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It's understandable don't worry! I'm no artist, but I too have a bit of a hard time thinking about designs that aren't just humanoid or animals from earth (or both). As for the thinking about alien societies, I'm no expert either, but I like to think that I can decently put together some interesting stuff with inspirations mostly from around history.
I'd like to point out a couple of other humanoid designs that I think are quite good with the spin they give to the idea. I know Fear Reaper looks more like a robot to most, but for me, it reminds me of a puppet with oversized hands. Like, they're so big that it's hard to picture them running with those instead of just floating around with some strings or chains conected to them. There's also Fortress, with their multible faces and four arms.
Agreed, it was quite off putting that these supposed alien invaders ended up being just humas with crazy hair. As for Marucho's program giving the Bakugan forms more familiar for humans, that's gona be a very interesting topic to explore, especially from the perspective of the bakugan themselves, who got isekai'd into another world with new shapes.
Although it may not end up being such a big change, the fact that these rifts appear naturally due to the Silent Core's power eroding the fabric of reality instead of Mikhail's portal is a nice touch. It also gives a good reason as to why the Vestals managed to reach Vestroia, allowing study them for a good time before being able to make their own portal.
That's what I've also thought! We already have Naga's minions in the last dozen episodes of season one (two of them actually surviving), so why couldn't there be more dual atributed Bakugan? I don't want to ramble here, but I also think the idea of Bakugan born from the Doom Dimension (like in the videogame) would be really cool too, maybe like a forced reincarnation caused by the Silent Core of those who perished there, but lack any memories of their past life?
Imagine all the shenanigans Mikhail could've experienced as the first human in Vestroia, that's quite a lot of wasted narrative potential.
The bonding between the Brawlers and their Bakugan has to be one of my favourite things in the series, especially in season one with characters like Shun (that episode hurted :,) ). Having new partners each season not only opens the possibility of having new stories, but it can also help develop other aspects of the brawlers that couldn't be explored with the partner before, or maybe new ones that appeared recently.
Your design ideas ARE very cool indeed! I don't know any specific monster artists out there, but let me tell you that folklore and cryptids are a good source of inspiration. Do not apologize! My response ended up being quite rambly too, so we're even xD I'm glad to have formulated a thought provoking question, those are some of the best when working on a project like this.
Hello! I've been binging on the headcannons and designs of your AU all day, they're very creative and have quite a lot of thought behind that makes them feel organic and vibrant.
Now, my question is about what are your headcannons for the other half of the characters, a.k.a. "The Bakugan™"? Though I'm not only talking about the monster protagonists, but Bakugan as a species. I haven't seen anyone flesh them out as of yet.
RIGHT SO here's the issue I run into whenever I try to work on Bakugan: I only know how to draw people. I'm not creative enough to do diverse designs that don't follow the general shape of a bipedal humanoid. Sometimes I draw a tail or something. I have a lot of respect for people who can design and detail fantasy creatures; they're always so creative and some of them literally blow me away. Additionally, from a writing perspective, I'm not very good at alien society worldbuilding, because I'm not creative enough to make up a whole new society. I'm not J R R Tolkien, for sure.
This presents a problem because I like to tell stories through designs. I let a character's looks influence the story (instead of the other way around, but that's because I just really like drawing things and then trying to get them to fit my story hehe) but if I can't draw a character, their part is just void.
When it comes to monster designs, unless it's horror or very very pretty (very arbitrary decision, tbh), I don't like humanoid creatures at all. I don't like Ravenoid or Robotallion or whatever the fuck Drago becomes in the later seasons. Exceptions are Gorem because I love colossi and Monarus because they're beautiful. And Lars Lion but I'd be okay if she was redesigned. I'm thinking of a deer with its antlers forming a crossbow.
I'd like to headcanon that Bakugan themselves have more primordial, indiscernible forms, but Marucho's program is able to translate the energy readings into physical beings. I always find it strange when a supposed alien creature looks like a person except maybe their eyes are different or they're taller (looking at you, Vestals. I want them to look truly alien, almost freakishly so. Maybe they can retain a humanoid silhouette but generally I want to go for something COOL) but at least for Bakugan I can just say "yah like Marucho's program makes them look like a giant turtle trust".
A Bakugan's energy is very powerful and unstable, especially reliant on the state of the central cores, which fuels all Bakugans' life force. Two cores is kind of like two notes played that forms a dissonant core. The power generated is unbalanced (Silent core is stronger) and it ruptures the fabric of the universe over time. Powered up by the dissonant split cores, this energy escapes through cracks in the dimension, which leaks into new worlds. Usually this leads to preventing the heat death of a universe, but my AU's world was able to harness the energy and translate that into a pokemon game.
Once the cores are reunited, the energy flows in harmony, but lingering effects of the rips remain. The energy is still leaking out, and can be captured. This is how the Vestals found the dimension and colonized it.
I actually like the idea that because of the separation of the cores, all the attributes were separated as well, and the joining of the cores at the end of S1 meant that all the attributes intermingled. related to that, I think it would be mega fun if S2 onwards, there are bakugan with dual or even three attributes, because of the cores joining. It'll definitely bring an interesting aspect to a Bakugan tournament, where a two different attribute brawlers can use the same Bakugan.
I think Mikhail really missed a golden opportunity to study the sociology of sentient energy, honestly. Instead he got caught up in traveling between dimensions.
Honestly while I have thought about how my AU's Bakugan might differ from the show's, I definitely have not thought about it enough to be able to write a worldbuilding manual out of it :( It's all very surface level stuff.
What I will say is that at the start of every season they gotta shake up the main team's Bakugan and have them get new ones. I liked being able to see how the brawlers and the Bakugan interact in the beginning of their partnerships, but the later seasons just drop you in the middle of a fight with a Bakugan you've never seen before and never explain how they met. If you want to treat your Bakugan like real characters you gotta flesh out that backstory!
With all these disclaimers out of the way, here are some Bakugan design ideas I wrote down a while back:
"a hummingbird with a scythe shaped beak" : while hummingbirds themselves are pretty nonthreatening, imagine a grim reaper hummingbird. hilarious. Darkus or Ventus attribute. This was extremely inspired by oberus and the fact that her design is so good i have no idea what the fuck they were going for. Exactly what I want.
"just a bundle of wings (think biblically accurate seraphim but butterfly wings instead of feathered ones) that slowly fall off and reveal a cocoon. once evolution happens, the cocoon opens up to reveal-" : I didn't have an idea for what it would reveal, but i like the idea of an ominous bundle of butterfly wings. Ventus.
"Biblically accurate owl" : A barn owl looking creature with no eyes on its face, but with eyes all over its wings. Darkus.
"Monstrous barreleye" : honestly you can probably make any of the deep sea creatures into a horrifying Aquos Bakugan, but the barreleye is my favorite. Imagine a big fish but with a clear dome and inside is just like. a writhing mass of tissue. What's going on here?
"Stingray skeleton, but it flies" : Stingrays have insanely cool skeletons. Their bones look like feathers. Haos.
A slightly warped vers (don't even ask how it's warped, it's different ok) of the lion costumes you see in a southern Chinese lion dance. Pyrus.
"Earthwyrm" : I think I just wanted a cool giant worm. A million teeth and cutting it up creates multiple wyrms. They can burrow to different gate cards using wyrm holes. Subterra.
Now that I'm writing these out I think my design ideas are fun. Maybe I'll draw them one day. This post ended up a lot more rambly than I expected, I apologize. You do bring up an interesting question though, it seems like I should start thinking about how the Bakugan as a species fit into my world.
Recommend to me your favorite monster artist! My personal favorite currently is matryoshiiika, but I would love to study more!