Stress and Stomachaches

A reference sheet for the ‘canon’ couples of ‘2072′. (Unfortunately missing Timothy x Sophronia, Gabriel x Paulette, and Bernard x Cecile; I lost motivation before I could add them, D: )

I know I technically posted this awhile back, but I fixed some things on it that I wasn’t necessarily happy with (mainly how Triinu’s hair looked, though I like how it looks now).

It’s that time of year again! (AKA Pride Month, haha)

So I decided to make a handy guide of the 2072 characters’ orientations. This is Part One!

...I just realized this is basically the Bisexual/Demisexual squad, haha. (The other characters’ orientations will be more varied, I swear, XDD. Like there are aces, gays, lesbians, and straights. There are just a ton of characters in this story, so I just started out with the main protagonists.)

Some explanations: *Only sexual and romantic orientation for the demi- (and ace, in the later compilations) characters will be split. The others, such as the bisexuals, in this one, for example, will only have their sexuality listed, since their romantic orientation is the same. (If a bi character prefers a certain gender, I will also list that.)

Nordic Group:

Freya Svensson: Demisexual Biromantic

Vivica Sivertsen: Bisexual (leans more towards women)

Thorsen Pettersen: Demisexual Biromantic (leans more towards women)

Björk  Sigurbjörnsdóttir: Bisexual

Risto Suomalainen: Bisexual

-

Baltic Group:

Triinu Sepp: Bisexual

Mihails Jaunums: Demisexual Biromantic (leans more towards women)

Niele Paulauskaitė: Bisexual 

-

North America Group:

Paulette Jacobs: Demisexual Biromantic (leans more towards men)

Timothy Jones: Bisexual (leans more towards women)

This was so much fun! (The next set in this series will be more individuals rather than groups. Like Nadia, Felicjan, Lorand, and Noël.)

Happy (early) Valentine’s Day! I am not much for the holiday (aka I actually don’t like it much), but I decided to draw some 2072 couples for it. (Or edit some that I already had drawn to match the theme XDD)

Here are the canon endgame couples of this story. (Not pictured are Timothy x Sophronia, Gabriel x Paulette, and Bernard x Cecile, since I ran out of energy before I could draw them).

Also, NO, Thorsen and Björk are NOT related in any way. (I am only saying this because a few of my friends thought they were siblings or cousins at first. NOOOO they are not; they’re not even from the same country XD). I think the confusion came from how, in two of my other original works, the Norwegian and Icelandic characters were related to each other in some fashion.

Even though Felicjan is with Lorand, he still looks like he’s picking on Niele X’D

...This was the first time I drew Nadia since 2013. WTF I didn’t realize it had been so long. (I also really like the outfit I gave her!)

I guess I like the ‘tall girl, shorter guy’ trope, since I used it for both FreyaxRisto and TriinuxMihails XDD.

Basically this meme:

Triinu is very protective of her best friend, haha.

The way she nonchalantly tells Freya she’ll set her stuff on fire if she hurts Risto makes me laugh XD

Also wow, Vivica is a gossip, haha.

Finally drew Paulette and Timothy, so the main characters of ‘2072′ are all drawn. (I will write up Timothy’s and Paulette’s bios later.)

These look like awkward yearbook photos omg X’D.

...Björk’s surname is so long that it trailed off the end of her box, XDD

If someone were to ask me which one of these dorks I was most like, it would not be Mihails or Niele, surprisingly. (They are too nice; they deserve everything in the world, X’D). No, I’m mostly like Paulette (a lot of her character was actually based on my high-school insecurities, since I created this story back in 2010, when I was in my third year of high school) and Thorsen (introverted person who prefers books to people). Maybe a bit of Triinu too. But mostly Paulette and Thorsen.

Maren:

...I could not get this idea out of my head, so I ended up drawing it out, XDD

I love how Maren gets progressively less happy with each panel (she is looking for one specific answer, but these three just aren’t giving it to her, XD)

Timothy and Paulette restore her faith in humanity, XD.

...And it gets crushed once again when Björk and Thorsen answer, XD.

(She refers to them as ‘whale-weirdos’ because, in the Chapter Five outline, Risto makes an offhand comment about the two of them using their down time to watch whale documentaries, XD.)

Maren is technically a side character, but I keep making comics with her because she’s just so fun to draw and write. 

After eleven years, I finally wrote ‘official’ bios for these guys X’D.

Here is a synopsis of what this story is actually about, for anyone interested. (Though this was written in like 2015, so some small aspects changed, a bit.)

*Note, since these are supposed to be the bios they have for early on in the story, certain things have not been revealed (such as the scars on Mihails’ chest, Vivica’s evolving relationship with Noël, Triinu figuring out that something is wrong with the Competition, etc.)

RIP Nadia, Felicjan, and Noël; everyone is roasting them in these, XDD. Especially Nadia and Felicjan. They do get redeemed later on, and their behavior is explained. (Spoiler: Nadia is basically the Winter Soldier mixed with Black Widow--in terms of being physically trained and psychologically brainwashed/manipulated into becoming an assassin, while Felicjan is being blackmailed into bullying Niele--his mentor and the Competition organizers threaten to hurt her, and Felicjan’s family, if he doesn’t comply). Granted, this does not condone their behavior at all (poor Niele has a lot of issues because of this), but it does explain it. 

I was told that ‘Triinu’ is a less-used variant of ‘Triin’. I went with this because I wanted the character to have a less-common name, to sort of symbolize that she feels out of place in some ways. 

Back when I was fleshing out the characters more in 2011/2012, all of the Latvians I knew really liked Mihails/thought he was adorable but also tragic, so I feel like I succeeded with him. The same goes for Vivica, but to a lesser extent (since I only knew like...two Danish people at that time, but they liked her, XD) 

...Contrary to what most people assumed, Mihails is NOT the shortest guy in this. Risto is XD (And honestly, due to my own height; I actually thought that Mihails was sort of tall X’D.) 

Back when I was creating this, I must have liked the idea of the female characters being tall and the male characters being on the shorter end because wow. So many tall ladies and short dudes, here XD.

I have like...one current colored art of Nordic Group (so people can see how their color schemes are)

Lol, I was so basic with Nordic Group’s fave foods; I just chose stuff I’ve eaten before that I liked, for them. (Except for Björk’s. I’ve never had hers before, but it looks good XD)

HA, I gave Niele basically a bar food as her fave food. But I don’t care; it’s simple, delicious and comforting (at least to me), so I thought it suited her.

...These bios tease so many ships, even this early on, XD (Like FreyaxRisto, ThorsenxBjörk, and MihailsxTriinu. I guess Nadia/Niele too, but in a dark way.)

More Maren Andersen shenanigans XD (I love her so much ksajdfhkjsd)

I had so much fun writing all of her little notes on her five proteges and the other five she ‘adopted’ into her group after the rigid team structure was disbanded later on in the competition. 

‘Nadia, Felicjan, and Emerich DO NOT interact >:( ‘ is my absolute favorite part of this X’DD (Yeah, she hates how those three treat Triinu, Mihails, and Niele like shit, and she vocalizes that multiple times. For that alone, she’s the best of the mentors, since the rest of them just let those three be bullied for the sake of ‘better TV ratings’.) 

So of course she takes the Unlucky Three under her wing when she’s able to.

As for Timothy and Paulette? After Leticia Hernandes and Mogens Van Dijk--Paulette’s allies--were eliminated from the Competition, she looks for a group, and finds Maren’s. After the Alliance of Five (Timothy, Sophronia Wickland, Yvonne Lafayette, Nadia Hendrikova, and Huan-Yue Fen) falls apart due to infighting, Timothy joins his former teammate Paulette in Maren’s new team. (Especially since he’s already great friends with Niele, Triinu, and Mihails, and is on good terms with Nordic Group as well.)

Fun fact: These ten are basically the focus characters of this story. (Cecile Nacht and her team, as well as Nadia and Felicjan, Sophronia, and Noel, are also important, and have some focus characters, but I’d call them secondary characters, though Nadia and Felicjan become more important as the story progresses.) 

...This comic reads right to left for the dialogue because I apparently read too much manga, and therefore instinctively put Maren to the right of the panels instead of the left, as done in Western comics. Whoops, XD. 

After re-reading the (sadly incomplete) first draft of 2072--as well as the extensive character notes, excerpts, and outline, I noticed that Maren Andersen gives her proteges (as well as other characters not on her team, like  Noël and Triinu) nicknames. The earliest mention of this is in Chapter Three, when she refers to Risto as ‘Salmiakki’. It keeps going from there, XD. 

Most of these are given in jest, and to be lighthearted, but Maren does not like  Noël very much. Not after Noël treated Vivica like crap. So her nickname is meant to be kind of an insult (even though it’s still hilarious, XD)

...It is currently Freya Svensson loving hours. I think this is the best I’ve ever drawn her, XD. (Fun fact: She is the tallest contestant at 6′3. Noël is the second tallest at 6′2, and Nadia Hendrikova is the third tallest at 6′0.) 

Yes, Risto’s sweater vest is supposed to reference a box of salmiakki. (Except that, if this was colored, it would be shades of brown, or blue, or something. The black and white wouldn’t look great on Risto, I don’t think, XD).

Vivica giving Maren a nickname back showcases their dynamic very well, XD.

Another fun fact: Maren’s dynamic with Vivica was directly inspired by M.ight Gai and R.ock Lee from N.aruto. (Hell, Nordic Group was basically inspired by Team Gai in general, with Freya and Thorsen taking the ‘N.eji’ role, Risto and Björk taking the ‘T.enten’ role, and Vivica taking the ‘R.ock Lee’ role, as well as Maren as the ‘G.ai’ role.)

‘Butter Crisis’ is slaying me. Maren NO XD

‘Erik the Red’s False Advertising’ made me cackle when I read that in Noël’s   character notes. I actually had to look up what that was referring to, since I wrote it so long ago, and HA, it was hilarious. (Basically, Maren is poking fun at the whole Greenland-Iceland opposites thing.)

Triinu bby skdjfgkjdg (She and her teammates are unlucky; their mentor is a total witch-with-a-B, so she and the others latch onto Maren, since she’s nice to them. She gives Niele and Mihails nicknames, too, eventually, with Niele getting ‘Amber Tea’ [since she saw Niele drinking it a few times] and Mihails getting ‘Lizzie Bennett’ [since Mihails’ favorite book is ‘Pride and Prejudice’].) 

One of my three favorite teams from ‘2072′.

(Also, kudos to them for being one of the three groups who don’t immediately go and stab each other in the back once the teams disbanded. In fact, they stay allied together, and form one huge group with the other two teams who didn’t go apeshit with the backstabbing, XD)

Though it’s honestly a wonder that they became friends, since every one of them has a different personality type, and they started off clashing with each other XD.

I absolutely love the expressions here:

Risto: Why is everyone on my team so freaking weird??

Vivica: I really want to fight someone right now. But like...in a fun way~

Björk: -Thinking of all the pranks she can pull on Island Group-

Freya: -Thinking about what she wants for lunch, how cute Risto is, and how annoying Viv is-

Thorsen: I really want to fight Vivica right now. But like...in a fun way.

I used this ‘draw the squad meme’: