What inspired your characters?

[Nouveau]

Although new here I'm curious : ) For those who have pony characters what, if any, inspirations did you have when creating your characters? For mine it's a piece of artwork I've been doing for class. When I found this site I was thinking of a character to make, and I said why not use a piece of art? So here is a comparison between my pony (nameless now, and profession is doll making), and the person in my digital painting that inspired me to make her (obviously still a work in progress, but the girl is pretty much done). Ssooo many layers.

So what's your inspiration?

[OfficialBronyTime]

My inspiration? Well, I'm not really sure. The inspiration for my OC just sort of came to me, just like that.

[soundwav3]

My favorite Transformer! SOUNDWAVE! The OC I have in mind is the same blue and has a white muzzle to emulate his mouth guard. AND of course you cant forget a sweet set of shades for Soundwave's visor. I want to base the personality as well but easier said than done. One of the few bots actually loyal to the Decepticon cause, and answers only to Megatron. Soundwave in most Transformers generations has been a bot of few words. In the new TF Prime he was mute unless he was playing back recordings of other characters... well not true he talked ONCE. Fun stuff.

[AegisTheProtector]

I actually played my potential OC in CC from a one shot D&D meeting I had with my friends. I was a minotaur with 26 strength and a fighter at that. He had two throwing Greataxes, which he used vey proficiently thanks to his quickdraw feat. Yeah, for some reason cows and bears are fun to play for me.

[Kirby Krackle]

From all over the place, actually. It depends on what kind of pony I'm trying to make. For instance:

Reveille was inspired by a song:

Tinker Tailor was inspired by Toyman, a Superman villain.

Fungus Amongus comes from the Golgari guild, a Magic the Gathering set in the city of Ravnica.

Curtain Call, once he stopped being a generic D&D rogue, got hints of Jiminy Cricket from Once Upon a Time.

[Halide]

Well. Not that any of you know the characters I'm about to prattle on at you about, but that's hardly ever stopped my yammering before.

Mirthbane took inspiration from a rather amusing russian student I knew in calculus, using a very extensive vocabulary and far surpassing everyone else in the class. But I suppose if you were to try and link him to an actual character, you'd get something of a charicature of Snape. Not that I ever read much into the potter series.

Ignition takes heavy inspiration from Joan Jette, as well as the psuedo-anarchist movements in general. Little bit of Brütal Legend thrown in there too, but mostly just Jette.

Writ Phillipe takes inspiration from J R R Tolkien - the man, rather than his works - and a healthy chunk of Jim Henson's The Storyteller,which I probably watch more often than most people my age.

Filly-Rye took inspiration from an old, sort of generic bubbly young lady character I made from an RP a while ago, with her delight for baked goods and food in general completely ramped up. There's definitely some applejack in her, at least as far as backstory and caring about family and some disposition go.

Hammerhoof didn't really have any inspirations; I just kinda threw him together and a character happened. Nothing really sparked me off to make him, which is probably why he's my dullest character with the shortest app.

Sandley Bronzehoof took massive amounts of inspiration from the Jim Carrey interpretation of The Mask, and if anyone saw that get put together, you'd know how much editing and reworking that app had to jump through to be useable.

Matchie wasn't so much inspired by an idea, but a character made as a means to an end - namely, her matchmaking service, which largely defines most of the RPing I've done with her. She's also gained a bit of inspiration from Porrim Maryam and Marilyn Monroe as far as glamor and self-freedom goes, but those take second fiddle to the reasons why I made her in the first place.

And, finally, Guardsbane. A bit of old legend about shapeshifting tricksters, some pull from DS9s changelings, and a fair bit of reminiscing about a few supervillians I've since forgotten and stopped reading about, mostly. Definitely a reasonable chunk of TF2s spy in him, too, and maybe a few too many listens to Freezepop's "Manipulate". But again, no singular inspiration.

[soundwav3]

Wow its pretty cool to see that some ponies are part of some real life experiences, music, peope or like bronytime just come from the heart.

[Candiey]

My little mermaid, I guess. It might seem a bit strange at first, but the song 'Under the Sea' and the whole seaside concept really hit/inspired me!

[PyroBlaze]

Pyro was mostly just inspired by the concept of fire. Not only his appearance (as evidenced by my avatar), but his skills and the basis for his personality as well. I'm not sure as to an inspiration from another character, but yeah. I mostly created him because: 1.) I needed someone to rp as, and 2.) fire is my favorite element.

Xan was created, appearance wise, almost solely on Xemnas, from Kingdom Hearts. Even his name, the full one, is based on Xemnas. As for personality, I just tried to make him evil, as a sort of counterbalance to Pyro.

They are both extremely determined, but, apart from that, are basically opposites.

[SongHeart]

my profile pic character Song Heart is pretty much just me as a pony.

[DerpRavener]

With my only current character, I had an idea of what I wanted to play/try out from a narrative or character interaction sense, which gave me a loose character concept: a changeling exiled from the hive. I added a few things that I thought would either help with roleplaying (curiosity to get the character to poke at things and situations she wouldn't otherwise) and accommodate any novice mistakes on my part (most notably the whole 'never was an infiltrator' thing, so if I accidentally had the character do or say something that made no sense it could be justified as the character not knowing the correct response either). From there it was just a question of creating a background that would explain the full personality I was going for.

I'm contemplating trying to convert characters from stories I wrote or am planning on writing, though none of those characters have materialized yet. I doubt it'll be that easy though, as those characters tend to rely on the settings I created them for, to varying degrees.

[Snowshoe]

Most of my characters had odd, random inspirations. My favourite and only decent character so far, Muggo' Ale, was inspired by reading about brewing, the standard "fun barkeep" character trope, and listening to a lot of Newfoundland bands, like Great Big Sea, The Fables, and Battlefield Band.

Timbre Swing, my French double-bass playing unicorn was based entirely off this music video, particularly the scat singing and the double-bass player's rockin' out.

Those are the only two interesting inspirations, anyway.

[TehBbqdPizza]

Skewer, a pegasus colt and the longest living OC to date (ever since I created him in September 2012), was inspired off my love of chess. I've played chess since I was six, and so when I got interested in roleplaying, I made this OC. Skewer was also based off some chessmasters as well, such as Kasprov, Karpov, Spassky, and Kramnik. He's still one of my favorite OCs. As an extra note, Skewer doesn't have a definite age; sometimes he's an adult stallion chessmaster, other times he's a young colt, and most of the time he's a teenager.

Long Drive is my first OC in Canterlot, and the naive little earth pony colt who strives to be a professional golfer. I'm not too good at golfing myself, but I made this OC when we were having a golf session in my PE class. That's pretty much it.

Traverse is a cartographer earth pony mare, and was created much later, though she is still surviving. She was inspired off my interest in cartography (my name is Cartophile in most forums, in fact), and also by a World History lesson of the Age of Exploration.

Homeboard was created around the early autumn of 2013, and I don't think anyone in Canterlot even know her. As a quick summary, she's a teenage filly not much older than Skewer who's talent is backgammon. Her appearance is almost identical to Carom's (therefore she is a pegasus) with the exception of shorter height, different cutie mark, and a longer mane, and her personality is similar to Servante's. She's a mix of the two, along with a final touch- backgammon, which was something random I added in.

Others are non-Canterlot OCs. Synapse and Inkblot are psychiatrists and psychologists, and a earth pony mare and stallion, respectively, and were inspired off Jacques Lacan and Sigmund Freud. Blockade is a bit more dull and less used and was inspired off the Crimean War. Astrolabe is based off Greek philosophers, despite being an astronomer, and finally, Cutaway was inspired off your typical everyday journalist.

[P51Mustang]

Actually Chiselle was inspired by a character on Daria. She started out being loosely based on Jane Lane from the show, but the more I worked on her, the more she became her own character.

[narwhaliagames]

most of the time when i'm making my characters i listen to jubyphonic (mostly her kagerou project covers) so they kinda rub off on my charicters when i write

[RainbowFoxxy]

I actually come up with names first and then write characters around the name. At least that's what I've done with the ponies I've made up so far

[Ashton]

I have so many characters... some of them are just made to fill in a hole in a plot and get promoted to main characters, some are based obviously on verious media (Dunes is *obviously* an indyana jones Expie --- before Daring Do!) Some were made to replace a character who had to be altered or dropped (Sky Pirate Harle was actually a combination of the baside 'good pirate/robin hood' and was created when I had to drop Pipsqueak here as he drifted way too far from canon) Rose was made simply to fill a hole in my RPs where I need a "badflank bully" (though originally she was also made to fill the hole in pip's plot of having a filly he liked --- since I was not allowed ot persue the original "pip+SB" plot as has become popular fannon)

Sometimes characters just start evolving, that's how I got Shayde (not even going into him, but he was a VERY long evolution of a character)

And this is just for my pony characters, if you count all my others I ahve probably like 75 characters in all. If you have questions about any specific one, let me know!

[Nevara]

All of my characters have different sources of inspiration.

For instance, Nevara is more or less based on my Homestuck troll, but has a stronger hold in handling leadership I should say. They're both quirky and have some love for their guardians, but where as my 'sona is more timid and anxiety-riddled like I am, Nevara is kind of the opposite (they both can still get cocky though).

Firefly Song was a spontaneous creation on that one generator. But if I'd really have to say what really inspired me, it was more or less Snowdrop from that one animated feature (but where Snowdrop was a filly, Firefly is a young mare, which makes it harder for her to communicate in the adult world without having direct guidance).

Hathor was another spontaneous creation, more or less based on thieves and mixed that in with freaky voodoo-hoodoo.

And Tzigane is really, really new (and spontaneous. See a pattern?). I wanted to try another character that wasn't pony-based so I made a basic villainous griffin. I'd have to say she comes from my love and fascinations with dark and sophisticated villains with like a Maleficent kind of vengeance. Yeah a 2edgy4u kind of thing huh

From me looking at this, both Hathor and Tzigane are kinda dark from a stand point. Obviously if I use them, they won't be like malicious or blood-thirsty but just kinda villainous or even anti-hero enough that they'd still be likeable.

[Solaria]

Leonarrie was actually created for a zodiac ponies rp that never got off the ground. She was a very barebones alicorn with a lion cutie mark, but for some reason i was motivated to flesh her out. She has a bit of Arthurian legend and Rurouni Kenshin in her, but somehow she ended up as a somewhat unique character with equal amounts personality flaws and redeeming qualities. She's my strangest case.

Glad Tidings came from my love of holiday cheer and Pinkie Pie.

Faore was inspired by the idea that we all wear masks every day, and she literally does so.

Destiny came from my amusement at thoughts of what a competent Twilight would be like. Likely my most powerful character by far.

Solace came from a mix of fascination with angels and paladins.

[SilverSwirl]

For me, Silverbolt is ripped from the fabric of myself. As I created him, I discovered who I really was. Some may call me mad but I it is the real truth.

Sunrise Wisp is based on my mother if she had gotten her dental assistant's degree and went on to become a dentist.

Timid Star is my take on how Lucas would be like in the MLP universe.

Bowie is just a straight up ponification of the hero of Shining Force 2.

[narwhaliagames]

Now many of them have just came from whatever I've been reading, playing, watching etc.

[ClassyHooves]

I don't have an approved character yet but the one I'm waiting on was based off of my dreams and future goals.

however I had an idea for another one who will run a traveling frozen yogurt stand. Equestria shall bow to my frozen treats.

[SkyshotSwift]

My main character is actually a replica of myself, (If I was better off and a tad more courageous.) and the rest of my characters spun out of possible relationships to him. like his sister, brother, strong russian comrade, and his 'aunt'. It's easier to visualize what they would do if given a situation, when I can consider my own preference, with linchpin differences.

[TwoBits]

I'm afraid I don't exactly have the most straightforward method for musing OCs--most of the time I'm more or less just pulling vague bits and pieces from everyday life to form vague concepts of what I want with a character, and if I'm lucky I can form some of those vague thought-scraps further into an actual character.

My current OC, a pegasus called Nightflight, was one of the easier ones to pull together. Night's my favorite time of the day anyways, and there was also a period in my recent life where I had chronic dreams about flying at night; the actual contents of said dreams were simple and actually pretty muddled and nonsensical, but it still felt so freeing and empowering. During this phase I was driving home from babysitting late one night with the window down, admiring the sky--and suddenly, bam. I knew I wanted to make a pegasus whose talent had something to do with the night. And so I ended up finalizing her as a moonlight thrill-seeker and explorer.

My pending unicorn, Crystal Clear, took a bit more time to conceptualize. I actually started thinking about her well before Nightflight happened, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with her; I didn't know what species or talent or anything I wanted to use, only that I wanted it to be a pony colored with some variant of blue and silver tones. When Nightflight was mused and I had my Pegasus I decided to go ahead and make a unicorn. I only really settled on the name Crystal Clear before knowing what I wanted her to do or look like--I think I was actually planning in having her talent be something to do with lights before I decided to go a more tangible route, and so she became a glassblower and ornament maker. After that I figured it would be a nice little twist to throw a speck of Crystal pony heritage in somewhere, to maybe hint towards a reason of why her talent was what it was.

[Blueblood]

My OC's have had quite a varied selections of sources, now that I think about it...

Earth Writer actually changed a bit over the course of my playing him on this site. He just started as an expy of me (Geography student, slightly introverted, reads up on any subject that fascinates him), but since he became a reporter in one of his early threads, I've shifted his characterization more toward the "intrepid reporter" tropes, with a bit of G. K. Chesterton thrown in with his style in writing articles.

Flying Brick is from Stalliongrad, so there's a bit of Russian in her. I built her as a parkourist, and I remember writing her profile in an attempt to push the envelope on how much tragedy I could put in a WoE backstory, as per Russian literature. Her parents weren't dead, but her mother is a dancer who can no longer dance, and her father is a pegasus who cannot fly. I don't know if it would pass muster if I tried it now, but it passed with little comment then.

Might Batsman and Wordsworth Psmith were primarily based on P.G. Wodehouse's Mike and Psmith stories. Mostly what I did was flesh out their family lives, and try to get deeper into their psychologies.

Sky Sailing actually took his name from the first music project of Adam Young, one of my favorite musicians. A lot of his character, as a shy, introverted musician, is also based on Adam, though I've taken quite a few liberties in his physical capabilities, and made him a little more open to interaction.

Kahz is my newest OC, and probably my favorite. I based his basic concept, that of a crippled overacheiver, upon Miles Vorkosigan, one of my favorite protagonists in all of fiction. However, I took all the qualities that made Miles heroic, and put them to the service of the Changeling Hive. I was trying to make a villain that was dangerous enough to be a threat, but sympathetic and fun enough that I wouldn't be too uncomfortable playing him, or even having him score a few victories.