Character and costume

Let's talk a little bit about character design!

Descriptions are my beloathed. Love to think about how characters look, hate putting it into words. Heroes and villains make this extra fun, because there's usually the added layers of their alias and their costume. I had a pretty good time coming up with the player's selection of names for Villain Juice, though I bet a bunch of people came up with their own to suit their personal PC.

Convenient segue! Masks, all the characters have them in one form or another. The costume and the name a character picks say just as much about them as a physical description or how they act. This is an identity they're assuming, and one that means something to them. Even if they just chose something random, that tells you something too!

When writing superpowers, it's easy to jump to the straightforward option. There's an endless list of heroes and villains whose names are as plain as they get: Spiderman has a whole menagerie of animal-named villains with the powersets to match. That's absolutely fine; Spiderman's rogues' gallery is iconic after all. However, with a story like Villain Juice, it's important to think about opportunity. How can I use my design to reveal character?

Let's take a couple of examples.

Arcade is a big part of the opening scene. His power is lasers, which are colorful and flashy. Combine those powers with his personality; energetic, enthusiastic, and willing to banter, and it lends itself naturally to a loud and flashy name. Arcade.

Wyrd doesn't have much of a costume, and the narrative draws attention to that fact. They dress casually and their face is barely hidden with a domino mask. You'd assume that they're either not taking things seriously or they don't really care about their identity. The switch up, then, is that in actuality Wyrd doesn't need to hide their face. They can change it. Mallory's a little sly, a little tricky, and they love to mess with people, which their limited costume enables. Mal picked Wyrd, because they can keep everyone guessing.

Architect has probably the most distinct costume so far. A long coat, a featureless white helmet. Under the mask, he's all business, all the time. He's measured, calm, and a planner. An architect, you could say, especially if you consider that his powers involve forming building blocks of energy. Even out of costume, Dion is neat and structured, taking meticulous care of his hair and appearance. That's who he is.

Drawing all these connections together is one of my favourite things about creating a hero or villain. Everyone in the story has a design to say something about them. Makes you think about the Coven's naming scheme, right?