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Mr. S£im Citrus

When your brain is on "E"

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This question is more geared towards the oldheads, but the newbs can answer if they like, too. I still have the urge to write, but if I keep going, I don't see myself writing Wildchild for much longer. As much as I love the Cruiserweight Division, it's only a matter of time before I want to go back to tag writing, which I guess you could call my first "love," and I made peace a long time ago with the fact that I don't want WC tagging with anybody other than Johnny... Recent storyline developments have opened up the opportunity for me to write as Bruner, and I'm looking forward to the challenge of writing a monster heel after doing a cruiser babyface for my entire "career. " But Bruner wasn't a character that I created with any intentions of writing him full-time, and I'm a little unsure of where to go with him once the present storyline has run its course. I mean, I've got one idea on the table right now, but beyond that, I've got bupkiss. And, even if Va'aiga ends up sticking around for a while this time, there's only so far a guy like Bruner can go as a full-time wrestler, when there's only one other guy on the roster that's even half his size. I mean, even if I can't think of anything to do with him once what I'm doing now has run it's course, I plan to write him often enough for him to remain a credible threat, but he's really more of a "Tonight, you'll be facing.... KAAAANE!"-type guy than somebody that should be mucking up the WHC scene for any length of time.

 

So, to the question: what do you do when you still have the itch to write, but you feel like you've either taken the character as far as it can go or, in WC's case, as far as you intend for the character to go? For those of you that switched characters, did you find it hard to get used to writing as the new character? Aside from two or three matches I've written as Bruner, I think I may only be second to Spike (and maybe MANSON?) for longest span writing the same character without any significant period of writing as someone else, and I have occasionally found it difficult to adjust my writing style to writing a character that's not physically capable of doing a lot of the stuff that WC can do. How do you feel your new character(s) are received? Speaking for myself, for example, I've enjoyed some people's secondary characters better than others (I never did get into Tim Dillon, for example, but IL/Andrew Rickman is aces; I didn't care for Coy West, either, but Ejiro was one of the best that ever did it). If you try something and it doesn't get over, do you go back to your OC, try something else, or just say fuck it?

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i'm 'new' here... but i've been using the same character for threeish years now, and i don't see me stopping using 'her' (me?) anytime soon.

 

i've had this itching to create another, newer character, something completely different than myself (because my character is me, pretty much)... partly for the challenge, and partly just to do something different and fun, and not because i want to retire my own character.

 

which this was no answer to your question at all, come to think about it. if you want to retire WC and bring out someone big and bad... go for it.

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I've run Jay Hawke in some form for 12 years now.

 

No matter how many times I've tried running with someone new, in the end it's Hawke I'm most comfortable with and Hawke I always end up coming back to.

 

The funny thing is my lone World Title run (outside of the fed I ran for six years when I gave Hawke what was supposed to be a transitional gold watch reign) was with one of my other characters.

 

In short, go with Bruner for a bit and see how it plays, but know you've always got WC if it doesn't work out.

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I've been running with Spike now for six years and while I have grown tired of him every now and then, I just change something about him. The difference between the Spike character and the Wildchild character is that WC is still the same character he was six years ago, with a little bit more experience. When I started using Spike, he was a babyface stoner character. Now look at him. Changing the character up, but not changing the character might help.

 

 

 

Basically, for the love of God, turn Wildchild heel and run with it. I can't imagine being a babyface for six years straight.

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i tried a heel turn once, but it was weird. i can't explain it so well but here i try anyway. it was like, i kept getting out-heeled by the 'real' heels. and i'm a tweener type, a heelish face, if you will. but it was like no one bought it. it would like trying to make Mike Quackenbush a heel. i can't come up with a good analogy for WWE, sorreh.

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Did Steamboat ever work as a heel in any major promotion/top-tier territory? How about Tito Santana? Whenever somebody asks me about turning WC heel, those are the two that I use as my measuring stick.

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What about doing a hybrid face/heel...? Much like Bret Hart did. Even during his heel run in WWE, he was still getting huge cheers everywhere else (especially Canada). You could do something like that...

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WC's not good enough on the stick to pull that off... In fact, he's not good on the stick at all.

 

Johnny and I had considered doing a crossover with OAOAST a while back, where I'd have tried WC as a heel, but with Johnny doing all the talking.

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Far as writing other characters- it's really tempting to bail to the original and then realize that wasn't really the solution either. For example, even I didn't get into Dillon that much after a bit, he was a bitch to write, but I still want to write as Dagda every now-and-then... but I know the first time I hit a roadblock it'll be IL all over again. (Although maybe one show out of four I could take a match as Dagda for the hell of it). A lot of the issue is liking the other character enough that you don't romanticize (odd as that sounds) WC when writer's block hits for Bruner. At least for me that was the hardest. Yeah, another thing is that I'll always be IL, which I'm actually pretty cool with, but it could become "WC writing Bruner" not the guy who writes WC is now Bruner, you know?

 

Don't get me wrong, there's no harm in trying an alternative character anyway, especially to avoid the dreaded burnout.

 

Edit: Oh and when it comes to thinking you've taken a character far as you possibly can- technically, I've killed off two characters... and I had to revive one followed by just a terrific display of no-selling. So, you know, long as you don't kill off WC there wouldn't be an issue bringing him back. Hell, if you -do- kill him, there wouldn't be an issue bringing him back. ;)

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Yeah, I've been Manson for six plus years, just a month or two ahead of Spike. But he's gone through so many revisions and changes that he may as well be a different character, which he basically is. He isn't the same as he was one or two years ago, let alone six.

 

I don't think you really need to turn heel, at this point it's part of who WC is. Though like Hogan, if you did, it would be huge, but should be under appropriate circumstances. Just continue to add things here and there that you think would fit him and add a new dimension to the character, if you decide to stick with him. I think generally, though, it's a lot easier to work with heels than faces, and the inclusion of Blood Frenzy limits what you can do with a face WC to freshen him up. Speaking personally, though, and I don't know what it is, but I'm not a huge fan of Bruner. There's something missing.

 

It doesn't mean I don't get bored, obviously. I'm just stuck on Manson and I know most of these secondary characters don't go over well, which is why I haven't changed to someone entirely new. But it's through my boredom and desire to run someone else different that most successful aspects of Manson from the last few years came to be. Everything from a Stan Hansen type (Lariat, Raging Bull) to Super Dragon and Muta rip offs (original robe, Curbstomp, cloak and mask). When I incorporated Mansonosity officially, all that was on a lark, since at that point I was basically done, took him as far as he could go at the time and just wanted to try something else new, and all that other stuff just happened to fit. I would have been officially, officially done if I hadn't

 

I intended on adding more elements of a cunning, old school type with a lot of quick hitters, which would bring him closer to the Raven or Roberts mold, but decided I didn't like it. My favorite idea is a big Japanese, Takeshi Morishima type, which I love, and because of general discord and coincidences that have taken me out of it somewhat, I've seriously considered switching entirely.

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I second Muzzington.

 

To specifically address your questions, WC, it's pretty obvious what I do when my character has gone as far as it can go. The 'far as it can go' means lose a world title match and the action is to first sulk for a bit, no-show until I'm no longer booked, then create a new character to begin the process.

 

As for difficulty in writing new characters, I've never had that, probably because I've never put much effort into fleshing out a three dimensional character. I mean, aside from the super-duper fake but funny one I wrote for Doom, I don't think I ever created a bio for a character.

 

I think my new characters have been received fairly well, but it might be because I get a free pass as the last of the original group. Of course, it helps that other than Muzz, who is most awesome, nobody really remembers my 'original' character, and depending on who I ask, there will probably be different responses to "What character am I most/best known for?"

 

So, as a person with a wealth of experience in new characters that for some reason get vaulted into the uppercard, I'd say try out a new character or twelve. You never know when you might hit on something that gets you a year-long run with a sixth-tier title, just like me!

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I'd side with the people wanting you to turn WC heel, but I know that will never really happen. As for Bruner, you are somewhat limited in that a lot of your matches will follow the same focus (rather like any match against Kevin Nash involves the other guy trying to take his legs out), but you shouldn't be looking at the fed and thinking that no-one is a credible threat to Bruner due to his size. After, you wrote Wildchild against monsters. Most people won't be a credible threat to Bruner because it's YOU writing him.

 

When I changed from Toxxic to TORU, I had to get used to the fact that I could throw other people around (fun) and that he could take a pasting and get back up (fun) as well as he cheated like a bitch (very fun). So, although not intentionally, I ended up creating a character the complete opposite of Toxxic which was very good for a change of pace. Amy was also fun, although in more of a "how far can I get by writing an alcoholic girl headbutting people?" way. I think when it comes to it, if you have been writing different opponents, you can get used to writing a different character, and a change is often as good as a rest.

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As someone writing a second character at the moment, I know what you mean. I never really tried writing someone other than Landon in the SWF and never really wanted to, for various reasons. The thing is, unlike WC, Landon's a pretty generic character at the base of it so it was easy enough to change the character on a whim. Even when it didn't make sense or work.

 

I doubt I'd be writing as another character if A) I weren't still writing as Landon elsewhere anyway and B) I hadn't already started writing as about 20 different characters at that same elsewhere and found one I liked enough to try out here.

 

But a different character isn't neccessarily a bad idea. If you do it, try and figure out, if anything, what you'd enjoy writing that goes completely against WC's character. Whether that's a fast talker or a brawler or a submission guy or wacky comedy character or whatever. If it doesn't work, write it off as a failed experiment. The worst that happens, you get sick of the new character and start to miss writing as WC, so maybe you feel more like writing him again?

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I've been e-fedding for over 10 years, after a stuttering start with a US football themed tag team I created the Haka Boyz (basic premise - wouldn't Jonah Lomu be a great pro wrestler.) Va'aiga went solo to get me higher up the card in the GFWA and the rest is history. Chris Card was created so I could be a proper heel.

 

Many times I've tried other stuff. I've tried Sean Fate and Tomb, two big 7 foot goth types. I've been in a real wrestler fed with Hiro Tanahashi. I've tried lots of other characters briefly but when push comes to shove it always seems to come back to either the Maori or Card. I've written some stuff for Natasha as a wrestler but she's just Card with tits. Had things panned out differently Chris Card may well have been SWF champion and Va'aiga never even heard of in these parts - the reason I switched in the JL was due to the lack of faces around the place.

 

So my best advice is to try other stuff, throw shit at the wall and see what sticks as they say.. and if it doesn't work you've always got WC to fall back on.

 

You know I've always wanted to try a WC/Va'aiga tag team... the scope for some totally awesome power/speed spots (and to bust out my old Haka Boyz spots cos Va'a was a cruiser.

 

 

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