chibishortdeath - Tumblr blog

chibishortdeath · 5 days

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Ok, I’m sick of seeing only Netflix posts lately so I’m ranting about Simon lol

Unfortunately I had some nice paragraphs written for this but tumblr crashed while I was writing so this is my second time making this post (TwT)

TL;DR with the rant under a cut for easy scrolling, I am deranged and have studied all of Simon’s outfits, here’s some fun tidbits and I guess kinda a guide about his fashion sense :3

Oh boy, where to start XD. Castlevania has a lot of intricately detailed usually gothic and/or visual kei inspired fashion designs, usually with some amount of historical accuracy, thanks to Ayami Kojima, that the series is known for. But before this, the character design style was very different. From the very 90s shonen anime inspired Richter, to Christopher being deadass shirtless in a skirt at one point, to John Morris being in basically casual clothes, there’s a lot of variety in it.

Well, being the silly Simon super fan I am, I’ve studied all his outfits a ton over the years I’ve been a fan of the series and oh boy they are INTERESTING :3. I’ve noticed a lot of elements are consistently reoccurring, specific to him, and some are very much not specific to him lol. Anyway, just trust me on this one, overanalyzing the closet of an NES barbarian to be able to make new outfits for him is FUN >:3c.

So, I’ve seen him not wearing pants thrown around as a joke before, but it’s actually the truth! Besides the Haunted Castle wedding suit (an outlier that should not be counted lol), I actually have never run into a design where Simon is wearing full length, proper pants. The closest he ever gets is black tights in Simon’s Quest and occasionally shorts, but on that topic, shorts aren’t even his most common choice! Let’s look at some of his oldest designs:

This one is really hard to tell, but based on the angle of the lines, the shadows, and context clues from other art for CV1, I don’t know if that’s actually supposed to be shorts 💀💀💀!

In both his cute little manual doodles and his almost more adorable teeny 8-bit sprite, his outfit is a belted tunic of some sort! So like, the equivalent of a really tiny dress or a long shirt XD. And really, his cover art design is kinda just a more detailed version of these. They both have a distinction between a top and bottom part of the upper half, they both have big belts, they both have the tall boots and arm guards, they both have teeny skirt part, and Fun Fact! They both have red in the hair! I color picked a nice high res scan of the CV1 cover art, and yes, there’s red in his hair!!! It’s like a nice mix of dark reddish blond, it’s a very fun hair color :3.

However, that’s not where CV1 ends in tunic vs shorts debate:

THAT’S A SKORT— DO YOU SEE THAT DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE HALVES, ONE IS DEFINITELY A PANTLEG LMAO. So yeah, skort Simon is also a thing thanks to this particular magazine scan lol, thus leaving us with the possibility that it is both a skirt and shorts on the CV1 cover that he’s wearing X,,,,D. Never change, Simon, never change.

Besides the tunic, there’s some other interesting details to his CV1 era designs! :D In a lot of depictions he has this neat cape, something that returns in some Simon’s Quest art and Smash Bros lol, but he’s never shown wearing it in game. What’s interesting is that Trevor actually gets a cape in his game’s opening as well as Christopher in Belmont’s Revenge if I’m remembering correctly. It’s very neat seeing Simon character design details rubbing off into other characters :3. I like to think lore wise that it’s the same cape that’s been passed down to Simon from those two.

He also has the headband! Iconic! But have you noticed the little ball shapes at the ends of the tails? They’re either knots or, infinitely cooler option, beads :D!!!!!!! And I wouldn’t be surprised if they were because that leads me to another design: X68000–

Now this one is one of my favorites :3. It’s kinda like a forward facing version of his original design but with some new details! And his headband gets this cool lookin, intricate distinctly metallic design on it, something I’ve seen a lot of artists simplify to a general crescent moon shape. But it is kinda similar to the shape on his belt buckle, something that I still have no idea what it’s even supposed to be. Also, his arm guards and the thing at the end of his necklace (which may or may not have vampire teeth on it, they could just be metal spikes though) are similar; it makes me wonder if it was an attempt at a tortoiseshell pattern? Filigree? Whatever it is, they’re all matchy matchy about it.

This design also gives him the staple left shoulder pauldron, of which has these huge stitches holding it on and an added belt that connects to his other belt armor. Get used to belts, he has a lot of those X,,,D. What’s really neat about this one’s belt is that he has both a hilt for the family sword but also one for the whip on the other side, and they’re on the wrong sides for drawing the weapon properly 💀💀💀💀. Which is also funny considering his CV1 cover art has the sword on the other side, which is kinda wrong too? Who knows, maybe he’s ambidextrous and just doesn’t care what sides they’re on lol.

The biggest thing I can say about this design though is that a lot of these accessories and armor pieces look homemade, like as if he just took teeth as a trophy himself and strung them on a cord or made a shoulder piece and put it on an already existing belt he had. Adding onto this, there’s also the possible beads on his headband and the cords around his boots (which could be an attempt at a certain actual historical type of shoe that I cannot remember the name of for the life of me rn, in which case would make these not boots and actually corded shoes with very nice big fluffy socks hehe, I am forcing you to imagine him with big fluffy socks—) and yeah! I can see him making his stuff on his own :3. Which is so cool! I love this idea so much, it makes for a lot of things to imagine him doing hehe. Also gives him a hobby??? Yeah :)

No indication of if he’s got shorts or not in this one, maybe I’ll count how many have skirts or shorts and put that at the end of this lol.

But shorts get another point again cause we’re looking at Chronicles:

Oh Chronicles. Well, the first thing I wanna mention is that, this is Ayami Kojima’s design for him, so here we are seeing a very interesting mix of the visual kei style and 80s barbariancore in a way that honestly slays (figuratively and literally). And, surprisingly, there is something historically accurate about this design, and it’s not what you’d probably expect. Based on the width, material, cross rivets, and the buckle on the front, Simon is wearing an actual dog collar. Like, for dogs. Like it’s dog armor used primarily for hunting dogs I just— Again, never change Simon, never change 💀💀💀.

We also see Simon preferring to put his armor on his left side again with the torn in half coat. It’s also somewhat similar to 1600s coats, not really of any specific country in fashion that I can tell, however the sleeve being that short is not accurate, leading me to believe that he probably tore that off too lol. Very Chrom Fire Emblem of you, Simon, and another example of him D.I.Y.—ing things. The basic elements still stay similar to past designs. Shorts, distinct upper and lower half of shirt, belts, armor on said belt, sword and whip hilts, arm armor and tall boots (shout out to the heels on this one), and armor on the left, unfortunately no headband though. But that distinct bottom half to the shirt part of his outfit in this one is defined with… a corset? Yeah!!! That’s a corset!!! Though the proper name for the time period might be a stay or a girdle, but Simon is straight up wearing a belt over a corset. And said corset over a coat. Half of one. Don’t question him—

But the main entries to his 80s bara-barian half of the wardrobe, let’s get to some knightly aesthetic outfits, of which he does have a good amount, starting with SCV4:

Simon’s knightly outfits are usually a similar silhouette as his original tunic look, just in metal this time and in various colors. SCV4 has his armor as gold on the cover, blue on the Japanese cover and manual art, and green in game! And they’re all pretty much the same with mild variations. On the cover art, his shoes are corded sandals with nothing under them, but in game and in most other artwork they are these metallic boots with the classic X shape of the cords baked into them. Some art gives his middle belt armor section this cross with snakes on it, which is an odd thing to be referencing here. It’s either a staff of Mercury, usually associated now with medicine but was an alchemical symbol before that, or something else I can’t find any info on. There’s also a big ab window because these are all proper half shirts lol. Straight up a metal breastplate with nothing under it, a pretty bad idea tbh 💀.

All in all, these are generally really simple, but there’s one more thing before I stop talking about SCV4:

I LOVE this design. It’s this really nice blend of the older CV1 era style and the metal armor of the later ones, very cool. Shout out to the eye creases and the dead stare shadow over his eyes too, they really conveyed the effects of witnessing the horrors well lmaoooo.

Again, tunic, belt, arm guards, headband, the usual, but, speaking of symbols, there’s something about this one that’s been driving me nuts forever: I cannot find out what that symbol on his paldrons and belt buckle is!!! It’s this upside down triangle with a bent rectangle missing the bottom line over it and it LOOKS distinctly intentional, but I can’t find it or what it means anywhere!!! I tried searching through lists of alchemical symbols, religious symbols, nothing so far has been close (TwT ). Regardless, great design, definitely in my top 5.

And what else is in my top five? Oh yeah babey, it’s Simon’s Quest time:

Ah, Simon’s Quest with his fuck ass bob and the stolen Ravenloft image— but unironically, that armor fucks fr. Again, similar silhouette! If there’s any take aways from this post, it’s definitely that Simon is a little shirt, little pants kind of guy. A severe lack of long sleeves and long pants legs until now, and even then, these are skin tight. Heck even his boots(????) are vacuum sealed, just look at those fabric creases by his ankle!

Now, it’s honestly really hard to tell if his “gloves” and “boots” are supposed to be in some parts metal due to the shading on them and the base armor being very similar. I personally like to depict the forearm and calf parts as metal and the hand and ankle parts as not, but eh. Like most things regarding Simon, I suppose this too is up to interpretation XD. There’s some variation in color in some scans having the underclothes be white, dark blue, or black, and the armor be any range of red to purple to brown too. But towards red and black is probably the most accurate due to his sprite being those colors.

But this is a shockingly rare case of Simon being fully covered in one of his outfits, and I’m inclined to think that there’s probably a reason for that. Not only does he have a rotting curse right now and drawing straight up gore on the cover of an NES game was just not an option lol, but he’s not letting his guard down anymore after being hit. Which would also explain the sudden change to all metal armor as that can’t be cut through as easily as leather.

Speaking of all metal armor, oh I looooove the detailing on his. The gold accents to his byzantine (a nice in between color of red and purple, a color that is also reused in Smash Bros again in the middle corset section of his outfit) are what I would call stylized floral patterns, kinda in the way that fleur de les don’t really look exactly like flowers but still are supposed to represent one. Not sure what kind exactly, but possibly some sort type of angel’s trumpet? Very neat regardless. The gems inlaid in it are all green on top and around the belt, but the center belt buckle is bright red. It’s a very jewel tones color scheme!!!

Well anyway, if tumblr will let me have more images, I’d like to show off a few other random examples of outfit elements he’s had before I close this off with something :3

This was a pretty recently found scan of Simon wearing get this: a pleated miniskirt. Probably Roman armor inspired, as some of his other magazine scans have depicted him as such. One ad for SCV4 and another (live action even) for Simon’s Quest has him even wearing like a Roman helmet and everything, it’s odd. Add helmets to the list of things Simon might wear. Hmm maybe I should make a tier list of things based on how often he’s worn them…

Moving on!

This one goes for the bold choice of giving Simon not only an expected tiny belted tunic, but side slits on the legs! And uh um a little too much detail but uh— It’s also this kinda white, kinda bluish, kinda silverish color? Add this to Simon’s color palette I guess lol.

Which reminds me that I didn’t mention colors very much until now whoops. Throughout all of hie designs he primarily seems to wear neutrals like various browns, greys, and metal tones. But he also has a lot of color. Like as in there’s enough different colored designs to make a whole rainbow of Simon outfits. Common combinations like dark green, gold, and wine reds; blue and silver; brown, gold, orange, and kinda purplish greys; etc etc. And his HAIR. Oh boy, would this guy love modern hair dye X,,,,,D. He’s had it various blonds, reds, browns, even black at one point, blue, green, unnatural red, pink, and in one concept design white! Personally, I like depicting it as a nice in between of red, blond, and brown, it encompasses the most I think.

The final thing I wanna mention is the Smash Bros design, which I unfortunately can’t show because I’m on mobile and have met the 10 images limit whoopsie— (_ _ ;). This design is really a good culmination of a lot of elements. Not really definitive or anything, but very good :3. And it has something I didn’t mention earlier that I’ve noticed in some Simon designs: random belts or metal around his upper arms and thighs lol. The Smash Bros design in particular has the arm band things on both sides, Chronicles has it on the not half coat one, but this is another thing I’ve seen other characters (Christopher in particular, but his are just gold rings) have. The leg thing is less common, but yeah, that exists lol. Thank you Simon for uh bending two pieces of metal around your leg…? It’s cool XD. The corset also makes a return, as well as, once more, the same basic silhouette with the armor only on the left side, the belt armor pieces, etc etc. He’s very particular about that—

Well, anyway, Simon definitely has a vibe going on, but here’s a brief summary of things he seems to like:

Skirts, tunics, long shirts, and shorts (and skorts I guess), but nothing past about half his thigh, generally over the knees.

No long sleeves or pant legs (unless it’s tights when absolutely necessary).

Armor primarily to the left, unless it’s metal, in that case usually a full plate or paldron set.

Belts, hilts, belts on his arms, and neck, and hanging off of things, and legs, yeah belts—

Boots/tall socks, corded or not, and something on his forearms or wrists.

Headband! Seriously out of every Belmont he is the most dedicated to these lol.

Necklaces and beads and other little accessories and adornments are also cool.

Alrighty then, have fun Simon-ing and I encourage you to look through his or other characters’ designs and pick them apart a bit sometimes, even if it’s just through what’s on the wiki :3. If anything, I think it’s a good exercise in character design and consistency! But yeah, I wrote all this late at night and can’t think of anything else rn. If I do I’ll do a sequel I guess hehe. Either that or I might rant about another character hmmmmmmm—

#oh god I am sleepy #how the hell did I rant about Simon clothes for uh three hours uhhhh—#castlevania #castlevania games #castlevania chronicles #castlevania x68000 #x68000 #Castlevania 4 #scv4 #super castlevania iv #castlevania ii #castlevania ii: simon's quest #castlevania simon’s quest #simon's quest #Castlevania 1 #Castlevania nes #akumajo dracula #akumajou dracula #simon belmont #text post #incoherent rambling #does this count as character analysis #eh let’s just throw it into the theory posting tag #theory posting #analysis posting #but fr tho like it is so fun making him clothes #my dumbass wants to learn how to sew just so I can make a Simon plushie and then make him little outfits #barbarian man I am forcing you to match with me no if ands or buts—#but it will be within your boundaries and likes and nothing that would be uncomfortable :3 #I also love how this is just an extremely long rant all just to say ‘he doesn’t wear pants or long sleeve shirts’ help me 💀💀💀

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chibishortdeath · 1 month

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Combining these two requests. Specifically, Simon being threatened by the townspeople, and vampire!Simon. Tried a more experimental writing style to emphasize his disjointed thoughts. I hope you both like it! @chibishortdeath @dopearbiterdreamland-blog CW: blood and injury

The morning sun burns his bloodshot eyes. Another sleepless night has come and gone. Simon is slumped against the outer wall of Bodley mansion, shying away from the encroaching sunlight.

Daybreak offers little protection in these parts, where Dracula’s influence still hangs heavy, but it is far better than the night. Simon can now try to get more information from the townsfolk of Doina, not too far off.

Simon attempts to stand, and his legs won’t obey him. Instead, he uses the dilapidated wall of Bodley mansion as support as he hoists himself up to standing with great difficulty.

A gloved palm moves to press over his eye. His head is pounding. Surely due to a combination of exhaustion and lack of nourishment. Food and drink has been a rarity over the last few days, and while Simon knows that his body needs it, time is against him. He hasn’t the luxury to slow down, rest, recuperate… no, even if time feels stagnant in the mansions, too, it still flows.

His illness is worsening with each passing day. With each acquired part of Dracula’s cursed body in his possession, the air feels thinner. Hunger worsens.

If nothing else, he needs to drink water, and soon.

Simon suddenly remembers the holy water strapped at his hip.

God forgive him for what he’s about to do. Trembling hands retrieve one vial. Lacking precise coordination, he manages to uncork it.

A gentle prayer for forgiveness and Simon brings the vial to his lips. He takes a swig.

Golden eyes flash open as Simon is sent to his knees. Palms land firmly on the ground in front of him, shattering the empty vial on impact.

Simon does not focus on the glass puncturing his hand.

His throat burning is far more painful.

Simon does what he can to expel the fluid from his body, but the damage was done: his throat and mouth are blistered and raw. The texture on the roof of his mouth is all wrong. The only comfort he has is the sensation of his own blood pooling his mouth. It’s soothing in the worst way.

He wheezes as tears, opaque and red, brim his eyes. Blood drips from his mouth onto the ground beneath.

Why?

He crumbles further, bowing his head.

Why would holy water burn him? Was it poisonous?

…No.

Of course not.

Of course.

Using his undamaged hand, Simon moves gracelessly to retrieve a cross in his satchel, trembling.

The metal is hot. He grips it harder. The heat is unrelenting, even through his gloved palm.

Soon, there’s a stink of hot leather.

Then burning flesh.

Simon grips the cross as hard as he can until he can hold it no longer, and he releases it reflexively.

The metal cross clatters to the ground, and Simon examines his hand.

It’s badly blistered.

Of course.

A wheeze—a pathetic attempt at a laugh—escapes him.

The hunter had become the very thing he set out to destroy:

a cursed creature of the night.

No…

Simon’s forehead is now on the ground. He’s gritting his teeth, hard, as he processes.

It can’t be, he—

His lip trembles, and a foreign sound escapes him:

a sob, broken and distorted through his damaged vocal folds.

He has brought shame to the Belmont name. Besmirched their bloodline. This is beyond what even Soleil Belmont had endured before him. And Simon is well aware of what followed for him.

Possession was horrendous enough, but to become…

The crushing weight pulls Simon down further into despair.

He mutters pleas for forgiveness from God, begs him for an explanation. What manner of beast is he now? Has God deemed him a sinner? Is this a punishment? A test?

Oh, God.

He can’t return home. Not like this.

He cannot hope to return to his wife and his child as he is now.

He can’t hold them, with the hands of a monster…

After he finishes his quest, Simon has no choice but to—to—

blood streaks down his cheeks as he weeps quietly to himself.

One of the rare moments he’s grateful for his perfect solitude. He doesn’t want anyone to see him this way.

But he’s wasting precious time.

After he rides out his sorrow, Simon hoists himself to standing at last. He wipes the blood from his cheeks and his mouth before drawing his cloak over his head. Hopelessness anchor each of his heavy and imbalanced footsteps forward, seeking temporary sanctuary in the town of Doina.

He swallows the blood in his mouth as he enters the town gates. He takes note of the first person he sees. Simon tries with all of his might to look presentable as he approaches.

He doesn’t even need to open his mouth before the man is staring daggers at him.

“Belmont,” He seethes. “After Castlevania, I warned you not to return.”

Simon tries to make himself non-threatening as he whispers through damaged lips: “I beg your understanding, I only need to purchase food and water. Then I will leave.”

The stranger scoffs, stepping aside to grant Simon entry. Bowing his head, Simon hurries into the first shop he finds.

Simon enters quietly, noting the stagnant, dust-filled air. The stink of garlic and sage accosts his senses next: the people of Doina seem equipped to fend from vampires.

Normally, Simon would be thrilled to see them take their precautions.

Instead, he fights the nausea that threatens to send him to his knees as he crosses the threshold into the room.

An older woman stands behind the counter. Immediately, she is wary of him, without even needing to look at him.

“What would you like to buy?” She asks, strained.

“Water, please,” Simon croaks, fishing around for coinage in his satchel. “And food, if you have any to spare. Anything will do.”

He places a bag of coin on the counter, and the woman takes it, but not before noting Simon’s blistered and bloody hands.

Her gaze follows upwards to Simon’s face.

She gasps as she takes in his face: gaunt, sullen, stained with blood

and his eyes, undeniably inhuman.

The woman drops the coins on the counter before she grabs an item nearest to her:

holy water.

Simon recoils with recognition as she readies it in her hand.

“Get back!” She shouts, raising her arm in a threatening way.

Simon merely raises his hands in obedience, stepping back and out of the shop as quickly as he entered it.

He hurries deeper into town, tightening his cloak around his face.

Was his countenance really that frightening? Do they… know?

Is it obvious?

Is he really—

It doesn’t matter. He needs water. He needs food. Information, most of all—that’s his primary objective, no matter what. He can get water and food elsewhere. He’ll hunt something. Back on task.

How many days has it been?

How many days are left?

Simon grits his teeth as he tries to calm his building anxiety, approaching another villager.

He skips the pleasantries this time: “sir, I beg your patience—do you have any information concerning Dracula?”

The other quirks a brow in reply, saying nothing as he studies Simon before him.

Stifling his exasperation, Simon clarifies: “Forgive me, I’m Simon Belmont, I’m seeking information to bring an end to Dracula’s curse on his land—“

“That’s in poor taste.” The other scoffs. “It’s a bit late for that, ‘Simon Belmont’. Do you take me for a fool?”

“No, sir.” Simon replies readily, trying to process what he has done to upset this stranger.

“You look nothing like Simon Belmont,” the other criticizes.

“Forgive my countenance, I’ve travelled a great distance hailing from Jova—“

“He wouldn’t dare show his face here again. Simon Belmont is likely sitting in his estate blissfully unaware of our suffering here.”

Simon’s mouth falls open, how can he even reply to that? This person thinks he’s lying. How could he be seen this way, after everything he’s done, after everything he’s—after—after—

There’s no time.

There’s no time, damn it!

Simon is unable to control the rage that boils over as he takes the man by his cloak, hard, and shoves him against the brick wall behind him. He pins him there with all of his might.

“Tell me what you know! Now!” Simon barks, bearing his blood-stained teeth.

“Vampire!” The man screams in recognition. “There’s a vampire among us!”

Simon’s eyes widen at the implication, and he’s quick to release the man and break away.

His walk turns into a jog as he hurries past prying eyes, taking refuge in an empty alley.

He paces, hands moving to wipe his face. He spits the blood from his mouth.

What is he doing?

He’s wasting time.

Simon, concealing himself tightly in his cloak, moves to exit the town.

Someone obstructs his path—the man from the gate entrance, he—

has a stake in hand.

“You’ve upset the people,” he growls, taking a step forward. Simon recoils, stepping back.

“There has been a misunderstanding,” Simon tries.

His pleas fall on deaf ears.

Simon battles emotions that threaten his composure: rage, shame, sorrow.

Have his efforts meant nothing to the people of the realm?

His sacrifice? His illness? He’s trying, even now—all of these years later. For God. For the people. For his family.

Simon fights with all of his might and yet—

“Now get out of town!” The other yells.

Simon knows, in his heart, that the stranger won’t try to drive that stake into him.

But their words have damaged him enough.

Simon squanders his emotions as he walks past, exiting the town.

Only when he is a safe enough distance away, does he allow his sorrow to come to the surface.

Tears of blood blind him as he wanders to the next location.

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