#247: Spectacula

     Just so you know, guys, I am currently working on about two animations for your consumption. No spoilers, but one actually has words. That's right. We're moving on up. To the east side. But until I finish one of those puppies, here's a new character: Spectacula! There's a lot of fuss over vampires in the JC-Verse. Maybe its something about that stark juxtaposition of glamour and desire to mercilessly feed on unsuspecting prey, or maybe it's just that things that came from Europe are naturally better (examples include the hamburger and Benedict Cumberbatch). Well, whatever the reason, vamps have managed to mantain their very "in" status in JC-Verse pop culture for quite the while, so much so as to often trigger massive style trends - see "emo" - and stay in favor even through the Stephanie Meyer incident. But of all the prominent vamps out there, one is arguably the most known, most influential, and most likely to have this wiped from the web if I don't make him the center of this post. And that, dear readers, is Spectacula. First having hit the runway in the '90s, when humanoid, kung-fu-practicing turtles made a vampire model a pretty tame idea by comparison, Spectacula was probably the first openly-bloodsucking celeb in the mainstream eye. With his exotic Transylvanian appearance and, um, eclectic style, people couldn't seem to get enough of this guy. With companies jumping at the chance to have the fanged fashionista sport their designs, soon he became a household name, and he still is today. Spectacula always knows what to do, and when to do it in order to resurge in relevance again and again, and he feeds on the attention like a pint of O positive. PS, if anyone's wondering why I keep putting his name in italics, it means it's being whispered. Pretty positive it's an unspoken rule in the JC-Verse that you have to whisper his name with alluring flare whenever you say it.

HARK! MONOTONE!

     Real quick. I figured that I should post the pre-color version of ol' Rallister due to the fact it looks, in my and the personal focus group that is my mother's opinion, pretty nifty. Enjoy! Now if you 'scuse me, I must return to the heat of battle on Agar.io. War waits for no man.

#247: Rallister the Reptilian

     Howdy, mortals. I don't think I have anything clever or particularly noteworthy to share with you about my own life as of late. But I feel I need something here to meet that nasty interlude quota, so on behalf of my sister, here's a picture of a shiba inu:

That enough substance for you? Okay, onto the character. Ladies and gents, Rallister the Reptilian! You know, in 2015, a university study showed that world domination is the most common choice of diabolical schemes among villains. You didn't know? Well, that's because I made that up. But still, world dom is a pretty unstoppable strategy for a bad guy -- and few pull it off with as much efficiency and undeniable suave-ocity as the JC-Verse's own Rallister the Reptilian. Born from an alien-brand experimentation program that set up shop in my very own Southern California, Rallister was once just a simple lizard specimen you'd see doing those weird push-up things on your driveway. But after only a couple weeks of rapid development following being exposed to who-knows-what, the king-sized lab rat of a reptile already had matching brains-and-brawn big enough to escape the place, and leave it and its crew in a, um, not-to-stellar condition. Won't go into the deets in case any of you are as big a wussy as I. So what did he do after? Well, he spiffied up, gave himself a good ol' name of his own choosing, and looked out at us humans. And that's when he decided that planet Earth could use a change of management. So, with an extravagantly evil agenda on his mind and a calm and cold demeanor to match his bloodstream, Rallister the Reptilian has spent the last year quietly taking out as many pivotal people in the system as he can, and as scary as it is, it's only a matter of time until he reaches the top. And when he does, I think it'll be safe to say 10 points to Slytherin. I mean, for reals here, people, he should practically be their house mascot.

#246: Superior Sebaster: Ruler of TrueTerra

(Shout out to Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns Batman for initially inspiring this guy's bold-logo'd, bulky look.)

    I know it's necessary, but school leading up to a big test is kind of like an alien parasite. It latches onto you, drains you of life and energy, and reanimates what's left of you to do the cruel exercises it so desires. But thankfully, I am close to prying it from my skull with a mighty crowbar. And that crowbar's name is Friday. So, with the weekend almost upon us, I am finally given some time to sit down and post a fellow I wanted to have posted by Monday. Ladies and gentlemen, my newest character: Superio Sebaster! For every nutjob in existence, there are at the least 10 other nutjobs to act as his/her followers. This seems like a fitting place for a Trump joke, but I feel the Orange One is a bit old hat in the chuckles department at this point. Anyway, this rule of nutjobbery applies nontheless to the JC-Verse, and one shining example is Superior Sebaster of TrueTerra. While most of the population welcomed Fantastical Lifeforms like Zowie and the Juppies when they arrived, hardcore religious man Sebaster saw them as a plague on mankind. He believed that this planet was intended for us warm-blooded homo sapiens and us alone, and that such a forthcoming of odd otherworldy creatures occuring here was a sign of something bad. Like, the end of the world as we know it. And he was not feeling fine. *baddum crash* (Anyone? No? Okay then). Well, wrathful and ready to react, he slapped on a fancy blue tactical uniform, took to an uninhabited island off the West Coast, and set up shop. He proclaimed the place TrueTerra, a home for those who wish to follow him in maintaining a "pure" human society with him as its "Superior", or leader. Sure enough, a whole busload of fellow paranoia peeps joined him, and the society of TrueTerra is now a serious thing in the JC-Verse, sometimes even going volatile and sending small "Terran" task forces out to spread their message and exterminate high-profile FLs. Man. Some pretty heavy stuff. Cue Doc Brown:

I BARE GIFTS.

     I felt like I should reassure you, good people of the internwebs, that I am working on a new character, and that I have not left you all for a simpler, sans-wi-fi life among the rolling hills and peaceful meadows of yonder. Or gone into a self-imposed state of hybernation until Civil War comes out. But fear not, because while I don't have a character prepared just yet, I do finally have my WonderCon video up on the old 'Tube. There's highjinks, Pop! dolls, obscure references - you actually get to see my face! Not positive if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but still. Probably depends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R71GCZxVo3c

     And if those three minutes leave you unsatisfied and you for some reason want more, I've got that covered. Ladies and gents, Distraction Roulette! Six options. Each something odd and ideally entertaining to keep you occupado until I formulate my next character. Click at random and let the fates take charge. No spoilers, but I promise at least one wizard. Have at it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

OPTION 1
OPTION 2
OPTION 3
OPTION 4
OPTION 5 
OPTION 6

 *resulting levels of hilarity/cofusion may vary

#245: Soupeye

     Greetings, my friends. I hope you all had a dandy Easter and properly soluted the Easter Bunny for his good work around the globe. Anyway, I was at Wondercon on Saturday! Soon I will have an official video account of the day on my ol' Youtube channel, but for now, time for another character. Guys, I swear this is the last one about dimensional travel for a while. If I break this promise, then I give you the Jacob's Characterz!-brand Free Flack-Giving Stamp. So, without futher ado, Soupeye: proud owner of the Estrello Void Base for 45 years, and with a 0%-ish customer fatality rate. Depending on your echelon of conspiracy theory knowledge, the term "Jump Room" might ring a bell to you. As in the Jump Room that's supposedly being utilized by the government to send folks to the big, red vacation destination know as Mars. Well, the Estrello Void Base just so happens to be the Jump Room you're thinking of--well, the JC-Verse location that inspired it, anyway. The EVB is a covert galactic transportation venue that was rented out regularly by UNDEROO in the late '70s as part of their second Mars-landing program, Barren II, and Antonio "Soupeye" Estrello has been running the show there since even before. While it's unknown how exactly the establishment came to be (even by its most loyal customers), it's indisputable that he is devoted to its purpose, offering the most efficient dimensional travel experience on the market. Despite being a tad rickety and outdated by modern standards (ex. that 0%-ish in the beginning), Soupeye's service is still a definite go-to source for efficient planet-hopping. If you ever need to get yourself far out of the stratosphere in record time for whatever unsavory reason, give the guy a ring-ring. Just note there's a chance you might make it there with a decided lack of arms/toes/life. Again, 0%-ish.

(The man himself, equipped with a heavy-duty hazmat suit due to the toxic material powering the machinery itself, and a band-aid over his unflatteringly melted eye socket. I assume you can put together how he got his nickname.)

GOODBYE GRAVITY FALLS

                                          (MINOR SPOILER WARNING)

     A promise is a promise, ladies and gents. Even if said promise was delayed by an extra week beyond where it had been delayed by about a month. Yeah. So now, it is time for me to arise from behind my procrastination shrub, hike up my responsibility pantaloons and address the big supernaturally-fused, animated elephant in the room. That's right. We're talking about the end of Gravity Falls. Disclaimer: I did not push this farewell off so long because I didn't like the finale. It had Bill Cipher sinisterly tickling the ivories and singing, and an ending for Stan that made the fire forshadowing make sense without going down the obvious, possibly-kid-scarring route. I gave it two thumbs up. Not the two 6-fingered hands up I gave Not What He Seems, but come on, how could you really beat that episode. In all reality, the reason I haven't posted about it yet, while having a lot to due with my insane schedule as of late, was somewhat because of how important the show has been for me ever since the beginning. It's naturally easy for me to take on topics of interdimensional travel and the occasional talking animals/food/unattached ears, but when it comes time to seriously talk about me, at least on this here blog, it can be hard for me to say everything the way I want to say it. But, what the hey. Let's give it a go anyway.
      Before Gravity Falls, I was about 10, and TV for me was mostly cheesy, trope-soaked kid-coms and weird foreign cartoons with English dubs that my sister convinced me to watch with her. Heed my warning, if anyone suggests Winx Club to you, run. Run and never look back. Sure, I had good ol' P&F and Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated (kind of a prelude to what was to come with GF), but never had I really found a show that understood the bizzare nature of me and my imagination. But the minute that guy took off his decidedly emo hoodie and turned out to be a bunch of gnomes in "Tourist Trapped," it was certain: I had found it. And I had company, too. Tons of other kids and teens -- and adults whether they wanted to admit it or not at first -- were tuning in each Monday and scrambling to whatever decoding methods they possessed to unravel the secrets after it was over. Tons of infatuated fanboys and fabgirls taking to Tumblr and Reddit and such to excitedly discuss and spout out quotes from the show at random times. It wasn't until my first WonderCon when I dressed as Bill and met them all that it really dawned on me, but these were my people. Not just the GF fans, but geeks. Nerds. Absolute dorks who aren't ashamed to go against what is accepted and express that they are such. Gravity Falls helped me learn where I belong and the stuff I wanted to make. And considering I started Jacob's Characterz! a little under a year after the series started, that seems to have turned out pretty well for me so far.
     Thanks for the stay, Gravity Falls. And I will always look to you as inspiration - and with a whole lot of  nostalgia feels. A tip of the fez to you. :)

JACOB'S CHARACTERZ! FAN ART REDISIGN: MISTER FANTASTIC

     Hola, ladies and gents. Instead of posting another new character on this fine day of Thurs, I've decided to do something a bit different. Ladies and gents, my own version of Mister Fantastic, AKA Reed Richards! I've mentioned my elaborate Fantastic Four movie franchise idea before, but to spare you all some valuable time that you could otherwise use to make a difference in the world or watch a video of a cat and a monkey being best friends, I decided not to explain it to you. But having caught the superhero costume bug that's been going 'round following the Spidey reveal, I decided to whip up the design for ol' Mister Fantastic that my FF version entails. (Note: I had to touch up some of the drawing due to the poor quality of the scan, but what the heck. Details, details, diddly-doo.)

• The Costume: You may note that this costume is basically the same as the one from the original comics. That's because it's supposed to be. Classic is almost always a go-to route for a good superhero suit, and after the bona fide unrecognizable iterations from last year's film *shivers*, I felt I should stay as faithful as I could with mine. I added some traditional MCU-esque detailing, such as laces on the boots and gloves, to the black sections of the costume, which I imagine being a gleamy, rubberish material. The material for the blue is hard to describe, but I think the closest I can compare it to is Cap's costume in the first Avengers movie.
• That spiffy 4: One of the most important aspects of the FF's costume is the 4 logo. It's basically the thing that tells you at first glance which Marvel team they are, if a big rocky orange guy and a young lad on fire isn't enough of a helpful hint. One of my main gripes with the 2005 films' suits are the placing of these logos, so with my version, I needed to make sure they are front-and-center where they belong. I took some inspiration from Iron Man's arc reactor in the MCU when it came to the specifics, like the less polished outer rim of metal. Speaking of that outer rim, the only noticeable change I think I made here with this team logo was changing the color of it to bronze. My FF movies take place in the '60s (which is a completely separate post in itself), so I thought the bronze color would assist the patina look a bit.
• The guy wearing it all: And last but not least, the grey-templed guy behind the greatness, Mister Fantastic himself, Reed Richards. I could go on a whole rant about my version of his actual character (also a completely separate post in itself), but I'll keep it simple for now and just address how I drew him. Well, my primary casting choice for my Reed Richards is definitely David Tennant - Michael Fassbender is just behind, though - so some of the facial features I based on him a bit. This goes especially for the nose and the grin. I added some stray beard hairs growing in to give him a more realistic vibe (the guy spends most of his time cooped up in his lab, do you really think he has time to spiffy himself up too much?) and the battle scar to show that he isn't just the brains behind the bunch. That and I thought it looked cool. I tried to make the fade into grey around the temples less blatantly obvious, once again contributing to the more realistic feel.

     Alrighty guys, I think that's all the deets on that for now. TTFN, in the words of the mighty Tigger. PS, next post or the post after is going to be my heavily-postponed "Farewell Gravity Falls" post. I'm telling you this so you guys can hold me up to it and make sure I don't procrastinate any further. If I do, make sure to give me flack.