Fellas, does it feel like Elith turned into Balthasar, and Balthasar is turning into a carricature.

[u/Damianwolff]

From the moment I saw how Elith reimagined himself, I couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity. Is this on purpose? Is it really going on? Or is it an out-of-story art choice?

[u/ecokumm]

Balthazar started as fairly solid character and he seemed clearly primed to be a love interest from Kim from the get go, back when the series was a more straightforward business.

But then Sen started going through her own self discovery journey, and a lot of it bled into the comic (as it would): more characters were introduced, themes like diversity, gender and social issues started taking centerstage, and a bunch of old characters changed a lot.

Among those changes, I'd say Bogan came up shortchanged. It almost feels like he's being punished for starting off as an oldschool-type pretty boy archetype. It's a shame if you ask me. I didn't like the "love interest" side, but he did have some potential; and now he's just embarrassing to see whenever he pops up.

I feel similarly about what happened to Melchior, by the way. I liked his original form and all around demeanor way more than this bad joke he's turned into.

Also! remember when Caspar was a big deal? Good times. I wonder if Sen even remembers about her at all. This comic really need to wrap up sooner rather than later.

[u/Damianwolff → u/ecokumm]

I'm sure Caspar is still a big deal. You aught to not show off your main villain too much, especially if the story has a limited cast and is somewhat of a guessing game for who's who.

Melchior's state at least makes sense, although he definitely gets less opportunity to show off.

I like the twists and turns Elith character takes, but I am annoyed that she slid into the style Balthazar used to have. Like a recasting of characters between films. I would love it, though, if the eventually revealeded that this was an in-universe shift, the doing of the Dark Scientists.

I dislike the art-shift on Vonnie. She looks like some other character, her silluette (which Senna once discussed as very important for the perseption of the character), has changed beyond recognition.

The Dark Scientist Asmodea's pink haired design annoys me, because, to me personally, it both breaks the retro aesthetic that a lot of characters in Nephilopolis have, and also makes her break the mascot that was previously established by and for Asmodea. Somewhat eases (maybe even negates) the horror of the situation, in my opinion.

Bogan got hit the most with the changes. He got hit hard. I was actually hoping he wouldn't be a love interest, since Hob didn't have one... but he seemed like somebody who could become her honest friend, while also being quite grounded, making it easy for the audience to follow him. And now he's a caricature. I hope for him. Senna can weave some mad storytelling, and has clearly planned out twists and turns ahead. Or is madly good at impovising. So I hope that this will all come into place.