Le Bello's Challenging Create-A-Soul Challenge Contest!

Unveiling the mystery behind the disappearance and resurrection of Talim in the world of SoulCalibur (by Mummymistu the undead scribe of all tales of souls and swords, eternally retold) :

In a not so distant past, an evil warrior sorcerer, who became vengeful and malevolent following the death inflicted upon his son by his own hands, crossed the path of Talim, priestess of the wind.

The uneven fight resulted in Talim's demise, and Algol used his famous purple bubble orbs to turn her into a lifeless and tiny puppet doll, with a stiff porcelaine doll face forever hiding her former youthful features.

Her soul hanging from a thread, she was to remain wrapped around her master's fingers for all eternity





Sometimes, one could swear her mouth moved impercetibly to reveal the bottomless pit of her inextinguishable sadness



She had long abandoned her now oversized elbow blades for a weapon more suitable for a doll





Years passed, and eventually, Algol got tired of her and sold her to another another adept of witchcraft, named Viola, which was mesmerized by the Violet colors of her newly acquired toy.

Viola took pity on her, and decided to use her most powerful spell to turn her into her former self.
Though, some part of her puppet soul and attire remained and while she ressembled a human being anew, and regained most of her facial features, sadness from years of enslavement still filled her heart, and her joyous nature had died along with her first life...but not her pure heart(s) !



Because she had lost her elbow blades, she now favoured another type of weapon, as colourful as her new self, yet gloomy and running around in circles like her newfound nature



Out of boredom, she resumed fighting against all new and fierce combattants the like of Mummymitsu, Mayan King or Horus...and one could see a faint smile on her lips when she won







Thus ends the tale of Talim, once priestess of the elements, her life blown away by the winds of fate.....Namu Namu Namuuuuuuuu !

No votes yet Pocky, now now. There're cookies later on, Le Bello promises.

**UPDATED**

Alright. After swallowing my pride and breaking my heart I parted Talim from her hat. Something was missing, though. Just losing the hat made her seem bare and boring. I did like the traveler thing though so I tried to keep that alive- not so much as a focal point, but as an interesting detail.

I tried to balance the wanderer thing while maintaining her priestessliness(?). The colours green (sometimes spelled "teal"...shut up.) and pink are ones I associate with Talim and so they are sprinkled used liberally throughout the patterns and ribbons. Her worn top is complimented by the browns and sticker choices for her shorts and cloak. My thoughts were that after the events of SCIV she'd travel the world, teaching what she knows, learning what she doesn't and generally growing up and becoming wiser. I was going for some mix of elegance and wisdom which in my head meant "pretty skirt" and "hobo cape". I also ditched the large braid for the more windswept and interesting hair do.

As before, Kilik's style was used since it's lively, athletic and reliant on speed and agility. If this STILL isn't allowed I'm going to eat my face punch a ferret insert an awkwardly shaped object into something where it probably shouldn't be have another go. I'll just edit my earlier post. The old design is in my thread.

The contest rules EXPLICITLY STATE that there is nothing wrong with this design, and it's legal. Le Bello thanks you for your time.

I'm definitely all in on this one...







Because I always felt Talim's design perfectly conveyed her innocent, yet strong demeanor...I opted to use her previous looks as a base for her SCV persona. As obviously she's 32 now, she'd naturally have filled out considerably since SC4, but having a more athletic build compared to the other females. (Talim's strength was her speed, so naturally she'd need to still be small in stature and frame, just more toned with age.) In staying with making my Talim as close to the original as possible, I opted for Alpha Patroklos' move set, because it's pretty much the fastest moveset on SCV, but not hardly the strongest, just like Talim of previous games.

Mother of twelve? Now that's just sick

I updated my first post to submit my updated Talim. :)

Please mind the quality of the pictures, she is less orange than in the pictures. :)

That hat is badass. I love that pic of her, is a pity is an sketch and not more detailed

I love tragic stories with happy end.

I've been lurking around for a while now, but this looked so much fun it drew me out of hiding.

I give you: Talim, spirit of the wind.



Background
After Siegfried defeated Nightmare (as per SCV's back story) the world at large began to see an ever rising amount of malfested. Guided by the voice of the wind Talim traveled helping those she could.

Several years later, she was ambushed while alone in a mountain pass by a pack of armed malfested. With no other choice she fought to defend her own life, and defeated her attackers. Unfortunately she did not escape unscathed. Mortally wounded she could little listen to wind that blew gently through the pass as she waited to die.

"I wish I could have done more," she said with some regret. Hearing her, the wind spoke and offered her a choice. Pass on into rest, or be transformed into something inhuman, a wind spirit. She choose the later and was swept up in a great gale. Her mortal body faded away as she became one with the winds, but rather than losing herself she maintained a separate identity. The winds she was borne on whispered to her, and clearly spoke of troubles to come. "Be ready," it seemed to say.

The winds swept down into the valley beneath the pass where Talim had been attacked, and when it had passed it left her there. Her form, similar to her old one, but fundamental different, she continued on her journey. An ageless spirit guided by the wind, helping all she could, as she prepared for the coming days when the swords would clash once more. The days when she be called on to destroy both.

Notes
I decided to not to go the 30+ route, but the transformed heroine route instead. As a servant of the wind, a wind spirit seemed a pretty natural transition.
General Appearance: I wanted to keep it similar but different. Lighter hair and a series of pale "markings" denoting her new state. Also I opted to take the image from her old pendant and make part of her body.
Clothing: I needed to stay Talim-ish, and still convey the theme (not that those two things are very different). To that end I tried to combine billowy and bare to give an airy feeling. I adding swirling marks and patterns to further suggest "air". Keeping to her signature white and green (with some gold thrown in) was an easy choice. Also as a creature of the air, shoes somehow seemed inappropriate.
Weapon choice: As her own style is (sadly) not available, I thought Natsu was a decent second choice. The style acrobatic, and the teleports fit the "spirit" idea.

If you read this whole thing go reward yourself with a cookie.

Le Bello would like to point out that it feels I should have pointed out that the weapon choice doesn't actually matter. Not that listing it is bad, merely that it won't affect anything. But continue doing as you do, as the deadline is close at hand now!

And then begins the week of voting...

Just a wee bit of advice. It's easy for people who are skimming threads like this to overlook posts which don't have pictures in them i.e. they can miss your spoiler tags. I'd recommend picking at least one image and leaving it out of the spoiler tags so it can catch people's eyes and give them a general impression of what your design is. It's a definite evolution of your earlier one though (which you'll probably need to take down) and I really like the tattoo thing. Also, you might want to break up that wall of text or put it in tags since it can be off putting for some.

Cheers!

I don't think it's Thai or Philippine. Shit, I don't know what culture that thing is based on. It's probably some random headgear.

Thanks man, I will follow your advice, I will go ahead and update my first post by removing my original pictures and such. I will put the wall of text in a spoiler as well.

Following the Destruction of the eternally reborn Soul Edge, Talim began to question her abilities... She knew that her whole life was devoted to pleasing the voice of the wind, but as she returned to her life of training she felt a void grow inside her heart.

The wind had always guided Talim in the struggle against Soul Edge, but after her last battle with the wicked sword she discovered a new enemy. Masked in intentions of purity and justice, the sword Soul Calibur began to search for a new wielder. After witnessing the tragic life of the once fettered Siegfried, Talim swore to vanquish both blades--should they ever return...

Seven years after the last battle of the blades, Talim had a revelation while singing in a thunder storm... As she listened to the roar of the thunder, Talim realized that she was being serenaded by the great claps from the sky. It was at this very moment that Talim discovered the voice of Thunder. Electrified by the new voices around her, Talim began to research this anomaly. In doing so, Talim discovered a relationship between the two voices in her head. Newly inspired, Talim set off to master her skills.

As she arrived in Japan, Talim quickly deciphered the names of two Shinto gods. Fujin- The god of Wind, and Raijin- The god of Thunder. At first she was taken aback by the notion that the two were demons who possessed the power of gods, but she quickly learned the concept of Good and Evil weren't so black and white.

In Japan, Talim discovered a state of inner peace and swore to never hold a weapon again. She began to study the various martial arts Japan had to offer. In her quest to attain enlightenment, Talim began to climb Mt. Fuji and meditate at the summit.

One night during meditation, a vicious wind storm began to blow all around Talim. Naturally, Talim maintained her ground as she had long before with the wind. However in doing so, Talim neglected to feel the quakes from the coming thunderstorm.

Before she had a chance to escape, a crashing bolt struck the young priestess. Talim, semi-conscious, began to weep. "Why have you betrayed me?" she appealed. In that moment of treacherous despair, the wind pushed Talim into a small mountainside stream. There, Talim waited out the storm and slowly regained her strength.

Resolute in her decision to head home and abandon this new demon, Talim packed up all of her things. Just as she began to leave, she looked at an old piece depicting Fujin and Raijin. A thought flashed through her mind-- "This is my inner demon.. In order to fight both a sword of evil, and a sword of good.... I have to embody both. This thing that has breathed life into me and the other that almost zapped the life from me... They are my opposites."

Realizing her newfound powers would be necessary in ridding the world of the sovereign soul-swords, Talim continued to train.

Ten years later... Talim can feel the change in the wind, and a rumble in her heart.

DESIGN: I basically tried to keep classic Talim colors, but incorporated the Fujin/Raijin sash.. I make frequent use of both gold and green... symbolizing the lightning and the wind. I REEEAAAALY liked the idea of aging Talim, and it was great fun trying to find a look for a more mature Talim. The whole concept of the enlightened Kilik also realllly resonated in my mind when creating this Talim. And it just worked out perfectly to have a Devil Jin style chalk-full of Lightning moves. HOPE ya'll enjoy!!

Having mained Talim almost exclusively from SCII through SCIV, I couldn't help but be disappointed that she wasn't included in SCV. I took this as a cue to try and expand my repertoire a bit, but I can't help but miss her, regardless. So, when I saw that the challenge was to create a Talim of the current in-game era, I knew I'd want to give it a try. While I'm not sure how my interpretation will measure up when it comes down to it, I'm glad to have given it a shot.

How the hell am I supposed to eventually choose between them when they are all so good?

This is so cool and exciting! Pretty much all of these Talims are awesome! I can't wait to put mine up!... just my PS3 is out of commission until like Friday... But I've been making sketches. A lot of people are using simlar ideas, and I don't want to copy people, so I should probably stop viewing these to avoid other's from influencing my design... But can't look away! Too much awesome!