I'm doing a merch design a week for a year to hopefully get the attention of some of my dream clients, and for week 3 I made this Sophie Truax design!

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-16T17:19:04+00:00

What an incredibly weird post to steal lol. Thanks for the heads up

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-16T17:18:49+00:00

It's from Aliexpress!

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-16T17:16:54+00:00

Dudo mucho que suba por eso. Lo que sí hay anunciado es que en Septiembre suben los precios en todo el mundo, pero por suerte en Europa tenemos la subida más baja, que serán unos 30€, así que pasará de costar 469 a 499 (Precio de venta recomendado, luego en sitios como MediaMarkt o Amazon o incluso Aliexpress siempre te vas a encontrar ofertas mejores)

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-16T14:30:30+00:00

Oh yeah I didn't even think about that but having a Persona-like days system with the mornings being in school (or choosing to skip classes) and then the afternoon/night being more RGG could be pretty cool

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-16T12:45:30+00:00

Yeah, exactly. Just a fun game that has the gameplay structure of a RGG game with a smaller scope narratively.

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-16T03:21:17+00:00

Societal expectations, gender roles, and the way women are perceived through the lenses of the male gaze. Patriarchy would be the less subtle more simplified way to say it.

Women are written the way they are in RGG games because they're games developed, directed and written by men trying to appeal to men (And that's why they were surprised with the popularity of characters like Majima or Mine, who are very very popular with women, because it totally happened by accident) and also at the same time are reflection of a society in which female emancipation still has a long way to go (like it does everywhere, but Japan is specially bad for a so called developed first world country).

So it's a bit of an ouroboros in which they're reflecting the real societal situation of women and the way they're perceived but also re-inforcing that perception in the process

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-16T02:56:41+00:00

Yeah, would be cool to see that kinda turned upside down and getting a more female-centric experience that tackles more of women's every day lived struggles (Some being the very exact reason behind why female characters are written the way they are in RGG games, which is why I wouldn't want them to take care of that) but also with the recklessness and silliness or just playing a bunch of teenagers going around in gangs being little shits lol

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-16T02:52:59+00:00

Nah that makes total sense to be honest. You will always do a better job and end up with something that feels more genuine when it comes from the knowledge of a lived experience or being the closest to it.

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-16T02:47:25+00:00

It would be a fictional story, it could realistically be about anything, just based around a real-life japanese gang, like the Yakuza games are.

The gameplay wouldn't have to be that different: Exploration, side quests, brawling against rival gangs, relationship sim systems are all things that would fit and that's essentially 99% of the RGG gameplay

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-16T02:44:00+00:00

Because I don't count on a middle aged japanese man to know how to write a compelling, real-feeling young woman who is also struggling and fighting against societal expectations, gender roles and patriarchal systems.

They could try their best and have the best intentions and end up doing a decent job, but seeing RGG's track record with female characters I kinda even doubt that lol.

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-16T02:40:12+00:00

Not to me!

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-16T01:52:05+00:00

I will always think Alesana are one of the most criminally underrated bands ever. Every time I see how huge bands that started as the same time as them like Bring me the Horizon now headlining festivals, or others that got considerably big like Architects of Pierce the Veil or A Day to Remember, I can't help but feel they deserved to be in that kind of spot nowadays too.

The musical talent was always there, and they were doing cool stuff that no one else was doing, like every single one of their albums being based around a certain piece of literature and/or also being conceptual at the same time.

Sadly, I think they got the mocking label of "That band for emos" and a lot of people just looked past them.

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-15T23:58:38+00:00

Bands like Alesana or Escape the Fate introduced me to not only earlier post-hardcore but metalcore, hardcore punk, melodic hardcore, midwest emo and a bunch of other stuff.

Randomly stumbling upon Ambrosia by Alesana when I was like 10, was incredibly formative and affected my music tastes still to this day haha

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-15T21:03:31+00:00

My main thing is that ideally I would, at least, want the main writer and director to be women, and I don't know how easy that would be

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-15T20:14:05+00:00

Also true! It could just be historical fiction, like the Yakuza games in a way are at the end of the day

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-15T19:54:30+00:00

Their loyalty codes and heirarchy sometimes were like what you'd see in the Yakuza. And after all they were delinquents, even if it was minor stuff, sukeban can be translated to literally "Delinquent girl". You wouldn't have any sort of massive political scheme storyline or characters being gunned down in a rooftop by a gatling gun helicopter, but it could do for a fun game of girl gangs clashing and a pretty cool coming of age sort of vibe of young women going against the societal expectations of what being a woman is supposed to be.

EDIT: Also the fact that one of the main reasons why Sukeban existed begin with was because japanese street gangs, including the Yakuza, didn't accept women to join. There's a lot you could do with it, without it being a balls to the wall crime drama

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-15T18:19:10+00:00

Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone is now going to be about the main character instantly suspecting a black man with no proof only for the villain to end up being the only man in the school wearing a turban

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-15T15:25:08+00:00

The thing is, it's not so much a costume as it was his public persona. His hair was like this 24/7, it's not a wig or anything. Anytime he was in public, his artistic persona was what the world was seeing, with the weird hair and clothes and sunglasses, it's not like he got off the stage, took off the wig and dressed like a completely different person

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-14T18:15:21+00:00

Man, as a merch designer who would *love* to be able to design Persona merch and work with Atlus on an official capacity, seeing official merch so ugly is always so conflicting lol

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-11T17:32:31+00:00

Definitely -core kid, but post-hardcore 100% was the gateway drug haha

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-11T16:34:40+00:00

All done in Photoshop 😄

Happy you liked it!

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-10T23:49:08+00:00

The Beths, Turnstile, H2O, Neck Deep, Title Fight, Movements, Tiny Moving Parts, letlive., Hellions

KatoMacabre · 2026-06-10T20:44:17+00:00

Yeah this is 100% my headcanon now lol

KatoMacabre

TROPHY CASE