Caiden Banksy - Powered Orangeblood [accepted]

[Micillia]

Name: Caiden Banksy
xxxBanksy is a controversial British artist's pen name
xxxThe Gaelic word “cadáin” means ‘battler, fighter

Blood color: #4F3015 A beautiful brown. The ultimate mix of all the colors on the spectrum. Technically orange.

Gender: Male

Symbol: A stylized "S"

Profile: Caiden has a typical view of the Hemospectrum. Media has taught him that reds are smart and loyal, while purplebloods are noble born leaders. Obviously he associates physical colors with traits from the hemospectrum colors; A pumpkin has all the traits associated with being an orangeblood. Being a bit naive, Caiden only knows about the positive aspects of the hemospectrum. Caiden tries to keep the stereotypical negatives out of his view of each color, and doesn't let bad experiences taint his love of all colors.

Caiden received most of his views about the hemospectrum and the world from CamoDad, his lusus. CamoDad is highly protective and seeks to shelter his charge from the violence and corruption of the world. He does this mostly with stories, always with some kind of moral. More often than not the moral of the story is "blend in, lay low, live long". CamoDad values survival above all, mostly via subterfuge, camouflage, and deception.

Caiden is a friendly, trusting troll, somewhat to CamoDad's frustration. He has trouble lying or fooling others, wanting to have honesty bond him to others. Caiden has gotten an idealized view of the world from CamoDad’s sweet stories. With this fake image of the world Caiden feels he does not need to lie, hide or run. CamoDad feels he probably should have instilled more fear into Caiden, but his tender heart can’t stand seeing his boy hurt. Instead, CamoDad tries to teach Caiden survival by encouraging him to hide. Caiden has adapted to accepting hiding as a game, so can be convinced to go along with it.

Caiden loves loud, bright, flashy things. Yo-yos, skateboards, sunglasses, and bright paint really tickle this troll's fancy. Caiden enjoys living life in the moment, not one to think more than a day in advance. CamoDad however, is always nearby to remind Caiden of their three rules of survival: run, hide, and stay quiet. Caiden loves his CamoDad, but is often oblivious to the friendly reminders and advice the lusus tries so hard to instill in his charge.

Caiden loves all the colors he finds. When he was very young, CamoDad gave his troll a set of paints. Caiden took out all the pretty colors, ignored black and white, and had his fun on the floor of his hive. He tried mixing, swirling, even tasting them. Eventually he decided to try and make his own blood color. It was a little bit frustrating, but eventually he found that his color was a mix of ALL the colors. Sure, there was a lot more red and yellow than blue, and you could barely tell that green was there at all, but Caiden had proof that he had a little of everything inside him. It was a moment of awe for Caiden to realize that he is part of everyone, and thus everyone is a part of him. This really helps the young troll feel connections with all trolls. Caiden is proud of his powers and his blood color. With those two he believes he is a part of everyone, and can cheer anyone up.

Caiden has not had trouble with other trolls yet. Even with CamoDad's subterfuge training Caiden's loud ways are bound to surface eventually. At first he will rationalize it as simply being an outlier incident. Even if one troll acted that way, they cant all act like that to Caiden's bright, loud personality, right? Caiden is not a troll of stone, prejudice due to the hemospectrum will wear away the brown-blood eventually. CamoDad can only hope to hold it off for so long.

Strengths:
xxxCreative
xxxxx Caiden is always sliding between fact and fiction. He loves to mix the two, and when he is feeling creative his power can manifest very strange things. Caiden is imaginative, playful, and has a wealth of ideas, but he also loves looking in others for even more ideas and different views. His creativity also helps him navigate problems in ways others may not have thought to do.
xxxFriendly
xxxxx Caiden loves new trolls and is always up for a chat, or to greet someone he knows. He goes out of his way to make others feel better, even if it conflicts with some of his better judgement. Even if some troll is mean, or rude, you should always go out of your way to be nice. Who knows? Maybe you will be the one to change them!

Flaws:
xxxTransparent
xxxxxCaiden likes to make others happy, and lying makes trolls sad. Caiden is skilled at physical camouflaging and hiding, but not so much with verbal or emotional hiding. In CamoDad’s stories children often get punished for lying to their parents. Caiden feels very guilty when lying to others, and can not conceal his emotions at all.
xxxImpulsive
xxxxxCaiden lives in the moment, rarely looking to the future. This gets him into trouble far more often than CamoDad would like. He rarely considers the consequences of his actions and struggles to stay organized.


Weapon: Fire Extinguisher
His true weapon? His words, his thoughts, his paint and chalk, but CamoDad rolled both his eyes in different directions to Caiden's spiel and said an actual physical weapon was required. Caiden in turn rolled both his two eyes in the same direction. What's the point of a weapon? Why would trolls harm other troll's? Everyone is all so beautiful and colorful in their own ways! CamoDad insisted that he have something on him at least, so Caiden found a lovely bright fire extinguisher to suit his needs. It even spews stuff so he can run away in the confusion!

Appearance:When walking around normally, Caiden likes to sport his favorite rainbow jacket and rainbow bandanna. He just has such a love for bright colors he thinks they should be everywhere! CamoDad insisted that his bright colored clothes have a reversible black side. CamoDad knows best, and besides, black is the best color for blending in and camouflaging for a troll's nocturnal lifestyle. Caiden wishes he could wear all brightly colored clothes. Lucky, in CamoDad’s mind, Caidn is relatively reasonable and was convinced to have his base clothes in shades of black and white. Caiden wants to impress his dad, so he always makes sure to have options of clothing that will help him to blend in anywhere.


Home: Caiden and ChamoDad set up home deep in Busthind, around as many trees as he could find in the mountains. It provides ample opportunity for Caiden to explore, without running into the dangers of other trolls, much to CamoDad's relief. Their hive is a small cabin resting right against one of the trees. It's a small place, but CamoDad is more accustomed to sleeping up in the trees, so there is plenty of space for Caiden and all his paints, pens, pencils, yo-yos, and other odd assortment of toys. Caiden wanders from his home, fascinated by the busy city, and the open plains, but he always comes back to the mountains when it gets light outside. Caiden hopes to move somewhere a little more populated someday, but for now he will enjoy the quiet life with his dad

Lusus: Caiden's father is a large color changing scale-beast with a long tongue. He is about the size of a pony, and able to blend in with his background. For some reason Caiden calls him Chameleon, or CamoDad for short, even though the beast's trollian name is "color changing scale-beast with long tongue and swiveling eyes." Caiden loves his CamoDad, and takes a lot of his ques from his father. When his father didn't stick to being just one color, Caiden decided to join him, and now dresses in all colors, favoring no specific one. They are all so beautiful, why does anyone have to be limited to only enjoying one for your entire life? CamoDad eats bugs he catches with his long tongue, taking what he needs from the world around him. Caiden tries to mimic his dad in his own troll way by taking what he finds, and not worrying about where it came from. Like his father taught him, when things get tough, Caiden hides. He finds this method a little restraining, but as a child he knows his dad knows better.

Power: Caiden doesn't think of his power as anything special yet, in his mind, it's just his imagination being so strong that it comes into real life! He first encountered it when he was busy watching the moths flutter at night. He had read a book in which there were day dwelling bugs called butterflies. They were said to have more colors then most moths sported and flew with gentle elegance. As he was thinking of what a butterfly would look like he suddenly saw one appear from thin air! As Caiden reached a hand to catch to bug it disappeared, but since then he has always been able to make small things like that appear when he thinks about them hard enough.

Caiden uses his illusion power, or as he calls it, "from think-pan to reality" to entertain others and cheer up anyone that needs it. He does not try and hide his ability, and thinks all trolls have this ability, weather they believe in it or not. I mean, it's only having a strong imagination right? Caiden's ability to manifest things into the real world gives him a misguided sense that he has more control over the world than he really does. Someday this might get him into trouble, but for now it only gives his confidence.

(As Caiden grows, i hope his power evolves so he can create longer lasting illusions, bigger illusions, and even make semi-solid objects. Of course these objects would not last long, and would not be very strong themselves.)

Notes to the Critiquer

show spoilerhide spoiler

-His jacket and banana do indeed have mutant colors. Im hoping our lovely shop artist does not mind choosing colors that are more in line with the hemospectrum for his clothing.
-CamoDad is a color changing reptile. Does this fit in line with the rule of lusci being white?

 

[seekingCylem]

First crit goooo!

I laughed out loud at this punk’s symbol. It’s so perfect I could cry.

I think at the moment Caiden’s Outspoken and Opinionated flaws are reading too similarly. The end result of both seems to be that he’ll say things that get him into trouble. Along that same vein, what’s Caiden like when he gets really worked up about his beliefs? Does he try and keep it civil or would he get up in someone’s face? How intense does he get? Is he stubborn about relatively small matters versus big-picture issues?

Curiosity more than critique: Why the fire extinguisher? I can totally see the IC decision because it’s bright and shiny, but is there a meta element I’m missing? That said, writing a fight scene with a fire extinguisher sounds hella fun.

As far as ChamoDad’s color-changing goes I don’t think it’s a problem so long as his default color is white. Besides, you could always explain his color changing as like… light reflecting off his scales a la Latias/Latios from Pokémon.

I really don’t have lot to critique on Caiden. He’s shaping up to be a really solid character!  

[Micillia]

Thank you very much for the critique! I see what you mean about his two flaws being very similar. In fact, i combined them and it reads just as well as one flaw. I added a new flaw that i had been intending to develop, but im a little worried it feels a little too "slapped on" razz (But also Micillia has a skill +9000 in worry, >.< )

There is not really a reason or story for a fire extinguisher. As a little elementary school student i was enamored with the beautiful red device, and in college i managed to, um, obtain one from a building that was sated to be bulldozed. Its an object that means something to me personally, so i incorporated into Caiden. Ehehe, don't know if that is really a good enough reason, but man, i love fire extinguishers. smile

seekingCylem

 

[Sypon]

If Caiden is so opinionated, how does that play with him wanting to hear about others’ beliefs? I’ll elaborate on this later as it’s recurring in his application.
I would like some expansion on the relationship between Caiden’s “not easily angered” trait and how he shoves his opinions down others’ throats. This can easily be contradictory depending on the reasoning so I’d love to know how they work together or contrast.

I’ve gotta say I love Caiden’s weird views of the hemospectrum. He’s very eccentric and the idea of trying to be someone else because of his romanticized version of each caste is great.

“Since Caiden is naive, when he "disguises" himself as a different troll, like ChamoDad taught him, it can be rather far from the stereotypical image of that cast color”
This is more a question that relates to wording. Are his disguises a far cry from his personal stereotypes about each caste colour, or the general Alternian stereotype?

You mention that he is not familiar with the hemospectrum. Does prefer a life of hermitude, only going out to spread his art, and so he is blind to it somewhat? Or does he live in active denial? Especially as a hemonanonymous troll there is an obvious treatment of those who try to hide their blood color and that may be a concern! It’s also interesting that he assigns personalities to members of certain castes. Where do these ideas come from, and how might he react if a troll of said caste doesn’t act the way he expects?

Also, I had a question about his own blood color! What does he think about himself in relation to his beliefs? Especially considering he is hiding from his own blood color. Food for thought. B)

In the paragraph concerning Caiden wanting to use chalk because he doesn’t want to upset someone: This seems to contradict with him shoving his opinions down others’ throats! Something to review.

I’m still not really understanding what Caiden’s core values are, and am not seeing the connection between him fighting for a cause or what he believes in and his current methods. Also, there is a bit of confusion on how he responds to violence. If someone hits him does he just get down and draw a picture? (Not literally, but this may need some elaboration and specificity).

“he also loves looking in other for even more ideas and different views” I’ve reiterated this a few times and I don’t want to be redundant, but this vs. his talking back is really causing friction. Take a look at the rest of the app for similar contradictions.

RE: Bad Liar (spelling)
“Note: because Caiden is often in-between fact and fiction in his own mind, he can preform lies that are not lies in his own head quite well. Its once we get to things that are rooted in Caiden's mind that he has trouble being false about. “ First of all, revisit this as it is confusing!

Second, I think you may want to reframe this flaw. Being a bad liar on its own isn’t a bad thing, but lacking subtlety may make “Transparent” a better word for this flaw.

“Caiden often pushes the limits of class boundaries.”
How does he get out of situations with highbloods?

“Caiden has learned that this is not a good thing in a low blood, but he has a hard time caring.”
Where does that come from? He seems to want to know everyone’s opinions and business, so he doesn’t come across as apathetic.
“ and has a tendency to find faults and flaws in ideas and sometimes even people. Caiden has his view of how the world should be, and when things don't line up, or some troll doesn't go after what they want, Caiden will tell them. He can be harsh. “
I’m actually really interested in this idea and I think this could really relate to not only his art but him wanting to know more about people’s ideas. His criticism goes really well with his opinionated nature, so it seems here like he’s not looking for ideas and opinions because he’s selflessly trying to accomplish a goal of solidarity – it’s rather that he’s fueling his own ideals! I would personally take a look at this for expansion.

Appearance: As a rule in the shop, we tend to seriously limit mutant colors being represented on trolls. A couple of accents of bright colors are okay (see: Lutrin), but we will probably reduce the saturation and brightness on his jacket and scarf.

Does Caiden have a sense of superiority with his power? If his imagination is much stronger than others, is that something he is especially proud of? It could influence his staunch opinions. :^) I really love his ideas about his power and would love to see where it goes.


That's what I've got! Great job! I love this character so far and A+ symbol. rofl  

[Sypon]

OK! I’ve got one last note before the stamp, but I’d love to just see it addressed before I do so.

(Also, from Notes: yep! Even though the art has mutant colors Ami can tone them down into hemospectrum-appropriate tones. CamoDad’s color changing is fine as long as he is primarily white and his color changing isn’t in the “power” territory such as becoming totally invisible, metallic, etc etc and just changing his hue and value as a normal chameleon would.)

My note is how Caiden interacts with other trolls! He’s incredibly idealistic and pushes the boundaries of what an orangeblood should push (especially being hemoanonymous), so there may be some friction when he does go into society. How does he handle this conflict, particularly with higher bloods, and does he have certain thoughts about it? Being orangeblooded himself he may also experience some prejudice due to the hemospectrum, so I’m interested if he’s just totally oblivious, be an ideal orangeblood like the media has told him, if he has a negative reaction if he’d rationalize it as being against the norm, or something else.  

[Sypon]