#she’s so indigenous coded

[anniecrestalover]

indigenous Katniss>>>>

[birdiebats]

Katniss is so fun to draw 💃💃💃

[imaginarianisms]

[thedragonagelesbian]

bioware those are all wack responses to someone's crisis of faith.

[copaganda-clobberfest]

White Fang propaganda. how come all the bad faunus have different skin tones handle trauma in less comfortable ways fight harder against their oppressive system and in turn are more oppressed by the system. meanwhile 80-90% of the good ones are virtually all white with a handful of exceptions and also never. do. anything. about their peoples oppression. BUT THATS OK THOUGH the humans aren’t that bad they’re just scared of the black people. I mean they’re scared of the the Faunus they’re scared of……. the oppressors are scared of the minorities surely both sides are equally bad :)

Shoot me. It’d hurt less

[neon-in-the-night-time]

one of my middle school best friends who i haven't talked to in years but still follow on instagram is reading the hunger games for the first time and posting her thoughts on her insta story... i am THRIVING

[vounoura]

naryu being a femme fatale bisexual stereotype and playing pretty wholesale into hypersexual bisexual stereotypes is Bad:tm: bc bisexuality, esp. re: bi women (bc as you know bi men Do Not Exist in fiction), is often very highly sexualized and is often nothing more than a titillation device to bait straight men bc girl-on-girl is hot and bi women will still fuck you and directly reinforces actual real world harmful stereotypes that are still used to harm bi people right now at this moment. additionally, naryu's sexualization combined with the fact dunmer are pretty hard coded as non-white bleeds into things like her refined character design being arguably some shade of sexist with how it's designed with sex appeal in mind first rather than the actually very established theme of the morag tong, let alone the deeper racist implications considering dunmer coding.

on the other hand, as leader of the bisexual character council naryu being completely and utterly unashamed is completely and utterly hilarious and I love her girlboss energy for it

[in1-nutshell]

Can we give TFP Airachnid an opposite personality son? We’ve played with opposite personality daughters a lot and a son would be real refreshing. Like I’m thinking of a similiar fluttershy personality for this little one, who just loves all kinds of organisms and animals and wanted to explore and observe every life on every planet possible. Who was also always scared scrapless and sad whenever he walked passed his mother’s hallway of trophies.

And just for cuteness, could he be adopted by Arcee later?

(It would also be sweet if he can have a frog theme, contrast to Airachnid’s spider theme (cause real life tarantulas sometimes keep tiny frogs around), and in this case it’ll be sweet if he is named Ranidae, cause that’s the scientific name for frogs just like how Airachnid is the scientific name for spiders)

I will be adding the name to the list!

Hope you enjoy!

Arachnid with a son with the opposite personality

SFW, Platonic, Angst, Familial, Cybertronian reader

TFP

Arachnid never thought about getting ‘attached’ to anyone before.

She lived by a code.

To live for herself, by any means necessary.

It worked for her so far, the spider wasn’t going to stop now.

Arachnid would never admit it to anyone… but she started getting a bit lonely after defecting the Decepticon’s and wondering around Cybertron’s ruins.

That when she met him.

Arachnid is walking to her newest hideout when she hears rustling. She is immediately on the offense. Arachnid: “Come out or watching me will be the last thing you’ll ever do.” An old crate’s lid opens and a small helm pokes out. Arachnid: “A… sparkling?” She holds the sparkling by his pede looking him over. The sparkling just looks at her with curiosity burning in his optics. Arachnid: “Hmm…small, light…” The sparkling smiles and tries to grab her faceplate but settles on one of her extra limbs. Arachnid: “No.” The sparkling drops the limb. Arachnid: “And obedient? Oh, you’ll be a great addition, Little one.”

Arachnid took in the sparkling a couple days before she would hijack a Decepticon ship and fly out of Cybertron’s orbit.

Having the sparkling on board gave her something to do.

She’d thank him later for being the reason she didn’t go crazy from being stuck in that spaceship for so long.

It wouldn’t take long before she started using the sparkling in her newest hobby.

Hunting endanger species.

The sparkling played the perfect part as the innocent bait.

He didn’t know what was going on at first.

All he knew was that he was helping his mother be happy, something he was willing to do.

His mother didn’t smile too much these days.

As much as he loved his mother, the bot who saved him as a sparkling, he hated her hobby.

They both had a fascination with organic life and curiosity on its works.

Too bad both their definitions of ‘study’ were different.

The smaller bot looks sadly at the newest trophy on his mother’s shelf. Arachnid kneels behind him and places a servo on his shoulder. Arachnid: “Another successful hunt thanks to you, Little one.” She stands up. Arachnid: “Maybe the next planet we go, you can pick which parts I get to keep.” Arachnind walks away. The sparkling lets a tear fall and goes back to his room.

Soon they arrived on a quiet planet called Earth.

It was time for the bot to assume his position, bait.

Maybe this time he could get some more clips of this planet before leaving.

The sparkling ran into the forest as soon as his mother gave him the signal.

The plan was just to go out far enough to get back to the ship if something big came after him.

But thanks to some cute organic creatures, the sparkling ended up going farther than expected.

Maybe staying with them a bit longer wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

The smaller bot happily follows the tiny creatures to a small body of water. He watches them go into the muddy water. Ranidae: “Don’t be afraid! I’m Ranidae, I won’t hurt you.” A one of the creatures hops onto his open servo and croaks. Ranidae: “Hmm… my scans tell me the indigenous life forms call you… a frog.” The frog croaks and blinks at him. Ranidae: “You would be a great alt mode. Powerful legs, small, and no one seems to bother you too much.” He places the frog down. Ranidae: “This won’t hurt a bit.” Ranidae scans the frog and transforms to a frog. He tests out some hops before transforming back. Ranidae scoops up the frog again. Ranidae: “Thank y—” The sounds of an explosion interrupted him. It was in the direction of the ship. Ranidae: “I-I have to go. Goodbye!”

The bot started running as fast as he could.

When he made it over the ridge all he could see was the charred remains of the ship… and a limb that belonged to his mother.

Ranidae fell to his knees at the sight, not really knowing what to do or feel.

He didn’t stay there too long though.

Ranidae hears steps behind him. They were small, but too heavy to be his little friend. He turns and sees a human. Ranidae jumps a bit at the sight. Jack also jumps seeing a smaller bot near the ex-ship. Ranidae: “H-hello there.” Jack: “Umm, hi?” Ranidae: “You spoke back! You aren’t mute like my other friend!” Arcee comes walking over the rigde. Arcee: “Jack, who are you talking to?” She sees the smaller bot and instinctively takes out her blasters. Ranidae immediately backs up to a nearby tree, shaking like its leaf’s. Jack: “Woah, woah! Arcee calm down. I don’t think he’s evil.” Arcee looks carefully at the bot before realizing how young the bot look. She put away her blasters and kneeled in front of the shaking bot. Arcee: “You got a name?” He nods a bit. Ranidae: “Ranidae… your Arcee, aren’t you?” Arcee: “Yeah?” The younger bot starts shaking even more. Arcee is unsure what to think of this. Arcee: “Hey, I’m not going to hurt you Ranidae.” The bot doesn’t stop shaking as quite little sniffles are heard. Jack slowly walks to the bot. Jack: “He’s like a little kid.” Arcee: “That’s because he is one, by Cybertronian standards.” Jack slowly places a hand on the bots pede. The smaller bot jumps a bit but relaxes seeing it was the human who touched him. Jack: “I’m Jack.” Ranidae: “…Jack?” Jack: “Yeah. Look, Arcee isn’t going to hurt you, none of us are.” The younger bot relaxes a bit but look warily at Arcee. Jack: “Do you have any parents?” Ranidae quickly glances at the limb. Ranidae: “Not anymore.” Arcee notices the lack of badge on the bot. Arcee: “what side are you on?” Ranidae looks at her confused. Ranidae: “I don’t have one.” Arcee looks around before sighing. Arcee: “Ratchet’s not going to like this… come one kid, you’re with us now.”

It was a big surprise to see Arcee and Jack to come back with another young bot hot on their heels.

Ranidae stayed glued to Jack’s side the entire time, even grabbing his smaller hand and putting it in his servo when he got nervous around the bigger bots.

Miko and Raf soon came over to greet the smaller bot.

Miko: “Dude! You’re smaller than Arcee!” Ranidae flinches away a bit at the loud sound. Jack: “Miko, inside voice. Ranidae this is Miko and Raf. Raf Miko, this is Ranidae.” Raf: “Like frog?” The young bot immediately perked up hearing the word. Ranidae: “I like frogs. Are there any frogs here?” Raf: “Not here but I have pictures.” Ranidae’s smile widens seeing the little photos. Miko: “You really like frogs, don’t you?” Ranidae nods before transforming into his alt mode. Everyone looks surprised. Miko: “You really like frogs.”

The kids and bots nearly had whiplash once Ratchet found out how old Ranidae was.

In human years, he was a bit younger than Raf.

Bumblebee is quietly celebrating not being the youngest on the team.

Ranidae decided to stay with the Autobots.

It wasn’t like he had anywhere, or anyone would miss him.

As far as he knew, his mother was offline.

Better to start a new life with someone who didn’t want to hunt for fun.

It does not take long for all the bots to grow a soft spot of the youngest member of the team.

Arcee, arguably has the biggest spot for him.

Sure, the small frog was extremely hesitant to be around her or the team, but it changed after Fowler was introduced to him.

Fowler looks at the small bot slightly hiding behind Arcee’s legs. Fowler: “And you are?” Ranidae is pushed up front a bit. Ranidae: “Ranidae…” Fowler: “And?” Ranidae: “And?” Fowler: “What do you do?” Arcee: “He doesn’t have a position yet.” Fowler: “What do you mean he doesn’t have a position yet? Sure, he’s small but he has to do something. What did he do back on your planet?” Bulkhead: “Fowler, Rani just a kid.” Fowler: “Isn’t Bumblebee your youngest?” Arcee starts getting a bit frustrated. Arcee: “Ranidae is younger than Bumblebee. In human years, he’s around Raf’s age.” Fowler: “… And his parents? Or is everyone taking care of him.” Arcee: “I am.” Bulkhead: “You are?” Ranidae: “You are!”

Arcee had said that out of frustration after seeing the smaller bot start shrinking in Fowler’s gaze.

But she doesn’t regret saying it.

From staying out of Arcee’s sight to practically clinging on her back.

This does not exclude alt mode, especially after Ranidae found out that he could stick to certain objects, including bots.

Does the smaller bot get on her nerves from time to time?

Yes, but give her a break.

She never thought she’d be a parent, especially at war.

Arcee is quite protective of her little frog, and it is no secret to the others.

Arcee finishes brigding out Bulkhead and Bumblebee. Arcee: “Rani, I need you to help me out here.” Jack: “Rani isn’t here.” Arcee: “What?” Raf coming into the room. Raf: “Has anyone seen Miko?” Arcee: “… Raf do you know anything about ‘everglades?” Raf: “It’s a huge ecosystem filled with all sorts of animals, reptiles and…” Arcee, Jack, and Raf: “Frogs!” Meanwhile… Ranidae carefully carrying Miko through the marsh. Ranidae: “Are you sure there’s frogs here?” Miko: “Sure, sure, but we have to keep up with Bulk and Bee.” Ranidae: “Okay!”

[punkeropercyjackson]

Really don't care for Sonic gijinkas where Amy and Tails are white.It makes Amy look like pick me yt women who chase after black men since Sonic and Shadow are both black and she comes across moreso as black/white mixed and lightskin imo as someone who is and Tails' based on Kitsunes,*japanese* folklore creatures so if anything he's pretty clearly japanese like how Knuckles is afro-indigenous because his people are based off aztec mexicans but he's got black-coding heavy in there too.And i can't help but feel like people assume they're the white ones because they're the soft uwu babs.And if Rogue can be black so can the non-sexualized fem mc(i'm saying Rogue is black too btw.it's giving Rico Nasty)

[autismnation]

seeing people deny katniss being clearly indigenous coded really irritates me.

a lot of people use the excuse that, because she’s in the woods most of her time, she’s in the sun and gets a tan. she says that she, like everyone in the seam, has olive skin/dark hair/gray eyes. so unless everyone in the seam is also going out into the woods (spoiler alert: they’re not. in fact, they’re spending most of the time in the mines, away from the sun.) then katniss is a woman of colour.

but, okay, let’s ignore the signs that she is indigenous. she is still a person of colour! that’s the whole point of the seam/merchant sections in town.

it’s about class inequality and how race plays a part in that!

[tiredmagicalwarrior]

I think one of the things I appreciated the most about Nocturne was the protagonism on the Haitian Revolution.

This was a revolution that didn't just change Haiti, it changed the world. This was the revolution that would make the first black state. The first slaveless state. That would make every slave nation tremble with fear, from Europe To America to Asia to Oceania to Africa. It was what was never meant to happen, but did.

It's the nation that would defeat Napoleon and the British marine. Nobody could take down Haiti. You know why Napoleon went to colonize Europe? Haiti. That's why. He couldn't take down Haiti. Couldn't make it french territory again. So, he turned towards Europe.

We are talking about an undefeated nation.

AND! AND! A largely Vodu nation!

I was SO happy to see Vodu be portrayed as the wonderful religion it is, sacred and divinely intertwined with the Haitian revolution. The revolution was noted to start with Vodu chants and ritual.

White people refused to understand the link between the two worlds that could bring ancestors to meet their descendants. They created zombies as a horror trope. They made vodu dolls as a horror gimmick. They took a sacred religion and reduced it and vilanized it.

And I'm so happy to see it being positively portrayed in such a famous media. Vodu practicioners have already made media of the like. But I was positively surprised with what Nocturne had to present to us.

Of course, the knowledge that the french revolution was incomplete, that it was NOT FOR EVERYONE, is then again, something I really appreciate as a history student and a person. The french revolution killed mostly peasent and established the bourgeoisie, but did it end the Noir Code? No. Did it establish women's and black people's suffrage? No. Did it make a agrarian reform? No. Was it for the people? It had it's importance. But it was, at the very least, not for all the people.

And let's not forget that the french revolution's main intellectual current would birth biological racism, an unscientific current that claimed evidence of "different sized skulls" for example to prove humans possessed different races based on phenotypes.

Last, but certainly not least: it is absurd to see people claim that "all indigenous people have been killed". Acknowledging multi-ethnic indigenous genocide HAS to go along with the respect that there STILL are indigenous people and they continue their fight for their lives and land.

You know who the show demonstrates as such? Olrox.

While I don't appreciate the show claiming "all of his people were slaughtered" as that is historically inaccurate, I was most happy to see an Aztec vampire present and very alive, connected to his culture, protagonizing the show. The Nahua are still very much alive and kicking and I appreciated that the show took that into account.

And Annette! Sweet Annette being one of the leads makes me most joyful. I can't stand idiots that claim her presence.on France was """historically innacurate""", check again, dumbasses, free black people were all over France (especially the children of black Caribbean elites, for example, from Haiti back then known as Saint-Domingue, which did not possess universities and would sent their children to study in Europe.)

Anyway. To see her star as one of the leads made me so incredibly happy. She's a wonderful character and I appreciate how they let Annette be unapologetic and direct, especially during a moment between revolutions were she was very aware the french revolution didn't mean shit to her people.

But she was so lovely and to see her afro-caribean religion present AND source of her power made me emotional more than a few times.

Castlevania Nocturne really did hit this nail on the head.

Anyways. To make sure I give people answers to "but where's the evidence to x thing you said?" Here are my sources:

THYLEFORS, Markel; “Our Government is in Bwa Kayiman:”A Vodou Ceremony in 1791 and its Contemporary Significations, 2009

DUBOIS, Laurent; Avengers of the New World : the story of the Haitian Revolution, 2004

BUCK-MORSS, Susan; Hegel, Haiti and universal history, 2009

[cleromancy]

okay hmm quiet metal gear disability thoughts now. specifically quiet, dignity of risk & the right to refuse treatment. major spoilers for tpp ahead!!!!

i do consider quiet to be a textually disabled character primarily because of the english language parasite infection. you can, and i in fact will, make the argument that needing accommodations for how her body physically works post-burn trauma counts as disability, but on its own it wouldn't be enough for me to say so emphatically that Quiet Is A Disabled Character. but having a chronic illness that she refuses treatment for because the cost of the treatment is too great is a CLASSIC and incredibly common disability story and weaves it incontrovertibly into her narrative as a whole.

and the way this interacts with quiets choice to live with the infection by not speaking english, is so great juxtaposed with code talker (himself disabled and diné) asking her in diné bizaad if she speaks it, and her responding in the affirmative being the reveal that quiet is herself also diné (quiet not being diné is, while technically textually possible, not actually supported by the text). the scene ends with quiet telling him she was infected with the parasite but hasn't spoken english to infect anyone on motherbase, and repeating, "and i never will. i never will."

so she chooses to live with it, and the way that venom accommodates her is extremely similar to what he does with kaz-- aside from the direct parallel of rescuing kaz and later rescuing quiet in very similar ways at contrasting points in the narrative, you see a lot of venom communicating wordlessly with them both; he leans in close to kaz so kaz can see or feel him, his first impulse is to speak to quiet wordlessly through touch/looks/gestures... i feel like this is highlighted by how kaz, my best beloved bitter hypocrite, is like (paraphrased) "she doesn't talk! how could you communicate in the field?!" and venom looks at quiet and they visibly, silently exchange a thousand words. i can't get into that more rn bc it would derail the post from quiet but theres a LOT going on there w/kaz and disability, and kaz and quiet.

and similarly getting too deep into the theme of language in tpp is also beyond the scope of this post, it would derail it even more. BUT LIKE in a lot of code talkers tapes you do hear him talking about, like... being taken away to one of those assimilation schools and that being part of why he developed the language parasites the way he did. and in another he speculates that quiet refused the treatment bc she wanted to keep the possibility of revenge but considering that she is a disabled indigenous woman, and that the parasites are repeatedly referred to in terms of ethnic cleansing, and the treatment for the parasite infection does make you infertile, i would argue that the text is not necessarily presenting code talker as exclusively correct here; there is another glaringly obvious reason why quiet might have chosen not to undergo the treatment.

so instead she chooses to live with it, and all its drawbacks, including requiring accommodation for it; she chooses to put up with kazs suspicion without explaining herself; she lives with the risk that came with an active infestation; she chooses to leave when it mutates further and puts people at risk. and when venom comes to rescue her she chooses to put her own life at risk to save his by choosing to break her vow and speak english. (also, side note, Jesus Christ but vquiet is so fucking beautiful. venom saving her and getting bitten by the decoy snake in the process....! good lord. who is doing it like them.) dignity of risk is crucial to this story -- none of this would have happened if she had Simply Accepted The Cure, but shes... really not presented as being in the wrong for choosing not to. that was her decision, and she deserved the choice to make it. when her tape opens "i did not choose to be Quiet," it delves into her choices. yes, the desire for vengeance brought her to this place. yes, it pains her that they don't "share a common tongue." but also, she has made the choice to disavow vengeance, to "choose the language of gratitude," and to her that means returning to her vow of silence. this is the dignity of risk.

i do have more thoughts on this, particularly elaborating on what dignity of risk is and why its so important to the narrative of tpp, and want to come back and elaborate on this more, but im just gonna hit send for now, just... quiet 🥰

[stackslip]

I thought Scar was supposed to be Ainu and not middle-eastern? My only knowledge of the series is watching it once seven years ago.

yeah don't think so, really. arakawa has said that she partially based the conflict "between the state and scar" (what a way to put it) on her own background in hokkaido, where japanese settlers stole ainu land, but she also makes it clear in that same interview that this isn't the sole influence. besides it wouldn't fit 1:1, as the ainu went through a cultural genocide but were never round up and suffered large scale massacres in the same way--from what i've found it seems to be closer to a slow burn genocide that favoured "assimilation" above all. and searching any images of the ainu, researching their clothings and practices, very little seems to fit even visually with ishbalans. i'm sure they WERE a source of inspiration for arakawa writing the war, and i'm sure her own admission that her ancestors and family are descendents of settlers on ainu land, and some of her relatives have ainu blood (she never claims herself directly as ainu, despite what i've seen being said online) also informs the way she wrote the soldiers and settlers who help destroy ishbal. she calls that war an "allegory" and she kinda seems to have thrown a lot of different groups and tropes in to make up ishbal

obviously some stuff is directly inspired by ww2, she herself said she interviewed ww2 veterans (only veterans.... would have loved to hear the pov of the victims) to write about the war. considering the history of japan during ww2, and how the torture and experiments in ishbal obviously parallel japanese human experimentation on the people they deemed as sub-human (and possibly nazi experimentation) then these populations under japanese occupations can also be an inspiration

but really, ishbalans themselves seem to be a melting pot of different orientalist tropes, some inspired by real life groups--the basics about how ishbalans themselves are depicted in the manga are these: they are a desert-based indigenous people with dark skin, who worship a single god (something that is apparently pretty mock worthy for hugues and others tbh; one could see some mixing up of jews and muslims in there too with the talk of ishbal as the "holy land") and who see alchemy and a lot of what amestrians bring as "blasphemy"; furthermore their women (from the little we see of them) wear hoods or veils that cover their hair, and wear golden bracelets and jewelry. despite arakawa's utter refusal to give ishbalans much of a spotlight on their culture and life altogether, it's kinda hard to not read ishbalans' visual appearance as being "inspired" by SWANA muslims from their appearance and dark skin, the little we see of their religious values, and their clothing. all in a very orientalist way tbh

most importantly, fma ran from 2001 to 2010 and the iraq war WAS very present in japanese political consciousness. (fma 03 makes that parallel a lot more evident, but arakawa wrote/drew the bulk of her version of the genocide after 03 aired and it's p obvious that the iraq war is also a direct inspiration.) the japanese public was aware enough of the iraq war that when the then prime minister decided, for the first time since ww2, to send SDF troops to iraq to aid the USA his approval rates dropped dramatically. this was part of a larger political debate around japan's remilitarization. it would be very hard to imagine that arakawa, writing about war as she was, was not at the very least influenced by these concurrent events.

so: by her own admission, the situation of the ainu is one of several inspirations for ishbalans and scar. but that does not make ishbalans or scar ainu (and for the billionth time, arakawa is not ainu or indigenous herself! she has never claimed to be!), and it is very obvious that their culture is far more visually coded through orientalist depictions of SWANA people and muslims than the ainu themselves.

[eros-vigilante]

issues w/ the octopath fandom, racism, and ableism

whats from the source

octopath does some racist bs quite frequently.

cotc (the mobile gacha) has an entire storyline filled with anti-indigenous and racist tropes.

the mainline octopath games have yet to design a traveler with curly hair, and frequently whitewashes the tan and dark-skinned characters in official artwork (compare these with the real ones; here's partitios official cotc splash art). ochette's hair especially is straight-as-a-ruler and silver. also worth considering eye colors. partitio is sad because his concept art had only one design where he's white and a couple even had dreadlocks, and yet his splash art refuses to match his sprite colors.

the beastlings... i'm white and have done more research on the tropes in cotc since i play it more, so while i did have thoughts of my own while playing, here is a better post i found that lists off all the bad choices about them.

also worth mentioning kaldena. one of the few dark-skinned characters in the game is a villain (and also has straight silver hair). other people have also broken down what choices in temenos' story around this were bad better than i could. i can't find a post with a quick search so if you want to reblog this to talk about it i will reblog/link it.

ableism. while i am a big fan of the autism-coding in the franchise, it's still true that there are a lot of jokes made in the games at the expense of osvald and cyrus (moreso cyrus). it's setting accurate for people to be mean to autistic people, but you're still supposed to laugh at "i guess cyrus isn't actually that smart!" which pushes the idea that autism affects intelligence and maturity. i think overall the autism representation is great (pspsps my essay) but it's definitely the source of some awful shit i've had to read people say about cyrus and osvald.

edit 1: friend reminded me of something i forgot that i only learned after talking to it about it a while ago: therion's story is actually really really weird in how it tries to frame cornelia and especially heathcote as helping therion when what they did is enslave him.

whats from the fandom

fanart whitewashing. there is a lot of fanart of therion and partitio with pale skin tones. there is fanart of olberic and ochette with significantly lighter/barely tan skin tones. i'm not going to find any to link because harassment and arguing is not the point of this post, but if you've looked through fanart you've seen it.

here's their skin tones blended. even with the highlights included, they're not white. i get it, their splash art is very ambiguous from the colorism, so if you weren't using the sprites: here's your new references.

ableism directed at cyrus and osvald. i've seen people complain about osvald's personality writing and then cite ptsd and autism symptoms, so many people call cyrus stupid, an idiot, or imply he is not mature. people assume/default hc that he is bad at adult activies. he is a thirty year old professor. it is his job to be mature, good with children, smart, etc. this is infantalization of an autistic character. it's a default assumption that the autistic man is below-average at adult functions.

infantalization of ochette. there are hcs and portrayals of ochette to be far less responsible and mature than she is in canon. she is the protector of her island, it is a theme of her story that she was forced to grow up more mature than everyone else. yes, she is funny, cheerful, energetic, but some fandom portrayals of her reduce her to just that, like she's a puppy. always being irresponsible, impulsive, etc. this matches to her dynamic with castti going from the sweet found family of their crossed path into "castti is the mother who needs to rein in this wild child"- and also consider how it looks to portray the only (consistently portrayed as) dark-skinned character as wild when she is responsible and mature in her story. similarly to cyrus, people tend to default to hcs that she would be bad at normal adult activities just because she has 'childish' traits.

what do you want me to do about it

eyedrop skintones from sprites or go darker for the guys who aren't white. consider changing their hair up, like using the concept art design for partitio. drawing characters of color differently from canon doesn't solve the racism in the game industry, but it is good practice for drawing poc and representing them more accurately.

don't... insult the autistic characters. there are things cyrus is canonically bad at that have nothing to do with his autism, like singing, but don't act like he's bad at everything that's not part of his interests. real people act how osvald does due to trauma. neither of them are two-dimensional in personality, they're written with nuance and a range of emotions outside of Being Autistic.

respect ochette more. are you portraying her as only silly or the savior of her home, or both? would someone who hasn't played ot2 know that ochette has overcome challenges based on your portrayal of her, or would they think she's a comedy relief?

learn about racism. learning about what kind of racist tropes are common in media and games helps a lot with recognizing it in other places, like the beastlings or kaldena. and most of all, learning about racist stereotypes and tropes makes you less likely to perpetuate them unintentionally.

putting the cotc racism essay down here so i can say that it has spoilers for Bestower of Power if you're a cotc player. it's different from the post i linked at the start; way more focused on just the anti-indig stereotypes in the villain's design.

the last thing i want to say is oh my god i love talking about this stuff so much. if you are confused about ANYTHING i talked about or want to talk about it more, or add your own experiences, or ask for recommendations, i love that shit. i made this because i believe most people who are really active in this fandom don't do this kind of stuff maliciously, and would benefit from just having a chance to talk about it. for some reason i am very into explaining/taking apart bigoted language, where it comes from, what it means etc. Please

[thatscarletflycatcher]

One of the advantages of engaging with old and old-ish media is the way it gives you perspective on the shifting of political discourse, and the current day weaponization of rage-bait by certain despicable pundits.

This week I had a pretty severe episode of dizziness and was basically bed-bound. On Wednesday I tried to watch the 1979 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and I was understanding none of it, so I switched to Walker Texas Ranger because it showed up in my search, and I used to watch it when I was a kid and it was aired on open tv in my country.

I remembered it as being a very 'Murica, Traditional ValuesTM sort of show, and I don't think anyone would have ever called it a liberal device or anything like that. And yet as I was rewatching I couldn't help but think how many choices on this show would be framed by someone like Ben Shapiro if it was airing today. Cfr.

The main cast being composed of a biracial man, a woman, a black man and an indigenous man.

On the pilot, Walker bonds with a rape victim over trauma (his parents were murdered in front of him when he was a kid by drunken white supremacists)

The following episode Alex makes an impassioned speech about how hard it is to be a woman in her job, and how she cannot go into hiding or ask for special protection like others would because it would allow people to call into question her ability to do the job because she is a woman.

Later on a paralytic woman saves the day in a hostage situation and Walker and her briefly date

The following episode spins around dismantling a Christian cult

A few episodes later one of the main players is a young woman determined to see justice for her father, whom she is convinced was murdered and did not die on a drunken driving incident. Walker has a heart to heart conversation with his uncle about why he is attracted to determined, independent, stubborn women, and the conclusion is that they are very much worth engaging with because of those character traits.

That's 14 episodes into the series. And I don't think any of this was in any particular way considered as anything other than run-of-the-mill tropey stuff back when this aired, or as shoving politics down anyone's throats. Someone would say framing is everything, and tbh, it makes you think about the framing and codes rage-bait pundits use to reap engagement from audiences, and how it creates a vicious circle of radicalization (which ties back to what I was saying at the top of the post).

I don't know if I'm explaining well what I'm trying to say about people being radicalized into positions they would have not held 20 or 30 years ago, and how loud the most extremist positions are because of social media amplification, so, hm, try to be kind to this post XD

Another striking example is how tech is framed in the series. Walker, as the most Traditional Man's Man character is very dismissive of new tech, and thinks old fashioned police work remains the best. Trivett, a guy from Baltimore who is very fashionable and hip is all for adopting cutting-edge tech into their work. The series as a whole narratively sides with Walker time and time again. Which is a reminder that distrust of big tech was at the time uncontroversial in a traditional mindset. This right now is a strange innovation (yes, fascist governments like Franco's Spain were technocratic, but we are talking within the frame of the US ideological landscape).

These are my not very well organized thoughts on this, and I'm sharing them because I think it's worth thinking about.

[rubberduckyrye]

I'd like to point to interpretation that Angie isn't portrayal of a native Polynesian islander because almost all the evidence around her character and what she says suggests she's not living in a village that has cult-like practices, but that she is in a straight up cult and is unaware of it. It explains a lot of stuff from the odd monotheism, why her "village" seems to only employ seemingly dark web shipping company, the police apparently bothering her "village" or her having an English name.

Referencing this Ask

I mean. That is one interpretation, sure, but to deny the fact that Angie is heavily coded to be Polynesian/Native Hawaiian is unfortunately ignoring the problem. Which is the problem I am trying to address itself.

Right in her promotional art, you can see that Angie is carving a statue--and it heavily resembles a tiki statue. Specifically this kind of Tiki Statue. Though since it is unfinished, it could be a full body version, but I digress.

She also mentions living on an island.

And the "natural disaster" that made the island smaller--that is probably heavily inspired by how Hawaii was used by US military and bombed frequently--which, naturally, made the islands smaller.

She also greets people in Salmon mode with "Alola," which is a reference to Pokemon Sun and Moon, which has it's main location heavily based off of Hawaii. Alola is a butchered way of saying "Aloha", which is a Hawaiian greeting.

Also, Angie having an English name matches with historical oppression in Hawaii. Where Hawaiians were forced to name their children with Christian White names and their Hawaiian names be their middle names. It was literally a law, at least, according to Wikipedia, for quite some time. (The fact that this is not easily verifiable is the very reason why having this discussion is so important--and why people need to stop trying to avoid the conversation.)

I understand the desire to want to dismiss the fact that she is a racist caricature because it sucks to enjoy a character who is one. I get it. However--trying to deny the fact that she is heavily coded to be Native Hawaiian/Polynesian is just sweeping the racism under the rug, and is a major problem when you have people like me who want to discuss the topic and how one should handle rectifying the canon narrative's bigotry.

The mere fact that she is so heavily coded to be Native Hawaiian/Polynesian makes the whole cult thing part of the racist caricature. Indigenous people (especially Indigenous Polynesian cultures) are subject to extreme racist stereotypes that include human sacrifices and savagery--and while Angie's culture isn't developed in canon enough to know for sure if it was truly as savage as, say, the King Kong Indigenous folk, the cult behaviors are a sort of "cousin" to that savagery. We as a society see human sacrifices as barbaric, as savage, and even when in a cult setting, we still present these topics in that fashion.

I'm sorry, anon--but I'm going to ask you only this one time to not derail the conversation I'm trying to start. I understand that there are interpretations that help explain away the bigotry--and this is one legitimate way to deal with bigotry in canon media, or so I've been told--but what I want is a full blown discussion on the subject. I don't want people trying to tell me "Oh b-b-but she can't be a racist Caricature, because (X)!" Because that is dismissing the problem to begin with.

This is a problem. This is a discussion about racism in V3's narrative. There is no getting around it--no matter how much you explain away the writing with headcanons and theories, these problems are still here.

So please stop trying to sabotage my desire for a discussion.

I'm going to note that I LOVE Angie as a character. I think that, when you remove the racism in her character stories, you have a very interesting and compelling female character of color who's intelligence rivals that of the smartest V3 characters. These aspects of her character I adore--but to ignore the racism, for me, is to just turn away from the problem and, in turn, contribute to the racist way fandom treats these kinds of characters.

So let me speak. Let me find people who will talk to me about it. Let me grow and learn. Please, for the love of god, let me learn.