How's My Driving | April 2013

[ironwood]

Spring has been sprung! All over the Western hemisphere, flowers are blooming, bunnies are bounding, and the little clickity-clack of rper fingers at keyboards is in the air! To kick off the season in style, it's time for our third HMD here at Tu Shanshu.

How's My Driving?
While each and every character must have an HMD page available, we offer a gamewide HMD once every calendar quarter. This is an opportunity to get together and discuss IC interpretations and portrayals in a respectful, beneficial fashion. In a nutshell, it's a chance to see how we're doing in the grand scheme of things.

There are a few ground rules to cover off before we can start:

• Participation in the quarterly HMD is 100% optional.
  
• Be respectful, anon or not. It's a lot easier to give and receive crit if all parties are making it a discussion of it rather than an argument.
  
• IP logging is off and anonymous commenting is on. You can offer crit signed-in if you like, but the option's there.
  

That's it, that's all!

And, to make things easier, here's a handy-dandy codeset:

<big><b><i>Player Name</i></b></big> <i>Character Name:</i> <i>Canon:</i> <i>User Name:</i> <I>Focus:</i> Optional. Do you have particular concerns about your portrayal that you'd like to be the focus of crit? You can link any threads you'd like a second opinion on here. If you're looking for structural feedback, or would prefer things like grammar not be mentioned, put it here.

Comments

[beganwithamask]

Nekky
Character Name: Arthur Curry
Canon: DC Comics
User Name: relentlesstide
Focus: Iiii am still kind of feeling things out with Arthur (especially when it comes to castmate interaction), the sheer amount of history and inconsistencies can be kind of overwhelming sometimes considering I'm primarily a Marvel person and haven't really been into DC for as long. I haven't had time for another full canon review, but it's on my to do list. That said, any input is welcome!

Character Name: James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: beganwithamask
Focus: Still has that new character smell on the turtle, but comment away anyway. I've been playing Bucky at different canon points for a couple of years so it's possible I'm slipping up sometimes. :|a

[amonfire]

Solid as a rock.

(is that a song? I know that sounds familiar)

[flamingshortshorts]

Kathrine
Character Name: Kaldur'ahm
Canon: Young Justice
User Name: apologiesmyking | HMD
Focus: Kaldur is a hard character to balance his formality with his snark and his sense of duty, so I hope I am getting better about that. He's a rather quiet guy for the most part, but I hope he doesn't come across as boring. If so, please do tell me so that I can work on that. I also hope that I'm not being overbearing with his leader-y behavior since he can be rather focused and responsibility-driven.

Character Name: Toro Raymond
Canon: Marvel 616
User Name: flamingshortshorts | HMD
Focus: I am sorry I haven't been as active with him as I could be. I know he's still new but I want to branch out with him more. I hope that characterization-wise I'm being consistent with him and he's interesting enough without coming across as bland or one-dimensional. If there is anything I could work on with him, feel free to tell me. I am also trying to keep in mind his technological awareness and how much he will be able to learn/use (Toro just sucks with technology, even when he's older), so if he's coming across too savvy I will try to adjust that.

[littlecousin]

you might be thinking of this

Re: roy

[lostundercover]

Sometimes I feel like you're so caught up in being factually accurate with Reid that you forget to play him.. Like he becomes this projection from the show rather than a character in TSS, if that makes sense?

idk. It's not a criticism of the way he's played, per say, because his voice is great and all. I guess he just seems like less fun for you.

[controlledvariable]

Justine
Character Name: Steph Brown
Canon: DCU
User Name: controlledvariable
Focus: In before "she doesn't even go here". I didn't realize quite how bad my activity had been last month, and I'm really sorry that I haven't been tagging around as much. I've worked out some motivation issues so hopefully that will be fixed this month.

Generally I want to know if I'm still doing an okay job with Steph? This is the longest I've played a character, so I'm not sure if I'm getting into bad habits/delving off course. If anyone has concerns/suggestions/anything wrt general characterization I would definitely love to hear them! Otherwise, any sort of concrit is welcome c:

[lostundercover]

I commented on this already, but I hear Cobb's voice in our threads. I haven't noticed a difference, but I admit that I haven't been looking for it? idk. I'd say don't worry about it and maybe just canon review.

[cowled]

Hilariously, a comment in my write-up that I had and then erased was 'he feels more like a caricature than a character'. That's pretty spot on with how I'm feeling about him, too, but I'm not sure how to fix it besides maybe not making him Do Science so much? :|a

Because good god, I've read so many research papers in my Pursuit of Reidisms that I think I should theoretically have a degree in all the same shit he does oh my god /drags hands down face

[saisamour]

Chiqui!
Character Name: Leo Valdez
Canon: Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus
User Name: fotia
Focus: IDK lol just if you see anything off in him, fire away!

Character Name: Marius Pontmercy
Canon: Les Miserables
User Name: saisamour
Focus: I know I probably took him from a really difficult canon point, and he's pretty unsociable to begin with, but WHAT THE HELL WHO NEEDS EASY IN THEIR LIFE RIGHT. That said, I'm really concerned as to whether he's too dreamy/indifferent/happy/dumb, or, alternatively, if I'm not doing it enough. ALSO, since he's pretty new, if there are any concerns about him/his personality/just what I'm doing with/to him in general that you think might pop up in the future?

[boselfdestruct]

Ricky
Character Name: Donatello
Canon: TMNT 2012
User Name: boselfdestruct
Focus: I've been having trouble clicking with him, so if you've noticed anything off with his characterization especially, I'd love to hear it :)

[amonfire]

/holds up lighter

[lostundercover]

I know basically nothing of canon (other than the utter most basics), but I have to say that I've noticed a distinct difference between joking Kyle and soldier/work Kyle, which I really like. I assume that's appropriate for the voice, because it's a wonderful effect and really helps to flesh out the character.

[mrsarcastic003]

Zoë
Character Name: Tim Drake
Canon: DC Comics Preboot
User Name: mrsarcsatic003
Focus: Anything really. I know I need to get him out more, and I'm concerned that I'm so busy with life that he slips here, because I don't have all the time I'd like to have him stalk all the things.

But really any crit on him is good! I've been playing him for a long time in various games, so it's easy for his voice to slip and me not to notice.

[imaginate]

The effect theoretically should be that it seems completely incongruent to everyone except those who know him very well?

[superoverachiever]

Jo
Character Name: Ava Ayala
Canon: Ultimate Spider-Man
User Name: superoverachiever
Focus: Feedback on voice and activity would be appreciated

I am not sure how many people are actually familiar with her canon, but pretty much my concern as far as voice goes is capturing her extreme straightforwardness without relying on stereotypes. Basically I am worried about slipping too much into 'generic no-nonsense character' instead of Ava Ayala.

The other thing I'd like feedback on is activity! Has it been easy to get CR with her, that kind of thing.

[brokenweapon]

Zed
Character Name: Jason Bourne
Canon: Bourne Trilogy (movies)
User Name: brokenweapon
Focus: Jason's been kind of an awkward turtle which I know is most likely my fault because I am even worse at human interaction than he is. But I figured out why I'm having issues playing him and am going to be working to correcting them with the landfall event and all. Anyway...thoughts?

[lostundercover]

I would say that that's been achieved in our personal threads.

[imaginate]

Good to know! It's always a tricky balance.

[brokenweapon]

To me, Javert's speech patterns have seemed very Javert-like! Granted it has been a while since I have read the book but that seems spot-on, as does his characterization, and I am constantly in awe of all the little details and so on you put into your posts. Like wow. :D

[flamingshortshorts]

I have really enjoyed everything I've seen so far with Ava and I think you're on the right track with her. But in regards to the question about avoiding making her too generic, maybe remember to add in her conversational quirks? Body language, fillers, etc. She has a habit of rolling her hands, hand on her hips, crossing her arms, pointing at people when she's talking, also she mutters a bit, but not really in a way that implies she's trying to actually avoid people hearing what she's saying.

[lostundercover]

I wouldn't call him a caricature, per say. He just seems less human and more wikipedia.

I know this is contrary to everything you believe in, but I feel like if you researched less and just.. played him more, that that might solve the problem? I'm not sure though.

jason

[zerotoawesome]

jason

Character Name: santo vaccarro
Canon: marvel 616
User Name: zerotoawesome

Character Name: e. aster bunnymund
Canon: rise of the guardians
User Name: springsforward

Focus:
-Real life has been kicking my ass lately, and I feel like I've let occasional threads fall by the wayside unintentionally. I apologize for that.
-Bunnymund is brand new, and I've been absolutely terrified to do too much with him. That's been getting better lately, especially with his latest post going up, but I still welcome any crit or advice for him.

[superoverachiever]

She does! I should... put those in more of her tags, yeah, since she just loves the video and you're right, she is very physically present that way.

(Sometimes I DO those things when I'm writing her but then I forget nobody can see me and I have to write them down O_O) Same with the volume levels sometimes, I'll have an idea in my head that this part is louder and while she's making direct eye contact with her arms folded and the next bit is dropping her hands some and quieting down to just below regular volume and then I end up just writing out dialogue with nothing with it.

Actionspam is still a very new thing to me, this is good to keep in mind.

[wholenewstory]

Sage
Character Name: Cassandra Cain
Canon: DC Comics
User Name: wholenewstory
Focus: Is her voice true to canon? Is she engaging? Does her development make sense?

I know I'm going to try and get her out more, I've definitely been wavering on that front.

[flamingshortshorts]

I've always found that adding a bit of extra introspection and body language into a tag really helps make a character feel more like an individual and less like a cut-out of some trope so hopefully it works out for you.