Looking for a creative soul to bounce ideas off of! Please!

[jettemse]

I'm trying to get the meat and potatoes situated for a concept that just won't die down. I want to keep it simple on here so I don't give too much away, but basically, my concept is a slightly inspired by power rangers and steven universe. Let me give a brief synopsis.

It always starts out as a battle between good versus evil. In this case, the personifications of light and dark. Once twins, they now argue for control. Someone always ends up being the greedy one, in every case, it's darkness, and so, darkness manages to capture light into a giant prism. Big mistake. While trapped, light refracted, and immediately spawned the adult forms of personified color. These are the Spectrum Chromatones. Or, Chromas for short. Together, they were able to trap darkness and generally coexist as guardians of the universe for millenniums. They produced children, formed more colors (teritary, etc), and eventually they grew out of control. Agendas were established, a fight for power ensued (the Polychromachy), and darkness was released once again. All of the chromas save for those working with Darkness reverted into hiding across the universe. Orange (Persimmon), specifically, escaped to Earth.

After being worshipped randomly for a while, he ended up settling down in Hawai'i. Married for a short time, and had a daughter. The newest chroma born in centuries. Sienna. (main) Catching onto the activity on Earth, darkness swoops in and consumes Persimmon. The last of the escaped ROYGBIVs. The energy of Persimmon and Sienna drew the attention of more Chromas, but given the vastness of the universe and stasis travel -- it takes them quite some time in light years to arrive onto earth. Specifically, fourteen. They land on the beach in Hawai'i, and happen to get rescued.

Story will be about Sienna's training and newfound life as a Chroma.

What I'm having problems with:

• Should I focus on a grand scale for future colors/tones, or keep it on a less grand scale?
• What the hell should their powers be?!? Energy constructed weapons? Affinity based on colors?
• What should their stasis forms be? Steven Universe utilizes gems. What the hell should I do? Intense cores of pure color? Prism constructs on their body like colored light quarts?
• Should I focus on ROYGBIV instead of there being tertiary colors and use them as "fusions"?
• I'm having a hard time figuring out if they should be personified male, female, or both. Thought maybe the fusion forms could be female, and have every character save for Sienna, male?

I really just need someone to bounce these questions with and get me back on track. I think I might be focusing too much on it, and the fact I don't know what their basic function should be aggravates me to no end! So comment here? private message me? Anything is helpful. <3

[Luie]

1,) Don't focus on the grand scale for now. Keep things open to allow for future stories, but focus on the small things first.
2.) Magical powers don't need to make perfect sense. Maybe focus on what colors mean to people and how we perceive them. What colors are in a sunset, and what sort of emotions do they invoke? What colors seem more vibrant and powerful? How do colors interact with each other? There's a whole lot of creative an interesting paths to go down, but only you can decide which ones most interest you. So I'll leave you with this bit of colorful fun:

3.) This is more a question of character design, so I don't have enough information to give a good opinion. but I'd keep it simple.
4.) The ROYGBIV seems like a more solid concept, so I'd draw the focus more towards that and less attention on the tertiary colors. But this heavily depends on the story itself.
5.) This is a very interesting concept and I'm inclined with my biased opinion to say both. Make it a mystery, give the reader conflicting information on their genders. Maybe have some of them lean more towards one gender over the other and vice versa. Seems like a fun thing to play around with.

I'd say to focus on the small. Especially the characters. Once you have solid characters with solid personalities, you'll have a much easier time with how the story goes. Good luck man, hope I helped or something! c:

[jettemse]

I want to thank you so much, because you got my wheels turning. This is what I need! This is what gets my creative juices flowing!!!! Omg! I have it!

Maybe focus on what colors mean to people and how we perceive them. What colors are in a sunset, and what sort of emotions do they invoke? What colors seem more vibrant and powerful? How do colors interact with each other?

Let me run something by you, or anyone else, should someone else wish to reply. I was toying with colors. And perceptions. And colors and meanings. As energy -- what if each color is based on a CHAKRA!?! I didn't realize there were exactly seven primary chakra colors already! Each responds to the human form in different ways.

There are a good 20-something more, additional chakras, including hands, feet, ears, eyes, internals (pancreas/spleen), elbows, knees, etc. I find it interesting that orange is "sexuality and intimacy". I didn't pre-plan that. Maybe that was meant to be. I don't know if they should have weapons, but I think They'll have prism monograms based in each location of their primary chakra. The chakras, I'm assuming, will activate -- glow their respected symbol, and then the red chroma whips out a red cat o' nine tails out of her... groin... Hmmm. Hahahaha.

I think you're right, that I should focus on the seven. I think I'm going to integrate the chakra color energy aspect as well into it. There could be explanations to explain further colors down the road (darkness integrating energy from those already captured; ie a dark orange color, etc) -- and I think if I make Sienna a lighter tone of brown as like flesh white, perhaps, I could utilize that color tone as a lightener to create further color combinations? flesh tone + red-voilet(fusion of two) = lighter red violet?"

I think I'd like to maybe toy around with the idea that they can transfer energies without having to fully fuse, or perhaps have them get weaker and be displayed as weaker (more youthful designs?) by allowing them to transfer their chakra energy into other chromas. Blue, plus a shot of green making a darker toned blue-green. red with a shot of blue making a darker red, etc. I still need to figure that out, if I want to go with it or not. Even still, if I utilize the primary colors as the remaining chromas, and I'm able to recreate orange, green and violet in a fusion form, I'm going to have to figure out how to make them different than the chromas of those colors that already exist. Sharing energy would provide a "fusion" aspect, but would be able to mix the tones differently and gather different shades. Maybe I should focus on this method? It would be fun to maybe experience all the chromas in alignment, and show off the ultimate chakra celestial form (silver white).

I need to brush up on my color theory. This is all new territory for me, if you couldn't tell.

Thank you so much for commenting and offering your time. Really appreciate it. Would appreciate any other feedback from anyone as well. I don't want to iron out the details midway through and have there be a half a dozen loopholes people will notice.

[Luie]

haha, yay I did a thing c:

O was totally thinking chakra, but I didn't know if that's what you were going for. I don't believe in chakra energy (at least how it's perceived) but the belief is very solid and relate-able for a lot of people, and it's a very creative concept. This would also be a great thing for character personalities based on chakra colors. As far a powers, it would be interesting to base them off chakra desires (which play into personalities) For instance, Chakra 3 speaks about anger, willpower, and self-discipline, so something extremely physically destructive, almost over-destructive, would fit the theme. For the throat chakra, perhaps something verbally powerful, like a voice of reason would fit. Sacral chakra is about physical and emotional sensuality, or giving and receiving in a relationship, which has much to do with sexual intimacy, since sexual intimacy is the "root" of a romantic relationship between two people.. The Root chakra seems like it would be the most "chaotic", with it being about experiencing sexual and emotional insecurity yet projecting fear onto others. The Chakra theory personifies colors nicely, so there's a lot to play around with. I think it's a great basis for your characters. Lemme know how it goes and feel free to run any details by. I'm an anal loophole checker :T

[jettemse]

Ohmagerd. Another night owl like me!

I think Steven Universe is rooted in Indian Mythology, but I don't believe it borrows these themes, versus the depiction of their myths. So far it seems fairly original, right? I don't want it to seem like I'm borrowing too many notifs. I don't want it to come across as a "fan comic".

I'm not sure if I would believe in chakra power either, but I think the color themes, personalities, personifications and representations manifest nicely in a supernatural, superpower setting quite nicely. I think I'm going to play the lotus petal theme throughout their weaponry, etc. Those are really nice suggestions. I think I want to play with the three primary colors as those that are remaining. Given Violet, I doubt the Violet Chroma would have wanted to put up a strong fight just based on the emotional connections attached.

Sienna, the chroma representing brown, I was going to give her the "hand chakra".

Hand chakra functions

It doesn't exactly relate to the Sacral chakra, but I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing? I think it would provide more individuality, and a sense of wonder in both parties dealing with something new and different? Sienna's personality will be akin to an independent, strong willed, pre-teen who thinks she can do and handle anything and everything by herself. You ever see Brock take care of his siblings in the Pokemon anime? Something like that. Sienna's mother has experienced a "midlife crisis" so she kind of wrangles her siblings in as a mother. Leadership qualities. The "hand" functions and the "Sacral" functions have similarties to me.

"The Hand chakra rules transmutation, healing, ability to give, receive and create. A healthy Hand chakra allows you give unconditionally instead of compulsively without guilt or expectations. You are able to receive love, compliments, gifts, advice and assistance with ease."`

I think that's relatable enough, no?

Is the personified version of darkness figure enough of a villain to support a comic? Do I need subvillains?

I'm going to bed. Thank you for your comments. <3 <3 <3

[Luie]

I should be working but I'm not, lol. About to fall asleep!

It doesn't matter what you borrow from, as long as the message is your own (I have borrowed stuff from like, a gajillion things!)
The hand chakra seems like a nice fit for what you're going for.
The concept of darkness is the perfect concept for a villain based on your story's concept, however, it doesn't matter what theme your villain fits, all that matters is what makes your villain a villain, and this all comes down to personality. Your villain needs to be just as in-depth as your hero. I've been working on my story since January and I still haven't come up with a good villain yet. It's really hard to pull off a fictional person who makes the reader actually doubt that the protagonist is going to win, even if the protagonist does win in the end. The concept of darkness is a great start to go off of.

This video on villains has been the most helpful to me so far

[jettemse]

Would applying the concept of extra limbs in fusions go too far? Considering I'm already borrowing the idea of the chakra/energy/color principles -- why not mimic the deity scenario as well? Idk. Toss up on that one.

I do like the idea of darkness as the villain, but one figure -- is that going to be enough? I watched that video three times, by the way. Definitely insightful. I feel like the "draco" archetype could be filled by a classmate or something to that decree. Or maybe that level is fitting for the 'snape'; the annoyant distractions, or something? I'm not sure how to implement darkness as an entity. I know I want to play around with this idea that light and dark need to remain in balance. Kind of like Nightmare Moon, I'm not sure if you've seen My Little Pony or not, but that is kind of what I was imagining. Darkness jealous of light; darkness consumes light; light refracts and spawns warriors. Warriors fight back from darkness. Darkness is already too strong and starts consuming warriors. Sienna will be able to defeat Darkness with the ability to heal bad energy and absorb it like a battery via her hand chakras. However; I'm envisioning it as being an epic showdown -- as just below the human chakras is the omega chakra, and the color is all black. So, all chakras + darkness, I'm seeing a no-face like humanoid or something when after he eats everyone. Hahaha.

Do I need a draco entity first? Should I focus on creating another chakra as kind of the scapegoat, messenger type. The Peridot if you will. The scout that comes to earth and wreck a bit of havoc?

Spoiler alerts, perhaps, but the execution will most likely be different.

Thoughts? Guidance? Perception?

[Luie]

Nah, extra parts would be kewl. Get all creative and unexpected.

One figure will be enough if that figure is powerful enough as a person. This is my personal opinion, but when the villain is one person, making them feel real is much easier. I think it leads to a more epic showdown between one protagonist and one villain. There can be some dracos or other minor villains along the way to progress the story (conflicts have to happen!), but in the end, the face-off is between the real villain and the real protagonist.

My dracos have bits of snapes in them, like a mixture, depending on how seriously I want them to be taken. Dracosnapes are designed to challenge to protagonist to the reader can assess the protagonists abilities (both psychological and physical).

The light/dark idea is good. Light literally can't exist without darkness (although i don't think it's the same vice-versa. Idk, I have to science myself) I haven't seen MLP, but light vs dark concepts are fairly common. I think by personifying them, you could come up with something unique. With that being said, two opposing ideas clashing is always an epic fight scene. You could even take it do different levels from a physical fight to a psychological one. I'm sure two opposing entities would be extremely frustrated fighting against something that's the complete opposite of what they understand, especially when you apply concepts like love and solitude, or hate and compassion.

The thing about dracos is that they're actually on the same side as the protagonist, they just don't know it. The only reason they remain on the opposing side is because they loathe the protagonist. Dracos are designed to be defeated in some way, so it would be good to include one. Snapes, on the other hand, are taken a bit more seriously. We assume they're on the opposing side but we don't know what their next move will be. Snapes are also extremely flexible because so little is known about their psyche. They could flop sides, they could suddenly become lethal, they could do something completely unexpected because they don't play by the rules. This is why I like to mix my dracos with my snapes and come out with something having traits from both counterparts.

Ironically I came up with my dracosnape long before my actual villain. But, it could be done in any order.

[williamjbowles]

You've got an interesting idea here, and you seem to have put a lot of thought into it. So I'm going to give you the best advice that I can. You don't have to take my advice, (I'm not your boss) but it's the best I can give.
You made several references to Steven Universe. While I am a fan of the show, and I can understand drawing some inspiration from something you like, avoid making it too similar. Your creation will be more memorable and interesting if it stands out as its own thing instead of just being a copy. Having 'fusions' would make it look like a fan clone. I know it'd make sense with them being colors, but find another way to have them work together and have their powers compliment each other.

Again, Steven Universe already focuses on each character having a magic weapon they conjure, so maybe try to stray from that. If they each have a specialized weapon, maybe they should just be solid weapons that they carry-- nothing wrong with that. Maybe each could have a selection of powers based on a given theme--- one could... I don't know, turn into (and talk to) animals, for example. Mix it up a little. Be creative. Things that each contribute in different ways, perhaps.

I'd avoid the main cast reflecting just the primary/secondary colors. Just a random variety of colors-- but perhaps ones that look good together. It's make it feel more natural, like they're just a random bunch living/working together instead of some pre-determined team. Steven Universe has a main cast whose color palettes work together well. How boring would it have been if they were just the 'popular gems'-- ruby, emerald, diamond, etc., instead of a seemingly random selection that look good together.

Probably, just give each character a gender-- some male, some female, whatever.

Well, good luck with your project! I hope you can create something great that you can really feel good about and be proud of.

[jettemse]

I've been brewing on this concept for over a year.

I want to stand on its own, totally. Of course. I don't want it to come across as a "fan" comic in any right -- but similarities will be present. The concept of fusions surely isn't original, right? The fusions of Steven Universe tend to come across as Amalgams of the gems, rather than creating a being entity of it's own presence which is something I would have intended. I was also playing around with the idea of energy being transferable. Maybe "give" another Chroma a boost, causing a "de-evolution" in another Chroma, but while "enhancing" another into being different shade or something. Red gives a shot to blue. Creates a deep reddish blue, etc. This is still something I'm scrapping to narrow down exactly. I do like the idea of fusion forms sharing both chakra energies, and effecting both as one being. Root and Throat chakra striking fear with voice manipulation or something -- something that meshes and compliments one another nicely as a rich purple shade.

Nothing wouldn't be solid per se because they're just energy. I'd like the idea of them having "cores", and once activated, bring upon their weapon of choice. I don't think the idea of bringing on weapons is an entirely original idea. Magical Girl animes have been doing it for a long time. I appreciate the feedback, but you offered no alternative to this concept. Wouldn't basing powers off their color themes be cliche and expected? I'd like to utilize abilities based on colors and themes, but I don't think they should be primary....?

Their primary focus would be training the newest Chroma and defeating darkness, regain control, and govern the galaxy. It wouldn't be a day in the life comic about energy colored "aliens" who try and shop at wal-mart. They'd be battling shadow-men and such. This aspect I think you're trying to compare it to Steven Universe deliberately. Light refracts and makes a rainbow. Why would it not make sense to focus on the seven colors? I don't know how you can compare more valuable precious stones to an equal spectrum of color... I should pick red, orange and yellow because they are all warm tones? Wouldn't it be more interesting to have a varied cast (red, blue, yellow) instead? I'm confused.

Thank you for your feedback. I'm not sure what to make of it, because it kind of went against the grain of what Luie and I had discussed above, but, it's just more to think about, I guess.

[Luie]

I've never seen Steven Universe because I live under two rocks, but

Ehhhh there's probably a few more I can't think of...

They're all basically the same concept of this

So there's all sorts of creative avenues you could go down.

[jettemse]

Are you supporting the idea of fusions? Is that what I'm gathering from the above ^ ?

[Luie]

Magic can do a lot of things. It's your preference, but I'm just saying you can do that without making it look like you're taking a concept from one specific thing.