For a bit now we’ve had a little tradition around here, a way to look back at the past year’s art and spotlight some relevant characters. I run a few polls on SubscribeStar, while also running some numbers to come up with a few awards to hand out. First, we have the popular vote results:

And now we get to the stat-based awards. Each category here is based on appearances from the year, specifically the SubscribeStar posts. This means some of these winners may not make sense for non-Subscribers, as it’s based on content that may be months away from going public. Most of these awards are based purely on their number of appearances, but I’ll mention when that’s not the case. In the past we did awards for the most appearances in One-Shots or Asks, but I decided to drop those categories this year. Instead we just have a handful of winners.

This reward spotlights the characters (male and female) who returned after the longest absence. Charlotte’s comeback pic, which you get a preview of here, won’t be public for a while yet. She was a last-minute winner of the female half of this twofer reward. On the male side, both Mello and Near made return pics this year, with their last appearances being a mutual debut in a very old commission. Since Mello’s return Ask happened after Near’s, by default that gave him the edge for the longest gap return between them.

This one surprised me a bit, as I hadn’t realized how much I’d drawn Sero since his debut in the U.A. Wall series. Part of why he snuck up on me is one of his appearances being an anon-type situation, but both he and Al had four pics this year, tying. Only a bit of Al’s content has gone public currently, but it’s fun to see him win this award since his brother won it last year.

Seiko got a lot of love in the polls this year, too, and it’s not hard to see why. I’m quite fond of her, so even though I was slow to draw her initially it doesn’t shock me that I ended up using her a fair bit once she got into the Studio. I’m sure we’ll be seeing plenty of Seiko in 2026 as well.

We had a tie in this category this year, and just barely. Goku was the winner of this award last year, and it’s not hard to see how he keeps coming ahead. Besides being popular in his own right, he’s one of a handful of characters I’ll default to for a top when one’s needed in Asks or the like, and he also had some appearances in different forms this year. Yuji tying with him is actually a bit of a miracle, as he doesn’t have the same advantages. He has appeared often as a partner for different folks in Asks, however, and he’s also had a lot of commission appearances this year, including in the Hot Yoga comic.

Speaking of ties, we had a bit of a shocker here with the ladies, too. Bulma had two ongoing comics that helped to bolster her numbers, while Kanamori’s comic wrapped and Butt Witch’s had very few updates. Still, we got a three-way tie here. Last year Kanamori was the Newcomer of the Year, but I mentioned then that she actually had the most appearances overall as well. With her taking the Newcomer spot, however, Butt Witch took this award last year, which lead to them doing a pic together. With that history, it’s a bit fun to see them both come out as winners this year, and alongside a woman they’ve both worked with in the past, too.