Character Design help [Brits]

[Mr Companion]

We are almost identical to Americans, but with a different set of accents and far left political views. Also we have a secret hatred to Americans for stealing our empire, Whoops I mean we secretly pilot the death star, I mean whoops we secretly did not turn up for the D-DAY landings as shown clearly in saving private ryan- I mean oh never mind. We are just fairly polite, left wing and occasionally chavvy.
In fact that is what you should do really, most British people I have met growing up have been chavvy (the young ones that is) so you should include one in your comic. It would be educational, yet not too insulting. A strongly recongnisable social group, but not steriotypical to anybody outside Britain. I cannot quite think of how he or she would contribute to the dialogue greatly but no doubt a good writer would be able to think up some practical uses for the idea. Sorry this is all turning into a bit of a ramble. The important thing to remember is do Not under any circumstances characterise him/her as an extremely polite upper class toff with his head located somewhere a good meter up his arsehole. I find that although those people probably do exist but I have never met one yet, plus the media has a glut of them already so yeh...

 

[Trivun]

Gotta have a dapper hat.
Also a cane.

A tailcoat, too.

Oh, and they should be the villain.
Obviously.

Does that mean you're British too? I'm not so sure that you'd be decent in a dapper hat, tailcoat and holding a cane. But the last little point...

Anyway, in most voice acting the British accent is absolutely terrible. I'm really glad that FFXII decided to use actual Brits for the voices of Balthier and Cid, since Americans trying to do any of the British accents (remember, several different countries, sort of) almost always fail epically.

I understand, OP, that you're talking about comics and not anything where there'll actually be sound though. In which case, simply most stereotypes of the British. Apart from having an original (and better) language, English, rather than 'American English' (seriously guys, wtf?), we Brits are for the most part not too different from you. Simply portray us the same way as you do fellow Americans, but make sure to have us using proper English (like saying 'chips' instead of 'fries' and 'crisps' instead of 'chips') and playing British sports/watching British TV shows/etc, or whatever.

 

[Mr Companion]

Thanks for your help folks. I didn't see many "this was a bad depiction," instead in favor of "do this instead." Also, Ninja Englishmen do use monocoles as throwing stars.

If I go to America I am going to wear the whole set, monocle, top hat, waistcoat, shiny shoes. And I will speak in the strongest upper class tone I can bear to adopt (my accent is fairly strong as it is but I would go well out of my way for humours sake) And see how the local resident respond to this. Some of them would see though me while others would likely stand sheepishly in a confused daze. Or perhaps laugh themselves silly. In any case it would be an interesting social experiment for the first week or so before the joke begins to weak off.

 

[The Aimless One]

Well....

I live in the Netherlands and most Brits I meet here all everything but posh.
Usually they're kinda trashy and drink lots.....good fun though! XD
But seriously....I've met people from Londen, Kent and Brighton and they're really not very different from my dutch friends.

 

[Firia]

Thanks for your help folks. I didn't see many "this was a bad depiction," instead in favor of "do this instead." Also, Ninja Englishmen do use monocoles as throwing stars.

If I go to America I am going to wear the whole set, monocle, top hat, waistcoat, shiny shoes. And I will speak in the strongest upper class tone I can bear to adopt (my accent is fairly strong as it is but I would go well out of my way for humours sake) And see how the local resident respond to this. Some of them would see though me while others would likely stand sheepishly in a confused daze. Or perhaps laugh themselves silly. In any case it would be an interesting social experiment for the first week or so before the joke begins to weak off.

I wish you'd carry a mic, a cameraman nearby, and a straight face.

 

[Firia]

Oh, and while America has guns; England has bombs, knives and dogs.

America has these things too.
(also thank you for your input.)

 

[jehannym]

Well one thing has become fairly evident from the progress of this thread. The British are proud of and enjoy their diferences from the rest of the world, and don't hesitate to defend them.

And Firia, first of all well done for having the insight to realise that most American portrayals of the British (English in particular) are annoying (to us) stereotypes. I am pleased that you wish to research.

Most of the advise given here is pretty sound and there isn't much more that I can add. Just try to remember that although the British Isles are alot smaller than the USA, the diferences in culture up and down the country are as varied as they are up and down the entire length and breadth of yours. Just ours are alot closer together and changes happen alot quicker. For example, an accent can change entirely by driving 20 or 30 miles away from where you started like Edinburgh and Glasgow, completely diferent versions of the Scottish accent. Then when you take say Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool, all up in the north of England, all major cities within a couple of hours of each other, yet with completely diferent accents. I feel am rambling a bit and not really helping with your comic in terms of "Don'ts". So I shall depart by just saying: Don't underestimate the diversity of this place, imagine the USA compacted down to our size.

 

[Insanum]

Yanks seem to think all of us english LOVE the queen, Tea, Tweed, Live in Stately Homes...and crumpets.

If i have to explain to another american what a crumpet is im going to go NUTS.

Just FYI any americans -

Spoiler: THIS is a crumpet

[img/]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Buttered_crumpet2.jpg[/img]

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Oh, and while America has guns; England has bombs, knives and dogs.

America has these things too.
(also thank you for your input.)

I was just reminded of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Olympic_Park_bombing] where America said "How could anyone be this brutal?" and all the Londoners wondered what the fuss was about over such a small package.

As for accents:

 

[Firia]

Oh, and while America has guns; England has bombs, knives and dogs.

America has these things too.
(also thank you for your input.)

I was just reminded of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Olympic_Park_bombing] where America said "How could anyone be this brutal?" and all the Londoners wondered what the fuss was about over such a small package.

Americans say that to any act of random violence. Makes us seem like he have a heart.

 

[Firia]

All this talk about accents... I don't think I'm going to really pay attention to accents and geographical locations pertaining to that. It's writen word after all. And there's only so much, "'ello luv, 'ows yer mum," phonetic spelling a reader can take before the de-sync of written language ruins the sense of immersion. Light use of phonetic spelling will likely be used, just to remind the reader there is a twist on language, but not enough that a reader will walk up to a map and say, "that bloke is from HERE!"

Otherwise, many thanks to those with advice concerning accents and locations.

 

[Echelon_3]

We are polite, but not to the absurd extent to which we are sometimes presented in the media. We're also not all either speaking the queens English or one of the many local dialects. If you want some examples of English accents add me on steam and I'll invite you to the next TF2 game we have on the Escapist UK server.

More movies and TV shows need to have the "tough guy" Brit accent like many video games do - Readers may have heard such an accent in Dawn of War's Imperial Guardsmen (Ork accents are way over-the-top), the Centurion tanks from World in Conflict, or the Guardian tanks from C&C: Red Alert 3.

I mean, I live in North America but there's something about that accent that makes my inner child go "FUCK YEAR" inside.

On topic, the biggest cliché about English people (Scots and Irish have their own clichés, Welsh pretty much seem to be forgotten) is basically, that they are all haughty, sheltered upper-class people with a general disdain for any people, items, or behavior that they deem beneath them. Now it's true the class system still exists over there, and there are some English people like that, but the rich are always a tiny minority, and even then rich people aren't all bad.