Sketch Artist Anon: COMPLETE SERIES TRIVIA

At some point in the original greentexting of SAAiE, a small trivia section was added at the end of each chapter to give the reader a bit of perspective on the process that led to the chapters creation. The following is a complete list of trivia for every single chapter.

 

 

MISCELLANEOUS TRIVIA

Contrary to the belief of some, Anon's not a self insert character. The only similarity I have to him is the fact that we sketch (since someone has to be the real sketch artist for SAAiE to actually work), and that we have similar preferences to each character (as to make his interactions seem more organic).

Anon's ethnicity is never presented, but he does have a skin tone thanks to the fact that his arms have been shown in artwork. Anon does in fact have a slightly darker complexion, that's dark enough to be black, but not so dark that he can't be white. It's not green though.

Anon has a face, and a very handsome one at that.

Anon's unique aspects are as follows; In terms of negative attributes, Anon's a loner, a chronic liar, manipulative, has self-image issues, and a soul crushing fear of facing rejection. His only positive attribute unique from mine is his tendency for self-exoneration, love of healthy competition, organized nature, and his inability to keep a grudge.

Anon is a heavy reflection of /mlp/ carrying many of the qualities of the site's Anons as a whole, such as his hatred of bronies, the constant need to hide his power level, the avoidance of spaghetti dropping, his hatred of dubstep, his almost involuntary need to scratch behind the ears and belly rub when petting, the fact that he doesn't care about CMC episodes (Day 27 reference), and his uncomfortable obsession with Tara Strong, and Derpy.

Anon would've never made it as far as he did if not for the fact that he's a fan of the show. His knowledge allowed him to manipulate his way up the social ladder, and without that, he'd have nothing going for him.

 

DAY ONE: FIRST ENCOUNTER

The events that make up this chapter are actually identical to an original greentext story that was a short reply to an old thread from /co/. More about this can be found on my wiki page.

Fluttershy starts as Anon's least favorite pony. This is rooted in her lack of episodes for season 2, and the 'background' status that /mlp/ gave her at the time.

This chapter was originally split into two parts because it was deemed too long. This is very ironic, as the series’ chapters got exponentially longer as the plot progressed.

 

DAY TWO: RESEARCH

Veronica T. Tarantula was created mostly as a throw away character, made to make Anonymous’ living conditions all the less tolerable.

A rejected sketch actually exist depicting the human described in the Equestrian Mythological Archives. The sketch was never published however, as it was deemed better to leave the visual up to the reader.

 

DAYS THREE THROUGH FOUR: BASIC NECESSITIES

The original proposition for Rarity during the series' early development had her constantly terrified of Anonymous to the point where she would run and scream just from him waving. This was rejected as it seemed like a joke that would get old very fast.

 

DAY FIVE: RETROSPECTIVE PLANNING

The synopsis for the original appearance of the Cutie Mark Crusaders was actually significantly different than what the chapter became. Originally the CMC were to confront Anon publicly in day light, and rather than dispatch Anon passively, they were originally going to bum rush him while wearing armor made from pots and pans. They were accordingly to be named ‘The Pots and Pans Trio’. SPOILERS: This synopsis is actually going to be adapted into the next Aussie Anon chapter though it will be much more different as to fit with Aussie'.

This chapter was also supposed to introduce a set of characters that would not appear until much later in the series. (See Note 1 on Day Twenty-Six, Part 2 for additional details.)

The Crusaders were originally supposed to have a much more comical and prominent role, working on a daily basis to try trapping Anon through elaborate but flawed plans that were destined to fail, or blow up in their faces. (See Note 1 on Day Thirty-Six, Part 1 for additional details.)

 

DAY SIX: SECOND ENCOUNTER

Originally, Anon was conceived as a fairly passive character and was never planned to get into a fight with anyone over everything. As things went situationally downhill however, this seemed like an appropriate next step.

 

DAY SEVEN, PART ONE: APATHY AT IT'S FINEST.

This chapter marked the start of a temporary partnership that occurred with my former editor, known on deviant art as…he probably wouldn’t want me to say. (I exclusively refer to him as, ‘The Editor’)

 

DAY SEVEN, PART TWO: THE CONTRADICTION

In order to prevent Anon from derailing the world around him, this chapter forcibly established that Anon could not reveal the show to anyone in Equestria, or he would cause a paradox and wreck reality. The paradox lies in the fact that Anon was disproving the existence of a world that to him existed.

 

DAY EIGHT: ANON’S MILESTONE  - THE COMPLETIONIST

Applejack is the only character in the main six who never received character planning I advance.

 

DAY NINE, PART ONE: UNITY

In the early conception of this series (back when it would only be fifteen days tops), this was originally supposed to be Anon’s last day in Ponyville until returning one last time to say goodbye to Fluttershy.

 

DAY NINE, PART TWO: SECOND CHANCES

A very time consuming task for the Canterlot Arc was to give names and personalities to the army of faceless and nameless guards that made up the castle.

The interaction between Canin and Anon became the inspiration that led to the guards becoming more characterized.

Discord was never supposed to become a character in this arc. In fact, he was basically not even supposed to be mentioned (See Note 2 on Days Thirteen and Twenty for additional details.)

 

DAY TEN, PART ONE: THE COLLIGATION

Luna’s dialogue was under heavy consideration. On the one hand, Luna should be able to talk casually by the time she met Anon, on the other hand it’s assumed that she would talk formally in what would be a formal encounter. Eventually the latter was chosen. (See Note 2 on Day Twelve, Part Two for additional details.)

 

DAY TEN, PART TWO: TESTING SHALL BEGIN

A semi-full version of Anon’s speech was developed, but cut due to its excessive length.

 

DAY ELEVEN (HEAVILY ABRIDGED): SELF SHARPENING

As the title suggest, this day was heavily abridged because of the original preferred limit of around 2800 words. The full version stretched on breaking 3200, not long enough to become a two-parter, but more than too long for the preferred length. This led to the abridging, but the fact that so much content was all condensed into a single chapter led it to be my absolute favorite chapter at the time. Now however, it’s probably fourth.

 

DAY TWELVE, PART ONE: THOUGHT

This chapter immediately trumped day eleven as my favorite chapter, due to Anon’s mental breakdown, and the big (but obvious) reveal that is made about Anon’s dreams.

Screwball technically is the most important background character in the SAAiE series, as it’s her appearance that allows Anon to finally realize what’s happening. Ironically, she never makes a physical appearance in the series.

 

DAY TWELVE, PART TWO: MEMORY

Luna’s choice of dialogue needed an explanation for the way she talked in the pilot, versus her choice of speech in season two, because of that it was chosen that Luna only talks in the first person with those she feels most familiar with (i.e.: her sister). This chapter marks the first time Luna breaks use of the royal we.

 

DAY THIRTEEN: BEST OF LUCK

This entire arc during its conception was never supposed to have Discord. In fact, the addition of Discord was a spontaneous choice because the chapter he appeared in was simply too short. Not only did this choice triple the length of what this arc was originally going to be, but it also led to it becoming my absolute favorite.

 

DAY TWENTY: SUCCESS

Similar to the situation in note one of Day Twelve part two, I wanted there to be an at least reasonable explanation for Luna's change in mane from the pilot versus season two. To give somewhat of an explanation, she is shown with what is essentially her old mane after awakening and rushing out to Anon. It was implied from this and a small note of exposition in Day Ten, part one ("I greatly prefer the night, as it is when I am most powerful. Because of this, I rest during the day." - Luna) It's implied that her mane is different when she is not at a certain state of power.

 

DAY TWENTY-ONE: MY BELOVED FRIEND(S)

One of the plans for this series was that Anon's lies would pile up and conflict over time until it all came crashing down upon him. This chapter shows the first example when he needs to admit to Dash that he lied to the others about their fight.

 

DAY TWENTY-TWO: OBLIGATIONS

The original plans for this arc were to have Anon do a series of odd jobs as he slowly gained the respect of others. All of that gets overshadowed however by the other goal of this arc, having Anon fight Dash. Of the list of proposed odd jobs, one of my favorites that were cut easily had to be Anon milking one of the cows due to a busted pump.

Anon had many proposed mentors prior to the choice of Pinkie. Some included Basaltic who came to train him once hearing about the fight. Another included a pony heavily based off of Mr. Miyagi or at least a stereotypical sensei. There was even Snowflake who was going to fill the shoes of an equally muscular stallion named Omega Colt (OC for short). A character based off of Doc Louis however seemed to be most humorous, but it was eventually decided to just throw the OCs out of the window and go with an existing character. Pinkie was finally chosen so Anon could spend more time with her; she did however inherit the name Doc.

 

DAY TWENTY-THREE: UNDER PRESSURE

Anon's at his strongest when he's pushed emotionally. Pinkie's slow dissent into a cold hearted, demanding, 'you're not good enough' coach is used to elaborate this fact. It's also very entertaining.

 

DAY TWENTY-FOUR, PART ONE: A PUN OF FAMILIARITY.

Spoiler alert: Scootaloo is the second antagonist of the Return of Anon Arc. This choice was due to the fact that she already showed a much more apparent dislike for Anonymous in day five compared to the other Crusaders, and it seemed appropriate that she would do everything in her power to protect her idol.

 

DAY TWENTY-FOUR, PART TWO: A GOOD OLD FASHIONED PLOUGHING.

I knew in advance that I wanted Anon's simple day of farming to become uncomfortably  similar to a slave working for a Southern Belle who (because they always do) is hinted at having the hots for him (blame the vapors). When Berry was chosen due to her winery (or rather punch), she appropriately began filling these shoes. It was the reason behind her hat, the ridiculous heat, Anon stripping in front of her, and the slight innuendos in the chapter right down to the title itself.

One of the main reasons behind the many innuendos was actually to screw with my editor at the time. He had a tendency to read too far into Anon and Fluttershy's relationship so I wanted there to be a chapter with obvious implications, exclusively to pretend they didn't exist.

 

DAY TWENTY-FIVE: 魔法の栄光

The title of this chapter roughly translates to 'The Power of Magic'. The many magical blasts and the explosion inspired the name becoming Japanese, as I had associated it with Dragon Ball Z in my head.

The choice of Sweetie Belle opposing Scootaloo wasn't planned at first, it only happened because it was set up perfectly based on their personalities and how Anon interacted more favorably with Sweetie versus the other two. It is also easily my favorite conflict in the series.

 

DAY TWENTY-SIX, PART ONE: PERSPECTIVE

The choice of changing the perspective between characters was because of the increase of interactions and characters that were being uniquely affected by Anon. It also allowed some insight and foreshadowing for Apple Bloom since she was now the third wheel on a bicycle of hatred from Sweetie and Scootaloo.

Fluttershy was chosen as the last character to change perspective to, mostly so I could omit Anon's explanation for leaving. This was so it could be shown for the next part rather than just explained by Anon.

 

DAY TWENTY-SIX, PART TWO: A LITTLE MORE PERSPECTIVE

Lyra and Bon Bon's first appearance was supposed to be all the way back in day five.

Lyra's personality was radically changed from her original plans in day five. Lyra was supposed to have a personality similar to the fandom's original portrayal of her being obsessed with humans. This was rejected hard though by the time this chapter was born, because that portrayal was done to death, and fanon isn't canon. Rather, I gave her the exact opposite, having her not know anything about humans and having a perfect reason to sit the way she...only did once. She even had to be corrected after she called Anon's hands 'paws' in the chapter. Despite this, she did end up enjoying Anon's hands by the end of the chapter.

The choice of Bon Bon's humming being reminiscent of 'Morning Train' (Nine to Five) is actually a very subtle nod to a video known as "My Lyra takes the morning train". It was removed due to copyrights, but a duplicate is right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ7jrehoj1c

 

Anon and Lyra are written with the intention of their life being like a family sit-com, and it's mostly inspired by the above video.

 

DAY TWENTY-SEVEN: METHOD ACTING.

 

Pankration is a very real ancient Greek sport from 648 BC, and originally had practically no rules beyond killing the opponent. Everything except eye-gouging and biting were expectable, but to have this sport translate into something appropriate for their world, it evolved into a professional sport where killing wasn't allowed and there was actual structure to how things worked.

The choice of Sweetie creating a fan club was purely out of spite. In day twenty five, Rainbow Dash having a fan-club was the last thing Scootaloo commented on in their argument.

The sketch featured in this chapter is the only sketch that actually has a colored variation. It was done on September 7th, 2012 by an unknown based Anon. http://images.wikia.com/anoninequestria/images/a/a9/1346978279167.png

 

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT: A NEW LOOK.

 

Rarity wasn’t originally planned to make an appearance in this chapter, but due to her lack of appearance, it was decided to have her added.

HAVING FUN WITH THE EDITOR: A ten minute argument was actually had over the maid featured in this chapter. Apparently, my editor thought she was ‘offensive’. (I knew he would.)

 

DAY-TWENTY NINE: DISSATISFACTION

 

The entirety of the Anon paparazzi scene is actually inspired by two other Anon series; Anon’s creepy and eerie smile was inspired by the second chapter of the @$$hole Anon series: written by Irish. The fact that he has a technical immunity from the law was inspired from…well, I’m not too good with names, but I remember it being a Phoenix Wright parody of AiE: written by…someone.

 

DAY THIRTY, PART ONE: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ANON

 

A proposed ending for the Anon series, as there were several proposed endings, actually had Anon die in the Everfree forest. This was rejected, due to it being deemed too depressing and anti-climactic.

 

Side note: My editor is terrible, at narrating Sweetie Belle.

 

DAY THIRTY, PART TWO: WHAT’S BEST FOR MYSELF.

 

In the original shorter series concept, Zecora was never given any role whatsoever, and was never intended to make an appearance. She is the second canonical character to have an unplanned important role, with the other being Discord.

Both this, and part one of the previous chapter are composed mostly in narrative rhyme when Anon is narrating, as a nod to the fact that Zecora only communicates in rhyme. The only exceptions are Fluttershy’s narrations, and this chapter’s scene with Discord.

HAVING FUN WITH THE EDITOR: My editor is HORRIBLE with voicing Zecora in dramatic readings. To prevent him from seeming racist (because he's very very white), he gave her a Canadian accent.

This chapter actually marked the end of my work with the original editor. His departure was due to education complications along with a poor computer.

 

DAY THIRTY-ONE, PART ONE: A MONTH OF RISE AND DECLINE.

 

Despite there being no plans of how or why, the scene of Anon bathing under a waterfall with Zecora was planned to occur ever since her chapter’s conception around day eight.

 

DAY THIRTY-ONE, PART TWO: THE RE-REMATCH

 

The “brick joke” mentioned is actually a referring to a quote all the way back from day twenty two, when Pinkie Pie said, “It’ll be JUST like a “Lightning Hook” film.” This joke was one of the longest planned jokes in the entire series.

 

DAY THIRTY-ONE, PART THREE: MY EPIPHANY.

One of the proposed endings for this actually had Anon throwing the fight by feigning unconsciousness. Dash then goes on a tantrum being the only pony to realize he’s still got fight left in him. Due to Anon's already existing injuries however, it seemed fair to allow him to be defeated.

 

 

DAY THIRTY-TWO: SATISFACTION

 

Similar to Discords appearance in the Canterlot Arc, the majority of this arc was never part of the originally planned Sketch Artist Anon series. This arc was added for the sake of character exploration, and extending the series. Without this arc, the main series would’ve ended by now.

 

DAY THIRTY-THREE: WHAT'S LEFT?

 

As a nod to the Socks disaster in Disaster Anon, Minty was supposed to be the pony that entered the library in place of Blossomforth. Minty was rejected though, because unfortunately she's not canon in the show.

 

DAY THIRTY-FOUR: COMPLETE GROUP BONDING.

 

The song ‘A Play Date With Pinkie’ went through several changes (though it’s still lousy) to its style and lyrics. In the editing process, there were also many files that used multiple instruments in order to give it a better feel. A version actually exist that has seven other instruments backing it up, but unfortunately it didn’t capture Pinkie’s musical style to the fullest, and also had no way of being heard or conveniently displayed.

 

DAY THIRTY-FIVE: EXTENSIVE PRACTICE

 

This chapter is actually a combination of two chapters, one dealing with Anon’s practice with the song birds, and the other centering on the birth of Veronica’s children. Both were deemed too short if separate.

 

DAY THIRTY-SIX, PART ONE: IDOLIZATION AND THE CONCEPT OF IDEALISM

 

Pinkie's "Pinkie Plans" were actually some of the proposed plans for the Crusaders back when the 'Pots and Pans Trio' idea was still running. The Cake twins were put in pots and pans armor as a slight nod to this.

 

DAY THIRTY-SIX, PART TWO: EXPECTATIONS AND THE EFFECTS OF SENSATIONALISM

 

This entire chapter came from a conceived "Servant of Diamond" Arc that was based around Diamond buying Anon as a pet since he was not a citizen and Anon was in desperate need of money. This was rejected as an arc, because there isn’t any available information on the Rich family’s home, and this series does not make information that could potentially be disproven in actual canon. The birthday was later planned because having their major encounter be at her birthday would further add to the irony of a spoiled pony having her daddy buy a human for entertainment.

 

DAY THIRTY-SEVEN: LOOSE ENDS

 

Plutus is the Greek god of wealth and the name ‘Sisyphus’ in Sisyphus’ Meteor is based on the mythological king of Ephyra by the same name. In mythology, Sisyphus was punished by the gods for his wicked and deceitful nature, and forced to roll a large boulder up a steep hill, only for it to roll back down every time forcibly repeating the process. In the similar sense Sisyphus’ Meteor will never leave their world, and is destined to always re-attempt to crash into the planet.

 

DAY THIRTY-EIGHT, PART ONE: DEEP, DEEP DREAMING.

 

An inside joke between me and my former editor, was that by the end of the series, Anon would’ve mentioned (directly or indirectly) all of the elements of harmony. Anon saying, “I appreciate your honesty” just completed the longest and most obscure joke in the entire series.

 

DAY THIRTY-EIGHT, PART TWO: PERSONAL DAY

 

The squirrels referenced in this chapter actually have their own existing lore that was never shown due to the fact that they were never relevant to any chapter. Squirrels (in this series) are extremely schadenfreudic often messing with other critters for fun. The only exception to their bullying is towards other squirrels, predators, and Fluttershy. The squirrels especially love messing with Anon though, because he tries to avoid causing trouble. If I ever make mini stories for events that have happened in between stories, you can surely bet that they will have a dedicated story. Lastly, the squirrels Anon knows by name are named Wally, Chester, Cashew, Hazel and a pair of twins named Mac and Damia.

 

DAY THIRTY-NINE: DISSAPOINTMENT.

 

A rejected consideration for this chapter actually involved Anon finding Derpy, and running through Cloudsdale jumping clouds and rooftops to try and see her eyes. It was removed, since it seemed too stupid for anyone in their right mind to try…Maybe if he was on the ground.

 

DAY FORTY: TOO OLD FOR THIS

 

The petal cars and tea party in this chapter were based off of two chapters in the non-existent "Servant of Tiara" arc. The tea party's not all too notable, but the pedal cars was going to be played up in an over-the-top hard boiled car chase. If I ever do SAAiE short stories, this will certainly be one.

 

DAY FOURTY-ONE: PREPARATION

 

The additional scene involving Twilight was made to be her equivalent interview. Twilight obviously couldn't interview herself however, so Spike was chosen as an unintentional unbiased questioner.

 

DAY FORTY-TWO: MY BELOVED TRIANGLE.

 

Before this series even began, it was planned for Anon to have his closest connections to Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle, and Luna (to a greater extent after the Canterlot Arc experienced it’s drastic extension). The premise of Anon having to deal with all three of these characters at once was also planned in advance, but them playing cards together has an entirely different reason and origin. This is actually an homage to a rejected premise that had Anon playing poker with Filthy Rich, Fancy Pants, and two invites; Spike and Carrot Cake, as Filthy discussed business with Anon. Unfortunately, the set up for a chapter like this never happened.

 

DAY FORTY-THREE: ONE LAST PLAY DATE.

 

“Apple turnover” is actually an unused joke that would’ve happened if Anon were to wrestle Applejack during his training in the ‘Return of Anon’ arc. I however couldn’t resist bringing this pun into use.

 

DAY FORTY-FOUR: MY FINAL HOURS.

 

There are several other proposed endings that never saw the light of day for this series, including Anon dying, Anon actually being insane, and even an entirely new series involving a second human being summoned by Discord after Anon's departure (the third statement is actually hinted in several conversations Discord had with Anon). There was a lot set up in small little moments throughout the entire series, but as I always told my editor, Sketch Artist Anon is meant to be an ambiguous series where not all answers are set in stone. Because of that, Anon's fate is left untold.

Anon's portal is actually similar to the forth wall in concept, as it is the black abyss between our world and theirs. It's referenced by Pinkie who says, "Something about this seems really familiar."