Bonus Commentary + Sketches: The Influencers pt 2 (Patreon)

It’s these guys again! 

We were originally going to post this on Saturday the 27th, but things happen, as they do, and it got pushed back a day. IF we’d posted it then, as planned, it would have been on Avril Lavigne's birthday. God, what a catastrophic fuckup!!!!

Wait. No. 

Avril Thorpe is named after TWO important historical figures. Avril Lavigne’s birthday is 9/27, but Jim Thorpe’s is 5/28. So let’s just say this upd8 happens on our beloved character Avril Thorpe’s birthday, which is now 9/28, because we took the month (9) from Avril Lavigne, and the day (28) from Jim Thorpe.

God. Perfect. Continuity restores itself. It now seems as though we meant to post on that day all along. 

Anyway, I got a bit off track there. What was I supposed to be talking about? Oh, right. Retconning things to seem purposeful.

Though actually in this case we did come up with the mysteriously unlocked door/influencers as reason bit on purpose. Sorry if that ruins the mystique for you. Don’t worry, plenty of other things are accidents. 

What is going on in Candy, huh? Wouldn’t you like to know.

Anyway, I like these guys very much even though their quirks elicit the cringe emotion like no other. How many times do you think I closed emojipedia, thinking I was done, only to have to drag it back open? What a life.

The feeling of desperately feeling like you need to do something to change things around you for the better, but having no idea where to start, feels ambiently resonant. Obviously things go a little smoother for them than for us actual humans. But I still think a lot about what it means to be a Regular Guy in times of absolute hellscape. Individual action sometimes feels meaningless up against huge forces of evil, and household recycling apparently got us nowhere, but hey you can still look up a local bail fund or march or banish your racist uncle to the nether realm or some shit! Anyway. These guys achieve a small victory that has further reaching repercussions than they realize. I dont know i’m now just explaining the themes that are just present in the text so i need to move along before i give too much away.

I did come up with classpects for these guys and maybe some of that is visible now. Who knows if it will ever come up, but have fun working out the lore!

We came up with everyone’s hobbies early on in the character creation phase, but I am very charmed by Avril’s renaissance man schtick. The hair flip is very good imo. Thank you artist.