Origin

Originally conceived as a sona, Crush kinda turned into their own thing entirely. I thought of them while contemplating the use of the word "crush" to describe romantic affection. I thought it'd work nice as a name, and realized it fit perfectly in the CPUK universe. Since it's also the name of a soda brand, and I had a craving for grape candy, I decided they had some sort of connection to it, too... But... I've never actually had any grape soda before.

Backstory

Though their name is Crush Soda, they have nothing to do with the soda brand. They've said it before and will say it again--they have no brand loyalty, and their name is a mere coincidence--it just so happens they also like a grape soda from time to time.

Their name actually comes from the word used to describe romantic attraction. They are capable of finding all forms of love in the everyday world around them, and they are quick to fall in love at the slight act of kindness or the smallest joke. Despite, or perhaps because of this, they have never been in a romantic relationship before.

Crush is also a big fan of CPU Kerfuffle, and they run a blog where they talk all about it--making predictions about the standings, theorizing about things happening behind the scenes, and sometimes even liveblogging from the stadium. Being as big a fan as they are, they would never reject an invitation to join the competition (and they have, in fact, daydreamt about this scenario countless times)--but they're still perfectly content just watching from the sidelines. They're more of a lover than a fighter, and would feel right at home with team Charm.

Fun Facts

  • Crush admires Squid Jenny, as her reports come in use when they're writing for their blog.
  • Their favorite Splatoon weapon is the Soda Slosher. They also like fizzy bombs, tacticooler, and blaster.
  • Before I decided on using Joker as their skin, I considered using Ness (blue) and Inkling (Indigo). Elements of both these characters still appear in their design.

Crush (Grape) Soda

crush standing holding a soda
team charm joker stock

They/Them

Bonus - CPUK Friendship Bracelets

friendship bracelet patterns for each CPU kerfuffle team

I made these friendship bracelet patterns to make while I watch the show. I don't really wear bracelets too often, but I figure I could use them as bookmarks or decorations or something.

If you aren't familiar with friendship bracelets, these are called alpha patterns. Each square represents a knot. There's a couple different ways to make them--personally, I followed this tutorial. If you've never made a friendship bracelet before, it might be a little difficult; I recommend you make a chevron bracelet first. I'd also advise that, especially for alpha bracelets, you pay close attention to how tight you pull your knots when you weave and try to make sure they're even. Once you get a feel for it, these patterns shouldn't be too difficult.

Note: The tutorial I linked doesn't get into how to start and finish bracelets. There are many, many ways to start/finish bracelets, I recommend into looking into it yourself (that channel has a lot of useful tutorials). You might need to clarify that these are for alpha patterns since they are a little different, but methods might still be applicable.

You'll need 2 colors for the design. Base strings can be any color, but I use the same as the background color to be safe. I gave myself between 50 and 65 cms for each bracelet (30, +20 start and end), but you could probably use way less. Because I'm a nerd, I did a bunch of calculations on how much string I use per row and devised the following formula to determine the approximate amount of base string I need:

(rows * 0.3) + EndLength = Approximate String Needed (in centimeters).

I almost never use it because I get anxious about cutting it too short; it's better to have too much than not enough, but sometimes I go way overboard.

freindship bracelet photo

As for colors, I used mostly Iris colors. DMC seems to be more common, but I got a bunch of Iris in a set that I really needed to use up.