Just as important to the process of making Onion Tou an iconic cartoon as licensing deals is creating the story behind the characters: the personality quirks, relationships and adventures (and misadventures) that make the character and his friends come alive. “Ethan’s illustrations are actually very thoughtful. It’s not like he just draws these simple, cute doodles,” says Chang, who works closely with Liu on comic panels that are published every few days on Onion Club, the blog Liu started at the end of 2005 and that has since received well over 10 million hits.
The characters in Onion Tou’s universe now include Meiya (蔥妹, also known as Onion Mei), who was originally meant to be his girlfriend but is now his sidekick and best friend, and a leather-jacketed rapscallion by the name of Greaser (古惑蔥, AKA Delinquent Scallion). Onion Tou’s fans know that he has a sweet tooth and is obsessed with cake, so gluttonous that he is not above venturing out in the thick of a typhoon for a snack, has a mischievous streak, is the frequent target of tantrums thrown by the mercurial Meiya and has been known to sneak a cigarette on the sly. His character flaws play just as big a hand in making Onion Tou adorable as his baby-like proportions.
“If someone picks a fight with Onion Tou, his first instinct is to run away. That’s what he’s good at, actually. But he feels like he is responsible for his friends, so he will do his best to resolve the situation, even if all he wants to do is panic and take off. He is not like characters who are constantly brave and go-getters, and that is something that makes people feel like he is someone that they can relate to,” says Chang.
“Onion Tou, he has all these different interests and he is carefree,” says Liu, “Meiya, on the other hand, is more diligent and hard-working than Onion Tou. My personality has these two parts, and I put them all into my characters. Even Greaser represents a part of me.”
Perhaps the key to the popularity of Onion Tou — and other characters that started as simple online avatars but have garnered a base of devoted followers — is that, like Liu, his fans also see something of themselves in the character. “When you use an emoticon to represent yourself, you don’t have to say anything,” says Liu, “You can show how you are feeling without saying one thing at all.”
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