I always remembered my posts on this thread being cringe because I thought that what I wrote there was really outdated (character-wise). I proved myself wrong. nice job me.
But as far as oc building goes--here's my process. the steps don't have to be followed in order tbh. I'll use sigmund as an example since she's new.
step 1: get a foundation. This is usually like an inspiration to make an oc. Personally, it just jumps from my mind. I don't really get it from outside sources but it might be different for you. I think up like this core identity of them that you are building off of. For Sigmund, I knew that this oc would be 1) female 2) used an axe as a weapon 3) strong.
step 2: From there, I thought about where she was in the world and in the timeline of the story. Without getting sidetracked, the timeline consists of 3 arcs and revolves around Jr. Sigmund would be a permanent main character in Arc 3. I knew she would have some type of close relationship with Jr and that she would be a reoccurring character after arc 3 finishes and Jr leaves Lyricia (the continent) to the island he was born in.
step 3: appearance. Now I go dig around and design her. I ask myself, where does she live (see step 2)? What's her environment? Do I have a vibe I'm after? I liked Astrid (HTTYD) and Brigitte's (OW) designs. But, since she has an aboriginal ethnicity and she lives in a biome with Arizona + semi-lush grassland oasis vibes, she would physically appear Native American. Remember my base note of strength? I'd rather it be natural strength, so she physically won't be ripped. muscle definition? definitely. 6 pack? No. I liked HZD aesthetic armor and clothing and kept that in mind when thinking about outfits. I kept a natural color palette with a pop of more saturated color so her palette would be mary-sueish.
step 4 [present]: personality. hmmmm well, the fun isn't over yet. But remember for personality: every positive has a corresponding negative. Often times the positive is the corresponding negative. Sue personalities don't consider consequences. They have personalities with polar opposite traits and no realistic reason why. I mean, shy people can be outgoing--but it's a different situation. I have a rough idea that Sigmund is not a polar opposite, but she is not too similar to Jr. She's extroverted, she looks before she leaps, she's attracted to a challenge and she's definitely a leader type. She has an actual interest in politics and isn't shy about talking about her opinion. She's a community person, she enjoys being around the company of people--and she doesn't mind busy city life. She is not a tree hugger. From these facts I can pull out traits: brave, stubborn, outspoken, family-orientated, more or less on the selfless side, calculated, organized, not overly empathetic, etc. It helps to compare and cotrast against other preexisting characters to help establish things. I don't really think about personality traits as completely positive or negative--anything can be anything depending on the situation. It's just a human trait.
step 5: refine and add. Sense of humor, likes and dislikes, etc. Just play around and see what sticks to them.
huh cool i do that and i didn't even know what my thought process was until noW
so i decided why not pick my favorite character out of the ones i made, Eclissare, and list out what i did for these steps owo
Step 1: (Foundation/inspiration/whatever) Iron Man. Plain and simple, I am a Marvel nerd and love Pony Barf's personality and just the character in general, so I based personality, some traits, and some abilities off of him. Oh, yes, I also stole Iron Man's arc reactor for Eclissare.
I love you 3,000, Tony. (You won't understand unless you saw Endgame, so if you're confused, don't question it.)
Step 2: (Where in the world and timeline?) I was making him for
@FairyKay 's "Something Changed" Superhero RP (go check it out it's 100/10), which is set way in the future, so he needed to be futuristic. Also decided instead of a human, he would be a robot with a crazy advanced A.I, emotions and everything. Made him cooler imo, and it was an excuse for him to never take off his armor "suit". It also opened up a gateway to give him a goal and motivation, as he was the creation of the roleplay's main villain, which allowed more story possibilities. To summarize, he was basically accidentally turned on when pretty much everything except his "good guy, bad guy" recognition chip was in, so that his creator could place digital trackers on people and allow Eclissare to instantly tell who was on which side. The creator (who I will from now on call Homer for simplicity) tried to turn him off, which Eclissare saw as bad. Then Homer was almost killed by Eli. I also took Iron Man's nanotech and decided that would be what his exoskeleton was made of. Quite a few other neat gadgets too.
Step 3: (Appearance) I just picked a set of armor that looked robotic enough from a game I really like, found a Minecraft skin for it, and decided "Yep that's what he looks like," . The skin didn't look directly like said armor so it also wasn't just a copy of something from a video game, lolz.
Step 4: (Personality) I also went with the same thing and also what was said about certain personalities earlier. Super smart? He can sometimes feel above others and be condescending. Confident? He can be arrogant. He also has an issue with threatening people with some very deadly things if they were to
dare speak of being a superhero without being in their superhero disguise, or
ever give out the location of the base. The rest of the personality was stuff I picked out for him during Step 5.
Step 5: (Refine and add) I basically just played as him a
lot and picked out what I did and didn't like. If I didn't like it, I got rid of/replaced it. If I did like it, and it wasn't an OP ability or something similar, I added it.
