#AAPI Characters

[charlottejoancheng]

Day 3 of AAPI Heritage Month heroines : Juniper Lee from The Life and Times of Juniper Lee

(Pssst, in case if you had not realized it, I am using a different art style on this and somehow I liked how it turned out)

[rockislandadultreads]

Fiction Recommendations: Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha 

Kyuri is an achingly beautiful woman with a hard-won job at a Seoul "room salon," an exclusive underground bar where she entertains businessmen while they drink. Though she prides herself on her cold, clear-eyed approach to life, an impulsive mistake threatens her livelihood.

Kyuri's roommate, Miho, is a talented artist who grew up in an orphanage but won a scholarship to study art in New York. Returning to Korea after college, she finds herself in a precarious relationship with the heir to one of the country's biggest conglomerates.

Down the hall in their building lives Ara, a hairstylist whose two preoccupations sustain her: an obsession with a boy-band pop star, and a best friend who is saving up for the extreme plastic surgery that she hopes will change her life.

And Wonna, one floor below, is a newlywed trying to have a baby that she and her husband have no idea how they can afford to raise in Korea's brutal economy.

Together, their stories tell a gripping tale at once unfamiliar and unmistakably universal, in which their tentative friendships may turn out to be the thing that ultimately saves them.

Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho

Best friends since second grade, Fiona Lin and Jane Shen explore the lonely freeways and seedy bars of Los Angeles together through their teenage years, surviving unfulfilling romantic encounters, and carrying with them the scars of their families' tumultuous pasts. Fiona was always destined to leave, her effortless beauty burnished by fierce ambition—qualities that Jane admired and feared in equal measure. When Fiona moves to New York and cares for a sick friend through a breakup with an opportunistic boyfriend, Jane remains in California and grieves her estranged father's sudden death, in the process alienating an overzealous girlfriend. Strained by distance and unintended betrayals, the women float in and out of each other's lives, their friendship both a beacon of home and a reminder of all they've lost.

In stories told in alternating voices, Jean Chen Ho's debut collection peels back the layers of female friendship—the intensity, resentment, and boundless love—to probe the beating hearts of young women coming to terms with themselves, and each other, in light of the insecurities and shame that holds them back.

Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen

When Huong arrives in New Orleans with her two young sons, she is jobless, homeless, and worried about her husband, Cong, who remains in Vietnam. As she and her boys begin to settle in to life in America, she continues to send letters and tapes back to Cong, hopeful that they will be reunited and her children will grow up with a father.

But with time, Huong realizes she will never see her husband again. While she attempts to come to terms with this loss, her sons, Tuan and Binh, grow up in their absent father's shadow, haunted by a man and a country trapped in their memories and imaginations. As they push forward, the three adapt to life in America in different ways: Huong gets involved with a Vietnamese car salesman who is also new in town; Tuan tries to connect with his heritage by joining a local Vietnamese gang; and Binh, now going by Ben, embraces his adopted homeland and his burgeoning sexuality. Their search for identity--as individuals and as a family--threatens to tear them apart, un­til disaster strikes the city they now call home and they are suddenly forced to find a new way to come together and honor the ties that bind them.

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

Our narrator produces a sound from the piano no one else at the Conservatory can. She employs a technique she learned from her parents—also talented musicians—who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future for a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City.

Holistik is known for its remarkable products and procedures—from remoras that suck out cheap Botox to eyelash extensions made of spider silk—and her new job affords her entry into a world of privilege and gives her a long-awaited sense of belonging. She becomes transfixed by Helen, the niece of Holistik’s charismatic owner, and the two strike up a friendship that hazily veers into more. All the while, our narrator is plied with products that slim her thighs, smooth her skin, and lighten her hair. But beneath these creams and tinctures lies something sinister.

[fortressofserenity]

Talk about serious underrepresentation

When it comes to representation, I feel there are subsets of people who do want to be represented. Though what I'm suggesting isn't in line with what other people are thinking about, given these line up with common stereotypes for certain demographics. It seems in western media that there's nary any serious East Asian dog lover, despite their preponderance in the real world.

It's got to do with those pesky dog meat stereotypes where if East Asians are stereotyped as eating dogs, then they don't really see dogs as family. Regardless if there are East Asians out there who take their dogs to hunting, make their dogs hunt rats and even care for them a lot. There are Taiwanese women who feed stray dogs a lot by the way, they're even called dog mothers (but it's analogous to the cat lady stereotype in the west).

Likewise when it comes to indigenous geeks, they're so underrepresented in the media that they're nearly this underrepresented. It's got to do with thinking indigenous/NDN people being so stuck in the past that they can't be bothered to use computers and mobile devices to do things like play video games, digital art and blog, regardless if there are NDN who do any one or all three things.

Talk about serious underrepresentation when East Asians are often stereotyped as heartless animal abusers, regardless if there are heinous dog poisoners out there in the Netherlands and Germany. When NDNs are almost always portrayed as stuck in the past, it makes it harder to see them as being this up to date with the latest trends in technology and anything else so it's kind of dehumanising.

[thisnoah]

Maysia Day 1-7: Yourself

+alt vers

[batmansymbol]

hello, my sweet sweet tumblr friends. i have a new book out one month from saturday. here we are together, the book and i:

this one was fun. i wrote it with my sister! when we were young, we were cutthroat competitive. she (older) would forbid me from reading the books on her shelves, and i (gremlin) would booby-trap her room, so you decide which of us committed the greater sin. now we have a blast.

our names are pronounced REE-uh-nock and SHEE-fra, and our book was pitched as THE PARENT TRAP meets THE VANISHING HALF. it releases August 15th, 2023. logline is "Two half-Chinese half-siblings collide for the first time at a summer art camp, not knowing they're related—and begin to understand who they are as artists, as brother and sister, and as Asian-Americans."

it's a book about summer camp hijinks, about passing, about what we long for and where we belong. it also says "Robinson & Robinson" on the spine, which makes us sound like an accidental injury law firm. sweet.

of all the books with my name on it, this one is probably the "book club"-iest. if you like coming-of-age novels or stories about the AAPI diaspora, you might like this one :)

you can preorder a signed copy from my local indie here, or non-signed copies from Bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon. i really cannot stress enough how much every single preorder helps, as i am what the industry calls "a midlist author," also known as "an obscure author who has difficulty placing projects with publishers because of sales figures lmao." (this is not to whinge. the majority of working authors exist in this financially & existentially precarious position)

alternatively, i would be totally thrilled if you reblogged this post, or mentioned the book to any teachers, librarians, bookstore workers, or other readers in your life :)

happy summer everybody—may it be the lazy river of your dreams. xoxoxo

[scoutscartoon]

Happy AAPI Heritage Month from Emi and Carmy! 🇵🇭❤️✨

[sarang-archer]

Stylized digital comms open for my bday <3

And traditional add-ons available too!!

hi i'm very trans, very gay, very korean, and very poor but I'm doing my best!

pls consider commissioning me (or donating !!) so I can pay for food and rent and maybe smth nice for my bday (Feb 22) <3 all support and love is appreciated, especially with the climate of queer acceptance being very turbulent lately...

Please visit my carrd for details: X

CA: sarangarcher Ko-Fi: sarang-archer PPal: sa.contact yahoo (also work email !!)

message me on tumblr or thru the email above for a spot <3 ty !!

additional MLP YCH animation comm option here! X

[could-they-be-a-pro-wrestler]

How successful would the Chairman of Iron Chef America…

Propaganda for the mic skills:

Man is SUPER charismatic. Just watch any episode of Iron Chef America, Mark Dacascos chews the scenery like a pro-wrestler would. He’s got the theatrics of being a pro-wrestler down pat.

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Propaganda for the wrestling skills:

Mark Dacascos is an action star and a trained martial artist. You want proof? Watch his scenes in John Wick 3. Also, Mark was doing backflips while he was playing the Chairman, so the character can canonically do the high-flying wrestling moves.

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Would you like to submit a character? Click this link if you do!

[juliettelime]

new holiday colorway for this sketch from two years ago because of nostalgic reasons

✧ instagram | portfolio ✧

[obliviani]

happy api month!

annual heritage piece 🏵️

[charlottejoancheng]

Day one of AAPI Heritage Month heroines collection :Rukia Kuchiki from Bleach

[opal-stars]

they might or might not have to fake date, and they might or might not be salty about it 🫣

🍧 Sarang and River from “Bingsu for Two” by Sujin Witherspoon

instagram 🍧 @ opal.stars

[shyjusticewarrior]

DC Comics Incorrect Quotes Pt 22

Xanthe: Okie dokey, I think I've brokered a fair deal. She's going to give us the killer, all we need to do is defeat Kang.

Constantine: And who the hell is Kang?

*terrifying warrior steps in*

Constantine: *laughs* And who's supposed to fight him?

Xanthe: *gestures*

Constantine: Oh hell no.

Xathne: As much as I'd like to see crouching tiger hidden douche, I'd actually like to win this. I was pointing at Batgirl.

Cass: *smirks* Why not?

Constantine: Okay sure, she's terrifying. But what happens if they win?

Xanthe: They kill us. Well, you- cause I'm a spirit envoy.

[thepapergirlandthespiegelman]

Some of my favorite Asian fictional characters for AAPI Month.

[exmakina]

AAPI Heritage Month - Drawing Suggestions

Whoa, it's almost May already... which means AAPI Heritage Month is coming up! I'm gonna try to do 31 drawings again to celebrate but I think it'd be cool to get suggestions this time.

If there are any AAPI characters you'd like to see art of... feel free to shoot me a message with their name and the work they're from.

This has been my criteria the past years doing this:

Asian and Pacific Islander characters

character is AAPI explicitly in the text (prioritize AAPI-created works)

character in a fictional setting if the creator/actor is AAPI

Can be from video games, TV shows, movies, books, comics, etc. The term AAPI refers to Asians (East, Southeast, South), Pacific Islanders, and the related diaspora communities.

[maniacwatchestheworld]

So only last night/this morning did I realize that DC is releasing 3 new series with new main protagonists for AAPI Heritage Month, and I'm REALLY considering picking them all up during our next trip to the comic book store... Because in case you didn't know (and honestly, why would you know, I don't exactly talk about it very much) I'm half Asian (Filipino to be specific which is certainly an interesting intersection of Asian to be).

I was looking at the three new stories releasing this month and honestly... City Boy has sold me on premise alone (this kid can talk to the like... The manifestation and spirit of any given city in the form of a living animal. Gotham City is a rat because OF COURSE it is! I feel like Batman would be OFFENDED to hear this!) because it just sounds fun and neat! Spirit World sounds cool, but it's sold me by having a non-binary protagonist and Cassandra Cain in it. And as for The Vigil... I'm still uncertain on whether I want to get it or not yet... Like, on one hand, it's written by Ram V who has been writing the excellent Gotham Nocturne arc in Detective Comics. But on the other... They just aren't being very specific on what the story will actually be about, I know nothing about these characters, so nothing really grabs me about them. I have no idea what to expect out of The Vigil, so I have no idea if it will be something that will be good or that I would be interested in reading...

So yeah. I'm sold on getting City Boy and Spirit World, but has anyone out there read The Vigil yet? (I believe that the first issue came out yesterday.) Is it good? Can anyone tell me what it's actually going to be about or why I should get it other than Ram V working on it? Please tell me why I should get this story!