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Post by Blaise Zebrataur on Jan 5, 2010 16:16:06 GMT -5
I recently made a new character,but I haven't tested him out yet and I'd love to here what my friends say about it here on AAAB.
Well,here is my Coptaur:
He stood 6'8" and weight over a ton as he walked down the path in a park.He had short brown hair,under a hat and had light blue eyes that looked this way and that.He wore a light blue uniform that covered his upper body as he didn't seem any different from the waist up.From the waist down it was a different story,his police uniform hanged down into his lower body,which was a horse body.Covered in light brown fur he walked calmly on his four hooves as he looked around the area,looking for any trouble as his tail swayed behind him slowly.
(Well what you guys think of him? And btw,I did renounce his form name from Centaur to Coptaur,makes it more real to me.)
(And PS: Sorry if this doesn't go here,but I had no clue where it should of gone.)
(Also if you have any storyline ideas you have,please tell them to me,and tell me why you do/don't like this character.And DON'T hold back your feelings and thoughts.)
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Post by Epesi on Jan 9, 2010 9:01:15 GMT -5
Well, it's not a bad idea for a character at all, but it's not really a character yet. All you have here is the barest premise, "a police officer who happens to be a centaur." He needs, as Anya mentioned in the other thread, a personality. He could also use some background -- you don't need a complete biography, but some key details, or at the very least a home -- he's a police officer, but where? And of course, he needs a name. As for his description, it's a little vague, only telling us his colors (and his height and weight, but I'll get to that next). People and horses vary quite a bit in appearance beyond just the colors of their hair and eyes. Tell us about his build - is he stocky or lanky, bulky or lean? Tell us about his features. You don't need to tell us about the exact shape of his ear lobes or anything, just give us a general idea of the sort of face he has -- thin, round, squared, etc. Don't forget his horse half. Look at the wide variety in horse breeds -- is he more like a Thoroughbred or a Clydesdale, or something else entirely? His height and weight are problematic. A centaur might be 6'8" tall if the horse body is about 4' at the withers and the human torso is 2'8", which seems to be pretty close to my proportions; I don't have a very accurate way of measuring without help, but I got 2'6", and I stand at 5'9". Standing 4' (48 inches, or 12 "hands", the unit used for measuring horses) at the withers, your centaur's horse half is technically a pony, according to this handy reference. It could be bigger than that since his total height is 6'8", but not by too much, or the human part would be abnormally short. So his height isn't necessarily wrong, but it makes him a very small specimen. It's when you take his height and his weight together that it gets to be a problem. A ton is 2,000 pounds. A large draft horse like a Clydesdale can weigh a ton, but they're also over 5' tall. According to the chart on this page, assuming I've done it right, a 4' pony in good condition should weigh around 551 pounds. I'm not sure how much a human torso weighs compared to a horse's head and neck, but even allowing for some extra weight, your centaur still ought to be a few hundred pounds short of even half a ton. At your current measurements, 6'8" and 2,000 pounds, your character would be massively overweight. Your character should probably be closer to 8' tall if you want him to be more of an "average" size. If he weighs about a ton, his horse half should be built like a draft horse -- so that answers the "Thoroughbred or Clydesdale?" question from earlier. If that's not what you want him to look like, then do a little research and change the numbers accordingly. I figured all of this out by searching on Google. In short, a centaur police officer could be a great character, but right now he's not. I didn't vote yes or no because there's really not much for me to like or dislike. I do think calling him a Coptaur is pretty silly, though. |
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Post by Blaise Zebrataur on Jan 11, 2010 6:04:27 GMT -5
Wow,thanks for the long post Epesi I am glad someone has replied.
I will try to answer all the problems right now:
Well,the setting of Coptaur's job would be New York City,and its my fault for forgetting to post it.His name is currently being figured out.
As far as his body goes,I'm currently working on it all,hence why I haven't rped him yet,this is a rough draft of the character.
His height is not being changed,6'8" is a normal height for a centaur,I'd know because I've rped them for years.
His weight I am currently changeing as well as I only guessed really on his weight.
Thanks for your thoughts and such,but I figured Coptaurs would(and will) work better then a Centaur.
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Post by Epesi on Jan 11, 2010 11:41:26 GMT -5
No problem; it's good to see you're still working out the details.
That's like me saying "Bears can talk; I'd know because I've RPed them for years." Writing fiction about something is not the same as actually researching the subject. As for being a "normal" height for a centaur, that's impossible to say anyway because they're not real. 4'2" could be a normal height for a centaur in somebody's world and it would be no less valid.
In the same vein, 6'8" is a perfectly normal height for your centaurs if you say so; if that's how tall you want the character to be then that's how tall he is. It just puts him on the rather small end for a horse, possibly closer to a zebra or donkey. Since the original measurements didn't match up it's hard to guess how big you imagine him to be.
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