diff --git a/assets/_master.py b/assets/_master.py
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+# _master.py — build THE MASTER SHEETS: the canonical pose set a new zombie is restyled FROM.
+#
+#   python3 assets/_master.py            # rebuild assets/_sheet_master_*.png from the installed frames
+#
+# WHY THIS EXISTS. A new zombie variant used to mean inventing a character AND a pose set, and the
+# generator answers that by inventing a fresh figure per frame — which is how the walk cycles ended
+# up as eleven unrelated illustrations. Handing it a FINISHED SHEET and asking for a restyle turns
+# the job into a transform: the reference does the specifying and the prompt only says who to draw.
+# 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).
+#
+# 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
+# roll. Four, four and three is the shape that fits — and it is already the shape of the three
+# batches that made them.
+import os, sys
+from PIL import Image
+
+HERE = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+MAGENTA = (255, 0, 255, 255)
+
+# The master pose set, split the way it is generated. Keep these in step with config.BENCH — that is
+# the screen these frames are judged on.
+SHEETS = {
+    'play':  ['z_r1', 'z_r2', 'z_r3', 'z_r4'],              # stance, shuffle A, shuffle B, forehand
+    'serve': ['z_rbounce', 'z_rtoss', 'z_rserve'],          # bounce, toss, strike
+    'fall':  ['z_rfall1', 'z_rfall2', 'z_rfall3', 'z_rrise'],  # buckle, knees, down, rise
+}
+
+def build(name, frames, scale=2, gap=90, pad=70):
+    ims = [Image.open(os.path.join(HERE, f + '.png')).convert('RGBA') for f in frames]
+    ims = [i.resize((i.width * scale, i.height * scale), Image.NEAREST) for i in ims]
+    w = sum(i.width for i in ims) + gap * (len(ims) - 1) + pad * 2
+    h = max(i.height for i in ims) + pad * 2
+    s = Image.new('RGBA', (w, h), MAGENTA)
+    x = pad
+    for i in ims:
+        s.paste(i, (x, h - pad - i.height), i)   # feet on one ground line, as the game draws them
+        x += i.width + gap
+    out = os.path.join(HERE, f'_sheet_master_{name}.png')
+    s.save(out)
+    print(f'{os.path.basename(out):26s} {w}x{h}  {len(frames)} frames  ({", ".join(frames)})')
+
+
+# ---- A NEW ZOMBIE OFF THE MASTER ------------------------------------------------------------
+#   python3 assets/_master.py --variant br "an ENORMOUS FAT ZOMBIE BRUTE: a huge sagging belly, a
+#                                           filthy stretched shirt, heavy brown work trousers…"
+#   python3 assets/_regen.py br_play br_serve br_fall --tries=4
+#
+# Writes three batches that RESTYLE the master sheets into a new character, seeds their placeholder
+# PNGs, and declares the stride pair so the gate covers the new body from its first roll. The whole
+# variant is then three generator calls and no pose design at all — which is the point of having a
+# master: the reference specifies eleven poses that already work, and the prompt only says who.
+import json, shutil, collections
+
+RESTYLE = (
+    "The reference image is a {n}-FRAME SPRITE SHEET of one zombie tennis player. Redraw THE WHOLE "
+    "SHEET as a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ZOMBIE: {who} "
+    "KEEP ALL {n} POSES EXACTLY AS THEY ARE IN THE REFERENCE — the same stance, the same steps with "
+    "the same leg forward in each, the same swing, the same facing, the same arm and racket "
+    "positions, the same order left to right, the same total height and the same distance from the "
+    "camera. Only the CHARACTER changes; the POSES do not. "
+    "There is NO TENNIS BALL anywhere in any frame — the game draws the ball itself, so the hands and "
+    "the air are empty and the poses are the same as if a ball were there. "
+    "Output exactly {n} figures side by side in ONE horizontal row, all on the same ground line. ")
+STRIDE_NOTE = ("In particular frames 2 and 3 must stay what they are in the reference: ONE DRAWING "
+               "SHOWN TWICE with only the legs different — everything above the hips identical "
+               "between them, the legs clearly swapped, and the two frames NOT identical copies. ")
+
+def variant(key, who):
+    bpath = os.path.join(HERE, '_regen_batches.json')
+    B = json.load(open(bpath, encoding='utf-8'), object_pairs_hook=collections.OrderedDict)
+    for part, frames in SHEETS.items():
+        names = ['z_' + key + f[3:] for f in frames]          # z_r1 -> z_br1, z_rtoss -> z_brtoss
+        for src, dst in zip(frames, names):                   # placeholders: the density bar needs a baseline
+            shutil.copy(os.path.join(HERE, src + '.png'), os.path.join(HERE, dst + '.png'))
+        spec = dict(sprites=names, ref_only=frames, newart=True, check='loose', anchor=0,
+                    subject=RESTYLE.format(n=len(frames), who=who)
+                            + (STRIDE_NOTE if part == 'play' else ''))
+        if part == 'play': spec['stride'] = [[1, 2]]           # the gate covers it from the first roll
+        B[f'{key}_{part}'] = spec
+        print(f'{key}_{part:6s} -> {", ".join(names)}')
+    json.dump(B, open(bpath, 'w', encoding='utf-8'), indent=1, ensure_ascii=False)
+    print(f'\nnow run:  python3 assets/_regen.py {key}_play {key}_serve {key}_fall --tries=4')
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    if '--variant' in sys.argv:
+        i = sys.argv.index('--variant')
+        variant(sys.argv[i + 1], sys.argv[i + 2])
+        sys.exit()
+    for name, frames in SHEETS.items():
+        missing = [f for f in frames if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(HERE, f + '.png'))]
+        if missing:
+            print(f'[{name}] SKIPPED, missing: {", ".join(missing)}'); continue
+        build(name, frames)
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diff --git a/assets/_sheet_master_serve.png b/assets/_sheet_master_serve.png
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