22 – Power Rhino by Beausephus + Son
CHARACTER NAME: Â Power Rhino
DATE OF CREATION: November 18, 2011
CONCEPT: Â “There’s a a whole town of Rhinoceroses that live in a maze and there’s one Rhinoceros who has to protect Rhinoceros Land from people going through the maze to get the treasure. Â Power Rhino is a superhero with a big sword and a sword on his leg. Â He has a big cape because he is a good guy.”
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So when the mood strikes my son (and that is quite often) and he wants to make up “superguysâ€, “superdudesâ€, “supermansâ€â€¦ I pull out a bunch of templates I made for him and he picks out everything from the style of boots to the color scheme of the various costume options presented before him.  I then draw quick sketch, and he edits, adds, etc…  I then draw up the character and he hangs them in his room…if they meet his ultimate judgement.  Then I make him come up with a story for each character.
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My 4 year old likes to draw mazes. Â Now they may look like aimless scribbles to the untrained eye, but he will show you with exact precision what each oddly formed square is ( a trap, usually) and how the interweaving lines are actually paths that when he is finished will make perfect sense. Â So, the other day he was guiding me through his newest maze and he lead me through a series of traps, jungles, volcanoes, a Rhinoceros Land, and a river before having to jump through another trap to get to the treasure. Â Now I had him back up and tell me about this Rhinoceros Land. Â Rhinoceros Land is just that, a land of Rhinoceroses who do magic and tell stories. Â They have one Rhino called Power Rhino who carries a sword and protects them all from “bad guys who go in the maze to get the treasure.”
He really wanted a strait up superhero design with a rhino in a green spandex outfit, red mask, white gloves, and a blue cape…with a big sword and a sword strapped to his leg. Â He really did not like the version drawn above. Â He wanted a straight up superhero, but the big honkin’ sword concept got me thinking of Cloud from Final Fantasy VII and then of the Joe Mad comic series “Battle Chasers.” Â Then I realized that my kid was essentially describing to me the plot of the recent Thundercats series subplot involving a village of mystic forgetful elephants. Â So I went with the RPG style costume pictured above. Â he is not happy that the version he wanted is not posted here and he has sworn to do his own version which, if he finishes it, I will post below.
Thanks for checking out our ideas,
Beausephus+Son