diff --git a/assets/_master.py b/assets/_master.py
index d499f92..9570443 100644
--- a/assets/_master.py
+++ b/assets/_master.py
@@ -9,6 +9,17 @@
 # Measured, the poses survive it intact (the brute restyle came back at upper 0.148 / legs 0.618
 # against the master's own 0.157 / 0.565 — very slightly BETTER than what it copied).
 #
+# WHAT THE FIRST VARIANT SHOWED, and what the next attempt should change. The brute's PLAY sheet is
+# a good brute. Its serve and fall sheets are each a slightly DIFFERENT brute, because all three
+# restyle from the master independently — so each one invents the character afresh from the words,
+# and "pale grey-green work shirt" lands somewhere new every time. The palette gate now measures the
+# gap (15 to 48 against z_br1, where a good frame is under 8.5) and refuses them.
+#
+# The fix is to give the later sheets BOTH things: the master frame for the POSE and the variant's
+# own first sheet for the CHARACTER, instead of the words for the character. That is the same lesson
+# as the wound stages — a reference beats a description — applied one level up. Until then a variant
+# is reliable for its play sheet and a gamble for the other two.
+#
 # WHY THREE SHEETS AND NOT ONE. The generator answers at a fixed width, around 1400-1800 px. At four
 # figures across each gets 350-440 px, which carries the 90-110 px of figure height the style block
 # asks for. All eleven on one strip would be ~130 px each and the detail gate would reject every
diff --git a/assets/z_brw1.png b/assets/z_brw1.png
index 4e856b6..440b4f3 100644
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diff --git a/assets/z_brw1s.png b/assets/z_brw1s.png
index e94f09e..63a6041 100644
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diff --git a/assets/z_brw2.png b/assets/z_brw2.png
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index 0000000..440b4f3
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diff --git a/assets/z_brw2b.png b/assets/z_brw2b.png
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diff --git a/assets/z_brw2s.png b/assets/z_brw2s.png
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diff --git a/src/config.js b/src/config.js
index aa1f5de..367aecd 100644
--- a/src/config.js
+++ b/src/config.js
@@ -728,9 +728,13 @@ export const BENCH_STAGES = ['HEALTHY', 'ARM OFF', 'HEADLESS'];
 // needs the names — the preloader, drawZombie's wound lookup, the sprite bench — derives them from
 // this table rather than spelling them out. That is the whole point: 31 hand-written filenames in a
 // preload list is 31 chances to typo one and have a body silently vanish for a frame.
-// 'br' is THE BRUTE, generated with _master.py --variant off the master sheets — the same creature
-// the gore mode's 'g' shambler is, now playing tennis: twice the width, a racket lost in one fist.
-export const ZFAMS = ['r', 'br'];
+// THE BRUTE ('br') IS PARKED, not deleted. Its healthy play sheet is good and is on disk; its serve
+// and fall sheets each RE-INVENT the character, because they restyle from the MASTER — a lean
+// red-shirted man — rather than from the brute that was just made. The palette gate now measures
+// that (15 to 48 away from z_br1, where a good frame scores under 8.5) and refuses them, which is
+// the gate working, not the gate being wrong. Re-registering it is one entry here; see the note at
+// the top of _master.py for the fix its next attempt needs.
+export const ZFAMS = ['r'];
 const POSES = ['bounce', 'toss', 'serve', 'fall1', 'fall2', 'fall3', 'rise'];
 export const famFrames = f => [
   `z_${f}1`, `z_${f}2`, `z_${f}3`, `z_${f}4`,          // stance, shuffle A, shuffle B, forehand