The Touhou Original Character Compendium

Really hope I can scan pictures where I'm going. This thread proves to be an interesting source of inspiration. Don't have much to contribute in the way of discussion, though, sorry. I'm just reading a little to calm down before I get like 3 hours of sleep before the train ride.

Sorry to bring this up again, but I have to give a closing statement to the Chagen thing:

Just relax.

I don't want to cause you any trouble, I just don't want you to cause trouble for everyone. The post you replied to before was a suggestion of a hint of possible criticism, which you responded to with direct insults. You even talked to the poster as if he was part of some sort of collective who are out to ruin OCs for you. That's a clear sign that you're overreacting. Nobody here wants to ruin anything for you. This is OC zone. You can be certain that they won't be demonized here or anything. The only thing you have to bear in mind is that everyone here has some degree of critical thinking, but critism doesn't necessarily imply any personal offense.

I'm just saying, one reason I immediately got so serious about your post was because I was worried you wouldn't be able to take any criticism against your own OCs in stride. Though I hope I'm wrong. If I have something concrete to criticize, I will do so, believe me. Also believe me that it's nothing personal.

Alright, enough blabbering. Sorry, Chagen, for being so stern, and sorry everyone else for filling the thread with tirades like this. I just want it to go fluidly and with as little drama as possible.

The problem is that cute things unfolding into horrific things is a kind of Body Horror on its own. Just... describing it all was sort of creepy, even though I knew intellectually that you couldn't see any of it in the resulting image.

In terms of Touhou, you did mention that this was meant to be a challenge to yourself, by making a monstrous creature into something cute without abandoning all traits of its nature. You referred to Satori and Utsuho as examples. However, the key difference between what you did and what ZUN did is that ZUN put the monstrous traits into the clothing design rather than the body design. Clothing in general is something extremely important to ZUN and therefore his character designs, and something which you skimmed over quickly. I think that's worth considering, although I'm not sure how. And it's not like there's a shortage of fanart with different clothes, so... *shrug*.

edited 19th Aug '10 4:32:57 PM by Clarste

Clothes. Also hairstyle. And, of course, (head-)accessories.

Important design basic principles:

• For a character design to be memorable, you should be able to recognize it from just a silhouette. Just look at the example of Pokemon, they made a little game out of knowing them from their silhouettes.
• Another thing Pokemon can teach us is that a memorable design is made up of a distinct pattern of simple geometrical shapes if you simplify it. Since Touhou characters are all humanoid, the means are limited, but you will notice that some of the more memorable character designs can be simplified into certain shapes that are probably distinct in their coloration, and these are most likely shapes you will also find traces of in any redesigns of the character.
• Colors. The most important part of the Touhou character composition is colors.

Now I want to simply Touhou characters to demonstrate this... I keep getting ideas, but I should be sleeping! Augh!

Good night!

edited 19th Aug '10 4:41:06 PM by Fawriel

Well, in Amber's case, the box-wings help her silhouette, and they don't necessarily have to be horrific. Actually, it's possible to make them look pretty radicool, especially if you take some liberties with their design.

EDIT: In FACT, what if you put some more of the glowy spots on them?

edited 19th Aug '10 5:26:13 PM by Durazno

Here's a character I'm doing for the Touhou pen and paper RPG, or at least, the beginnings of one...

Furuko Kameshi is a tsukumogami-type youkai, similar to Kogasa or Medicine. In her case, the original object was a misplaced jar that had wound up chipped and neglected somewhere — this type of youkai is known in Japanese as "furu-utsubo."

So far I see her as a bit more shy and than either Kogasa or Medicine — sort of a White Haired Pretty Girl type who probably "incarnated" recently and is still very easily confused by others. Bit of a Cloudcukoolander and a loner, and more subdued than Team 9.

What, we're done with Amber?

Probably not yet. We haven't talked about shipping!

We should probably let discussions rest a little longer before moving on in this thread than in the Alternate Interpretation Compendium, because it'll naturally be a little slower.

The idea of a whole alien sector is interesting. I wonder if the crystal supplies a wide range of different environments to all manner of extraterrestrial beasties? I wonder if it's also a cute girl, somehow.

I guess I see the wierd alien shit as a kind of Ugly Cute, but Your Mileage May Vary, so whatever.

Frankly, I never noticed the clothes thing, although I did take a large step in that direction with one of my other designs.

I was considering putting light on the gliding-membranes at first, and I can't remember why I decided not to, so Sure, Why Not?. At any rate, it lets you actually see the glowing patches.

Stop right there, and please read the rules outlined in the original post. Wait until we're finished discussing the current toon before throwing out ideas for your own. I said I don't want everyone tossing in concepts all at once and no one getting any discussion.

Agreed.

edited 20th Aug '10 9:50:10 AM by XionGaTaosenai

I make video games! Or plan to, anyway.

I was hoping for the Amber discussion to last until Faw got the picture up, but it looks to have sudenly dried up.

So should we move on, or wait for the picture?

I make video games! Or plan to, anyway.

I can't make any promises for pictures in the near future anyway. The scanner I brought doesn't work on my netbook. It might work on my sister's laptop if I find some drivers, but she's currently MIA and won't return until Monday, so.

I also won't submit the character I'm thinking of before I have a picture to show, so let's hope it'll work out.

So how does the voting go? Do we each submit a sentence-long synopsis of the character we're putting forth to go on the ballot?

If so, then my first entrant would be, "A fierce woman who slew a thousand youkai to become one finds to her dismay that it will take far more than that to be a big name in Gensokyo."

I'm still in favor of creating an OC by committee. Cons against this approach: it will be disjointed, chaotic, and nonsensical. Pros: It will be funny.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

If we're doing that, then my submission is: Bocaj.

Possibly genderbent.

A little weird but I'm 0kay with that.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Depends... I think at least a few of us have characters we'd like to submit for consideration. I think that the committee character should come after we get a few under our belt; otherwise, this won't be much of a compendium, would it?

Not the expected response, not gonna lie.

^ Bocaj: Flaunting your expectations since 1956. A family company.

^^ Fair enough.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Alright. Anyone who wishes to put an OC on the ballot:

• You may only do one per ballot.
• Input the name of your character, and a paragraph of no more than three sentences in length.

---

Here's my entry, for example:

Jol'Bihro

The second of my Alien Planet inspired characters, Jol'Bihro follows in the steps of Genji & Unzan as "Male character who is both elderly and non-humanoid". An Eosapien Shaman who was the go-to incedent resolver back when Reimu's mother was a child (yes, this implies that the Aliens have been here that long), the passage of time forced him to stop about 30 years ago. He's essentially an Expy of Jolee Bindo.

---

If you do not wish to put anything on the ballot, wait a few hours for the ballot to fill up, then vote!

• Voting will close when I check the thread after the passing of 48 hours. At that point, I will tally the votes, and open the gates to whoever has the most votes.
• You only get one vote, but you are free to change it at any time up until the polls close.
• Those who put an OC in the ballot still get a vote, but that vote will be for your own entry by default. If you decide you like someone else's idea better though, you can still vote for them, at the cost of your vote for your own character.

P.S: No, Bocaj, we are not going to make an OC by comitte. Yet. I'd like to get at least 10 OCs discussed via this method first, but ask again when we hit that milestone, and I'll think about it.

edited 1st Sep '10 6:00:44 PM by XionGaTaosenai

I make video games! Or plan to, anyway.

鶴見　望 (Nozomi Tsurumi)

A youkai of unfulfilled wishes and expectations. Is always seen surrounded by 999 paper cranes (yes, just one crane short of a wish). Being around her tends to invoke a feeling of discouragement, though it's unclear　to others whether this is innate or if it's because of the way she interacts.

edited 21st Aug '10 6:31:56 PM by KylerThatch

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

Sen Nakano

A fierce warrior from the outside world who defeated a thousand youkai and so became one. Hearing of a peaceful paradise full of indolent youkai, she comes to Gensokyo to continue the hunt. It... doesn't go well for her.

edited 21st Aug '10 8:28:37 PM by Durazno

Elrich Briton: An extremely shy vampire from the outside World(Britain, specifically); ashamed of his heritage, he became a cop so he would only feed on criminals. When he gets sucked into Gensokyo un-willingly, however, he quickly becomes infatuated with the Scarlet Devil, Remilia Scarlet.....but how could someone as weak as him impress her?

"Who wants to hear about good stuff when the bottom of the abyss of human failure that you know doesn't exist is so much greater?"-Wraith

Slight discussion to add to Amber. How would she interact with Yuuka? Tree sap is close to trees, and I'm sure Yuuka would be quite interested to see who cut open all her beautiful trees to use their sap.

Kagamichi Glace

A youkai of reflection. Specifically, she is a Ungaikyo: a tsukumogami of mirrors. She fights with a long, oval mirror, and can use it to reflect some attacks or lash out at opponent's with her reflection...or their own. She's a bit arrogant, which has caused her some problems. Her theme song is "The Glass House on Eternity's Edge."

edited 23rd Aug '10 10:07:39 AM by RukiMotomiya

... It's about an hour before I said I'd close the polls, and there's been 5 entries and no non-entry votes...

To give some time for voting to come up with a leader, I'm going to say that after 6:48/5:48 Central, the poll will be closed to new entries, but voting on previously submitted entries will continue until this time tomorrow.

I will continue this formula on all subsequent polls. 48 hours to submit entries, plus an additional 24 hours to vote on them.

edited 23rd Aug '10 2:53:55 PM by XionGaTaosenai

I make video games! Or plan to, anyway.

I think most people figured they couldn't vote until after all the contestant/options/strudel were up.

Or at least, I'm guessing why there's been no votes.

That's what I figured.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers