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More from XanderDWulfe
"I do what I want! You have problem!?"
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There are few simple pleasures in the world like Quina Quen. While the character exists as a large point of contention for most, I've loved this joke of a character since the moment I saw them. Despite their lack of narrative drive in the story I'd still wager that Quina is important to Final Fantasy IX in an odd way. Quina, to me, is important like how Tom Bombadil is important to The Lord of the Rings. Someone who is simply is an example of what the world would lose should our heroes fail -- people that simply live and enjoy life in the most simple of way.
Yes, In a game full of existentialism and questioning one's own reality, Quina stands in abject defiance of all those theme by being unashamedly themselves. Yet at the core of it all, isn't that the point? To be true to one's self and be as they want to be. Quina, in their own rejection of the very themes of Final Fantasy IX manages to embrace it's true message of living life no matter what!
This is all a lot of fancy talk to say I like the big funny frog monster!
As is usually the case with these things, this initially started as a much smaller project that bloomed into something much larger then itself. Going in I knew I'd tweak some character designs, that was a given, but I had assumed Quina was perfectly fine...until I actually started drawing them! I then realized how much I could add, spurred on mostly by Yoshitaka Amano's concept art. While I don't think Amano's art fits the overall look of Final Fantasy IX, there is always something enjoyable about just how weirdly expressive his art is and Quina is one of those great examples in just who whimsically wild it looks. I like the idea of Quina, much like Kefka, is just a character that fell into a bunch of old doilies and turn that into an outfit. It instantly makes them more recognizable as the weird comic relief and breathes some life into a design that I honestly didn't really take into account was very simple before drawing them. Maybe I went a little too far, but I think it works for Quina and I'm pretty happy with it and as the only person alive who likes the character, I think I have authority to say that!
(DISCLAIMER: I know I'm not the only person to like Quina. I'm one of only two people that like them!)
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There are few simple pleasures in the world like Quina Quen. While the character exists as a large point of contention for most, I've loved this joke of a character since the moment I saw them. Despite their lack of narrative drive in the story I'd still wager that Quina is important to Final Fantasy IX in an odd way. Quina, to me, is important like how Tom Bombadil is important to The Lord of the Rings. Someone who is simply is an example of what the world would lose should our heroes fail -- people that simply live and enjoy life in the most simple of way.
Yes, In a game full of existentialism and questioning one's own reality, Quina stands in abject defiance of all those theme by being unashamedly themselves. Yet at the core of it all, isn't that the point? To be true to one's self and be as they want to be. Quina, in their own rejection of the very themes of Final Fantasy IX manages to embrace it's true message of living life no matter what!
This is all a lot of fancy talk to say I like the big funny frog monster!
As is usually the case with these things, this initially started as a much smaller project that bloomed into something much larger then itself. Going in I knew I'd tweak some character designs, that was a given, but I had assumed Quina was perfectly fine...until I actually started drawing them! I then realized how much I could add, spurred on mostly by Yoshitaka Amano's concept art. While I don't think Amano's art fits the overall look of Final Fantasy IX, there is always something enjoyable about just how weirdly expressive his art is and Quina is one of those great examples in just who whimsically wild it looks. I like the idea of Quina, much like Kefka, is just a character that fell into a bunch of old doilies and turn that into an outfit. It instantly makes them more recognizable as the weird comic relief and breathes some life into a design that I honestly didn't really take into account was very simple before drawing them. Maybe I went a little too far, but I think it works for Quina and I'm pretty happy with it and as the only person alive who likes the character, I think I have authority to say that!
(DISCLAIMER: I know I'm not the only person to like Quina. I'm one of only two people that like them!)
Category All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 640 x 571px
File Size 454.2 kB
Fun fact: In the Japanese version, Quina is written to speak in what they consider a stereotypical Chinese manner, ending many of her sentences with "aru" and, as was carried over to international releases, using the exclamation "Ayah!"
Similar trivia, Japanese Freya speaks in an antequated version of the Hiroshima dialect. It's meant to make her sound like she's trying way too hard to be proper and give the impression quickly that she's much younger and less mature than she'd like people to believe.
Similar trivia, Japanese Freya speaks in an antequated version of the Hiroshima dialect. It's meant to make her sound like she's trying way too hard to be proper and give the impression quickly that she's much younger and less mature than she'd like people to believe.
I heard about that with Quina, which still kinda holds anyway as we see that Quan has a very Chinese flare to his look. As for Freya, that makes a lot of sense as within English she randomly speaks with a more distinguished, old way of speaking. I always thought it was just the translation being quirky at times.
Even Quale and his home carry a bit of a Chinese aesthetic, come to think of it. And honestly, the obvious parallels to Chinese people and culture in the Qu characters' speech and aesthetics is kinda one of the reasons I never want FF9 remade, you just KNOW they'd be made to alter it out of fear of some perpetually offended, terminally online white zoomers who'd complain about racism on behalf of Asians who don't give a shit right before, y'know, turning around and saying the most racist shit you've ever seen about the Japanese or something. :V
Regarding Freya, fun little note as well, due to the obvious Britain/Ireland parallel with Burmecia and Cleyra, I've long imagined Freya speaking with the "classic" British accent (for lack of knowing what it's officially called), which really makes her speech thing translate all the more perfectly--I did always notice too how sometimes she'll break out more sophisticated vocabulary, randomly stop using contractions, etc., especially in the presence of high-status figures, and it kinda reads amazingly well when you imagine it spoken in that accent. And then as another layer to it, when you realize how young she actually is (21, having left Burmecia at 18), how extremely likely it is that her relationship with Fratley may not have been as deep as she remembers it being, how emotional she tends to get, the fact that she herself has actually been implied to be of fairly high status within Burmecian society and is also noticeably Burmecia's only female soldier, and how often she uses far more casual speech around certain people, especially those she's most comfortable around (like how she speaks to Zidane at the bar when first introduced, for example, or how she behaves around Amarant) you can definitely see how much she's trying to hide of herself, and it's easy to imagine she feels she needs to project a certain image of herself, even if she really doesn't need to.
Regarding Freya, fun little note as well, due to the obvious Britain/Ireland parallel with Burmecia and Cleyra, I've long imagined Freya speaking with the "classic" British accent (for lack of knowing what it's officially called), which really makes her speech thing translate all the more perfectly--I did always notice too how sometimes she'll break out more sophisticated vocabulary, randomly stop using contractions, etc., especially in the presence of high-status figures, and it kinda reads amazingly well when you imagine it spoken in that accent. And then as another layer to it, when you realize how young she actually is (21, having left Burmecia at 18), how extremely likely it is that her relationship with Fratley may not have been as deep as she remembers it being, how emotional she tends to get, the fact that she herself has actually been implied to be of fairly high status within Burmecian society and is also noticeably Burmecia's only female soldier, and how often she uses far more casual speech around certain people, especially those she's most comfortable around (like how she speaks to Zidane at the bar when first introduced, for example, or how she behaves around Amarant) you can definitely see how much she's trying to hide of herself, and it's easy to imagine she feels she needs to project a certain image of herself, even if she really doesn't need to.
This makes a lot f sense in regards to Freya -- I personally headcanon her story as very much one of coming into adulthood and casting aside childish things. Her forced to return to her homeland she's cast aside and taking responsibility being a major part of that. And I hate how right you are about Quina and the Qu as a hole should they ever remake the game...
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