#or 'western validation' it will only make them look bad in the end

[bandzboy]

controversial opinion but i think stays were ok with boycotting the cc collab because there were other jyp artists on the track and it wasn't going to get the push/emphasis on it like the cp collab is. i think it's also bc the collab song was just for cc promo whereas this is part of their discography. i truly hate that they are going this route of a US single release because, as we've seen with BTS, these songs 100% of the time have these western zionists on them.

yeah that's what i think too! and i genuinely feel like most of the time these western collabs do know really make any noise outside of kpop spaces because people are tired of them bc they are barely genuine and also because somehow these companies always pick the worst western artist for them to collab with 😭 and ofc at the end of the day nobody will gaf i bet charlie puth doesn't gaf about it either idk if he posted abt it bc i don't follow him anyways but i HIGHLY doubt it! i truly wish there was a jype fam collab but not like this and feel like even if was tied to coca cola stays wouldn't even gaf about it bc (this is from my own observation from twt stays) they see other groups as competition and don't actually want to be united with other fandoms in jype but i feel like that's case for most fandoms but since we are talking about stays here that's why i am saying that

[abla-soso]

Now that I've read the full, translated Bnha chapter... I don't think I like that much anymore 😭

The segment with Hawks was great. No complaints other than I wish Hori showed him interacting with Enji onscreen and we should have only seen a glimpse of him at the very end and have his interaction with Nagat happen in the next chapter. As much as I loved seeing Hawks, this chapter should’ve been solely dedicated to the Todoroki family.

But the Todoroki family segment.. em, it's not that good. It was just meh.

I liked that it was too bittersweet to the point of being nearly depressing. It was the most believed conclusion. But there were many problems with how it was written.

The pacing was bad. The dialogue felt unnatural and forced. Like Hori was ticking out plot points that he wanted to conclude rather than characters naturally interacting.

Enji felt like a broken record repeating lines that he already said. His reactions were too muted that he felt lifeless. I'd hate it if this was the last time we'll see him.

I loved that he told Touya he'll visit him every day, and I loved Touya's reaction to this (his soft, sad gaze 😢❤️). But Touya should have had the last word between them.

Why didn't Natsu say anything to Touya?? That was weird. I'm glad he's keeping a safe distance from Enji and focusing on his own healing, but the sudden outburst at Enji was strange. Perphas learning that Touya was slowly dying trigged this outburst, but I can't be sure.

I like this interpretation, though:

You could tell that Natsu still cares about Enji as his father deapite needing to stay away from him (he's the only one who tells Enji to rest and ease his burden). I loved that. No contact does nessasrily mean lack of care. Sometimes, we need to keep our distance from people we still care about. Sometimes, our healing requires letting go.

But people's reaction to Natsu's choice was laughably bizarre. Most Western folks really act like no contact is the only valid way to heal. Honestly pathetic 🤷‍♀️

Whyyyy didn't we see Rei and Fuyumi say something to Touya?? What's the point of showing us how much they wanna talk to him and then not give it to them?? If Hori was aiming for maximum drama, he still could have had them say something and then still lament about how much more they need to say.

Please don't tell me Rei is still married to Enji 😭 If anyone needs to cut all ties with this man forever, it's her.

Why was there no clear reaction to the news of Touya slowly dying? 🙆‍♀️

I'm now OK with Touya's sudden positive change towards Shouto. It happened right after he got the validation he needed from Enji and right after we saw him accept it, so - while still rushed - it makes sense for him to change his view of Shouto now that his vision is no longer clouded by hate and resentment. Shouto's reaction was cute. He really looked the kid brother of the family.

Why is Hori refusing to show us the inner thoughts of the main cast, though?? Especially during life changing moments?? It started with Deku after losing his quirk, and now it's happening to Shouto. We should have seen his inner thoughts if this is really the final todoroki family chapter.

Though I loved how Shouto addressed Enji and Rei when he talked about being who he wants to be. It was a great final moment between parents and child.

As the finale to the Hellish Todoroki Family saga, this chapter felt rushed and underwhelming. I still enjoyed it to some extent, but it could have been so much better written.

But I don't blame Hori. It looks very obvious that he's being pressured by his editors to rush the ending =/

[cinnagall]

☆Welcome To My Gyaru Blog☆

♡ Intro ♡

Hiiiiiiii! My name is Jax, I’m 23 years old and from NYC! I’ve been gal for almost 2 years now. I don’t consider myself a vet gal by any means (obviously) but I’d like to believe that I have a good basis in the style and makeup! I don’t think my blog posts will be very formal at first but I want a space to share my opinions and document my journey.

I found gyaru and J-fashion through early Tumblr (around 2013/2014), and then rediscovered it in 2020 and fell in love with it all over again. I love gal because of how much tan skin is appreciated! Japanese gals created a space in a colorist society where you could say “I LOVE your tan skin!” I think that’s pretty amazing!!! I also love how gyaru as a style is very hyperfeminine but with a twist. Since becoming a gal, I have learned to care much less what people think. I’m not afraid to express myself or dress in a way that other people might not like. I am unapologetically myself and I partially have gal to thank for that! At first I was really inspired by Ganguro/Old School, I loved how early gals pulled inspiration from Western fashion trends, especially African American Y2K fashion. Though, I should acknowledge that there is a conversation to be had about appreciation vs appropriation, which I might talk about in a later post.

🌺FAQ🌺

I’ll answer some FAQ that gals get so you guys can understand a bit more about my personal philosophies on the style:

💄 Do you need makeup to be gal?

Yes, there are many, MANY different styles of gyaru makeup and all of them are valid, but the only thing that has stayed consistent across gyaru “substyles” is the makeup (and hairstyling/nails), but the defining feature of gal is the makeup. This is a sentiment that has been echoed in both the Gaijin and Japanese gal communities. You don’t need to wear heavy yamanba makeup every single day, it’s understandable that some days you might not have time or energy to do your hair, money to do your nails, ect. The important part is that you do these things as much as possible as well as incorporating gal into your life in other ways!

🌺Can you be gal if you’re white or not asian?

Yes, anybody can be gal!

👛Do you need brand to be gal?

NO. Even the most well known gaijin gals own Western fast fashion brands. A lot of similar items to the ones Japanese gals wore can be found second hand or in your local mall. Obviously, finding a dupe for an item can be difficult if that item has a specific print like the Alba Rosa coat and some MA*RS sets (though Shein did have a MA*RS dupe dress last year), but other than that a lot of gal outfits are easily replicable. Magazine scans are going to be your best friend if you wanna get the style right, it is much easier to get the gal look you want when you have a clear basis/inspiration for the coords and makeup you wanna wear. Also, simply owning brand is not enough to put together a good outfit, a lot of people who wear a lot of brand lack inspiration and originality. I am not anti-brand by any means. I have a huge list of brand items I want, and I even ordered my first brand piece recently (a MA*RS handbag). But it’s just not necessary, and some brands are essentially the equivalent of Japanese Charlotte Russe or Forever 21. The brands are still fast fashion and a lot of second hand brand items are falling apart, smell, have stains, ect. Don’t stress about brand unless you really want it! It took me almost two years to buy my first piece, you’ll be okay without it! Learning HOW to style, is a lot more important than WHAT you style. A good gal can make almost anything gal, but “bad” gal can end up making anything, even brand, look cheap and tacky.

(hint, hint: a lot of it honestly is and that’s why styling really matters)

Substyles I’m currently into and why!:

🦋Agejo🦋:

So, when you think of agejo, it probably looks something like this:

This specific type of agejo is what tends to be most represented on Google and Pinterest. Newbies to the style might think that pink, black, cheetah print, lace stockings, and big hair is all there is to the style. But boy would you be wrong!!!

Look at some of these scans from Ageha, most of these are from 2008-2012. Look at how many different types of agejo are represented! Of course the iconic pink and black MA*RS sets can be found in some spreads, but they’re much less common than most gals think!

See how different the above images are? Agejo literally translates to “butterfly lady”, so in a lot of Ageha editions, especially in the spreads for more formal dresses, you will see a lot of butterfly motifs! Isn’t it crazy that the style that has butterfly in the name, yet it isn’t commonly associated with butterflies at all? I also learned from my friend Haruka (@otknoharuka on Instagram) that in Japan, Agejo is considered a style under the Hime umbrella. It actually makes a lot of sense if you’ve seen a lot of ageha scans.

I know, technically you can argue that some of the outfits in these scans could be considered another substyle. But let’s just remember that substyles aren’t real and they’re something Western gals came up with to make sense of the scans/information that was available to them at the time!

I really started understanding this style more when I started to religiously scour Ageha scans. At first I was an Egg girl all the way but I’m glad I actually took the time to read other magazines. Egg is iconic but it’s far from all there is in terms of gyaru magazine inspiration. I totally fell in love with this substyle when I finally tried out the softer, more dolly makeup look that’s common in Ageha magazine (example below). It suits my features so much better than the harsher gal make I used to do.

An early attempt of mine at Agejo/Ageha inspired makeup:

A more recent attempt:

🐆Banba🐆:

Personally I’ve never been into more “out there” styles like ya/manba. I don’t think they really suit me, and it’s just generally not the gyaru vibe I’m looking for. But Banba has recently been resonating with me recently. If you don’t know, the term banba comes from combining “barbie” and “manba.” It’s a more toned down and hyper feminine version of manba. I also find that it’s more beginner-friendly than some other substyles (in terms of coords).

A lot of the outfits are composed of muted colors, tans/browns, black, white, and animal prints. These are all items that are very easy to find, it’s just a matter of learning how to style them! I also love how glittery the makeup is, and the nails are to die for. I’ve actually been teaching myself how to make nails and a big part of it is because I don’t feel complete without them, especially when doing styles like this!!

Some banba inspo I’ve pulled from recently:

Some recent attempts of mine:

I’m going to end this blog post here!! I had a lot of fun making it and I’m excited to do more posts in the future!! I think my next post will be a unpopular gyaru opinions post, might rial some people up but in classic gal fashion I simply do not give a fuck.

I hope you’re having an amazing day wherever you are!!

TT & IG - @cinnagal

☆じゃあね☆,

ジャックス

[violet-moonstone]

the MCU's rhetoric about political resistance/change is often so insidious. the only time we see people who want to change the status quo, theyre destructive and often incapable of feeling compassion for anyone outside of the group theyre fighting for. so the only two options are siding with the cruel antagonist who wants real change and the heroes who will make small concessions so that the audience feels good but ultimately they uphold the harmful status quo. I'm not saying this doesn't happen in real life, but when a trope pretty much becomes the default, you start to see the writer's political messages coming out. ESPECIALLY when the primary threat comes from exploited working class people/oppressed minorities and not the colonialist powers and corporations that put them in that position.

sidenote: when i watched black panther 2 and realized that the primary conflict was going to be black people fighting indigenous people and that western hegemony and exploitation of resources was just a side plot, I immediately lost all hope for that film. I loved the music, the visuals and the fight scenes, but the writing?? i was so disappointed. All the dissatisfaction I felt from Black Panther 1 came flooding back. Before they were pitting us against each other, this time it was against another oppressed group...hhhhhhh. anyway jokes on me for expecting different. I really just need to read The Deep (and if its anything like the song its based on, its probably much better executed than wakanda forever).

anyway, yes, the audience has the freedom to see things with nuance but i dont think most people will (because "its just a fun superhero move, why are you taking it so seriously?"), and I dont think the writers want them to - otherwise they'd start including more nuanced characters rather than villains who we are shown have to be defeated for the greater good, no matter how valid their arguments may be. and I understand that the vast majority of people are not watching superhero movies looking for nuance and depth but thats all the more reason why so much of the MCU's writing is concerning. Every time we're faced with a troubling political/ecological debate, the conclusion is that whoever tried to change things was in the wrong, and we'll make a small concession at the end so everyone feels somewhat satisfied and doesn't really have to confront any uncomfortable implications.

ex: infinity war shows us Thanos' eco fascism as the main (and only?) criticism of the overconsumption of resources. I may be wrong but I don't remember anyone talking about sustainability as vital solution or anything...and in FATWS the conversation is STILL about the pros and cons of the Snap - not anything to do with sustainability...because that would require the audience to be confronted with real life political implications that are bit too close to home. Even to have one or a few characters suggest an alternative and for Thanos to shoot it down because he doesn't trust people to be sustainable, and because he truly thinks killing people is the best possible plan (which makes no sense btw because it implies that all species are overpopulated at the same and that every single species in the universe consumes resources in the same way..they made movie!Thanos *seem* so intelligent but his thought process literally makes no sense. and fans bend over backwards to justify it because "hes the mad titan" even though you clearly cant use that defense based on the way he's written in the film. The writers clearly want us to see him as rational but cruel...anyway its not 2018 so let me stop beating the dead horse of this tired topic)

basically, theres rarely (if ever) a middle between the two extremes, because theres no room for that. There has to be a good guy and a bad guy...perhaps a well intentioned and misguided bad guy, but ultimately still a bad guy. The options are: pretty much nothing but minor things change and the problem still exists OR everything changes but it would require the violent villain getting their way and killing innocent people in the process.

anyway thank god for the spiderverse , which actually does the opposite (and thank god spiderverse is not directly part of the MCU and the writers actually have something to say). I think the loki show may be doing something similar but im not caught up so idk. loki to me feels like spiderverse but with less narrative cohesion

[limeade-l3sbian]

i couldn't get behind the lesbian ending of lok because it felt like an ass-pull for representation after they both went for the same guy earlier, especially with the cattiness between the women before then. i also couldn't get behind kuvira because she was a cop, and because her character existing implied toph slept with a man (and was also a cop), especially when kuvira also went for men, romantically.

more than that, i'm bothered by the shitty plot, especially the way they threw out basically everything important to the world of atla. atla very strongly supported things like harmony with nature and portrayed much of industrialization as a bad thing for the world (due to both the harm it does to humans AND the harm it does to the environment), but the "better world" of lok is steampunk? only about 100 years or so have passed iirc, and the world has become a completely industrialized, westernized, capitalistic place. it's depressing. the destruction of the avatar cycle combining with that really grossed me out.

plot wise, it just felt infinitely less cohesive and controlled than atla. atla felt like it had things to say (many of them based around social justice and environmental justice), and built a strong story around those things without faltering for even a moment. lok felt like a sloppy anime that clumsily tried to forcibly inject social justice talking points into the plot. it's unfortunate because there are a few impressive character designs and concepts, and i would have loved an atla sequel following a female incarnation of the avatar (and actual, solid gay representation would be nice too), but it just failed to be anything actually impressive, imo.

on the downlow, i kind of feel it paved the way for the steven universe era of cartoons, where children's cartoons are heavily marketed to adults (who they rely on for an audience more than the actual kids the show is meant for) using nostalgic references and weirdly inserted social talking points and instances of representation that feel more like the creators are saying "LOOK HOW STUNNING AND BRAVE AND SUBVERSIVE AND PROGRESSIVE WE ARE" rather than actually trying to tell stories, convey messages they feel strongly about, or represent people authentically. i know a lot of right-wing people use that sort of argument in bad faith, but a lot of these pieces of media with gay representation or therapy talk make me feel like i'm a brand or a market audience rather than a normal type of person.

i couldn't get behind the lesbian ending of lok because it felt like an ass-pull for representation after they both went for the same guy earlier, especially with the cattiness between the women before then. i also couldn't get behind kuvira because she was a cop, and because her character existing implied toph slept with a man (and was also a cop), especially when kuvira also went for men, romantically.

LISTEN ANON LISTEN AUGHHH

Okay! One, you're right! the lebsian ending meant a lot to my coming out development, but i was literally trying to tell people, like, "didn't this shit feel a little rushed?" like, yes they did write to each other and all that and oh, asami said she liked korra's hair (you know, like girls do).

Two, I think you've got Kuvira and Lin mixed up, but your point is no less valid since I completely understand what you're saying. i think the move to turn toph into a cop was supposed to be a funny little "isn't that crazy that the most rebellious member of the group became a cop?" but it's like, yeah, it is crazy. Two point five? If you want to tell me that Toph isn't a lesbian, I might lose some support but I can kind of understand that. To me, Toph is just a tomboy who doesn't like to be restrained. But at the same time, I also don't think that woman is one to just have sex with a cop, have fucking kids, and ugh. Like, I understand they wanted the fun of writing the offspring of a fan favorite, but honestly? Maybe Lin and Suyin should have just been adopted under some strange circumstances because I have never been able to buy that Toph slept with a man. I think that woman cares about herself and helping out when need be.

Three! Kuvira and Lin being straight is another example that another anon said about the writers not being able to fully commit. You know damn well those women aren't straight and you damn sure didn't draw them for the osa gaze. THAT WAS FOR US.

more than that, i'm bothered by the shitty plot, especially the way they threw out basically everything important to the world of atla. atla very strongly supported things like harmony with nature and portrayed much of industrialization as a bad thing for the world (due to both the harm it does to humans AND the harm it does to the environment), but the "better world" of lok is steampunk? only about 100 years or so have passed iirc, and the world has become a completely industrialized, westernized, capitalistic place. it's depressing. the destruction of the avatar cycle combining with that really grossed me out.

I NEVER THOUGHT OF THIS

I'll be honest, I wondered how they would go about portraying the future of this world since something that really drew me to it was the necessity of bending. To be a bender was a true boon in the original series. So much so that an entire city functioned off of it. I thought it was so cool the way the fire nation stole the concept of the hot air balloon and were able to create something arguably better around their bending. Bringing more tech advancements into the mix always felt like it would sort of ruin a little of that magic, and to me, it did. Seeing them driving and stuff, I was kind of flat faced. Like nah, what happened to the cool ass animals they ride on and stuff? It definitely took a little bit of the magic away. There had to have been a better way to push the plot into the future (if you really felt so inclined) without completely turning it over on its head.

plot wise, it just felt infinitely less cohesive and controlled than atla. atla felt like it had things to say (many of them based around social justice and environmental justice), and built a strong story around those things without faltering for even a moment. lok felt like a sloppy anime that clumsily tried to forcibly inject social justice talking points into the plot. it's unfortunate because there are a few impressive character designs and concepts, and i would have loved an atla sequel following a female incarnation of the avatar (and actual, solid gay representation would be nice too), but it just failed to be anything actually impressive, imo.

I stand by the fact that I liked the series, but people often think that means you can't talk crap about it at all, and that's simply not true. But this is. I think what I enjoyed about this continuation was the inclusion of more fight scenes. I liked seeing the different ways people used their bending. I've always loved that. I'm an action gal lmao. Plot wise, tho? I understand your point completely.

on the downlow, i kind of feel it paved the way for the steven universe era of cartoons, where children's cartoons are heavily marketed to adults (who they rely on for an audience more than the actual kids the show is meant for) using nostalgic references and weirdly inserted social talking points and instances of representation that feel more like the creators are saying "LOOK HOW STUNNING AND BRAVE AND SUBVERSIVE AND PROGRESSIVE WE ARE" rather than actually trying to tell stories, convey messages they feel strongly about, or represent people authentically. i know a lot of right-wing people use that sort of argument in bad faith, but a lot of these pieces of media with gay representation or therapy talk make me feel like i'm a brand or a market audience rather than a normal type of person.

Damn, that's true. The only thing I'll say is that I don't even really think it did that either. I can't tell you any lesson I learned or was told through LoK except "gay ok" and I already knew that.

You've got some really dope perspective, anon. <3

[robo-milky]

[Vent: This will be my last update about my wrists! Thank you for those who took the time to read and/or sent “get-well-soon”s- It does mean a lot! Anything relating to more personal issues can be very taxing to read or “not what I signed up for” and that’s perfectly valid!! In the end, we are strangers on the web ^^ Feels like the more I post updates or anything— it feels very attention seeking— so I want to make this a good send off. I might update/edit the log if anything comes up.]

A little bit about why the sudden change in art style

Acknowledgements: There are bigger issues in the world, there are threatening crises and positions people face that could be physically/and or emotionally damaging. My condition isn’t chronic, but for those who have do have life-long issues— my heart really goes out to them; I’ve only been through the tip of the iceberg of what they might have been through.

It’s hypocritical of me to make posts about having to recover/exhausting myself from writing/drawing, yet I still draw anyways. I guess I wanted to end this off comically— making silly memes or inside jokes with friends definitely lifted my mood. (Edit: I can’t type (on a keyboard)/write, but you know what I can do? Text.)

Having to do art in school and outside is not great for recovery (if I want both my wrists back to normal) but I compulsively draw anyways- I think it’s probably because I’m aiming for an art school, I’m scared of ever stopping and getting rusty with art again. While it’s true that a lot of art is really boiled down to how well you can break down concepts and memorizing the technical knowledge, it took me years to finally develop a hand that could draw clean lines and hold things steadily.

Compared to Summer 2022, I definitely recovered much more and made a lot of progress. I didn’t have to eat painkillers every single day, I didn’t have to rely on wrist splints, I can hold a half-filled mug with one hand, and so much more. I’d say the conditions of my wrists is tolerable; it still hinders me when I try to open doorknobs, but I’ll take whatever accomplishments I can get.

It wasn’t until finally seeing a physiotherapist, after god knows how long (Please- I grew up in a traditionally Chinese family that doesn’t believe in western medicines ;;), I was diagnosed with early osteoarthritis on my left wrist. Even though only one wrist is diagnosed, I have difficulties moving both my wrists, and according to my X-ray back in September 2022, the bones in both my wrist have narrowed from a lack of use. I’m kinda baffled because you’d think it’d be my dominant hand, the hand I use everyday and stress out, would be diagnosed. I’m told that I’ll need an MRI for my left, so hopefully nothing goes too wrong.

I love drawing, fanart or original— for myself or others. I don’t think it’s something I can ever stop? Maybe I’ve gotten on a high now that I’ve recovered bit by bit, and having gotten out of art block for months helped too. I can’t help but feel like part of my art block is because of my wrists. Even when my wrists were not as bad, I still couldn’t find the motivation to do line art. Maybe my current development in art isn’t actually laziness but just how my wrists have subconsciously been affecting my performance. When I looked back on my old art, I truly loved line art, rendering, having to press hard with pencil crayons to blend, oil pastels— I really did enjoy them.

If I ever drew gifts/requests/others for you, I want to say that I opened them because I wanted to— I knew what I was signing up for. Heck— when I did them— I did them on a good day.

* Am I ever going to take a break? I’ll be honest- probably not. Plus- the watercolour mimic style let’s me draw looser lines and with the colouring? I don’t have to worry about pen pressure or pressing hard- But I’ll try?? I might try to see if I can dig up any older art of mine that still holds up to my standards.

With school, I always feel like I have to take on extra jobs and volunteer to help out in areas that are within my field. I’ve also contemplated telling or broadcasting my needs to others because I’m always scared they’ll think I’m “being dramatic” or “faking it”. I’m also scared that the one time I ask for help to do a “simple” task, my peers will start questioning my recovery. I can’t describe how shameful it feels to not be able to help out a friend if they want to move a desk or even with chores. Maybe it’s me self projecting, but I always feel like if I can’t help someone, I’d be selfish.

Since I can never truly articulate my experiences and thoughts in person (cause I’d forget details or cut out too much because I feel rushed), I’ll be using this to send out ^^

If you *actually* read all of this- thank you and please don’t think too much of it! I don’t want this post to be the reason someone’s mood gets drained— so I drew the cat maid instead of putting my usual reaction images. I hope my attempt at humour came through?? But at what cost…

[pennzance]

Ghostbusters: Port Huron (Episode 9)

Episode 9: The Quiet Night

Date: September 4th, 1998

Transcript of security camera footage of the break room, GBPH office.

Amber: “Who had the General Tso’s?”

Bryan: “Yo.”

Jeremy: “I’m so hungry that if the alarm were to ring right now, I would let Main Street slide into hell rather than not eat.”

Bryan: “Main Street wouldn’t slide into hell. It would be Krafft road.”

Jeremy: “With the theater? Dammit, I might have to do something if it was going to take the theater too.”

Eric: “Why? Its not like there’ve been any good movies lately.”

Jeremy: “Hey, hey, are you saying The Big Lebowski was a bad movie?”

Bryan: “Or Saving Private Ryan?”

Eric: “Not my taste in media.”

Amber: “Don’t you dare try to tell me that you read.”

Eric: “Ew, no. Do I look like Bryan? I play video games.”

Bryan: “Color me shocked.”

Jeremy: “What are you reading?”

Bryan: “I’ve exhausted most of my regular resources for research and I still haven’t come up with anything substantial on the talisman, so I’m expanding my scope.”

Jeremy: “… Yeah, but… Dante?”

Bryan: “Look, man, I’m getting desperate here.”

Amber: “I get that. What were the PKE levels on it last time you looked?”

Bryan: “They rose another 6% in the last week.”

Eric: “That doesn’t sound like much, honestly. Why the worry?”

Jeremy: “You don’t do math much, do you?”

Eric: “It’s a habit I broke after High School.”

Bryan: “The talisman’s PKE signature has roughly doubled since we acquired it. I’ve been keeping it in an isolation chamber, it can’t be absorbing it from anywhere, so yes, any increase at all is a distressing development.”

Amber: “Could we send it to the home office? Get Dr. Spengler to look at it?”

Jeremy: “The home office doesn’t respond to much these days. Maybe the Detroit or Flint offices might be able to help?”

Amber: “I know a guy in the Detroit office. I could try calling him? Or heck, we’ll see them next week.”

Bryan: “Calling might be a good idea. I trust the Flint office about as far as I could throw any of them.”

Eric: “So it’s not just me? They’re jerks?”

Amber: “Yes. To put it mildly.”

Jeremy: “Most of them used to be hockey players.”

Eric: “Oh, that explains it.”

Jeremy: “Pass the egg rolls?”

Bryan: “Oh, man, sorry, I thought you got one already.”

Jeremy: “No problem.”

Eric: “Where did you get this food? This is great.”

Amber: “There’s a little Chinese place next to the Radio Shack behind Blockbuster.”

Bryan: “Little Chinese places are the best. If I can see it from the street, it’s not going to be good. Make me walk around a dingey alley for it. Let me feel a little thrill just finding the front door.”

Jeremy: “Preach.”

Amber: “Oh, you guys packed for next week yet?”

Jeremy: “I’ve got everything loaded into the Ecto-908.”

Bryan: “She meant things like clothes and toiletries, Jer.”

Jeremy: “Ah. Then no.”

Eric: “So who’s riding in the company car and who’s riding with Amber?”

Bryan: “Jeremy’s taste in music is not conducive to reading on the road. I’ll ride with Amber as long as she agrees.”

Amber: “That’s fine, it’s only about 90 minutes away. Has Mr. Kaye gotten the hotel details yet?”

Jeremy: “It’s a Best Western. Sounds fine.”

Eric: “Is there a hot tub?”

Amber: “It isn’t a vacation, it’s a job.”

Eric: “Yes, and at the end of the day after chasing and being chased all over a big ass haunted asylum, I’d like to soak my tired and probably bruised muscles in a hot tub.”

Bryan: “He actually has a valid point.”

Eric: “What do you mean ‘actually’?”

Transcript Ends.

[kobblefort]

Daarunbay Detevay 2

When you zoom out and look at it like this, it's not really an anomaly. Like, it's fucked up, but it's barely even a footnote.

In the grand history of The Nightmare of Tunneling, which is thousands and thousands of lines long, Blackfaint is two of them. It started and then it ended. The Land of Nails is a cruel place where life moves fast from beginning to end. The Hill of Scars just happens to be one exceedingly fast-paced part of it. I haven't really provided many good visual aids, so here's an image of the Daarunbay Detevay in its entirety which took me way too long to make.

The whole world! The Land of Nails is the western continent, the Land of Dividing is the eastern one. Where's The Hill of Scars in all of this, you might ask?

"Circled" in red is The Hill of Scars. Over on the left in blue, Rushsly. And on the right in puke green, Blackfaint. All the history of The Nightmare of Tunneling, of The Comedy of Sweating, has been constrained to this little western chunk of the continent. We have barely scratched the surface of the surface, even with our deepest dives into the history of kobbles and ratfolk. There's like 10 other major civilized species inhabiting the world, some of them not even on this continent that we've only known a little 1/10th swatch of. For instance, did you know there's fucking crab people?

There's crab people, baby. Well, that's an oversimplification. They're Decapoda, which is an umbrella term that includes lobsters, shrimp, and all kinds of crabs. The Axe of Glaciers live on the edges of the world, where it's cold: all the way up northwest on the glacial Island of Fate, and another decapodian civilization named The Paddle of Furs lives far to the southeast, among The Hills of Dividing and the terrifying Glacier of Corrupting at the end of The Land of Dividing - some even living out on the great ice floes in the arctic ocean. The harsh conditions come natural to such hardy peoples - after all, even the humble shrimp among them can heal well enough to regrow lost limbs.

There may very well be lobsters among us older than the very concept of counting years. And hell, there's one among The Axe of Glaciers who's as old as the calendar. The first King of Decapodia: Kuteci Peaceletters.

There's something very interesting about his reign, besides the "suddenly getting deposed in a coup" part. Yes, obviously, it's the "throwing competition" part. Obviously, losing 10 years in a row is one thing - but in the very first one at Bronzeskies, the seat of AoG, he actually won that one. The fact that he put the competition to rest until right at the end of his reign is just... interesting. Did he keep trying it again thinking he'd recapture the glory of his youth? Been there. Did his desperate attempts turn everyone against him? Been there. I don't throw controllers or anything because them shits cost like $60 for a good one but I haven't been able to enjoy fighting games for over 3 years because lately when I lose I get so fucking mad I punch my desk. Part of my ego is inextricably linked with the idea that "I have to be good at games." If I hop on an FPS and get headshotted over and over I have to just turn that shit off. I physically cannot handle "getting dominated" because I have so few avenues for success in my life that I have latched on to "yeah, I'm good at Sniper in Team Fortress 2" as one of my last pathetic desperate reaches for validation. I don't know what's wrong with me. I try to not be like this. I'm reading The Inner Game of Tennis but it hasn't really helped me yet. I can't play Street Fighter 6 off my friend's Steam family-share library because if I get put in the corner and don't tech the throw twice in a row I just have to turn the fucking game off, I alt-f4 out of it immediately, I can't stomach failure and victory only even feels like a reprieve from loss. I realize this is so much more pathetic than just being bad at games. In fact a guy who's bad at games and a good sport about it is probably the best thing you can be, because whenever anyone says "wow you're bad at this" you can just be like "Yeah I was too busy going outside and having sex and stuff." But I haven't been!! I've been here, sitting at my fucking desk, playing video games!! I should at least get Fortnite wins and not just in those first few games after you haven't played in a while where the whole lobby is bots, I mean I should be able to out-snipe any zoomer in the world with my 20 years of Counter-Strike experience or at least I fucking tell myself that, even though I've never fucking practiced the game or its particular flavor of sniping, or when I have it's just for like 5 flaccid minutes of not challenging myself because my ego is too fragile to actually let me!! I mean I'll tell you up and down the fucking block that battle royales are a literal cancer that caused "good map design" to be amputated from the modern multiplayer first-person-shooter genre and that actually is true but you'd never know it because I'm such a fucking bitch who fucking cries over never winning in Apex Legends even though I like Titanfall 2 way better but I can't fucking play that either because I get too fucking mad and competitive and hard on myself to enjoy it unless I'm playing absolutely perfectly!! Like what the fuck!?!? I'm 30 years old!! If I went back to my 10-year-old self and said "this is what you grow up to be, little guy" he would start downing shots of bleach right there on the spot!!! But I don't know how to change!!! My ego, my wavering sense of self completely dominates me and prevents me from enjoying my life and my so-called passions!! And it really feels like there's no way to fix it short of just tripping on so much acid I completely forget my current personality!! Even then what if it just comes back!!

The one who deposed Kuteci and reigns to this day is the former baroness, Scucutk Raspboats, whose true goal is to create a great work of art. Throughout her life, she has written eleven pieces of literature, but she only bothered to name six of them: Errors In the Keep, her first. The Journey Into Scucutk Raspboats, her third. The Truth About the Decapod fourth, The Wizard'S Guide to Creation sixth, Discourse on Pagesnarling (named for her barony) eighth, and After Genius tenth. Her last book, untitled, was writen in 163, and just 5 years later she would seize the throne in Bronzeskies and thus the throne of all decapodia, aided by Rerrr Crazyletter, the baroness of Gorgelearned, and Rerrr's daughter Cecichi Springchannels, duchess of Diamondtangled.

Legends Browser 2 seems to not like how many mods I've got running, but it doesn't look like we're missing too much. Besides their positions of significance in The Axe of Glaciers, they are mostly unremarkable women - all unlucky in love, but who isn't?

Why does any of this matter? Because it's clear Scucutk cannot write her true masterpiece from where she sits. Caravans are sent out all the time in search of a better location for a true grand library, one where she might finally create the artifact that has eluded her for all her life. Because I've never actually played a cold-weather biome, and it sounds both fun and more manageable than whatever the fuck Blackfaint ended up being. Because playing as lobsters and crabs sounds really funny

So at the northwestern tip of the world, we'll try it again. Unlike in other video games, it's very fun to lose in the greatest simulation game of all time Dwarf Fortress, I've talked at length about that already. So why don't we try to make the greatest library Of All Time in possible the least hospitable environment Of All Time?

What could possibly go wrong?????

[aromantic-misguide-to-romance]

Don't feel like WtG had a saving, the premise was incredibly superficial and the MCs writing felt like it was done by a man from the 90s. Massive objectification, like Snow being set as nasty because she is free to get with men before "finding the right one", Sleeping Beauty being resumed into "a killer body", Rapunzel an "innocent highschooler" that objective is to have a man. And we don't even talk about Jasmine having a full hispanic surname (cause they didn't shit cultures enough).

What was already written was indeed unsalvageable. It really seemed like it was done by some middle aged dude who had a very peculiar idea about "Western emancipated women" and what ethnicities actually are (aka Yazmin - I wonder if it's because their shallow name search ended up on the Sephardic singer and they went "not looking into it, Spain it is"). There was absolutely not even a bit of sensitivity research on Solmare's part and it was more than clear that they don't understand shit about what they're trying to do.

But I do not agree that the premise needed to be good. I'm fine with it being dumb, silly, making no sense etc. It needed only to be a start of a fun story. But the faults ultimately made it a very painful read.

Breaking the trope of the typical otome MC was an interesting idea imo and that's what I mean when I say it had potential. MCs of colour and LIs of colour could have been a great addition to the otome landscape of that time if the execution of that idea wasn't this abysmal. Solmare had no fraking clue what they're even doing, it was like a friend of a friend of a cousin told them Westerners like that so let's do it.

Some tiny aspects were actually refreshing, differing from typical narrative. Like when MC and her foe from Sleeping Beauty found out the LI has been two-timing them and swore revenge on him and suspended their own rivalry. Atharv being shamelessly bi in commentary, Sirena admitting she could eventually fall for Blanche. (In both cases the wording could have been better though :/ well...) There were MCs who actually found fulfillment in their work and didn't want to return to being princesses - and didn't have to. Some MCs were supported and loyally accompanied by their friends through hardships (Blanche/Snow White was very loyal to Sirena despite her foul mouth). Some of the villains had actually a lot of valid things to say (only some though). Those aspects could have been so good if it wasn't Solmare writing it.

The fact that I'm defending the game really gives me psychological damage... what have u done/j

It was extremely uneven, such good moments mixing with exceptionally shitty takes, bits of interesting characterisation as side characters but swept by shallow cliches that made those characters one-dimensional in their own routes. Every good motif shot down by two bad ones. In the end the potential was completely wasted and ruined by the awful writing, stereotyping and shallow characterisation, and some crappy endings, also something that Solmare truly excells in.

[francostrider]

Prince Marth and the Multiverse of Gacha

Fire Emblem is a series that had grown on me rather late in its existence. When the first western released game came out, I didn’t really appreciate it for what it was, not really into turn based gameplay. Then Awakening came along and I couldn’t put it down. I even went back to the rest of the western released games, and I fell in love with most of the series. Even Shadow Dragon, when stripped down to its fundamentals, was a lot of fun, if only to finally explain who that strange man was in Super Smash Bros. Melee. So, when there’s an announcement trailer, you can bet your falchion that I will rush to it as soon as physically possible.

Today, Nintendo released the trailer for Fire Emblem Engage, to be released in 2023. By the end of it, I decided that I was going to skip this one. Oh, I’m sure it will be a competent game (this is Nintendo we’re talking about), and maybe even fun here and there. But the gawdy presentation did nothing to make me overlook tropes that I have only felt more and more antipathy for.

I guess we can talk about the lead character, as it didn’t take long for photoshop experts to have fun with them. They look like the worst aspects of anime character design, with its bizarre use of colors and over stylization. I already got sick of this with Fates, one of the worst games I have ever played.

Now, I try to be fairer handed about calling games bad or good. Most of this is subjective and not fact. My (or anyone else’s) opinion is not the final word. But Fates was bad. It was a money sink product, costing $100 dollars (or $120 if you skipped a deal) to see the three paths and the “whole” story, and the way it was written made only one of those paths valid. And that was before we get into the DLC. It copied mechanics exclusive to Awakening where it didn’t make sense. That’s all before my opinion, that the story is poorly written, and the characters are ill-conceived piles of anime mush. And it also makes the utterly irresponsible notion that your army is somehow not killing anyone on the other side, despite generations of animosity. That last detail, to me, destroys the relatively grounded nature of the series.

Yet, the very worst part of both Fates and Engage is a trend that Marvel has helped get going: Multiverses. Now, maybe I’m in the minority, but I feel that multiverses tend to suck the stakes out of the ground like a tornado. I get the appeal: Your isekais, your “what if X met y”. Yet, in practice, they end up taking more than adding to a work. I did not enjoy No Way Home. The MCU was fine on its own and it made me decide that Endgame was the true end to the whole series. And what I did like from the previous Spiderman movies felt like hollow imitations in No Way Home.

And this hollowness looms over Engage. While it’s never been 100%, Fire Emblem has given us some great characters and even subtle writing. Eliwood, Lyn and Hector are very human, very relatable. And they didn’t do this with usual anime kookiness. Blazing Sword is a well written story that transcended beyond usual, tired tropes. Genealogy of the Holy War is a brutal deconstruction of the series up to that point (back on the Super Famicom). Sigurd is a tragic figure with flaws, dying because he was stabbed in the back at the end of his journey. Path of Radiance stars a mercenary who must climb his way to leadership, and it deals with subjects like genocide. All these characters have homes, have futures they are fighting for, have friends waiting for them. They are very much a part of their own world.

And despite what little on screen blood there is, I believe these characters bleed. They feel pain, they are horrified, and they are vulnerable. This is all due to the fact that they take war seriously. When characters go down in battle, hero or villain, they die. There are exceptions, but it is lamp shaded when that happens. It makes you feel the danger of open war. And the overarching stories make no delusions over the cost of warfare.

When you start to “collect” them like a bunch of pokemon cards, all of their identity, all that vulnerability is gone. And all the multiverse stuff does is render their own world, their own lives insignificant. To summon Sigurd to as this paragon of combat for an assist just blows over his tragic story. They cease to be characters and become a bunch of action figures thrown at each other.

Am I the only one sick of this? I don’t want multiverses with “all my favorite characters”. I want my characters in their proper context. I don’t want the growth of these characters traded away for a mass-produced sticker. They’re great because of the other characters they work off of. They’re great for how they exist in their own worlds. Marth is not going to travel across dimensions to fight evil like a badly written superhero comic. He’s going to remain king and try to restore a world ravaged by two long bloody wars.

Between the multiverses and the horrible trend of gacha games, I feel the damage it’s doing needs to be called out. I thought Nintendo learned its lesson. I loved Shadows of Valentia, and Three Houses fixed a lot of the narrative and cost problems that Fates suffered from. But here we are with what seems like a console version of a cheap mobile game, and it’s not a trend worth prolonging.

And will you please release a translation Sword of Seals already!?

[quicksandblock]

And another thing.

I kind of hate the way the concept of “redemption” has taken root in this fandom.

I understand why, it’s a very appealing way of looking at things (and it’s kind of baked into every strongly Christian-influenced culture, aka all of Western culture). But the idea of a moral binary, where you’re either good or you’re evil, and the only way to tip over that boundary one way or another is with a single decisive act... it’s just bad. It’s not realistic. That’s not how people work, and trying to simplify the characters down to either “redeemed” or “not redeemed” does them a disservice and also does you, the viewer, a disservice. And when it’s applied to society at large, it does everyone a disservice.

People are complicated. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. People are never just one thing or another. Most people try to do what they think is right, or what they think needs to be done, or just what they’ve been forced into.

Let’s look at Wilbur - there’s been so much focus on whether he’ll be “redeemed” or not when he’s finally brought back to life. But who, in-universe, decides that? Who says whether he’s redeemed or not? What single thing could he possibly do to make up for all the hurt he caused? If he is redeemed, does that mean that every person who still holds a grudge for the things he did is in the wrong, and now they’re the bad people?

Redemption is a meaningless concept. It tries to simplify something very personal and complicated - forgiveness for the harm one person does to another - down into a universally applicable rule overseen by some vague absolute arbiter of morality. In reality, some people - Fundy, for example - will probably never forgive Wilbur for what he did to them. And that’s okay. They don’t need to. They get to decide that. And other people, for example Tommy and Philza, will forgive him, and that’s also okay, because they also get to decide. No matter what he does, there will be people who hate Wilbur forever. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t deserve the other people’s forgiveness, or that he shouldn’t be allowed to try to make up for his wrongs.

That’s how redemption works in the real world, and on the Dream SMP. In the end, what matters isn’t whether someone is a “good person” or not, because the answer to whether they are will change with every person you ask, and every person’s answer is just as valid and meaningful as the next. What matters is if they’re trying to do better than they’ve done before. If they work to do good in the world to balance out the bad they’ve caused.

Redemption isn’t a binary. It’s a process that takes a lifetime. It’s something you do, not something you are. It involves a lot of mistakes and a lot of backsliding, but what matters is that you try. As long as someone wants to become better, I believe they should be allowed to, no matter what they’ve done. Everyone deserves the chance to try and fix the damage they’ve caused.

[acesydneysage]

The end goal of representation politics, as flawed as it can be, isn't to abolish acting and to have characters only be played by people exactly like them. There's a specific history of oppression that makes certain things problematic. That's why whitewashing is a thing and blackwashing is not.

Cultural erasure is sad and disappointing, but the reason people don't treat it as something as bad as whitewashing is because it's categorically not, it does not have nearly the same history of violence attached to it.

The US doesn't have a history of minstrel shows about eastern Europeans. There isn't a problem with lack of pale skin representation. If what you're interested in is pale skin and not actually a complex portrayal of Slavic cultures, there's plenty of content for you out there.

There can be perfectly valid and respectful critiques, expressed politely. Russians have actually being demonized on Western media, so I understand wishing for a Russian actor, I did too. But it's more a matter of authenticity in the portrayal, having a different type of white guy play Dimitri is not whitewashing. But you can be wary about how good a job he can do, certainly.

As for Rose, I wish her Turkish ethnicity had been actually represented, and you can be black and have Turkish heritage at the same time. That would have been cool, but it's not the actress' background as far as I know. I don't know if casting would be different under different circumstances, without covid restrictions, but it is what it is. I wished she had been Turkish in the movie too, but I still watched it, and I think Sisi will make a beautiful Rose.

To be honest, a lot of Turkish people look white to me, but if their experience is racialized in the US I won't erase that. But I think they look white to a lot of people who are raging right now too, because lots of them are much more focused on the exact shade of Rose's skin than in her actual heritage, funny that. Or they're praising white actresses who are also not Turkish at all. Very intriguing. The things people will pretend to care about in order to dress up their racism in social justice language are astonishing.

And Lissa was never albino, btw. Would be cool to have more rep for that, but she wasn't it. Most other characters are American, and they're descended from Europeans because that's how white Americans work, it's stolen land, they aren't native to it.

Hopefully the writers of the show will do alot of research and know what they're talking about, and portray the slavic inspiration of the books in the respectful and complex way these beautiful cultures deserve.

But you know what other culture the books draw heavily from too? You know what these books written by an American woman that deal with racism as one of their central themes also take inspiration from? The culture and oppressive structures of the country she lived in her whole life.

The oppression suffered by dhampirs is very related to racism and specially antiblackness/misogynoir experienced by people in real life, so using their plight for inspiration while featuring next to no black people in the books isn't great. I'm happy they're changing that at least, it's an improvement. I think the themes of the books could be enhanced by these choices.

The same way, if we get to Bloodlines, if you're gonna have a conversion therapy inspired plot you should have more queer rep. If the main couple draws from the struggles faced by interracial and queer couples, there should be more representation.

The cast looks beautiful and I need to see them actually acting to know if they're good. You're allowed to care about external descriptions of the characters. But in my opinion capturing the spirit of the character is much more important, and real life sociopolitics should be taken into account.

You can't please everyone, and you're never gonna get exactly what's in your head. But most of the fandom is grown adults now, and you should be able to handle disappointment without having a breakdown or harassing anyone. Keep things civil.

[thevalleyisjolly]

Hi there! If you feel up to it, would you be willing to expand a bit more on the idea of white creators creating poc characters who are ‘internally white’, especially in a post-racialized or racism-free setting & how to avoid it? It’s something I’m very concerned about but I haven’t encountered a lot of info about it outside of stories set in real world settings. Thanks & have a good day!

Hey, thanks for asking, anon!  It’s a pretty nuanced topic, and different people will have different takes on it.  I’ll share my thoughts on it, but do keep in mind that other people of colour may have different thoughts on the matter, and this is by no means definitive!  These are things I’ve observed through research, trial and error, my own experiences, or just learning from other writers.

The first thing I guess I want to clarify is that I personally am not opposed to a society without racism in fiction.  It’s exhausting and frankly boring when the only stories that characters of colour get are about racism!  So it’s a relief sometimes to just get to see characters of colour exist in a story without dealing with racism.  That being said, I feel like a lot of the time when creators establish their settings as “post-racial,” they avoid racism but they also avoid race altogether.  Not aesthetically -they may have a few or even many characters with dark skin- but the way the characters act and talk and relate to the world are “race-less” (which tends to end up as default white American/British or whatever place the creator comes from).  Which I have complicated thoughts on, but the most obvious thing that springs to mind is how such an approach implies (deliberately or not) that racism is all there is to the way POC navigate the world.  It’s definitely a significant factor, particularly for POC in Western countries, but it’s not the only thing!  There’s so much more to our experiences than just racial discrimination, and it’s a shame that a lot of “post-racial” or “racism-free” settings seem to overlook that in their eagerness to not have racism (or race) in their stories.

A quick go-to question I ask when I look at characters of colour written/played by white creators is: if this was a story or transcript I was reading, with no art or actors or what have you, would I be able to tell that this character is a character of colour?  How does the creator signal to the audience that this is a character of colour?  A lot of the time, this signal stops after the physical description - “X has dark skin” and then that’s all!  (We will not discuss the issue of racial stereotypes in depth, but it should be clear that those are absolutely the wrong way to indicate a character of colour).

This expands to a wider issue of using dark skin as a be-all-end-all indication of diversity, which is what I mean by “aesthetic” characters of colour (I used the term “internally white” originally but upon further reflection, it has some very loaded implications, many of which I’m personally familiar with, so I apologize for the usage).  Yes, the character may not “look” white, but how do they interact with the world?  Where do they come from?  What is their background, their family?  A note: this can be challenging with diaspora stories in the real world and people being disconnected (forcibly or otherwise) from their heritage (in which case, those are definitely stories that outsiders should not tell).  So let’s look at fantasy.  Even the most original writer in the world bases their world building off existing things in the real world.  So what cultures are you basing your races off of?  If you have a dark skinned character in your fantasy story, what are the real world inspirations and equivalents that you drew from, and how do you acknowledge that in a respectful, non-stereotyped way?

(Gonna quickly digress here and say that there are already so many stories about characters of colour disconnected from their heritage because ‘They didn’t grow up around other people from that culture’ or ‘They moved somewhere else and grew up in that dominant culture’ or ‘It just wasn’t important to them growing up’ and so on.  These are valid stories, and important to many people!  But when told by (usually) white creators, they’re also used, intentionally or not, as a sort of cop-out to avoid having to research or think about the character’s ethnicity and how that influences who they are.  So another point of advice: avoid always situating characters outside of their heritage.  Once or twice explored with enough nuance and it can be an interesting narrative, all the time and it starts being a problem)

Another thing I want to clarify at this point is that it’s a contentious issue about whether creators should tell stories that aren’t theirs, and different people will have different opinions.  For me personally, I definitely don’t think it’s inherently bad for creators to have diverse characters in their work, and no creator can live every experience there is.  That being said, there are caveats for how such characters are handled.  For me personally, I follow a few rules of thumb which are:

Is this story one that is appropriate for this creator to tell?  Some experiences are unique and lived with a meaningful or complex history and context behind them and the people to whom those experiences belong do not want outsiders to tell those stories.

To what extent is the creator telling this story?  Is it something mentioned as part of the narrative but not significantly explored or developed upon?  Does it form a core part of the story or character?  There are some stories that translate across cultures and it’s (tentatively) ok to explore more in depth, like immigration or intergenerational differences.  There are some stories that don’t, and shouldn’t be explored in detail (or even at all) by people outside those cultures.

How is the creator approaching this story and the people who live it?  To what extent have they done their research?  What discussions have they had with sensitivity consultants/readers?  What kind of respect are they bringing to their work?  Do they default to stereotypes and folk knowledge when they reach the limits of their research?  How do they respond to feedback or criticism when audiences point things that they will inevitably get wrong?

Going back to the “race-less” point, I think that creators need to be careful that they’re (respectfully) portraying characters of colour as obvious persons of colour.  With a very definite ‘no’ on stereotyping, of course, so that’s where the research comes in (which should comprise of more than a ten minute Google search).  If your setting is in the real world, what is the background your character comes from and how might that influence the way they act or talk or see the world?  If your setting is in a fantasy world, same question!  Obviously, avoid depicting things which are closed/exclusive to that culture (such as religious beliefs, practices, etc) and again, avoid stereotyping (which I cannot stress enough), but think about how characters might live their lives and experience the world differently based on the culture or the background they come from.

As an example of a POC character written/played well by a white person, I personally like Jackson Wei and Cindy Wong from Dimension 20’s The Unsleeping City, an urban fantasy D&D campaign.  Jackson and Cindy are NPCs played by the DM, Brennan Lee Mulligan, who did a good job acknowledging their ethnicity without resorting to stereotypes and while giving them their own unique characters and personalities.  The first time he acted as Cindy, I leapt up from my chair because she was exactly like so many old Chinese aunties and grandmothers I’ve met.  The way Jackson and Cindy speak and act and think is very Chinese (without being stereotyped), but at the same time, there’s more to their characters than being Chinese, they have unique and important roles in the story that have nothing to do with their ethnicity.  So it’s obvious that they’re people of colour, that they’re Chinese, but at the same time, the DM isn’t overstepping and trying to tell stories that aren’t his to tell.  All while not having the characters face any racism, as so many “post-racialized” settings aim for, because there are quite enough stories about that!

There a couple factors that contribute to the positive example I gave above.  The DM is particularly conscientious about representation and doing his research (not to say that he never messes up, but he puts in a lot more effort than the average creator), and the show also works with a lot of sensitivity consultants.  Which takes me to the next point - the best way to portray characters of colour in your story is to interact with people from that community.  Make some new friends, reach out to people!  Consume media by creators of colour!  In my experience so far, the most authentic Chinese characters have almost universally been created/written/played by Chinese creators.  Read books, listen to podcasts, watch shows created by people of colour.  Apart from supporting marginalized creators, you also start to pick up how people from that culture or heritage see themselves and the world, what kind of stories they have to tell, and just as importantly, what kind of stories they want being told or shared.  In other words, the best way to portray an authentic character of colour that is more than just the colour of their skin is to learn from actual people of colour (without, of course, treating them just as a resource and, of course, with proper credit and acknowledgement).

Most importantly, this isn’t easy, and you will absolutely make mistakes.  I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that you will mess up.  No matter how well researched you are, how much respect you have for other cultures, how earnestly you want to do this right, you will at some point do something that makes your POC audience uncomfortable or even offends them.  Then, your responsibility comes with your response.  Yes, you’ve done something wrong.  How do you respond to the people who are hurt or disappointed?  Do you ignore them, or double down on your words, or try to defend yourself?  Just as importantly, what are you planning to do about it in the future?  If you have a second chance, what are you going to do differently?  You will make mistakes at some point.  So what are you going to do about them?  That, I think, is an even more important question than “How can I do this right?”  You may or may not portray something accurately, but when you get something wrong, how are you going to respond?

Essentially, it all comes down to your responsibility as a creator.  As a creator, you have a responsibility to do your due diligence in research, to remain respectful to your work and to your audience, and to be careful and conscientious about how you choose to create things.  It’s not about getting things absolutely perfect or being the most socially conscious creator out there, it’s about recognizing your responsibilities as a creator with a platform, no matter how big or small, and taking responsibility for your work. 

In summary:

Research, research, research

Avoid the obvious no-no’s (stereotypes, tokenization, fetishization, straight up stealing from other cultures, etc) and think critically about what creative choices you’re making and why

Do what you’re doing now, and reach out to people (who have put themselves out there as a resource).  There are tons of resources out there by people of colour, reach out when you’re not sure about something or would like some advice!

Responsibility, responsibility, responsibility

Thank you for reaching out!  Good luck with your work!

[everythingthemoontouches]

Hi 💕 I know you talk about Vedic astrology. Would you be interested in talking about Ardra Nakshatra individuals?

Ardra natives(6 to 20 degree Gemini♊) may have a fascination with dogs / wolves. There's something feral and untamable about them.

Aesthetic ~ the sky after a storm.graveyards. exotic pets

Symbol: teardrops / human head

Ardra natives have a prominent Adam's apple.

Deity :Rudra : the lord of destruction and storms. (end of the world, Noah's ark energy) Sometimes you've gotta tear down towns to build a whole new empire. Rohini-Mrigashira - Ardra cater to the theme of innocence, duality, and realizing that there is true evil in the world. Mrigashira notices that there is good and bad. Ardra embraces the concept more wholeheartedly. Ardra being in Gemini is a mutable sign after all. Unlike Mrigashira which falls in Taurus and is ruled by venus, Ardra is ruled by much more logical Mercury and the node of extravagance (Rahu). They can be bitingly honest.

May have had to intellectualize their feelings because their primary caretakers didn't like an emotional 'fuss'.

Ardra is ruled by Rahu (North Node) hence ardra Moon may have had difficult /tumultuous childhood. You might want to look up the Rahu mahadasha if you feel like you had a difficult childhood.

You may enjoy art/music/ movies with dichotomy. The tortured hero might be your type. Unloved. Unwanted. High performing type. Can display Dr Jekyll / Mr Hyde kind of split in their behaviors.

Ardra natives are ruled by the - sacral Chakra. Fear of death, mortality. If they got over this fear it would greatly boost their creativity

Flipped polarity/ genderfluid / expression. Lgbtq/ community Taylor Swift's song Embodies this energy / you need to calm down / don't step on this gown

Intelligent, can be vicious. Manipulative sadness within. Ardra Moon can produce some of the most strategic serial killers taht no one would think capable of committing such an act.

Ardra Rahu ruled, want to do more, to explore, kinda like Uranus energy in western astrology . Think of Rahu as an eternally hungry child who always craves more novel experiences.

Ardra Moon nights are favorable for filing for a divorce, black magic, casting spells, exorcism, punishment, hypnotism, evoking of spirits, goblins, demons  based on research by Astro Home.

Extra research : I loved the Dr Ajun Pai Pai video in the KRS channel for this particular placement.

For more astrology content, check out my masterlist

For pick a card readings.

😊Please reblog if you liked this, it makes me feel happy 💕it's the only validation I get 🙃😂 jk

[shihalyfie]

@sage-striaton replied to your post:

Idk how people can say Frontier has characters that lack depth. Imo it’s a very psychological season. The whole adventure thing is aimed to making them grown in their behaviours and feelings, it’s a big metaphor of their development

I’m sorry for hijacking your response to my post to segue this into another rant of mine, but I want to emphasize that one of my goals with this blog (if I can be said to have any) is that I really, really, really want people to re-examine whether they actually believe in the rhetoric that’s been dominating this fanbase for two decades, or whether there’s more to it. This is especially in regards to the fact that we’re talking a series deliberately written in such a way that it’ll change meaning and nuance as you get older, so it can “grow up” with you in a sense, and yet it seems like -- especially in regards to Adventure through Frontier, due to their position as the oldest series that the majority of the fanbase was elementary or preteen age during -- people are still regurgitating the same rehashed twenty-year-old ideas like they’re undeniable law. It’s one thing if they’re saying it because the series didn’t sit well with them the first time and they don’t want to watch it again, but we’re reaching a recurring problem where it’s sort of “brainwashing” even people who don’t actually believe it but feel compelled to go along with it, or wouldn’t feel that way if it weren’t for peer pressure. Obviously, there are dissenting opinions, and ones that are even very loud about that, but that pressure remains.

The mainstream opinion in the fanbase is that Adventure is untouchable and impervious to any criticism, 02 is its inferior sequel with half-baked characters, Tamers is an auteur work that’s the “deepest” of the original tetralogy due to being dark, and Frontier is devoid of much substance at all. Even those who don’t really believe in this will still be pressured to go alongside it, those who like 02 or Frontier will be pressured to consider it a “guilty pleasure”, and it’s only very recently when certain events revealed that the idea of 02 actually having quite its own fervent and passionate fanbase that likes it on its own merits became properly recognized. (I have actually noticed a huge uptick in 02 fans, especially casual ones, being more shameless in talking about liking it in the last two years; you’re still going to get the obnoxious person “reminding” you how bad it apparently is if you bring it up, but it’s not nearly as prevalent as it used to be.) I’m not talking about whether something is a “good” or “bad” series -- that concept doesn’t really exist to me as much as whether it’s “to one’s tastes” or not, and I think one of the joys of this franchise is that it has things that cater to people with vastly different preferences -- as much as a lot of potential for analysis and intimate thought about these very fascinating series. Even if 02 and Frontier were as shallow or half-baked as they were accused of, I wouldn’t think it’d be shameful to like them for one’s own reasons anyway, but what frustrates me is that I just don’t think that’s true in the first place!!

Not helping is that there’s still a refusal among the fanbase to admit that there were substantial differences in American English dubbing (especially in regards to Adventure and 02), which I don’t mean as a bad thing in the sense that some people prefer to stick only with that dub and consider that version what they want to work with, but in the sense that the treatment of them as “the same thing” has been horribly detrimental when two people, one coming from that dub and one coming from the Japanese version (or a dub more closely based on it), will end up often having an argument doomed to go nowhere because they were never talking about the same thing to begin with. Recently, a friend admitted to me that although they’d switched to the Japanese version a long time ago, they still couldn’t get the image of Daisuke and Takeru having an inherently hostile relationship (they don’t) out of their head due to the influence of that dub, and although they consciously knew better -- at least enough to admit this to me -- it wasn’t helped by the fact that the fanbase itself continues to reinforce this image because of how normalized it is to treat the dub version and the Japanese version as “virtually the same” and for Western fanbase discourse to assume you should be projecting those takes into the Japanese version. If you’re hanging out in English-speaking circles but are working from the Japanese version or a dub directly based off of it, you do actually have to filter out a lot of takes you’re hearing because they won’t actually apply to the version you’re watching, but not a lot of people realize this.

All four of Adventure through Frontier share tons of key staff, especially Seki, known for her focus on wanting the kids in the audience to be able to empathize with and relate to the characters on screen. All four share some of the best character work I’ve seen not only in this franchise, but also in kids’ media in general, and I also stress that a lot of this has a ton of nuance that isn’t always apparent unless you read between the lines. I do understand that a lot of this probably went over our heads as kids, and I won’t say that the choice to execute it this way should be impervious to criticism, but nevertheless, I think it’s important to call attention to the fact it is there, and much of it becomes recognizable once you see it that way; for instance, so much of "it's contradictory character writing!" comes from the fact that the series tries to represent humans in their inconsistent, messy ways, and while it'll feel "messy" from a writing trope perspective, when you think about it as "since this person has this mentality, does it make sense to approach this with this mindset?", suddenly it becomes very consistent. The supposedly “shallow” 02 and Frontier characters will act in ways that match existing psychological profiles meant for actual humans to terrifying degrees, in ways that you might actually recognize even better once you’ve hit adulthood and start intimately understanding things like depression or anxiety in ways you might not have before. Shockingly, “having heart, important themes, and kindness towards the human condition” are completely valid reasons to uplift a creative work in ways distinct from technical writing or cerebrality or how many tropes they subvert or whatever.

On the flip side, people praise Adventure and Tamers for being the naturally “superior” works with better writing, but when it comes to talking about why the writing is supposedly better, a good chunk of the reasons stated don’t actually explain anything substantial, or go back to actually being passive-aggressive dunks on the other series in some form -- it’s because 02 and Frontier’s character writing sucks that badly, or because Adventure had the “best plot” (which may be true if by “best” you mean “easiest to understand”, but that doesn’t mean much to someone who might not be very happy about how its story progression is just a boss rush), or because Tamers is the “deepest” when by “deep” they actually mean “cerebral, dark, and unsubtle about it” without any further meaning (as if Adventure and 02 were idealistic series that never went into anything nuanced and not, say, the fact they went very viciously deep into societal issues between parents and children, psychological horror, and intimate takes on the human condition). I’m personally saying this as someone who does think Adventure and Tamers have a lot to praise in terms of their approaches to realism and the unique aspects each bring to the table, and I feel that people like this are doing them more of a disservice by not bothering to uplift them for any reason that isn’t actually just inherently condescending. I mean, even taking this outside of the original tetralogy for a bit, when I was plugging Appmon earlier, there’s a reason I focused more on its theme and character writing and the use of “dark” writing to convey its sheer range, rather than trying to boil it down to a shallow “it looks cheery but gets really messed up later!”, which is unfortunately an argument I’ve been seeing about it lately.

In the end, when I write my meta, I write it "making a case" for my point of view, and I welcome others to disagree, but if you disagree, I really hope it'll be because you personally disagree, and not because the entire fanbase has been saying otherwise for twenty years and I sound like a radical. I’m not saying that everyone’s consensus takes are completely unfounded, but frankly speaking, this fanbase has some really bad takes, and in the past few years I’ve found it freeing to not only “say what you feel without worrying what others think”, but actually go out of my way to outright try and purge all the preconceived notions and pick only the ones I agree with because I actually agree with them. I encourage you to do it too! And if you do, you might find things about something you like that you didn’t realize before.

[vrishchikawrites]

I actually wanted to know why do cql onlies said that wwx is morally grey like what gives? Is it because wrh is the supreme of all evil lord in the live action, does it make them think, oh someone needs to defeat this psycho, it's this person! Since this person adopted the long ancient method unearthed by some supreme evil lord psycho, they're morally grey like what? Who's gonna say that now even WRH might be morally grey even if he is supreme lord of evil in cql portrayal is literally in the face? CQL takes are... not it. (No I don't watch cql but I read cql fanfic so I only know of wwx being framed, and yin iron wtf is that. Fuck yin iron)

If you ask me, the whole concept of black, white, and grey morality is somewhat flawed because you're trying to fit into boxes something that's so subjective, that is based on circumstances, societal factors, motivations, and other complex influences. But I understand it is a literary device that's often employed and is considered a valid way to frame characters in the writing community. That aside -

WEI WUXIAN ISN"T MORALLY GREY. He's the very definition of a person who isn't morally grey.

Now, I believe that many fans subscribe to the notion 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions' (while misunderstanding the quote, btw). That means despite WWX's good intentions and righteous ideals, his actions were bad and caused harm. That particular quote is an accurate representation of this situation, I feel. Morality in most religions and spiritual teaching isn't as straightforward.

The quote I've mentioned means that the road to hell is an easy, broad path with wide open gates. The road to heaven is narrow, thorny path, difficult to navigate, and often has consequences. The gate is also very narrow.

Alternatively, it means that just good intentions don't matter, you need to back your intentions with hard, righteous actions. This is, from what I understand the western look at the concept.

Again, fans probably consider this to mean that WWX's good intentions don't matter - his actions and their impact do.

Eastern view also says something similar. Basically, for righteousness, you may have to stand against your society, your family, and countless other forces. The path will be difficult, it will cause harm to yourself and others. Following the right path isn't easy and it can be destructive, violent, and revolutionary. Sometimes you have a large mountain in the path to doing the right thing. You can't move around it and you need to smash it to go ahead. While you may be punished for it in life, you will be rewarded for it after life (entry into heaven, better reincarnation, or ultimately, nirvana)

If you read properly and have a good understanding of characterization, this whole concept becomes very clear. If you don't and focus on surface factors - like CQL-WWX's self-criticism, weeping, and guilt, JC's baseless accusations, JYL's sacrifice being considered WWX's fault, the JZX's death being considered WWX's fault instead of an escalation in a tense, hostile situation, etc.

People who don't actually understand grey morality will immediately label this as grey morality. Thing is, WWX's morality is never in question. He is righteous to the very end. The only situation where he can be considered anywhere remotely grey is during SSC where he goes overboard against the enemy.

Also, a high moral ground is earned. Even if you consider WWX's actions during SSC as morally grey, he earns his 'white' morality with his actions after the war.

so, tl:dr - some fans think WWX's actions and decisions undermine his morality and weaken his character because they lead to harm. They don't think his actions and decisions are because of his righteous morality and sometimes doing what's right has unpleasant consequences for all. LITERALLY - LOOK AT HISTORY.