Unicorn Dull Gold [Ready to Grade]

[Raikomaru]

Roleplay Type: The Mane RP

Name: Dull Gold

Sex: Male

Age: Stallion, though at the younger end of it.

Species: Unicorn

Eye colour: Red

Coat: A kind of very faded yellow

Mane/Tail: Black

Physique: Dull Gold is known for two things: his physique is one of them. Like most of the stallions in his family, Dull Gold has an extremely feminine build, to the point where it's somewhat difficult to identify him as male until he starts speaking.

Residence: While originally from Trottingham, and he still has family there, Dull Gold travels around. He's been seen a few times in Canterlot and Ponyville, too.

Occupation: Dull Gold is equal parts adventurer and dress-maker. Unlike other fashion-designers, Gold ONLY does dresses.

Cutie Mark: Dull Gold's cutie-mark takes the shape of a black, reinforced horseshoe with two crossed, threaded needles in front of it, showing the duality of what he does.

Motivation: Dull Gold wants, more then anything else, to be taken seriously, and for people to think he's as awesome as he considers himself.

Likes: Dull Gold is fond of stage-plays, whether he's watching them or acting in them. In fact, he got his start as a dress-maker in this profession. He's also immensely loyal to his friends, stating that the magic of friendship trumps almost anything else.

Dislikes: The quickest ways to gain Dull Gold's ire are to insinuate the quality of his work is subpar, or to make fun of his looks. He HATES ponies who do that!

History: Dull Gold is the middle son of adventurers Royal Ash, a travelling Unicorn, and Hillstrider, an Earth Pony adventuress. He has two brothers, elder brother Blunt Stone and younger brother Graceful Mint.

He and his brothers have inherited his mother's looks. Everyone who knows the family knows as much: only Blunt Stone can kind of pass off as a stallion, Dull Gold and Graceful Mint are almost entirely indistinguishable from mares! While Mint might have a few issues with the regard, Gold doesn't care too much and never let it stop him...although he does get annoyed when people assume he's a mare.

Back in school, Dull Gold always felt compelled to join the acting troupe. An excuse to let his ham out and entertain others was something he simply could not pass up. One day, he had his chance: they were auditioning for a role...which turned out to be the role of Princess Glittergem in a local play 'The Tales of Lord Wealthmore'. Gold nonetheless applied, and threw his whole being into the audition, even doing the research on the role to do a better job on-stage, to the point where he made for a more convincing princess them the fillies did! Dull Gold's take on the character has become well-received among fans, and future applicants have started imitating him after he graduated.

However, he graduated one day. Having gotten used to being around fancy clothes and dresses, he decided to give the dress-making business a shot. He was making them for himself before, and why keep such things all to oneself? Having some trouble keeping a steady base of operations thanks to a lack of funding, he took to adventuring as well, to gather additional materials for the clothes he makes and slowly build up the bits he needs to open a permanent business.

Nowadays, he's still at it. Alternating between visiting towns to perform his business and wandering the dark places of Equestria, he's made something of a name for himself...although he'd appreciate it if people were to start regarding him a bit more favorably.

Character Summary: Dull Gold is a serious stallion with a serious face. He takes both of his jobs incredibly seriously, and, despite his somewhat unrefined manner of speaking, can boast of the quality of his work being nearly-impeccable.

He is defined by his quest to be taken seriously, as a tailor, as an adventurer and as a stallion of reknown. Dull Gold considers himself born incredibly manly and incredibly awesome, and really wants others to come to share this opinion. He's got the voice down, is immensely strong despite his short stature and feminine build, and will readily claim that being respectful to mares and those younger then yourself is both super-awesome and the height of stallionhood, the very pinnacle of manliness. He'll also state, when his occupation and personal fondness for fancy dresses is called into question, that only the sufficiently awesome can boast of looking as good in their own creations as he does. He's a bit sensitive regarding comments about his maresy looks, though.

Despite this...competitive streak, most ponies who know Dull Gold can easily describe him as being incredibly humble and loyal once befriended. He'll go through great lengths to help his friends, or anypony he feels sympathy for, is always available for a conversation or dinner, and, despite his financial issues, has no qualms about treating his friends to things. This is genuine, but it ties back to the aforementioned belief: Dull Gold considers it both super-awesome and incredibly manly to be a good pony, especially to one's friends. He might even smile now and again, a welcome change from the frown he has normally.

Those who know him can attest that his drive to be taken seriously is genuine. As the middle child of the family, he was always eclipsed by his older brother's great strength, and his younger brother's immense aptitude for magic. As such, he's become a bit...fixated on earning praise and respect from others, his family chief among them. He hasn't spoken to them in a while, however, owing to his dress-making business having become unexpectedly successful, and adventuring being somewhat time-consuming an endeavor. When asked, he'll say he wants to make his father acknowledge his worth as a stallion, and live up to the standard his mother set as being brave and kind.

He takes pride in his dress-making. While it started out as something he did for himself, he's opened up a travelling business, Gold's Dressery, to help spruce up whoever walks into his store. He's notable for fitting and tailoring anyone that walks in, from ponies to griffons to anything else, so long as they don't cause any trouble. His main claim to fame might be his store, he also takes his adventuring seriously. While his business is his primary concern, he genuinely enjoys being in the thick of it, exploring the dark corners of Equestria and delving dungeons, even just to see what he can find there. He'll readily claim it's a hobby he rather enjoys: the thrill of exploring, the rush of fighting dark creatures, the tense feeling when opening treasure boxes...he loves every moment of it, and it helps inspire him at his day-job, too, and it earns him bits and materials to use, to the point where he advertises the new materials if he's had a lucky haul. His dungeon-crawling is far from just his own work, however: tying into his belief, he'll readily help anypony who require things from these places, but lack the strength or fortitude to go very far. After all, what sort of stallion would he be if he simply ignored those in need?

However, nobody's perfect. A lifetime of being referred to as a filly or a mare has left Dull Gold with a hair-trigger reflex to such, and he has a bit of a temper issue. He'd never turn his hooves on another pony unless he needs to or the pony in question deserves it, but he has absolutely no problem raising his voice and issuing threats to those who provoke him. In addition to this, he's incredibly insecure regarding his family. He works his tail off to build up a favorable reputation, sure, but he fears that they will still regard him as being nothing special or worse, should he finally head back home. His adventuring, furthermore, has not always turned out favorably, and although he doesn't want to talk about it, mentioning the words 'tar' or 'mine' around him make him extremely nervous. Finally, while Dull Gold considers it his duty as a stallion to help others, he is extremely reluctant to accept the help of others to the point of outright refusal, something which has put him in a rather precarious position in the past.

As usual, accepting of suggestions and critiques.

[SteelEagle]

I like much of the character, playing a few character of the type myself. However, I would advise a slight revision so that his feminine features play somewhat less of a deciding factor in his life. It can still be a big part, but he sorta straddles a few lines that the forum doesn't want crossed. But by making a few small tonal changes, it will be fine!

[Raikomaru]

Made some phrasing edits to Dull Gold's profile, and altered his schtick a bit. Less 'I'm a GUY, why can't you see that?!' and more 'Real stallions crawl dungeons, help people and treat mares with respect!', which fits him better anyway.

[SteelEagle]

Okay, so we've come away from problems dealing with possible rules and now we look at mire quality control concerns. Generally, this character needs to have either his adventuring skill(along with his skills in fighting which for the most part don't truly apply to the forum) or his dressmaking de-emphasized and made more a weakness/not so good in. I would suggest changing adventure discussion; nothing stops you from engaging in adventure and liking it as a character, but it detracts from what seems to be the main drive of the character.

My suggestions:

1- Remove adventuring as a main focus of the character and make it in some ways a burden.

2- Burden because he wants to love it and be good at it to(idea) make his father proud?

3- But he doesn't *love* it and he isn't skilled in it. This makes him very determined to try and make his father proud.

4- Extra points if his father is proud of Dull Gold either way but Dull is too darn silly to notice.

[Raikomaru]

Made some edits. Slightly de-emphasized Dull's adventuring priority, and added a paragraph about his bond with his family.

[RarityDash]

Hi there.

This app is looking pretty good, and I imagine I should be able to stamp it soon. There is one problem I have though, and that is in the characterization. I don't really see anything that could be perceived as a real major character flaw here. He's got winning looks, a winning attitude and is multitalented at a number of unrelated things. When a character is made to appear too perfect, it can make the character seem more shallow. Balance is always an important thing to keep in mind when you make a character who has a lot going for him. Before I approve him, I would ask that you come up with at least a paragraph detailing some concrete flaws, faults, fears and failings the character has or has experienced.

[Raikomaru]

...derp.

I've done as requested. Added a paragraph of Dull Gold's flaws, again true to the character he's based on.

[RarityDash]

All right, I think that will do. This application now passes my evaluation... so: