(You don't have to read all this, you can basically just answer to the title of the thread and/or the last paragraph.)

So lately I've noticed, or perhaps it's better to say I've begun to immerse myself with articles and videos made by people, a very strong conversations about representation in media when it comes to race, gender and stuff like that. Honestly, I was surprised by how prevalent it was how upset and felt wronged people were about how they were not "represented" in things growing up and even now, and how much it ruined experiences for them because they just couldn't put themselves within the characters be it because of their race, gender or whatever multitude of things going on with the LGBT community with their multitude of pronouns.

It never really bothered me as a kid, to be honest I didn't strongly even notice there weren't many big black characters in shows. Honestly I don't particularly see why it's so important, very few times do characters in such shows define themselves by their whiteness, or even asianess when it comes to anime. Like, I don't understand how you can't relate or put yourself in the shoes of a character, or even enjoy that character, if its not a certain race or gender. Don't get me wrong, I did frequently watch BET shows, but it's not like I particularly watched thinking "yes black people, finally" it just had some hilarious stuff like the Steve Harvey show, Girlfriends, The Jamie Fox Show and stuff like that. To me, I never had issues watching TV shows with people of other genders or race, I never really felt excluded or angry.

This applies to e-feds as well, I mean we all create characters, so much do you really need to identify with the characters you make? I'm sure many of you aren't all tall, handsome, or some of you as short, as the characters you create. Personally, when I first made Jaywalker Roode I hadn't even really thought much about him being white, I just wanted a rich Canadian with robes, plus Roode was an awesome wrestler and a friend of mine in chats here use to call be "robert" based on some Dane Cook joke.


Anyways I just want to start the discussion, see what some of you think and whatever tangents you have bla bla, this is the community I'm most involved with so I'd rather discuss and see things with you guys, and gals. How important is it to you to be "represented" in media, and what do you look for in that representation if you do, and what are your opinions about what is going on lately when it comes to identity politics and all that jazz in the world today.

As a white, privileged, young man, I feel I have no representation in films, TV, books, video games, etc.


In all seriousness, there are some things that I THOUGHT would take me out of the experience, but wound up making the experience better. 

Case in point, when GTA: San Andreas came out, I thought I wouldn't be able to connect to the character since he's black and from "South Central LA", but it actually made the game more fun as I was out of my "comfort zone" and got to see what that life is like, even if it is sensationalized. 


As far as e-Feds go, I've played characters from all walks of life, but I based those characters on reality. My Japanese character is based off my Japanese friends characterizations and mannerisms, while the Mexican luchador I wrote as was just my friend in a mask. 

Good Question, J.

Hmm writting characters based on people you meet as friends and in general, IDK why I never thought of that, that's actually interesting. Usually I just think up stuff or take examples from TV shows or games. I wonder, how many others have written their characters based on friends and people you meet?

Something that I really enjoy in TV shows and movies is justified arrogance. I generally like the more bad guy, the guy who really likes himself and knows that he is great. I don't insert myself into characters but I just like justified arrogance. Hence, my character here.

I almost always take a liken to certain characters no matter what. Like, sometimes it will ones that I think resemble myself or possess qualities or even act like I do. Otherwise, I usually find my liking the characters I'd want to be like. That pretty much applies to video games, TV, movies etc. In most cases, I'll end up picking up lines/actions from the characters and using them myself IRL in some instances. I dunno why exactly, but I guess one of the better examples is Franklin from GTA V. I guess I see various parts of him in me and whatnot like I said above.

As for efeds, I've said on countless occasions that the Clark Duncan character is really that a slightly exaggerated extension of myself. I believe I'm usually a pretty funny guy but I've got a serious side and one that's rather savvy. The whole Clark being businessman like somewhat came about from the fact I'm doing business studies in Uni atm.

I think that most people are generally going to always put themselves in line with the protagonist of any story unless they're going through those rebellious teenage years and pretending they're more like Joker than Batman still. They don't necessarily have to be all that similar to you, just good enough of a person for you to think that they might be the best character to live vicariously through. Your brain will pick out the qualities of that character that are somewhat like your own qualities and you'll soon convince yourself that you're somewhat alike even if you might be entirely different. There are few characters I feel are absolutely like me, but I can definitely relate to a character in almost any story. The most successful stories contain characters that are either relatable in some way or are wildly different than anything you think you could ever become.

As far as my efed character, and any character I've written for, I take parts of myself that are embellished until a gimmick is formed. Obviously I'm not some sadistic monster like Luzmala, but there is a part of me that is dark and brooding. Drastik is a little bit of a different case because I can basically say exactly how I feel without filtering it through a gimmick like I would for Luzmala or any other character I'd be in charge of. I think most professional wrestlers that had success with their characters will attest to the fact that their character is an exaggeration of who they actually are. Take, for example, a guy like Mick Foley. Sure he isn't going to be around the family as Mankind, but you can easily see his personality seep through his exaggerated character. I think it's a lot more difficult to people to take on characters that they feel nothing for, and that's generally when they flop. You wouldn't expect Eclipse Diemos to be able to write promos as Brother Love just like you wouldn't expect Maddie to effectively write about chopping people up into little pieces and throw them into a burlap sack. You've gotta find something you can relate to in some way in order to make it your own.

I've never watched something based on the vanity of how much a character in it reminded me of me.  As a matter of fact, I'm a child of the late 80's and early 90's.  I grew up perpetually sick, skinny as a rail because of it, and wearing clunky glasses.  Guys like me were getting their asses kicked on television and in film, except in Revenge of the Nerds where the only person I liked was Dudley 'Booger' Dawson, whom beside having an affinity for nose picking, had zilch in common with me as a child.  However, when it came to stand up and comedy in general I always found myself drawn to dryer comedians like Steven Wright, or weirdos like Emo Philips and Mitch Hedberg, or tortured brains like Lewis Black.  I wouldn't say any of those men represent me wholly as a person, but they have enough of my personality traits and have likewise shaped some in a way that makes me laugh.

As for movies, I always identified with Steve Buscemi in most films, even though he's usually loud mouthed, foul mouthed, and amoral.  The closest he's ever came to being like me in a film is probably Ghost World or maybe Big Lebowski.  Comparing myself to him probably has more to say about my self-confidence than it does relatability, because I tend to view myself as a loser, and outside of maybe Boardwalk Empire, Buscemi's always a loser.  Same goes for Clint Howard.  I love me some Clint Howard, and he's never a leading man...except Ice Cream Man...which was awesome.  I guess I see myself more as the villain, the outcast, the second banana, or the background character to really think of myself as the main protagonist, and if I ever ran across a character like me that was the hero, I'm sure uncanny valley would hit hard and make me hate them.  I hate Big Bang Theory, and I hear crap about that in regards to myself all of the time.

Usually I use books, video games and movies as an escape from myself more than a reflecting pool.  The only time I really ever start leaking any sense of myself out is when I write. In e-fedding I'm either playing someone I hate, someone or something I love, or someone I want to be.  On rare occasions, more of me pops out in the character than I intend though.  What's really strange though is when they become this other persona in my brain, almost like another personality, that talks to me.

inorder to be a good character i have to identify as them.


only good characters are straight white men

I tend to gravitate to characters with a moral structure, attitude or sense of humor similar to mine, but that doesnt exactly have anything to do with physical or social class traits. I can love a black and hispanic billionaire character from Mars as much as I like some long haired white guy from Jamaica, Queens as long as their sensibilities relate to mine

And even then I can appreciate a character with different sensibilities i.e my favorite anime character of all time being Goku, despite me not having nearly as much moral inclinations as him. Usually what means more to me than the kind of character, is how the character is portrayed.

Oh and as for feds my efed character is just a more dramatic, negative, unkempt version of me. Nowadays I try to base my character on how much of an asshole I once was in the past ooc (inb4 "youre still an asshole") because, face or heel, Mr. DEDEDE's always stuck in his high-strung borderline assholeish ways. Theres influences I get from personalities and ideologies to help with promoing and shit, like for example I find striking similarities to my character and a guy like Kanye who comes off so displeased with what he has and always desires greatness, is always feeling slighted, and obsesses over perfection to the point of seeming insane or psychotic. So I take bits and pieces from what resonates to me from everything I see and feed it to my character.

This is a very interesting topic J. As someone who's not only played video games, but tabletop and online RPGs, I've had quite an interesting journey when immersing myself in the characters that I play or create myself. In the beginning when I played things like Dungeons and Dragons I always wanted to play the role of the hero, the sword wielding badass who saved the day. As I got older and experimented with different types of character immersion I find myself playing a Maltese mercenary with strict Catholic values one moment, and a skinny frail Asian hacker who never seen a pair of tits the next. My greatest creations (besides Cloud and Kevin Maverick) are probably a paladin by the name of Severin Halo, a young noble who hails from a line of heroes, and Despina Nightstar, an elven sorceress whose sole purpose is to save the existence of magic.

As for my e-fed characters, Cloud is being used as a nexus to kind of re-vamp and fix my personal e-fed/custom universe history. The majority of the NPCs in her promos were people at one point I either played as were involved in previous storylines. She was originally based on my best friend who is an actual Japanese lesbian. It wasn't until joining EAW that she became 'Blasian' (inserting parts of myself in the character) and choosing Mia Yim to represent her was because she kind of reminds me of Korra from the Avatar series: a heroic type who was gifted with incredible talent. I incorporated several personal struggles of myself and my friends in her back story with a bit of exaggeration for good measure. Kevin Maverick is on the other side of the coin. He and Cloud represent the journey of two different genders in a business where you never know who you're going to become on the other side of it.

Mr. DEDEDE wrote:

Oh and as for feds my efed character is just a more dramatic, negative, unkempt version of me. Nowadays I try to base my character on how much of an asshole I once was in the past ooc (inb4 "youre still an asshole") because, face or heel, Mr. DEDEDE's always stuck in his high-strung borderline assholeish ways. Theres influences I get from personalities and ideologies to help with promoing and shit, like for example I find striking similarities to my character and a guy like Kanye who comes off so displeased with what he has and always desires greatness, is always feeling slighted, and obsesses over perfection to the point of seeming insane or psychotic. So I take bits and pieces from what resonates to me from everything I see and feed it to my character.

Heel Edge was awesome with the title obsession bit.

Well, Haruna is not influenced in anyone in my real life. Haruna is not me. She is somebody else and I never actually try and want to be like her. Haruna is more like my experimental character. Before Haruna become a fan favorite, I made Haruna a green rookie, a team player, even a monster heel with psychopath personality. And now, I make Haruna as an underdog who never favored to be a winner. Plus, I also try to make Haruna as a lesbian despite the fact that I am straight in real life and don't have a lesbian friend at all. So maybe you find that I'm not doing the gimmick right because... yeah, I am experimenting. Also I picked a Japanese character due to my language barrier. According to what I learn, most Japanese are too afraid to speak English and there's a few Japanese who is able to speak English... with a broken grammar, of course.

When it comes to media. I think Haruna can blend well since her character inspired so much in doramas.... my picbase really inspire Haruna's character since she always portray a tsundere character. I might be doing a character similar to Asuka Kazama (Tekken) or Mila Valdez (Dead or Alive).

There's always a bit of me in everything that I do. Especially in an efed, in which I have created a character who is a darker and much more malicious and sadistic version of myself.

Video Games have allowed me to create aspects of myself, and whenever I'm doing plays I immerse a part of my own persona into the character so that they still feel human (unless they are supposed to be removed from that.) It's difficult to describe really but once I view a character like myself it's easier to work with them.

As for the idea of identifying with characters on films, flawed protagonists and broken antagonists have always appealed to me more. Yes, even the Joker though RRS may be inclined to say this is foolish. I gravitate personally towards these darker characters, and especially the ones that look at the world from the dark side and perceive light in those shadows, because that's what I've done through most of my life. 

Eclipse is the prime example of that. A lot of my friends always told me to look on the bright side of life, but that isn't much of a help when at the time there is nothing but darkness in your life...but sometimes you have to find the bright spot in the darkness. So...yeah...I think putting myself into characters mentally is pretty standard for me.

As for physically, depends. If I'm creating myself in a video game I will go either basically myself to a pure likeness (but this is rare) or go an offshoot of Eclipse. I don't know why. I have nothing against my own race, I just don't tend to make a lot of African American or mixed race characters. Maybe it's just because I didn't grow up with a lot of that around me as a focal point, call it what you'd like. My most common characters tend to be white (and female interestingly enough. Filled up Dragon Age: Inquisition with like 5 female characters). Physically it can be anything.