#oc:tetra

Okay so first I want to talk about Jester and Tetra’s normal designs and why I find them so appealing and all the little things I like abt it because I’m the only one who’s probably going to ever ask for it. Well me ask and you shall receive

Jester:

Jester was the first character of the two to be made, but he came way after Trix. The two shared more design similarities early on, though they both do still share a lot of similarities. Maybe I’ll talk about that one day. Hm.

Anyway. Jester’s clown like appearance is due to his desire to not be taken seriously. Jester is a firm believer in the idea of Jester’s Privilege, which is the idea that jesters are able to talk freely and mock people on account of being a jester. Jester (whose “real” name is Jay. Btw. Because it takes up identities that have names starting with J. Just wanted to finally put this info out into the world) doesn’t want to be taken seriously, because he sees himself as a mockery of both the human and Pokémon worlds. He’s torn between the two, unable to fit in either. This is also because it doesn’t want to take himself or his problems seriously but whateva

The rest of his design is more. Hm. Practical probably isn’t the word but idk what is. His hair is long and covers his eye because 1, its eye on that side was removed and it makes his life harder if people see it, and 2, because he doesn’t care to cut it. The sweater is an old gift from Wade, and it wears it so often because it’s one of the few high quality (not ripped) pieces of clothing he has. The pants are brown to hide dirt so he doesn’t have to wash them as often. Things like that.

The only part of its appearance that Jester puts any effort into (besides the clown makeup and collar) is painting his nails. Jester’s nails are very important to it, since a Zangoose’s claws are its strongest weapon. This mostly manifests in the form of manicures.

Tetra:

When I tell you I’m pretty sure Tetra beamed his design into my brain you have got to believe me. I was sitting in the car listening to the mochi madness theme and then BOOM. Twink in my mind.

The most obvious parts of Tetra’s designs are the poison aspects. Tetra has a pretty clear poison motif, from the literal drip that is his sweater, to the toxic chains coming from his head, to the little Pecharunt collar.

But that’s it. He’s just poison, not a specific Pokémon. Jester’s design is (at least partially) based around Zangoose, but aside from the Pecharunt influences, there’s no clear Pokémon theme. That would be thanks to the fact that years of being mind controlled by Pecharunt’s brain poison has left him fairly devoid of identity. Tetra is more the idea of a person who once existed then any real person who still exists.

That’s also partially communicated through the fact that he’s a literal corpse! Yeah there’s a reason he’s that fucking pale, it’s cause he’s dead. Tetra, like the loyal three, ALSO died on the night Ogerpon attacked. But, with Pecharunt’s return, his body “healed” itself. Tetra is still very dead though (I could also talk at length about what I think Pecharunt’s poison can do but it already late and this is long as fuck).

This is a small thing but, before I decided to make them a thing neither of them really had canon heights? But ever since I did I knew Tetra had to be taller then Jester. It just feels right

SEVIPER TETRA:

Alright here’s the main event. I feel like it’s pretty obvious why I made the a design where Tetra finally gets a Pokémon influence and made it Seviper. But why shiny Seviper? You could argue that regular Seviper fits Tetra’s color scheme better.

Uh the reason is I think its cooler and more badass and I like how it brings out details of his design that are more subtle when he’s normal style

The original purple of his toxic chains, toxic stitches, and hell even his choker, all made it pretty clear that this was poison, but it looked like parts growing off him, not as much part of him. Now that it’s pink, it’s more obvious that this is his blood! Yep, the poison in Tetra’s body is the only thing keeping him alive. Without it, Tetra would probably just disintegrate into a bone heap.

Tetra’s eyes, which were originally yellow to match the loyal trio, now reveal their true color. His eyes have always actually been purple. He’s always been under Pecharunt’s influence, even when it isn’t there to directly control his actions. The whites of his eyes are also bloodshot now cause I think it looks cool

I’ve added a (admittedly very light) skeleton motif as well, by trying to make the triangles on Seviper look like rib bones, and modifying the ends of his toxic chains for look more like skulls. I’ve also tinted his skin slightly green, to add more to that undead aspect.

Now why did I do this? Well I got the idea for an animatic and part of it is Jester having a nightmare about Seviper Tetra because Jester has been chasing a group of people he calls his Sevipers for years because of something they did to someone he cares about, but now that the something is directly happening to it (and he doesn’t care about itself) he cannot bring himself to stop Tetra’s mistreating of him. And also because it makes Tetra hotter