ReBoot

A thing I should say about the reintroduction of the rare characters in general is this: That's exactly ReBoot formula to a T. They did it often enough, such as in the case of Mouse. A character was introduced, tested, and later appeared more frequently before becoming a permanent part of the team. What you're doing here is the same thing. Old characters hardly used are being brought back to become more fleshed out for plot purposes.

Personally, that said, I say just make her Maxine or a relative of Maxine's.

I can't see any image...

I'm not so sure about combining Ether with Maxine, because then there's the issue of 'why did Maxine decide to stop being a Search Engine and become a Codemaster?' (possible answer: she got sick of being stuck in one system thanks to the Guardians, and turned to the only folk that she knew wouldn't just kowtow to them)

Though if she is combined with Maxine, that would explain why she's a good pilot, since she was already used to traversing the Net/Web...

I see the image now, and it looks AWESOME. Especially the insectile legs and wire dreads.

Holy crap, that is some kickass artwork. Fan-bloomin'-tastic. This also fits her description better than the original Maxine-like appearance.

My only concern is that she could potentially step on AndrAIa's toes too much. That is, her personality based on this appearance could be too similar to the bad-ass chick attitude of AndrAIa that I love so much. And the last thing I want to see is AndrAIa taking a back seat to a new character who's similar enough that she gets more screen time. So some effort would need to be made to ensure they're different enough that they don't clash (except possibly as a plot point, although it might be better if, instead, they turn out to be a strong female duo).

Either way, though, this is some of the coolest art I've seen in a while, and an amazing character design. Find a way to do SOMETHING with this. And the USB dreads are awesome, especially if she can use them to interface directly with devices.

Maybe my only critique is that her face is a touchy girlish which doesn't fit her description. So unless that's used to surprise us with her badass nature, it might conflict.

I agree that she can't look as young/girlish as she does here. And I'd tone down the funkiness just a bit... we don't want her to stand out too much or be overly distracting.

I love the character design, but I do not see her as Ether. She looks too sweet and young. This would make for a great design for some other character though.

I really think the artwork is very beautiful! However, as others have said, she might be a little bit much for Reboot; she might stand out too much compared to the other characters (and, as her personality isn't one that seems to be flashy or over-the-top, it would be a little jarring).

But I REALLY love the conept of the wire/usb hair! Perhaps if the design could be toned down a bit, it would reflect Ether's personality a little more. But somehow the awesome hair concept needs to be incorporated into the new design, even if it's a little less stylized or shorter, because the wire/usb hair is definitely my favorite part - it's just so creative!

Find a happy medium between this and your original Ether design and you will have a perfect hit. Agreeing that this looks a bit too girlish, but that the USB dreads? Just. Plain. Awesome.

And definitely don't overshadow AndrAIa. AndrAIa is my favourite.

Like I've said before, seeing fan art is one of my favorite parts of this process. It's amazing how many creative people are out there who are threatening to take my job, lol. If you've got them send them in and we'll post them up.
I didn't even notice the usb cables until someone mentioned them, she'd be incredibly helpful to have around the office.

Smartens (Lead Designer Rainmaker Animation)

I really like this version of Ether, amazing work. A few suggestions: maybe make her a little less girlish and a little more reserved and Amazon warrior-like. Definitely keep the hair, but cut out a few of the other wires floating around. Ether seems a bit too arrogant and cold to be Maxine (at least from what I remember of Maxine, it's been a while). You will have to be careful to distinguish her from AndrAIa, but I can definitely see Ether as the fire to AndrAIa's water (not in the constantly battling each other sense, just attitude wise)