The Mech's New Season

Just want to congratulate the Mechs for an awesome kickoff for Series 8. The story was a lot of fun. I couldn't help but laugh as I watched Mesmerman get carried away start fighting amongst himselves. I always like it when the uber-menacing big bad gets in touch with his/her goofy side every now and then. The new sprites were a welcome delight too, especially Crorq's. And of course, new Magnetman and Hardman! Bonus points for Sheriff Mags for taking me back to the days of RotSA.

Glad you liked it. This one worked out pretty well in the end.

Oops. I guess I don't check the main page enough. I didn't even notice we updated. I guess now I can finally upload the Crorq art on which that sprite is based.

Every time Ben thinks he's gotten out, he gets dragged back in.

And it is glorious.

And there is something refreshing about a Robot Master who's just a Robot Master. Good job on that one, Boss!

(...Are you still Big Boss?)

...Okay, so I have apparently made a temporary return!

Got any ideas for the new season?

Of course! I wouldn't start a new series without some ideas about where to go.

Of course all thos eideas are a secret!

...Why did I expect any other response aside from that one?

Because you've been looking at too many pictures of cats in serious situations.

Nice start to the new series. After years of reading epilogues, I think I tend to enjoy the less "why so serious?" kinds of epilogues, as good as they may be. Sometimes you just need to stay whacky.

Well, then you'll enjoy this series. I ended up outgrowing Magnetman Eigen's character, so I pitched the idea to G that I adopt a new Magnetman persona. Sheriff Mags was my favorite ROTSA good guy, and with my current hobby of Cowboy Action Shooting, it seemed reasonable to adopt him as my own, seeing as Jonathan didn't really adopt the character as his own.

He's a far more relaxed character to write for. He can be written as either goofy or serious depending on the author's needs, unlike the perpetually hard-nosed Eigen. He's also a really cool looking character, having a lot of steampunk influence in his design. Have a look at the official design images.

Full attire, final concept.

Display view and details.

I also did a few concept images when pitching the idea to G. He's pretty close to what his final draft looks like, though I experimented with different clothing options, mostly drawing inspiration from Western films.

Orignal concept.

"Brown" Johnny Ringo Concept.

Original RotSA outfit.

Upgraded RotSA outfit.

I had more concept images, but never uploaded them to Photobucket. I lost them when my hard drive failed last month.

His final outfit ended up being a modified version of his RotSA look, but with Charlie Prince's hat, holster, and guns. I play the role of Charlie Prince for my CAS persona, so its a nice little reference. It also helps that I own this very hat and holster set in real life.

Sheriff Mags is going to be a fun character to have around. Hopefully this will inspire me to do more with the Magnetman character than I have in the last few years.

Eigen will be missed, but this guy looks freaking awesome and like a ton of fun.

And for some reason the combination of 'cowboy' and 'magnetman' makes me think railgun. It should also be noted that his armour design gives off an 'old west' feel that is really appealing.

I also look forward to seeing how Ben will handle Hardman. I'm predicting cynicism and world-weariness.

Anyways, great job all around, right?

Actually, when Raijin decided to renounce the whole Snakeman sniper gimmick, I nearly shifted it over to Eigen, where he'd use a rail gun as a long distance weapon. Never got around to it due to laziness.

I was later going to reuse that idea with And the Earth Grew Grey, where Magnetman would have been a seriously scarred sniper, but due to lack of interest (and laziness), the story never progressed that far.

Sheriff Mags primarily uses a pair of Schofield revolvers that fire miniature Magnet Missiles. I may have him use similar Old West-inspired weaponry if I can fit it in, like a Winchester repeater, or a Sharps rifle (which I was thinking of portraying as a railgun-type of weapon). Railguns have long fascinated me, so I think I'll eventually find a way to get them into a story. I just need to stop being la

I admit, I did a double and triple take when I saw Kenta was booted off. Especially since he had one line at the end where he still was Magnetman. It made things kinda confusing.

But Sheriff is definitely an upgrade to Kenta. I never really bonded with Kenta after BoW to be honest. I think Sheriff Mags will be more fun. I'm certainly digging his style from those sketches there. He should hold onto that Johnny Ringo outfit. If he somehow had a Malcolm Reynolds outfit, he'd be unstoppable (he's a space cowboy! That counts! It totally counts!! =P).

And a Sharps rifle/rail gun has my blessing. As long as his western weaponry can be woven into his magnetic persona rather than just tacked on, I say more power.

And to be fair, Jonathan did use the Sheriff Mags shtick a little, in RPs and the like. But for the most part, it was just a title he picked out for himself as the first mod of the forum.

Kenta's only lines at the end were as "Kenta" not Magnet. Unless I missed a line there.

I agree, Kenta was really made for Wanted and War, afterwards it was tough to fit him in, although I did have some fun making him furiously angry at even the smallest things.

Trust me, Kenta snuck a line in there as Magnet. Here's the exchange:

And I just saw this one: a few lines after that, Needlegal is mistakingly IDed as Hardman.

...

Now, I'm startin' to feel like a douchey nitpicker. XP

Woops. Looks liek that slipped past both me and Snake. Well, it's fixed now.

Magnet and Hard's departure was orignally going to be in a different story and was added to that ep later. I don't think I looked at it after the rewrite, so it's not my fault those corrections were missed, unless you count not doing my job as a "fault".

Yes, I'd consider not doing your job as "your fault" :P