[General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Moderators: Shroom Man 777, Ford Prefect

Post Reply
User avatar
Invictus
Posts: 1306
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:44 pm

[General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Invictus »

Yay, new forum!

So this is the new character concepts thread. For me the old one always seemed a bit too similar to the Mad Ideas thread, and some members have outright seen the two as interchangeable. So I propose we take a more collaborative approach in the new thread, not so much critiquing people's character ideas but also helping to flesh them out if the proposer asks to. A more explicit place for mutual suggestion, if you will.

Without further ado, I've got two character concepts. Names, rather:

KID KAFKA

The SHAOLIN SHADOW:To elaborate, the Shaolin Shadow is a highly kung-fu character, although his skills have rather little to do with the Shaolin Temple in general. While one path of superhuman martial artistry leads to the end state of "I suplex skyscrapers", he pursues the more subtle path which goes "I killed you half an hour ago and you just noticed". His costume reflects this, consisting of a bandana with long ragged ends that compensate for his lack of a scarf, a black tracksuit with yellow stripes, and sneakers. What he lacks right now is a history and a way of fitting into the universe.
"This explanation posits that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another expression of reactionary idealism, and it's indeed the most brazen expression."
-
REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 1 - Rey Quirino Versus the Dark Heart of the Philippines
"...a literary atrocity against the senses..." - Ford

REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 2 - Advent Rey Returns: REVERGELTUNG
Coming NEVER
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Perhaps the SHAOLIN SHADOW can phase through matter?

KID KAFKA could be a surrealist adventurer who takes on other reality-manipulating authors and plagiarists who seek to conquer the world with words.
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Peregrin
Posts: 573
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:56 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Peregrin »

The name "Shaolin Shadow" makes me think of a Choinese guy who can control shadows, sorta like a lower-powered Nox Noctis.
"You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you." - Heraclitus
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Perhaps he can be a boneless practitioner of martial arts. Like, he survived a De-bone Palm and learned to move his body with his IMMORTAL KUNG FU. So, like, he's ungodly-ly flexible and shit. And with screwed up weird pressure points and spiritual energy. He can move SO WEIRD. Like the Drunken Master + Boneless Chicken.
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Peregrin
Posts: 573
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:56 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Peregrin »

Perhaps he could be some sort of demonic entity who's literally made of living darkness. Sorta like a kung fu balrog.
"You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you." - Heraclitus
User avatar
Heretic
Posts: 1750
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 4:45 pm
Location: IN AMERICA

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Heretic »

Before I throw out two new CapCap related (friend or family) people, which teen superhero had a website that gives tips on being a superhero?
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
Mobius 1
Global Mod
Posts: 1099
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:40 pm
Location: Orlando, FL

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Mobius 1 »

I'm not entirely up-to-date on Per's and Malchus' guys, but it totally sounds like something one of my guys- the Ascendant- would do.
SHADOW TEMPEST BLACK || STB2: MIDNIGHT PARADOX
The day our skys fe||, the heavens split to create new skies.
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Heretic. Try not to make everyone a relative of CapCap and Co, mang.
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Malchus in OZC wrote:
Shroom Man 777 wrote:A Skyhavenite supervillain with an ice-motif named GENERAL KANADIA!
That actually sounds more like a Z-list villain-of-the-week the Canadian Knights run into every now and then. =D
And, like, the Lumberjack could go "You suck! You're not even Canadian!"

Also, I am thinking of making Maple Leaf's powers originating from some sort of artifact - a pendant, perhaps.

That is activated in a totally convoluted backstory involving a radioactive meteorite, an exploding science laboratory, an Indian burial ground, a Grey Alien something-something, and as much weird shit as I can put together to string up into something completely inconsequential that she ends up bumping into as she rides her bike.

Her powers are, basically, sort of Green Lantern-ish. She projects two dimensional 'shards' of unexplainable energy that can be really sharp or can serve as a shield, forming geometric shapes all the time. Usually she turns her projections into the form of a maple leaf, for patriotism!

She also, like, flies by hovering on a leaf - like, totally hover-board-like.

I don't know if she herself should be superhuman, or just have those energy-things. I mean, Proteus and GOALKEEPER are completely normal and squishy.

That reminds me, quantifications for GOALKEEPER!
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Siege »

Peregrin wrote:... some sort of demonic entity who's literally made of living darkness...
I wonder where I have heard that before...
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Heretic
Posts: 1750
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 4:45 pm
Location: IN AMERICA

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Heretic »

Well, not relative, but next door neighbor (oh man, I feel sorry for the character's parents).
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Okay. Next door neighbors are awesome :mrgreen:

(Why? I have no idea...)
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Siege »

... brainwave: the immortal Chinese origami master Fung Lao, whose origami unlocks the secrets of the cosmos. He can fold anything: usually paper, but also dimensions, people, battletanks, and so on. Born in the 1st century A.D. he was one of the greatest masters of his art, allowing him to ultimately fold his own mortality into a mobius-formed origami paper rose. Fung Lao wears this rose on his person at all times, and as long as he possesses it, he cannot die (at least not of old age, that is.)
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

:D

PAPER TIGER!

Geddit, Vic?
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
Mobius 1
Global Mod
Posts: 1099
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:40 pm
Location: Orlando, FL

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Mobius 1 »

That's a winsome idea, Siege. I'm quite surprised nobody's thought of it before- it had incredible potential. "I'ma gonna fold your flying aircraft carrier into a crane!"
SHADOW TEMPEST BLACK || STB2: MIDNIGHT PARADOX
The day our skys fe||, the heavens split to create new skies.
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

I did pitch the idea of a paper manipulating villain to Vic for his NEW GHOSTS. But I never thought of how awesome dimensional manipulation could be... :twisted:
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Heretic
Posts: 1750
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 4:45 pm
Location: IN AMERICA

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Heretic »

ooh, can Fung Lao fold space and time?
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
User avatar
Heretic
Posts: 1750
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 4:45 pm
Location: IN AMERICA

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Heretic »

Can someone please tell me whether it was Karen or Louise who had a forum on being a superhero!? I want to get this character starting. But so i don't double post or anything like that, let me get this other character through.

Mordechai Schmindel-A kosher boy at birth, Mordechai makes sure Zeus and the Old Ones don't shove their faces around Earth. Dedicated in keeping Judaism from being destroyed from the multi-reality shock, Mordechai makes usre there is one God, by kicking Shoggoths' ass and grilling Pan over a roast spit many times. To help fight these "immortals", Mordechai keeps a bottle of Maneshivitz (Jewish Wine) in one hand, and a Catholic made holy gun in order to fight Cosmic Horrors ( the nuns who made it wanted to apologize for the shit they made the Jews go through in the Crusades and after). Mordechai can also summon Golem to fight with brute strength, but only if the Jewish people as a whole are in jeopardy.
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
User avatar
Peregrin
Posts: 573
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:56 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Peregrin »

Heretic wrote:Can someone please tell me whether it was Karen or Louise who had a forum on being a superhero!?
Louise. Operating for a top-secret agency Karen wouldn't be able to get away with that. 8-)
"You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you." - Heraclitus
User avatar
Ford Prefect
Posts: 957
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 11:12 am

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Ford Prefect »

SiegeTank wrote:... brainwave: the immortal Chinese origami master Fung Lao, whose origami unlocks the secrets of the cosmos. He can fold anything: usually paper, but also dimensions, people, battletanks, and so on. Born in the 1st century A.D. he was one of the greatest masters of his art, allowing him to ultimately fold his own mortality into a mobius-formed origami paper rose. Fung Lao wears this rose on his person at all times, and as long as he possesses it, he cannot die (at least not of old age, that is.)
While this idea is really cool (particularly the rose of mortality), this is essentially the power set of an existing OZC! character, Ilya Ilyich Alekseev. His left hand could shape anything with a discrete existence (steel, gas, light, shadow, thought, space, love and so on) as though it was the proverbial putty betwixt his fingers. That said, I still think the idea has merit in itself; I'm always fond of masters of the eastern arts.

In terms of character, how do you envision Fung Lao? My initial impression is one of patience, temperance and serenity. Somewhat in the vein of Master Evil or Sakamoto Eiji, but without the cruelty/temper of the latter.
FEEL THESE GUNS ARCHWIND THESE ARE THE GUNS OF THE FLESHY MESSIAH THE TOOLS OF CREATION AND DESTRUCTION THAT WILL ENACT THE LAW OF MAN ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
User avatar
Heretic
Posts: 1750
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 4:45 pm
Location: IN AMERICA

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Heretic »

Good kitty. You have complied to answer. I shall spare the horror of Snarf for another time.

Carissa Lancaster: Alias is Agent Clandestine. Carissa (or Cari for short) was the usual teenage girl heroine wannabe who wants to be like her hero, Louise Exner. But what sets her apart from all the other heroine wannabes is that she has wealth and a mentor. The Lancasters are a family rich from extensive holdings in the power production industry, so they have it rich, living in a fine estate in a huge area of farmland-turned hunting ground and having the best of everything. Another rich person lives in the estate, renting a small seaside house. His named Sam Trask, who is none other than Captain Capitalism, defender of Americanism. Though Carissa thinks he is annoying and selfish, as well as bigoted, he is much nicer, funnier, and open-minded than her parents, who still haven't come out of their imperialistic, segregated feelings towards Negroes and other non-white, non-Christian people. At least CapCap (as she calls him) tries to help. She also has yelling terms with her father, who wanted to arrange a marriage between her and a weapon manufacturer's son. He said it is for the good of the family, while she said that he has no rights to force it upon her. Things like these always makes Carissa leave for a few days, staying in Sam's summer home, as she was given a key to it by Captain Capitalism when she wants to come to his house when he isn't there.

When she is there, she usually uses CapCap's super laptop to browse around Ebay and stores, searching for items she might want to buy with her credit card, and read blogs on being a hero by her role model, Louise Exner. She always wanted to be a heroine, fighting crime, and making a reputation of a crime fighter and not a heir to racist corporationists who make John D. Rockefeller flawless in every aspect. Her wish came true on her 16th birthday.

As usual, her father pressed her into betrothal (that was his present to her) with the heir of a wealthy weapons manufacturer, while her mother told her harshly that birthdays don't mean anything at her age, and she should start acting like a proper lady and not some "Negro Ghetto Whore". Upset by her father's forcefulness and her mother's racism, she went to Sam, who was in the middle of fighting 3 Neo-Nazis. She saw Sam, now Captain Capitalism, lift on skinhead above his head and threw him over the balcony and into the small rose bushes. Then, without hesitation, CapCap grabbed another Nazi, and kneed his testicles, and then throwing that Nazi into the rose buds, too. And finally, he just casually boxed the last skinhead as if he were a punching bag. Then, being bored of this novel sport, he just pushed him of the grilles. Carissa was stunned, not by her neighbor's awesome powers, but an opportunity to become a hero, just like her role model. Earlier, she though of Sam as a hero in name only, manipulating the newspapers to tell lies on what he did (her father did the same thing with stocks, and no one have ever found out yet), but now, she saw the real deal. Her neighbor was an actual superhero, who treats Nazis like rats from some MMORPG.

Cari asked Captain Capitalism to help her try become a heroine. Captain Capitalism happily agreed, thinking that his skills are now being appreciated. He told her parents that he was gonna teach her to run a business, and they happily agreed to throw her away, and focus on their older, more "civilized" children.

Sam took Carissa to his cybernetic lab, where he showed her around the many parts. Then, he took her underground to a testing facility, and ran many tests with her. After many simulation fighting, shooting, sneaking, driving, intellectual difficulties, and exams, Captain Capitalism recommended Carissa as a multi-task feminine fatale, as she either had average or mediocre on virtually every test. All she aced on was the beauty and charm test. But, being a nice guy, Sam said that Carissa can choose whatever she wanted to focus on. Carissa did become multi-tasked, but she wanted to be an agent. So, CapCap remodeled the training facility so that she can learn how to be an agent.

During the first three months of training, 3 months, Agent Carissa, or Clandestine as her alias, had to read dull books on espionage, hacking, information gathering, Identity erasing and refreshing, as well as stealth-oriented attacks, concealing weapons, and obtaining, building, and using makeshift weapons on the job, fast. Then, for 2 weeks, she had field training both in the training facility and abandoned training fields dotted around America. After that, she had more advanced training via books and videos, like make do-it-yourself medicine, killing fast with your bare hands, learning basic airplane skills, and advanced close quarter gunfighting. Then, after 3 weeks of field training again, she had to learn more and more skills needed to be an agent, and then test her knowledge out in the open. All this is funded by Captain Capitalism, who later realized he would need her later.

After 1 and a half years of grueling studies, along with grueling home schooling, Carissa, now 17, is ready for her final test, and this is where the story I am brainstorming on the top of my head begins.

I did this in a rush, so pardon me for sketchy parts, as well as a mashup of past, present, and future tenses.
Last edited by Heretic on Mon May 26, 2008 6:10 am, edited 2 times in total.
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
User avatar
Ford Prefect
Posts: 957
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 11:12 am

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Ford Prefect »

You know, I think it's funny that she thought that Trask taking three Nazis out like the trash is a demonstration of awesome power. Even if she's not old enough to remember the events of Shining Sun*, she would remember the events of Things Might Get Trippy, wherein Berlin is destroyed, or the coming of Phaeton, which altered global weather patterns by accident.

Okay, so I'm just being nitpicky for the sake of being nitpicky. :P It's not actually that bad Heretic, although something that does need to be changed is the mention of her family providing a third of the world's power, which is an aawful lot. I doubt that even Anthony Andrews provides much more than a fifth or at most a quarter of the world's power through his company's fusion exports, and he is the undisputed richest man in the world.

*Yes, I know I haven't actually written them all yet, so it would be impossible for Heretic to know. I'm pretty sure only Shroomy knows all of the events of that, after all.
FEEL THESE GUNS ARCHWIND THESE ARE THE GUNS OF THE FLESHY MESSIAH THE TOOLS OF CREATION AND DESTRUCTION THAT WILL ENACT THE LAW OF MAN ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
User avatar
Heretic
Posts: 1750
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 4:45 pm
Location: IN AMERICA

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Heretic »

Ok, how about .6 of the nuclear power. That is still a hella of alot considering how much energy we need daily.
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
User avatar
Ford Prefect
Posts: 957
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 11:12 am

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Ford Prefect »

You don't have to give it a number. You justh ave to say something like 'the Lancasters are a family rich from extensive holdings in the power production industry'.
FEEL THESE GUNS ARCHWIND THESE ARE THE GUNS OF THE FLESHY MESSIAH THE TOOLS OF CREATION AND DESTRUCTION THAT WILL ENACT THE LAW OF MAN ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
User avatar
Invictus
Posts: 1306
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:44 pm

Re: [General]The Return of CHARACTER CONCEPTS

Post by Invictus »

In terms of energy industries Anthony Andrews is more with the technology licensing than the actual production thereof - so he doesn't really directly produce much of the world's energy.
"This explanation posits that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another expression of reactionary idealism, and it's indeed the most brazen expression."
-
REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 1 - Rey Quirino Versus the Dark Heart of the Philippines
"...a literary atrocity against the senses..." - Ford

REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 2 - Advent Rey Returns: REVERGELTUNG
Coming NEVER
Post Reply