What do you look for in a fan-character?

what attributes should general fan characters have that separates them from recolors?
how extreme should their lives be?
what do you like about them?

Moved to the Fanfictions forum.



As for your question, Recolors are basically just coloring over a character that was already designed. If you want them to be different, The least you can do is change their qualities aside from their colors.

I.e: If it were a hedgehog, Change the style of their quills - Shape, Direction, Thickness/Thinness, Length, separate color or pattern, etc.

If it were a fox: Try to refrain from having two or more tails. Tails himself was supposed to be abnormal with his twin tails. Seeing so many other foxes with two or more tails makes it a regular thing almost. Also, Feel free to give him more or less hair on his head. Do something with him to change him from his Tails look besides just taking one of his tails away.

If it were an echidna, Remove the symbol on his chest. The spikes can probably stay since they are like moles, aren't they? Anyway, Change the hair some. And don't leave them with lego shoes. Those are purely Knuckles'.

Those are the main three. Usually if its another species than these main 3, They'll come out a little more original.

What do I look for? Oh, quite a few things.


First of, I naturally like characters that are original and interesting. I love characters that are amusing, but not all characters
have to be funny to be good. Speedy the hedgehog's character, Speedy, is a good example of an amusing character that I like.

I detest characters that have any relation to OCs. OC meaning Original Character, of course. Characters that have a relation to an OC include: Being the brother, sister, wife, husband, child, parent, girlfriend, boyfriend, etc. of an OC. Unfortunately, those type of characters seem to be quite common.

Recolors don't bother me as much as they bother most people. Recolors are where most people begin with their FCs, and move upward. Even I began with recolors. Also, not everyone can draw or sprite very well, so when they design new characters by art and not by imagination, they usually start with recolors.

Backstories can be nice. As long as they aren't filled with cliches, I'm good. Some characters are best left with no backstory.
Speedy is another good example of this, and so is Smash.

Abilities. I dislike it when a fancharacter has abilities too close to an OC. For example, a hedgehog having super speed like Sonic.
I like it when characters are more original with their abilities. That also brings me to Super Forms. Not everyone has to have one,
but boy do an abundant amount of FCs have one. More than one even! I've seen FCs with more than 4 super forms. Having more than one Super Form is okay for me, as long as they aren't overpowered or redundant. What do I mean by redundant? Let me give you an example.

Quote :

So and So has 2 Super Forms.
The first is Super So and So. He gains extreme power, super speed, and the ability to fly.
His second one is Mega So and So. He gains more power, he's faster, and can fly better.

So and So's second super form is the same as the first, only stronger. I like Super forms, if there is more than one, to least be unique and interesting.


Personality. The biggest factor to decide whether I like a character or not. Naturally, its hard to come up with an original and interesting personality. It takes quite a while. In all honesty, though, I would choose a character with a stereotypical personality over a boring one.
Boring personalities really kill me. My favorite types are characters with upbeat and goofy personalities, 'cause they're funny and amusing most of the time. I still like other personalities, though. Take Smash for example. He's serious, sarcastic, and down to earth.
The result of this type of personality is amazingly funny and amusing.


Oh dear. I'm rambling. I have seriously gotten carried away with this.
I'd better quit now.

I don't mind recolors as long as they're just a starting point. If you've been making FC's for years and they're still recolors, that's a problem in my book.

all fan chars are recolors from the start. ;D

hm. i really should to a SA1 style pic of Zatic.

Exactly. And as people get better, they will either start making edits, or drawings of their own.

Zatic The Fire God wrote:

all fan chars are recolors from the start. ;D

hm. i really should to a SA1 style pic of Zatic.

That's not true. I based my characters off of Tails/Ray and Mighty/Shadow, but they were never recolors.

sykog77 wrote:

Zatic The Fire God wrote:

all fan chars are recolors from the start. ;D

hm. i really should to a SA1 style pic of Zatic.

That's not true. I based my characters off of Tails/Ray and Mighty/Shadow, but they were never recolors.

Ah, but i made my first fanchar when i was a young young YOUNG child.

I made mine when I was like 10.

That was quite some time ago.

I don't even remember when I made Speedy. Just by the name, you can tell he was an extremely generic sonic recolor back then. Maybe 7-8... Anyway, he's still around, but he's much better.

Zatic The Fire God wrote:

sykog77 wrote:

Zatic The Fire God wrote:

all fan chars are recolors from the start. ;D

hm. i really should to a SA1 style pic of Zatic.

That's not true. I based my characters off of Tails/Ray and Mighty/Shadow, but they were never recolors.

Ah, but i made my first fanchar when i was a young young YOUNG child.

I made mine when I was 10

Speedy The Hedgehog wrote:

I don't even remember when I made Speedy. Just by the name, you can tell he was an extremely generic sonic recolor back then. Maybe 7-8... Anyway, he's still around, but he's much better.

What does he look like now? O-o

sykog77 wrote:

Zatic The Fire God wrote:

all fan chars are recolors from the start. ;D

hm. i really should to a SA1 style pic of Zatic.

That's not true. I based my characters off of Tails/Ray and Mighty/Shadow, but they were never recolors.

To add to that statement, One of my earliest characters, Gizmo, is a cat. Although I could never get his looks down for anyone to see until MUCH later, He was never a recolor either. You couldn't possibly compare him to Big. And Blaze, not really no.

...Smash? What the heck?

sykog77 wrote:

Zatic The Fire God wrote:

sykog77 wrote:

Zatic The Fire God wrote:

all fan chars are recolors from the start. ;D

hm. i really should to a SA1 style pic of Zatic.

That's not true. I based my characters off of Tails/Ray and Mighty/Shadow, but they were never recolors.

Ah, but i made my first fanchar when i was a young young YOUNG child.

I made mine when I was 10

I made mine when I was seven. he was just a fire-colored sonic back then. but even then, I realized that more than one tail was a bad Idea, so I made him a flying squirrel named comet with fire powers. then he became a green hedgehog with short spikes and a coat (LONG before I heard who manic was), later he evolved (metaphorically) into a chinchilla on roller blades, afterwards he regressed back into a red colored tails. after that, he was a white hedgehog with blue tips, who controlled fire. but he was always destined to be red, so I made that his disguise and said that he was on the run from the law, because everyone was too blind to realize he did not look like metal sonic. (this was when I was 10). after that, everything else just kinda developed into its own story, as can be seen here: http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs21/f/2007/266/e/5/Aaron__my_custom_made_characte_by_WaveysownerAaron.jpg
and here: http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs23/f/2008/031/f/6/half_Giftart_for_huski_0_grav__by_WaveysownerAaron.jpg
then here: http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs32/f/2008/226/0/2/Aaron_The_Hybrid_by_AaronTheHybid.jpg
here: http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs39/f/2008/342/5/9/__SO_REAL___by_AaronTheHybid.jpg
here: http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs41/f/2009/011/b/f/A_C_Merry_Xmas_by_Aaron_The_Hybrid.jpg
HERE: http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs45/f/2009/061/5/5/New_new_Aaron_by_Aaron_The_Hybrid.png
here: http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs43/f/2009/108/e/1/medieval_Aaron_TFOSK_by_Aaron_The_Hybrid.png
here: http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs45/f/2009/158/b/c/Aaron_reference_by_Aaron_The_Hybrid.png
here: http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs49/f/2009/175/6/8/Aaron_3d_by_Aaron_The_Hybrid.png
where Aaron became a flying fish momentarily: http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs30/f/2009/249/0/a/Aaron_cute_new_design_by_Aaron_The_Hybrid.gif
and, finally, here: http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/045/0/b/Aaron__his_wonderful_anatomy_by_Aaron_The_Hybrid.png

dang, he's changed.

A lot of links.

Hey! Comet is my name. Just Kidding.

None of my characters were ever even close to recolors really... but that might have been because I was later than all my friends in getting into it. I will admit that on Tamy's creation, she was suppose to be Amy's cousin, but my friends rped in an odd way, so although they played as Amy, Tails, Sonic, and Mina, they didn't act even CLOSE to what they did in any of the games. (Sonic was pretty much a retard, and none of us had ever read a sonic comic, my friend just found a picture of Mina online once and jumped all over it) So yes, though I guess the basis is there, they aren't really sega characters anymore. Everyone kinda of made the characters their own.
Personally when it comes to character creation, to me, theres a heck of a lot of changes you can make to a character, while still keeping to the traditional 'hedgehog' or 'fox' look. I always kind of define them though. Like Hedgehogs have spikes, no hair, and they have connected eyes. Meanwhile foxes have hair, occasionally one bang spike, eyes that don't connect, and fur on their muzzles. I get kind of confused when theres a fox with spikes or a hedgehog with hair, it just doesn't make much sense to me. o.0

There's nothing wrong with a hedgehog with hair. As long as it still looks like a hedgehog, it can have whatever hairstyle the creator wants. Atleast that's how I feel. I don't usually give my hedgehog's hair though unless they're female.

Smash The Echidna wrote:

There's nothing wrong with a hedgehog with hair. As long as it still looks like a hedgehog, it can have whatever hairstyle the creator wants. Atleast that's how I feel. I don't usually give my hedgehog's hair though unless they're female.

Amy has hair.

I agree with Smash. I mean, Amy has hair.

o.0 No matter how I look at it. Amy Rose has spikes.

Tamy wrote:

o.0 No matter how I look at it. Amy Rose has spikes.

It's just like Tails, but shorter and fatter. But if you mean hair and in people hair, that does look weird.

sykog77 wrote:

Smash The Echidna wrote:

There's nothing wrong with a hedgehog with hair. As long as it still looks like a hedgehog, it can have whatever hairstyle the creator wants. Atleast that's how I feel. I don't usually give my hedgehog's hair though unless they're female.

Amy has hair.

My point exactly.

It really depends on the type of hair, I guess. But Like I just said: As Long As They Still Look Like A hedgehog, They're fine.