Advent Calendar - Day 20 + Year End Retrospective

gofile - https://gofile.io/d/lVBXmx

Camilla was a character I meant to get to back in 2022, but never did. Much like a lot of the rest, she felt like a perfect choice to slot in. Especially since she was already rigged and what not. Cuts the work down for me, lol.

Now, let's get onto the New Year Retrospective! Apologies for the scatter-brained nature of it, and the lack of general renders. I've been really busy this Holiday season and didn't have much in the way of time to make some nice renders to accompany the post. And, not to mention, all the rendering of alts, the general tiredness from making this whole set, and having to make renders for the posts each day. I'm amazed I'm still kicking after all this, to be honest. x)

Anyway, to start it off... sorry about today. I had to do it. I did honestly consider trying to end off with a proper bang and make a real good final day that's a crowd pleaser... but by the end of the 20th character(and yes, Y'shtola counts in the 20 characters), I was just... done. Christmas was around the corner and the possible crowd pleasers just got to be too ambitious for me in the state that I was in. Won't reveal who they were, since I'll probably use them in the future for something or another.

And speaking of, another reason I don't have a lot of renders and what not is because I don't fully know what I plan to do in 2026. There are various characters I would like to get to, but it's just a matter of the when and how. As it stands, I'll be taking a bit of a break in January to rest and get my groove back. There will be a mid-month poll, and it will hopefully be accompanied by a small set of Alma from MHW, much like I did Gemma this past year. She was honestlly a consideration for this Christmas set, but I didn't want to rig her at the time lol. There were a lot of characters and series I could and would have liked to do, but I did need to keep things within reason. After all, I initially only intended to do 10 characters. It was Kyrie, Iris, AO Iris, Jill, Momiji, Lili, Io, Rixia, Miyabi and Kawakami. I eventually added Fubuki and Klaudia since the former was someone I've been meaning to get to for years, and Klaudia was someone I wanted to do after Ryza earlier this year.

(I did rig Alma after I was done, so hopefully I will finish her set in time for the mid-month poll)

That was gonna be the final selection, but I really wanted to do more characters. I have a whole list of them, and the who and what got swapped around a lot until I started animating. I waffled back and forth on a lot of them, but there was one dumb thing that I did not waffle on. The initial 10 was a 6/4 split between 'realistic' and 'anime' style characters. But once I added Fubuki and Klaudia, it was an even 6/6 and I noticed that. And because I noticed that, I got it in my head to keep the even split no matter how many more I added. And thus, that's why the selection is partially the way it is. Sorry about that. I know most of my usual audience isn't as keen on the anime stuff compared to what I normally do, but I like both. I honestly have wanted to do various anime series since as far back as SFM, it was always just a matter of the shaders not looking great. But, I've made head-way on that this year, and now that I've learned a decent looking method, I'm like a kid unsupervised at a candy store just trying everything out that I couldn't before. x)

As for stuff that were in consideration that were not selected, I will most likely try to get to some them this year at some point. While I definitely don't have much in mind for 2026 at the moment - other than the Mitsuru stuff I already started on, and hopefully that Gentiana set - I will likely return to that list I wrote up of various characters that would be nice to get to in the Christmas set. There were some series that had multiple characters I was considering, too. So we'll see how things progress over the next month and who I decide to end up working on. x)

But that's enough of that sort of topic. For whatever reason, I like to rank my personal top 10 sets of the year, just to see how it stacks up against what others thing are my best sets. Here's a link to a survey as I usually do at the end of the years. You can vote on what you thought was the best sets of the year, which were your favorite sets/characters in the Christmas set, and leave an anonymous comment like 'bro fell off' or 'why you no include x' and the like.

Survey - https://forms.gle/aR2H4uc5TRb6dRm9A

Anyway, onto the top 10.

My Top Sets of 2025:

#1 - Christmas Set

This one is mostly just because I had a ton of fun making this set. Like, I can't remember the last time I had as much fun with a set/project as this one. From the process of picking characters/series, to figuring out things like outfit, intro, poses, release order, etc... it was just a fun process. Especially since a lot of these characters I've meant to get to before, but never did for one reason or another. I always enjoy working on lesser known/niche characters. And I get it. The entire time I was making it, I was aware that it probably wouldn't be my biggest hit and the like. I learned from the 5th Anniversary 'Maiden Set' that these daily releases with a bunch of different characters don't really land as well as just a single release of a single character. After a while, it just becomes routine and so the novelty wears off and it just doesn't have the same level of enthusiasm at the end as it did at the start. But as the one making it? It was just a lot of fun. Way more than the Maiden Set.

(Old render I did of Raven)

#2 - Raven

Another set I actually had a lot of fun making. That intro, with the broken phone, was more or less what kick-started the whole set, and it genuinely made the whole process a lot of fun. There's also some good poses and animations in the set, so overall it's pretty good. Could be better, but it's my 2nd place. And first place if we're talking single character stuff, since the Christmas set is a bit 'cheaty' in that regard.

#3 - Lulu

This one is more just my own personal taste. Lulu is great, one of my all-time FF favorites, and this set actually came out really well so I quite like it. One of those sets that just worked out near perfectly to me.

#4 - Annabella

Very early year set, but I quite like how it came out. At the time, I was a bit disappointed I couldn't make more for it(just didn't have any more ideas for poses), but I think it was for the best. A nice set overall. I would honestly like to do Annabella again at some point.

#5 - 7th Anniversary Lunafreya

Namely the Car 1 set. Love, love, love how that set came out. Very nice vibes. Being in a car when it's raining is just so damn comfy, and I'm genuinely proud of how it turned out and looks. And the animations themselves are pretty nice to boot. As for the rest of the sets/themes... they're alright. Not as good, imo, but solid.

#6 - Bertha and Lyla

Honestly, just a general all around pretty good threesome set. Some weird and unique poses/animations, and it wasn't the hardest thing in the world to make. Still, every time I go and do a threesome set, I get burnt out on threesomes for a while, lol.

#7 - Genshin Fools

I dunno, it's just a pretty good set. I get that for the majority of my usual audience, that set is definitely not what they want, which is why making it genuinely good is why it's funny. And then it doubles as just good content for those that enjoy it. Win-win.

#8 - Hasshaku-sama

Definitely needed a bit more time to work on this set to make it a proper movie and what not, but overall it was a pretty good set. Some of it has to due with the uniqueness of doing such a big woman. It was something I hadn't done before and was interesting trying to come up with ways to convey that size difference.

#9 - Morning with Nayo

Another set that I love the vibes of. Very comfy and cozy. And Nayo is hot, so there's that, too.

#10 - Honoka

I guess, anyway. Not really a fan of Honoka in general, but I have to admit the Prism model looks great, and there are some decent/good animations in this set. I prefer Jote from a personal preference perspective, but overall I think Honoka's set came out nicer than Jote's, so that's why she's here.

So yeah, that's my personal Top 10. Definitely biased towards the ones I had the most fun making, but usually when I have fun with something, it ultimately comes out a bit more 'quality' than ones I'm having less fun with. x)

Anyway, that's kind of all I've got for the 2025 Retrospective. 2026 is here now, and I'm still not sure what I'll be doing next, but hopefully it'll be something good.

And a small preview of my big(too big) Mitsuru set. x)

Also, lastly, here is the compilation link: https://gofile.io/d/XkKurh

Happy New Year, everyone!