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Bushtuckapenguin — Tucka's RWBY OC Tutorial
Published: 2015-03-13 00:05:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 2964; Favourites: 40; Downloads: 65
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A lot of time has passed since my last tutorial that I kind of dumped at the end of a template so I thought I would update it with lots of new links and resources.Also, blatant advertising! If ever you've wanted RWBY OC art, whether its character references, weapon design or just some graphic art, drop in!
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Comments: 55
Wow, thanks very much for commenting and I'm glad I could help. I hope the Flash games help with appearances or come join me at Arcadia Academy where you at least get a headshot for free. Cheers~
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so im making a fenrir inspired oc and i had an idea for her semblance to only activate at night time in which while in moon light she can activate her semblance which gives her immense speed and causes her hair to glow white and grow long and look unkempt
she dual wields triple barrel shot guns and is a fully fledged huntress
id like to know your opinion on her semblance and the way it works with her
and honestly if you have any idea how i could do it better id like to hear it
im constantly worried that my characters dont fit in rwby
also yes she is a wolf oc lol but i choose to believe its okie because of thematic reasons
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Sadly the rwby canon hasn't offered a lot of cold hard rules when it comes to semblances so all I can offer is through observation. We do know that its basically a physical manifestation of aura, aka soul.
We have seen physical transformations when a semblance is activated (Yang's eyes change colour and hair glows white, Neo's semblance possibly is transformation) so no worries there.
We haven't seen any contextual semblance activation (where there are certain requirements in order to be activated) so I don't think being activated by moonlight is worth while and sound's 'speshul snowflake' in that respect. As for suddenly becoming a 'fully fledged huntress', well I don't think that works either because Hunters don't they don't gain any extra skills or knowledge they didn't have before, just a power boost.
For her speed increase, well there's nothing wrong with it but we do know that Ruby, our main character has super speed so from my perspective its not particularly interesting, especially when its the 'thing that makes her special'. This tutorial is a tad out of date and I've discovered these sites that might help inspire you.
Super Power Generator || Super Power Wiki || X-Men Wiki || Pokemon Metronome || Hero Generator
I especially like the Pokemon Metronome. I like to pick 3. Choose one of those and make up three different versions of it. For example I got, Roost, Karate Chop, Hyper Voice. I like that idea of Hyper Voice so I sit down and wonder what kind of powers that might mean, strengths and weaknesses.
Hyper Voice 1: Amplifies the Hunters voice to mega decibel levels, deafening and disorientating, however its not targeted and affects Allies and Enemies alike.
Hyper Voice 2: The hunter is able to pitch their voice in ultrasound, often a whistle that disorientates and distracts but also as a method of altered perception (eg echo location.)
Hyper Voice 3: Using infrasonic, the hunter is able to cause feeling of awe or fear around them. Also causes strong vibrations, weakening structures.
Hyper Voice 4: Using the semblance, the hunter is able to plant subliminal suggestions in an enemy's mind just by whispering close to their ear. "Limp." "I have a stitch." "Freeze" "My weapon's handle burns like coals."
I had to stop there because you can actually have a huge amount of fun just thinking up all the powers with one little hint like, Hyper Voice. Try it once or twice, because you give yourself options.
And you're okay to use a wolf faunus. Nothing to stop you from enjoying your wolf faunus as I always believe you should write what you love. That said, one of the biggest inspiration killers for newbies is just being ignored. There are dozens of rwby OCs submitted a day, and my time to get excited, invested or even just comment is limited and thus I spend my time on the unusual and the unique and make me go 'wow, what an interesting idea!' A panda, a komodo dragon, a jackal.
There's a guy on my RP who has a Russian Shepherd faunus, a large mountain dog trained in Russia to defend against wolves. Sure, it seems like a plain old dog but I'd never seen it before in the fandom, had to look it up and just loved the idea! There were Russian folk tales about it guarding against ghost/spirits of the long winter.... wow! I've drawn him a couple of times now because I like the idea and RP with him.
You're not going to get bad mouthed, our fandom is pretty good about that, but you might get ignored and that's a real heart breaker for those getting in the fandom.
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yaaaaahhh getting ignored aint a worry
i literally have 1 dev art friend after like 3 years on here
im kinda what ever
also nora's lightning empowerment semblance requires specific things to activate it
and the reason i made her a full fledged hunter is to increase her power
also when i comes to "special snowflakes" i do purposefully make each character in there own way special
but i do it more through personality and to a much lesser extent there backstory
granted i do mah best to make them still normal
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OCs are a great way to make friends, wouldn't you like someone to chat with about Fenrir? The highlight of my day is when I receive fanart of my rwby OC, a burst of enthusiasm.
You are correct about Nora, I consider her transformation but his more a direct conversion of electrical into kinetic energy.
You actually hit the nail on the head in your first post, a good OC blends with the canon so 'speshul snowflake syndrome', being that more unique and powerful it turns readers off. Also known as Mary-Sue or Gary Stus who often get instant power ups that make them awesome. Considering even a sixteen year old in Remnant is badass, having even better than that seems like over kill. I would also consider it a short cut in characterisation, that she suddenly gains a whole heap of knowledge, power and skill in moonlight (so one day a month during the new moon she's depowered) when she could earn it, learning through mistakes and adventures. Wave of the magic wand and she's a fully fledged hunter- then what's the point of her going to school?
I've given my thoughts and you can take it the rest of the way. Good luck.
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this character isnt really ment to be rped outside of me and my friend but if i did do it id totally age her down for that exact reason
i always do my character as "special but plausible" like there unique and cooouuuuld be a main character but i dont over due it and make them any more special then say nora or ren
and either way with her semblance i just went with something short, sweet and easy, basically just being able to see living things through walls, but just living things
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Well then that answers all your questions! If its for yourself and your friend then you create your own universe with your own rules, usually called fanon which are laws unto themselves. Good luck!
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i think you miss understand.... its not a universe with my own rules, i call that lazy
i want the character to exist by the universes rules
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No worries mate! Give a bell if there's any questions!
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Ok. There is one: My character doesn't have to be based on anything from a fairy tale or mythology, right?
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No, it doesn't. As far as we know Sky Lark, or Coco don't have a fairytale basis, but it does make a character feel that much more in harmony with the canon, and in many cases a sense of roundness and cohesiveness in theme.
I've found google to be of immense help because the world is filled with stories and you can usually find something similar to what you're looking for. Recently when helping someone else I typed in 'famous swords' or 'mythology bluejay' and 'mirror myth story' bam!, that sent the guy of with a firework explosion of ideas. I would recommend exploring all the possibilities you can before discarding the idea.
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I asked becuase I have an idea that my character and his team are based on the four basic elements.
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Oh, that's great. Elements are strong in myth! Greek has four gods associated with the cardinal elements; air with Zeus, earth with Hera, fire with Hades, and water with Nestis/Persephone. Or even with old medicine with the four humours could be fun to play around with (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism ) Those are cool too because they're often associated with the four core personalties of drama. Good luck!
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Well, I already have a name for one of them: His name is Ignis Redgrave. He represents fire, mainly wears red and his weapon is a sword that can shift into a rifle and has a rev up mechanism that heats up the blade. He has a brother named Kori, who prefers to use ice, amking him represent ice/water.
Sounds good?
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A character is better as a whole rather than a sound bite. Why not write up detailed bios and I'll check them out when they're available.
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So I can't see this as I'm on mobile,but what kind of sembelence would you reccomend for a character who uses swords that fold together to a bayonet rifle and the stick together for a sword staff? I haven't seen many other oc'a so would it be possible for aura to be used as a weapon because originally my oc Had the sembelence to use his aura to make his blade sharper and such(excuse
any por grammar found im not the best at grammer :/)
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Oooh, that's a hard one especially since I struggle with any kind of semblance advice. The canon has been closed mouth about their rules other than they represent a personal aspect of their self. If you'd like inspiration, I go to places like powerlisting.wikia.com/ or x-men.wikia.com/wiki/X-Men_Wik… and keep hitting random. Once I have one I like, I tweak it to fit the rules and themes of the fandom, tone it down, make sure I understand its strengths, its weaknesses and things that might restrict it.
We have seen aura used as a weapon, Lie Ren used aura blast to kill the Taijitu so its not out of the question that could be used as his semblance.
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Alright 
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Hi, me again.
So I have a quick question; I know the 'shy girl hulks out' trope is done to death, but would it count if her reason for her fighting prowess isn't anger but the "encouragement" of her sister's spirit who may just be schizophrenia caused by her PTSD? Because frankly I'm afraid that might be worse...
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No worries mate, hit me up as many times as you like. Heck, come over here and join the chat so you can get more than one opinion on the matter. I'm just one reviewer with one point of view and I do recommend as many as you can for a broad perspective. arcadiaacademy.net
I'll be honest I've seen every incarnation of shy girl hulking and there's no possible way to surprise me so for me a strong, consistent character is more interesting faux plot twist. The bigger red flag as you pointed out is PSTD and schizophrenia because for me these are tragic illnesses that are too easily simplified, dumbed down or exploited in the name of a teenagers view of angst. If you chose to go with schizophrenia I highly recommend researching. Don't go with the TV version and think that's it, dig deep, find personal accounts. Don't romanticize it because if done poorly its an insult. Honestly many sufferers aren't functionally associative so I'm not sure how one would get past Ozpin into Beacon.
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See that's what I was afraid of... though I will admit now the whole ptsd thing (which I have actually studied before) was only going to be brought up like once and was meant to be more of a way to throw some people for a loop as my idea (... which I now realise is even more cliché that shy-hulk...) was she and her sister where a test at using dust to cause some form of hive-mind resulted in her twin sister dying and blah blah angsty sadness... I think my problem is how she was originally basically Corona from soul-eater; a person who was forced into a terrible situation which lead her to have great combat abilities but socially inept to a painful extent, only in place of black blood she had the remnants (no pun intended) of her sisters conscience which were little more that pained grunts and occasional moral boost; but Natalie (oh uh... that's her name...) learned she can hear her sister better in the heat of battle so she fights underground to get that rush and speak with her sister, but after finding out what happens with the proceeds from the fights (I... never really got that far with the details yet) she leaves to find someplace to get stronger to stop them but due to her anthropophobia that's near impossible until she hears about Beacon.
...So this is actually an after thought now that I actually read what I wrote but it occurs to me if I cut out the shyness I might actually have a character outside of a trope... maybe... possibly... sorta...
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Sorry I disappeared mate, bit of week.
Personally, your character doesn't appeal to me because I don't like reading angst because RL if a drag as it is. The characters I like best are best described as 'an ordinary guy in extra ordinary circumstances'. Your OC sounds like she's dragging around a great big bridal train of issues that a reader has to swallow before they get to her. That's a red flag for lots of readers.
But there's a whole swathe of the internet that does like reading angst. You're welcome to try Natalie (does her name have a colour reference according to Monty's Rule?) because I can see you believe in her. You can only try and learn.... and if she gets rejected you can tweak her... and if shes still not getting attention you can try again from scratch. That's the great thing about OCs, they're not set in stone. You can still grow from failure and no one will ever know about the skeletons in your closet. I personally have some very bad Sonic and Sailor Moon Mary Sues that will never see the light of day again.
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Yeah I've really been re-evaluating my work over the past week or so and I see what your saying, I still want to try and have some deeper moments but your right the angst I was writing was worse than frank miller... I've decided to drop Natalie and redevelop her into something less cliché, also I changed her name to Navi so it would match her colour better. Navi... bet you can't guess her colour.
Thought I still have the problem with the story being dark, because its dark but so is RWBY in a sense; what I mean is finding the line of "yeah that's regular for the series" and not "What's up with this Grimdark shit everywhere?" is something I struggle with...
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Good on ya. Starting again hurts like a bastard but you'll soon grow to love Navi as much as Nat. Having a darker setting is a great way to get that gritty feeling you're looking for. I find the canon a little too glossy.
I reccommend starting with an antagonistic force- what is the bad guy or threat your OCs will face. That gives you a story arc, which you can than see how your characters will grow and change.
Antagonistic force can be something like the six great plots.
Vs environment... What if there was a natural disaster, an earthquake that flattens Vale and Beacon, refugees and Grimm attacks and disease?
Vs man.... A new villain? What threat do they pose
Vs technology... What if Penny became mass produced and went crazy terminator style?
Vs supernatural... A new kind of Grimm with crazy powers?
Vs religion...a weird cult that worships Grimm and human sacrifice.
Vs self... More to do with character arcs.
Use your plot for angst rather than characters is the right way to go. Pace it out getting darker with each new chapter, give your readers that gut feeling!
Cheers!
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Alright thanks man!
I think I'll have to go with the vs tech one as WAY back during season one episode eight I was thinking "this show could have giant robots right?" and started writing my team fighting to stop a metal gear ish enemy... then the altesian paladin happened and my giant robot disappeared; but I think I fond a loophole.
Welp if you'll excuse me *knuckles crack* I have some work to do!
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I kinda was off deviantart so I was off the RWBY OC making then I came back to it....strangely there maybe more OCs than I can handle but this may help in the slight :3
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Go for it mate, totally worth while!
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Blarg; after reading this list I'm glad I decided to reboot when I did... from what I can tell from this tutorial I was actually over doing my under-doing... uhh let me rephrase that; I mean I was trying WAY to hard to show how my team wasn't a bunch of mary/gary-sue/stus only to basically end up making them kinda lame, I mean they definitely weren't Sue's but I don't think making them blatant anti-sue's is any better...
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Good onya mate. The best OCs are those that improve over time. I don't see them on your account, don't be shy, post them! If you're looking for a place to show them off I tend to recommend two places. The RWBY Forums rwbyforums.com/forums/rwby-fan… , or hang out with us over at Arcadia Academy arcadiaacademy.net/forum/origi… Cheers!
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I'll check those sites out, as for posting them though I don't yet have an image... i'mm trying to draw them myself and I am really OCD about my 'art'.
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Good luck! I can't wait to see them as I admire people give drawing their OCs a burl, it makes them that much more unique.
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Well I'll try not to disappoint then!
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I have four OCs I've spent quite a while working on, making them into a team. I kinda want to post them on here, get some feedback on them... or maybe get some feedback BEFORE posting... or something.
Can you help me with that?
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No worries. If I was to say anything, I would say don't be afraid of posting on here. The RWBY fandom is more indifferent than cruel in its criticism. A wise man once said, The first version is always shit and until you write about a pink Sonic the Hedgehog clone with wings (as I have) you've got nothing to fear.
But if you really would like some private feed back, write your bios up in a Google Doc, or even better if you're set on growing your Team give them a home, a Wix.com (such as my mate CausticQuip's The End is Nigh ) and Note me a link. I'll get back to you as ASAP.
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I sent you a note with link to the bio of my first char. Not sure if you got it or not. Regardless, allow me to publicly thank you for your assistance.
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Gotcha mate! I've got tomorrow off so I'll give them a good look over. Cheers!
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Thanks for the character writing advice.
Is there anywhere I can get my OC reviewed, btw?
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Sure. I can review your characters here but I always like to recommend a varied opinion. arcadiaacademy.net/forum/origi… is my little neck of the woods and there are two or three members as well as myself I feel can give good critical feedback. Here rwbyforums.com/forums/rwby-fan… tend to be more brutal, and its kind of a hit or a miss whether than notice you or shred you. But the more brutal the advice and honest the advice, the more you can do with it. Cheers!
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Do I have to sign up if I want to be reviewed on Arcadia.
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Unfortunetly yes, they're both forums so you need to sign up, but you dont need to be a member of our RP to hang out with us. The forums are open and so's the chat. Just post in the Original Hunters section. If you're not interested I could just review them here.
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I tried to join but it redirects me to a page that says, "Could not open socket"
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Oh, I'm sorry. Its my first time using pdfs on the site. What link where you trying?
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You know what... just. Here docs.google.com/document/d/10z…
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No worries! I'll give him a review and get back to you!
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I would check over the tutorial for grammatical/spelling errors and syntax.
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I know, I'm usually pretty good about it but I'll go back through once I get the chance. Cheers.
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