In one of the coolest crossovers at Complexcon, art prodigy Yanran_Chen reimagines Liu Cixin’s child-run apocalypse for our generation.
Enter Yanran Chen, the 19-year-old art girl-boss who’s been casually collecting luxury collabs like they’re Pokémon. We’re talking Balenciaga, Songmat, R13 – basically if it’s expensive and cool, Chen’s already been there, done that, and redesigned the t-shirt. Now she’s blessing us with six new characters for Waarworld’s anime adaptation that are serving apocalyptic realness with a side of “why doesn’t my art look like that?”
But here’s where it gets interesting: Chen dropped the most insane crossover with Waarworld at Complexcon, the fresh-out-the-box animation label that’s about to flip Liu Cixin’s “The Supernova Era” into something your brain isn’t ready for. We’re talking next-level anime character designs that live somewhere between your favorite manga hallucinations and that French art film you pretended to understand.
Here’s why Liu Cixin’s “The Supernova Era” is the wildest apocalyptic story you haven’t read yet:
Imagine this – a cosmic event wipes out every human over the age of 13. Suddenly, the kids are running everything. We’re talking pre-teens with nuclear codes, middle schoolers managing power grids, and tweens deciding global policy. The adults had one year to speed-run teaching these kids everything about running the world before they kicked the bucket. Now these children have to figure out how to keep civilization from completely yeeting itself into chaos. It’s Lord of the Flies meets Succession, in a nuclear apocalypse.
Watch the video for the Full breakdown of the Collab and the booth at Complexcon!
THE BREAKDOWN:
Chen’s revolutionary character designs have created six collectible characters that serve main character energy so hard, they make your favorite anime protagonists look like NPCs. Each brings movie-caliber scene composition to a cyberpunk-inspired world where style meets substance. The designs channel the raw energy of classics like Akira while carving out their own unique identity, with each character embodying a different power dynamic in their youth-dominated universe. They manage to be both impossibly stylish and deeply narrative-driven, elevating them far beyond standard collectible fare into something that bridges the gap between pop culture collectibles and high art, making conventional anime protagonists pale in comparison.
Nightmare Robot Premium Resin, 2024 Yanran Chen Sculpture
Note: I need to copy the Jia Zheng’s make-up look for my next rave.
Note: Detective P might be my halloween costume for next year!
Real Name: Pan Yu
“Everyone is a Master of Their World”
Lu Gang
Upheaval and Inheritance
The Mechanical Lifeform 2024 Premium Resin 40cm x 40cm x 60cm
Yanran Chen’s Illustrations (from left to right)
School Girl 2023 Canvas Print 60cm x 40cm
Nowhere 2022 Canvas Print 60cm x 56cm
Spinning Girl 2023 Premium Resin 36cm x 28cm x 54cm
Yanran Chen x ROBBI
THE VERDICT
I must admit, when first entering ComplexCon, this booth literally pulled me in like a magnet. My eyes couldn’t help but get lost in Yanran Chen’s mind-bending sculptures and illustrations, which, tangled with Liu Cixin’s narrative, had me questioning everything I thought I knew about our future. Real talk – for their first debut, they absolutely demolished it, and you could feel each artist’s raw passion radiating through every piece. It’s the kind of work that stays with you long after you’ve left the convention floor.
Written by Kimberly Mortensen
Photography by Nico Riley