Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-226878-20150710200046/@comment-174.89.110.232-20151115060724

Mercen-X: Russel could have been Robin Hood, but wasn't. He was a follower, not a leader and I can't think of a reason not to make him the leader if he were a Robin Hood type, unless it's that he's a bully, which is OOC for Robin Hood. I don't know who would confuse a cardinal and a robin if they've ever seen them or pictures of them; the robin isn't red all over, and the English brand has an orange gorget, limiting the extent of their 'redness', which is actually orange. The English brand also has light tan, speckled eggs; the N.A. robin is more versatile with the robin's egg blue color to bring to the table.

The robin red coloring put up against a true scarlet looks dull and dowdy. Naming Russel's team Cardinal kills the idea of playing up 'his' red coloring. Russel is a bird allusion; Robin Hood or Robin Wood -- a 1300's version of the name, in modern spelling -- is a Robin Hood allusion. Equality there. Will Scarlet is at least one Merry Man who didn't dress in green, and Friar Tuck is another (possible name change to Tuck Friar). Will Scarlet has to be named Scarlet because it's the original name of the character, and there are just a whole lot of Scarlets running around RWBY not to maintain the identity of the one based on the legend. I like the robin's egg blue way out of dealing with the duller red with the brighter one; I also like the overall complement of blue, red, brown and green, a strong palette in my opinion.

Lincoln green comes in as Little John's color; call him John Little if you like. Will Scarlet was actually a master swordsman who fought with swords in both hands. Is the 'dagger' skill from the movie? It's not associated with the origin of the character. (There also was no African member of the Merry Men who emigrated to England at the end of the Crusades; you just can't believe everything you see in the movies! Or comic books! Which doesn't mean any of the four characters I've adapted couldn't have a lot of melanin in their makeup. Robin's egg blue eyes against medium to dark skin; yummy.)

So in the end, as you mention, a character might have a number of references. My characters reference Robin Hood pretty much exactly, and it's not just one but all four, and their team name isn't entirely a matter of alphabet soup but is indicative of the kind of prankster exploits with which the Robin Hood mythos is riddled. I like it. (In case you were wondering....)