Chatterbox

[Airan]

I don't think leadership is necessarily something that we need to be discussing right now, lest people think it a reason to vote for a character. If Dungeons and Dragons has taught me anything, it's that groups don't necessarily need leaders so long as everyone is willing to take action and do what needs to be done.

Basically so long as the characters are all assertive enough to take action and make hard choices, then I feel they will be successful. However, more meek characters who are more reactive won't find as much success and may find themselves eliminated in earlier rounds because they're not the ones ever affecting the plot, just reacting to what the real players cause to happen.

Someone may rise to power as a leader character once the need arises, but the app phase may be a bit early to start thinking about that. Especially when characters like Robert didn't show signs of being one from their apps either. What Robert did do though was: he took action, even if that ultimately was assuming command.

[Airan]

Just wanted to pop in here briefly to say-

Thank You!

I just felt like this might be a good place to anonymously put my thanks to everyone who has been reviewing and drawing art for the characters. It's been a really long time since I've applied for one of these, so I'm taking every word into account should I make it, and Vizon, your art is incredible and it's amazing how much effort you go through for us. I won't say which avatar it is, or whether you've even gotten to it or not yet, but I can safely assure you, if I make it into the Top 10, I'll definitely be rocking it on my character profile with pride, just as much as I'm using this Captain Blade one now. Thanks so much.

[Rascal]

Thank you (Insert Name) for your (Art/ Review / Future Review) of (Insert character who may or may not have been reviewed yet). :3

Whoo! Thanking people's for their contribution with out...actually being able to thank them is HARD. But as we know for every favorable review there will always be a (possibly totally deserved) unfavorable review. So I created an alternative (insert your own comment here) line for those situations too :3

   "What do you mean you (didn't like / hated / loathed / wanted to build a death star so I could ship your app to Alderan and blow it up / were mildy amused by ) my (obviously great / stupendous / God's gift to writing / mostly ok ) character? Didn't you get the ( deeper meaning / awesome writing / obviously coolness / Bribe) of my story? You mean there is a chance that my character won't get in because of (general nitpicking / not writing with sanctioned contest #2 pencil / failed to give a better bribe)?

I do this for humor but in all honesty I appreciate all reviews (and reviews to come) even if they like (or dont like) my character because they tell me WHY. And once you know the WHY people like or dont like something you can LEARN from it. Even of apps that are NOT MINE. So yes, thank you for reviews, it really does help add some flavor to the site :3

[Rascal]

I think I may have my final pick almost ready to go. But it is only mondqy and Im tempted to wait until the dead line.

[Vizon]

I think I may have my final pick almost ready to go. But it is only mondqy and Im tempted to wait until the dead line.

You mean "picks" plural, right?

[Rascal]

Yes xD

Im struggling between voting between characters I like, characters I think would improve the story, ballence between character species, what their favorite color is ... :P

Or of course, all of the above.

Im open to advice on what to vote for / being swayed into voting for a character (who is totally not your own of course :3)

[Airan]

Im open to advice on what to vote for / being swayed into voting for a character (who is totally not your own of course :3

Ummm... the one that I totally didn't write. Yeah that one.

But in all honesty, you've got plenty of time to cast a vote. If you're still unsure, some of us are still working on cranking out our reviews, so stay tuned for those and maybe they might sway you if you're caught with a hard choice. Otherwise, just go with your preference. It's your vote after all.

[Rascal]

Woo! Five days left! Its now crunch time for reviews and character votes so I decided to shift focus to a different topic to lighten the mood a bit.

How Anthro are the characters to you?

The Redwall series was never very consistent in how anthro the characters where, sometime characters were hardly different from their real world counterparts, other times they were closer to being animal-people. It's a simple question but it can have an impact on the way you view the story. For example, we have foxes and voles. If they are played to their real world sizes then a fox is going to tower over a vole like a giant. Which is perfectly ok...for some readers and maybe not for others :)

In the end I don't expect it to be a problem of course, but I am interested how you picture the characters to look. Myself I see all redwall beasts like Disney characters, there is a difference in height among species but for the most part sizes are not taken to real world extremes. I also see them following the Dinsey standard of clothing where pants have yet to be invented and you need only a belt, vest or scarf to prove you are civilized. >.>

[Airan]

This is essentially Redwall to me-

https://www.weasyl.com/~briarwood/submission/349953/briarwood-redwall-species-lineup-1242478.jpg

Though I picture Badgers being much, much larger

[Vizon]

Agreed, Airan. That's exactly the image I was thinking of. And I also agree with Rascal - I think that Disney's "Robin Hood" does a pretty good job of keeping the characters very animal, though the size difference is probably not quite right for Redwall (considering the mice). I also don't like Disney's "finger feathers" on birds. That's good for cartoons, but not for a more realistic fantasy world. 

[Rascal]

Ha! I remember that one. I always liked how they all looked friendly and hally in that one even if they were dressed as a warrior. I think a few of my RP characters were inspired by that list. Speaking of characters I will post a few of my ideas for apps that never made it past the concept stage...later. For now I dont want to spam my own thread :)

And look at that! Someone added to the thread while I was typing up this reply! Yes! Robin Hood shaped my own view of how mid evil animal peoples should look.

[Tooley Bostay]

First off, hear hear in regards to thanking everyone for all they've done so far! From Chak's amazing avatar art, to all the reviews, I'm so grateful for all the effort from everybody here. Warms the cockles o' me woozley 'eart, it do.

I don't pay a whole lot of attention to the sizing differences, honestly (my old art of the MO:III cast collages had them all roughly the same size). There's a part of me that realizes a badger and fox are bigger than a mouse, but at worst I see it much like the art that Airan linked. With maybe the mice/shrews being a tad bigger. In other words, if I wrote a mouse character for this contest, I wouldn't be chewing my nails, having to figure out "oh no, how does this little shrimp kill people that are giants?!" I'd realize they'd be smaller, but not so small as to have zero chance of being victorious in a fight.

As far as visuals, then my art is the best representation of how I see them. I waffle on making them digitigrade, but I usually see them like you do, Rascal, where just a tunic slapped on works as a character design. I think it fits the borderline storybook quality that Redwall holds.

[Rascal]

I voted! Your characters are marginally closer to their fates being sealed! Mwahahaha!

Thank you to all who participated, that includes both top 30 apps and runner ups. To see so many putting their all into their characters really is awesome to see.

[Matra Hammer]

Yes. All beasts, every one, should vote today. Can't count the number of times a single vote swayed a category or cut the odds. So even if you think you're done, even if the reviews aren't in your favor, vote anyways. People drop out or ties happen.

Also, stick around. A lot of people are investing a lot of time to read over work and offer criticism. Even if you don't agree with the criticism(s) they're still absolute gold. Stuff you'd have to pay professionals a great deal for. So pay it forward. Review and review alike. Comment and comment alike. Show appreciation and, in time, receive the same in kind.

[Rascal]

Also! In the event you do not get into the contest, Wait until the final 10 are set in stone before revealing who your apps are. People submit multiple apps so (statistically) it is plausable some one could win two catagories and have to choose between them. Im not sure how often that happens but it would be a real bummer if you couldn't get in because you revealed X character to be yours o.o