Trio of Obscurity

We all get inspired by different things. Cartoons, movies, video games, comics...the whole magilla.
And most everyone can recall a popular cartoon or movie or game and draw much inspiration (if not completely ripping it off) to apply to their own stories and characters.

But does something need to be relatively well known to be inspiring? Can something be just a flicker of light or a drop of water in a large ocean filled with more well known portions of our childhood everyone knew?

No it doesn't. Because something so small can make somewhat of an impact on one's life. And I have selected three characters from extremely short lived toons (so short most of these never got past episode 1...) that still remain in my memory and inspired future designs and personalitites to my own characters.

And if you are aware of these three girls right here give a holler: cause these three do indeed envoke something into my own nostalgia and what brought me to this state of anthro creation.


From left to right:

Numero uno is a very obscure but too damned cute fox girl named Hailey. In the late 80's (before the advent of the internet would cut their funding) A Top Secret team assembled by 'The Belgium Government' was set up to answer perplexing questions of the world: such as how many chips can one eat or is wrestling real or fake? The team consisted of a bear, a kangaroo and yes: this little beady eyed fox cutie. Haily is indeed influential. She's really a cute and simple design: but she definitely was a piece of the puzzle to my every growing anthro trend in artwork.
For an example of what she's been in click here: [link]

Obscure in that she and her teammates were in only two episodes...however a third episode is said to exist. But no one has taped it and to my knowledge is so dangerously obscure; it may have aired only once.


The next two girls only made it into one episode and never went beyond that.

I don't think the middle gal is really anthro so much as she's an oddly proportioned girl. From a one shot pilot named 'Planet Kate' comes this tan desert dwelling girl named Kate Moon.
I'm sure was named after Keith Moon: except she didn't trash hotel rooms or experiment with instruments and pyrotechnics that deafen your leading man.
Keith may be human: but her appearance is definitely animal like. To me: she looks like a homely Chipette. You know the fourth member of the Chipettes: the one who embraced the grunge look back in the 80's unlike her materialistic squeaky voiced co stars. The real anthros of this pilot were the dogs from space. Kate talks to them: but most of the time she talks to herself. You could argue that living in a rock cut home with your parents in the middle of nowhere would drive one to do so. But mostly I think it has to do with her meeting alien dogs who stole her homework.
For obvious reasons this show's vague concept never lifted off: but interestingly the got the voice of Futurama's Fry (Billy West) to do the voice of the head dog. For my more homliey characters (still i ndevelopment) Kate represents that side of feminine characters I'd make where it's not about big butts, long thighs or D cups.
Found in this pilot: [link]

Lastly is a blue cat girl I call: 'If Tim Burton dabbled with Furries.' 'Anemia and Iodine' was the short that was fortunate enough to see more than once but never beyond one episode. It was one of many cartoons featured on the animated kid's variety show 'KaBlam!' The show's main hook of course was 'Action League Now!' and that one still rocks! But among it was their other main ones like 'Snizz and Fondue' (whatever the Hell they were...) and The Offbeats (Because today's kids knew what the 50's were like...) and Life with Loopy (puppets never die people...)
And then we have shorts like this one that had only one animated episode and then just never went beyond that. Anemia and Iodine was about this Gothic young cat girl who had a friend named Iodine who is an animal science is yet to describe. (I call her Rayman's mutant sister...). Together they seem to go on paranormal expeditions to tap into the spirit world and the unknown. They're plagued by an annoying pink cat named Dropsy (I assume that is Anemia's brother). This one episode had them looking for the ghost of a starving cat. OK...it's odd that in this world cats can own lesser evolved versions of cats but...

Her Gothic Tim Burtonesque design is what drew me to her and I love her wavy red hair. It takes a twisted furry mind to imagine how she looked when she grew up.

Her one brief shining moment found here: [link]

Whether seen or not these gals were seen by me and di influence some of my work .Here is their temporary salute to this trio of obscurity.

But if there's on positive thing these girls managed to avoid unlike other popular toons: obscurity saved them from rule 34. Wait...what's that? (Listens to someone's new commissions out there.) Aw shit.