I don't seriously dabble in making OC's very often because my brain just won't grab onto them with the same vigor that it does canon characters. but restyling a character I'm already obsessed with to better suit my wants and needs, is putting my brain into overdrive in a good way.

getting to cherry-pick what part of the character to keep and restyle, and what headcanons I want to make explicitly cannon is very freeing

Like, I can just make the character gender fluid without feeling the need to go on a whole Pepe Silvia rant to explain my logic. And I don't have to feel self-conscious about peppering in my own theory about what kind of ritual was done to this kid and what it did to him, while worrying that canon will one day contradict it.

But I've run into a bit of a conundrum that I would like to get some opinions on.

I made a name for this character, Caio Devlin, and I like it. I put some real thought into it. But it also feels...kinda wrong?

Like, this "oc" version of him, is so clearly just bootleg Kenny McCormick and I kinda want to just lean into the humor of that and give him a bootleg name. Like, Keni McDermott or something

but I don't know if that's being a little too cheeky.

What do you guys think? should I just file the serial numbers off completely, give him an original name, and be done with it? or do you think it's funnier to lean into the humor of him being a bootleg?

I think you should do whatever is most fun for you.

(And thank you again for being flexible about this since I want you to still get to play the character even though SP kinda doesn't work with the playable characters rules)

I think it's ok if the connections are still visible and people do like cheeky expy characters referencing other characters all the time?

You're willing to change the only thing that isn't allowed. Do what's fun for the rest.

I could see you coming up wit the same naming scheme if you'd come from the direction of him being an OC from the start and just doing it as a SP reference joke.

i always support people just filing the serial numbers off and making their own characters

i have some ocs that definitely started that way

throckmorton: no prob! thank you for the loophole XD and i'm having a lot of fun with this. i'd actually been thinking of just making an oc based on this character for a while, and now I have an excuse to actually commit myself to that

tinybro: thank you, that makes me feel less self-conscious about it

i think that was part of what made changing the name so much feel wrong, was just, feeling self-conscious about the fact that, right now I'm not doing that much to separate him from the canon counterpart

i think i might go with a middle option. give him the bootleg first name as a nod/reference, and keep the last name that I came up with. that feels like a good compromise for now.

maybe one day I'll do more to separate him from his origin and keep the full original name in my back pocket

i think a lot of the divergence from the original inspiration comes with time, it's definitely easier to just start with "lemme make an oc with all the stuff i like about this character and change the name and some details i don't like" and let them develop into more of their own thing gradually

it also helps to consider whatever the setting you're putting them in is and how that affects the character

my girl nadia and her brother aidan 100% began as rose lalonde and dave strider in a fantasy AU fanfic i was writing and a lot of their own identity came from figuring out the worldbuilding

that's a really good point! also that art is gorgeous! and i do love how fanfic can be such a great way to test out and solidify ideas that can be used for original works.

right?? it's my favorite thing i've ever commissioned :'>

it looks like a cover to a book, i love it!