Backstage Pass #61 (Patreon)

On this edition of Backstage Pass, I'll be talking about...

Small details and easter eggs in chapter 1! While looking through old pages to start prepping for more mobile-friendly formats, I found a lot of little details I wanted to share. (Also I realized Backstage Passes were originally intended to release on Thursday instead of Tuesday, so this one is scheduled as such lol)

EDIT: Patreon's overhaul decided I'm not allowed to schedule things anymore lmao?? I triple checked that this was gonna post on Thursday. well I guess I'll keep that in mind, enjoy this early backstage pass!

Chapter 1 has two iterations, with the current version that exists on all mirrors, and an older version from when I used more fleshed-out anatomy and rendering! And straight away, one thing that I remembered is that Malachi used to have mottled colors on his nose. If I remember correctly, the pink would've been from Shinx while the black is from Luxio.

This mottled coloration still exists somewhat in modern OBT, instead opting to use white and yellow (with white coming form Shinx, and yellow from Luxio). It only shows up through closeups on Malachi's paws!

And then shortly after, we have this cameo from Koffing and Zubat! They were originally intended to carry out the same role as the game where they briefly steal Malachi's relic fragment, but were later dropped. Maybe we'll see them again someday!

As Malachi contemplates on the beach, he sees someone in the water! And... is that a Kantonian Vulpix? Or is it an Alolan Vulpix?

The answer is neither, at least at this point in the comic! Me deciding to make Rune Alolan was actually a bit of an arbitrary decision, and I wasn't sure which path I was gonna take yet. To buy myself some more time, I intentionally made the coloration here vague. Is she red with white rim lighting from the sun, or white with red shading from the sunset? I continued putting it off on the next page by keeping her silhouetted.

And then I made my decision, and history was made! As an additional fun fact, Rune's coloration was actually always meant to be grayish-white, but I ended up liking the pink-y hues the sunset cast on her so much that I made them her main colors.

Then, the fish she and Malachi caught were good ol' seabass! Animal Crossing fans are shaking.

And switching to modern OBT, the fish Malachi cooks here isn't seabass, but instead salmon!  A very, very small salmon, at that.

Then we get a peek into his cabinets, where it's a bit... barren. Intentionally so, Malachi struggles with stocking his pantry. The true bachelor experience of having a cupboard with one cast iron pan and two berries.

Sharpedo Bluff also used to have wood paneling throughout the entire interior, but I later changed it to have a single wood paneling accent wall! Like true modern interior design. Some simple little details around here, but stuff that I thought was fun to put in!