Gender Buddies

**Gender Buddies** is a short-term art project where gender labels are turned into diverse elemental creatures and posted semi-regularly to Tumblr (URL: gender-buddies) and Instagram (gender.buddies). There are 120 planned Buddies to be released across ten "phases", meaning 12 Buddies are released at a time in a batch. Each Buddy has at least one element and no more than two abilities to match.

The blog was started in September 2022 while the first Buddy ever posted was on October 3, 2022 - this was Gendervir, which became the mascot of the project and is included in the blog's profile photo.

This project is scheduled to end by February 2024.

## Basics

These critters are known to seek out friends and allies depending on their friendship level (FRND) but all of them are considered pacifistic and their “abilities”, even the elemental ones, don’t do any damage. Their power level (PWR) is higher depending on how rare they are, but “power” is considered to actually mean “strength of heart” more than physical strength.

All Buddies are referred to with it/its pronouns and are not literally the genders they represent.

An example of some Buddies. Top row from left to right: Agender, Butch, Transgender, Fluidflux, Libragender, Paragender. Bottom row: Transfeminine, Transmasculine, Gendervir, Androgyne, Genderfae, Orientationgender.

Other Buddies created for the project include Boy, Girl, Nonbinary, Genderfluid, Pangender, Omnigender, Abinary, Magigender, Aegogender, Aesthetigender, Ambonec, and many others.

## Elements

There are 14 elements in total:

* Water
* Fire
* Earth
* Air
* Ice
* Metal
* Plant
* Storm
* Shadow
* Light
* Stellar
* Lunar
* Cosmic
* Void

Some Buddies have two elements at once, while most have just one. An element will determine what a Buddy looks like and how it functions as a creature, but it also determines which abilities it might have. Single-element Buddies will have a basic ability and an elemental one, while dual-element Buddies have two elemental abilities.

Elemental Rarity:

* *Basic* is typically for elements that are the building blocks of nature - the sky, the ground, bodies of water, and heat. They're the most common elements - Air, Earth, Water, and Fire. Usually found in level 1 Buddies.
* *Common* is typically for elements in nature that are slightly more complex, like subtypes of elements (Air -> Storm, Water -> Ice, Earth -> Plant, Fire -> Metal.) These are also commonly seen elements in nature.
* *Uncommon* is for abstract concepts and intangible elements - Shadow and Light. These are usually more apparent in Buddies that are level 3 and higher.
* *Rare* is for unearthly elements relating to the cosmos - Stellar, Lunar, Cosmic, and Void. These are almost exclusive to level 6 Buddies but very rarely, more common Buddies will get a rare element.

## Rarity

Every Buddy has a level of rarity from Basic to Common to Mythical and others in between, based on how common the gender labels themselves are.

* *Basic* (Level 1): Consists of 25 total Buddies.
* *Common* (Level 2): Consists of 35 total Buddies.
* *Uncommon* (Level 3): Consists of 30 total Buddies.
* *Rare* (Level 4): Consists of 20 total Buddies.
* *Secret* (Level 5): Always released outside of the established 120 Buddies and is not planned to be used for the ten phases. These will typically be special releases to commemorate special events or requests from followers.
* *Mythical* (Level 6): Consists of 10 total Buddies. These are exclusively based on gender terms coined by the artist.

## Stats and Levels

All Gender Buddies have a friendship level (FRND) and a power level (PWR) that varies depending on the Buddy's rarity.

Friendship Levels:

* 80-100 for Basic
* 70-79 for Common
* 60-69 for Uncommon
* 50-59 for Rare
* 100 for Secret
* ??? for Mythical

Power Levels:

* 50-99 for Basic
* 100-149 for Common
* 150-199 for Uncommon
* 200-299 for Rare
* ??? for Secret
* 300 for Mythical

## Trivia

* Gendervir was the first Gender Buddy ever created, heavily inspired by iconic Pokemon mascots.
* Buddies were going to be released like Pokemon cards, with a colored border and stats on a "card" with an image of the Buddy in the box. This is where the elemental symbols came from, but they are not used in typical Buddy releases.
* Other things that inspired Gender Buddies include Sonic Adventure 2's Chao Garden, space and planetary bodies, and speculative biology.
* A particular fan favorite continues to be Neutrois, a level 2 Buddy that was released all the way back in Phase One of the project. It's even had fan art made of it.
* The elemental system already existed in another one of the creator's projects, based on elemental cats that could be created using alchemy and combinations of elements.
* Other elements have been considered including Glass, Plasma, and Sound but may be used exclusively for special releases in the future.
* Additional stats have been talked about on the blog, including favorite foods, which may be added in the future.
* The smallest Buddy (Loripsic) and the biggest Buddy (Cosmonautic) are both Mythical Buddies.
* Gendervir and Genderera were the only Buddies based on a term coined by Stormy that are not Mythical.
* Transgender is based on a fictional creature invented by Stormy called a sprix. This type of creature is being planned for a project in the future.
* Every snake-like Buddy is actually not a snake and are instead based on dragons, wyverns, and other similar creatures.
* Secret (level 5) Buddies are only ever released on special occasions or for requests from followers.
* Nullgender and Nixvir are two of Stormy’s favorite Buddy designs.