I'm afraid I don't follow. You're trying to make a point with your expy, or you just like Rei a lot...?
To connect this back to the original topic, no I have never made a Rei expy and I don't ever plan to (intentionally). I don't really see the use of it other than, well, cashing in on the aforementioned Misaimed Fandom. Or Author Appeal.
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am...Well, I don't see anything wrong with making a character with inspiration from another character. I don't think it's something a person should feel they have to do, though, if they like a character. And expies especially if you want anyone to like them, have to have good characterization and such. Don't just think "how can I make this character like "Rei", think "What about Rei made her such a compelling character to me, and how can I duplicate this in a character of my own?"
So far from your description, she doesn't actually sound like a true Rei Ayanami Expy, though. You may want to consult the check list.
I've never made a Rei Expy. Personally though I like her just fine, I don't really get what the big fuss is about her. But then, I'm a chick.
edited 2nd Nov '11 10:55:13 PM by NoirGrimoir
SPATULA, Supporters of Page Altering To Urgently Lead to Amelioration (supports not going through TRS for tweaks and minor improvements.)This is, without question, among the most bizarre subjects for a thread that I have ever read (and no, I am not limiting that to the TV Tropes forum, either).
I am not trying to be rude, but I just can't see why you would bother to make an entire thread about this.
edited 2nd Nov '11 11:00:34 PM by nrjxll
Noir: Yes, good point about good characterization and whatnot. Honestly that's all my character building type stuff really is, practice at making good characters. Consider this just one of many.
And I am not sure how to explain the appeal of Rei without coming off as a gender essentialist, and especially now that I happened upon an ending scene from Evangelion and see why it (and her) was intended to be creepy.
I suppose Timora from the Four Lords is kind of 'Rei-ish', though I didn't make her as an intentional 'Expy'.
Let's see...
A) (At least near the beginning) Rather emotionless and passive.
B) Has a lot of potential ability but lacks experience or a strong motivation for success.
C) Is crucial to the villain's plan.
...
Eh, actually, I just defined a frankly ridiculous number of characters. o_O"
I don't do Rei Ayanami Expy just like I don't dig on Char Clone. (I have characters who more resemble the latter but they don't qualify as a Char Clone.)
Depends on your definition. Does Terrifying!Rei count? If so, then yes, I have a character consciously influenced by her.
Lotus-Sutra Hermann. White-Haired Pretty Girl. Genki Girl. Master of the Air Vent Escape and Stealth Hi/Bye. Artificial Human.
As for traditional NGE Rei, I'm sure I have one in one story or another, but none are springing to mind at the moment. I guess Kafka Dawson, Lotus-Sutra's Foil from the same story, fits some of the Emotionless Girl aspects, but that stems more from her status as a Broken Bird / Ill Girl. She gets over it, and doesn't look a thing like Rei.
edited 5th Nov '11 9:45:12 AM by Carbonek13
Machines were mice and men were lions once upon a time, but now that it's the opposite it's twice upon a time. - MoondogI like Emotionless Girls (and boys), but I've never seen NGE, so it's not quite the same thing. (For instance, I've never written a character with blue hair.)
That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful
rollin' on dubs
Well, in the IRC RP I'm a part of, one of the characters I have is a Rei expy.
She's an Artificial Human, Cute Emotionless Girl and has/had no control over her fate.
She, in a way, a replacement goldfish for her creator.
Yes she was one of my first characters so I over did the backstory (so sue me!).
It's the lack on control over her fate that makes a Rei!Expy more like NGE!Rei. Well I believe so anyway.
I took her past emotionless girl as the RP progressed. She fell in love and (around her girlfriend) actually acts more human. She's not trying to Become a Real Boy so much as handle emotions.
I was originally thinking of Seven of Nine (and Data) with some Wolverine.
She's emotionless (like Seven and Rei) because she had a rough "life" and lost her parents. And since she's artificial, she would have an emotionless side.
She has an animal side (like Wolverine) because she was supposed to be a living weapon (again, like Wolvie).
She wants to be "real" and admires her fellow students (kinda like Data) because she wants to be like them.
She has/had no control over her fate (like Rei) because she was a clone and had to hide her nature.
She found out that some of the fond memories of her father she had belonged to the girl she was based on. At one point she thought those memories might not have been real. (Like Rei and Wolverine).
Ye gods I'm rambling. But I hope I show why you'd want to have a Rei Expy. I'm trying to grow this character beyond being just a Rei clone but actually develop her.
Forgot this when I first posted this: this character has black hair and brown eyes. She's a shapeshifter but in her default form she chooses to have "natural" hair and eye color. She wants to blend in with all the other kids(she has eyeflash like a predator so there's that non-human trait).
It's a who, what and why you'd have an emotionless girl as a character. I'm sure you could make a Rei Expy with out the fantastic elements.
edited 9th Nov '11 10:43:45 AM by TairaMai
I tried to walk like an Egyptian and now I need to see a Cairo practor....I'm still baffled by why you would ever want to deliberately base one of your characters off of someone else's. You could easily write a character with some of these traits without deliberately trying to make her an expy.
edited 8th Nov '11 11:07:12 PM by nrjxll
rollin' on dubs
For me, it was a way of handling the character. The rest of my characters got their own treatment. It was the character /type/ that I found interesting.
I agree with you. A character who's emotionless (because of a traumatic past) and has events beyond her (or his!) control can make for a good character. And said character does not have to be a Rei expy.
edited 9th Nov '11 10:42:31 AM by TairaMai
I tried to walk like an Egyptian and now I need to see a Cairo practor....It depends how far you go. If it's like a Captain Ersatz, then no good. If you just base the personality or something for instance, I see nothing wrong with that. Everything is based off something else, not always deliberately or knowingly, often it's subconsciously.
edited 10th Nov '11 7:29:20 PM by NoirGrimoir
SPATULA, Supporters of Page Altering To Urgently Lead to Amelioration (supports not going through TRS for tweaks and minor improvements.)
rollin' on dubs
Ditto what Noir Grimoir said. If you put in a carbon copy Expy (in this case, some girl who matches Rei Ayanami point for point), there had better be a good reason.
Superman expies get their own trope because superhero media (books, movies, tabletop games, videogames) have a place for the character. Even then some subvert or deliberately invoke that trope (lampshading goes with out saying).
"outside of some kind of meta purpose ", nrjxll, I agree 100%. The author can use elements, invoke or subvert the expy but has to admit as some point it's an expy.
It helps if you move beyond the expy. That's what I did with mine. Her "Rei"-like qualities were a stepping stone.
Many authors base their characters on historical figures. Are they lazy? (if it's an author tract sings may point to yes).
Copy Cat Sue is the horrible, horrible result of a lazy author, but being an expy is the least of it's problems.
edited 9th Aug '14 8:28:29 AM by TairaMai
I tried to walk like an Egyptian and now I need to see a Cairo practor....

So, how many here have actually made one? Intentionally?
I've decided to get off the stick and finally do so.
Haven't figured out a name yet, but my idea is that she has amnesia and she doesn't realize her real nature, which probably has something to do with angels, either working for them or actually being one.
Meanwhile she's quiet and thoughtful but thinks nothing of acting inappropriately, such as bringing a chainsword or bolter to a fistfight.
Will probably look something like this
◊.
edited 2nd Nov '11 10:28:09 PM by HaseoNatsume