Unapproved Character

Hey there! I was just wondering what could be preventing my character Elijah Cross from getting accepted. I’ve looked throughout the guidelines and edited quite a bit but it still gets denied. Would anyone be able to tell me what’s wrong? Any guidance? :)

you need a birth year, i think!

Do you have their account set to the proper category? You can set them to "Inactive" or "Active - Wolf" or whatever.

Also, is their birthday field filled out properly? Day, month, and year?

There might also be a size limit but I don't know the constraints of that off the top of my head.

Have you filled out their prompts OR linked to an existing account in the prompt fields (which tbh is easier)?

I’ll check the birth year again but I can 100% say that I link to a previous account before but then thought that the prompts were the problem so I just went ahead and did them lol. It’s also been like 3-4 days since I last sent the request in and it hasn’t been denied/accepted.

The size limit is 200 lbs and 136 in

I'm not the admin who reviewed this particular character so I'm responding more as a fellow player here, although some of these points are the most common and frequent issues we run into when reviewing character applications (some were already covered by the others above; thanks!). :)

Did you link to an approved account and/or fill out the prompts sufficiently?

Did you list a corresponding age and birth date?

Does your character's appearance fit our guidelines?, i.e., not too big or with unrealistic features (ex: a mane... ;))?

Did you borrow too heavily from an existing character in another work of fiction?

Does your character's appearance fit our guidelines?, i.e., not too big or with unrealistic features (ex: a mane... ;))?

Just to play devil's advocate and to clarify going forward, haven't other characters been described as having a "mane" of sorts? Wintersbane comes to mind (not calling you out, Mochi, just an example!). Where is the line between a realistic mane and a non-realistic mane? Elijah's "mane" is described as like a lion's mane — could that not just be flowery descriptive language?

Does your character's appearance fit our guidelines?, i.e., not too big or with unrealistic features (ex: a mane... ;))?

Just to play devil's advocate and to clarify going forward, haven't other characters been described as having a "mane" of sorts? Wintersbane comes to mind (not calling you out, Mochi, just an example!). Where is the line between a realistic mane and a non-realistic mane? Elijah's "mane" is described as like a lion's mane — could that not just be flowery descriptive language?

We deny all characters, full-stop, that have manes or references of it in their design or appearance.

There is no such thing as a realistic mane, as wolves don't have manes and there shouldn't be references of it in profiles. It's as unrealistic as listing a wolf with thumbs or retractable claws in my perspective.

If you are seeing it in profiles of approved characters, that means they were edited in after approval. We can't police every description update that happens post approval; there's hundreds of profile edits a day.

Players should stick to the semi-realistic guidelines and should do their best to report any unrealistic design to CMs.

Regarding "semi"-realism - the "semi" clause is really only flexible in terms of coat-patterns and eye-colors wolves can come in.  It is not meant to flex what is unnaturally occurring to a wolf in terms of conformation or type. So no manes, no thumbs, no hooves, no antlers, no donkey tails.

Did you borrow too heavily from an existing character in another work of fiction?

This was also an issue though not as obvious now with the other changes that were made to the character's profile. Some of the personality section is almost word for word from the fan wiki about the DMC character he was previously named after.

https://devilmaycry.fandom.com/wiki/Dante#Personality

Does your character's appearance fit our guidelines?, i.e., not too big or with unrealistic features (ex: a mane... ;))?

Just to play devil's advocate and to clarify going forward, haven't other characters been described as having a "mane" of sorts? Wintersbane comes to mind (not calling you out, Mochi, just an example!). Where is the line between a realistic mane and a non-realistic mane? Elijah's "mane" is described as like a lion's mane — could that not just be flowery descriptive language?

We deny all characters, full-stop, that have manes or references of it in their design or appearance.

There is no such thing as a realistic mane, as wolves don't have manes and there shouldn't be references of it in profiles. It's as unrealistic as listing a wolf with thumbs or retractable claws in my perspective.

If you are seeing it in profiles of approved characters, that means they were edited in after approval. We can't police every description update that happens post approval; there's hundreds of profile edits a day.

Players should stick to the semi-realistic guidelines and should do their best to report any unrealistic design to CMs.

Regarding "semi"-realism - the "semi" clause is really only flexible in terms of coat-patterns and eye-colors wolves can come in.  It is not meant to flex what is unnaturally occurring to a wolf in terms of conformation or type. So no manes, no thumbs, no hooves, no antlers, no donkey tails.

Thanks for clarifying!

Yes!! Thank you for responding this is all I needed, is to know exactly what was wrong lol. I don’t mind tweaking him!
Yes his personality description was “lemme copy your homework but change some things” but I still used my own words enough to not be considered “copy and pasted” plagiarism. 
The mane detail/description is more like comparing his fire to a lion. Not directly stating he has a mane. I just want an interesting way of sayin that the fur on his neck and chest is a bit longer than the hair on the rest of his body. Of course, again, I don’t mind changing it! ;)
And yes, he’s inspired by Dante via dmc and I was using him as a face claim. Tons of other users have a lot of gifs and pictures of their face claim. Like Cordelia (https://wolf-rpg.com/member.php?action=profile&uid=5518) for example. And just cause he’s white doesn’t mean I’m plagiarizing or completely copying his looks. The white fur and his personality are the only things he has in common and that cause I wanted to use him as face claim.

No drama, I’m down to change whatever is needed tho! ;D

I believe it is fixed! :D also I posted his request again before reading everyone’s very helpful replies and suggestions. Thank you all!

Did you borrow too heavily from an existing character in another work of fiction?

This was also an issue though not as obvious now with the other changes that were made to the character's profile. Some of the personality section is almost word for word from the fan wiki about the DMC character he was previously named after.

https://devilmaycry.fandom.com/wiki/Dante#Personality

The main thing the community wants is original content, which is why cut-and-paste (with or without slight edits) is denied by the CMs.

Yes! I completely understand and agree! :D I accidentally requested for the account to be approved/denied before I changed everything haha my b. But I believe next time it will get accepted! ;)

Did you borrow too heavily from an existing character in another work of fiction?

This was also an issue though not as obvious now with the other changes that were made to the character's profile. Some of the personality section is almost word for word from the fan wiki about the DMC character he was previously named after.

https://devilmaycry.fandom.com/wiki/Dante#Personality

The main thing the community wants is original content, which is why cut-and-paste (with or without slight edits) is denied by the CMs.

(This isn't directed at OP, I just wanted to make a general statement.)

I just wanted to stress what JB said, because it's absolutely true. This is a creative writing community, so we look for exactly that: creativity and originality. Loose inspiration is fine, like the Guidebook indicates; the sparer, the better. And always cite and credit your sources if you do borrow. We don't accept plagiarism in any form, including paraphrasing.