Saturday, March 28, 2015

Remembering Rejects: Mind Like A Sieve Edition

So, remember not too long ago I made another post detailing RP Rejects? Well, apparently I have a memory like a pasta strainer because right after I wrapped that up all these old ideas I didn't include came flooding back. Forgive me for making yet another one of these, but I guarantee it will be the last one for a long time even if I do begin remembering a billion other rejects.

Today's will likely be the longest because unlike the others, this was heavily premeditated. I began writing names of the Rejects on a sticky note as I remembered them over the past few days to make sure I missed as few as possible as I did what is hopefully the last reject roundup for a long long time! Some of these are barely character ideas, others had full plots, but just like most of my rejects, they are usually from something. This will also include characters I have mentioned in chatzy as rejected but presented again! But most were never disclosed.

And away we go!

Percival McLeach
From: Rescuers Down Under
A character idea from 2012, McLeach was meant to make that long blog series I did about the Rescuers more relevant than just introducing Evinrude to the mix. McLeach would appear in the bar ready to poach the bar's biggest threats, usually aiming for any beast-like ones. The Widow Maker plot would have been a gas for him. However, eventually we would find out he was trying to earn favor with the Kobbers to get them to go on a grand hunt. Feeding the Kobbers misinformation on a "terrifying beast that needs to be stopped," McLeach would take the Kobbers on an unwinnable battle to kill an invicible beast. However, it would turn out that the beast was just trying to protect its babies or something and McLeach would be the villain and we had to stop him while trying not to die while being assailed by the real threat. Scrapped because google would have made the plot predictable as can be.

Popeye
From: Popeye
Ven recently brought up  Popeye as a Secret Fiter idea, but the sailorman had already been considered for a role as the Mystery Fiter instead! Capable of some mean sockdolagers and holding a can of spinach, he could have added something to the Brawl no doubt, but not enough. Mystery Fiters need to be recognizable, but sometimes a big name and decent strength can't help you carry that title.

Scuba Tree
From: Spongebob Squarepants
At one point the idea of themes was being bandied about on the old forum and a Rapture-like setting was brought up and at least said to be a "neat idea". Underwater world? Underwater character. And who better than... a tree. Scuba Tree would have likely evolved into more than just the image, bordering on OC if he had ever been fleshed out, but you can't flesh out bark and the Rapture idea hardly ever moved beyond an idea.
Spoons
From: Rango
Another theme idea tossed out was a Wild West setting, maybe even tossed out by me, I don't recall. However, one character who instantly came to mind for such a place was this old mouse right here: Spoons! A charming character in Rango, I don't know how effective he would be, but he would have probably at least got a size upgrade to be as tall as most characters. RPing tiny is fun and all, but I felt this guy could have done more at eye level than toe level. Never moved any further than Scuba Tree got though.

Tohru
From: Jackie Chan Adventures
Somehow reentering my life through some means, the character of Tohru dug up fond memories and almost immediately set about a kneejerk GOTTA RP HIM attitude. Put in the future folder, his big bulk made him great at combat and his personality in the show was at least complex enough to be explored in depth. Then I made a different muscly bruiser with a complex personality and I didn't want to toot the same horn twice. Bye Tohru, Everett beat you to the punch.
Fibonacci Sequins
From: Powerpuff Girls
Part of that weird new artstyle Powerpuff Girls special, Fibonacci stood out for his interesting style and concept... and having Ringo Starr's voice. Fibonacci was math obsessed, and I thought of many interesting ways such a thing could be integrated into combat, particularly with the tractor. One idea was rolling the tractor 5 times and averaging it out for the real roll, sacrificing any chance at a 21 for winning ties by getting a 6.5 instead of a 6. Although this tractor gimmick was also considered for musical characters (rhythm being the excuse), if I am going to do some math character now they will likely be OC rather than a minor Powerpuff Girls character.
Korosensei
From: Assassination Classroom
A highly charismatic character with power? Sign me up! From an anime being currently dubbed and the only one I'm really following, Korosensei blew up the moon. Most of it at least. This would NOT be carried into RP, but another part of him could have been. See, Korosensei in Assassination Classroom plans to blow up the Earth, but only after teaching some kids in a classroom. In RP, he would have done the same, except observing the exceptional Kobbers as some sort of litmus test for if the Earth deserved to live. He would appear, literally tell everyone he planned to blow up Earth by the end of the year, and then help the Kobbers in anyway he could. Problem is: He is almost invincible. Weak to only very specific things, and being that invincible, so fast he can't really be caught, and many other factors meant he'd either have to be talking only or taken down a peg. His plot could have been resolved by either successfully killing him or convincing him Earth is worth protecting. However, I hate RPing super strong heroes and Korosensei would have likely been much stronger than Jaxx, so........

Jelly Jiggler
From: Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
Saberwulf once said that Jumpropeman the character's voice would likely sound like Jelly Jiggler, and I can't say I'm surprised, although JRM's voice is probably not as deep. His attitude is right in line though. Jelly Jiggler is also insane and crazy just like the show he is from and very much a fun character prospect to use. Besides his Fist of the Wobble-Wobble, Wiggin is a powerful power that basically takes what the Looneys did up to 11. However, some people seem very averse to intense goofiness, and coupled with other factors the Jelly was not allowed to wobble into RP.
Herbert Daring Dashwood and His Stalwart Ghoul Manservant Argyle!
From: Fallout 3
I am a sucker for Radio Shows. And Fallout 3's radio show about these two characters often broke up the tedious replays of music, albeit good music. HOWEVER, these two endeared themselves quickly to me, especially when I met Dashwood himself! The Kobbers could have had their adventures with these two chronicled in "edited retellings" of their events on the radio. Dashwood would stick to guns and Argyle's amazing Kung Fu would be on point, but my misgivings about a Ghoul character (mostly because their faces might disgust most people) and my honesty with myself forced me to abandon it. Plus, I can't just let my current interest dictate my RP or I'll end up with failures like Haddock again.
Johnny Dollar
From: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
A character from a real actual radio show, Johnny Dollar is a man with an "action-packed expense account" from a radio show my dad and I listened to together a bunch. His schtick is you would hear about what he had to purchase as he unraveled mysteries as an insurance investigator. I would have loved to slip him in somewhere, but insurance investigating is not too interesting on its own and annoying meta if applied to our setting, so he remained a half-baked idea before I admitted that an Inch High Private Eye would be my only detective character.

Tired yet? Sorry... but there's more!
Butcher Pete:
From:An amazing song and Fallout 3 kind of
A possible Fite Club opponent for Ven from Fallout 3, unfortunately, the more I listened closely to the song, especially the second part that doesn't play in Fallout 3, the more the innuendos became impossible to ignore. He wasn't a crazy butcher, he just sleeps around and has the necessary old-style censorship lines so they can say its about a crazy murderer. I'd rather not make ANY character in RP associated with possible sexual assault, even mister Fite Club cameo here. However, I would have likely drawn my own picture for him, because Pete should not be an attractive Shaggy Rogers lookalike. He should look crazy!
Kamaji
From: Spirited Away
Look at all this anime today! Anyway, I love the idea of characters with multiple arms, as shown with Ixael. However, the thing with multiple limbs in fiction is they tend to just lump together. Swing with one arm, swing with all. Kamaji is a good example of putting all his arms to use like a real person could if they were born with such things. Someone at Everett's circus had multiple limbs because I was still bouncing around the idea of using a multi-armed character, but even with Reject it was hard to make it appear properly uncoordinated at all time. Working with all these arms could be interesting, but I don't think I'd do it justice.
Shauna
From: Pokemon X and Y
Pokemon X and Y came out and sucked me into that void of Pokemon I enter whenever a new generation arrives. However, much like Dashwood, I knew I couldn't let my current interests dictate things too strongly, so Shauna ended up on a backburner that burnt her up before she could become more than an idea. One issue was whether or not I would give her Pokemon she had in the game, Pokemon appropriate for her, or just Pokemon I liked. She would have done what Viola did battlewise anyway and the idea was made before anyone had an actual trainer character in RP use their Pokemon in such a way, but Goops did the idea well and I feel no need to try and ape it. At least with Shauna :V She's super cute but also not in my future any longer.
Firebat
From: Final Combat
A character from that Chinese TF2 Ripoff and the only one with a half decent lore behind him, the Firebat is actually sort of mentioned in RP! Everett mentioned a clown who is good with fire, and here he is! Considered to appear in RP and be using fire as his weapon, he would have been a clown of few words but many flames. However, a jester of few words named Jokerton was successfully picked up from Looney Land, and Firebat became redundant. Thus, Firebat was never developed into a full OC. RIP Firebat, at least you had a cool trailer.
Forgotten Name
From: AN OC!?!?!
That's right! For sticking around you get to see an OC whose name I forgot! Also, you get to hear about my scrapped 2015 plot, at least portions of it because some ideas moved around. This guy here would have accompanied Hector and Vector and been their muscle, but he would speak in a cryptogram language of my own invention from back in high school. Hector and Vector didn't actually make him, instead finding him in a crater and taking him in. We wouldn't be able to understand what he is saying, so when a group of aliens come looking to get rid of him, we fight the aliens naturally. However, we turn them back and then more robots like this one show up! It would turn out he was a scout for a race of robotic aliens who want to do something cataclysmic to Earth. Never moved further because new ideas supplanted it! I think he had some walkabout name like Ryan, but not Ryan.

Fukuroda
From: Kill la Kill
More abandoned plots? Don't mind if I do! Kill la Kill entered my life at a strange time, a.k.a. BBB4. I watched subbed Kill la Kill in between writing the Brawl to wind down and relax... with a show about over the top violence! Fukuroda here stood out for having crazy boxing gloves, and I considered making him part of the still unresolved Fumes/Midori situation. How? Well, portions of that are still going to be used, but Fukuroda will not, partly because I think Del hates Kill la Kill or something? Anyway, he's not that interesting, but he would have come to the bar and kickstarted the Fumes/Midori plot with some reveal, but Fumes was pushed back and Fukuroda pushed out.

Almost done! 4 more to go!
Hiram McDaniels
From: Nightvale Podcast
Hiram McDaniels is just your everyday mayoral candidate who happens to have 5 heads and also is a dragon. Hiram was considered as part of the 2014 cast before Deckplot was born, mostly as a means to make Mayor Wenceslas important in a way (which later was achieved by hanging him :D) Hiram would have been a mayoral candidate for the town and basically that would inform his character similar to how being a star informed Jaws. It wouldn't be a plot, just a character trait. Also, he would act like a dragon in battle but never in conversation, and some people might mistake him for just a regular guy a la Nightvale. Scrapped to make room for 2014 plot and because my interest in Nightvale waned.
Dora
From: Golden Axe
Mentioned once in chatzy, I once really wanted to RP a centaur, an itch scratched never but erased from existence because Mynmikda filled our "GOTTA HAVE A CENTAUR" quota. Being part horse is interesting in combat, and having one of those earcleaner things used in American Gladiator made Dora the number 1 candidate for a non-OC centaur. I never did flesh out it because brainpower went towards making the Deck interesting instead, so I left Porphyrion without any hoofprints left behind save those from an Invisible Pink Unicorn.
Clive and Owen
From: New Super Mario Bros Wii
The yellow one is Clive, the blue one is Owen. Randomly named by me as my brother and I played through New Super Mario Bros Wii, I wanted to pass these names on to the world, and I decided RP was the best venue for some reason. These two toads would have been disgruntled about their representation in the NSMB series, not even getting namechecked, and would be a bit mischievous and sometimes bitter. Mostly, they would be happy screaming toads! As fun as a Toad could be to RP, they have very few combat options save power-ups which could carry them, but I mean, I'm Jumpropeman. I have to RP Toadsworth if I RP a Toad! :V
Eternal September
From: OC!?!?!
Sorry for using your image Boogie, you are great and awesome, but you know you look like the stereotypical nerd and play it up in your videos too. I didn't imagine September exactly as Boogie, but he was a hero-turn-villain type character like McLeach or original Phantomon or Andromalus or... I use this concept a lot ok? Anyway, Eternal September would have been incredibly meta. I told Cornwind about the idea once and Cornwind suggested the name based on the concept of a site getting newbie traffic in September from people who don't read the rules. ES here would have been that kind of guy as a character, with an introductory post saying "Eternal September joined the forum". He would never break the fourth wall per se, but his powers would. He would basically be a bad RPer given too much power, walking around with an alien girlfriend and using strange powers given to him to be unbearable. He would fight like a child, almost getting hit but saying "Nuh uh, you didn't hit me!" And it would be true! He could basically create deluded self-insert fanfiction into a reality, and fighting him and winning would be impossible! How would the Kobbers have finally defeated him when they got tired of his entitled shit? Criticism. Legitimate undeniable criticism would have been his undoing. Unable to handle it, he would try to get rid of everyone in a fit of rage, only for his powers to misread the wish and porting him to a void. Not ever done because being meta can be grating, annoying, boring, stupid, obtrusive, and all around bad when done WELL, so Eternal September was too big a risk and more of a "chatzy joke" kind of character anyway. Instead of this guy appearing in 2012, we got a spaceship sharing his name in 2013.

Well, that is all you are getting for now! Sorry it is long, but I had to wash my hands of these characters and finally stop the constant "OH I FORGOT THAT GUY!"s that have been going through my head.

Ciao!

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Rounding up more rejects

A while back I did a blogpost with the many characters I've cooked up who didn't make the cut. Today as I changed my 2015 character hints to excise a character and replace them with a different idea, I decided to whip out a few more, mostly so I can finally delete their pictures from my recycle bin!

Anzu
Original Character
At some point in Chatzy there was a discussion along the lines of pigs, and pig characters began springing up in my mind. Mainly, a pig assassin, and a google search brought up this picture you saw here of the character that was slowly forming in my mind. Anzu would be a perfect fit if we ever did go to Japan for an RP year, but she would have been an abrupt speaker, very conscious of being judged for being swine and with a short temper to boot. Nothing extensive was fleshed out, I just thought a pig ninja would be cool!


Mayor Blazingworth the 420th
Original Character
Although the name is stolen from one of TieTuesday's many Fibbage videos, the character that sprung up was of my own imagining. A super chill mayor whose weed tendencies are not hidden at all, for some reason I decided I want him to be a pot wizard as well and when I found this picture I both simultaneously realized I had found Mayor Blazingworth and would not be able to use him. Why? Because he'd just be the Crunk Wizard basically, and stealing ideas, especially from users who are gone, ain't cool.

Ember
From: Danny Phantom
Besides her very catchy song and surprisingly dark backstory, Ember had cool music powers and is a ghost! I toyed with the idea of her showing up as the girlfriend of JRM in 2012, but there were many problems with that idea and it was a twist for the sake of a twist. Maybe if I hosted Fite Club more often she could have shown up, but I'm putting the nail in the coffin for Ember now. I'll always love your design and concept and backstory and Danny Phantom was a pretty good show until they decided it needed a new tv movie every week.
Miek
From: Planet Hulk
Guess who liked the side characters in Planet Hulk? Me did! Miek especially, who began as an *ahem* meek character who grew in confidence and loyalty as he hung out with Hulk and the gang. Miek's many arms and interesting personality drew me to him specifically and I do like speech quirks even though I hate writing them because of fear of forgetting them, but Miek might have been fun if I had ever fleshed out the idea anymore than "MIEK! LET'S BE MIEK!"

Molly
From: The Walking Dead Video Game
Here we go, a character with more than "just an interesting face"! Molly was thought up because of something very specific in 2013 RP. When Cornwind unleashed zombies on the world like it ain't no thing, Molly was gonna show up with the backstory of being a space tourist who went with her family to explore Porphyrion only for them to all die in the zombie attack save Molly. In Walking Dead and potentially in RP her weapon of choice would be an ice pick and she would have a rough attitude without being harsh. She would get along with people but wouldn't put up with anyone's crap. Scrapped because the zombie thing passed and she had nowhere else to come from after that.

Monster Carrot
From: Dragon Ball
Can you say amazing concept? Can you say giant rabbit that turns people into carrots? Can you say "power that would not work in RP at all?" Monster Carrot was just such a crazy character and I wanted to use him so badly, but even in Fite Club he would be too intrusive with his ability to turn people into carrots. I considered giving the power an easy reversability, but that left him with nothing else going really. Sometimes you just got to give up on a concept to avoid ruffling other people's feathers.

Morgan
From: Nerf NOW!
Morgan in the webcomic Nerf NOW! is a female version of the Demoman, and mostly I just really liked her design and wanted to build a character around that. At first I considered changing the name entirely and just building a character off the image, but I also considered having her be the daughter of the RED Demoman, using grenade launchers and the like in combat. The thing is, even as I tried to imagine her as something besides the webcomic character, I couldn't ever deviate far enough from her to make her my own character, so in the scrappile she goes.
Sinbad
Original Character
Based off of one of the many Role Play Rulesets Del drums up, Sinbad was a character I joked about using in that ruleset, but eventually he formed into a real character in my head, moreso than anyone else here. Before Deckplot he was slated for 2014, and I even considered him hitching a ride aboard the ZFS to appear in 2015. However, roster size started to become and issue I didn't feel I could give him enough time to fully flesh him out. The setting change after that just made the origin incompatible with the current setting. Sinbad is a feral king, and he was always meant to be found scrounging around the ZFS on first encounter. He and his two cats (who would have silly names of course) would join the bar and Sinbad would fight like a feral man would. Eventually, the truth of his origins come clear. Sinbad himself could not speak normally, speaking in basically caveman speak or lunatic ramblings, but he would believe his cats to be completely articulate. While relating what his cats said to others, we would hear the story of how he lost his kingdom and went insane for reasons I now forget. Oh well!

and lastly, a Big Bar Brawl Mystery Fiter Reject we will never see in the arena...

Thomas the Tank Engine
This mean machine would have crashed his way into the arena for whatever year he was slated to appear, but it never came to be. I mostly just wanted to play his jam and knew his reveal would be suitably what I want from a Mystery Fiter, but besides driving around as a train, he brings little interesting to the battle. Plus, the joke was done to death by the Skyrim mods and such, and I feel like there are many memes like "Loff and Loff" or the Monopoly man thing that I would either avoid to people's chagrin or indulge in and feel dirty doing so. The Mystery Fiter isn't supposed to be expected or predictable, hence why ten Shreks will not be showing up anytime soon either.

There they are, more faces down the drain! Most never even growing into true concepts! But now I can empty my "Future" folder of them and replace them with more half-baked ideas!

Friday, March 13, 2015

"If any person be so hardy as to tear this down, they may expect my severest Resentment "

Pô, Burkina Faso
November 4, 2014

"The winds of revolution have passed, and so too, is it time for me to leave as well. It is nice to leave without fires at my back, but a bit less dramatic, don't you think, Balaam?"

For a man in this French-speaking nation, the British accent of the speaker would grate against the common ear, but the voice was hardly attached to the mouth of a common man. His voice was what it needed to be when it needed to be, with even his preferred British affect one born of his peculiar origins rather than any truthful lineage or upbringing.

At one moment, there was a man standing on the ground, a caricature of the ousted President Blaise Compaoré with a suit stained with blood and adorned in lies. A mask completed the image, split between the once revolutionary leader of a coup and the greedy president who sought to keep his position for life. The clothes slipped off easily enough, but the mask had to be torn from the face of the figure, cracking and groaning as the spirit within sheds the effigy that pushed the Burkinabè Revolution from behind the scenes.

"My apologies Blaise, but it is the cause I stand with, not its individual people. Although the 80s were a blast, were they not?"

"You should keep better company than an ass, Joyce, I fear you've gone to talking to yourself again," a new voice cuts in.

"Joyce Jr., Balaam, I would appreciate you stop hounding me with your raillery, at least on the eve of a success. Some reflection aloud is not too much harm, is it?" Joyce Jr. responds, the spirit floating over to his mule companion, Balaam. The ass, equal in its lack of corporeal form, appeared no different than a regular donkey, save its mouth capable of speech. Joyce Jr. however, was the spitting image of a specter.
"Not until you abandon the name of my abuser and imagine a new name for me," the ass replied.

"Oh Balaam, then all meaning is lost in your story! The very same donkey Balaam rode with his meeting with an angel, if there had only been a given name then I would surely address you by it. But if we are to tie you to your purpose like I am tied to mine, you must suffer the stings left by the diviner."

The stings shone on the side of Balaam, the three scourge's marks left by the donkey's namesake. Balaam had punished his ass for resisting the unseen presence of the angel who would have slain him, and the Lord gave it speech to protest this unnecessary roughness. This divine providence and its legacy brought the mule to the eye of Joyce Jr., and so lead them down this shared path that leads out of Burkina Faso this day.

"I would appreciate a more feminine name at least, bearing the name of a male is an unnecessary confusion." Balaam snorts as Joyce Jr. floats over, manifesting legs for the soul purpose of riding the Biblical beast of burden.

"Very few have need of your name, and those who do already know the truth of it, but let us put name games aside for the moment. If you have come to me, then it is time to ride out, is it not? The people of Burkina Faso are pleased, for the moment, although another visit in a few decades is not unexpected." Joyce Jr. looks towards the sky as he prattles on, even the intense midday sun failing to penetrate the darkness of his face. "Africa is a hotbed for such things, is it not Balaam? Where is our next destination then? Across the border perhaps?"

"There is no shortage of unrest here, but we head for more familiar lands. America." Balaam begins, prodding along the ground until the world disappears around the both of them, wisps of purple and black accompanying them as they pass through the blue aether.

"You will have to be more specific than that, old friend, I have spent many years in the South and Central regions... you couldn't mean you are carrying me homeward?" Joyce Jr. responds, trying to hide the excitement in his voice.

"We are heading to the United States, yes." Balaam replies flatly.

'Oh ho ho ho! It has been all too long! Then the Kobbers are returning then! Most good, most good! I have been very curious about their part in this global play. And you sense it is the proper time?"

"What little trust you place in me! I would not carry you to where I did not believe you were meant to go."

"This shall be most interesting then! Rarely do I commune with fellow vigilantes..." Joyce Jr. says, his hand miming the motion of a pensive chin rub. "I do hope you have given me time to prepare? I would hardly wish to walk up to some such group of import with nothing but stories to my back?"

"We arrive before they have even touched ground, Joyce-"

"Joyce Jr."

"Joyce. If you are to be so doubting of me, perhaps you should find some other companion down this road you weave?"

"Oh Balaam, I am not doubtful, only careful. I would have thought the constant questioning to become apparent only as precaution by now. You are truly as stubborn as your species's reputation,"

"And you certainly match that of yours as well." Balaam quips. The muted and dark tones of the spiritual passage begin to fade as the ghostly hoof of Balaam touches concrete, lights blazing in the night of Las Vegas.

"What a sight this is! Well Balaam, shall we begin?"