Internet personas

[Arrow]

I've also never really understood fan-characters, I've tried my hand at them but I find it really boring and uncreative.

I create characters all the time because I'm a writer, but I never make characters just to use for myself like a persona because the character has a life of it's own, and I don't want to 'use' them in that way. To me, my characters belong in stories. That's not to say I don't draw random people, I do, but they aren't characters. Just drawings.

I understand what you're saying completely. But I'd argue that when creating characters to fit into existing stories, you're faced with a whole new set of originality and design problems. In ways, it's harder to make things fit within existing ideas than it is to create a whole new world. It's easier, for example, to design a believable alien life form than something that could believably exist on our planet. Out of a bucket load of Sonic styled characters I've scribbled over the years, only one or two at a push would comfortably fit into the Sonic "world" in their current design. And even those two have their problems, which I've learnt to ignore based on SEGA's lacking care for such things.

Any characters I create, fan based or original, are naturally occurring. I don't think I've ever sat down with the intention to design a character, they just happen. They are ...obvious? Usually starting as, like you said, random "people" (though in my case, I don't ever draw people D:) and gradually becoming something more developed.

Saying all this, unlike you it seems, I'm a primarily visual person who'd not only rather someone else came up with the rest of the work involved but I'm pretty shit at it anyway. Which is why fan-characters appeal, I guess.

I'm often a little urked by the assumption that people who do not come up with their own entire worlds are somehow less talented, especially given the industry works in such a way where few individuals are writers and illustrators successfully of their own work. The brains of those practising in both areas are usually vastly different with their own distict talents.

Edited September 27, 2009 by Arrow

[Agent York]

I went by an internet meme of Blackarms for a while when a friend of my dad's who happened to be a strategy guide photographer one day showed me various areas inside Shadow the Hedgehog knowing I was a huge Sonic the Hedgehog fan. He's yanked my chain a few times since them, but he has also showed me some pretty neat stuff over time.

However, I never really invented a character for Blackarms, it was just that, a name. However, I never really liked fan characters so as a joke for a while I went as my "All New Original Bad-Ass Character"...

Sombrero Shadow.

He was Shadow... Wearing a sombrero.

I made some bogus story up about him and acted like he was so important to me. That was fun...

Edited September 27, 2009 by Dusk Golem

[azoo]

My name comes from the back of a Pringles can that said "sugar" in Spanish, which is "Azucares". So I named my internet persona Azukara. XD

However, for a while I had a really terrible fancharacter (back in '04 or '05) of a mixture between Shadow with Tails' hairs and the color scheme of a Raichu. Those were some bad memories I wish I didn't have. D=

After that, I changed my name on the forums rather often. From Ristar to Sgt. Pepper to Dream Drifter (when I was obsessed with NiGHTS) to Ren Hoek to Sonic the Hedgehog himself. One time I also had the name "Machosart", which I really like myself, but I don't know how that name came to be. I was just playing my friend's PC version of Halo, and I thought up a random name off the top of my head for the profile. I like it, but I dunno if I'll use it in the future..

Edited September 27, 2009 by Azukara

[JezMM]

I understand what you're saying completely. But I'd argue that when creating characters to fit into existing stories, you're faced with a whole new set of originality and design problems. In ways, it's harder to make things fit within existing ideas than it is to create a whole new world. It's easier, for example, to design a believable alien life form than something that could believably exist on our planet. Out of a bucket load of Sonic styled characters I've scribbled over the years, only one or two at a push would comfortably fit into the Sonic "world" in their current design. And even those two have their problems, which I've learnt to ignore based on SEGA's lacking care for such things.

Any characters I create, fan based or original, are naturally occurring. I don't think I've ever sat down with the intention to design a character, they just happen. They are ...obvious? Usually starting as, like you said, random "people" (though in my case, I don't ever draw people D:) and gradually becoming something more developed.

Saying all this, unlike you it seems, I'm a primarily visual person who'd not only rather someone else came up with the rest of the work involved but I'm pretty shit at it anyway. Which is why fan-characters appeal, I guess.

I'm often a little urked by the assumption that people who do not come up with their own entire worlds are somehow less talented, especially given the industry works in such a way where few individuals are writers and illustrators successfully of their own work. The brains of those practising in both areas are usually vastly different with their own distict talents.

Just a minor nitpick, but I have to disagree with your point on it being harder to make a character fit in an existing universe than a made up one. Making a character fit into one's own made-up world might require you to think about things you never thought about before with your world. "Making stuff up" to solve this problem may be harder because it can't clash with anything already in your world, it has to still be believable. At best I could vaguely agree that both original and fancharacters have their equal share of creative problems.

[novelty]

Warning: Fail alert

Well, For me, I have a long Internet persona, more or less like Loelin History 101.

I had very small golden years, and a lot of trials & tribulations; but the thing is, I had never been in anything or done anything that would change the internet.

I went from Bartyboy in 2002, to Loelin-Bartyboy in 2004, Joined here, Banned from here, Turned into LoelinTH, Started LoelinMusic, Began and end a 2 year ideal (as in 'never think restricted'), then changed into [Novelty].

And yes, I actually fail for this persona. at least give props that I am honest.

(I actually fail in amusement.)

Edited September 27, 2009 by {Novelty}

[Nepenthe]

I'll respond to that tangent and say I agree with JezMM's overall point. Established universes tend to already have some sort of template in place for the aesthetics and depth of characters, and with the mere tweaking of characteristics you can more easily create something that would fit into said world as opposed to creating more original characters and works. And when it comes to the Sonic series, I personally consider creating such a character a no-brainer. My fancharacters don't fit the SegaSonic universe 100% to the letter, but that's merely because I attached more detail to them. But I'll be damned if a ten-year old couldn't come up with something both aesthetic and personality-wise that was a true-blooded Sonic character with the exception of the Sega copyright. xP

Now, with all of that said, I too have personas! My current username refers to my default character Nepenthe' Bluth. Home-made cookies to anyone who can tell me the references in that name.

I created this fellow in summer of 2002 where originally he was was an Ashura sprite who wore a red vest and brown burlap shoes. Eventually a white t-shirt, some jeans and proper sneakers made their way in somehow, and a few more years of changing his markings and clothing resulted in what you see now... which is still Ashura. But he's going to stay that way as I've grown fond of his looks.

I further compensate for his appearance by hanging on to the fact that he's the only male hedgehog I know with absolutely no super-powers. And although he's a slight self-insert, what with being artistically inclined, emotional, and sarcastic, I think I've curbed that enough with his rebelliousness, nobleness, drinking, and slight promiscuity.

Also, another Sonic site I frequent had a Halloween celebration last year where members where asked to "dress up" as their fancharacters, so I went with my lyrebird, Claudio Pascal, and subsequently he's become my persona there. No major history to this guy: I saw a lyrebird on television around spring of last year and decided to make one then and there. This here is his default design with the exception of a few tweaks in his proportions and whatnot.

The easiest way to describe this guy is a Bugs Bunny redux with more qualities-- Smart streetwise, charismatic, a witty trickster, and some musical talent, but also flirtatious (Hell, a whore in some universes), loyal, proud and confrontational, and extremely social and outgoing. He's the token joker of my menagerie, and subsequently great fun to use in artwork and roleplays, sometimes moreso than my actual persona.

With all of that said, Claude's not too much like me, but he's so readily identified as my creation there that it's all too easy to call him a persona as well. The same goes for this guy to an extent: Aldagar Hunter, a serious, forever thinking, and slightly tentative yorkie. I suppose he shares my thought processes and preference for hands-on work, but that's about it.

So yeah, these three guys basically represent me wherever I go. Why I have no female ones, who knows?

[Blacklightning]

What you people see of me most of the time is a net persona in itself. I might seem like an angry rantfag with a special love for the f-word and a distinct hatred of all fandoms Sonic or otherwise, but outside of message boards it's a completely different story - I'm actually a reasonably nice guy within the bounds of reason, and I only use net rage for comical effect. It's kind of a split personality that I can't really help, when you think about it.

I also have a fanchar that I often used back when I still RPed - sadly for my lack of drawing ability and only somewhat basic spriting ability, I can't really make him look much better than a Tails clone and attempts by other artists haven't really been much better in that regard. Frankly, I knew this was going to happen anyway, so I attempted to broaden outwards in other fields instead, namely in abilities. Even on this I went overboard at first, creating a complete mess of special powers that in hindsight really didn't make sense in each other's context. Eventually I just narrowed it down to a vauge, underpowered mind control (only really strong enough to create audio/visual hallucinations for the most part) and an extremely versatile telekinetic ability (needless to say, I was kinda peeved when Silver showed up AFTER I made this decision) - that much, I can say, I'm honestly quite happy with. He also has two personalities that often argue with each other through the same mouth, that being an obvious homage to the previous paragraph.

He's had quite a long run and I've repeatedly attempted to make a fanfic loosely based around his exploits, but ultimately I'm never really happy with how it turns out. Shame really, because I had a fuckton of awesome plot twists to go through.

[Joseppi]

As for myself, I don't have an internet persona. I did create a Sonic character when I was around 12 years old. His name was Hotfoot the Pigeon. Everyone thought he was a duck. Maybe one day I'll draw him up for ya'll. Over the years I evolved him and took him out of the Sonic universe altogether.

The funny thing is, after I made him a human, (which was back in 2001) I changed his name to Blaze. Who would have thought that five years later, there would be a Sonic character of the same name. Kind of ticked me off. lol

Anyway, here's Hotfoot AKA Blaze.

Well, I decided to draw up Hotfoot. This was brought up at my forum as well, so I figured if it's at two forums, I might as well draw him up.

This is Hotfoot of 1996:

And this is a quick drawing of Hotfoot how he would have looked today:

Edited September 28, 2009 by Joseppi

[Arrow]

Just a minor nitpick, but I have to disagree with your point on it being harder to make a character fit in an existing universe than a made up one. Making a character fit into one's own made-up world might require you to think about things you never thought about before with your world. "Making stuff up" to solve this problem may be harder because it can't clash with anything already in your world, it has to still be believable. At best I could vaguely agree that both original and fancharacters have their equal share of creative problems.

I definitely meant to convey that they have their equal share of problems. I just choose to argue for the side often left defenceless, if you see what I mean? It definitely depends what universe we're fitting things into. I don't think Sonic illustrates my point very well at all. The creature design one is far better. Your point about things still being believable is kind of what I meant, any made up world must conform with stereotypes we are familiar with. But with regard to Sonic, I do get frustrated when people tar them all with the same brush. For me, fan characters are a way develop the aspects I like about the Sonic universe and leave behind those that I'm not so fond of. They aren't to be taken seriously, but they also aren't simple recolours with no thought. In serious design, away from simple fan-characters, creating visual representations of someone else's work or adding to someone else's work is bloody difficult. I know that creating your own...everything, is hard - I couldn't do it. I couldn't write and illustrate simultaneously and I envy those who do. What I'm getting at is the assumption that I'm somehow less able, because I work differently and tackle different problems, is ridiculous.

Going back to the point of the topic slightly... I think having an avatar that appeals to the mass of a particular fandom, because it's conforming to the world in which the fandom is based and is thus recognisable more so than something entirely original is... I think, pretty neat. I don't spend that much time in the furry fandom, but even if I did my character there struggles because he's not a fox or a wolf or a raccoon. Having a fan-character, in my case Arrow, makes me instantly recognisable and remembered. And I think that's not only important in such a huge fandom, but it's cool. And so, I don't really get why so many people dislike fan-characters.

It's basically like having a logo in the Sonic fandom, really.

[Cake]

Going back to the point of the topic slightly... I think having an avatar that appeals to the mass of a particular fandom, because it's conforming to the world in which the fandom is based and is thus recognisable more so than something entirely original is... I think, pretty neat. I don't spend that much time in the furry fandom, but even if I did my character there struggles because he's not a fox or a wolf or a raccoon. Having a fan-character, in my case Arrow, makes me instantly recognisable and remembered. And I think that's not only important in such a huge fandom, but it's cool. And so, I don't really get why so many people dislike fan-characters.

It's basically like having a logo in the Sonic fandom, really.

Arrow just about sums it up, but I'd like to add a bit of my thoughts on the matter as well.

Now, my experience in the realm of fancharacters might not be the norm, but when I first started off online in what I guess we'll call the "Sonic community", the two big forums were the SSMB and SZF. Not gonna get into a history lesson on what happened and whatnot, but what it boils down to is you had two communities that tended to tie into eachother.

A fancharacter essentially worked as a visual aid to identify who you were, which was all fine and dandy. Occasionally, you'd get a PM from someone "Hey are you that person from SZF/SSMB?" as they'd just recognize you easier. There's another factor that comes into it though, which I think gives the whole cocnept of fanchars a new twist, and that is the art aspect of it.

Now, I dunno who else has actually been around long enough to remember, but the SZF had a MASSIVE section for art. It was a large forum, and art was almost a currency there. Making art meant you were cool. Getting gift art meant you were even cooler! Even SSMB had a thriving art community, moreso than now, I'd argue. Tie that in with alot of SZF/SSMB members who were also on DeviantART, and a limitless supply of "what to draw" AKA the fancharacters, and you had an interesting formula on your hands. Let's break it down.

If you wanted to stand out in a forum of 10,000+ members, you needed art of your fancharacter. But your fancharacter needed to be unique. At the same time, you're on a Sonic forum. You are being bombarded with images of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, ect. Chances are, some of your favourite characters. So you get to designing. It's a purple Sonic with a red sweater, a sword, and rocket boots. You come up with a whole story for him too. He's cool. But you are on a forum that's always growing. How do we make him better? A cooler, more original fancharacter means cooler, more original art. That's cooler and more original!

We've essentially hit the nail on the head. Go through this topic, or look at just about any fancharacter that's been around for a few years (with exception to I think Dreadknux, actually XD) and you'll notice a change in design, if not several. I know for sure that I'm guilty of it, and I know that plenty of others have done the same. It's not a bad thing, but it's incredibly interesting. It even gets o the point where we try and improve the character so much that it escapes that scope of being a "recolor" (if it ever was), and eventually some try so hard as to escape the title of "Sonic fancharacter". Waning interests, I guess.

Most people now don't hang on to fancharacters as much, I notice. Maybe I'm just out of the loop nowadays, but it seems to me it's a majority of artists who still stick to their fancharacters. It used to be they were a form of garnering popularity, but somewhere along the line they've turned into an ongoing project of sorts. We've started to look at them less as "This is who I am on the internet." and more as "What can I do with thischaracter I've created?"

Ah well, make of it what you will! XP

[Chile]

If you think recolors are bad, I was once a freaking invert! Those make recolors look godly.

STK = SonicTailsKnuckles... yeah unoriginal but it stuck.

[Aoi]

Oh it's too bad I can't post my character as the rest of you guys. Lost it when my computer was formatted. Hopefully somebody still remembers it. x)

Oh oh oh I do. I thought it was creative... for a recolor. (:

[Frobman]

In terms of personas, I don't think I try to put on a different persona on the internet (At least I think so... Was never too good at self analysis). Though really, I seem to have a different persona depending on the person I am talking to, which pretty much occurs anywhere, and I suppose happens with everybody. I could be meek, I could be messed up in the head, I could be annoying or funny depending on your tastes, I can be deemed awesome or just bland. Though that's what I usually think of myself. My mother, for one, found it pretty hard to follow that I can have an amusing and funny personality, when I show her some of my works (especially one video I made of myself to explain my way of animating lazily)

As for an avatar, pretty much based on myself. The beret and sunglasses ensemble were a small niche added from who knows how long. The beret was considered by Ma, who would say back then that it shows one off as an artist. The sunglasses only because I was not fond of the way of drawing eyes for myself, and sunglasses just are cool!

The name was sort of interesting, cos I never really want to use my own name online, what with scandals but mostly to avoid people I don't think too fondly of on the net (if you don't want to meet somebody you don't like in general, why have them hasseling you on the internet?), and I would usually go between the names of Fred and Bob. I decided to combine them to Frob in DBZ fusion fashion, and later added in -man just to make it sound snazzier (plus, something added when joining a Kinnikuman forum, where 80% of the characters are always named "____man")

As for how I depict myself? Usually just me in a sense, but filled with more awesome at times. Though the times pass by, and it has been more self-deprecation than Mary Sueness, which I find more fun to do. Who else would draw themselves with buck teeth every so often? A person should laugh on oneself every once in a while. Can do wonders, sometimes.

[Daisoku]

Okay, this time i'm not gonna do a reaalllyyy long one. ^^'

I'll just focus it on my first ever, and favorite current, Sonic fanchara - Nero.

Woah.

Such an original name.

ANYWAY.

He was originally a 'Shadow copy' as you'd call it. Not a recolour. I had enough sense to see that recolours were just...ew. But not enough sense to make him is own character.

Brace yourselves.

EUUGGHHH I DIDNT KNOW HOW TO DRAW D:

His thumb's in the wrong place x.x

The small, furry one of him is the 'Meivee' version, the one who converses and inteacts with the other 'Meivees'(which are a mixture of cat, dog, and fox.) like Kichiasa, Kunai, Luna, and Artemis. (-pokes siggy- go there if ya wanna see em. they'll probs be there.)

Anyway... Nero was Shadow's 'brother', the prototype of the Ultimate Life. Haha. Ahahahahaha. His shoes were originally boots in the Air Shoes design, like Amy's or Silver's. Ugh.

He also had a scar under that bang of hair, that partially impared his vision in his right eye. ^^'

I used him for roleplaying and drawing, mostly.

Then, I had a sudden wave of consience and decided he NEEDED a re-design. I asked the awesome people over at Weazie Oekaki what colour he should be, providing two examples. They decided on one, and I made a ref.

Now, isn't that better? He's almost an entirely different hedgie~!

Yeaahhh... Now, he has no scar under the hair, and the shoes are different~

His powers...Uhhhmmmmm

He has bracelets that run off his own energy. He can use the Enerlets to create dark purple energy ballz, created, yes you guessed it, from his own energy, and he can become invisible for a very short period of time. It takes so much energy to use it. He's got to be careful with preserving his energy, or he'd pass out. This happens quite often. Anyway, That's how he 'developed'.

That is how he is today.

Oh, the meivee version didn't change. My friend loves the black-and-red meivee so much that I'm not allowed to change him.

The new design doesn't look quite right on him anyway.

Heh.

~Dai

[Arrow]

Most people now don't hang on to fancharacters as much, I notice.

Indeed. I remember towards the end of my time on SZF there was an increasing push for character development, specifically in back stories, and people started using ever more exotic species in their designs and began to move away from Sonic styled art all together.

I think, as you mentioned, SZF's art community had a lot to do with the growth and then drop in fanchars. think the fact that SZF had a section for fan chars encouraged them to be made and the evolution of the design requirements that people accepted to be "good". I was in a position where I was being criticised for not making my character something I didn't WANT him to be. It's not a natural progression. Arrow was designed to be a Sonic character. Making him fit forcibly into something else is bad design. I and a few others are living fossils who refused to jump on the ridiculous band waggon. Internet philosophy gets it's arse in a twist about the most ridiculous things.

Edited September 30, 2009 by Arrow

[RichoKidd]

I've really always wanted a Beefcake Knuckles (Beefcake meaning Muscular, Tank like) as my persona.

I wonder if anyone could sort that out for me

I'd call him BeefKnucks and come up with history and a story and everything.

[Kevin]

I'm myself online. I've never understood why you'd want to pretend to be someone else online, except within roleplaying communities.

Yay! Someone who feels the exact same way I do! It bugs me when people pretend to be someone they aren't. It doesn't give them a whole lot of creditability anyway.

As for fan characters, I never got into them myself. While I did have a fan character or two way back when I was starting out on the internet, I never really used them, and decided to get rid of them altogether.

[Chooch]

Is it just me or does having an internet persona/avatar/whatever you want to call it really not tie into pretending to be someone else? I have one and I honestly don't feel that I've been deceitful in any sort of way to any of you. I've even posted a picture of what I really look like on the forum. As for other personal information such as my real name, uh.. if you really want to know I'll tell you? I'm not trying to hide my identity.

Maybe I'm taking what you guys are saying a bit too seriously, but it bugs you all when someone pretends to be someone else just as much as it bugs me when someone assumes I'm pretending to be someone else 'cause I have an avatar/persona. I'm not.

Edited October 4, 2009 by Chooch

[PaddyFancy]

Yay! Someone who feels the exact same way I do! It bugs me when people pretend to be someone they aren't. It doesn't give them a whole lot of creditability anyway.

As for fan characters, I never got into them myself. While I did have a fan character or two way back when I was starting out on the internet, I never really used them, and decided to get rid of them altogether.

That's gonna make you a lot of friends, writing everyone who has an internet persona off.

[Kevin]

That's gonna make you a lot of friends, writing everyone who has an internet persona off.

My point was why would someone want to try and pretend to be someone who they aren't? Wouldn't somebody find out eventually who they really are?

Now if someone were doing a role play as a character, then fine, but outside of role plays, I personally think people should try to be themselves and not try to pretend to be someone else.

[JezMM]

Well, guess I shouldn't be a hypocrite (not that I was really criticising fancharacters earlier of course). I did used to have a Sonic fancharacter (two actually).

The super duper originally named Jez and Jezica. Jezica started as a joke involving Jez cross-dressing, but somewhere along the way she became her own character of his twin sister.

Back in the day when I used to draw him and RP and stuff, I did like him. Unlike most fancharacters, he had no special powers. In fact in all the RPs I did I was quite happy to play the "pathetic" character, following on behind the more powerful ones, getting scared etc. It actually worked out pretty well in terms of the development of the relationships with the characters (in particular a very brotherly one between the strongest character and mine).

I would by no means say I've "gotten rid of" my fancharacters. I still love 'em, but I just don't represent myself with them anymore. Nowadays I opt for just a cartooney version of myself, and use my original characters as avatars more often than not (I'd like to hope my style is recognisable enough for them to serve as an instant recogniser).

@ Arrow, I do agree that I also found it weird when everyone suddenly started "developing" their characters and moving away from Sonic style into anthro. It was as if they were afraid to have something as immature as a fancharacter and wanted to deny the fact that they weren't being 100% original. Just seemed ridiculous to me.

Edited October 4, 2009 by JezMM

[Pelly <3's U]

See this is why I knew this topic would be confusing for people.....there is a difference in people's minds as to someone having a fan char/avatar/RP char and someone having a persona i.e a different 'online personality.'

Anyways as for my online persona.....it's of an 18-year-old female named 'Pelly'. Sometimes I'll put up 'pictures' of 'Pelly' for my avatar and signature. I would say my obsession with this said caricature has gotten so bad that everyone I know in real life refers to me as 'Pelly', it's just so weird. I really don't know why I always have to hide behind this mask :0~~

[Chooch]

My point was why would someone want to try and pretend to be someone who they aren't? Wouldn't somebody find out eventually who they really are?

Now if someone were doing a role play as a character, then fine, but outside of role plays, I personally think people should try to be themselves and not try to pretend to be someone else.

But my question is how exactly am I and other people like me pretending to be someone else? Like I said earlier, I've posted a picture of what I look like in the picture thread and everything. I haven't lied to anyone. I'm not pretending to be someone else. I just have my own character that's kinda like my mascot, signature, whatever else.

See this is why I knew this topic would be confusing for people.....there is a difference in people's minds as to someone having a fan char/avatar/RP char and someone having a persona i.e a different 'online personality.'

Do you recommend a name change then? I figured that there would be a bit of confusion but I'm honestly not sure what the topic should be called.

[Mollfie]

Chooch, I don't mean(and I doubt Kevin does either)that you're lying to anyone by having a mascot or anything like that, I don't like 'personas' where you pretend to be someone you're not all the time online. So rather than just being yourself, you act differently online to offline? I'm sure we all do a little bit because it's easier to be confident and outspoken online that it is offline, but what I mean is when someone would pretend to say, be a 16 year old Japanese girl from Tokyo who's going to be a mangaka when they're actually just an average 16 year old American girl from Iowa. Why pretend? I've known people have 'personas' online and once I found out I just couldn't trust them as much.

[PaddyFancy]

I don't like 'personas' where you pretend to be someone you're not all the time online.

That still means lying.

So rather than just being yourself, you act differently online to offline? I'm sure we all do a little bit because it's easier to be confident and outspoken online that it is offline, but what I mean is when someone would pretend to say, be a 16 year old Japanese girl from Tokyo who's going to be a mangaka when they're actually just an average 16 year old American girl from Iowa. Why pretend? I've known people have 'personas' online and once I found out I just couldn't trust them as much.

You don't have to have an internet persona to lie like that. Seriously don't believe that scenario you described happens very often. What is sadly more common is if a 19 year old girl online is actually a 49 year old pervert who is after child abuse and the like.