which you are welcome to do (or just write things out) if you want

I did this ages ago but I like to periodically do it again to see how it changes

still working on Teren's but I wanted to ramble a bit first

oh i’m obsessed w this

Bene's is comprised of Kuzco from the Emperor's New Groove, Draco Malfoy (sigh), David Rose from Schitt's Creek, Thomas from Downton Abbey, and specifically Ben Whishaw's rendition of Richard II

omg

what a good idea

I tend to kind of absorb inspiration from fussy/mean characters who are also considered weak & cowardly but draw their strength from elsewhere. and these are a lot of Villains but I think an important factor between them is that all of their arcs have to do with learning how to care about other people and relax a little bit

they also tend to come from situations where they've built up a veneer from being treated a certain way (even if that certain way is Better Than Everyone Else) so they kind of fail socially until they learn how to not be a piece of shit, which has been Benedict's whole deal

I want to do this but I don't think I am self-aware enough about all the components that have gone into mine

I think about this stuff a lot because I'm impossible

we love it

I think Fifi's cartoon animal-to-backup dancer ratio is pretty funny but it feels very right. she's a side character at heart and I think also serves as kind of a Vibes Barometer in that sense

also I have exchanged like a grand total of three tags with Barrow and seeing Bigwig there had me like YES

she doesn't want to be the center of attention (unless she's dancing, like Nini, when she comes alive). she's scared, she wants to help and do the right thing

hahahaha BIGWIG

my bro

Love this method

but sometimes the right thing is complicated. she's been kicked down by life and The Narrative and to some degree sees it as just how life is meant to be, but if called/forced to be brave she will do so

she'll go fuck up the guy in the basement if he kidnaps her buddy

between ballet performances

(as long as there's a mob to do most of the fighting)

forgot to list hers, sorry: Meg Giry (specifically from the Phantom musical), Mrs Brisby from The Secret of NIMH, Hyzenthlay from Watership Down, and Nini-Legs-In-The-Air from Moulin Rouge

always a little jilted and sidelined but gets the coolest duet in the show

oh LOVE this

Barrow's got John Yossarian from Catch-22, Baloo from the animated Jungle Book, Bigwig from Watership Down, Prince Verity from the Farseer Trilogy, and Phoebus from the animated Hunchback of Notre Dame

genuinely laid back, genuinely likes people and wants to be their friend, would love if he could just hang around drinking and bullshitting all day. also has this horrible terrible tendency to Know when the wrong thing is happening and want to fix it

he'll sooner drive himself crazy than actually try to confront a problem himself, but if someone else sets him loose on it he's glad to oblige-- to a degree it's just that he doesn't trust his own moral compass and thinks of himself as dumb muscle. what business does he have, Thinking

the Phoebus ref is more about attitude/physicality but also just fully being like 'it's my job to arrest/kill you but I'm making an exception because I like you personally and also don't care'

please note I do not extend this to Book Phoebus

and now I'll make Teren's. please stand by

o I forgot Loris from Arcane gets an honorable mention

he didn't exist in time to be really part of the character concept but shakes hands on the astral plane with whoever came up with him

I love these so much I can see the logic behind all of them. how fun!!!!!

yayyy

the cartoon animal / backup dancer line got me. that's her

hahahaha

Baloo took me out

am I wrong

ok Teren's are really on the nose but hear me out it's by design

GRANNY WEATHERWAX

the very same

hers are The Wicked Witch of the West/book!Elphaba (NOT musical), Professor McGonagall (sigh again), Granny Weatherwax from Discworld, Vitani from The Lion King II, and, for the deep cut, Florence Vassy from Chess

I feel like she's always sprung from a generalized Witch archetype where it's like this is a bad pointy woman who's rude and mean and violent. she's the anti-feminine in a way that gets her shut out from society in a way, but it's been going on so long that she's like I Chose This

McGonagall is kind of the benevolent side, where she can identify people who need defending and step in to do so. Weatherwax is the pragmatic side, she is very confident in who she is and what needs to be done, and fuck you if you disagree

Elphaba/WWW is the vengeful side, choosing to stick to her guns even when there's a very real possibility she's wrong and getting her shit kicked in over it

also from Maguire-specific Elphaba is the politically radical aspect, wanting to burn down everything without necessarily having the resources to do so, and that actually segues into the remaining two pix

Vitani and Florence are both younger characters who come from a place of like... idealism, kind of. Florence has been massively fucked over politically and is doing her best to claw her way to a place of security, but she routinely bets on the wrong horse and gets punished for it

Vitani is idealistic from the perspective of being raised by an outsider who's radicalized her kids to forcibly take back what they think of as theirs. she has to learn the hard way that the pretty lions with the weather on their side are always going to win, which in the narrative ultimately softens her but I always felt bad for her

so Teren having come from this very like... plucky I'm Gonna Fix The World background that torpedoed her right into Forever Jail and then The Wardens molded her into this very bitter but still principled person who would be considered a villain by most

thanks for coming to my ted talk

god stephen is the bombastic self-important ridcully to her granny. no wonder this cr is so good & a mixture of working well together but also antagonistic

oh my goddd

you're so right

final note it's really important to me that Teren is "ugly" by like western animation standards. she's designed to look like a bog standard Disney villain on purpose. incidentally she has fucked the most PCs out of any of my characters combined so who's laughing now

look it's the villains that get the most dedicated Tumblr porn

right?

love all these thoughts

Kuzco is such an inspired choice

I promise I didn’t do it on purpose

but I have always loved him so it tracks

BRUH JS THAT VITANI

I SCREAMED

yeah

excellent taste lmao