Starfox - Krystal

Ah, Krystal. The Starfox character that wasn't meant to be a Starfox character.

This is where I apply a lot of the 'I know best' mentaility to the Starfox franchise. It's strange - normally when I have ideas relating to someone else's property, I'm usually reluctant to get too creative as I'm concerned that any additions I create may not be 'worthy' enough in the eyes of other fans. Who's to say my ideas are good ones? Though I did recently see the film Terminator Genysis, which was utter cack, so surely I can't do a worse job than that.

However I am more inclined to take creative liberties with Starfox and particularly with Krystal. Maybe it's because she wasn't actually created by Nintendo and wasn't designed as a Starfox character in the first place. (if you don't know, Rare were developing a game for the N64 called Dinosaur Planet. The two main characters were foxes called Krystal and Sabre. However for whatever reason, Dinosaur Planet became Starfox Adventures, Fox replaced Sabre and Krystal remained, although in a far more diminished role from what would have been originally intended).

So anyway, the first main change I made was her outfit. I can't say I was sold on her attire from SF Assault onwards. The full suit felt at odds with the type of character I got the impression with from SF Adventures. Her appearance in that game was a bit more tribal and mystical. The full skin-tight suit she donned after that feels as though it goes against her personality and fashion sense. I mean, I've been living in Melbourne for a number of years now, but I still don't have the urge to turn into a hipster with a stupid haircut. Anyway, I certainly wasn't going to go back to the tribal bikini Krystal wore in SF Adventures. That's way too minimalist for a member of the Starfox team. What I'm trying to achieve is something of a middle ground. I think the trick is to keep her clothes looking a bit traditional, but have her equipped with techy gear. She did actually wear a tunic in Dinosaur Planet, but the similarity wasn't intentional. I might give her a jacket like the other Starfox team members wear, but so far I think                                                          this is ok.

The other major change is that I am dropping her telepathic abilities. Nuts to that. I mean, I'm happy for Krystal to be mystical and be capable of some sort of power (channelled through her staff), but telepathy feels like one step too far and out of place in a sci-fi world like Starfox. I was going to say the other reason for getting rid of the telepathy was because she never displayed such abilities in SF Adventures and again, seemed to be an addition given by a different studio and not the original creator, but looking back, there was a scene in SF Adventures where Fox was exiting Moon Mountain pass and heard Krystal calling out from wherever the hell she was. This may have been telepathy, but I think she coughed/spluttered during her plea - something you surely wouldn't do if you were communicating by thought - so maybe this was her talking and the message was relayed through the Krazoa spirit Fox was talking to at the time. But anyway, if I ever get around to making my Starfox animated series, it's a big fat 'no' to telepathy.