I’m sure most of you are aware that there’s a running gag in Pokémon where James will crossdress whenever Team Rocket is trying to trick Ash and his friends. It doesn’t happen every time, and sometimes Jessie will also crossdress or sometimes they’ll just both be women. Regardless, he has a number of iconic looks through this gag that I’ve never done anything with, and I thought it’d be fun to change that. I went with this gyaru look he uses early in the series when giving Ash, Misty and Brock tickets onto a cruise liner that drives the plot for a few episodes. Both James and Jessie looked great in this disguise, I think, and I wouldn’t mind doing something with them as a pair with this disguise at some point. Originally I had James with just an anon, but I was trying to think of a good partner who’d like this look. While I don’t remember Todo having a specific interest in gyarus, they don’t seem that far outside his tastes, and James as a woman is both on the taller side and has a big ass. So I went that route to make it more interesting.
While working on this, it occurred to me that James’s crossdressing is a bit reminiscent of Bugs Bunny. Hopefully y’all will know what I mean, but something about the way they both adopt characters and disguises the audience is meant to see through but other characters can’t has a similar vibe to me. I’ve been thinking of doing some sort of pic series inspired by this tenuous connection, but I can’t promise I will. Maybe something where they’re both using different iconic looks to bring in studs in the Studio, like a competition. I’d be interested to hear if anyone would like something like that.