The curious case of Rose Dawson, my OC

 This is my OC, Rosalind "Rose" Ursel DeWitt Bukater-Dawson:

(click the image to go to the original picrew!)

Oh wait, you say, that name sounds familiar.
Well yeah, that's basically the name of this character:

So, you continue, why do you consider this already existing character your own??

Let me explain.

First of all, I do acknowledge my own Rose is not entirely original. In fact, she takes heavy inspiration from her source material. I basically just took the original character, put her in our current world (so it's effectively a modern AU - or "Alternate Universe"), and gave her a whole new backstory and personality that better fits the new world she's in.

I don't know how or even why I got personally invested in the original character in the first place, maybe it could just be chalked up to finding a "comfort character". 
But whatever the case, little Maddy saw the 1997 film "Titanic" for the first time in theaters back in 2012 (I remember that because 2012 marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, they re-released the original movie in like, 3D or something idk).
At that moment, I was hooked.

perhaps because it also kick-started my crush on leonardo dicaprio who's hotter than the sun itself

I had a friend at the time (who I'm still friends with to this day) and I introduced them to this film and its

✨ beautiful one true pairing that are totally star-crossed couple goals~ ✨

And because we were really into the cutesy romantic couples in Disney and My Little Pony, what better thing to do than live-action role-play as Rose and her partner, Jack, themselves?
What started as imagined scenarios where Jack didn't die like he did in the movie (oop, spoiler) turned into fully-fledged character and even story revamps, many of which contradicted the original time period when the film took place (the Edwardian Era? I mean, the exact year - 1912 - is certain). Both Jack and Rose were turned into a prince and princess, were given their own magical powers, and dressed/behaved in ways they couldn't theoretically get away with given the time period (unless they were, like, time travelers from the future, or something).

As my friend and I grew up, we gradually realized that our versions of Jack and Rose were utterly overpowered and made no sense at all. We even "deep-dived" into the original film occasionally, and while we continue to hold it in pretty high regard, there were some parts of the plot that we kind of-sort of didn't really like (I won't go too in depth into what the exact gripes were in this post out of personal preference).
Today, our AU Jack and Rose are still together, happily married and the parents of two children. We find it a lot easier now to tweak their personalities and storylines now that they live in our current age.
Again, leave it to the two being comfort characters as the reason why we're somehow so attached to these characters. I don't know if there's a strong Titanic "fandom" out there, but this film, to this this day, is probably the only piece of media we have been so emotionally invested in. By this point, we have revamped Jack and Rose so much that they could potentially just stand on their own as actual original characters different from their source material.

If anything in this post still makes little sense to you, then, I don't know, just chalk this up as a "AU where Titanic characters live in the modern age with a little bit of magic involved", I guess. Honestly, this post is just here as some kind of explanation that I'll be able to link to people out there who are wondering whether my own characters are related to those of the same name from the original movie.
If, even after all of this, you still have an issue with this AU, then just block me by this point, I don't know. Or I'll block you. Cringe culture is toxic. I'm not planning to monetize or do anything serious with this AU, anyway - it's all just for fun and it isn't hurting anyone. 💕

The Kidcore aesthetic, feat. Lissie Issie Girl ☆

 You know that feeling when you want to be a kid again?

I get that feeling a lot.

By no means am I an "age regressor"; I don't want to be an adult who acts like a kid, I literally just want to go back in time and be a kid again. Fortunately, I have an original character I can kind of live out that nostalgic feeling with, and that's Elisabeth "Lissie" Dawson.

picrew credit

Kidcore happens to be one of the aesthetics that define me, and I imagine that would apply to Lissie as well. It's themed around nostalgia, bright colors, and, well, cute, childlike themes. Stuff I liked when I was younger. And guess what, Lissie is just that, a cute little girl who likes colorful, fun, adorable things!

a collage featuring some of Lissie's favorite things!

As the collage above shows, Lissie likes a variety of things...

- Stickers! She just loves collecting them and placing them almost everywhere in her bedroom. She's even gotten her parents and brother involved in her sticker obsession and let her place them on some of their things. She says she just wants to "pretty up the world".

- Fun places! She especially loves going to playgrounds/parks and zoos with her family. She can spend hours upon hours just playing on the monkey bars/swings/slides and watching the animals in their enclosures.

- Sweets! She loves anything from ice cream to cupcakes to candies. Her favorite things to eat are anything her father bakes. Bonus points if they're decorated with lots of colorful, cute mini candies and frosting.

- Art! She's inherited her father's artistic talent and likes to use her crayons, markers, and paints (yes, stickers, too) to create lots of masterpieces. Many of her drawings are displayed around her home.

- Toys! She's not a fan of fashion dolls like Barbie, Bratz, etc. as you may think, but rather plush/stuffed toys and figurines (like Littlest Pet Shops). She also likes collecting playsets and making up stories as she moves them around their little worlds. Sometimes, she'll let her brother join in, too.

- Games/TV shows! Her internet/TV time is limited as it should be for many young kids, but she likes any media that involves cute/girly characters, like My Little Pony and Monster High. She'll watch the occasional educational animal show, too. 
Fun fact, the image that is shown on the "E" is (I believe) from Neopets, and I could see Lissie getting into that game when she's a bit older. In fact, she'll play any of those "adopt a virtual pet and take care of it" games.

a collage showing examples of clothing/accessories Lissie might wear!

What would Lissie wear?

She'll wear anything as long as it's colorful and cute, honestly. When I was first developing her back in the day, she was OBSESSED with the color pink, but now, I think her favorite colors would be anything in a pastel shade (and pink just happens to be her favorite pastel). She's okay with bold/vibrant colors, though she'd probably use them a bit more sparingly when coordinating an outfit. Eye-bleeding colors are a no-no, she says.

She thinks rainbows are fun and will of course use her stickers (and even markers) to further personalize some of her clothing pieces. She LOVES charms and probably has a fairly large set of bracelets and necklaces (and later earrings when she's older). She likes to have patterns on her clothes - bonus points if there's a cute graphic of an animal somewhere on them.

As for hairstyles, she doesn't like anything complicated - simple braids/pigtails/ponytails will do, and she's perfectly fine with letting her curly hair down with no style at all. She'll accessorize with little pins/clips, headbands, and bows, and probably share them with her brother as well because she's discovered that he's taken a liking to them as well (to her surprise).