#dark skin brown people need more representation

[desigoblinacademic]

For all my dark skin desi girlies:

You're the most gorgeous people ever. You have skin that turns into gold under the sun. Be proud of it.

[beevvy]

Guys

I was thinking up some dark world forms for the lu cast and came up with some good ones plus backstory and reasons supporting my choices

I wanted to keep them all as mammals for the continuity (legends bunny and twi's wolf are both mammals) and its just easier to create limitations for myself to be more creative!

((and i tried to pick animals that existed in their original games,

But some games ( zelda I & II, I'm looking at you ) didn't really have any passive animals to choose from, so i'm following this rule only for some/most of them))

here are the results: ( warning: very long)

Twilight:

Wolf

(kinda obvious, no explanation needed)

Legend:

Pink rabbit/hare (he seems more rabbit/hare then bunny in my mind?) but i thought, what if i had to choose a realistic animal?

I think he would still be a rabbit, but an albino rabbit, his eyes red and with white fur, at least thin enough that you can notice a little pink from his skin to have a slightly visible pink-ish hue.

Time:

(ghost?) Wolf; i think being a ghost wolf after death, he probably still have the same form when he was alive too?

he never uses it in any game he's in (like Oot or Mm) other then Twilight Princess (taking place after he died)

I couldn't find any better leads or clues suggesting any other form, so I'll stick with this, maybe for a realistic animal he would be some kind of like timber wolf ( just a big kind of wolf) that is a golden/ light brown colour with white underbelly.

Hyrule:

(the idea that created this list in the first place...)

Sheep!; the sheep would have brown wool like Rulies hair, (my hc is his hair is curly, or at least wavy, like a sheep, but anyway) he's innocent and quiet like a sheep, and the main selling point: the blood of a lamb. Lambs blood was often used in (very) olden times, on an altor as offerings to God.

(also link in these games was originally religious ( specifically Christian), and the lamb is a religious symbol( Christian at least))

Hyrules blood is sought after by Ganons underlings as a way to resurrect Ganon, using hyrules blood as an offering / way to resurrect ganon, the reincarnation of a god, in a ceremony on an altor.

Wind:

Winds animal was a harder one to choose because there arent much mammals in his games, other than the ones you dont see but are mentioned or hinted at existing still even after the great flood.

Cats, think about it, he makes those cat meowing noises when hes stalking that girl at night in Wind Waker., so they must exist for him to know what meowing is ( there might actually already be a cat in one of his games but i never played phantom hourglass (😭) and haven't seen any in my playthroughs of Wind Waker)

Supporting facts to back up my reasoning: He was taking a nap during the day, even if it was his birthday. Big black eyes that are vaguely cat-like, and just the generally goofy feeling i get from him in-game and especially LU. ( HES SO SILLY AND CUTE AND AAA-)

Wild:

Highland Fox; sometimes people chose a deer for his dark world animal form, while i think it fits, i wanted his form to have more resemblance to Wolfie (who is in Botw, as a companion) sort of a cool representation of his mentor/guide?

Foxes and distinct enough but also close enough to fit the bill of 'close enough' (and foxes are more on the dog/wolf side than cat side, apparently)

Also, highland foxes exist in Botw + Totk, and the bright orange of their fur is similar to Wilds blonde hair, in its bright, almost unnatural boldness, opposite the lush green of the landscape.

Warriors:

Lion; fights in groups, lion mane is like his blue scarf, golden fur is like his hair, you know that like personified stereotype that lions are egotistical and self centeredness? reminded me of him.

sorry for the short answer, i don't know much about Wars, never played *any* of his games (😭😭😭) so I'm just going of LU, and the majority of what people portray him as in the fandom ( I DON'T OWN ANY OF HIS GAMES NOOO-)

Sky:

Remlet; Sky seems to like them, their native to his home, Skyloft, and they nap all day. They are cute and cheerful, and when their angry, they can be vicious and frightening, like Sky.

Realistic animal: Siamese, they share lots of similarities with remlets, their light brown and dark chocolate fur match and the bright round eyes are identical to a remlets.

Four:

i would've chosen Picori, but thats not really an animal, thats a whole race of small centient beings! so I'll have to go with a chipmunk.

Small, lives in forestry, multiple different colours, has a tail like minish, dexterous small hands good for holding things, smart, agile, and similar in shape to Minish.

woah. just let my acoustic ahh ramble for a second there.

[sweetiebriar]

I really shouldn’t get involved in this debate because, first, it's utterly absurd and immature, and second, it will likely earn me a few enemies and drag me into conflicts, which I despise more than anything… Yet, I can’t stay silent. My anger is boiling over because creators and writers like myself are being bullied by so-called fans with narrow-minded perspectives, forcing us to bow down to politically correct foolishness just to be able to continue our work in peace.

¡Swearwords Alert!

What the fucking, shitty, bloody heck is wrong with these people?! This is a work of fiction—a story set in a fantasy, medieval Slavic world. The rules of the modern, real world do not apply here. Why on earth is representation being demanded in a context where it makes no sense?

¡Swearwords Alert End!

For those who’ve wisely avoided this whole debacle—and I congratulate you, keep doing so in the future if possible, let me fill you in: our dear RC team, along with the author of "The Thunderstorm Saga," Alexander D., were recently pressured (and in some cases harassed) into changing the main character sprites, which originally consisted of various elven races—forest, moon, and dark elves—into human representations (Asian, Caucasian, African, Latin, etc.).

AS: I didn’t get involved in the uproar about Volot’s skin tone in "And The Haze Will Take Us" being a player choice, because frankly, it was ridiculous for a portion of the community to react negatively, as if RC’s decision was some kind of racist move. Let me remind you, we’ve had this kind of choice before, like in "Vying For Versailles" with King Louis, and no one complained. Also, if you weren’t aware, book covers are often altered in their Russian versions. A main character who is Black or Brown in the American/European editions is frequently depicted as white in the Russian versions, except in rare cases where the character’s ethnicity is central to the story, like in "Garden of Eden" or the "Kalis". This change is due to the narrow-mindedness of the Russian community, and RC makes these changes to avoid backlash from its largest player base. Perhaps the decision to change Volot's skin was made with the Russian market in mind, and they decided to keep it consistent for all players. But frankly, I don’t care, and I don’t want to know.

Now, back to the main issue:

I’ve been a writer for most of my life, and I cannot stress this enough: a writer’s vision is theirs and theirs alone. While we might choose to revise certain aspects of our stories or find new ways to tell them, the opinions of readers and fans should never dictate those decisions. We are the creators of the content you enjoy. You read our work because you appreciate our vision. If we start crafting stories the way you want, it ceases to be our vision, and the magic is lost. Instead of venturing into the unknown, the story becomes a mundane reflection of everyday life. People read books to escape reality, not to mirror it.

Frankly, I find the elven races in this story quite representative, if you ask me—certainly more so than in LOTR (And remember the backlash about the Black dwarf queen? How ironic…).

- Forest Elves One have very fair skin, which can be linked to Caucasians. The Forest Elves Two can be more compared to Mediterranean people.

- Moon Elves One & Two, with their warm, brownish skin, can be connected to Hispanic or Latin people.

- Dark Elves, as you might expect, are associated with people of African descent, with group One being darker than group Two.

Sure, not every community is represented here—where are the Asians, the Eastern Europeans, the Arabs, Indians, and Indigenous peoples? There are more than just three skin tones, after all.

But this debate is utterly ridiculous. This is a work of fiction set in a fantasy realm. These characters are elves, not humans, and they don’t need to represent human diversity. The vast majority of players enjoyed the story as it was, and do you know why? Because they chose their main character based on who they found most appealing, not because the character resembled them. Contrary to what some believe, representation isn’t always necessary in fiction. Yes, there were fewer Black and brown-skinned characters in the past due to racism and segregation, but today, in a diverse and cosmopolitan world, young writers incorporate their modern perspectives into their work, and people generally don’t complain about representation anymore. So stop making a fuss over something that was never an issue to begin with. Let writers do their work. Criticising elves for not being "human enough" is not constructive; it’s just nonsense. And if you want to argue with me over this, don’t bother. I refuse to debate anyone over a fictional world, and especially over a game.

[chloeangelic]

Since hot slut - Seeking What is Desirable Joel - got BUTT ASS naked immediately in someone else's guest room with ladybug.....

Can you describe in a bit more detail what he looks like naked?

*Disrespectfully

Ask and you shall receive - everything under the cut~  

seeking what is desirable Joel - body and 🍆 HCs!

Rating: 18+ Warnings: Discussions about dick and cock and height/size difference kink, references to our lord and savior Manuel Ferrara

I see him as being about a foot taller than Ladybug - I’m 5’8 and my bf is a foot taller than me so it’s more about Joel being tall than Ladybug being short or small. He’s generally a big guy, and - not to ruin anyone’s immersion so LOOK AWAY if needed - but when I write for them I tend to visualize them as like 5’5 and 6’5 tbh. She's definitely not petite by any means, not skinny or small, just sort of average height. Jeremiah is about 6'1 I think.

Let’s do this head to toe, shall we? This Joel can be read as show or pixel Joel, however his nose and hair are more consistent with show Joel cause he’s my man. He has very broad shoulders, muscular arms and chest, definitely a dad bod cause he’s softer around the middle and has a solid insulation layer so nice soft tummy but if he were to flex when you poke him, you’d feel some abs under there. Nice chest hair, mix of brown and gray, not too thick but not sparse either, just a solid layer you can see his skin through. Normal amount of dark arm hair as well. We’ve all seen that screen grab of Ramon from that pornstar first date thing, of the tummy and the thigh grab? That’s a good representation haha 

He has a very nice and thick back, wide lats and nice lower back muscles. Can definitely see his traps well when he’s wearing t-shirts. Some veins on his forearms but mostly pronounced when he’s working or at the gym. 

He’s def the type to unintentionally have kind of a juicy ass and thick quads from working out - not as juicy of an ass as Manuel, however, but I have taken a lot of Seeking inspo from the video of him and Naomi Swann, especially for ch 1 (I sometimes watch that video just to get into the headspace to write for them lmfao, would recommend). He has hairy legs, the hair growth tapering off a little mid-thigh and up, and big feet. Probably shoe size 14/15.  

Dick and cock wise… Let’s see. He probably used to be in the habit of trimming his pubic hair but stopped giving a fuck a while before ch 1 - it’s mentioned that he looks like hasn’t seen a razor in a few months. It’s dark, thick, but definitely not too long. When Ladybug enters the picture, he goes back to slight trimming so it's still full coverage, still thick, perfect for rubbing against, but not long enough to wrap around your finger entirely, you feel me?

I’d say he’s 8.5-8.7” fully hard, very thick and proportional from base to tip with a very slight taper at the end, has a few thick veins that bulge but he’s definitely not covered in them, I think they mostly just run along the bottom half of his length. Proportionally sized balls - I know some people are into massive balls but one time my friend showed me a pic of a guy with massive balls and it honestly just freaked me out, like, his entire bulge was 90% BALLS and I was not into it. I see him as a shower tbh, like he’s probably 5-6 inches soft. His erection is so heavy that it doesn't stand out 45 degrees from his body like a lot of dicks do, I think it probably just sort of chills around parallel with the floor if he's standing.

New chapter on Tuesday !!!! Enjoy !!

[seireitonin]

Some Jane hcs?

🖤Yes :3 luv her 🖤 (will be going off Jane R, the canon one not Jane A. I love the lesbian representation Jane R is! :) Also some of these are gonna be canon)

Jane was a woman with a normal life

The two suburban parents, normal school life, normal love life

Just normal and happy

Her and Mary met in high school

Mary was a cheerleader and Jane being her best friend at the time watched and supported her

Jane didn’t realize she was a lesbian till she saw Mary with a boyfriend in high school and got extremely jealous and didn’t understand why

And Jane never liked a boy before but she knew she felt something for Mary

When Mary and her boyfriend broke up Jane and her cuddled as Jane comforted her and they shared their first kiss

They stayed together ever since then

Even though it was the 90s/ 2000s when they started dating most people accepted them

Jane’s parents included

They got married as soon as they were able to

Jane’s normal life continued with Mary until her parents were killed by an at the time 19 year old Jeff

Jane was absolutely devastated and wracked with grief

She stayed in bed not moving for months

Some days she just cried and screamed and nothing else

She also got paranoid

What if he tried to hurt Mary next?

How could Jane let that happen?

She couldn’t

So she did research on Jeff like crazy

It was really unhealthy

Also took self defense classes and made Mary take some too

But with all Jane read about this guy, she knew that still wouldn’t be enough

She wanted to avenge her parents, the police were useless in helping

She wanted to protect Mary, Jane can’t bare to loose the love of her life

So what’s the answer to those problems?

Take a risky government observed and produced experimental drug called Liquid Hate of course!

She went into the facility blank faced, telling them they could experiment on her

Inject her with as much as they needed

Make her stronger and she would do anything for them

She was willing to throw away her old life completely for revenge

Jane didn’t care. In her mind any chance she had at a “normal life” died with her parents

She would be too afraid, too full of grief and pain and paranoia to live a normal life and move on

So she would become a weapon to protect the one person that matters to her. Mary.

It’s all she could do

And that’s exactly what happened

Her transformation was slow and painful

Pre transition she had dark hazel eyes and really dark brown hair

Now she has all black eyes and lips, pale skin and black hair

When she was injected with it it’s like all her anger came out full force for 2 minutes and she lost all control of herself

She destroyed everything in the room, lashed out at the scientists, injuring a lot of them

They had to sedate her and strap her down

When she came to, she apologized and is more or less acts like her normal self

She looked in the mirror

Her old life was truly gone

They told Jane all about her new powers which include

Enhanced strength and speed, vocal mimicking, shape shifting, healing, regeneration and regeneration of limbs, drug and alcohol tolerance and almost infinite stamina (this is canon btw)

Jane was now an assassin for the CIA and FBIs Justice Department (also canon)

And she didn’t even tell Mary

Jane went home and Mary screamed until Jane calmed her down

“Mary, it’s me! I-“

“What the fuck did you do?!”

“What I had to do to keep you safe.”

“And that is?!”

Jane explained everything

“What…how…you…”

“I know it’s jarring okay? But it’s still…me. I understand if you can’t love me because I look like this. I understand if you want to go. But just know I truly did do this for you and for myself. I have to protect you and avenge my parents.”

“You are so impulsive and stupid! But you’re still as beautiful as ever. You know I’m never going anywhere.”

They shared a kiss in the kitchen

Jane was so lucky to have Mary

Jane takes out any criminal asked of her and ones not asked of her too

Rapists, serial killers, p3d0s, abusers

Anyone that society doesn’t need

But her ultimate goal is to kill the man that killed her parents

Jeff the killer

She won’t stop until that happens

Jane doesn’t kill or hurt innocent people

She wouldn’t dream of it

Why be like the man she hates?

Jane’s actually really nice despite everything

She can be very sarcastic and snarky too though but can you blame her?

She’s still violent towards criminals though

Like extremely violent

They remind her of Jeff and she calls it “practice” for when she finally gets her hands on him

His death will be slow and painful

Jane has a sister and other surviving family members that she hasn’t seen in a while (how could she even begin to explain her life now)

Jane is 38 years old

Born September 1st 1985

Jane is Wasian (white and Asian, Japanese specifically) but looks more Japanese

She kinda looks like a type of vengeful Japanese spirit called the Onryō and has come to like it

people think she is one sometimes

Especially when she makes weird ass noises to freak out her victims/ mess with them

Jane really relates to Onryō due to the stuff that happened in her life

Her mother would often tell her stories about the Onryō especially around Halloween

Jane finds it ironic that she kinda looks like one with her pale skin, tall stature and long black hair

Especially when she wears white since Onryō are often depicted in white burial kimonos

She especially feels like one when she comes out of the darkness, quietly and slowly as if she’s floating her black eyes looking at her victim through the dark

She specifically relates to some parts of the story of Lady Owia. A man ruining Jane’s life, “killing” her old self and the life she knew, making her a vengeful person and leaving her “disfigured” and looking like an Onryō

Sometimes she still gets upset and will scream and cry at night in the middle of nowhere, making her look and sound like a spirit in pain

Despite the fact she’s still alive she sometimes feels like she died with her parents

Maybe she is just an Onryō in a humans body

She can speak fluent Japanese thanks to her mom

Jane understands Kagekao fully

Both of them being gay Japanese people who have pale skin and are good fighters is really coincidental

Kagekao thought Jane was a spirit or something supernatural due to the grief and vengeance coming off her

But to his disappointment she’s just a cool looking human

Jane really doesn’t like him

He’s a serial killer who kills people for shits and giggles like Jeff and she can’t stand that

Jane knows he’s a demon because he told her and Kagekao thought Jane wouldn’t understand him

They both also have voice mimicking powers and they use it against each other all the time

Jane is jealous of his parkour skills though, she wants to get better at it

When Jane is in a violent mood or in a fight black veins will appear all over her body, but it’s most noticeable oh her face and especially on her temples and forehead leading into her eyes as the veins pump and bulge with blood. Very unsettling to look at.

Jane is usually 5’10 but if she wants to look more intimidating in a fight she will make herself taller like 6’3-6’5

Jane is romantic/ trad goth and listens to the music since she was born in the 80s and grew up in the 90s it’s nostalgic for her

Jane wears black everyday because she thinks all other colors look bad on her

She wears white to sleep though

Jane’s eyes are pitch black so you have no idea where she’s looking or what she’s looking at

It’s kinda scary when she looks at you especially if it’s dark

But she’s pretty so it’s okay

Loves Japanese comfort foods and will cook them a lot like really good ramen, mochi ice cream, udon, kastu curry, tempura and hot pot

It reminds her of her mom

Jane’s kinda happy that she has long shiny black hair like her mom now

If you were ever gonna run into a Creepypasta and live, Jane’s definitely your best bet

Likes to shapeshift to look normal to take Mary on dates

Wears black dresses when she’s not fighting but when she is, jeans and a sweater all black of course

Sounds like Amy Lee from Evanescence when she sings

A smooth soothing voice when she talks

Lived with Mary in their home till she got roped in with all the other pastas (but that’s a completely different hc list completely)

Since Jane works for the government she’s rich. Like really rich

So she’s always clean and put together

Can walk in heels like a pro

Jane’s a queen and I love her

This isn’t proofread I made this at 3 am sorry lol

[daystarvoyage]

Luz Shouldve Been Dressed By A POC (Person Of Color Or Luz Batista To Show Better Cultural & POC Reprensation)

Hello Tumblers, This is kyoko cane of daystar voyage, as a proud black person who’s genderqueer who makes content creations On Pop culture such as Cosplay & drag, I do talk on Animation & Family Entertainment So glad to get this topic cause what we see on tv can be put into reality, Now (Disclaimer)

I will not accept hate on the daystar voyage anyone who can’t handle different opinions, ship whatever (unless legal) if not walk out or off this spaceship into a asteroid belt and black hole

Don’t hate appreciate.

One more thing I do love my girl Luz pilot outfits, there goals however wish they had time to put patterns into her clothes often, like I said in my hootview

However the female cast had a better closet then her, and I did discuss that in my video, for some time they did make her dress in a shonen archetype, (which I made a post about her hair) or an spicy Latina Which of of course personality wise too, (cause she’s made to be the gender non confirming character) but excuse all that cause in a way, the staff shoulda hired someone whos Either Afro, African American Or Latin to dress this girl.

Oh boy now that im done rewatching The Owl House there’s so much in store soon anyway,

I do feel its time to start this short post, I have a fashion hootview which is the intermission so there’s still a lot to come meantime, finished my rewatch of The Owl House as an animation lover,

Lets discuss this topic at hand,

2020s animators need to take notes on costuming & style tips to make characters stand out in environments and to treat there characters better in fashion or color coordination,

yes you can have a color coded character and not rely of a main palette to be able to bring out there features & complexion,

Animators need to take notes, how to properly show kids & there audience that good clothing could be put onto a character of any occasion & not have to rely on sexuality or Stereotype (Disney Programs have a hit or miss on certain shows.)

while proper fashion can do justice, that goes into making a franchise and making a product to sell for marketability in retail & consumers.

if the character or product can be sold with a great design if executed flawless by character, design, costuming, and the app that comes within the series,

This goes to the fandom cause there might be future artistsor small indie creators reading this who probably never read, or look up fashion brands, magazines either hot couture or brand clothing and don’t have that knowledge But that shouldn’t stop you from being able to experiment with different color palettes on what goes into your art.

The fandom needs a wake up call that not only is everything’s perfect and people have the right to critic and criticize a show or any form of art.

cause fandoms today has a self righteous way of bullying others of different opinions and ostracizing others and ithas to stop,

Here’s a quick tv trope in color-coded characters, & a Toonsmag article on fashion in animation.

Marketability is a important factor, industries rely on that to make the money off of that series, be a cartoons or projects,

it impacts the character and representation that kids see when they purchase said item and teaching kids, see good representation within media can matter if done right.

Especially POCs if executed well however

DONW BELOW in some cases miraculous ladybug fumbles it hard, at one point had all the poc of color (EXAMPLE limited to alya and nino if not max be lighter tones on there merch.)

You know lighting character's skin tones like Alya and other brown or dark skin characters, on their products & merch (bad ethnic representation award goes to them).

Not to mention the whole Vas underpaid controversy, that’s been discussed countless times.

(still disappointed about there business decisions)

I appreciate the love of anyone who can view and read this article if you gotten this far,

thanks for reading make sure to check my Tumblr and YouTube vlog cause so much of this particular series I’m gonna debunk

The show had a-lot going for it however feel flat including in the fashion department along miraculous ladybug that’s another thing to be discuss OH BOY so anyway

here’s an example of the video game art of Guilty Gear showing great costume progress years later

always educate yourself cause I do want my platform to show variety on what I offer creatively and semi-education-wise to be able to let people be inspired and that you don't need to follow trends, thank you very much seeya on the next space voyage.

[moliathh]

do you think that integra being a woc and alucard being white impacts the dynamic at all

also i think i saw this in an old tweet of yours but idk why but a lot of my favorite ships are a woc and a “white devil�� like you said IDK IDK i need to examine this pattern 🤧🫣

GIGGLE 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 okay okay hehehe i need to calm down to actually write about the first clause. So for first question let me divide this into two parts, first point is the impact within the plot and second is how their relationship is perceived by viewers (from my perspective).

Point one, her ancestry didn't impact their dynamics enough within the context of Hellsing i fear. Actually her ancestry contributed almost nothing to the plot and was not even a universally known fact. There are people who didn't know she was supposed to be biracial at all 😭😭 Can't even blame them, her ancestry wasn't explicitly stated in the manga nor the OVA

And then on anime adaptations, they colour her kinda grayish 😐 this is VILE work imo. Like on their character sheets (2001) Anderson is even darker than Integra? what the hell 🤦

Integra's character closely tied to breaking social norms, it should've affect the plot more that she is the opposite of an old white man yet she is holding the leading position over these council of old white men. I admit my affection would've reduced if she was a white character.

Which bring us to second point, I was very fond of the fact that she is a dark skinned woc. We don't have enough woc representation let alone a woc mc, given much authority and written with much care! It certainly changed the dynamic of A/I for me. There was one post i saw on twitter or maybe tumblr, calling it "Hellsing got a brown girl enslaving a white man" I CRACKED TF UP OH GOOD GODS yes that is one (a big one) of the reasons why I like Alucard x Integra. They constantly subvert stereotypes.

A lot of times I had lost count, black/brown dark skinned woc characters are mostly masculinized or pushed asides. It is REFRESHING to see a character of this category not only loved and devoted to but also seen as the "Good" aligned character. Stereotypically, within a ship of said category with a white or light coloured skinned character, the one with darker skin tone will be written as "barbaric/slave/exotic/aggressive/monstrous/unreasonable/protector/lower-class/inappropiate" etceras and aligned with "Villain" side in contrast to the character with lighter shade, who oftenly was depicted with lighter physical appearance and contrasting traits 🫤 I do not like such tropes and i barely see any depiction that could execute this fairly. Much times these depictions are inspired by racism and colourism. However, with Alucard and Integra it is reverted. Alucard is the more monstrous, physically aggressive one, while Integra was seen with higher status and a more good-aligned personality.

I see that many people does not like seeing depiction that affiliate Integra with femininity. I like those a lot tho. Two things, I like feminine presenting characters and I like when the stereotype above is subverted. Yes maybe that is why i often leans towards ship where woc are loved and worshipped. But I also like when ships have some rocky aspect to it, like a contrasting relationship between a more beastly (preferably lighter shade, as i had mentioned i am uncomfortable with the stereotype) character with a more morally righteous character. Hence the "begone white demon" joke, as some of my current favourite ships consisted of a pure hearted dark skinned woc heroine and a little evil pale freak of a twink: alutegra for an instance, and there is also snowbaird and lukahyuna, and gelphie and timebombs not really but almost counted... hihi 😭😭 i also love jacela, jaymelvik melvika, laenyra, richette, kathony, janaya, everlark and lucerhaena, in these ships i dont use the "white devil joke" tho cuz both within the ship is kind, but the repeating pattern is that the woc is worshipped and cared for !! basically Alucard x Integra is the ship consisting of all of my biggest preferences in shipping 🥺

[misteravid]

As a studio, one of our dreams for the local industry is for us to develop a Filipino style the way Anime is distinctly Japanese & Cal Arts is American. We do not really know how that can be achieved but we assume it starts with drawing characters that look Pinoy & setting them in local environments. We review a lot of student portfolios & most everyone draws people with sharp noses, fair skin & long legs.

But since Anime does not look ethnically Japanese, maybe we don't really need brown characters to have a distinct Filipino style?

Japanese people are comfortable with their skin. At one point in Japan's history, they closed themselves to the world, seeing the rest of it as inferior. They do not need literal representation in their cartoons because they know who they are & their place in the world. Their pride in being Japanese is deep. Filipinos are the inverse. We were subjugated so we suffer from colonial mentality to the point that being brown, even if it's the majority color, is not an ideal aesthetic. We have Morena Beauties, but skin whitening remains a major business.

"Wag ka maglaro sa araw, papangit ka!"

Being a predominantly Catholic country, Jesus & Mama Mary are visually represented as caucasian even if they are ethnically Middle Eastern. "God created man in his image" but we do not look like him. Can you imagine what that does to a national self esteem? Meanwhile, Buddha, who is Indian, looks Chinese in China & Japanese in Japan. Making your deity look like you seems to be fundamental in building a national identity.

Many Filipinos have such low regard to being Filipino. Pinoy Pride is tied to accomplishments outside our country. Pride is supposed to be internal, something that does not change whatever your status is and yet Pinoy Pride often exists through validation from 1st World institutions. So MAYBE (just maybe since we are not socio cultural experts) we do need to represent ourselves more literally in cartoons for the sake of every Pinoy kid who was told not to play too long under the sun because they will get dark and ugly.

Please support our Kickstarter so we could see more characters that look like us <3

[chronicbeans]

Janice Headcanons

The smol child of the main cast.

TW: Dream/Trauma Theories, Mental Health Mentions, Whining, Bullying Behavior

🎀 Janice is not a shy or nice child at all. In fact, a lot of people vividly remember times where she'd whine, cry, or even bully Percy when he didn't do what she said. It even expanded to points where the show would ask the audience to point something out, usually framed as Janice asking Percy to find it. However, it'd usually take a while, and she'd passive aggressively shame Percy by saying things like "It's right there, Percy!" or "Are you blind?"

🎀 Like a true pirate, she is very money driven. This has led to a theory amongst the Candle Cove fandom that she was a very spoiled rich kid before finding herself in the magical world of Candle Cove. Her whining when not getting her way, being money oriented, and her trendy clothes for the 70's are all used to hold up this theory. Others think she might just be scared and anxious due to being in a new land, and knows that she needs money to survive. The counterargument to that is the fact that Percy has taken her in and is providing her with necessities, so she wouldn't need to worry about surviving. Besides surviving the Skintaker, of course.

🎀 Despite her bullying behavior, she does show some level of care to Percy. She expresses worry when he talks to the Laughingstock, tries to calm him down when he is panicking, and is confused about why he drinks so much root beer even though he gets sick and anxious when he does.

🎀 There was an episode where she stayed over at the Skintaker's lair. Nobody remembers fully what happened to get to that point, but they remember it being the same episode where she asked why the Skintaker's jaw moves from side to side, and that they were drinking tea during that conversation. Some claim that it was because Janice got annoyed by Percy enough to go and see if the Skintaker would take her in, but even with how much she tends to bully and get impatient with Percy, it seems out of character for her. The more likely scenario, as brought up by others, is that it was a Halloween episode. They claim it was probably her visiting the Skintaker, as in the made up, stand-in holiday for Halloween, people wear skeleton costumes and trick or treat to appease the Skintaker.

🎀 Nobody can agree on what Janice looked like, however, there has been a strange phenomenon regarding her looks. People tend to remember her looking similar to themselves in some ways. A person with a darker skin tone may remember her as having dark skin, while someone who is fair skinned may remember her as being pale. Someone with straight brown hair may remember her having the same, while someone with really curly red hair may remember her having that, instead. Even eye colors change from person to person's recollections. However, it is usually common for people to remember her sharing only one physical trait with themselves. There's never been a case where somebody remembers her being an exact replica of themselves, either. Usually, the trait she shares with the viewer is something that the person sees as either a very visible trait they are self conscious of, or something they see as specific to themselves and no one else they know.

🎀 She's been the center of many theories. Especially theories regarding dreams or mental health. One theory suggests she's in a coma and dreaming the entirety of Candle Cove up, and that the Skintaker is a representation of whatever accident she went through to cause her coma. Another suggests something similar, in that every character represents a part of a traumatic response, and Janice is daydreaming the events of Candle Cove to cope with it. The theory says the Skintaker is the traumatic event, Horace is reoccurring flashbacks because he has a habit of showing up out of nowhere, and Percy is either unhealthy coping mechanisms or anxiety. People tend to dislike these theories, though, for a variety of reasons. Some say it trivializes actual mental health struggles by forcing the signs and symptoms into caricatures of them, while others simply don't like the thought of their favorite characters being fake, even in the show they come from. The main consensus is that these theories are not real, and the creators probably never thought of such things when making the show.

🎀 Janice says she's from the United States of America, but some have pointed out how she has a London accent. This seems to imply that she might've been born in London and moved to the US, or that the show might've been on a tight enough budget that they hired the first actress they could find, and she just so happened to have a London accent.

🎀 Janice does not seem to understand why the other characters get so drunk off of root beer. She even states that the root beer where she's from doesn't affect people the way it does in Candle Cove. One side character, who was unnamed, said that root beer is "made from a much sweeter and flavorful root than sassafras roots, with the side effect being the unsteadiness". However, she also doesn't seem to put together that Percy and the others stop her from drinking root beer for that reason, and often tries to drink root beer anyways. She has never succeeded in this venture, as even the Skintaker and Horace go out of their ways to stop her.

🎀 Some believe that the man that blows out the candle at the end of each episode might be Janice's father. The most important piece of evidence to this is that, like Janice, his appearance is different to each person and often is similar to how the viewer saw Janice. Others also point out the fact that he's the only other character who is an actor and not a puppet. However, it is difficult to say, since he literally only shows up for a few seconds to blow out a candle. Some say he might as well not even exist. Janice does mention her father during one episode, saying he made candles in his spare time as a hobby and side hustle.

🎀 On that note, besides the Skintaker, Janice is the only other character to have a very intense connection to candles. In every scene of Candle Cove, there is a hidden candle in the background. The explanation for this is because it is "Candle Cove", and the island was named after a small cove that was filled with nice ingredients for making scented candles. Many of the times where Janice points something out for Percy/the audience to find is not for anything important to the plot of the episode. It's literally just to find a specific hidden candle she thinks smells nice. Percy has complained that her interest in candles borders on obsession, while she claims her interest is no greater than Percy's own obsessions with treasure and merfolk.

[octothinq]

Natlan looks like straight ass. Even though I know hoyo I still held out hope that maybe they would actually make dark skinned characters that aren't npcs. Basing your region on multiple places that are real, you should bring more elements with you instead of just saying that you based it off that. You are basing your place on Latin America, Africa, and Hawaii. You need to represent those places more than just aesthetically. Those places are places that predominantly black and brown people live, and every character you make is white. I wont even say that they have a tan, because that is barely even a tan. To say that you are basing your fictional region on real life places but don't give the people who live in those real places representation is honestly appalling. Representation is important. It's important to see someone who looks just like you in a game you play or a show you watch, it makes you want to continue engaging with that media and it makes you feel seen. To not even bother giving the characters in natlan dark skin is to make the people who live in those places that land is based on feel unimportant and not worth representing in game. I can't say that I know how everyone from these places feel about this because I am white and I won't ever know what it's like for them to basically never get portrayed in the media they consume but I can tell you that I have seen so many people from these places feel utterly disappointed in natlan because of the lack of representation, and the lack of care hoyo put into the rep that is there. I can't speak for them because I don't know what it's like to not be represented in media because I am white and white people have always been represented in shit. But I can say that even from my perspective it is extremely disappointing to see so little care put into natlan when I know they have the time and resources to do better. Hoyo can and should do better and you should pressure them into doing better because they won't do it by themselves.

[dumbass-tumbler-cryptid]

Do you think Spider's surname is supposed to give us a clue about his possible Latin/Portuguese/Spanish roots? Does Paz have any of these origins in your work?

So I’ve been thinking of your question for awhile and I think it’s best if I explain my perspective on things because it translates to my writing.

So I’m an American mutt. My family on both sides immigrated here a few generations back and since I basically have no ties to any culture other than American I can assume they decided to abandon their culture in favor of assimilation which I totally get because I know they were heavily discriminated against for being immigrants. But still I have no cultural ties to their countries. Looks wise I have very common features, dark hair, dark eyes, skin that gets brown if I’m out in the sun (which I never am since I work nights) because of this I get asked pretty often “what’s you background” “what’s your ethnicity.” “Where do you come from?” And I’ll ask people “what do you think?” And I have run the gambit for answers, Hispanic, Italian, Bosnian, Armenian, Native American, Greek, Portuguese, and even Singaporean once which was wild to me. And while I’ve never asked this question of someone I do just kinda automatically assume that anyone who looks like me must have the same background as me which couldn’t be farther from the truth. 

So that’s where I’m coming from. On a personal level I’m very much just a people are people kind of person and don’t feel a need to focus on race unless it’s relevant to the plot. In my writing it only seems relevant when I’m writing Na’vi characters and not Spider. I am getting a little more into Spider being discriminated against in Visited on the Son but that’s because of who his father not his background.

The last name Socorro does have Latin origins according to my internet research. Could this hint towards Latin roots. Absolutely. Again coming at it from my perspective, I think it’s likely Spider’s decedents on his mom’s side immigrated to America at some point in time and assimilated. Keep in mind Avatar is set over 120 years from now. The U.S census shows decade after decade that the population is increasingly becoming multicultural so by the time we’re at in Avatar I can see a lot more people identifying as just an American mutt, people made up of a tapestry of different backgrounds but culturally divorced from all of them.

I get more from the actual meaning of Spider’s last name and his mom’s first name. Paz means peace and Socorro means to help/to aid. That says way more to me then Spider’s ethnic background.

But that’s just me though. If you enjoy fics and head cannons where Spider is Latino then that’s great! Everyone deserves representation and if you find yours in a Latino Spider then I am so happy for you. I guess weirdly as I’m writing out my thoughts picturing him as a genetic mutt who finds his own culture among his loved ones is me finding my representation in him too. 

[anneapocalypse]

They’re all pretty related, so in case you want to merge or skip some: I’m curious about 9, 20, 21, and 22 for 🔥 choose violence 🔥

For the 🔥choose violence 🔥 ask game!

Disclaimer: provocative name aside, I am not actually trying to be mean here, these are just my opinions offered for Entertainment Purposes™️, and I’m not mad at anyone who has a different opinion.

9. worst part of canon

The lack of forethought about representation when the series began. The first game was like, "Seven skin tints! The dark ones looks Bad in our engine! Your family is white no matter what! Brown people are from Over There somewhere! Asians????" Since then, I think the games have each improved on that situation, with increasingly better character creators, more diverse companions, and a more diverse world generally. But I think that there's still a lot lacking, and part of that is because the first installment laid a pretty weak foundation, so all subsequent canon is having to correct for better representation rather than building on a strong start. A few big things I would love to see in DA:D are a better variety of hair textures and styles, a better variety of Asian features in the CC, and more Asian (coded) characters in the world generally since that's an area where it's really been lacking. (Lighting that doesn't wash out medium skin tones to ghosts wouldn't hurt either 😉 but when it comes to video game lighting I assume that we'll just be trading one problem for another. I look forward to experiencing a New Problem.)

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

Inquisition's Too Many Collectibles. I don't mind collectibles, especially when there's an actual reward for collecting them, but Inquisition just has too many. Was it really necessary for us to discover landmarks and regions? Like, could those not have been the same thing? It's fun to treasure hunt and everything but did we need to hunt for astrariums and shards and mosaic tiles and bottles? None of those things are bad on their own, but there's such a thing as Too Much, and I think Inquisition crosses that line somewhere.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

Marrying Alistair to become Queen! Like, that's fine if that's the ending you want. Me, I've romanced Alistair multiple times and I've never felt like becoming Queen Cousland was like, the Ultimate Ending to that story. My first ever Warden, Jolene, was a Cousland who romanced Alistair, and while I'd watched Mr. Apocalypse play parts of the game, I was unspoiled for the romance, so I wasn't gunning for any particular ending, and because Alistair clearly didn't want to be king and because he seemed so uncertain of what would happen to their relationship (despite her being a perfectly valid candidate for queen), Jo ended up deciding to let Anora keep the throne and ride off into the sunset with Alistair. I wanted a happy ending for that first run and to me, that seemed the happiest for both of them.

Since then I've also done a tragic Alistair romance with an Aeducan, who starts out a real asshole and has kind of a redemption arc as a Warden, culminating in her giving Alistair the throne because she believes it's his destiny, and sacrificing herself to kill the archdemon because she knows she can never be his queen. I loved that one too! It was so juicy.

I'm not opposed to Queen Cousland or anything, I just remember a time when it was so venerated as the ending for Origins. Really, I just don't think of any outcome in an RPG that way. What I enjoy is exploring all the possibilities.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

Once again, consider "everyone" to be a bit hyperbolic, but I am really, really interested in the politics of the setting, something I think maybe a lot of fans consider to be boring or "not that deep." 😂 Dragon Age does not always handle its power and oppression narratives perfectly, for sure, but I also think a lot of the worldbuilding shows a level of understanding of structural power that it maybe doesn't always get credit for. When a group is marginalized in this setting we can identify actual systemic barriers to social advancement for that group, not just "people being mean" on an individual level like you sometimes see in lazier narratives. Orlais isn't just fancier and snootier than Ferelden; it actually has more barriers to upward mobility in place! Society is more stratified, and power is more concentrated, even though both nations are monarchies.

I love the fantasy politics--of people in day to day life, of factions, of nations, of religion. I love it because, at its best, Dragon Age does have some interesting things to say about the nature of power. It's easy to say "Chantry bad" or "nobility bad," but to me it's much more interesting to explore why these institutions function the way they do, the ways in which they concentrate power, and the means they employ to keep it. And controversial statement, maybe, but you can't effectively explore the politics of revolution and social change without understanding the structures you're trying to change. Sera's right about one thing: it's not as simple as just lopping off the top.

[zoufantastical]

This is why I’m so annoying when it comes to colorism in the media especially one so obvious:

(Source: @neogalaxite on Twitter)

People get on my ass and say shit like “at least X is Y or A is doing B!” when clearly whoever is the casting director for this current remake clearly do not care for the damage they are doing to the point is becoming almost irreversible. They really want to make a point that dark skinned people can only be enough drawn to a certain extent for fantasy situations or when it comes to being a replaced placeholder but not when it comes to being hired for said roles as real life individuals. Gotta keep that representation at bay.

Eliminating the existence of Mr. Bubbles for example is terrible simply because as a character, while he is a POC/black man and can somewhat understand the struggles of the Kanaka natives, he still works for the American government and perpetuates it’s agenda which clashes with our characters’ beliefs.

Washing away a character’s darkness, which already is so limited in the media, is so damaging. Not to mention the actor for David has been caught using the N word (the discovery of it is actually a really funny story).

It’s so important to call out obvious racism/colorism. I mean look at this casting; it just looks like they used the brown paper bag method to hire these individuals. It’s unfortunate that calling out though is not enough. I’m gonna need people to NOT watch this movie when it comes out. Not even pirated. We really need this movie to NOT make any noise whatsoever if we even want to make a statement by trying to dent Disney’s pockets. But also don’t watch it out of respect. Respect for the animators that wanted to tell a story and are currently being disrespected because Disney here is running out of ideas and is scared to lose more money. Out of respect for the little representation that dark skinned POC/native Hawai’ians. Stream the hell out of the animated movie(s) and it’s series.

We really need to hammer the point that this is NOT okay.

[artist-issues]

I don't know if your still active or not, but here goes. I'm an American born and raised in america. My skin color is brown light. Every time I hear the word black people all I see is dark skin Americans from me. When I saw a character that was brown skin light like myself I saw no problem with it until someone on twitter said it was racist and made them darker. Why is that? Also I hate the little mermaid movie, I grew up surrounded by white people in schools, stores, everywhere. Not once I experienced racism. I refuse to join the whole "let's hate white people parade" and I hate when white skin Americans are starting to hate themselves. Sorry if my wording was wrong.

I think there's probably lots of reasons for people making everything about race. For one thing some people like to complain needlessly because it gets them more notice on social media. For another, some genuinely believe the lie that race matters.

Race doesn't matter. We're all people. Doesn't matter what shade of skin color you have or I have or anybody has. Geez, I don't understand why that has to be said so often.

It's like if somebody had a smaller pair of ears than most of the people in Hollywood and we all went, "well unless I see an actor in that role with ears as big as mine, I can't relate to them!"

That's just silly. It's just silly.

(Now obviously, when people have an issue with a "lack of representation in media," as they term it, they don't normally defend it as "I have to have someone of with some of the same physical attributes as me onscreen, in a lead role." What they really mean is not an emphasis on physical attributes, but an emphasis on a kind of person--a person who has some of the same experiences as them. Ancestrally, socially, ulturally--usually assuming there's some link between the physical and the experiences. Which is also silly. Because one, that's not a good correlation to make, and two, you don't have to have the same exact set of experiences as someone else to relate to them, or even to empathize with what they're experiencing.)

If you can relate to an insecure animated lion in the Lion King even though you're not a lion; if you can relate to a robot looking for love in Wall-E even though you're not a robot; if you can relate to a kid waking up with incredible spider powers and learning how to take responsibility in any Spider-Man movie, even if you're not a kid waking up with incredible spider powers--then maybe it's time to acknowledge that some things are just universal, and more important, than others.

We're all humans. That's the important thing for characters to represent.

You can relate to insecurity, to looking for love, to learning how to take responsibility--because all humans can. You don't need to relate to an outward appearance. You don't even need to relate to a culture--again, you're not a lion living on a ceremonial rock ruling over animals (like Simba.) You're not a robot built for cleaning up a higher being's mess (like Wall-E.) Yet you can still somehow relate to them--because humans can relate to anything that feels human.

Including each other, even when we aren't lions--or black--or white--or brown--or robots--or have ancestors who were oppressed--or have ancestors who were oppressive--

We can empathize with and relate to one another, because we're all made in the image of the same God.

People should stop zooming in on what makes their own experience different and alien from everyone else's, and then insisting that everyone LOOK AT IT in the form of "representation." Why do they want to scream the same "nobody understands how this feels except for people who are in the exact same racial-socio-economic-gender-political-age situation as me!"?

Why do they want to do that? Because being a victim, being different, being special, doesn't make you more relatable. It just raises you up higher than everybody else. It says "give me special attention, without accusing me of wanting special attention."

We don't want to relate. We want to be special.

We don't want to focus on what makes us similar anymore. We want to focus on what makes us different. We don't want to unify; we want to divide. We don't want to love each other in spite of past wrongs or current wrongs and differences--we want to hate each other for those things.

And if we're not in the people-group that everyone is calling "special" at that particular moment, we want to at least be associated with their "struggle" by calling for "representation."

That's the main reason why, I think, people cared about the shades of skin in casting enough to call one another racist.

[floralovebot]

Hi, I want to ask your opinion on something. You made a post that said changing the Winx's races is bad. I agree that it's not okay but I have a question about Helia. I thought he was Native American when I was a child but you've said he's Asian. Is it wrong to think he's Native American?

I had to think about how to answer this for a while tbh! Sorry for the late reply

Anyway, I probably could answer this with a simple yes or no but I really feel like I should explain my answer.

I'm pretty sure you're referencing this post! Anyway, the biggest issue with race changing the canon characters of color is that when you do it, you're participating in erasure. Again, it's not more representation to, for example, make Flora asian - it's erasure because you're intentionally erasing her being latina. Now like I said, I don't have an issue with like,, children not noticing their canon races or ethnicities. It's perfectly fine if a little kid sees characters as something else! The problem is grown adults ignoring and erasing their canon races.

When it comes to Helia specifically, he is very much coded as asian, specifically east asian. I want to clarify that it's not explicitly canon. Rainbow has never stated what race he's supposed to represent and they've never said if he was based on a real person. We don't even know what planet he's actually from! So his race is all coding. However, that coding is still,,, fairly obvious. And I specifically want to touch on how Rainbow depicts their east asian characters versus their indigenous characters.

Most of their east asian characters have either dark blue, black, or brown hair and more narrow eyes. Like,, that's their go-to when trying to make a character Noticeably asian. They're also fond of putting their asian characters in traditional clothing (like qi pao or hanfu) rather than casual clothing. I added Helia at the very bottom so you can see how he compares to other, canonically asian characters.

While Rainbow has absolutely depicted asian characters in offensive ways (espero...), it's usually pretty respectful. Meanwhile,,, their depiction of indigenous characters is... anything but.

Like before, I put a picture of Helia so you can compare him to the canonically indigenous characters. As you can see here, their depiction of indigenous characters is,, extremely racist! It follows a lot of racist stereotypes like red skin, face paint, headdress, feathers, etc. Just,,, all around Not Good. And you'll notice that Helia doesn't really "fit in" visually. That's not to say that he has to look like that to be indigenous but remember that this is an animated show with intentional designs made by white people. If he was meant to be seen as indigenous, he would likely share more characteristics with these characters (like having darker, red-toned skin). Again, their depiction of indigenous characters is extremely racist. I don't think there's a single indigenous character in winx that doesn't look like a walking stereotype out of an old cowboy film. Unfortunately, Helia would absolutely look different and more like those racist designs if he was meant to be indigenous.

Now, to actually answer your question. Is it okay to see Helia as indigenous, and specifically indigenous to the americas? Well... as Helia's racial coding is still just coding and not explicit, it's not a crime if you don't see him as asian. Like,, while I do absolutely think he was meant to be seen as asian, it's still technically ambiguous enough that it's not a Bad thing if you don't see him as such.

That said, you need to be extremely careful with how you think of and portray Helia as indigenous. I've talked before about Rainbow including quite a few stereotypes about east asian men with Helia, and unfortunately, most if not all of them, can also apply to indigenous men. For example, Helia is calmer and wise (often shown to give advice in poetic ways), connected to nature (ie, birds, plants, Flora), frequently meditates, etc. These are all common stereotypes for indigenous men. I'd actually recommend reading this wikipedia article!

Anyway, seeing him as indigenous isn't inherently wrong, but there's absolutely a chance that you're picking up on indigenous stereotyping rather than coding or a headcanon. Like the long hair, connection to nature, the pacifist comment, the weird and kind of cryptic one-liners he occasionally has... Unfortunately, a lot of the indigenous!Helia headcanons/redesigns I've seen have been really racist. And the common reasoning for why they think he's indigenous often comes down to these common stereotypes.

So like,,, god I know this is long but honestly the answer is complicated. It's not a simple yes or no. It really, really depends on why you think he's indigenous. Like. Just ask yourself yknow? Why do you think this? Think of an actual reason that isn't just "vibes". And if you're creating any kind of content, even if it's just daydreaming tbh, how are you depicting him? Is there even the slightest hint of a stereotypical depiction? (And again, please research stereotypical depictions because there are a lot and quite a few contradict each other)

If you're confident that you're not stereotyping him, then honestly, it's not that bad to see him as indigenous. I do ask that you try to see and understand him being asian coded, as I do think that's important, regardless of whether or not it's in your face explicit. However, it's not like. a crime if you don't see him as asian. Just be very, very, Very careful with how you think of and portray indigenous!Helia.

Also,,, I didn't know quite how to fit this into the rest of the post but,, while it's not Bad for you to not see Helia as asian, you should think about why that is. For example, there are still a lot of people in the fandom who don't see Nabu as asian, despite his coding being extremely in your face and honestly canon at this point. But because he has darker skin, he's from Andros, and he was with Aisha, a lot of people assumed he was black. That's not inherently a bad thing, but some of those people get really mad when others point out that he's very much south asian which,,, is a bad thing. I understand the feeling of losing rep and wanting to protect that, but you shouldn't bulldoze other groups to do it.

I'm not sure what your opinion of asian Helia is, but if you're like,, against him being asian or refuse to see that very intentional coding just because you really like the idea of him being indigenous,, you should think about that and reassess things.

[popcultureoverdosed]

Yoshi-p and Xenophobia in gaming

Ff16 is causing a buzz online due to its producer Naoki Yoshida defending the game's lack of diversity under the guise of " Historical realism ". Ah yes, the game where you can summon mythical beasts and cast magic spells is so deeply trenched in realism. Naoki's statements are outright xenophobic even if he didn't intend them to be as such. He's reinforcing the idea that people of color have no place in fantasy worlds and that their existence is somehow more esoteric than literal dragons. I never knew we were so special that we outshine all manner of Mythical Gods and monsters just by breathing.

Even if you want to but into the historical accuracy nonsense, various articles online provide proof of Africans living in medieval England so there's no need to have such a vanilla white cast. Perhaps Naoki should do his research before making outrageous claims. Black people have existed in Europe for while now. We've been here and yet he acts as if we don't exist. Don't y'all ever get tired of making all white fantasy games anyway? A little melanin here and there never killed anyone. Well, except for Mihoyo because they avoid the color brown like its poison. It's crazy how they made two regions based on South Asia and the Middle East with no dark skin characters in sight. And no, using the absolute lightest shade of brown possible doesn't count as representation. Even real life white people have darker tans than the Genshin Impact cast.

It's gotten to the point that a small number of fans are boycotting ff16 in the name of diversity. Similar to Hogwarts Legacy, I don't believe it's a good idea to boycott a game simply because of a disagreeable opinion from the staff. Boycotting won't change anything or inspire Naoki to do better. The best thing to do is to call out Naoki's Ideology and state why diversity is so important in media. Developers and Producers need to be made aware of how their actions affect their fans, particularly fans of color. POC have every right to exist in the world of fantasy.