Character concepts?

Right off the bat, I'd just like to say that this is more of a curiosity question than anything else, and if it's been asked before (which it likely has), I'm just going to apologize right now. =P.

But yeah.

So I'm no stranger to RP'ing - I've been doing it for a few years now via several forum-based RPG's and whatnot. But for whatever reason... I just can't seem to come up with a character concept that I really want to stick with in-game. I have ideas, and I think they'll be good, but I can just... I can't ever really connect with the characters I try to make.

So I'm coming to you guys.

I was wondering where you guys get your character concepts/inspiration from? What gets your creative minds working, and all that jazz? I mean, I love COH, and I really love the vibe here on Virtue, but I just feel like I'm the odd one out because I can't come up with a good, solid character to RP.

So, any of you guys willing to share your muses/inspirations/mystical treatments for coming up with characters? =P.

The costume creator is my biggest timesink, as well as my biggest source of inspiration. I create things in it that, for me, pushes the envelope as far as combination of parts is concerned. I also listen to music when I craft outfits. Interestingly enough:

Metal yields demon/magic/villainous
Electronic yields mutant/robotic/cyborg
Orchestra yields demon/heroic/mysterious
Hip-hop yields occult (blame Tech N9ne)

Maybe that'll help. I find that after listening to the music, crafting an outfit, I sit down and ponder a name. When the name hits, I immediately feel how the character came to be. Mutations, deals with the proverbial devil, a life of crime, a freak accident, determination.

Sources of Inspiration

• Most of the time I have a very basic concept and then proceed to get struck by a random bolt of inspiration that takes them away from what I expected to develop.
  For example, my dark/willpower brute was originally going to be a generic 'corporate henchman' style of villain; but they ended up becoming an office manager for Arachnos who, on their days off acts as a villain to indulge their taste for sadomasochism.
  
• In other cases an aspect of the costume gives me inspiration.
  My claws/sr brute has robotic lower arms and his original costume included some golden yellow and a flight mask.
  I decided he was a former Goldbricker who'd lost his arms in an accident during a burglary and had the replacements paid for by King Midas.
  
• Sometimes I'm inspired by something I'm reading.
  For example I wanted to make another mastermind a while ago and had been reading The Zombie Hunters. I ended up making a necro/pain mastermind called the Necrobiologist. Of course I'm only using the name of the type of scientist so he's not a rip-off.
  
• Sometimes a name that you've had for a while simply 'clicks' with a power combination that you'd been wanting to make.
  Like my assault rifle/radiation corruptor I've recently made. He's a mutant gangster called Slim Green. (Name from this webcomic)

Uh... It really depends.

I never begin with a costume and then create the character. I always make a character, and then come up with a costume - perhaps that is why all my characters are plainclothes. The ideas can be rather random: I made an Indiana Jones expy (female, admittedly, and a mage) because I felt like playing a Badass Longcoat, and I made a time traveler from the future as a way to mock all-knowing enigmatic time traveler concepts, as well as an homage to PBF Archive. My main is, i freely admit, something of an Author Avatar, although thankfully not abused.

Oftentimes I begin with a concept I want to explore, or, more frequently, subvert. My main character is a direct subversion of suprheroes as a whole, I have a subversion on tragic destined-to-die heroes, a subversion on time travelers, and a subversion on psionicists.

I doubt that helps, but this is my lot.

I myself aim for what is largely flexible and work with an idea which stems from inspiration from other materials. Often times mysticism works for me because you can have just about anything mesh well, from robots to mutants; and then work with a concept.

I have the same problem.

It's not that concepts are hard to come up with. It's getting a concept I want to stick with.

In fact, outside of my main (who's been rerolled into many different powers sets, as I try to find a combo I enjoy), every concept I come up with, I just don't care to keep RPing.

Had a few close ones, but something happens which kills me wanting to do anything with it. A player leaves, to many times OOC knowledge is used.

My suggestion, just keep trying

What might work for you, is what worked for my main...start with a case of amnesia, and build it up from there and don't be afraid of little retcons.

I start with a loose concept, then try to find an AT & powersets I can stand to play, and finally buckle down to create the costume. I can lose days in the costumer, srsly, so for starters I just try to get a rough look. I can refine it later, but what's important is to have something to build on. More often than not, it'll come full-circle and the costume will influence the final character concept as I find combinations of pieces and colors that click with me.

I take the same approach to their story as the costume. I don't try to create the new character's entire story at once. I start with an infocard-sized summary and let them tell me more as I play them, and I always keep an open mind about letting others in if they have a great idea for some shared background. I'm still learning about characters I created years ago.

I pretty much just slap my schnitzel & taters on my keyboard and character concepts come out. Yeah - I'm that good.

Character Concepts that never run out of style:

Classic Mary Sues
NINJAS
Pirates
Robots
Robot Ninja Pirates
Pirate Ninja Robots
Pirate Robot Ninjas
Any combination of the above
A bear
A catgirl
A Lion, with no cars in sight
A demon
A Pervert
???
PROFIT!
An Anon
... jesus christ, theres so many character concepts. HOW CAN YOU NOT STICK WITH ONE?!

For my first character (which is the one I am most attached to and love to RP) I got in mind my favorite superhero, which in my case is Superman. I thought about the things that I liked about his character. He is undeniably good, well liked and respected by his peers, and just plain iconic. Then I built my own hero around those concepts. You might think I ended up with a Superman clone, but it actually wound up in a fairly different place. Think hard and spend a lot of time on your bio. I find I am much more attached to characters when I write bios for them before playing the first mission. I loved the character so much that when GR came out, I made his Praetorian counterpart and now can't decide which I like best. Autobiographical characters can work well too. Just think about yourself and the characteristics that would come out if you were behind the mask. I rarely use the costume creator for inspiration, and when I do, the character usually feels pretty thin. The costume should be a reflection of the hero, not the other way around.

I'm not sure where my concepts come from. It feels like I have a little switch in my mind that I can turn on and -- once it's given me twenty or thirty ideas -- I just flick it off and choose from those.

I posted a thread some time ago where I gave sixty people new character concepts, just based upon their name and astrological sign. When I'm in 'on' mode I could do that all day.

I do keep an active catalog of things that currently interest me (at the moment it's woodblock prints, artwork inspired by the Black Plague and Alexander McQueen's shoe designs), so I suppose I unconsciously draw from that shifting pool.