Archbishop Mousely's Comments

VictoryDrawsStuff

Okay can I say that I absolutely LOVE you're historical fiction stories!? You take the historical events and settings (in this cause, 1665 London and when the city is in the midst of the bubonic plague) and really make fascinating stories and concepts out of them!

I LOVE the idea of Mousley being an antagonist whose big plan is to literally cause the bubonic plague in London (because he oh so despises humans and their pet cats!) and blaming it on the cats and also dogs (using historical facts in a creative way) and the fact that Thomas (a cat) has to stop his evil plans! I often don't see animal characters who are historical fiction OCS and are written in such a creative way based on history itself, and also his design absolutely fits the time??? He really DOES look like an Archbishop and gives off that "1600s European bishop" vibe!

ALSO CAN I SAY THAT I LOVE THE AMOUNT OF DETAILS ON HIS ACCESSORIES LIKE THE CROSS AND RINGS??? THAT'S ABSOLUTELY AMAZING OMG!

Captain_Fartbeard

HISTORICAL FICTION IS SO COOOL Researching it is so fun, there's endless media to consume and study about these topics. You can completely immerse yourself in new worlds! (I can link you a sick documentary that inspired a lot of this if you want)

And ye Mousely's got a diabolical scheme indeed! The funny thing is most average London rats end up losing out on the deal, as Mousely's minions (many of them rats imported from mainland Europe) end up chowing down on all the resources and taking over local rat's homes. So Thomas might end up getting some very strange friends in his quest to take down Mousely's evil plot.

And thank you for the design comments! I kinda like This design better tbh, but I'm glad you think it fits! The 1600s are a really hard time to stylize for, it's right when Shakesperian styles were merging with the style you see during the Revolutionary War so it's hard to find a distinct look. Plus when people think plague they think 1300s Black death so I try and incorporate some of those elements as well.

myoukyomou

Okay, I'll start this off saying that this character and the story behind him is almost nostalgic to me; it's reminiscent of a family movie that I'd watch when I was a little kid, and that's a compliment from me! Such simple concepts, like the rivalry between cats and mice, as well as the common stereotypes that they are given in media have such a great potential for stories, and you have used it extremely well! Even simple dynamics between characters, like Mousely and Giles, a 'brain and brawns'-type dynamic hits that hunger for nostalgia that I have ^.^

I'll take this moment to say that I also really like how your characters have more 'obscure' occupations, at least compared to what's more common on Toyhouse. I always see stuff like assassins, doctors, fantasy roles, businessmen etc., but with you I see so many other roles that no one really touches upon, like Agnes being a cat lady, Billy being a drummer boy, and the Werewolf Lifeguard! Keep up the good work :D

Captain_Fartbeard

This story was inspired by a prompt from a storyboarding discord that I'm on: "A mouse caught in a trap" (Not literally but metaphorically) I decided to play around with that theme and have the cat caught in the trap with the mouse serving the "cat" role. I've noticed that in popular media, whoever the hero is always serves a "prey" role, whether it's a mouse or a cat. This was my attempt to have the predator as the protagonist with a prey member as the antagonist.

For Giles and Mousely's relationship, the primary dynamic I wanted to create was "book smarts vs. street smarts", though brains vs. brawn works as well. Archbishop Mousely is educated and able to come up with wild and imaginative schemes, but can't implement them practically in the real world (as one can see in the accompanying storyboard which allows Thomas the Cat to escape) That's why he needs Giles to stick around, though he doesn't want to admit it. Giles is very practical minded and can actually get things done. So they both need each other for their plans to work.

And I love obscure occupations, glad you noticed! And obscure time periods as well. Lots of great stories can come out of the most mundane seeming lifestyles. I think I need to work on their designs a bit, as some of them are starting to look way too similar lol. Thanks for the feedback!