Introduction

Mocha is my second most recently designed character, as well as my oldest character to still be in use. He debuted on June 19th, 2021, although his earliest conceptual designs may have dated all the way back to 2019.

Significance

Mocha was introduced around a year after I had taken a step back from social media. During this time, Karari was serving as my public identity, and Mocha would serve as my private identity.

He would eventually succeed Karari as my public identity, likely helped by being an original design of mine. During this transition, I started being a lot more active on social media again, but with a much healthier approach than before. This change in approach made social media much more sustainable for me, allowing me to actually build a decent following (helped by my Daily Riolu series), culminating in finally overtaking my previous highest follower count that I had as Bit.

Design History

Initial Design

Mocha's earliest designs are unfortunately lost to time, as he was first conceptualised in a Telegram chat back in 2019 (at least I believe so, as I'm going purely on memory here). The earliest design that is still around dates back to June 2021, in the form of a headshot sketch from the 19th, and a full reference sheet from the 22nd.

These designs would only be in use for a couple of months, as on August 9th, 2021, he would receive the first of many redesigns. This included a scrapped redesign concept that experimented with making his hair look like chocolate syrup.

Although the syrup hair concept got scrapped, select elements from the hair piece in that design would make their way into the final reference sheet for the finished redesign.

Unlike its predecessor, this design would have significantly more staying power. It featured in numerous artworks between 2021 and 2023, ultimately being phased out around a year and a half later.

2022 Scrapped Redesign

Between August 3rd and August 5th, 2022, concepts for a complete overhaul of Mocha's design were drafted. Notably, this would be the first instance of Mocha being given more aquatic features, such fins and a dolphin tail.

This design did end up getting a full reference sheet, the most complete one up to this point. Despite this, the design would be scrapped, as it never appeared in any artworks.

2023 Redesign

It wouldn't be until February 4th, 2023, half a year after the scrapped 2022 redesign, and a year and a half since his initial redesign, that Mocha would finally receive a new design.

This design features many of the aquatic elements that were first experimented with in the scrapped 2022 redesign, although many of the patterns had been simplified. Key design changes from the scrapped design include the dorsal fin being moved from the head to the back, and the brown and cream coloured fur being removed from all the fins.

The reference sheet for this design is the most up-to-date reference that Mocha has, despite the fact that his design as changed in a few notable ways since this redesign.

Modern Design Tweaks

Whilst Mocha hasn't received a new reference sheet since 2023, his design has received a few updates.

On March 6th, 2023, his anatomy would officially be changed from digitigrade to plantigrade. This decision was made primarily as an excuse to practice plantigrade anatomy more, although it also did help simplify clothing design for him.

In early August, 2023, the "glove" marking on his left hand would be removed. This change hasn't yet been depicted in any artwork, only being seen on the VRChat avatar.

Trivia

• Mocha is the oldest of my characters that is still currently in use, having debuted in June 2021. This beats out Bee Mocha, who debuted in March 2024, by 2 years and 9 months.
• Mocha is the only of my characters to be plantigrade, as opposed to digitigrade.
• Mocha's signature outfit, featuring a blue career jacket, was first seen in July 2021, in the artwork "Mocha vs Summer".
• Mocha's signature outfit was based on the main outfit I used in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
• The pin that Mocha wears on the lapel of his jacket was designed as a homage to the patterns that feature on Bit.
• Mocha is my only character who is only ever meant to be depicted fully clothed. The only times he's depicted without clothing are on reference sheets, and in my anatomy practice.
  • I'm not 100% sure why I decided this to be the case. My running theory is that him being plantigrade makes him feel a little more naked than my other character when not wearing clothes.
• Mocha is 2 parts chocolate, 1 parts coffee, and made purely with milk.