There have been numerous fictional characters in existence… well into the millions. The question I'm posing to you is: What are your favourite character designs?
This thread is focusing solely on the appearance of your characters. Whilst it's true that a character can be interesting in terms of personality and their stories, and that they don't NEED to have a good character design, whilst, conversely, those with good character designs may not necessarily be good characters overall, this thread won't focus on that.
Instead, it's on their appearances. When you first see that character, and you think to yourself "Wow, that looks pretty awesome."
Fictional characters from all types of media are welcome here. Novels, comics, cartoon, tv, film, manga, animation, video games etc etc are all welcome. They don't all have to be human either, as long as they represent a certain character. In that instance, all types of characters are welcome- aliens, monsters, demons, robots, androids, anthropomorphic characters… everything like that is welcome. It just needs to have a character design that you think is awesome.
If possible, please link a picture to show off that particular character, and your reasons why they're interesting.
Without further ado…
1/ Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis design) [Videogames- Megadrive/Genesis, 1991]
This design is what got me into playing Sonic the Hedgehog games. It wasn't the rave reviews it was getting at the time, or the sheer fact that the game apparently played well. It was the fact that this character looked cool, and therefore the game must be cool.
A simple but sleek design- Sonic the Hedgehog looked awesome. And it might just be nostalgia talking, but I vastly prefer this older day design to the more modern Adventure redesign.
2/ Spider-man (The Symbiote Costume) [Comics- Secret Wars #9 (of #12)]
Another sleek but simple design. The large contrasting white spider on Spider-man's chest in comparison to the rest of his black outfit is awesome. It's also a great character design as its infinitely easier to draw than the traditional red and blue costume- no need for all those spider webs. This is a fantastic design.
3/ The Terminator [Film- Terminator]
This design inflicts sheer terror and awe at first sight. Seriously, who wasn't impressed and thrilled when they first saw this relenting killing machine? Anyone who says they didn't is a liar.
4/ Trucy ______ [Videogames- Gyakuten Saiban 4/Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney-DS]
This might be an odd one to throw out, especially as all of my previous ones have been pop culture icons. But, I guess you could say that because their character designs were so great that they had the chance to become popular character icons.
That said, I still love Trucy's design. It's just… awesome. It might help due to the fact that a lot of her animations are awesome and adorably cute; especially those in the game's fourth case.
5/ The entire Eyeshield 21 cast [Manga- Eyeshield 21]
It may be a bit unfair to throw an entire case of characters out when the thread is supposed to be focusing on specific character designs, but then again, they all look awesome. You can't appreciate the genius of one character's design until you look at all of them. There's so much diversity it's unbelievable. Typically, in most manga character would have the same face and body build design- only distinguishable by what they wear or their hairstyle.
Which would be infinitely difficult to do in an American Football manga where they're all wearing the same outfit. But just look at them! Tall, giant fat characters, slim thin characters, various shapes and designs for their faces; eyes, nose, ears, mouth etc. And it helps that they all seem to mix together well without looking ridiculous. It's incredible.
And now, it's up to you guys. What are YOUR favourite character designs?
Awesome thread Pachamac.
Lets see, these are off the top of my head (will add others later):
Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid series)- he just breathes coolness. Has the cool bandana on his head with the cool stealth suit and is the only person I know that can pull of the mullet.
Link (Zelda series)- Has the hero vibe just by looking at him. Has the green hat, tunic and wields a cool shield and sword.
Guyver (Guyver movies, anime, manga)- I've always loved how the Guyver was designed. Has the two things on the side of his head which can detect enemies around him, two blades with one on each elbow and has the eye in the middle which being the weakspot to this extremely strong bio boosting bad ass.
Alucard(Hellsing anime, manga) Probably my favorite vampire design. I just like his look with his big red hat and trench coat.
You know, this is something I actually think about a lot, and now that I'm confronted with actually making choices my brain sorta locked up. I'm going to think about this one long and hard and come back with some good answers.
Now, upon brief and almost instantaneous thought, this immediately came to mind:
One word. Badass.
Mind you, that was just on first impressions. I'm more likely to have more as time passes on.
Oh, geez. As someone who lacks any sense in fashion, but adores any nice clothings I see, I have my work cut out for me. I have plenty of favorites, but I'd take up this entire thread if I did so. So, here's some of my top picks:
1. Mulan's Wedding Dress
I can't get over how incredibly beautiful this dress was--especially when I first saw it. I was in awe with it's bold mix of primary and cool colors. A Disney character never looked so beautiful.
2. Kill Bill - Track Suit
Okay, so I never did see the Bruce Lee movie that Quentin paid tribute to, but I can't deny that outfit is just too awesome. Considering how tedious it would have looked with Uma's blond hair, it works so durn well and she looks just as good kicking Crazy 88's butts with it. Incidentally, the waves of red blood actually makes the suit look more appealing...color wise, that is.
3. Rufus Shinra - Advent Children
Forgive me for the bad quality, this was the only clear picture I could find of Rufus showing in full frontal view. His outfit in the original FF7 was interesting to say the least, but his AC wear is awesome. A mixture of plain ol' business suit with a slight futuristic twist (who else can make trenchcoat and business jacket look good together), Rufus somehow always pulls of brilliantly in white. Shame his hair got more blonder, I perfer his strawberry blond redhead look in the original FF7. Also, I love men in suits, as the next two pictures will tell...
4. The Count of Monte Cristo - Anime Style
Gankutsuou already had crazy weird artwork in form of unmoving textures in the characters' clothings. In fact, with so much CGI-ish, the traditionally drawn section seems to be the one so out of place. I admit the first reason I got into this anime (and I don't even watch anime anymore) is cuz' the Count looked like anime Vlad Plasmius (see his human counterpart below). I could go on about his personality, but this thread is about looks. And man, does he look sharp in that suit. He actually makes red flames on clothes look cool--red flames that went out of style years agos. He makes it LOOK. GOOD. *brain falls*
5. Vlad Masters - Sex on Legs
He's my current obsession and my love of men in suits continue. Okay, I'm not big on bow ties and I rather much perfer neckties, but when you have a man who actually makes a ponytail look good AND still manly (I'm not a fan of long haired men), that's saying something. I'm no fan of Hartman's artwork (even though I like sharp, angular designs), but I'm also amused by the pointy shoes he drew on Vlad. Then there's his face which just oozes...sexxxxxxxxxxy......*Homer Drool*........Excuse me a moment....
6. Wind Waker Link
I love Twilight Princess Link's outfit, it's detailed, it's fitting, it's awesome. But I fell in love with Wind Waker's unique art style first and Link never looked more adorable and still awesome then this. Also, Linebeck because he's good looking and his clothings is just pure eye candy.
7. Batman Beyond
The original Batman costume is immortal, to say the least. Batman Beyond is a different exception, a different part of a vast legacy. My first initial thought when I saw BB's wear was reluctance, I couldn't accept it. It looked too...fugly. After years of exposure and growing love for my current favorite Batman animated program, I came to love this outfit. Red and black in bold, simple, yet effective design. Even the awkward Bat wings growing underneath his arms flowingly fit so well.
8. The Entire case of Samurai Legend Musashi
I have my ups and downs with Tetsuya Nomura. While I take a lot of inspirations from him, it's mostly because of his unique flair (in his costumes, his character looks too typical anime for me to care though). However, most of the costume designs are either average at best or incredibly UGLY (FFX and Dirge of Cerberus currently). The thing is, when he does create great costumes, he creates great costumes: His major highlight for me would be the vast majority of the cast of Samurai Legend Musashi. Beautiful eye candy colors, sharp designs, and outfits that doesn't look too ugly nor weird. If I really did have to choose one, it'd be Gandrake, the primary villain of the game. Futuristic samurai garb for the win, even if he does have girly hair.
9. CLAMP
CLAMP has like 465, 237 manga and character designs and I love most of them, so unfortunately it's hard to pick one. They have that ability to take any existing clothings (could be Victorian, modern day, past Japanese, etc.) and mold them so successfully as their own creation. It's mind blowing and I'll be happy if my outfit designs look as half as good as they do.
Given my love for the new Yuku image hosting, I'll give this a try.
1.
Count Bleck. The monocole, the star filled cape, the hat. This guy has style and I just love the smile and his gestures and... well... everything. He rocks.
2.
Pyramid Head. Come on... do I need to explain?
3.
Vash the Stampede. I just love the coat. Glasses, too.
I have made my point.
This is Rem from Death Note if anyone does'nt know. She's a shinigami, or death god. The reason for why I like her design is kind of hard to decide. It's just an abstarct feeling of calm that washes over me when I look at her. I kind of like the way her "hair" droops over her face and those sharp, focused-looking eyes. ...and her lips... actually, on second thought I think I juse like her design in general. I ca'nt think of any specific thing. >_<
1. Sonic - Not much I can add that Pach already hasn't, his simple design always appeals to me.
2. Mario - Much like Sonic, his simple design is very appealing and very unique for an adventuring hero, and very recognizable.
3. Batman - The world's greatest detective, and my favourite super hero. One of those designs that work perfect in silhouette, and always makes me smile when on screen (bar Batman & Robin....).
4. Chun Li - The first lady of Street Fighter, he original design has always been a favourite of mine, it went really well with her fighting style, and to this day has made her my favourite fighting game character.
5. Optimus Prime - Another classic, and my favourite big stompy robot. G1 had the best design for him, and nothing will compare.
Other worhy mentions?
Goku - Dragonball
Cammy White - Street Fighter
Cassandra, Sophitia, Yoshimitsu and Nightmare - Soul Calibur
Joker - The Dark Knight
1.
Franky from One Piece. Part machine, part man, all awesome. Pretty much everyone in OP has awesome designs, but Franky tops it.
2.
Pretty much any of the ROCK On armors from Rockman ZX. Especially Model Fx.
3.
These guys from Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future.
4.
Shaburanigdo. Because never before in an anime have I seen a character that radiates EVIL quite like him.
5.
The entire cast of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Everyone in it is just...wow. The artists take their time with every character in this series.
Rita from Oliver & Company
Dixie from The Fox and the Hound 2
o.o Wow, is Dixie the estranged clone of Rita?
