Review #1 by Em Problems here from the start. Let's take them piece by piece, though, hm? Starting with her name. Eadlin "Surina" Jelinek. I have never seen a stranger name attempted in Roanoke, and that includes Haydn Cyninglingsleighwhatever. "Eadlin" I might have bought in England. Not so much the good ole US of A. Why must every roleplayer give their character some totally bizarre, never before seen name? Furthermore, Jelinek? Given that you've only given us the meaning, not the language of origin.... is that a surname? A real one, I mean. And after a paragraph, I'm still not done with the name section. You list a nickname, "Surina," but don't give its meaning? And then down in the history you give a middle name, which you left out of the Name section? It's the name section! It should have her full name! "Tara" has a meaning, too, after all. Henceforth, I shall refer to your illustriously named character as Princess Stag, or PS. (That is, by the way, one of the most pretentious name meanings I've ever seen.) You give mom's and dad's and grandma's and adopted sister's eye and hair colors, but not brother? He goes to Roanoke College. As he hasn't left the Roanoke-Salem area, why isn't he at home much? (Roanoke College, according to my brother, is located in Salem, but Roanoke and Salem share borders, and it's not like they've put up a miniature Berlin wall or anything. We go to Salem frequently for events, movies, dinner...) Slight issue when reading about Vivian. "The Craft." Alas, this makes me wonder if we are about to get the Hollywood version of Wicca and witches. I'll be very annoyed if this happens. I know Wiccans in Roanoke. I assure you they have very little to do with Hollywood's idea of what witches are. "Skills: Writing-creative (Stories/poetry), Music-Guitar player (self taught), singer/song writer (self proclaimed), Tech-HTML, 2nd Language-Russian, Cook-self taught, Swimming- she's an all right swimmer. Likes: Writing, Reading, Computers, cooking up recipes. Dislikes: Bell peppers, mushrooms, anchovies, annoying people, people who don't respect others." Those are REALLY, REALLY BLAND skills, likes, and dislikes. That's an extremely Mary Sue-ish set of skills. Writer, musician, computer whiz, speaks second language, self taught everything. Every girl in Sparklypoo has those same exact skills. And don't bother listing that's she's an "all right" swimmer. That basically means she's an average swimmer, and we assume as much without your stating it. EVERYONE hates people who are annoying and don't respect others! Bell peppers, mushroom, and anchovies -- those are foods! Your likes and dislikes tell me NOTHING about Princess Stag, except perhaps that she is Princess of the cookie cutter people. In addition, the likes and dislikes are basically a repeat of her skills. Furthermore, the English/Math thing is THE SINGLEMOST OVERUSED FAVE/LEAST FAVE SUBJECT CONBINATION. And I don't even know many people (outside of us writerly bunch) who liked English the best. Heck, I love writing, and I hated English! English is mostly about writing papers on Shakespeare and correcting grammar mistakes in sentences. I -much- preferred Ancient World History and US History. Okay, her dad is a translator, and spends 80% of his time abroad?? He couldn't find a job with a company in this country? Does he work for the UN or the government or something? Because I don't know of many translators who are married, have two small kids, and choose to work outside of the country 80% of the time. There's plenty of work translating stuff in the US. Work for a Russian company with an American branch, or vice versa, and work in the American office. Honestly. And then there's the detail about Yuri's working. Okay, Dad for some reason takes a job that keeps him 80% of the time out of the country yet doesn't earn enough money to support his family!?!? Who does he work for that he's flying on $1000 flights across the oceans yet isn't paid a lot of money? Why would he decide to spend 80% of his time away from his family if he's not making enough money when he could hold a job locally that would pay enough? He'd be better off managing a grocery store! Working as a party clown! Being a waiter! Selling used cars! Furthermore, Yuri is only two years older than Princess Stag. At what age did he start working to support the family? Child labor laws, anyone? Why doesn't mom's veterinarian job pull in enough money to support them? If she's a vet, she's a type of doctor who's gone through college, and have you seen the kind of money we lavish on our pets these days and how high our vet bills go? Now we find out "Surina" is for some reason a bastardized version of "Serena." About a bajillion questions here. Why were her classmates calling her Serena? That makes nooo sense. Furthermore, why did the spelling become "Surina?" That makes even less sense. "Serena" really isn't a nickname in the way you're using here. Nicknames have reasons, generally. I was called "Link" at school because I wore a little Link key chain on my jacket. There was an administrator at our school who was called "Killer," as his name was Miller and he had a well-deserved reputation for being an ass. Never can I recall anyone just being given another name. We didn't go around calling Jennifer "Elizabeth." We didn't call John "Alfred." So why would anyone call Eadlin "Serena?" Ah, the school bully. Why? Why? Bringing in the school bully makes this sound like the plot of a bad Young Adult novel. There's an easy reason why. I attended middle school and high school and no bully ever made more of an impression on me than my teachers. Furthermore, I never saw a lot of bully tolerance around. Nor was there a lot of picking on people with accents, and those who did pick on accents were tolerated even less. As it states on the website, Roanoke's a multicultural center and an immigration destination. I went to school with students from Vietnam, the former Yugoslavia, China, Sudan, and South Africa. And those were only the students I recall having classes with. Roanoke City's schools are a very healthy mishmash of various cultures and ethnicities. Does teasing of foreign-born students and residents occur? Probably, yes. But I can't imagine a scenario like your bully event. Why didn't they tell any teachers, anyway? And then the part that makes me laugh. Reverse physiology. "phys•i•ol•o•gy (n). 1. The biological study of the functions of living organisms and their parts. 2. All the functions of a living organism or any of its parts." So, did she reduce the bully to a pile of protoplasm? Ah, now your Wiccan element. She announced in high school she wasn't going to be Christian any more. Why, oh why, did she announce this? Why, oh why, did she decide to go Wiccan? Furthermore, why did she decide that because she was going to practice Wicca she couldn't be a Christian any more? Ignoring the fact some people on both sides find it impossible to accept, there are people out there who consider themselves to be both Wiccan and Christian. They're some of the nicest Wiccans I've met because they're really, really tolerant. And anyway, why Wicca instead of going from being Christian to agnostic or atheist or maybe just some other denomination of Christianity? Actually, what denomination are her parents? Did they come from the same Christian background? (Doubtful, as he's from Russia.) What the hell? They all went Wiccan? Anya was a secretly practicing witch the whole time? I find that EXTREMELY doubtful. See previous note on app sounding like bad young adult novel. Furthermore, where is Princess Stag's precious mentor Vivian? Eadlin should not be a composite of different traits. She should be a fully-conceptualized character. You start off saying she's shy, but everything after that would suggest she's not shy at all, and is in fact quite outspoken. What words and feelings don't feel right in English? English is her first language. Furthermore... you haven't got enough study time with grandma to justify Princess Stag as being fluent in Russian. Passable, I could work with. But I will not buy Princess Stag speaking fluent Russian, teaching herself to cook (cooking would have been more sensible for princess Stag to learn from grandma than Russian and witchiness), teaching herself to play guitar, being a great writer, and knowing HTML. Actually, aside from the speaking Russian thing, I would guess those are things you think you can do, or wish you could. By the way, I "taught myself" how to "play the piano." I can pick out songs note by note. I'm pretty good at it. But I'm not so delusional as to think playing piano is one of my skills. I've never seen anyone self-teach themselves an instrument to the point where they could call it a skill unless they spent all their free time on it or were just incredibly good at music. I also taught myself how to cook. See, the packages come with directions on the back... Wait a frelling minute. She has long, shiny ebony-black hair. Her eyes are almond-shaped. Is she Asian!?!? Furthermore, her eyes are green? Mom's eyes are blue and dad's are brown! Dad's hair is dark chocolate! (It doesn't say what mom's is, but as mom has blue eyes, I'm doubtful she's the person Princess Stag gets her Oriental features from.) Where does she get the black hair and green eyes from? Our shy girl stands with confidence? She has a random scar? How'd she get the scar? Oh. My. GODS. The classic "looks frail but is actually strong" cliché. NO! NONONONONONONOOOO!!!!!! *bashes head on keyboard* Besides hair color, eye color, and that horrible cliché I will never again mention, you've told us very little about your character's appearance. I can't picture her at all. As I'm not a masochist but a narcissistic sadist, I am sorely tempted to stop reading, but I'll finish doing my duty anyway, however much this pains me. Oh gods... and you're using the classic fuku!?!? All the freedom we give you for fuku design and you're just recoloring the plain fuku? Have you looked around our game at all? There's scarcely a standard fuku to be found! The only time we allow fuku close to the original is with the Astronomia, really, as they're closest to the original show senshi. Ah, and now start the Pentagrams. Double yuu. Tee. Eff. As you will shortly show us in your explanation area, there's no connection made between the Pentagram and the moon-goddess Selene. We'll tackle that in a minute with that section, though. You say, "oh, but I'm using a two-piece bodysuit unlike the traditional," but Sailor V had a two-piece bodysuit. There's no such thing as a "chocker." You'd know that if you'd run a spell checker. More pentacles in the transformation. A new moon generally can't be seen. See http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&c2coff=1&safe=off&oi=defmore&q=d\ efine:New+Moon . How transformation elements come out of something that generally cannot be seen is beyond me, as you don't offer any sort of method for this effect. Also, transformation is overall a little too much. Make that a lot too much. It's too pointlessly complex. Now onto Powers. Or, in her case, power. Involving a bow and arrows and a random owl. Have you perhaps confused Selene with Artemis and Athena? This power makes absolutely no sense for Selene. Since archery isn't among Princess Stag's skills... the bow and arrow are worthless. Explanation. Or lack thereof. Given Princess Stag's name and her bow and arrows, it sounds like you've confused her with Artemis. Yet you did actually supply Selene's most widely-known myth in this section. Why, if you were aware of the myth, did you discard it in favor of Wiccan stuff? You haven't made a Graikos Senshi at all. You've just created a generic Moon senshi. Your logic behind the Selene/Wicca association is totally flimsy. The Graikos are senshi based on Greek myths. They're not based on Wicca. It might have been okay if you'd incorporated some Wiccan elements, but you cannot ignore all the Greek myths with a Graikos. And speaking of those Wicca elements... and looking at your writing sample... I don't think you know a single thing about Wicca. Throughout this app, you've done nothing but say, "my character is a Wiccan" without indicating you know what Wiccan rituals or beliefs are. The details you supply are sketchy at best. Since when is moonlight warm? Verdict time, though I would think it's obvious by now. Reject. Flat-out. This character is far too Sparklypudlian. The application reads like a bad young adult novel, perhaps titled "Princess Stag and the Very Bad Bully." You managed to include nearly EVERY Mary Sue cliché in the universe. The only one you were missing was naming your character "Kristin Hunt." You had practically no research on anything Greek or Wiccan. Nothing was well thought-out. Rampant mistakes in spelling/grammar. I didn't bother to point most of them out. In fact, even after all the things I did point out... there are enough problems left for another two reviewers. If you're read over any of our application results, you would have known everything you did in this app was a big no-no. Once again, REJECT. By the way, random piece of info some Astronomia applicant might find interesting -- did you know the Earth has a second natural satellite in addition to the Moon? It's called Cruithne. Nifty. _______________________ Review #2 by Deanna Hi. I'm Deanna. I technically have a Graikos in Roanoke, but Megan sucks too much to be allowed out in public, so I'm going this one alone. Let's take a look at what you've done. Name's okay, though that nickname's a little puzzling. Hope you explain it later. For future reference, it usually helps to give the language of origin for names, too, so that the curious can check their meanings more easiliy. For example, Eadlin is Anglo-Saxon and Jelinek is Eastern European/Czech, but I had to look that up myself to find out. I'm lazy. Make things easy for me. Age, birthdate, ect. looks good, since you could give her a sign and blood type that means she's destined to be a psycho serial killer and I wouldn't know the difference. Erk! I take that back. The Roanoke Results page says "No more April or May birthdays." You're going to have to change that birthday. 5'7" isn't tall for a man. In fact, it's a couple inches below average for the US, though for all I know it might be average/tall for Russia, given the general quality of living there for the past few forevers. The mother looks okay as far as she goes, but I'd like some notes on how Evelyn and Serge relate with Eadlin specifically. Their ages would also be nice. Flesh them out a little more -- since she's sixteen and living at home, parents are extremely important. For Yuri, what do you mean by "he knows how easily things, and dreams can be manipulated for people's cruel ends"? That's an odd sentence -- how does he know that? Is there some past event that taught him that? How did it affect Eadlin? What's the story with Leena? Why did Evelyn and Serge adopt a twelve year old from Russian? Is she Serge's illegitimate daughter? You get one free act of sin if she's Serge's bastard. How did the family afford to do that? I know a couple who just adopted two babies from Russia, and it cost them a mint. Maybe adopting adolescents is different, but you'll need to do some research and make sure. "The person with whom she identifies with among the older set of people in her family." That's a horribly mangled sentence. It's far less of a crime to end a sentence with a preposition than to get yourself tangled up trying to avoid doing so. Almost-70 isn't particularly old, the way 5'7" isn't particularly tall. Sure, Anya is a senior citizen, but you talk about her like she's ancient. When did Anya come to the US? Why did she and her family relocate? Witch, huh? This should be interesting? I'm predicting a fluffy, poorly-researched brand of neo-paganism, just going by Eadlin's age and what Vivian calls Wicca. Mind you, that's not a bad thing in a character, as long as you've done *your* research. I'd like more detail on Vivian, too, since she seems to be an important part of Eadlin's life. Skills need some elaboration. How good a writer is she? How prolific? Has she been published anywhere? Same with the guitar. Does she had an aptitude for music, or does she just screech out the opening to Stairway and call it a day? I like how you say she's a "self proclaimed" singer/songwriter. From that, I'm assuming she thinks she's a lot better than she really is. Likes are a problem. For one thing, they're mostly rehashes of skills, and for another, they're bland. Bland bland bland. Go farther into her head. Find something interesting. Talk about it. That's how this game is played. Dislikes suffers a similar problem. *Everyone* dislikes annoying people; most people dislike disrespectful ones. Also, the foods should go in the "Hated Food" section, not here. Likes and dislikes are a total wash and need to be rewritten completely. Loves english/hates math is a very cliched combination, right up there with loves art/hates science (which is odd, because most of my artist friends enjoy math and/or science, but that's neither here nor there). What is it she loves about english? What is it she hates about math? Why? Hobbies are pretty bland, though I bet you could get something interesting out of the band practice. Elaborate on them. Maybe add some more interesting ones. Aspirations are good, very teenagery. Why is emerald her gemstone? Is it her birthstone, or is it linked to her senshi form somehow? On to History. She has a middle name? That needs to be up in the Name section. How did Serge and Evelyn date those three years? With him in Russia and her in the US, either they stretched the definition of "long distance relationship," or someone ran up a huge bill with plane tickets. In fact ... *quick math* ... Sailor Myth is set in 2001-ish, I think, so Eadlin was born in the mid-80s ... parents were married four years before that ... met three years before *that* ... so they met in the late seventies or early eighties ... Which means that Russia was still the Soviet Union. *How* did an American veterinarian meet, date, and marry a Soviet citizen during the Cold War? Yogi, I don't think Mr. Reagan's gonna like this. Why was Serge out of the country most of the time? Yes, I understand that there could be reasons for a translator to work abroad, but surely there would be work for him in the US, too, especially if he hired on with a multinational corporation, or with the government. Why would he chose to spend most of his time out of the country when he had a wife and children at home? Of course, if Leena's his illegitimate daughter, we know SOME of what he was doing on those trips :D. I have to ask again: when did Anya move to the US? If Eadlin speaks Russian fluently because of Anya, then Anya would have had to have been around from very early in Eadlin's life. Else Eadlin wouldn't have managed fluency, not without someone speaking it to her every day, and letting her speak back. What do you mean "the family survived mostly by Yuri getting odd jobs"? Why did he have to get odd jobs for the family to survive? If his father was a world-travelling translator and his mother was a veterinarian -- which is a fairly well-paying and steady job, on the whole, though not usually something one gets rich off of -- they'd have to be either extremely greedy or really stupid to be hurting for money. Okay, *why* did her schoolmates call her "Serena"? This is a BIG HUGE warning bell. I'm sure you're aware that "Serena" is the name of Sailormoon in the American dub. You're making a moon senshi. There's no reason given for her to have the name. See the problem? Mangling her nickname to use for a character is good, but where did the nickname come from to begin with? It's got to go. *Why* was Leena adopted? How did Eadlin and Yuri take it? Bullying's okay, since kids are horrible little creatures on the whole and will act like sharks scenting blood the minute they find a difference to mock, but what's this about "reversed physiology"? First, that's one of the most entertaining typos I've ever seen. Second, what did Eadlin *do*? Why did the bully stop bothering them entirely? "She announced it midway through her freshman year, her parents, both Christians, were not exactly shocked for Eadlin had always had a way with finding interesting facts." Huh? "They fought a little bit when she announced her choice of religion, Wicca, being that they thought it was not exactly wrong." Double huh? I'd like to comment on the content of those sentences, but I'm not sure I understand what they *say*. Please rephrase them in a way that makes sense. "But, by way of reasoning, information gathering and using the skills she had acquired in her Freshman year, with putting together charts and graphs, she showed them using various books and information on the subjects, which she had been buying over the years when her Yuri, Leena and herself went out shopping as the sometimes did to reconnect with each other." She showed them *what*? I had been meaning to save comment on the writing style of this app 'til the end, but we're getting into rough water here. It's very ungrammatical and rambling, and there are a lot of misused, misspelled, and missing words. I've been able to read it until now, but this paragraph is incomprehensible. You're going to have to edit this app heavily to make it readable. Read it carefully yourself and correct any mistakes you find. Then run spellcheck and correct mistakes it finds. Put it away for a day or two, then reread it again to correct any mistakes spellcheck made. *Then* give it to a friend who is good with grammar and spelling, and let him or her read it and correct it. Then read it again, to catch any mistakes your friend made. As it is, this is utterly unacceptable. I'm going to continue with this review so that you'll have a list of things you need to fix before resubmitting, but understand that as of right now I'm going to have to vote REJECT on this. The writing is grounds enough, and, honestly, the nickname is grounds enough all by itself. Anya was a witch? Um. How did her son not *know* that? Are you trying to say that she was Wiccan? If she was a Russian folk witch of some sort, I might be able to work with you here, but if you're trying to say she was Wiccan, when did she convert? Do you realize that Anya is actually older than Wicca? You're going to have to elaborate on the kids all converting. Teens going neo-pagan isn't difficult to believe, but how did they come to that plan? How devout was their Christianity to begin with? How did their parents take ALL their children turning pagan? On to Personality. "Eadlin is composite of different traits." Well ... yeah. Everyone is. That's a bad way to start out. Rest of the personality is okay as far as it goes, but there needs to be a LOT more of it. It also needs heavy editing for readability. I know three paragraphs is listed as the acceptable minimum, but those have to be three very concise and well-written paragraphs. Write more. Her mom's blue-eyed, her father's brown and brown. How did she get ebony hair? True black hair is EXTREMELY rare in most racial types. Even Africans more often have dark brown than anything that can be called true black. Emerald eyes? For one thing, that's a horribly over-used adjective for eyes; for another, emerald eyes and ebony hair? Nah. Green eyes are actually a shade of blue, so I can see her maybe getting them if her dad's genotype is Bb, meaning one of his parents was probably blue or green-eyed. But "emerald eyes" and "ebony hair"? I say again, nah. Of course her face contains her eyes! Where is she going to keep them, the palms of her hands? Wait, her eyes are almond-shaped? How come she's so short? Is her mom that short? Almond eyes ... black hair ... very short ... she's east-Asian? How? Yes, Russia is technically in Asia, but most Russians are Slavonic -- *especially* ones with Eastern European surnames. "Looks weak but is strong" is a cliche. Where'd the scar come from? If she's shy, why does she hold herself with an air of confidence? The physical description is very sparse and doesn't make much sense. Rewrite and expand. Traditional fukus aren't really encouraged here. Universalis has one, but ... she's Universalis. She gets a pass. Selene is not Universalis, so she does not get a pass. You can do better. Why is her fuku riddled with pentegrams? Are pentegrams a moon symbol? Her religion really shouldn't have any bearing on her fuku. The Angelus team kinda tends to be overtly Christian in civilian life, but not always ... Sailor Amazarak was raised New Age/pagan, turned agnostic, is a Judeo-Christian myth, and has a wand covered in *Chinese*. The moon symbols are good, since she's a moon senshi, but the Maiden/Mother/Crone stuff has to go. Selene wasn't a triune goddess. I don't care what modern pagans say; it's the opinions of the ancient Greeks that matter. They didn't worship Selene as Maiden/Mother/Crone. In fact, I can't think of anyone they *did* worship as such, aside from *maybe* the Fates. Maybe. Find a copy of Bullfinch's and so some reading. Non-academic sites on the Internet don't count as research. pantheon.org does not count as an academic site. Transformation has the same issues as the fuku, as far as pentegrams and triune goddesses go. Why is there a bow in her power? Why is there an owl? Selene was not the same as Artemis, who was identified with archery; neither is she the same as Athena, to whom owls were sacred. How much damage does each shot do? How can the attack be countered? How good is her aim? What monsters? There are no monsters in Sailor Moon, aside from the fully human kind (also the space aliens). She's going to be fighting other senshi. Okay. The explanation, paired with the rest of the app, shows that you didn't do nearly enough research, and you didn't understand what you read. First you say that she was known for falling in love, then you say that she didn't go after men. Which is it? Was she a heavenly ho-bag or not? Making Eadlin Wiccan is okay, since many, though not all, Wiccans do tend to do a lot of moon-worshipping. Making *Selene* Wiccan is *not* okay. Writing sample ... First, I don't need a primer on Wicca. I know what it is. You don't have to instruct me. Show me how you write; show me how you write *Eadlin*. Let her be herself. What happens in this scene? How is she being initiated? How much did you pay Silver Ravenwolf for the rights to this? This is a REJECT. Bad ju-ju on the nickname, horrible lack of editing, major problems in history, sketchy personality, problematic appearance, misuse of Wicca, misunderstanding of myth ... Rewrite it. You have my AIM name; I'm willing to help you as far as I can, though I can't wave a magic wand and make your character approvable. __________________ Review #3 by Chris Hi, everybody! The other two reviewers have already done most of the work for me. This is sort of just mopping things up. I really like how random words are capitalized. It's what I'm doing in one of my works, too. But something tells me that in `life in General', General isn't a virtue or vice of some sort? Wow, honey. Skills, likes, dislikes, favorite food, and hated food are all sort of one large mishmash. If she hates peppers and mushrooms and anchovies, why aren't they in her hated foods? Or does she dislike the concept of peppers, mushrooms, and anchovies? She has a band. Called "Twilight Stars". And she wants to write romance novels. And also, apparently, fantasy novels with a fantasy twist (The Fantastic Magical Jewel of Fantasy of the Mermaid-Dragon- Princess?). Is Jelinek a Russian surname? Because it doesn't sound like one. Also, he came from the USSR. They were Communist. They'd have a bit more troubles with immigration than you'd think. Especially since he was marrying an American woman. ... Wicca charts and graphs. The whole family becomes Wiccan. ::DIES:: Ian: ... ::pokes Chris:: Chris: ::DEAD:: Ian: Umm... I guess I'm reviewing now, or something? You keep telling me that she's `your average tomboy' and `your studious and observant student'. I don't -have- any tomboys or students. I have a dog, and a weasel who's really Saint Clare. Ian: ... If English is her first language, why would she use Russian in random places? She's not a fluent English speaker? Ian: She sure does look pretty perfect, and she has a standard fuku. With pentagrams? Because they're related to the moon... how? "The Pentacle is forms when the pentacle she is standing one shrinks and becomes the centerpiece of her from bow." Ian: What? This transformation is a million hours long, by the time she transforms, the fight will be over. Ian: An owl comes from where for her power? Why? "She was a part of a Coven, a Circle of witches, of those who practiced Wicca." Ian: I feel Sad inside, now. Because it Hurts so Much, it's Painful. Chris: ::hands a note to Ian, then DIES again:: Ian: ::reads:: It's my fault Blackleaf died. I can't face life alone! -Marcie Ian: ... Yes. FINAL VERDICT Ian: ::pokes Chris again:: Well, it looks like the player is still dead, or something. So, I'll just say it. No. REJECT! Chris had problems with the history, and her name, and the likes and dislikes and the skills and the hobbies. Then I had problems with fuku, and powers, and um... bad grammar and random capitalization? Thanks for trying!