Allow me to introduce some new characters to the BTBF cast.
On the left we have Mishka The Mouse (Mishka Muridae), in the middle Rashmaru The Raccoon (Rashmaru Procyonidae), and to the right we have Francis The Fox (Francois Canidae).
Each one of them has a (minor) role to play in the development of the story. Interestingly the idea of each of these characters began long before I knew much about them, like their names or species. This is probably why each serves a simple function in the story, because that's how each of them actually began.
If I were to say what their roles were it would give spoilers to the story, so I won't be elaborating here. Instead I'll give some idea of what these characters are like.
Mishka is meek and quiet, barely speaks, and is easily influenced by others. None the less, despite never openly admitting it, he is very happy to be amongst "the gang". He dresses rather formally, and he is a rather studious sort. Mishka is a russian mouse.
Rashmaru is a rough around the edges sort. He's gruff and tough, or at least that his the persona he has cultivated after years of being bullied himself when he was younger. He acts as the groups muscle. Despite this tough guy persona, he is incredibly jealous and conniving sort. He is not above causing internal strife to the group to further his ends. He would never admit to his true motivations and feelings.
Francis is a slightly older boy than the other two. He is quite perverse and aggressive in his approach to girls. He is a late joiner to the group, but has had a corrupting influence on the others. He has goggles and may ride a moped or some kind of motorized scooter. The boys of the group look up to him a bit. He's "The Lancer" of the group and is easily the most rebellious and troublemaking of the boys. One more thing to know about Francis is that his actual name is Francois (pronounced /f-r-ah-n-s-w-ah/) and he is a french fox.
In (2) we have versions 2.0 of the characters. I attempted to draw Francis with his hoody up and goggles above his eyes, with mixed sucess. Rashmaru looks a tad more punky here, refining his character design a bit more. The most radical departure is Mishka 2.0. An canonical outfit has been decided and his face and manner have been redesigned (no glasses this time. A tad too clique I felt). I've added a nice bit of decorative ribbon to his tail. Just masculine enough to be given a pass, especially in fancier and more upper class circles. This version is planned to be the definitive version of Mishka.
How exactly did this rag tag band of mixed personalities, species, nationalities, and possibly social classes, come together? We'll have to wait for the story to develop to learn more about that.
These characters are from the series "Better Than Best Friends" commonly abbreviated BTBF.
