Me: You HAVE to draw gay commedia dell’arte characters.
Also me, somehow: I do?
Me: You are OBSESSED with commedia dell’arte characters.
Also me: I am???
i have never seen my little pony friendship is magic. the first and only time i tried to watch it the two-part pilot episode triggered a migraine that waylaid me for an entire day and i never went back. and yet i find myself fascinated with the characters as archetypes. when i see rainbow dash trying to hide the pathetic, utterly barren furnishings of her mancave fridge from darling fluttershy... it is like the commedia dell'arte. i am watching arlecchino foolishly woo the heart of sweet colombina. i do not even know the voice actors--it is not a human voice but the muses who sing through their muzzles, and the song they sing says friendship.. is magic. goodnight and good luck to you all
Neil discussing the many pieces and methods used to create the constellation of Astarion, including his friend and make up artist Leendert van Nimwegen, the stray cat that took years to tame, and the Harlequin character from 16th century Italian theatre.
Uhhhhhh idk man, I've been really bogged down in the weeds of building the style guide for the final version of Inheritance (the one that will be in print!), and somewhere in the delirium of choosing fonts and brushes and textures, my brain was like "haha what if...Rivro were commedia dell'arte clowns..."
Sorry if you're scared of clowns. At least they're European clowns and not stupid honk-honk clowns, idk why but I personally wanna choke out the Ronald McDonald-It-Bozo type of clown myself
also I never embarrass Ro enough so I made him Pagliacci cuz he's emo, the end
My ideas behind each of them and why I chose that specific character is after the cutoff :))
Spock is Pierrot. The character of Pierrot is a symbol for putting on a mask to hide one's true feelings which felt fitting for Spock. He is done with charcoal to give him a soft and kind of even sad vibe to mach the character of Pierrot.
McCoy is Columbina. The character of Columbina is sassy and is a faithful confidante, constantly demonstrating her improvisational skills. McCoy is trusted by others and has to improvise constantly in each medical crisis that happens aboard the Enterprise. McCoys outfit was made with old doctors coats in mind. He was done with watercolours to have a bold yet risky feel, because watercolours can be unpredictable.
Kirk is Innamorati, with some influence of Il Capitano. With all the chaos that occurs in commedia dell'arte Innamorati, which translate to Lovers, are characters that always end up winning in the end. They are very selfish and self-centered and along with loving themselves, they are in love with the very idea of love. It's well known that Kirk is infact not selfish at all, but to the audience of the show and other characters his actions aren't always crystal clear. Sometimes his actions could be deemed selfish before we get to the part of the conclusion of the episode. Kirk was made with acrylic paint to give him a romantic and shiny feel. His outfits design has heavy influence from II Capitano.
Localization: Tartaglia’s Title & In-Game Self Introduction
I feel that Tartaglia’s codename as a harbinger, “公子” (gong1zi3), is better translated to “Young Master” rather than “Childe” since the former is more easily understood and blends in with Liyue culture (more on that shortly). Does the English word “Childe” sound like a title or a name to the average player I wonder? Even though the title “childe” refers to “an archaic English word that refers to the son of a nobleman who has not yet attained knighthood” or so the etymology section on his wiki page says.
And I believe the name Tartaglia comes from the stock character in traditional Italian theatre, commedia dell’arte. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but “Tartaglia” translates to “the stutterer”, I think? I’m not familiar with Italian culture; I wonder if the stock character has any relations to being a childe.
The Chinese term 公子 understandably comes up often in Chinese 武侠/wuxia (Chinese martial arts) and 仙侠/xianxia (spiritual cultivation, fantasy with gods/immortals/etc) genres, so if Tartaglia really wanted to blend in with Liyue… I mean, if his title was “Young Master” then it wouldn’t be suspicious if in Liyue you hear someone be referred to as “Young Master”. It could be Xingqiu for all they know. Of course in the game the word “childe” is pronounced (?) like “child” but if said “child” sounds like a young man, wouldn’t the facade be broken easily…?
Zhongli and Traveler calling him 公子 all the time wouldn’t rouse suspicion if in English it’s just “Young Master”. “Young Master did this. Young Master was at that place,” sort of feel.
More importantly, his introduction:
Edit: Final line can be better translated as “Things like names are really just aliases” for a casual tone more fitting to the original
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(Original Chinese)
???:你们可以叫我「公子」喔。
派蒙:哇…性格好糟糕,救过我们一次就把我们当仆人?
公子:哈哈,我没有那个意思。「名字」这种东西啊,只是代号而已。
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(Official English Localization)
???: Call me Childe.
Paimon: Childe? What, so we're supposed to dote on you?
Childe: Haha, no no, not at all. It's an alias of sorts.
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(Actual English Translation)
???: You can just call me “Young Master”.
Paimon: What kind of attitude is this?* You saved us once and now you’re treating us like servants?
Young Master: Haha, that’s not what I meant.** Things like “names”… are just aliases.***
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* T/N: literally, “Wow, what a terrible personality you’ve got.”
**T/N: literally, “Haha, I don’t have such intentions”