The Touhou Original Character Compendium

Other than the credit I partly want to give myself that "OH I'M SURE THAT COULD'VE BEEN EXTRA BOSS-Y AND SCARY WITHOUT BEING UNFAIR"

...I think you did a good job. It seems disorienting and wonderful and fake and...well you get the drift.

I'm sure it'd be really nice if Youtube would just start working and let me see it.

Come to think of it, the end result is a lot like those games where you have to switch polarity, isn't it?

Finally working again...

The pattern seems really fun. The only nitpick is...

"Natsume's last spellcard"

Isn't it Natsune? /grammarnazi

What are you talking about? The spelling looks correct to me...

Looks pretty nice. As for having the players figure out that there are fake bullets, perhaps a hint could be dropped in pre-battle dialogue if you ever plan to write such a thing.

As only one of my characters was specifically designed to feel at home in Gensokyo (apart from being from a tropical country and being thus unfamiliar with winter), I wonder how my "Youkai-ified" stationery would fit in, seeing that only one of them has displayed any talent at using their power for danmaku (the Boxcutter, she can create and toss fragments of broken-off boxcutter blades). Oh, what the hey, I'mma posta ma chara.

Boxcutter

• Original name: Carla the Cutter
• Species: Hybrid Youkai
• Mythological Origin: Half Tsukogami, half vampire through means of obscure European myth (stolen from some Discworld stuff from and about Carpe Jugulum) wherein unused tools become vampirically bloodthirsty after seven years of neglect.
• Original Form: Boxcutter (Slim segmented blade, orange body with a black cap)
• Dress code: Wears clothes that match her original form's colours. Commonly seen in a dark gunmetal shirt and an orange skirt and orange shawl (Something like what Windows-Alice wears over her blouse), with a regularly notched hem that matches the catch-mechanism for her blade along her orange skirt and top. Has a black hairclip shaped like her blade-holding slide/clip in her hair.
• Powers: Cutting things, regenerating "blades", transformation. She can sharpen her extremities in human form. She can also use her blades nonlethally for danmaku play. Unusually resistant to daylight for a vampire.
• Weaknesses and Limitations: She cannot cut stuff her original form cannot cut through. Constant use of her powers will exhaust her. Direct exposure to harsh sunlight heats her up since her body is still technically metallic. Is sensitive to electricity for the same reasons, and hates passing current directly through her body.
• Likes: Being useful, cutting things, directness in people.
• Dislikes: Loneliness and abandonment, being blunted, wishy-washiness in people, complicated problems.
• Estimated Power Level: Stage 2 or 3 boss - Her bullets are very fast, and she has shrapnel-type bullets.

Backstory: She was originally the possession of a little girl, who handed her down to her little brother. At some point, he forgot about her and left her shut in a drawer for seven years, after which she was understandly upset. The first thing she did when he began using her one afternoon was to nick his finger and draw blood.

(Note: I implemented some measure of "Make me some logical, believable mechanics behind the system" here.)

Later that night, she assumed human form for the first time, very vaguely resembling her "former owner" due to adapting parts of his genetic code into her human form. When he woke up due to some noise that she made, the first thing she did was to jump him angrily, fingernails sharpened as blades.

Fortunately for her human, he was able to catch her wrists and prevent her from lacerating him a few new orifices, but in the commotion they both fell and knocked themselves unconcious.

The next morning, she got angry at him again, although not in the lethal "SLIT YOUR THROAT RIGHT NOW" way she did last night, and practically chased him out of the apartment. He spent the rest of the day away, and her anger turned towards loneliness and fear of another abandonment, this time for keeps (Partly because she still wanted to be with him, and remembered how he once made good use of her cutting power).

(Note: Some of the Transformed stationery that have had at least some memory of happier times will want to be with humans and continue to be helpful, as part of their nature. It sounds strange, but it is a part of how some Things work in a semi-consistent sense.)

Right before she hit the Despair Event Horizon, he came back home offering a proper apology, and she tearfully accepted.

In the context of a Touhou fangame - She has since had several adventures into the lesser-known corners of Singapore with her former owner, only this time she got separated from him and stranded in Gensokyo due to spacial instability in a former granite quarry. She seeks people who can return her to the world outside Gensokyo, to her friends and family (including her former owner and some other Turned stationery).

Primary Spellcard: [Segmentation] Stream of Breakable Blades - Several undulating streams of fast bullets that criss-cross, with some slow-moving bullets that break apart into shrapnel mixed amongst them.

Associated Tropes:

• Cutting the Knot: Her favourite thing to do, due to her straightforward nature.
• Weak, but Skilled: She compensates for her limited cutting power by utilizing her blade fragments and weaponising them as shrapnel, and learnt some neat tricks to cut things normally beyond her physical ability thanks to her former owner.

Similar to:

• Youmu and Sakuya (blades, straightforwardness. Nowhere as powerful, hax, or skillful as them due to a lack of danamku play in Singapore, lol.)
• Kogasa (Also a transformed manmade object, although not as abandoned)

How's that? Rolling updates will add to her profile. She also has some concept art I could scan upload, lol (It's not very good though, at least it was good practice for the magic of photocopying and inking and colouring with Zig pens).

I may also include a picture of the boxcutter I own that inspired this picture. I hope she won't nick me for that, lol.

edited 14th Sep '10 9:54:34 AM by AceOfScarabs

I think, hopefully not in a dick-ish way, you may wish to reread the first post.

I don't think Amber should have headgear. Lack of it in this setting makes her look somewhat savage, which is the image I was aiming for.

edited 14th Sep '10 2:29:37 PM by XionGaTaosenai

Exactly, the addition of headwear would reduce her savageness levels from "dangerous alien" to "neighborhood nuisance delinquent" it makes sense!

Anyway, Natsune is tsuntsun for Amber and deredere for the next female character.

Amber has eyewear to make up for her lack of hatwear.

I find it funny that a stage 6/stage X boss has a crush on a stage 1 boss.

Moe Couplet

I personally find the deredere comment amusing, because I could actually see a kinda thing happenin'...

Discussion seems to have slowed, so is Natsune's spotlight over, or...?

Yeah, prolly something to establish. Any more discussion to be had here?

Or can I back out and lend the stage to Ruki and prospective object of huge amounts of deredere?

Not that it's that important, but... if I have a concept floating around but might not be able to be around for a while, would it be acceptable for me to weasel someone else into throwing said character on the voting block for me (and send them an expanded data section, just in case I somehow wrangle a win)?

Whoops, I knew I should have paid closer attention (it happens all the time, believe me - Impulsiveness is one of my more glaring flaws!)

Still, can my Boxcutter get a slot on the voting wheel?

Slots are free, so go right ahead (when the next round of voting starts)!

If I have a concept floating around but might not be able to be around for a while, would it be acceptable for me to weasel someone else into throwing said character on the voting block for me (and send them an expanded data section, just in case I somehow wrangle a win)?

In that case, I guess go ahead and PM me your entry & writeup (for the sake of convinience, make them two seperate PMs), and on the next round of the polls, I'll post them, with a note saying who it's from.

In other news, I think it's about time we move on. Next up: Yamako Yayoi! Ruki Motomiya, we await your writeup!

edited 16th Sep '10 4:17:50 PM by XionGaTaosenai

Alright, I'll finish it up then. It SHOULD be done by the end of the day, hopefully soon!

EDIT: Also, WORLD Tree, how did you do your dialogue before? Just asterick and bolding, or some other coding?

edited 16th Sep '10 4:48:06 PM by RukiMotomiya

Yep, that's pretty much it.

Finally went and put links on the opening post.

The profile is almost done, but I'm exceedingly tired. So, sorry, but it's gonna have to go up tomorrow.

Ugh, sorry guys. Real life was kind of...real hard on me today, you know? I couldn't focus at all, and I'm really tired and weary right now.

If I finish it before bed, I'll post it, but I didn't have the concentration to do anything at all today.

I will have it up tomorrow, real life be damned.

Title: The God Before and After

Name: Yamako Yayoi

Name Etomolgy: -ko is both a common ending in Japanese names, and present in Suwako and Kanako's names. Yama comes from Yamato, an ancient name for Japan and the name of the most prominant ethnic group in Japan. Yayoi was a period in Japan, dating roughly from 300 BC to 300 AD, and were mostly supplanted by the Yamato.

• Theme Song: Yamato's Great God General
• Stage Music: Dreaming With Fields of Rice
• Pre-Boss Music: None, shooting game boss.

The final boss of her game, an old goddess. Her associate theme is the slug.

She was one of the driving forces in the Great Suwa War, and one of the ones who first proposed the idea of a unified nation of Japan. Although she riled up the desires and was one of the deciding factors in it's happening, she sat it out and provided a "safe haven" for the people who would maintain war neutrality.

This way, if the Yamato won, she could easily absorb herself into them given her previous position, taking those who followed her with her. And if they lost, she could appeal to them as being a neutral party and continue on. As it was, the Yamato won and Japan was unified. Sliding back into them, she continued on.

She's a goddess who presides over health and culture. Because of this, she is very well read and educated. Ironically, despite being so related to culture, she's a horrible artist, though she considers herself a good judge of it.

Of course, culture doesn't just mean books and brushes. Yamako also associates herself with the digital mediums and arts, and the technological, such as cameras and computers. Once she settled down in Gensokyo, she quickly helped with the continuing industrial revolution of the youkai mountain with Kanako, and would bring a Gensokyoian Internet to it.

Because of these technological ties, it divides the tengu and kappa belief between the two.

Regarding her plot...

Well, despite her ties, this doesn't mean people believe in her. Like Kanako and Suwako, her faith was dwindling, but hers was far more severe.

Indeed, she had no priestess to carry her word, nor to maintain her shrine. Even her physical form had begun to fade. Using the last of her power, she pushed herself into Gensokyo, and for this time her physical form was lost.

Of course, nobody else knew this. And with this knowledge unknown, she intimidated the girl Natsumi Kyushu into becoming her priestess, and frightened her into it. Ironically, she would of join fined if she had merely asked, but Yamako felt she could not take such a risk. The two could reconcile later.

With this, she set Natsumi out to rekindle the belief she once had, and as such to regain her form and powers.

When Suwako caught wind of the rumors of this new goddess, and that it was Yamako, she sent Sanae out to investigate and potentially stop it without Kanako's permission. She, after all, had no reason to trust Yamako.

That's just the canon path/shot type, of course.

By the time of the final boss battle, Yamako has just regained her form, and strikes it up in style for the final battle.

I like to imagine Yamako flirting with Sanae before fully realizing what's going on. It's not hard to imagine, Sanae is good lookin'.

So, personality wise...

Free spirited, determined. She's a dedicated worker, but she parties hard. She's good at tactical, battle-like planning, but doesn't know how to interact or manipulate with people very well. Because of this, her plans can easily be derailed and she rubs people the wrong way.

Even though she's a hard worker, she finds it hard to act particularly business-like. Because of this, she sometimes has troubles being particularly imposing as a goddess.

Some people mistake this for humbleness, but she just isn't good at this whole "charisma" thing.

She's very interested in written works, puzzles and sound works, but she isn't very good with painted art.

What about Appearance?

Uh...to be honest, this was the area I had the least to go on. I'm just gonna wing some of the main ideas I had out and take suggestions.

I like to imagine her wearing some kind of leaf-y crown or floral wreathe or something on her head, which has two little sticks pointing back and slightly upwards, which makes it looks like a slug's antennae(I think they're called antennae, IDK really). I also like to imagine that she wears a kind of green, most likely a dark almost murky kind, which is on both her shirt and either skirt or some kinda skirt-pants. Interspread in it is a kind of lighter green lines, which would probably form a slug pattern when the shirt and skirt/skirt-pants are put together.

She doesn't like to wear shoes, so she avoids it when she can. Her feet are always dirty because of this. She has deep, red eyes and very short, boy-ish brown hair. She's slightly taller than average, although not as tall as Kanako, and has below average breasts. Not quite Pettanko, but they're small.

I'd like to take a moment, since I think it most fits into appearance, to talk about Yamako's battle stances. Usually, in danmaku play, she doesn't have any particular pose. However, for out of it(Or in certain spellcards), I like to imagine her in a kind of "battle stance". Knees bent, one arm out, with a low center-of-gravity. Think like Wolf in Brawl. I like to think of this as her fighting stance.

Spellcards:

• Slug Sign 'Melty Blood': Yamako sends out waves of green and red bullets(3 on Normal, 4 on Hard, 5 on Lunatic). At first, the waves are very dense and it is impossible to get through, but when they get about halfway through, half speed up and half slow down. The gaps are somewhat large, but the bullets are fast. Focusing here is suicide. Green bullets slow down, red bullets speed up.
• Art 'Raven and Desk': Yamako steps back and forms a danmaku pattern of a raven and a writing desk. The raven flies with fast, small bullets, and the desk flies at the player with slower, big bullets. She forms each one at a time, but as the attack goes on they form faster and thus mix together better. Higher levels increase rate of fire and bullet density. The raven fires from the right and the desk fires from the left. Yamako will stand to that side when throwing that pattern, so movement is required.
• Art 'Summons to Yomi': A simple, standard Final Boss-like pattern. The only difference is instead of firing from the top-down, the bullets come flying from the bottom of the screen. Aside from that, it's a standard bullet affair with no lasers and no tricks. If one can adjust to the different bullet angle, it becomes surprisingly easy.
• 'Art of War': Yamako flies forward at you, straight. It's very fast, but the straightness makes the initial charge very easy to defend. When she hits the bottom of the screen, three spires of bullets shoot out and stick there, and she immedietely launches herself straight at you again. This repeats until it has been done a total of four times, counting the initial hit. Then the spires dissappear, Yamako returns to the center and the Spellcard begins from the start. Make sure not to trap yourself. "If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!"
• Art 'White Hare of Inaba': Bullets shoot at you from the left and right, forcing you up to cause them to shoot slightly behind you. At your height of ascension, just before reaching Yamako, a torrent of bullets sweeps from the top of the screen and the bullets behind you dissappear. Focus upwards and become unfocused to dodge the wave.
• 'Rotkäppchen': A trap Spellcard. Bullets are fired, fast but fairly small, at extreme speeds from the top of the screen at angles. A path forms, revealing a seeming blindspot that goes up to Yamako. Getting too close to Yamako to stay in this seeming blindspot causes the bullets to clamp down and turn inwards on their routes, quickly shredding anyone who doesn't hurry to get out. "And thus, the wolf ate the girl, sating its hunger."
• 'Legend of the Jin-Roh': Yamako enters her second stance for her final spellcard. A varying amount of slash marks quickly make their way on the screen, one at a time albeit fast(7 on normal, probably). The slashes don't hurt at this time. After a short time, the slashes rip through the screen in their positions, sending bullets on their trajectory(If the slash appeared going straight left to right, the bullets would go left to right) on a shallow angle. Yamako will attempt to ram into you while waiting for the slashes. Even though the slashes look random, there'd probably be a certain amount of pre-set positions. The key is a quick reaction.

Misc:

• Snake eats frog, Slug melts snake, Frog eats slug. It's a Japanese thing.
• All of Yamako's spellcards reference some artistic work. Anyone wanna take a stab at guessing most/all of them? They're prolly obvious anyway...
• Canon lesbian. Like Touhou doesn't have that canon anyway.
• Her favorite food is rice and her favorite drink is sake. She hates tea, which puts her a bit at odds with everyone else.
• The lines on her clothing, one of the few things I thought of beforehand on appearance, was originally thought of when reading about slug mucus.
• The reason her stage song is called "Dreaming with Fields of Rice" is because the large population boom of the Yayoi is unable to be explained by sheer migration, so the agricultural advent of rice is cited as a large reason.

—-

Well, here's the profile, ONLY a week or so late. Not really worth the wait, eh?

Yamako seemed like a good concept, but I had some problems translating my thoughts into eloquent speech. I hope you'll get the basic gist of all this, though. =) I think she might of been a bit too similar to some other Touhou characters in retrospect, but I don't really make these with such foresight.

I felt I had to design 7 Spellcards, what with her being a final boss. I hope you'll enjoy those.

Really tired, so no long talk here. Discuss and I'll try to be more helpful tomorrow!

edited 19th Sep '10 10:54:24 PM by RukiMotomiya