Bleach OC Community

6 min read

Deviation Actions

NexusYuber's avatar
By
Published:
2.3K Views
Now that I'm back into the swing of things and I have projects on the table, commissions being drawn, and open text documents running the background as I write this, I wanted to put a message out there for the Bleach OC community. Well, some of it actually applies to ANY OC community, really.

I've spent the last five or so years on this site devoting most of my time to doing my thing in the Bleach OC/AU community. It started out small. I had gotten into Bleach after watching the episode where Ichigo and Renji first met and fought one night on Adult Swim, and all I could think about was cool it was that they were showing blood (Ichigo initially got his butt whooped). A few months later, I saw another episode and found myself completely lost, so I went online and streamed a bunch of it directly into my face until I couldn't blink anymore. That caught me up, and I found myself completely enthralled by the idea of the Gotei 13 and the genius behind making the art style so simplistic. I had seen a ton of anime at that point in my life. In particular, I was in love with Cowboy Beebop, Trigun, and Detective Conan. But the one thing that Bleach had on those shows was the potential for viewers/readers to come up with their own ideas and implant them into the world. After a conversation with a friend that culminated in my first idea for a character (Veritas Junshin), I went on an RP site and decided to give it a shot. Once my second character was born (Seisui Naito--I finally decided that Japanese names made more sense than Latin/Japanese hybrids), I was hooked. And DA, having been introduced to me by an ex-girlfriend, seemed like the perfect place to give them a home.

That was half a decade ago.

Since then, I've been immersed in the wonderful community that this site has sponsored. At first, I only found a few other people who had an interest in creating their own characters for this anime. I didn't get that many comments on my uploads, and groups weren't really a thing back then, so it was hard to search things out. But over time it started to grow. Whether it was because more people had the same idea that I did, or because I just happened upon them as time went by, I suddenly found myself surrounded by people who made use of their creativity in a staggering amount of ways to bring their ideas to life. I started to commission artwork, beginning with Geofffffff and culminating with a huge partnership with ev1ct and a TON of other artists. It grew and grew until today, despite a few lapses along the way (totes my bad, by the way).

The main thing that I've learned is that the community itself can be a home or a hell. Some people find themselves supported. Their OCs are complimented, favorited, and commented on. They get attention based on various criteria of their characters, from the concept of their powers to the idea behind their histories. They gain a sort of public eye that can be comforting and reassuring. I'm lucky enough to be one of those people. But then some people are criticized or ignored. There are many deviants who create OCs who either don't get attention or receive grief because something about their character rubs people the wrong way. Maybe they ship a pairing that other people don't like. Maybe they took aspects from a canon character, or it resembles an idea seen a hundred times before. Maybe they trace their artwork because they don't have the drawing skills or time to make it from scratch.

My point is, it shouldn't matter.

This place, DeviantArt, can be an amazing home away from home for writers and artists who want to take their fandom--something they genuinely enjoy--and use their imaginations to give it a semblance of life. No one should be criticized for how they go about it. I don't even believe there is a right way to do it.

I believe that we, as a community, are stronger than we give ourselves credit for. There are a lot of us. A lot of minds. A lot of imagination. And in many ways, a lot of positivism that we can share with each other and make this second world we live in a more pleasant place for everyone. I implore each one of you to focus on the uniqueness of OCs before thinking about the similarities. Consider the potential of each character and creator as a member of the community rather than judge their worthiness. Comment and favorite and help a little each time you log on. Use the hashtags #bleach and #oc in the search bar, click 'newest', and give some support to people brave enough to put their ideas on here to be seen.

Together, we can make this community a place where all of these characters and ideas can have a happy home.

-Nexus

This Journal Skin was designed by Night-Beast
© 2014 - 2024 NexusYuber
Comments39
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
amber-sky's avatar
What a wonderful message! Everyone should be encouraged for the work that they do, because no matter what some effort was put into their character and it means something to them. I agree with you 100%. (: