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Description
I have something much, much bigger and better than this in the works, but I just wanted to put this thing up so you know I'm still alive. And yes, for the record, I realized after all this time that it should be written ShadowVEIL, not ShadowVALE. Her name will henceforth have the new spelling.

Anyway, I found this lovely little character chart made by a guy called Dan Syron . I've always believed that the key to making something original is to take what you've seen before and take it in a new direction, so I wanted to show you exactly where a few of my characters came from, starting with the most obvious.

STARDUST

Sonic the Hedgehog: This one's pretty obvious. Stardust originally started out as a Sonic fan character WAY back in 2003, and his super speed was made part of his character so he could keep up with the abundance of Mary Sues. Stardust has never really lost that Canon Sue sort of character type (he wins a lot, for example), but he isn't intended to be the "Boring Invincible Hero" archetype, and his only extranormal ability that isn't provided by a gadget now is genre savvy, which isn't so much a power as a story element.
Yuck: Because, honestly, they just look REALLY similar. I'm a huge fan of Butch Hartman's earlier work (Danny Phantom, early Fairly Odd Parents) as well as that of Bob Boyle, and Stardust's look, while originally inspired by Cosmo's floaty-eared rabbit form, was really solidified when I first saw Yuck in Yin-Yang-Yo.
Razputin Aquato: Those goggles had to come from somewhere. Blink, from Spyro: A Hero's Tail, also has a pair of goggles like these, but I feel Raz was more inspirational because he, like Stardust, is a bit of a smartass and has an immature streak.
Proto Man: And of course, the scarf had to come from somewhere too. As with all of the characters on this list, Stardust shares some traits with Proto Man: He may seem unflappable, and he may act like a jerk at times, but Stardust feels strongly about a lot of issues, and doesn't like to see innocent people get hurt. In spite of this, he doesn't see himself as much of a hero, and prefers to just look out for himself and do what feels right in a given situation.

LINDA

Jenny Wakeman: Jenny is obviously the primary inspiration for Linda. She's hyper-advanced, and surprisingly human in mannerism, but she lacks a lot of knowledge about who she is on a level other than the purely technological. Linda's aesthetic design is also mostly based on Jenny's, such as the boots, multiple arm joints, and her original, blade-like hairdo.
Clank: Like her boss, Linda is often calm, collected and a sophisticated speaker in spite of her natural clumsiness. Her wit is as dry as a bone, and even though she admires Stardust and enjoys assisting him, she also doesn't hesitate to snark at him if she has a reason to. Plus, there's the obvious sidekick angle.
Irona: Sometimes, Linda feels as though she's still playing the nanny role she did when Stardust was twelve. Designed specifically to see to his every need, Linda interacts with Stardust on a highly intimate level. Because of this, she's seen his true character, warts and all, and knows precisely how to work with him most effectively. To be honest, I don't know much about Irona's personality, particularly her latest incarnation, so I based this mostly on the sorts of things that I expect an adventurer kid's robot maid would need to know and do.
Harley Quinn: Linda is the Harley to Stardust's Joker. No man is a hero to his valet, but Stardust isn't exactly a hero, and Linda isn't exactly a valet. In an odd contradiction to her similarities to Clank, Linda is more often than not completely willing to follow Stardust's lust for excitement, and believes that he'll always do the right thing in the end. She'll follow him to the ends of the earth, and won't regret a moment of it.

LAFAWNA

Elora the Faun: I'd find it strange if nobody saw THIS coming. Originally, Lafawna even had a green bra, elf ears and a fox-like tail, but the similarities were so close I decided to switch it up a bit. Starting with...
Wendy Corduroy: Wendy has that vibe of "she's like a cool big sister figure but I might also have a chance with her". Like Wendy, Lafawna doesn't get sad very often and is able to be feminine without being overly girly. I haven't seen more than a few episodes of Gravity Falls, but I imagine the daughter of a guy named "Manly Dan" would also know her way around the wilderness, a skill which Lafawna has in spades.
Bitey of Brackenwood: And speaking of a wild one, Bitey is one of Lafawna's most prominent inspirations. Both are horrendously quick on their feet, and are prone to causing mischief which may or may not backfire. Lafawna's theme song, which I wrote myself (yes, I can actually write music) is even based on the fast-paced, Celtic sound of Bitey's theme, as shown in "The Yuyu".
Maureen O'Hara: If you've never heard of this actress, you've heard of the characters she inspired. Red hair and green eyes are actually quite an uncommon combination, but the "Queen of Technicolor" had them, and she played up her Fiery Redhead traits as much as she could. This woman didn't wait to be rescued when she was in a movie. Half the time, she'd be the one doing the rescuing.

PRINCESS SHADOWVEIL

The Shadow Queen: This is another obvious one, but the resemblance sort of ends once you get past their physical similarities. Both are tall, shadowy, and attractive (in a frightening way), but I think the Shadow Queen's goals and traits are more indicative of Princess Shadowveil's mother instead.
Maximillion Pegasus: It's been a long time since I last watched Yu-Gi-Oh!, but it would be silly not to include this crazed metrosexual. He's a ruthless businessman and a skilled gamer, but he also has a soft spot for the comics and cartoons he grew up with. He has that sort of balance between maturity and childishness which I often use to determine my own path in life, and this makes him a perfect example of what goes best into a snarking villainess who doesn't take her own job entirely seriously.
Aku: When it comes to Princess Shadowveil's powers, on the other hand, no villain does it better than the Shogun of Sorrow himself, Aku from Samurai Jack. He and Jack went at it for a long time, but they could never seem to get the pendulum to swing one way or the other, in spite of Jack's swordsmanship or Aku's mystical powers. Claws aren't always as good an option as a blade, or a crushing implement, or turning into a giant monstrosity, and Princess Shadowveil has a penchant for trickery which would rival Aku's, if she could really work up the initiative to use it.
Hexadecimal: It's no big secret that I adore ReBoot, and the biggest thing derived from Hex is how easily her relationship with Bob resembles the enmity between PS and Stardust. Neither she nor Stardust actually despise each other, but they do have a considerable rivalry, which mostly consists of them attempting to one-up each other as they try to accomplish their conflicting goals.

Now, none of these are a complete rendition of my inspirations. I have everyone from Zack Morris to King Dedede guiding my pen, and I don't believe anyone else's characters are meant to be simple either. It all comes down to the tried and true tactic of taking what works and leaving what doesn't.

I only own the characters on the far right. Obviously.

Description
I have something much, much bigger and better than this in the works, but I just wanted to put this thing up so you know I'm still alive. And yes, for the record, I realized after all this time that it should be written ShadowVEIL, not ShadowVALE. Her name will henceforth have the new spelling.

Anyway, I found this lovely little character chart made by a guy called Dan Syron . I've always believed that the key to making something original is to take what you've seen before and take it in a new direction, so I wanted to show you exactly where a few of my characters came from, starting with the most obvious.

STARDUST

Sonic the Hedgehog: This one's pretty obvious. Stardust originally started out as a Sonic fan character WAY back in 2003, and his super speed was made part of his character so he could keep up with the abundance of Mary Sues. Stardust has never really lost that Canon Sue sort of character type (he wins a lot, for example), but he isn't intended to be the "Boring Invincible Hero" archetype, and his only extranormal ability that isn't provided by a gadget now is genre savvy, which isn't so much a power as a story element.
Yuck: Because, honestly, they just look REALLY similar. I'm a huge fan of Butch Hartman's earlier work (Danny Phantom, early Fairly Odd Parents) as well as that of Bob Boyle, and Stardust's look, while originally inspired by Cosmo's floaty-eared rabbit form, was really solidified when I first saw Yuck in Yin-Yang-Yo.
Razputin Aquato: Those goggles had to come from somewhere. Blink, from Spyro: A Hero's Tail, also has a pair of goggles like these, but I feel Raz was more inspirational because he, like Stardust, is a bit of a smartass and has an immature streak.
Proto Man: And of course, the scarf had to come from somewhere too. As with all of the characters on this list, Stardust shares some traits with Proto Man: He may seem unflappable, and he may act like a jerk at times, but Stardust feels strongly about a lot of issues, and doesn't like to see innocent people get hurt. In spite of this, he doesn't see himself as much of a hero, and prefers to just look out for himself and do what feels right in a given situation.

LINDA

Jenny Wakeman: Jenny is obviously the primary inspiration for Linda. She's hyper-advanced, and surprisingly human in mannerism, but she lacks a lot of knowledge about who she is on a level other than the purely technological. Linda's aesthetic design is also mostly based on Jenny's, such as the boots, multiple arm joints, and her original, blade-like hairdo.
Clank: Like her boss, Linda is often calm, collected and a sophisticated speaker in spite of her natural clumsiness. Her wit is as dry as a bone, and even though she admires Stardust and enjoys assisting him, she also doesn't hesitate to snark at him if she has a reason to. Plus, there's the obvious sidekick angle.
Irona: Sometimes, Linda feels as though she's still playing the nanny role she did when Stardust was twelve. Designed specifically to see to his every need, Linda interacts with Stardust on a highly intimate level. Because of this, she's seen his true character, warts and all, and knows precisely how to work with him most effectively. To be honest, I don't know much about Irona's personality, particularly her latest incarnation, so I based this mostly on the sorts of things that I expect an adventurer kid's robot maid would need to know and do.
Harley Quinn: Linda is the Harley to Stardust's Joker. No man is a hero to his valet, but Stardust isn't exactly a hero, and Linda isn't exactly a valet. In an odd contradiction to her similarities to Clank, Linda is more often than not completely willing to follow Stardust's lust for excitement, and believes that he'll always do the right thing in the end. She'll follow him to the ends of the earth, and won't regret a moment of it.

LAFAWNA

Elora the Faun: I'd find it strange if nobody saw THIS coming. Originally, Lafawna even had a green bra, elf ears and a fox-like tail, but the similarities were so close I decided to switch it up a bit. Starting with...
Wendy Corduroy: Wendy has that vibe of "she's like a cool big sister figure but I might also have a chance with her". Like Wendy, Lafawna doesn't get sad very often and is able to be feminine without being overly girly. I haven't seen more than a few episodes of Gravity Falls, but I imagine the daughter of a guy named "Manly Dan" would also know her way around the wilderness, a skill which Lafawna has in spades.
Bitey of Brackenwood: And speaking of a wild one, Bitey is one of Lafawna's most prominent inspirations. Both are horrendously quick on their feet, and are prone to causing mischief which may or may not backfire. Lafawna's theme song, which I wrote myself (yes, I can actually write music) is even based on the fast-paced, Celtic sound of Bitey's theme, as shown in "The Yuyu".
Maureen O'Hara: If you've never heard of this actress, you've heard of the characters she inspired. Red hair and green eyes are actually quite an uncommon combination, but the "Queen of Technicolor" had them, and she played up her Fiery Redhead traits as much as she could. This woman didn't wait to be rescued when she was in a movie. Half the time, she'd be the one doing the rescuing.

PRINCESS SHADOWVEIL

The Shadow Queen: This is another obvious one, but the resemblance sort of ends once you get past their physical similarities. Both are tall, shadowy, and attractive (in a frightening way), but I think the Shadow Queen's goals and traits are more indicative of Princess Shadowveil's mother instead.
Maximillion Pegasus: It's been a long time since I last watched Yu-Gi-Oh!, but it would be silly not to include this crazed metrosexual. He's a ruthless businessman and a skilled gamer, but he also has a soft spot for the comics and cartoons he grew up with. He has that sort of balance between maturity and childishness which I often use to determine my own path in life, and this makes him a perfect example of what goes best into a snarking villainess who doesn't take her own job entirely seriously.
Aku: When it comes to Princess Shadowveil's powers, on the other hand, no villain does it better than the Shogun of Sorrow himself, Aku from Samurai Jack. He and Jack went at it for a long time, but they could never seem to get the pendulum to swing one way or the other, in spite of Jack's swordsmanship or Aku's mystical powers. Claws aren't always as good an option as a blade, or a crushing implement, or turning into a giant monstrosity, and Princess Shadowveil has a penchant for trickery which would rival Aku's, if she could really work up the initiative to use it.
Hexadecimal: It's no big secret that I adore ReBoot, and the biggest thing derived from Hex is how easily her relationship with Bob resembles the enmity between PS and Stardust. Neither she nor Stardust actually despise each other, but they do have a considerable rivalry, which mostly consists of them attempting to one-up each other as they try to accomplish their conflicting goals.

Now, none of these are a complete rendition of my inspirations. I have everyone from Zack Morris to King Dedede guiding my pen, and I don't believe anyone else's characters are meant to be simple either. It all comes down to the tried and true tactic of taking what works and leaving what doesn't.

I only own the characters on the far right. Obviously.