I've been wanting to give my Knack oc a complete redesign for a long time now, the motivation to draw that has been non-existent. So I figured "why not use Tomodachi Life for that?" and BAM!
Her face paint is canonically just face paint, no fancy jewels on her
((she looks like a mini Ganon lmao, this design is still subject to change))
Or a loincloth in the first game and maybe some kind of sumo wrestler gear - mawashi - in the second game?
I nabbed this concept art from a reddit user, who in turn likely got it from RelicBoyKnack, who reposted it from an official source. I wonder how he's doing... I'm rerereposting this image because it gives us a general idea of Knack's parts and their placement, although not in their exact size or number and proportion. The pyramids around his waist are gold in the first game, which can be hard to see because they are reflective. I used to think the pyramids on Knack's chest represented breasts or pecs or the like, but after seeing this, idk what they are. But anyway.
Knack's character design in the first game adheres pretty closely to the example, such as:
I notice that the pyramid relics in this stage, and even larger to a certain point, only really cover the front, rather than the back. This may give the impression of a loincloth. Knack doesn’t exactly have a butt until the second game (more on that later), so maybe the devs didn't bother with it too much. Or maybe the cubes are part of the clothing aspect. What do you think?
When he gets larger, teal pyramid relics are added to the collection of pyramids at his waist. This is why I think he has a skirt or the like.
This is *almost* as large as he gets before he starts putting on red relics in the first game, which has been interpreted by the fandom as hair, fur, or quills (a la hedgehog, iirc). He still has the skirt on in his largest form.
In the second game, the cubes and pyramids seem to be at the same level at his waist. As soon as little knack collects any relics, the pyramids that he starts with are immediately replaced with the cubes, at least from what I recall seeing. There's an odd pattern where Knack at 5 feet and above has two smaller pyramid relics above the cube relics, and a bigger central pyramid relic.
This trend remains even when he's 6-7 feet tall, but he does get red pyramid relics, too. I don't know why the ones on the sides are lower. In the first game, he seems to have teal pyramids there at that height, and in the second game, certain pyramids are made red. Not sure why.
Anyway, at a certain size and beyond, the design evolves to where red cubes and red pyramids make up a strip at his waist, but it seems to be much narrower than in the first game. So it lends a kind of belt-like impression.
Even though the devs gave him a butt at a certain size to fill some space between his legs and torso, and you see it a lot while you're playing the game, it seems to be angled away during various cutscenes. You'd think that with the gratuitous Lifting and Door Opening scenes viewed from behind, you'd incidentally see his butt-crack at many points, but it turns out not so much. I do have a few screenshots looking under there, and there's a strip of gold-green cubes. That's why I wonder if it's like mawashi or something.
It takes me a while to find good, clear screenies. Knack's design is so busy that it's best viewed in motion to fully comprehend it, I think. In KNACK II, Knack gradually becomes more red at a sooner size stage, so his red belt is nearly impossible to see when he is at maximum size. I didn't really try to grab screenies that include clear crystals or ice or metal, because they're either very hard to see or cover him up. The below screenies are not at his maximum size, but getting close. The clothing is hard to see.
I hope this was informative. What do you think the design of that area represents?
