The last of the weapons designed by Warframe community members, the Mios' development has been an ongoing project for over a year. Its complex design and unique features meant that keeping the weapon true to the spirit of Redskittlez's creation would take a lot of time -- made even more difficult by improvements to the melee system, changes to parkour, the introduction of Stances, and the upcoming re-introduction of charge attacks.

With all the changes Warframe has seen since the Mios was first voted on it's not hard to wonder if the original spirit of the weapon was somehow changed along the way. Which is why we were particularly excited to get in contact with its original creator to learn a little more about his own creative inspirations and to find out if our final design met his expectations…

What first got you into Warframe?

I actually played Dark Sector a long, long time ago. That was when it first came on the Xbox 360 and I had been playing it quite a lot. I loved the lore and it was kind of up my alley with the bio-aesthetic. I heard a rumor that there was a second one coming out and I was really excited for that.

Sometime later I heard that there was a game called Warframe. A friend had contacted me through Deviant Art about it (I had done a lot of fan art through DA back in the day). That's how I got into Warframe.

What got you into illustration and weapon design?

When you're a kid you doodle stuff, right? You just see things and you want to make the coolest thing ever. I'd draw crazy swords that shoots lasers and rockets at the same time when I was a kid, and I would think to myself. “Man, that is an awesome weapon!” so I just kept developing on that. I honed my skills into weapons and character concepts in University, but it's more of a hobby rather than trying to make it into a career.

What were your inspirations behind designing the Mios?

There are a lot of elements of the Mios that have different inspirations. It's based on my favorite blade type called a Roman Sica. It's a reverse-curved blade, and one of my favorite weapons from my teens. It's my favorite blade type, so I based it on that. It's also based on my other favorite weapon type: The Kusarigama.

Other inspirations for the Mios came from movies, comics, other games and etc. For example, the inspiration for the retractable dagger-hook function came from Ninja Assassin and the scissor function I actually got from a snow crab claw. The overall gothic style was inspired by and pays homage to Tsutomu Nihei’s work, and by doing this it helped me pull these themes together.

It's been a long wait to see it implemented in Warframe, are you happy with the way the team has handled its use and design?

Oh yeah! I love overall look of the weapon, they followed my concept really closely. The animation is great, I'll give props to the animators they did an amazing job. The one thing I love that the team kept was the idle animation: how the player will spin the whip. The mod flexibility is great as well.

One thing that was hinted at but never really discussed in your concept was a Stance -- how do you feel about Defiled Snapdragon?

I've actually enjoyed it. It makes me feel like a ninja and that's what we were meant to be. It's been fun doing some flips, swinging my whip, smacking them with my sword. It feels very streamlined and like you're very free when you use it. It was a little difficult for me to get the combos down because it’s something new, but still, very enjoyable.

Knowing how the Mios turned out if you could make any changes to the Mios' design, would you?

I would actually! Considering that this was around two years ago, I'd love to alter the handle and change the blade type to curve down a little more. Make it a lot more like a claw, because it was based on a snow crab claw that goes 'snip, snip, snip.' But people mistake it for a dragon’s head.

Any advice to other creative Tenno that may be looking to have their designs make an impact in game?

This is a hard question to answer, but I will give them some of the bullet points I followed when I did my art course.

The three bullet points I follow are:

• Don’t be afraid to fail and start again.
• Don't be afraid to experiment with your art.
• Don’t be afraid to have fun with your art.

There is no simple answer to this, nor can I give you the one-tip-tick most are looking for, because it does not exist. The only thing I can really say is keep working on it, even if you need to start from the beginning again, and don’t stress out over it either, treat it as something that is just for fun, as in the end any frustrations and resentments you have with your designs will show in the end product. So do it for the fun of it. If you show you love it, if you put hard work into creating it, then one day who knows?

Someone could take notice. Never say never.

Thanks so much for your time and creative contribution to Warframe!

Thank you! Shout out to my mom, and a special thanks to HoldXtoRevive, Xenogelion, Server, SilverBones and to Letter13, not forgetting all the others who have been close to me like my clanmates in TCPI, I can’t fit you all in but thank you all. Oh, and special thanks to my bro Blazboros! He actually helped me with the naming of the weapon, so a big thank you goes to him.

A huge thank you goes out to Redskittlez for his work on this incredibly unique weapon, and for HoldXtoRevive for the extra work she put into helping arrange this wonderful meeting! We hope Tenno all over the world are enjoying the unique destructive capabilities of the Mios. Just be careful where you swing that thing, Tenno!