Here To Announce That I’m Not Only Normal About Pokémon, I’m Also Very Normal About Deltarune.

well it only took uh. like. 5 days. but I FINALLY got my designs for Maxie and Archie done!! I initially just meant to draw over their official art to warm up, and then... I kept drawing so I just committed to it. whoops.

I wanted to do versions of them for the headcanon setting that @brannwen and I have! Featuring some slight tweaks to their ORAS outfits ( @endiecutieo6's lovely designs inspired most of them!! <3)

Headcanon rambling and design notes under the readmore:

Story/character headcanons:

(Overall, this setting is a weird mix of ORAS and Emerald. In simple terms, it's ORAS's characterization with Emerald's plotline)

Maxie is a trans man, and gay. Archie is a cis gay man.

Maxie is from Fallarbor Town, while Archie is from Lilycove. Maxie's family is fully Hoennian, while one side of Archie's family is from Alola. (He grew up visiting Alola yearly to stay with family there. He hasn't gone back to see them in a loooong time though, especially uh. after... gestures. all the kyogre and groudon shit)

They met after they both joined the Hoenn Pokemon Rangers in their 20s, and became best friends despite their differing personalities. Their mutual interest in the environment was an easy way for them to bond, even if they had different specific focuses

The major rift between them started when Archie confessed his love to Maxie, who rejected him. (Out of fear of being outed as trans, specifically. He was also in love with Archie, but was too afraid of what would happen if Archie found out about him being trans. the answer is he wouldn't have cared, u idiot)

When Groudon and Kyogre were awoken and underwent Primal Reversion, they possessed Maxie and Archie, causing the two to try and murder each other in Sootopolis City.

After Rayquaza quelled the fighting Legendaries, Maxie and Archie were left irreversibly changed -- neither human or Pokemon, with instincts and powers of the Legendaries that "blessed" them.

They spent a handful of months avoiding each other as much as they could (outside of the Delta Episode shit happening), until Maxie couldn't stand it anymore and went to visit Archie in Lilycove. While there, they realized that oddly enough, proximity to each other seemed to curb the surges of power (and irritability) they'd both been experiencing. Maxie hypothesized that it's due to the Red and Blue Orbs being able to calm the opposite Legendaries.

Maxie ends up visiting again after that, and. well. one thing led to another and they ended up confessing their feelings for each other and deciding to merge their teams to try and do Actual Good for the region. (keyword being try. they're doing their best, man)

May is basically their unofficially adopted daughter. Both of them think they don't deserve her forgiveness (she lost her parents in the natural disasters that the Legendaries caused) but she forgives them anyway, as long as they promise to try and Be Better. (Officially/Legally, May's been adopted by Steven and Wallace, who are only letting Maxie and Archie go without legal punishment because of May. also no prison could hold two people with legendary powers lmao)

May ended up in a similar situation re: Legendary powers, as Rayquaza offered her its power (either during the climax of the ORAS plot, or during the Delta Episode, haven't decided yet) and she accepted. While she doesn't regret her decision, it has made her feel even more aliened from other kids her age. Maxie and Archie have beef with Rayquaza over this, and they're particularly protective of May because they understand the struggle of being Less Than Human now.

Maxie's team consists of Camerupt (Igneous), Crobat (Travertine), Mightyena (Obsidian), Flygon (Arkose), Torkoal (Basalt), and Claydol (Shale)

Archie's team consists of Sharpedo (Styx), Crobat (Dango), Mightyena (Fang), Lanturn (Flicker), Kingdra (Admiral), and Dhelmise (Keelhaul)

Design/Legendary powers notes:

High emotions result in their markings (the black/blue lines on Maxie, and the red lines on Archie) to appear and start glowing. Especially high emotions/surges of instinct cause their eyes to change as well. Otherwise, they just have the "base" features shown in the post-game art.

If their power/instincts are particularly high/strong, they can start to become less lucid and more feral. It usually doesn't last long, and typically the other can snap the other out of it.

They've only been in their Primal forms when Groudon and Kyogre were, and were not in control of themselves at all during it. Both of them hope they never have to go through that again.

Weather affects them, with Maxie becoming lethargic and cranky if it's raining, and Archie drying out and losing energy if the weather is particularly hot and dry

Conversely, they are much more energetic during weather that "matches" them. Maxie LOVES it when it's super hot and sunny, and Archie practically bounces off the walls when it's raining/storming

To some extent, they can control the weather. Archie's been known to summon storms if he's particularly upset about something, for example

Prior to gaining the Legendary powers, Maxie ran cold (hence the 5 zillion layers of his Magma Leader outfit) and Archie ran hot. Now, it's the opposite, with Maxie's body temperature being very warm (and he has to consciously keep it from getting too hot, or else he risks melting things he touches), and Archie's being very cold. It doesn't bother them (they barely feel it), but physical contact between the two of them feels very good nonetheless.

Maxie's Mega Glasses were broken while Groudon had control over him, so he has new glasses post-game.

Maxie's post-game outfit is semi-based on his original RSE outfit, and it's specifically made so the slits at the side allow his tail easy movement despite him wearing a coat. He also specifically avoids wearing anything with the Team Magma emblem these days.

Archie's post-game outfit is basically just his RSE outfit, though he still likes wearing his wetsuit (after modifying it to accommodate his tail), and refuses to stop wearing his bandana, even though it has the Team Aqua emblem on it.

Archie got the facial X tattoo, and start filing his teeth to be sharp, after leaving the Rangers. He did it to match with his Sharpedo, Styx.

The scars on Archie's left arm are from wrestling with Styx.

this is made in like ten minutes but I felt the need to share it because I am Archie and somehow this keeps happening to me

Family photos I cooked up because why not, also consider: Drake/Briney. Okay bye.

-ghost

Um. Erm. What if I headcanon them as Indonesian. Smiles.

(Bonus sketches of Maxie’s cape/ alternate fit where his coat opens up to look like his ORAS design)

Did a comic test page based on this doodle I made like a year ago. Have young man yaoi lol

Midterms eating me up? Draw old man yaoi for my survival

OK hear me (ghost) out I enjoy their RSE designs (especially Maxie) but I thought a bit more details to look at wouldn’t hurt…

Referenced the RSE grunt/admin sprites for both of them, just to be consistent. Magma admins had the back part of their jacket things look like capes so… Maxie with a cape. Added a sash to Archie to make him feel more pirate-y without going full ORAS

Some headshots I did because I wanted to!

Some alt versions / what I headcanon as post-emerald under the cut. These are definitely inspired by a lot of fan designs too :).

Post-emerald version + Japanese RS logos because it’d be fun to imagine these as promo images and the sort.

Bonus shitposts, as one does:

-ghost

Happy 8th anniversary to that Pokémon tcg Twitter post :)

More trainer AU!! Maxie tripped on a big tree root in Petalburg woods lol

Ghost

Archie and Maxie related headcanons I’ve had for a while

I have more than these that are closer to game info but unfortunately they are spoilers for my emerald comic. I want to ramble about them regardless so have like loose thoughts and stuff that’ll never get explored properly in said story lol. Some are hardenshipping and (very little tbh) team related stuff as well :)

Archie grew up somewhere near slateport, and spent a lot of time at sea with his adoptive father, Mr. Briney

Archie, Shelly, and Matt are basically siblings, they met as children and lived alongside/near each other up until they did their respective studies.

Maxie grew up and lived in Fallarbor town, his mother is a businesswoman that visits every month, while his father is a local street chef. He learnt how to cook some really good recipes but his cooking skills are limited to those dishes.

He was at one point Courtney's brother figure, he kind of still is but both are a little too caught up on work to properly hang out like they did.

Tabitha is the most emotionally intelligent of the magmas, he’s the HR guy with a psychology degree.

as much as he doesnt want to show or admit to it, Maxie has a mischievous streak. He's capable of making logically and morally questionable decisions (as seen in games). Most of the time he's prepared with an elaborate excuse, though.

Archie's cheerfulness is genuine, but he's got a lot of spite and real cold bitterness in that heart and if he feels like its necessary, he will let you know.

Archie has little spice tolerance, Maxie found out about this when he cooked for him at some point in the past

Archie and Maxie share an interest and taste in jazz, especially instrumental ones. Archie learned to piano at some point in his school life, and Maxie is decent at the violin

They met pre-college. That three-four month break before attending college was absolutely bonkers for them and you can say they had a pokemon adventure of their own

that point is when they grew their teams, became pretty damn good trainers, and became good friends.

They got together a few years into college

due to some unprecedented events a good 4-5 years into work (like age range wise about 27-28ish) and differing opinions on how to move forward from said events, they broke up. For the better, allegedly.

Maxie's love for ground types, similarly to Archie stems from loving his hometown and the place he grew up in. Yeah its dry and hot and somewhat unfriendly but it's familiar. Also Numels are just cute.

Archie can drive a boat, he's got a good intuition and can basically predict weather, mostly based on observations of how the wild pokemon are acting. He also has a pretty good grasp on memorizing places and usually can tell where they are in the ocean.

Archie has little to no memory of his biological family, but he eventually understands tgat he's most likely from pacifidlog, and that it doesn't really matter because he's got a perfectly good dad right there.

Archie and Maxie had to deal with long distance at some point, back when they didn't have advanced Pokenavs with good signal tech. Because they think it's kinda fun and sweet, Archie and Maxie communicated through letters. Peeko delivered them.

Maxie dresses masc in a way that he kind of only has two modes: Asian father and Business work man. He can have a sense of fashion but he barely explored that front and at present time prefers to be more practical.

Archie on the other hand is more creative and explores several styles. He sticks to blue most of the time, though.

Made this meme to celebrate the monkeys not being dead