User blog:AwesomeEthan48/The 2019 Custom Album Cover Advent Calendar

It's December, which means it's the time of Advent Calendars! So, for this year, you'll find out the references of 25 of my Custom Album Covers (even if the references are obvious), as well as some facts about them!

Image and Title References
Image: Yugi's Millenium Puzzle surrounded by Lucy's Celestial Spirit Gate Keys (in order going clockwise from the top: Aquarius, Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Sagittarius, Leo, Gemini, Aries, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces, and Libra).

Title: "Keys" refer to Lucy (duh), while "Duel" refers to Yugi (Duel Monsters, "It's time to duel!", you get the idea).
 * Title Meaning: The title itself refers to the fact that both fighters have the power to figure out the way (or keys) to victory in a one-on-one fight, or a duel.

Fun Facts

 * I got inspired to Custom Album Covers after seeing some in the Comment Section Central. There was one for Dora vs Peppa Pig, one Joker vs Giorno, one for Steven Universe vs Star Butterfly, and one for Jesse McCree vs Erron Black (thanks, 1mavstone!).


 * Lucy's Celestial Spirit Gate Keys were originally going to have shading, but I decided against it.

Image and Title References
Image: Asterix's sword stabbing a can of spinach, Popeye's food of choice.

Title: "Gaul" refers to Asterix (as he's a Gaulish warrior), while "Sailor" refers to Popeye (because he's Popeye the Sailor, man)
 * Title Meaning: Seems to pe a play on the phrase "gall of a sailor", which basically means a sailor's bold attitude.

Fun Facts

 * This Custom Album Cover was requested by HughMann33.
 * The "011729" on the can is a reference to the release date of the Popeye comic strip (then called Thimble Theatre), which was January 17, 1929.
 * The "102959" on the can is a reference to the release date of The Adventures of Asterix, which was October 29, 1959.

Image and Title References
Image: A bust of a pegasus (I say that because the wings are included) over a cresent moon, which is basically the series symbol for Sailor Moon. The pegasus has Seiya's hairstyle and headpiece from his 2nd Cloth and wearing Sailor Moon' bow, while the wings come from Sailor Moorn's Eternal Form.

Title: "Knights" refers to Seiya (as he's one of the Knights of the Zodiac (Thanks, 1mavstone!)), while "Moon" refers to Sailor Moon (because obviously).
 * Title Meaning: Seems to reference the fact that the two fighters are protectors of the Moon (or I guess space in general).

Fun Facts

 * This Custom Album Cover was requested by 1mavstone.
 * The design of Sailor Moon's bow comes from this piece of artwork of her.
 * The original requested image was just a pegasus in front of a cresent moon.
 * I originally planned to have a pegasus run forward, but it changed to a pegasus' head and wings because I had trouble drawing a horse running forward.

Image and Title References
Image: Two of Riku's Keyblades (Soul Eater and Braveheart) in an X formation engulfed by Amaterasu. The Sharingan Eye can bee seen in the background.

Title: "Way to" refers to Riku (his default Keyblade in KH2 Is called "Way to the Dawn"), while "Darkness" can refer to Sasuke and Riku's edgy personalities.
 * Title Meaning: Seems to refer to the fact that both combatants walk a path of darkness.

Fun Facts

 * This Custom Album Cover was requested by Fox-Shock.
 * The eye on Soul Eater has been replaced with the Rinnegan Eye.

Image and Title References
Image: Giorno's brooch growing vines that wrap around Joker's mask. The vines themselves are blooming 5 red flowers, 5 yellow flowers, and 5 pink flowers, while Joker's mask is emitting a blue flame.

Title: "Gang-Stars" refers to Giorno (as he dreams of joining that team(Thanks, 1mavstone!)), while "of Heart" refers to Joker (as his team is called the Phantom Thieves of Heart).
 * Title Meaning: Combines the two names of Giorno and Joker's teams (Gang-Stars and Phantom Thieves of Heart, respectively).

Fun Facts

 * This Custom Album Cover was requested by 1mavstone.
 * Giorno's brooch growing vines is a reference to Gold Experience's ability to produce life.
 * The 5 red flowers reference Persona 5 (as that's the game Joker debuted in, and it's commonly associated with red).
 * The 5 yellow flowers reference Golden Wind (as that's the part Giorno debuted in, and gold is darker shade of yellow, so deal with it). It could also reference Gold Experience.
 * The 5 pink flowers reference the color of Giorno's clothing in the anime (it's pink there, but blue in the manga).
 * The original requested image was actually Joker's mask above Giorno's brooch. I apparently misread that as below, but I feel like the mask under the brooch works better here.

Image and Title References
Image: San's skull (with his blue eye open and emitting a blue flame) wearing Ness' hat. A long bone and Ness' bat in an X formation are in the background.

Title: "Bat" refers to Ness (as that's one of one of his weapons in Earthbound and a part of his Smash moveset), while "Bone" refers to Sans (because he's a skeleton).
 * Title Meaning: A pun on the phrase "bad to the bone", which makes sense, since Sans makes puns.

Fun Facts

 * This was my first non-requested Custom Album Cover since "Despicable Minds".
 * The placement of the bat and bone was originally gonna be reversed (bat on the left, bone on the right), but I had to change it to prevent some backwards text on the bat.
 * One potential title for this CAC was "Game Theory" to reference MatPat's Sans is Ness theory.

Image and Title References
Image: Master Hand reaching out to grab a Smash Ball. The Smash Ball has Polygon Man's polygon hair near the top right and his eyes inside the cross shape.

Title: "All-Star" refers to Polygon Man (PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale), while "Smashing" refers to Master Hand (Super Smash Bros.).
 * Title Meaning: Combines the titles of the games they're from, as well as reference the fact that they fight gaming's all-stars.

Fun Facts

 * Master Hand's design is based off of his appearance in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, where he looks like a full glove.
 * This is the first two-word titled CAC where the first word in the title is red.
 * A potential title for this CAC was "Brawl-Stars", referencing PS All-Stars and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Image and Title References
Image: Elvis' guitar with Michael Jackson's hat on the headstock. In front of the guitar is MJ's glove from Billie Jean snapping (something that Elvis did in his song C'mon Everybody). Behind the guitar is a curvy yelow and white music staff with a red treble clef and red music notes on it.

Title: "Pop'n" refers to Michael Jackson (as he's the King of Pop), while "Rock & Roll" refers to Elvis (as he's the King of Rock & Roll).
 * Title Meaning: Combines the titles of MJ and Elvis (King of Pop and King of Rock & Roll, respectively). It could also be a play on the words "popping rock & roll" and/or "pop and rock & roll".

Fun Facts

 * This Custom Album Cover was requested by 1pizza877.
 * Pizza actually requested this a couple of times on my CAC Request Blog, but was always a bit too late. I finally did it after OOFMAN79 was blocked after requesting "Bear, Bird, and Blocks" because I felt like Pizza deserved to have this done after requesting multiple times.
 * When using the treble clef as a guide and reading from left to right, the red notes are B, A, and D, referencing the album cover for Michael Jackson's Bad.
 * The original requested track image was Elvis' hair wearing Michael Jackson's hat behind a microphone.
 * A potential title for this CAC was "Kings of Music", for reasons stated above.

Image and Title References
Image: A rocket (referencing Elton John's Rocket Man) blasting off from Earth, flying through a big Q (as seen on the album cover of Don't Stop Me Now). The rocket has a piano pattern on it (referencing the fact that Elton was a pianist, as well as the song Piano Man he preformed with Billy Joel) and the windows are in the style of Elon's glasses. The window on the left is in the shape of the Q in the logo for Queen, while the right window is reflecting Elton's logo.

Title: "Bohemian" refers to Freddie (Bohemian Rhapsody), while "Rocketmen" refers to Elton (Rocket Man).
 * Title Meaning: Combines the names of two songs from the artists (Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocket Man, respectively). The Rocketmen part is because there's two people fighting.

Fun Facts

 * This Custom Album Cover was requested by Blue Midnight04
 * Freddie was originally going to be in the track image standing on the rocket, but he was ultimately scrapped.
 * Both windows were meant to be looked like the Q in Queen's logo, but I scrapped the idea because it made the windows look like a Z.
 * The original requested track image was the 4 heads from Bohemian Rhapsody each wearing Elton's glasses.
 * Earth was actually a last-minute addition, since I felt like the piece was empty without it.

Image and Title References
Image: Shulk's Monado and Lightning's Blazefire Saber clashing in an X formation while the Monado Art kanjis for Smash, Buster, Shield, Speed, and Jump surround them. "XIII" can be seen in the circular hole of the Monado, referencing Final Fantasy XIII.

Title: "Power" refers to Shulk ("THIS IS THE MONADO'S POWER!"), while "Blades" reference the fact that both fighters weild sword-like weapons.
 * Title Meaning: References the power that both compatants have in their weapons, though this mostly applies to Shulk and his Monado Arts.

Fun Facts

 * The Monado Art kanjis are actually PNGs I used for this CAC.
 * The kanjis are arranged based on how they appear on the Monado Art selection wheel in Smash Ultimate.
 * The outer glows of the kanjis were originally hand-drawn, but I used ibisPaint's "Outer Glow" feature some time later.
 * Cocoon (as seen in FFXIII's logo) was originally going to be included, but was ultimately scrapped.
 * A potential title for this CAC was "The Art of the Blades", referencing Shulk's Monado Arts.

Day 11: Ridley vs K. Rool (Smashing Rivals & Ravaging Reptiles)
Yeah, that's right! On Day 11, you're getting two different CACs of the same matchup! If you're wondering why, it's because I wanted to. Deal with it!

Image and Title References (Smashing Rivals)
Image: Ridley's tail going through K. Rool's crown. The Smash symbol can be seen on it.

Title: Rivals could reference their status as rivals to the protagonists of their respective series (Samus and DK).
 * Title Meaning: Refers to the fact that their commonly seen together as rivals in some Smash Ultimate fan art.

Image and Title References (Ravaging Reptiles)
Image: Ridley's wings wrapping around K. Rool's cape, which is being impaled by Ridley's tail, which is going through K. Rool's crown.

Title: Reptiles refers to both compatants' reptilian appearance (Ridley's a dragon (I think...), while K. Rool's a crocodile).
 * Title Meaning: Refers to the fact that both combatants are reptiles that can cause some serious damage (whether in their home series or Smash).

Fun Facts
Also, this is gonna be the only time I do 2 in one day. Sorry!
 * The design of Smashing Rivals was inspired by Shonen Showdown's track cover, as they both involve something going through something else.
 * Ravaging Reptiles actually uses Smashing Rivals as a part of the track cover.
 * Ravaging Reptiles' version of Smashing Rivals' track cover has a more colorful outline as oppose to a black one.
 * The Smash symbol has been removed from K. Rool's crown in Ravaging Reptiles.
 * The reason for me making Ravaging Reptiles was because I felt like Smashing Rivals didn't do the matchup and character references justice, as well as the fact that I felt like Smashing Rivals sucked in general.

Image and Title References
Image: The Hylian Shield with only the Triforce of Courage lit up, as that's the piece Link usually has. Behind the shield are the Twilight Princess Master Sword, Ocarina of Time Master Sword, Breath of the Wild Master Sword (as seen in promotional artwork), Godess Sword, Magical Sword, A Link to the Past Master Sword, Wind Waker Master Sword, and 4 copies of the Four Sword. In front of the shield is the Lokomo Sword and the Master Sword from A Link Between Words in an X formation.

Title: "Linked" references all the Links (duh), while "Courage" references the Triforce of Courage (also duh).
 * Title Meaning: References the fact that all the links are all reincarnations of the Spirit of the Hero and the fact that they're all couragous (and most of these Link even had the Triforce of Courage at some point).

Fun Facts

 * This CAC took nearly 9 hours to do!
 * Before I uploaded this CAC to the wiki, the Triforce of Wisdom was the glowing Trifoce piece on the Hylian Shield instead of the Triforce of Courage.
 * The Hylian Shield's design is from Breath of the Wild.
 * The TP, OoT, and BotW Master Swords all used the same base Master Sword outline as a starting point.
 * The gems in the Four Swords were originally going to have shine on them, but I decided against it.

Image and Title References
Image: A skull and crossbones design with half of Michael's mask wearing a broken half of Jason's mask with two bloody knives in an X formation (and blade first into a blood puddle) in front of the masks.

Title: No specific ones for either character, but "Slashers" could refer to both of them originating in the slasher genre of movies.
 * Title Meaning: Refers to the fact that their killers who don't (usually) speak.

Fun Facts

 * Jason and Michael's masks were originally supposed to be comepletely white, but I got distracted detailing Jason's mask, so I went and detailed Michael's mask to match.
 * The design of Jason's mask was mostly inspired by its designs in Freddy vs Jason and Jason Takes Manhattan.
 * The design of Michael's Mask was inspired by its design in Halloween (2018).
 * Michaels mask has a dried up bloody tear trail, referencing the end of Halloween 2.
 * I decided to do "Silent Slashers" as the title because I feel like "Halloween the 13th" felt to basic to me.

Image and Title References
Image: Red Hood's mask with a silver star on its forehead wearing Bucky's goggles.

Title: "Winter" refers to Bucky (as he's the Winter Soldier), while "Hood" refers to Red Hood (because obviously).
 * Title Meaning: Combines the aliases of Bucky and Jason Todd, respectively.

Fun Facts

 * This Custom Album Cover was requested by RedHunter12.
 * The original requested track image asked for Red Hood's mask wearing Bucky's face mask alongside his goggles, but I scrapped the face mask because I felt like showing more of Red Hood's mask instead of hiding most of it.
 * I planned for the mask and goggles to be covered in snow (and even have it laying in a pile of snow), but I scrapped the idea because it ended up not working out.

Image and Title References
Image: Spongebob's pants under Gumball's sweater doing the "Imagination" pose that Spongbob does in "Idiot Box", rainbow included. The rainbow's design comes from the logo for The Amazing World of Gumball. The flower cloud things seen in Spongebob are seen in the background.

Title: "Amazingly" refers to Gumball (The Amazing World of Gumball), while "Nautical" refers to Spongebob ("If nautical nonsense is something you wish...").
 * Title Meaning: Combines a part of the name of Gumball's home series and a part of Spongebob's theme song.

Fun Facts

 * This Custom Album Cover was requested by EpicMonkey19.
 * The flower clouds weren't a part of the original requested image. I chose to add them myself.
 * The title for this CAC went through some changes and itterations:
 * The original title was "GumBob WatterPants", referencing some Spongebob episode titles that are a play on Spongebob's name (WhoBob WhatPants, for example). This title would ultimately be used for the file name of this CAC.
 * The second title was "Amazingly Nautical Nonsense", but the it ended up beeing too long, so "Nonsense" had to be cut out.

Image and Title References
Image: The Decepticon logo colored like Frieza's head shooting out Frieza's eye lasers while Megatron's shoulder cannon and Frieza's tail are behind it, with the tail going in and out the logo's gaps. Everything but the eye lasers are glowing purple.

Title: "Cold" refers to Frieza (as frieza means coldness in Portuguese, as well as beeing a play on the word "freezer", which is an object that's usually cold), while "Deception" refers to Megatron (as he's the leader of the Decepticons).
 * Title Meaning: Refers to the fact that the two combatants are devious, cold-hearted people.

Fun Facts

 * This Custom Album Cover was requested by Alexey de Greit.
 * The original requested image was half of the Decepticon logo on the left and half of Frieza's head on the right, but I changed it because I felt like it wasn't creative enough.

Image and Title References
Image: Half of Troy's Megaforce Morpher on the left combined with half of Biometal Model X on the right. Behind that is Troy's chest insignia seen on his Megaforce Red outfit. All of that is surrounded by blue energy building up a Charge Shot near the center.

Title: Suprisingly, "Mega" refers to both Vent and Troy (as Vent is one of the main protagonists of Mega Man ZX, while Troy's the Megaforce Red Ranger).
 * Title Meaning: refers to the fact that both combatants are successors to their current staus (Vent's the successor to (Mega Man) Zero, while Troy's the successor to the OG Red Ranger Jason Lee Scott).

Fun Facts

 * This Custom Album Cover was requested by Scythe watch.
 * The orignial requested image was just the halves of Troy's Megaforce Morpher and Model X. Troy's chest insignia and the blue energy charging up was added in later because I felt like the original request felt a bit empty.
 * A potential title for this CAC was "Legacy of Mega", which was requested alongside "Mega Legacy", but I chose the latter because it sounded better.
 * I also thought of naming this CAC "Mega Legends", but that's already the name of Mega Man's Final Smash, so...

Image and Title References
Image: Captain Falcon's Falcon Punch about to collide with All Might's United States of Smash. Behind their arms is a firey version of F-Zero's series symbol in Smash overlapping with All Might's logo.

Title: Do I even need to say which part of the title reference which character? I think it's pretty obvious what the references are.
 * Title Meaning: Combines the names of the two combatants.

Fun Facts

 * This Custom Album Cover was requested by Just Some Minor.
 * All Might's symbol

Come back tomorrow for Day 18!