HHB FMA Halloween Drawing

This is the drawing of the Halloween Special for my webcomic ([link]). I could barely fit all these guys on the paper.

Now then, who can identify the costume theme here? ^_^ For all of you who guessed it (and those of you who didn’t should hop up and down on one foot and shout gibberish) these guys dressed up as characters from the anime, FullMetal Alchemist. I stuck to characters that appear in both the manga and the anime, though I’m relying on mostly my knowledge of the manga. The most annoying thing is that this is exactly the same idea my twin sister had for her webcomic ("Nowhere U" [link]). Being an identical twin is cool and all, but sometimes it would be nice to have an original idea every now and then. I had first planned on doing just a detailed drawing of Lute dressed as Edward, but then Shada and I got to talking on the phone about who could go as who in our comics and I felt compelled to draw more than just the one character. Sadly, I didn’t have enough time to draw all my ideas. I wanted to draw Hammer as Scar rampaging all crazy, but no can do. I had an excellent idea for who could dress up as Mustang, but I don’t want to introduce that guy just yet. As for those characters that I did draw, let’s go through the list from left to right:

Mezmoro as Envy: OK, I just about died laughing after I drew this. Seeing Mez in Envy’s...uh...man-skirt outfit got me sniggering out of control. I decided on this combo since they both have dark green hair and I finally figured out the whole “green with envy” pun for that hair color choice. So why not take it a level further and slap Envy’s odd fashion sense onto the greenest character in HHB? Makes it funny how both of them try to act all tough and full of it, too (though I doubt Envy’s as perpetually stressed out as poor Mez is). I simply cannot picture Mezmoro being comfortable in that get-up.

Dayshade as Lust: Alright, the similarities here are downright eerie. Their taste in clothing is the same, their personalities are sort of similar, their hairstyles are kind of similar, they both enjoy being haughty and cruel, and they both have extendo-nails for extra nastiness. Yeah, that’s right, Dayshade can do that. It’s actually part of her transformation into a much more dangerous and not-so pretty form, but she only transforms like that if she gets super ticked, want’s to freak someone out, or decides to play the Rampage of Carnage game without summoning some other monster to do the dirty work for her like she usually prefers to do. I suppose Dayshade may be nastier than Lust because I don’t think Lust runs around torturing people or messing with their minds just for kicks (Day’s a demonic succubus so she’s into that kind of thing), but they are both certainly deadly femme-fatals. You’ll notice Dayshade is encroaching on Mezmoro’s personal space again; she just loves to bug the poor guy.

Princess Miara as Riza Hawkeye: This is Miara’s second cameo appearance before her actual introduction in the strip (third if you count the Future Shot she appeared in). If you think she looks like my BookMaster avatar, there are differences. She’s actually evolved to look something like my mother, whose personality seems to have seeped into Miara’s a little bit for some reason. Well, I kinda look like Mom too...so I guess there is a reason we all look alike. I chose to dress Miara up as Hawkeye since they’re both practical and self-reliant. I kinda forgot the gold rope uniform accessory that’s supposed to be looped under Hawkeye’s right arm, so just pretend it’s there. I’ll bet you all have fabulous imaginations, right? Sure you do. And stop laughing at my attempt at drawing a gun. I’ve never drawn a gun before, alright? Leave off!

Lute as Edward Elric: Gee, what this one hard to figure out? They’re both short with longish blond hair. They’re also both fast learners and study hard. But as similar as they are in appearance, they could hardly be more different personality-wise. They’re both sensitive about being called short of course, but at least Lute exercises a little patience and restraint. Edward’s a raving lunatic. I swear, I think he’s a berserker and his trigger word is “short” or anything related to the subject. Lute’s tolerance might have something to do with how he’s older. When he was younger, he kinda flew off the handle on just about every emotion. He’s learned to contain and focus his hyper enthusiasm over the years, though it still pokes through every now and then.

Chastalynd as armor Alphonse Elric: There’s no way in heaven or on Earth that I am going to attempt to draw that armor with the time constraint I have for this strip. I simply cannot fathom how anyone manages it. So I hid the metal bulk behind the wall. He wouldn’t fit on the page, anyway. Oh yeah, Chast’s also a cameo that’s appeared before even though his character hasn’t been introduced in the strip yet. He’s quiet, polite, and reserved like Al is, and he’s kind of Lute’s sidekick so he gets this role. Chast isn’t as comfortable as Al is in a lot of situations though; being more of the bashful inverted type, he gets embarrassed more easily than Al does and often needs some coaxing to get him near large groups of people.

Shali as Izumi Curtis: Shali is yet another character who has not appeared yet in the strip though she did pop up last year for Halloween. Since both Izumi and Shali will beat you up if you so much as look at them funny, I figured Shali will make a good Izumi dress-alike. They both do things their way and don’t tolerate nonsense if it’s not their idea to start with. Shali is far more sarcastic and perpetually irritated than Izumi, though. I get a kick how they both have long white coat-like outfits (you haven’t seen Shali yet in her usual garb, so just take my word for it). The difference is that Shali’s white coat is technically a lab coat, since she’s something of a scientist even if she does specialize in Chaos Magic. Go figure. Shali’s a walking self-contradicting conundrum.

Hazzard as Greed: Everyone loves a rogue, right? Well, Hazzard and Greed do things their way and don’t give a rip what everyone else thinks. They’re natural gang-leaders born for the darker side of town and are looking to get their kicks however way they feel like. They consider their social-reject comrades to be their closest buddies and treat them with respect. They also both seem to have a soft spot they’d rather nobody notice. Hazzard’s not as greedy as Greed is, but they both love their independence. Hazzard’s normally on his own with his gang, but he’s willing to work for the good guys if he decides he likes them enough. He acts all big and mean but there’s a good heart buried under there somewhere. I feel bad including him without Hammer and Hatchet, seeing as how the trio is almost inseparable.

10/23/06: I felt like getting a little fancy with this recent strip because I liked how it turned out. Cool, huh? One of these days I might actually get the hang of this.

In an effort to speed things along, I’m consolidating a bunch of 4-panel strips into fewer, larger strips. This Friday will be a Halloween Special, followed by another page-layout strip, and so on and so on until I get through the part I’m trying to avoid dragging out much further. In short, I’m spending more time making bigger strips each week so that events go faster. Whee.

Well I...guess that’s it. Not much to talk about. Life’s kinda beige right now. Not boring, mind you, just...consistent. Wow, that’s weird. I didn’t know my life did consistent.