January 17, 2023

First love-able claws to dig into 🦞

Obscure monster crushes from stories prompt the awkward logistics of relationships.

Hi delicate talons,

Everyone's got their 'first'...

...monster they couldn't help but have a crush on. So, for the first newsletter for 2023 (Happy New Year!), I'll give you a not-at-all obscure and unreasonable choice from my past:

Screenshot from the game



My interpretation. I added teeth. Very important.

Ah, the spitting picture of perfection. Elegantly named "Reflux", you get to beat him up date him twice in the game Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, he has a voice from the deep (cut scene), and his lifetime's motivation is to be a champion and take vengeance on Rayman who un-championed him. Inspiring~

Oh, and he has the most kick-ass boss theme.

I wouldn't give him the blame for being the first monster I got really invested in (that title goes to a different game), or the first character crush (different franchise) but I would blame him for inspiring the first story I wrote in English shortly after immigrating to Australia (which I'll share about at some other point).

My sensibilities didn't move on after that. I'd take every opportunity to headcanon the side monstrous characters in media into romantic sojourns.

But why the hell monster romances? Couldn't I have picked cartoon-ified humans just as well?

Of course, monsters look damn cool. They have powers, and even if they don't, they're a font for the imagination. Artists and writers have goofed around with the awkward logistics of kissing toothy jaws or non-mouths forever and a half. And claws, and wings, tails, and wicked eyes? The options are endless.

But monsters as romantic partners don't just beg the question 'how is this going to work?' from a physical perspective.

In school, my only source of relationship experience outside of immediate circles came from teenager's shows about weird arbitrary rules. Like: 'it not you/me, it's me/you', love triangles, and the aloof-pretending-tango. All written without depth, at the time. I was no relationship wiz - are we kidding, still am not - but they left me feeling disconnected and annoyed.

Ironically, the shows about real people felt the most unreal.

Whether from a fantastical setting with a home-brewed culture, or a lone entity that just happens to exist, a monster wouldn't fit clean into our social dependencies. We can't approach them with the same old tricks of flowers and winks, nor hold onto them with empty promises.

They challenge what a relationship really entails, and how much we're willing to navigate it.

...although a monster getting flustered over flowers and winks is still adorable.

It's like we're encouraged to see the strange and unexpected in the people we meet with an open mind. That wasn't a Ken or a Georgia or a Zion you just met. They're a secretly flower-loving 6am sprinter. Or a fingernail-paint-scratching old movie marathoner, and a lemon-tree fostering death metal guitarist. They might even encourage us to find our personal quirks and inconsistencies appealing.

Next time, you'll find out some of those quirks about Korumn, my current comic project's monster love interest.

___

> Did you have an obscure 'first monster crush?' Do share!

___

keep cool... because it sure is summer in Australia right now,

Jennifer

---

Blog bites

In the future, my second newsletter for the month will contain a summary of all my latest blog posts. For now, here are a few posts from last year while I get the ball rolling.