[Coolshaymin]

This poll is a way for me to gauge who I should start putting more focus in in the less represented half of my roster. These characters either don't get much use, don't have much plans going to them or generally I feel neglected compared to say, Leviathan, Chell, Kairi, Roll, Samus, Sonia, Ruby, Charmy, Moon, Amithree or Zelda due to me having plans they are being used in or will be used in and generally me using them a lot. I do plan to put focus in all of them eventually but this poll is to help give me a position to start from since my current goal is to bring up the representation of less represented characters. Feedback is greatly appreciated here. Why do you want to see them more? What's the potential you see? Is there a direction you're hopeful for? Is this character just generally the jam slam to you? These are questions numbers don't answer so if you feel like answering them and any unasked questions, I highly request it though not mandatory.

[Mari]

My votes:

1) Platinum: I voted for a Dawn? Unbelievable. Anyway. If I were playing Platinum--because that's how I analyze potential, I would probably play up some of her outstanding qualities to start with.

She's very petite and small. She has a dainty presence by the standards of Pokemon and even daintier by the standards of Li. She might get mistaken for being younger than she is from time to time, and I would probably make it a thing that not everyone takes her seriously. Why? Because a world exists outside of our characters chock full of little girls who aren't strong? And the soft metagaming where people just assume any given character is/might strong in spite of their looks... has become a cliche that gets thoughtlessly used with no regard for what, if ever, made it fun/funny, imho.

She's a noble deeply entrenched in noble behaviorisms. A girly girl. A proper lady. She screams lawful to me (I don't know if that's how you wrote her down) and accustomed to having quite a lot of money and respect. She had servants back home! On Li... she's suddenly without both of those things and I doubt she appreciates that at all. And the thing is, because the economy is linked to the private sector / black market, you cannot get that wealth from being a hero and doing hero things. You need either a get rich scheme or a job. There are a couple of ways to approach that. You could just not give her money and have it be a point that she quietly suffers and hates having to do everything herself. I don't see her getting a job that requires her to work hard, or cozying up to the mafia. She'd hate that too, and that's circular. So my guess is that she'd either have schemes to get rich (Maybe rob the mafia?), or find other way to... persuade people to take up the roles of her servants and do things for her. She can be a fairly demanding person, to the point she annoys Diamond.

She's fairly anti-social! She doesn't tell other people her name because she deems it below her to know them. Keep my name out of your mouth sort of deal. So despite being tiny, she kinda looks down on people a little and judges them. That being said, she is easily amused by her dumb friends and their shenaniganry, and isn't particularly mean. It's just a perspective of hers. I would probably have her keep an emotional distance from strangers, not necessarily unpleasant to be around but more like she keeps her guard up and has boundaries around what topics she deems appropriate to talk about with them, such as her name. People should have to work for enough approval to know her personally, because for her giving you her name is also declaring that she thinks you're really cool and worthy of an ongoing relationship. You could also have her ask people who pry to call her any number of odd things. Lady or Miss would be generic ones that are appropriate.

She's lonely. She's jealous of Diamond and Pearl's closeness in the manga but lacks any such closeness herself. And considering she's anti-social, it's probably very difficult for her to get close to people! Trying to find ways past the walls she sets up could be fun. And I get the impression she's probably still learning about things like genuine love and friendship. I would probably have her be compulsory heterosexual myself, meaning she has been raised to think straight--as is proper--and subconsciously tunes out / is in denial of any feelings she might have otherwise. It seems to fit the bill pretty well and sets up for funny moments and character development later.

She's very pretty. That's not a hairstyle for people who just want to brush their hair in the morning and go. Much like Dawn herself, I bet she enjoys fashion, including makeup. And again, gesturing at the money issue, the makeup she brought from home might last her a month before she starts running out of certain things, and half a year before she starts really running out of everything. So she does have time to make things work, but there is some pressure there. And given that she's a proud girly girl, she probably appreciates company from other people who like these sorts of things. You want to be around people who tell you you look nice occasionally. And while I could imagine her being a fashionista, doing that as a job instead of just for fun is different. Doing fashion as a job would get her unwanted attention she might hate because of the lack of respect it coveys, though it wouldn't be the worst job--but would have some overlap with say Serena.

I would give her a discreetly dominant / bratty personality hidden underneath all that ladylike restraint and mannerisms. Like if she hadn't been raised to be proper and respectable or all her inhibitions were repressed somehow she would probably be a competitive spitfire who liked to flex and style on people and assert her superiority with a bit of a temper, sort of like OG Valorie was. But since she does have a really nice pedigree, she wouldn't really do that unless pushed to let loose or something. And instead it would show in her sense of humor, the things that make her laugh, and more dignified showing off. I could definitely see her sitting on an opponent and feeling real smug about it though. It's also just a fun duality in general?

She would probably hate AU Dawn. Because AU Dawn has her face, but lacks a lot of the social graces she does and is grossly incompetent a lot of the time. It's very hard for me to imagine her *not* bullying Dawn if they ever meet. Either because she just finds her so contemptible or because she hopes the pressure of her bullying will help mold Dawn into something better. In contrast, she's probably a fan of Princess Peach for a multitude of reasons.

Love magic, should she choose to pursue it, wouldn't come easily to her because opening her heart wouldn't come easily to her. And if she's got that competitive / dominant / bratty personality undernearth her inhibitions, most people would probably find her opening her heart offputting.

I can see her trying to make her servants more respectable. Putting them in nicer clothes, telling them how to speak, demanding they see a hair stylist... From her view she's trying to help them.

2) Seriri: Seriri is a character who functions best when she is kinda vulnerable and a bit pathetic. The appeal of the character is that you kind of want to protect her and be her friend because of how much she struggles. If I were playing her, she'd have a crippled moveset like Lillie/Namine/Amitwo that's meant to make her intentionally non-threatening most of the time with more support themed options. Probably have her affected by fear by default. And I'd write stories about how she's actually justified in being a little afraid of people, how it can be hard to be a mermaid on land sometimes. People like to mess with the weird girl. Realistically she should be a pariah who has legitimate difficulty making friends with the average joe, leading her to get a little clingy with the few people she trusts. Because realistically most people are going to interpret her paranoia as an insult / baggage they're being forced to carry if they want to associate with ehr.

Also she should probably be a little more emotionally needy. She should ask Dawn for things and be slightly pushy sometimes because she needs the validation and confirmation that Dawn cares for her. There should be times when she comes home and some bastard bit her and she needs Dawn to take care of her. Life's hard.

3) Raffitrois I like Raffitrois for the same reason I like Raffina. The bratty dominant personality type is fun as hell. She's perfect for flexing and styling on people, getting mad, and stepping on fools. There's a lot of fun you can have just picking fights with people, either physically or sassily, and just bouncing back and forth! And of course, that doesn't mean you have to do that with everyone. Typically it's a switch you flip on and off depending on whether the character in question is annoying or challenging them.

4) Witch If I were playing Witch, I would probably give her a plot wherein her birthday, Halloween, is sort of a holy day among her coven, and being born on it was an omen, specifically there are prophecies that a witch born on that day would become queen of all witches and lead witchkind into a new age. And I would probably give her a bit of an inferiority complex based on the idea that she doesn't feel like she lives up to that prophecy, and wants to be better and stronger so that one day she can. I would also probably play off the idea that witches have been historically persecuted.

I would also probably play up the idea that she's part artificer by giving her the ability to craft neat magical things, play up her mischievousness a little, perhaps with a little Trick or Treat morality. And I'd probably have her take advantage of the fact that Valorie isn't good at saying no to ask her for favors more often.

Also, I would probably play on the idea that she's discreetly a little bit of a perv for gags. She doesn't do schezoisms as much as Schezo but she does do them sometimes.