The implied character of a Mobuma
Hello everyuma! Today we're talking about character design, and how through their designs you can infer what character a mobuma would have if they DID speak!
While most mobumas don't have speaking roles, or even a character to go off at all. They all have designs. And through a character's design, you can tell a LOT about the character themself.
Character design is important in any media, but especially in things like Umamusume, where they have an abundance of characters, it's important that each design does its job. That job being to provide information about the character without saying a single word.
Let's take a well known uma for example;
Her signature smile and expression shows her constant positivity, and her pose shows confidence. Looking at the way she carries herself you immediately know she's ready to face the world, and the outfit cements her as the center of the racewear style. Truly the John of Umamusume.
Take Suzuka instead. Her pose implies she's a lot more reserved, but her expression shows a soft happiness despite that. Her tail moves to cover her legs compared to Spe's swishing about. And her green and yellow contrasts really well with Spe's purple. She has considerably less skin showing than Special Week, again showing that she's more quiet and reserved compared to Spe's loud open nature. They compliment eachother's designs beautifully, showing their connection and their individual personalities too.
Now how about with a mobuma? Well the fact that they're a mix and match of different presets actually helps quite a bit! Brusquement's eyes are sharper, and she has the a confident, yet cool pose. She's colored dark and has tied back hair. She exudes an air of confidence and readiness, while still appearing collected and calm. And when you see her in game?
She's calm, collected, driven. She's powerful, displaying overwhelming strength that impresses Kitasan Black beyond belief. She embodies a distant strength. An air of confidence and readiness, while still appearing collected and calm.
And what about Harp Alpha? She's colored pink, with long cared hair and a calm, polite pose. Her eyes give her an air of sharpness, power. While her pose still keeps her anchored in elegance and maturity. Her design communicates her importance as a posterchild Tiara tour uma. Elegant, beautiful, and powerful.
Now take these principles into the world of the average mobuma.
Create Send is the perfect test run because she's...Special Week...! Not entirely of course, but you can clearly see in her almost childlike eyes, an undying positivity, while her pose stands confident and ready to go! She's ready to face the world and all its challenges! And her outfit preset sometimes comes with sleeves, but she lacks them, pointing to the same openness as when comparing Spe to Suzuka! We can analyze her racewear and colors too. She's primarily just white and black, with a pale blue ear accessory on her left ear. Her solid color racewear could represent simplicity, but the darkness of it shows there might be more than meets the eye to her positivity. She's confident and positive, but she might be insecure under the surface.
It's important to take in their names too. Think Mayano Top Gun and her plane theming, or Marvelous Sunday and her marvelous theming. Umas will often take after their names when being given traits.
Take Short Sleeper for example. She's colored dull and soft. Her hair is a warm reddish brown, and her racewear is a calming blue and pink. She has the sleeves variant, and a Suzuka-like calm smile. Combined with her polite, but reserved posing, she seems calm. Reserved, maybe. Quiet. And using her name to add onto that, perhaps she struggles with something like narcolepsy? She falls asleep often, in short bursts, taking accidental catnaps throughout the day. She's relaxed and reserved, often sleepy and soothing.
Thirdly, here's Atrum Grimoire. Her expression and pose immediately hits you as someone easily excitable, bright and loud. But her colors, sleeves and glasses imply someone more...Quiet and nerdy? Combining this with her name she could be deeply into the occult. She's the weird kid in the back of the class casting spells but if you approach her even for a second she'll talk your ear off for hours about every little detail of her interests. She's reserved but not quiet at all. She's bright and loud but struggles to be open.
And throwing in Divinity so I'm not just going after umas with the same racewear. Her expression and pose give the energy of someone mature and cool. Her glasses in this case show knowledge. She might be nerdy, but paired with her eyes and posing i'm leaning further toward "big sister type character." Her racewear preset could go gloveless or tightsless but she has both, indicating a more reserved nature. She's one of the mobumas who come with a debuff skill, that being gatekept. And combining that with her name, Divinity? It gives the energy of someone trying to appear cool and aloof, but ends up being clumsy.
I could genuinely talk for hours about this, speculating mobuma personalities all day. But the post has to end somewhere...! Maybe I could turn this into a series... Predicting mobumas...? That might be fun...
I hope this post helped you with anything at all, be it characterization for a mobuma roleplay blog or oc, or just characterizing them in your head! These characters might not speak but they do have stories to tell and you have a peek into that story already through their design! That'll be all for now. Stay tuned for more mobuma rambles!