WLC 5.C: Doom Service

That smartphone is too weak for him. Get that man a Nokia.

Elena... what is Based?

The final set of Vs sprites. We've got Tsubame and Katze, Nightstalker and Tony, Sazanka and Highwayman, and the secret characters. This first pair is actually unused in-game because Tsubame and Katze can only be selected in Vs mode (and Group Battle mode, which uses no sprites).

The secret duo, Otomaru and Ohomaru, are also only in Vs.

Character Select Face

On the right here, is the game's Story mode icon, which itself is a frame from the game's intro movie. Left to right: Gengoro, Jo, Kaun, Tatsumi, Mikado, Kannuki. Below are the Vs sprites for those five.

Due to a few characters' asymmetrical designs, they get two different vs screen sprites.

Mourning Gecko (Picture from TheBioDude.com)

This tiny gecko is the basis of the main characters of Wizard Lizard Chronicles. While our protagonist is human-sized, these creatures are small enough to crawl on your thumb. They reproduce by parthenogenesis (mom lays egg, clone hatches), so they're almost entirely female.

Like other geckos, they can climb just about anything and don't blink. They can also detach and regrow their tails.

I can give you this design sketch of Katze, but you've probably already seen it.

curse of favourite character being from an obscure game with no fanart from years ago that no one plays

Let's hear it for random obscure non-canon characters from licensed tie-in games.

Sketching fanart of characters nobody draw part 2

Anyways here's Luna the Lil' Witch from the game Shrek Super Slam

WLC 4.3: Queen of Swords

"We'll be right outside," says Jevoi to Dalini, "If you need me, just speak up." She exits the room and scowls at Ling.

"Sorry, I don't have fancy pipes," mocks Ling, "Apocalypse is happening."

"It's not about the toilet, Mum," snaps Jevoi, "You're a wizard; you have magic."

"Always thinking magic'll solve everything." Ling shakes her head. "Never thinking about the consequences."

"You don't think it's terrible conditions you were raising her in?" asks Jevoi.

Ling walks over to the little table and stares at the mock tea set. "Better conditions that Nana Ning had... minus the eternal freezing night. At least I've done a better job than Nana Ting."

"Ting?" Jevoi's caught off-guard. "You've never told me anything about Ting."

"How could I?" laughs Ling, "I never met her."

Suddenly, the door from the hall opens and six-armed elf-esque woman with a serpentine lower body slithers into the room. She's wearing a green sweater and, for the brief moment that she was entering the room, a smile. But then, she saw Ling. Now, the smile is gone; replaced with rage.

"YOU!?" yells the raven-haired demon, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? I"LL KILL YOU!" She conjures six swords and advances toward the wizard. "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"

Ling sighs in resignation. "Not expecting to be forgiven, demon."

Jevoi jumps in front of the swordswoman. "Calm down, Angustias, my queen."

"Why are you stopping me?" asks Angustias, her eyes still trained on the wizard, "Why did you bring her here?"

"You know why," says Jevoi, pushing the swords down, "I want her dead too, but do you want to explain to your daughter why Nana Ling had to die?" Jevoi grabs the bronzed amazon's face and forces their eyes to meet. "She doesn't even know you yet. Don't lose sight of what matters, my queen."

Angustias drops her weapons, which fade away, and picks up Jevoi in six-armed hug. "Of course, my empress." The demon's eye briefly twitches in pain and she makes a threatening gesture toward Ling with one hand.

"Mum!" yells Dalini from the bath, "What do I do now?"

Jevoi dismounts her wife and races to the door. She hops quickly in place, alternating legs. "Oh, I'm going to help my daughter get dressed for the first time!" she squeals before calmly walking the door.

"She's stoked about this mum s***e, isn't she?" asks Ling.

"Don't f*****g talk to me," says Angustias, trying to figure out how to pose her arms in loving, motherly way.

Here are even more sprites. In order Utsusemi and Hongou, Red Shadow (Hotarubi) and Chihiro, Matsumushi and Utamaru, and Suminagashi and Isohachi.

Now play spot the difference with these last two.

Character Select Face

On the right here, is the game's Story mode icon, which itself is a frame from the game's intro movie. Left to right: Gengoro, Jo, Kaun, Tatsumi, Mikado, Kannuki. Below are the Vs sprites for those five.

Due to a few characters' asymmetrical designs, they get two different vs screen sprites.

WLC 5.6: Baba, You're Going Down!

The skeletal remains whirl through the air. Jevoi covers her head with her arms and tries to keep running straight, Tanglepork attempts to evade by zigzaging, and Luminița attempts to swat the flying bones out of the air.

Gank emerges from the ground and slides back into Jevoi. 'Turn around,' she thinks, 'We have to keep her in place.'

'What are we doing?' asks Jevoi, skittering to a stop, 'What's the rest of the plan?'

'Run at her,' thinks Gank, 'Don't stop.'

With a frustrated groan, Jevoi abouts-face. 'Better be a good plan.'

Tanglepork runs past her without a word, but a look that says, 'You're gonna do something stupid, ain't ya?'

'We're sending Grammy back to Hell,' thinks Gank, bringing a subdue soulsight back into Jevoi's eyes, 'When you've got her in the circle, slap that b***h!'

Jevoi can now see Ioana's silhouette in the dust storm and the runes glowing inside the ground, now several meters behind the lycan. "Alright, you old biddy," yells Jevoi, running around along the storm's spin, "You want Ling? Well, I'm at least half Ling."

Ioana howls again. "LING! VENGEANCE!" She twists to pursue Jevoi.

D: Did she anything else? G: Most ghosts form from one extreme desire; they're actually really boring people. D: What was your desire? G: I guess, not die? I'm a special case.

Jevoi stops at the edge of the runic circle and turns toward the storm. She spreads her arms apart, low. "Come on, you broken clock."

The storm escalates in intensity and speed.

Jevoi holds her ground as Ioana approaches, Tanglepork and Luminița far away in the dark, then just as the ghost hovers inside the circle, she slaps it. "Go to Hell, fur-hag!"

The magic of the runes opens a gate under the ghost and forms a barrier around Jevoi. The gate begins sucking with far greater force than Ioana's storms, pulling her in. So too are the bones dropped like water in a drain. But the gate doesn't close; it keeps sucking. Tanglepork and Luminița are pulled into it.

Luminița digs her claws into the ground, clutching desperately to survive. Tanglepork snags the lycan's leg; her screams inaudible over the rushing wind.

Jevoi hops out of the bubble protecting her and grabs Luminița's arm.

'What are ya doing?' thinks Gank.

'She has my tome,' thinks Jevoi, 'The whole reason we're here!"

"I've got you," Jevoi attempts to say, but her voice is sucked away by the wind. Jevoi, unfortunately, would not be strong enough to lift Luminița in normal conditions, nor combat the vortex, so attempting both only has one reasonable outcome: down the drain.

WLC 4.6: Tonight, We Dine, In Hall

The dining hall is a grand display: many lengthy tables, elaborate chandeliers, fancy crystal 'candles', and cushioned chairs. Jevoi sits at the head of the table with Angustias on her right. Dalini sits on the left with an unimpressed Ling beside her.

Ling looks down the table into the empty room. "Where's the rest of them?" she asked.

"We're eating earlier than usual," says Jevoi, "I don't want to overwhelm Dalini."

"Don't want to be seen with me," accuses Ling, "Or want my eyes on ya?"

Before Jevoi can respond, a chime rings out and four covered plates float to the table.

"Eh, what's this display for?" asks Ling, "Why not some bloke?"

Jevoi pauses, as if realizing something, but disregards it.

The group uncover their food: Angustias has massive steak, Jevoi and Dalini have fruit salads with snails, and Ling has a large insect.

"Dire roach!" says Ling, "Ripper, the lobster of land." She breaks off a leg and begins sucking the meat out.

Dalini begins scooping fruit into her mouth by hand.

"Use a spoon, please," says Jevoi, pointing to the by Dalini's bowl, "It's rude to use your hands like that, Dalini."

"Okay," says Dalini, picking up the spoon and carefully trying to pick up the pieces.

"The fork may be more useful," says Angustias, cutting up the meat before her.

As Dalini stabs a strawberry, she asks, "So how did you meet?"

Jevoi swallows a bite of food and coughs. "That's- that's a bit of a story."

"We got time, Jevoi," says Ling, cracking open the roach's carapace, "And we got a third witness here too."

Gank briefly flickers behind Jevoi with a malicious grin, as Jevoi sighs. "I suppose we shouldn't keep it a secret."

Thinking About Sin

I'm a big fan of combining the Orthodox eight deadly thoughts with the Catholic seven deadly sins: splitting sloth back into despair (tristitia) and apathy (acedia) [though I like to call this one sloth still], keeping envy, but ditching vainglory.

SLOTH and DESPAIR

While the end result of laziness and despair are effectively the same from the sinner side (you don't do things), the means of temptation are the exact opposite.

Contemplate what a being, say a demon, would be that invites you into sloth: a maid, the latest techno-fad, an overly doting parent. Someone who says, "Let me take care of that," which eventually mutates into a nasty little brain-imp whispering, "Let someone else take care of it." This obviously overlaps with several of the other sins.

Contrast despair, who is here to F*** YOU UP. It is here to break you with a never-ending torrent of misfortune, a constant parade of life kicking you in the teeth. This could also have the exact opposite effect, spurring someone into wrath.

The overlapping area would be someone claiming to protect you from the big scary world, but sloth says "Just don't look," while despair grabs you with both hand and slams your face into the worst of it. "Look at it! Look at this s***!"

In short, despair is clear counterpart to wrath (and both lead toward violence), but apathy/laziness feels disconnected from it and has more in common with pride and envy.

ENVY the Serpent's Glare

The sin of envy sits at the intersection of pride, wrath, and greed. This position, I feel, warrants its inclusion as a designation of category of sin; it's so common, that it seems more than just the sum of its parts, but a natural point. It's like the color green: once viewed as merely shades of blue, but it seems so obvious now that it never should have been. Some even claim envy is the deadliest of the sins, beating out even pride.

PRIDE, VAINGLORY, and VANITY the Devil's Three Heads

Vainglory and vanity just seem like archaic ideas; subdivisions of a theme that were rightfully reorganized. Boasting and self-obsession hardly feel out of place being dubbed pride and the means of temptation would be the same: just someone who's adhered their lips to your rear.

Having them separate seems as absurd to me as splitting gluttony into different sins. Though, I'm not a religious person, so my thoughts here are more narrative (fantasy writing, that is to say) than moral.