DASTAAN e ASHFUR | Complete Bollywood Warrior Cats MAP

Have questions about the map? Post them over on my newest community post and I'll answer them in a QnA soon!

Why us no one talking about how Hollyleaf was portrayed in that little 'play' of Ashfurs? Even though her appearance was brief the fact that she turned into black fire that swallowed Ashfur is so interesting to see. Almost treating her as an uncontrollable force of nature that took his life rather than just another cat.

I love the tiny detail of squilf's white paw. In ashfur's perception, it's a simple heart glove, playing into his view of her as the helpless damsel in distress. Then the real one has a lace glove because, like the glove, she's much more complicated than what ashfur sees her as.

I think one of my favorite details is the design differences between the real Squirrelflight and Ashfur's ideal of her. He seems to exaggerate her proportions with the fluffy tail and neck, and she overall has a much more dainty and naive appearance. I like to think he's using this as an excuse for why she fell into Brambleclaw's "evil" clutches, because why would she ever NOT fall for Ashfur unless she was manipulated? 👀

The last part with Squirrelflight blocking off Brambleclaw from Ashfur and his expression in her eyes..It's so good!

I love how squirrelflight doesn’t have pupils, like she’s just an object to ashfur

I like to imagine Ashfur just hired the dark forest cats who looked the most like Bramble and Squirrel for this. Looking through the crowds for the best look a like.

That was phenomenal. The visual storytelling of Ashfur’s deluded perception of reality is amazing to behold. It’s also interesting how the animation of Ashfur’s imagined Bramblestar reveals his opinions on him. Despite telling Squirrelflight that he didn’t hold a grudge against Bramblestar, in his mind, Bramblestar is an exact copy of Tigerstar. The elongated fangs, the hulking physique, the large claws? He stills sees Bramblestar as the extension of the cat who stole his mother from him, only now he has lost Squirrelflight as well. He wants to view himself as the hero of the story, saving Squirrelflight from the cat he knew would hurt her all along.

I like to imagine the dark forest cats looking over a script for Ashfur's "Tragic Saga," and just going, "Meh. What the heck, not like we've got anything better to do but act out your bitter breakup."😅

I think the way Squirrelflight and Bramblestar's relationship is portrayed here is very interesting because it's not being portrayed as abusive because Ashfur has seen/heard Bramblestar being abusive to Squirrelflight and wants to expose Bramblestar for being an abuser. He's portraying it as abusive because he feels like Bramblestar took his love away from him and, therefore, decides to vilify Bramblestar. It wouldn't matter what Bramblestar and Squirrelflight's relationship was like; Ashfur would make it seem abusive in his retelling either way to make himself look like Squirrelflight's hero

I love that not only are her 'feminine' appearances more exaggerated in his version of the story. But her actions all flirtatious, the way her tail curls under his jaw in particular like a come hither. What were innocent conversations to her, were a come on to him in his mind. As well as the fact that her eyes are 'empty'. Further reinforcing the doll like feel he has of her and suits Ashfur's absolute insanity that Squirrel was his and should have stayed his. Right down to the use of puppet strings in regards to starclan. Squirrel was never an independent thinking individual to him, merely a toy in his fantasy family set up. And all that stood in his way was the dark forest demon Bramble.

I love how, in Ashfur's retelling, he attributes all of his actions to someone else. He says that Brambleclaw tried to hurt Squirrelflight surrounded by fire, but Ashfur was the one who did that. He says that Bramblestar threw Squirrelflight off the cliff, but it was Ashfur who did that. He says some mysterious, watery creature dragged Squirrelflight into the Moonpool, but it was Ashfur who did that. It shows just how unreliable Ashfur's perspective is.

One thing I noticed is that Ashfur sees StarClan as ‘pulling the strings’ and ‘taking Squilf away from him.’ From the few glimpses we see inside his mind, we see he thinks of StarClan as fools for not suspecting him, so him seeing StarClan as a force that pulls the cats in and out of life adding to his bitterness even though they’re ‘monsters’ is a nice touch!

The later depiction of brambleclaw and his character design features are phenomenal. He almost looks snake-like. Great job on whoever came up with it!

WOOHOO!! I'm ecstatic this Bollywood-themed MAP is finally complete, it's so awesome to see projects inspired by non-english media! Pix, you did such an incredible job of hosting, your patience and organisation was honestly very inspirational, and I'm really hyped to see what else you make in the future <3 Also I love this "actor" take on Ashfur.... Getting to to draw his crocodile-tears-theatre-kid side for the thumbnail AND his stinky-weaselly-villain side for the finale was a blast. I want to examine him under a microscope.

I'm so so glad to be seeing more non-english songs used in MAP-making and in the western end of the internet in general. Sharing and exploring culture is the most wonderful gift of art. Great music, great work, and I look forward to seeing more from all the artists!

Holy shit. Okay, where to start? The visual storytelling here was incredible. I could tell exactly what was going on in each part and who each of the cats were without struggle. Each had a very distinctive design that was easy to follow throughout viewing. I love how the story is presented - with Bramble as a fox-like being, then as a full-on monster as Ashfur's recount gains in intensity. The inclusion of Ashfur himself as this monster at the end when he takes over Bramble's body was a very nice touch. The portrayal of Hollyleaf as a shadow and then as black fire surrounding Ashfur was also fantastic. He views her as this manevolent force for killing him and separating him from Squilf, and the visual depiction of that was brilliant. I also love how Squilf has no pupils. Ashfur likes the idea of her love rather than her as a person, and her lack of pupils here helps to present her, through his eyes, as merely an asset to be obtained rather than as a person in her own right. Then, at the end, when she leaps in front of him to stand up for herself, she's shown with pupils and we get a closeup shot of her eyes - like he's just registering that she's not just a pretty accessory to have, but an entire person with a soul and decisions, and that she's here to stand in his way. The visual storytelling in this MAP is genuinely incredible, and it's definitely helped by the amazing animation, too. I also think the way that Bramble was presented here was brilliant. I don't like Bramble and Squilf's relationship in the books - I don't think he treats her well at all. This, however, is irrelevent for this MAP. Ashfur will show Bramble to be this abusive monster whether he is or not in order to make himself look like the good guy. I love how this is depicted. We don't know what Bramble and Squilf's relationship within the universe of this MAP is like, but that doesn't matter because Ash will depict it as terrible anyway.

This turned out absolutely amazing! It’s so dramatic and cinematic, and just so much fun. Ashfur is getting to tell his full side of the story while the other characters are there to remind us how he twists everything in his favor and it’s genius!

I like that not only is imaginary Squilf's design symbolic of how Ashfur views her, it's also a good technical decision, since that meant most animators got to use her simple and easy to animate design and only 2 of the animators had to do her complicated design

WOOOOOOOOO!!!!! IT'S FINALLY FINISHED, AFTER SO LONG!! Seeing projects inspired by other cultures is amazing!! Every single animator worked SO HARD on their parts. Pix TYSM FOR HAVING ME!!! I'm truly grateful I got a chance to work with everyone for this MAP! I'm SO hyped to see what else you make in the future! <33333