Character Costumes
Last Modified: July 28, 2010
Wa ha ha! The best part of all. Now you get to choose their physical look. They've recently added a "Random" button that designs a character for you, but if you were that type, then you wouldn't have bothered reading this far to begin with. At best, it can be useful to hit it a few times to get some ideas to start from, but that's about it.
Here you can see the various costumes I've created for Jordan Yen. Keep in mind that this is just a small amount of possibilities for just one character! There are tons of combinations and the costume items are constantly growing as well.
Costume First
Browsing through costume pieces is a great way to design a character. I already explained in the earlier sections how seeing certain costume pieces can inspire name, story, powers, etc. The two ways for this to happen is that you're building something completely different and accidentally hit a piece you find really interesting or you have no idea what to build so just start throwing things together until something inspires you.
Costume after Name
Sometimes you'll see a name or term that just strikes you as funny or interesting (as with my Bugg Zapper example before). Or in the case of my friends from the Veggie Medley and Fantastic Fruits, they would think of a name that was related to food (Das Carrot, The Big Apple, Evil Lemons to name a few) and do their best to create a costume that matched.
Costume from Origin
In this case, I made particular effort to create people who's looks match their origin, but you can always alternate. So he's wearing a lab coat, so what? Is he tech or science. For wall we know, he's magic or mutation. Origin doesn't really lend itself to costume creation unless you try pretty hard.
Costume from Archetype
You can go directly from AT to costume by picking a style that works well for your character type like going with a gigantic tough looking dude for tanks or a smaller delicate person for a controller. However, there are several times where you will ignore or go directly in the face of normal conventions because it's more interesting. For example a little girl as a tank or a giant beastly looking guy as a defender or a beautiful angel who is a brute (this usually happens as a result of the story you've chosen)
Costume from Story
And speaking of, story is the most common and (IMO) the best way to create a great costume. Your story will involve the way they look, the way they act, their powers, and their archetype. In other words, it brings EVERYTHING together.
Costume from Powers
If you haven't thought of a story yet, a simple way to pick your costume is to just go based on your powers. This can be the most fun way to determine a costume, especially one that's more "classic" in nature (tights). For example, in this picture you can see Shazel in her classic outfit and then what she would look like with ice (At one point I considered making a fire/ice character, but eventually decided on just fire/fire).
