Sunday 8 November 2009

Mr. Saturn

Well, it's no secret that I enjoy the Mother series by Shigesato Itoi/Nintendo and some of the most well know characters from the series are the little beings called the Mr. Saturns.

These creatures live in Saturn Valley, and are particularly good inventors (escpecially good, considering they have no hands). They speak in a curly language which is basically English, in an odd font, with extra "zooms" and "boings" thrown in. They have huge noses. They each wear a bow in their single strand of hair. They have whiskers. They are all called Mr. Saturn. Even the female ones. They try hard to aid the protagonists in any way they can.

They also seem adorable.

Here's one of the in-game sprites, so you can see how they appear in the games.



Now, upon seeing that sprite, and getting to know the way these little creatures interact, it's easy to see them as cutesy, Japanese, cartoon characters. Make them a little, round ball, and you've got yourself one of the cutest things around.
















Even though this cutesy, chubby approach is mimicked in the plush toys and other merchandise of the series, if we take purely the sprite as a guide, these creatures can end up looking...

...completely different.

Once they start taking on slightly more human features, and certain parts (which are left to the imagination in the sprite) are filled in and guessed at, we see that they can look rather odd.
















Well, that's enough procrastination for today. Time to try and pass this Statistics exam.

TheSovietChairman

P.S. Sketches by me, sprite copyright Nintendo/Shigesato Itoi. Hope you like 'em.

P.P.S. Apparently, if one doesn't find them cute, an image search of "mr saturn plush" is enough to convert you.

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