Hollow Knight's Knight Plushie Prototype

Ah Ralsei, a character that's near and dear to many people's hearts. This plushie was actually highly unusual in that I had finished my approved prototype, sent it away, and a few months later another version was sent back for me to fix. It was also under a lot of secrecy because I got the request to make this guy around July 2018, two months before Deltarune was released on Oct. 2108. They didn't even tell me his name! I took to calling him "What" in my own files, because that's what I said when I first saw him. Later I called him "Ham", which was the code name used by Fangamer.

In the package of resources sent to me, there were sprites of Ralsei, which honestly was quite confusing. Imagine getting these two images and being told they are the same person...?

The turnaround drawing seems to take elements from both Ralsei versions, with the white version's face and ears. (The image is blurred on purpose, but you can see what I'm talking about.)

I also had a great reference for the body shape, which was essentially the existing Torial plushie. With those two characters being in the same game (kinda), we wanted them to be in the same style. However, they did want to change the shape of the face. Toriel has a seam running right across her face under the eyes, which is not only visually jarring, but also causes sewing issues that can result in a wonky looking snout.

So I was requested to put a panel right down the center of Ralsei's face.

And it turned out well! Here's a picture of my first two prototypes. Check out that scarf that one of them is wearing; it was my bright idea to crochet a scarf. That idea didn't fly. It was too much of a pain in the butt and I made it too short anyways. These two were also made out of stretch velvet. That was another idea that got trashed. Have you ever tried working with stretch velvet?? It's slippery and stretchy, and I have to imagine that it's more expensive than good old minky fabric. The glasses here are just a piece of wire, as I didn't have actual doll glasses at the time.

And the hat! Let's talk about the hat! I was asked to make it functional, such that Ralsei's horns can fit into the side spikes. So the side spikes were immobile; I couldn't move them to the side to make the central spike bigger. As a result, the central spike overlaps the side spikes a bit. And because the spikes are cones, it means I'm dealing with ellipses where they intersect. Each spike had to be able to support itself, which was tricky on a fabric object this size. I experimented with a number of materials, like interfacing, foam, and wires. So many experiments. And because it was so involved, it was something that the manufacturers struggle with, sadly resulting in wobbly hats in the final product.

So once my prototype got approved, I sent it off. This should have been the end of my involvement with the project. What happens next is the factory gets my prototype and creates counter samples. Once those are approved, then the plushie is ready for distribution.

But a few months later, I was sent one of these factory prototypes and asked to do revisions on the head.

The factory head is the second one to the left. The rightmost Ralsei is my final, revised version. The most notable change is in the patterning of the face. No longer is there a panel running straight down the face, but now there is a smaller panel that goes between the eyes and ends up at a suggestion of a nose. The ears have changed too, instead of ending in a club, they end in three fluffy spikes.

And so, the Ralsei plushie is finally done! In case you're wondering, I do not have any prototypes of these guys anymore, as they've all been snatched up by individual collectors. You'll just have to buy the normal plushie, if you haven't already!