the wasteland’s dirge

home of a warrior cats-esque comic by aerosour. hiatus ending soon.

[wasted-tango]

WASTED TANGO

A warriors-inspired webcomic by @aerosour!

Synopsis: "The cats of YardClan, SnagClan, FarmClan and the Station have lived in an area long abandoned by humans for countless years, though not with ease. Challenges created by a hostile environment have driven war and animosity for ages, and cats are beginning to get fed up with the vicious cycle."

"Tanglepaw is a medic apprentice in the struggling YardClan, where a life of warfare becomes increasingly unsustainable to its population. It only takes one cat to challenge the system. Will it be them?"

CONTENT WARNING: Wasted Tango is projected to contain sensitive and potentially upsetting themes such as animal harm/death, major character death, blood / gore / body horror, themes of warfare, themes of religion and religious trauma, and use of foul language. Please read at your own risk! I am not responsible for anyone disturbed by these themes or others.

This project will be starting January 2024, and will update Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 13:00 CST until further notice.

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#wt pages - all pages (including covers)

#wt characters - character reference sheets

#wt art - all art related to the comic that is NOT a page

#wt info - posts like this!

#wt other - asks, lore drops, just me rambling. stuff that isn't listed above.

[wasted-tango]

i missed them

[wasted-tango]

thinking about my babies again… i really want to continue this story, but i think the style that i was using previously is a little too detailed for a long-term comic. i was always burnt out after finishing pages, which is inevitably why i stopped uploading.

i apologize for all the people who have been enjoying my work, you guys have been so patient and i cannot even begin to express my gratitude. i will start uploading again in the near future, but i want to work up a bit of a backlog first.

i will also be changing up the page style, so the time skip will be noticeable. luckily i’m not too far in lol

[wasted-tango]

Page 5 (Act I)

return of the Tango

[wasted-tango]

we are so back… soon :3

[wasted-tango]

hey guys! unfortunately i am once again having technical difficulties, so there will be no post tomorrow. i'm working real hard to fix my computer, so hopefully this will not continue to happen. my apologies!

[wasted-tango]

Page 4 (Act I)

the fields are barren :,(

[rcarrionplacev2]

WARRIORS BOOKS DOWNLOADS

The Prophecies Begin

Into the Wild

Fire and Ice

Forest of Secrets

Rising Storm

A Dangerous Path

The Darkest Hour

The New Prophecy

Midnight

Moonrise

Dawn

Starlight

Twilight

Sunset

Power of Three

The Sight

Dark River

Outcast

Eclipse

Long Shadows

Sunrise

Omen of the Stars

The Fourth Apprentice

Fading Echoes

Night Whispers

Sign of the Moon

The Forgotten Warrior

The Last Hope

Dawn of the Clans

The Sun Trail

Thunder Rising

The First Battle

The Blazing Star

A Forest Divided

Path of Stars

A Vision of Shadows

The Apprentice’s Quest

Thunder and Shadow

Shattered Sky

Darkest Night

Super Editions

Firestar’s Quest

Bluestar’s Prophecy

SkyClan’s Destiny

Crookedstar’s Promise

Yellowfang’s Secret

Tallstar’s Revenge

Moth Flight’s Vision

Hawkwing’s Journey

Tigerheart’s Shadow

Novellas

Hollyleaf’s Story

Mistystar’s Omen

Cloudstar’s Journey

Leafpool’s Wish

Tigerclaw’s Fury

Dovewing’s Silence

Mapleshade’s Vengeance

Goosefeather’s Curse

Ravenpaw’s Farewell

Legends of the Clans

Manga

Graystripe’s Adventure: The Lost Warrior

Graystripe’s Adventure: Warrior’s Refuge

Graystripe’s Adventure: Warrior’s Return

The Rise of Scourge

Ravenpaw’s Path: Shattered Peace

Ravenpaw’s Path: A Clan in Need

Ravenpaw’s Path: The Heart of a Warrior

SkyClan and the Stranger: The Rescue

SkyClan and the Stranger: Beyond the Code

SkyClan and the Stranger: After the Flood

Tigerstar and Sasha: Escape from the Forest

Tigerstar and Sasha: Return to the Clans

Guides

Secrets of the Clans

Cats of the Clans

Code of the Clans

Battles of the Clans

The Ultimate Guide

[wasted-tango]

hey guys! due to some technical difficulties with my software, there will be no new page tomorrow. page 4 will be out on thursday!!

[wasted-tango]

Page 3 (Act I)

i decided to change the font. i'm a big fan of serifs

mantisdance my beloved

[wasted-tango]

Page 2 (Act I)

herb gathering! :3

[wasted-tango]

Page 1 (Act I)

AND SO IT BEGINS!

i spent soo long trying to make this page juuust right. the establishing shots were the hardest by far. i only allow myself to go all out on backgrounds when it's a panel without characters

[wasted-tango]

ACT I (Page 0)

big things ahead…

[wasted-tango]

after like three days, this is finally done. here is the giant reference for every YardClan cat that is not important enough to get their own sheet.

their culture involves a lot of scavenging and making do with what little they have, which makes for a pretty bleak existence if not made interesting in some way. all Clans have an extra rank called "curator," which is basically just a select few cats in the Clan who's only job is to scavenge and create things. this can include anything from personal accessories to utilities used by the whole Clan.

due to the brutal territory that they inhabit, YardClan has a high disabled population. i'm physically disabled myself, so creating a Clan full of disability rep was pretty exciting to do (i will take any excuse to create decent representation in warriors)

please feel free to ask any questions about YardClan or its members! i love all of them dearly

[wasted-tango]

here’s the map for the territories that Wasted Tango takes place in! there’s three Clans and one major group (being the Station). YardClan and SnagClan are always beefing while FarmClan is kind of isolationist

YardClan and SnagClan hate each other so much, in fact, that FarmClan decided to take the unused extra territory to their east and make a peaceful sanctuary type of place around the lake (which is really more like a pond) where cats can come and go without violence. instead of having gatherings, the Clans host all holidays together in the Peacelands. their four major holidays are at the beginning of every season (so they occur roughly every 90 days).

also- the wheat field is YardClan territory and the tall grass field is SnagClan territory

also also- this comic takes place in the post-apocalyptic remains of a long-abandoned roadside farmland. this will be elaborated more on when i make an official starting post for the comic, but the gist is that these lands were nearby the target of heavy atomic bombing many many years ago. due to the farmlands being both pretty far off from ground zero and the disaster taking place so long ago, the long-forgotten pets left behind by evacuation have grown into the Clans known today. the area is still uninhabited by humans due to the remaining risk of radioactive sources scattered throughout the area.

[wasted-tango]

Toadpaw the curator apprentice!! he doesn’t show up until a little while into act I, but i love him so he gets to be posted a little early

[wasted-tango]

Cinderpaw and Sunpaw!! the most major of side characters. Cinderpaw is like a border collie and Sunpaw is like a borzoi, so if that doesn’t give a good insight into what their personalities are like then i don’t know what would.

Cinderpaw is Tanglepaw’s sister, and Sunpaw was found. somewhere. he kind of just showed up on the ground as a baby and was brought to the Clan

their dynamic is like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. i love them