I've been thinking about new characters recently. I'm enjoying some of the new faces at Marvel and DC. I'm trying to figure out what I can learn from them and put it into my own characters.
Why do some characters take off and others don't is hard to answer. I could spin some BS about the market but for this thread, I'd focus on creative.
For the creative side, it comes down to a mix of personality, circumstances, design. The latter is important if you are doing an action adventure franchise. That overarching genre is built more on external appeal. Ironically design is what I'm weakest on. I'd settle on doing references for what I want and letting the future artist create something from it.
For existing franchises you have to tap into nostalgia. So it's a matter of being similar but different. It's a difficult balancing act. I don't like Nero but he suffers from a similar problem to Rey and the Star Wars sequel trilogy. They could be interesting but feel undercooked as characters. The creators settled on recreating the past than charting their own course. Or just didn't realize they were doing it.
I'd say Sora from KH is undercooked as well but he's more from the former paragraph. Or is there an overlap?
Sora becomes an outdated anime cliche over the years. Your ability to like him depends on your ability to like Ash Ketchum. But his problem is more Nomura didn't know how to write an everyman. Or wanted kids to project themselves on him. Which worked but teens and adults need something different.
I'm drawn to characters who feel fleshed out. I need more like Noctis or Persona than Sora.
What can I learn from this? I'm not sure yet.
One of my writing teachers did a podcast about how to pitch your story.
Jake explodes the myths about pitching, helps you understand the real purpose of a pitch and how to make your pitch most effective.
www.writeyourscreenplay.com