#Zara-Ra the Echidna

[julie-su]

Up against @grimsdeadb0nes' Zeti, Zenyx, this time in the @sonic-oc-showdown ... After last time, being the only Echidna up against the only Zeti, too - that time, @nintendoni-art's Zori ... Oh my XD

[bunnymajo]

Art Fight Art of Zara-Ra for @julie-su

Whenever I think of Zara-ra I think of Crepe Myrtle trees, they can mean life, luck & grace but they're also resilient plants that always grow back no matter how harsh the seasons treat them - also they're an incredibly vivid pink!

[btm-txt]

Behold Zara-Ra!

Just a little something something for @julie-su 👉👈

I wanted to try out another infinite canvas app for doodling and brainstorming, I liked using Freeform but it makes my iPad want to delete itself lol.

Zara-Ra was such a delight to draw 💕

[nintendoni-art]

A standalone for a bit of propaganda I made for the @sonic-oc-showdown Go and check it out, there's SO many neat OCs and people are really putting their hearts into talking and writing about their creations!

[julie-su]

Painting for my beloved @jimmychakraborty

[julie-su]

A losing hand is not the end of the world; so, you didn't play your cards right, the deck wasn't dealt in your favour. Maybe this deck was unwinnable from the get-go. No matter... Shuffle your cards, and try again. Play your best; not because you know you can win, no. You must play your best for the love of the game.

You will lose. You may lose more than you win. You must anticipate the possibility of a loss, but do not expect it. Play every game as if you know it's a winnable state, up until your last card. Learn to love the game. I will learn to love the game.

[julie-su]

ZaraJak studied his powers with a sense of apathy; though, he wasn't certain that he could feel much of anything anymore. "What good is the power to create and destroy worlds," he thought to himself, "If one has to sacrifice their person to attain it." He had thought that he wanted this; anybody might, if they, too, followed a lifetime of the kindly intentioned and desperate pleas of loved ones - 'if only you would put half of that same passion towards something that mattered', 'if only you would pay attention', 'if only you would excert yourself where it matters'...

Now, floating far above the world, he had to wonder. No emotions, no flyaway thoughts to distract him, no trivial whims. He had an attention span so fine-tuned, that he could persistance hunt for decades. He posessed reality-bending powers to output everything that was asked, immediately as it was requested. He was a perfect machine of productivity. No stalling, no distractions, no creativity, no... Zara.

He wasn't Zara. Well, not anymore... He felt that he wasn't much of anything, nothing much more than an emotionless husk. He wondered if Zara would be devastated by this, if Zara would be bereft, if he would have wept. He wondered if he could remember what it was like to cry. To dream, to want, to create.

But, he was productive. Wasn't that worth the tradeoff?

...

Wasn't it?

[julie-su]

-SQUEES IN JOY-

Absolutely melting still at how much I love this ;_; the physical piece is literally sat in pride of place in our living room right now.. EEEE

Commission for @jimmychakraborty of their & their partner's Sonic OCs on a date at the arcade!

Wanted to make sure I included all the arcade staples for them, including that classic Sonic hit: SegaSonic Popcorn Shop

[julie-su]

VOTE HERE!

Zara-Ra, who is entered into the @sonic-oc-showdown ! I saw the rest of the bumblefolks filling out this OC Q&A that dear @bunnymajo had brought to our attention - and I had to have a go ~

"Zara-Ra has Guardian blood flowing in their veins. Due to her granddfather Knuckles being subjected to a great dose of Chaos Energy in his egg many years prior, Zara-Ra has heightened chaos powers, worked through their lineage. With training from their mother, Lara-Su, they were able to get a small ammount of it under her control. Their name, which they chose for themself, is inspired by her ancestor, Sonji-Ra, who had transitioned in the same sense that Zara-Ra had."

Zara-Ra's Page on Toyhou.se

Q&A under the cut -

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name? … Don’t laugh — I was lounging on the setee at my parents’ place, rolling names around in my head. My eldest sister was catching up on our favourite Soap Opera, BBC Doctors (.. No, not Doctor Who.) and lo and behold.. The character Zara Carmichael is the focus of this episode, I believe it’s about a resort, but I don’t much remember. Zara.. Zara-Ra. It just sort of, stuck. … I cannot stand Zara Carmichael.

🌼 - How old are they? (Or approximate age range) Zara-Ra is the same age as me - 23! And soon, he might be 24.

🌺- Do they have any love interest(s)? My partner’s character, Tara-Ka, was made at the same time for us to roleplay together - of course they are madly, deeply in love! -Cheesy- They live together in a small apartment in Echidnaopolis. They are deeply, madly in love!

🍕 - What is their favorite food? … Mobini Ants. Though, he’ll substitute for raisins. And grapes! Archimedes is alarmed; he’s told it’s only mobini ants, but he remembers the first time he met Zara’s grandfather.

💼 - What do they do for a living? Nothing; money doesn’t exist! Hey— HEY! WHAT’S ESPIO DOING WITH THOSE QUARTERS?! AIIIEEE!! … Zara-Ra is the current backup Guardian, though, it’s .. Unclear if he’s doing a good job. -thinks about Dark Mobius, sweats- I’m sure it’ll be FIIIIINE. Other than that, she keeps The Chaotix alive with Tara-Ka; Tara-Ka’s life-long obsession has always been the tales of the Chaotix. It was pure coincidence that their life partner would happen to be within such close proximity!

🎹 - Do they have any hobbies? Ant farmer… NO. I’M KIDDING! Zara-Ra has an extensive secret model city under the floorboards of her and Ed’s childhood bedroom, named ‘OuiOui Land’ - full of thousands of delicate models. He may not live there anymore, but he’s always in the area… They wonder what he’s doing all of the time. It’s OuiOui Land.

🎯 -What do they do best? He’s … Kind of a Rich Failson, without the ‘Rich’ part. A nepotism baby. Not for lack of trying - he was supposed to become the one to become a guardian, only to get cold feet. Ed tried to lead by example to encourage him, only to be lifted up as a ‘better choice’. The thing Zara-Ra does best, is… Be himself. He’s not disappointed in the missed oppertunities, and he’s happy that he is exactly where he needs to be.

He CAN do it all as Enerjak, where he's unimpeded by his thoughts and feelings - but he also… Well, loses everything that makes him… Him! He becomes this soulless machine line of output; all it really does is burn through his power and energy. And suddenly, everybody close to him realises that 'sometimes' being able to reach his full potential, is better than her reaching full potential all of the time - in the short bursts, he covers more ground than most others could do in the same time he spent sat around doing nothing. It's kind of frustrating for him sometimes when it comes in bursts like that, because it can be really close to the line… But after coming down from power like that, he realises that he just works differently to others.. And that's okay!

🥊 -What do they love to do? What do they hate to do? Zara-Ra’s absolute favourite thing in this world is any important outing that is done either alongside his brother, Ed, or alongside his partner, Tara-Ka. Ed will often take him out on excursions to do with protecting the island, whilst Tara-Ka will bring him along for any odd job that they can find under The Chaotix. As long as he’s got a purpose and a clear instruction, he’s having the time of his life.He hates any job that he has to do on his lonesome. He is not a leader-type, and cannot take charge. He over-stresses over every minute detail, ending up in an internal stalemate for even the simplest of tasks.

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories? Meeting Tara-Ka. They met on the outskirts of New Albion; Zara-Ra was out scouring for leads; they had heard it from the grapevine that the Dark Presence was still in operation on the outskirts of the city, deep into the desert. Here, he ran into one lonesome Tara-Ka - an echidna with such cybernetic enhancements that had not been seen for decades. Sure, cosmetic and medical cybernetics had been adopted by the masses - but these were cybernetics built for violence.… Tara-Ka was a runaway from a branch of the Dark Presence deep in the desert, and -all- they wanted to know was… “Can you take me to The Chaotix? They’re all I’ve ever dreamed of meeting”.How could you not oblige?! They’re the buggers who had sent him out here in the first place!

✂️ - What is one of your OC’s worst memories? Becoming posessed by Enerjak… It was incredibly traumatic; though, he did not get violent; he had his mothers’ knack for resisting the dark whispers. He did, however, forfeit all emotions; the unlocking of ultimate power had driven it all out. What hurts the most, is that many people felt that this beast of apathy and pure drone work ethic is much prefferable to his usual state.

🧊 - Is their current design the first one? Nohoho. Zara-Ra’s first design is waaay different! For starters, he wasn’t even originally a guardian! Yes, he wasn’t created as Lara-Su and Argyle’s child.. That came later! I was on a long coach trip with a lot of paper, and no plug for my laptop.. Go figure.

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC? Archie Sonic.. I wanted an Archie echidna! I played around for a while, making an avatar in this game, hot pink… And I sort of, fell in love. His first iteration was of a zonehopper, to fit in with the game; but as he outgrew it, I worked him more and more into the Archie Sonic comics lore.

🌂 - What genre do they belong in? Probably.. Dark Comedy. Yup. That happens to be the tone of just about every single piece of prose that contains Zara-Ra!

💚 - What is your OC’s gender identity and sexuality? There are not enough words in any spoken or written language, alive or dead, to even begin to explain Zara-Ra’s connection to gender and sexuality. For whom it concerns… Zara-Ra was born ‘Jamie-Su’. He’s on testosterone, and has had top surgery; he has little tufts of sticky-uppy fur on either side of his chest. The planning to keep his guardian crest intact was a -nightmare-. This has -nothing- to do with gender identity, really; it’s moreso a medical history. But it felt as if it were fitting to put ^^

🙌 - How many sibling does your OC have? Just the one - Edmund II! Yes, -that- Edmund II. .. Why are you looking at me like that?! You know Ed! You don’t?! He’s that old codger from the Archie Sonic arc, Silver Saga - issues #25 to #28; son of Lara-Su and Argyle (well - if you read between the lines!)

🍎 - What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like? Zara-Ra has an incredible relationship with her parents. The only point of contemption is Zara’s ant addiction. “It’s normal, we’re echidnas!” — “THAT IS NOT NORMAL!”

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC? Swag :3… I love the way he dresses, the way I style his hair -he’s based on me, down to the same glasses, to the little stupid puffer body jackets I wear. Bangles… I love making him wear outfits I do. Big baggy tripp/parachute pants… My self-insert, Puggle, also scratches this itch. I did, at one point, have my hair hot pink with black raccoon-tail stripes down the side, just like Zara :P

✏️ - How often do you draw/write about the OC? It’s got to be daily, at this point. If I’m not drawing, I’m roleplaying, or crafting the narrative! If you told me that I have one drawing for every day of the year, I would laugh, and wonder why it wasn’t two for every day XD

💎 - Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC? …. I hope not! O_O it would get awful boring around here!In all seriousness.. There is the fact that dear old Ed seems to be quite on his own, as the sole echidna.. Eeeee. Not lookin’ good for ole’ Zra.

💀 - Does your OC have any phobias? He’s terrified of forgetting things; he wakes up in a sweat in the middle of the night, after an in-depth dream where he had forgotten that his own brother had passed away, asking where he is. He sits up, now awake, and calls his brother; sighing in relief. It was all a dream… He wonders if he ever would forget something like that. It gnaws at his mind.

🍩 -Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival? Antoine. He knows what he did. Old Bastard.

🎓 - How long have you had the OC? … I’ve lost track!

[julie-su]

Photo taken by an inconsoleable now-grandpa Vector, who can only say words such as 'you two were that small once!'

[julie-su]

Zara-Ra's not a girl

[julie-su]

INCREDIBLE. ACCEPTED INTO ZARA-RA CANON

ignore WIPs, draw Zara-Ra crocodile eyegleam

[Zara-Ra belongs to @julie-su and she’s the goober of all time]

[julie-su]

Phone case

[julie-su]

Beast

[julie-su]

[julie-su]

Right, right... Knuckles T. Echidna's grandpas.

So; issue 103 contains this DPS; a family tree to fill out; with a complete version being included in 109. For completionist's sake, we'll also include the version from The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopaedia; though it's not of much importance for this.

Now... I don't know if you've noticed anything, but there's a misprint here... And, no, echidna-savvy enthousiasts, it's not the whole mess with positionings of guardians (Sojourner, child of Spectre, indeed.)

Look a little closer...

(Names added for coherency) - Hawking and Sonja-Ra have had their gender markers swapped. The guardian child of Mathias is initially marked as female. Alright, so, a misprint! One which got fixed by 109, at that. I wasn't -going- to run with it...

...

(KTE #6) ... He looks like every single elderly transgender man I have ever met. I don't know. I'm running with it! Hawking and Sonja-Ra are transgender!

(Fun OC fact; this is where the 'Ra' in Zara-Ra's name comes from. He changes his name; born Jamie-Su to Lara-Su and Argyle, he later decides to deed-poll that shyte... To match an ancestor who was also transgender. He decided to keep the feminine article, because he just likes it that way. Hey, he's half crocodile; do -you- want to tell him he can't?!)

And there you have it! A taste of 'Whatever I have going on with Knuckles' grandpas'.

'Transpa' as a term, courtesy of one Kyle JCRB Crouse... Spectre's appearance courtesy of a certain Professor Ry. XD

There are three kinds of LGBT headcanons:

Actual queer coding / metaphors ("Nimona is trans because her creator made her as a way to express his feelings as a trans person")

Vibes ("Link is genderless because I said so")

It's funny ("Phoenix Wright is asexual because he's the Ace Attorney")