#every time a white character gets their canonical attraction to a character of colour erased so they can be Gay

[raayllum]

like here’s the thing, right. when a work like TDP has a variety of races in it, you’re bound to have some fave characters who are white and some who are not. in my past fandoms my fave characters were a dark skinned black man, a dark skinned black woman, and a disabled, mentally ill asian man. if i didn’t have that background in writing subversive fic centred on their experiences, and seeing how their fandoms treated them with varying degrees of racism, stereotypes, and ableism - yeah, i may question my fave being the one (1) white girl amid a main trio of 2/3 boys of colour.

however

representation wise the odds are stacked that you will have more ‘white faves’ than non white faves. certain archetypes also tend to be based more in race than others

however

if you only ever love white characters, and hate the characters of colour that are canonically important or involved in their lives (harrow with viren; terry and callum with claudia; callum and ezran for rayla, etc) i will and am absolutely side eyeing you so hard & sincerely hope you do some major self reflection

[sgurrdearg]

7, 9, 17

7. What did you do “in the Heart of Woods” and “the Nithing”?

Ughhhh I hate both these quests so much!! I think both times I set out to kill the leshen because I do not trust those fuckos. And then of course, everything still falls to shit. And I am fairly sure I killed Jonna both times in the Nithing too. I wish there was a way to spare her without manipulating Lothar. Like, the dude seriously fucked up and behaved awfully to her by cheating but she was being downright manipulative and abusive, and forcing him to be in a relationship he didn’t want to be in… uhhhh made me feel physically sick so I couldn’t do it.

9. What is your favourite main quest and why?

THE PLAY’S THE THING THE PLAY’S THE THING THE PLAY’S THE THING!!! I love the theatre and I just love it. I love getting to spend time with Priscilla, I love getting to act on stage, I love getting to cast the play. Hands down, my favourite. I love it so much that nothing involving Roche or Regis even gets close tbh.

17. If you could change one thing about the Witcher3 what would it be?

hahaha, just one? oh no… I love this game so much but there’s a lot wrong with it. The things I’d change generally fall into two categories of either: I just want extra content please; or Damn you fucked up. I definitely think they need to be more diverse. The only characters of colour that we see are Ofieri. Which is in a paid DLC. And while not presented totally negatively they are still really stereotyped. It’s just not fair. Like, even random villager NPCs, every single one of them is white. Like. Why.

The game could do a hell of a lot better on queer rep too. We have one gay man in White Orchard, and admittedly he is treated fine. But that’s it. Ciri, canonically attracted to women, and she only has the option to kiss a man. (Ok a friendly kiss, but still.) And you get the option to declare a preference for women, but that’s the only time you get to declare any attraction at all, and sure, she might not want to yell “I’M GAY” in the middle of a sauna with strangers, it does mean giving dudebros the option to erase her sexuality. And Philippa! She is canonically a lesbian!! She has a relationship with Dijkstra to extort information from him. Obviously lesbians can have relationships with men and that does not invalidate their sexuality, that’s not what I’m trying to say here, but the game really tries to big up this big romance they had when it was pretty damn one sided in the books. And they add in a note from an ex boyfriend of hers too, like… ??? Nowhere in the Witcher 3 is her attraction to women mentioned. Yet they really double down hard on a supposed attraction to men. And in the Witcher 2 her attraction to women is basically used as a punchline to a joke!!! As is Dethmold’s for that matter, his attraction to men is literally used as though it is something to be repulsed by and I will always be livid. Anyway this isn’t about TW2. Anyway also I hate straight people and want them to stop making video games and these straight people who defend this shit must die.

[whimsical-writer]

Okay Rooster Teeth

“Spoilers for Red vs Blue season 15 up to episode 7 beneath the cut. It’s a long post.

From Lopez’s “Tumblr’s going to hate this” joke in Episode 15.6 I get that you’re all used to getting irrational flame and hate over the smallest things from Tumblr users. As someone who enjoys being on the website, even I can admit Tumblr has some seriously ugly parts to it, such as call out culture. Some people where will scream and rage and hate on anything they deem to be “problematic”.

This post will not be like that.

I have no idea if you guys will read this, or if you’ll take away what I hope you will from it. Even if you don’t, this doesn’t just apply to you. This applies to all content creators. This is something I both need from the content I consume and that I must be aware of when I create my own works.

In episode 15.2, Kaikaina Grif makes two “bi-phase” jokes. In episode 15.7, there’s a long gag about Tucker having fathered many child and is raising a fuss about paying child support, and is generally playing the part of the absent black father.

Both these jokes made me incredibly uncomfortable. 

I wasn’t upset, not in the sense of being hurt by these jokes, nor was I angry. I watch more Rooster Teeth content than just Red vs Blue. I know from watching these other shows that you guys are good people who try to do good. I know that many of your employees are some form of queer, or PoC, or both. I’m aware that you try to be accepting of different faiths, sexulaities, and cultures. The atmosphere that you produce on your podcasts, behind the scenes, live shows, and at cons is one that is fun, easy going, accepting, and funny. It’s because I am aware of these things that I know that these jokes you make are just that. Jokes. You don’t mean harm by them. But both these jokes play on stereotypes that are legitimately harmful to those they are about.

I’ll start with Kai’s bi-phase joke first, as I am someone who is attracted to multiple genders. People who are bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, however they identify, and are attracted to multiple genders and sexs are treated with suspicion, looked down upon, and harassed by both heterosexual and homosexual people. Both groups tell them that they are “faking for attention”, “just going through a phase”, and / or “you’ll have to pick a side”. Many people say that they don’t want to date people who are attracted to multiple genders because they are more likely to cheat or carry STIs. People who are attracted to multiple genders often have their gender erased, “You’re dating this person, so right now you’re straight / gay”, and in media, characters who are confirmed attracted to multiple genders will not use terms like bisexual or pansexual, instead using phrasing such as “I like people”, or “I don’t like labels”, and these media characters often fulfil the stereotype of the cheating bisexual, or show a distaste for “being tied down”. For those who are heterosexual, this may not seem like a big deal but for those of us who are queer, we have a very important part of our identity denied on a near daily basis, so when many characters instead refusing to name their identity it can be upsetting.  Having characters who represent us is hugely important because it shows we are not alone. It gives us someone to look up to. And, in a way that’s just really hard to explain properly, it just makes us feel good to see a character who’s like us. It makes us smile, it can make us cry. 

Kaikaina Grif is a character who is very beloved by the community. Since we didn’t have too much canon facts about Kai to build our stories and art off, we had to do a lot of inventing on our own, but the core of Kai came from her actions in the Blood Gulch Chronicles. It was well accepted that Kaikaina Grif was bisexual, from her comment that Tex is badass and hot, and that that thought did not change upon realizing Tex was a woman. 

When Kai showed up in the season 15 trailer, no one expected her to be exactly like we had written. We understood, in general, that there was going to be a difference between “fanon” and canon. But Kaikaina’s bi-phrase joke took a lot of us by surprised and took away one of the core things about Kai’s character. I understand that Kai is supposed to be a sexual, no filter character whose lines are often written to invoke the “wait, what?” gag, but the fact she was bisexual was important to many of us because of the above reasons. The bi-phase joke not only perpetuated the stereotype that bisexual people are “undecided”, it took away a character who represented us, and turned a character we love into just a joke. We knew Kai would not get the same level of characterization the main characters would. We understand what a side character is. But even minor characters, even in a mostly humorous show, shouldn’t have their sexuality reduced to a joke. Kai’s even more special than other side characters, because she’s related to one of the main characters!

This is why the bi-phase joke made me and many others uncomfortable. It showed yet again that people consider attraction to multiple genders to be something that no one takes seriously or understands.

The next joke is the long gag about Tucker having sired who knows how many children and is going to be the absent father for all of them while whining about paying child support. I want to preface this explanation by stating I am not a person of colour, I am white, so many of my feelings and thoughts on this come from my PoC friends and acquaintances. If anything I say is wrong or offensive, please let me know and I will do my best to correct it and myself.

Lavernius Tucker is another beloved character of the community. Many of us believe Tucker has had some of the most character growth of all the Blood Gulch Crew, even when you include Wash and Carolina. We watched him grow from a young, inexperienced soldier to perhaps the best soldier of the Blood Gulch Crew. In many ways, the Chorus trilogy is Tucker’s trilogy, because of how much he learns and grows over the course of it. 

Tucker is a black character. Taking the only canon black character and painting him the sex driven absent father is a huge problem. Again, this is from my understanding of it, but black men have the stereotype as being sexual deviants who don’t care for their children. This is wrong and untrue, but people who believe this look down upon or distrust or outright hate black men because of it. Black men are seen as terrible fathers, despite any and all evidence to the contrary.  This is hugely harmful to black men, especially black fathers, who are distrusted around children, even their own. Black men are also seen as sexual predators because of these stereotypes. Reproducing this stereotype in media only makes the matter worse.

We are aware that a huge part of Tucker’s personality is his sexual nature, but at many points in the show it’s implied or outright stated that Tucker doesn’t actually and has never done much sleeping around. In season 11, Tucker implies to Wash that he slept with an entire bachelorette party. Wash questions him about it and Tucker admits that it didn’t really happen. The joke with Tucker was never that he sleeps around, it was that he was trying to look cool by saying that he did. By season 11, he had largely moved past that. He still made jokes of a sexual nature, that will always be Tucker, but the writing showed that he was not the “sexual deviant” type.

The absent father type is also not the kind of person Tucker is. Shortly after Junior is born, Tucker describes the “ideal father-son relationship” as, “you know, where I only see him every other weekend and on holidays.”. The writing and his actions after that quickly show another story. Tucker is upset by the idea of Wyoming and Omega kidnapping his child so they can use him in their plot to dominate the galaxy. When the ship explodes at the end of season 5 and Junior presumably dies, he tells Church that he is leaving Blood Gulch, as in deserting his post, fleeing the army, and stripping himself of a paycheque, in order to find a way to get Junior back. Once he does, he spends months with Junior as ambassadors between the Humans and the races of the Covenant. In season 11, when Wash asks “didn’t you give birth to an alien baby?”, Tucker is immediately defensive and snaps “don’t bring family into this”. When the subject comes up with Doyle in season 13, Tucker goes from being sullen about describing his experience with Crunchbite, to being bright, happy, and enthused when talking about Junior. He proclaims, “FUCK YEAH, Junior is awesome! Here he is on his fifth grade basketball team,” and pulls out a picture of Junior he has been carrying on his person! Tucker is shown, time and time again, to feel protective of his son, to clearly care about his son, and to love his son with his whole heart. 

So to have Tucker brush off child support with “Uh, no dude, Junior’s got a basketball scholarship” is not incharacter given his actions with Junior before. Even if Junior is of an age where he’s in college and receiving scholarships, Tucker’s actions before show that, upon hearing and assuming it’s Junior who needs money or support of any kind, he probably would have been concerned about Junior. Continuing on from that, while no one expects Tucker to be able to a present father involved with every possible child he had (it’s implied there are many), he is shown to be responsible. All of the Chorus trilogy is about Tucker being responsible! 

Like with Kaikaina, this joke not only supports negative stereotypes but is removing a core part of the character. For Tucker especially, it feels like years of character development were sacrificed to make a gag. 

While I did talk about the consequences these jokes had to the characters and narrative, this is also about the negative impact this sort of humor can have over all.

Again, people who work at Rooster Teeth, I watch a lot of your content. I am well aware that, at the very least, the vast majority of you are good people. You’re not people who hate people for the colour of their skin, or their sexuality or what have you. You write this jokes out of a good nature. You’re ribbing, prodding. You’re not seriously believing that bisexuals are going through phases or that black men make terrible fathers. 

The problem is, not everyone watches all of your content. Maybe they don’t realize there’s more to Rooster Teeth than the one or two shows they’re watching, or maybe they’re not interested in the behind the scenes footage or podcasts. So when a joke, such as the bi-phase joke, comes along, it can tell people “oh, the creators of this thing don’t like people like me”. It hurts so much to find out that someone you admire and look up to despises who you are, or, in extreme cases, would be happy to see you and anyone like you dead. People who don’t watch all of your content, or who feel the gap between your words and actions too large, are going to feel pushed away. The parts of the show they do love are going to start leaving a bitter taste in their mouth. As a hopeful one day content creator myself, I know I’d never want to make anyone who enjoys my work to feel like that, and I know no one at Rooster Teeth would ever want to make anyone feel like they were hated for who they are.

Another problem is that, even if someone does watch a lot of your content, they themselves might be a terrible person.

I love the Rooster Teeth community. I’ve found myself a nice little corner where we encourage each other in writing fanfics and original stories, in drawing, in animation, anything. We’re an accepting group from all walks of life who have in common a love for Red vs Blue and other Rooster Teeth shows. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt so welcome among an internet community. We help each other out through difficult times and make people feel loved and welcome.

But not everyone is like this. Any time people gather together, there’s going to be people who are not good. I’m not just talking internet trolls, I mean legitimately racists, sexist, homophobic, what-have-you, or some combination of these things. These people, when they hear jokes that rely on negative stereotypes to be funny, on some level they are thinking “ah yes, it’s okay for me to think these things. I’m not wrong.”. It’s not on a conscious level, but when it comes to some offensive jokes, this is what making them does. It encourages people to continue to think that way.

Rooster Teeth, you write amazing, humorous shows. And I’m aware that dark humor can exist, I’m aware that it’s sometimes totally in character for a character to make a tasteless joke! It’s just really important to make these jokes the right way, and that’s by showing in the writing that the joke was wrong to say.

You guys have actually done this before in Red vs Blue! In season 11, Tucker makes a joke about the hundreds of others on the ship flying the Reds and Blues home about having died horribly in the crash, only weeks after it happened. This is met with silence from Caboose and a flat “proud of yourself” from Wash. It’s clear that Tucker was in the wrong for making that joke.

That is how you can write offensive jokes into a show. Whether it be an antagonist or flawed protagonist, if the writing shows “this behaviour that is occurring shouldn’t be accepted or encouraged. Not only do we as content creators do not believe it, we’re making it clear,” then that’s great! I’m not saying stop the pacing of the scene to have a five minute lecture about why bisexuality isn’t a phase. It just has to be a line or a visual cue to show it. Not every bad joke can be fixed this way. No one is perfect. I don’t expect you guys to churn out perfect, flawless stories where no one is offended. That’s not possible. I understand that there’s going to be times when something sneaks by the radar or, because of your personal experiences, you may not realize why something isn’t cool to say. That’s just part of being human.

Again, everyone at Rooster Teeth, this isn’t meant to be read as an angry, hurt letter. This isn’t a “you guys suck” post. I love Rooster Teeth, I love Red vs Blue, I love your writing! You guys all work together to produce some of my favourite shows, animated or live action. It’s my dream to work for Rooster Teeth animation one day, to see some of the stories I’ve been working as shows on the Rooster Teeth website. I don’t wish failure upon the company, any individual, or any of your shows. I’m writing this because I want to see you guys keep improving your storytelling. And you’ve all massively improved over the years! If I watch content from 3,4,5 years ago and compare it with today’s latest episodes, it’s amazing to see just how much you’ve all grown as a company. 

I want to make it clear that so far, that little community I mentioned?

So far we’ve love this season. Some parts have sat better with some of us than others, but overall we’re excited! We’re enjoying ourselves! We’re shrieking in a chatroom together, coming up with wild theory after wild theory, crying when the emotions get high, bouncing excitedly when plot gets revealed! Any complaints or criticism we have comes from the fact we love this show! We love it and we watch it to enjoy it, to analyze it, to get our creative juices going. 

I hope you’ve read this all the way to the end. I know this is just my thoughts and perspective, but I hope you give thought to what I, and many others, think about the show and the writing.