#ask gage

[catcomixzstudios]

I'm gonna say 3 for Leon, Luca, and Trinity, but in particular, in an out-of-universe sense! What were you thinking when you named them, what was the process and were there potential fun alternatives?

Leon's name is of course the oldest, since his goes back to the old Cat Comixz days. Originally, Leon and Melody were names I was going to use for kids if I ever had them, though they ended up bestowed upon my delightful cat children instead.

Unfortunately since those were names I picked out back when I was in late middle school, I can't say for certain where they were originally inspired from. Best guess with Leon is his namesake being Leon from Kingdom Hearts. Not even the Final Fantasy game he's from, no, from Kingdom Hecking Hearts.

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I truly wish I had an interesting and deep line of reasoning behind Luca's name, but really the best I can offer is that when I was first coming up with the character, that name just immediately jumped into the forefront of my mind. It was just "okay here's this character concept LUCA HER NAME IS LUCA IS CANNOT BE ANYTHING ELSE." I probably owe Square Enix again for this one, since I'm pretty sure I first heard Luca as a name in Final Fantasy X... though in that game, it's the name of a city.

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Trinity's name is actually a relic from the Pre-Alpha version of KttFF. Basically, before I actually had any real concept for the story beyond "Leon ends up in the far future," the comic was going to be stuffed to the gills with references to sci-fi media. Probably not like clever or meaningful ones, just references for references sake.

I had to get down the genders of the Future Siblings first, but that took a weirdly long time; I was pretty confident about Ms Shepard (named after Commander Shepard from Mass Effect), but I was having trouble with the other sibling. (I'd like to pretend Trinity being trans was a Clever Nod I specifically planned out before the comic started, but that honestly just developed naturally along with her autism.)

Anyway the point is I eventually settled on The Other Sibling being a woman, and basically went down my list of Arbitrary References to make and figured, "Eh, Trinity (from the Matrix) is as good a name as any."

Again, I didn't plan for Trinity to be trans as KttFF was starting. So that fact that her name is on loan from a film where the directors both came out as transwomen after the fact? That's personally one of my favorite aspects of Trinity.

[catcomixzstudios]

[spins to a stop] if all of the main KTFF cast were transplanted to a Superhero-type genre, what would their powers and/or modus operandi be? Or for a chiller question: what would they all get in a frozen yogurt place

Only read the first line at first and THAT would have been a much different question

Going off the cuff, my immediate thought is that Trinity would go for some kind of shape-shifting/mutation powerset. Easily.

Ms Shepard strikes me as someone who would be more of a Batman-type. Less about "powers" but more prepared for just about any situation through tools.

Leon as he is now would probably go for something more immediately flashy like cool elemental powers, but as he gets older, I think he'd lean more towards Psychonauts kinds of abilities.

Luca would probably go for your more traditional super strength or something of that nature, since Tecktrins generally aren't known for their physical prowess.

[catcomixzstudios]

Getting you back for the ask meme:

Trinity, 3 and 6

Leon, 1 and 8

Luca, 2 and 4

For TRINITY 3. What is your character always a slut for? Besides aliens? The thing about Trinity is that she's honestly pretty outgoing and basically willing to try most things at least once. She's conscious of her habits and, given time, is eager to break them. In terms of major interests, though? She LOVES anything that lets her make a show of things. Total theatre kid. She kills it at karoke or Jackbox night.

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6. What are their drinking habits? Do they hold their liquor well? Whether or not she holds it well is beyond the point to her. It's about PARTYING, you see. I don't imagine she actually drinks super often, per se, but if there's a good reason to party, she's all-in. I imagine when drunk, she still infodumps, but there are way more useless tangents to it all.

--- For LEON 1. Describe one time your character embarrassed themselves. We don't get the best look at it in the comic, but one part of Leon's Wikipedia article features an picture of him with a weird expression. The backstory to it is that, as Leon was getting more prominent, he was given the chance to offer input on his own Wikipedia article. He did, but didn't feel like fishing around for pictures, especially for the Early Life section. So he just let his husband and wife pick some out. Naturally, because they both love him, they picked the most awkward thing they could find. At first he was absolutely feeling getting his lumps for that, but it quickly became a meme to him and stuck on the article.

--- 8. What does your character look for in another person? He's not the type to usually put himself out there romantically, surprisingly. Leon'll end up meeting both of his spouses through work (his husband through genetics, his wife through history respectively). I imagine both of them technically made the first move, and Leon would quickly become enchanted by their respective passions nearly matching his own. Both of them also act as a balancing force to him in different ways, something he absolutely needs as his life goes on.

--- For LUCA 2. One thing your character is proud of? Despite the stress is causes her, she's proud of her long service between the Foundations. Remember, she's 64, and the sisters are both only half her age. There may be older members on staff on both sides (especially with there being aliens around), but Luca's deffos called upon for insight quite frequently. Beyond that, she's also proud of being an absolute MASTER at nearly any game she tries. Not just the carnival-like games we're seeing in the comic, she's a #Gamer

--- 4. Your character’s morning routine when being at home/in camp? (waking up, getting dressed, breakfast etc.) I am forced to consider where Luca LIVES. There are places to live extremely close to both Foundations, though she's also not above sleeping at work from time to time. Whether she's waking up in her apartment or at work, though, Luca has a pretty quiet morning. She gets herself all cleaned up, usually remembers breakfast, and gets as much gaming in before work as possible.

[catcomixzstudios]

for the meme: 4, 5, 44 and 45

God DAMN, Clockie, you're quick. Thank you!

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4. A character you rarely talk about? WHERE DO I EVEN START? Most of the ones I'd pick are usually characters who haven't shown up yet in my stuff, so of course talking about them would be spoilers. That includes the characters in my Next Big Comic.

In the last few days, though, I went on a binge of creating tabletop characters I can use for games.

They come in Serious: - "I am the last of a crafted race designed for destruction, and do not share those goals... but I hold the key for potentially bringing back my people anew" - "I used to understand magic but now I think some Powerful Source has... replaced my magic?? Taken it over??? Also my home has been hit with some kind of blight and I'm terrified to think I might be connected to it" - "Hello!!! We am a gentle hivemind being. We're a powerful warrior, yes, but we would prefer whenever possible to resolve things peacefully. Fortunate favors us not, however, as we are dying from a rare illness we are unable to treat. We hope to find a cure/treatment on our journey"

But since I'm me, the concepts also come in Silly: - "I'm from a warrior people but I actually prefer to get in arguments rather than physically fight" - "Hey hi I think I took a wrong turn somewhere because I'M NOT FROM THIS DIMENSION" - "I don't actually know how magic works, but I think it'd be dope as hell if I could make literally everyone in the world magic" - "I'm a little plague doctor doll willed to life! I'm a surprisingly good medic despite not really understanding how the bodies of organic beings work!"

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5. If you could make only one of your OCs popular/known, who would it be? I'd say Trinity, but I'm pretty sure she's the most popular of my characters so far, so honestly, that works for me.

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44. Something you like about your OCs in general One aspect of my character creation process in just about any series is including at least one very small detail that I myself can relate to. Not necessarily agree with or have personally experienced, but something that gives me a connection point for getting in their head. IMO, it breathes a little bit more life in them.

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45. A character you no longer use? Most of the cast from the comic I did before KttFF, Cat Comixz, managed to make the cut into the follow-up series, if only in cameos or smaller roles. While I still have a potential thread connecting Atelia to KttFF, her role was DRASTICALLY reduced.

In one of the early drafts of KttFF, Atelia was going to be the one that kills Leon in the original timeline of events. That's what the whole Assassins thing (which I stole whole cloth from Assassin's Creed, obviously) was meant to lead up to. Ya know, for the DRAMA.

Buuut for a multitude of reasons, I dropped that idea. And now she's at best circumstantially related things now. Honestly, given what I originally had planned, I think this was the better call.

[catcomixzstudios]

trope to grade: Loves Me, Hates My Alter Ego (or vice versa)

Hmm... B. I don't actively seek it out much, but I pretty much always like it. It's got lots of comedic potential, but also provides lots of chances to dig down into characters' psyches.

Frankly I'm always in for stories that explore identity, and these ones have a fun potential twist of analyzing "Who is this character really?" After all, even if the Text of the story tries to say "X version of the character is real, the other is a mask," the fact that it is effective enough to make someone view this character in two COMPLETELY different ways inherently shows there's more depth to it.

Thank you!

[catcomixzstudios]

10, 13, & 18. I think I vaguely recall you telling me that you're tall but I don't remember specifically how tall is the Gage.

10: How tall am I?I just tried to measure my height and I appear to be between like 5′8″ and 5′11″. Funny enough I’m shorter than most of my IRL friends. 

13: Favorite color?It’s a common answer, but blue. I nowadays consider myself a more nature-y person than a water-y person, but blue is just more pleasant to me. 

18: Do I use sarcasm?Not often, actually, unless it’s exaggerated to the point of being criminally obvious. Most of my social interaction happens online, and it’s not always easy to get across without it being super exaggerated. 

Plus in real life I often miss sarcasm and jokes thrown my way so I’m not great at returning it.

[catcomixzstudios]

🌀

🌀 - Favorite type of weather?

Honestly, it depends. If I have to work, I’d prefer it be nice out so my bike ride doesn’t suck. 

If I’m just at home making comics or hanging out with friends, I love nice rainy weather. Very calming. 

[catcomixzstudios]

I have a request but i'm not sure if i should ask. Do you think i can try?

I don’t have problems with people making requests, so long as they understand that I might not do them. No hard feelings for trying to, go ahead!