Honestly, I hadn't even played Tears of the Kingdom, myself. I just wanted to try my hand at streamlining one of the character designs in the game, since it was bugging me how much detail said character designs had. Really, it seems like a GOOD TIME, I just hadn't made the time.

I also wanted a shot at animating the character Maple, since I was already animating MYSELF into the Pikmin Bits. Her design has changed since the completion of this animation, so this is a little strange for me to revisit. It's got that "pilot episode" feeling for me because of that. We may be seeing the updated design in the future...

Just like with "When a Bulbmin Grows Up", the weekly schedule made it so that this became a two-parter. The second part, I wanted to experiment with chicken-scratch line art to make things easier, and to make it feel more intense. So there was a bit of an art style change between the parts. Interestingly, the second part made it to about 200 likes on Instagram. Maybe that calls for some more COMBAT-oriented animation in the future?

There was a shot that went unused, and it was meant to be used near 0:30. It was an extra shot of Maple beating down the Solider Construct with the split stick, the camera being closer to her this time. I felt the shot made the scene feel TOO frenzied, so I cut it.