'Krystal Is' Director's Cut

"Krystal Is" recently got 100 faves. It's not much on a grand scale of things; really it's mere peanuts. But it's a lot for someone who just doodles animal people for fun. And though some of the faves are from people who really just fave anything involving the image of this character, I've recieved enough encouragement to make a second one. To those people, I thank you. Your kind words mean a lot to me.

I'm even thinking of a possible third, but that'll be a while.

The reason I refer to it as a "Director's Cut", is to give sort of a warning. I like to think most of this is pretty much true, but some of it may be on the, "you can't prove it's not true" side of things. And there may be a little bias, too. But...I don't care. If you can't take this as it is, a joke, then you're a sadder individual than I

Point is...she IS actually a decent character. Yeah, I know, you're shocked

None of these drawing and colors are supposed to be exact, by the way. So yeah, no critique this time.
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Now, I would imagine these are relatively straightforward, BUT, because I’m such a wordy person and always feel the need to attach a rant with my work, here’s an explanation for each panel, starting from the left and going down. If you already know where I’m coming from, there’s really no need for you to read this part.

1) Not “Krystal Fox” or “Krystal Vixen”. Seriously, where does this one come from? There has never been any implication to her having a last name. She may have one SOME day (and you probably know what I’m hoping that name to be, but I guess there’s a chance it’ll be…that other surname), but it’s neither of those. Why would her last name be “Fox” if there’s already a character with that name? As for “Vixen”, that word has never even been uttered in the series, so that’s out. The fact that some people refer to her with these false surnames implies to me that such people don’t even care about her as a character, they may not even play the games. They just see a blue vixen and…take it from there.

2) Not purple. Some people don’t exactly get her design right (I don’t even think I colored her correctly here), which is perfectly understandable, considering it’s not even consistent in the games. However, only in the case of that Command ending where she becomes Kursed is she ever purple, and even then, it’s just her hair. Some artists, I’ve noticed, just fabricate the whole thing…to the point where they draw a female fox and just call it Krystal.

3) Not a double-F cup size. Pretty straightforward. From what I’ve seen, her breasts are actually quite small. Maybe they were a little larger in Assault but…eh, I’m still convinced the outfit just made them LOOK bigger. No way she’s bigger than a C.

4) Not a princess. Well, I suppose this is a “you can’t prove it’s not true” sort of thing, but…I figure if she WAS a princess, it would have been brought up already. Even so, if she was princess of Cerinia, it’s gone so…does that even count? I don’t think so.

5) Not a party girl, a seductress, or a flirt. This is a big one for me. I will admit, she is a fan-service…ish, sort of character, but being that doesn’t automatically mean you flirt with everything that moves. A lot of people do seem quick to assume the worst of her…like just because she’s a vixen, or because of her outfits, that MUST mean she’s the token floozy. However, from what I’ve seen, she’s really quite the opposite. Most of the time, she’s proper, polite, considerate…a bit overly emotional at time, but overall pretty demure. Plus, the only character she’s flirted with is Fox, and…we all flirt a LITTLE in our lives, don’t we? That doesn’t make us masters of the seductive arts.

6) Not a chronic eater. This is in regards to the whole…fat/inflation fetish. I see a fair amount of art that depicts Krystal at a ridiculous weight. I won’t judge people who are into that (at least not those who just like the idea…I certainly hope it’s not practiced, for one’s own safety), but Krystal is rather skinny. I realize this is just a fantasy for some people; even those who draw her fat probably realize it’ll never actually happen, but even so…it’s a bit unnerving to just take a character and have her do something totally opposite of what she would do.

7) Not a Star Wars character. Yes, I realize Star Fox rips a lot off from Star Wars, but that still doesn’t mean Krystal is a Jedi. I don’t really care if you draw her as one, but…well, I thought Jedis usually had more…clothes on. Yes, I realize the slave girl outfit is almost as much coverage as her Adventures outfit, but…it’s still a bit demeaning, I think.

8) Not coming to Earth or coming to live with you. This sort of thing scares me. Of course, with this type of thing, it’s never the whole team coming to Earth or something, it’s just Krystal. A lot of these depictions not only neglect her personality, but her entire history. I realize she was probably alone prior to the events of Adventures, but I’m having a really hard time believing she would just drop everything to live with some random douschebag and his mom. Stuff like this always seems so random, Krystal with other characters, sometimes humans. They never seem to have anything to do with the series at all.

9) Not reverting to her “original form”. Every now and then I see people complain about how much better Adventures would have been if it had remained “Dinosaur Planet”, and how much better a character Krystal would have been if she had remained that cat-type character and sister of Sabre. Now…I AM bias; if it hadn’t been made into a StarFox game, my interest in it would be minimal. Not to mention I have no problem with Krystal’s role in the games, and I’m really not a big fan of Rare. Still, I’m not convinced Krystal would have developed any better in the original game—her role in Adventures was reduced, I know, but she still shared screen-time with a male counterpart. I’m also not convinced her character would have been explored in any greater amount of depth, especially since, now that she’s part of an ongoing series, her character can continue to expand. This series isn’t particularly expansive, yes, but…I like to think we’ve been making progress. Then, of course, there’s the fact that Dinosaur Planet was going to be released on the Nintendo 64 during its twilight—you know, when nobody wanted it anymore? Yes, Krystal would’ve avoided the torment of fans, but get off your high-horse—some fans will ALWAYS do that sort of thing to ANY character.
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Krystal, Fox and Lucy-Nintendo