Chokecherry Mark 2, by Paladin.

So, I feel terrible, I've sat on these for months, because they would have been spoilers for chapter 21, but then I got stuck on 21, and then Halloween came, then Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and...ugh.

*Facepalm of shame*

So, yeah, the whole point of the Jade-Shade universe, is trying to maintain realism.
No powers, no mutations, no magic, no alien tech, just people, and realistic tech.

Only time I've kinda pushed against the edge so far, was chapter 18, but I've seen a Youtube movie of a small prototype working Transformer, so....plausible.

So, this popped up on my Facebook feed, and I knew the plausibility rules had to apply to Chokie too, so, with that as the starting point, I asked Paladin to take his crack at the upgrade, and I threw my input in, and we bounced it back and forth, and well, here we go.

The very first pass.
He got it 90% right here.

Wanted the fingerless gloves to hearken back to the Mark 1 Hyla version, so here's that tweak, with her fighting Deathgrasp.

Something was still missing, and as I ground the gears in my head during the 5 month writing block, I decided the bow on the present would be face paint, so here's his take.

97% there.
I like the look, I like the zippered boots, I like the colors, but...the makeup design isn't quite what I wanted for the final one.
Just wasn't clicking for me.
I mean, it's good, I could go with it, but it doesn't scream "Eureka! That's it!".
These are characters I'm gonna be writing for years, it's gotta be nailed as hard as the Superman "S", or the Batman bat.

I dunno, maybe you folks will like his take better, than what's in the story, let me know.

Here's a sketch of the above version of Chokie, and Jadie, and Paladin's vision of an unmasked Dusty.

Not bad.
Personally, I've deliberately been leaving his face a mystery.
Multiple reasons, I can't quite decide what he looks like, and part of me thinks he should BE the mask, and I'm saving his described unmasking for a later part of the book, which is when I'll decide on his looks, and, I've been having fun letting the readers make up their own Dusty.

But, hey, I'll take this one under advisement.

So, I used the Chokie face from that one, and this is my take on the face paint that I ultimately used in the story.

Yeah, that's what that looks like.
Whaddyathink?
Mine? Paladins?
Weigh in.

Okay, now spinoffs.
Here's a revision of Paladin's Dusty, with and without whiskers.

He's a hybrid of two actors, can you guess which ones? ;-)

And here's Deathgrasp.

Okay, no hiding that, he's Christopher Walken.

And there, that's all of those. Got one more thing, and that's it's own post....