#im rambling honestly

[vaguewrites]

Tell me more about that anti hero squad

I'm so glad you asked

So they're part of a comic I'm working on where the basic premise is a group of villains are introduced to a rehabilitation program to help them process their traumas and get the help they need, both to help them on their path to redemption and to boost up the number of heroes in the world because there's very few now. I'm still working on the details and worldbuilding, but that's the basic premise. It's a character study about heavily traumatized people finding community and love within each other, building a found family and helping to save a world they once saw as hopeless and shitty. It also takes place over the course of several years, I'm thinking 5, so their ages listed are what they start as.

The starting main characters are;

Raze (Kaito Shimoda):

Raze is 21, Japanese, and is the leader of the group, mainly because he recognises everyone's strengths and weaknesses and gets them to work together as a team. He was the son of a yakuza gang member who had the "brilliant" idea of trying to overthrow the boss so he could get power for himself. Only his plan was discovered and both he and his family were made an example of. Raze only survived because earlier that evening he had a massive fight with his parents over the fact that they didn't like the crowd he was hanging out with or that his test scores were extremely poor, so he snuck out and didn't come back until early the next morning. When he saw police cars and ambulances outside their house. And then he saw what the yakuza had done to his little kid sister Haruhi, who he'd shoved aside when she tried to comfort him after the fight and told her to get lost.

It's her little phone charms that he keeps tied around the handle of his sword so he can never forget her or the state the yakuza left her in, because he wants to do worse to them. He was 15 at the time of the murders and spent the next few years honing his skills as a martial artist and swordsman (both skills he was already developing beforehand he just didn't take them as seriously at the time) so he could hunt down each and every last member who hurt his family.

He's primarily motivated by shame, guilt and self loathing, he wants to make up for the fact that he wasn't there to protect his family, that his last words to them were "I hate you" and that he'd told his little sister that he didn't care about her, for her to get lost and stop bothering him. His character arc revolves around learning to let go of the guilt and to allow himself to heal and move on. He's been punishing himself for years by isolating himself and wallowing in self pity and thats not healthy.

Mama Croc (Bella Roth):

I'm still working on her design.

She's the black 37 year old former wrestling champion from New Orleans, who fell dangerously ill to a strange disease no one could identify or find a cure for. She spent all her money on doctors and when she became too sick to fight anymore, her company dropped her. So she was forced to seek experimental treatment which led to her horrific mutations as the crocodile woman.

She's the rock keeping everyone else together, able to keep a cool, calm head even in the midst of chaos. She's used to being regarded as a dumb bulk of muscle, but she's actually got a razor sharp wit. After she had to give up her own daughter to foster care when she became too sick to properly take care of her, she develops a mother/daughter bond with Plague Witch and shows her compassion, empathy and love. She and Raze also used to work together from time to time and he was the first criminal who didn't treat her like dumb muscle so she's fond of him too and she uses pet names for everyone. If she calls you doll, babe or gorgeous, you know you're in her good graces. Her character arc focuses on her learning to love herself again and reuniting with her long lost daughter, and even finding true love in the one place she never expected it.

Mainly the one superhero who never gave up on her and who always believed she was incredible and deserved better than to just be some cowardly villain's bodyguard.

The Fool (Frank Grey)

The Fool is of Romani/Irish heritage but was born in America and he's 19. His family owned their own circus but when they refused to pay protection money to a mob boss, their circus was burned to the ground and The Fool was the only survivor of the massacre. He was thrown into foster care and bounced around between families where he suffered terrible abuse. I won't go into detail here but it was bad and left him with a distorted view on love and relationships, to the point where when he ended up in an incredibly abusive relationship with a girl who exploited his trauma to keep him in line, who physically and mentally abused him and made him dependant on her, even if it meant sticking with the clown gimmick he hated because of the memories it dragged up (and she insisted they keep it because it was "cute".) His character arc focuses on him breaking the bonds of abuse, learning what genuine love, compassion and empathy is like and with the support of his friends he's finally able to break up with his toxic girlfriend and start on the path to recovery. He even ditches the clown gimmicks over time but keeps the Fool because his girlfriend used it as a dig to mock him but he's reclaimed it and made a mockery of her instead. He primarily uses explosives and a hammer when he fights.

He and Raze have similar backstories but whereas Raze was more seeking to atone for not being there to save his family, the Fool is angry and wants to make the mob boss bleed for what he did. They're both revenge stories but different sides to it, if that makes sense, and because of their shared trauma they grow closer and help each other cope with the nightmares and the triggers, and over time they fall in love but its a slow, slow burn. Because the Fool has trauma from men and they have to love each other as friends first before they can fall in love with each other.

Plague Witch (Eva Kirkland):

Plague Witch is the 16 year old Native American with an alien parasite living inside her that attached itself to her when she was only a little girl. After her shape-shifting powers were discovered she was abducted from her home and experimented on for years to the point she suffers with amnesia and can't remember a time where she wasn't stuck in a cell and tortured every day.

She's the most powerful member of the group with her shape-shifting powers allowing her to morph her arms into swords or massive, deadly claws. The biggest drawback though is that she's still only 16 and her powers require concentration to manifest, and when she loses that concentration the form breaks down, or when she becomes moody or loses control of her temper, her form fluctuates and loses its efficiency. So that's why she's kept with Mama Croc, who teaches her patience and how to keep a cool head even in tense situations. She also develops a brother/sister bond with Raze because she reminds him of his sister Haruhi.

Her character arc is about her finding a family again and developing from a social outcast with severe anger issues and anxiety, to a level headed and outgoing young lady who winds up becoming the next leader after Raze decides to pass the mantle onto her.

This was very long I'm very sorry but I'm so glad you asked because I love talking about these guys :)

[musashi]

i want more nuance to be entered into the discussion of the green girl sorority and how differently cynthia plays elphaba in comparison to those who came before her because while a lot of people are rightfully like "why was elphaba not black from the beginning" and celebrating that she is now being played by a black woman, i think we need to be careful in just writing off all the elphabas of the past as Random White Girls when the role was championed (and often followed/succeeded) by a jewish woman

the pop culture archetype of the Wicked Witch has deep roots in antisemitism stretching faaaar far back. there is a level of reclamation happening in casting idina menzel, a jewish woman, to play the Misunderstood and Maligned young girl who is branded as exactly that. and stage!Elphaba is also written and acted with jewish stereotypes in mind--she is loud, aggressive, no-nonsense, blunt. she is quick to advocate for herself and shut down the discrimination she faces. all of this is very intentional! her personality is abrasive from years of abuse, and that makes propagandizing her easy. this is literally the thesis statement of the musical--it's not about aptitude, it's the way you're viewed.

cynthia's performance of elphaba is fucking INSPIRED despite going in a completely different direction. she's much more reserved, analytical, one of her key character traits is how well she can read people (see her calling out Galinda as insecure/putting on airs in their first scene together, clocking that Fiyero is using his party guy persona as a shield for his own depression) elphaba's attempts to blend in and make herself smaller all fail simply because of her existence, if not that then because she feels empathy so strongly she often struggles to hold back from acting, protecting.

personality wise, though, cynthia's elphaba is very quiet and closed-off, not at all the bullet-to-the-face that she is in the stage show, and... she still gets propagandized and maligned. though this seems to contradict the other interpretation, it tells of the other end of the spectrum of propaganda, one that black women watching (and many, MANY other marginalized folks) are sure to identify with--it does not matter how "nice," how reserved, how small a black woman makes herself. a racist society will still scrutinize her every action for a way to parse ill intent from it, brand her as an angry black woman who is dangerous and wicked, and write off any humanity she has in the process.

these two very different interpretations tell of the lie of assimilation. the fact of the matter is, when you are marginalized, there is no way to sand down your edges enough to make the people oppressing you "accept" you. that is why wicked is a tragedy at its core. whether loud and aggressive or quiet and unimposing, there is nothing elphaba could have done to make the people of Oz see her as anything other than a scapegoat to blame all their problems on.

so while i definitely appreciate that people are excited for black girl era elphaba, i would encourage us all to still show appreciation for what came before--that was not white girl era elphaba. that was jewish girl era elphaba. two houses, both alike in dignity, two stories both worth being told.

[aashiqeddiediaz]

you know what boils my blood.

over the last 2 weeks, i've seen countless patients walk into my urgent care center, symptomatic for so many things, refusing to get tested for covid and flu, citing that they don't want to knowingly bring it to their holiday tables. i had a patient tell me, verbatim, "i don't want to test for covid, because i don't want to be the asshole who brings it on a plane."

i understand that - i understand that holidays are times where people look forward to meeting loved ones that they might only see once a year, or where they get a break from the hectic back and forth of their lives.

but here's the thing - whether they get tested or not, they will bring whatever they have to their holiday tables. it's pure recklessness to know that you're sick, and walk into someone else's house spreading the disease.

today, january 2, i saw 91 patients, many of them who have tested positive for covid and flu. many of these patients are the same ones who didn't want testing 3 days ago, until their events were over, and now, they will have to reach out to everyone they know to let them know that they were positive because they were showing symptoms well before their event.

the next week or two? we're going to see many, many more, all people with symptoms that started around christmas. these are the only two viruses we test for rapidly in our office, but they are potent and can be fatal in many people.

so here's why i wrote this post, and maybe it's a little late, but - if you care about your loved ones, please get tested if you know you're sick. it doesn't have to be at a clinic if you don't want it to, because the over-the-counter tests work just fine too (if you test within 5-7 days of symptom onset). just...please don't try to run from the knowledge that you might have covid, because immunocompromised people, elderly people, people with co-morbidities like asthma, pregnancy, diabetes, etc...many of them may not recover. and they may not be sitting at your holiday table in the future because of it.

[glowsticcc]

my predictions for the new life season teamups

[silverlombaxwitch]

Not done fighting, I don’t feel I’ve lost

Alt under cut

[wintershell]

i want to be a writer. i want to write something so remarkable that it’ll reach into the chest of the reader; my stories will hold their heart gently, coddle it, make it fall in love and beat for the sake of beating. and then they will put it back where it initially belonged and i will watch how it shrinks, lonely, how now there’s a hole on its body the size of my lips that can only ever be filled, truly filled, with the words i whisper, the lies i bring to life, the blood that stains my fingertips in the form of ink.

i want to be a writer.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

Hi!! Your Cherik is so good and gorgeous 🤩🤩 If you don't mind wanna try to draw some Fall of X Cherik please?

thank you so much !!

i have a couple of ideas relating to the fall of x period specifically since theres. A Lot i wanna play with, so i hope this lil thing may be a satisfactory start :]]

and the obligatory bonus:

[1-800-cuupid]

if you ever find yourself wondering why cc has blurry textures or why it overlaps with accessories and other things, this is why

one texture map for EVERYTHING your sim wears :)

[itsybitsybatsyspider]

Despite everything... is it still you?

(more Dark Matter art for y'all. This fic is once again living in my brain rent free. @mysterycyclone)

[cat-clawz]

One last (humorous) TIT prediction for the road lol

[moomoorare]

I really hope the qsmp members get together for another smp or something. Don't need it to be crazy lore wise like the qsmp was, especially bc of the work ethics and business aspect, but just hanging out and doing their own thing? Bantering, solving puzzles? Exchanging knowledge of their countries, folklore, culture food language, ohhh man I really want that back SO BADLY

[anna-scribbles]

they should've been at the club(infertility treatment centers)

[thefairmaidenoffandom]

so, for all the firefighter!yuuji aus that i adore, i never see any ems!megumi, which feels like a crime

[dxncemxcabre]

Oh my god

I just saw a fucking long ass call out post of a ton of ghost fans (artists mostly)

Genuinely how insane do you need to be to hunt through their liked posts and interactions with other people??? Some of them were literally just liking posts by people who had posted c-piiia posts, like what if they just didn’t know that person shipped that???

I am so sick of this absolute witch hunt the fandom has become. For a band thats overarching message being ‘support each other and lift each other up’ yall really dont seem to like to do that?????

[purpleshadow-star]

It's kind of funny (heartbreaking) that there were multiple Ravens who wanted a number, to the point where some tried to manipulate Jean into helping them one way or another, but none of them would have been next in line. No matter what they did, there was always someone ahead of them on the list. Someone who wasn't even on the team. That someone wasn't Neil. Neil was a surprise to everyone, including Riko. That someone was Andrew.

Kevin might have had to beg Riko to go visit Andrew, and Riko might have laughed at Kevin and dismissed Andrew when Andrew turned him down, but make no mistake, if Andrew had accepted and had become a Raven, he would have taken that #4 spot within his first year.

If we're being real, Andrew had more of a chance at becoming part of the perfect Court than any of those Ravens ever had. Even Jean thinks of Andrew as one of them.

The other Ravens never stood a chance.

[generalsdiary]

jiaoqiu actively taking the strongest poison he knows of, for the chance his captor will honor the long tradition of drinking the captured's blood before battle is literally a given sign of him giving up hope. because any single person wouldn't do so if they were hoping to get out, to be saved, rescued, to escape- for him to ACTIVELY DECIDE that he will poison himself is him giving up any chance of getting back alive. and that does things to a person, as much as he was portrayed "alright" in the end, his mental ain't the same like before and no one can convince me otherwise.

he is alone, kidnapped, even let loose to walk around to find information (taunted by it)- unable to seek help, to get a message across, from the literal nightmare fuel foxian parents tell to their kids; and when help does arrive for once the first thing he says is "Moze... run". still protecting others. taking care of moze.

playing this play of lies and trickery, giving away every card in his sleeve for the off chance that his captor may kill him. and he gave up that hope of being saved early on. as early as the green peppers analogy. it is heartbreaking. in his last moments he is grateful that he has bested him, saved feixiao which was his long-term goal and yet he is dying alone, still captured, left in some corner to rot like a fruit gone bad. and then found on the brink of death.

and waking up, alive? well at first I doubt it was a relief for him, because what if he was still with the borisin. what if he wasn't safe. I'm certain moze was beside him but remember he is now blind. he wasn't able to look around and confirm, yeah I'm in this commission and I'm safe. so to go through the literal terror where they treat you less than equal, less than them, fight or flight or freeze for days on end, possible death or worse his friendly companion in every moment and then to actually bring harm upon yourself and on top of it all to thankfully be saved and then to wake up in unfamiliar surroundings with one of your main senses gone. yeah, jiaoqiu isn't the same man he was before this. repercussions he reaps are not light ones.