Voices, Appearances, Character Analysis: Part 1 · 6:02am Feb 20th, 2013
Speaking of what's going on inside your head regarding your OC's...I'd be curious to know how do you envision their voices sounding? Are there any actors or actresses out there that come close to how you picture Red Ink, White Flag, Dead Reckoning, Going Solo etc. when speaking?
-Zennyth
Why, as a matter of fact, Zennyth, I do have a ton of voices in my head.
...that sentence got away from me. The point is, I thought this was a pretty interesting question, so rather than just condemning it to be ignored in the comments section, I decided to make a blog post. And, voila, here we are. It also gives me an opportunity to talk about how I make OC's, which is almost definitely 'my thing'.
Soldier On: Soldier On is Commander Shepard, as voiced by Jennifer Hale (better known as FemShep).
Some of the lines are even very close to things On says - or at least, would say. "People die. Get over it." comes to mind as a good example.
I wasn't thinking of Shepard when I came up with On, but they go together based on a lot more than just voices. One thing that always gets brought up in discussions of Friendship is Magic is the quality of the female characters, compared to many other shows aimed at the same target audience. We all know that this was one of Lauren Faust's main focuses, and it sort of defines the setting. I knew that I couldn't have an 'all-stallion' guard, despite what is depicted in the show. Further, those characters needed to have a lot of strength and motivation to them. When I put down this idea, my first thought was to take Occam's Razor to it. Thus, in a strictly literal sense, Soldier On is the strongest female character in my universe, at least amongst ponies. Its sort of a joke, but that choice also covered my need for an earth pony in the Honor Guard, so I stuck with it.
But in the same sense that, say, Rarity is more than just 'I like dresses', there's a lot more to Soldier On that 'I like muscles'. She plays her hoof (that would be hand, as in '-of cards') very close to her chest, and that's a very deliberate choice. I remember when she first showed up in the fic, shouting at Celestia and threatening revolution over Luna. That didn't make her the most popular character, but I still stand behind it as a great way to set forth a lot of her character without her actually having to say a lot. As should hopefully be obvious, we'll be seeing much more of her in Act 2, so I won't say more on her for now.
Dead Reckoning: My 'big hitter' OC in a lot of ways, Reckoning is a huge focal point for tons of the story so far. Yet despite this, I'm not sure I have a totally clear voice in my head for him. At least as far as 'old Reckoning' goes, the best voice would probably be... I guess Harrison Ford from the newest Indiana Jones movie comes close, though a bit more smoothness (maybe a splash of Liam Neeson) can show up when the old scout wants it to. In my head, Reckoning's speech has a lot less deadpan in it than the dialogue that shows up in the character of Indiana Jones.
In building Reckoning, I wanted to make a character who on one hand had the format of a lot of those generic 'old soldier' characters, but who at the same time sort of flies in their faces. Reckoning is definitely that old soldier who's lost his edge, but he isn't bitter about that loss. He has about the worst case of PTSD I could come up with, and he's at least a little bitter about *that*, but his bitterness isn't what drives him. Instead, he's driven in a lot of ways by his Cutie Mark. Even if his body is turning gray and his joints don't work as well as they ought to, in his mind, he's still that recruit who joined up because he wanted to serve Equestria and see the world. I also designed him very much to work well with Rainbow - not as a foil, per se, but as a combination of a mentor and a complimentary personality. He's funny and quick-witted and lively because otherwise Rainbow wouldn't want to listen to him, any more than she listened to Thunder Crack. He'd just be 'another Honor Guard' to put up with, and that would be it.
In terms of his appearance, no small part of Reckoning is the result of the Daring Do episode coming out only shortly before I wrote the chapter containing his introduction. I had this pony out in the jungle anyway; why not have him dress like Rainbow's hero, just for giggles? The facial scar began as a way to play off the fact that he could use the Stare, albeit much less effectively than Fluttershy. It also seemed like a good way to remind readers that even if he is a cheery, jokey sort of character, he's still a soldier underneath it all. And, even more importantly, he's not a 'super-soldier' in the way Soldier On and the Commander and even Shining Armor can sometimes seem. Despite being Honor Guard, he has a lot of those 'rank-and-file' characteristics. He's strong, but he's still vulnerable; mortal, if you will.
Without saying too much by way of spoilers (though hopefully people have read it), 'young Reckoning' carries pretty well into a younger Harrison Ford voice. Maybe even predating the Indiana Jones films, to Star Wars or American Graffiti.
Red Ink: Ah, Red Ink. Roscherk Krovyu. There's so much to say about this pony. I guess to begin with, he needs a voice. Honestly speaking, I sometimes catch myself hearing him as Sean Connery from The Hunt For Red October. Now, I'm a huge Sean Connery fan, but that's a Scottish accent, no matter how hard he wants it to be something else. I have to imagine that there's the obvious analogy to the bad guy from Rocky IV, but when I am lucid enough to remember that he has a Russian accent, he sounds like Vladimir Putin. Namely, not 'weirdly-deep', but natural (although still quite capable of being intimating).
The other thing I have to remind myself of is that Red Ink is short. Like 'weirdly' short. I don't really buy into the 'all the mares in the world are exactly the same height' thing; in my head, Rainbow is probably the shortest and slimmest of the Mane 6, while Fluttershy and Applejack stand at the opposite end of the spectrum. There's an awful lot to the way Ink looks, and I can't really summarize it any better than this passage from Chapter 1 of From Stalliongrad With Love:
He was bulky and well-muscled, but not particularly tall. Together, the traits suggested he was compensating for a subconscious perception of a lack in his own masculinity, according to a rather famous pony psychologist. He would also be reckless, and have a violent tendency, which fit with the enormous scar on his chest and the minor ones to be seen across the rest of his face and body. Of course that same psychologist would then be suggesting that his presence on her doorstep was a factor of some subtle (or perhaps less-than-subtle) physical resemblance between herself and his mother. At that point, that train of thought followed its predecessor into oblivion.
Ink really suffers from 'middle child syndrome' - which isn't in any way to insult any middle children who might be reading. However, my point is that Foresight is just drastically smarter, better educated, and in a lot of senses more successful than Red Ink will ever be. That doesn't do a lot of good when your special talent is, in essence, violence.
I had a very interesting discussion with my pre-reader, SatoshiKyu, about which of my characters were 'most bad-ass', and why. It wasn't really meant as a deep conversation, but it got pretty interesting. For that purpose, I chose to take 'bad-ass' in this purpose as meaning a character with confidence, who doesn't choose their actions based on what others will think of them, and who does what they do not to 'be bad-ass', but for a purpose they believe it. Maybe not a perfect definition, but it served for our purposes, and kept me from winding up with a list of 'who would win in a fight' (which, by the way, is kinda stupid). Anyway, in this discussion, Sato made a comparison between Red Ink and Soldier On. I don't remember exactly what he said, but I do remember my response fairly well. Namely, this:
Soldier On is a titanic bad-ass by the above definition. She goes by her own rules. She isn't afraid of what anypony else thinks of her, even if that pony is Princess Celestia. Sometimes, this puts her in trouble, and sometimes it means she's wrong or she's misunderstanding the way the world works, but that's not the point. She believes in herself completely, and she knows exactly where she stands. Her capacity for violence is just one thing
In contrast, I sort of feel that Ink isn't a very confident character, really. Sure, he acts tough and plays the part of being a 'bad-ass', but really, we all know someone like that. The truth is that he's basically the opposite of Ink. He's almost completely defined by his reputation, and what other ponies think about him. In Stalliongrad, he 'ruled' basically by fear, as Tsar Eye mentions when talking to Princess Celestia. He just rides the coat-tails of his own achievements, and assaults anypony who questions him for it. If you strip away that reputation, things start to fall apart for him really fast: that's basically the point of From Stalliongrad With Love so far. When all is said and done, he's a jerk and a bully, glorified by his ability to hurt other ponies to the point that he honestly believes himself to be something more.
In case it wasn't obvious, the entire point of his character was to start him off that way, so that we can strip him down and see what's underneath. We haven't really gotten very deep under his coat (whether the black one, or his own fur) yet, so for now I won't say any more.
Going Solo: was an accident. No, seriously. She was a one-off character who I gave a bunch of semi-random traits to make that first scene in the second chapter of Act 1 work. She was a drug dealer for two reasons: so Shining would have someone to ask about poisons, and to make it clear that Equestria isn't quite as innocent and pure as the show implies (though it didn't take long to get past that point). She drank scotch with spaghetti just for the sake of making a point about the 'snobbery' of Canterlot for a joke and to describe the setting. She was bisexual not because of any great sexual 'fairness' on my part, but rather, just to make the point that Rainbow is considered very attractive, despite her generally 'messy' appearance. Her aggressive sarcasm toward Shining suggested the two had a 'cop-and-robber' past, and also made her slightly less flat. That might seem like a lot, but I honestly just made those things up as I went along on that one scene, dropping down whatever I needed to make the story move.
Oh, and her name is honestly from the fact that Han Solo is just a glorified drug trafficker, and that I could make a pun off it that sounds like a real Star Wars name. Maybe, if I end up convincing everyone that Shining Armor is actually dead, she can take his place. It would be an awful lot of work, but in the end, I think the following line would be worth it:
Celestia flared her wings as her eyes narrowed. "Bring Captain Solo and the dragon to me."
To that end, I guess my idea of a voice for her would be Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia from Star Wars. The line "Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?" really does get across a lot of the sarcastic and mildly world-weary approach that Solo takes to her problems.
Anyway, when I pulled her back in later as a contact in Shining's investigation, I was pretty surprised that she had a few fans in the comments. It didn't take me long afterward to realize that she might actually be pretty cool as a companion character, playing off Shining in the same way as Reckoning would with Rainbow. By that point, most of her was already set out, so there wasn't a lot of work to do in thinking about why she was the way she was for the greater themes of the story. But I knew I wanted to do something with Cutie Marks (more on that coming soon, by the way), and I also knew I hadn't shown hers. My original plan was to have her cutie mark be a smoking urn.
Spoilers for the End of Act 1 if you aren't caught up!
Anyway, my original plan was to have her die in Baltimare, burning to death essentially at Red Ink's hooves. Then I could play off her death in Act 2, with Shining still being mad at Ink over her death even following his personal changes in FSWL. I was sticking to this plan up until after I posted that fight, when just about everyone in the comments jumped down my throat, demanding she not wind up dead. So congratulations, commentors. You saved Going Solo's life.
Anyway, the idea was to make a parallel between her special talent essentially being in smoking/drugs, and then her dying from a fire (or more accurately, suffocating on the smoke). But then, when she didn't die, I knew I needed something happier. I still haven't totally decided where I'm taking her from here, but I have a few good ideas for her.
End Spoilers!
I'm just going to do those four for now, but if people have enjoyed reading this and getting a glimpse inside my head, I'll be glad to do another some time.
-Loyal Liar
Very interesting. Though that does remind me, I forgot to ask you for Solo's information
I blame the cold
848798
I'm pretty sure I gave it to you in our very first message... yep, here it is.
Off-white coat, 'eggshell' mane. Green eyes. Cutie mark of horseshoes. Age ~30. Short-ish mane, worn in ponytail to keep out of eyes. No notable scars until fight with Shining Armor. Masculine face. ~4' tall.
Get well soon.
-Loyal Liar
848806
Isn't that Soldier On, not going solo?
Wait, Shining isn't dead?
I thought he was, but this makes it sound like he might be alive.
In any case, I just want to say that I love all of your OCs. The ones mentioned in this blog are all great characters, and a ton of fun to read.
On top of that, even the OCs with smaller roles don't have that 'bad OC' feel. For example, Rainbow's grandpa.
He comes across as a neat side-character who, while not overly interesting, has a life all his own. Rather than 'dialogue pony #4'
I guess I'm kind of rambling at this point...
Just keep up the good work, I guess.
Well, this is off topic, but are you planning on addressing new canon elements revealed by recent episodes? Namely, Rainbow's father in "Games Ponies Play" and Twilight being a princess? Or are you just going to go with AU? I have to say, I'm really impressed by how organically you resolved the contradiction between Discord being petrified in your story and his being redeemed in the show (and doing it in such a way that it is revealed naturally rather than awkwardly fit in), so I am optimistic about your ability to address these issues, if you choose to do so.
848849
I didn't mean to imply Shining wasn't dead. Rather, this blog post was in reference to the comments to Act 2. Have you taken a look? Just about everyone has said something to the effect of 'body or it didn't happen'; can't say I blame them, really.
848810
I...
You'll get a kick out of this: Satoshi always gets on my case because I make that very same mistake in the actual chapters. A LOT.
Anyway, Going Solo...
Okay, I typed that ellipsis, and then went to dig up the colors and stuff for you. What I discovered is that, somehow, I've gotten away with never actually writing down her colors. Or at least, if I did mention them somewhere, I can't find them. I'll be sure to remedy this soon, but for now, I'll just tell you.
Going Solo is a 'normal-sized' mare, with a 'burnt orange' coat (I do feel bad for that, a little). Her fiery mane (batting 1000 here, people) isn't 'long', but it also isn't nearly as short-cropped as Dash's or
Going Solo'sSoldier On's. (I actually typed that mistake, and preserved it. I'm not kidding) In terms of style, she goes for just about anything fashionable that won't really get in her eyes. Same idea for her tail. She likes to wear a sort of rough-and tumble vest with a ton of pouches and pockets (for her wares) when she wears anything at all. Her eyes are green.848886
If I had a time for every time I've switched character names in Fire & Rain. There was a chapter where Rainbow became Rapid for longer than I care to admit.
Anyway, sent you two fresh sketches, I'll get to work refining them after I rough out the Stalliongradi brothers
848897
It's easy to forget, but if you decide to include him, there was a third one: Polnoch (which means Midnight). His colors were coincidentally very similar to the Night Guards you can see as one of the banners for the sight, but with normal green eyes, normal wings, and a mane that's more blue than purple. Of course, he's dead now; just thought I'd mention him in case you were doing a 'set-piece'.
848879
I do have some plans for both those issues, but I don't promise that they'll be as elegant as the Discord one. That one actually played into my lap, so I got to do something more fun that I otherwise would have. We'll have some fun with Fluttershy later because of it.
But to address your question properly, I'll talk about Rainbow's 'Dad' first. Namely, my first decision is to observe that the show never states he's Rainbow's father. That's fanon, albeit about as well accepted as anything else in the world. And, as fanon, I'm going to disregard it with a 10' pole. From that point, I then have something of a burden in explaining who that pony who shares Rainbow's mane is. I'll play off this more later, but here's what I'm saying right now:
I will tell you, as a fact I had considered even prior to that episode airing, that Rainbow's mane is a maternal trait; it sure isn't visible on Steel Lining, nor his father Silver. And while Easy Breeze herself doesn't have it, it's simple enough to say that the pony in question is Rainbow's uncle: her mom's brother. Of course, this raises questions about why he was never around for Rainbow, and why she ended up 'alone' with Silver Lining for her entire childhood. I answer that very simply: Uncle Blitz (I'll come up with a better name if this ever comes up in the actual story -and there's a decent chance it will, later) might have put up with Rainbow while his sister was alive, but he didn't really want a whole lot to do with her after Easy Breeze kicked the bucket. It's cruel, but certainly a realistic viewpoint, given Breeze's "occupation", and thus the obvious conclusion one would make about where Rainbow actually came from, and why her dad wasn't around.
So where is he now? My mind says dealing with a gambling problem in Los Pegasus, but you're free to fill in your own, less gritty story as you see fit.
Your second question is a lot more difficult, so here's how I'm going to address it:
I like to keep Where Loyalties Lie as close to 'within canon' as I can. It's a fun challenge to try and keep up as the show (and comic) are coming out around you. So it is my goal, if possible, to have Twilight being an alicorn be reflected in the story. It makes a few things a little awkward, but nothing is breaking my heart so far. Here's what I've got to say on the subject:
The fact is that, despite what was presented in the episode, I'm playing with a somewhat limited 'hand' here in terms of info on Twilight's transformation, and the effects thereof. Does she have stronger magic? What are her new responsibilities, if any? Given M.A. Larson's Twitter statements (concerning what I assume to be the 2-part opener to Season 4), I'm going to hold off on any sort of formal play with the most recent episode until such a time as the details have been filled in.
However, assuming that I do end up going the path of WLL preceding the 'ascension, I'll simply note this: 'seeing Shining Armor' in that episode does not mean that Shining Armor is alive. In fact, if I do cover the episode's events later in the story, think of how much fun I could have with Masquerade literally standing there...
So, yeah. Call it a cop-out answer if you want, but the fact is that I'm not going to go through the hoops of fitting 'Twilicorn' into WLL under my own power, only to have my explanations of abilities contradicted directly by canon during Season 4. Thus, at least until we get those episodes, WLL will remain in a period between Episode 10 of Season 3, and the finale of Season 3.
Incidentally, most alicorns are still born. Neither Cadance nor Watchful Eye did some sort of perfect spell to take on their forms. I suspect this has to be true of Cadance in canon, unless she managed to complete a powerful secret mission for Celestia prior to reaching Shining Armor's age, and taking up a teenage job babysitting.
Oh, and even if we do get answers before-hand, I will not be including Twilight's Ascension until Act 3. There simply doesn't exist an elegant way to fit it into the plot I have planned for the rest of Act 2.
848915
No promises on the third brother, but I do have Red and Foresight nearly roughed out already. I'll send that one to you sometime tomorrow most likely.
848921
No issue at all; just a thought in case you wanted to.
You're awesome by the way.
Hey, everyone else in this comment section: Ruirik is awesome. You should go favorite his stories and follow him, or something. Seriously. You might get to see some cool art from him semi-soon.
-Loyal Liar
So, it was we, who saved Going Solo? YES!!!
As for her colours... for some reason I always thought about her coat as violet, not unlike Rarity's mane, with green or olive mane. And I was sure it was in some comments to early chapters of WLL-1. Silly me.
And Shining Armor is alive, do not even pretend otherwise, remember Going Solo, commenters said their word!
Where can I like this blog, for I like it a lot...
848933
I don't think you actually 'like' blog posts, and I'm pretty sure you're already following me.
Besides, you of all people show your appreciation well enough. How's the song coming along, by the way?
To other readers of this blog post commentary thread: yes, there is a song. No, I cannot sing. I can, however, write music. Someone else will have to actually record it if that is a thing someone wants to do. Ideally, someone who can sing and also speak Russian, although there are English lyrics as well. That's beside the point. The point is, there's more coming in this story than you might think.
Look forward to it.
Oh, and if you have 'universe' questions, remember to check out our group, "The Price of Loyalty".
-Loyal Liar.
Ahem, I do not write music, I am not Pinkie Pie. And I better not sing it myself. I may, but better not.
By the way, what I love about your writing LL, is that while your stories have most things preplanned, it is flexible enough to be influenced and even changed based on comments and words of your pre-readers. Makes us feel important.
848915
Wow, thanks for the prompt and very detailed response. And while the Discord situation may have been just perfect for your story, these explanations are pretty darn good as well. As for Blitz ignoring Dash, I don't think its too gritty for me. It'd be hard to draw the line at child neglect after reading a story with war, assassinations, necromancy, slavery, and imperialism.
I love the character details, very interesting.
So, Going Solo. Burnt orange in color with a fiery mane, originally planned to have a special talent related to smoking and slated to die in a fire. That's terrible, man!
Never!
849077 848810
I found the description of Going Solo's colors from the story! Are you ready for terrible, terrible irony time?
It's from the fire scene.
Anyway, she has a 'robin-egg blue' coat, and a mane with light blue and white 'stripes', in the same sort of general style as I previously described. Also, I dropped the ball hard on remembering what she looked like, so I need to update that file I keep on my computer just for this reason.
-Loyal
851741
...well on the bright side, there was orange SOMEWHERE in that scene
Thanks though, I'll get her sketch done when I can.
851761
No rush; I was mostly just amused that I spent like an hour looking for that info specifically, and couldn't find it, because I had put it in the one place where she *no longer has any hair*.
851893 Hah!
Inspire a blog post…
Achievement unlocked!
Well you certainly answered my question, and then some! Thank you! It’s been very interesting to hear more about your process of bringing your awesome OC’s to life.
Turns out I was on the right track with Reckoning…I had him pegged from the get-go as Neeson sound-a-like.
I quite like Soldier On as Jennifer Hale. Like you said, she embodies the attitude perfectly.
Red Ink’s always been a tough one to imagine, at least in my head. Personally, the best I had come up with him would be Alexander Ovechkin’s voice at his gruffest. (he’s not an actor…he’s a Russian hockey player). But Connery’s a good pick I think.
You haven’t gotten around to the Commander yet, but I’m just going to throw out there that he’s always been sounding like Edward James Olmos to me. It’s a rougher voice that seems to fit a lifetime of military service and it holds that commanding quality that you’d expect a leader to have.
And Going Solo….we saved her? In that case, I’ve got to give a brohoof out to Keyesty and all the other vocal supporters who kept my favorite character alive! /). I’m surprised to hear that we’ve had that much measure of influence with your story. But Solo’s just too cool to bite the bullet.
To me, she sounded like Hayley Williams’ speaking voice. Wondering though, which is going to be her official description? Burnt orange or Robin egg blue?
Once again, thanks for the excellent response! Count me in as one of the many excited for the next chapter!
853922
The Commander is voiced by Matt McKenzie, as Auron from Final Fantasy X.
I apologize for some of that dialogue (especially Tidus'), by the way, but it gets the voice across.
Alexander Ovechkin does a pretty good job for Ink, I have to admit. Connery is not how he's supposed to sound; it's just a weird tic I somehow developed, in the same sense that I'll type Solo when I mean On, and vice-versa. You have no idea how bad it was for me to type that scene in Baltimare where they were both present together.
And Hayley Williams does sound good for
OnSolo too. Since the blue is in the fic, and the orange is a response to a comment in a blog post, I hope it's obvious which one takes precedence as canon.-Loyal Liar