forgottentales_ooc | Workshop #4: September 2019

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-workshop

Workshop #4: September 2019

Workshop #4: September 2019—

§ instructions.

Welcome to Forgotten Tales storybook character essence workshop! Here players can come together and discuss what storybook characters they are considering for their character's essence, their new potential abilities, and even ask for help if you can't think of anything on your own.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

Workshop participation is required for Registration as this basically takes the place of the traditional application form, as well as posting to the Test Drive. You don't have to post together at the same time (you can do one first and then the other), but they are needed eventually.
Participation in the Workshop does not guarantee a spot on either Claims or Registration, but you will need it to keep a Claim so there's no harm in trying early. Feel free to look over previous Workshops.
Make sure to check the Character Roster and Essence List to see if your choices are not already taken.
The character and essence don't necessarily have to perfectly match, and all characters will inherit characteristics and themes from that particular storybook character. You are free to be creative and take elements from related works and variations (like Disney), but try to keep it central to the original version. Refer to the Character section of the Game Info as a refresher on how essences and their abilities work.
Storybook characters can be from any work of literary fiction such as fairy tales, folklore, fables, nursery rhymes, classics, plays, mythos, legends, etc. They can be well-known or obscure, and origins must pre-date the 1950s.
Because the game currently doesn't allow duplicate essences, list your top preference and any others you're considering, but also be open for other suggestions. And if you see someone else list one you are considering, list it, anyway! Anyone could change their mind. Just don't be salty or badger anyone about their choice, otherwise it's an automatic boot out the door. The goal is to try to not only match the best essence to the character, but also one that people can have fun with.
Although you can only register one character, you can workshop multiple in case you are having difficulties in deciding who to pick.
Registration will open October 1. Claims will open September 24.

If you have any further questions about this or anything in general, comment to the Game Info page.

§ form.

If you're ready, just fill out the following form and discuss away! One character per comment.

Player: Player ID w/ contact
Character: Character looking to bring in
Canon: (and canon point)
Age: (of the character)
Bio Blurb: Instead of a full written history, please link a wiki page AND provide a 1-2 paragraph summary of the character's backstory. If no wiki page is available, that's okay; you're free to link a write-up if you have one or feel like making one. The summary is more of an "at a glance" to help those not familiar to get a basic idea of who the character is and what they were doing in their canon. If it helps, pretend you're writing a blurb for a CR Meme. What key important things about your character's history would you want to point out to others?

Personality Blurb: You are free to link to anything pre-written such as an app for another game, but for our purposes you must include a 1-2 paragraph blurb highlighting the main elements of the character's personality. If it helps, pick out up to 5 vices and 5 virtues that you'd associate with them and just toss in a few sentences about it. Again, you can pretend you're writing a blurb for a CR Meme.

Preferred Essence(s): Have one or a couple already in mind? List them here! Include reasons why you are thinking about that particular essence and how you would work it with the character.
Looking For: Open to other ideas? What kind of storybook character would you be interested in? Things you're not interested in should also be mentioned.

Appearance: Any notable features both for the character in general and any appearance or style changes you may be considering to match their essence.

Abilities: Whether you have an essence in mind or not, talk about what kind of abilities you're hoping to recreate or gain while in game. Any weapons that are going to be regained or explored? What abilities or weapons are lost? Skills?

Quirks: Are you interested in gaining any quirks of the storybook character? Or do you already have one already in mind? Need suggestions from your list? A reminder that the current limit is one.

Goal: What do you hope to do while in game? This could range from just having fun with the setting to exploring new aspects of the character because of the setting.
Extra: Anything else you'd like to ask or talk about. Can be about the essences or just general ideas of what you'd like to hopefully play out.
Questions: Any other questions you might have.

Post away and go buzz about everyone else!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Zoki! I'm excited at the chance to throw another duck at Seto, ahaha.

For the grump's essence, I personally think someone associated with competition or even obsession could work. I'd have to poke around for specific ideas, but how does that sound?

I've got a couple suggestions.

One, and this is only a half-suggestion at best anyway because you said you'd prefer not to lean on greed, but what about Ebeneezer Scrooge? You could focus more on the lonely, hated, "I pushed everybody away and now I have to repent" aspect of things, and different powers could be related to the Christmas Spirits.

For a more serious suggestion, perhaps Sherlock Holmes? It fits with the "Best of the Best (and damn well going to stay that way, no matter who gets in my way)" kinda thing, as well as the colder personality and a... unique.. sense of Style. Could go wild with having sorts of chemical powers, being a sharpshooter, and of course the investigative side of things would be top notch.

Thank you! I opted to go with comedy, but I want to preserve this in case it can help someone else.

I knooooow. :D

Thank you!

Another great suggestion, thank you! Man, it would work great...saving for later, maybe. :D

Player: Foxie |

throneofroses
Character: Woody Pride
Canon: After he meets Forky in 4th Movie
Age: about 50-ish
Bio Blurb: (optional: Wiki.)

Personality Blurb:
Usually known to be the leader with his fellow toy friends, Woody was always Andy’s favorite. He cared very much for the boy and knew his purpose in life was to always be there for Andy. Woody will go through just about anything to be with his owner. Knowing that his duty is to be a toy for his “favorite deputy”. He cares for his friends and will do his best not to let them down.

However, this cowboy does have some flaws, there is a reason why his last name is Pride. Woody is easily tempered if things don’t go the way he wants. If he has a plan, he wants everyone to stick to it no matter what and can be very stubborn on changing his mind. It’s also shown that Woody became very jealous, when Buzz became Andy’s new favorite in the beginning. He even tried to impel Buzz behind Andy’s Desk, but accidentally knocked him out the window by mistake. Woody will become frustrated at the littlest of things and will stomp off until he can think of something to do about the situation at hand.

Although when Woody’s emotions can be over bearing even for him at times. When he becomes sad, usually he would try and keep it to himself. Not wanting others to worry about him, or see him as being weak. Woody really can care and love for others. He’s willing do daring and dangerous rescues just to make sure his friends are all right. If you become friends with Woody, he is definitely someone you can count on and will try to be there for you.

Preferred Essence(s): The Nightingale or Velveteen Rabbit

Looking For: A character that fit's Woody own struggle and his personality honestly.

Appearance:
An old-fashioned human pull-string doll that just happens to be a cowboy with all types of sayings from his voice box such as, “You’re My Favorite Deputy.” And “Someone’s Poisoned the Water Hole!” Woody is supposed to be a toy based on his puppet from the 1950’s series “Woody’s Round Up”. A show that is supposed to be similar to the old show “Howdy Doody” that have ventriloquist's dummies with a cowboy theme.

Woody’s face is made of paint, but when he comes to life he can change expressions and talk. Dressed just like an actual cowboy, Woody has a cowhide-color dyed vest and stitched poly-vinyl hat. His gun holster on his belt is empty though. Painted on pale skin, brown hair, and auburn eyes, Woody does resemble a tall skinny cowboy. The height for this toy is 16 inches tall and has cotton on the inside.

Abilities:
Woody is a toy, there for he can’t do much. He those have his leadership skills though and could lead his friends in a sheer fire plan. There are times where Woody can even come up with a good elaborate scheme. He is wise enough to come up with ideas and could trick others so he can get away with whatever he needs to do. Once Woody has a plan set, he will stick to it until the job is done.

As a toy, Woody has a stealth mode as hiding out as just a toy. He typically will do this whenever humans are around, because toys have a code to not actually move or speak in front of people. After all, the point of a toy is to be loved by a child and be brought to life by their imagination.

Also Kingdom Hearts canon helped us out on some abilities he could do there that could help in combat! I certainly love the idea of him using a rope to lasso in baddies and cowboy like style fighting without a gun ofcourse!

Quirks:
I definitely think I want to keep the canon point where he still has his pullstring, because that can definitely cause some moments when he doesn't want his voice box talking.

Goal: Becoming more open on how he really feels.

Extra: LOOK, HE'S WOODY, HOWDY HOWDY HOWDY~!

Questions:
None at the moment! I might have some later, but we'll see!

Join the grumpy bunny crew.

Grumpy bunniesssssss

Foxiiiieeee I'm so glad you're here~! Okay so, I have a few ideas based on what you've provided. When characters come to the game, any powers that aren't physically natural or mental skills are nerfed, and since you're playing him from straight Toy Story canon (or are you not?), he wouldn't have access to any Kingdom Hearts abilities anyway. So Woody is still a good leader and he can still use a lasso if he can get his hands on a rope, but not anything else. (Actually, I might have to ask the other mods if "toy mode" can be kept, could be interesting either way.)

HOWEVER, that's where the Essence comes in: it fuses with the character to provide new abilities that they can use to fight Erasers and rebuild the story, plus or minus mild to moderate changes to their physical appearance, and one or two small changes to their personality (that's what the Quirk section refers to).

So with all that explanation out of the way, here are some ideas I have for what Woody might receive and be able to do based on which Essence you choose for him. I also thought of a couple other potential Essences you might like~ :)

Nightingale:
Appearance: Nightingale wings, gray and brown clothes (possibly Chinese-style)
Abilities: Flight, shapeshifting into a nightingale (plus or minus only being able to fly in that form), singing magic
Potential Quirks: Increased humility; singing/humming/whistling more frequently

Velveteen Rabbit:
Appearance: Rabbit ears, possibly turning completely plush made of velveteen and sawdust, or just velveteen clothes.
Abilities: Shapeshifting into a rabbit with accompanying powers
Potential Quirks: More proud/sensitive about his appearance; fear of fire

Tin Soldier:
Appearance: Dressed in soldier clothing, plus or minus missing a leg
Abilities: Since you said no guns I'll nix offering a musket, but what about instead of that, he's able to turn into metal for a VERY short time ala Colossus, so he'd have very short-term enhanced durability and possibly even super strength. He could also have a saber instead of a musket for his weapon, plus or minus knowing how to use it already.
Potential Quirks: Fear of fire; more stoic and disciplined

Nutcracker:
Appearance: Congrats, Woody, you’re a nutcracker now
Abilities: Jaw strength, saber (plus or minus the knowledge and skill to use it), being able to grow full-sized at will (possibly be able to “share” the ability to shrink down with other Aspects through as his powers grow stronger through campaign rewards), nut grenades (different nut types might have different powers)
Potential Quirks: ~~Fear of fire for that hat trick /BOOT!~~ Okay but really… Hoffman’s Nutcracker was a proud, hot-tempered soldier, and he had a bit of a drill sergeant streak to him too, so something along those lines might work if you want

Hopefully that helps, let me know if you have any more questions.

IDK if you played KH3, LWP, so I'm gonna pop in here to clarify.

Woody's "abilities" in KH3 basically amount to using his pull-string as a lasso, something he could easily come up on his own outside of KH3.

Edited 2020-02-01 21:58 (UTC)

Also Woody could history wise align the story with KH anyway with or without powers. Since according to the creators "The story in the Toy Story world will take place after Toy Story 2, and will follow its canon timeline rather than taking place in a parallel storyline." Source.
But that's up the mods to be allowed, I know I was able to so it in the Paixao game with Aladdin so he'd know who Sora is. ^^

He can, but i'm just mentioning that his abilities are "Shoulder tackle" and "Lasso attack", not really something that's exclusive to the KH universe. ^^

Unlike what happened to Buzz.

Ooooo! I love these essences suggestions, darn it they all could work! XD

I will say I really love the Nutcracker suggestion too, and I gotta say I gotta laugh cause Woody does actually have a Nutcracker version of him thanks to marketing haha!

Indeed, or something like this this one! But yeah, thought you might like that one particularly, can't wait to see which one you pick!

Player: Kas |

twofouroneten
Character: Isaac "Felix" Gates
Canon: Red vs. Blue | end of season 14 episode 11 (aka end of the bounty hunter episodes)
Age: unknown; appears to be mid- to late-twenties
Bio Blurb: (Wiki.)

In the ~space future~, there was a big war between humans and a group of genocidal aliens. It lasted about 30 years, during which humanity spent most of the time getting thoroughly stomped. Felix was one of the soldiers who fought in the war — and despite the stakes, he loved it. He lived not just for the fight, but for the kill. Together with his partner, Locus, he survived one of the worst battles in humanity's history. Then, in a series of extremely lucky circumstances, humanity managed to win. The war was over.

Having found his purpose in battle, Felix was unable to return to civilian life. Neither was Locus. They ended up banding together with another trained killer, Siris, as a group of bounty hunters. Their success was middling; they were all better at killing than anything else. But they stuck with it for a time, with Felix always looking for ways to get more money, legally or otherwise.

And that's his current canon point! (Felix eventually goes on to become a mercenary who attempts to commit genocide for a fat paycheck, but he's not there yet. He's still a bounty hunter who is attempting to Do Good.)

Personality Blurb:

Felix is a charmer and a skilled actor. He's able to quickly read a room, immerse himself in social situations, and win the trust of perfect strangers. He uses humor and an easygoing attitude to disarm people's suspicions, then uses their expectations against them. He is manipulative and cunning. He plays an excellent friend, giving reassurance where it's needed and crushing any doubt that doesn't serve his purposes. He's also a showman, capable of distracting a crowd with his right hand while his left poisons the well. Felix rarely finds himself in a situation that he can't worm his way out of … unless someone uses his weaknesses against him.

Felix's greatest weakness is his ego. He thinks that he is amazing and infallible; if there's a mistake, it's on someone else, and he's quick to assign blame. This leads him to underestimate people and talk too much, to the point that he monologues about how great he is compared to his enemies. He is a sadist who enjoys taunting and tormenting people, considering it great fun. Felix's belief that he is superior and has everything under control is what leads to his greatest mistakes — and when those mistakes happen, he's left stunned, silent, and unable to devise a means of escape.

Preferred Essence(s): The Fox from Æsop's fable "The Fox and the Cat" (read here, or here, or here). This essence works well because Felix is arrogant and wily, and he freezes when his plans fall apart. His ego and cleverness get in the way of his common sense (don't brag about your awesomely intricate plan, dumbass!), and he relies heavily on ~schemes~.
Looking For: I basically flailed and went 'YAAAAAAS' when I found that fable, but I'm open to other ideas! Interested in stories where people pay the price for their ego, as well as stories where someone's partner/right-hand turns against them. (Bonus points if they involve animals, particularly foxes!)

Appearance: I mean, he's called "rat-faced," but uh. Other than that, nothing super notable canon-wise! Orange is a big theme for him. If he gets a fox-related essence, he'll probably look more vulpine — give him a big fluffy tail (that he'll hate), some fox ears, and maybe orange fox eyes.

Abilities: BOY HOWDY this is the bit I'd love help with!! My basic ideas right now are:

BAG OF TRICKS! Like a literal bag full of tricks that he can whip out. The chance of the trick being helpful or not is random (I'd flip a coin or roll dice OOC). It would essentially function as a Bag o' Distractions for when things hit the fan. Possibly involves explosives since those can be either useful or disastrous, and Felix has an affinity for them in canon.
FOX FORM! What it says on the tin. Lets him turn into a fox and (try to) scamper away.
SHIELD! This mirrors a piece of equipment he gets in canon. It's a hardlight shield a bit larger than his body that can protect him from bullets, give other characters a boost (literally; they can stand on it), and be used to smack enemies around. (This shield is something Felix relies on to the point that he eschews common sense, tying into the Fox and the Cat fable.)
SWORD! Again, this mirrors a piece of equipment he gets in canon. It's a fancy energy sword that Felix is very proud of. Predictably, he's also very stupid with it, as seen when he slices the platform on which he's standing because what is common sense! He has a cool sword, and he's gonna use it!! (This may work better as an eventual regain, but! Putting it here so people can weigh in.)

Quirks: Slight aversion to dogs.

Goal: Mostly just have fun! Felix's canon point is one where he's not yet completely irredeemable; he's still trying to do good, even if he's pretty bad at it. I'm eager to see how he'll work in a setting where the goal is to restore things, not destroy them.
Extra: His TDM comment is here! Aaaand this is basically Felix in a nutshell:

Questions: Nothing I can think of!

Edited 2020-02-17 04:50 (UTC)

Player: Nick |

Nicknacked
Character: John Shepard
Canon: Post ME 3
Age: 32 (technically???)
Bio Blurb: (optional: Wiki.)

Shepard was an orphan who grew up on the streets of Earth and fell into a life of gangs and crime at an early age. As soon as he turned 18 he enlisted with the Alliance Military which led him to a voluntary mission on the planet Akuze, where his entire team save for himself was wiped out by a thrasher maw, making Shepard the sole survivor. His decisions are often criticized as being brutal, even heartless, such as leaving the Council to die, but Shepard maintains that he does whatever he has to do for the survival of the galaxy. At the final battle with the Reapers Shepard chooses the Destroy route, which eliminates all synthetic life in the galaxy, including the Reapers.

Personality Blurb:

Shepard's life is so steeped in a militaristic lifestyle that he finds it very difficult to shift into "civilian" mode. It's not that he doesn't want to kick back every now and then, it's just that when he does he never fully relaxes. He's always watching for something, paying extra attention even when he really doesn't need to, he'll talk about sports or a card game as if he's discussing war/battle strategy. He often expresses frustration when put in a situation where threatening, busting in guns blazing, being an aggressive brute, or sending in a team isn't a viable solution.

He's not afraid to make hard choices. If they give him internal conflict you'll rarely see it. He'll leave someone behind if he sees that continuing to carry them is a liability, he'll sacrifice a group if saving them is not an option, he'll very rarely deviate from the original goal even to save the lives of others. He does so with seemingly no regret because he has no time to question if what he did was right or wrong. In his mind he can't afford to. However, Shepard is a man with a lot of internal conflict that he often squashes down the best he can. He has plenty of remorse and cares a great deal, but because he has the notion that he has to be strong all the time, he scarcely shows it. That's also not to say he won't carry the injured, or try to save the vulnerable. He absolutely will, but he won't kid himself into thinking it's possible when it's not.

Preferred Essence(s): SO I have nothing super specific but ideas. I was thinking something along the lines of some kind of great cosmic being (Cthulhu, Azathoth, Shoggoth, etc). I was thinking something along these lines works for him because the enemies Shepard faces are very horrifying on a cosmic level. They claim to be beyond mortal comprehension and serve a purpose greater than their pesky need for survival, and Shepard's life is nothing if not intertwined with his enemies. That, and Shepard's enemies find him beyond their comprehension. They don't understand how he, a mortal human of rudimentary flesh and bone, could possibly undermine them at every turn. Shepard is the cosmic horror to the cosmic horrors. Not to mention people canonically often wonder about him. How does he do it, can he be trusted, is he actually working for the enemy? He's an unknown even to his own people. Hell, even people who have been closest to him have questioned his motivations and purpose. If he's even the same man he's always been.

Not to mention, these beings typically are focused on the one task and one task only. They rest for centuries to awaken for said task and will stop at nothing to achieve their otherworldly goals. Shepard is very much the same way. Even before the galaxy was put in his hands he was driven. As an orphan he stopped at nothing to survive on the streets of Earth, and on Akuze he did the same to survive the thresher maw attack. With the Reaper threat Shepard continued to make countless sacrifices, even to his own sanity, just to defeat the Reapers.

Looking For: So I'm massively open to suggestions. Like my above blurb says a story where the essence is a cosmic horror, something that causes doubt and fear among people through its uncertainty of what it is or where it's from. Or something that very typically attacks someone on a psychological level rather than a physical one.

Appearance:

So the thing about Shepard is when he was brought back to life a lot of his body was replaced with cybernetics, because you don't just fix a body after it's been shot through space and into orbit. Because of this, his general renegade attitude, (and game mechanics), the scar tissue in his face doesn't heal properly and leaves glowing red like lava through the cracks of a rock. Other than that he looks very typical Military Man; the haircut, his demeanor, his strong features, etc.

If he ends up with some crazy Lovecraftian essence I'm heavily considering giving him more of a otherwordly-dead-looking (especially since he has died before) appearance. I suppose I'll play around with this more when I have something more concrete.

Abilities:

Shepard is an extraordinary solider who honestly should not be alive, but he's great at not dying. Aside from the usual skills that comes from being a space solider like weapon proficiency, battle strategy, his incredible willpower, he's also a biotic. Which means in canon he can control dark energy. To avoid getting into a whole spiel about Mass Effect Science I'll just say it's like using energy to lift, crush, throw, hit shit.

But that's canon shit! Ideas for the game I was thinking something similar to his biotics would work, because dark energy is everywhere and influences all matter in the galaxy.

Also, and this entirely depends on the essence obviously, the man's gotta have retractable tentacles. Again, once I have a more concrete idea of an essence this will probably have a little more to it, haha..

Quirks: Given the theme I'm going with here, maybe he constantly has to fight the urge to believe he's something far greater than he is, which will probably lead to multiple existential crises.

Goal: I'll be honest, I usually just wing it, so I'm here to try shit out and have a good time. I'm taking him from end-series so his purpose would have been fulfilled, except now he's still going and still trying to keep his galaxy safe I guess! I'm mostly excited to play around with him having to Save Things in a setting he's so not familiar with.

Extra:

Questions: nada!

Player: Usami |

usamichan13
Character: Wilt
Canon: from the end of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
Age: mid-30sish?
Bio Blurb: Wiki

Personality Blurb: Literally one of the best friends a kid could have, Wilt is a kind and helpful creation who loves to play basketball and has a probably with apologizing too much.

Preferred Essence(s): I'm heavily considering The Nutcracker from "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"
Looking For: Something about a creation made by a human or something that comes to life? Or someone/something broken but still keeping on

Appearance: Wilt is red, ten feet tall, and very lean. He has long thin legs and one long arm with suction cup fingers. His other arm is just a stub after an incident that also injured his left eye, which is smaller and doesn't function properly like his right eye does. He also has two scars, one on each cheek.

Abilities: With the Nutcracker thing, I'm thinking he'd have the ability to temporarily bring toys to life/make them real. Like, if the toys look like they could be alive (like dolls or stuffed toys), then he can make them come to life, while toys that look like objects (like vehicles or even little weapons) could become real. Effects would only be temporary though, and he can't change the size of the toys themselves (so a toy gun from a soldier, for example, will always be that size, despite it being able to work). He also doesn't make the toys himself, he can only bring them to life/make them real.

I'm also considering something with sweets, referencing the Land of Sweets from the ballet. Maybe some sweets can be used as weapons, or some sweets can be used to heal people or something. These sweets he'd be able to create with a kind of magic, I guess.

Quirks: As the Nutcracker, he'll have an aversion to rodents.

Goal: I'm really just curious to see how Wilt will fit into a world like this.
Extra:

FUNNY STORY, I was wrong about Pearl's Essence having been the Steadfast Tin Soldier...

It was actually the Nutcracker Prince, so uh. There's my input!

Ahahaha, that's great!

Like I have a total of three suggestions at the moment but hey, it's a start for the journey of Cosmic Horror!

Maybe not the first picks, but staying within the sort of cut off years-
Hastur Could be a fun one to play with! A big name on there yeah, but there is a good deal to explore ability and appearance wise. A whole lot of yellow.

Nyarlathotep is also another fun one, for very similar reasons as Hastur. Some big shapeshifting to go on there.

Last but not least, there's also Yog Sothoth.

I'd say more but thinky-thoughts aren't easily there at hand for me as I type this, and I tossed Kas's way the idea of playing with Shep's scars to be like void-like tears in flesh because I love me some bits of horror like that they tossed your way. I think my brain died around there.

You know, I was gonna say about Pearl being the former Nutcracker Prince! XD

But anyway YES, I love this power set for Wilt! (Really need to brainstorm ideas for the candies. Maybe a bubblegum shield for one? ~~Plus or minus a baseball card or two /BOOT~~)

Ooh, a bubblegum shield might be interesting. Or a bubblegum trap that gets people stuck together. Maybe a lollipop shield instead? And candy drop bombs?

(~~Pfffft~~)

Yes yes, definitely! Also, maybe a wooden saber and knowledge of how to use it. Being able to change size himself might be useful too!

Oooh yeah! I meant to give him sword-fighting skills, but I forgot that one. And changing his size could be interesting. He could be a normal height for a change *shot*

Yeeees~! OR if you wanna go a comedy route, he could start out with only two modes: his usual tall self, or doll sized. XD

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 12 of 13

Workshop #4: September 2019

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Woody Pride | Toy Story

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Isaac "Felix" Gates | Red vs. Blue

John Shepard | Mass Effect

Wilt | Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

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