Tomino here is based off the old Japanese 'cursed' poem, Tomino's Hell! I also listened to a song based on that poem while designing him, hehe
Is there anything more fun than creating new characters? Probably not...but there are certainly things that we enjoy outside of that creative process. From movies we love to watch, songs we listen to on repeat, books we can go back to over and over, and games we could play for hours if not days on end, and as a result. Sometimes, intentionally or not. We inject a bit of our other loves into the creative process. This thread is for that very purpose. Was your character's name a reference to someone from your favorite book? Was their fashion sense lifted from a show you watched? Did you get their hairstyle from an anime you saw ages ago or did some aspect of their past come about from listening to that song that you just love? Why not post the connections here? All references from big to small. From details that may seem super obvious to you to the minor minutia that someone only as in-depth in whatever lore as you would even start to recognize? It doesn't matter. If you have something that helped influence your character why not share it here and let everyone know, not only something that went into your creative process, but also maybe introduce people to something new.
Examples:
Your character's pet is named after something from a video game
Your character wears a bit of jewelry taken from some part of a short story
Your character has a phone charm of some video game faction
Please note: This is just a thread for references. Sure these references could inform large parts of a character's design or world but there's a difference between that and say a fan character for whatever bit of media they were made for. Nothing against fan characters it is just not the goal of this thread. However, if you have a fan character who has a reference to some other bit of media? Say a wizard for the Harry Potter universe who loves a particular band from the 90s enough to have some merch on them to a Homestuck fantroll with some obscure video game reference? They are more than welcome here. In essence.
X: A fan character on their own
✔: A fan character with a reference in their design to some outside media.
Oh man I have quite a few references in characters qwq
Dizzy ‘s name is a reference to a song by my favourite band Waterparks, and the colours of his bow in the alt. palette I’m working on are those featured in their album Double Dare.
Shoto ‘s name is a reference to BHNA/ MHA. I didn’t design the OC myself but with a half hot, half cold OC, how could I resist?
Telephone ‘s name is another Waterparks reference oof- though part of his bio references Jack Stauber’s Baby Hotline
Eos was created while listening to How to be a Hearbreaker by Marina and the Diamonds on repeats oof- so basically her entire personality is based on that song
Raijū ‘s designer explicitly stated they were based on Pikachu so that counts I guess, especially because she’s canonically a gamer girl
Cami is named and based on the song Camisado by P!ATD
Okay theres a ton more I named after songs but they’re not that deep so
EDIT: I cannot believe I forgot this but Remix is named after a lyric from The Phoenix by FOB and it’s why he’s half phoenix oof
One of my sonas, Lena, was named after Lena De Spell from Ducktales 2017, the green eyes are a reference to Dr Fox from Unikitty, the black on the tips of her ears and tail are a reference to both Snoopy from Peanuts and Panda from We Bare Bears
I'm pretty sure her anthro/human forms will have a barrette that references one of my fandoms and can be changed a lot, but I haven't decided yet
I've always been interested in psychology, and this guy is the most blatant evidence of it lol- I named him after a well-known psychologist/behaviorist (B. F. Skinner to be specific) and even based a good portion of his personality off of him!!
other than psychology, I tend to incorporate STEM into a lot of my characters' bios (such as them being interested in the field or working in it) because I'm interested in it myself and plan to become professionally involved in it when I'm older. :3c
I designed Shade whilst listening to the song "Darkside" by Alan Walker, and based her off of that a lot.
i have a bunch!
Russels hat is from Scut Farkus, better known as the bully from A Christmas Story.
Freyrs last name is based off of Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev, whos an old Russian composer lol
Chesters 'buffalo' hat was inspired by two things.. Weather report from JoJo and the lodge hats from the Flintstones
Attwells time period was inspired by Disenchantment
Quincy's face/default facial expression is inspired by how I imagine Taako from The Adventure Zone to look all the time~
I cast Resurrection on this thread because oH BOY
Aquorius' old human form that's used in his holograms is based off Andross' appearance in Star Fox 2, and Divinius Galacta is named after Galacta Knight from Kirby. His hairstyle is also inspired by a Galacta Knight gijinka I used to have ages ago.
Koxom's design is basically just a bootleg Mook from the Mother series.
The entire Super Warrior Justice Force are a big Super Sentai parody of sorts that drew some inspiration from the Ginyu Force from Dragon Ball Z, another Super Sentai parody. The SWJF's love of posing comes from them, as does the "force" at the end of the team's name and the idea for all of the members of the SWJF having a cool power. Leymon has a dark glassy patch on his head similar to Frieza's final form, and the horns on the side of his head came from Black Shadow from F-Zero, if I recall correctly. Licorice has those ears that so many of the aliens in DBZ have.
Almost every one of my Miniors have a reference to some other media in their name. Fawf is named after Fawful from the Mario & Luigi RPG series and Luma is named after the Lumas from Super Mario Galaxy, and their small size is also a reference to how small the Lumas are as well. Meba is named after Meta Knight from Kirby, but with the t swapped for a b, and the fact they hide in their shell is, in part, a reference to how Meta Knight wears his mask all the time. Fuyu is named after Hovernyan from Yo-kai Watch, but their name comes from Hovernyan's Japanese name, Fuyunyan. Funky... *sigh* is named after Funky Kong, and Bitty is named after the Star Bits from Super Mario Galaxy.
Benji's got two Zelda tattoos and the spider tattoo on his hip was inspired by Peter Steele of Type O Negative! Also his dragon tattoo is his fursona lol He also has an assortment of pins, including a grucifix and a pokeball, among other things. Additionally, he has a pet snake named Ekans!
... Also, not character design, but the title of the hopefully-to-be webcomic Benji's the protagonist of, A Thorn Stood Between... I got it from Ghost lyrics... It was supposed to be a placeholder title but I ended up liking it a lot djhgjhs
Totoa here is named after one of Lt. Jake Christie's dogs from the Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, and Ariya's cat Waimarie is named after one of his cats. The Lt. was a very minor side character, so very few of the very few people who have read the Illuminae Files will probably get the reference, though--
I HAVE A WHOLE BUNCH SO APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE FOR WHOEVER GLANCES UPON MY GIANT WALL OF TEXT
My girl Noriaki is part of a closed species called Seulkeepers. I made the item in her soul cone cherries. So because of that I gave her the name Noriaki (stemming from Noriaki Kakyoin from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure).
The majority of my non-fandom OCs have surnames referring to streets/boulevards/ect in Los Angeles.
My fantroll Alciel was named as such because of the SMT demon of the same name. His last name Sadame comes from the first JJBA opening theme song (Sono Chi No Sadame).
Ashrah was named for Ashrah from Mortal Kombat.
Chika is a big one. So Ghostbusters was obviously a big influence for her- I even named her former high school "St. Murray's Girls Academy" because yes- Bill Murray- but she's also got a few Vocaloid references on her! Her first name is because of a Vocaloid of the same name, and her surname comes from the song Living Ghost Is Alive/Ikiteru Obake wa Ikite Iru.
I named my UTAU Joji Tenjou as a combination of Joji and Utena Tenjou (because of his pink hair.) Also because his name has 2 "Jo's" in it that makes it a Jojo reference as well.
Kaoru's surname Tomoe comes from Mami Tomoe from Madoka Magica.
Tou's surname Mayuzumi comes from Yukino Mayuzumi from the very first Persona game and Persona 2.
Vinny was named as such due to Vinny from Vinesauce + and inside joke of Vinny calling breasts "robertsons".