#and showing the picture AGAIN even though the picture isn't even accurate bECAUSE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE LAUGHING AND SMILING

[dazais-guardian-angel]

never forget what they took from you

[lotusarchon]

I had to make a whole google doc to sort my thoughts on this, that's how mad I am tbh. My friends have made explanations which you can find here, and here. And while I told myself that after that post I was done, seeing my friend receive a comment like this was the final pushing point I needed.

I'm both going to ramble about Nezha here again, and I'm going to try and explain this in a way that'll get people to understand, as someone who once followed an Eastern religion too + I'm going to be stating my basic thoughts here so maybe some things won't make sense.

Mild info about me: I'm from Trinidad. My family is described with East Indian descent but clearly, I'm not from India itself. My knowledge of Hinduism is rather basic because I quit religion thanks to traumatic experiences related to it, however not lacking fully. From my father's side, specifically his mother, they practice Hinduism and can even be considered devout Hindus (if I'm to believe all the statues and pictures of about almost every single Hindu god). Though my knowledge is basic, understand that I'm not Hindu nor Indian, so of course these are my opinions and my experiences with Hinduism, and I do not advise you taking my word fully to heart. I'm only trying to explain something to the LMK fandom in the best way I know how too, by referencing another Eastern religion that isn't half as popular as Daoism/Buddhism.

There's only one show I know where Hinduism is portrayed, and it's an anime/manga series called Record Of Ragnarok (Shuumatsu No Valkyrie), and from what I know it's not well liked by others (and even banned I think?) because of the fact Shiva is weaker than Zeus and the supposed sexualization of Parvati, Kali and Durga? It's been a while so I could be wrong on this though.

Why am I bringing this topic up to a rant about a lego character though?

#1) Fiction vs Religion and Reality

While one half expresses discontent and discomfort, I've seen others who clearly don't mind because Shiva is still badass and cool. I myself had some qualms about his appearance in the beginning because while I did quit religion, this was a god I used to worship, and seeing him in an anime/manga and be sexualized and simped for was…uncanny, to say the least. Overtime I grew numb to it though because it was genuinely funny and even I, an ex Hindu, found him attractive, and had not much hesitation writing smut about him in past fics. 

Similarly, I can imagine this is how Daoists and Chinese had originally felt about Nezha in Lego Monkie Kid [Only referencing LMK with Chinese deities. I'm aware there could be other media where they're in.] A bit weird at first but then overall got used to it because there's genuinely no harm done, as it's not meant to be an educational retelling of a god, but a fictional portrayal of him.

Returning to the point I mentioned with Shiva. When I first came across this series in 2021 (?), I did not feel too happy and comfortable with the image of a deity I've grown up worshipping as a child. I quit religion when I turned 13, so it's been nearly five years since I've had nothing to do with the main religion of my household; Hinduism. Still, I practically grew up worshipping this god I was taught to fear, and seeing a potrayal of him (which honestly in my opinion) didn't seem like a good thing at the time. 

Why did I eventually stop being bothered? Because this wasn't supposed to be retelling of Shiva. This was just a character with similarities to the god I worshipped, but wasn't the god. The series I watched wasn't even intending to teach audiences about any of the religions and real life figures they portrayed, they simply used them as inspiration to tell a story. They weren't accurate representations, but that was the point. It's a story about gods vs humans from history; of course it wasn't going to be accurate nor stay true to the figure they took inspiration from.

You can imagine then for a cartoon series meant to sell Legos. Lego Monkie Kid contains several characters that are known in Chinese myths and legends/religions. Of the most popular mentioned, there is Sun Wukong, one of the main characters in the series, Tang Sanzang otherwise known as Tripitaka and the Great Monk, Lady Guanyin mentioned in season 1, the one the fandom argues about, Nezha, the Jade Emperor in season 4, and most recently, Nuwa, and Heavenly Pagoda King, Li Jing. There may be others but these are the ones that are most known within the fandom. 

Mind you some of these figures are still very much worshipped now, but, point remains: the series was never intended to be a retelling of these characters stories, nor were they intended to be educational for audiences. They took inspiration directly, gave their own twists, and hence you have the story of LMK, meant to originally promote Legos and then eventually gave way to the series that this fandom belongs too.

These characters are not their source material, nor the origins of which they came from as religious figures. Sun Wukong is a Buddha within JTTW’s ends and if I'm right is still worshipped as such sometimes (?). He didn't hide away into a mountain at the end of his journey. His companions didn't die, nor were they reincarnated, but instead also acquired titles and became Buddhas as well. (Or gods? I frankly don't remember). Tang Sanzang as we've in season 4 was not some sort of brave, astute man in the book but rather a crybaby coward. Need I even point out that Nezha wouldn't have a giant mech to fight people, nor would he have such close deposition with the Jade Emperor? Or the fact that the Jade Emperor would be bested by someone like Azure Lion?

Not even counting Journey To The West and the Fengshen Yanyi, the real Tang Sanzang that Wu Cheng’en took inspiration of most certainly did not have a monkey, a pig, a water demon and a dragon turned horse with him on his journey. 

Why speak of all this?

To make my first point; religion and fiction are two very different things. Religion has existed for who knows how long, and fiction has recently decided to include fictional potrayals of these gods into stories and cartoons. From a writer's perspective, it's really interesting taking something that is a part of religion and writing it into your own works, with your own take on it.

And of course, brings me to the topic of Nezha.

Lego Monkie Kid Nezha is, according to an official writer within the show's team, an adult. Although many fans have their objections about this, supposedly because Nezha in other sources is a child god, and think that the writer only abruptly pointed out Nezha's an adult to save her own skin.

Taking all my points in consideration; let me humour the Nezha is a child god idea. What, exactly, does this have to do with Nezha in Monkie Kid? 

If Nezha, the god within Daoism and Buddhism, is supposedly a child deity, what law says that any other potryal of Nezha has to abide by this? 

By this logic. Shiva in the anime I mentioned above shouldn't be weaker than Zeus. He also shouldn't even be agreeing to fight mortals, as he's a deity far above such petty behavior. Zeus shouldn't be portrayed in books like PJO as a lecherous cheater, because in reality, Ancient Greece consisted of multiple kingdoms and thereby different interpretations of Zeus were merged together which is what consists of the myths we know of him today which is highly disrespectful, and Sun Wukong shouldn't be a mentor to MK, because he's supposed to be a Buddhist, and thereby wouldn't be entertaining fighting nuances.

Fiction doesn't not adhere to reality. The fact I need to say this astounds me because should this not be obvious? Lego Monkie Kid is a cartoon set in some sci-fi futuristic world with lego people walking around, where gods somehow need mechs to go around fighting, and there are animal-like demons/yaoguai walking around here and there. There is literally an arcade in the show with zero gravity. Do you possibly believe for a miniscule second that anything that goes down in a fictional setting will adhere to our reality??

And, even then, humouring the Nezha being a child deity concept > what law says that he has to be portrayed as a child in other pieces of fiction?? Especially when the fictional setting is not meant to be a retelling or for educational purposes, but rather to carry a plot. 

There is nothing, no law, no rules that insists that a religious figure must be portrayed as they are in a legend/myth for a fictional world.

Lego Monkie Kid Nezha is not the deity Nezha. He is a completely different character, which many of you should have realized from the exact moment he was brought into the show. They are not the same person. Never was. 

“Oh, it's disrespectful―” From a writer's perspective, I personally don't think so. If I wanted to make a story that involved a god, I wouldn't keep everything that makes that god who they are. There are some key points I would keep to make the story, but I would ultimately create an OC that shares some attributes to this religious figure, but it wouldn't be him. The show Record of Ragnarok does a good job with this in my opinion, because while many characters share some attributes to the real figures they're inspired by, the writers changed several things to create a proper story, and thereby making these characters OCs and not the actual gods themselves, and of course that logic applies to Lego Monkie Kid.

In the instance, again, Nezha the god from Daoism, is in fact a child deity, Nezha in LMK isn't. Nezha in LMK is someone who's entirely different from the god himself. 

So, the logic this fandom uses confuses me a lot. Do you not understand how to seperate fiction from religion?? Do many of you not understand media literacy, and what a writing process is like?

Sigh. Moving to another point―

#2) Character Designs

Sometimes, when it comes to character designs, anyone could just throw them into anything and think, “Yeah that's good.” Not much thought is given to a character's appearances depending, which I don't really blame as someone who's 1) done literature as a hobby and has seen my fair share of character designs, 2) creates characters myself. It's too hard thinking of a character's appearance, and even then when making them there normally wouldn't be any significance.

Nezha's design in LMK seems to be a huge source of debate when arguing about his age. It was actually brought up in my previous post, specifically that his hairstyle was often used by children at the time. 

I have a bone to pick with this point.

This is Nezha from Lego Monkie Kid:

However, this is Mei from the same show:

Before anyone starts, allow me to point out as a history geek that likes religion and pointless facts over politics: I am aware that there are different hairstyles to show certain things, including one's age and status and sometimes even personality. Do not bring up any points about the differences in these characters hairstyles with an excuse, “Oh, but you should know―”, because I know how hairstyles could be treated within history. 

However. Look at Nezha's hairstyle, and then Mei's. I've never seen the LMK fandom complain about Mei's age, because it was generally believed that MK and Mei are both at least 18 if not older, as the legal age for a driver's license in China is 18. 

Both Nezha and Mei are wearing a ‘bun’ type hairstyle. Mei's is arguably more of twin ponytails (?), but I'm not a hairstylist, so I don't know what they're called. To me they look similar, that's all I'm trying to say. And even if they weren't though―through a modern lense, a hairstyle isn't reserved for just any specific age. Anyone can wear a hairstyle they want. Keep in mind that the creators of LMK are also Western(?), and they chose a hairstyle for these two characters based on personality and appearances. 

A hairstyle is not reserved for any age. Grown women including my aunts have worn hairstyles similar to these just for fun.

That's point one.

Point two; Nezha is a very popular deity, much like Sun Wukong. In terms of recognition, Sun Wukong is very easy to recognize because of his staff and his overall cocky personality. 

Nezha however is an entirely different case. Most media potrayals of him always has the two-bun hairstyle of him, which is what makes Nezha recognizable. If you remove that specific hairstyle of his, you won't recognize him. It's iconic, and pointed out in this scene (The Legend of Hei) where Nezha makes an appearance as well.

[Characters sitting together. White haired boy (Hei + MC) looks at the older, dark haired boy (Nezha). Nezha looks back.]

Nezha: What? You want an autograph?

Hei: You're a boy?

Nezha: Yeah?

Hei: Your hairstyle is cute.

[Nezha looks in front with an annoyed expression.]

Nezha: If it weren't for the recognizability, I'd have changed it long ago.

Hei: Recognizability?

[Nezha removes the buns(? some form of them?) from his head. Three older figures glance at him.]

???: Who are you?

[Scene returns]

Nezha: See?

Aka, point being made: those buns are what makes Nezha recognizable. If he doesn't have that hairstyle, unless it's specifically pointed out, I'm certain majority would not recognize him. 

Some hairstyles are meant to be done for some form of meaning. But sometimes, as is the case with designs, they're just there just because no one wanted to make the characters bald. Using the excuse about Nezha's hairstyle to justify his age as a child is by far the lamest and dumbest excuse I've ever heard of, because the creators did not give him that hairstyle for the sake of some meaning anymore than MK was given his current hairstyle either. It's his logo at this point, ignoring his color scheme aside.

Even then, if the creators of Lego Monkie Kid intended for Nezha to be a child within the show, he would not appear as he is. Lego Monkie Kid has made children models, which we can see here (used from s3 and up in case someone tries to excuse the differences in seasons): 

And of course, Nezha's model;

Despite the perspective and low quality though, he's at least the same height as Red Son here:

If Lego Monkie Kid truly intended for Nezha to be a child, his appearance and model would be similar to the children's in the show. Perspective is difficult to find but you can clearly see he's about the same height as the other adult characters if not taller, and is not small like the child figures we see.

Pink isn't a children's color, and nothing about Nezha's clothing indicates a child. He very much looks like an adult and doesn't exhibit childish behavior as we see Red Son, Mei and MK do.

I've seen fans use his voice to point out he's an adult, but I'm not sure that's a valid point. I say this as someone who has a 13 year old brother and was recently a minor myself. 

Allow me to clarify: a voice isn't a clear proof of age. My father is a 45 year old man but sounds very much like a woman/teenage girl. My brother is 13 and sounds more of an adult than his father. My classmate in highschool was one year older than me and his voice was very high-pitched. 

The voice actors in LMK are directed to speak a certain way for a reason…in English. I'm not sure about Mandarin. In my opinion, Wukong's voice sounds like Son Goku's because it's a reference to the fact Wukong is what inspired Goku. Nezha's probably sounds deep and brooding not because he's a child but because it almost represents his own personality, and probably is a reference from another shonen protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki. MK's voice in the beginning sounds really childish to me but slowly as the events of s3, 4 and 5 happen it gets more deeper almost as a reference to show how his ‘innocence’ is slowly fading. 

Or, I might be looking to into it. Regardless, tdlr, don't use Nezha's voice in your argument. I've seen grown ass men have high pitched voices. 

Returning to my original point however; if you have an ounce of media literacy and understanding, you should be aware that some character designs are chosen for a reason. Nezha's icon is those two bun hairstyle, and the writers purposely chose it so old fans/readers of JTTW and FSYY and maybe other Chinese/Daoists would be able to recognize him and go, “Hey, that's Nezha from―”

Before I got into LMK, I read JTTW and also saw The Legend of Hei and the Nezha 2019 movie, so I knew him because of the hairstyle. And my first instinct of course was to point out, “That's the dude from TLOH!!” when I saw him. So, the hairstyle was chosen for the recognizability, and I highly doubt as a sign of age.

Even then, LMK Nezha aside, moving on to a different point.

#3) Sources Of Inspiration

The 21st century isn't really the first era where people are taking inspiration from other cultures. As a matter of fact, it's been happening for decades, and it's very prominent in religion, which someone of you would know if you both a) actually did proper research, b) gave a shit about what you're researching and c) studied history.

Hilariously, I have done all three of the above. 

I'm going to use a popular example here with Sun Wukong and Hanuman. Hinduism is supposedly largely considered one of the oldest religions in the world. If you truly think about it, certain Daoist deities are loosely inspired or are versions of Hindu gods, which I'm going to use here with a popular example (and provide a link too).

― Sun Wukong and Hanuman. The earliest Vedic records mention one of the supposed known monkey gods, and their similarities make scholars suggest Hanuman inspired Sun Wukong. Specifically his figure in JTTW, where it's speculated that the author must've had a copy of Vedic (?) hymns. While Sun Wukong does predate JTTW, Hanuman definitely has had some influence on him.

Much, much similarly, the deity known as Nezha, is also loosely inspired/based off the figure known as Nalakuvara, who appears in Hindu and Buddhist mythology, and often appears as a sexual trickster figure in Hindu and Buddhist literature.

Historically speaking, when it comes to religion and myths, something many people fail to understand is that before there was the idea of writing to tell a story, there was the process known as sharing from mouth to ear. Not in a literal sense, but rather that people often preferred to tell stories via word of mouth back then, and as things always go in history, there will be changes. The proof is literally right there. Nezha was originally known as Nalakuvara, yet when transmitted through Buddhist texts, he became known as Nazha, then Nezha. And as such, the Lotus Prince and Chinese god known as Nezha was created. A combination of Nalakuvara and the child god Krishna.

A lot of people will want to jump on that specific point that mentions Krishna being a child god, so allow me to immediately put you down right there.

Ex Hindu here; I did not even know there was a portrayal of Krishna as a child. Up until I stopped practicing Hinduism, I used to worship Krishna as an adult figure. In the paintings and statues my aunts had for Diwali as a child, he was always showcased as an adult.

Ironically, doesn't this apply for the actual god Nezha too? 

When it comes to religion and myths, many of you forget something very important; there is no such thing as a canon iteration. These aren't shows, these are stories from the past told through different people, and passed through many hands. There is no such thing as a canon version because almost everyone had their own version of a myth or story. Terms you may typically apply to fandoms don't apply to fucking religions and myths, and some of you are so chronically online that you forget it.

#4) The LMK Fandom's Chronically Online Attitude

I'm an ex Hindu who still faintly remembers some bits and pieces from my childhood while practicing this religion, especially during the Diwali period, where little me managed to get new information from library books about the gods my family worshipped. I personally didn't like sitting during the priest's (forgot what he was called) chanting though but the funny white thingy we used to have to wear was fun. 

There are some Hindu gods I'm familiar with, like Lakshmi, Kali, Durga and the other versions of her (I still can't recover from the one statue with her in a fish..) Parvati, Shiva, Vishnu, Hanuman (yaah), Rama and Sita, Ganesh (also yah) and of course, Krishna.  I also have watched my fair share of childhood movies and cartoons where the gods were mentioned or present―Karan & Arjun specifically struck the fear in me with Kali 😭😭 holy fuck that movie scared me with the creepy edits jeez T-T. There was also that one cartoon about Rama and Sita”s story specifically Hanuman, and this Indian TV series where this little girl was a loyal devotee to Ganesha (I had no idea rats were one of his uh signature animals holy shit).

I'm rambling here a bit because the childhood memories were fun, but the point I'm going for is though….

I am familiar with these gods I grew up with. And I know about them, maybe not enough but certainly enough to know how to properly respect them from back then. 

And, using Krishna as a prime example; if someone came up to me, or I came across anyone, who argues that the god I know is an immortal child, even though I have worshipped and adult version of him, I'd be so fucking pissed. Krishna is seen as an adult, I worshipped him as an adult, but there are cases where he's a child god, and that's fine! But to have someone tell you that you're wrong about the god you know about because they got some basic information off the internet, undoubtedly, I'm going to be pissed. Especially when it's from a Western fan who has no fucking brain.

So, of course, imagine how devotees of Nezha and Chinese people must be feeling every single time this fandom fucks about with Nezha's age. I saw it myself; people told my friend that a) she was lying and b) her statement is irrelevant just because “I did my proper research, and even if you're Chinese you can still be a proshipper, Nezha's a child deity.”

It's genuinely so fucked up to me how the LMK fandom act towards Nezha's age. You guys will ignore the people who are willing to provide accurate information for the sake of being in the right and accusing people for being a proshipper over a deity they have more experience with than you, a Western fan who has no knowledge of Eastern religion.

It's insane. There are actual Daoist and Chinese who are pointing out the fact Nezha isn't an immortal fucking child. 

You're not only disrespectful, you insane, childish and most importantly chronically online. Nezha the god isn't a fictional character, there's nothing ‘canon’ about him. He's a god who's lived for decades longer than you, and his existence predates yours. People have long sinced worshipped Nezha, and the fact that you can so boldly tell someone they're wrong about the god they've worshipped is so disrespectful.

Do you not realize, as Nezha is worshipped as a child, he's worshipped as an adult? Do you not take into account how absolutely disgusting and horrible you are telling Daoists and Chinese who have stated time and time again the information of Nezha being an immortal child is factually incorrect that they're wrong and know nothing??

I'm repeating my statement; I'm an ex Hindu, but if anyone told me that Krishna's an immortal child too and then point out I'm wrong and my point doesn't matter, I would be seething. And I don't blame my friend who's losing their temper about Nezha's age. 

What amazes me though, somehow, is the fact that. If anyone who was Chinese + Daoist agreed with your claims, as Cole from Twitter once did, none of you would've spoken that way to my friend. But of course, once she points out she's Chinese/ex Daoist and disagrees with you, majority of the opinions switched because, she wasn't agreeing with your headcanon, right? So even though she's Chinese, she's bad because she disagreed with you.

You're all disgusting and fucking weird.

And the fact y'all in this fandom will habitually prove yourselves as hypocrites by attacking people, and then ignoring the ones who are capable of proving you're wrong to cling to a false idea is insane. You guys need some actual help, holy fucking shit. 

Nezha isn't an immortal child. That's a god. If he was intended to be a child in LMK, there would've been statements about it. 

Seperate fiction from religion, and seperate your headcanon from canon and the actual god. If you think this biased headcanon is okay and attacking people that point you out for being wrong is somehow okay, I sincerely ask that you take a break from the internet, and read a book.

No, don't just read a book. Read a history book. Pick up some knowledge, understand how religion and history works. 

Furthermore. The research some of you guys are doing is actually shit, by the way. You guys aren't researching properly if you can pull up with Nezha is 12, thing. If you actually cared about his age, you'd put more effort and actually stop being disrespectful to the people who are giving you the proper information. You only research surface level so you can attack people.

And additionally, stop playing the Devil's advocate. Most of you are just Western fans who think you know everything from reading one book or watching one show. You read JTTW or watch OSP’s videos and suddenly, you know more than an actual Chinese person or Daoist. You look up Wikipedia and think, “Oh yeah, I'll go with this!” And that's it. Most of you at best can provide only three websites at most, and I can bet my ass that these websites with information about Nezha's age was written by a fan who got their information from a shit source.

I love History, and most specifically, I love religion. Not so much the divine aspects as it is about the myths that surround it. Whenever I get into a fandom, I need to find out more about their religion and history. Getting into JTTW, and eventually, LMK, pushed me into a rabbit hole of Chinese myths that I really enjoy learning. But dealing with idiots who think they know more?? It's sickening as shit.

I'd like to think I'm good at literature things because once it's a religion or myth I want to learn everything about it. But I know I don't know everything, and I know especially I have more to learn. I'd never tell someone who is a part or worships the religion/culture I'm learning that they're factually incorrect about it just because I have an opinion and I learnt my info from a random source.

You guys in the LMK fandom are incredibly entitled. The Nezha is 12 controversy is a headcanon, which became worst by that asshat Cole on Twitter. And because so many of you don't want to learn the truth, whenever someone tries to point out and help you, you ignore them or attack them, and deny their heritage.

And honestly?? You guys suck. 

And this is coming from me!! Some of y'all are grown ass adults too!! And yet I'm childish and immature!?!

Brother I literally turned 18 a few months ago, yet I'm 100% certain I'm not throwing a blasted hissy fit over a fucking god the way some of you all who are most definitely adults are doing.

And finally, the one thing that actually does make me laugh is because I'm pretty sure most of you didn't do History classes. One of the most important things my history teacher taught me is; don't use Wikipedia as a source of viable information. Thousands of people are capable of accessing Wikipedia and changing information as they want, and so it's much better to find book solid resources from libraries. I did in fact use Wikipedia too (hypocritical of me yeah) so of course I wouldn't advise using the screenshots I provided from Wikipedia as evidence to the argument, because anything on Wikipedia can be changed. If I'm feeling extra petty I could change something myself to be in the right.

Furthermore, if you dare to bring up only JTTW and FSSY as a plausible argument about Nezha's age, I'm genuinely going to throw hands and fuck your mother. I think my friend also mentioned it in their posts but I'll mention it here too; JTTW does NOT state Nezha's age. I've read JTTW, and aside from Wukong vs Nezha there's nothing else that states Nezha's age. For all we're aware of, Wukong called Nezha a kid just out of spite, and I do it too when I'm arguing with someone. FSSY is the Investiture of the Gods and the ORIGINS!! Do you THINK a book about the ORIGINS of the gods would focus on other aspects about them!!? No!!

I expect some of the arguments I might get are;

"Oh, Nezha [appearances] could be wearing a glamor!" That is a headcanon, as we see nothing in LMK to refute that. Macaque's scar is canon because it's shown within the show. Nezha's appearance has NOT fluctuated since he was introduced. The idea of him using a glamor or illusion is a HEADCANON unless proven by the show. And headcanons are NOT vital.

"But you use Wikipedia too :(" Which I pointed out and made aware of, which is I also doubt that source myself. If any of you did History, your teachers are supposed to INFORM you that using a website is NOT a good idea for backing up information, and it's much better to use books or other trusted sources. In the case of Nezha, I'm trusting actual Daoists/Chinese who knows more about him than I do. It's because I did PROPER research that I even came across a good source of information, aka @ruibaozha, who I'm sure can share more light on this than me! The fact that some of you guys won't even acknowledge them is almost proof that...you're clinging to a headcanon. Jackass.

"But Nezha in JTTW/FSSY are 7/12 and that's where LMK takes it's inspiration from so obviously―" We've seen for a fact LMK does NOT follow JTTW to the letter. Jade Emperor beating Wukong?? Lady Bone Demon being a powerful foe and being trapped in a bunker? Azure even being able to kill the Emperor? Majority of the LMK fandom likes to point out that LMK Macaque and JTTW Macaque are two different people, especially when you claim that Macaque is a bad character because he cannibalized the monkeys. So then, with this logic, JTTW Nezha, FSSY Nezha, and LMK Nezha are also three seperate figures. I swear someone made a post about the differences JTTW and FSSY Nezha have too, but I can't find it so meh. The point still remains though. LMK Nezha are two different people, you're not making any sense to me about that argument. Even then, LMK isn't taking direct inspiration and putting their own twist. Who says anything needs to be accurate??

"The writer only said Nezha's an adult to ship lotuspeach!" Are you faintly aware people, actual Chinese people, have shipped these characters together? Proshippers can come from anywhere but I genuinely doubt every single person is a proshipper because of course, they're aware their god isn't an eternal child. On top of that, in a situation like this another writer would point out that Nezha ISN'T an adult. No one has argued against this claim, so why persist? Where's your logic coming from if not entitlement?

I want this to be the last time I have to talk about Nezha, because I made my blog to write porn and me smooching my favorite LMK characters. I kinda don't really like making discussions like this because that's not the point of my blog.

However...I do like rambling. A lot :)))

Anyways, point blank. LMK fandom needs to grow out of this entitled mindset and stop ignoring the facts from experts. You guys are just being annoying at this point.

My argument isn't really valid tbh, just pointless rambling because I only know basic information. I think you guys should find proper information from accounts online.

Also, if you're gonna argue: don't bring be albeist, racist etc etc. I'm capable of cussing you out without bringing up your mental health, race or identity :)))

[plant-dad-sulu]

@surfrgeek That's an interesting point and I'm willing to give my best guess here, though it may be disappointing. Because, honestly, I do believe that the answer is not super useful to other artists trying to do the same thing. A photo for reference:

I wanted a picture with multiple people in it to point something out, and that it that while all of the characters are recognizable as their original actors, they are not necessarily accurate representations of them (especially Uhura and Scotty). They're not bad representations, but they definitely fit nicely into the style they're drawn in. Once again we can see that mccoy and spock are more accurate than the others, which is because they have very distinct faces (and Spock's ears really help too).

Kirk isn't bad either and there's a few reasons for this.

he's got all the recognizable features i mentioned in my original post. He's got the hairline, the hooded eyes, and he's even got something I didn't mention but thought about which is a slightly larger distance from his mouth to his nose than average. That last one, though, is also related to style as you can see they all have a bit of distance there

this style is MADE for young Shatner. This is the style of Flash Gordon, Bravestarr, He-Man (all three were done by Filmation), shows about men who were "manly" and "brave" and "heroic" and who had a certain look that lent itself to those qualities. There are the same visual qualities that got Shatner hired as the brave space explorer. So what we're looking at is a bridge between animation and live-action based on an agreed upon appearance of the desirable leading man. Like I said, Shatner doesn't exactly have the most distinct silhouette, so an animation style that doesn't have especially distinct silhouettes and is based around brave leading men is pretty much made for him. They can be as generic as they want so long as they have his most recognizable feaures -- hair, eyes, and, of course, his uniform

CONTEXT! The big one! The thing about the animated Kirk is that you actually CAN mistake him for anyone but Kirk, but we don't because he's in exact context. He's got the uniform, he's got Spock at his side, he's got the backgrounds that tell us we're in Star Trek space. To show you what I mean, here's animated Kirk's face photoshopped onto Flash Gordon:

Not that he really looks like Flash Gordon, but if no one told me that was Kirk's face I wouldn't know it. Without the hairline and the uniform, that's just another 70's cartoon man.

"That's not fair, he's got a different jawline" I hear you say. Okay, here he is with the jaw:

not my best work I'll grant you, but I'd never assume that was supposed to be William Shatner if I was watching Flash Gordon. The only thing that might give me pause is his nose and only because a Generic Hot Man generally isn't given a nose like that in cartoons, but it's still passable as Random Hot Guy #7

And of course I can't just not acknowledge the most important point here.

4. The cartoonists are professionals! Not only do they have the training and experience to know how to draw a recognizable character in the style they're working within, but Filmation, the studio that animated Star Trek TOS, was primarily in the business of adapting live-action into animated television, so they really knew how to turn a man into a cartoon. They know which features to keep -- hairline, broad nose tip, hooded eyes -- and which ones to swap out -- eyebrows are black instead of blond and a different, more expressive shape, only lower lips for the men, no eyeshadow at all, add a bump to his nose bridge so it appears wider than if you'd followed the actual line, and so on. But, like I said, they're working with a style that was made for men like Kirk, and when we're dealing with cartoons the feeling of the image is just as important as the accuracy. You can make it look like Shatner all you want to, but that doesn't mean it'll read as Kirk to the audience. You have to depict him with the aura of the character too, the feel of him. If that includes making his eyes narrower and less dreamy then so be it.

I also noticed in looking between the cartoon and Shatner himself that one very clever thing they did to make it Him was they included the asymmetry of his smile. You can see the dip on the lefthand side of his mouth (the viewer's righthand side) which is a nice little touch I actually didn't notice until just now.

All this to say, your Kirks are gonna vary from style to style and artist to artist. The style and artists for TAS were just very very suited to Shatner's Kirk, and it's not necessarily something that would be useful to people drawing in their own styles.

I'm going to make my own post on why shatner's kirk is hard to draw because i'm a star trek fan and an artist and work in theatre/film and am insane, so here we go

For reference:

I've seen someone say before that he's hard to draw because the lighting changes his features too much to pin him down, but that's just not true. If that was the problem then no one in any tv show would be easy to draw and let me tell you it's hard to get nimoy and kelley wrong. The actual reason, in my opinion, is all the soft edges.

A lot of people who complain about him being difficult to draw -- myself among them -- work with lineart, and one thing lineart depends on is defined features. Shatner has obvious and recognizable features, but the combination of the softness of those features with the way they've done his makeup means that drawing those features makes them feel too severe and leaving them out makes him feel like some generic Man.

His lips, for example, are clearly there, he's got really nice lips, but because they have been made up to be essentially the same colour as the rest of his face it feels wrong to the artist's brain to draw them as thick as they really are. To leave them out entirely removes a defining feature that makes this Shatner™ and that creates a sort of paradox in which nothing really looks right.

It's the same with his eyebrows. As we can see in the photo, he has decently thick eyebrows, but while they are defined at the bottom they seem to blend in with his forehead at the top. Partly this is because he's on the edge of blond and partly it's because they've got some makeup in there (foundation or possibly just powder to keep him from being shiny). So we are faced with the same issue: to draw them defined would feel wrong and to draw them thinner would make this Not Shatner.

His nose, too, has very soft edges in a way that's hard to depict with lineart without making it feel more defined than it actually is. His nose bridge is fairly broad and isn't super pronounced, and his nostrils aren't particularly defined from the tip of his nose either, so no matter what lighting you get, the shadows will tend towards softer. Same with his cheekbones and jawline -- they are undeniably There but because of the gradualness of the curves, none of them are super defined leaving the artist with the question of "do i draw this in or do i shade it in or do i leave it unshaded and let the viewer extrapolate?" It doesn't help that he tends to smile tenderly, which doesn't create sharp lines in the face and doesn't create much change to the other soft features.

The most definable and easily depicted aspects of his face, in fact, are his eyes and his hairline. He's got partially hooded eyes that are decently defined by his eyelids, both of which are nice and easy features to draw, and they settle into nice dark shadows by his nose bridge. The only place, in fact, where his nose and eyebrows casts sharp shadows. His hairline is insanely recognizable. The roundness at the corners of his forehead combined with the widows peak make up for the relatively light colour of his hair up top. You put together his hairline and his eyes and it's the most obvious shatner you're going to get.

And because shatner is your typical 60's leading man, his face shape is simply not noteable. Nimoy has a long face and kelley has a very square/round one. Shatner's somewhere in between. He's got a nice silhouette and that's all. But there's a million actors out there with the same silhouette because it's attractive, and so if you don't get those defining features in there -- the ones that are so difficult to draw -- then he just winds up looking generic, and so your brain tells you that's Wrong.

tl;dr soft things are hard to draw, shatner is all soft angles

[clavissionary-position]

gilbert + dining-out headcanons

WARNING: light sexual content

MINORS/AGELESS BLOGS PLEASE DNI

Reservation? All Gilbert has to do is be sighted walking up to the entrance and the restaurant staff are tripping over themselves. Maybe this is why Gilbert prefers to enter establishments through doors unknown even to the staff. No matter how you parse it it's not normal for someone to know random building layouts on this level.

Gilbert holds your chair out for you like a "gentleman", but there are one or two extended pauses before and after, as if he's not used to sincerely doting on someone. Etiquette-on-command is one thing, and certainly something he has mastered from how you've seen him behave at events. When you're the recipient though, he wants to remember how to be human again, and it's a lot more difficult than you'd think.

You're a little chilly while waiting for the food. After a minute you're shivering and readjusting your posture every few seconds. You hope Gilbert won't notice, but he's already taking off his coat for you. You immediately protest, because he'll be even colder without it. He presents a most dangerous smile and invites you over to his side where you both proceed to be relatively warm and relatively toasty together.

You try to get off his lap when the food starts arriving but he keeps you there with that usual unexpected show of strength.

"This isn't exactly what you're supposed to do at restaurants," you answer before he can even ask.

He looks at you with amusement glittering in his eye. "Is that so? That's not what I've heard." Said before practically swallowing your cheek in a sucking kiss. You have to throw your menu up to keep the server from seeing.

It's not until the servers are appending a second table to yours that you realize that Gilbert has already ordered half of the entire menu, having paused only because the lobsters in the tank summoned him to ogle their majesty.

You're bent over beside him when he asks: "What do you think their names are?"

"…?"

"Hahaha. Of course it's not like they've named themselves, but I want to know what you'd name them. I'll tell you my picks too, of course."

It's such an innocent request, but you don't entirely know what to make of it. "It feels weird naming them when they're about to be eaten."

"Is it? Humans name other humans even though they all die in the end." The way he uses the word they catches you off-guard, but he's already listing off his lobster names before you can say anything more.

The lobsters in Gilbertland all have lives and spouses and jobs. His favorite is the runty one that he believes has the grit to survive the outside of the tank. Then he proceeds to order that very lobster. "I'll eat it if you won't."

Back at the table: "I'd like to order off the secret menu,"

"I'm sorry, Sir, we don't have a secret menu."

Gilbert smiles. "Sure you do." He holds up his phone which is open to a Reddit thread. The server can no longer feign innocence and he walks away with about a decade taken off his life.

Gilbert's table manners are impeccable, to the point where you're consciously waiting for him to mess up. He never does. You, however overshoot your mouth with your fork, and Gilbert has to fix your mistakes with his tongue. Up goes the menu again.

He does not hesitate to comment on every dish. His opinion is honest, informed, and sometimes scathing. But he eats everything placed in front of him and makes sure you have ample try of it too. If there's something he especially likes, he all but stuffs it into your mouth in his eagerness to share. He asks you your opinion on the food too, and asks follow-up questions to get the most accurate picture. You start to wonder if he just likes the sound of your voice.

Gilbert seems like he's having a blast, and while you're not exactly sure how you can tell, he seems relaxed in a way that he isn't in other settings. When you point this out, he looks at you with his surprised sprite expression, then snuggles you closer on his lap and buries his face in your neck. By now the other restaurant-goers have just accepted that this is how you two sit and dine.

It's around the time that you're both sniffling from the cold that you decide it's probably a good time to ask for the check. That and all the food is comfortably inside Gilbert. There's not a scrap left. The only indication you have on the amount Gilbert tips is the fact that the server looks like he's gained +50 years to his lifespan.

You're leaving the restaurant, still sharing a coat, listening to the way Gilbert's humming entwines with the night-air, when you realize that the lobster Gilbert ordered was never delivered to the table. Also you've accidentally stolen the menu.

img src 1 2

I'm gonna cry when someone tells me "oh yeah Gilbert hates seafood" or "oh yeah seafood will kill Gilbert", but I have plausible deniability in the fact that the lobster never made it to the table. SURVIVE, LOBSTER-KUN. SURVIVE.

[btsxmalereaders]

☆ Even in zero gravity, I would still fall for you!

♡ pairing — bang chan x male reader

> genre — fluff | f2l

> word count — 4.3k I don't know how this happened

> summary — chan realises he likes you by not being able to use pickup lines on you

> a/n — i saw a tiktok where chan says he's gonna use a pickup line on felix and my love-deprived self ended up writing this lol i hope you all like it

| 05282021

| Please keep making more whosfan accounts and keep streaming WOLFGANG on the correct platforms!

"Hey, how you doin'?" Chan casually says as he enters the kitchen, trying not to grin and start giggling right away. He even places his hands over the table and tilts his head a little in an attempt to look confident. Felix takes his attention away from the food he is cooking and turns on his feet to look at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Good?" He answers with an air of suspicion. "Why?"

Chan finally lets out a small giggle, "Oh nothing, I was just thinking that... I am not a photographer, but I can picture me and you together."

And Felix thinks it's a creative pickup line, funny even, but what ends up making him laugh is the way his best friend bends over to start laughing louder and the way his cheeks turn reddish at the embarrassment he's probably feeling.

"That was a good one, I must say," He chuckles. "Not as great as the Optimus Fine one, though. Even if it made you laugh for ten minutes after you said it."

And Chan can only laugh harder at the remembrance, placing his hands over his slightly aching abdomen and gasp for air when he can't handle it anymore. Felix giggles as well and denies with his head, going back to stir what's on the pot.

"Stays keep getting creative when it comes to flirting with you," He speaks again as the laughter finally dies down. "They probably think you might use it on someone you like, and you're here almost crying because you use them on us."

Chan hums, "Well, I don't really like anyone right now."

Felix turns off the stove and makes a -dramatic- pause, turning again to face Chan as he gets closer and squints his eyes. "I don't believe it."

"What?" Chan laughs. "Why would I lie?"

"I don't know, but I don't buy it. Maybe it's the love songs you have as drafts in your laptop."

"Ah, that doesn't mean I'm in love," He explains and takes a seat in front of him, nervously scratching the back of his neck. "That's why they're still drafts, though. They don't convey the feeling of being in love because I am not in love, you know?"

"Good point, but it still doesn't convince me."

"Why?" He asks again with a chuckle, a little embarrassed by the sudden interest in his - nonexistent - love life. "You know our activities barely give us time for ourselves, so it's almost impossible to have a relationship with someone. At least a formal one."

"You can still like someone and not be with them." Felix shrugs. "So spill it. Who is it?"

And Chan knows he's just messing around with him, but he can't help but feel flustered. "No one! I think so." He almost says it in a whisper; however, Felix doesn't comment on it.

"I still want to listen to those drafts," He stands up and smiles. "Why don't you show me?"

This was not the way Chan expected the conversation to go, so he hesitates a bit about his friend's request. Well, it wasn't unusual anyway, at least Changbin had heard a couple and also helped in the composition of the songs, so having someone else hear them wouldn't hurt. He might even listen to ideas on his part to improve them.

"Okay, I can do that. Next week Y/N will come to the studio and work on something, why don't you pop-up at some point and I can show you?"

Felix nods, "Sounds good! Y/N asked for help for his new album?"

"Yeah, he wants me to listen to some tracks he has been working on." He casually comments, taking his phone from his pocket and leading his attention to the device, so now Felix can't see the slight blush on his cheeks.

"Hm, I haven't seen him in a while. Why hasn't he come to the dorm lately? We should invite him."

"He has been busy with his album, that's why. If you think I leave late from the studio, that's nothing compared to him, he truly spends an ungodly amount of time there."

"So you see him often?" Felix asks with sudden interest, now being aware of how Chan's ears are tinted pink.

"You could say that, yeah. He also spends time on my studio whenever he has the chance. And vice-versa." He shrugs, not finding it odd. You two were really good friends, so it was a normal thing for you to do. "Why?"

"Nothing, I was just curious." He mischievously laughs. "So, next week, you said?"

After a quick glance at the time on your phone, you decide to stand up and stretch your body. It's been a long time since you started working, and you still have a lot to do; and on top of it all, the progress you've made tonight doesn't totally convince you, and that just meant you'd be spending more time in the studio.

As you take your phone again to read your notes, a notification pops up on the top. You weren't supposed to meet up with Chan until later, but in the new message you just received, he tells you that he's free from working on his stuff and you could go earlier if you wanted.

You decide to go; after all, it was nearly impossible for you to concentrate again, and you truly needed to know what does he think about the tracks you sent him a few days ago to finally make an advance. So you grab your laptop after making sure you've saved the changes and the cup of half-drunk coffee, walking out to the long hall and taking the elevator to an upper floor.

The soles of your shoes are dragged across the floor all the way to the studio's door, where you softly knock a couple of times before remembering you already know the password to enter. Your fingers press the buttons, entering code you know by heart at this point, and the door quickly unlocks, making Chan to look your way and greet you with a smile.

"Hey, how have you been?" He sweetly says, seeing you entering the room and placing your belongings on top of the big desk in front of you and taking a seat on the couch behind him.

"Busy. And tired." You murmur and let out a sigh. Chan immediately plays a song at a low volume and takes seat next to you.

"You're still struggling with the track you told me about?"

You nod as an answer and pout, "I am desperate. It's like, no matter how many times I rewrite the lyrics or change the beats, it still doesn't convince me at all and I hate it."

"I get it," He sighs. "But don't worry about it, I'm here to help you out."

And Chan isn't someone who breaks his promises, so the following hours are spent listening to your music, carefully reading everything you've written so far, listening to your ideas and giving you advice.

In between work, he tells you every other joke to make you laugh and feel at least a bit less stressed; and it works wonderfully since he has a long list of dad jokes that take you off guard, plus his laughter is contagious, so not laughing with him is impossible.

It's no surprise that his advice and opinions are so accurate to the point of clearing your mind and helping you out of your creative block. Chan has always been hard-working and so good with words that every time you engage him in conversations, you feel more relaxed and less burdened. No matter what situation you had a problem with, Chan would always help you find the best solution for it. Maybe that's why you admire him so much, maybe it was one of the many reasons why you didn't hesitate for a second to go to him and find security in his presence and words... Maybe it was one of the thousands of reasons why you had romantic feelings towards him...

"Is it better now?" His voice takes you out of your thoughts. He's sweetly smiling at you; he probably realized you got lost on the way his lips were moving as he told you his thoughts on the recent draft of your song.

"Yeah, yes, honestly, you've helped me so much. I don't know what I'd do without you." You smile and go for a quick hug, taking the opportunity to ruffle his hair. Your fingers sliding between his soft and messy curls and making him fondly smile in the process. "You're my hero. I mean it."

Chan chuckles and can't keep his eyes off you as you type something on your laptop and hum. He recalls the conversation he had last week with Felix, and that ambiguous feeling settling on his chest makes him wonder if, after all, his friend was right. He doesn't remember when was the last time he felt the urge to hold someone in between his arms and dearly appreciate, and he wants to know why he smiles and feels his stomach tickling when he sees you.

Maybe it's because you spend a lot of time with him, a voice inside his head says. But he doesn't feel this way with any other friend.

Maybe it's because you have known him for a long time and you just appreciate him a lot, the voice tries again. Maybe. He finally gives in at the last thought. He'd have to figure it out.

His phone buzzes inside the pocket of his jeans and he takes it, knowing for sure it's a message from Felix.

"Felix is arriving in a few minutes." He murmurs, making you take your eyes off the screen. "He wants to listen to some songs I have, is that okay?"

"Of course, it's your studio, silly." You giggle. "I am almost done with this, so if you're gonna be busy I can go back to m-"

"You can stay, if you want to." He quickly adds. "Plus, he says he wants to see you, you know... He misses you." Chan laughs. He wasn't lying, but that wasn't the only reason he wanted you to stay.

"Okay! Sure, I haven't heard from him in a while, either." You nod and keep making changes on the file you have open.

Just as he said, Felix enters the room just a few minutes later, smiling brightly and immediately running to give you a big hug once he sees you.

Soon, the room was filled with laughter and long conversations to catch up on everything around your lives. Felix tells you about the new pastries he baked last week and that he was waiting for you to come around and bake with him, the new video game Jeongin bought and has been playing with Hyunjin, the new songs Changbin and Jisung have been working on and how Seungmin was learning to play piano, playing songs at night for everyone at the dorm.

"And you know? Chan hyung has gotten better at flirting." He laughs as the latter gives him a threatening glare. "He can't stop saying pickup lines whenever he has the chance."

"Ah, really?" You chortle. "You haven't said one in all the time we've been here."

"Well, we've been working, and I've told you many other jokes... Besides, it's not like I come up with them out of nowhere."

"Yes, you do!" Felix says. "You do that all the time, what are you talking about?"

You glance at Chan, who's currently blushing and at the loss of words. Felix, on the other hand, seems to be happy to see what he just provoked. And he'd definitely enjoy every part of it.

"I want to hear one! C'mooon!" You laugh. "Please?"

Chan rolls his eyes and tries to look confident as he would normally do. He clears his throat and thinks of a good pickup line he hasn't used yet.

"Alright," He says and smiles, he even thinks it's gonna start laughing before even opening his mouth, but the very moment he looks into your eyes, it's like he forgot every single word on his vocabulary. "Uhm, are you, no. Did you-? Wait! I forgot what I was gonna say-"

Felix can't help but burst into laughter, and you only look at him, as if you couldn't believe it. Was he nervous or was it because of the fact that Felix was in the same room? Would it have been any different if he weren't there?

You end up laughing at Felix's loud laughter, as well as seeing Chan blushing up to his ears and hiding his face behind his hands, probably also in an attempt to cover the huge grin he now has.

"Wow, that was an epic failure. And I thought you were the biggest flirt on earth." Felix teases him, to which Chan ends up groaning.

He continues talking about other stuff while Chan stops feeling embarrassed, even though he's not able to look in your eyes for the entire time until you have to go back to work.

You close your laptop and stand up, throwing the now empty cup of coffee on the trash bin. After thanking Chan for his help and promising Felix you'd drop by their dorm soon, you walk out of the studio with a smile and feeling your heart beating fast. There was no way you didn't have feelings for him.

"Oh my god, so I was right!" Felix says a few seconds after you left. Chan's first instinct is to cover his face again. "Look who got nervous so suddenly."

"Stop, I- I don't even want to talk about it." He murmurs, feeling flustered and avoiding Felix's gaze. He types something on his laptop and presses the play button, hoping that this way, his friend would forget about what just happened and could focus solely on the music.

And Felix doesn't talk about it anymore. The next few minutes are set by the music coming out of the speakers; the room filling with Chan's voice, singing the love songs that probably no one else would listen to. Felix seems to be concentrating on the lyrics, but Chan's thoughts are solely about you. As he listens to the songs, he is aware of how his skin bristles every time his hands accidentally touch you, the times when your eyes connect with his and you give him smiles every time it happens, all those times when his heart would race when he hugged you.... It's as if all those songs that professed a love he said he didn't feel, started to make sense.

He feels overwhelmed. Maybe if he was aware of it before, maybe if he listened to his heart instead of his head, this wouldn't be a big revelation to him.

Chan pauses the music, and before Felix can ask what's going on, he speaks up: "Why- why did I do that?"

"Did... what, exactly?" Felix asks, confused.

"The pickup line thing!" He blurts out. "I mean, I do that all the time, right? Why did I just forget how to even talk?"

Felix giggles, "Well, have you considered it's because when you use those pickup lines on us you just do it for laughing? To joke around with us, and with Y/N it's because... I don't know, you have feelings for him and it gets real? Like you're flirting with him."

Makes sense, he thinks. He remains in silence for a moment, processing everything that just happened and finally connecting the dots.

"Wait, you just had your epiphany?" Felix jokes. "It took you too, too long."

"I can barely fall asleep, how was I supposed to know I was falling in love?"

"Fair enough." He says, comprehensive. "Are you telling him?"

"Should I?" Chan's eyes sparkle, but he still feels confused. Should he even try? It's been so long since he last felt this way about someone, and given the circumstances of his life as an idol, he felt more reluctant to take the next step. Even more, considering he had just taken the first one by accepting his feelings a few minutes ago.

"I was right all this time by you being in love," He says. "And I am also sure that it's mutual. I've seen you two for a while, you know? I am surprised you didn't come the realization way earlier than this."

Chan giggles. "Alright, I get it."

"But it's up to you now, I guess. All I know is that you deserve to be happy, and you deserve good things... And Y/N is a great person. You should give yourself an opportunity on love."

Chan feels chills as he hears those words. Tonight's even have been too much for him to process, so he'll think deeply about it later.

"Okay," He nods. "Thanks, Lix. You've been really helpful."

"I know, what would you do without me?" Felix laughs. "Now let's keep listening to the songs, I am loving all of them."

Fortunately, the help Chan gave you really made it possible for you to finish the songs in no time. You are just now walking out of a meeting with your managers and the people in charge of the release of the album to set the final details, and you quickly send a message to Chan to let him know the news.

In the meantime, you drop by your studio to clean up a little and maybe write down some ideas for new songs that have been in your mind for a while. After a few minutes, you hear a knock on the door, snapping you out of your thoughts and then feeling confused. You weren't expecting anyone to come. So you slowly open the door, and a smile spreads across your face the moment you realize it's Chan.

"Oh, hi!" You greet him with a hug, immediately letting him in afterwards. He shyly gets inside, taking a seat on a chair and placing a bag on the small table behind him. "What brings you here? I thought you were still busy with you guys upcoming album."

"It's okay, Changbin is working on his stuff now at the studio, so I took the chance to come here and celebrate with you!" He grins. "Congratulations on making your first self-produced album!"

He starts clapping, making you smile; he truly was the sweetest person you've ever met.

As soon as he read your message he went to the nearby cafeteria and bought your favorite drink and pastries, claiming that it was a special occasion and should be celebrated.

"For all your hard work and the success of this album!" He makes a toast as he raises his cup of tea.

Soon you find yourselves immersed in a long conversation about everything that went into creating this album; from when you had the first idea for the concept, to those sleepless nights when he helped you without hesitation. Chan was definitely an essential part of this whole process, so to be celebrating with him right now felt right. It was how it should be.

"You know," Chan clears his throat as another song starts playing. "These past days I've had this thought in my head, and after talking it out with Felix... I am certain about it. And I want to tell you about it. I know I have to."

You frown, feeling curiosity, especially since his semblance has changed to be a bit more serious. He still has a small smile that gives you some kind of tranquility, but another part of you can't help but feel nervous as he gets a little bit closer.

"Of course, what is it?"

"So, uhm" He starts. "Some weeks ago, when Felix came to the studio and we were talking with you... Well, the reason he came was because he wanted to listen to some love songs I've worked on. And, after listening to all of them I figured out why I didn’t like them. I was sure I wasn't in love. That's why, to me, they all sounded plain and didn’t convey the feeling of love... But then..."

He makes a pause, catching his breath as he feels more and more nervous. He knows for sure his ears and cheeks are red right now, and it's impossible that you haven't noticed it. His hands slightly shake behind the table, anxiously looking for yours, but refraining from doing it because he doesn't know how this was going to end. You don't want to interrupt him, so you give him his time to clear his head and talk again.

"While listening to those songs, the only thought I had in mind was you." He finally confesses, with his gaze now fixed on his lap. "I guess that for a while I didn’t realise that I started to, uhm, catch feelings for you. And, it's okay if you don't feel the same way about me. I just really wanted to let you know because the thought has been on my mind for so long and I needed to let it out."

For a moment, the only thing that can be heard in the room is your voice coming from the speakers along with a sigh from Chan, who still didn’t dare to look up and face you.

"So... what you're saying is..." You speak up, feeling incredibly shy, trying to process the words addressed to you.

"What I am trying to say is that I am in love with you."

And you swear you could start screaming to the top of your lungs right now, but you try your very best to stay calm and finally grab Chan's hands. With that, he looks at you again.

"Channie," You softly say, looking at him in his precious eyes and dearly smiling. You don't even know where to begin, but a voice inside you begs for you to give him a hug. So you open your arms and embrace him tightly, feeling instant comfort and love. "I am so glad you feel this way too. I love you too."

Chan sighs in relief, placing his hands on your waist and pulling you closer; his nose pressed against the crook of your neck and closes his eyes, melting between your arms and enjoying every single second of that gesture.

"Wait a minute," You say out of nowhere, so he separates a bit from you and tilts his head. "That's why you couldn't even say a sentence when you tried to say a pickup line?"

You laugh when his expression changes to look ashamed, his lips frowned in a pout and his gaze avoiding your eyes again.

"Try again, I'm sure you're good at this." And Chan's head only comes up with the dozens of lines he has read, but seeing you smiling right in front of him and your arms over his shoulders, he can only think how lucky he is. He can't possibly say anything to you. "Alright, let me try instead."

You hum and recall all the pickup lines you've read and have been told before, "Hm, can I borrow a kiss? I promise I'll return it."

And you expected Chan to start laughing out loud, instead he starts blushing again and giggling, covering his face as he feels nervous.

"C'mon! Seriously?" You laugh and wait for him to stop being shy.

"You make me nervous, give me time." He excuses himself and laughs some more. "That was a good one, and you know what? You can borrow all the kisses you want, as long as you keep your word and return them."

"See? That's what I'm talking about!"

Chan fondly smiles at you, placing his hand on your head to pet your hair for a moment. You close your eyes as he does it, feeling his soft touch traveling all the way down to your chin. He rests his thumb on your cheek and after a few seconds you decide to open your eyes.

"Can I?" He murmurs as his gaze shifts from your eyes to your lips.

"You don't even have to ask."

And just as you give him permission, he breaks the distance between you two. He starts carefully, placing his lips against yours in a tender, chaste way, barely there pressure that makes you exhale through your nose as if you had been holding your breath all along. One of his hands still holds you by the waist, so he takes the opportunity to slide it to your lower back, carefully holding you and sending you shivers to your entire body.

You lean forward barely a few millimeters, but it's enough to feel more pressure over your lips. Chan angles his head and traps your bottom lip, tongue trying to dart out of his mouth to taste more of the sweetness of yours. He, however, contains himself and smiles in between the kiss, instead. He was probably gonna be the death of you.

The deep kiss loses intensity as a minute passes by, so you two end up giving smaller kisses and share smiles, your noses constantly touching in skimo kisses. And you think it's perfect; it's way better than what you one day imagined.

Chan can't miss the chance to make you sit on his lap, so now your head rests over his chest. Your fingers fidgeting the hem of his hoodie and shyly longing to intertwine your hands.

"Hey, Y/N?" He grabs your attention and smiles. "Are you a parking ticket?"

You raise an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Because you've got fine written all over you." He ends up with a muffled laughter.

"Oh no, what did I just get myself into?" You joke around, this time finally making him burst into a louder laughter. "You just declared war on me about pickup lines, you know?"

"Oh, so you got some lines, too? Can't wait to hear all of them, then."

And for the rest of the day you let yourself be held in between the arms of the person you loved the most. Later you'd find the way to flirt with him and make him feel flustered when he least expects it.

[kinged]

@/motherhenna is a whitewasher

"Henna," real name Helen, is a white person who creates whitewashed art and refuses to take critisim for it and acknowledge what she has done wrong at all. She had some of her followers "absolve" her because to them "it didn't look like whitewashing." You can make your own decisions but I'll post some of her art and you can see for yourself

[ID: a picture that is based on a poster for mob pyscho 100. It has Mob, Reigen and Dimple in the foreground with a city scape background. Mob and Reigen are given light eyes, sharp, white noses and sharpe features. Dimple is also given the same nose. End ID]

[ID: A comic of Reigen, Mob, Dimple, Ritsu and Teru. It is all grey scale, except a red blush on all of their noses, Reigen's tie being red, and the tongues that are shown being red. Reigen in the first page is shown setting up a camera and in the second page it shows everyone else posing, with Reigen rushing into frame to try to get into the picture. All of the characters have the same noses as last described, and all of their eyes are eyes that you would see on white characters. They are all drawn in the same angular way as before as well. End ID]

There are more examples of her whitewashing, but they are all readily available on her blog if you would like to see for yourself. I figured that this so far was enough proof of her whitewashing characters.

When she was approached by others, she refused to seriously listen to what they said, and only responded to people who were nice, and supporting her, telling her that they thought she wasn't whitewashing and that they're "sorry she was being harrassed" when she was clearly not being harrassed, just told to take the consequences for her whitewashing that she did not do. She has had problems with her art before, creating genderbends, and creating "diverse" characters that had no real diversity in them. Again, all of these are available on her blog and her art blog, I just wanted to keep this short and concise.

Here is her responding to one critisim of her art:

[ID: Three screenshots from her blog, all responding to an ask. It says "Yikes okay I get that this is a touchy subject, but the venom feels a bit uncalled for. I'm sorry if my use of lighter eye colors on POC characters every now and then makes you uncomfortable. But I simply don't see how these are "exact same features", and I find that a really rude observation."

She then posts four close up screenshots of characters she has drawn. They all have similarly drawn eyes, all lighter colors for the eyes, the same nose but slightly altered, even though three out of four of these characters are supposed to be people of color.

She then goes to say "Here's just a small example of the many different eye and nose styles I draw in, three of which are people of color. I have struggled with drawing "asian eyes" in the past, but I've put a lot of effort into making them work with my style."

She then posts a picture of six different eye references she used, labeled from A-F.

She continues with: "These are all examples of "asian eyes", and shockingly, not all of them are identical! I draw Mob's eyes to resemble the middle left (c), and Reigen's to resemble the bottom left and middle right, as I want to replicate the lazy, half-lidded style he's drawn in the anime.

"So if you don't like my style and don't like how I draw asian people, fine--nobody HAS to like my work, and I do take constructive criticism into account, which is why I've put as much effort as I have into drawing racially diverse characters. I legitimately don't want to make anybody uncomfortable. But I think it's shitty to assume I don't care or only draw the same features, which is simply not true.

"In short, I think it's really presumptuous and exaggerative to call me a white washer for something like this. Again: you're entitled to your opinion, though I do wish you could have come off anon so we could discuss this privately. As you so politely hinted at, I am indeed white; however, I work every day to learn more about what I can do as a creator to make media more diverse and welcoming to non-white people. I realize all this venom is coming from a place of genuine hurt, which is why I'm trying to be gentle in my response, but I do think the vitriol is a bit misplaced. As an olive branch, I can at least offer to keep eye color more in mind in the future and maybe draw Reigen with dark eyes next time. I want to be accommodating, but I also reserve the right to take creative license when adapting anime into my own art style." End ID]

With this, it just goes to show how little she truly cares about drawing accurate representation, she only cares about being called out for whitewashing and being adamant that she is not racist. There are some this that she referenced, like being called white, because she does not have her race in her bio and still to my knowledge has not put it there.

Since getting that first ask, she has had several people come to her to tell her that she was in the wrong, but has not responded to any of them and said that she deleted them because they all just "wanted to pick a fight with her over discourse." She calls all of this discourse, like it is something petty and not worth discussing, when in reality she is being racist and when finally people are addressing that to her, she doubles down and says what she's doing isn't racist, when she cannot determine that for herself.

[wyntereyez]

Moonborn part two

Part two of the mpreg @walviemort prompted for my Strange Enchanted Forest Biology challenge. Don't like mpreg? Feel free to give this a pass!

-------

They had decided to spend a quiet evening on the couch, waiting. Emma was sitting, and Killian was sprawled across the cushions, head in her lap. Emma absently toyed with the tiny curls of hair behind his ear. She could feel his tension, and wished that answers weren't so slow to come.

They'd gone to see Dr Whale that morning. It was the third day of Killian waking up nauseous, and both were now certain it wasn't just a stomach bug.

Whale had been both stunned and elated by the unexpected challenge, because he hadn't heard of a moonborn birth within his lifetime. He'd had Killian do another pregnancy test, which had again come up negative. Whale had been undaunted, explaining that Killian's hormones might be different enough that the test couldn't accurately read it. He'd taken a blood sample and promised to rush testing, but warned that even then it could be several hours.

Which was why they were together on the couch, "Parks & Recreation" running quietly in the background. Killian didn't like most sitcoms - they relied too heavily on pop culture and humor Killian was unfamiliar with - but he enjoyed the show's quirky characters.

He looked read to fall asleep despite his anxiety, an uncharacteristic weariness that only confirmed his condition in Emma's mind.

And then his ringtone went off, startling them both. Killian's phone was on the coffee table, and he snagged it with his hook and pulled it towards him. Emma took it, answered, and put it on speaker for him.

"Have you finished your tests?" Killian demanded, before Whale could even say hello.

"I have," Whale said, unperturbed. "You have a very low quantity of hCG in your blood, too low for a pregnancy test to pick up, but the fact that it's there at all confirms that you are indeed pregnant. Um... congratulations?"

Killian was tense under Emma's fingers. She gently rubbed his back. When Killian didn't respond, Whale continued. "I'd like you to come back in tomorrow, and we'll give you a check-up and do a sonogram. That's -"

"The picture of my insides, aye, I know what it is," Killian said.

"Will a 10 o'clock appointment work for you?"

"Aye," Killian said shortly, and ended the call before Whale could say more.

Emma shut off the TV; the funeral for Li'l Sebastian could wait. "Are you all right?" she asked softly.

Killian sat up slowly. "No," he said with a watery chuckle. "I'm bloody terrified. This is... We haven't really talked about children, and now..." He brushed his hand through his hair.

"We're going to be parents," Emma said slowly, trying out the words. Even though she had known it was a possibility, now it was REAL.

"Aye," Killian agreed faintly. "To an ill-omened child born to a man."

Emma took his hand in both of hers. "Killian... it'll be all right. Well, pregnancy sucks, to be honest, but it'll be all right. I'll be with you all the way. And so will my parents. This child isn't cursed. You'll see," she said fiercely.

Killian groaned. "Your parents...do we have to tell them?"

Emma laughed. "Killian... they're going to catch on eventually! It's not something you can just hide!"

Killian grumbled, but smiled. "I suppose you're right."

"We don't have to tell them right away. We'll take some time to adjust, and make sure everything is going well. It's traditional to wait until the second trimester to tell family, anyway."

Emma pulled him close, and felt him trembling. "You'll see," she said softly. "This child will be loved and protected by so many. It's been so long since the birth of a moonborn; who can say if there's any truth to them being bad luck?"

Killian pulled back from her, and met her gaze with large, sad eyes. "But it is true, Swan. I know because I'm moonborn."

[lovenikki-diary]

1. It does not depict them negatively at all, just stereotypically. Stereotypes are based in factual observations. Stereotypes are not inherently negative. (Ie a Scottsman depicted wearing a kilt is an average stereotype. A lot of them do. No harm done. However, a Scottsman depicted having relations with a goat is a negative stereotype and makes the culture look bad even though it was never a large portion of the population.) Using bows, farming, and living in teepees in a traditional, simple lifestyle is not a harmful stereotype in the slightest. It's more or less accurate to the majority of tribes. It's not going to encompass every tribe, no, but in one chapter of a little game, they want to cover the biggest picture they can.

2. AGAIN. "Primitive" and "Wasteland" are not insensitive or derogatory. They are ACCURATE descriptions. There is ZERO mal-intent behind using those words. Middle America is a wasteland. Literally. Primitive by definition, means, quote, " relating to, denoting, or preserving the character of an early stage in the evolutionary or historical development of something." It LITERALLY means they don't use modern technology or machines. WHICH THEY DON'T. It is a preservation of past cultures.

3. They cherry-picked LITERALLY EVERY OTHER CULTURE IN THE GAME. Chinese, Japanese, English, American, Middle Eastern, Romanian, Dutch, Gaelic, etc, so why is the end of the world when it's done to the Native Americans? Nothing is depicted negatively. In fact, the only thing said about the clothing in dialogue is how beautiful it is.

4. "Stereotyping their culture for the sake of cute outfits is degrading." IT. IS. A. DRESSUP. GAME. It has nothing to do with history and accuracy. It is set in a fictional land where ASSASSINS WILL NOT KILL YOU IF YOU DRESS BETTER THAN THEY DO. The elements are not quirky, they're relatively factual. Native people used bows, wore animal skins, made tools from wood and rocks, and lived in hide teepees, mud huts, or straw huts. Also, the head dresses aren't on white people, they're on Asians. Nikki is Asian. Bobo is Asian. The vast majority of the cast of this game is ASIAN.

5. YES. THE INTRODUCTION OF TUDA BEING FED UNDER THE TABLE IS ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. THAT'S THE POINT. He's the Chiefton's son and he's had to sink so low just to survive because an evil woman has cast him out of his home, poisoned his father, and his whole tribe refuses to listen to him. It's supposed to show how bad things really are for this specific character and to give the player/main characters a reason to want to help this poorly treated boy and get him back his rightful position of future chief. No one else in the tribe is bad-off. They're happy and having music festivals. It's just Tuda, because Tuda is supposed to be in turmoil.

6. I have never once seen a Native American complain. The only people I've seen comments from are white people or white people who claim they're 1/64th Cherokee. In fact, my husband is 95% Native American (Chitimacha and Houma) and he was absolutely over the moon to see Native depictions in a Chinese game.

7. Im sorry you feel such animosity, but I honestly couldn't care less if you blocked me. This is Tumblr, not some important networking system.

Even after all this, I don't have anything against you. I wouldn't block you. I enjoy your content and, honestly, we never have to talk about this again. I just think you're blinded too much by misplaced morals to understand factual situations and separate a fictional clothing game from reality. No one takes this as actual depictions. They shouldn't. It's a GAME. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be enjoyable. At the end of the day, everyone steps away from their phones and understands that this game isn't a true depiction of anywhere. It isn't a true depiction of Asia. It isn't a true depiction of Europe. It isn't a true depiction of the Middle East, and so-on and so-forth.

Oh oh oh on the live nikki game: I haven't played the next chapter yet. :(

The artwork is kinda nice but they literally illustrated an old Native American tribe area with tipis and, though the characters are cute and all, it all feels… I dunno… Like something from the first Peter Pan movie? They also use terms in the chapter like “primitive” and whatnot… It bothers me a little more than it probably should, it is just a game but it seriously feels extremely lazy and under researched when we get a ton of outfits listed under “kimonos” and “Chinese classical” and “Chinese modern” and “cheongsam” and we even get hanboks and the clothes are done respectfully and beautifully and with so many customization options but then we get “dress like a rock star in this area and get these primitive people to play their drums for us!!! :D” It really��� Just brushes me the wrong way, ya know?

Sorry I’ll stop ranting now but that’s kinda more or less what you’ll see if and when you get to it. > 3 >