User blog:DustpeltX/OC Guide Ver. Dust

I was going to comment on the guide that Leaf made but before I knew it I made another guide.

Oh I'm going to enjoy being ripped apart, ISIS-chan~ <3

Disclaimer: Treat this as a commentary on Leaf's guide. These are just my own opinions that I feel like adding onto a good friend's seemingly lackluster guide (compared to the old one at least in recent memory). I know that what Leaf put together is definetly not a finished product but something to quell the angry mobs. I also feel that I have been around long enough to justify the things I am going to say. I am in no way a reviewer  (though I was considered once, lost to Alex I think) so do take my word with a grain of kosher salt.

Profile

 * Should probably link the actual document of MONTY'S COLOUR NAMING RULE, highlight it, bold it, italicize it,  underline it  and CAPITILIZE IT. Bread and butter rule of thie fanon; can't follow it? instant rejection.
 * Names based on colours should be easy references where hoops are not required to be jumped through several times. It'd be easier for reviewers too if you state the colour reference in the Trivia section and maybe a link too to verify the source.
 * Reinforce the idea of basing a character off certain things. One can be creative about this in many ways, it's very easy and natural to do, and can help a character develop its quirks, appearance, personality... heck the whole character really.

Appearance

 * You forgot to mention hoodies.
 * Don't just say "pants" either because pants are boring.
 * I'd argue for a character's outfit consisting of nothing but belts though, wouldn't you want to review a something like that, Leaf? Heck, Lady Gaga can have  meat dress and an OC can't have a belt suit? You racist fuck.
 * Spoiler Warning For the Silver Eyes Trait: Basically makes your OC as important as the canon characters, ergo, fanon-canon interactions. Silver eyes should be avoided.
 * You can have it in any colour you want as long as it's not all black you lazy, uninspirational fuck. (Colour coded doesn't mean you can't use other colours to compliment)
 * Clothes and appearances are just another character by itself; they need a reason and story to exist, feel, and look the way they are. A character would look unappealing and ruggid if he/she was poor. Armoured characters? Why? Do they lack speed so they tank everything? Or maybe it actually has to do with the character's insecurity or fear of being hurt due to an event? Maybe they were taught that way? This carries over to personalities, backstories, weapons, fighting-style, etc.
 * You could also try looking at concept art online for certain quirks and inspirations, no tracing or stealing. If you're going to use somebody's art, ask permission and give proper credits; Fanon staff won't be dealing with legal stuff so you're on your own if anything happens.
 * Fanon artists are really talented but you should watch what you are willing to pay for some picture on the internet. Paypal would be best, everything is in the link. (Leaf got one from me several years back, its shit but it still good proof of concept.)

Personality

 * Personally, I wouldn't discourage "edgy" characters, but you should emphasize that there is a fine line between "cool" and "edgy" and that line is actually pretty arbitrary to say the least. Dark, brooding characters can work but don't go pulling a Bruce Wayne on here because we already have those types of characters, and nobody beats Bruce Wayne at being dark and broody. A good example, which surprised me when it first came out, would be Adam Taurus; he's got a cool and sleek character design and wicked personality to go with it. It's familiar, cool, but with a twist that sets him just a bit lower from the "edgy" category.
 * Mary-Sues suck dick.
 * Gary-Stus suck dick.
 * Provide links on the trops characteristic for the people who don't understand the term.
 * Extending on your take on flawed personalityies: The main thing about personality is that your characters should be flawed in this category, like, infuriatingly flawed; but that's what makes them characters.


 * I want to mention a really good character I just discovered from a Korean Manga called Song Jae Gu from Girls of the Wild's.  Summary of the manga, basically RWBY, but in Korea, but in highschool, and all the girls beat the shit out of each other with martial arts. Song Jae Gu is that one guy who starts out in life with twin younger siblings that just started kindergarten, his dad died and his mom left due to grief. Of course to comeplete the total loser trope, he gets bullied by other guys and does nothign about it.


 * So what makes him special? It's his will to live.
 * It's not a very good reason to, remember that characters are defined by what he/she does, says and thinks as well as what other characters does says and thinks to and about them.
 * Song Jae Gu endures his bullying because he has to take care of his twin siblings. He doesn't approach girls despite a massive harem of a highschool he's in because he's a diagnosed misogynist who hates women, a product of his mother's absense. He even states, "If my siblings weren't here, I would have no reason to live."
 * Basically, instead of wallowing in his own life's miseries, he just performs. For the sake of his two siblings that look up to him as a parent figure. And you FEEL that shit in a really specific order. You FEEL angry at the mother for ditching her responsibilites, you FEEL angry at the bullies for beating the shit out of a character that did nothing to them and most of all, you're INFURIATED at the fact that Song Jae Gu doesn't value himself enough to even talk back, let alone fight back.
 * He's a useless shit, and he's a got a sucky character.
 * But that's what makes him relatable,  and it's also what makes his redemption and development that much more satisfying to watch. (you should read it)

Weapon and Abilities

 * While I don't disagree on this notion, I wouldn't really discourage any sort of weapons, but it is worth mentioning the over done ones. However, that doesn't mean you can't choose them. It just means it's going to be a lot harder for you to make that weapon yours. And that's really all there is to it. To say that having those same weapons over and over again "should be avoided" is kind of unfair in my opinion as they're popular due to their flexibility as RWBY weapons and as weapons in general.
 * Also, don't fall into the trap of the "RWBY Weapons Needs Guns" mindset. While that is true in most scenarios, they are sometimes hard to iron the logic out of. The easier route should be "Multi-Purpose" but don't get into the habit of just picking a weapon and slapping a sharp edge on it, name "weapon-blade" and call it a day. Chances are
 * 1) ​It sounds stupid
 * 2) It already exists (eg. tonfa blades -.-)
 * I like to think the key to weapons is having a weapon that makes a statement about the character. I'll splurge too, I have five chararacters out of seven (5/7 perfect score) that use katanas/traditional swords in their kit but I don't consider them "bad" uses. I'll try to justify them as I go along so I'll sacrifice them as a guinea pig for this guide:
 * ​Heart, and Asher Stahl - tl;dr Plain Swords
 * ​These two are my bread and butter OCs and they both use plain, non-transforming weapons. This is partially due to them being my first creations and my lack of appeal with engineering in general, but despite several reworks I have grown quite fond of the vanilla weapons these two possess. The reason these two have vanilla weapons is due to their backstories being blades forged from a humble blacksmith in the mountains, Heart's father. I also kind of cheat by not mentioning them as "katanas" perse but I do like to think they were made in that way due to the lack of good materials the blacksmith has access to. This is in part that I like the philopshy behind katana making rather than the katana itself. It reflects the characters as people of low quality, but if applied right can become something of high quality.
 * Alice Schiess -  tl;dr  Hightech Science Katana
 * My attempt at making some sort of anti-hero and a weapon nerd's wet dream until the weapon rule got enforced. Instead, I made her weapon a mirror to Heart and Asher's blades. A weapon supposedly made from studying the way of making metal with quality on par with Heart and Asher's weapons, this plain sword is used as a way of pitting new tech with old tradition. I haven't made them fight each other yet, but which blade would win? The blade made with science? Or the one made from tradition? Who knows.
 * Maroon Rockbell -  tl;dr  Expertly-Made Blade of Death
 * This weapon actually isn't important, but it does act as a catalyst for this character's fighting style. Also a plaine sword, but get this, it's really long... Yeah it's not very interesting BUT her semblance and fighting style compliments it where there's no need for it to do anything else.
 * Selena Schiess -  tl;dr  Who's-Your-Daddy Sword
 * It's actually only one-half of her full weapon but it's a plaine sword nonetheless. I could argue that I dodged the trope by adding it as a combination weapon and I would be technically correct but it wouldn't prove my point, so let's annalyze the actual sword. This time I DO mention that it is a variation on a katana type weapon but I like to think my emphasis on this weapon's existence isn't to appeal to the "katana coolness factor" but rather shows a battle between the allegiance of a weapon. The presense of this weapon is to pose the a situation where one question, "Is blood stronger than steel?" Selena is definetly my strongest character, but does her stolen sword dare to injure the daughter of her creator?
 * I guess the point I'm trying to prove is that over-used weapons can work, but it depends on the context. Is the character defined by the weapon? Or is the weapon defined by the character? If it's the former, pick another weapon. If it's the latter, well, you might have something going on there. A weapon is an extention of a character both literally and, well, literally.
 * There also a matter of fighting prowess. While its hard to judge power in a sense, there are some ways of easily giving the reviewer, or anyone for that matter, a general idea of a character's strengths. By mentioning their strength level compared to say civilians, Beacon students, Hunters, fully fledged Hunters, military, etc. one can gaige the power of a character.
 * You should also take into account the advantages and disadvantages of a character's weapons, abilities or fighting style. Strengths? List them. Weaknesses? List them harder. No character is flawless, not even God (Bang bang! Checkmate Theists!). Weaknesses in your character's fighting style is what makes the character fun to use and fun for others to RP against.
 * You can also include some non-comabt skills in here as well, they are fun to know about and adds to the character.

Semblances (needs their own category)

 * This section deserves its own category because its the part with the most possiblities but also the most room for someone to go way over the bar. For this, I like to apply the KISS principle.
 * Keep It Simple, Stupid is a design principle used by US Navy during the 60s and its exactly that. A Semblance should be simple to its core that the character can manipulate and apply the ability in multiple situations.
 * Keep in mind the no limits fallacy, mind intrusion and time bending/traveling**** paradoxes, none of these are fun for anyone to RP against. Should also mention no Aura by-pass, familiar generation or anything of that sort. Of course, this rule is always subject to change as the series progresses but even IF abilities like that do exist, they are probably rare and are still not fun to RP against.
 * Going back to Semblances, that doesn't mean they can't function in a complicated matter, I have two examples using the characters I mentioned before:
 * Selena Schiess -  tl;dr  Shocking, Isn't it
 * This is my example of a simple Semblance. Simple electricity affinity. Take note that I emphasize that the shocks aren't lethal, indicating that the power isn't high enough to insta-pop someone by touching them but I give situations where the ability can be applied in a devestating way. The ability also compliments her as a functionable character by giving her eye-sight and usable combat prowess. The Semblances also lends to her predator theme with a mix of a shark-like hunting strategy and a spider in a web method. One should aim for something like this.
 * Maroon Rockbell  -  tl;dr  Likes It Hot Inside Her
 * This is my example of a complicated Semblance BUT with a simple premise. In this example, the Semblance is the major player while the weapon takes a black seat. However, the Semblance is still limiting and so the weapons need to step in to add to the lethality. Her Semblance has to do with the duality of her character and the acceptance or expulsion of unwanted characteristics.
 * The formula is simple give and take. You can have a powerful Semblance but make it a unitasker or a simple, less powerful Semblance but make it a multitasker. This would be my ideal and healthy way of generating a Semblance. The biggest mistake most people make is when they make a really powerful Semblance that has no limit or simply don't compliment anything in their character.
 * Semblances can be themed and are usually easier to come up with if you do so like I mentioned in my examples.

Backstory

 * Don't be Bruce Wayne
 * Make it intersting.
 * Like Leaf said, this is where you justify everything else this character shows. This can also be the place where you try to make the character more human. He/she can be relatable or not-relatable, it is up to you.
 * DON'T write a story. The backstory should be short and to the point. If you want to write a story, you write it on a separate page. Stories are a hassel for people to read and this really diminishes the RP experience when people just want a short summary of your OC.

Conclusion
Yeah that's it, now that I think about it, this was actually quite a pain to write. But I did it anyway since it's already typed out and it would be ashame if I just deleted it. Again I want to restate that I am not a reviewer and so I have no power over guarenteeing an acceptance for your character if you follow this guide. It really does depends on the reviewer and the way you have written your character. Just remember that if your character doesn't get accepted, that's fine, try to look at it from a different perspective. Reviewers do take the time to write out somethings that they might have done differently. And more important, and I can't stress this enough, reviewers are people too. There's no need to storm their wall and spam hateful messages about how your character wasn't accepted nor is there need to be immature and write a whole meaningless blog post about it. If you have a problem talk to the reviewer. If you have a problem with the reviewer, get another reviewer's opinion on the matter. Ask the reviewer what THEY think is the main problem, chances are they are more than happy to help you out.

Anyway, happy writing!