#i understand that i talked a lot of asian experiences

[hallowpen]

The Secret of Us and the allegory of the puzzle...

I think one of the major overarching themes in this series is that you cannot force something to fit where it doesn't want to belong. And the only way to 'complete' the picture, ideally, is to patiently allow the pieces to be put together in the way they're supposed to.

I really really want to talk about Lada and how much I resonated with her as a character. In order for me to do that, I have to explain some cultural insights that revolve around Lada's familial structure.

Funnily enough, I was recently discussing certain matrilineal cultures that exist in Thailand and how they perpetuate a lot of bigoted ideals... and that is shown beautifully in Lada's relationship with her parents and how they each react to her queerness. To me, it seemed clear that Lada's parents' marriage was born from matrilocal customs. And unfortunately, that's not really something you would be able to pick up on if you weren't Thai (or natively Asian in general). So... in these types of families, women hold a lot of authority, and that authority is passed on through the female line (which is why daughters are valued over sons). The wife would manage and have the final say regarding household matters, including how the children are raised... and the husband's duty would be to respect his wife. A mother and her daughter maintain a continuous relationship with one another as, should the daughter marry, her husband would come to stay with them until they have a family of their own (and sometimes even after). It's a good way to strengthen matrilineal kinship, but it puts enormous cultural pressure on the daughter who is raised with very high expectations... the most pressuring of which is to marry a man and to have natural born children. Should the daughter not 'fit' this mold, they are often ostracized from the family.

It gives new meaning to hearing Khun Russamee say, "Lada is the seed I've nurtured since birth," doesn't it? It's why she is so against accepting and understanding Lada and Earn's relationship. Because in her mind, there doesn't exist a future where two women can uphold these matrilineal customs... and so the only reason Earn must be pursuing Lada is for some form of exploitation (i.e. money). She justifies her cruel and queerphobic behavior to keep them apart as some form of misaligned protection of her daughter and her daughter's future... to keep her from being taken advantage of and to help her see reason. It doesn't excuse the behavior at all... but at least you can understand the motivation (no matter how terrible). These types of mothers exist in the reality of Thai society... it's not just some cliched villain narrative. I'm speaking from experience here (NOT MY MOM! I LOVE MY MOM... my mother's mother).

In Thailand, we hold strong to the notion of บุญคุณ ('bunkhun'). This notion perpetuates the idea that we owe an endless debt of gratitude to our parents. It's seen as our "moral obligation". (Similar ideas exist in other Asian countries, as well)

Lada has done everything right. She's loved and obeyed her mother, she's cultivated a successful career with intentions to take over from her parents' leadership of the hospital, she's set herself up to be able to support her family's needs... She cannot imagine a life where her mother could ever not support her or her choices. Her one "fault" is that she is in love with a woman and refuses to conform to her mother's insistent heteronormative intentions (I loved the juxtaposition of this against P'Nu's defeated acceptance btw). She's rightfully exhausted from all the pressure to 'fit' her mother's mold of the perfect daughter, and Earn recognizes that.

So when her mother falls ill, and Lada is expected to take responsibility, it makes sense from the perspective of her familial structure. When she sacrifices her happiness for her mother and Earn understands the reasons why... it makes sense. Khun Russamee only comes to believe that Earn truly does love Lada once Earn willingly steps away from their relationship to ease Lada's mother's expectations... it's twisted, but it makes sense. And Khun Russamee does apologize, for whatever the frik that's worth (I can only try so much guys 😞😞😞) It's just part of our ingrained culture to value family despite their abusive behaviors. And as much as I wish that weren't the case, these views remain an actual reality. So, it isn't dishonest to portray them.

...The point is, the final pieces of the puzzle could only come together once they were allowed to. And then we finally got our happy ending!!!

Could certain story elements stand to be improved? Yes... but they're no worse than anything we've seen from BL series. And I do believe as time goes on, with more and more GL content being made, the writing will get better and stronger (I hope 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾).

Despite the more problematic writing, Lingling and Orm were outstanding in their roles. Never have I seen two artists, in all of the Thai QL I've watched, be so in tune to their characters and their emotions. Everything from their dramatic scenes to their more subtle facial expressions were completely on point. It was a pleasure to witness... and the biggest draw for me as a viewer. Well done!!!

[prosciuttoon]

Toshiro/Shuro is overhated

(mirror of my thread on twitter)

ever wanted to talk abt something so bad but u have so many thoughts so u cant even begin to organize a sentence. thats me abt shuro and its why i cant give my thoughts on him. i NEED to get this out of my system bc its takign up so much memory in my brain i need that space for thinking.

so i was really surprised to find so much hate for him even tho he seems pretty normal and rational out of the whole cast. ive deducted that its mostly abt his laios fight and that the ppl who hate him probably had bad experiences w social cues and relationships w neurotypicals bc of that. theres no way to avoid it bc its pretty much Right In Your Face that laios is ND. but thats not the only factor in why their relationship is rocky. its also the culture barrier. u have to understand toshiro was raised as JAPANESE NOBILITY ofc he would be a little conservative

also culture shock. idk if u know this but jp culture is very Mind Your Own Business like a lot of other asian cultures . ofc hes gonna be weirded out by a stranger invading his space. also his names not even Shuro. its just yt ppl not pronouncing his name right and settling for whats easiest.

img src: fan translation by savaralyn2 , i think its from the adventurers bible Complete Edition bc i dont remember it in the old one

ok you get the gist of the culture aspect of it. lets go into the ND/NT clash aspect of it. yes i understand its pretty hurtful to never be told when youre acting inappropriately. i am autistic too lmao. but you have to understand that shiro is one guy and he even does realize that repressing things is one of his fatal flaws. again. asian culture. non confrontational. that sorta thing. but these are genuine frustrations. if i were him id be annoyed too but id speak out about it. set boundaries. bc im blunt. shiros not. he was taught crazy strict manners (hierarchies, respect, politeness, etc).

his problem isnt ableism its a culmination of culture barriers, how he was raised to behave, and terrible lack of communication as thing caused by "all of the above" plus he just generally keeps to himself a lot which means repressing frustrations that will explode leading to a pathetic fistfight while hes starved, exhausted, and dehydrated. also. if he was ableist he would hate laios. he doesnt hate laios. at the end of the day, they are friends. NT and ND ppl can be friends u know. there will be rifts (like their fight) but you just have to communicate misunderstandings. theyre gonna be fine lol

anyways that was my whole spiel abt it. i think i got everything out that i wanted to? my head still feels a little full so i may add more later when i remember something

also i think its a little unfair to rule out the possibility of laios and him just being 2 very different kinds of ND bc its very common for misunderstandings to occur even then. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT BUT WE NEED TO COMMUNICATE TO UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER! but for the sake of interpreting the Fight as a commentary on NT social rules and ND frustration, ill say toshiros NT. will we ever know? hes so far in the sidelines... youd really have to dig in the extra content to see the intricacies of his character.... please give him a chance

[midniiights-garden]

General HCs on Mizu with an S/O

First Meeting: How would she have most likely come into contact with the reader?

Personally I believe that Mizu would have most likely met her future S/O whilst they were travelling or working.

I'm gearing this more towards non-binary/female readers so if you're a guy reading this I'm sorry 😞

Anyways, yeah she probably met her S/O whilst they were either running away from something, hiding themselves or maybe as a brothel worker.

Either way I really think the first meeting would go the same no matter how you met her.

She'd be pretty cold and distant as she is with most people, keeping her distance both physically and emotionally. At first she won't treat her future S/O that differently than others.

Her Type: What would her type be?

I see Mizu as someone who needs stability. So ideally her S/O wouldn't be someone with the tendency to need adventure or conflict to thrive.

She would probably want someone who knows who they are, someone she doesn't need to take care of as an addition to herself. Someone who is ok with being alone especially since Mizu strikes me as the type to need time to herself often.

I also think she wouldn't be great with words of affirmation, so if you really need words to feel secure I don't think she'd be a great partner for that. Throughout the show I notice that she shows appreciation mainly through acts of service and quaility time, and this would still be the case with her S/O.

In terms of apperance I don't think she'd actually care too much. I think she may have an unconcious bias towards other Asians since she was raised in Japan, but due to her prior experience with racisim I don't think she'd necessarily be willing to be with someone of European lineage. I think that this might change through time though, especially once Mizu manages to come to terms with her own features. Then I think she'd be pretty unbiased.

They'd also have to be more on the mature side. Not necessarily in terms of age, but just personality wise. Someone who is self-aware and understanding and paitent.

Trust: How trusting would she be?

At first not very.

Obviously she has had incredibly negative experiences with relationships, so once she had an S/O I think she may still struggle with making the difference between her past relationship and her current one.

This may result in a bit of a turbulent start and I think there may be more arguements.

However, as time goes on and she realises that her S/O is truly in love with her for who she is and would probably die for her she starts to open up some more.

I've seen other headcanons saying that she becomes more feminine once she's comfortable with her S/O and I 100% agree with it. Just imagining her with her S/O, her hair down and letting her partner put makeup on her makes me blush and giggle ngl. Like, she is stunning. Breathtaking. Absolutely gorgeous. Words cannot describe how wonderful she is.

Anyways-

Yeah it would be like the reverse of "calm before the storm".

Arguements: How would she handle an arguement between her and her S/O?

Ok, so firstly I think an arguement would probably arise due to her aforementioned unwillingness to open up. Her S/O would be tired of being kept in the dark or worried about Mizu and would pry, and Mizu would snap.

I think Mizu would actually end up storming off, wanting to cool down first before coming back.

Mizu isn't one to solve things with violence when it comes to the people she cares about, so I think she'd prefer to talk things out calmly instead of yelling.

It may turn into yelling if said S/O tried to follow her when she leaves to go cool down though.

After the arguement she may be a little cold for a couple of days before returning to her usual self.

Marriage: Does she want to get remarried?

At the beginning of the relationship I do not think she was very willing to get married again. (Fuck you M*kio.)

Of course, as I mentioned plenty of times before she would have a lot of reservations in terms of opening herself up emotionally.

She fears getting married again might be a Mikio pt. 2 which would not be great for her mental health.

But as the relationship grows and her S/O proves that they intended to stay by her side ring or not... that's when she starts to consider the idea again. Especially since this time it's with someone she truly loves and who loves her back.

Her wedding would be small. Obviously. No hate to my precious baby but she doesn't have a whole lot of friends nor family to invite over. It would most likely just consist of her S/O and her, Ringo and Akemi. Who may or may not have dragged Taigen along.

Mizu would get to wear her wedding attire and properly get married to the love of her life. 😭😭😭

I can imagine her being really nervous beforehand, wondering if her S/O might consider her ugly once she saw her in her wedding attire and what not.

But of course her S/O would be like "stfu you're beautiful".

All in all it'd be a pretty emotional affair, lots of crying (behind doors for Mizu) and hugs.

(A/N: Ok. So I may have lied when I said general. Listen, in my defense I'm basically just throwing up my ideas here.)

[mistercharmandhandsome]

Switching Body with a Hunk: A New Perspective

I like to watch gym enthusiasts flexing their impressive muscles.

I admire them so much and often imagine myself becoming as muscular as they are.

Unfortunately, due to my genetics, it's challenging for me to bulk up despite many years of working out.

Even though I consume a lot of protein and drink shakes, my body mass remains the same.

Sometimes, I wish I could swap body with these guys.

They look so impressive.

One day, while watching the Mr. Hunk show, I noticed that one of the contestants is a gym acquaintance of mine.

We don’t talk much, but I always watch him silently while he’s focused on his exercise.

He is tall and strong, resembling the Asian Dwayne Johnson.

He has a deep voice, and every woman in the gym likes to chat with him.

"Let’s give a big round of applause for contestant number 30, Alex Shu!"

The audience claps welcoming him, but he looks so worried maybe due to stiff competition.

As he introduces himself, I can see him seems to lack confidence.

"Why is he behaving like that? The judge might give him a low evaluation! Wish I could be there and give him the support."

After the introduction, he returns to his original position and stands straight, looking at the camera.

Suddenly I see him making eye contact with me through the TV screen.

His eyes just froze and staring at the camera focusing on him.

I try to look at him again and feel drawn to him.

Suddenly, there’s a blackout with loud thunder sound, and I faint.

When I wake up, I find myself naked in the gym room with no one around.

I quickly grab the black trunk on the floor and put it on.

My heart is racing, and I’m sweating. I can feel my adrenaline is rushing.

I notice a different face in the mirror, but my vision is blurry and I feel disoriented.

I see a mobile phone on the workout bench, so I use it to take a few photos.

As I look through the photos, I realize that I am now in Alex Shu’s body.

I shout, “What the fuck!” I can’t believe I sound just like a deep voice alpha male.

Panicking, I take another look in the mirror.

This time, my vision is clearer, and I see that I’ve transformed into Alex Shu, the impressive guy from the gym.

I try to calm down and understand what happened, but at the same time, I’m thrilled to be in his body.

I examine the new physique, flexing the muscles to see how strong Alex Shu is.

“Hi, Alex! Ready to exercise with me?” One of the attractive women from the gym taps my shoulder.

“Sure, I’m just stretching before we get started,” I reply with a smirk smile.

Then I can feel the bulge under my trunk and I followed the women to the janitor room located behind the gym room.

We started to undress and kissing each other, the women grabbing my new dick and insert into her vagina.

Damn! Alex Shu has such a big dick and the women was moaning like crazy when I throbbing my dick.

Over the past year, I’ve adjusted to my new body.

I continue to train to build my chest and arms, and now I’m the most attractive guy with a six-pack and a muscular build.

I’ve changed careers to become a full-time gym instructor, and my schedule is fully booked.

Many women like to call me “daddy,” and some even volunteer to have special workout with me.

This experience has been incredible, and I don’t regret a moment of it.

[magpod-confessions]

Hi, no worries about my og ask being deleted, because I’m a weird little freak that writes drafts for my asks in my notes app. So here’s it again:

This is a completely personal opinion, and I’m not faulting anyone for having this headcanon, but I absolutely hate Asian Melanie headcanons, specifically Chinese Melanie.

The reason why is because I am Chinese, and I hate the idea of sharing anything in common with her.

But also, I don’t really like any PoC headcanon for Melanie. I’m not black so I can’t really say how bad it would be, but to me, headcanoning one of the most physically aggressive characters in the show as black is… not great.

And I understand that there are a lot of PoC that relate to Melanie, or see her anger as righteous fury that so many minorities feel.

But to me, she is 1,000% white, mostly because her anger sounds so entitled to me, she’s like “I fought tooth and nail for everything in my life” and it’s… a YouTube channel. Not “I worked so many jobs trying to climb the ladder but everyone looked down at me.” (Which Sasha did have) or “anywhere I go, people look at me with scorn.”

All her anger and the only thing we see that she’s angry about is that she became a meme.(an oversimplification, I know) And maybe she did have to work a lot of jobs until she got to where she is, but we never really hear about it, so it’s a moot point.

I am of the opinion, that all the characters that don’t have a canon race, are written as white, because Jonny Sims is white and he wasn’t trying to write a story about race. But for a lot of them, making the a PoC doesn’t really change their story, but I’ve seen people think otherwise.

The one I’ve seen most is saying that if Jon is brown, it changes his story because of the way Jonah was manipulating him and that he is a victim of police brutality, but I don’t really think that would really affect his story, because Jon isn’t a character that, to me, takes his race in to account for how others treat him. However, Melanie definitely is, if she were anything other than white, she would be loudly declaring the racism that she is met with all the time, as is, she only talks about her experience with sexism.

And I know I’m digressing, but it annoys me to no end when people are like “Jon has to be white, because if he were a PoC he would have been suspicious of Elias, and wouldn’t have been so shocked that he was the murder suspect. And if you think that he could be brown, you’re stupid and racist” And then they’ll turn around and say that one of the other ambiguously raced characters is a PoC.

Like, you’re going to say Jon has to be white because he he didn’t think he was a murder suspect, but turn around and say Martin “you’re the police” Blackwood isn’t one of the whitest characters in the show.

Race doesn’t really make a difference for any of the characters, but some do have more hints of being stereotypically white than others, and Melanie is definitely one of them to me.

Sorry, this got long. And once again, to be clear, I don’t really mind people headcanoning any character as any race, if I see something I don’t like , I just try to scroll past, and I never say anything on the post. I just needed to vent about the general situation of race in TMA, and put my two cents in. (Melanie was just a good starting point for it, and the one I personally have beef with) (also, sorry if it’s confusing, it’s pretty much just all stream of consciousness)

Anyways you can all tell me how wrong and racist I am if you want. 🗣️

Ask that ties to this

Yeaa I definitely see what youre saying. Personally I dont think much abt characters races, bc yea. The majority of it is rly ambiguous but I definitely see what youre saying - rosette

[xjulixred45x]

Platonic! Korra Gang x Chef! Reader

This is the Request of @chantillymoon i hope You're doing good with your Cooking, i'm sure it's fantastic😋! I hope this give you a little motivation💞

Genre: Headcanons

Reader: neutral

Warnings: none, pure fluff

Korra

Korra probably met you in the events of book 1 (did you see the Gala where Mako went with Asami? one of those), you were in food service.

and since Korra was a bit moody and in a new city, you were friendly with her and they got along quite well. You tried to entertain her a little with your cooking (like the chefs in certain Asian places, if you're a firebending master or something like that, even better).

Thanks to this Korra was going to see you when she needed to talk and generally let loose a little. You guys became friends pretty quickly.

If you have your own place, Korra tries to promote you when she interacts with important people and the topic of Catering comes up.

She firmly believes that your food is much better than the holidays food honestly. especially those of Unalaq.

I have a feeling that in the water tribe, especially in the south, there is not a very complex gastronomy thanks to literally living at a pole.

It's a more personal hc, but I think Korra grew up eating mainly fish and its variables (maybe rice and vegetables)

Obviously, she ate more things in her training to be an avatar, but it's not like it was food as such to "eat" but rather those for nutrition purposes.

so when she becomes a friend of yours (cutie) and you give her VERY varied and VERY delicious food, she is delighted.

like “FINALLY something that is nutritious and TASTES GOOD!”

Besides, you cook a lot of variety, so Korra doesn't know where to choose. but she has a big appetite, so it's not unreasonable to think that you probably won't run out of leftovers with her.

If you're stressed about a particular recipe, she may try to help you by giving you a hand with things in the kitchen that she knows she can't screw up, like reading you the recipe book or handing you things, all while trying to joke with you to relax you and make you laugh.

If you want a definitive break, flour war! Whoever ends up completely white loses and Naga will have to clean it up!

Now, apart from improvised or high-survival food, Korra doesn't cook shit, she doesn't know how to handle herself very well, so seeing you be so fluent in that habit is something new for her. Of course, she was used to her parents cooking. but not at your level, so there's a lot of excitement on Korra's part about how you learned all this.

If you try to teach her, can she go either very badly or...decent? which cannot be said whether it is good or bad.

Since at first Korra may even, trying to make things easier (or imitate you, if you use your elemental control to cook) use her avatar skills in the kitchen, which since she has no experience ends very badly 😅 with muddy dough everywhere.

or even with BURNT water in some way??

but after a few attempts and several burnt bouls, Korra gets the hang of it and manages to start improving her cooking skills!

She can make simple meals now at least.

but she always prefers yours, you make them much more delicious, according to her.

Korra is not going to tolerate any destructive criticism of you, who does she have to hit?she's going to scare them with the fucking avatar state🤣😅

Sure, she can TOLERATE constructive criticism because it's not malicious, but she doesn't understand why people eat your products if they're not going to like it anyway?

do not understand.

In general, Korra encourages your vocation a lot and encourages you to try new things with her :3

Asami

Asami knows you because of Varrik, he needed as many staff as possible, including the kitchen, so he hired you as soon as he liked one of your meals without thinking about it.

Asami needed a break from all of Varrik's antics, so she went to the staff areas for a while (without realizing it) and you noticed her state.

So you talked to her while you prepared something simple for her to eat and get energy back.

It was kind of nice, since you didn't feel intimidated by her or what had happened with her father, a breath of fresh air, so you continued seeing each other after that (in a platonic way).

Asami is used to eat in High Quality and/or fancy places before this, and still doing it.

which most of the time is not bad, on the contrary, it usually produces rich and delicious food.

but there are also times when for some people (ahem VARRIKahem) it just needs to be prettier and tasteless to be considered "gourmet" and even if it's not high quality food, Asami sometimes misses the feeling of having a normal meal. .

That's when you come into her life, her bubbly friend, to make things way better.

Asami probably never had a home-cooked meal as such (no, it doesn't count if CHEFS make it for you Asami) so it was a new experience for her. In the good sense.

Instead of eating aesthetically impressive but disgusting food, with you I could eat things that were really modest but that TASTED GOOD.

If you are having problems like not finding someone to give you more advanced cooking classes, don't worry! Asami will give you a hand with her contacts and help you find a good tutor.

If you already have your own place, rest assured that Asami (and in general the entire Avatar team) will come to see you and buy you food often no matter what you sell.

Even if you have any financial problems with the place, Asami has your back and helps you as much as possible. You may even become a constant Catering associate for the company!

Asami also tries not to let her friendship with you affect you so directly, especially when scandals arise with her father.

He goes to you for advice when they go out to eat, your food gives him a certain feeling of peace after all, so when you both go out he can be with a cooler head.

It's a feeling of familiarity that she hasn't felt in a LONG time.

You can definitely see Asami especially liking food with meat or more complicated things, but then again, he also really likes it when you make really simple things, like pasta or pizza, for example.

She says that it is because "you do it with love" and it is partly true, that you put so much effort into the preparation makes it much more special and she appreciates it a lot.

but in general I think she doesn't usually give you negative comments.

I mean, if you happen to screw up some food and it tastes REALLY bad, you know it just by looking at her face, even so she will never give you a "bad" word so to speak, she use very sweet constructive criticism and still assure you that you did a good job.

and you can also guarantee that if there is a particular food that she likes, she will pay you to make a couple of reservations for her ;) she can't help it! She loves how you cook!

If someone tries to criticize you in a non-constructive way and is simply Bullying you, she will directly kick their ass and deal with the consequences then why would someone be mean to a little sun like you? It doesn't make sense to her.

In general, a friend who supports you financially, emotionally and psychologically is always willing to give you a hand in the kitchen.

That's right, don't let her cook☠️ she may hace good intentions but she'll burn everything.

Mako

OMFG he LOVES THE FOOD YOU MAKE FOR HIM.

Now, let's get a little sentimental.

Mako and Bolin growing up on the streets probably never really had much to eat, not to mention they probably didn't eat every day.

especially Mako, I imagine that he probably even gave what little they had to eat to Bolin.

It's a habit for him.

So when he meets you and you give him a taste of your food, for FREE, he thinks you're too good to be true.

but he appreciates it very much.

but seeing how much his opinion matters to you. warms his heart.

For the same reason you could feed him the most disgusting thing you could cook and he would eat it like a big child.

He will tell you the truth, but he doesn't leave a crumb.

For the same reason, I have two possible versions of how the two of you met and became close friends.

One, the one I like the most, is that probably when you were younger and trying to cook on your own, Mako and Bolin tried to steal your food, failing miserably.

But from then on you started leaving food scraps on your window for them to grab so they wouldn't die of hunger.

Thanks to this little by little they began to interact more and even began to help you to apply seriously in the kitchen!

and the other possibility is that he knew you thanks to Pro-control, being the one who will be in charge of the food at the events.

In this scenario at first he would be colder but eventually either because of Bolin or because of your adorable personality, you end up liking him.

other than that he can see that you can't swing a fly, and that you're REALLY passionate about your job, so he respects you a lot for that.

We all know that Mako is more of a tough guy or expresses that he cares through actions, so he shows that he cares by showing interest in your hobby and helping you as much as he can.

But when he already has a stable job and can give you a hand.

When something specific goes wrong, he tries to cheer you up in an unconventional way, such as telling you something about his work to distract you a little or even inviting you something to eat to de-stress.

Maybe even Mako himself has learned to cook from you, of course, he is not at the same level but when you are very stressed or tired he has your back.

and when you manage to do what you want, he sincerely congratulates you, he knows that you deserve it after all.

Similar to his other friends and Bolin, Mako is quite protective of you, especially if you can't control any elements.

It's like the dynamic of "Sunshine + Sunshine protector" basically.

It also tries to help you accept criticism well, which is necessary to improve after all.

Although of course, if there is someone who is telling you shit just because and without really wanting to help you, give them the names, they will not tolerate it.

In general, he is a friend who is a bit rude but who defends you, appreciates you and supports you in your tastes, hobbies and career. regardless of how You two met.

He knows that you are as good a person as you cook well, and you are a VERY good cook ;)

Bolin

Again, HE LOVES THE FOOD YOU MAKE FOR HIM.

Bolin, similarly to Mako, has two possibilities for how he met you.

one more painful than the other.

the first, in which he knew you for trying to steal something from your leftovers when he was little, in itself, living on the streets of a republic city is not nice.

but at least you took pity on him and started leaving him leftovers. which left him EXTRACTED because (according to him) YOU COOKED AMAZING. even if at that time you were just practicing.

Even if you try to tell him that he was probably just saying that because it was his first meal in god knows how long, he still thinks the same thing.

and the second way, unlike his brother, is that he simply found you working somewhere he likes.

Maybe even with his amorous nature, at first he had a crush on you, but over time he realized that it wasn't what he really felt.

In general he is your personal cheerleader.

No matter how many times you fail to make a particular meal, Bolin eats it like his life depends on it. unlike Mako, he doesn't have the heart to say anything even remotely critical of your food :,)

He's also the kind of friend who constantly gives you ideas for new recipes. some good, some not so good, and some quite extravagant.

ex: some dessert based on Pabu.

It breaks Bolin's heart to see you sad when you don't get a particular recipe, but he will immediately move on to a session of giving you compliments and reminding you how you made other recipes to motivate you.

I can definitely see him recommending you to the important people he hung out with when he worked with Varrik, both to do you a favor and to be able to see you in those moments when Mako couldn't pay attention to him.

Bolin's favorite food is definitely desserts. cakes, cupcakes, pies, candies, anything that is sugary.

and if you get to practice making animal food (like for Pabu) Bolin is OVER THE MOON.

I can see Bolin trying to learn cooking things with you, both to spend time together and to be more independent, to help Mako out.

Apart from that, he would have the opportunity to try more of your food :D but he makes a great effort to listen to your advice and follow the instructions you leave him.

The results are quite promising! along with Mako, he is the best cook of the group (hc personal).

Similarly to Asami, he seeks advice from you when he feels left out of the group and doesn't know what to do.

Normally you prepare something hot for him so he doesn't feel so bad. It would probably be his second favorite food of yours, hot soups. In general they remind him of you, a warm and comforting presence.

Bolin is more passive when it comes to criticism and when it is constructive he makes sure to remember it and even writes it down so as not to forget it and thus apply it in his own attempts.

but eventually you can better distinguish between constructive and destructive criticism.

and when someone like that shows up, no matter how strange it may seem, they usually just ignore it. He wants to believe that he is better than them after all...

...only to launch Pabu on the attack in defense of your honor. Although well, didn't you see it coming?

He is generally a very sweet friend, he does not distinguish in social class or how or how long the two of you have known each other. He is convinced that you have genuine talent for cooking.

and he is very willing to show you that you have that talent and support you through everything.

Conclusion: They all love your food but they love the person behind that food more and how you support them in difficult times :,)

Shares, reblogs, and comments are very welcome!

Thank you very much for this Request ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[riririnnnn]

The sole inspiration of this theory is this post by @someprettyname.

You know, one of the topics Kaneshiro-san hasn't talked about in the Manga yet is academic pressure on a student, and this topic perfectly suits Shidou out of all the characters in Blue Lock. He is like the perfect candidate to showcase a burnout student who had to put up with all the pressure their parents placed on them, and I have three reasons to believe in this theory:

-> Monologue

All his monologues during the U-20 match has one common theme, "Leaving a proof of yourself for the world to remember you." And one common belief in a household with great academic pressure is that you are made to believe from a very young age that if you can't achieve something in your life, then you are completely worthless. These kind of parents think that being happy with one's life isn't enough, you need to and got to be something or do something big in your life.

One more thing that slipped through ALL of our eyes is that Shidou is actually a pretty smart person:

Shidou was so quickly able to correctly judge Kunigami and Reo, and I think that's a pretty good testament for one's intelligence.

Of course, I do not believe that a grade can fully show a student's capabilities, but I do also believe that you need to have, at least, some kind of intelligence to score good grades. And considering all of this, I can place a safe bet that Shidou was some kind of scholar student and being a smart kid in an Asian household means having to carry lots of academic expectations!

-> Behaviour

You don't even need to fully know about Shidou to understand that he is far away from a student who is considered ideal and that's the point I'm trying to make! He isn't an ideal student because he is tired of being one for so long!

Okay, to understand my point better, imagine this:

You are being forced to be at the top of your class, to be a good, well-mannered, well-behaved student. It's like a constant invisible rope of expectation tied around your neck that never goes away and it's eating you up inside, so what would you do?

Most likely: rebel.

And that's what Shidou is doing! He is aggressive, violent and foul-mouthed—everything that can NOT be found in a trait list of an ideal student. Also, dyeing your hair in bright colours has been a pretty common thing any student does in order to 'rebel'.

You getting me? Please say yes.

-> Favourite song

His choice of music was the first thing that made me believe that Shidou is just being a rebel student. Hide, as stated by Wikipedia, was (or maybe is) considered as the icon for Japanese youth to rebel against the 'conformist' society of Japan. And Pink Spider song goes deeper than it appears—this and this beautifully explains about the above mentioned song.

Here are some few excerpts of the articles:

This song's meaning in Shidou's case can be interpreted in various ways, and I would love if you guys come up with your own interpretations.

For me, it's like Shidou felt trapped in whatever way he was living. He was made to feel that if he followed every rules, got good grades, behaved like an ideal student, then everything will be fine and will work in his way and that his elders really know the best for him and that he is just naïve. This type of living ended up suffocating him even more—he wanted to truly live—he bottled everything up and one day, he just snapped and that was when the Shidou Ryusei we know was born.

One more small and very personal reason for me to believe that he was a scholar student with too much academic pressure is that one of his favourite subjects is Art.

Speaking from personal experience, I've noticed that people who were forced to study and do well academically usually end up falling in love with making art.

I don't know how to explain it well, sorry.

That's it, I guess.

What do you guys think?

[quartztwst]

I DELETED THE ASK IM SO SORRY WAAHHHH 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭��

I'm also Hmong!!! I don't really say it much bc not a lot of people know of us 😭😭😭 I grew up with both of my parents families but I'm trying to learn our culture so I can't speak hmong. I know a bit but I can't speak it.

But it's alright if you don't know the culture, I even don't know it 😓😓😓 we just gotta learn though!!

Here’s a short basic context or info about Hmong people though:

Hmong people are an Asian ethic group in East and Southeast Asia. We are found in many different countries!! Examples like Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, China, and America!!! (There’s probably others in other countries too).

AND HERE'S MY TWEEL HMONG HCS!!! (BTW these are based on my experiences as a Hmong American person and also this will have explanations about our culture which will be highlighted in blue.)

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:

- Jade and Floyd are slightly tanner because not all Asians are pale white 💀💀💀 jk but I think they're the types to get easily tanned in the sun (and Azul gets sunburnt)

- They have a few freckles/marks/(DOTS?? HOW TF DO YOU DESCRIBE THOSE?? BEAUTY MARKS WTF??) on their face. Yall never seen me draw them bc um.... I drew these like.. today HELPP

- Jade also has the string bracelet on his wrist. They're like the things that keep your soul with you and they keep you from getting sick and bad luck/spirits (I MEAN THATS HOW MY MOM EXPLAINS IT LMAOO. I remember my grandparents would tie one on my wrist and speak in another language. I don't remember if it was Thai or Chinese.)

Examples of it:

- I used to draw Floyd with it because I thought that since he seems like the type to get noticeably more in trouble than Jade (because he's discreet) and his grandma would be worried for him so she would tie that to his wrist so he wouldn't get more in trouble (bc some older generations think that sometimes the things you do or that you're sick is because your soul has been flying away?? Or that your soul has been taken. Its nothing bad. It's just something cultural and in their religion of Hmong people.) But I feel like he would get annoyed and cut it off later LMAOO

- (Tais means Grandma on mom’s side) So Jade has it but you can't see it with his gloves and long sleeves in the way.

- There's not much to say about their appearances 😭😭😭

SOME HMONG HEADCANONS OF THEM:

- Jade knows the Hmong language and how to speak it but Floyd doesn't but he knows some of it (I'M PROJECTING. I'M PROJECTING SOOO BAD.)

- I think Floyd doesn't really put the effort on learning because "everyone else speaks English (in my universe 😓😓😓 idk)" so he doesn't really bother learning how to speak it but he does know some words.

- He uses a lot of context clues to understand like if he knows some words of the sentence, he'll respond but if there's words he DOESN'T know, he'll be like "huh? Gucci pow.... (<- BAD PRONUNCIATION OF HMONG WORDS)"

- Jade knows Hmong and English so this mf is bilingual.

- Sometimes he would whisper stuff in Hmong to Floyd and THEY BOTH WOULD GIGGLE BC THEY'RE MAKING FUN OF SOMEONE 😭😭😭 AND YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND (UNLESS YOU DO) SO NOW YOU'RE SCARED IF THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT YOUUUU

- Or there's no giggling because Floyd doesn't understand so all you hear is a "huh?" And Jade says nevermind, LEAVING FLOYD CONFUSED AND ANGRY.

- Their mom speaks both Hmong and English while their dad only knows Hmong but is trying to know English (because it's better for business but I feel like he'll have other people speak for him).

- I like to think that Floyd doesn't really wanna speak to his dad than his mom is because of the language barrier. It's hard to speak to eachother with limited words (i know by experience 😞😞😞). It's genuinely sad but they both try their hardest to understand eachother.

- Jade and Floyd like to share Azul some of their foods in their culture (THEY STILL HAVE THEIR CANON FAVORITE FOODS. Also i still dont know how the fuck they cook their food in the sea. I know they eat raw food like Jade said BUT MR. ASHENGROTTO SAID HIS MOMMY OWNS A RESTAURANT AND AZUL KNOWS HOW TO COOK???)

- Like Naab Vaam, Pho, and stuff (some of our food are actually from other countries that we live in/came from like Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and etc. We just put our own spin on them so they may or may not taste the same as their origin.)

- I don't think in the sea they wear clothes but Jade and Floyd found some Hmong clothes on the surface and found it cool.

- I don’t actually know their exact type of Hmong clothes they wear though. (Hmong people have different types of clothing depending on who you are and where you’re from. It’s very important to know which one you are. Also there’s 2 different dialects of Hmong and probably MORE?? idk……)

- I drew them wearing Hmong clothes that my family wears though:

ITS NOT A GOOD PICTURE but I was so proud of myself guys please it was months ago since i made that nfkjanfkjasdjhfjhjfk

- I was hoping to figure which type of Hmong they are like Hmong Green, Hmong White, etc etc BUT I’M TOO EMBARASSED TO ASK MY MOM BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE SHE’LL THINK IT’S SILLY TO USE THIS INFO ON ANIME CHARCATERSUIDHFAHDJKFHK

- So i just use the info i already know 😭😭😭😭

- (Also the necklaces hanging on their necks are silver necklaces. THEY’RE SO FUCKING HEAVY. MY MOM HAS A REAL SILVER ONE AND GOD DAMN. THEY GIVE YOU SO MUCH NECK PAIN. But they represent our wealth 😞😞😞. Good thing they recently made ones without real silver. Also there’s Hmong clothes with silver coins on them and they also represent wealth!! They hurt less!!)

- Hopefully I can recreate the Tweels in Hmong clothes in better art!! I CAN BARELY SEE THIS ONE.

I think I’m done for now. I was hoping to say more but I don’t have any more 😭😭😭😭 But I hope you find these somehow a bit interesting and helpful about Hmong culture. I was really excited to tell someone my Tweel Hmong HCs because hkuahfjdkshfjkahj I DON’T KNOW I JUST GET HAPPY!! I love sharing my culture even if I’m still learning it. Not a lot of people know about us because we don’t have a country. But im really happy to meet other Hmong people on here and share the representation!!

[cloudmancy]

which is worse: d20 tumblr or d20 twitter?

this is such a funny question. frankly I prefer talking with my existing friends over discord over either of them but here's a breakdown of my experience with them

d20 tumblr

feels like a more isolating experience because of the way tumblr is set up in general as a platform. I follow relatively few people here, so all my interactions are from people engaging with my art (love you mwah) or asking me questions. nearly every time I go into a d20 related tag I regret it

I think frankly I disagree with 90% of the opinions on d20 here but because I don't have to see it I can just post my art and go

feels relatively static like there's not a good way to get everyone talking about a specific transformative fandom thing instead of only what's happening in canon because it's a looser more disconnected community

allows for longer posts and the search system on my own blog is great though. I love directing people to go through my tags or archived art

d20 twitter

incredibly, astonishingly, bad at recognizing jokes for people who are fans of a comedy show

way easier to interact with people which means most of the friends I make are from d20twt...

very easy to get everyone talking about one specific thing (ie fhsonas) because of how interactive Twitter is as a platform and how quickly word spreads

downside of this^ is that every time I express an opinion someone disagrees with they tend to assume that this is a majority opinion rather than like, 3-4 popular gay asian artists speaking their mind? when I complained about fhjy 18 battle on here I got interesting and thoughtful reblogs and everyone kept it respectful meanwhile on twitter people started making vaguetweets about how people who hated the episode were morons. stuff like us joking that oisin's grandma's whole mahjong group got murked getting 200 likes VS people directly shitting on us getting 1.7k likes and people going "wait... people are mad about oisins grandma for REAL?! she was going to kill people !!" getting 2k likes. clearly there is some sort of strange authority people put on your words whether or not you're actually just trying to have fun with your friends

I did talk about this more on twitter but I am not a fan of the CRitterfication of d20twt either. feels like much of the fandom is now watching because they're megafans of the cast rather than for the story which leads to some really big toxic positivity bias and the implication that criticism of the show == direct attack on the crew and therefore on THEM because parasocial attachment. I don't think it helps that for a majority of them d20 is their first big fandom experience aside from like... kpop or tswift because they have not developed a lot of the detachment from canon + not being parasocial + ignoring opinions you don't like if they're not directly addressed at you mechanisms that people who've been around have. sorry I'm not trying to fandom elder or whatever here I'm 21 years old but I think it's incredibly hard for me to interact with people whose entire understanding of canon depend on siobhan thompson's opinions like this

tldr;

d20twt has way less reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. better for making friends. I interact almost entirely with 30-40 of my artist friends. (my) d20tumblr experience is more chill and feels like I'm doing a seminar and people come up to ask me questions afterward. more isolating but easier to do my own thing. I do recognize and am fond of a lot of you but I've made one (1) entire friend who I can talk to off platform and not just see on the dash/my notes and that's just the nature of how tumblr works as a platform (it's terrible for conversations)

[fresh-tomatogogi]

Was scrolling through your art and I found incest (Scout and Spy) and beastiality (Spy with a dog as far as I can find). You have nice art, your understanding of anatomy is amazing! But this is disgusting. You are disgusting.

Im sorry to show this behavior to everyone. except this anonymous person😅

Are you the same person as Ask down there? I don't know what your intentions are but I'm quite excited for you now.

It's funny because I know the disgust you felt. Let me give you an example.

I also feel hatred and resentment towards the director every time I watch a movie with a great production of disgusting and terrible content by my standards. I feel offended by the fact that I felt great when I saw the work of "Such a person" and that I feel like I am associated with "such a person." So to prove that I am different from "such a person," I despise and criticize him, but at the same time I look up his work. Of course, I don't directly inform others of the blame or in a public place like you do. I know the least amount of manners.

It's a recognition error created by equating fiction with creators (like an audience attacking an actor who plays a villain on stage). It's very complex in this case, and I'm not trying to talk about this now, so let's move on.

Anyway, as you know, we call this denial. I understand your anger. And I've become a disgusting director who makes you experience denials, right? Haha, this is a lot of fun. It means that I've created something so influential that I can leave some confusion and appreciation for others regardless of my will and purpose. But at the same time, I'm disappointed that many people, including myself, are more easily affected by others than I thought and can't stand the small stimulus of being different from them (different from themselves = change = stress)

As a side note, to me, it's kind of a compliment to say that it's disgusting. The disgusting paintings you've seen are pornographic paintings of the pain and fetishized trauma I was experiencing at the time of painting through exaggerations and metaphors.

In fact, such extreme paintings are more like luminescence to endure pain than drawing. By drawing violence, I seem to calm myself down by creating the illusion that I can control the situation.

Like everyone else, the work includes the creator's experience! The picture of a spy being raped by a dog!! What happened to me at the time!! If I say this, people will tell me not to spoil other people's feelings by talking about personal details. Haha, they're right and i agree but what if my whole life is something that I shouldn't say? it makes me more and more crazier. It's only in pictures that I'm honest with metaphors. Anyway, you're right that you saw the painting properly, and this is proof that my expression was successful.

But where did you learn to hold on to anyone and swear first just because you are a squeamish person?

Is that your level of awareness? Or kind of racism? Because when I see a crowd like you, the overwhelming majority of people being blamed are Asian. And it's always the English-speaking Otaku who are making a fuss and agitating. Not all English-speaking people are like this. That's what my 5years-experience was like. Most of the Asian tf2 fans I subscribe to are called proshippers by English tf2 otaku and have been subjected to various insults, threats and bullying, including myself.

Among them, it was easy to see words telling them to kill themselves and wanting to kill them. Why are they so easily stimulated and ostracized? What is so terrifying? Or is it just for self-explanation?

This is also worth considering why. I'm guessing it's the cultural difference between the view that separates fiction from reality, but isn't racism from ignorance correct if it's really because of this difference? Wait, if the assumption is correct that the view that separates reality from fiction is weak, it means that they actually behave this way, do you behave this way in your social life?

If you're mental so unstable that you can't distinguish between fictional stories and reality and actually attack people like this, it's you who needs help.

Of course, in order to increase simple jealousy or the desire for moral superiority and the sense of belonging of the group they believe they belong to, there have been many cases of bullying those they perceive as relatively weak, so this should also be considered. In particular, people who lead or respond to this instigation seem to spend a considerable amount of time on the Internet fan community and find a lot of belonging and emotional comfort there.

Oh... I also want to write about 'proship', but I'm getting lazy. To sum up my opinion on proship, if you like TF2, everyone is "problematic".

They're mainly saying, "This is unethical, or Rape/incest is actually happening, so you shouldn't draw it porn because it stimulates the trauma of the actual victims... blah blah" Whata nonsense. Do they realize that I'm included in what they call the "actual victim"? Of course they can't. (+but i hate to be called victim. idk why🤪)

Those words are just meager, annoying excuses that they brought to justify violence against their opponents, because they just want to show disgust to people who like what they don't like.

We likes a game called Tf2 that was made to make war and violence and the valuelessness of personality (like zombies) comfortable and enjoyable. For them, war and violence and gore aren't real? not a problematic things?? This game is so that violence can be safely enjoyed in a safe place that the horrors have been purified and well hidden as being silly. fucking gross and j love it yum.

when I once explained Tf2 to a friend who was not interested in subculture like games, comics at all. she told to me that how they could make this things into a game, a caricature of War is so horrible.

Now can you understanding?? We don't deserve anyone. So Let's just shut up and enjoy the confusion and shame of self-reflection and contradiction. If you hate someone for some reason so you can't standing? Just shut up and block quietly or go outside and drink beer with your firends. What qualification do you have to control other people's delusions and hallucinations??

And did I force you to look at my paintings with guns and threats? I don't even know who you are. Don't hide in anonymity lol. ahh It's funny that you find my paintings on your own and get scared by yourself and whine at me like a 5 years old child. Anyway, someday you will enjoy these paintings when physical pain and trauma turn into fetish. Waitaminute, if you scrolled my arts, you would know right away that I am Korean. Why do you send an ask in English? Don't you know the existence of a translator? yeah You have zero manners.

Now done!!! Ofc I'm not saying everything I say is right., but it doesn't matter. I didn't write this to talk to you! It's just a one-sided shower of thoughts! like thoughts vomiting🤮. As you started first aeeheeee Actually your timing wasn't good. Normally, I just ignore people like you but My psychosis these days were really Bad and exploding due to personal happens. but thanks to your coming, I was able to divert my mind for a second! Thank you for the opportunity to pooping on you! I feel refreshed!👍👍👍

[wolfertinger]

What pisses me off so much is that Salem has been claiming he "didnt actually do yellowface" and it was actually "a racial delusion" ... when there is genuine proof to show its fucking lies.

He wrote about the debockle on his private, he didnt seem deluded, he spoke eloquently, he wasnt apologetic but it didnt really come off like he was experiencing delusions at the time- he said "thats how he speaks in real life"

Which like..if it REALLY was a real delusion he was experiencing.. what the fuck is his idea of asian people to make him think this is how they all fucking talk? damn i didnt know delusions are an excuse for racism!

But no, he was very much concious and aware of his actions, to the point of addressing the allegations on his main account.. even though the delusion wouldve made him think the kung fu revvy one was his main, yes?

Whatever. my point stands to make it pretty clear he is lying about this delusion- maybe he does experience delusions but the yellowface situation was a concious decision and he is just fucking stupid.

He thinks mental illness (which he probably thinks he can transition into like a gender. fuckin radqueer) is an excuse for everything, he thinks mentally ill + neurodivergent people are all helpless r slurs that dont know any better, he thinks they are "baby bunnies >.<" which he strives to be, a helpless stupid fucking lunatic that can get away with everything because he says he has "prolapsed anus syndrome" which is a syndrome that prolapses your anus. So clearly he isnt in the wrong here guys! he is unaware of his actions and is too fucking stupid to take accountability! NO I MEAN! nyaa im so ableist >.< he is a helpless baby and we should always forgive him because he is too baby bunny boi to learn and be better, kyaaa~!

Ugh.

If youre so fucking mentally unstable, Salem, maybe stay off the fucking internet... we dont need you coming back with your Mexican Sona called "jimmy changa" who is an axolotl boy with a sombrero, poncho and giant breasts.

i have been seeing a lot of people defending puppy lately acting as if people's only issue with him is his furry art. very blatantly ignoring the part where he did genuine racist things, because they know being racist and then blaming it all on an alter is stupid. plurality or not you can still do terrible things. i have had systems explain to me even when their alters do bad things. the rest of the system is still responsible for and should accept the blame of their actions.

reminder, this is why people are the most angry. ""racial delusions"" do not cover this. and if it did this is how you see asian people in your head? not even discerning between chinese and japanese.

i also believe this is what puppy will say is one of his alters, adonis i think her name, is. which makes me wonder if this red panda alter speaks in incredibly broken english, they are obviously very...inspired.

and yes i will draw attention, to this attitude again. because for all the talk about anti blackness, he has no allyship or understanding of his racism against other races. even his gf admitted to formerly defending zionist beliefs. they literally are not capable of forming their own thoughts. they simply parrot what they think gets them the most attention. then backpedal if their audience doesnt agree.

why is this any different from a white person, saying something racist then claiming to be "2% black", to get away from their racist actions.

[prosciuttoon]

Anyway, Shuro isn't the only character with problems, he isn't even the only Japanese/ Eastern Archipelago character, so not the only one with that specific background. And yet, he sure is the only one who acted out the way he did.

If you like him for .. whatever reason (narcissism? Based on your posts, I guess), that's fine, but like. There's extremely valid reasons for not liking him that aren't just "ur racist" or "you just don't understand!!!!"

hes the only one that acted out bc he was the only one that laios was interacting with that was the reason they fought?? laios wasnt talking to hien or benchidori or maizuru like that he didnt even meet them until he reunited w shuro in the dungeon

and when did i ever say “you’re racist if you hate him” all i did was talk abt the cultural context of his upbringing that would make him a terrible communicator. also, narcissism is such a weird word for liking a character a lot? and its not like im making him look innocent and flawless bc im literally explaining his flaws and where they come from. if someone doesnt like him bc he reminds them of someone that hurt them im not gonna try to change their mind, wouldnt hurt to know Why he acts like that but if theyre informed and still dont like him thats perfectly fine!!!

since i think u sent 2 asks ill just put the first one here and answer it too:

in the post abt him leaving izutsumi in the dungeon to come back “if she wants to” the “nuance” i was talking abt was the fact that he said “if she wants to” i.e giving her a choice to return (which she didnt do because she hated that place obv). also sorry hes not powerful enough to abolish slavery in his country, hes not even the heir to the family. dont think the eastern archipelago is strictly based on a specific time or reality in japan, probably just inspired by reality but not based on it, so shuros family is likely one of many families serving their “feudal lord” who rules a province of the country. in history, feudal lords were also under shogun and the emperor, but neither are mentioned in the manga iirc so i will guess that wasnt the case.

my aim w my posts isnt to force ppl to change their minds on whether or not they like a fictional character. im just giving an extra perspective w stuff from extra content plus my own experience (i.e being asian too) that some people may not know about. what they do w the info is up to them im not trying to tell people how to think. if they learn smth that changes their opinion fine if they dont also fine its not that serious. im just talking about my interpretations of the character.

if i see a critique i may think “wait but do they know about [insert notable info]”. if they dont know, would maybe be good to know bc its important to the character, if they do know and thats the conclusion they came to, thats it! i dont do any more than that n ur acting like im forcing everyone to like him.

tldr; just cuz i am explaining the root of his flaws doesnt mean im ignoring them. i still call him what he is! a loner who cant set boundaries and it only makes problems for himself and people around him, but i also happen to be interested in Where the behaviour comes from! (which happens to be heavily due to culture). doesnt mean im calling u racist if u dont like him wut

[seaweedstarshine]

Late to the game as I’ve kinda been kinda non-here for a minute but I scrolled through the Dot and Bubble tag, and thought I wanted to write this post into existence.

There's this part in Doctor Who Unleashed where RTD says this:

“What we can’t tell is how many people will have worked that out before the ending. Because they’ve seen white person after white person after white person, and television these days is very diverse. I wonder, will you be ten minutes into it, will you be fifteen, will you be twenty, before you start to think, everyone in this community is white. And if you don’t think that — why didn’t you? So, that’s gonna be interesting. I hope it’s one of those pieces of television you see, and always remember.”

And I'm like. Yeah. But the reason this works even as well as it does is largely thanks to the work of the previous showrunner with the previous creative team, which was notably the first era to have any writers of color (amongst other firsts in terms of inclusivity in directors, composer, actors). While Chibnall fumbled whenever he tried to write about race himself, he did have the self-awareness to have Black and South Asian writers writing the episodes where race is the focus (and a female writer for the episode where sexism is a focus; my point is, he seemed to know his shortcomings).

I wonder what the current creative team looks like? (not really, but I wasn't 100% sure for all of them)

To quote RTD:

“...before you start to think, everyone in this community is white.”

This is pretty non-self-aware, right? It's pretty “It is said, and I understand this, there was a history of racism with the original Toymaker, the Celestial Toymaker, who had ‘celestial,’ and I did not know this, but ‘celestial’ can mean of Chinese origin, but in a derogatory way,” right? (from The Giggle Unleashed) It's pretty “and I had problems with that, and a lot of us on the production team had problems with that: associating disability with evil,” right? (from Destination Skaro Unleashed)

—none of which are issues that should be overlooked, but think how much exponentially better they might’ve been addressed if he’d consulted with Chinese writers and wheelchair-using writers before going straight to giving the Toymaker weird fake accents and making Davros walk?

How many Black or non-white people do we think saw the Dot and Bubble script before it landed in Ncuti’s hands?

And this just keeps happening.

And like, from some of the shocked responses I've seen from white viewers to the ending of Dot and Bubble, maybe the episode's unsubtlety was needed? From the way RTD talks about it in Unleashed, the episode was written with a white audience in mind, Baby's First Microaggressions (where of course the microaggressions come from people who are pretty self-admittedly white supremacists). Ricky September, a more seemingly normal depiction of someone in the racist bubble of Finetime, seemed like an interesting element, up until the way he died.

The ending worked for me, because I do think the Doctor's reaction is true to how the Doctor would react. I just keep thinking of how much better the core themes could've been handled by someone with actual lived experience on the subject matter.

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/751898325515665408/because-not-every-brown-person-is-black#notes

I think what gets me about BIPOC is that is doesn't just describe more Anglo/US race politics. But especially RECENT ones. I think POC is like from the 20's?

BIPOC/POC also explains different layers of systematic oppression and social issues that have been ongoing and are still happening. There are certain big difference between the oppression a Black/Indigenous person faces vs eg East Asians. But that doesn't mean that both don't experience some form of oppression in the American system, and some forms of oppression do still overlap. That is an oppression no actual white group in US faces in any comparable margin, and why the term BIPOC to make it clear it is about that unique oppression makes sense, because of American politics.

Europe has a really weird connection to race that isn't a 1:1 reflection of the US. I think you can also find this in Asia. Europe even used race the same way some people use nationality for some time. If you went by how the system fucks with people, you could definitely talk about black people are heavily oppressed in Europe like in the US, and anyone "Not european enough" but in Europe there's for example also heavy and recent oppression of the Irish, Saami, and Eastern Europeans in Western Europe. Do they face the SAME oppression as example black people in Europe? No historically there are large differences, but certain overlaps. There have been systemic issues in Europe that historically targeted Irish, Saami, and Slavic people. That's something unique to Europe, where white people oppressed other white people. But also oppressed Not white people. That's why BIPOC/POC makes very little sense and feels more like also trying to adopt US racial politics into Europe including the history, which just doesn't work. Maybe terms more unique to Europe should be created to both respect the racial issues of non-white groups in Europe, while also not forgetting that Europeans have for a long time also oppressed and keep oppressing "other" Europeans. And that's not even starting on the racial politics further of into Eastern Europe

BIPOC/POC isn't just about being "Not whites" it's also about the system these people live in. US/Canada has a very specific system that is very unique. I think maybe Australia and New Zealand come close? YOU CAN'T REMOVE THE SYSTEM FROM THAT TERM.

POC living in the Americas found a term that actually encompasses a lot of their unique experiences in this world, and a certain togherness that this caused in that system. That there are certain quirks that you need to understand to really get why the term is so specific to NOT white people living in the US, aka BIPOC, and why it's rooted in the American politics, race politics, and oppression of minorities. It's just weird to take a term that belongs to a very specific experience of racial/ethnic minorities in the US, and try and remove the very specific political and historical context of racial oppression.

Side tangent. In Asia, example China you could also compare their oppression of ethnic and racial minorities to how it's done in West European countries, say Germany. In China anyone not from the Han majority is oppressed by the system, the system is made to oppress anyone who's not part of the majority, which includes anyone now Chinese, which includes black people, and people are subjugated to a forced "conversion" and assimilation into the majority; this specifically includes indigenous Chinese people of minority ethnic groups, like the Yao people. In Germany there's a history of a system that oppresses people who're not white, and ethnic white minorities, like Slavic people, especially during the Germanization of the "country" during Germany's many shifts in borders, where minorities were forcefully assimilated in an attempt Germanize them. These are all people of the same "race" and this is a specific experience in parts of the world where ethnicity is a big factor rather than just race, if not a bigger factor. But again, that's not the experience from the US where race is one of the biggest factor of oppression, because that's how it just went historically in the US after the colonization and everything that followed.

BIPOC makes more sense for Americans because it's their word for their history.

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[system-of-a-feather]

We would love to hear more about being a "system of zero" - is it related to ur Buddhism? It sounds v interesting

Kind of? Its one of those things that I think is something that happened and is the best way of describing our experience as it just kind of innately formed, but our Buddhist perspective made it so we were 100% okay with it and 0% motivated to change it

I talk a little more about it in depth here and here, but full fusion into what we call "Feathers" is different from how we've experienced fusion in the past in the sense that past fusions (while we were still dissociative enough to have it be a CDD diagnosis level) usually eventually form a sense of self, identity, and what not; they would hold their fused parts identities but then there would be this third blend that had a name and traits about them that they'd identify with and that would be a lot more "this is [insert part] and they are easy to define with [traits and core beliefs about self and what not]".

XIV 2.0 was a somewhat temperamental, combative and abrupt but also very good at understanding, listening, and caring; he was very anti-america and pretty anarcho-communist in ideals (different in practice but).

Riku TM was very sociable, a bit of a martyr complex, very knowledge and curiosity driven, chronically and sometimes toxically optimistic / positive; seemingly likable and sociable but also somehow less authentically compassionate and understanding than XIV against most awareness.

Those sorts of descriptions felt very easy to make and they developed this concept of self that each individual part had and held onto about what made them, well them. They meant a lot to each of those parts and honestly, they still mean a lot to a lot of those parts when we choose to engage specifically in one of those lens. There's the whole person vs parts language, and for us, they're entirely synonymous beyond the context; but for the sake of discussing identity, sense of autonomy, and self in the level of "headcounts", each of those parts felt like they were a person of their own that was a part of a larger thing. There was a sense of autonomy, independence, distinction and definition to those parts. They could zoom in on themselves and find their fused-parts and if they focused they could also find those parts having that same sense; but even without doing that, Riku TM and XIV 2.0 - for example - were concepts, entities and identities that identified well... just as themselves.

Our fully fused state "Feathers" very much doesn't really have any defining personality traits or desires or labels or identity traits of really any level that we really feel strongly belong / are attached to us and nothing really gives us a sense of "that's me" or "this is what makes me me" or "these are things that I am proud of and hold close to me because I did it" or anything like that; and that include the name "Feathers".

There are things you can use to describe our fused self that we'd go "Oh yeah thats a fair description" (buddhist, generally trans, Asian American, On the Left Politically, we like birds, etc), but that acknowledgement of "yeah thats fair" comes from a very detatched observation and objective lens as we take the perspective of someone looking at us. It's very hard to argue that I'm NOT Asian American, NOT trans, NOT politically left, and NOT Buddhist when you look at how we act, so I guess we are those things.

But if you were to ask us things that really make us who we are? Eh, our existence in itself is the only thing that defines us as "Feathers". We like birds, but thats subject to change and we are okay with that. Our sense of self doesn't rely on birds, or really any personality trait or behavior or identity label. Feathers simply is Feathers and Feathers simply exists.

And as a result, there isn't really much in our life that makes us go "oh I'm me, I'm a unique and individual person, I am separate from others, I am an individual that exists in this world, I can be defined by things and I have things that truly make me Feathers rather than anyone else" other than just that I experience myself.

So I don't really identify as a person or really have an identity or sense of self - but not in the "unstable sense of self" way that is discussed clinically in some disorders like BPD, but more in the "I don't operate with that as a concept, the only thing that I do have is my existence."

Riku TM and XIV 2.0 have a sense of self, a sense of definition and seperation from not only part to part but themselves and others / the world. Feathers just... doesn't.

Feathers is an experience, a concept, a shared experience of multiple parts, but they're not really a *person* because they're not exactly this independent and autonomous thing.

It's kind of hard to explain if you aren't there, but I kind of like to think of it as like... ya know, Imma still Yongey Mingur Rinpoche's analogy from the book I'm reading because its a good analogy to the simultaneous acknowledgement of a thing existing without it really being its own independent thing

But think of the concept of "space". Most of space is empty, it doesn't really exist and it doesn't exactly do much on it's own. Its a general concept of things beyond the Earth where a lot of other things exist. Stars appear, planets appear, things move and explode and fade out of existence. The stars and planets and all that are Things, but Space is more of a Concept than a Thing. Space is made up of many impermanent pieces that pop up here and there, but space in itself is this constant binding concept that ties those impermanent pieces together. Space continues to exist regardless of the more concrete and tangible yet impermanent pieces that come and go

Similarly, my parts are like stars and planets - they are Things that are defined, more tangible and impermanent; they come like waves and sometimes they are clear as day, other times they are out of my awareness. Feathers - our fused whole - is more like Space. Its constant, always present, but hardly defined by anything other than the emptiness it has and the occasionally appearing impermanent pieces that are a part of it.

Feathers exists as a thing of its own in the way space exists as a thing of its own; yes kinda? But generally speaking, there is no real good way to define where Space Begins and Ends and thus is hard to really say that Space is a Thing of its own. You can throw definitions and things that seem to be good measures of what Space Is, but most of those things are likely more impermanent things and aspects of space; just things that seem to stand out the most and stay around the longest.

But thats all really like esoteric ramblings to really just say that Feathers doesn't exactly identify as a Thing or a Person or a Self or a Part. Feathers is just an experience and an existence and it's just the mental space / sense of self (or lack there of) that we spend a lot of time in.

So if we were to define our headcount as JUST our fused self, on one hand you could say we are a System of One, but if you wanted to be most accurate to how we feel, we are honestly a System of Zero.

And I feel like we were Just Fused Like That and because of our Buddhist background, we looked at it and went "Huh, nice, thats cool and nice, I'm perfectly fine existing like this and find no need to create any limits or definitions to this experience"

We find it very freeing and peaceful to not really identify with much of anything too seriously. Feathers is Feathers and that simplicity of self is just such a simple self to live as and live in.

Can't have identity crisises if you don't have an identity in the first place /j

[kimbapisnotsushi]

hi! please share your headcanons about jay. thanks!

ooooooooh sure thing let's get it!!

(also please keep in mind that soke was literally my first time dipping back into dc after a LONG while, so i have a bit of catch-up to do in terms of characters and stories, and thus some of my knowledge might be outdated!!! also i love jay but i do consider myself still very new to understanding him and thus most of these will be silly fun :333)

damian makes fun of him for that all-black ninja-esque stealth suit he wore to sneak into star labs because there was literally NO POINT in jay trying to disguise himself like that when he didn't bother covering up his BRIGHT FUCKING PINK hair

yes i'm still mad about yes i would like to know his thought process

is it natural btw??? i've seen different takes around where people think it's dyed bc of his other version in aos:jk, but i feel like that's pretty unlikely considering it was shaved all the way down when he got taken prisoner and experimented on and it grew back exactly like that

for the record i'm not a hater i'm just saying 1) it made him a walking beacon and 2) it being natural is so fucking funny to me since he clearly didn't inherit it from his mom, which begs the question:

who the fuck is jay's dad

while jay does care for all of the revolutionaries as their ally and everyone at the truth as their boss, and as an overall friend, i think that wink and the aerie are especially close to him and they consider each other family. they were pretty much the closest thing to adult supervision jay had for a while, and he relied on them a lot when he was settling down in metropolis and figuring out how to live alone

this meant that he called them for stupid things like "if something explodes in your microwave do you call the fire department", and not-stupid things like "help me open a bank account because metropolis bank has laws that won't let me do it by myself as a minor"

they were also the first people he came out to

jay loves them even if they CAN be really annoying

jay: "are you—are you guys ACTUALLY planning on shovel-talking superman" wink: "technically, he's superman's son" the aerie: "and if he's late to the coffee shop, i'm taking points off"

i think jay would get along with tim actually

the dude is an underground hacktivist refugee, investigative journalist, and a former president's son. he's probably used to always looking over his shoulder, ready to be jumped at a moment's notice. he's got a plan for everything but the plans only exist inside his head because he can't risk hard copies being found or digital ones being hacked. he's memorized them all. they're either alphabetized or mentally color-coded. we're talking levels of elaborate just-in-case getaways and meticulously planned investigations that would get a normal reporter killed if they asked the wrong question. it's dedication to a terrifying degree

yeah tim would definitely rock with him

jay has this neat little trick where if he's in a situation in which someone's poisoned his food and he has to eat it/can't let them know he knows, he just partially phases his organs so that the food falls through his body a little bit at a time and never enters his digestive system

jon is HORRIFIED when he finds out. damian is really fucking impressed

does gamorra have its own language???? i feel like jay would be fluent in it if so. of course he would be. he'd do anything to keep part of home as close to his chest as possible

oh that's another thing i'll probs mess up on btw i am legit so confused on gamorra considering it's apparently in asia and i would assume has its own distinct culture? but jay's surname is japanese and that random kid on the boat has a japanese name so are they like. japanese-adjacent??? or is gamorra made up of multiple asian identities blended into one (read tags for clarification)

i should probably read absolute power shouldn't i

okay sorry that got WAY off topic but yeah jay is definitely someone who loved his home despite not being able to go back and did everything he could to maintain his ties

ALSO can we talk about jay being a student at metropolis college at seventeen???? did he skip a year of school when he got to the u.s.??? did he lie on forms or something??

like i don't think he's taking extra credit classes as a high school student because he was also advertising the media department when we saw him, and i don't think he'd be doing that if he was in high school

jon makes sense because he had a fake identity which COULD put him in college. but jay???

honestly lying on paper is such a jay nakamura thing to do if he doesn't want people tracking him down by cross-referencing his birthday with government records

jay nakamura's number-one tip of running an anonymous underground activist stream: hide all identifiable information from the government

(this does not work when you are widely recognized as superman's boyfriend)

also now that dick is backing the truth can we PLEASE get tim in on it. i think it'd be so fucking funny. i think he and jay would have a grand old time breaking into firewalls and digging through internet archives and exposing corrupt people

tim is like "FINALLY i have something fun to do at all those fucking galas bruce makes me go to" because jay needs some rich guy's vacation itinerary so he knows the prime time to break into his house and gather evidence for something

i just have so much appreciation for jay nakamura you guys i love him so much