Just a quick update regarding my HGS comic, "Trials of Wytch Country."

Sorry for the radio silence!

I want Belphegor to get a song about her sin when we meet her, mostly so that I can use it to make an animatic for my High Guardian Spice rewrite.

High Guardian spice ponies

I redesigned the High guardian spice Protagonists, then transferred their designs to ponies :D hope you like! -Lemon

High guardian spice rewrite: The Transgender scene

(Inside Caraway’s office, we Professor Caraway sitting at his desk, with Rosemary sitting across from him, looking slightly downtrodden)

Caraway: So, I heard you’ve been having some trouble in class?

Rosemary: Yeah… am I gonna get kicked out?

Caraway: No, of course not! It’s your first day, I wouldn’t kick someone out just because they’re struggling, what gave you that idea?

Rosemary:… The triad. Specifically the old one

Caraway: (Under his breath, slightly annoyed) oh, of course she did.

Rosemary: I mean, im supposed to be the Daughter of THE Lavender! If I can’t even pass where she excelled, then…

Caraway: Rosemary, look at me.

(Rosemary looks up at Caraway)

Caraway: You’re not perfect. And that’s okay.

Rosemary: but-

Caraway: Your mom wasn’t perfect either. Besides the bar isn’t as high as you think it is. Would you like to hear the story about how she almost accidentally killed me?

Rosemary: (Shocked, with her Pigtails puffing up in distress) She WHAT?!

Caraway: Don’t worry it’s not as bad as you think it is.

(Rosemary relaxes a little, but keeps her focus onto Caraway)

Caraway: Okay, so for context, do you know what “Transgender” means?

Rosemary: uhhhhh, I think I do? It’s where you feel like you’re the opposite gender your born with, right?

Caraway: that’s a basic way to put it yes.

Rosemary: But what does that have to do with my mom almost killing you?

Caraway: I’m getting to that. So here’s what happened…

(We fade into a flashback with Lavender and mid- transition Caraway, as High Guardian Academy students. caraway is looking over a long list of spells, almost all of them are crossed out).

Caraway: (Voiceover) It was when I was still transitioning, since this was before transformation magic started being applied for body modification and not shapeshifting.

(We see young Caraway casting some sort of spell near his chest, with Lavender watching intently. Caraway’s wand starts glowing. Lavender and caraway start looking hopeful)

Caraway: (voiceover) Lavender and I were trying to see if I could use a spell to get rid of my breasts.

(We see a burst of magic flame on the wand, Lavender and Caraway jump back and panic, while the wand spazzes out, shooting out sparks like an unstable sparkler).

Caraway: (Voiceover) However, nothing seemed to work.

(Young caraway gets up, frustratedly brushes himself off, and crosses out the last spell on the list. He sighs, Lavender goes over and puts her hand on his shoulder for comfort).

Caraway: (voiceover) I was so close to giving up, I thought the body I always wanted would always just be out of reach. That id have to stay in such uncomfortable skin forever.

(Lavender perks up. She grabs Caraway by the arm and excitedly drags him away from the magic materials)

Caraway: (Voiceover) but then your mom got an idea.

(We cut to young Caraway lying down half naked in a field, although he’s censored because showing a half naked 14 year old is creepy. He’s lying next to some bandages. We also see Lavender sharpening her sword, eager to carry out her plan.)

Caraway (Voiceover): She thought if Magic couldn’t help, then we’d have to get rid of my breasts “The old fashioned way”.

Rosemary: (Voiceover) I think I can see where this is going.

Caraway: (Voiceover) I could too.

(We see Lavender bend over Caraway, holding her sword slightly above him like a Limbo stick. Caraway looks at the sword, clearly wondering why he agreed to this).

Caraway: (Voiceover) Before I knew it, Lavender drew her sword and…

(We see Lavender Slash the sword, but the impact is blocked out by a black screen with a slash effect and a splash of blood, like something out of a horror movie).

(We then cut to Caraway’s POV. His vision is blurry He looks down, his chest is wrapped in bandages he looks up and we see him dazed)

Caraway: I woke up, bleeding, there was a pain in my chest, i thought for sure I was dead… until…

(We cut to Lavender. Standing in a victorious warrior pose. Cheering. In her hand, she’s holding young Caraway’s now removed tits. Lavender is holding them like the still beating heart of an enemy warrior).

Caraway: maybe it was because my mind was so hazy, but instead of getting angry at lavender at the fact that she could have killed me, I couldn’t help but laugh at the scene before me. She was holding my boobs as if they were the still beating heart of a freshly killed monster).

(Caraway starts laughing along with Lavender, although he starts losing consciousness quickly, Lavender rushes over to him, worried).

(We fade back to present day. Caraway still has an expression of wistful nostalgia on his face. Rosemary has a horror filled WTF expression on her face).

Caraway: I don’t remember much after that since I passed out, but you get my point.

So I like thinking about franchises that disappointed me in some way

and after watching too many reviews I redesigned the High guardian spice characters (and thought of how the plot could work way too much)

Rose in this version isn't a complete idiot, and may not be so book smart, but she is very good in combat because she's kind of a fangirl. Like, "she studies attacks and can probably name pretty much every guardian" fangirling. While she is still kind of a dumbass, she's the one that always brings Sage down to earth whenever she gets too stressed. Although she is mostly the source of that stress. Her mom was taken by the rot, but she isn't really sure what it is, so when Thyme mentions it devastating her home she's like "!" so they can actually have something that might bring them together. She decides to take on forging and weapon enchantments so she can have a moment where she steps out of her mom's shadow to do her own thing teehee Sage here is still kind of an ass (her sexist discourse to snap was NOT a Girlboss Moment) but here I think it would be interesting if it was something that other characters think its weird too. Like its a belief ingrained into her together with the more traditional upbringing by her family (thus her only knowing old magic) so it can be part of her character development learning how those thoughts should be changed and that not everyone thinks like that, But she still tries her best to be respectful and kind. (also, her parents sent her to the academy because new magic is VERY new, so the fact that it was being implemented in the curriculum was not widespread, specially in a small town like where she was raised in.) she's an overthinker to the core, so sometimes she needs her friends to calm her down, although sometimes that anxiety is what prepares them for something they weren't even expecting.

Parsley is honestly well written enough in the original show, so the only things I would change is that the progress with the conflict with her parents is stretched a little through episodes, and the conflict is that while her parents want her to be a blacksmith and take on the family business (and help take care of her three thousand simblings) she wishes to go out and do something for herself as a warrior, because she wanting to go to school to become a blacksmith and her parents fighting her on it because they want her to become a blacksmith is kinda dumb. also her short ass hammer feels so weird to watch in the series, so I think that a longer handle would make it a little better. also tiny irony of her weapon being taller than her. Thyme feels like she should be written better because shes the only one that actually has any correlation to the plot, but she kind of... isn't?? I like her backstory of being ran out of the woods she lived in because the rot was devastating it and her dad staying behind to try to solve it, but I think it would be more dramatic if her dad was killed in the conflict but she doesn't know so dramatic moment when she finds something that belonged to him (maybe a little charm she made? for protection? in the way children do that stuff for their parents) and she connects the dots. Also the rot here is because the overuse of the power new magic is able to draw out without the control of old magic is taking too much energy from the earth, and woodsy areas thrive on it, thus the root like structures of the rot. The trees are basically oysters for the magic energy of the world. When its bad, they turn bad too. Also make her more of a "expresses affection through favors and actions, not words" person. She, Rose and Sage took wayy too long to become friends. Amaryllis stays the same because she is perfect and I love her and if you disagree to talk to the wall I personally think Snapdragon is good too but I would make him genderfluid instead. I think that the idea of Caraway THINKING he might be a trans girl but that ending up not the correct answer would reinforce his "there's always more options than you think" speech. And someone needs to point out how he's drawn to women that scream at him. Also we need a better arc with his dad instead of the raw carrot that was the canonical "his dad reinforces toxic masculinity hurr durr" thing we got (that wasn't even well made btw) NOW TO THE SIDIES

Slime boy is now named Slime boy because of an accident he had in potions class the previous year (he's one year older than the main cast) which caused him to continuously produce a slime like substance instead of stuff like spit and sweat. It doesn't inconvenience him a lot other than him making bubbles when he speaks every now and then. He's just an assistant in the terrasphere shop, and the owners are Alloe and Anise (wow they actually do something else in the story!!) but he's mainly just a more experienced student that sometimes knows things the main cast doesn't like secret entrances and cool rooms and stuff. He's a full on bard because that was barely explored in canon and music based attacks are cool. He has the tiniest little crush on parnelle cuz I thought that would be fun Parnelle is ENBY because I SAID SO (and cuz cal is stablished as transphobic and I like payoffs) and since whatever they're doing at the academy is never really clarified, I made them kind of an animal whisperer, like they call on animals to assist them in battle and other stuff. (Maybe then we actually get to see the trixies again after their prolongued mating dance that lead to literally nothing in episode 1) being an animal whisperer is a very rare "old magic" hability thus why they entered the academy one year earlier than expected. They sew their own clothes and are still the generally weird little guy they are in canon, except this time its explained as them preferring to communicate with animals ever since they were a child. They are still very polite and friendly tho, always happy to help. Cal is (his full name is calamagrostis and like if I was named that I'd be an asshole too) still parnelle's cousin, but he doesn't outright bullies them. in fact, he isn't an outright bully, he just tends to look down on other people that don't follow what he believes in, which is a more traditional view on the world, kind of like sage, so I thought of him maybe being a catalyst to her being like "wow I can see why my way of thinking may be bad now, I don't want to be like him" which pushes her to grow and stuff. And I want him to grow as well, so I thought, maybe he and Snapdragon used to be friends, but recently they drifted apart and he started to kind of resent him after he came out as genderfluid, but deep down he still misses his friend, so maybe that pushes his character development. And other people saying that hes kind of a prick. idk I just really hate the trope of a bully character just being there to be the mc's punching bag instead of getting development.

In general, the lore would be (I think, I'm not the best at lore) that Guardians are generally like soldiers, but in a more captain america type of way. they're more like beacons of hope and symbols or power and peace than soldiers are, (thus rosemary knowing a bunch of them as they're usually famous) but they are still required to know combat. High Guardian Academy is known as a guarantee to become a good soldier, and a high chance to become a guardian. They VERY recently implemented new magic in the curriculum, but are experimenting with mixing its high power output with old magic's control of it, (thus why caraway knows how but why none of the students are being thaught it. It's a fairly new tecnique they'd rather get a good grasp on before teaching a bunch of children how to use it) because since they're expertly trained guardians they can tell that a terrasphere takes too much energy above what would be considered okay. They just aren't aware of how much tho, the extent of the rot is a secret held close to their chests by witch country, which is where the terraspheres come from, which has brought them tons of profit and advancements. So when someone knows about the extent, or tries to stop it, they are eliminated, (thus why thyme's dad died. People that stayed in the fairy woods and knew how bad new magic could be were all "silenced" so they could keep profiting out of it.) (Any letters or research about the rot, or from the people that knew, were burned and interfered with, thats why no one else knew about it.) idk what else to talk about cuz this show had such little things to explore but there's so much filler that almost none of it got explored but I think it had potential, even if I prefer to focus on character interactions and how they change eachother. Again, I'm not very good with lore. and plot.

Chapter 2 is out

More of Snapdragon adjusting to school! And encountering a certain someone!

so i rewrote high guardian spice (at least kinda? like mainly the characters and the first episode for now) and i have no idea where to post it so i am doing so here, yes the hype had died down but idc it's been a passion project of mine because i've consumed too much high guardian spice content.

so let's start.

the characters:

i have not changed their names, only because i couldn't find any appropriate spice names for them, if you have any ideas feel free to comment.

i do want to establish that all of the main four and the rest of the students are 15 years old.

rosemary - she's slightly clumsy, not as much as in the original, she is though way more responsible with her mother's sword and she isn't very loud. her reason for wanting to become a guardian is to save her mother and let me tell you why

she didn't disappear all of a sudden, she was taken (which i think makes the turning evil part make more sense)

sage - sage is a very smart girl, she would always follow the rules and do what her mom tells her to. in my rewrite her mother isn't very strict. from the very short scene where we saw her, she didn't seem very much like how sage described her in later episodes so i decided to make her mother a little more understanding, letting her daughter use new magic if so she desires.

thyme - she is reserved but she does open up later and stops being a total jerk to everyone and everything once she learns not everyone is against her or has ill intent. she follows the rules to some extent, the only time she would break them is if anyone she deeply cares about gets in trouble. her conflict with the rot and her dad is slightly different, she is the only one who knows about the rot, everyone is oblivious to it because it doesn't affect them as much as it affects the rest until she brings everyone's attention to it and people start to realize something is wrong.

parsley - she doesn't want to follow in her family footsteps. instead she wants to create her own path and learn something new which is why she takes all the courses (kinda like luz from the owl house) to find what she likes to do because she doesn't like being told what to do.

snapdragon - i generally wanted to keep him as is because i liked his story and his journey to discovering himself and what he likes but i do want to change the bully plot because it was stupid and unnecessary.

amaryllis - i am keeping her as is, i liked that she cursed a lot and i think it suited her character they just didn't execute it very well so i tried making it better and i did tone down her bitchyness because most of the time it felt forced because she is supposed to be the main bully.

now to the episodes

the first episode starts a few years back when rose was around 12 years old

and that time she met sage and they became good friends, they would hang out a lot.

ever since day one, rose has never told sage about her mother, so she just assumed that she died and didn't ask rose about it to avoid any awkwardness.

after a montage of scenes featuring sage and rose getting closer, the big day comes when sage and rose decide to leave their town and become guardians, after being told many stories about adventures the guardians went through which sparked their interest, having an emotional moment with their families, saying goodbye they go down the path that leads to the train station, if they don't get in time they won't be able to get to the capital.

sage does not have her broomstick with her for this mainly because there needs to be some conflict

i am removing all the unnecessary traveling and getting right into the train scene

when the ogre(?) fell through the bridge

instead of flying on her broomstick (which she doesn't have) rose and sage help the ogre get up, struggling since they're only 15, by doing so they miss the train and start to panic

so sage decides to create a portal with old magic since it's the only kind of magic she knows how to use

seeing old magic in action for the first time

sage cuts a lock from her hair placing it on the ground while she draws the appropriate spell on the ground

as she haven't used that spell much it gets a little tricky but at the end she manages to open the portal and they go through it, finding themselves in the middle of a street

(while anise and aloe wait for them in the station unaware of the circumstances)

sage and rose start exploring a little, seeing the capital for the first time when they stumble upon a large building

high guradian academy.

___________________________________________

and that's it i think? i am not too sure i just tried to have fun with it

i hope you somewhat enjoyed this

i don't know if this is any better than the original but like i think anything is better than the original at this point

so yeah

have a nice day, and don't forget to stay hydrated, eat and sleep

and no neglecting responsibilities.

nah i am kidding i am not trying to control your life

Need to draw Mandrake more. As well as Olive.

Also, damn you show, you could've made Mandrake do so many cooler things with his shape-shifting. Like traumatizing Olive!

Small fandom rant, feel free not to read.

I don’t really care what an artist has done as a person, unless they’re like literally hitler or someone who you’d punch in public for their crimes, I find it a bit sad and annoying how so many artists online are willing to tear down someone else’s art to say “I did it better.” It’s one thing to give constructive crit in good faith, and it’s another to make an OC-ified version of canon out of your love for something, but creating something out of spite will almost always ring hollow for me. I see so much good art duct taped to posts about how “here I fixed it” or “lol you can’t draw” and I think back to the time when I learned the phrase, “you’ll attract more flies with honey than vinegar.” It disheartens me to see artists and people I’d know to be kind and constructive not extend the same kind of care hey show irl to someone online based on their parasocial relation to them. It’s such a low-stakes game and people will act like a mid show having characters they enjoy is the end of the world, and in doing so will take personal snipes and make insults at the art instead of addressing the actual problem head on, because it’s easier to derail and funnel attention and love towards yourself instead of ask that others improve. I love redesigns born of love. I love rewrites that try to see an artist’s vision, but at a certain point I wonder if people even like what they’re making art about or if they’re slapping something recognizable over top of it in order to ride trends.

The internet normalizes clout chasing to the point where I feel like we do it almost instinctively. That little insult or sly comment at the end of a post, that’ll sway people to your side. Saying why you don’t like some person despite not knowing them. It’s valid to have your opinions but I wish people would act like they would in the real world. You wouldn’t go around and scream at someone who you saw post this one thing one time. You wouldn’t punch someone based on a rumor, or verbally berate them in a restaurant. Yet people post so much shit online and it’s so normalized that we don’t even register it as a sign to log off anymore.

I feel like social media is something incredibly important for communication, but it’s currently designed in a way that centers ourselves and how much dopamine we can get, whether it’s at the expense of others, ourselves, etc. And we’re part of the problem too, we refuse to change and recognize that maybe internet points aren’t worth it and maybe it shouldn’t matter what people think of us. And maybe it’s an opinion I have but I shouldn’t judge someone based on what fraction they put out on the internet of themselves. Maybe I should cook myself a snack or go out for a walk or sit on the balcony or in the yard, talk to a friend face to face. Again, I love what the internet has done for accessibility but every accessible thing is locked behind a service designed to ignore vitriol and anger towards one another.

I guess I fall prey to this too, but I’ve seen this pattern happen again and again and again. There are people behind everything that’s made, and unless it’s ai or something stolen, an artist put their time and heart into it. It’s part of the game to have tough skin but I wish it didn’t have to be a necessity because of spiteful people.

I guess I should add an addendum, this is about a pattern I’ve seen in many a fandom. This isn’t about the morality of a show’s crew or whatever, that’s a conversation for another day that I’m not getting involved in because the personal lives of others are no business of mine. Hah, there I go again. But in all seriousness. I’ve seen it in Hazbin Hotel. I’ve seen it with High Guardian Spice. Velma. Steven universe. The owl house. Any new show I’ve seen come out where someone decides to have a moment and say “I will create out of spite and a need to be seen.” I wish artists didn’t feel the need to ride trends and that we’d value each others’ work as much as something put out by Disney. But that too, is a post for another day.

Children of Team HGS and Slime Boy - Anise Junior, Archer, Forge, and Lavender Junior.

They are characters of @mokstagger’s High Guardian Spice Rewrite and Next Gen series, High Guardian Memories.

High Guardian Spice Rewrite 3: Return of Jafar

Eeeeeyyy villain time baby!

So first things first. The Rot is a known phenomenon in this world. Although it hasnt been around in years, it is now re-emerging, and it’s come back worse than before! Now the newest generation of students at High Gardenia Academy must learn to fight back against the rot and heal what has been damaged.

Also “Witch Country” is now called “Hazelpurgis” as reference to Walppurgisnacht and Witch-hazel

Ramosoi: A fallen nature god who believes that Boterra (What I’m calling “Earth” in this rewrite. It’s a pormantau of Terra and botania) is HIS world to rule over. He is the Rot’s “Personification” and it’s source. However, he has been sealed for millenia.  Due to his newly found followers, he has been making much, much better progress. 

Olive: As said in Rewrite part 2, Olive is a Familiar (In this universe, Familiars are a species of human who can take on a human form. They are commonly hired as familiars for witches, which is how they got their species name). Olive is a familiar who was abandoned by her master. She was taken in by Ramosoi’s followers, and she herself has become a follower of Ramosoi.

Mandrake: An assassin who works with Olive for Ramosoi. Mandrake grew up in a very seedy (Pun intended) town, filled with crooks, murderers, and backstabbers. As a result, Mandrake had become very used to doing “Dirty work” at a young age.

Olive and Mandrake both met when they were first recruited under Ramosoi. When working together, they realized that they were no longer alone, as they had each other now. They serve as grunts for Ramosoi’s cult, usually the ones doing the action. They are bestie goals are like the Jessie and James of the series.

The Triumverate: A trio of Acolytes for Ramosoi. Their names are Myrtrill (Named From the scientific name for Bilberry, an herb that’s good for eyesight). Ginkgo (Ginkgo leaves are a remedy for hearing loss) and Propolis (An herb that can heal vocal cords).

The Triumverate all serve as channelers for Ramosai. Myrtrill serves as vessel for Ramosai to see through, Ginkgo serves as a vessel for Ramosi to hear through, and Propolis serves as a vessel for Ramosoi to speak through.

Lilac: Rosemary’s aunt and Lavender’s twin sister. (I hadn’t introduced her yet that’s why I didn’t include her the flashback to the transgender scene rewrite). Ever since Lavender’s death, she has lost faith in guardian duties, and blames Rosemary, her own niece, for her sister’s death. She serves as Ramosoi’s second-in-command/ general. Over the years, she has begun to embrace Ramosoi’s followers way of thinking more and more. Not really a spoiler because I thought it would be better if she was revealed at least a little earlier in the series, at least as “The General”

She is no longer the woman she once was.

I hope you know that your “The Complete High Guardian Spice Experience” video is the only thing getting me through the tedious process of rewriting this show. My hyperfixation for rewriting it comes and goes so quickly, and the only way to keep me focused is to watch reviews of the show, and yours (and Guardian HQs) are the only ones that are actually valuable to any sense of writing, so thank you so much 🙏

Hahaha awww thank you so much! And thank you for continuing to watch it! 💖 I am always nervous and anxious that the only reason it and Velma did well was because those topics were super popular and that nobody else will watch anything new I make. So hearing people rewatch those videos does make me feel better, as it helps out my channel and my ad revenue a lot. So I really appreciate it!

oh yeah, i decided to make this RPGMaker MZ project that's basically a rewrite of that crunchyroll show High Guardian Spice.

people usually make fanarts and fanfics... why not take it a step further?

this project is gonna take a LONG while... writing up the story, drawing up the gfx, setting up the gameplay and fixing the bugs.

I have decided to rewrite the entirety of high guardian spice, using what little background and development is given.

It's all just fanfiction, but I'm hoping to write something that's cool! It's gonna take a bit, maybe I'll publish chapters throughout my writings or just wait to unload the entire ass thing

I dunno

Whatever i decided I'll post it

Flytrap (A HGS Rewrite/Ventfic)

(WARNING: This fic will not be for the faint of heart. It starts off light, but it's going to get VERY dark. It is a mixture of high violence, gore, bodyhorror in my regular (And private) Vent Arts, and my own personal experiences with Grooming, CSA, Manipulation. I know, weird combination. But this has been stewing for years and I just...I need to get this off my chest) When Snapdragon arrives at the most well respected school in Lyngarth and even Scarborough, "High Guardian Academy", Snap is faced with a lot of things to experience in a brand new and terrifying life at the magical academy. Strength, love, wits, and most of all, identity are what Snapdragon seeks. There are many chances to understand what life has to offer.

But not everyone wants to help Snapdragon, HE wants to take control of the students, then the school...And he wants to control Snapdragon too. Will Snap and co. be able to stop him before it's too late? Only Luna knows. (This is something I've been working on for a while and I've decided to start posting it so I can get it out of the way...But to also speak about things I've experienced and to make something with these characters