#lois lane depending on the version
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dcdreamblog · 7 months ago
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What do Think Of Superhero cults like The Cult Of Superman?
Superheroes have always been religiously...thorny, depending on the kind of religious worldview you're looking at them from.
From Hawkman's tales of pagan reincarnation, to the Spectre's claims of being god's righteous right hand, the arcana of Dr. Fate, even just being confronted with a worldview in which human beings are able to do the impossible. There's lots of reactions to this, a crisis of faith, rejection of the heroes outright as frauds or even agents of evil. Then, of course there's the kind that you mention.
"Worship" of superheroes has taken a lot of forms. Some people have be rebuked by the Catholic church for instance for "praying for superheroes too often", like they were trying to make them into saints if the Holy See is to be believed. The most high profile version is, like you said the Superman Cult
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(Image of a procession put on by the Cult in the wake of Superman's funeral, Daily Planet)
Originally called "The Fellowship" under a troubled young man named Robert Galt in California they raised a lot of hell in their original incarnation, starting an all out gang war with a rival group called The Consortium some of its members even gaining superpowers for a short period under unknown circumstances. They became nationally famous in the wake of Superman's apparent death, treating him as an almost Christ-like figure who died for humanity's sins and would arise from the dead to bring those who believed in him and his "deeds" into a better world as "The Man of Tomorrow". When Superman returned to life indeed less than 6 months later and their "better world" failed to materialize as Superman of course had no interest in dividing the world along ethical lines, any more than he had been before his absence their loudest period ebbed.
They're not GONE, that's for sure. When I lived in Metropolis I saw them in their funny blue robes out on street corners, or saw their literature in waiting rooms. An offshoot of their movement even tried to burn Lois Lane at the STAKE for "rejecting" Superman in favor of Clark Kent. Superman and Batman put a stop to that foolishness very quick, of course. (There are still jackasses who harass Lane and her husband to this day for reasons like this.)
Look, showing all my cards, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in any "higher power" as such. I know that magic exists, that various beings claiming to be connected to gods of various pantheons or even to BE gods themselves also exist. But I don't believe in any of them as some all good creator deity who holds my eternal soul in hostage for my good behavior. I do good because it is good and for no other reasons, and of course I take INSPIRATION in that from the heroes that I've studied but I'm not about to start sacrificing goats about it.
Superman is a man. Not a human man, of that much he has been very honest. But he's a person, blessed by abnormal circumstances with the power to do good and he uses that power to do right by others. To attribute that to divinity would be to undercut the message he has always (ironically) preached, that WE are capable of being better, as we are.
If you ARE religious, you can of course correct me. But the mainstream religious opinion these days seems to be counting our superheroes as blessings. Delivered in the manner that any other blessing is delivered by whatever divine hands you believe in. Maybe you are a Christian who truly believes that those who claim to be angels walk among us once again in the form of The Spectre or Zauriel. Maybe you believe that even if they're not LITERAL angels of the lord, they do good work in his name so what's there to worry about. My advice. Do good in "their name" by letting them set our example, not because you fear some kind of wrath from Superman on high. It seems like it makes him VERY uncomfortable.
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mysticmoondancer · 8 months ago
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🎃 Happy Halloween from the MBAV Crew! 🎃
Thought I'd have them all dress up in a group costume and their theme is of course DC superheroes. More specifically, those who were part of the Justice League! I originally wanted to do the founding (or rather the original) members who started the Justice League, but sadly couldn't, seeing as there was only one female member (Wonder Woman) that was part of the Justice League's creation. And of course, for the MBAV gang there are TWO females. So, it just wouldn't work. So, I just went with the more well known/popular members of the Justice League instead.
🔽 More down below about their costume choice and a better look at them individually, as well. 🔽
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Rory is Flash because he lost to Benny in a game of "rock, paper, scissors" to see who gets to be Batman. After losing to Benny, he wanted to be Green Arrow, but no one trusted him enough to have a fake bow with arrows. Also, Erica really didn't want him to be the Green Arrow too because from what she remembers, the Green Arrow used to date Black Canary (her costume choice), and she didn't want to hear it from Rory or have him annoy her about that little fact all night long, as well. So, she STRONGLY had him choose another DC superhero to be, instead. Like the Green Lantern, but he didn't want to be the Green Lantern because he thinks his superpower is weak and lame due to having to rely on a ring that you have to recharge every now and then (which is stupid in his opinion, despite what Ethan may think). So, the Flash it is! Plus, he's super excited because now he can use his vampire speed to zip around everywhere like the Flash does!
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Benny is Batman because he wanted to be all dark and mysterious. Plus, he thinks Bruce Wayne is awesome because of how rich he is and how he's a known playboy/lady's man to boot. Which is why I chose Benny to be Batman. I think he'd admire Bruce's lifestyle and also just like how Bruce has a bit of dark side to him, so does Benny too, as seen on a few occasions in the series. Oh! And he chose the costume with the fake abs because he wanted abs and thinks it makes him seem even more manly as Batman.
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Ethan is Superman because he wanted to do a couple's costume with Sarah while also still doing the group one. And yes, I know that famously Superman's main romantic interest is technically Lois Lane. But it wouldn't work here if Sarah was going to be Wonder Woman and after some research, I found that in some rare instances there have been comics that had his love interest as Wonder Woman and NOT Lois, instead! Some even declared this rare pairing as the power couple of the DC universe! Anyway, that's why I picked Superman for Ethan. Plus, Ethan kind of has some of the same personality traits that Clark Kent/Superman does, as well. Depending on your version of Clark Kent/Superman that you choose, that is. For me, I was going for the Clark/Superman in the animated series "My Adventures with Superman".
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Sarah is Wonder Woman because Ethan thought it would fit her, and she agreed. Plus, she gets to be a badass Amazonian warrior princess, as well! She also likes what Wonder Woman stands for (like justice and virtue) and can sort of see a bit of herself in her, as well. Like being a compassionate, strong, courageous, and honest person. If not a little bit stubborn, also.
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Erica is Black Canary because she thinks she's badass and cool looking. Not to mention hot-looking, as well. Oh! And is a blonde like her, also! Originally, she was gonna be Wonder Woman but decided to let Sarah be her instead. Mainly because she too thought that Wonder Woman would be a better fit for her bestie rather than herself. Plus, Erica gets to mostly dress up in one of her favorite colors, too. Black. She also thinks that Black Canary has a way better fashion sense in the outfit department than Wonder Woman does when it comes to their superhero costume/look, anyway.
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goddesspharo · 2 months ago
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Thanks for the tag, @halestrom!
Get to know your mutuals tag game - answer and tag 6
Favorite Color: Blue
Last Song: TLC's "Waterfalls," a perennial banger.
Currently Reading: It has been a struggle. I put down Taylor Jenkins Reid's Malibu Rising because it was so intensely annoying - how do you have such a soapy premise and then fail to deliver anything on that front? The set up is never-ending, this thing is clearly a Mick Jagger story with the serial numbers filed off, and I am only going to finish this book so I can read the Carrie Soto one about the messy tennis player trying to make a comeback.
Alas, I stopped reading Malibu Rising to start reading the new Emily Henry, Great Big Beautiful Life, and it is Not Great. The romance in this is like a watered down version whatever the hell she was doing in Book Lovers (I would like to buy Emily Henry a thesaurus so I never have to read about this man's angular face again) except it's a tertiary plot point to some old lady telling her life story, only what I think is supposed to be soapy and scandalous is mostly just...not? At this point, the only compelling thing is whatever old Margaret's relationship is with Jodi and if it involves another secret baby, I'm throwing this book out the window.
Currently Watching: I was watching the WNBA (YEAAAAAH, LIBERTY!!!) and now I'm catching up on S2 of Poker Face even though Natasha Lyonne has broken my heart by shilling for AI.
Currently Craving: Figo gelato.
Coffee or tea: Both? I prefer coffee, but I drink a cup of tea every evening if I'm home.
AND
A fun catch up tag
Last song you sang out loud: Everclear's "I Will Buy You A New Life"
What is your favorite crisp flavor: I don't eat chips as much as I did when I was a kid so it really depends on the day (lately, I've been craving Flamin' Hot Cheetos), but I was so sad when Trader Joe's briefly discontinued their Ghost Pepper potato chips (which totally hits the spot with Pub Cheese) so I'm glad they reversed that.
Last book I opened: London Sperry's Passion Project.
Earbuds, headphones, or nothing?: Apple Airpods Pro.
Last place I went to other than home: Sephora for Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen. Just typing that sentence made me hate myself a little.
A color that looks good on you: Blue.
Last trailer you saw: I saw the Superman trailer a few days ago and loved that it was Lois Lane heavy? Let her be a journalist, I don't care about the rest!
No pressure tagging: @lucyybradford, @at-thestillpoint, @glenpowelljr, @trinityssantos, @kaizsche, and anyone else who wants to do it.
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canonrpfinder · 5 months ago
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✨✨ hey there! 18+ writers only please. i'm looking for someone who'd be willing to write canon female characters! mainly, i'm looking for someone to write / plot or headcanon around some canon characters with, with some of my favorites specified below.
i’ve got more than a few characters i’d looove to write opposite, of course —— these are just a few:
dc
talia al ghul, donna troy, cheshire / jade nguyen, artemis crock (young justice), black canary, zatanna, yara flor, lois lane, huntress / helena bertinelli, carol ferris, jessica cruz, catwoman / selina kyle (comics or zoe kravitz), wonder woman, ravager / rose wilson, starfire / koriand’r, lilith clay, dawn granger (titans tv), mera, punchline, poison ivy, hawkgirl, lady shiva, supergirl, sofia falcone (reevesverse), arrowverse girls (sara lance, laurel lance, thea queen, iris west, dinah drake, mia smoak), etc.
marvel
elektra, emma frost, jean grey, psylocke, rogue, susan storm, kate bishop, felicia hardy, wanda maximoff, carol danvers, mary jane watson, gwen stacy, hope van dyne, claire temple, agatha harkness, gamora, mantis, magik / illyana rasputin, kitty pryde, luna snow, etc
a song of ice and fire (game of thrones / house of the dragon)
cersei lannister, daenerys targaryen, margaery tyrell, melisandre, alicent hightower, rhaenyra targaryen, alys rivers
star wars
rey or leia
video games
ashe or kiriko (overwatch) / tifa, aerith, or jessie (final fantasy 7) / ellie williams (the last of us, part 2) / max caulfield, chloe price, juliet watson (life is strange)
disney
jasmine (aladdin), colette (ratatouille), cinderella, helen parr, tinker bell, kim posible or shego, elsa, alex russo, teddy duncan
arcane
caitlyn kiramman or jinx
anime
lust (fullmetal alchemist) / kagome, kikyo, sango (inuyasha)
other
starlight (the boys) / gwen tennyson (ben 10, alien force version only) / daphne blake (scooby-doo) / heather, gwen, courtney (total drama) / betty cooper (riverdale) / yennefer (the witcher show) / jessica rabbit (who framed roger rabbit?), etc.
these are just a few of the characters i’m looking for tbh, or the main ones at least. there’s quite a lot that i’d love, tbh.
as for who i'd play, i'm fine with most anyone, be it canons or crossovers or whatever. it depends on the pairing or plot, we can talk about it!
i'm fine with most themes and plots, and definitely most pairings. no real limits!
if any of this interests, like this and i‘ll message you! i mainly write through discord
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ceiling-karasu · 10 months ago
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Update for The Rod That Blocks the Lightning and basic first concept for a new OC.
September turned out to be a very busy month, and depending on this weekend I may not be able to upload the new chapter this month.
I was also very distracted, because I was wondering how to draw a deer with a hijab, and then found a Picrew that does in fact allow one to make a hog deer wearing a hijab, so I played around with that for a week so I can study that.
Anyway, someone scattered these tiny frogs around my workplace.
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So this one lives at my workstation now.
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Which is a coincidence, since I was just thinking of the frog reporter from The Continued Battle.
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Well, I actually do need a foreign reporter OC for at least one scene. I also need an investigator from the international law courts like The Hague to ask questions (like the weasels and wolves attacking civilians and the Flower Hill spike pits).
The ostrich and frog did not seem to fit the bill. But a pink frog? This allows for me to make a general first concept from what I did have planned.
So, poison dart frog reporter it is (sah-headcannons guessed it as well)! Of course, it just so happens that poison dart frogs don’t really come in pink outside of a toad and maybe some private breeder’s rare color morph, which might also be fake.
The closest coloration I can get is the Strawberry Poison Dart Frog, specifically a variant from the Red Frog Beach of Isla Bastimentos, Panama, which are a more red color.
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I kind of wanted to name the frog ‘Maria,’ (funny enough someone else suggested the same), which would be some other character’s first introduction to an individual not named after their species and occupation. But the locals of the beach where she is from call the frogs Rana Rojo.
Rana Roja is the perfect name! I was somewhat thinking of Lois Lane for the reporter character. She’s technically just a court reporter, but she does some amateur investigative journalism (maybe kind of like Nancy Drew?) since her coloration and the fact that she is from my AU’s version of The Hague makes people act suspicious, and gets her into troublesome shenanigans that reveal many hidden secrets…
The poison part could be an issue. Maybe she wears special clothing to prevent it from touching anyone. Maybe it’s just numbing and works like sweat unless she is stressed or very excited.
The poison also comes from diet, I think, since captive poison dart frogs don’t have the toxins. So she might be careful with what she eats, while carrying around vials of her own poison for emergencies, which Soor-Hiran would be very interested in obtaining.
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prpfz · 7 months ago
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✨✨ hey there! 18+ writers only please. i'm looking for someone who'd be willing to write canon female characters! mainly, i'm looking for someone to write / plot or headcanon around some canon characters with, with some of my favorites specified below.
i’ve got more than a few characters i’d looove to write opposite, of course —— these are just a few:
dc
talia al ghul, donna troy, cheshire / jade nguyen, artemis crock (young justice), black canary, zatanna, yara flor, lois lane, huntress / helena bertinelli, carol ferris, jessica cruz, catwoman / selina kyle (comics or zoe kravitz), wonder woman, ravager / rose wilson, starfire / koriand’r, lilith clay, dawn granger (titans tv), mera, punchline, poison ivy, hawkgirl, lady shiva, supergirl, sofia falcone (reevesverse), arrowverse girls (sara lance, laurel lance, thea queen, iris west, dinah drake, mia smoak), etc.
marvel
elektra, emma frost, jean grey, psylocke, rogue, susan storm, kate bishop, felicia hardy, wanda maximoff, carol danvers, mary jane watson, gwen stacy, hope van dyne, claire temple, agatha harkness, gamora, etc
a song of ice and fire (game of thrones / house of the dragon)
cersei lannister, daenerys targaryen, margaery tyrell, melisandre, alicent hightower, rhaenyra targaryen, alys rivers
star wars
rey or leia
video games
ashe or kiriko (overwatch) / tifa, aerith, or jessie (final fantasy 7) / ellie williams (the last of us, part 2) / max caulfield, chloe price, juliet watson (life is strange)
disney
jasmine (aladdin), colette (ratatouille), cinderella, helen parr, tinker bell, kim posible or shego, elsa, alex russo, teddy duncan
other
starlight (the boys) / gwen tennyson (ben 10, alien force version only) / daphne blake (scooby-doo) / heather, gwen, courtney (total drama) / betty cooper (riverdale) / yennefer (the witcher show) / jessica rabbit (who framed roger rabbit?), etc.
these are just a few of the characters i’m looking for tbh, or the main ones at least. there’s quite a lot that i’d love, tbh.
as for who i'd play, i'm fine with most anyone, be it canons or crossovers or whatever. it depends on the pairing or plot, we can talk about it!
i'm fine with most themes and plots, and definitely most pairings. no real limits!
if any of this interests, like this and i‘ll message you! i mainly write through discord.
like or dm
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flower1622 · 1 year ago
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Has anyone noticed that many heroes have weird or toxic girlfriends?
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. I used to be a fan of this couple, but then I noticed that sometimes Annabeth can be a little bully to Percy....making fun of his intelligence....like she is superior and he would totally be lost without her. I just wanted to see how she would manage without him in Tartarus. She can be arrogant and bossy. In my opinion, I think she got really interested in Percy because of his powers....you know being the big hero stuff and....she was lonely after losing Luke, Thalia...and many other things that happened to her. Her fatal flaw is pride, so I guess she rarely apologizes for her mistakes and learn from them. I don't blame Percy for having insecurities to express himself because he gets afraid of Annabeth's reaction...and the jealous thing with Rachel....everyone already felt jealous...but treat someone bad just because of it and not even apologize to the person? This is totally creepy....If I had a friend like Annabeth, totally obsessive and possessive of me...I would keep my distance from her. If I'm not mistaken, Annabeth even made Percy ask her to dance...is this serious? Because I don't remember from the book....grateful for that...but still...If a guy doesn't ask you out, don't make him do it. Dance alone...love yourself first... it's better than humilate yourself for a man...and he can do whatever he wants to do...he doesn't have to dance with a girl only because she ordered him to do it...
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Marinette is a sweet person, but sometimes she can be a creppy stalker. She even planned her future with Adrien who didn't even know her that well at the time. She even stole his phone. I see her character a little boring and forced sometimes. I never liked her as Ladybug because she was always bossy and boring...and sometimes even cold to Chat Noir. I don't like how they put the two together...her as someone smart and powerful and him just Chat Noir, the sidekick...the friend...the most important second hero. I think the best episode was Chat Blanc, when he used his power and she was gone. But her other version appeared to save the day...as usual....and I think she can be selfish too, especially to Adrien. Both remind me of Percy and Annabeth...I even stopped watching the series because of Ladybug.
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I'm a big fan of this couple, but still....in all universes, Lois keeps something from her personality...that she is always bossy and arrogant...and sometimes a little boring. But I guess it may be Clark's style because there is another man with the same personality....
Sometimes, Lois Lane can be a little annoying; obsessive and possessive of Superman. I know that she fell for Superman because of his values, but I think deep down she fell for his powers and beauty too...and she treated Clark like she was superior to him....
She looks like the only nice version of Annabeth. Well..depends on the universe too...because she was a villain in one reality...and at least in the new superman and lois series, she fell for Clark first 😊
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I love her so much, but she is a stalker or used to be..I don't know. She always followed Naruto and it was kinda creppy. He didn't like her or notice her existence....and even Naruto called her weird. Well, at least she was the only girl who never liked Sasuke!
In another version or dream (whatever that was)...Hinata even threatens Sakura for going out with Naruto, who wasn't even her boyfriend....
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For me, Iris is a bad version of Lois Lane. She can be annoying, bossy and boring. I don't think that Barry and her have a lot of chemistry. She bothered more the team than helped. Sometimes, she can have her great moments. She even jumped from a building to try to save Barry. She could have died. So, yeah....she can be good. But, still..."Savitar only had one job...only one job" 😅🤣
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rp-partnerfinder · 8 months ago
Note
✨✨ hey there! 18+ writers only please. i'm looking for someone who'd be willing to write canon female characters! mainly, i'm looking for someone to write / plot or headcanon around some canon characters with, with some of my favorites specified below.
i’ve got more than a few characters i’d looove to write opposite, of course —— these are just a few:
dc
talia al ghul, donna troy, cheshire / jade nguyen, artemis crock (young justice), black canary, zatanna, yara flor, lois lane, huntress / helena bertinelli, carol ferris, jessica cruz, selina kyle, wonder woman, ravager / rose wilson, starfire / koriand’r, lilith clay, dawn granger (titans tv), mera, punchline, poison ivy, hawkgirl, lady shiva, supergirl, arrowverse girls (sara lance, laurel lance, thea queen, iris west, dinah drake, mia smoak), etc.
marvel
elektra, emma frost, jean grey, psylocke, rogue, susan storm, kate bishop, felicia hardy, wanda maximoff, carol danvers, mary jane watson, gwen stacy, hope van dyne, claire temple, agatha harkness, gamora, etc
a song of ice and fire (game of thrones / house of the dragon)
cersei lannister, daenerys targaryen, margaery tyrell, melisandre, alicent hightower, rhaenyra targaryen, alys rivers
star wars
rey or leia
video games
ashe or kiriko (overwatch) / tifa, aerith, or jessie (final fantasy 7) / ellie williams (the last of us, part 2)
disney
jasmine, colette (ratatouille), cinderella, helen parr, tinker bell, kim posible or shego, elsa, alex russo, teddy duncan
other
starlight (the boys) / gwen tennyson (ben 10, alien force version only) / daphne blake (scooby-doo) / heather, gwen, courtney (total drama) / betty cooper (riverdale) / yennefer (the witcher show), etc.
these are just a few of the characters i’m looking for tbh, or the main ones at least. there’s quite a lot that i’d love, tbh.
as for who i'd play, i'm fine with most anyone, be it canons or crossovers or whatever. it depends on the pairing or plot, we can talk about it!
i'm fine with most themes and plots, and definitely most pairings. no real limits!
if any of this interests, like this and i‘ll message you! i mainly write through discord.
.
9 notes · View notes
doverpf · 1 month ago
Note
✨✨ hey there! 18+ writers only please. i'm looking for someone who'd be willing to write female characters! mainly, i'm looking for someone to write / plot or headcanon around some characters with, with some of my favorite options specified below.
i’ve got more than a few characters i’d looove to write opposite, of course —— these are just a few:
dc
lois lane, talia al ghul, carol ferris, donna troy, cheshire / jade nguyen, artemis crock (young justice), black canary, zatanna, yara flor, huntress / helena bertinelli, jessica cruz, catwoman / selina kyle (comics or zoe kravitz), wonder woman, ravager / rose wilson, starfire / koriand’r, lilith clay, dawn granger (titans tv), mera, punchline, poison ivy, hawkgirl, lady shiva, supergirl, sofia falcone (reevesverse), arrowverse girls (sara lance, laurel lance, thea queen, iris west, dinah drake, mia smoak), etc.
marvel
elektra, emma frost, jean grey, psylocke, rogue, susan storm, kate bishop, felicia hardy, wanda maximoff, carol danvers, mary jane watson, gwen stacy, hope van dyne, claire temple, agatha harkness, jessica jones, gamora, mantis, magik / illyana rasputin, kitty pryde, luna snow, etc
a song of ice and fire (game of thrones / house of the dragon)
cersei lannister, daenerys targaryen, margaery tyrell, melisandre, alicent hightower, rhaenyra targaryen, alys rivers
star wars
rey or leia
video games
ashe or kiriko (overwatch) / tifa, aerith, or jessie (final fantasy 7) / ellie williams (the last of us, part 2) / max caulfield, chloe price, juliet watson (life is strange)
disney
jasmine (aladdin), colette (ratatouille), cinderella, helen parr, tinker bell, kim posible or shego, elsa, alex russo, teddy duncan
anime
lust (fullmetal alchemist) / kagome, kikyo, sango (inuyasha) / makima (chainsaw man)
other (animation)
gwen tennyson (ben 10, alien force version only) / daphne blake (scooby-doo) / heather, gwen, courtney (total drama) / jessica rabbit (who framed roger rabbit?), etc.
other (misc)
starlight (the boys) / betty cooper (riverdale) / yennefer (the witcher show) / glinda upland (wicked)
fandomless
mainly depends on the fcs / ideas, but up for discussion!
if interested, please like this post or reach out to the user above. ♡
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darkrpfinders · 1 month ago
Note
✨✨ hey there! 18+ writers only please. i'm looking for someone who'd be willing to write female characters! mainly, i'm looking for someone to write / plot or headcanon around some characters with, with some of my favorite options specified below.
i’ve got more than a few characters i’d looove to write opposite, of course —— these are just a few:
dc
lois lane, talia al ghul, carol ferris, donna troy, cheshire / jade nguyen, artemis crock (young justice), black canary, zatanna, yara flor, huntress / helena bertinelli, jessica cruz, catwoman / selina kyle (comics or zoe kravitz), wonder woman, ravager / rose wilson, starfire / koriand’r, lilith clay, dawn granger (titans tv), mera, punchline, poison ivy, hawkgirl, lady shiva, supergirl, sofia falcone (reevesverse), arrowverse girls (sara lance, laurel lance, thea queen, iris west, dinah drake, mia smoak), etc.
marvel
elektra, emma frost, jean grey, psylocke, rogue, susan storm, kate bishop, felicia hardy, wanda maximoff, carol danvers, mary jane watson, gwen stacy, hope van dyne, claire temple, agatha harkness, jessica jones, gamora, mantis, magik / illyana rasputin, kitty pryde, luna snow, etc
a song of ice and fire (game of thrones / house of the dragon)
cersei lannister, daenerys targaryen, margaery tyrell, melisandre, alicent hightower, rhaenyra targaryen, alys rivers
star wars
rey or leia
video games
ashe or kiriko (overwatch) / tifa, aerith, or jessie (final fantasy 7) / ellie williams (the last of us, part 2) / max caulfield, chloe price, juliet watson (life is strange)
disney
jasmine (aladdin), colette (ratatouille), cinderella, helen parr, tinker bell, kim posible or shego, elsa, alex russo, teddy duncan
anime
lust (fullmetal alchemist) / kagome, kikyo, sango (inuyasha) / makima (chainsaw man)
other (animation)
gwen tennyson (ben 10, alien force version only) / daphne blake (scooby-doo) / heather, gwen, courtney (total drama) / jessica rabbit (who framed roger rabbit?), etc.
other (misc)
starlight (the boys) / betty cooper (riverdale) / yennefer (the witcher show) / glinda upland (wicked)
fandomless
mainly depends on the fcs / ideas, but up for discussion!
.
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popculturebuffet · 1 year ago
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Supermay!: President Luthor Review (Comission by WeirdKev27)
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Hello all you happy people and welcome back to SUPERMAY, a month long celebration of all things superman.
Today we spotlight one of the greatest villians of all time. Not even going to undersell it I LOVE Lex Luthor, in large thanks to Clancy Brown's performance as the man the myth the legend in Superman the Animated Series and Justice League. Wether he's a super scientest, a super buisness man or some combo of the three, Lex is a fascinating character.
Lex is a perfect mirror to clark: Clark had two loving wonderful parents, Luthor's were abusive. Clark has incredible power, but uses it to help people, while Luthor has incredible intellgence but uses it to crush others under his heel metaphorically or quite literally depending on the day. Clark is empathetic and belivies in everyone, while Lex belivies in no one but himself. They don't just come into conflict because Luthor is a terrible person.. they come into conflict because it's hard for these two to coexist: Superman wants Luthor held acountable and as a rich white man in america, that's a tall order, and Luthor simply can't STAND that all these people love Superman and not him.
So that lead's us to today's comic, an intresting chapter in Lex's history borne ENTIRELY out of that egocentric spite: In 2000 Lex Luthor ran for president.. and he WON. Most of you are likely aware this happened as it's been adapted a few times, the movie superman/batman: public enemies adapting the end of his presdiency, Justice League Unlimited featuring him doing said campaign (if JUST to piss superman off/further his evil plans), and Smallville has that happen somewhere.
It's an iconic storyline.. that's sadly undercollected. Yeah today's review covers trade released after an even less subtle evil billionare won the presdiency.. and the probelm is Luthor's campaign was less a storyline and more a big status quo change. As such this collection covers a handful of stories, dosen't really feel like an actual storyline, and only covers up till just after Lex is elected.
There IS a decent reason as this trade was likely reconfigured from the original trade released around the time the storyline happened, and the year after this they began reprinting the era these stories come from in "Superman: The City of Tommorow"... which stopped after two volumes. DC.. isn't great at collecting it's own history, though marvel's only a smidge ahead thanks to their Epic Collection line. They have a bad tendency to stop halfway through and this was a casuality.
Still this trade does at least provide a peak into the election of lex luthor, why he ran, who his running mate was, and how Clark took his greatest enemy WINNING. So join me under the cut for all that and more!
Our first of many stories, and pieces of stories, is The Why. And it's easily my faviorite collected here as it's simple yet brilliant. It's a story with no dialouge till the final panel, with muted colors around, that follows a day in the life of Lex Luthor.. and how no matter what he does or where he goes he can't escape superman: He sees him on a news, at newstands, an employee having a superman action figure (who he naturally gestures his assitant to fire), even a tatoo on a woman he was going to flirt with and maybe unsatisfygly do sex with. I mean lex CAN be hot but let's face it: there is no way in hells someone that egocentric is not selfish in bed.
So we get to the final page.. where he sees a headline with superman and gets an idea. A wonderful awful idea
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It's a true masterpiece and while some would say "would luthor REALLY be so petty as to run for president just to spite superman", I say "Early into this post crisis version of the character the man spent billions of dollars and had a woman kidnapped to find out his secret identity and later created a temporary cure to Lois Lane's mother's terminal illness just so she'd date him". Pre-Crisis he was sore superman made him bald and dedicated his life to destroying him. Lex Luthor is a petty bitch and always has been.
This brilliant story was by Greg Rucka, who if you haven't heard of him, you rmissing out. Rucka has done a ton of work at DC with the two standouts to me being his sadly short lived run on Wonder Woman, redefening the character, givnig her her own lex luthor and really just killing it. THen eh did it AGAIN for rebirth. The other is his run on Catwoman, which took Frank Miller's edgelord riffic Year One retcon of Catwoman having been a sex worker.. and recontexualizes it, making Selina's rough background part of her and making her a champion for sex workers and others who simply dont' have one, taking what was meant as stupid fanservice and giving it depth and weight. What i'ms aying is he's really awesome so it's not a shock some of the best stories here are him.
So we then go to part of a story called Adversaries, by JM Demattis, one half of the masterful team behind Justice League International. As Superman is having his morning meditation and thinking "golly gee nothing could ruin this gorgeous day"... Lex Luthor announces he's running for president.
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Now you may be asking "Jake how in the flying fuck is lex luthor running for president. " And while 2000's superman is one of the gaps in my comics knowledge I know enough about the time period to know what's going on here and thus why Lex has a shot, with the various storeis themselves filling in a gap or two.
Okay so a while back, Lex Luthor was dying. This was the famous "Kryptonite gave him cancer" story, which I know thanks to the Justice League cartoon. Like the cartoon he eventually escaped it, but rather than Braniac curing it he found another way out: Cloning.
Yes folks Lex Luthor cloned himself, and then pretended to be his own illgitamte child for a while. I mostly know about THIS because I did read the death of superman, reign of the supermen and return of superman all of which happen while Lex is pretending to be his own son and also romancing supergirl who was a shapeshifted alien blob who trusted him for something at the time rather than a teenage girl, which still dosen't make it less creepy as it's still lex luthor grinding up against a member of superman's family. He's also the reason she didn't intervene in said death, telling her to back off clearly hoping superman would die. Granted he ALWAYS hopes superman will die this time he just happened to be correct.
The clone eventually degraded, Luthor blew up metropolis, and he made a deal with the demon neron for a new body. He later pinned all his crimes on a "failed clone" and thus was scott free for any overt supervillany. So as far as anyone knows Luthor's record is clean.
Helping this are two factors: one is that while Luthor was shady as fuck, like most buisnessmen in the 80's and 90's he didn't go around announcing it or hoping he can get courts to ignore his crimes and put them down to "politics". He kept his hands clean like any shady billionare so superman could stop his nonsense, but couldn't really stop HIM, with superman the animated series keeping with this line of thought.
The other is that any shady stuff left tha tcould be dug up.. was erased. See something very weird I haven't read the storyline for happened right before this: at the dawn of the millnieum, braniac attacked and converted metropolis into a literal city of tommorow, a futurestic city packed with fancy tech, robots and other stuff. Braniac was beat but Luthor barganed with him: His baby daughter for the knowledge of how to work all this. Thus Lex was able to make everything run well and had the popular vote.
Finally we have the climax of the year long Batman epic No Man's Land, a story that like president luthor has been adapted a few times because it's that good an idea. Now what it was was a bit nuts.. after a massive earthquake and a plauge, the goverment, backed by some shady folks hoping to profit off the situation, decided Gotham just.. wasn't part of america anymore.
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Yeah they just.. set up guards so no one got in or out, and it was declared a no man's land, hence the title. Many evacuated but some coudln't and some like Batman, the GCPD and most of Batman's partners stayed behind to try and save the city. It introduced Cassandra Cain Batgirl, and was where Nightwing and Oracle finally hooked up.
The important part to this is towards the end, as the goverment was finally shamed into doing the right thing Luthor stepped up to help rebuild the city. Naturally this being Lex Luthor he can't do a nice thing unless it either benefits him or pisses off superman somehow, and so he tried to steal the city out from under it's citizens, foiled naturally by batman. So while Batman stopped his shit, the public at large just sees this as a huge humanitarian boost and a bane against the incumbent who you know, signed off on no mans land in the first place. Granted any presidency would struggle after electing to abandon a city and let the joker sort it out, but Luthor being the guy who went in and cleaned up the mess only makes it worse.
It's also here I want to stop and point out the obvious parallel: Lex Luthor is a buisnessman, with a reputation for putting his names on things, having heavy ties to one of america's big cities, flaunting his wealth and being pettily vengful at everyone who so much as sneezed at him wrong. As much as I don't want to talk about him, we really can't talk about this arc anymore without talking about Donald Trump.
Luthor getting elected got comparisons to Trump, to the point they threw in the story Luthor the Unauthroized Biography in here despite having happened long before this arc , simply so they could use this cover
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The thing is though while the two have SOME similarities, Luthor's campaign was done long before Trumps.. and thus Luthor presents himself as an actual human being instead of some shouty sack of skin and hair plugs who dosen't understand how anything works. Luthor may be evil.. but part of what makes him an intresting villian is the presentation: Luthor wants to be seen as a good man, to be praised. His reputation and power is everything. Thus luthor packages two evil schemes as him trying to help people, packages everything he does carefully.
Trump DOES have a carefully cultivated brand.. but also has zero filter. He never has. He flat out admitted a few months ago he'll be a dictator on day one.. and day 1001 but he didn't say that part, but he sure is thinking it. Trump is a bafoon who got into office preying on people's need for some sort of economic upturn, pandering to racists and other anti-change bigots, and getting a loyal army of fellow dumbasses to back him and whatever he does, to the point his loyalists held the senate hostage and that he's been able to use them to get away with formenting an insurrection. Would lex luthor storm the captial? yes. Would he do it in a way that couldn't possibly be linked to him? Yes.
Again i'm not saying Lex is a good person: he gave his daughter to an alien robot man. Lex Luthor is a monster. I'm saying that he dosen't really resemble trump.. because he's a FUNCTIONAL monster. Part of why this arc works is that you can see WHY lex can sell america on this as he uses a mostly pristine image. Trump had a combination of luck and racisim. Luthor actually worked at it.
Anyways one of Superman's foes The Adversary, a guy I know nothing about and whose unrelated to the trickster god from marvel far as I know, kidnaps luthor, superman rescues him.. and superman is all too happy to give him a haughty "your welcome" after luthor is a dick about it saying his people could've handled the giant flying man as strong as superman.
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Our next story is another Greg Rucka banger, The Most Suitable person and is another tie to Batman. Lex knows he can't keep his company and since he gave away his only children to use as a puppet king, he instead courts the best woman for the job: Talia, daughter of Batman superfoe Ra's Al Ghul. It's an intresting pull and makes sense: He could have his right hand woman mercy run it.... but he needs her at his side for his evil schemes and it'd still look like he was running it. He needs someone he can trust to run it and not take it from him, but also not make it less evil.
Talia at the time was on the outs from her dad and not really in a mood to accept given the centruies old head of a large terrioist group kinda wants her dead. Lex naturally takes her no.. by having a bunch of mercnaries pretending to be her dad's men. It IS left ambigious if it was really them.. but like Talia I fully think Lex set this up and despite his refusals he WOULD blow up a building and get 17 mercs killed just to get what he wants. She agrees to here him out if only because it's clear he won't take no for an answer... and there's no telling what he'd do for an encore.
Next is the great debate, a fun short story and another likely backup. This time it's from my boy Peter David, writer of X-Factor over at marvel, and Young Justice and Supergirl here at dc among a LOT more. It's a fun three pager where Luthor has a nightmare of a debate.. with two face.
Next is some forward movement with the concept, the american way by Jeph Loeb, who'd not only write superman for the luthor presidency as a whole, but would also write it's end with Public Enemies.
Lois and Clark get an ugly suprise that morning: Luthor's picked his running mate..and it's Clark's childhod friend Pete Ross, a former senator and clear pick to get the vote of midwesteners. And living in the mid west I can tell you this ploy probably woudl've worked.
Clark heads down there to find out what the hell and after LUthor exploits his sudden apperance for press, Clark asks pete what the fuck. Pete explains he's given up on dreaming: he wants to be a winner dammit and Luthor is going to win.
Clark confides in his parents, with Pa not knowing what the hell got into Pete.. I mean he was apparently always a moron but my god. Clark considers talking to his wife Lana, Clark's childhood sweetheart, and Ma tells him he should but that she's suffered enough and he shoudlnt' write a piece against pete.. even though pete did this dumbass thing himself and it's clark's job as a reporter, not to mention pete FLAT OUT ADMITTED he's only doing this because he wants to win.
Lois goes to work where Perry, SHOCKINGLY isn't happy. Also she ignores Jimmy, expect that to be a theme here. At any rate, Perry is pissed, but Lois is more concerned about a ticking time bomb: she agreed to kill any one story luthor asked and is afraid the bill will come due. This.. dosen't come up strangely. I THINK it plays into the arc, but I can't be sure as it's missing here.
Superman decides to deal with his own issues with this whole situation the way he does.. by battling a giant monster in the atlantic. He wins.. but finds a bigger problem, Aquaman, whose still in his angry phase but is ANGRIER than even usual: turns out it's Lexcorp that's been causing creatures like the giant monster thing to go nuts, and he's going to do something about it even as Clark TRIES To get him to calm the hell down. Thankfully this isn't bad character writing as there's a reason for Arthur being mopeier than usaul.
For now Clark swoops into an event for Lex, but before he can talk to Lana, Aquaman shows up with a giant net to kidnap lex luthor
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Superman naturally goes after him only to find THE ARMIES OF ATLANTIS led by former aqualad and current tempest garth, who orders superman to stand down or he'll flood the city
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Garth is the key indicator somethin'gs up: arthur does have a tendency to be a grumpus in this era, him doing this isn't SUPER out of character.. but declaring war and Garth participating in it and activating a giant wave machine? Something's fucked.
Superman may be faster than a speeding bullet.. but he isn't fast enough to stop garth.
Thankfully he gets some help from the boys YOUNG JUSTICE IS HERE! Specifically the comics version, which I love dearly and which is nothing like what got on screen. Nothing against the cartoon, Weisman did a great job, it's just based more on the teen titans with bits of greg's own ideas. Young Justice is more like the teen titans cartoon , which was intended to be a YJ adaptation but they coudln't get the rights to some of the cast.
The lineup for this crossover is the core of the team: Robin (Tim Drake), Superboy (conner king) Impulse, and Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandmark), along with their mentor and advisor and babysitter my boy red Tornado. Clark is.. less than enthused, but takes the help as they hit the streets. Naturally things don't go on too long before robin and cassie get eaten by that big thing from earlier.
This is on purpose though: Tim revs up the super cycle, had cord attached to it and superboy and later superman PULLL PULLL while he revs up, allowing them to pull the thing back into the ocean. Superman sincerly compliments them, which is nice: clark may be mildly frustrated with them.. but he's still superman. He's not a dick and as weird as the plan was, it worked. He quickly saves lois , as he do then goes to rescue Luthor.
This being Luthor though.. he spins it in his favor. He claims he had no idea the braniac tech he was using was turning sea life mad.. including the atlantians, explaning why Arthur done did a war crime, and vows to actually fix it, spinning this pr disaster into a win.
Then he gets another PR win.. the hard way. He gets shot. The culprit is Jenny Hubbard, a minor character I had to look up, a waitress he once offered a million dollars to spend a month with him... then left long before she could accept the offer, it being a cruel prank he does to fuck with people. Naturally the media spins it as her being delusional... it also uses the same shot for an entire page but i'll only show you 4 panels
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Also for some reason they didn't think to not have a shot wher eluthor looks like a preist getting down instead of having just taken a bullet... he smiles in his hotel room. It's as if he planned it.
The next story is another Loeb story, and another backup, tales from the Bizzaro World. Batman shows up and he's understandably nettled: As I mentioned, and learned from this story, the braniac 13 thing wiped Luthor's records. That means there's no dirt to dig up, the planets records also wiped and Batman wants to know if Clark personally has anything.
Clark dosen't.. but is pissed Bruce would even ask, pointing out this isn't the usual try to take down luthor thing: their talking about a political canditate running for office and this isn't something they should be doing.
I see both points: Luthor should be stopped and Batman is right ot question the american people's judgement when they let no man's land happen. But Clark is right: he can't just suddenly DECIDE who can be president or can't. He's not king superman. He put away the pope hat ages ago. He can vote, he can use his power at the planet to TRY and stop this.. but they can't just start deciding who runs america. Even if the people choose wrong they should be allowed to choose. Granted i've now seen how bad the people choosing wrong can go.. but the whole point of elections is to prevent a dictator ship, just like this one and likely others after it given the way the republican party is going. If someone else is sinking canditates ;using their billions and connections and bat skills, that's not freedom and clark is aware of it.
We move on to election night as everyone prepares.. and we get a really nice moment with Clark and Jonn
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A reminder the leauge isn't thrilled about this either. More on that in a minute
In the office Pete White considers two headlines: Luthor Loooses.. or Luthor wins.
We then get Triumph Over Tragedy, a heavily doctored detaling of luthor's past, leaving out that he killed his dad, that the evil clone was him, etc. It's a neat piece that goes over his history and shows just how mnuch he's buried..a nd he buries it again as he asks cat to cut out the piece. This ending is chilling.. especially now as we have full channels like fox news dedicated to telling blatant lies and propping up people like luthor.
We then get the results as Jimmy is assigned to do a story on where they were when they heard about his announcment.. only for him to be interuppted. Perry announces, comparing it to other disasters.. that luthor has won. They have to press on because shit is going to get bad.. but they ahve to. While the Luthor trump comparssions don't really work for the most part.. this part hits as it's the reality most of us faced that day: that someone truly bad won.
Next up is another greg rucka story. Batman shows up , wanting the kryptonite ring. Luthor can have it or the presdency. Luthor says nah he can have both.. and shows just how bad things are now. While he said in the cartoon "you know how much power i'd have to give up to be president" this shows how much he GAINS: every wet works orginzation in the us now responds to him and he threatens batman: come after him again and he can track him and his allies 24/7 and he will. Bruce says he'll be back.. but it's an empty threat. Luthor.. has once again won. It's a great shor tlittle story, showing WHY Batman was so afraid of this and how even Superman's equal... can't lay a finger on him. Luthor.. has won.
We get a jeph loeb short story next: have you heard the news. it's a fun short three pager as Superman goes into an absolute RAGE on saturn's moon. He's.. not happy and luthor can see that. I also would like to take a minute to praise Ed McGuinnes, who did the art on Jeph Loeb's story. He has this nice bombastic cartoony style i REALLY love and it's always a pleasure to see him when he pops up and we'll be seeing him again when we cover public enemies at some point.
Next is the confrontation with Lana. Turns out part of Superman's understandable bafflement is that he kidnapped her like I mentioned.. and she never told pete as she couldn't without compromising clark's identity and admits they have NOTHING on luthor and that maybe pete will make it better and her marriage has to be mor eimportant. In other words.. it's all justifications: while Lana COULD have told Pete what happened and it's on her to not trust her husband enough. Clark would've let her. The truth is she just didn't want to and cries as she hopes he won't be president. Unsuprisingly this marriage did not last.
We get one final piece of election night: Superman storming in.. and admitting defeat
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I love this image as it just convey's both how little clark wants to do this.. and how much he has to. To show america he won't undercut the president even if that president has cameras on saturn just to see if superman has a venting session.
Next up is a snippet of an issue, where Luthor has his big innaugration parade. He even hired an old friend to help celebrate
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Trust. It's interuppted by some protesters from the Suicide Slum, a poorer area of Metropolis that got left behind by the Braniac updgrades to the rest of the city. Luthor dances a little sidestep saying he's not in charge of Lexcorp, he'll look into this, bullshit bullshit.
Clark and Lois go to talk to John Henry Irons, aka Steel aka Lana's next better husband. Then we cut off but we'll be seeing my boy here soon
For now we have my other faviorite story in this collection, a very close second to our first: Help.
Help is set at christmas and follows Clark as he talks with the other members of the Justice League about the shit that just went down, clearly stressed to hell given the people he protets and tries to inspire.. just willingly choose an egomaniac with a shady history to be their new leader. We also get a murder's row of artists for each vingette, written again by Jeph Loeb.
The first is the Martian Manhunter.. and Plastic Man as he was the only member of the expanded league from Morrison's run to stick around because he's awesome. Fun fact; Ben Schwartz has apparently campaigned to play him. James Gunn.. get.. get on that buddy.
Jonn is TRYING to help Clark relax but he can't because he's a boinger. And again a sociopath is in the white house. Clark wonders if he shoudl've done more to stop this.. but Jonn helps put it into perspective: Clark is integrated into this world a bit better than Jonn is, something he envies... especiallys ince what happened made no sense. But he assures clark the second Lex does something illegal, he's there... which also feels like his way of assuring his friend he did the right thing. We also get a sweet moment as plastic man makes him smile. Clark gives the two a gift: rubber bands fo rplastic man, choco's, jonn's faviorite oreo stand in, for .. well guess. It's a fun runner as I love the idea Clark gives his friends each a cheesy gag gift.
Next up is aquaman, by rob liefeld, which is shockingly passable. Clark and Arthur both look pissed off and dead at the same time but at least their spines are in tact. Arthur is actaully on lex's side since he's the first world leader to both promise trade with atlantis and offer commuincation and while Clark admits those are probably lies, Arthur warns they better not be, implying Luthor would be kinda stupid to do anything. Arthur then gets his gift a snowglobe and cracks the closest thing he can to a smile.
Next is a talk with green lantern drawn by Mike Wirnego, who i'm less familiar with but whose art looks sensational and expressive here. Granted anything is expressive after Rob Liefield but still, it's good stuff.
The League's green lantern is Kyle Rayner, imaginative boy and 90's guy. So naturally his stance is Luthor is crooked.. but so was the last guy and so will likely be the next guy. Things really don't change. Kyle still votes though as he has to hope things will be better. It shows Kyles' character off well: he's flip and easy to crack a joke.. but he's an optimsit at heart. His stance here is honestly mine: the system is broken, our vote only pivots thing slightly in elections where a known criminal and tyranical narcsist isn't running.. but it's worth voting just to TRY and make things better. There's no reason not to vote even if sometimes it's the lesser of two evils. Kyle's gift is ring polish, which he cracks up about.
Next up is Wally West, the flash by art motherfucking adams, an artistic legend and a genius at the pen. Truly fantastic stuff as always. Wally is picking up some chcoclates linda wanted, last minute of course since when your the fastest man alive you can do that cliche without coming off like a douche. Also when you have undiagnosed ADHD. Wally's stance is voting early and often, as that's the american way and admits he'd drag luthor out if Clark asked.. but he won't ask that because that's not the american way. The American way is putting your faith in something and hoping it works out. Wally gets tube socks for some reason.
Next is Diana, Wonder Woman and it's by Ian Churchill who i'm less familiar with.. but i'ts not drawn great. Diana also has large fake nails for some reason. It's this weird tendency i've noticed: artists tend to give long painted nails to women even if it didn't fit the character back in the 80's through the 2000's. I don't mind it if It fits and I could see diana doing it for a fancy occasion or fun, but not for a sparring session.
Diana dosen't care about the electoin and while she probably did vote she's more worried Clark is slipping and has already let Luthor win mentally. He hasn't but it's good of her to worry. She does have a valid suggestion that comes off as more in character though: take some time off. Granted i'ts written as "as a woman and as your only friend whose a woman " which just tells you a 2000's man wrote this. He gives her a tiny mjonr, which I again don't get but gets him a hug. Awww.
We end on Batman whose still pissed at Clark, rubbing the whole "letting humans have free will thing' in his face and saying when the time is right we will take down luthor. In other words prime bat dick behavior, not suprising for the era wher Batman was extra dickish at times.
So Clark takes the advice of a friend who didn't want him to interfere with free choice and takes a few days off in kandor with lois, content for now to accep tthe situation
We then get World without Superman by Mark Schultz... and this story is just..
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The IDEA for the story is good: Around christmas time we see Clark depressed that Luthor won. Granted it dosen't jibe well with the previous story: Luthor won, but clark at least tried to take some time away from. I can still allow it though thanks to personal experince. Like with Perry's line before CLark depressedly watching the tv as Luthor makes good, butters up to the league and geninely seems to have america's approval hits harder after the 2016 election. Anyone on the left.. was left dismayed and shocked this actually happened, that this openly racist, sexist, homphobic pile of hair and spray tan won. I can sympathize with Clark having GENUINELY belivied in the people.. and them having let him down. I can buy that Superman, one of the most hopeful and hope inspiring characters in all of fiction.. could be laid low by this.
So the followup, Lori Lee of the time traveling Linear Men who i'd only vaugely heard of before this, shows up because things are going VERY bad thanks to decisions clark makes soon, that he quits being superman and gives up.. and the world goes to hell as a result. This idea.. is brilliant. While the it's a wonderful life riff is common, I like merging it with the future segment of a christmas carol here.
The problem is that they go WAY too far in this distoypian future to the point that it defies logic and sense. A good bad future has to have some sort of logic to it. To use an X-Men example because I got x-men on the brain now and always, Days of Future Past was effective because it was so simple how things went wrong: a mutant killed an anti-mutant senator, that ramped up anti mutant tensions, and things slowly escalated to the regestration act and the sentinel program going public. It took TIME for the world to go to hell in a realistic fashion.
This story does try to do that, it's 15 years later, Lexcorp runs the world. A large part of this is due to Our Worlds at War, a massive crossover and interstellar war that happened next year. During that war a powerful being named impereix decided to unmake reality due to a percieved imperfection in the cosmos and given his drones were incredibly powerful and if defeated detonated like nuclear bombs it took ALL of earth's superheroes as a united front, along with a few villians of course, to fight it back. Luthor proved his presidential chops by directing the conflict. The idea that this war goes badly without supes is a good one.
The problem is it dosen't really make sense with the storyline next year or even objectviely: Luthor apparently spent through a bunch of heroes with costly battle strategies.. but while Clark being gone DOES impact the superhero community severely and his clear replacement, Wonder Woman, was also gone, replaced by her mom, they still have the rest of the league, and if they coudln't inspire hope, there's the justice society of america, who the whole superhero community looks up to and who have vetran clout. Sure Lex could TRY and send them on a suicide run and did send them on a risky mission in the actual war, but the fact of the matter is it'd be a bit hard to both overtalk and cover up the deaths of world war II vetrans. Heroes who as far as I can tell have a unviersally good reputation. It's also overlooking the younger generation like DIck Grayson or Wally West, both of whom have enough collections across the various dc heroes to rally them.. and rally tem against luthor if he went to far.
Even putting that aside.. the second step, putting in laws to fuck with all them, is more plausable.. but the fact their ALL gone but batman and co by this point dosen't make any sense to me. Only one league member wasn't against luthor's election on some level, Arthur, and even his terms were VERY conditional. Luthor would have to do a lot of state sec killing to get the heroes down to a point where they couldn't just overthrow him and while he has the b13 tech, the heroes have geniuses like Oracle, Steel, and Batman on their side to help reverse engineer things. I also don't think bruce would remotely wait to go commando on Luthor and is smart enough. I'm not saying batman's a god : many a weak story has made batman a gary stu by forgetting he's a flawed man.. but he CAN beat lex luthor even with the world against him and wouldn't let Luthor get this far.
With days of future past the X-Men are a bunch of average people, with only charles having any political pull at the time. Batman.. is a billionaire. Wonder Woman and Aquaman both rep whole nations. Kyle and Wally while average joes are both gods. The only reason the justice league didn't say, remove Luthor the second he got elected.. is he was rightfully elected and they respect that. Even Batman, as pissy as he's been, knows better than to do that. But if things got bad enough they would and would let america hopefully pick someone better. Even if they ended up jailed.. they'd expose luthor if it killed them. Maybe i'm just an optimist, maybe the world would beat them all down.. but i've read enough dc comics of all kinds to know these characters.. don't give up and would fight their hardest for a better world even if it killed them. So it feels reductive to say superman being gone instantly means their all fucked. It'd mean they'd be more depressed, might go to darker places without clark, and some MIGHT give up.. but I can't imagine everyone giving up because superman decided.
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And yes folks.. THAT'S what they went with. Superman just GAVE UP ON earth. I could buy Clark giving up on being superman if pushed enough: the world is full of heroes and as seen with the later storyline up up and away, which I hope to cover one day and might save for the next supermay, the dcu.. didn't burn down because he was gone a year after being depowered. He can still do good as Clark Kent. I can't buy Clark being SO fed up he'd leave. Retire maybe, and even then that's hard to buy.. but it's PLAUSABLE. Superman abandning his parents, wife and friends to fend for themselves and NEVER coming back is ludcirious, especially since the imperix war ended up spreading wide enough hat there's no way he wouldn't speed back to help. Darkseid pitched in for fucks sake: you think he'd let Superman sit out a war he had to humble himself to get help for? No. Darkseid is. Darkseid would be PISSED superman gave up and demand he come help or he'll kill his ass. I get the writer probably didn't have all the pieces, but said pieces really hurt htis series longetivity
What also hurts it is the present day part: Lois, Jimy and Perry try one last hail mary to save journalism.. and fail, as Luthor saw it coming a mile away and has his personal hit squad kill them. and some tigers. I don't buy Lois being this dump or thinking cozying up to luthor would remotely work. He took satstifaction in Lois, Jimmy and Perry joining his propoganda.. but he never forgot.
We also get another insult with that.. see some heroes.. sold out to luthor.. and who they choose...
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Yeah normally on this blog I try to be positive. I will point out when a work is bad or not great.. but I try to be constructive. Explain why it is or at least thrown in a joke. I try to avoid nerd raging.. but my GOD does the choice of having Plastic Man, Booster Gold and Huntress honk me off. Part of it is i'm a big fan of the latter two thanks to JLI and Birds of Prey, respectively. So I admit to a little bias. That being said, said bias is from having actually read the characters apperances and not just picked who would make a good edgy shocking luthor justice league out of a hat.
I get WHY each one was picked: Plastic Man comes off a tad shady and entirely unserious, Booster is both not all that serious and was introduced as a willing corprate shill: he had standards but DID it for the fame and to escape his criminal past and once bought an island with justice league money, while Helena often clashed with the bat fam at the time due to her more violent methods and bruce being a tad dickish.
The problem is NONE OF THIS MEANS THEY'D SIGN UP WITH LUTHOR. Plastic Man is loosey goosey.. but he's not so loosey goosey he'd agree to work for luthor to opress people. Booster sold out.. but he both grew past that and already fueded with Luthor in his solo: he knows he can't trust him and if he's going to make money, he'll do it on his own and if things are going THIS bad he'd either go back to fix them.. or just go back entirely to avoid this crap if the's that cynical. He also wouldn't blow up a building full of people under any circumstances that aren't accidental, and even the latter is a bit much for Booster. he may be a fuckup.. but he's not a "murder a bunch of people fuckup" and is a good guy, i'ts just buried under layers of self intrest.
Finally Helena.. has a super strong sense of justice: she DID start her career killing and went after the mob because they murdered her family. She'll do things Batman won't , or at least would at this point in her career.. but I can't remotely buy her selling out to luthor and not trying to put a bolt in his head, even if he is the law. She went outside of the law in the first place, why would she trust it enough to work under lex? This feels like the writer picked three characters he thought might do it and didn't bother to think thorugh how their fans would feel, which happens a LOT and always feels cheap and has only gotten worse since booster and helena got furhter fleshing out in the later 2000's that makes this somehow dumber.
Our last few stories cover his actual swearing in and right after and i'm going to rapid fire them as they aren't BAD stories, but mostly either small one offs clearly designed to set something up later.
The first is the actual innugaration which is a full story.. but I simply don't have much to say about it. It's by the same guy who did the previous dumbassery, but he does a good job here. I'ts innaguration day and Steel and his niece and future steel herself Natsha plan a protest. They even run into some othe rheroes: Pat Duggan, formerly Stripsey sidekick to the star spangled kid.
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His daughter courtney, bitter about having to move when her mom married pat and being a bit of a brat at the time found the equipment and became a costumed hero just to piss him off. Pat used some powered armor he was making to become S.T.R.I.P.E. to keep an eye on her. That's where we are here, with Courtney and Pat having bonded but still not being on the same page a lot of the time. This would soon change as Courntey realized her bio dad was a piece of shit, and accepted pat as her dad, becoming Stargirl and taking up that legacy.
For now though their just at the inagguration because history and all that, but naturally superhero stuff breaks out as Steel's protest was leaked to team luthor. HIs bodyguards mercy and hope attack, but with an assitn from Courtney Steel wins the day.. and asks how they knew. He figures out itw as a setup.. just in time for someone else.
A supervillian attacks, having been created by the same circumstances that John Henry and co were protesting: luthor's devistation of the suicide slum. Naturally superman sweeps in as he planned not to attend, a silent protest but WAS nearbye just in case. He, Steel, Stargirl and Stripsey win of course, and Luthor also wins of course, getting a photo op with superman as "you wouldn't deny your president would you". A masterful dick move sir.
The next one is cleaning up a loose end, courtsey of Karl Kessel, long time superman writer and superboy co-creator and writer.. the connor kent one. Luthor was actually married once to the Contessa, an immortal buisness woman he secretley married who is the mother of his child and once took over his company. Luthor blows her up with missles as you'd expect.
The last two are setups for later... that i'm baffled are in here. The first one I get a little. Cerce, wondy's arch enemy I mentioned (one of them anyway, she has a few contenders) waltzes up planning a partnership but Luthor shoots her down and is naturally a dick abou tit. Some shady man offers her his help and.. that's about it. It's a decent story showing that Luthor's old criminal buddies aren't getting any free rides by this administration, it just baffles me it's in here. You could've used the pages to finish one of the other stories from earlier or put in a story from his adminstration. We also get one setting up his bumbling assitant Mercy is bitter about. That's.. really it. That's how it ends.
So overall this trade.. was a bit better on the second go round. The first act, while pieced together, does tell a cohesive story.. they just felt for osme reason the need to include the innguration and some other stories to pad it out at the end. It would've been better to end at luthor becoming president, maybe at the justice league story dealing with it. We really didn't NEED the terrible future story or the innaguration and tales. The rest tells a good story of how luthor GOT here, how he won, and how Clark feels about it. Throw in the unathorized biography and it would've been enough. Still if you have a few bucks the trade IS worth picking up, and did the best it could with the space it had. IT's an intresting look at an intresting storyline and has some real gems: like I said "The Why" and "Help" are really great stories and worth the price of the trade alone. Thanks for reading
Next time: We get super serial as we look into "The Clan of the Firey Cross"
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toon-rp-finder · 8 months ago
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⭐️ hey there! 18+ writers only please — i'm 25 and i'm looking for adult writers only. mainly seeking mxf pairings.
i'm looking for someone who'd be willing to write fandom female characters! mainly, i'm looking for someone to write / plot or headcanon around some of the canons i'll list below. there's a few other favs, but the ones are here are the main ones i'd love!
as for who i'd play, i'm fine with most anyone, be it canons or ocs or crossovers. it depends on the pairing or plot, we can talk about it!
i'm fine with most themes and plots as well, and definitely most pairings. no real limits!
anyway —here are the main animated characters i'd love to write opposite:
scooby-doo
daphne blake
ben 10 (alien force and older versions only!)
gwen tennyson, julie yamamoto, charmcaster, ester
disney
kim possible or shego, jasmine (aladdin), colette (ratatouille), jane porter (tarzan), cinderella, helen parr, tinker bell, wendy daring
final fantasy 7
tifa lockhart, aerith gainsborough, jessie rasberry
young justice
artemis crock, cheshire, black canary, zatanna
dc animated universe
talia al ghul, lois lane, batgirl, huntress
overwatch
kiriko, ashe
total drama
heather, courtney, gwen
avatar
azula, suki, asami
stardew valley
abigail, emily, leah, penny
red dead redemption
sadie, abigail, mary-beth
misc
lara croft, ellie williams (last of us)
these are just a few of the characters i’m looking for tbh, or the main ones at least. there’s quite a lot that i’d love —— feel free to message and we can discuss it all!
if any of this interests, like this and i‘ll message you! i mainly write through discord.
😉👍
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canonrpfinder · 7 months ago
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✨✨ hey there! 18+ writers only please. i'm looking for someone who'd be willing to write canon female characters! mainly, i'm looking for someone to write / plot or headcanon around some canon characters with, with some of my favorites specified below.
i’ve got more than a few characters i’d looove to write opposite, of course —— these are just a few:
dc
talia al ghul, donna troy, cheshire / jade nguyen, artemis crock (young justice), black canary, zatanna, yara flor, lois lane, huntress / helena bertinelli, carol ferris, jessica cruz, catwoman / selina kyle (comics or zoe kravitz), wonder woman, ravager / rose wilson, starfire / koriand’r, lilith clay, dawn granger (titans tv), mera, punchline, poison ivy, hawkgirl, lady shiva, supergirl, sofia falcone (reevesverse), arrowverse girls (sara lance, laurel lance, thea queen, iris west, dinah drake, mia smoak), etc.
marvel
elektra, emma frost, jean grey, psylocke, rogue, susan storm, kate bishop, felicia hardy, wanda maximoff, carol danvers, mary jane watson, gwen stacy, hope van dyne, claire temple, agatha harkness, gamora, etc
a song of ice and fire (game of thrones / house of the dragon)
cersei lannister, daenerys targaryen, margaery tyrell, melisandre, alicent hightower, rhaenyra targaryen, alys rivers
star wars
rey or leia
video games
ashe or kiriko (overwatch) / tifa, aerith, or jessie (final fantasy 7) / ellie williams (the last of us, part 2) / max caulfield, chloe price, juliet watson (life is strange)
disney
jasmine (aladdin), colette (ratatouille), cinderella, helen parr, tinker bell, kim posible or shego, elsa, alex russo, teddy duncan
other
starlight (the boys) / gwen tennyson (ben 10, alien force version only) / daphne blake (scooby-doo) / heather, gwen, courtney (total drama) / betty cooper (riverdale) / yennefer (the witcher show) / jessica rabbit (who framed roger rabbit?), etc.
these are just a few of the characters i’m looking for tbh, or the main ones at least. there’s quite a lot that i’d love, tbh.
as for who i'd play, i'm fine with most anyone, be it canons or crossovers or whatever. it depends on the pairing or plot, we can talk about it!
i'm fine with most themes and plots, and definitely most pairings. no real limits!
if any of this interests, like this and i‘ll message you! i mainly write through discord.
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sailormoonandme · 2 years ago
Text
Mamoru is NOT useless in the Anime Part Tri: Power & Worth
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Last time we compared Anime and Manga Mamoru's power levels in order to dissect the idea that anime Mamoru, in being less powerful than Usagi is unworthy of being her romantic partner.
However, there was a lot more I wanted to unpack from this particular idea the 'Mamoru is useless' brigade are prone to pushing. Specifically on the very notion of linking power to worthiness.
Power Creep
This is one of my shorter points but, its seems rather insane to suggest that Mamoru needs to be of a minimal power level to be worthy of Usagi.
Usagi in both versions is at least functionally the most powerful entity in the known universe. Even if we go arc by arc, she is almost always the most powerful person on the good guys team. The time period before she obtained the Silver Crystal was only time when the gap in power between herself and the other Senshi was in any way close, and even then it depended on who you were talking about. Mercury was clearly weaker than Usagi, her attack was a glorified smokescreen. Was she unworthy of Usagi's friendship? Were Makoto and Rei the MOST worthy of Usagi's friendship because they were the most powerful Senshi?
Did they all become progressively less worthy of her time and affection as Usagi steadily grew ever more powerful across the series? In Crystal Tokyo, when Usagi could transform the barren frozen Earth into a glittering utopia, did she have 0 friends because she was now just THAT powerful?
Was Star Serious Laser just so powerful that it meant Seiya ranked highest of all for Usagi's affections? After all, I do not see anyone arguing that Seiya was not powerful enough to be worthy of Usagi's love...almost like there is a double standard in play...
And how demeaning of Neo-Queen Serenity, who was so powerful she could terraform a lifeless planet Earth into a glittering utopia, to allow the now incalculably weaker King Endymion to have sex with her and thereby conceive Chibi-Usa.
Or...does this work by you simply have to be of a minimal power level and then you can be worthy of Usagi no matter how powerful she gets?
Please enlighten me fellow Moonies?
Power DOES NOT = Worthiness
Finally...isnt it just plain old reductive to equate power with worthiness?
Sailor moon is a super hero at the end of the day, so let's look at examples from other superhero fiction. In fact, lets look at the most famous example within the genre.
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Superman is by far and away the most famous (though not necesarilly popular) of all superheroes across the globe. Superman can fly, has super streangth, super speed, enhanced durability, heat vision, x-ray vision and sometimes can freeze stuff with his breath. And whilst the exact degree of all of those abilities has varied (originally he was stronger than ten men, later he could pull multiple planets at the same time) he has always been mindbogglingly more powerful than even the most elite of human athletes.
And who has he frequently been paired up with from the past 85 years?
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Oh, that's right. A human woman, Lois Lane. She might be extraordinary in her own way, but she isn't going to be bench-pressing a tank anytime soon.
Ah, but there are those who reject the most famous superhero couple in pop culture for that very reason, arguing that Superman should instead be with someone who is powerful in their own right like he is. Someone like, say, Wonder Woman?
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The problem here being that...well...Wonder Woman is almost always weaker than Superman. By a WIDE margin. At the end of the day, she is incredibly strong but her strength has limits whilst Superman's are in fact dependant upon circumstances. If he absorbes enough yellow sunlight he is functionally limitless in how powerful he can become. So...is Wonder Woman unworthy of Superman too?
Regardless, let's instead turn our attentions to something more comparable to Sailor Moon.
In Dragon Ball Z the Goku and Vegeta and Gohan can annihilate whole Solar Systems but Mary human women, falling for them because of their strong, wilful and aggressive personalities.
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In Yu Yu Hakusho, written by Naoko Takeuchi's husband, the main character is a demonic prince basically and falls for a normal human.
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How about all the boxers, MMA fighters, wrestlers and action movie stars who marry people who are not in those kinds of professions, people who are physically weaker than them?
All of them unworthy too?
Power DOES NOT = Worthiness, regardless of gender
Ah, but these are all where the man is more powerful. But...if we argue that the situation is different in the reverse...isn't that just a classic (say it with me folks) double standard?
Are we to seriously entertain the rather backwards argument that a man is not worthy of a woman's affection if they are weaker than her?
If so let's look at some other examples.
She Hulk has dated normal humans Wyatt Wingfoot and John Jameson.
Carol Danvers has the power of a star and has fallen in love with War Machinw, who is a man with high tech armour nowhere close to that power level.
Jean Grey has been more powerful than her lovers Cyclops and Wolverine since even before she became the Phoenix, a cosmic entity so powerful it consumes stars for energy.
Wonder Woman has the power of the Greek Gods and her frequent lover, and in her original canon husband, was a regular human soldier.
In Cutey Honey F, the magical girl reboot of the classic 70s anime that helped inspire Sailor Moon, Honey can annihilate and create anything she can want. She is in love with a demonic prince, but ultimately marries a normal man and private eye who always had her back despite being put of this depth with the threats they faced.
And what about all the women in real life who have married, or remained married to men with disabilities? Men who by any metric are physically weaker than their wives? For example, all the women that married or remained married to soldiers who were horribly injured during either World War? Or, any of the wives of Stephen Hawkins, with even his first wife aware of his illness.
All of which is to say...maybe Mamo is worthy of Usagi's love regardless of him being less powerful than her.
Conclusion
Mamoru in the anime...
Is.
Not.
Useless.
Please.
For.
The.
Love.
Of.
<insert whatever/whomever you worship here>.
Fucking.
Stop.
Claiming.
He.
Is.
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prpfz · 1 month ago
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✨✨ hey there! 18+ writers only please. i'm looking for someone who'd be willing to write female characters! mainly, i'm looking for someone to write / plot or headcanon around some characters with, with some of my favorite options specified below.
i’ve got more than a few characters i’d looove to write opposite, of course —— these are just a few:
dc
lois lane, talia al ghul, carol ferris, donna troy, cheshire / jade nguyen, artemis crock (young justice), black canary, zatanna, yara flor, huntress / helena bertinelli, jessica cruz, catwoman / selina kyle (comics or zoe kravitz), wonder woman, ravager / rose wilson, starfire / koriand’r, lilith clay, dawn granger (titans tv), mera, punchline, poison ivy, hawkgirl, lady shiva, supergirl, sofia falcone (reevesverse), arrowverse girls (sara lance, laurel lance, thea queen, iris west, dinah drake, mia smoak), etc.
marvel
elektra, emma frost, jean grey, psylocke, rogue, susan storm, kate bishop, felicia hardy, wanda maximoff, carol danvers, mary jane watson, gwen stacy, hope van dyne, claire temple, agatha harkness, jessica jones, gamora, mantis, magik / illyana rasputin, kitty pryde, luna snow, etc
a song of ice and fire (game of thrones / house of the dragon)
cersei lannister, daenerys targaryen, margaery tyrell, melisandre, alicent hightower, rhaenyra targaryen, alys rivers
star wars
rey or leia
video games
ashe or kiriko (overwatch) / tifa, aerith, or jessie (final fantasy 7) / ellie williams (the last of us, part 2) / max caulfield, chloe price, juliet watson (life is strange)
disney
jasmine (aladdin), colette (ratatouille), cinderella, helen parr, tinker bell, kim posible or shego, elsa, alex russo, teddy duncan
anime
lust (fullmetal alchemist) / kagome, kikyo, sango (inuyasha) / makima (chainsaw man)
other (animation)
gwen tennyson (ben 10, alien force version only) / daphne blake (scooby-doo) / heather, gwen, courtney (total drama) / jessica rabbit (who framed roger rabbit?), etc.
other (misc)
starlight (the boys) / betty cooper (riverdale) / yennefer (the witcher show) / glinda upland (wicked)
fandomless
mainly depends on the fcs / ideas, but up for discussion!
DM @brckentales if interested!
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findroleplay · 8 months ago
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✨✨ hey there! 18+ writers only please. i'm looking for someone who'd be willing to write canon female characters! mainly, i'm looking for someone to write / plot or headcanon around some canon characters with, with some of my favorites specified below.
i’ve got more than a few characters i’d looove to write opposite, of course —— these are just a few:
dc
talia al ghul, donna troy, cheshire / jade nguyen, artemis crock (young justice), black canary, zatanna, yara flor, lois lane, huntress / helena bertinelli, carol ferris, jessica cruz, selina kyle, wonder woman, ravager / rose wilson, starfire / koriand’r, lilith clay, dawn granger (titans tv), mera, punchline, poison ivy, hawkgirl, lady shiva, supergirl, arrowverse girls (sara lance, laurel lance, thea queen, iris west, dinah drake, mia smoak), etc.
marvel
elektra, emma frost, jean grey, psylocke, rogue, susan storm, kate bishop, felicia hardy, wanda maximoff, carol danvers, mary jane watson, gwen stacy, hope van dyne, claire temple, agatha harkness, gamora, etc
a song of ice and fire (game of thrones / house of the dragon)
cersei lannister, daenerys targaryen, margaery tyrell, melisandre, alicent hightower, rhaenyra targaryen, alys rivers
star wars
rey or leia
video games
ashe or kiriko (overwatch) / tifa, aerith, or jessie (final fantasy 7) / ellie williams (the last of us, part 2)
disney
jasmine, colette (ratatouille), cinderella, helen parr, tinker bell, kim posible or shego, elsa, alex russo, teddy duncan
other
starlight (the boys) / gwen tennyson (ben 10, alien force version only) / daphne blake (scooby-doo) / heather, gwen, courtney (total drama) / betty cooper (riverdale) / yennefer (the witcher show), etc.
these are just a few of the characters i’m looking for tbh, or the main ones at least. there’s quite a lot that i’d love, tbh.
as for who i'd play, i'm fine with most anyone, be it canons or crossovers or whatever. it depends on the pairing or plot, we can talk about it!
i'm fine with most themes and plots, and definitely most pairings. no real limits!
if any of this interests, like this and i‘ll message you! i mainly write through discord.
-
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