referring to qrow as "little bird". what is a poor soul supposed to think at that moment when i'm already preoccupied with "they never said summer is dead -> summer is alive" 😭

cinder's backstory revealing that she started from an orphanage obviously didn't help this matter, either

anyway, having said all that, i honestly don't expect this to lead into... well. anything. like if it did i would be surprised myself and i would never theorize about anything ever again, it would just be downhill from there lmao

The sphinx locks are honestly one of my favorites of your designs! I love the slightly unsettling proportions it’s so interesting to look at

lizarr7

What the heck no, I LOVE sphynx locks. Idk if there's just something wrong with me, and I'm sorry that they don't make me uncomfortable, but I find them incredibly anatomically pleasing for some reason. Your body horror locks are the ones that make me uncomfortable lol. I think sphynx locks and GIANT thicc worm locks with huge toothy mouths and tiny eyes too close to their noses are my two favorite forms.

puppypunk1993

also did not realize they could be considered Uncomfortable in any way, they're like if bodies could be more beautiful

Thanks y’all! Nothing wrong if you like them haha. They don’t have to be unsettling in a horror-y way. Just different. The reactions from human characters in my stories range from ‘well that’s different, can’t help but eyeball in fascination’ to legitimately weirded out by all the uncanny valley shapeshifting, so the fact that I’m getting that range out of actual people is most excellent.  

A sassy Jeih!sphinx, for your time. 

I will have extras after the Kickstarter rewards are delivered. Anyone can purchase them once they’re available. It is unlikely there will be another run of this book so physical copies will be limited. 

Anyway! Question; are you the Larks author? I think that's why I originally started following you, and now I can't remember. Either way, that story has the most lifelike portrayal of a centaur I have ever read, I felt the horseness of Cass in my bones when I read it. And I was really inspired to draw her as a centaur after that. Not exactly that version of her, just in general. And what I do know for sure is that you love centaurs, and u love Cass, so I wanted to share the pictures with you!

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/lizarr7/690536775566917633?source=share (I hope that link works)

I am indeed the Larks author!! I'm really glad you like the fic- I don't know if I'll ever finish it because my interests have changed but it's so great to know so many people enjoyed a concept that I quite honestly thought would put everyone off at the tags sdfghdf. Writing non-human characters as viscerally non-human is my favorite thing, so it's so great to hear that it came through!