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Upheaval

5 Weeks + 1 Week

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Upheaval

By MyHatsEatPeople & Cracking Skulls & Sabulive

By Majikura & otakutaylor & Jiisuri

Comments (26)

Ah just to let you know, kozi, this actually was extended 1 week. We just ended up with so many pages. orz Anyway thanks for the critiques guys. Twas a hard and good fight. Just to make it known, the caelum workflow was this: all 3 of us worked on a script, followed by me doing all the sketches and layouts and calling for cuts and changes where needed. Then originally tay was going to ink the characters while kura does backgrounds, but this process wasn't going to work when we were weeks in and still behind. So later on kura went and inked entire pages, tay began doing entire pages too, and after I was done sketching everything I went and did some emergency inking. The fact that you guys couldn't tell who did what for plenty of pages was a partial success I guess~ Team Caelum gonna take a break to recover now, but this plot will continue in a BB or something.

2 great comics! Congrats to team WIZXIAHNNY!

HATS/SKULLS/SABS- Ok, this is incredibly stupid, but the first couple pages? Which I think are Sab's pages? I am LOVING the color. Especially the technique where you leave the outlines of a figure dark, but color things like Veronica's fingers a flesh tone. It's little things like that, that really shows your comic that extra bit of TLC. Also? Brute is adorable. Sweet's taken her dino on alotta adventures in your battles, but I feel its here in Upheaval that we really get to see a better look of his personality. Especially on the meta nullifier reveal moments. Speaking of style- I gotta admit, this new signature style Hats has got going on left me uncertain as to the quality of their comic pages, but once I saw it in action, it definitely grew on me. It was fun to see such a hyper stylized look to characters we all know and love. It allowed me to see them in such a unique way, which left me wanting to push how I draw future opponents, as opposed to just staying on model. It definitely makes for a fun romp. FURTHER speaking on style! There was some high flying action going on in skulls pages, but the one thing that gets me is your linework is kind of weak. I dunno if it was a matter of time, you're working in flash or some program where you have pressure sensitivity cranked to 50, but your linework is so wispy that without the benefit of color I feel your work muddles together where I have to really give some scenes a second look to pull the characters out of the environment and action. That's not to say it was everywhere- you have some great panels where you obviously show some love to those zoomed in moments featuring a character or two, but when your camera zooms out to fully take in a scene your linework seems to suffer. TAYLOR/JII/KURA- Holy- 35 pages of Taylor inks. Or at least I think they're Taylors pages. I have no idea how the work was divided, but this definitely felt like an otakutaylor comic if nothing else-which I think is great! You definitely broughto n the feels, man. I feel the more fully fleshed storyline was that of Tsumi and her sister, honestly. It was a series of events that I felt I connected with and was truly shocked by once we get to the meat of the story. A bit more so than the actual conflict at hand. If your comic focused on that in the midst of dealing with your opponents threat, I feel this tale would've been stronger for it. I know we had the actual Upheaval as your storyline, but I found myself flipping pages hoping to get back to Tsumi's drama as it felt like the only real stakes and character development that really shined to which I doff my hat. I just didn't get that same connection with Miyajima and Veronica (though its notoriously difficult to make a villains character development something people can connect to. Its so rarely done successfully). I gave lower scores to this side because of the fact it was heavily unfinished and rough which is a little shocking since this saga was 5 weeks in the making. Are 5 weekers allowed to get extensions? If so, I'm confused as to why you guys didn't go for it in order to add that extra polish to your pages?

Both parties: This was a heavy effort, it's not easy collaborating, the amount of life obstacles in your way multiplies with each new member. Y'all should be proud to have complete stories here with a minimal amount of incompletion on the pages, and both stories are entertaining enough in different ways. As far as the "grand scheme of things" regarding Upheaval, I do wish that either story had some more definite results. With the girls' side, we have this conflict that ends with Lithium having a sort of check mate victory, but is this actually how the Upheaval conflict is to end? I felt like, "would this really stop Nightingale?" It felt more like a single battle in the war, but it didn't seem to give either side the upper hand. With the boys' side, it kinda ends without ending; When will we know what happens to Nightingale? What about Minori? How does this leave the state of things between Lithium and Caelum? Neither side had a show-stopping finale (or, what there is, funny enough both sides' action was incomplete in these exact moments) for such a big and hyped event of a battle. A lack of closure from either side is my overall narrative critique. I hope we get to see the next chapter of Upheaval soon! Also what's all this about Brute (or is it dinosaurs) being immune to powers or something? What did I miss D: TEAM LITHIUM: Of course you guys brought the yucks, and it really helps push this story along! It was cool seeing the mounting tension and deteriorating relations in the first part of this story. I'm not too big a fan of Tsumi's classist remarks though, they felt out of place for her character and seemed to only be there to force a fight between her and the heroines. The pluckiness of the trio is so charming though even without a real show-stopper of a finale. Hats: You pulled all the stops with these pages and colors, with your ever-changing style that we all love~ Some of the pages get a little wordy and probably would have better served an extra page or two to spread them out. You've got a firm grasp on your colors, most of your layout, and you do a good job of filling up most of your pages. Thumbs up! Skulls: I have a feeling these were supposed to be colored? The lines are crisp, but so thin they take away from the emotion of the pages. There's alot to love with the promise of what these could be, but it's a shame you weren't able to get the completed versions. We know they would have rocked, though! sabu: I like that it's colored but I feel like sometimes the sets are too bright, I think some darker, warm shades would've helped sell the conflict a bit more. Is Veronica walking or posing in the hallway page when she's fully dressed, because her arms feel like she wants to be walking but her feet are on the ground. I can imagine this was a difficult pose to get just right. It looks like you ran out of time too which is a bummer :( TEAM CAELUM: What I like about this story is two things: 1) we've got some crazy revelations from the characters, from Veronica's mad plot to Sasami's true colors, and 2) Tsumi steals the fucking show! As if we didn't already love her, she makes the perfect anchoring point for readers in this story, grounded and full of heart, and it makes the Sasami revelation all the more shocking when it comes. I think Minori suffered in that we didn't really get alot out of her in this comic; we already know she's a logical tactician of a leader (or second leader as it were), and Veronica suffered from lack of exposure: she's only in the last half of the comic, and she doesn't really do much other than monologue then disappear. If I remember correctly you guys pretty much collaborated on the whole thing, right? With taylor and jiisuri sketching and kura inking? So i'll judge you three together on that effort: Incomplete pages aside, there's aloto love fro some of these pages, and even though the style shifts between you three every now and then it's not too jarring given the focal characters during many of the shifts. One problem I have is that the hard blacks you have are only present half of the time; there are long stretches of pages that are just lines, and would have benefitted from at least some shadowy backgrounds. Great job, all six of your, and I can't wait to see what y'all have in store next!

oh feck i still need to do my critique I'll do it this weekend somehow

Big kudos to the both of you guys for not only collaborating on a really great story, but also boiling everything down so that newcomers and those who don't know much about the Caelum vs Lithium conflict can jump in and understand everything from the get go. I know I'm not the first to mention it, but I love how we get the general feel and attitude from each side: Lithium being a crazy fun romp and Caelum being more heady and calculated. Whether or not this was done on purpose it still sets up the contrast well. Lithium: Your side was a boatload of fun! I like how you were able to balance the lightheartedness with some serious moments, and I got a sense of two huge cities smashing in conflict with Void stuck in the middle. The art felt more uneven due to your contrasting styles and the level of completeness, but I also felt that as a story it all had a solid arc. My only big observation was a lack of backgrounds to really place all of the characters. Caelum: Your side felt a lot more heady and focused, which plays to your side's writing strength. And while the art was overall a bit less polished, I could tell you were more ambitious with action and dynamic shots. I think your side had a bigger emotional impact with more memorable moments such as Sasami's betrayal and Nightengale going absolute batshit at the end. Hopefully by the time the voting is done you'll be able to expand upon your cliffhanger ending regardless of who wins, since it feels like there's something bigger going on. This felt less like two cities going to war and more like a personal skirmish between the leading groups but it works well for your scenario. Ace efforts all around, and I hope events like this will help bring the Void community closer together!

Both sides were so excellent aaaah. I especially liked how the art styles really matched the plot, characters, setting of each side, as others previously mentioned. Colorful, wacky, chaotic for Lithium, and cold, conforming, standardised for Caelum. I did appreciate the sudden change in art styles throughout Lithium's pages. It actually helped to tell what scene you were now looking at as the narrative kept switching back and forth. I know I said in discord some time ago that I'd prefer Jiisuri make cleaner work but I understand that it was a result of time restrictions. But the otherwise uniformity in art style throughout the Caelum comic tickled my fancy as well! And ohhhh my the cliff hanger. Where did Veronica gooooo? I really look forward to seeing more of this community-driven canon develop, and seeing what happens with the characters. Thank you guys for making such an impressive work that killed my motivation only for it to rise back up like a phoenix. P.S. How/Why is Brutus anti-magic??

A small quippet. I really like this fight a lot and all the obvious flaws seem to be a product of time management so I dont feel the need to delve there. Lithium's comic: Overall a funny lighthearted comic and a definite 3 way character study lasting a meaty 40+ pages. However if I was to try to find a central plot here, I find myself scratching my head a bit here since there's a lot with no clear heirarchy on what I should be paying attention to. Now I only say this because your opponnent has you beat on this department . While every character is built up spot on the execution of the conflict itself seem to meander and have fun and the art seems to mirror that for better or worse. On the whole however i feel that the mix of colored complete pages and unsketched pages added to much confusion. Mind you I wasn't confused about the plot I knew precisely what was occuring, but the emotional and story build up cuts off and picks up in odd times not to its detriment, but not to its credit either. I feel that more control and editing could occur there but in its current state is good as it is. Overall I like character callouts, the fun art, and the flow of the theatrical combat. A lot of the characters flourish and have fun and are animated. Very late in the comic I was even hearing voices in my head. These are GOOD signs [for you.] Now as for Caelum, what was I expecting ? As a faction that represents Control, Law, and Black and White Morality, this fight was exactly that. The whole experience read like a comic and at 52 pages I got a lot of room to breathe and take in events that would have otherwise been very hard to track in a smaller piece. In short, it's very focused on the conflict and every character gets their time to shine even if that time was in isolated moments. So in terms of character chemistry you brought your own brand of immersion, but Lithium's side brought the difference of kind. But worry not despite some pages looking absolutely rushed my reading of this carried on with its own forward momentum while delivering an ending with a fascinating twist. A good set of pages I recalled reading, I could not tell which artist had done it. Overall I actually liked Caelum's side more because I got more out of the ending however ambitious risks that paid off partially made the art suffer. Lithium's side was plain enjoyable however it left a lot to be desired still after the reading. But I am greedy and you guys did good work. Awesome fight, awesome show. thank you :o

*cracks knuckles* ok lets see: first, I loved the similarities between the two: Tsumi grabbing Xia and Wizzie the same way, Tsumi being adorable and precious and GETTING SHOT WHAT THE FUCK, and both end in someone falling to their death with no resolution to the cliffhanger! Both also unfortunately had some pages in the middle that didnt quite get finished which is too bad. Another great thing is how alike their characters these stories and art styles are- Lithium's side in both art and story is gritty and raw and hot with emotions, while Caelum's side is steely and cold and practical, to the point and intimidating. Lithium makes me feel like I got in a fist fight while Caelum makes me feel like I'm now going to jail lol. But like, in a GOOD way. ladies: I think this was the slightly more entertaining of the two comics, but also had more confusing moments. Xia crashing the helicopter on page 11 doesnt read terribly impactfully, I'm not 100% where Veronica came from on page 25 nor why Xia is falling from the sky on page 25 when she was just on the ground the page before? I'm also not sure i totally understand why Caelum blew up Xia's club, i must have missed something. they either didn't do it or must've had some plan cuz all thats gonna do is incite a riot which it did (btw molotov guy ftw). the art in this is GREAT though, i loved the action (the fight scene with Minori cracked me up) and the interactions between the characters were hilarious (the time out closet, Xia flipping off Veronica as she fell), it felt very personable, you could read everyone's personalities very well. I think you guys work really well together, your art styles look good together! Gents: This was the more put-together story. Everything had a purpose and nothing was wasted, and it was exciting to read. Team Caelum tries to appear organized but its good to see the dysfunction between them! The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, and no one's goals are aligned. I enjoyed seeing Veronica's descent into madness- its great to see how Arma has been impacting all the defenders so differently! and poor Tsumi was caught in the middle of everything (fuck Sasami forEVER.) Artwise this has beautiful inks and great action, and i love the landscapes. When it's on point its on POINT. Unfortunately when you ran out of time, jii's scribbles are kind of really hard to follow. While I feel like it doesn't quite have the CHARACTER that Lithium has, I don't necessarily think that's a detracting point, because the art matches the characters. Everybody did fantastic work and I'm super happy i got to read these! Makes me wanna get involved, too! Great job to both teams!

With how much people have been talking about this, I'm surprised there aren't more comments! I wish you guys had asked me for more time or something, because it's just unfortunate that both sides had some unfinished portions. That said, it's clear that Team Lithium managed their time a little better than Team Caelum (or maybe just pulled more all-nighters... lookin' at you, Hats ;) ). Still, it's good to finally see more progress on the Upheaval story. Team Lithium: Your side had a lot of humor and silly shenanigans going for it. The "Time-out Room" was great, and helped to underscore how Xia is not an experienced leader when it comes to maintaining order. The uncolored pages created an unfortunate break in the flow of the comic, especially since Skulls' line work is thinner and lest textured than the other two, so it makes it feel much emptier by contrast. You each have very distinct styles, so it was a big jump between artists, but you handled those transitions well by having scene transitions happen at the same time. It was fun the way you made references to each of the characters' previous battles, as well as just general happenings in Caelum and Lithium, but still focused enough on telling the story at hand that I could follow the whole thing even though I don't remember most of what happened in the past hahah. Fun comic, and I can't wait to see what happens next (especially to poor Brute)! Team Caelum: Aside from Jii's rougher style and the unfinished pages, your side's art style felt very consistent, which made for a seamless transition from one artist to the other in most cases. I love the focus on all the politics happening both within Caelum and between Caelum and Lithium. Your comic very much left me wanting more (partially because it just ended suddenly, but also because of how much unresolved drama happened in this comic). I felt very invested in Tsumi, personally, and out of everything that happened, what I really care about the most is if Tsumi is okay, what she decides to do after these events, and what happens between her and Sasami. I thought they were close as sisters and this comic really surprised me. I also appreciate bringing the events of Armageddon back into relevance, since by their nature they kind of were just forgotten by everyone. I wasn't incredibly interested in what Veronica was up to until that reveal, but now I'm curious and want to know what's next for sure. I also appreciate that you left your side of the comic with Caelum being basically defeated in this particular battle, yet leaving the implication that they've got more up their sleeve. And I think my favorite line of the whole thing was Tsumi wondering if Miyajima is even there when she sees her. Please do more with that idea, because that could lead to some awesome stories in the future! All around, I had fun reading these comics! I wish they had both been finished all the way, but at least they told their stories effectively for the state they are currently in. Looking forward to more, for sure!

You guys take a breather you've earned it! Hell of a ride from both teams in this ever growing clusterfuck over Void's most recent fixation, and quite frankly all that hype you s.o.b's dropped paid off! Team lithium: I love the punk attitude, the art style changing randomly, and that end had me grinning ear to ear! Team Caelum: Man the reveals in this caught me off guard, great black and white art, and fuck Tsumi's CUNT of a sister!! Other than a few unfinished pages, solid comics guys I never thought it would be such a roller coaster ride i'll be going back and riding again and again