Zorua and Zoroark, sizing, acting, and playing questions

[Angelfms]

So, I finally figured out what pokemon I should use as the starter in the story I'm working on in my blog here, however, going through some research on the page for Zorua, I noticed he's listed as 2'04", but in pictures from the anime he looks tiny, like squeeze his head in the palm of my hand tiny. Is the 2'04" sizing indicative of like nose tip to tail tip, or is it ground to top of head like I imagine?
How big do you guys think Zorua really should be, when given in real world counterparts? The anime gives me the idea of a fluffy chihauha, but the 2'04" makes me think more of a Jack Russel or even a young lab. Next on my list is how I will size out Zoroark, but I have time to do that, haven't even reviewed the page here yet.
Then I've gotta figure out how to really do the character. I have my own plans for him, personality wise, but I'm curious to see what you guys have seen before, I haven't seen the anime episodes he shows up in, and I plan on trying to watch the movie in the next few days, just for some more research, but also, have you guys seen any fanfics that use him? Is there a stereotypical style that he's written in that maybe I should avoid. I'm thinking of checking out threads in the URPG if anybody tried to write a story to catch one, maybe get some persona styles there to get ideas from.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Angel

 

[Lord Kyuubi]

The pokedex entries are rather unclear as to whether in the case of such pokemon, 'height' would actually refer to their length. I suggested the question here a while back and the general opinion seemed to be that it would always be their height, so for zorua, from paw upwards. The only real way to tell for sure though would be to get up Pokedex 3D Pro and project a life-sized image of a particular pokemon, and then measure it. I never did get around to doing that.

With regards the pokedex sizes in general, it's commonly accepted they're more of an approximate measurement than an accurate guideline. So if you want your zorua to be small, I don't see any problem with that. If you want some sort of size comparison, I imagine the best you can get is an actual fox, since that's literally what zorua is and certainly seems to be very similar to in size, though zorua has a strangely short tail.

Zoroark is, according to the pokedex, 5'3", putting them on average only a little shorter than humans. The odd thing about them is that the pokedex will also have you believe they're very heavy. As in seriously, ludicrously heavy, despite visibly being very thin, which does present some interesting biological questions.

As for how to portray them, I'm really not sure - I don't read enough fanfiction to tell you if there's any cliches to avoid. But you say you have a good idea for the character, and as long as it's done well, that's what really matters. Us strange lot in the chat thread recently nearly unanimously dismissed the idea of cliches on that basis, so I don't think it's much to worry about.

And on one last note, a great thing about zorua and zoroark is how creative it's possible to be with their illusion powers. So if you're still concerned about originality, this is a great area in which you can get it. There's a lot more to do than just disguising as another team member - you could try hiding by disguising as a perfectly normal object; creating strange illusory images to distract opponents or conceal attacks; pretending to be somewhere you're not, and so on. We're really just scratching the surface here - there's so much scope for ways to use this sort of power. The issue is keeping it from being overpowered and breaking the story. But, hey, there're just illusions.

So, yeah, hopefully something in my excessive rambling here is of use to you.

 

[chaos_Leader]

I've seen all the anime media that feature Zorua/Zoroark.

It's not much, but I've been able to observe some general characterizations of the mons.

Zorua tend to be very mischievous and playful with their illusion capabilities. They very often get a kick out of messing with others' heads. Sometimes it gets them into trouble though. It's these incidents that display their dependance on a caretaker figure (particularly young Zorua), either a parent, or their trainer, who's responsibility is to keep Zorua from getting too rowdy, or bailing it out of serious trouble.

Zoroark was only ever shown in its movie, and in one episode of the anime. In both cases, Zoroark displayed considerably more maturity in their illusion capacities than Zorua. There was also a fierce protective streak in both of them, where they did everything in their capabilities to protect and care for those.

These are only limited instances of a limited number of individuals, and are merely examples, not guidelines. What's more important is how the mon acts and reacts with is unique illusion capabilities, how it learns to control it.