kos

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obviously this will eventually come up in the actual comic but ngl i dont even feel a need to treat it much like a secret despite it being a big one in the story like.. for the other characters LMAO

i do rly love exploring a very protectively closeted trans guy who doesn't even reveal this to their closest family members, even when some of them are openly trans themselves & respected! things just are complicated sometimes when you have to larp as the hottest girl at the underground factory ok

basically no one in Gretta's life knows she's secretly a trans man but it gives her great pleasure to call Malcus sexist as a treat. (malcus doesn't know it either)

probably will work on this sketch more later, but malcus from religion of toy.

its not even that i dont like writing/developing side characters. i actually like it TOO much! and Religion of Toy is already pretty thoroughly outlined and mostly scripted.. pretty much more-so than I've ever made before starting a comic. I know it'll expand but I DONT WANT TOO MANY MORE PEOPLE..!

sometimes in the monster-of-the-week story theres a villager that is slightly more of a person and has like a name or whatever but they usually died or never show up again after the story is done. sometimes only lasting idk.. 1 chapter.

you know what always makes me laugh and think of like.. the #1 token stock background characters for me? its the hoards of villagers in inuyasha. doesnt matter what village. just the mass of identical vague villagers that are scared of demons and constantly getting their asses killed 24/7.

i actually struggle to write side characters in religion of toy because i know from experience that's a dangerously slippery slope.. but i also put the characters in a setting that kind of demands a lot of side/background characters at least lol

as much as i want to jump right into chapter 2 .. the FFAK chapter im currently working on is prob gonna be like 600 pages at least and the NRD one might be like 400 when it's done. and i still have part 3 of The Teacher & The Fairy to finish which ive barely started. IM FULLY BOOKED right now.

I dunno if anyone missed it but the first chapter of Religion of Toy did finish a couple days ago. if you've ever wanted to read my work but are scared by the huge 29350395235 pagecount of FFAK or something, this is a brand new baby one. lol

manifesting in that he's already become incredibly invested & devoted to their safety almost in the same way he would for his people.. who.. are not here anymore. but this family is right now & they only have each other. he wants to protect what COULD so easily happen to them.. :c

like, i think especially since Kurapika is seeing the lengths of what she will go to for her child appears to really rattle him. i think he must (on some level) realize that he is seeing himself from the outside and what he is doing in his own life. it would make sense that this projection is-

anyway i could go on and on about it lol but i really loved the big focus on him holding baby woble and all the ways this moment can represent for him as his character, both in his past and where his future is going. i didnt expect this for Kurapika but it is starting to really make sense already..

me too, the layers just within his work that change the context of previous arcs.. but also the echoes of parallels between ALL his published work. it really makes me want to know all the things he's written/worked on/thought about that are totally outside of our perspective as readers lol

In some ways it also really makes me consider Kurapika's lack of a maternal figure in his life? or like..the grief OF his clan directing so much of his journey, him disregarding that pain to pursue his quest, his attachment to this role like a self-sacrificing parent for them.. ect.. its good stuff!

She's such an underappreciated aspect of this arc (by the fandom imo) that it feels nice to highlight this core theme and why placing her so close to Kurapika is fascinating! I totally see her in a Komugi-like role already. I'm sure Togashi really has a very special purpose for her in this arc.

He is my favorite for a lot of reasons but I'm always finding new ones!!

i kind of think of DMTIA as my version of what "Gunsmoke" is (esp 1998 anime version) and the SEEDS project. I just always loved to think about a planet like that since I was a teen. So the "start" of the world in FFAK (for the humans there) is very similar in some aspects.

there are a lot of specific reasons why DMTIA was this kind of this weirdly empty world with 1 big government super power of psychic rich cyborgs with talking flesh sticks though. mostly being that it always kind of was that way. a lot of it is very trigun-core w/ the ideas behind "Gunsmoke" lol

i think when it comes to FFAK's worldbuilding it kind of isn't built with the ability to portray so many aspects of society in even a like.. symbolic parallel kind of way. i dont mind that bc i am not that kind of writer/worldbuilder anyway. but it does feel REALLY goofy sometimes to consider.

human society in FFAK is a bit more like, less amazing but it also has a lot more "vaguely utopia society" problems. meanwhile DMTIA was more of "everything sucks and we're all dying & being blown up by space ships the size of mountains." but still a bit.. overly simple worlds at their essence.

instead its a lot more like.. yeah you are a cool shapeshifter and maybe even have all these crazy powers but you still have a minimum wage job. because everyone is a cool shapeshifter with crazy powers. however.. you also get 1 hour lunch AND dental insurance. so is it really all that bad??

FFAK is funny for me to write because its a scifi that isn't like.. Omg what if the future was SO FUCKED UP AND EVIL where everything SUCKS SO MUCH WORSE! but it also isnt like AND SOCIETY IS FIXED for everyone and NO PROBLEMS HAPPEN ANYMORE (until you discover they secretly are still there..)

Thanks! It's been a blast to draw so far lol I already feel very comfortable drawing the story!

The whole first chapter is already done!! 👍

i finished the first chapter tonight!! yay!! ok now i must go to bed.. i stayed up too late..

that hair looks so good!!

i think religion of toy might be the first comic since FFAK that i've made that frequently shifts timelines. like NRD does have some flashbacks here and there but its really not the same extended-scenes sort of thing.

When you're focused on 'serious' art, you still have to make time to fill a few sketchbook pages with fan art for desert. @kosmicdream.bsky.social
#ffak