So The Next Character On My List Is Actually Three Characters, Which Means A Lot Of Extra Design Work.

So the next character on my list is actually three characters, which means a lot of extra design work. It also means it's not due until Thursday, which is kind of a big gap. So in the meantime, have some cute to tide you over. ^^b

So after the first couple designs I posted, it occurred to me that I really wasn't flexing much art muscle. That was partially intentional - when I have to do one design every day, I don't want to have to get too involved - but it did bug me. But the other reason for going more complex this time was... Well, this is King Christina of Sweden. She's quite possibly my favorite person ever.

Christina's birth was a bizarre affair. As she was born, the wetnurse declared her to be a boy, which caused no end of embarrassment when it was discovered that she was in fact a girl. Her father basically said screw it, and raised her as a prince, and when Christina eventually rose to the throne, she took the oath of a king, not a queen. She eventually abdicated her throne, but remained a prominent figure, sponsoring many artists and philosophers, and just generally being awesome.

My design of her was heavily influenced by Final Fantasy Tactics, especially Meliadoul. And indeed, the class I imagined for her was one of a Divine Knight, a class known for near game-breaking power, flexibility, and the ability to shatter enemy weapons and armor. Given Christina's absolute inability to be restrained, it seemed appropriate.

Nikola Tesla - Wizard

Thomas Edison - Sorceror

A big part of history is context, and this is even more true when it comes to the great figures of history. Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison were huge competitors, to the point where neither really makes sense without the other.

I chose the character classes for these two men based primarily on their approach to the scientific method. Tesla was educated, methodical, and based most of his work on established scientific principles; conversely, Edison's work tended to be based just on whatever he thought would work, with his huge number of failures being attributed, by Tesla, to Edison's lack of theoretical background. So even though Tesla was the more wildly emotional man -- he was obsessed with cleanliness, for example, and was neurotic about the number 3 -- it's actually Edison that fits the Sorceror title better.

When designing these two, I tried to reflect their personality more than their class in their costume. Wizards are generally seen as the more ostentatious group, but Tesla's personality would brook no clutter, so Tesla's outfit is streamlined and practical. Conversely, Edison's outfit is full of gimmicks and clutter, basically anything he thought would be helpful at the time. It's also designed to make him look bigger, which I thought was appropriate given Edison's penchant for self-promotion.

In RPGs, the Wizard and the Sorceror are both magically-based character classes that focus on elemental attacks. The functional differences between them are usually fairly minor, but the Wizard is generally seen as being the more methodical of the two. It's usually the Wizard that ends up cloistered in their tower, researching new spells, and having to be enticed out for adventure. Conversely, the Sorceror's power generally comes from instinct and emotion, leaning on magical talent rather than education.

13 - Jerry Thomas - Chemist There’s a lot of focus in history on the big players; your Generals, your Presidents, your Attillas the Hun. But history is full of people whose accomplishments never really made it out of their own subculture, but that doesn’t make them any less significant. Take Jerry Thomas, for example. A bartender in the mid-19th century, Mr. Thomas wrote a book called The Bar-Tender’s Guide, a work which more or less writes out the basic theory behind creating cocktails. That’s right, this doughy, middle-aged guy with the fancy vest basically invented the mixed drink. His inventions include the Tom Collins, the Martinez (a sort of proto-Martini), and the Blue Blazer, the precursor of all flaming alcoholic drinks. So even though Mr. Thomas never rode into war, never signed a treaty or ruled a nation, his impact on history is still felt today. The Chemist, sometimes known as the Salve-Maker or Alchemist, is one of the more basic classes found in RPGs today. Focused around creating and using items, Chemists tend to be the most basic of healing classes, with abilities that quickly outlive their usefulness. Still, in some games, with the right setups, the Chemist can become quite useful. Sometimes they even get a unique Mix command, which allows them to combine and use items in battle, boosting their healing or offensive abilities to useful levels. Though seldom a high-impact class, the Chemist remains a personal favorite of mine.

20 - Ferdinand von Zeppelin - the Cid In every Final Fantasy game, there is a Cid. Sometimes he’s a mechanic, sometimes he’s a warrior, but he’s usually connected to airships in some way. Personally, I think that’s half the reason Cid is such a well-liked figure in the series; seeing him means you’ll soon be able to skip over those obnoxious mountain ranges. But anyway, if I were to cast human history in the same light as a Final Fantasy game, Ferdinand von Zeppelin would be our Cid. The scion of a noble family, Ferdinand joined the army at a young age. His interest in airships was kindled when he fought in the American Civil War, acting as a balloon observer for the Union Army of the Potomac. The designs von Zeppelin later penned would lead to the construction of the first truly usable airships in human history. Von Zeppelin never lived to see the shutdown of Germany’s airship program due to the Treaty of Versailles, or the ultimate destruction of its PR in the Hindenburg disaster, but regardless of the fate of his particular inventions, Ferdinand von Zeppelin’s work brought forth the age of mass air transit, which was a huge factor in creating our modern world.

15, 16 and 17 - The Marx Brothers - Mime Something big and fancy for the midpoint of the challenge, ladies and gentlemen! The Marx Brothers are, without reservation, my favorite comedians of all time. They use a brilliant mixture of slapstick, wordplay, and atrocious, paint-curling puns to create some of the most hilarious movies known to man. Their influence on comedy can hardly be overstated; I find it hard to believe that there is a comedian on the face of the planet who has not been influenced in some way by the Marx Brothers. Though mostly seen as slightly creepy, silent clowns in real life, Mimes in role-playing games tend to be massively powerful, very sought-after classes. The root of their strength lies in their ability to copy the moves of other characters, often without paying the costs associated with those moves. In fact, a popular tactic with the Mime is to have all of the characters in a party become Mimes, then have one of them cast a huge, costly, powerful spell, and then have the whole party mimic the attack turn after turn, dealing huge amounts of damage. This is the main reason I felt the Mime class was so appropriate for these three: given their huge influence, there are a vast number of comedians that could be said to be Miming the Mime. Incidentally, I based their designs on the three games which use Mimes most prominently. Groucho is based on the FFV Mime (probably the most boring Mime - they just stuck shoulderpads and a cape on the Freelancer and called it a day!), Harpo is a FFT Mime, and Chico is a FFVI Mime (aka, Gogo).