So this has been on my mind for a while.... I've done some poking and I didn't see this anywhere, so I'm going to suggest it. If its been suggested before and I just didn't see, I apologize.

Dieselpunk pets (Currently named "Dieselwork", since our steampunk pets are Steamwork. I am not original at all~)

For those of you not familiar, Dieselpunk is the underappreciated cousin of Steampunk. Instead of being in the 1800's with fantastical machines made of brass and steam, its in the early 1900's (World Wars era) with fantastical robotics and mechs, and is usually a bit dystopian. The best examples I can honestly give are things like Bioshock, Wolfenstein, Fallout to some extent, Romantically Apocalyptic. Their fantastic machinery is usually the result of something a bit supernatural advancing their technology; Aliens, magical rocks or elements, whatever have you. Style-wise its very dark; Blacks, greys, silvers, and reds. The robots/mechs are typically thick and heavy, like the Iron Giant, and outfitted for battling with guns, or lasers, or other goodies!

The color itself would need to only be a slight change of the Steamwork pet color, but instead of brass and copper, its iron and steel. Instead of smoke, its black oil oozing out. Eyes could be glowing red or green for contrast. Some may even have a Military-esque feel to them, with guns or airplane wings! (Look at idea below!) Since recolors of existing colors are a thing (Glade and Harvest, Spectrum and Blacklight) I do not really see why this wouldn't be a possibility in the future. It could be another Masquerade 'color', or just an anytime, anywhere thing. Or perhaps the result of a new plot...?

Lore-wise I am currently thinking two things;

Idea ) In the Coda caves you find some weird, magical energy crystal, or maybe the old mining town of Riverside accidentally hits magical oil juice. You can take this magical energy thing and a blueprint to Yun (or someone else who works there, maybe a new or returning NPC?) and they in turn make you a Dieselworks pet instead of a Steamworks one. Same time frame for pet creation, but you will need to go get the materials to make it, thus making another SP dump. This'll give another good use of the metal ores in the smith Mathias runs. (Are they even used for anything...?)

Idea ) Blackmoon. Hey, that's an NPC who's done a lot of nothing, eh? Again; Perhaps you find a weird crystal or magical oil or something. You get a blueprint and this 'magical' stone or oil, and take it to Calvin Blackmoon. He's interested, so he designs you a robotic pet based off what you got. Due to the blueprint being Steamwork, and Calvin usually making more 'advanced' robotics, you end up with the 'hybrid' Dieselwork pet. Blackmoon charges a fair chunk of change to make your pet since you're kinda wasting his time, so good SP sink! Maybe it'll be part of his growing robotic army....? (plot plot hint hint PLEASE I LIKE BLACKMOON?)

Other thoughts and ideas; Maybe Dieselworks should have their own blueprints, I am unsure. It could use a more interesting name, I'm terrible at naming things. Maybe there could also be a Raypunk color? (I think a robotic/futuristic one was already suggested though) The Masquerade already has some Dieselpunk elements, it really wouldn't be hard to tie this to the Masquerade, or any other Atebus-related event we want to work with. Blackmoon is really cute but so underloved... What is he even doing?

For the pleasure of everyone who is reading this up to this point, here's a picture to explain a bit more about Dieselpunk robots; A shameless showing of one of my own drawings. If anyone has more or better examples, feel free to link them! I really can't think of any good ones offhand.

Please discuss. I'm open to feedback and ideas~ Especially lore ideas!

I absolutely love this idea! I'm in love with Dieselpunk aesthetic and it would be amazing if they implemented it as a pet color. Unfortunately, it feels like one of those things where people will say "just get an overlay". But imo, it would be different enough to work on its own. I think it would even be neat if Sub had three classes of robotic pets, i.e. Steamwork, Dieselwork, and some type of futuristic droid. It does seem like too much work, but oh well. Either way, I love your idea xD.

I've been worried about them but... To be honest; Anything can be made with an overlay. There's no point in having any suggestions for pets or colors, as anything can be created with just an overlay if you find a good enough artist! I'm doing this thinking more of the people who don't want overlays, or can't afford them, so anyone who's going to say "Just get an overlay", my opinion on that is right here~ Carrying on~!

I'm a huge dieselpunk fan, moreso than steampunk. I go to the Steampunk World's Fair here in New Jersey, USA, almost yearly, and I'm always happy to see the Dieselpunk people running around. Its a really under appreciated subculture, same with Raypunk (The retro-futuristic version! Think The Jetsons.) and I would really like to see it expanded onto Subeta. Atebus already has elements of all 3, so why not get pets of all 3? (Cadorges and Endeavors are already kind of Raypunk-esque, but I'll ignore them for now)

On the pets; The Dieselworks color would definitely need edits to (most) existing Steamworks pets, beyond just colors. It would be needed in order to remove that steampunk feel. Exhaust pipes would need to be edited or moved-We're working on oil and electricity, not steam. The pets who float on the steam/exhaust would need to have that changed. Exposed gears and wires would need to be cased in metal. Anything from the 1800's would need to be removed and replaced-They'd have to be edited to work with 20th century technology; More modern, but yet still 'old'. Going to throw up a few examples and try to explain how they'd need to be changed~!

The Steamwork Paralix, I own one and I love it to death. To make it more Dieselwork, the smoke coming out of its exhaust horns would have to be made into fire, or an oil splurge. The gears would have to be more hidden, encased in armor, and the robotics streamlined a bit more. The exposed 'wires' that make up the mane would need to be changed as well-Might I suggest barbed wire instead? The holes in its body would NEED to be covered.

The Aeanoid would pose a big problem with the fact it's floating on its exhaust. Perhaps changing this one to jet fire would work best... Or go crazy and give it machine guns! Who doesn't love a jetpack made out of machine guns? I know I do. Give it lightbulb headlight eyes as well. The neck would need to be changed to make it more clunky and less frail and fragile looking.

The Rreign has propeller plane wings, which is awesome! To Dieselworks it up, maybe change them to a jet's wings? Honestly this is the most dieselpunk-esque out of all the Steamworks pets, and one of only 2 I could really see an overlay working well with, the Cadorge being the other one.

This poor bug's going to need his everything changed, honestly. Those wings will NEVER work for a dieselpunk style.... The 'lightbulb' butt would work decently well if its color was changed. The antennae would need to be edited a bit, but should work. But those wings.... Oh those poor wings would need to come off.

Just a few examples, honestly. I could get into many more and even do some edits, but I don't want to because I'm lazy, and its midnight. x'D

Edit: YAY I got a forum point.

I completely agree with everything you mentioned, especially the bit about overlays. I always get somewhat irritated when I see that thrown around on color suggestion threads. I mean, nothing against the users that suggest that option. They do make valid points a lot of the time. It's just that, as you said, not everyone can afford to get a top quality overlay. And it's often even harder to find someone willing to do anything mech related. Steampunk and Dieselpunk ARE different and I don't feel like the color would be repetitive at all. And even so, it's always not a bad thing to have colors with a similar theme.