Dear Insane Children,
One of the side projects we’re working on that I’m really excited about is “Scruffy Bumps” the revenge-murder-cat. He fits into a category I’ve started calling “Educational Horror” and is designed to teach people (children) to be nice to animals… OR ELSE!
You can watch us talk about Scruffy Bumps during the last Live Stream via THIS LINK (goes to Twitch).
But what wanted to share today is the audio track linked above (main image). That’s a theme song done by our friend Tom Resnick – musician, voice actor, video director, and all-around creative guy. You may remember him from the excellent “Out of the Woods” marketing trailer we released a while back (see it on YouTube).
This track has me smiling ear to ear. I can just imagine this playing as the credits roll on a Scruffy Bumps horror film. It gives me bumps… chill bumps to hear it! An excellent mix of Harry Potter, Thriller, and Nightmare Before Christmas. All my favorite things!
We’re also working on aspects of the Scruffy Bumps lore… like his connection to an ancient Egyptian cat god (goddess?) – Maybe Bastet or Sekhmet? From the Wikipedia article about Sekhmet…
Sekhmet was considered the daughter of the sun god, Ra, and was among the more important of the goddesses who acted as the vengeful manifestation of Ra’s power, the Eye of Ra. Sekhmet was said to breathe fire, and the hot winds of the desert were likened to her breath. She was also believed to cause plagues, which were called her servants or messengers, although she was also called upon to ward off disease.
What if Scruffy Bumps is the reincarnation of Sekhmet – returned to seek revenge on those who might cause suffering or injury to cats and dogs? She can possess any dog or cat as needed but primarily resides in the form of the black cat (with white) tail we’ve designated as Scruffy Bumps.
Why the white tip on the tail? Yan added that as a visual mark of distinction – just to make the design something more than a pure black cat. After that, I had the idea that Scruffy Bumps was once a white cat… but that someone murdered him by dipping him in a can of oil (paint?) – so that he turned black except where he was being held by the tail. Dark! I know. But he’s a horror cat. What do you expect?!
Let us know in the comments below what you think of Scruffy Bumps. Do you have ideas on how we might improve his legend? Let’s Crowd Design some more dark ideas!
From Shanghai with Scruffy Bumps,
-American