# RD ideation batch 01 — M03 silhouette + sprite-grid probe

**Purpose:** first Retro Diffusion ideation run for U R M03. Art-direction
+ experiment design; comfy-dev executes on ComfyUI (irv-ml1). Output is
`_ph` ideation ONLY — informs the eventual art pass, does NOT enter the
greybox (greybox stays art-free per canon).

**Canon source:** M03 design law, MOE.md § Design language (advisor repo).
Cues below are the drawable-object translation of that law.

## What this batch answers

1. **Does RD's pixel-art base render our gentle giant at all** — the
   blob-squint test at pixel scale (round + huggable + the signature
   asymmetries), distinct from the menacing enemy read.
2. **Sprite-grid-size hypothesis (parked playtest question, CONCEPT.md
   §Open-Q #2 / ROADMAP):** at what pixel budget (32 / 48 / 64) does M03's
   silhouette AND the mismatched-eye read survive? This is the real
   deliverable — a downscale ladder we can eyeball.
3. **House-style pick:** which character LoRA carries M03 best —
   `gamecharacters` (`duelystchar`), `gamecharactersretro` (no trigger),
   or `gamecharactersanime` (no trigger).

## Model config

- Base: `rd_pixel_v14` + `rd_vae_v14` (the repaired VAE).
- **Render at 512×512, downscale nearest-neighbor** to 32/48/64 (model
  resolution floor — 128 direct is mush, validated).
- LoRA strength start 1.0; sweep 0.6–1.0 if style overpowers structure.
- SD1.5 family: negatives ARE available here (unlike the flux/Arbo path) —
  use them. Trigger word leads the prompt.
- comfy-dev owns sampler/steps/CFG and will content-check every render
  (size + brightness/variance, eyes on pixels — not "graph executed").

## M03 — the canonical prompt (load-bearing; this IS the canon translation)

Signature detail FIRST (Arbo lesson that transfers), objects not
abstractions (no animal similes — "elephant feet" once literally made him
an elephant; use "column"/"pad"), the two-object eye framing MOE.md itself
validated (plain "mismatched eyes" collapses to symmetry):

**Positive:**
> `duelystchar`, a gentle giant farming robot, **rounded dome head**, **one
> dim small recessed lens eye beside one bright glowing bolted-on lamp eye**
> (the bright lamp is the warm one), **barrel-shaped body**, rounded
> shoulders, **thick cylindrical column legs ending in flat round pads**,
> **one arm ends in a watering-spray nozzle**, a simple weapon bolted on over
> the body, warm, huggable, plain background, full body, pixel art

**Negative:**
> humanoid feet, boots, sleek, angular, military, menacing, cyclops, single
> eye, symmetrical matching eyes, human face, text, watermark, busy background

Judge against MOE.md's own tests: **blob-squint** (huggable at silhouette),
**mismatched-eye** (patched/bright eye reads *different* and warmer),
**bolted-weapons** (armed, still passes blob-squint).

## Enemies (secondary — tests the menace contrast)

Enemies read menacing by canon — the inverse of Moe's authored softness.

- **Grunt (untagged):** `duelystchar`, a small simple rogue robot, blocky,
  plain olive-drab, no glow, faintly menacing, plain background, full body,
  pixel art. *Neg:* cute, friendly, rounded, warm, glowing eyes.
- **Burster (HEAT):** a round rogue robot with a glowing molten-orange core
  in its belly, cracked armor, overheating, menacing, plain background, full
  body, pixel art. *Neg:* cute, friendly, gentle, human, cool colors.

## Batch shape (keep it a probe, not a production run)

- **A — M03 silhouette:** the canonical prompt, ~6 seeds at 512, LoRA
  `duelystchar` @1.0.
- **B — house-style compare:** one strong seed from A, re-run through
  `gamecharactersretro` and `gamecharactersanime` (no trigger — just load).
- **C — grid ladder:** best 1–2 M03 renders, downscaled to 32/48/64 shown
  side by side. This is the sprite-grid-size answer.
- **D — enemies:** grunt ×2, burster ×2 at 512.

## NOT this batch (deliberately deferred)

- **ControlNet from our hand-authored maps.** Our greybox `m03_ph` map is
  deliberately crude; constraining to it would defeat "let RD propose a
  better silhouette." ControlNet (Sketch/Pose) is the RIGHT tool once we've
  PICKED a silhouette — for turnarounds/animation frames off an agreed
  design. Second-pass, not first.
- Tag-hue / VFX exploration, rig frames, Khoe — later batches.

## Output

Booth with the A/B/C/D grids; reply on the RD thread to m03-dev with the
URL + which LoRA carried M03 best (your read) + anything that fought the
prompt. m03-dev takes the operator's verdict from there.

**Licensing:** weights fleet-internal, not-for-export (operator directive).
Output is `_ph` ideation, operator-judged.