Finally back on the villain designs for Tsubasa's team, we now have the Marzipan Kingdom! If you're going "whomst?", these are the villains from the SuperS movie. Since in the movie itself they were implied to all actually being birds, I took that to its logical conclusion and made them all birds of paradise lol. I don't super change their story, but still, more info below!
Queen Badiane (Carola's parotia) is the Conductor of the Marzipan Kingdom, a realm in ruins due to her obsession with becoming more and more powerful. She seeks Sugar Energy, obtained from people that overfocus on one single feeling/situation, to power up her Black Dream Hole and eventually swallow the Earth, trapping everyone in a loop where she can exploit their lives forever. For this cause, she enlists four of her remaining subjects (named the Flutes) and sends them to Earth to harvest said energy from the population, using their music to deteriorate people until they're ready for draining, using their BonBon Babies for support. Said subjects are:
Perle (ribbon-tailed astrapia), 4th Flute, using the Green BonBons to amplify people's envy and desire to win. The least enthused to do his job, he does it out of a belief that it's either this or dying a worse death, until the Senshi in general and Lia especifically help him realize that quitting is in fact an option, and is the first to betray Badiane, acting as intel for the Senshi while in hiding.
Banane (lesser bird of paradise), 3rd Flute, using the Orange BonBons that augment people's sweetness and joy. The most boisterous of the Flutes, he's also the strongest physically of the 4, and the one that seems to enjoy the work the most. He seems to truly believe in Badiane initially, but Perle's betrayal ends up opening his eyes and also defects.
Orangeat (King of Saxony's bird), 2nd Flute, controlling the Pink Bonbons that specialize in amplifying people's sourness and anger. He's pretty similar to Poupelin, but where he is stoic Orangeat is loud, openly scorning people, and is perfectly aware that he is just another piece in Badiane's game, and has no plans on joining the Senshi, believing they'll just use him as well.
Poupelin (black sicklebill), the 1st Flute, and the leader of the Flutes overall, controlling the Blue BonBons specializing in augmenting people's bitterness and resentment. He's pretty cold and stoic, believing that fulfilling Badiane's whims will let all of them be free in the end. He's initially very protective of Perle until he betrays them, and becomes determined to kill him himself.
The Marzipan Kingdom is the second villain faction Tsubasa's team faces, and it's during this attack that both Lia and Akito join them.
Dream Fairy/Oneiroi Redesigns (from the Sailor Moon Super S Movie)
Part two Here
Delia belongs to me
Perle, Poupelin, Banane, and Orangeat belong to Naoko Takeuchi
Design Notes and Mythological allusions under the cut
So! There’s very little canon information on these guys, which makes them PRIME REAL ESTATE for OC and worldbuilding.
The information we do know is this:
-They can draw energy from sleeping dreamers
-They use instruments to create illusions/control people
-They turn into birds when defeated (though this doesn’t seem to kill them)
POINT THE FIRST. All four, but especially Banane and Orangeat, are a reference to “The Pied Piper of Hamlin”, who used a magic pipe to lure children away out of revenge. “Pied” is an old word that refers to multicolored clothing; think like how medieval jesters and harlequins dressed. However this doesn’t explain the connection to dreams OR the turning into birds; which brings us into:
POINT THE SECOND. Dreams are not often connected to characters in literature, but there are two major exceptions. A “Mare” or “Mara”, is a creature from European folklore that brings bad dreams i.e. “nightmares”. Another is the Greek “Oneiroi” (literally, “Dreams”). In Hesiod’s Theogony he refers to Oneiroi as the fatherless children of Nyx (the night) They are described as shapeshifting “black winged daemons”. Now, I dunno about y’all; but “shapeshifting into a winged creature” sounds a whole lot like “turning into a bird” to me.
Now that we’ve reviewed the canon information and mythological allusions, it’s time to get into headcanon.
General species notes are as follows
-In antiquity species with feathery “winged” ears, modern Oneiroi lose their ear feathers as they grow, leaving bare pointed ears.
-The first generation of Oneiroi had dark features, dark extremities, and large physical wings. Over time and with the influence of other populations, they’ve developed a wider range of body types, coloration, and have lost permanent corporeal wings. Instead they developed smaller semi-corporeal, magic formed wings (i.e. “fairy” wings), the size and presence of which depends on the individuals magic development.
In short, Perle has wings because his magic is stronger than his brother’s.
-Oneiroi are from the planet Limina, in the Deneb star system. Limina is called such because it is a magic hotspot and has several “liminal spaces”, where the dreamscape overlaps with reality. More on that another time.
DESIGN NOTES
I didn’t actually do too much for these redesigns, the biggest challenge was in making Banane and Orangeat’s designs look slightly more unified with Perle and Poupelin’s.
Perle’s shirt has been simplified to a white tunic with translucent crop top
Poupelin’s ribbons are all shorter.
Banane has baggier pants, a more geometric tunic design, and a multicolored turban-like cap instead of whatever the hell his original hat was.
Orangeat’s hair and accessories make more sense, and I’ve replaced his cape/shawl with a translucent orange sash. He’s also got shorter, puffier pants to make his silhouette more interesting.
.Ein kleiner Nachtrag zur Weihnachtszeit. Das Rezept für einen Christstollen. Ich habe ihn nach Thüringer Art zubereitet, also mit Rosinen und Orangen- und Zitronenschalen verfeinert. Und mit wirklich sehr viel Puderzucker zum Bestäuben nach dem Backen.
Eigentlich wollte ich das Rezept Anfang der Adventszeit, also Anfang Dezember, veröffentlichen. Aus irgend einem Grund habe ich das übersehen und…
Reste verwerten kann so einfach sein: Denn bleiben beim weihnachtlichen Backen Orangen- oder Zitronenschalen übrig, zerlegt man diese und legt sie ein. Und schon hat man zuckerfreies Orangeat und Zitronat.
Ich war -offen zugegeben- nie wirklich ein Freund von den totgezuckerten Fruchtstücken. Jetzt sogar noch weniger, wo ich weiß, wie einfach Orangeat und Zitronat selber gemacht werden kann.