[OOC] APPY GOODNESS
Blatantly stolen from Harukami! Because. I feel blathery this morning. (This may or may not have something to do with the fact that I am Damn Perky instead of Hangovery after a night of hard drinking.)
Ishida Uryuu
... ahh, Ishida. My baybee. D: I came across CFUD in a sorta-double fashion. First came initial CFUD wank with Sarah the Boring, which I read, then peeked at the RPG. And since I was an RP whore whose primary game was going down in flames / about to go down in flames (at least as far as I was concerned), I bookmarked it and wandered away to do other things.
A few days later, I saw harukami (our current Marluxia) talking about the very same zombie camp. I was/am a fangirly fangirl of Haru's fic and so was like "OMG. Maybe if I get into the same game as her, she'll notice me! Maybe even RP with me! Egads!" (Well -- maybe not that quite pathetic in phrasing, but the sentiment was very real. XD) As for character choice... I was totally into Bleach due to the fact that I was playing Kurosaki Ichigo in a different pan-fandom game at the time. In fact, I almost didn't app at first because I saw that CFUD had an Ichigo already and Ichigo was my first choice for apping. I pouted, I considered my options, and decided to go with my second favorite Bleach character: Ishida Uryuu.
Apping was crazy omg. I had all of two days to actually prep for apping (which I did by reading ALL OF THE ARCHIVES and ANALYZING THEM TO DEATH) and then I ended up in a DUP APP AUGH. It is the only dup app I have ever been in and I have NO DESIRE to repeat the experience. I remember IMing one of my friends at the time and being like "o shit jesus I'm in a duplicate app I'm gonna die" and having to explain the entire process just so she could sympathize with me. So I wrung my hands and refreshed obsessively and -- everything went much better than I thought. Ridiculously better than I thought. He's not the character with the best app percentage, but he got praise from people I REALLY FANGIRLED at the time and. I remember Harukami writing that she liked the Ishida who had just gotten in and I got to pop up and say "it was me! :D" (Or maybe I posted saying I'd gotten Ishida and then she commented "omg it was you?" Either way, I was delriously, selfishly happy about it.)
On a side note, me playing Ishida here has occasionally gotten reactions from people that I totally didn't expect. I got invited to play in a Bleach RPG just based on my CFUD!Ishida characterization, for example. (I eventually dropped 'cause I was ... too busy with CFUD, lol.) I also ended up commenting to someone requesting Ishida RP icons and offering mine ... and ended up getting fangirled at for it. i-internet fame get, I guess.
Dropping was ... well, it was a result of a lot of different things. Mostly, I was RPing Ishida into a corner that just got worse and worse as time went on. Heine and Ying's drops started a downward spiral of EMO and ISHIDA BRAND STUPID that ... never really got resolved. I felt awful pushing him off onto other people when he felt like that, so he got shoved to the back burner 90% of the time. Which further disentigrated the relationships he DID have left, and ... yeah. By the time I dropped him, he was very close to being unplayable. I am, however, very pleased at how the departure itself went. (This is partially because I'm an emo whore.)
Ishida is probably the only character that I truly regret dropping. He was my baby for the longest time and I still haven't quite come to grips with the fact that he's gone. Unfortunately, reapping would be nothing short of impossible. If he did come back, he'd have to remember camp just 'cause it would be way too weird starting over and it'd cause a lot of emo if he forgot. ... but if he remembers camp, he has to remember Heine, who was established to be back in Japan by the letters (and he would have to be safe and stuff 'cause anything else would start the Ishida emo spiral again). ... and if he remember Heine being safe in Japan, I am suddenly playing an AU Ishida who wouldn't quite be the canon character I apped and ... yeah. Way too complicated.
Sokka
Sokka I apped too soon, to be honest. I wanted someone to help balance out Ishida's severe social retardedness, plus I was into Avatar at the moment, plus Biz had been talking about how she'd wanted Sokka. ... so Sokka it was! I enjoyed him mightily, and there are still some posts that live on in my heart (like the I CAUGHT THE GAY post), but I just didn't have enough energy to maintain both him and Ishida at the same time. I was still new at the whole CFUD lifestyle thing. >: He's the only male character I've played who's gotten less than 2000 comments, I think. Reapping ... would be way too difficult, I think. I haven't watched Avatar for over a year now. Catching up now would totally kill my hard drive. D:
Michiru
Haru's already told this story, so I'll be brief. Er. Ish. Sailormoon was my first real fandom love. >: I'd dabbled in Shining Force and Star Trek before that, but Sailormoon was when I first started RPing. I played OCs for the most part, but occasionally I would tackle a canon character -- never the ones I really-truly wanted, but it was generally fun nonetheless. My favorite characters were always the Outers -- cool, awesome, and just totally badass. And I like lesbians, so hey! Michiru and Haruka have always been two of my very favorite characters. But the problem with apping one is that...they sorta require each other to get anywhere. It just so happened that Harukami mentioned that she wanted to app Haruka, so I piped up and mentioned I wanted to do Michiru, and we did the appy-goodness. :Dd
I really enjoyed Michiru. I really did. And of course Haruka was awesome so that was great too. But the problem is basically the same one that Haru outlined: they're too damn cool for their own good. I've come up with this test for myself whenever I want to app someone, because everyone I've ever dropped prematurely (with the exception of Sokka maybe) has failed it: if I can't imagine the character being UTTERLY TOPPED by camp in some form, I shouldn't app them. And Michiru was like ... the queen of being untouchable. Which is very IC, yes, and part of the reason why I liked her character to begin with, but ... I couldn't maintain it and also enjoy what I was doing. So I played her less and felt guilty about it aaannnd dreaded telling Harukami that I wanted to drop her. Fortunately, she came to me first! And things once again worked out.
As awesome as Michiru is, I will never reapp her. I might join a Sailormoon game to play as her one day, but I will never play her here ever again.
Malcolm Reynolds
I apped Mal because I had just recently gotten into Firefly. And Firefly was awesome. Despite the fact that I avoided watching it for at least a year. (That's a whole 'nother story, with lots of other-RPG crossovery goodness.) Once again, he was actually not my first choice of character. I liked Simon a lot better than him, but I chatted with Juri and decided that Simon could be (barely) camper-appable. Which... left me to decide between him and Wash. I decided I'd write both apps and then figure out which was better! ... and then I only wrote Mal's. Go me.
Ironically enough, Mal is the only character I actually semi-planned on dropping if he didn't settle in immediately. I knew even from the beginning that making him stay in one place, sans Serenity (and possibly most of his CREW), was going to drive him utterly stark raving. But ... by god, he settled in. (I blame Robert, Roy, and Riza for that, mostly.) So he stuck around, and has gotten very stuck in some cases. One of my roommates asked me last night (as a sort of truth or dare type drinking game) whether I would drop Phoenix or Mal first -- and I answered Phoenix, with the justification that "half of camp would implode" if I dropped Mal. That's obviously an exaggeration, but. The fact is that Mal gets very very wrapped up in his relationships, all while denying that he even HAS those relationships. gg Mal. He's got a bad potential for spiraling like Ishida did -- he's got mental problems with being trapped this long, anybody close to him leaving will trigger unhappiness, etc. -- but considering that he survived River's departure okay, I think he will be the character that will stick around until the bitter end. One way or another.
Simon Tam
Sometimes I forget that I played him, despite the fact that I did so for at least three-four months and 5000 comments worth of stuff. This is mostly due to the fact that our current Simon is awesome. I liked playing Simon a lot, and I still think he's an awesome character, but it just didn't work out. First of all, I was playing Mal at the time. I also suck at playercest. And considering how very close everyone on the ship is, I would have to do a fiendish amount of playercest just to keep my relationships intact. And then there's the fact that it has taken me a YEAR AND A HALF to finally get comfortable with RPing Mal with his canon mates. Yeah. Uh. Pathetic go go go! Anyway, I couldn't do it. Not only was I horrible at paying attention to Kaylee and River (mostly because I had to split my attention between Mal and Simon on that), but I was just...not at all comfortable with it and thus I sucked. Fortunately, NM picked up the reigns for me and all was good. I will never re-app him for reasons that should be obvious.
Jacen Solo
I loved the YJK books growing up. Me and my childhood buddy (which you guys know as Russel-mun) would eat these things up and trade the books back and forth and... all that good stuff. Jacen was always my favorite 'cause I like retarded characters in general, good-hearted retarded characters in particular. Shinn mentioned wanting the kids in camp during an apps-announcement post and I decided to go for it. He was great! I loved having someone who could just be HAPPY and GOOFY and not have to be serious except in special situations. ... the problem is that I really can't maintain something like that. So eventually he fell by the wayside, despite the fact that I desperately loved just about every thread I had with him. Jacen's the one I've thought most seriously about reapping, if just to give the cheerful goof another shot. ... the problem is that everyone would know it was me if I did. Sadface.
Arisugawa Sorata
X is one of the first manga I ever read. I loved MKR, so I decided to get something by the same author. Surely X would be just as peppy and cheerful and wonderful as MKR! ... and then I got to the violent dismembering. uh. WHOOPS. I kinda wandered away from it for a while. And then my roommates got the box set for the X anime and I finally managed to fall in love with it. Sorata has always been my favorite X character. He's cheerful with emo, he's fun, he's just ... so very awesome. I also wanted to play a dead character for once. Just because. So I apped him, got in, and all was pretty good!
Sorata was ... an odd one, in terms of playing. When I first app a character, I can tell within the first couple days of play whether they're going to be a new primary or whether they're probably going to fall by the wayside. Sorata fell square in the middle of that. He had relationships, he made connections, but I didn't play him nearly as much as I did my other primaries. I don't think he ever really WAS a primary, save for his first week of play. Maybe. And so eventually he fell pretty far, I wanted to app someone else ... and that was that. I don't think I'll ever reapp him, but he was fun while it lasted.
Roxas
Roxas is yet another case of second-character syndrome. I had originally decided that I wanted to app Axel OR Roxas, with Axel having a teeny bit more precedence, but then Zazzle mentioned she wanted Axel so I swapped immediately to Roxas and never looked back. I CRIED at the end of his story thing at the beginning, stfu. :( So yeah. Roxas' app is the only app I ever wrote with the intention of not being funny. I wanted to make people cry. ... I still got in! But damn it was close. Never-ever going the cry-route again oh god. D: I really adore the thought of Roxas' many relationships, but I need to get him out more. A lot more. He's been primary enough times that I can't really / don't want to drop him, but he's been on the downswing so long that I'm beginning to get worried about him. Of my current lineup, he is the most likely drop. I need to fix this soon.
Shin Seijuurou
This one is totally Juri's fault. I'd been playing opposite her for AGES with various characters -- Mal and Robert, Ishida and Heine, and (to a lesser extent) Sorata and Jay. I hadn't managed to do it with Sakuraba, though, and being the jealous lover RPer that I was (and considering that Saku'd been wanting a Shin for a while), I started reading ES21 with the sorta intention of apping Shin. If I happened to like him. ... I did not anticipate falling so hard for him. Not at all. XD Um, I think he still has my personal record for strongest opening comment rate. He amassed about 1000 comments in two days.
Shin is my beloved obtuse retard. I feel awful when I RP sometimes because I know he probably takes a lot of energy for other people to unravel what he's saying. But I'm still very fond of saying as much as possible with as few words as possible. That and he is my only godmoder character. ... in his own football way. Shin's just ... Shin and I ain't giving him up. :|
Alice L. Malvin
Alice was sadly another fail on my part. I watched her series and just wanted to app her because she was so cool! And retarded! Maybe I could keep her! ... the app went fine, but I never really settled in with her. This is mostly because she fails my character test: I couldn't really abuse her and feel amused by it. This happens to all my female characters. D: Plus there's the fact that I kinda stopped following her canon, and ... yeah. I wish I would have done more with her.
Phoenix Wright
Oh Nick. I wanted to app him since I first played the game in September. But at the time, it looked like Aviy and Box were going to app them, so I... kinda gave up the idea. And then it came down to app time and they were like "well, we're not going to app them! You do it! :D" and I was like YAY because I really loved him. ... and yet I barely ended up apping as him anyway, l-lol. Me and Juri were totally retarded with our passive-aggressive apping strategies. GO US. :Dd ANYWAY one way or another, we got in. And I'm tired of typing so I will leave it at that.
Ishida Uryuu
... ahh, Ishida. My baybee. D: I came across CFUD in a sorta-double fashion. First came initial CFUD wank with Sarah the Boring, which I read, then peeked at the RPG. And since I was an RP whore whose primary game was going down in flames / about to go down in flames (at least as far as I was concerned), I bookmarked it and wandered away to do other things.
A few days later, I saw harukami (our current Marluxia) talking about the very same zombie camp. I was/am a fangirly fangirl of Haru's fic and so was like "OMG. Maybe if I get into the same game as her, she'll notice me! Maybe even RP with me! Egads!" (Well -- maybe not that quite pathetic in phrasing, but the sentiment was very real. XD) As for character choice... I was totally into Bleach due to the fact that I was playing Kurosaki Ichigo in a different pan-fandom game at the time. In fact, I almost didn't app at first because I saw that CFUD had an Ichigo already and Ichigo was my first choice for apping. I pouted, I considered my options, and decided to go with my second favorite Bleach character: Ishida Uryuu.
Apping was crazy omg. I had all of two days to actually prep for apping (which I did by reading ALL OF THE ARCHIVES and ANALYZING THEM TO DEATH) and then I ended up in a DUP APP AUGH. It is the only dup app I have ever been in and I have NO DESIRE to repeat the experience. I remember IMing one of my friends at the time and being like "o shit jesus I'm in a duplicate app I'm gonna die" and having to explain the entire process just so she could sympathize with me. So I wrung my hands and refreshed obsessively and -- everything went much better than I thought. Ridiculously better than I thought. He's not the character with the best app percentage, but he got praise from people I REALLY FANGIRLED at the time and. I remember Harukami writing that she liked the Ishida who had just gotten in and I got to pop up and say "it was me! :D" (Or maybe I posted saying I'd gotten Ishida and then she commented "omg it was you?" Either way, I was delriously, selfishly happy about it.)
On a side note, me playing Ishida here has occasionally gotten reactions from people that I totally didn't expect. I got invited to play in a Bleach RPG just based on my CFUD!Ishida characterization, for example. (I eventually dropped 'cause I was ... too busy with CFUD, lol.) I also ended up commenting to someone requesting Ishida RP icons and offering mine ... and ended up getting fangirled at for it. i-internet fame get, I guess.
Dropping was ... well, it was a result of a lot of different things. Mostly, I was RPing Ishida into a corner that just got worse and worse as time went on. Heine and Ying's drops started a downward spiral of EMO and ISHIDA BRAND STUPID that ... never really got resolved. I felt awful pushing him off onto other people when he felt like that, so he got shoved to the back burner 90% of the time. Which further disentigrated the relationships he DID have left, and ... yeah. By the time I dropped him, he was very close to being unplayable. I am, however, very pleased at how the departure itself went. (This is partially because I'm an emo whore.)
Ishida is probably the only character that I truly regret dropping. He was my baby for the longest time and I still haven't quite come to grips with the fact that he's gone. Unfortunately, reapping would be nothing short of impossible. If he did come back, he'd have to remember camp just 'cause it would be way too weird starting over and it'd cause a lot of emo if he forgot. ... but if he remembers camp, he has to remember Heine, who was established to be back in Japan by the letters (and he would have to be safe and stuff 'cause anything else would start the Ishida emo spiral again). ... and if he remember Heine being safe in Japan, I am suddenly playing an AU Ishida who wouldn't quite be the canon character I apped and ... yeah. Way too complicated.
Sokka
Sokka I apped too soon, to be honest. I wanted someone to help balance out Ishida's severe social retardedness, plus I was into Avatar at the moment, plus Biz had been talking about how she'd wanted Sokka. ... so Sokka it was! I enjoyed him mightily, and there are still some posts that live on in my heart (like the I CAUGHT THE GAY post), but I just didn't have enough energy to maintain both him and Ishida at the same time. I was still new at the whole CFUD lifestyle thing. >: He's the only male character I've played who's gotten less than 2000 comments, I think. Reapping ... would be way too difficult, I think. I haven't watched Avatar for over a year now. Catching up now would totally kill my hard drive. D:
Michiru
Haru's already told this story, so I'll be brief. Er. Ish. Sailormoon was my first real fandom love. >: I'd dabbled in Shining Force and Star Trek before that, but Sailormoon was when I first started RPing. I played OCs for the most part, but occasionally I would tackle a canon character -- never the ones I really-truly wanted, but it was generally fun nonetheless. My favorite characters were always the Outers -- cool, awesome, and just totally badass. And I like lesbians, so hey! Michiru and Haruka have always been two of my very favorite characters. But the problem with apping one is that...they sorta require each other to get anywhere. It just so happened that Harukami mentioned that she wanted to app Haruka, so I piped up and mentioned I wanted to do Michiru, and we did the appy-goodness. :Dd
I really enjoyed Michiru. I really did. And of course Haruka was awesome so that was great too. But the problem is basically the same one that Haru outlined: they're too damn cool for their own good. I've come up with this test for myself whenever I want to app someone, because everyone I've ever dropped prematurely (with the exception of Sokka maybe) has failed it: if I can't imagine the character being UTTERLY TOPPED by camp in some form, I shouldn't app them. And Michiru was like ... the queen of being untouchable. Which is very IC, yes, and part of the reason why I liked her character to begin with, but ... I couldn't maintain it and also enjoy what I was doing. So I played her less and felt guilty about it aaannnd dreaded telling Harukami that I wanted to drop her. Fortunately, she came to me first! And things once again worked out.
As awesome as Michiru is, I will never reapp her. I might join a Sailormoon game to play as her one day, but I will never play her here ever again.
Malcolm Reynolds
I apped Mal because I had just recently gotten into Firefly. And Firefly was awesome. Despite the fact that I avoided watching it for at least a year. (That's a whole 'nother story, with lots of other-RPG crossovery goodness.) Once again, he was actually not my first choice of character. I liked Simon a lot better than him, but I chatted with Juri and decided that Simon could be (barely) camper-appable. Which... left me to decide between him and Wash. I decided I'd write both apps and then figure out which was better! ... and then I only wrote Mal's. Go me.
Ironically enough, Mal is the only character I actually semi-planned on dropping if he didn't settle in immediately. I knew even from the beginning that making him stay in one place, sans Serenity (and possibly most of his CREW), was going to drive him utterly stark raving. But ... by god, he settled in. (I blame Robert, Roy, and Riza for that, mostly.) So he stuck around, and has gotten very stuck in some cases. One of my roommates asked me last night (as a sort of truth or dare type drinking game) whether I would drop Phoenix or Mal first -- and I answered Phoenix, with the justification that "half of camp would implode" if I dropped Mal. That's obviously an exaggeration, but. The fact is that Mal gets very very wrapped up in his relationships, all while denying that he even HAS those relationships. gg Mal. He's got a bad potential for spiraling like Ishida did -- he's got mental problems with being trapped this long, anybody close to him leaving will trigger unhappiness, etc. -- but considering that he survived River's departure okay, I think he will be the character that will stick around until the bitter end. One way or another.
Simon Tam
Sometimes I forget that I played him, despite the fact that I did so for at least three-four months and 5000 comments worth of stuff. This is mostly due to the fact that our current Simon is awesome. I liked playing Simon a lot, and I still think he's an awesome character, but it just didn't work out. First of all, I was playing Mal at the time. I also suck at playercest. And considering how very close everyone on the ship is, I would have to do a fiendish amount of playercest just to keep my relationships intact. And then there's the fact that it has taken me a YEAR AND A HALF to finally get comfortable with RPing Mal with his canon mates. Yeah. Uh. Pathetic go go go! Anyway, I couldn't do it. Not only was I horrible at paying attention to Kaylee and River (mostly because I had to split my attention between Mal and Simon on that), but I was just...not at all comfortable with it and thus I sucked. Fortunately, NM picked up the reigns for me and all was good. I will never re-app him for reasons that should be obvious.
Jacen Solo
I loved the YJK books growing up. Me and my childhood buddy (which you guys know as Russel-mun) would eat these things up and trade the books back and forth and... all that good stuff. Jacen was always my favorite 'cause I like retarded characters in general, good-hearted retarded characters in particular. Shinn mentioned wanting the kids in camp during an apps-announcement post and I decided to go for it. He was great! I loved having someone who could just be HAPPY and GOOFY and not have to be serious except in special situations. ... the problem is that I really can't maintain something like that. So eventually he fell by the wayside, despite the fact that I desperately loved just about every thread I had with him. Jacen's the one I've thought most seriously about reapping, if just to give the cheerful goof another shot. ... the problem is that everyone would know it was me if I did. Sadface.
Arisugawa Sorata
X is one of the first manga I ever read. I loved MKR, so I decided to get something by the same author. Surely X would be just as peppy and cheerful and wonderful as MKR! ... and then I got to the violent dismembering. uh. WHOOPS. I kinda wandered away from it for a while. And then my roommates got the box set for the X anime and I finally managed to fall in love with it. Sorata has always been my favorite X character. He's cheerful with emo, he's fun, he's just ... so very awesome. I also wanted to play a dead character for once. Just because. So I apped him, got in, and all was pretty good!
Sorata was ... an odd one, in terms of playing. When I first app a character, I can tell within the first couple days of play whether they're going to be a new primary or whether they're probably going to fall by the wayside. Sorata fell square in the middle of that. He had relationships, he made connections, but I didn't play him nearly as much as I did my other primaries. I don't think he ever really WAS a primary, save for his first week of play. Maybe. And so eventually he fell pretty far, I wanted to app someone else ... and that was that. I don't think I'll ever reapp him, but he was fun while it lasted.
Roxas
Roxas is yet another case of second-character syndrome. I had originally decided that I wanted to app Axel OR Roxas, with Axel having a teeny bit more precedence, but then Zazzle mentioned she wanted Axel so I swapped immediately to Roxas and never looked back. I CRIED at the end of his story thing at the beginning, stfu. :( So yeah. Roxas' app is the only app I ever wrote with the intention of not being funny. I wanted to make people cry. ... I still got in! But damn it was close. Never-ever going the cry-route again oh god. D: I really adore the thought of Roxas' many relationships, but I need to get him out more. A lot more. He's been primary enough times that I can't really / don't want to drop him, but he's been on the downswing so long that I'm beginning to get worried about him. Of my current lineup, he is the most likely drop. I need to fix this soon.
Shin Seijuurou
This one is totally Juri's fault. I'd been playing opposite her for AGES with various characters -- Mal and Robert, Ishida and Heine, and (to a lesser extent) Sorata and Jay. I hadn't managed to do it with Sakuraba, though, and being the jealous lover RPer that I was (and considering that Saku'd been wanting a Shin for a while), I started reading ES21 with the sorta intention of apping Shin. If I happened to like him. ... I did not anticipate falling so hard for him. Not at all. XD Um, I think he still has my personal record for strongest opening comment rate. He amassed about 1000 comments in two days.
Shin is my beloved obtuse retard. I feel awful when I RP sometimes because I know he probably takes a lot of energy for other people to unravel what he's saying. But I'm still very fond of saying as much as possible with as few words as possible. That and he is my only godmoder character. ... in his own football way. Shin's just ... Shin and I ain't giving him up. :|
Alice L. Malvin
Alice was sadly another fail on my part. I watched her series and just wanted to app her because she was so cool! And retarded! Maybe I could keep her! ... the app went fine, but I never really settled in with her. This is mostly because she fails my character test: I couldn't really abuse her and feel amused by it. This happens to all my female characters. D: Plus there's the fact that I kinda stopped following her canon, and ... yeah. I wish I would have done more with her.
Phoenix Wright
Oh Nick. I wanted to app him since I first played the game in September. But at the time, it looked like Aviy and Box were going to app them, so I... kinda gave up the idea. And then it came down to app time and they were like "well, we're not going to app them! You do it! :D" and I was like YAY because I really loved him. ... and yet I barely ended up apping as him anyway, l-lol. Me and Juri were totally retarded with our passive-aggressive apping strategies. GO US. :Dd ANYWAY one way or another, we got in. And I'm tired of typing so I will leave it at that.