#but oliver is a ginger (aka red-haired) cat with a blue collar

[inamindfarfaraway]

Were there any specific inspirations behind Mina (and your other Descendants OCs if you want to talk about them?) Any particular face-claims or actors you'd imagine cast as them?

No, I didn’t look at any actors or real people. I don’t think about that with any my OCs, I just picture how they look in my head like a character in a book and try to get that across through description. My process starts with a concept of their personality or backstory or role in canon or dynamics with other characters and I build their appearance from scratch to best suit the character. Face-claims just can’t capture the character as well to me. Picking one out would only be an extra step. I do imagine Mina having somewhat similar facial features to her father, like the strong jawline. It’s not perfect, but you can see the resemblance if you’re looking.

Mina’s concept actually takes a lot of inspiration from Oliver himself. Child has to survive in lonely, miserable circumstances without proper parenting or protection and many threats from their cramped urban environment and other inhabitants of it > child meets the leader of a lovable, sympathetic, underdog criminal gang, befriends them, joins the gang and earns their respect, finding new senses of belonging, pride and agency as they learn better how to make the best of having nothing > child is lifted out of these bad circumstances and taken in by Jenny Foxworth and also forms a close found family bond with her, ultimately choosing to live with her while maintaining their bond with their friends. Yeah. I thought that would be a fitting narrative for a character in a franchise so interested in legacy and history repeating and a nice affirmation that Mina truly is a Foxworth, not a Sykes, so she is following in the footsteps of her family - just not the family that those prejudiced against VKs would have thought. That irony is present in canon characters too: Jay has parallels to Aladdin, Evie to Snow White, Dizzy to Cinderella, Carlos to… a dog. To drive home that they’re good and their parents’ victims, not their parents. And from how she takes care of and plays with Oliver, Jenny would make such a good mother.