Another quick look into how a Cracker's mind works.

So with the Bastion trilogy nearing completion and the first story uploaded, I've been looking at some future options in the breaktime after an upload. I never write on the same day I upload something, after all, as it tends to get distracting and possibly contaminate the future project.

But anyway, you may recall in this blog I posited some ideas about a proper artificer colt OC moving to Ponyville. You know, another episode-style trilogy, revisit a character I'd otherwise mostly been done (and tired of) using. You're going to want to check the blog out for context, otherwise you may miss a few things.

Up to speed? Good. So, here's Brass Tack and his uncle Upshot moving into Scootaloo's old home. Scootaloo, after some currently in-concept-stage shenanigans, feels like Brass Tack is replacing her among the CMC and in general. How would one refine this concept? How would one, in a word, nail it?

The introduction of the colt needs to be upsetting to Scootaloo in some way. He needs to feel, to her, like he's a replacement. Well, a proper replacement would have to be not just better than her, but feel more her than she is. When you do plots like this, it's the strong guy replaced by a stronger guy, a smart character replaced by a smarter one (or just more devious, if they're evil), the apprentice being replaced by a veteran. What they are, their identity, needs to be even more present in the replacement.

What is a quick and easy way to really get under Scootaloo's skin, without little Brass Tack trying or even realising he's doing it? Flight, obviously, but that's covered easily: give him flying drones. I've even got the design for a tortoise-shell drone from Legend of Keepers (Lira, the Engineer in that game, uses a drone for her two primary attacks, it looks pretty turtle-y). A tortoise-shell design opens up a way to broach the topic in conversation, to basically say "Yeah, we use a lot of designs right out of nature. Pretty cool that your parents keep bringing stuff in for that." It would also open up the angle of having the OC's talk to Rainbow Dash because, hey, now there's someone else with a flying tortoise thing. Gotta have that conflict escalate to somewhere, and tossing Rainbow Dash in is an easy way to get things to a boiling point, mirroring Mare Do Well, perhaps.

But the thing is, all that is purely a matter of function. That is the OC intruding on the things Scootaloo does, or does not. It wouldn't hit hard enough if the character doing the replacing isn't somehow, in her own eyes, a better version of her. And in most aspects, there's no way to achieve that: Scootaloo is a speedster, this new character is a tinkerer. She's a jock first and a bit of a builder second, he's an engineer first and hardly a jock at all. Besides, this is an introductory episode, we can't show Brass Tack doing a contest with Scootaloo unless the story is about said contest. And that's just going to make a mess of things, so no racing in this one just yet. We need to have differences between the characters so there's contrast, yes, but they need to be similar enough in some way for it to have emotional weight.

So how would one go a little deeper and have a character intrude on what Scootaloo is, or isn't? The answer is right in the episode that spawned this little plot bunny, turns out.

Just give Brass Tack and uncle Upshot an Australian accent. Make them sound like Scootaloo's parents, except dialled up to eleven. Make Brass Tack talk the way Scootaloo would talk if only her parents were around long enough for the accent to rub off on her. Make her feel like this new character is what she should have been in the first place. Not only does he use the things her parents bring back (unlike her), but he sounds like he'd fit into their family more than she does.

Now there's room for some "I'm being replaced" vibes.

Anyway, mostly jotting this down so I don't forget, and maybe provide some more background to my own thinking process. I found an interesting channel recently, taking some of its advice into my future projects to see how it goes. Enjoy.

As usual, song unrelated.