Name : Sukiko Iwasaki
Skylander Name : Cherry Bomb
Species : Rosy Maple Moth
Gender : Female
Element : Life
Role : Neutal Good
Homeworld : Nippon
Voice Actress : ((To be decided)) 

Attacks : Cherry Bomb’s main attack involves her flinging bombs from her sleeves. Her secondary attack is "Cherry Storm", where she summons cherry blossoms to slice and dice her enemies. 

Story : Sukiko was working in an Okiya (geisha house) as a simple maiko (apprentice geisha), performing for a party when the Okiya was attacked by Kaos’ minions. The greebles wanted to kidnap geisha to perform at a party for Kaos. While the geisha are taught from a young age to dance and entertain, none of them could fight back except Sukiko. She used bombs she had hidden in her kimono and the cherry blossoms to fight back and she saved the geisha house. Eon was impressed with her heroics and asked her to join the Skylanders after the house made her a full geisha. She was given her a new performing name of Cherry Bomb, which carried over as her Skylander name.

History : Sukiko was orphaned as a child, but was very quickly taken in due to her rare beauty. For her type of moth had never been seen before in Nippon. A geisha house offered a high amount to buy Sukiko when she was a mere 4 years old, and the parents eagerly took the sum. From there, she was trained to one day become a geisha. While Sukiko was often favored and given more praise and attention than the other girls, she would denounce the praise until she earned it. She worked hard, practiced nightly, to not be the prettiest geisha, but the best.

When Sukiko was finally made a maiko, she found herself not just attracted to the art of entertaining and dance, she had a secret knack for creating cherry blossom petals with her wings. The moth took advantage of this, and used the petals to aide in her dances. It was her signature, and boosted her popularity quickly, along with her beauty. But it wasn’t her only knack… she could also use the petals to make little bombs. This of course never went well in her performances, so she kept them to herself. That was, until Kaos heard of her and sent his greebles to her Okiya to steal her and other geisha to perform for a party for himself.

While the other geisha and maiko ran and hid, Sukiko flared her wings and used her petals and bombs to defeat Kaos’ minions. By the time the Skylanders arrived, Sukiko was once again serving tea as if the fight never happened. Spyro was the first to greet her, and with Eon’s approval asked her to become a Skylander. At first, Sukiko refused, as the life of the geisha was more important to her, but her Okiya urged her on. They gave her the title of geisha, nicknaming her Cherry Bomb, and with honor Sukiko joined the Skylanders. She still lives and works at her Okiya, but when duty calls, she takes to the sky in a flurry of cherry blossoms!

Appearance : Sukiko is always seen wearing geisha make-up, with her black hair pulled up in style. Wether or not her face is actually white isn’t known. She’s a mix of bright yellow and lemonade pink, with bright pink and gold eyes. Voice-wise, Sukiko may speak softly, but her silky voice can carry in a room. It’s strong willed, yet calm and beautiful. She does have a japanese accent, but she is extremely articulated as her upbringing demanded it. 

Personality : Polite, socially fleunt, and kind, Cherry Blossom is a caring woman with a strong will. She’d determined to complete whatever goal she has with her own strength and knowledge rather than beauty. While she’s a formidable foe, Sukiko prefers being in the company of others and making them feel good about themselves. She is a people person, and as a geisha she knows how to entertain others with her stories, dance skills, listening abilities, and can even provide sound advice. If she wrongs anyone, she does her very best to make it up to them. But she is a woman who likes her space; Sukiko tends to enjoy herself around anyone, but prefers the company of those that can compose themselves. 

Trivia : 

  • Sukiko’s last name, “Iwasaki”, was a special nod to my personal favorite geisha I’ve ever studied, “Mineko Iwasaki”. Mineko was one of the geisha’s interviewed for Arthur Golden’s “Memoirs of a Geisha”. However, Mineko greatly disliked how she was revealed and how Golden twisted reality, and so she wrote one of my favorite autobiographies of all time, “Geisha, A Life." 
  • Sukiko is a Rosy Maple Moth, a species native to North America, not japan. This plays in why Sukiko was often praised for her unique beauty.
  • Nippon, Sukiko’s homeworld, is a nod to the game Okami.
  • Cherry Bomb’s kimono changes constantly, with the season, event, etc. There is no one set of kimono she will wear.

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Yet ANOTER Skylander OC! This gal came up fairly randomly, a mix of my love of those Rosy moths and fuuuuuuuuuh geisha’s ❤ I spent most of my college years studying Asian culture, focusing mostly on Chinese and Japanese, and the geisha have always fascinated me most. Thought I could use some of that degree in Skylanders cuz why the hell not!

Both Cherry Bomb and Headshot will be available for questions whenever I open them! This may be a villain run blog, but it’s also the Weirdlander verse blog, so any characters in the verse can be asked, not just the Kaos family. Whoop whoop!

~Weird Hyenas

I must say the Kuros are truly and amazing and interesting race. I’m sorry that Malefor destroyed your city and your people. Mun, you have done a great job making the Kuros and have made a well-written race. Thank you for creating such a beautiful dragon that stands out and isn’t copied. <3 You're also an amazing and inspiring artist.

OOC : First off, the Queen would definitely appreciate this post ❤ But i’m going to take this answer over wether she likes it or not >:D

Secondly, thank you so very much! I’m very happy my work is appreciated ^u^ I think this ask will be the perfect excuse for me to sort of talk about ‘copying’ and ‘inspirations’.

Ever since elementary school I’ve really enjoyed creating species and building lore around them. However, while these designs were often more original, the lore was often copied or very heavily based on another lore. I’d list examples but honestly they’re really embarrassing x,D But I’m not afraid to admit that yeah, I was one hell of a copy cat for YEARS. It’s how I learned, and how I grew as an artist. It’s definitely something i’m ashamed of, but I’ve since learned from my mistakes and now work very hard to make sure what I’m creating isn’t just copying something else, but instead, inspired by it. That, or I try very hard to credit and list the things that inspired me or the people that helped me come up and develop the idea. Because nothing is original, as the saying goes, it’s all inspired by something else. 

Inspirations of the Kuros
The Kurosians are, of course, first based on Cynder’s appearance in The Legend of Spyro : A New Beginning. I built a lot of the lore off her appearance and of course, the story that hinted at her past and etc. From there, a shit ton of other inspirations took effect. 

It’s kind of hard to just sit and list them ALL, as something so little as seeing a building as I walk past it may even inspire something. But a lot of the feel comes from Skyrim, the Eragon novels, Legend of the Guardians : Owls of Ga’hoole, and lots of other movies, books, and games. The language is largely based off of Irish Gaelic, but sometimes delves into Norse/Swedish/Finnish origins. 

What’s the difference between inspired and copying?
There’s a difference between taking inspiration and straight up copying, that I realize now. You can admit when you’ve been inspired by someone, but there’s a fine line between the two. Sometimes, just admitting you were inspired by someone can’t coat when somethings been copied. I think the best way to find out if you’re copying someone is sharing with good, honest friends and gathering critiques, and of course taking and considering the critique. Or, if you can speak to the person that inspired you, ask permission, or possibly advice on how to deviate your idea from theirs.

Some will work with you, others may be closed off; if they are, just remember sometimes people have been harped on or ripped off so many times they’re very secluded, I know many people like this. It can really bring a person down, but I also know lots of awesome people that work their hardest to be as respectable to artists as possible, and those peeps I can’t appreciate more! 

If you find yourself being inspired by someone, and creating something off of theirs just to get popular; you’re doing it all wrong. I say this often but don’t do things JUST to get popular, do things that make YOU happy! Those who’ll like it will respect you and spread the word. It’s sometimes a difficult concept to really grasp, but I’ve known so many wonderful artists do things solely to get popular and they turn into nasty, self loving awful human beings. Be yourself, respect others, and spread the lurb ❤

What if I see someone copying something?
Now, I see this happen a lot in this fandom alone as well as just about anything else. The following is just my personal opinion on the matter, and how I handle things. This doesn’t really mean you should do this, or I’ll hate you if you don’t do things my way. I’ll only be disappointed if it’s extremely disrespectful, aggressive, or just down right bullying. Unless the theft is so blatant that they’re TRYING to be trolled, I never suggest approaching someone with aggression.

I’ve had things copied from me plenty of times, countless times, and I used to get upset and mad. But I’ve done my best to grow from it, and this is what I have to say about it. When I see someone copying something, of mine or anything else, I approach the person privately and as politely as I possibly can. Sometimes, people don’t quite realize when they’re copying someone. Or, they don’t fully understand why it’s wrong. The other will grow more from the experience if you’re gentle at first, and help the other see how it’s wrong. I’ve had more copying situations be solved that way than just approaching a person and telling them off. Or sometimes, the situation continues to pop up, and it’s just best to move along and let the other learn for themselves. 

Again, that’s just how I see things. I felt this was an issue that should be shared with everyone in this community and others alike. I’ve seen it pop up from time to time, and while I repeat myself a lot on these issues, I felt I should share them again, and in more depth. The one thing I do think more people need to do is just respect others, don’t try to cause hurt feelings, and do your best to brighten someone’s day. You never know when you’ll make someone feel REALLY good about themselves, or when you’ll crush a person to the breaking point.

We are all real, living human beings on the other side of the screen; remember that.

-gets off soap box-
~Weird Hyenas, Mod

What is the name of the mountain Kurosia is on? Is it cold and snowy at the top where the city is? Is there much change over the seasons in Kurosia?

Lost Queen : The mountain Kurosia was built upon is called “Allut Bhreithandordias“ (( pronounced "Ah-loot Burr-eight-than-door-dee-as” )) Or, in short, “Aluthandordas” (( “Alu-than-door-das” )). Which very roughly translates to “The Birthplace of Darkness”. The mountain itself in length is about… I guess the equivalent to the earth’s “Rocky Mountains”, only it’s almost as wide. Kurosia is built upon it’s highest peak, where we believe Darkness was first created and thus birthed our Gods. We also have some parts of the mountain separated in provinces, 9 in total, with Kurosia being the ruling city above all. Our mountain was often mistakenly called “The Kurosian Mountains” or “The Mountains of the Black Dragons”. 

The rocks that made up the mountain are jet black, sometimes glossy depending on the altitude. Forests grow on the mountain, but their leaves are often black, grey, or dark purple. We do have a red forest as well, but just one. There are lakes too that are home to some of the most fearsome lake monsters known to exist. 

The mountain is so large that it spans different climates, some places are warmer than others, others colder. Kurosia, being as tall as it is, is actually surrounded by constant snow storms. However the city is kept at a comfortable heat, it’s believed that Wunjabrot’s (see Kurosian Gods) forge keeps the city warm. However, the forests surrounding the city are in an eternal snow.

The city itself never changes seasons, some days the skies will brighten the city more than others but it’s usually ‘gloomy’ in appearance. Sometimes it’ll rain, but that’s it.