Week 64! (Patreon)

Back to the series on FH couples, and back to the cast's parents (who will make up the rest of this particular series of pictures) with the most prominent pair of parents that have been in the comic, Cyrus and Alyssa, Kale's father and mother.

Now, Cyrus and Alyssa are obviously the oldest couple in the entire comic, since they were the only parents of the cast that were shown in the Old Canon. Unfortunately that also means that their history and making-of is the one I remember the least about, since I created them at least 8 years ago, if not longer. For example, I can't really tell you concretely why they were made to be wealthy. Possibly as an explanation as to how they would have access to, be able to care for, and "hide" a human child? I also can't really tell you why I decided to make them cats, a cougar and a tiger. I might've just wanted to put more cats into the comic? And making them different species was probably specifically to address hybrids and to have one in the form of Tyler.

As far as these two go in terms of "going across the spectrum of types of marriages and combinations of parenting types", Cyrus and Alyssa were meant to be a very traditional sort of set of parents and family. A working businessman father and a mostly stay-at-home mother still in love and very happy raising two kids (although one's adopted). Giving the bizarre and out-of-place Kale a more grounded and familiar family style in this completely-different sort of world seemed like a way to also ground the readers, I suppose. It made "sense", in a way. 

I also try to give the impression that, despite their wealth, Cyrus employs the same sort of mentality that Franklin D. Roosevelt was given in his youth, where even though he's well-off, he should still try to be "normal" and understand and behave like someone of a lower class, to not ignore them and think they're better than them and to be more charitable and so forth. Thus they try to give Kale (and Tyler) a more "normal" home life and upbringing rather than a stereotypically rich-kid one, which helps to explain why Kale himself is more empathetic and accommodating of others than you might think a wealthy kid would be.