u/Candhfan621

WE'VE DONE IT! WE'VE REACHED DAY 15 AND THE LAUNCH OF THE NINTENDO SWITCH 2 EDITION OF TO A T! To wrap everything up, here's the Town Chorus, and the late, great Champion!

The Town Chorus are an interesting bunch. They pop in from time to time to comment on whatever is going on in the story, which I get from a meta perspective, but what do they actually DO in-universe? Do they just wander around town and comment on what's happening around them? Because for a "town chorus", they sure as shinola don't do much singing. Outside of the theme song, anyway. They seem content to just bum around and do whatever. Not that that's a problem, mind you, because I'm always delighted when they appear. They almost read to me like an institution within the town, nobody really seems to question them popping up in random places to quip about a given situation.

On the topic of the Champion, I'm gonna keep my thoughts brief again, as I want to get this post out within the next week, let alone today, but man, what an intriguing and somewhat tragic character. So much of the story spawns from his actions and circumstance, and you really feel for the guy. And his actions heavily influence the lives of the many characters in the game, directly or otherwise. In many ways, he's basically this game's Rose Quartz. In fact, this game has a lot in common with Steven Universe, now that I think about it.

Anyway, that's the countdown! It was a lot of fun drawing all these characters and giving my thoughts on them. Very excited that the game gets to launch on a new platform, and more people will get to experience it!

And hey, it's out now with a 25% discount for the first two weeks! So, go try it if you haven't!

Edit: I completely forgot I included the Mayor from Wattam in here. Haven't played it yet, I've got it on my PS4, I should get around to it when I have the chance.

Game's out on the eShop right now! It's even 25% off for the first two weeks!

I was so tempted to flair this as political as a joke

Extra, extra, read all about Day 12's characters, the members of the Seven Spot Post, Molebert, Frogiovanni and Ladybug!

I always think of Molebert and Frogiovanni as two peas in a pod, in a way, since they are working together in the "strange sensation" case, that and they're the only two people confirmed to be working for the Seven Spot Post besides the president. Both of them each have their niche sources, Molebert takes the underground, Frogiovanni deals with "Watery affairs", which mostly involves fishing in the pond that the wind turbine crashes into. Makes you wonder who they interview for their stories, since they can't really talk to humans. Also, for some reason, Frogiovanni's attire and confidential way of talking remind me a lot of Superball from the Telltale Sam & Max games. It's probably the glasses.

As for Ladybug, the president of the rag, don't have quite as much to say on her, though she clearly really likes Dog, as she keeps calling him "cutie". And she does point him in the direction of someone she believes to be a good lead, even if it ends up in a wild goose chase. Also, you don't think she's the one that actually TYPES the paper, do you? When she looks so small that she'd have to type by jumping on each individual key.

DJ Pigeon is one cool dude. He just sits by the sandwich shop, vibes and listens to music. Don't you just wanna do that sometimes? Even if it is a bit rude that he's constantly listening to his music when people are trying to talk to him. Also, if he's not a DJ (which no one claims he is in the first place), then what does DJ stand for? These are the real questions.

Piglsey's got an air of mystery to him. Like Pigeon, he just sits around all day and reads his paper, never really paying attention to anything around him, and he only knows whats written in the newspaper. I'm not even sure he's aware when something is happening if it's not in that rag. He denies knowing DJ Pigeon, who claimed he was his pal, suggesting some tension between the two, or maybe he's trying to keep a low profile for one reason or another. There's also the fact that he may have formerly been King Pig, the cereal mascot Teen loves so much. Dog asks him about it, but he denies it, and it's clear the association annoys him. You think he lives of royalty checks from his mascot days? I also like how he shows up in episode 4 during the train race segment, before you properly meet him. Little things like that really help to make the game's world feel more alive and lived in.

Day 8 means we're over the hump! To celebrate, we have Crabbiano the mollusk barber and his little octopus friend. Crabbiano is interesting in the context of this game, giving it its one side quest of collecting hairstyles, which I appreciate, because it's the primary reason you would play the post game, which I don't think a lot of people actually have? The reason he sends you off to get all the hairstyles is pretty funny, in that apparently crabs take copyright very seriously, so he can't be caught copying hairstyles. But that raises the question, can you copyright or trademark a hairstyle? (I googled it, apparently not) Also, I love how, while the shopkeepers made their shops look like what they sell, Crabbiano just made his shop look like himself, the massive narcissist. /j

Also, Octopus is there!

Get in the car, loser, we're going shopping for Day 7, which brings us Rabecca and Bearnard. I'm gonna keep my thoughts on these two brief, because they do kinda speak for themselves. They're just very charming talking animals that sell clothes, with names that are funny puns on human names and not just "Rabbit" and "Bear". I do like that Rabecca appears in Episode 6 and points Teen and their mom in the right direction. Plus the fact that the animal characters apparently had to learn how to speak English does add some depth to the world. And I love Gab Smolder's reaction to first meeting Bearnard when she played the game, and how that's the most replayed part of that video.

Day 6 brings us Mr. Mushroom, Aunt Ichiko, and Teen's trusty talking unicycle, Uni! Quite the interesting cobble of characters we have here.

I'm not gonna mince words, Mr. Mushroom is my favorite character in the game. He's got this confidence mixed with a mellow and friendly attitude, and he really makes the most of his screen time. Him being a hopeless romantic is probably my favorite thing about him, guy practically hits on every girl he talks to and asks for their number or to go on a date. But when he inevitably gets rebuffed, he doesn't let it get him down, he takes it in stride. Like, when he gets rejected by the news reporter, he spins it as becoming a famous TV star. Guy's always looking on the bright side of life, and I really appreciate that.

Moving on to Aunt Ichiko, she's actually fairly interesting. Her shtick is her environmentalism, which clearly overpowers her business sense as she gave her restaurant a submerged entrance, for the sake of a global warming allegory. What's interesting is that she had this sentiment as far back as 1986 (the game takes place in 1999, starts on Teen's 13th birthday, and the flashback in episode 5 takes place before they were born, so 1986 at the earliest accounting for a typical 9 month pregnancy) meaning she was focusing on climate change a few years before people like Al Gore made it into the hot button issue it is now. Also, the dynamic between her and Niko (Teen's mom) is cute and intriguing, I wish the game elaborated on it a little more. Maybe in a "to a T" anime...

And then there's Uni, who is fascinating in that they are far more prevalent in gameplay than in story, when their very existence within the story raises so many questions. I mean, think about it, he's a talking unicycle who belonged to Teen's late father. Not to go too deep into spoilers for those who haven't played the game just yet, but when Teen says Uni came from their father, they don't really elaborate further, or explain how he can talk, and before the event of the game, he was broken in such a way where he COULDN'T talk. Since Uni knew Teen's father before Teen was born, you'd think that would come up, that Uni would have something to say about it. But despite being a *talking* unicycle, he really doesn't say that much throughout the game. Some real potential left on the table, there. Inversely, while Uni is not that prominent in the story, he is very prominent in gameplay, as he is the second-fastest method of getting around the map behind the train, which is more a form of fast travel anyway. Plus, he can be utilized for an exploit to get indefinite coins, which is very useful for getting an achievement that would otherwise be a massive grind. Again, maybe a "to a T" anime could expand on Uni and this connections story-wise, because there is so much potential.

‪First two teachers for Day 5, Mr. Mathew (no I'm not misspelling that, that's how it's spelt in-game) and Ms. Swan. School's gonna be out soon, so let's honor the brave individuals who try to help us through the trash fire that is the public education system.

Ms. Swan is really cute, very perky and energetic, whilst still being very elegant. I like how quick she is to take Teen under her wing when she finds them trying to fly, and how she helps them hone their flying ability. Also, she has the ability to teleport people, so that's something. In general, she seems very eager to help Teen reach their full potential, and she's much more patient with them than Mr. Mathew.

On that note... yeah Mr. Mathew is kind of a nothingburger character, even more than Tongari. Which is a shame, because he had a lot of potential as a sort of father figure to Teen. Think Professor Utonium to the Powerpuff Girls (R.I.P. Tom Kane, btw). In episode 2, after math class, Mathew asks Teen if there's something wrong, and leaves the door open to talk to him if need be, but this is never followed up on. Outside of that, he does not get a lot of screen time to flesh him out, any more than the other teacher do, anyway. I think part of this is due to the lack of a scene with him outside of his class period in episode 4 like Swan and Mr. Mushroom get, because without that, he just comes off as a calm but stern teacher, with a slight sense of humor. Now that's not to say there's NOTHING nothing to him, but when even the game itself is joking about how shallow your character is (the bridge to episode 5 and the school scene in episode 8), that is a bad sign. Like I said, there was a lot of potential for Mr. Mathew to be a father figure towards Teen, someone to vent to and that they could get advice from that their mother couldn't give. It's always good to get that second opinion. But eh, I didn't write this game, so it is what it is.

Now we're getting to the good stuff, Day 4 brings us the bullies, Tongari, Kinoko and Maruo. These three kids give Teen a lot of grief early on for their shape, but that all changes when Teen saves Kinoko's life. Afterwards, the three become way more fascinated with Teen, and eventually become their friends.

Kinoko is my personal favorite, her penchant for black magic and her snarky attitude charmed me to her. I know the game doesn't go out of its way to call her goth, but she seems very goth-coded to me, with her black clothes and skull motif. Also, there are questions raised about her relation to a character you meet later in the game, which I would love to know more about.

Maruo is a close second, I always appreciated how even before he was friends with Teen, he was more friendly and apologetic with his bullying. Afterwards, seeing him as the owner of the shoe shop and hearing him talk about how he collaborates with different shoe designers really helps to deepen his character, it's nice seeing he has a passion for something. Plus, his family owning a Laserdisc player is very funny, especially for 1999 when DVD was already reigning supreme.

Shame I don't have quite as much to say about Tongari, he seems to just be the leader-ish type to Kinoko and Maruo. I find it interesting he always wears flip-flops, even in his school uniform. Surprisingly lax for a dress code that requires every other student to change into indoor shoes when they enter the building.

Day 3, and we've got the other 2 giraffes, the ones that sell ice cream and grilled corn respectively. I really like all the eating contest minigames, even if the grilled corn one is kind of a pain before you get the hang of it. You know, I kinda have a theory that one of the corn-adjacent giraffes was supposed to sell noodles instead. Because in "PerfecT Shape", the favorite foods they sing about are "ice cream, noodles, and sandwiches", and after digging around in FModel, I found a model for a shop labeled "Udon". I mean, the game did take 6 years to make, anything could happen in that time.

Day 2, and we're bringing in some of the giraffes, played by Rebecca Sugar! Super long sandwiches and popcorn as big as your head are what these fine ungulates specialize in. If you're in Teen's little seaside town, their food stands are great places to grab a bite!

Edit: crap, i put the wrong day number in the title

Today, May 28th, marks the 1 year anniversary of "to a T"! To celebrate both that and the impending Switch 2 version in 2 weeks, I will be drawing some characters everyday leading up to the launch, starting with Teen, their mom, and Dog!

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Side note, I am a little worried on uvula/Mr. Takahashi's radio silence on the Switch 2 port. Like, it's less than a month away and they've said nothing. Their Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, even TikTok, all inactive for at least a few months. Hell, Annapurna and Nintendo haven't really said anything beyond that initial reveal video. At this point, the least I'm hoping for is a launch trailer on the Nintendo YouTube channel when it goes live, but I wish they were putting in a little more legwork to promote it, since this is basically the game's second chance at finding an audience, especially since Nintendo's target demographic has the largest overlap with the one this game is aiming for. Sorry if I'm coming off as a pessimist, I just really care about this game, and it deserves to be seen and adored by as many people as possible.