User blog:40DagreezKelvin/Dawn of the Equinox Update 4

Alrighty everyone, back again with another update. Unfortunately, for the last month or so, I've been in a bit of a financial rut which forced me to put less attention on this project in favor of working more hours (which as those with jobs know, makes you too tired to do anything when you get home.) But, I'm in a somewhat better standing now, I can get back to this. That also means that I don't have too much to update everyone on regarding the actual animation, but there still are some things to let you guys know.

Story
I've been combing through this story over and over again to iron out plot holes, give everyone some spotlight time, and make it an enjoyable experience. At this point, I am probably on the 5th or 6th version of the story. But, I'm pretty confidant that this will be the last rewrite as I really like the direction the story is going. I've condensed it to a prologue and 3 Arcs (or Acts as I will call them to stay within the Sonic lore):

Intro.) Prologue - Venix's story that takes place several years before the main story. Has not changed from when I initially wrote it.

1.) Act 1 - The Chaos Emerald Collection Arc: The characters will be introduced, teams will be built, origins will be explained, etc. Every team will have at least one episode though some of the main cast will appear in each other's episode. The purpose of this arc is for all the main characters to be introduced and get started on their individual quests to find a Chaos Emerald, though they all have different reasons for doing so. This arc will be the shortest because I don't want to spend too much time on backgrounds.

2.) Act 2 - Clash of Chaos Tournament Arc: All six story teams will meet here for a tournament where the last emerald is being given as a grand prize. (Fun Fact: The original SFU: Clash of Chaos video game is the inspiration for this arc, and you'll see many references to it during this arc) The tournament itself is an Olympic-styled event held in Grandopolis every two years and is comprised of many different events. Each round will have a speed, power, and skill event with some rounds having an additional Team event. These events range from Chao Raising, Badnik Beatdown, Rainbow Ring Stunt Slalom, Zero Gravity Archery, and many others. Each round will have a battle phase where the members can fight for additional points or forfeit the event and keep the points they already got. To move, each team most score enough points to stay in the top half after each round. Things get intense as the heroes speed towards the finals, especially with some surprise interference from Dr. Eggman.

'''This arc is very character heavy due to being a tournament and I will need many character designs to fill the stands as well as the other teams that the heroes will face during the tournament. For this reason, I have opened up a page were you can submit character designs to help me fill up the empty character space ([])'''

3.) Act 3 - Fated Battles Arc: After the tournament Teams Havok, Hope, SHARP, and Blade realize what a threat Team Fates is. The Tournament didn't turn out all sunshine and rainbows for everyone and some characters have their spirits broken, some are torn apart due to teammates not sharing ideals, and some are just lost and confused, out of their element and not knowing what to do. But things get serious when Fates begins making moves towards collecting ancient relics known as the Drive Shards. These shards are incredibly potent in power, with each one mirroring the level of power of a fully powered Chaos Emerald. During their quest, Scorn, Kyanna, and Esmerelda experience something that only hardens their resolve while simultaneously making us question their motives. It is a race against the clock for the heroes to stop Fates from gathering the Drive Shards and stopping Eggman's plan from going into motion.

New Characters
Some new supporting characters and rivals have joined the cast! I will be leaving them and their art in the comments later, so watch for those.

Mini-Animation Series
You guys have been waiting a real long time for any real work to be done and I appreciate everyone's patience, its still going to be a little while before the real animation will get any significant progress. So, to hold you guys until the prologue is released, I will be doing some mini-animations, such as "Meet the Characters," anime-styled openings for each of the three arcs, and other stuff like that. What I will be releasing first is what would've been the trailer for the game if I went through with it. So stay tuned for that!