[Active] Fuwa Original Mascot Character Suggestion Thread

[solidbatman]

The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of exploring our options in creating an original Fuwanovel mascot character. As promised, here is a thread for people to put their suggestions up for this character. Before we do that though, I'd like to lay down a few ground rules, and note a few things to make this as painless as possible. 

1. It is a Fuwanovel tradition to have a huge argument over things, and take everything personally, along with fighting to the death over minuscule details. To avoid that, let me get this out of the way now: Not everyone is going to like whatever is decided on, and the Fuwanovel staff (mostly Tay I assume), not users will ultimately make the final design decisions. This thread is to merely brain storm and get the process started so I know what to officially propose to Tay in the very near future. 
2. The purpose for the mascot character is marketability. This is not a process to select your fetishes to represent every aspect of Fuwanovel. This is to pick a character type that represents Fuwanovel as a whole. This is bigger than just the forums. The new mascot character will be on all social media accounts, with the logo, along with (pending approval) making appearances on Fuwazette and FuwaReviews. This is a branding, not a time to shove your favorite character build/type onto everyone else. The character design will ultimately be a design that can proudly represent Fuwanovel in its entirety, and needs to appeal to the average otaku nerd. In short, nothing sexy. Think cute, not sexy. 
3. Regarding Lolis: Do not fight over lolis. I will go ahead and admit, it is highly doubtful, unless a great case can be made that a loli best represents Fuwanovel as a whole, that a loli will be designed. That said, still make a case for them, just don't argue and fight over them in this thread.

 

With that out of the way, the thread is open to suggestions. Please keep shit posting and jokes to a minimum. Serious responses only, please. And finally, before posting, please consider this one question and respond to it.

"If Fuwanovel were an anime/VN character, what would it look like?" Remember to keep in mind all aspects of the site, and the 3 notes I listed above. 

[solidbatman]

2 minutes ago, Palas said:

I actually don't fancy having a person as Fuwa's mascot all that much. The reason is simple - human silhouettes are all too similar, no matter how much you dress them up, and won't ever be as readily recognizable and easily spread as an animal thingy. Perhaps we should think not Madoka, but Kyuubey. Get what I mean?

Not a bad idea. Certainly something I'll look into. 

[Darklord Rooke]

34 minutes ago, Palas said:

 human silhouettes are all too similar, no matter how much you dress them up, and won't ever be as readily recognizable and easily spread as an animal thingy.

And my FaceHugger suggestion is looking better by the day :3

[LiquidShu]

1 hour ago, Palas said:

I actually don't fancy having a person as Fuwa's mascot all that much. The reason is simple - human silhouettes are all too similar, no matter how much you dress them up, and won't ever be as readily recognizable and easily spread as an animal thingy. Perhaps we should think not Madoka, but Kyuubey. Get what I mean?

I like this idea a lot, any memorable mascot that comes to mind are animal things. Teddy (Persona 4 ), Kyuubei (Madoka), Pikachu (Pokemon), Snoo (Reddit), Sonic (Sega), Crabigator (WaniKani), hell even Denpasoft has a bunny thing. This is not to say human mascots can't be effective, Mario, Hatsune Miku, and that's all I can thing of. Logo's and Animal/Creature inspired mascots just seem to be a lot more memorable. 

I still like the GravityGreen inspired mascot, but I have no idea how it would look like. That being said, green, yellow/orange, blue, and pink are the colors I associate with Fuwa. It helps those are the colors that are used in the Fuwanovel logo  

I'm also partial to cutesy stars so those get my vote too.

[sanahtlig]

2 hours ago, solidbatman said:

"If Fuwanovel were an anime/VN character, what would it look like?" Remember to keep in mind all aspects of the site, and the 3 notes I listed above. 

I think most people associate Fuwanovel with that If my Heart had Wings character that Aaeru started out with--both visually and symbolically.

[solidbatman]

45 minutes ago, sanahtlig said:

I think most people associate Fuwanovel with that If my Heart had Wings character that Aaeru started out with--both visually and symbolically.

They wouldn't because she has been gone for 50 years now and most newer members likely barely know who she is. Enough about Aaeru already. 

[Nosebleed]

I agree with the animal suggestion.

As much as I'd love to have a cute 2D girl everywhere, animals are easily made cute for everybody and you will never run into any of the other issues human characters can pose.

Should also be a fictional creature, not an already existing animal.

 

[kingdomcome]

I swear that if I loli gets picked I'm leaving this site. 

[Eclipsed]

I think a good amount of us can agree about pink master race, so as long as the mascot has some pink, pref hair, eyes a plus, I will satisfy

Wait what, we goin' mother nature gangnam animal style for the mascot?

Pink fur.

~~
We technically have an original mascot already. 

[kingdomcome]

5 minutes ago, Eclipsed said:

We technically have an original mascot already. 

lmao this is the first thing that popped into my head, I actually would go with this.

8 minutes ago, Nosebleed said:

I agree with the animal suggestion.

I like this. What about the Tanuki from Ever17?

[kingdomcome]

10 minutes ago, Zenophilious said:

Seriously, though, pls, no non-humans.

14 minutes ago, Eclipsed said:

We technically have an original mascot already. 

As human as you can get.

[OriginalRen]

My thoughts on the mascot:

• I think that the character/creature should be original and something the site designs, not a copyright. Using a copyright doesn't speak "branding" to me, and while I get that some suggestions are good ideas (i.e. = Aaeru's avatar), Pulltop already owns that character. I understand that Fuwanovel may not be a site that generates money, but we do have a donation system set up. I have always seen Fuwanovel as a site that wants to be different from other visual novel sites out there, and nothing puts more of a sour taste in someone's mouth than looking at us from the outside and realizing that we ended up copying another person's/company's idea. In short, keep it original.
• I strongly believe that the character/creature needs to be a female. No matter what gender you are, anime fans have and always will be associated to an audience that enjoys the rich diversity of female characters. There is a reason that most modern anime has more females. There is a reason that nearly every mascot for every company in Japan associated with anime is a female. All in all, females stick more with the audience. A large majority of visual novels are catered to the male audience. That being said, most females who enjoy visual novels catered to a male audience tend to have a bisexual orientation. This in turn makes me feel a female will connect better with any audience seeing the site.
• Designing a character is a huge challenge. Ignoring the actual look of the character, the agreement on the personality of the character is what will make or break it. If we choose an actual human being, I believe that a lot of people will connect with an artsy/introverted personality. Have you ever read those adorable little comics written by female artists about their take on relationships and how they are really shy and cute? That's pretty much what I think we should aim for here. Visual novels are a form of art, and what better way to represent them than with an artsy mascot? People connect with introverted characters because most anime/visual novel fans are introverts themselves. Not everyone is comfortable opening up outside the safe haven of the internet, and I think designing a character that is both warm, artsy, and inviting for all genders will draw much more attention for the site. What makes a character mascot artsy? A moe girl with glasses, coffee cups, painting supplies, sketchbooks, and other elements that speak "art student" in their appearance.
• If we don't go with a human being (which I suggest the creature/animal instead), there are a lot more options on the table.

[Yuuko]

Animal + Human = Profit???

[Dergonu]

I get the idea with an animal mascot instead of a human, though I still think an original human character would be the best. 

Maybe a set of them, one male and one female human character, each on one side of the logo. So like "Female" Fuwanovel "male" or the other way around. 

 

A fairly plain character, something along the lines of the Amagami SS artstyle is my suggestion. I realize it´s quite "boring", but making a characrter that´s supposed to NOT be directed at one specific type of people, but instead something that can represent VNs etc as a whole, the more "plain" the character is the better. 

That´s what I think at least. 

[solidbatman]

Thank you for all the great suggestions and feedback so far! Keep em coming 

[Silvz]

Well, I think it would be nice to have an eyepatch, since Fuwa has the whole history and stuff about pirating games [and because I love eyepatches]

I agree with the human + animal suggestion, it would be something different from the common and could be made in a way that would please everyone

[Nosebleed]

The human + animal combination seems like it could be a really fun and cute idea as long as you can come up with the right combination of elements. I also think a male and a female could be an interesting combo, so long as they both fit in one theme. If you go with a duo, I think they should kinda have an "opposite" feel to them, which in turn would make them complement each other really well (think with magnets!). 

E.g: If you made this really cheerful looking character, the counterpart should be a gloomy looking character

Also, just one personal suggestion, if you kinda "chibify" it, you wouldn't have to worry so much about whether or not they look "too loli" or "too sexual". Striving for a more cartooney feel is probably advantageous here. If you look at the image Kiriririri posted, it kind of illustrates how you can have a cute character without any other kind of "sexual features", meaning the emphasis is on the face and the overall cuteness of it. 

[Amuzie]

Agree on the whole animal + person idea, has some huge potential. Still believe you should be able to click it and hear some beautiful salty voice acting by Ren. Oh different emotions on it would be cool. Like a sassy one a happy one and so on.

[Nosebleed]

3 minutes ago, Emi said:

Will this ever happen. havent we had this discussion many times.

The spirit of Fuwanovel is in the argument threads. The conclusion itself is irrelevant.

[Eclipsed]

My vote goes for kawaii chibi bishoujo in cutesy minature animal costume. Pink pref. Using Fuwacolors, that'd be pink hair, green eyes, and an orange and blue suit. Or some other combination, whatever works

[Guest]

Aaeru's Profile pic character

[solidbatman]

15 minutes ago, maefdomn said:

Aaeru's Profile pic character

 

13 hours ago, solidbatman said:

...she has been gone for 50 years now and most newer members likely barely know who she is. Enough about Aaeru already. 

 

[Yuuko]

We also can't just steal Palette's or Pulltop's character (depending which picture you mean) and use it

[Lewycool]

ban lolis.

Use an older woman or older sister character. Kirihime is a good pick

 

lolis suck. Fight me 

 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, solidbatman said:

 

 

That doesn't change the fact that i think her profile pic's character would do a good mascot.

Maybe there's a lot of goofing around and it's fun but this wasn't a joke. It has nothing to do with Aaeru.