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Raija: The original version of one of the villains from the final arc of my Ronin stories. Raija has been revamped for the newer version of these stories, and will debut a new name and a new look soon.
Ronin II: First created in 1993 as part of the supporting cast for the first run of Ronin stories, Ronin II was designed in 1998 and I began to toy with the idea of continuing the stories beyond the first Ronin, and. . .did a few. As of 2020, I have redesigned and redone both Ronins, and I will be working on them in a new version of the Ronin story.
Mercy: Character from the 2nd Ronin series that was eventually revised into "Anrakushi" (which, fun fact, means "Mercy,") and will soon premiere in RONIN DENSETSU
Ronin I: The fella who started it all back in 1993--Ronin featured in my first long-form series of stories from 1993-1995, and I had planned to finish up his story in 1999, but only made it halfway. I have, as of 2020, reconceptualized the story into a new series that will feature both Ronins in parallel stories, and will, for the first time, reveal the original Ronin's name.
Daimyo: Renamed "Tora" from the original "Daimyo," he is, along with his sister Raija, one of the main villains of the final arc
RoninII2K9: The "new look" version of the second Ronin who will feature in the new series, RONIN DENSETSU
Mura: Formerly known as "Kai," Mura (whose name means "blaze"--In revising these characters, I've tried to keep the essence of them while updating them in a slightly smarter fashion) actually showed up in the one Ronin II story I'd written back in 2000, but will receive a bigger role and more interesting stuff to do in RONIN DENSETSU going forward.
Komori: This will take awhile. Introduced as a different character in the early Ronin stories, the son of the first Ronin was reimagined as a different character when the time came to do the second Ronin's stories, and eventually evolved into the co-protagonist of RONIN DENSETSU. He's a fun character to rite, even if he's very complicated to draw.
Tengu: One of the things I definitely wanted to work on when I re-started the Ronin series was exploring some elements of Japanse mythology, but do them in a way that felt like a fresh approach, and the Tengu is part of that. We'll see more of them as the RONIN DENSETSU concept evolves, and it encouraged me to try this with a number of different myths and legends as well.
Orochi seed: This is the basic form of Orochi--also known as an "Orokiba," or "Orochi's Fang." In revisiting this idea, I came up with a major part of the idea that led me to create RONIN DENSETSU and revisit this long story. You'll see more of it going forward, but there's something ironic about the idea of a living seed creating its own fiction, isn't there?
Anrakushi: The revised form of Mercy, Anrakushi (which again, means "mercy") is shaping up to be an interesting character, and I'm looking forward to developing her story along with everyone's else's. . .
Kintaro (Unmasked) A resurrection of a design I did for one of the villains for the second Ronin novel back in 1993-94, the snake man Kintaro led an organization called the Union of the Snake (yes, just like the Duran Duran song) and while he didn't make it much past the first story, it was interesting to play out his legacy (and it was a long one!) through those stories.
Kintaro (Masked) While this particular design is probably not going to be used in RONIN DENSETSU, we will see some version of this idea in the new stories, with redesigned elements as a part of that. As to the picture, the better I've got in photoshop the easier it's been to do alternate versions like this.
Koburashaku One of the characters I'm bringing back from the previous generation of Ronin stories. In the older version of this story, Koburashaku was an evil clone of the main character, but had a lot of gear on him that came solely from the fact that I thought the Green Ranger was cool back in 1993. There's still a little bit of that in this version, but I tried to balance my homages with the design aesthetic I'm building for the new Robin series.
Akui Another return from the olden days of the early 90s, Akui has undergone a substantial makeover--the banic concepts are still there from the early version, but with the benefit of more experience and some thought about the materials that might be used in the outfit to ground it and give it some verisimilitude.
Muramasa One of the main baddies from the "pilot" RONIN DENSETSU that I'm currently writing, Muramasa Is based on the legendary swordsmith and was an opportunity for me to see how far into pure horror I could push the design of this character.
MusakuHanzoku This piece, believe it or not, was what inspired the RONIN revival. I was struck with the urge to draw a Kabuki-style character, and the first villain in the first Ronin novel way back in 1993 was a Kabuki guy, so I decided to go back to that design and see what I could do with it. As I worked out the new version, I had some ideas that led to notes and those notes led me to think "Huh, wonder if I could do this story right this time?" That this happened with a character design that wasn't even the main character, which is just how I work, apparently. . .
Ashura: The other villain from the new RONIN pilot I'm currently working on. One of the thrusts of the new Ronin was to take traditional Japanese legends and work them into characters and creatures in such a way as to where I kept the basic idea but extrapolated on them in fun and interesting ways.
Orochi:
Soratobumajin:
Ichiro:
KinuOh2021:
Tokage:
Yajirushi:
JaimoniwaShujinMasked:
JaimoniwaShujinUnmasked:
JJaimoniwaShujinSuperMode:
RashoujinOrochi:
HikariKagami:
Karakuri:
Hebija:
Ronins: