Actually, I'm Dead - Autopsy: Behind the mask · 7:15am Aug 27th, 2015
Okay, let me start with a rhetorical question; what was the impacting element from last chapter?
Obviously Trixie finally starting to really overcome her depression... or did she?
I would like to point out an specific comment from MustacheMerlin:
It's easy to be confident behind a mask, but without the costume, would she just go right back to self pity?
THAT! Right there is what I was kinda sorta aiming for. Here, let me tell you guys a little of this chapter's inception. The original tittle was going to be "There is a pony under this mask..." which is a reference to V for Vendetta. The original quote goes like this:
"There is a face beneath this mask but it's not me. I'm no more that face than I am the muscles beneath it or the bones beneath them."
What I tried to put here is that Trixie doesn't recognize herself anymore. Her body not only looks different, but since it's actually depending on the Amulet to move and (kinda sorta) function, it probably isn't her body anymore. The Alicorn Amulet stole her identity in payment for the power it gave her.
Trixie not only died physically when she took the Amulet off the first time. But awakening in a dead version of her body, depending on the Amulet to keep her going and stripped from a irreplaceable part of her as is her magic was too much for her. She barely recognizes herself as Trixie anymore, hence why she's far more timid than in canon (Deadly Honest) and is too prone to fall in despair (Quiet as the Tomb), because she's almost another pony. This is the reason we wanted to put all the possible emphasis on her past; it's the only thing she has left as her present was already lost after the Ursa Minor and the Alicorn Amulet denied her of any future she may have.
Trixie, as the pony she used to be, was deconstructed into nothingness.
So, Rarity's outfit is way more than just a fancy clothes to wear, or a shield to hide away from the world. It is actually a reconstruction of who is Trixie. When writing down her interview with Rarity, nightwalker and I did our best to expose as much of Trixie as possible. Not for the reader, but for Rarity to have all the pieces to recreate Trixie's real image, so Trixie can claim her identity again. Sure, there's still a body under the fabric, but it's colorless and sterile. It's the outfit the one that now contains her.
Designing the damn thing
Believe me, I had a very rough time trying to actually catch Trixie's panache when drawing it. In fact not only I asked nightwalker to give me opinions and suggestion, but I also annoyed JB von Herb, Diamond dust and VamDash till I got something I could use out of them. The final design has a lot of a lot of things.
For example, as the narration on the chapter actually announced, the hat is not a magician's one, but a traditional wide brimmed Roani. For those who don't remember, I said that my depiction of Roanis was going to be more based in fictional Romani over real ones. In thi case, Trixie's new hat is the same from Melquiade's, side character from the book 100 Years of Solitude.
It also includes four socks that were intended to be a set of gloves and boots. Those, alongside with the vest and the cape are all from one single character from comics books who also happens to be a Romani. No, let me stop you right there, it's not Doctor Doom. It's Robin, a.k.a. Dick Grayson (age 12).
Vest: It has a secondary color, but since it's placed in the middle, it gains more importance over the other items.
Pixie boots: Just the name makes them perfect for Trixie, but it also goes along with her entertainer background.
Wide gloves: For show, but have to be long enough to cover the area where an iv scar that never heals would be.
Cape: Instead of the classic Robin, for the cape I used the modern version, which has the simpler color in the outside (black), but when spread, it reveals an inner side lighter and more colorful (yellow).
Finally, the veil is Mileena's one.
So, you put all that together, and what do you have? This:
Hope you liked it.
Okay, so it's the Iron Man question "does the man make the suit?" with the opposite answer. In the movie, Tony is Iron Man and is totally badass without his suits, but in this the mask makes the mare. Without it Trixie doesn't know who she is. This is an awesome idea.
Strangely enough I get a kinda Zoro feel from this outfit.
Interesting to see that Trixie's body is dead to Trixie as well.
3350725
Actually, if we're going to compare, I would like to use V for Vendetta, if you don't mind. In the same fashion as V, Trixie has come to terms that her physical appearance is not hers anymore. So, instead of pretending the opposite, she choices to rebuild her real image and cover the destroyed one with it. She probably took this decision when talking with Rarity, as both of them appreciate the power that an image can have.
Glad you're liking it.
3350894
I will assume you meant Zorro:
static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_small/0/308/349079-21119-126906-1-zorro.jpg
There's a lot of super-hero/villain in Trixie's outfit. Zorro, The Shadow, Robin. It even surprised me that, with some minor retooling, I could turn Trixie into Bat-Trixie, Cat-Trixie, Owl-Trixie and Trixie-Moth
oi57.tinypic.com/a4lxj9.jpg
And yes, part of Trixie's problems is that even she considers herself dead.
3354643 I've never seen Vendetta actually. Though that does sound like a better comparison.
3354653
See Vendetta. It is all kinds of pure Awesome.
3354653
And if you want, here's a review by yours truly:
http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/364979/remember-remember-the-fifth-of-november