[Talk] Reusing Characters

[Eleanor]

This is a place to discuss character reuse, as some would say. Which is, using basically the same character in different roleplays or mediums that you work on or take part in.

Even then, "reuse" is not only a not-so-flattering term for something that may not deserve to be described like this, it's also not so easy to define! One could use the same character - name, appearance, general personality - but change their backstory to fit each roleplay's setting. But it's also true that you may also take all the key personality traits and backstory events from a character, keep them set, and build a slightly different person over the same base. Hence the dress-up part hehe~

First, what's your opinion on this? Do you think it's an interesting way to explore a character and put them up against different situations, or do you tend to see it more as an act of laziness? And also! Have you ever found yourself doing something like this, and why?

I'll just add my own two cents right away: I've used a character twice, once in a roleplay and once in an event. And while I'm here, let me just add that events feel like the perfect place to try this out: the character in question was Helene from Tocker Corporations, which was one of my first PC roleplays I joined but that ended prematurely after just a few posts. Helene was by no means a fleshed out character with a charted path of growth, and I never really found another setting that worked for her. But the Valentine's Day event of 2021 allowed me to try her out again, this time in a younger version of herself, and it sure was fun bringing her back and trying to make her attitude really come forward.

And so, in that sense, I don't really think that using the same character twice is necessarily a bad idea... as long as some tweaks are made to match the setting and the world. If anything, it's totally understandable! And it's also a way to see how much the world can affect a character, which to me is always rather appealing <3

 

[moon]

I'm all for reusing characters in new situations! I've only done it a few times though; I enjoy creating someone new, usually.

Aberdeen is my prime example. He's been in at least three RPs I think. Always pokemon journey things. He started as an Ash-clone in some RP, got fleshed out a little bit for Crossroads, gained loads of angst and solidified his fears in that, then got reused as a little bit different and more carefree attitude in Trainers. A character - just like us in our lives - are products of our environments, and as such the two latter Deens were pretty different characters in the end. Where CR Deen had experienced loss and crime and even budding romance and worries, Trainers Deen was just an upbeat safe childish NPC to toss in when my main char needed stability. If both Deens had been main chars, their SUs might have been the same but the stories shaped them differently.

I'm also pretty sure I used Hilda at least twice, as I loved her. In Guilded Halls as well as in uuuuh Titans maybe?? Her faceclaim was Rose Tyler from Doctor Who and she ate chocolate bars and turned that energy into super strength. And some other wacky stuff. Neither RP got far enough for her to develop differently in either though.

 

[machomuu]

The only time I've ever done this is in RP reboots, and generally they end up being somewhat different than their original versions. Namely, Godot from SAO and Gavin from Youkai Academy, the latter of which I technically used 3 times but the third incarnation never really got to materialize. Generally though at most I'll use previous characters, especially ones that never really got their chance to shine, as an inspiration for later ones, at least in part.

That said, usually I try to make new ideas. RPing for me is a creative outlet and in a sense a test to myself that I can still create, that I can make something that's interesting and unique and can function in an environment of my own making or others. It's as fun for me as it is constructive.

 

[Aquacorde]

I reuse characters a lot, especially if I feel like I haven't been able to write much of them, but not really for the same things. Like, I almost never reuse them at the same points in their lives, and cetainly not for the same type of event sequence. I like to keep their history intact- if they've already gone on their first badge-collecting journey, they never will do so again and all further appearances will have that or something similar-but-slightly-adjusted as part of their personal history. I find that if I don't do that, I'm just hitting all the same story beats in their development over and over and that gets boring for me.

It's an idea that gets a little complex when moving from narrative to narrative, especially when jumping from a more traditional Pokémon setting-and-plot to something very distinct or vice versa. For all that I won't shift a character from universe to universe (like say from Pokémon to, idk, Naruto), I will still shuffle them up a little- and it depends a lot on how much I managed to do with them in their previous run. Sorley retained their personality, career, some backstory, and their Pokémon from their stint in Jay's WoPC world but not much for memories of that time and actually not even their appearance from there lmao. But Alton, who managed to last for a bit in Gelius' Past of the Past, still functions as if he experienced those incidents in a way- even though the specifics happened with a bunch of ideas that aren't canon to the story he currently lives in.

idk I'm def taking a lot of words to not explain this very well lmao it's vibes okay? i choose what to do based on vibes and i like continuing to move a character forward

OH and yeah I just don't like fully swapping universes. Pokémon characters stay in Pokémon places, that's what they were designed for and that's how I see their entire past present and future. Some universes are malleable for me, like a magic-user could probably slot into a few different concepts, but. Primarily they stay where I designed them for. Otherwise they may as well become a new character to me, because so much about their setting and what they could have done or experienced has changed. And I don't like to just try to force a character that has a strong shape already to fit into something just because I might want to use them again. It doesn't work like that for me.

 

[gimmepie]

I don't really like reusing characters for the most part. It feels weird taking them from their story of origin and introducing them somewhere new to retread old growth and interact with a different story. The only exception is remakes/sequels of older RPs and even then it's not a guarantee.

 

[Ettenmoor]

Not an rp but I was playing D&D and my character died. I didn't feel like making a whole new character so I decided to bring back one of my previous ones from a one-shot I enjoyed.
If I bring back characters to new rps/campaigns I do prefer them to keep their previous growth and memories unless they're completely incompatible with the new setting. That way I can further explore the character instead of starting from square one. It's fun to see what they may have done between adventures.

 

[Sapphire Rose]

The only character I've used multiple times by now is Faye Aubrey from Atria who was originally my FFXIV character but turned her into something more suitable for Guilds of Atria. Back then the idea of playing my FFXIV character seemed fun to me. After that I also reused her for Liz "Elizabeth" for the DnD campaign run by GP. So three times by now. All three versions have different personalities however c: There are a few keypoints that are still the same but Faye Aubrey in FFXIV has soft pink hair now while Liz and Faye from Atria look exactly the same.

I don't often reuse characters because I like the process of creating a new character from scratch especially since I tend to give them something of my own.

 

[Foxrally]

I've never actually reused a full character, but over the years I've actually made a point to incorporate elements of previous, lesser-used and less-played characters into my new ones, both in D&D and RPing! Both of my current D&D characters, Br'oaaa the blue grung (froggy boy) and Casador the surfer monk have taken elements from previous characters I've thought up. Br'oaaa is a much sillier version of a frog character I created years ago for an in-person campaign but never took off; the original Br'oaaa was actually a grizzled mosquito tamer. Casador, on the other hand, is heavily inspired in his powers by my Avatars New Legends character, a waterbender pirate; Casador is basically a cooler waterbender (and even has the same fishbird pet!)

As for RPs, I can go on and on about the number of references and homages I've done in Pokemon Spear:

• My very first Journey RP character was a boy named Ryan who was very flamboyant and competitive - I made him a film director in the Spear world!
• Simon, my character, has a Mothim which is a reference to one of the two Pokemon Ryan owned
• The other Pokemon was a Snover, and grownup Film-Director Ryan has an Abomasnow as his production assistant
• Simon's coworker Aurora is inspired by a project I wrote called the Badr Moon Colonies, and has an entirely space-themed team
• Her brother Victor is entirely pulled from the 2020 Secret Santa event
• Their youngest brother, Elliott, is named after my very young Railways character
• Simon has starred in a children's show where they mention a Qwilfish named 'Errol', which was my Cornered on The Market

It's all fun inclusions that almost nobody would understand, but makes me happy to think that in some part, these lesser-played characters found a life in something else.