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Description
On the eve of summer 1886, an evil concoction was brewed in the pharmacy of a quack who'd gotten addicted to morphine fighting in a war to keep 4 million Americans bound in chains. The alchemist, John Stith Pemberton, embittered over the loss of his slaves, had a new way of enthralling the people of his nation. Circumventing the state of Georgia's newest temperance laws, Pemberton removed the alcohol from his famous kola nut drink, but kept in its other active ingredient: the coca leaves which produced the inescapably addictive substance cocaine. Even the dark wizard who created this mixture became a pyrrhic victim of his potion, dying from his own acquired addiction just two years later. He'd lived long enough to sell off the dredge to a villain with a stronger constitution, Asa Griggs Candler, who conglomerated the business into the notorious “Coca-Cola Company” in 1892. Candler, preferring the more subtle tyranny of big business to addictive swills, removed cocaine from the alchemist’s table by 1904, but by then it was already too late. Even those who had managed to ward off the chemical addiction were now enthralled with Coca-Cola as a staple beverage, welcoming it into their homes without question, identifying with it almost as a family member. America, and soon the world, would be wrapped around the company's finger.

Our only hope arose in 1893, when a new refreshment… nay, an antidote… began to flow from North Carolinian soda fountains, named “Brad's Drink” after its ingenious creator, Caleb Davis Bradham. However, wanting to promote his beverage's capacity to alleviate the sickening churning in people's stomachs (referred to as “dyspepsia”), Brad humbly rechristened his drink as “Pepsi” on August 23, 1898. While the seed of rebellion against Coca-Cola's monopoly had been laid, it was nearly snuffed out by fluctuating sugar prices during the First World War. Bradham had to declare bankruptcy in 1923, but the torch would be passed from buyer to buyer until 1931, when it was placed in the hands of candymaker Charles Guth. Guth's hands were neither good hands nor responsible hands, and he was driven to distribute Pepsi only by the spite he held against the Coca-Cola executives who had refused to give his store a discount. Indeed, those hands very nearly delivered our savior directly into the clutches of the enemy in 1933, when Pepsi became too unprofitable for the principle-less Guth to be bothered anymore. It is only Coca-Cola's own hubris which led them to laugh away Guth's offer, unwittingly casting aside the very David who would return to slay this Goliath.

By 1975, PepsiCo had grown into Coca-Cola's fiercest competition, a challenger to their nearly century-long enslavement of America's hearts and taste buds. That year, a campaign was launched to show the blinded populace that there was another way, a better way, a freer way. Booths were set up across the country with unlabeled cups of both Pepsi and Coca-Cola, and American citizens were implored to sample both and judge for themselves which was the better taste. The Pepsi Challenge, as history remembers it, opened everyone's eyes when it was revealed that the anonymous drink they'd selected as the winner was of course Pepsi. The people were at last beginning to break free from the soft drink which had held an iron fist on them since the days of their great-grandparents. In 1983, Pepsi finally broke through the barrier and outsold the ancient juggernaut. The dark council at Coca-Cola was terrified. In their desperation, they let go of the formula which had kept their sheep in line for 100 years. In 1985, they changed it to be more like the liberator. They updated it, made it… new… Coke. But New Coke was not Pepsi, and in fact it was foul. Loyalists revolted, protests raged in the streets, and the dictators began to fall… until bitter irony turned the tables back. After just three months of New Coke, Coke Classic was returned to shelves. The people were suddenly vindicated, or rather… satiated. In their short-sightedness, the rebels flocked back to Coca-Cola, believing their cries were heard, when in reality they'd just given their thirst back over to the very formula which had kept them in the kennel in the first place. To make matters worse, Pepsi’s greatest political ally in the Cola Wars, the Soviet Union, collapsed in 1991, and with it went any hope of acquiring the naval power that would be required to unseat the dark council. This was inarguably the darkest period in American history. To free ourselves from this wide-casting shadow, we needed something new… someone new. We needed a hero. We needed… Pepsiman.

The origins of the superhero known as Pepsiman are as mysterious as what lies under his mask. Video evidence of an individual calling himself “Pepsi Man” first surfaced in Mexico in 1993, but this is obviously completely different from “Pepsiman” so if this caped crusader has any connection to our hero, that's a transition completely obscured by aluminum. The Pepsiman we know and love first surfaced in Fremont, California, in 1996, when he broke into a mother's suburban home to calm her wailing son using his primary superpower: spawning a delicious refreshing can of Pepsi from… somewhere. Idk, there are many mysteries to Pepsiman. Who is he under that silver mask? What is he under that silver mask? Is that like his skin or is it some kind of super suit? Is there Pepsi inside of him? Is that where he gets the Pepsi? What does Pepsiman taste like? Fuck if I know, but from the moment he was first spotted sprinting his way to help people in need, Pepsiman has been there to save people from their thirst and the iron grip of Coca-Cola. There's even one recorded incident where a Coke truck driver chased Pepsiman down in his company vehicle, not to run the rival hero over, but to beg him for a taste of the liberating beverage his employers had denied him for so long.

PepsiCo, seeing that Pepsiman's goals aligned with their own, hired critically acclaimed Japanese advertising expert, Takuya Onuki, to seek out Pepsiman and film some of his exploits for posterity. Onuki-san, however, was only able to get shots of Pepsiman himself, so he teamed up with American special effects team Industrial Light & Magic to CGI in some backgrounds around Pepsiman which could create a cohesive narrative. This worked so well that it was decided that Pepsiman's heroics should be adapted into the world of video games. Pepsiman had first signed off his likeness to be used in the Sega Saturn title Fighting Vipers back in 1996, but a true documentary title wouldn't come around until 1999. The Japanese-exclusive PS1 game Pepsiman is a runner game which puts the player in the thankless role of Pepsiman, who must rush over, under, and around a whole myriad of obstacles to deliver desperately needed Pepsi to thirsty citizens while they wait for emergency services to show up and save them from a burning skyscraper or whatever it is they do. One level was even so emotionally impactful that it inspired a nearly identical design for one of the tracks in the hit video game Sonic Adventure 2, though obviously this is a pale imitation of the original.

It is unquestionable that Pepsiman has single-handedly saved us all from a dystopian future where Coke is the only thing we can chug directly into our pancreases. There are those who are still too afraid to speak up and ask for anything else but Coke at our eating establishments, but fear not, because thanks to Pepsiman's efforts, your waitress is free to ask the assuring question: “is Pepsi okay?” Goddamn right it is. We thank you, Pepsiman, but where are you now? Creative differences split apart the synergy Takuya Onuki had with PepsiCo, leaving Pepsiman without a journalist. Footage of Pepsiman in his wild habitat cuts off abruptly after 2003, and aside from memorabilia and whispers on the wind, it seems that no one has seen our hero in quite a while. What became of him, then? Where did the man who changed the world in so many positive ways go when the cameras stopped rolling? Well, I'll give you my five cents for a twelve ounce bottle: I can only presume Pepsiman just fucking died one day, cause the grocery store I work at never fucking has Pepsi products on the shelf when customers are hounding me for them, and there's no way Pepsiman would stand for that if he still had air in his lungs… er… Pepsi in his… cans? Oh whatever.

Design notes, alright happy April Fools’ Day everyone, I shat this out in a day. If I have to slog through a whole day of my favorite educational content creators shitposting instead of the usual video essays I listen to while playing Minecraft then so do you XD But okay, let's go over my design process for fucking Pepsiman. Now, what I could've done was just draw Pepsiman as he is, some kind of weird aluminum spandex guy, and call it a day. But I thought no, if I'm doing this, I'm doing it my way. I started thinking alright, how would the MCU design Pepsiman? I started by looking up “pop can armor” to get some inspiration, and almost universally the results I got were people making some surprisingly sick suits of pop tab chainmail. I was a little hesitant at first, because Pepsiman's original design seemed too sleek to justify a mail suit, but then I started looking at historical examples of Japanese mail armor, and I really liked their layering. That really helped push the silver part along, so now I just had to think of the blue. Even with the chainmail layering, I really didn't like the way blue paint or whatever would look if I made it a part of the armor. So, instead I took a different route, taking inspiration from Pepsiman's athletic lifestyle. I made the blue a sort of sportsy jumpsuit, also taking inspiration from shapes in traditional Japanese clothing which you might find on a similarly mobile ninja. I'm actually really happy with it. I think the only thing I'd change is that I'd make the leg cuffs a bit shorter. Lastly, I took a long hard look at Pepsiman's face… which he doesn't have, save for a weird gross mouth that morphs in every once in a while. At first I was going to just leave it blank or make it resemble something like a fencer’s helmet, but then I figured well that “schwa” sound he makes when using his powers is intended to be onomatopoeic for the sound a pop can makes when you open it, so why not make his mouth like the top of a can? I wasn't so sure about it at first, but stepping back and taking in the whole composition, I actually think it blends in pretty well. Are there other ways I could rework and fix up this design? Yes. Do I have any intention of revisiting Pepsiman any time soon? No.

Description
On the eve of summer 1886, an evil concoction was brewed in the pharmacy of a quack who'd gotten addicted to morphine fighting in a war to keep 4 million Americans bound in chains. The alchemist, John Stith Pemberton, embittered over the loss of his slaves, had a new way of enthralling the people of his nation. Circumventing the state of Georgia's newest temperance laws, Pemberton removed the alcohol from his famous kola nut drink, but kept in its other active ingredient: the coca leaves which produced the inescapably addictive substance cocaine. Even the dark wizard who created this mixture became a pyrrhic victim of his potion, dying from his own acquired addiction just two years later. He'd lived long enough to sell off the dredge to a villain with a stronger constitution, Asa Griggs Candler, who conglomerated the business into the notorious “Coca-Cola Company” in 1892. Candler, preferring the more subtle tyranny of big business to addictive swills, removed cocaine from the alchemist’s table by 1904, but by then it was already too late. Even those who had managed to ward off the chemical addiction were now enthralled with Coca-Cola as a staple beverage, welcoming it into their homes without question, identifying with it almost as a family member. America, and soon the world, would be wrapped around the company's finger.

Our only hope arose in 1893, when a new refreshment… nay, an antidote… began to flow from North Carolinian soda fountains, named “Brad's Drink” after its ingenious creator, Caleb Davis Bradham. However, wanting to promote his beverage's capacity to alleviate the sickening churning in people's stomachs (referred to as “dyspepsia”), Brad humbly rechristened his drink as “Pepsi” on August 23, 1898. While the seed of rebellion against Coca-Cola's monopoly had been laid, it was nearly snuffed out by fluctuating sugar prices during the First World War. Bradham had to declare bankruptcy in 1923, but the torch would be passed from buyer to buyer until 1931, when it was placed in the hands of candymaker Charles Guth. Guth's hands were neither good hands nor responsible hands, and he was driven to distribute Pepsi only by the spite he held against the Coca-Cola executives who had refused to give his store a discount. Indeed, those hands very nearly delivered our savior directly into the clutches of the enemy in 1933, when Pepsi became too unprofitable for the principle-less Guth to be bothered anymore. It is only Coca-Cola's own hubris which led them to laugh away Guth's offer, unwittingly casting aside the very David who would return to slay this Goliath.

By 1975, PepsiCo had grown into Coca-Cola's fiercest competition, a challenger to their nearly century-long enslavement of America's hearts and taste buds. That year, a campaign was launched to show the blinded populace that there was another way, a better way, a freer way. Booths were set up across the country with unlabeled cups of both Pepsi and Coca-Cola, and American citizens were implored to sample both and judge for themselves which was the better taste. The Pepsi Challenge, as history remembers it, opened everyone's eyes when it was revealed that the anonymous drink they'd selected as the winner was of course Pepsi. The people were at last beginning to break free from the soft drink which had held an iron fist on them since the days of their great-grandparents. In 1983, Pepsi finally broke through the barrier and outsold the ancient juggernaut. The dark council at Coca-Cola was terrified. In their desperation, they let go of the formula which had kept their sheep in line for 100 years. In 1985, they changed it to be more like the liberator. They updated it, made it… new… Coke. But New Coke was not Pepsi, and in fact it was foul. Loyalists revolted, protests raged in the streets, and the dictators began to fall… until bitter irony turned the tables back. After just three months of New Coke, Coke Classic was returned to shelves. The people were suddenly vindicated, or rather… satiated. In their short-sightedness, the rebels flocked back to Coca-Cola, believing their cries were heard, when in reality they'd just given their thirst back over to the very formula which had kept them in the kennel in the first place. To make matters worse, Pepsi’s greatest political ally in the Cola Wars, the Soviet Union, collapsed in 1991, and with it went any hope of acquiring the naval power that would be required to unseat the dark council. This was inarguably the darkest period in American history. To free ourselves from this wide-casting shadow, we needed something new… someone new. We needed a hero. We needed… Pepsiman.

The origins of the superhero known as Pepsiman are as mysterious as what lies under his mask. Video evidence of an individual calling himself “Pepsi Man” first surfaced in Mexico in 1993, but this is obviously completely different from “Pepsiman” so if this caped crusader has any connection to our hero, that's a transition completely obscured by aluminum. The Pepsiman we know and love first surfaced in Fremont, California, in 1996, when he broke into a mother's suburban home to calm her wailing son using his primary superpower: spawning a delicious refreshing can of Pepsi from… somewhere. Idk, there are many mysteries to Pepsiman. Who is he under that silver mask? What is he under that silver mask? Is that like his skin or is it some kind of super suit? Is there Pepsi inside of him? Is that where he gets the Pepsi? What does Pepsiman taste like? Fuck if I know, but from the moment he was first spotted sprinting his way to help people in need, Pepsiman has been there to save people from their thirst and the iron grip of Coca-Cola. There's even one recorded incident where a Coke truck driver chased Pepsiman down in his company vehicle, not to run the rival hero over, but to beg him for a taste of the liberating beverage his employers had denied him for so long.

PepsiCo, seeing that Pepsiman's goals aligned with their own, hired critically acclaimed Japanese advertising expert, Takuya Onuki, to seek out Pepsiman and film some of his exploits for posterity. Onuki-san, however, was only able to get shots of Pepsiman himself, so he teamed up with American special effects team Industrial Light & Magic to CGI in some backgrounds around Pepsiman which could create a cohesive narrative. This worked so well that it was decided that Pepsiman's heroics should be adapted into the world of video games. Pepsiman had first signed off his likeness to be used in the Sega Saturn title Fighting Vipers back in 1996, but a true documentary title wouldn't come around until 1999. The Japanese-exclusive PS1 game Pepsiman is a runner game which puts the player in the thankless role of Pepsiman, who must rush over, under, and around a whole myriad of obstacles to deliver desperately needed Pepsi to thirsty citizens while they wait for emergency services to show up and save them from a burning skyscraper or whatever it is they do. One level was even so emotionally impactful that it inspired a nearly identical design for one of the tracks in the hit video game Sonic Adventure 2, though obviously this is a pale imitation of the original.

It is unquestionable that Pepsiman has single-handedly saved us all from a dystopian future where Coke is the only thing we can chug directly into our pancreases. There are those who are still too afraid to speak up and ask for anything else but Coke at our eating establishments, but fear not, because thanks to Pepsiman's efforts, your waitress is free to ask the assuring question: “is Pepsi okay?” Goddamn right it is. We thank you, Pepsiman, but where are you now? Creative differences split apart the synergy Takuya Onuki had with PepsiCo, leaving Pepsiman without a journalist. Footage of Pepsiman in his wild habitat cuts off abruptly after 2003, and aside from memorabilia and whispers on the wind, it seems that no one has seen our hero in quite a while. What became of him, then? Where did the man who changed the world in so many positive ways go when the cameras stopped rolling? Well, I'll give you my five cents for a twelve ounce bottle: I can only presume Pepsiman just fucking died one day, cause the grocery store I work at never fucking has Pepsi products on the shelf when customers are hounding me for them, and there's no way Pepsiman would stand for that if he still had air in his lungs… er… Pepsi in his… cans? Oh whatever.

Design notes, alright happy April Fools’ Day everyone, I shat this out in a day. If I have to slog through a whole day of my favorite educational content creators shitposting instead of the usual video essays I listen to while playing Minecraft then so do you XD But okay, let's go over my design process for fucking Pepsiman. Now, what I could've done was just draw Pepsiman as he is, some kind of weird aluminum spandex guy, and call it a day. But I thought no, if I'm doing this, I'm doing it my way. I started thinking alright, how would the MCU design Pepsiman? I started by looking up “pop can armor” to get some inspiration, and almost universally the results I got were people making some surprisingly sick suits of pop tab chainmail. I was a little hesitant at first, because Pepsiman's original design seemed too sleek to justify a mail suit, but then I started looking at historical examples of Japanese mail armor, and I really liked their layering. That really helped push the silver part along, so now I just had to think of the blue. Even with the chainmail layering, I really didn't like the way blue paint or whatever would look if I made it a part of the armor. So, instead I took a different route, taking inspiration from Pepsiman's athletic lifestyle. I made the blue a sort of sportsy jumpsuit, also taking inspiration from shapes in traditional Japanese clothing which you might find on a similarly mobile ninja. I'm actually really happy with it. I think the only thing I'd change is that I'd make the leg cuffs a bit shorter. Lastly, I took a long hard look at Pepsiman's face… which he doesn't have, save for a weird gross mouth that morphs in every once in a while. At first I was going to just leave it blank or make it resemble something like a fencer’s helmet, but then I figured well that “schwa” sound he makes when using his powers is intended to be onomatopoeic for the sound a pop can makes when you open it, so why not make his mouth like the top of a can? I wasn't so sure about it at first, but stepping back and taking in the whole composition, I actually think it blends in pretty well. Are there other ways I could rework and fix up this design? Yes. Do I have any intention of revisiting Pepsiman any time soon? No.