Impending Character Deliberations

[ElFailzalot]

So. I'm well aware that it's still quite a ways off for me at this point, but with my return to (somewhat) active writing and a few plans I have laid in store, the opportunity for fourth character-hood will be upon me soon enough. As always, I am beset by myriad options and choices. I have a fairly good idea who I'll probably go with, but the problem lies in that I have a few good ideas for most of them, and a solid option for storyline progression, as well. Which leaves me at the dilemma, as you may expect, of 'what do'.

Barring any future collapses of life and possible switching (which I hope will not happen), this will be my last character, as well. So it's in that "kind of a Big Deal" territory, if you will. So, below I'll be listing my current ideas, and some of my thoughts/reasoning for each one, as well as a couple honorable mentions that I'm pretty sure I wouldn't actually pick, but are still in that "this is neat, I have an idea or two" area. Any thoughts you might have, either for or against any of them, will be of immense help in narrowing down my decision and swinging my indecisive thinking one way or another.

I haven't really assigned any specific goals or archetypes to my characters I already have. No specific niche or type of thing they're filling in, or anything like that; that seems limiting. I obviously have specific plans and goals for each one, but they're not solely limited by/to that. So I don't really have any gaps or holes in my roster I want to fill in; I just want a character that I can enjoy writing as for a prolonged period of time, y'know?

And of course, if you have any other suggestions/ideas for characters, don't hesitate to say as much. I love new ideas. I'll look into them, and maybe just come across something new to enjoy, and maaaaybe just take you up on that suggestion. So have at it.

Actual options below:


Character Options[spoiler]

Yoshikage Kira

Yoshikage Kira...is the main antagonist of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable, for anyone who may not know. He is also someone who I very nearly chose as a character already. I even got as far as actually posting an application for him, only to decide against it at the very last second and go with Wesker, instead. I have quite a few ideas already planned out, but the most interesting thing is that he wouldn't really have any sort of big plots or major arcs, so much as just...a constant storyline. He just wants to live a quiet life, after all.

But the thing is...he's also a serial murderer, with a very dark outlook and mindset and the capacity for all sorts of shenanigans. Despite only being a story character, his activities would ensure that drama and chaos would always find him eventually. Add on to this that his Stand offers several avenues for all manner of abilities, powers and moves to purchase, and he becomes quite the interesting little choice to ponder over.

Vile

Vile is...a former A-Class Maverick Hunter, from the Megaman X series. He's got some serious issues, caused by an irreparable short circuit in his electronic brain. It doesn't detract from his abilities or skills in any manner, but it does cause some massive personality flaws. He's sadistic, merciless, and destructive, often going out of his way to cause as much collateral damage as possible, completely and utterly annhiilating his target rather than just destroying or apprehending them, and sparing little care to anyone caught in the crossfire.

He was obsessed with proving himself the better of anyone and everyone, absolutely refusing to work with a partner or allies and adopting a lone wolf mentality. He especially despised X, often going out of his way to taunt and torment him, and seeking above all else to destroy him.

He's a character with little in the way of plots or story and more of just a sort of...break character. His violence and destructive impulses would make for a good "evil for evil's sake" sort of thing, enabling spur of the moment actions with little forethought and make for good fun without getting bogged down in plots. There's a chance the idea would get old sooner rather than later, however, so I'm somewhat hesitant about it.

Roger Smith

Roger Smith is...the main character of The Big O, a relatively short anime series. He's a Negotiator, a man who serves as a professional go-between to handle delicate situations and with some traces of being a private investigator as well. He is also the Dominus who is in charge of piloting the Megadeus, the Big O, and using it to confront and deal with all manner of giant creatures and other giant machines.

He has plenty of potential for storylines and plots, and my general idea is to establish him as a sort of character similar to his role from the series. Serving as a mediator and negotiator, or as assistance in tracking down or finding people/items. The Big O itself also offers plenty of opportunity for combat with its several weapons and sheer massive bulk, as well as good old-fashioned giant robot fights. And who doesn't love those?

He's also in possession of an interesting cast of support characters and NPCs which could be used for further writing fodder and story work, making for further points in his favor.

Megaman Volnutt

Megaman Volnutt is...the primary character of the (sadly, very short) Megaman Legends series. He's very much a heroic sort, doing his best to help out who and where he can, with a tendency to get wrapped up in all sorts of big goings-on, sometimes just by simple coincidence. He's got plenty of opportunities for fairly large plots and stories, and his whole deal is being an explorer.

Going out to the different verses, heading out into the areas where no one or almost no one goes to just explore, and see what's out there. All manner of fun times and potential for craziness to be had, there. Add on a readily available source of antagonists in such areas, as well as a useful and (at least to me) entertaining cast of support characters and NPCs to help out, and it's even better.

Of course, him being a Megaman character he does have access to a large variety of different weaponry and tools, to boot, making him fairly versatile and allowing for plenty of combat potential to defend himself.[/spoiler]


Honorable Mentions[spoiler]

Trafalgar Law: From One Piece. A character who I've actually found pretty interesting, for quite a while now. Since around when he was first introduced in the series, really. Problem is...it's hard for me to really come up with much for him. A few little tidbits and ideas here and there, but what really grabs me about him is his character and powers more than anything, and so it's hard for me to really think "this is a good character I could choose", y'know?

Toriko: The title character from the manga/anime of the same name. Very much a hype-wave sort of choice; I just started watching the anime recently, and I absolutely love his character. I managed to come up with a few plot/story ideas but it's still early, so I'm notsure if it's something I'll stick with. Maybe by the time I can actually take a fourth character I'll have a more solid idea, though.

Beerus: From Dragon Ball Super. The God of Destruction for the universe in which the series actually takes place. Multiple universes; who knew? He's an...interesting one. Again, another one I like more for his personality and antics, and one I have trouble coming up with actual ideas for. Add on that I do already have a DBZ character, and...well. Could make for a little stagnation, maybe. I'unno.[/spoiler]

[Alex]

Volnutt or GTFO

[Handsome Jack]

Honestly, I think Law is the obvious choice, at least in terms of raw potential. Switching places with enemies and objects to avoid attacks. Debuffing peeps with swapping their body parts around. Lots of neat Move potential. But, like you inferred, a lot of his motivation is solidly grounded in the One Piece universe. Without a Doflamingo to put down, he wouldn't have a goal.

Volnutt might be too similar to X to even be an option, but I suppose if Alex thinks he's different enough to be a separate dude, it must be fine. I'm a fan of Megaman, but I worry he and Vile might go the same way Colonel did and you'll end up switching them out down the line.

You already got a couple "evil" dudes, so I'd personally shy away from anything similar to them. Kira and Vile, in terms of what you'll likely end up doing with them, would likely have a lot of similarity with Wesker and Anderson.

Roger, I think, would be an excellent choice for you. He's solidly neutral in how he views the world (giant robots destroying the city aside), and he'll be able to find new motivation in the OV pretty quickly. He's also different from the peeps you already write, so you don't hafta worry about rehashing too much.

[Alex]

I think the difference between X and Volnutt is that Volnutt actually felt like a fun character with like, a personality and a compelling backstory. I think that's likely because MM Legends was like, action-adventure RPG and not just a generic MM platformer.

X just felt like the original Mega Man -- a thing that shoots and jumps and like, justice.

[Amaterasu]

Beerus? WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER MOONCATE AROUND HERE :rage:

*ahem* Okay, jokes aside. Unfortunately I only know one character out of the whole list, that being Trafalgar Law, and he's an honorable mention, so I doubt I can say much. Just going off of your comments for the rest!

-Kira seems like an interesting villain character on paper and I do agree with you that a Stand has a lot of moves potential, but if he wants to "live a quiet life", what goals would you give him in the Omniverse? He would be able to settle down and live his days out happily on a small island off Costa del Sol or something.

-For Vile I agree with your take - a character that's evil for evil's sake, especially a destructive, merciless sort of chaotic evil, is going to get old very fast. Come to think of it, several people have noted similar things on my 4th character thread since I was considering some "mindless evil" characters, you could give that a peek :frogbon: Shameless self-promotion aside, wouldn't Vile be similar to Colonel? I don't know why you replaced him, but perhaps it may be worth reminding yourself, if there are any parallels.

-Roger Smith might be a very interesting character if you want to play up that Negotiation part. Though of course there are numerous factions in the Omniverse that exclude you if you get chummy with their rivals so it may not always be easy. On the other hand, will being a helpful character for other people be enough for you? He seems like a coop oriented character but it may be difficult to play him alone.

-Volnutt, you'd of course have ties to Proto Man (they're from the same series, right?), and he seems like a fun character overall with plenty of opportunities to "do good" out there. He may be a little similar to Graowr though, possibly? What with them both being young-ish personalities, heroicness and most importantly them both having blue color schemes.


-Law is absolutely a character that seems very tied to the One Piece verse. You could of course try some Vasty Deep sailing the seas shenanigans, but it's true that he has very little in the way of a deep character. But he does skirt the limit of good and evil at some points, so that does make him more interesting.

-Toriko: Zero idea who this is.

-Beerus, I've only read of him. Being a God of Destruction seems to be his big schtick though, wouldn't that mean that 80% of his character is lost when he gets downscaled from a planet-destroying supercreature to a regular ol' Prime? And even then, if his big thing is destroying, he may be a bit too much on that chaotic evil side to make a consistently interesting character.


I also notice that most of your characters are listed with fighting in mind. No idea if that was intended, but if you want someone who you can vary things with in the battle department, perhaps take a look at what you have? Character archetypes can play a big role, even if technically any player can make a character with moves from every archetype.

[Handsome Jack]

I think the difference between X and Volnutt is that Volnutt actually felt like a fun character with like, a personality and a compelling backstory. I think that's likely because MM Legends was like, action-adventure RPG and not just a generic MM platformer.

X just felt like the original Mega Man -- a thing that shoots and jumps and like, justice.

That's fair. But the question is: is he similar enough to X to be considered the same character? In much the same way that Future Trunks and Present Trunks, or any of the various Link incarnations? I don't know much of Legends aside from Megaman 64, but I did seem to get the impression that Commit was either Megaman(X), or some bot based on the original's template.

[Alex]

They're not the same character by any means.

[Pennywise]

Volnutt! Seems like a character you'd rock at writing, Adam, even if you also rock at writing all the other characters.

[James Knight]

Roger Smith would be very interesting. I imagine he and Warren could have interesting giant robot fights, and it could motivate Warren to build a giant robot of his own!

[Artoria Pendragon]

There is only one option here, clearly.

[Mark]

There is only one option here, clearly.

Seconded. The Omniverse needs punchghosts. Also maximum duwang.

But yeah, I think with all of the over-the-top mayhem and stuff that is common in the Omniverse, an understated serial killer plotline would be tremendously refreshing.