Anime v Non-Anime Models

[Fable]

Just going to pop in to let you all know that the Japanese-esque terms are from Lhavit, not Zeltiva. :)

[Yra]

The style of Lhavit that borrows from Asian themes (read: more than just Japanese) was, to my knowledge, not intended. Japan and the Japanese are not locations/ethnicities in Mizahar. If you take a look at Lhavit from a few years ago and Lhavit now, the stereotype of Lhavit = Asia is definitely not accurate anymore.

I figured it prudent to clear that up.

I'm really enjoying reading the opinions on avatars in general that has burst out of this discussion.

[Caelum]

I don't really care what your avatar looks like when it comes to threading with you. I do make snap judgements based upon it sometimes though. It's usually in the vein of what type of player you are, which is ironic because it's supposed to convey things about the PC. But it isn't just your avatar, it's your signature, it your boxcode, it's how you write and not just what you're writing. My final judgement is in the writing, but first impressions here are visual and so that is what filters in first. Like Gossamer, I'm not interested in writing with children or very young adults. I tend to prefer more mature topics that require adult maturity to partner well with. I'm not talking about erotica, though that too, or even gore. Just.. plain.. world view. Perspective. If that makes any sense.

That said, when I have time I am willing to thread with anyone once. If it doesn't work out, then I won't thread with them again or only will with certain conditions set in place.

Oh, and I'm one of those jerks who has the stunningly beautiful model avatar. But! My PC is supposed to be ridiculously good looking. It's a legit and built upon aspect of who he is and what he brings to the table in any thread and I have worked on it. Is it cliche? I don't think so, but I'm sure some of you do and that's okay. I am confident that I've built a multi faceted character with whom one can sympathize. Those who don't agree and/or don't like my PC don't have to thread with me and everyone can be happy. You know?

[Nivel]

Just going to pop in to let you all know that the Japanese-esque terms are from Lhavit, not Zeltiva.

Sorry I totally meant lhavit, but wrote Zeltiva by accident. >__<

I know there aren't actual real world ethnicities in Mizahar, I was just saying there's some inspiration there. Whether it was intended or not originally its still there and if I wanted to make character that used an asian avatar and I didn't want to make them from Vantha I would probably make them form Lhavit or Nyka.

Edit: Likewise with Katana, Nun chucks, or throwing stars...which are all still on the price list..I'd say my character got them from lhavit. This is just my personal opinion on the matter and if you don't want to think of Lhavit as being asia that's totally fair too because it isn't, it's Lahavit.

[Rewyn Horne]

Nice responses guys! Completely understand all of it, I didn't make this thread as a jab at anime-modelled PC, just as a kick starter to discuss everyones opinions on them. I respect when someone has their avatar as an anime guy/girl, but then can write extremely well, with an interesting and diverse PC. But then I've seen some that just shove pictures of that anime character throughout the entire sheet pretty much screaming ''THIS IS WHO I AM!!'' and you're like umm....

[Gillar]

I am not much of a fan of anime aside from a handful of 80's style exceptions. That said, I don't give much thought to the anime avatars. Notice I said, "much thought" because like others, when I see an anime avatar it does start me off with some initial perception of the character. It is unavoidable for me but at the same time I prefer to rely more on the character description followed by how they act, speak and otherwise conduct themselves in-thread. To me, the avatar represents how they see their own character The avatars I use for my own characters tend embody how I see them appearing. It has little to nothing to do with whatever other media characters they may represent although sometimes the characteristics my characters possess may be similar to the media characters that share the same avatars.

This is just me, who I am and what I prefer but anime characters/avatars fall into two categories: The females are too child-like in appearance OR are abnormally exaggerated. The males look like children or androgynous at best. Seldom do I find any anime characters that fit what I see my characters looking like.

As for the inclusion of certain weapons into the price list such as the katana or throwing stars, I put those in not to reflect any sort of japanese culture or having anything to do with anime. To me they are just different types of weapons. These weapons aren't exclusive to certain races, cities or cultures. They are remnants of history and little more. The way I perceive it in the price list and in relation to Mizahar is a katana is little more than a single-edged sword that some individuals prefer using over others. It is not much different than say a sabre or cutlass and while it is often light, quick and sometimes artsy, it is nothing more than a thin piece of metal that wouldn't stand up well against say an isur wielding a double-edged blade in their metallic hand bringing it down on your sorry ass. A sliver of thin, single-edged metal isn't going to do much to parry such a strike, skill and weapon material being somewhat equal. I included such weapons more to better accommodate character combat/weapon styles and preferences over any real-world cultural relevance. Real-world mythology and hype aside, katana, stars, etc., are just weapons to be used by the people of Mizahar any nothing more.

[Lazuhly]

Wait hold the phone are you saying that you can't slice a tank in half with a katatakana?

Sorry I know obvious troll, but I can't help but reiterate that shockingly some people in real life swear that it can cut plate armor.

Sad truth is jewel steel as it was called was I believe inferior quality to that of say L6 and D2 which is sexy and if you have any please hook me up.
Soft carbon metal like that chips and bends when its punished which is why samurai combat was ritualistic in nature just a little factoid I thought I'd share.

[Roderick]

I remember reading up on stuff like that Lazuhly. From what I've heard, any metal available in Japan isn't of particularly high quality, which is why smiths would fold it over so it didn't suck quite so much. The idea that a Katana could get through plate armour is just downright ridiculous; it was designed in an environment where plate armour didn't exist and besides the late Samurai and late full-plated knights weren't even contemporaries so that entire argument is basically invalid. So yeah the argument of the katana being OMG awesome at cutting through plate armour is ridiculous since it was never designed to do that. I mean the western sword was used alongside plate armour but everyone knows they can't cut through it - I mean the stuff was designed to protect against that kind of thing. Using a sword - or a dagger - against a plate-wearing knight basically involved you either trying to stick them in the armpit or groin where there were gaps in the armour, or literally gripping the sword by its blade and clubbing them with it.

I'm not kidding, it's called half-swording:



Anyway that went really off topic there - my apologies for that. I like history discussions.

[Liminal]

That's a totally awesome picture, Roderick.

The other thing about katanas is that, because of the inferior quality of the metal, if you swing them wrong, the blade actually shatters. It's always hysterical to me that people -- and I'm looking at you, Quentin Tarantino -- think of katanas as the MOST AWSUM SORD, when actually, even by the standards of swords, they're really terrible.


Oh, and back on topic, I'm not a fan of anime avatars (even though I once used one in a different RP place), but I can't bring myself to get terribly worked up about it.

[Verilian]

So, my uncle wrote a book. A few, actually, but I've only read the first so far. It wasn't a bad book. Not the best I've ever read, but certainly not bad. If it hadn't been written by my uncle, however, I would never have even looked at the book because of this: This image just does not appeal to me. Perhaps it does to some, but if I saw that book on a shelf, I wouldn't have glanced twice at it. That was the cover he chose for his book. I would have judged the book by it's cover and never read it, despite the fact that it was a good book. That is how I feel about people who wont thread with people based off the avatar they chose. I don't particularly like anime avatars, and there have been some other avatars I didn't like, but I've threaded with people whose avatars I couldn't stand and discovered that I really liked their characters. In my opinion, judging someone by their avatar is the same as judging a book by its cover. It's not the way to do things. At least give their CS a read before you judge. At least flip the book open and scan a few pages before you judge. Anyway.. that is my opinion. I go now. ~V