Individual Character's full name: Thaddeus Montalegre Zilberschlag
Alias/ Nickname/ Code name: TMZ
Gender: Male
Age: 32 [Updated: 4/12/2023]
Date of Birth: January 9, 1991
Birthplace/ Home/ Place of origin: Sacramento, California
Nationality: American
Ethnicity/ Cultural Heritage: Spanish/Germanic/Canadian
AppearanceHair color and style: Dark black and cut short. Normally he has the hair combed and produced into a slight pompadour.
Skin Tone: A healthy and crisp natural tan hue
Eye Color: Deep earthy brown
Height: 5’11
Build: Thick but
most of it is muscle. He is fairly fit and healthy and just appears a little on the thick side.
Visible mutation: Eyes become a ghostly pale white when he mentally enters the Social Media-verse.
Scars/ Tattoos/ Piercings: A tattoo of the old America Plugged In (API) logo on the back of his shoulder.
Other features: Though they are well groomed, he does have a set of extra thick eyebrows that only further accentuate his expressions.
Everyday clothing style: Only the best! Shirts, sweaters, jeans, slacks, all of it is name brand and he wears it with pride.
Uniform: Doesn’t really have one since he works for himself. However he does have some merch with his blog name and graphics on it. All tasteful, of course.
Sleepwear: Pajama bottoms, silk, only the best.
Miscellaneous clothing: Thick glasses. He often is wearing glasses as he refuses to wear contacts thanks to a bad reaction he endured in his teen years. Now he just pretty his trust, thick, black-rimmed glasses to see him through.
CharacterPersonality: Thaddeus is a bit of a snob, but it’s kind of earned. When he was younger, he was always the nosey, quiet kid that was picked on. This left him with a lasting scar that followed him most of his youth. But his isolation also allowed Thadd to be very observant and able to pick up on the finer details missed by most people. Therefore, even now that he is much older, he still likes to take his time to observe and measure out the exact right things to say that can either bolster or diminish the ego of another.
Outwardly, Thadd is very egotistical and sarcastic. He believes he knows people better than they know themselves, because of their online presence. He shops for only the finer things, and dismisses those things that he deems beneath him. At the heart of it all, Thadd does believe he is doing good by exposing people’s lies on social media, proving that the most popular are not always the best.
Hobbies/ Interests:- Wine
- Fine clothes
- Gossip
- Dancing
- Social media (duh)
Job or part time job and description: Thadd is the creator of the TMZ Blog (no affiliation), where posts interesting rumors and gossip from across the web, videos, podcast episodes, etc.
Fears/ phobias/ concerns: Obscurity. He knows that the social media landscape is a fast moving one. There will be a time where the viewers and the fans will stop coming to him for the latest gossip and it is a terrifying idea. Thadd wants to avoid returning to that old life for as long as he can and he’ll do anything to keep his lifestyle the way it is.
Also knock-offs. He has a distinct phobia of knock-offs and refuses to interact with anything that does not have a name brand label on it.
Special talents: Observation. Thanks to his years of isolation, Thaddeus is extremely observant. He can read people’s facial cues and body language, offering him better glimpse of themselves than they will ever know.
MoralityGood/ bad/ neutral/ other: Neutral-bad. It’s all about the story and the game. Thadd really doesn’t have a care for whom he hurts with his abilities.
MutationsMutation description: Social Media Awareness and Manipulation - Thaddeus is a mutant of the contemporary age. With the advent of the internet and social media, there was bound to be a mutant who would be born to reign supreme in this unclaimed universe. Thaddeus has the unique ability to hook himself into the Social Media-verse (
as he calls it) to both read and manipulate the data there with nothing but his mind. He can look at someone and immediately know their social media presence (
how popular or unliked they are) and is able to access the social media accounts of other people to change out words in a post, edit pictures, even edit videos that they post. And it is an ability that comes with a variety of ups and downs.
Strengths:- I Heard a Rumor: Thaddeus’ ability allows him to access an unaware person’s social media account and edit their posts. He can swap out words, delete sections of it, even change the text entirely to one of his design. It allows him full power over the accounts posts and to allow him to make the person appear as grandiose or as foolish as he pleases.
- That’s Got to be Photoshopped: Along with just editing words, Thaddeus can also edit pictures and videos that are posted online. These can be trickier but they are still within the realm of his power. So long as the image exists somewhere in the Social Media-verse, he can edit it, and the same goes with video. Two videos and dialogue can be easily manipulated by him to say or do practically anything he wants within reason (see Limitations).
- #Trending: Normally Thadd’s edits can only survive for about 24 hours if they go unnoticed. However, the more likes and rechrips an edited post gets, the longer it lasts andthe more attention it receives. Defying algorithms, top posts that Thadd edits will remain on trending lists for so long as people keep giving it attention thus making the edit last longer and longer.
- Are You Hot or Not?: Another side effect of Thaddeus’ abilities is that he can look at someone and see their social media footprint. When he sets his sights on someone, he can instantly see their number of followers, average number of posts, and how much of an impact they leave on the Social Media-verse. It allows him to see who is trending and who isn’t.
Weaknesses and Limitations:- Sorry, No Bars: For Thadd to access the Social Media-verse, he has to be able to pick up a connection. Wifi, 5G, ethernet cord, it doesn't matter. If there is no connection, such as being out in the wilderness, or in a Faraday cage, would block his access, and therefore render him powerless. Satelittle connections would work either so either Thadd needs to stay in contact or he will have no power.
- No Thermonuclear Strike: He ONLY has access to the Social Media-verse. He cannot access the internet at large and therefore cannot hack into government computers or bank accounts or anything like that - unless you were stupid enough to save your password in a DM on Kindr. Thadd's access to information is limited to what you save on your social media accounts.
- Loading Times: It takes time and concentration for the meatier posts. Editing a text post is fairly simple and takes moments. However editing pictures and videos that are posted take considerably more effort and concentration and cannot be done on the fly. As many hours as it takes a person to edit videos and pictures on a computer translates to the hours of concentration it takes Thadd to edit and publish them from his mind. So he has to be particularly spiteful to do it.
- Limited Resources: Thadd can only work with what he had access to in the Social Media-verse. If he wants to edit someone's video with them spouting nonsense, there has to be audio available on social media that contains it. He cannot just imagine images or video into existence, they need to be found. That's why text editing is far easier.
- Filtered Out: Normally Thadd’s edits only last for 24 hours. If it receives no more likes, rechirps, or any kind of attention, the edit will vanish and revert back to the original message.
Physical AbilitiesGeneral Physical Capabilities: He is about average across the board. He works out with some regularity but in no way is trying to make himself a world-class athlete.
Fighting Style: Internet flame warfare!
Fighting Style Pros/Cons:PRO: Oh he will definitely ruin you across social media.
CON: In a physical fight he can only hope he brought his taser. Otherwise he is
screwed.
History Of Your CharacterThaddeus Montalegre Zilberrschlag has led a very uninteresting life. Really, there is nothing extraordinary about him. Born to a newspaper reporter and housewife whose names are not in any way important, Thaddeus’ childhood was utterly uninteresting. Growing up in the nineties was only interesting to those people who had recollection of it and could live it, but for Thaddeus, it is nothing more than a hazy blur of pictures and sounds and smells the likes of which he has no real care to understand anymore.
The good stuff didn’t happen until much, much later. Thaddeus had always been a quiet and observant youth and it was a trait that followed him onto his teens. All around him he would watch life as he wrote in his journals, making up stories about people he didn’t know and places that he had never visited. It was a quirk that often resulted one of two ways: A.) he was picked on, and B.) he was completely ignored. It was always feast or famine with him.
But when he was a teen, that began to change. The internet was an undiscovered continent to him, and the flagship was social media. Oh yes.
MyFace,
Chirpr,
Rollr, they were windows into the world that Thaddeus lacked access to. Through them he could see people he envied, those he hated, and he could see any and everything that they posted in order to have just a little glimpse of their lives. And it quickly became an obsession.
It was something that stayed with him through his school years, and especially in college, when the social media platforms only continued to grow larger and larger. During this time, however, he knew he wanted more. While he could see the lives of others, he wasn’t living a life of his own. So he began to merge his talents: writing and social media -- he would be a blogger.
There was one drawback to his plan. While Thadd had plenty to say, the problem was that none of it was interesting. He had few followers and very few friends, most of which didn’t “Like” or “Rechirp” anything he posted. His plan was destined to fail...so he sunk to the lowest possible resource he had -- lies.
It was easy at first. “Did you see <insert name> at <insert name> cheating on her boyfriend?” and it snowballed from there. It was easy the amount of lies that he spilled forth, given that he had an aptitude for crafting stories. Soon his accounts were abuzz with followers and Thaddeus could feel a strange shift in the air. Then, one night, while trying to piece together a real zinger, he felt it. Thaddeus blacked out and found himself in a strange dream in which he floated about a neon-filled universe filled to the brim with his favorite social media platforms, all of them to be exact! And, best of all, he could manipulate all of it! Swap pictures, edit videos, change posts and chirps, all of it was at his disposal.
Upon awakening, Thadd found that his computer and phone had been overrun with notifications! Rechirps, thumbs up, loves, all of it for all these random posts that he had seemingly been tagged in. As he looked closer, Thadd found that his dreams had become a reality. Maybe he hadn’t actually been dreaming as each post he found was changed exactly as he remembered doing it. He was a mutant...with
the best ability!
Since then, Thadd’s life has turned around. He runs a very successful gossip blog, with his own merch, and plenty of celebrity followers. He has cleaned himself up and no longer is the shy, quiet man but one that walks with an air of absolute confidence. Sure, the gossip isn’t always true, but it isn’t like he can be caught. Besides, the truth isn’t what people are interested in -- it’s all about the story.
And Thaddeus Montalegre Zilberschlag plans to weave as many stories as it takes.
RoleplayWhat’s your OOC alias?: Horhay
Where did you learn about this site?: What site?
Do you have any other characters on MRO, if so who: Jorge Cervantes ,
Belladonna Honey ,
Booker B. Bookman ,
Celeste ,
Hugh Manning ,
Casey Babilon , &
Niko Kobayashi (I am dropping
Akshay Malik as a character as I cannot seem to muster the muse for him anymore).
Sample RP:Ugh, how long had he been staring at his computer screen. Thaddeus sighed as he lifted his glasses and rubbed his sore eyes. Afterwards he flexed his fingers, cracked his knuckles, and shook out the jitters. An idea would come. An idea
always came. All he had to do was be patient -- nevermind that the time was ticking to his next due post. He promised his fans weekly updates as to the latest gossip but it just seemed like the well was running dry. But no! He wasn’t going to get destitute. He plucked up his mug of expensive Madagascar coffee, took a sip, and peered across the room.
The Zebra Head Cafe was new but it was already becoming quite the trendy establishment. Sporting coffee beans from the most exotic places around the world, it was a natural draw for all those hipsters and trendsetters to come, snap a selfie, and flee out into the world once again. Thadd had chosen this place because, while he didn’t often like to hang out in public, his gut told him the answer to his prayers would be here.
And so they were.
As he looked across the sea of faces, over each of their heads he could see their social media presence in the Verse. It was like looking at a MyFace filter and seeing the streams of hearts and thumbs up icons to indicate how the online community viewed them. Over each person here there was the standard array, some lower than others, but really nothing to draw his attention. That is until
she walked in.
The tall, blonde sexbomb strolled into the coffeeshop and carried with her a holier-than-thou attitude. And, best of all, above her head he could see a massive stream of heart, like, follow, and rechirp icons.Unf, perfection. Now he just had to find out who she was.
Flipping open his laptop, Thadd placed his palm on the surface. As he did so, the color in his eyes drained away until there was only an eerie white left before. He had entered the Verse.
The Social Media-verse was a vast place that, seemingly, onl Thaddeus had access to. As he floated into the neon spectacle, he firmly held onto the image of the woman he had just seen in the coffee shop. Her social media flickered to life off to his right and Thadd followed the string until he found her MyFace page: Chloe Gibson. The search didn’t take long. He found her MyFace and her Chirpr account and discovered she was an heiress that was known for being one of the sweetest and most caring individuals. She attended charities, recycled, all that good P.R. shit. And Thaddeus was
in love. She was perfect.
It didn’t take long for her Speedigram to update. There was a photo of her coffee and her announcing to everyone to have a #blessed day. It was too easy. He pulled up her post and immediately set to work. When he was done, Thadd looked upon his handiwork, nodded, and felt himself drawn out of the Verse and back into reality.
With a slight gasp, Thadd blinked and rubbed his eyes. Quickly he pulled up Chloe Gibson’s account and smiled.
Thaddeus grinned, pulled up his blog, and immediately started writing his next article while watching the comments explode with responses to Chloe’s apparent remark. She was going to be in for a shit day and meanwhile, Thadd was delivering exactly what his readers wanted.
With another sip, he sighed, and held the coffee under his nose.
”Yeah. This is disgusting,” he grumbled and then immediately picked up his drink and marched to the counter to exchange for something that was actually palatable.
