» Character Application

*Guide Created by Jeremy The Great:
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Alright folks. Since a few applications we've received over the months since Academy X's founding are a bit jumbled or a section is done far from properly I thought I would put something in here to clarify some of the common problems and misunderstandings we've seen as well as attempt to prevent new ones.

This section is pretty self explanatory.

Name is the character's legal name, birth name, or both.
Codename is the character's "mutant name" or "real name" as Magneto called it in the second X-Men movie. Logan's codename would be Wolverine, Scott Summers' would be Cyclops, and Bobby Drake's would be Iceman.
Nickname/Alias would be any other name the character goes by. These could include any former codenames that they've used and abandoned, things their friends and family call them, and even names that their enemies like to use as a taunt.
Character Image (your image goes here) is where you put in a picture of your character. Drawings and 3D models are allowed, but the use of a real person (actors, musicians, models, etc.) is encouraged as it gives a real life face to attach to the name. Multiple images in the application, however, are discouraged except in the case of cannon characters where a comic image of the character and an image of the person to portray them.
Portrayed by: is simply the name of the person that you would like to use to portray the character. If you're using a drawing or 3D model you can leave this bit blank, though if you prefer only a certain artist's or time-period's version of the character it might be a good idea to put that here.

**A list of people already used for a portrayal can be found here.

Also fairly simple, but I'll explain just in case.

Age and Birthday. If you include a year in the Birthday section, please be sure it matches up with the Age.
Hometown is just that, the name of the city your character was born and/or raised in.
Eyes, Hair, and Height. If you need help with these then I'm afraid you may already be lost. If some part of the character's mutation causes one of these to change please include that.
Weight. Keep character specific traits that might influence weight in mind. For instance, Wolverine's adimantium encased skeleton would make his body much heavier, while Angel or Icarus' avian (bird-like) bone composition would make them much lighter than the average person.
Race/Nationality and Gender are straight forward.
Affiliation is about the only tricky one in this section. A list and explanations of each currently available mutant group can be found here. If you don't want to be one of those you can choose to be unaffiliated (also, an affiliation group for mutant citizens of Genosha should be opening up soon).

Now one of the sections that causes the most trouble.

Power Name can be either a scientific(ish) name for your characters power or their own term for the ability.
Power Type is pretty much just the distinction of whether the power is more physical or mental. Physical would be a physical mutation or physically manifested power and Mental would be anything else. Iceman's powers are considered physical because he creates the cold/ice while Pyro's powers would be mental because he only controls the fire.
Description is just what it says. The more in-depth this section the better, especially with really advanced or powerful mutations.
Power weaknesses are the powers limitations. Please stick to things that make sense such as how long Quicksilver can run before having to stop for rest or the amount of time it takes Wolverine to heal from injuries of differing levels of severity, not things like Angel's wings not allowing him to breath underwater. This is a required section, not an optional one.

**Each individual power will need to be done separately (have it's own Power name, power type, description, and power weakness section) unless they are very closely related.

**A list of restricted (very limited number of characters allowed) and banned (not allowed in any character) powers can be found here.

[b]Personality is a basic description of how your character acts and thinks. Are they happy on the outside but secretly suffer extreme depression? Do they suffer from some psychological disorder that alters how they act or perceive the world? This would be the place for that kind of information.
Likes and Dislikes is just a place to list some of the character's favorite and least favorite things in the world.
Strengths and Weaknesses is for non-combat things a character is good or not so good at. Being really good at card games, being an all A student, burning anything they try to cook, and being so bad at basketball that Professor Xavier could beat them with both arms tied behind his back an not using powers would all be things to list here. Try to stick to things that would come up pretty regularly for weaknesses.

Skills is a section for combat abilities aside from mutation based ones. If your character is an military grade sniper, a trained gymnast, or a master thief you would put those things here.
Notes is for essential information that isn't listed elsewhere. Marital status (something major like engage, widowed, or married), non-basic possessions like a car or an expensive heirloom, and various other bits of information like that can be placed here.
Known Associates is a place to list family, foster family, friends, contacts, and things like that. Even if your character does not know who their parents are that information needs to be listed.
Experience is where you list the character's education (high school drop-out, college student, college grad.) and past and present occupations/occupational experience.

This section seems pretty well self explanatory, but you would be surprised how many people do their best to slide by with the bare minimum. Give some detail about the character's early life, put in a little detail of the character discovering their powers, a little bit about how they were recruited into whatever group they belong to, and if they've received any specialized training toss in some information on that. The more detailed the history is in the first place the less likely you are to have to add more later.

**Try to avoid directly copying a history from Wikipedia, Marvel Database, Marvel Universe or whatever other site you use for research of a character. Many of them have ties to elements that have not happened or have been taken out of the history here at ACX. If you are unsure whether a part of a character's history would be accepted here it is better to ask a staff member (through private message, the c-box, or the chat room) than to just have to go back and add it in later.