Ok, ok. I finally decided to post this. This thing is being in the works since 2023. I originally kept it to myself as I perfected the designs and story (and got swept away by other projects...) but here it is: My Kirby Role Swap Au!
It started out with just the idea what if THESE TWO swapped roles. Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot are some the most thematic heavy games, gardens and technology, fairytales and sci-fi, a kingdom and a company.
I kind of goes against my usual patterns, I usually show off main characters first, but I think this duo represents better my vision. I'll slowly showcase other characters whenever I get the chance.
Anyway, let me elaborate in my au versions of these characters.
Taranza:
A young inventor from a distant planet and a rather recent hire of Sectra Labs Inc., a company that specializes in biotechnology and bionics, that is genetic manipulation and mechanical enhancements. This company explores the universe to harvest new specimens for their experiments. In their travels, Taranza hopes of reuniting with an old friend.
When thinking about this au, I didn't want things to be just changing roles, but also a few story details and how they play out. So, I made SLI a bio tec company instead of a robotics one.
Taranza, then, doesn't use magic but his own inventions (he doesn't have any genetic alterations as he is new). I drew how electricity just bolts from his gloves, he also has invisibility and a sticky solution he can shoot. I also gave him these expressive goggles just because I like those.
In story, he is a bit peeved about having to deal with the interloper in his first planetary harvest trip; but we also get to see a dorkier side of him as he gushes about what he or the company has made to deal with the pink pest, I'm thinking Varian from Tangled.
But also, as the plot moves, he grows concerned about how intrusive the harvest process actually is as he joined for a legit interest of helping improving lives using processes of nature, like Joronia used to do. Oh, the pain he will find in the end.
Susie:
Through the islands of Crystalia descended a mysterious lady who captured Lord Meta Knight, but why? Whatever her mission is, she won't tell. Yet it's clear she will use any tricks to not let anyone get in her way. With her magic crystal, she can control the elements.
Oh Susie, Susie, Susie. I had this long conundrum. Ok, Tanzy has mechanical enhancements to replace magic, but in a way different to how Susie uses tech (it wasn't always like that); but how do I do something similar to Susie?
I came up with the wand, but that wasn't enough. This came up to me recently, but what if she could just create elemental armor around her? Something like how certain character does in Ninjago Dragons Rising; but is wind, is water, it can be anything! She does have other things too, like her crossbow.
She is a woman on a mission, but this time is Crystalia instead of Floralia. I wanted something natural and pretty, but that kinda aligns better with the characters involved. Kirby still has to climb the Dreamstalk using Sunstones, though.
Opossed to Taranza, Susie seems to have some sort of secret plan. She is wayless chatty, acts more somber. Could it be related to her being a wanted fugitive by the kingdom?
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Ok, this winded up longer than intended. I hope you find my idea interesting. I'll get to more entries when I can, might drop at random days, I have other projects I want out. Could look up "EFY's Kirby role swap au" to find more entries... or just follow me (・・。)ゞ
I forgot putting these extra sketches, a little teaser. These are NOT the finalized designs (I gave Taranza a mech) but will give you an idea of my process.
The Story Pt.2: The many, many many, drafts (Second Draft)
Yeah, so turns out I have all the writing I did for the story. They were just in a folder called "scripts" for some reason.
First Outline
This was the first ever outline I made for the series. The Walten Files episode 4 came out while I was writing this. That's the only reason "We'll meet again" is there.
You'd probably guess by now that "SPM" is Seymour Partick Morgan, the creator of all of the toons.
For the second round of planning, I had Several different outlines written down. Each one a sort of formula that I could stick to to help with figuring out what happens next.
The consent structure was the most fleshed out of these, as you can see.
Anotha one.
Madeliene's Character arc. She's definitely one of my favourite characters. So much so that I'm reusing her and Seymour for an original project. Problem is, now I feel like I've strayed too far from what I loved about her. Looking back on these notes is helping me to reassess.
Here's me actually going in depth on each individual episode. Something I forgot to mention: Pomni's eyes were meant to be damaged from being sprayed by that paint thiner stuff. She would obviously hide this fact throughout the series, since she didn't want to become defunct.
The toons being humans was decided really late. I still don't like the idea. It's been done to death. The toons are just toons, got it?
So, uh, halfway through I decided I wanted ot make an ARG instead. I love ARGs, especially the ones that cover topics more "close to home" so to speak. The haunted puppet shows that reflect the human need to be seen, the kid's show made by a local urban legend, the fnaf fan series that explores the very real consequences that would arise from killing.
I had my own themes in mind mainly -
Yeah, that. I'm still carrying most of these across to the amazing Animated circus' successor, Animation Station. I don't know what it is, I guess I feel that we don't give enough focus to the people that need it most. And isn't the idea of being forgotten one of humanity's biggest fears?
Originally, the website (Yes there was a website) would have been supplemental to the audio drama. I was the only person working on both, so that was absolutely not going to work.
For the story I had some themes in mind. Mainly-
Yeah, that. I'm still carrying most of these across to the Amazing Animated circus' successor, Animation Station. I don't know what it is, I guess I feel that we don't give enough support or focus to those that need it most. And isn't the idea of being forgotten one of humanity's biggest fears?
Hey there, I'm ner5y. About 5 months ago, I accidentally deleted my art blog, along with all the side blogs that came with it. This included a little tadc au I made called The Amazing Animated Circus. I put a lot of effort into that AU- watching old cartoons and researching their concept art to practice their style and consistency and the like.
I was even starting to make an audio drama, for a bit. I gave up.
But, This AU (along with my deleted art blog) was still a pretty big chapter in my life. I met some close friends through my endeavours. Also, my tumblr blogs were just an nice catalogue of all my projects in one convenient place. No need to plug in a hard drive or anything.
So I'd like to put it all back up for folks to see. Just to share my old passions with whoever'd care to look.
There are two versions of the Amazing Animated Circus.
The first draft (started around December 2023), the version I made with no preemptive planning, and the second draft (started around mid-late 2024) the one that took all that research I mentioned earlier. The stories are a bit different too.
My admin has decided to upload the content for these drafts alongside each other, so if you're wondering why their are two sets of characters, that's why.
The way you tell the difference between the two is by the colour of the backgrounds. And the designs, of course. First draft mostly uses grey backgrounds and second uses a yellowy-beige paper colour.
that's all for now! Welcome (or welcome back) to The Amazing Animated circus!
Ah, so that what happened, I was wondering where it all had gone.
What a shame too, I was looking forward to see how that Audio Drama would’ve turned out, i guess it became too difficult to make or did something else happen that caused you to give up?
The Story Pt.2: The many, many many, drafts (Second Draft)
Yeah, so turns out I have all the writing I did for the story. They were just in a folder called "scripts" for some reason.
First Outline
This was the first ever outline I made for the series. The Walten Files episode 4 came out while I was writing this. That's the only reason "We'll meet again" is there.
You'd probably guess by now that "SPM" is Seymour Partick Morgan, the creator of all of the toons.
For the second round of planning, I had Several different outlines written down. Each one a sort of formula that I could stick to to help with figuring out what happens next.
The consent structure was the most fleshed out of these, as you can see.
Anotha one.
Madeliene's Character arc. She's definitely one of my favourite characters. So much so that I'm reusing her and Seymour for an original project. Problem is, now I feel like I've strayed too far from what I loved about her. Looking back on these notes is helping me to reassess.
Here's me actually going in depth on each individual episode. Something I forgot to mention: Pomni's eyes were meant to be damaged from being sprayed by that paint thiner stuff. She would obviously hide this fact throughout the series, since she didn't want to become defunct.
The toons being humans was decided really late. I still don't like the idea. It's been done to death. The toons are just toons, got it?
So, uh, halfway through I decided I wanted ot make an ARG instead. I love ARGs, especially the ones that cover topics more "close to home" so to speak. The haunted puppet shows that reflect the human need to be seen, the kid's show made by a local urban legend, the fnaf fan series that explores the very real consequences that would arise from killing.
I had my own themes in mind mainly -
Yeah, that. I'm still carrying most of these across to the amazing Animated circus' successor, Animation Station. I don't know what it is, I guess I feel that we don't give enough focus to the people that need it most. And isn't the idea of being forgotten one of humanity's biggest fears?
Originally, the website (Yes there was a website) would have been supplemental to the audio drama. I was the only person working on both, so that was absolutely not going to work.
For the story I had some themes in mind. Mainly-
Yeah, that. I'm still carrying most of these across to the Amazing Animated circus' successor, Animation Station. I don't know what it is, I guess I feel that we don't give enough support or focus to those that need it most. And isn't the idea of being forgotten one of humanity's biggest fears?
Here I will be reposting all of the art that was lost when the original Animated Circus account was accidentally deleted. Most (if not all) of the posts will probably just be a stream of consciousness accompanied by any images I'd like to share.
the idea that everyone is a digital copy doesn't make sense when we consider the following:
-scratch was working on a way to live forever because of his brain tumor, but the circus isn't his creation, it's caine's. He didnt create a world to live in, he tested AI first with caine and then with the blue AI (that we assume is the original Abel)
-when we see scratch interacting with caine, caine looks off, like hes still a more primitive AI, still learning, but everyone else looks confused. something went wrong
-If we consider that the devs are digital copies, we have to remember that C&A is not an abandoned building yet. it's already hard to believe scratch made everyone test the game at the same time, leaving no one on the outside to pull them out (assuming its like matrix, where you need someone in the real world to plug you in and get you out), but also, if a digital copy is made when you put on the headset, but your physical body is unchanged, why wouldnt scratch or any other dev see this and not do anything about it? like trying to mess with caine's programming (considering he absorbed abel without any input from the devs) or delete the digital copies? scratch is acting like something went wrong, he cant remember his or his coworkers' names and he cant leave, so why wouldnt he in the real life intervene? unless their real bodies can't access the real life computer caine is running on, like if their entire bodies were digitized (aka the tron theory)
-C&A eventually shuts down (probably because the whole staff went missing) and years later, ragatha, with a team of other people, comes to see the building, probably to sell it or condemn it, and she also puts on the headset. if the soma theory is true, ragatha in the real world saw a working computer, tried the headset, took it off, and didnt tell any of her coworkers about it.
She also didnt get to a deal, which means the building was left abandoned for even longer with electricity (which at this point would be over 20 years), and there have been people who would be able to either shut down the game or the computer, but didnt. if C&A devs were laid off or something like that, they would have turned off the computers before leaving, meaning every digital copy in the circus, npcs and caine would have died, but they didnt
its easier to assume ragatha and her team didnt touch anything (aside from putting on the headset once and not letting anyone else in the team try it, which is hard to believe) and left. But they also had the chance to turn off the power in the building and didnt
then jax, gangle, zooble and pomni came. we dont know what everyone of them was doing there, but I think its safe to assume they were alone, so no holes there since there would be nobody else to pull them out, turn off the computer or try on the headset after them
TL;DR it makes no sense that they are digital copies, because there were plenty of chances of either their real world selfs or people who were with them to mess with the computer caine is running on, delete their digital copies or destroy the computer. It does make sense if their bodies disappear when they put on the headset though
What the? The confrontation at Angel Island only lasted Two Issues? Thought it would be, as i figured it was what we were building towards, but i guess not and now we’re continuing the Story-line with Silver and Blaze?
Hm, i see, kind of figured to be honest, it’s a Fan-Made Game Series that doesn’t have that much of a presence, I mean heck the Third installment is all that I’ve found on YouTube, still I recommend checking it out, from what I can remember it seemed pretty well done and interesting.
As for the PowerDark Girls, take a look at this Pic and tell me what you think? (The Pic got through, right?)
I see! Fan games are always neat. I'll make a note to check out videos when I get the chance
As for the Powerdark Girls I feel neutral about them upon a first glance. I don't really have too much to say other than they seem like another take on the PPG but "evil" at a first glance. I'm sure there's more to them backstory/personality but design-wise they're kinda plain imo
I see, fair enough, to me the image already says a lot based on their expressions, well I say a lot, but all it really says is that there are some history there, however it’s what kind of history that can be alluded to by the expressions, as well as by some other small Design Details, that makes me fascinated in them and their potential by just this Image alone.
