For the character ask - 10, 17, 19, 20. Dealers choice!
Oh holy shit thank you so much for this! I owe you one or one thousands i think
10 - What is their main character arc in the story? Where do they start and how do they develop? Do they get a happy ending or is their story a tragic one?
I will go with Olya for this one because they’re technically not the main character but also they are the POV character of the beginning at the very least so they’re the first person to follow, and the first one to ever, yk. Exist.
Olya Nikitovna Dresinova starts as a microbiologist. More specifically, a high-end microscope tech. They are from Safonovo (snow, nowhere, Fuck You, Murmansk) but live in Moscow, and have a pretty average life, maybe a bit socially awkward and introverted, maybe a bit lonely, but a normal life. Except that they are good at their job. Like very good. Like Very Very good. And so they get offered to pilot a mech.
Which is as unhinged as it sounds, but hey, they’re Very Very Good at manipulating small things with a processed feedback, and the green pathbreaking unit 4LF Clover was built around the idea of a microscope, so the staff behind the OXALIS Program, a research project centered around kaijus, a shrimplizard-looking alien lifeform that depends on metal to thrive, hopes they will find themself apt to the role and maybe even honored by having such a first line view of a new biology wonder.
The biology wonder being very very keen on attacking them and their teammates because of the yummy yummy metal of their mechs and base and any human settlement surely doesn’t help. And despite the stern determination of Lieutenant-Colonel Pauline Rosseaut, leader of the operation, and the determined sternness of Vytautas Žilinskas, lead engineer and inventor of the mechas, in trying to convince them to stay they really want to go back to Moscow and their normal microscope and their biology wonders contained in petri dishes.
They agree to one last attempt, and it ends in panic and tears just like the others, except that this time they find someone helping them after it, there on the cold tiles of one of the locker rooms. And while Isuzu Nōda, fellow pilot of the orange sniper unit 3KB Tulip, just did what he had to do out of a sense of duty and is as happy to have a crying 2 meters tall ginger sticking by him as said ginger is happy to be there, it does help a little to have him around. Just enough to try again, because someone ought to do it.
As for the ending, I mean. That’d be a spoiler. I will admit though that I am a weak sap. And that was why the beta pitch is called the beta pitch and not the OXALIS program, because holy shit what was that
17 - Are there any motifs or symbols associated with the character? How are they represented, in their design, personality or in some other way?
I mentioned mostly Olya earlier and also a bit more about Isuzu, and since they are the good luck duo i think it makes sense to explain their symbols and i’m totally not doing that because a mutual saying they like them once made my entire day.
Each mecha unit has a symbol. The symbol is a flower (or a plant in Clover’s case) that matches the color of the mecha, and each pilot has a detail involving them in their appearance. And each team is made of a mech and an aircraft working as air support, and the symbol of the air support is a pollinator of that specific plant (not about this, but i call it a giant W that there is a bat involved)
Olya is the pilot of Clover, whose symbol is very specifically a three-leaves clover, even if the random code 4LF made it be nicknamed Lucky, and it shows in their fluo green clover-shaped freckles.
But i like that the symbol itself is a normal clover, because like. Olya is not some kind of lucky charm. They’re a normal ass microbiologist that’s having a panic attack one day yes and the other day too, and all things considered it’s a pretty reasonable response to giant aliens made of metal trying to eat you. They’re just them, and they cannot somehow magically sprout a fourth leaf and fix everything that’s wrong. But they’re trying, and luck is something that’s made up anyway. If you try hard enough, when does it stop being luck and starts being the result of your efforts?
Isuzu is the other half of the good luck duo, and his symbol is the tulip, recalled by the pastel orange stripe in his hair. But also, it’s not actually the tulip. Tulip is the name of the mech, because tulips are orange, but if you look at the actual symbol, which is this one
you can kind of see that it somewhat resembles a peach as well. A peach trying so very hard to be a tulip. A peach that was his nickname (he’s a gamer, and his handle has always been momo.milk.tea since he was 9), a peach that brings good fortune and prosperity, and a peach that doesn’t need to be a peach right now because the world needs a tulip. Plus, there’s a lot of diamonds carved into it. Because that’s who he is. He is Isuzu Nōda, the Diamond of Japan. He was pressed into Tulip’s cockpit, and that’s what came out. And so that’s who he’ll be.
19 - What is your general favourite thing about the character? What is your least favourite?
This is maybe accidentally the hardest question to answer. Favorite thing about Olya: that despite it all they always remain true to themself. They’re honest, they speak their mind, they push people to try and try and get what they want. They start off as an anxious crybaby (in my drafts the OXALIS program was saved as crybaby microscopist mech story lmao) but i think they might be the bravest out of them all at the base. Least favorite thing about Olya: that it’s gonna be hell to replicate their artwork lmao. They have a love-hate relationship with watercolors but they have years of experience with them and i want to make it clear how important they’re to them. I. Cannot do watercolors. Lmao.
Favorite thing about Isuzu: he is so damn determined it’s easily scary at times. It makes him feel like a jackass, it makes him too stubborn, i doubt he’s gonna be a very pleasant character before more of him gets shown. But i love that and how it plays into his character. Least favorite thing about Isuzu: people keep comparing him to me. I haven’t figured out why, as of the many characters i might have injected something of me in he was not in the plans. Also his afro. So damn hard to draw. Love it but BOY where THE FUCK does your bandanna go.
20 - Bonus question: share any additional thoughts, art, favourite scenes, anything you've been waiting for a chance to ramble about
I will be good and remain in theme because otherwise i will become the most annoying creature on this planet, but here’s a list of fun good luck duo facts
Due to third character Astro, known furry in aeronautics, a good chunk of the cast has been gently dragged by the ankles to make fursonas. Olya’s is a greyish snake with spots shaped like their clover freckles while Isuzu’s is an orange white and teal nudibranch.
Always due to Astro, seven very important characters are grouped together as the Star Gang and all of them have some kind of star shaped trinket he gave them as friendship token. Isuzu’s is a proper glow in the dark gummy keychain, but Olya’s used to be one of those ugly ass kid hairties with the big clunky beads they cut up and turned into a pendant
Olya has Marfan’s syndrome. They wear finger splints because of this, they got them custom made and sleek and white. Also, i mistakenly wrote ‘splinters’ for the entirety of a piece involving them once, which must have been an interesting experience for the beta reader
Isuzu’s favorite smell is freshly opened tennis balls, which i picked because i thought it was an unusual favorite smell to have, and then it turned in ‘Isuzu did tennis in school because of credits, but since nobody wanted to play with him outside of matches most of his time was spent ramming harder and harder against the wall’ and if you know exactly the experience i’m talking about you’re owed financial compensation
This bit from the brownie story, my favorite draft of ever:
Isuzu is standing in his childhood bedroom, holding his Eevee plushie in his hands, putting it back onto the pillow of his futon, next to the scruffy Alolan Raichu already resting there. It’s been a while since they’ve been this close, the Eevee plushie is smaller and sturdier, with less dangly bits, easier to carry around, so he always brought that one with him. He pats the heads of both, like he always did. Their big, goofy eyes almost seem to follow him as he slides out of his pants and underwear, and folds them onto his futon, together with his hoodie. He looks down at them, tucked close, and tucks himself close as well in Olya’s shape, when he hears them step into the room, holding their clothes in a hug, to fold them just the same.
‘Mhm. Alolan Raichu, the pancake version, has always been my favorite. But this plushie has the tail made like this, see?’
He picks the slender black string up, flicking the puffy lightning on the tip left and right.
‘So it wouldn’t have taken to travel very well. And I really didn’t want to ruin it. So the one that has been following me around, ever since I got into the program, was Eevee. It’s a bit childish, I know. But it’s like this since ever’
‘Is not childish. I think is sweet. I have plushies from childhood too, in Moscow home. Favorite was stuffed wolf’
‘Клецки. Dumpling. Because they were favorite’
While Olya’s name was pretty much a one shot, Isuzu had a lot of possible names that he could have had before settling on this one, the requirements were feminine name that a trans man kept, and a Z-sound in there. Unfortunately, i did not remember that Isuzu is also a car brand. Now i am haunted by him whenever i see those on the road
Olya has a thing for watching botany slides under the microscope to relax and find inspiration for their watercolors. This is because the joke about microscopes and mechs came to be after the fifth attempt at cutting a leaf one cell layer thin with a razor (handle not included) i had to take
Sneak peek involving the sketch of their full body normal clothes reference (the timestamp is at 50+ hours already. Have mercy and take me out)
