In revisiting and reworking the Loose Canon manuscript, I realized Serenade doesn’t seem present enough in Season 1, considering she’s supposed to be the main antagonist. She’s clearly present in episode 05, there’s a brief glimpse of her in episode 06–then she disappears until episode 11, when she launches her Rat King attack on Earth. I want to try to add her to some of the interim episodes, and one possibility is the Fable episode, where Spark becomes a ferret and Vahaadi becomes a caracal.
Serenade’s design is modeled after a mouse, but if she were to appear as an enemy in that form, she wouldn’t be very threatening! As a ferret, Spark would be bigger than she is, and Vahaadi could eat her in one gulp! (NOT that I think it would even occur to him to try, I’m just saying…)
Her hennin is supposed to resemble ears, but in looking at it, it also resembles a cobra’s hood. Plus, she’s got that diamond motif going on…so, what about a cobra?
It’s kind of a departure from my plan for her, but I think it will be a lot more exciting to see Spark fight with a cobra! While the mouse motif better suits the Pied Piper vibe, a cobra kinda elicits a snake charmer vibe, which is also cool. And I get to exploit her diamond patterns! What do you think?
OOH! I see what you mean! I don’t want to lose her mouse ear motif, but I definitely get where you are coming from with the cobra hood.
Snakes eat mice, so what if it were symbolic that she’s a snake and Piper’s other children are mice? That would keep the mice/rat motif around him (and her) but would signify that she stands apart from his other children and that she holds a different place in his plan.
Maybe we could make it seem like she’s a mouse in the shadows but when she comes into the light you can see that she’s a cobra? Maybe she can shape shift between the two? A mouse when she needs to conceal herself and a cobra when she is enacting a plan? MAYBE around Piper she is her mousey self and then to be his second in command she is her cobra self?
I like all of these thoughts- and your fabulous sketch!–, so let’s keep developing this!
Ooh, I like the shadow idea! Spark can see a mousey silhouette while in the Fable world, and thinking it’s just a little character, calls out to it to ask for directions. Then, bam! the silhouette shifts and you realize it’s a snake! And not just any snake, it’s Serenade, looking more sinister than ever in svelte, serpentine form. I think i can totally make that work. That would be a fun panel to animate! A mousey silhouette uncoiling into a snake!