Looming Gaia Trivia: Poffles
Poffles were inspired by the real-world purebred pet industry, specifically purebred dogs.
In the real world, some dogs are bred purely for aesthetic features, and over time the breed's health and behavior becomes compromised in the name of fashion.
There's a personal story attached to this one: When I was 8 or 9 years old, I visited a friend with a purebred pug. This poor animal was the most messed up creature I had ever seen; every breath was a loud wheeze, its tongue was always hanging out because it wouldn't physically fit in the dog's mouth, its eyes were literally popping out of its head, it could barely walk without falling over, it would shit everywhere because its bowels didn't work, and hearing my friend's mom proudly go on and on about how this dog was "purebred" and "super expensive" and "the cutest breed" really affected me. I felt like this woman was so hypnotized by status, she couldn't even see how miserable this dog was. It was totally deformed and unable to survive on its own...all for the sake of human aesthetics.
When I was conceptualizing poffles, I kept thinking back to that dog. I decided to lay some dark humor over a sickening childhood experience and crank the monster's health problems to 11, making them so messed up and annoying that no one could possibly tolerate them...and yet, many people in the World of Looming Gaia practically worship them and go to great lengths to keep breeding them, just like my friend's crazy mother.
Poffles were created by the Divine of Vanity, purely for the sake of fashion. They were meant to be a cute, disposable little accessory for their owners to tote around, so no thought was put into their well-being, only their cuteness.
They're meant to serve as an annoying little mascot for the World of Looming Gaia series, parodying characters of the 70's and 80's who were designed specifically to sell toys. If you aren't familiar with media from that time period: fantasy was very in style, and oftentimes the writers would be forced to cram some annoying little critter in their show that only existed to be cute, perform funny antics, and sell toys of itself.
That's poffles. Except their cuteness is only surface-level; their behavior is nightmarish and they are not something that anyone would want to deal with in real life.
So, that's how they came to be. I think the funniest thing about them is how dark their real origins are lol.
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