#techyocmeanstreak

[techycatartist]

2023 makes it five years since Steel Vengeance opened to the public! Normally, I like to make something in time for the coaster’s birthday (May 5th), but because it was towards the end of my school semester I didn’t have an opportunity to draw. But that’s the neat thing about anniversaries— the celebration can last all year (or longer)!

For this peice, I was inspired by SV’s playing-card motif. While the coaster is most associated with the Ace of Spades, I chose to depict my personification as a King (with his previous idenity as a Joker). Mean Streak wasn’t viewed favorably by coaster enthusiasts OR the general public— it was a “joke” of a wooden coaster. But when RMC got their hands on it, they turned MS into a world-class hybrid. Steel Vengeance is now one of the most popular rides at Cedar Point and is praised for its airtime-heavy layout. A “rags to riches” story, SV has taken it’s place as a member of coaster “royalty”!

It also reflects my personifications specifically— Mean Streak was simultaneously viewed as a surly jackass and a pathetic drunk; not helping his image was a tendency for his thunderstorm-generating powers to backfire on him. But when presented with his coaster’s imminent conversion, MS vowed to change. Five years later, Steel Vengeance barely resembles the person he once was— and although his life is not without it’s troubles, SV is content with what he’s become.

(Fun Fact: October 6th, 2018 was the day I learned about Steel Vengeance! At the time, I was a newbie coaster enthusiast who had no idea what an “RMC” was— so I was pretty intrigued by the idea of a coaster undergoing such a dramatic transformation! SV was also the coaster that really made me interested in making coaster personifications. Five years later, this coaster is still at the top of my bucket list.)