Cold stoic to flirt expert ❄😘
From original source material to re-interpretation; how one piece of media converted a stoic biomechanical monster into a fabulous disaster.
Hi savagely enchanting ,
It's the season of running noses again here, so I caught a cold the past two weeks. I couldn't do much of anything but cough, so as delayed as this newsletter is from the usual, I still wanted to get you something fun!
I realised after releasing the Hateship Demo that, besides little updates at the end of newsletter, I haven't spoken about the project in any detail!
And if there's anything I can yak on about for hours even with groggy brain, it's these dorks.
When I uploaded this cartoon design exercise to Twitter, it was accompanied by a joke...
Cough cough, wink wink, LEGO
I had every intention to do something with this idea, even scripted up a good chunk of an episodic-structured comic... But as ambition goes, that project is sitting on the backburner. If only there were three of me!
Hateship is acting as the stand-in until I can get around to it again someday.
Yes, they keep demanding my attention...
Over...
A panel from a short action-comic called Grounded, 2015.
And over...
Again.
You could say I've adopted them, despite technically being fan-interpretation only.
I say technically because.... these characters, who call themselves the "Piraka", were written loosely in the canon material. LEGO built the Bionicle setting, in which they exist, through a variety of media, like books, games, animations and ads. And each piece of media interpreted them differently.
I've expanded on them to the point that some of their attitudes are almost unrecognisable.
Let's take our poster-boy, Thok, for example.
In the novelisations and comics, which are the most story-rich source of canon, he lacked any particular role. He seemed smart, could work out a mystery, and had a back-stabby attitude. Otherwise, though, he was just around.
And if you looked at any of the fan-run wikipedias, they describe him as a cold loner archetype. I still haven't worked out where that was the case, perhaps a game.
Confusing, much?
You could accuse me for being off-base with turning Thok into a complete charmer and flirt expert. Didn't even bother with the cool approach.
But, there's one advertisement which we, collectively as a fandom, blame for convincing us otherwise.
There's even a friggin' sparkle in there
Swoooooon~
He, and the Piraka were the first set of 'individualised' villains that showed up in the story series. Meaning: rather than one Big Bad who had a litany of brain-less minions, here were seven people with conflicting intentions.
Because of that, creating a coherent story, which had to consider six core heroes, these villains... and another six to ten extra characters (yeah... yeah. It gets like that) within the same 1-year production scope as previous arcs...
You can imagine it didn't all click together much.
Being the monster-enthusiast I am, I wished for more depth. I wanted drama, oomph to these sleazy, messy, clumsy and tragic characters. So, each of them will get a specific treatment. Based on clues from canon, but with the intention to push variety in their appearance and personalities.
When it comes to Thok, I settled for the accepted-by-the-commune smooth operator version. It created a complete contrast to the rest of the team, and also broke the stereotype of ice element = lone wolf (a common trope in the series).
But there's also.... something about him that seems restrained. He may slide many honeyed words out like a cube of ice across your skin... yet he's biting his tongue on a lot more.
He spins you around until you drop into his hands. Thok looks down at you with amusement.
Thok: "We haven't got the whole night available like this, hon'."
You don't get a chance to right yourself because he does it for you, and keeps you searching your footing as he takes you across the inlaid floor.
You hear his voice next to your ear:
Thok: "Oh, you don't need to play hard to get... although I enjoy the attempt."
(Draft sample from the game.)
And for design, his appearance was clear, even before the cartoon proportions. Elegant, streamlined, and of course, drop-dead gorgeous with a dashing smile.
Sniff. He's all grown up! 🥺
That's the fun with Bionicle: it's one of those franchises where interpretation is part of the package (like the modular toy pieces themselves!)
Another time I'll dig into one of the other louts.
catch you soon,
Jennifer
Project Updates
Well I just gave you a massive chunk of Hateship already, but I'll still give a general progress update: due to my illness, productivity suffered.
Although, being stuck in bed did give me an excuse to write!
I worked through Hakann's scenes, who's arguably the most difficult one to get right. Why? Because he's your classic self-absorbed egomaniac. Well... most of them are, to a degree, but he just goes overboard with insisting he's the best at everything. And that's one feature I feel wayyyy to much second-hand embarrassment about.
It's ok, though, because I discovered that comedy and hilarity can play into how you can connect with him. Look forward to some roudy chaos with this McDouche!
Zaktan also received some attention, who's on the TOTAL opposite scale. Miserable, dark, ruthless. You need to have a specific, sadistic taste to want to hang out with this one... 😒
Production deadlines
- Writing by 15 May, 2023.
- Release date not yet announced.