#vira

(Last Neopets review in the inbox right now; send 'em if you have 'em.)

Did a review of Ozzy here, but here's Vira:

Vira's backstory is that she was a beautiful Acara who became ugly as part of a curse, which is hilarious because every single Neopets user agrees that Vira looks way better like this. She basically became popular through design alone, mostly because she exemplifies the essential "Hot Topic goth" look more than any other character—platform boots, striped leggings, horns, and all. These fashion choices also inform her slightly edgy and equally goth character.

Her palette is pretty simple; a tan base with hints of yellow complimented primarily with black and secondary red accents, which make her green pupils stand out. Her design is instantly iconic, gets across her character pretty well, and isn't overly complicated or busy.

The only real variation in her design is the color; usually it's closer to the first image shown, but in some art (like the BD pose above) her fur will be a darker buddy green with green wings and boot straps. I prefer the first option; having this much green in the design makes the red and green areas compete with each other, and makes the color palette lower contrast.

As of The Void Within plot, where she serves as a primary antagonist, she also has an alternate "panoplied" outfit (which just means "armored"; not sure who gave TNT the thesaurus this time around). It's...alright. I like parts of it, like the helmet over her horns, the excessive amount of spikes (again, very Hot Topic Goth), and the look of the dress.

That said, it also feels just a little too busy, and I don't feel like the void purple works well with her tan/red/green palette well. The biggest issue here is that it's monochromatic; if it were a mix of black and purple or even pink and purple, it would've been a lot easier to read. As-is, it works fine as what it is, a temporary battle outfit, but I definitely don't like it more than her main fit.