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sir_zapsalotI'd just like to preface this post by saying I wasn't going to do this app but crack_that_whip is a menace.
Anyway. A few notes about Billy Batson here, but sadly, not really any gifs in this post yet because the movie isn't even out of theaters yet (so yeah, some spoilers behind the cut but eh), and I actually do have some standards sometimes, and crappy gifs from bootleg source video just doesn't meet them, and I just haven't had time to go gif hunting this week. THEY WILL BE ADDED LATER THOUGH.
Billy is the main character of Shazam!, which as I described it in my app is a warm fuzzy blanket of found-family feels. He's a fourteen-year-old kid who was separated from his mother at a carnival as a young child and has been bounced through the foster system ever since, because he kept running away in repeated attempts to find her. He also happens to be able to call down lightning from the heavens and transform himself into a big beefy adult-looking superhero just by yelling, well, "Shazam!"
I say "adult-looking," because even if one of the side effects of his transformation is a boost to his intelligence, some of his mannerisms make it clear that he's still very much a fourteen-year-old kid.
When the dying wizard Shazam cast a spell to find him a champion to inherit his powers, he was looking for someone "pure of heart," and after many many failed candidates (including the film's main antagonist, Dr. Sivana) he ended up with . . . Billy. Who immediately tells him that he doesn't really think there's any such thing as someone who's really pure of heart. Yeah, Billy's not the most optimistic kid in the world to start with, but getting shuffled through the foster system like he has, you can't really blame him. He is, however, a fundamentally decent, sensitive kid who doesn't like bullies and will try to empathize with his enemies, even if he can be a sarcastic, mischievous little shit. He's a kid. He's still learning. He will also say "holy moly" unironically.
Billy's coming in from after the events of the movie, which is to say that -- spoilers -- he's learned that his mother, who was a single teenager, deliberately chose to abandon him under the assumption that he'd be better off in the foster system than with her. He's also decided that Victor and Rosa Vasquez, who run the group home he's in, and the other (super awesome) foster kids there are his real family. Which is why he's chosen to share his powers with them, so he's not actually too worried about leaving Philadelphia unprotected while he's in Fandom. His siblings can handle it.
Seriously, the rest of the kids are amazing and I have a LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THEM but I'm not going into them here or I won't stop, maybe ever.
So about that superhero persona. "Shazam" is the name of the wizard who bequeathed his powers to Billy, yes, but it's also an acronym referencing all his powers: the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the courage of Achilles, the power of Zeus, the stamina of Atlas, and the speed of Mercury. Yes, the sudden switch to Roman pantheon names bugs me, but let's face it: "Shazah" is really not as catchy. Look, the comic started in the Golden Age, okay, everything is Super Extra.
Which is to say he's got super strength and speed as well as near invulnerability, he can fly, and he has cool lightning powers.
Also he looks like Zachary Levi in a padded muscle suit.
Technically speaking, he doesn't have an official superhero name, which was the movie's running gag about the fact that due to fun with trademark issues he can't go by his original superhero name of Captain Marvel any more, a gag which I will absolutely keep running. (True story: one of the numerous rejected monikers that comes up in the movie is "Zaptain America" and I have Regrets about not going with that for the journal name.)
So yeah, please feel free to make up whatever ridiculous names you feel like for that dude with the glowy lightning bolt suit. I actively encourage this, especially if it comes up on radio.
Anyway. When he yells "Shazam!" a bolt of lightning comes down out of the sky and strikes him, triggering his transformation either into or out of superhero form. He can absolutely call that lightning down on someone as an offensive tactic, and he won't be doing so indoors in Fandom because property damage. He's kind of like Superman without the heat vision or freeze breath, which is why DC went "Heyyyyyy," and bought the character off Fawcett Comics in the first place. Awkward trademark funtimes all around!
And a quick summary of my other kids, though you can get the full rundown with lots of gifs in my last infopost.
Keyleth (goldfishontherocks, she/her)
From Critical Role, Campaign 1, pre-canon. 17 and a rising senior. A half-elven druid who is tall and gawky and incredibly socially awkward due to her very sheltered upbringing, and also kind of trying to figure out how to cope with the pressure of being expected to lead her druidic tribe someday. She's shy but generally a sweetheart, though prone to occasional impulsive outbursts that lead to things like leaping off 1000-foot cliffs and turning into an ill-fated goldfish on the way down. Also, she has cool nature-based magic and can transform into various animals at will. And she seems to collect broody, kind of mysterious boys who have some kind of thing related to death or demons, like Percy, Kashaw, and Vax'ildan in canon, oralways_someone and crack_that_whip in Fandom.
Beauregard (notallbluemonks, she/her)
From Critical Role, Campaign 2, just barely pre-canon. 22 years old (of course I found out after I'd established this that she's actually 24 but oh well, too late) and works at Atlas Gym on Mondays. A human monk, though "monk" is probably not anyone's first assumption about her, because she's loud, abrasive, swears a lot, and likes to drink and get into fights. Canon bros withbuilt_fjord_tough, with whom she shares a timeline, girlfriend of solarhippie, and a pretty good person beneath all her self-loathing and kind-of-an-asshole hostile exterior even if she does have a lot of damage due to an extremely emotionally abusive childhood. An absolute pain in the ass to have as an enemy, but the most fiercely loyal friend you could ever hope to have . . . not that she's good with expressing her feelings. At all.
Pelessaria B'Sayle Peebee (onefootoutthedoor, she/her)
From Mass Effect: Andromeda, waaaaay pre-canon, and a recent Fandom grad, though she'll be leaving after the first summer session. Will eventually spend 600 years as a popsicle before waking up in the Andromeda Galaxy and conveniently missing out on all the chaos and destruction that befall the Milky Way during the original Mass Effect trilogy. Is about 40-something years into her 1000-year asari lifespan. A giant nerd with a tendency toward serialized hyperfixations on various subjects of interest and a cheerful, flirtatious, frequently irreverent demeanor. Has severe allergies to emotional attachment and commitment, and also can only deal with people for so long before they get to be too much and she has to go hide for a while.
Éponine Thénardier (filleauloup, she/her)
From Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, so book canon, not the musical or any of the five million film and TV adaptations. 26 years old and runs the post office in town. Lives in the abandoned warehouse district, in a warehouse that she's managed to convert into a pretty decent industrial loft-type space over the past several years. Managed to escape her canon death and is doing much better physically and emotionally now, though she still has the alcohol-wrecked voice and missing teeth, and looks a fair bit older than she is. Her sense of morals is still slightly shaky, though it's improved a bit since she's been here.
And the alumni:
Euphrasie "Cosette" Fauchelevent (wildandbrave, she/her)
Also from the book canon version of Les Misérables, though not from the same reality asfilleauloup. Lives across the causeway with her father, or rather the escaped convict once known as Jean Valjean who adopted her, and goes to school on the mainland. An absolute sweetheart who basically loves everyone, but is by no means a pushover.
Kennedy (brat_inslayage, she/her)
From Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the TV series because the comic seasons are not canon I don't care what they think they are. Currently stationed in Brazil with her girlfriend Willow, finding and training new Slayers, although lately she's shifted her focus more to helping the Slayers who don't want to be part of that life find something they can do with their powers. To that end, she works pretty closely withicecoldfrost, who helps her find jobs for them, usually as high-end private security. Headstrong, fairly hot-tempered, but fiercely protective and serious about being a Slayer. Also rich as all hell.
Tahiri Veila (weetuskenraider, she/her)
From Star Wars Legends. Not actually related tosolo_sword but they're effectively family. Human Jedi who grew up on Tatooine as an orphan who was raised by the Sand People, then later was kidnapped and tortured by the Yuuzhan Vong, and given implanted memories and a personality as if she'd always been one of them. Has some pretty interesting perspectives as a result, and three vertical scars on her forehead from the ordeal. Scrappy and sarcastic, occasionally prone to being talkative but not as much as she used to be when she was younger.
And finally, me!
Shanie (they/them)
Lives in Los Angeles, in the best time zone, I will fight you on this. Strictly relegated to phone pinging while at work, and especially slowly during the first third of the month. Loves video games, tabletop gaming, and hoarding lots of pretty, pretty dice with the goal of someday just sleeping on them like a dragon. Will probably talk your ear off about Dungeons and Dragons. Not really around on social media these days except on those rare occasions I log onto Twitter to yell about Critical Role, but you can always hit me up via email. I like talking to you people.
crack_that_whip is a menace.Anyway. A few notes about Billy Batson here, but sadly, not really any gifs in this post yet because the movie isn't even out of theaters yet (so yeah, some spoilers behind the cut but eh), and I actually do have some standards sometimes, and crappy gifs from bootleg source video just doesn't meet them, and I just haven't had time to go gif hunting this week. THEY WILL BE ADDED LATER THOUGH.
Billy is the main character of Shazam!, which as I described it in my app is a warm fuzzy blanket of found-family feels. He's a fourteen-year-old kid who was separated from his mother at a carnival as a young child and has been bounced through the foster system ever since, because he kept running away in repeated attempts to find her. He also happens to be able to call down lightning from the heavens and transform himself into a big beefy adult-looking superhero just by yelling, well, "Shazam!"
I say "adult-looking," because even if one of the side effects of his transformation is a boost to his intelligence, some of his mannerisms make it clear that he's still very much a fourteen-year-old kid.
When the dying wizard Shazam cast a spell to find him a champion to inherit his powers, he was looking for someone "pure of heart," and after many many failed candidates (including the film's main antagonist, Dr. Sivana) he ended up with . . . Billy. Who immediately tells him that he doesn't really think there's any such thing as someone who's really pure of heart. Yeah, Billy's not the most optimistic kid in the world to start with, but getting shuffled through the foster system like he has, you can't really blame him. He is, however, a fundamentally decent, sensitive kid who doesn't like bullies and will try to empathize with his enemies, even if he can be a sarcastic, mischievous little shit. He's a kid. He's still learning. He will also say "holy moly" unironically.
Billy's coming in from after the events of the movie, which is to say that -- spoilers -- he's learned that his mother, who was a single teenager, deliberately chose to abandon him under the assumption that he'd be better off in the foster system than with her. He's also decided that Victor and Rosa Vasquez, who run the group home he's in, and the other (super awesome) foster kids there are his real family. Which is why he's chosen to share his powers with them, so he's not actually too worried about leaving Philadelphia unprotected while he's in Fandom. His siblings can handle it.
Seriously, the rest of the kids are amazing and I have a LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THEM but I'm not going into them here or I won't stop, maybe ever.
So about that superhero persona. "Shazam" is the name of the wizard who bequeathed his powers to Billy, yes, but it's also an acronym referencing all his powers: the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the courage of Achilles, the power of Zeus, the stamina of Atlas, and the speed of Mercury. Yes, the sudden switch to Roman pantheon names bugs me, but let's face it: "Shazah" is really not as catchy. Look, the comic started in the Golden Age, okay, everything is Super Extra.
Which is to say he's got super strength and speed as well as near invulnerability, he can fly, and he has cool lightning powers.
Also he looks like Zachary Levi in a padded muscle suit.
Technically speaking, he doesn't have an official superhero name, which was the movie's running gag about the fact that due to fun with trademark issues he can't go by his original superhero name of Captain Marvel any more, a gag which I will absolutely keep running. (True story: one of the numerous rejected monikers that comes up in the movie is "Zaptain America" and I have Regrets about not going with that for the journal name.)
So yeah, please feel free to make up whatever ridiculous names you feel like for that dude with the glowy lightning bolt suit. I actively encourage this, especially if it comes up on radio.
Anyway. When he yells "Shazam!" a bolt of lightning comes down out of the sky and strikes him, triggering his transformation either into or out of superhero form. He can absolutely call that lightning down on someone as an offensive tactic, and he won't be doing so indoors in Fandom because property damage. He's kind of like Superman without the heat vision or freeze breath, which is why DC went "Heyyyyyy," and bought the character off Fawcett Comics in the first place. Awkward trademark funtimes all around!
And a quick summary of my other kids, though you can get the full rundown with lots of gifs in my last infopost.
Keyleth (
goldfishontherocks, she/her)From Critical Role, Campaign 1, pre-canon. 17 and a rising senior. A half-elven druid who is tall and gawky and incredibly socially awkward due to her very sheltered upbringing, and also kind of trying to figure out how to cope with the pressure of being expected to lead her druidic tribe someday. She's shy but generally a sweetheart, though prone to occasional impulsive outbursts that lead to things like leaping off 1000-foot cliffs and turning into an ill-fated goldfish on the way down. Also, she has cool nature-based magic and can transform into various animals at will. And she seems to collect broody, kind of mysterious boys who have some kind of thing related to death or demons, like Percy, Kashaw, and Vax'ildan in canon, or
always_someone and crack_that_whip in Fandom.Beauregard (
notallbluemonks, she/her)From Critical Role, Campaign 2, just barely pre-canon. 22 years old (of course I found out after I'd established this that she's actually 24 but oh well, too late) and works at Atlas Gym on Mondays. A human monk, though "monk" is probably not anyone's first assumption about her, because she's loud, abrasive, swears a lot, and likes to drink and get into fights. Canon bros with
built_fjord_tough, with whom she shares a timeline, girlfriend of solarhippie, and a pretty good person beneath all her self-loathing and kind-of-an-asshole hostile exterior even if she does have a lot of damage due to an extremely emotionally abusive childhood. An absolute pain in the ass to have as an enemy, but the most fiercely loyal friend you could ever hope to have . . . not that she's good with expressing her feelings. At all. onefootoutthedoor, she/her)From Mass Effect: Andromeda, waaaaay pre-canon, and a recent Fandom grad, though she'll be leaving after the first summer session. Will eventually spend 600 years as a popsicle before waking up in the Andromeda Galaxy and conveniently missing out on all the chaos and destruction that befall the Milky Way during the original Mass Effect trilogy. Is about 40-something years into her 1000-year asari lifespan. A giant nerd with a tendency toward serialized hyperfixations on various subjects of interest and a cheerful, flirtatious, frequently irreverent demeanor. Has severe allergies to emotional attachment and commitment, and also can only deal with people for so long before they get to be too much and she has to go hide for a while.
Éponine Thénardier (
filleauloup, she/her)From Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, so book canon, not the musical or any of the five million film and TV adaptations. 26 years old and runs the post office in town. Lives in the abandoned warehouse district, in a warehouse that she's managed to convert into a pretty decent industrial loft-type space over the past several years. Managed to escape her canon death and is doing much better physically and emotionally now, though she still has the alcohol-wrecked voice and missing teeth, and looks a fair bit older than she is. Her sense of morals is still slightly shaky, though it's improved a bit since she's been here.
And the alumni:
Euphrasie "Cosette" Fauchelevent (
wildandbrave, she/her)Also from the book canon version of Les Misérables, though not from the same reality as
filleauloup. Lives across the causeway with her father, or rather the escaped convict once known as Jean Valjean who adopted her, and goes to school on the mainland. An absolute sweetheart who basically loves everyone, but is by no means a pushover.Kennedy (
brat_inslayage, she/her)From Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the TV series because the comic seasons are not canon I don't care what they think they are. Currently stationed in Brazil with her girlfriend Willow, finding and training new Slayers, although lately she's shifted her focus more to helping the Slayers who don't want to be part of that life find something they can do with their powers. To that end, she works pretty closely with
icecoldfrost, who helps her find jobs for them, usually as high-end private security. Headstrong, fairly hot-tempered, but fiercely protective and serious about being a Slayer. Also rich as all hell.Tahiri Veila (
weetuskenraider, she/her)From Star Wars Legends. Not actually related to
solo_sword but they're effectively family. Human Jedi who grew up on Tatooine as an orphan who was raised by the Sand People, then later was kidnapped and tortured by the Yuuzhan Vong, and given implanted memories and a personality as if she'd always been one of them. Has some pretty interesting perspectives as a result, and three vertical scars on her forehead from the ordeal. Scrappy and sarcastic, occasionally prone to being talkative but not as much as she used to be when she was younger.And finally, me!
Shanie (they/them)
Lives in Los Angeles, in the best time zone, I will fight you on this. Strictly relegated to phone pinging while at work, and especially slowly during the first third of the month. Loves video games, tabletop gaming, and hoarding lots of pretty, pretty dice with the goal of someday just sleeping on them like a dragon. Will probably talk your ear off about Dungeons and Dragons. Not really around on social media these days except on those rare occasions I log onto Twitter to yell about Critical Role, but you can always hit me up via email. I like talking to you people.
