In a Vigorous world...

In a world of fighting game and battle comic logic, where a supernatural fighting energy is an everyday occurence, two life long friends are finally ready for the next step in their lives.

Tiago Torres, a Nuyorican street fighter with a heart (and fists) of gold, and Casey 'Kidd Clown' Robinson-Bello, a shapeshifting mimic Circus Clown and Tiago's best friend since the playpen.

After enjoying their gap year following high school, the duo are finally ready to take on collegiate education at Fukatsu University!

But college ain't no cake walk! If the studies and grind that lie ahead of them aren't hard enough, they'll have to contend with swordsmen, soccer hooligans from the UK, wannabe street toughs, powerful performing arts students, pro wrestlers in training, and that's just some of the Freshman class!

Others might buckle at the challenge ahead, but through their own determination, and with help from friends along the way, they'll make the grade, kick ass and see Tiago keep his promise to his father!

Come hell or high water, nothing's gonna stop this Tough Breaker!

This might come as a shock, but Tough Breaker as a concept began nearly a decade ago on Tumblr.

You see despite being aware of/enjoying anime and manga over the years, I was never really ‘into' any series in particular. I had a few faves like Kaleido Star and the occasional Cartoon Network affair like Duel Masters, but those were short lived faves. One and dones on multiple occasions that really didn't linger inside of me for long outside of 'That was cool. Hope we get another season or whatever'.

It wasn't until my first semester in College where I really got into many of the series and games that would influence my tastes going forward. Classics I'd only been passingly familiar with before like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Fist of the North Star, Comedy genius with Cromartie High School and over the top manliness like Sakigake!! Otokojuku to name a few. I had finally found the anime and manga I was looking for: Shounen Battle Action.

And after a year or so and a few OC RP blogs that have been lost to time, I set out to make what I thought would be my magnum opus! My own take on Shounen-esque stories! A concept that didn't have a name, but would undoubtedly become Tough Breaker! And boy howdy…It Was A Fucking Piece Of CRAP.

I won't go into much detail of these dreadful early days, but this early attempt was marred by two things.

A Confused Tone

Although I'm a big fan of Shounen and Battle comics, I still knew that it wasn't everyone's cup of tea. It dominates the landscape more or less. So I decided to do a spin on it to make my idea standout: While it would be a celebration of all things Shounen, it was also going to be a deconstruction a la One Punch Man.

And there lies the problem.

I was trying to have my cake and eat it too, but I was nowhere near smart enough to do biting or witty satire on the genre or it's tropes. The best I could do is a very basic 'Shounen has good and bad in it, but you should focus on the good' arguement. Not very compelling as you can see.

An Unlikeable Hero

One of the ways I sought to challenge the Shounen norm was to make Takeo (as Tiago was formerly known) something of a two-faced character. He was to be this legendary badass who was putting up a front and was really a wimpy weakling who only managed to gain this status through sheer luck and coincidence.

Now in fairness, I think a character like that can be pulled off. The problem was that I couldn't do it properly and ended up making Takeo a whiny little bitch. Hell, his name wasn't even Takeo. It was some bullshit non-sense word that sounded Japanese and I'd rather not say it here because it was such a blunder and made me look like a stupid weeb who doesn't understand Japanese.

Even just thinking about the old days is making me break out in a rage rash.

And one more li'l thing worth mentioning that I realized rather recently...

High School Settings Are Old Hat

As I'm heavily inspired by Shounen battle comics and other related faff given my love for Japanese Delinquent types, for the longest time I kept Tough Breaker and it's sister concept series Hi-Striker, set in High School with High School aged characters. After all, all my faves do it, so I gotta play things a little by the book.

But then I realized something as I began to rework Hi-Striker...I Don't Have To Do That. In fact, moving it out of High School and making the cast a bunch of post-grads only increased what I can do with the characters.

And truth be told, for a while I was kinda/sorta/but not really working on a concept that was set against a College backdrop with College aged characters called Whirlwind. It was less of a concept and more of an exercise all things considered, but I still liked it and wanted to do something with the College setting.

So with Hi-Striker having a main cast of post-grad types, Tough Breaker is inheriting what little was done of Whirlwind and will take place during College.

Anyways...I tried to course correct, but I ended up scrapping the whole thing entirely. I was trying too hard to make it work and it was just a drain on me. It doesn't help that I was also trying to suck up to some artists I admired at the time which led to me trying to further polish the turd in a desperate attempt for peer approval. No joke, I sent a rough draft for my world to one of them and I Regret It Dearly. After binning it the first time I moved onto other concepts that never left the ground either, but every time I started something I'd still learn something new.

And like how all roads lead to Rome, the road to my journey as a creative lead me back to Tough Breaker. This current form was thanks in part to another failed concept, Mall Masters.

In short, MM was my take on Rival Schools mixed in with 90's coming-of-age type stories and mall aesthetics. Despite a strong start and a clearer vision, it wasn't long for this world either. But its world and mechanics were solid enough that I planned to make a side story/sequel in the same universe. And that side story/sequel would become the concept it is now. Funnily enough, two characters from Mall Masters have been put into Tough Breaker simply because I love to reuse shit and I still have a fondness for the idea. Maybe I'll reuse the name somewhere.

And after all these years later, I'm planning on keeping with it. For now and forever, Tough Breaker is one of my main OC concepts. I mean for fucks sake, it wouldn't be if I didn't make a website for it. You can't exactly just fart these out y'know.

Now I won't lie, It's gonna be a nice long time before Tough Breaker is ready for prime time. I just don't have the energy or mental focus yet. Not to mention that I'm someone who loves to do rewrites every now and then so go figure. But I can promise you that one day, pen will finally be put to paper and Tough Breaker will be put out in some form or fashion.

I promise.