10/04/2007: Banner
I randomly (or well, in response to a topic about advertisement banners at the Serebii.net forums) made a new banner to represent the story. It features Chalenor, Photoshopped bolts of lightning, the name of the story, and the first rule of the Moral Code.
I quite like it, personally. The old banner, while it looked nice, always bugged me because of its lack of relevance to the story. Blue water pattern in the background because it looked neat. Scyther and Spirit because they were the only characters I had some decent pictures of. "Death is not to be feared" because it was cool. The new one, on the other hand, has Chalenor because he's extremely significant, lightning as a symbol of the stormy and dangerous journey towards the seemingly impossible (plus it can be interpreted as imagery from Stormy Town or the Thunderyu battle, and as a bonus they also happen to look cool), and "Death is not to be feared" because this time around I've actually realized that it is far more relevant than I used to think.
Now, I originally intended to have Chaletwo on it as well, there on the right. In fact I made a version of the banner like that:
However, I (and the few people I asked) felt that Chaletwo looked out of place, since he was much lighter than Chalenor and with all-too-prominent cartoony outlines. Then I wanted to put Mew there, or maybe just Mew's eye, but when I tried to draw it it didn't work out the way I wanted it to. Which is a shame, because then the banner would have been even more relevant and symbolic, but oh well.
Why, yes, I am enjoying the opportunity to torture you with all this hint-hintiness. Glad you asked.
Oh, and I've written some more of chapter 37. I might be able to finish it very soon, actually. How soon? We'll see…
COMMENTARY DONE
Comments
Ambey (10/04/2007 23:00:00)
Yay!!!! I can't wait for chapter 37 to come out. Also, here's a suggestion… I read your FAQ and I just want to say that if Alan's mother was anyone other than Misty… well… Misty would kinda kill Ash… ^^;; I completely respect your desition and I'm just trying to point out what Misty would do in that situation… besides, it's not like your Satoshi Tajari. xD
Eevee (10/04/2007 23:00:00)
I like Mew, but the lightning bolts are nice.
Kiruria (10/04/2007 23:00:00)
I AM A SPAM ROBOT
Butterfree (10/04/2007 23:00:00)
…and exactly why would some girl he traveled with some twenty-seven years ago care who the mother of his child was, much less kill him over it?
You sound extremely overconfident about Misty being madly in love with him, not only at the time of the animé (which, I should point out, is pure fanon), but also twenty-seven years after it. Furthermore, since this is all under the presumption that Ash had a kid with some other woman, he is presumably in love with her, not Misty, which basically makes Misty an obsessive creep if she is still following him around trying to murder him after so many years.
Misty is a strong female character and I don't think she is at all the type to break down into that kind of madness upon rejection. At most (presuming, of course, that she was in love with him at all in the first place) she would get mad at him, slap him, sulk for a few days or a week (you could maybe stretch it up to a month or two if you were very mushy, but definitely not anywhere close to twenty-seven years), and then get over him and find somebody better (perhaps someone she didn't keep getting the urge to hit with a mallet). She might be sore at him for a while, but probably eventually just accept that they'll never be anything more than just good friends, and then be happy for him when he found happiness with some other woman and had a child with her.
Of course, this is all just presuming Alan's mother is not Misty. I'm just trying to point out the ridiculousness of your position: not only do you have no basis for knowing what feelings Misty has for Ash at this point in time, but it would in fact be plainly out of character for Misty to be killing him twenty-seven years after their journey just because he had a kid with some other woman he loves. She would get over it.
It's times like these I really want to tell people who Alan's mother is, but I think it would spoil all the fun…
His name is "Satoshi Tajiri", by the way.
Happypants3 (10/04/2007 23:00:00)
Lol his name is Satoshi Ketchum. *Shot* Anyway.
Just for the banner, have you considered redrawing Chaletwo in an emo sort of way? Dynamic lighting effects, evil pose, etc etc? If it's too hard/you're too lazy to draw him like that, there's bound to be lots of doting fans out there ready to have THEIR picture on YOUR banner. :P Same goes for Mew's eye. IMO either put Chaletwo or Mew's eye on itself, not both, because the banner would be too cluttered otherwise.
… Have fun. X3
Jon (10/04/2007 23:00:00)
I've been reading your fanfic for years now (: i think it's awesome! Lol chaletwo looks stupid there. Just chalenor would be fine.
Mythia (10/04/2007 23:00:00)
I think you should leave it just with chalenor - just having him gives it a more dynamic effect.
A large misake people often make is thinking that everything has to be balanced and centered. Sometimes it would look better just to have chalenor.