@Count:
We're not going to make any traction if the your bar for Oda's design creativity is in minute differences in designs, like being a talking furry animal character whose main and only design difference from everybody else is not being a reindeer. So we are going to have to agree to disagree.
You're consistently bringing Chopper into the conversation as if he disqualifies Carrot. While they're both what someone would consider "animal-like," the distinctions end there. A rabbit and a reindeer don't exactly have anything in common from a physical standpoint. One could argue, though, that their relationship could correlate to Bambi and Thumper in how close they've been this arc (Carrot admiring Chobro and Chopper being proud of his "little sister.")
I gave you five indisputably unique characteristics that only Carrot possesses and you're still trying to compare her to Chopper (and now Brook, Pedro, and other minks)? You're really reaching. It's ok to admit defeat. She has more distinct differences than you considered. Sanji, Usopp, Zoro, and Luffy likely don't even have five distinct physical characteristics if you compare any two of them.
Smiley faces. How do they work? That was obviously tongue-in-cheek. My point was that I pointed how traits that no other SH had. By your logic, if Carrot had pink hair and a limp left ear, she would then be unique enough to be considered a a potential SH. My point with comparing the other SHs is that comparing any two of them from a purely physical standpoint (like you're doing with Chopper and Carrot), you're bound to find things that are similar between them.
I also count not responding to my points and basically typing out "you're wrong for comparing her to other characters" as a counterargument, as if my feedback isn't worth debating and I have to be patronized. I don't mean to act like you're trying to personally insult me, but that reply's still a bit immature.
I've already addresses your points. You almost went out of your way to downplay the ones that I made. The five physical distinctions that I pointed out with Carrot are still true and make here unique amongst all the members of the crew. If you're going to compare her to anyone, you should compare her to the other females in the crew. Bringing in Chopper, Pedro, Brook, and other minks makes your argument seem less genuine given you can find overlapping traits in any character.
Name one physical trait that distinguishes her from Chopper, Sanji, Brook, and the Minks besides insert normal/stereotypical rabbit trait here, blonde hair, and being a girl. I think the only thing you can answer with is having gloves with claws, which other members of her race use too.
Those stereotypical traits you're referring to are still what makes her unique amongst the SH crew. It doesn't matter how many people outside of that group have the same traits. You wouldn't bring up Yonji when talking about Zoro being unique or Viola when talking about Robin. Carrot's the only rabbit mink we've seen. Her connection to the SHs and Pedro isn't a physical trait, but it makes her unique when it comes to any other mink.
Chopper is the only crewmate with fur currently in the crew and Brook's entire body aside from his hair is white. Carrot does not have have a unique trait, she has traits from both of those Straw Hats mixed together. Why would Oda think Carrot stands out as a character mostly white when Brook is mostly white or having fur when Chopper has fur? The difference you are pointing out is very minimal and comes from being derivative.
How many SHs have white fur? How many have pink noses? How many have bushy tails? How many have maroon eyes? How many have ears on the top of their heads? This is my point, you're minimizing the very things that makes her unique. It's factually inaccurate (even disingenuous) to say she's the same as Brook or Chopper based on her physical characteristics, not to mention her personality, and her connection to Pedro, Zou, etc.
Name a single reindeer in real life that has a blue nose. And how many rabbits do you think have pink noses?
Name a real life reindeer with a blue nose? Wut? Let's keep this on OP. It's more interesting than real life.
I do take her physical traits into consideration. Enough consideration to know that she looks similar to Chopper without all of the unique non-reindeer quirks he has. Being talking furry mammals and having similarly shaped noses and the exact same mouths is very similar, and the difference being that they are different species is very uncharacteristic of Oda in how he makes all of the Straw Hats look diverse with all sorts of differing details.
Again, similar by it's very definition does not equal the same. Yes, they both have fur and their noses/mouth look similar, but that's it. They aren't the same species or gender. Yes, they fit into the anthropomorphic category, but lumping them in together is no different that lumping Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, and Luffy into the same generic categories (humanoid males with similar physical traits).
Nami was the first cute girl of her kind and Oda designed and is Robin has a unique nose bridge and irises. Neither Nami nor Robin rip off any of the guys' facial features or have the same hair colors outside of black. Yet somehow this is okay for Carrot to do because her nose is less creative than Chopper's, her she's white like Brook, and she has blonde hair like Sanji but is still a talking rabbit I guess.
Again, Carrot doesn't rip off any guys. Her hair color is similar to Sanji's (just like Robin's is similar to Luffy's), but that's about it. I'm not going to point out the fact that Carrot and Chopper have more dissimilar things in common than similar again.
I knew you would try to pull this semantics trick with emphasizing "physical" design specifically. Nope, I am not playing that game. Attire counts, especially when the male Straw Hats wore their first clothes all the way to Drum/Alabasta. So Oda clearly intended for their clothes to look diverse and iconic, especially Luffy since he almost never changed his clothes pre-timeskip.
I was purposefully pulling that stuff out because then I would say that she uses a gauntlet tends to be in the crow's nest and stuff like that. None of that had anything to do with her physical traits, which is what you emphasize so much in your comparisons between her and Chopper, Brook, Pedro, Sanji, and anyone else I've forgotten.
And did you actually say that Luffy and Usopp are physically the same? …No. Just... No. You can't say that by marking off over half of their unique design traits and pretend they look the same. The worst part here is that a better comparison would be Luffy and Zoro, which still wouldn't work because of the latter's hair, eyes, forehead nuances, and attire. Which have more design quirk differences going on then "they're different species".
Sure. They have more in common with each other than anyone else does with Carrot (again, from a physical perspective). Give Zoro blonde hair and a swirly eyebrow or Sanji green hair and stright eyebrows and see how similar they are with just two changes? If Carrot were brown, I definitely would've thought more about her joining simply because of that, but, as it stands, no one else has white fur.
Also, you forgot about Usopp's poofy lips and how he is the only East Blue Straw Hat to have eyelashes.
True. I'll give you that one. There were better comparisons (Zoro/Sanji) to make.
She is a rabbit girl with blond hair and a claw glove. That's it. That is all she will ever be when the full moon is not showing. Access Timeco literally said a few posts earlier that not even the most diehard Carrot for Straw Hat supporter would claim that her design is as creative as any of the male Grand Line Straw Hats… but you're doing it. Nobody here will agree with your that specific line of though. Nobody here will agree that Luffy looks similar to Usopp.
I never said her overall design couldn't have been better. It definitely could've been, but when you compare her plain design to Nami and Robin, there's no difference when it comes to simplicity for the female characters.
We can continue this debate as much as you like, but I have to be completely honest here. I am not going to take opinions like that seriously if you stand by then. I do not in any way mean to patronize, and I want to respect you as a fellow forumer. But "Luffy looks like Usopp's twin" is borderline delusional.
Honestly, I said I wasn't going to get drawn into another long argument anyway. The point I was making, again, was that pointing out overlapping similarities should not necessarily disqualify anyone. When you try to compare Brook and Jinbe and Franky, there are TONS of differences. You compare the other males and you start to see similar physical traits if you just change one or two things.
Dude, he's an fat oni-faced yakuza boss fishman with a scar and chest tattoo. Arlong and Hody look almost nothing like him. Their teeth aren't the same, their mouths aren't the same, their body shapes aren't the same, their noses aren't the same, their hairstyle's not the same, their skin colors aren't the same, their clothes aren't the same, their legs are not the same, and their facial hair is not the same. I understand the criticism about Jinbe's personality being a bit on the bland side, he's as unique as they come design-wise. Arlong and Hody especially are basically "take muscly men and give them sharp teeth and shark fins, and maybe a pointy nose".
True, but we've seen other fishmen that were just as unique, though. Arlong, Jinbe, and Hody were all unique in their designs. You line them all up, and Jinbe does stick out a bit more, but not by much. Heck, even Zeo and Hyouzou probably look more unique.
We are never agreeing on this. And looking different from the girls does not mean she should not look different from the guys. You can look different from the guys without looking as unique as they are. All it takes is not having the same kind of mouth and hair color.
This wasn't a response for me, but she is a tomboy. Perhaps it makes sense that she would have a couple of traits that the male characters have (not exact traits, but similar traits).