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The KAS Project
In early 2017, I got a bit burned out from working so closely with Kirby characters, and decided to come up with a reimagining of everything in Kirby Adventure as a more original work. Due to my personal preferences and focuses, this led to me experimenting with redesigning most of the cast as furries. I renamed most characters and concepted a vague blueprint of a spiritual successor/reboot of Kirby Adventure with this non-Kirby focus in mind.
It was a fun experiment and I dabbled with the characters for a few years, and even considered making an actual new comic for this KAS Project, but it never really got off the ground. Currently with my main focus being on Leo the Magician, I'm not really expecting to return to the KAS Project properly any time soon... BUT it is definitely on the cards for the distant future.
I can't say for sure what form it will take, whether it will be a brand new and fully drawn comic, a piece of prose and writing, or perhaps most ambitiously, some sort of RPG video game? Who knows, but what I can say for sure is I like these guys enough to want to still make this spiritual successor a reality, somehow, someway, someday.
For now, though, I can share the reference sheets I made for the reimagined Kirby Adventure cast, which is what this page is primarily for. The references aren't finalized and are a bit outdated, since I made these in 2019 (they were the second references I drew after the original 2017 batch). But hey, they're the best I've got until I someday re-redraw their designs to make something properly finalized and whatnot.
The Main Cast
The reimagining can most easily be felt in this very first redesign. The replacement for Kirby is indeed a female fox warrior named Kachi! She may be a genderswap, but the core traits of my version of Kirby would be present here. A capable leader with a fun-loving side, but who is quick to anger and quicker to protect.
Keito became Saido, a nonbinary duck. They're pretty in flux and I never quite settled on an outfit for them, and I don't know if I'd keep the whole knife/rogue thing I vaguely had going for them. I'd have to re-analyze how to handle them.
Caiya was renamed to Cia, and I removed the whole 'dumb mode' from this version. Instead, I manifested some of the hurt Caiya used to feel by giving Cia a species that would normally be associated with filth and degeneracy, being a rat. So instead of judgments over her dumb mode, she'd now be pre-emptively judged for her species, in theory. I'd likely change the whole ice orb stuff though, and give her some form of ice elemental powers in a different way, I think.
Raize is one of the few characters I elected not to rename, since his name worked out pretty well. An electric eel was an obvious choice to me, considering OG Raize's Plasma powers. I'd likely simplify the body pattern I gave him in a revamp, though.
Kaxo also had to keep his name, it's a real solid time. Aside from my art style issues since this was 5 years ago, he's probably one of the more solid designs and likely wouldn't change that much (though those shoes could be touched up...)
Vezo's name was styled too similarly to Kaxo's, even putting aside the silly Bionicle-related stuff. So he got renamed to Venit to feel more appropriate for his little bug form I gave him here. I reinterpreted his Cutter power as an archery thing. He also likely is pretty close to a final design here.
Major Protagonists
Rectifying a mistake from the original comic, the main cast would have been cut from 9 to 6, with the remaining 3 OG Squadmembers filling appropriate secondary cast roles. In a sense, they already kinda did so, so this was more of a formality in identifying them as less-important characters in a reimagining. Anyways, Shat'l got renamed to Létas, and his psychic powers were HEAVILY nerfed. He's a bit more of a Silver the Hedgehog kind of psychic in this iteration.
Shadik was renamed Slate, with his Shadow Jump and miscellaneous powers and associations removed. I imagined him as being Létas's boyfriend and bodyguard in this iteration, and his strength coming just from him being a big buff powerhouse.
Saia was renamed July in 2017, which I then changed to Sara July in 2019. She's probably the most in-flux character in the KAS Project, since I've never truly felt confident in what I've come up with for her. Honing in on the motherly healer aspect feels smart, but it also doesn't quite feel satisfying, so... who knows what I'll do with her in the future.
I'd, of course, also bring in other important side characters too. A part of me envisions a sort of Paper Mario-esque interlude sort of method of telling the story of Ryka and her two girlfriends down below. Either way, aside from the silly nunchuk thing, she's basically finalized, Ryka just feels right like this.
Neona was renamed to Nina, because, like, come on, what even was that original name? No longer on any sort of Division C or anything, she'd be solely a character grouped with Ryka and Jeanne. I reinterpreted her as a bit of a farm girl, relaxed and confident but rebellious enough to be a fun, if not questionable, influence on the eager Ryka and uptight Jeanne.
Gigi was a character I was unsure about reimagining, seeing as she was a semi-cameo, but given how important Gigi felt to Kirby Adventure in the long run, it didn't feel right to leave her out. I did as much as I could to remove the ties to Gigi19972010, however, including a very necessary rename. So the core ideas of what I put onto the Gigi character became Jeanne, an uptight girl who just wants to study, if that annoying Ryka would just please shut up and leave her alone. She'd also still be a spy, probably, but also probably more reluctantly? It'd be an important story beat but one I'd have to figure out how to work in.
Major Antagonists
Talzo, of course, had to keep his name, it was a big deal way back when, and it's iconic to him. I liked the idea too much of making his original Fighter headband into a raccoon-esque facemask, so that worked out. I feel like I'd want to tweak him a bit still, though, it depends. Regardless, I'm not entirely sure how his story would come to a head here, or if he'd be framed or misguided or anything in this version. I just know that there'd be a much clearer direct rivalry between him and Kachi, and he'd feel a lot more competent (mostly due to a power nerf for Kachi compared to "the Legendary Kirby").
Zykan was NEVER going anywhere, he has to stay as the primary villain of any spiritual successor. It was interesting reinterpreting the Sir Kibble design as both anthropomorphic, as well as incorporating Galacta Knight elements into it. I don't know if this is final or not, but it really emphasized a lot of what made Zykan ruthless, and here he'd now truly be a knight of shadows. There would be no "MSG" in this spiritual successor, so the real question would just be how much would it be known if Zykan is the Big Bad or not. Does he work behind the scenes or is he up front and center? I'd have to decide that later.
The non-Kirby characters all got redesigns to mostly be anthropomorphic rather than completely separate from what made them Them. For Kiina, she became K4N4, aka Kana. Given Vezo's transformation into the ant Venit, I felt giving K4N4 a bug-like approach also felt appropriate, and it gave me a bit more focus for making an anthro Gim. She'd retain most of the same attributes about being strategic and being amnesiac.
Everybody's favorite surprise, NAV0 of course had to be retained too. There'd no longer be any J2 Navo model, it'd just be him alone, and he probably would lack the "can die many times" attribute, but otherwise, aside from being anthro, he'd be unchanged from his Capsule-J counterpart.
Other Characters
I have no real idea what I'd want to do with Hali in a revamp, since spoilers, there wouldn't actually be a formal Adventure Squad or anything. I've contemplated having her be a local business owner, but I'm not sure how that'd relate to anything. Regardless, she was important enough to KA that I'd want to find a slot for her anyway. This reference is definitely outdated though, because since 2019, I decided that I'd at the very least want to change things such that Hali would actually be Kachi's sister, so Hali would be changed from a jackal into a fox to match Kachi's species.
Dark Matter became a stand-out and surprisingly-important hit right near the tail end of the comic, so I couldn't resist carrying them over into the KAS Project too. Reworked as D.M., they're definitely not finalized, but I think they might wind up being some sort of long-form MacGuffin type of quest? If I go an RPG route for making this, a Paper Mario type of chapter format where the main cast have to piece together D.M. via artifacts like their cape or tiara and whatnot is something that's crossed my mind, so... it's a possibility, at least.
Like with Hali, I'm a bit unsure of what to do about Aika, but I do still want her to be around. In a game, maybe she'd be a trainer/combat practicer? Or a superboss a la Mario RPG's Jinx? Dunno. I just know she's a cool lizard now.
Vaina wasn't an important character in Kirby Adventure, but I decided she was just unique enough to warrant carrying over regardless. Reinterpreting the Birdon design as an anthro cockatiel, she'd still be a mail carrier, and perhaps a bit more importance in a spiritual successor? I think I brought her around mostly because of unused plans I had for the original KA involving Keito and Vaina... which is also why I made Saido into a duck. Bird x Bird, and all.