This is her picture! I made it with that farragofiction troll maker. Can I please get a redesign/design help?
…Fuck it if MCR can drop their first new song in nearly a decade on a Thursday night with zero preamble I can get back into reviewing fantrolls after a two-year break with similar aplomb.
World: Alternia
Name: Luvdaa Dorset (I honestly forgot what Luvdaa meant, and whether it was scrambled or not, but I do remember that a Dorset is a type of sheep-)
T b h I like it anyway. Luvdaa sounds like something I would’ve called a doll when I was younger it tracks. Also it sounds a little like baa.
Age: Flipping between 5 sweeps and 5.54 (first one would make her technically 10 in human years, the latter would make her 12)
Whelp it’s been 2 years since I last did a review for this blog so she’s five and a half now.
Theme/Story: Luvdaa is sort of supposed to be a childish/doll-themed as well as sheep themed character? I hate to water her down, but the angle I was going for was ‘naive and overall sweet’ child to sort of go against the common attitude for Purple Bloods (murderous, scheming, etc…) and make something genuinely good (until I mess it up, because I plan on writing a story with her and a few other of my fantrolls) She’s supposed to be that light in the darkness for my other characters, basically!
I also like the idea of using a sheep as a way to define a person’s relationship to their religion, since you mentioned in a later ask that she follows the purpleblood religion with a more positive bent. In a lot of cultures, sheep are seen as valuable, even holy, because of what they provide a community. Not to mention the idea of a religious figure being a shepherd and their followers a flock, indicating that as thanks for their following they will guard them from harm.
Review Goals: I’d love a review of everything, please! But if you don’t have the time, just some design help/personality help would be alright!
Strife Specibus: I honestly have no idea what to put here. I was originally thinking of a toy theme, something like hoop/ringtype (hula hoops-) or needletype (to go with her love for making dolls-)
Needlekind appeals to me as well, especially since we can also tie back to the sheep theme with knitting needles and wool!
Fetch Modus: A shapes puzzle!
Hmm. I want to tie in to something you said a little later, in that Luvdaa follows the juggalo religion but with little understanding of its true intent. I want to tie this in to her childish nature and give her a Clap-O-Meter Modus that ejects items if she shows sufficient enthusiasm for receiving it. Clap your hands in excitement! Clap if you believe!
…of course, most clap-o-meters are a sham. There is someone manually adjusting the knob depending on what they perceive as the response. Similarly, the modus isn’t actually ejecting captcha cards based on her reaction, but based on whether she thinks she was hype enough. This is also a good modus for a hope-based character, which Luvdaa appears to be.
Blood Color: Purple
Lunar Sway: Prospit!Luvdaa is optimistic and goes with the flow- although, it’s probably a lot easier to do that when she’s so high on the spectrum. She doesn’t struggle against the hard parts of living on Alternia, she adapts and looks for a happy conclusion, or a happy little lie.
I think it also makes sense for someone so dedicated to a religion like the juggalo cult; within the text of Pesterchum it’s pretty clear that it has ties to the flow of a story on a metatextual level, and while a more seasoned member may recognize this influence to be one worth learning to manipulate, a follower like Luvdaa may be simply along for the ride.
Title: I was thinking of Witch Of Hope or Maid Of Hope. Witch seems to be more active than Maid, and Luvdaa’s going to be creating a lot of hope, but she could also manipulate it? I’m pretty stuck here.
I actually wonder…if a Mage of Hope might be more appropriate here? Someone who is optimistic because they see, so clearly, what there is to be optimistic about, and in doing so clues others in to the possibilities while altering or dismissing others’ doubts when they don’t fit into the path she sees.
Symbol and Meaning: Caprinius, The Credulous!
Handle: candiedCadaver
Quirk: !!she types wike this!! Replaces most Ls with Ws, puts double exclamation points at the end and beginning of her sentences (unless unhappy, when she’ll turn to putting double periods at the beginnings and ends) And uses two As (!!This is baad! Reawwy baad!!)
Special Abilities: If applicable. Take into mind your Troll’s Blood Color.
Huh. What if she can animate her dolls ones they’re done? Not with any degree of precision, but playing house with your dolls becomes so much easier when you can move a bunch around at once. You mention later in the bio that she uses troll bones to make her dolls, so maybe they retain some aspect of the “donor's” personality?
Lusus/Guardian: A typical Sheep/Baabeast, although her sheep can unhinge it’s jaw and is an omnivore opposed to being a herbivore like most sheep- Named Hlopka (bell)
We’ve seen that Gamzee’s lusus is water-based and that purplebloods’ lusii at least need to be near the ocean, so how do you feel about a jellysheep? Top half sheep, bottom half jellyfish, billowing about like a doll’s skirt. Still keeps the name relevant, too!
Interests: Doll-making, Exploring the world outside her Hive, Trying myriads of new things everyday, Playing pretend/playing with dolls, Bone collecting
Ah. If I had kept her as a Witch she would be a bone-stealing witch. Pity I missed the opportunity.
Appearance: The sprites there, i just wanted to say that I was thinking of having Luvdaa wear a little collar with a bell on it? Going along with her sheep theme, but also, the term ‘putting a bell on someone’ because she’s so spacey and won’t stay in one place, so you’ll have to hear her tell-tale bell jingles to find her
Personality: Luvdaa’s a bubbly, overly friendly, and energetic sort, seemingly never running out of energy or things to say and do. She’s the typical child-archetype, added that she’s sort of air-headed and more mature than she lets on, as well as prone to being over-violent for the sake of protecting her companions, jumping into action the moment they’re in trouble, even if they don’t ask. It’s true that she seems content to live her life floating along like a little butterfly (or grazing along like a little lamb, I should say-) but it’s somewhat of a cover up- she covers her eyes and refuses to take in the ugly parts of the world she lives in, and honestly might throw a tantrum if you try to rip her out of her little bubble. Her peppy and ‘we can do it if we keep hoping!!“ attitude might get annoying after awhile, but Luvdaa truly just wants to live a happy life.
EDIT: Oh my goodness, i forgot to add something to Luvdaa’s personality/bio, sorry about that! I know it’s not a requirement, but Luvdaa does follow the typical Purpleblood religion (but is very, VERY misguided in what it actually is and entails, thinking that it’s about hope and togetherness, praying for the exact opposite of what those who worship that religion want- how she came to conclude this is a different story that i havent thought of yet, though-)
I think hope and togetherness can still fall under the eaves of the juggalo religion if taken in a certain way! After all, every purpleblood is united in servitude to the same master, and all will meet the same inevitable end. How wonderful to have such certainty of the future, so you may have the space to play in the present!
Land: I’m pretty much stuck here? I like the sound of “Land Of Fleece and Dollskin” kind of showcasing her more morbid side? (that I haven’t really gone into detail about, but she uh- she puts the bones of dead trolls into her dolls- I still haven’t thought of an explanation, but something needed to be messed up about her- maybe she should make some of her dolls out of corpses, now that I think about it…?)
I think you can still incorporate this into the character-theming you already have; she collects the bones of the deceased and puts them into dolls as a tribute to their lives, extending them through play. Sure, literally nobody asked her to do that, but that’s because they never thought to do so! She’s simply anticipating a need they didn’t know they had. Everyone wants to be immortal.
In terms of the Land name itself, what about String and Bridges? The Land could have a number of canyons and rivers to cross with enough wool/thread/string etc that you could repair a bridge, but you need to do the work to actually get places!
In the meantime I see you sent us a new sprite to review so redesign top to bottom let's go FIRST OFF, the original image you sent in was a JPEG so this is all reconstructed from the ground up. If y'all can, please send your images in as PNGs; it makes editing go twice as fast.
Hair – Edited from a fan-troll template. I wanted her to look sheepy and doll-like, and the combo of fluffy hair and headband felt like it hit that sweet spot.
Horns – I looked up Dorset sheep and they've got some pretty bonkers horns! Wouldn't wanna waste a design opportunity like that. These horns are edited from a naphal sprite sheet.
Face – First, the troll face paint covers up the eye bags, so you don't need both in one image! I wanted to give her doll-like “lashes” on the bottom as well as a cheek marking like an antique blushed doll. I also gave her a little lip definition for the same reason.
Dress – This is edited from fixingfubardfantrolls, which I think preserves the ruffly doll dress from your original while giving the skirt a more bell curve.
Symbol – I made it into a belt buckle, both to stand out against the dress and to give her that bit of glitz!
Shoes – Also from a fan-troll template.
I didn’t end up giving her the bell around her neck because the sprite is already pretty visually busy and I didn’t want to sacrifice coherence for it.
I hope this helped, late as it is!
- TR