Gildedguy

Working On a Rose-Stained Animation (Blog Post Sneak Peek)

Added 2025-04-09 17:00:08 +0000 UTC

We are four months into the new year, which means that creative projects are well underway. For me, this means I must formally announce my next animation.

After the relentless 2-year production of Dragon of Mar, and the more relaxing sprint that was Violet vs Dummy, I’m now ready to continue Gildedguy’s story. There are some important differences with this project, a notable one being that this will be the first story with the end in mind.

I explain what this entails, alongside my use of a certain character, further on in this post.

Please read on.

What is it About?

This new story will be formatted differently from the previous ones – instead of focusing on a battle, it’ll be solely story focused. It takes place roughly one year after the dragon battle (as seen in the happy epilogue of Story #8).

Gilded Life/Castle

A big part of Gildedguy’s life was his humble wooden abode. It’s been a familiar setting for us for years, all the way up until the ending of the previous adventure. But being a dragon slayer comes with perks, one being a massive gold fortune, which Gildedguy has invested into his castle. Story #9 will heavily feature the castle, and it’ll give us a glimpse into Gildedguy’s new daily life, which involves managing the estate, giving Violet (his castle guard) orders, seeing visitors, and meditating upon the star in his towers.

That last activity will actually get a lot of screen time in this animation, since it does align with my real life.

Burnout & Aimlessness

We are at a crucial point in the Gildedguy series – our hero seemingly has everything he’s ever wanted. Everything – except true understanding of the green star, the Stellapent. We’ll be seeing Gildedguy wrestle with this aimlessness, now that he’s without a mountain to climb.

An accurate depiction (candlestick and all) the past few months.

Flashbacks

I watch a lot of behind the scenes footage of my favorite movies and shows. And although their finished pieces look like works of genius and perfection, the productions are often really messy. Especially in the writing stages. I’ve noticed that when the creators are stumped on the story they ask themselves “What was the initial vision”?

It’s certainly a difficult question to answer. Over the years I’ve had to mold and distill my animations into their purest forms. It’s mostly a matter of practicality for the production (animation is expensive), but it’s also an effect of the passage of time. I can easily lose sight of the “ultimate end goal” for my stories.

“Something in the Way” – an old vent art

This is why Story #9 will feature a flashback to the Life Factory from Story #0. In order to end a story, we must remember why we started.

Forsaken Creations

Long ago, I was once a mere lurker in the stick fight community. And by long I mean like 10 years (which is a century in internet time). Back then, I didn’t really battle anyone with my OC, opting to make Slush Invaders content.

But I certainly consumed plenty of stick fights. From Stickpage’s Xiao Xiao all the way to FluidAnims & early Dojo days. And in the early Dojo days, there was a character that I loved.

Yupia

Who is she?

Yupia is/was* a stick character created by X (aka Xtreme). Creator aside, the character itself has been described as a blade-wielding homicidal cyborg with a wave-length visor and pink scarf. She grew up as a girl named Mary-Rosa, but was transformed into a robotic experiment by her parents. Note that this is only my understanding of her general lore.

Reuploaded Demo of Yupia courtesy of an archiver named Alyce.

Sounds blatantly edgy in text-form, but at the time she was being animated, there was (unironically) an aura about her. I’ve written about her in the past, and how influential Erase Humanity was thanks to Yupia’s irreverent personality.

If my Story #7 is a tribute to RHG and Dojo Duels, then Erase Humanity is the antithesis. Yupia has a disdain for others, fights dirty and brutally. It is not a surprise that people have been wanting and anticipating an official “Gildedguy vs Yupia” for years.

The old Dojo even had a banner for it.

Fanart of the never announced duel by DAC & Nicole Ice.

*Was

X killed-off/deleted Yupia in a final animation (Erase Humanity 2), and has laid the character to rest. The “ownership” of Yupia has traded hands, and was even declared public domain in a deleted post by X. A while back, I asked him permission to use Yupia for my work. Although he said I’m ultimately free to do as I wish, he heavily advised against me depicting her.

For the record, I haven’t contacted him since, and don’t plan to.

Taking into account the multiple fan renditions of the character, this places the authorial identity of Yupia in an odd state.

For those unaware, X was permanently banned from the community back in 2017 for a series of malicious actions, so it's taboo to talk about him. Despite all this, fanart of his stick figure, Yupia, still keeps being made. Like, lots of it.

I find that super interesting.

Creator vs Creation

Characters as Avatars

Why do I go through the trouble of telling you guys about the creators behind these stick figures? I mean, it's all fiction at the end of the day. Why don't I just say "separate the art from the artist" and call it a day? And it would certainly benefit me to just tell others to do that for all of the characters I feature in my work.

However, I understand that for some people, the moral character of the creator does matter. There's the notion that, even if you remove a violator, that featuring their persona gives them attention and power "from beyond the grave".

I kind of get that. Like, technically, we give exposure to the X name every time someone watches "Erase Humanity". Or draws a piece of Yupia fanart.

As much as I appreciate the character, I'm aware that X has done awful things - it's a part of the community's history, and I will be taking it into account in my depiction of Yupia.

Story #8

This is not the first time I’ll be using a character with a controversial creator – Story #8 had IRL inspirations, and we received a fair bit of backlash when the project was announced. There was skepticism, disappointment, and even anger.

But some of those who were firmly against Mar’s inclusion in Story #8 have come around and given it their approval, and have even apologized. In addition, I think an overwhelming majority of people saw value in the animation. And under many video reactions and reuploads of Story #8, there is a comment who provides background context of Barthimo and how it related to the animation’s themes, which makes the meaning behind it all the more richer.

To anyone frustrated with the potential use of Yupia, please allow me this consideration:
I’m sorry about how X treated you or your friend. My aim is not to merely glorify Yupia (or X) in a naïve way. I wish to authentically animate an character, that I am inspired to depict, to finish a story that I am committed to telling.
If you still disagree, then I wish you well. Feel free to judge my work once it’s out on YouTube.

To everyone else who understands what I’m going for (or, just doesn’t care, i.e. “why are you stressing, it’s just a stick figure”), thanks for being patient with the lengthy explanations above. Just getting these thoughts out now is important for the hundreds of hours of production ahead of us.

My Hope for the End of the Series

Wow, controversial creators, community history, fanart, and authorial identity? That was a lot of non-story-related information to digest!

Actually, it all very much relates to Story #9 (and beyond, because this is going to take several more stories to tell). I thought very hard about how I want to end the series and its themes.

There’s something very important about how we remember others when they’re out of our lives. It’s impossible to recount every detail about them, so do we keep the good, the bad, or something in between? Or do we just forget them entirely?