#antares ward

[sweaterregrets]

All together now! Gleaming 9.11, Siege of the Parahumans Prison

[lizardinkart]

More wips - Ward Edition

That one scene with the almost-touch

[vvrgo]

I am creation, both haunted and

holy

Made in glory

[victoriadallonfan]

I'm never going to starbucks again I go there and ask for my decafmochocaraspicelatte and when they ask my name I tell them to just draw a little picture of victoria dallon so I can post on my tumblr and the barista is like "what" and I say again to draw a picture of victoria dallon and she keeps saying "i don't know who that is" and I'm like are from under a rock its victoria dallon, and then the manager finally arrives and asks me what the issue is, i say again victoria dallon I need a victoria dallon drawn on the cup, he smiles and nods, "sorry she doesn't keep up with the trends" and whips my order up super quick. I get my order and it's fucking Starlight from the Boys drawn on the cup smh i cant how

[sadisticcaustic]

Supervicky

and Lisa Lane

I commissioned this piece a while back from sethkiel on Twitter. Rarely do more than lurk on tumblr, but I figured I may as well post it here for the smugpunch believers

[bug4932]

who up going to anime nyc this weekend‼️

thanks to @cassiekek for the gold morning patch!

[elcuervoborracho]

a piece for @victoriadallonfan , A role swap between Yang Xiao Long and Victoria Dallon, giving each of them a personal spin to the others powers, as well as a design fitting their new universe. here's the individual pieces under the cut:

[tisinoodle]

Been hanging out with @noctilia and now my studies turn into Vicky

[knifecreature]

antares

[aruliart]

Guts & Glory

Closeups

[byronvera]

victoria showing admirable restraint in waiting until 30 seconds after this to punt tattletale into the prison dimension

[sweaterregrets]

im working on an antares figurine and am having a crisis of confidence in her costume design, be so forreal w me are antares upper arm bands canon or fanon?...

option a is my vick, b is inspired by Jack McGee and c inspired by @bug4932

pls feedback in the notes etc im scared

[lizardinkart]

Finished Ward. Here’s a Victoria ✨

[eddathegreat]

Worm and Ward and Familiarity

I saw a really great analysis of Worm working with tropes while Ward works against them by @greatwyrmgold, and it reminded me of a more general contrast that I noted:

Worm is coming from a very familiar place and being pulled out of that. The Undersiders have fairly relatable experiences (on average). Poverty, bullying, neglect and abuse by guardians. I'd argue that, as extreme as Alec's experience is, it would resonate with many who have dealt with indoctrination in their youth (like me). Brockton Bay is a city on economic decline, struggling to stay afloat, and afflicted with violent crime. There's superpowers thrown in, sure, but it's fundamentally very familiar human shittiness and problems that drive a lot of the story.

The powers are definitely weird and creative, but it's still unmistakably a superhero story. Bugs, darkness, flight and strength and durability, contact biokinesis. Superheroes and supervillains in costumes fighting each other, hijinks and blood loss.

Except that there's Endbringers, and Echidna, and Cauldron, and Scion. The culmination of the story is peeling back the mask of a familiar superhero setting to reveal a cosmic horror story.

Ward is set in the aftermath of that.

There's a massive megacity that still doesn't have a name. It's basically a country, but it's led by a mayor. Infrastructure is just barely there, lots of people are still living in tents, the internet is just barely running and not everywhere. People with superpowers are no longer just superheroes and supervillains, they're... what, exactly? So many threats that were once contained are now running free, the ratio of normal territory to gonzo hellscapes has been turned on its head. The skyline is torn apart by portals to other worlds, and it's fucking with the weather. There's a political movement against people with superpowers, and there are people affected by superpowers with their own identity, and both of those groups are very conspicuous in how hard it is to treat them as an analogy for any other groups. People are estranged from their own environment, and it's a brave, terrible new world in the shadow of a slain god.

The superpowers are less straightforward. Being unable to be pointed at, impregnation tentacles that fuck with the effectiveness of other powers, lots of cluster triggers and grab-bags, etc. The powers are more obviously reflective of the cosmic horror story people have had to wake up to, unfamiliar, weird, and deeply upsetting.

The characters are also pretty dang weird. Rain is a lot like Alec, and I think he might actually be the most normal of the bunch. Body dysphoria+, sharing a body with a sibling, attachment issues, living as a clone or as a sort-of clone. Not totally unrelatable, to be sure, there are parallels with real life experiences, but these are more their own thing, not so recognizable.

This makes Victoria kind of the perfect protagonist, matching the themes: she's estranged from who she was and her old connections; her home city is gone; she's gone through something absolutely mind-bendingly terrible that is among the worst that people can experience IRL and then some; her power has changed; she was raised into the weirdness of superheroics and is pioneering how it looks in this new world; she's knowledgeable about the weirdness surrounding powers, giving her a good eye for understanding the new world.

I think a decent fraction of Ward's relative unpopularity sadly comes from this: estrangement from the once familiar. The characters can't be related to as easily, the powers aren't so iconic, and the setting feels undefined. I don't think Ward is inherently worse for it, it's just a bit of a tougher sell.

[victoriadallonfan]

Has an inner power that she has to control or else she will hurt her allies

Dark original story where she was betrayed by an evil sibling

Fights an evil organization conspiracy

One of her powers is literally “killing intent”/“MENACING”

Wears a dark cloak and hoodie

Has a glowing gold eye

Has men and women attracted to her

Goes on long internal monologues about her enemy powers and the darkness inside of her

My god… Victoria IS a weeb!!!

[jcw3-protectorate-enthusiast]

need eve and victoria to hang out