My original Halloween Town Riku design! I love the Halloween Town redesigns in Kingdom Hearts and the other day I was wondering what Riku’s could have been like. I was originally going to make him a vampire-type creature, but I felt it was too cliché and the though hit me like a sack of bricks. I had heard of actual dream eaters before in Japanese mythology. So naturally, given Dream Drop Distance, I thought it would be cool a neat sort of foreshadow/call-back to make Riku a “Baku” as they’re called in Japan. His horns are inspired by the tusks of Baku, and his claws are inspired by the tiger paws they have. He also has a tail but you obviously can’t see that here. The sharp teeth were my personal touch because I thought it’d be nice. I love him. What an essay lol