#so i was confused how it could be whitewashed then

[teleit]

Sometimes I hate this show, and then I come to my senses and just despise it

I'm a feminist because I'm a woman and deserve all rights and opportunities. But this show, I swear to God, does everything it can to make me feel like a terrible person.

The show's adult Rhaenyra is just…ugh. There were a thousand ways to transfer her personality, actions, and decisions from page to screen, and the writers chose the worst possible one. Somehow, they managed to strip her of her personal qualities while simultaneously filling her to the brim with other people's accomplishments.

Young Rhaenyra was practically perfect, given the changes the writers made to the book plot. She was a young, capricious, selfish girl whose world collapsed in an instant, and she had to find her way on her own. She was unpleasant, nasty, mocking, charismatic, charming, sweet - and very real. Her actions could be condemned or supported, she was interesting to watch, and I loved her. Not everything Rhaenyra did was to my liking, but when she was on screen, I watched her without taking my eyes off.

Adult Rhaenyra is literally Frankenstein's monster, assembled from incomprehensible junk from the attic of Condall and Hess. She does not have a drop of the charm that young Rhaenyra had, as if they were written by completely different people. Every questionable action of hers is whitewashed, 90% of her decisions and achievements are recycled and reused plots of other characters from the books, any actions are extolled to the skies. It's like eating cold unsalted French fries, you feel punished for some unknown sins by tasteless crap.

I want to love Rhaenyra, I really tried the entire half of the first season and whole second to feel at least a little love for this homunculus, but it is simply impossible. Just when I'm starting to sympathize with Rhaenyra grieving so heartbreakingly for her son and wanting justice, and getting involved in show, the writers decide to indulge their nun fetish and have Rhaenyra dress up as a septa and go talk to Alicent about some useless bullshit. One minute she's not afraid to defend her opinion, the next she's playing Mother of Dragons 2.0 (Vermithor scene was indescribable cringe, as was posing with a goofy grin with three dragons while Aemond scampers away with his bloodthirsty granny). Here's Rhaenyra having a great dialogue scene with her son, and here she is kissing a SA victim who just shared her tragic backstory, but don't worry, it's very romantic and everyone is happy.

And it wouldn't be nearly as bad as it feels if Rhaenyra were like young Rhaenyra, whose flaws were real and not smoothed over by the constant reminder that this woman was the best thing to happen to the world since the invention of latte macchiato. Young Rhaenyra, if she were in the sept with Alicent, would have yelled at the woman, risked getting caught, and wouldn't have been shy about reminding Jace who was in charge and that he had no right to scold her. Would she have been right, or smart in her actions? Still no, but she wouldn't be hailed as fair, peaceful and perfect - she'd be a selfish, confused, grieving woman who'd lost so much and was desperately trying to figure out how to salvage what was left and take back what was taken.

The show does everything it can to make me despise Rhaenyra. She's selfish, self-righteous, smug, arrogant, delusional, self-important, dumb as a rock, spineless, one-dimensional cheap knockoff of Daenerys from the early seasons of Game of Thrones. And the worst part is that all of these qualities would be interesting if the show would just stop holding me by the balls and demanding that I must love and adore her for every little thing because Rhaenyra is always right, the best girl in the world, worthy of all praise, and perfect to the core. Let me decide for myself whether I want to like a character or not, because unlike some people, I have an IQ above room temperature and can empathize with a complex, ambiguous character with adult morals, not just Bloom from Winx in a white wig.

I constantly have to remind myself that it's okay to dislike a female character if she's written terribly, and that doesn't make me a bad person.

Ps. Still not native speaker and dgaf about mistakes, english can suck my imaginary dick; apparently somehow part of text was translate in my native language wtf

[teeth-cable]

I need more people to talk about how just like the POC designs, the writing is terrible at clueing the audience what race and ethnicity the characters are.

Beside stereotypes, the racial coding in the writing is little to non-existence. The characters don’t have mannerisms from their cultures, speak in slangs or idioms relating to their group from their time periods, or make cultural references.

Without having to rely on outside sources (Livestreams, looking up VAs, leaked audition sheets, etc), the only characters I would successfully guess would be Vicky, Val, and Velvette, and even then, it doesn’t mean the racial coding is good.

Vicky is the only one from this list whose racial coding isn’t atrocious. I can tell she’s Latino because she curses in Spanish, but that’s it. This is admittedly nick-picky , but I wish when cursing she would have used Salvadoreño specific slang and curse phases to signal she’s Salvadoreña.

Val, I can tell is Latino too, because of his accent and him cursing in Spanish, but it’s egregious. The accent fluctuates so much, it’s strong, then weak, then strong again. Not sure if the VA was struggling or if this was an intentional direction given to him, though the fact, I and other people were confused, at the direction, speaks for itself. Another issue with his accent is how it’s sexualized, contributing to the Latin Lover stereotype of his character.

Velvette, I won’t sugarcoat it. I wouldn’t even guess she was supposed to be black though the writing or the majority of her designs until the finale. The finale, the last episode of the season and the only time she has textured hair with her screen time being around two minutes and sixteen seconds in total.

Visual designs isn’t where race coding ends. This is important to remember because it ignores the good coded characters (King Dice from Cuphead, Darwin from TAWG, the Funk trolls from Dreamwork’s Trolls) and how Viv failed and could have done the racial coding better.

For Viv, she has to rely on other coding methods too because there are characters who aren’t humanoid enough, or even humanoid at all, for visual coding to work. There really isn’t anything I can say to explain why the race coding sucks beside Viv doesn’t care about representing POCs.

I wanted to create this post to highlight how Viv fails at coding in every aspect. The fandoms and critics shouldn’t praised her for giving Velvette textured hair or darkening Sera’s skin from her leaked audition sheet. We need to stop praising creators, especially white ones, for doing less than the bare minimum (The bare minimum being making POC characters look POC) when creating POC characters, or worse, justify it. I’ve seen people tried to justify the terrible POC designs by using one of Carmilla’s daughters as an example, as if one decent POC design in a sea of ashy and euro-centric or erased features for the majority of the POC cast suddenly invalidates the criticisms.

I’m also getting tired of the fandom making posts questioning why people have and still draw the POC characters as white, as well as people harassing artists for accidental whitewashing. I’m hate the whitewashing too but in this case, it’s different because this is Viv’s own fault due to her poor racial coding. Not every fan will have the same intense knowledge you do or even should, to know what a character’s race or ethnicity is, that’s Viv’s responsibilities as the creator.

Mind you, these were the human designs we had before the show aired. Alastor being mixed creole and Niffty being Japanese yet they look white as hell here.

[creatingblackcharacters]

Hi Ice! This one is maybe a little on the outskirts of 'creating Black characters', but it is related to the introspective questions you posted a little while back, so I thought I'd ask for your opinion. I'm sure this isn't an one-easy-answer thing, so I'd love to hear from any other Black people reading this as well!

I'll try to keep it short.

I'm seven years and 300k+ words deep in a fanfiction about anthropomorphic animal characters, and your introspective questions made me face the fact that I've been the ignorant fandom racist. I wrote my main character as white. Now, 7 years later, I stumble over a post pointing out ... those are locs

I don't know if the authors intended for this character to be Black (nonblack voice actors, supplementary material also clearly doesn't draw him this way, though that stuff was all over the place re: consistency) and I frankly also am not sure if they Should have, given his role in the narrative, but a) that's not really up to me to speak on and b) he's got locs and mostly black fur and was inspired by Anubis. I've been whitewashing, there's no way around it.

I briefly considered going back and just straight up changing the story to make him Black, but I quickly realized that I have been writing him from a white-centered narrative and just slotting a Black character into that would arguably be Worse. Or at least racist in a brand new way. I can change how he takes care of his hair, but not the themes on which the entire narrative is built upon. I've been writing about a white man and I can't just pretend I haven't.

So my question to you is ... what now? How do I best acknowledge this? Do I just quietly come to terms with the fact that this story is racist and do better next time? I would like to acknowledge it in some way, I have a small but loyal audience and if I could use that platform to start a conversation (or just put out a 'hey, don't be like me') that would ... maybe at least be better than nothing? Possibly?

I know there's not a simple solution here that will Fix It, but I thought I'd ask an actual Black person who's open to educating what might be a good next move. Maybe avoid making another, new White Person Blunder. Here's to hoping.

I really appreciate all you do, your blog rocks and so do you.

Is that Shadow?

Okay, so I had to have a conversation with Hot Chocolate on this one because this one's a doozy! I appreciate that you're willing to stop and reflect though. Most people wouldn't be willing to do so this far in!

Admittedly, the fact that you're seven years into this means this will require a lot of effort. And, tbh, I might be confused bc I cannot tell what that character is 😅 So! After some thought, here's what we came up with:

Take a hiatus. Point blank period. Take a BREAK, do not pass go, do not collect $200! Idk what lore you've written, but you've written a lot of it. Take as long as you need to reread your works, and see if at any point you ever made it clear that this was a white person, or anything other than the Black character you now think they should be. If it feels undefined, where you can turn "hair" into "locs" or add in small details, then that could be your smooth way out. It doesn't have to be massive changes, but it could help. It'll take you time, for sure! But you dug seven years in, it's gone take you time to dig out. Maybe if you skim 15k words a week (or ctrl-F it for hair, for examples), that's... 20 weeks? Go at your own pace, faster or slower.

Unfortunately this happens a lot, where influences for characters will be taken from cultures of colors and improperly represented (the "African" god from Genshin). That's just a fact. So I don't necessarily blame you for the confusion, but... Now you know.

If possible, get a sensitivity reader! Preferably a Black one. Ngl, given the massive amount of work, you're likely going to have to pay them. Maybe give them half and you take half. Idk, but let another pair of eyes look at your work. Or maybe there's a Black reader that you could speak to and see how they feel about the potential change.

Should you choose to keep going, just try to be more purposeful and intentional about that character's Blackness. Definitely tell your readers what you figured out, why it's important to you, and then move forward from there.

Now, RECOGNIZE that many of them will NOT be pleased! That's kind of the thing about opening your eyes when it comes to racism in media! A lot of people will NOT be happy that you decided to be more intentional, especially if they've been imagining their favorite white guy for seven years. You're going to have to weigh your integrity and your will to create against that. People might leave, people that you thought were cool AF until it was time to show true colors. Be ready for that.

But that's just what I would do 🤷🏾‍♀️

[hamliet]

What are your thoughts on Fire Walk with Me?

It's a movie that is an incredible piece of art and was way, way ahead of its time. I was shocked when I first saw that it received extremely negative reviews at its premiere. (Quentin Tarantino's quote in particular irritates me.)

I'm so glad that people came around and started reassessing it long before Lynch's death (and also long before relevant cultural turning points like MeToo), because it deserves to be considered one of the best films of its decade, and I'm glad it actually is and that Lynch could see its vindication.

The film is a hard watch, I'll give critics that, but that's because it's supposed to be. It really immerses the viewer into Laura Palmer's suffering, her confusion because she doesn't understand how all this is happening to her, she doesn't understand where her agency begins and ends and if she ever had any, and it all stems from the fact that the person who was supposed to love and protect her the most is the person who has been abusing her for his own selfish gain.

It's a great use of the film medium for storytelling, and also of surrealism. I'm not a huge fan of surrealism just because it's not my taste, but in this case it really, really fits the storyline. Things that shouldn't be, are. And her world is suffocating her, and there's no way out. She's disoriented. Denial is her best bet, so she tries it through so many different paths--drugs, taking back her sexuality, romance, etc. Nothing works. In the end the horror is still there for her, and for the viewer too.

About Tarantino's quote, I bring it up not to hate on the guy but to say that it's pretty much missing the entire point of the film so badly it's like a parody of comprehension.

I’m not ragging on other people, but after I saw Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me at Cannes, David Lynch has disappeared so far up his own ass that I have no desire to see another David Lynch movie until I hear something different. And you know, I loved him. I loved him.

The idea that FWWM is remotely self-indulgent is actually so... I think it's the opposite of the reality. You can wish it was self-indulgent, but that would make you the exact point of the film--the idea that sometimes someone's suffering is so agonizing that no one actually wants to understand it. But don't they deserve to have a voice, too? Isn't that what the whole series was about?

The movie gives Laura a voice. While Twin Peaks the series is about trying to understand Laura and solve her grisly murder, the movie actually takes Laura and shows us that she, too, doesn't understand herself. She's just as lost as the viewer. She's scared. Laura was failed by everyone in the town, and the movie doesn't try to whitewash her or make her likable. It is brutally honest about how a lot of victims feel and how they process trauma. If it makes audiences uncomfortable, it should.

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

It's More Than Just A Mistake, Charlie

This comment just rubs me so much the wrong way because they are not here just for making mistakes but for as Adam and Lute showed continually making evil decisions through life and having no remorse for it. And again we see a lot of examples of it not just being mistakes but also horrible actions that wound them in hell. Seriously, look at the things the sinner do and don't downplay it as mistakes.

Seriously, these images above would disprove that made a few mistakes bs. They are horrible people who are willing to be evil pos and get away with it. And again Valentino is the prime example and after being licked by him you would think she would reevaluate why Adam and Lute aren't keen on redeeming sinners, because they do shit like this. Seriously, there is a whole cannibal town that glorifies eating people. And again that party scene with Sir Pentious where it's supposed to be a test to show Angel could get into heaven, but ignores the fact that everyone allowed Pentious to be sexually assaulted which again shows how skewed the show's priorities are.

It makes the narrative over at the episode of "Cherub" even more skewed because the idea was the Cherubs were obviously opportunists just trying to make Lipton turn over a new leaf, while it's obvious he was a pos man who should just die. However, Hazbin Hotel expects us to just see him as a man who made mistakes alongside his equally evil partner. It's again an example of confused morals because it seems like it just wants us to side with whatever protagonist is there and they have the narrative's favor despite the other side having a point.

Also from Hazbin itself I think a big example of the just made a few mistakes is Angel Dust. The current series emphasizes his promiscuity and drug use and treats it as if that was all he did in life and weren't really that bad (which I would disagree). However, I do think this is a result of whitewashing what has been previously known about Angel Dust is that he had mafia ties and that means he wasn't just making minor mistakes but full blown into crime and do some evil shit. And we are supposed to be siding with Emily why he's not in heaven, when he just recently was still being someone who reveled in being a sinner. It's a reason why the rehabilitation theme doesn't work because it doesn't treat the issues the characters have as severe as it is. They treat them as if they are just pissing on the floor and not the fact some of these guys like Angel Dust have blood on their hands. It's almost like due to her biases Charlie has a rose tinted view of things that contradicts what awful people they were and continued to be in life.

And let's talk about Adam, this guy is just an example to try to downplay how sinners made those mistakes by portraying him as a one dimensional immature sadist in other to make it seem barbaric. However, it still doesn't erase that monsters still end up down there despite the bs ass pull that the angels themselves don't know how to get into heaven. Let's be honest from what we have seen from the sinners they are in hell for a reason and there is no attempts to think why they should be given a second chance after showing what pos they are still. And again the show doesn't want to admit that these sinners aren't that way because of never being given a chance they probably had chances and squashed them. But again Charlie has to be right and never challenged so she can't think about how her stance can be shaky.

I do think the dimissmal of just mistakes they made actually goes against the spirit of redeeming them because it doesn't really understand the gravity of what these sinners did. It's because according to the narrative (and Charlie) these are just souls that didn't have direction and need another chance. Sorry, but they did have direction in life and they have at one point stop being given chances. And again the series doesn't offer one example of a true sinner who didn't deserve to be down there since Vaggie herself was retconned to be an angel. The series really does wonders to shoot itself in the foot due to not understanding and tackling what redemption takes. And one thing it needs to be said that people have to admit they aren't always the victims and sometimes are the victimizers who have not only hurt themselves and others in their pursuit of sin.

[roseworth]

do you have any reading recs for specifically Rose and Joey's relationship? im a real #jerichowarrior but havent read much rose but want to see them

yes!!! fair warning though since all of their interactions are after 2003 most of them are pretty out of character for joey. so unfortunately you have to close your eyes and pretend a little bit </3

anyways this is pretty much all their extensive/meaningful interactions, my favs are italicized !

pre-flashpoint

Teen Titans (2003) #12

Teen Titans #40-41

Teen Titans #43-46

Titans (2008) #13, Teen Titans (2003) #70, Vigilante (2009) #6 (Deathtrap crossover)

Teen Titans #77-78

post-flashpoint

Deathstroke (2011) #19-20

Deathstroke (2014) #4-6

Deathstroke #18-20

Deathstroke (2016) #6-7

Deathstroke #15

Deathstroke #18

Deathstroke #21-22

Deathstroke #29

Deathstroke #37

Deathstroke #45-46

Deathstroke #49-50

and! i cant help myself so i have notes on every issue below the cut

tt03 #12: this is technically their first interaction... rose is super drugged and joey is dead and his soul is attacking people so its hard to really consider it to be either of them. but they Do interact here and it is their first time talking to each other. and it later leads to rose cutting her eye out #slay

#40-41: this is Actually their first interaction!!!! and its the most in-character joey gets on this list 🤭 this is so so important to me because it is the first time they interact and they've both been searching for a family for long and they finally find each other and ouuhghghuhhggh.... and they have such a good convo at the end of 41 and. i just love them so much.

#43-46: so this one actually isnt marked as a fav on my rose list but i Am marking it as a fav on this list. im a complicated man. in terms of rose & joey this is once again one of their only in character interactions. it just means so much to me because its more of them being a family and hanign out and ough... and just caring for each other and looking out while slade is fighting them AND accepting the titans as a family <3 <3 <3 <3 life is so beautiful i love this arc so much. honestly just thinking about this arc i might go back and retroactively mark it as a fav on my rose list its just so good for them

deathtrap arc: so this is an interesting one bc i could not care less about the actual story and joey is not in character at all. BUT ☝️ theyre so siblings. it's about rose risking everything to prove joey's not a villain, then once she realizes that he is in fact a villain she tries to bring him back and convince him to yk. stop killing people. and joey dropping everything for rose and trying to protect her even when hes killing people. this arc circles around in my brain constantly because ougughuhhgg... its them. theyre still caring about each other and looking out for each other despite everything. ough

tt03 #77-78: BITING SCRATCHING YELLING SCREAMING CRYING!!! I LOVE THIS STORY. i cant even put it into words i just love this story so much. its such a perfect representation of how rose feels about her family and her relationship with slade and with joey and. oh my god. i cannot recommend this one enough fr

unfortunately. now we move on to the new 52

ds11 #19-20: ok so i included this one just to be thorough but. this sucks so bad. evil joey and whitewashed rose and hero slade. trash comic and the half the family dies at the end then they move on immediately

ds14 #4-6, 18-20: once again i only included these to be thorough. this is marginally better than the last one because they at least get a lot of time hanging out as siblings!!! (for some reason rose is the older sister though. idk where that one came from) honestly ds14 is just a bad comic in general. the plots are confusing and boring and the slade characterization is so fucking boring because they try to make him like. a misunderstood good guy again. BORING. sucks. but remember- it as to be so over (deathstroke 2014) so that we can later be so back (deathstroke 2016)

ds16 #6-7, #15: this is really just nice lil sibling moments again !! reestablishing what the new52 fucked up and theyre so sweet here <3 6 & 7 are fun just for rose coming to joey whenever shes upset then trying to protect him when shes worried, and i like 15 because she is once again worried about him and immediately wants to talk to him. theyre family :]

#18: LISTEN. this is one of my favorite comic issues of all time because all the soap opera drama comes to a head right at this point and everything goes to shit and it's hilarious to me. BUT. you can only read this if you read it in the context of the other 18 issues of the run. the entire family beefing and falling apart all at once is just so perfect to me i love wilson family drama

#21-22: this is one of the only times theyre really like. on a Team together. they've fought on the same side plenty of times but this is them on a hero team!! together!!!!!! the defiance arc is very funny to me and rose & joey have some time to hang out in these issues <3

#29: in terms of rose & joey this one isnt super substantial except for the fact that (spoilers) rose confesses to killing his fiancé. but then they get distracted 10 seconds later so its not even really followed up on. but once again i am being thorough

#37: i like this one just because i love that joey saw rose in distress over being willow and slade being in jail and he tries so hard to help her even though it immediately goes badly. but hes still trying to be there for her :')

#45-46: i fucking love rose as deathstroke. and i love joey dropping everything when he finds out rose is in trouble because!!! thats his sister!!!! ("something's come up... it's rose." "it's always rose" lives in my head forever i love it so much) and then the end of 46 being their mind meld and seeing each other before they knew each other fuckkkkk i just love the whole deathstroke rip arc

#49-50: siblings!!!!! they just have little moments in these issues but god. those little moments fuck so hard. just. little moments of them looking out for each other and comforting each other through everything. AND i think about them just bickering and playing video games at the end of the last issue all the time. deathstroke 2016 you will always be famous to me.

and then they havent interacted since then and that haunts me

[ashstwr]

( 👤 🥣 🎲 📰 ) for your enhypen dr !!

🟥 @axylotls ASK GAME !!

[ 👤 ] GET TO KNOW ME . . ! let's start off simple: who are you? what's your stage name? are you in a group or are you a soloist? are you known worldwide or are you your fandom's little secret?

➤ Okay, let's start.... ENHYPEN CONNECT!! The name is Ash and I'm the maknae of the group !! I was placed 9th in iland and became part of Enhypen in 2020. Known worldwide? Yea, we literally are. Our albums constantly rise up the chart and hit different milestones that I never knew about. Sometimes me and my members are still in daze and awe that we are known worldwide and get suprised whenever a shop plays our songs.

[ 🥣 ] DINNER IS SERVED . . ! what are your most viral moments? what are things fans can expect and rely on you for? outstanding performances? always looking your best? witty commentary on a variety show? keeping it "real"?

➤ I'm pretty viral and known for Taylor Swift, Tate Mcrae, Gracie Abrams, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo karaoke sessions in my lives 😔✊ There are times where I do secret confessions on my insta. Sometimes I give out wrong spoilers and confuse the hell out of my fans to which they gained trust issues so whenever I spoil something true, they end up getting suprised when the spoiler comes out being true after them not believing me !! I send back memes in weverse and vlive as replies, sass back my fans. I leave likes on funny enha skits on TikTok and reels.

Setting aside all that, I have produced famous songs despite being one of the youngest producers out there along with producing FORESHADOW as full song despite it orginally being an intro. I have learnt and can do various types of dance styles, incoparating them in Enhypen choreographies. I'm quick at maths and figuring out puzzles in En-clock games and missions !! I could go on and on but need to keep it short :D !!

[ 🎲 ] ONE IN A MILLION . . ! define your impact [ or your group's impact ] on the industry. have you lifted barriers? have you shook the scene? have you started trends and changed routines?

➤ Enhypen, being a co-ed group with 7 boys and two girls, has made a worldwide impact not only because of their songs but also with their choreographies and the deep vampire lore within each of their mvs and webtoons along with their breathtaking visuals and their strong group dynamic together despite debuting from a survival show.

Being a brown person, this is has lessened the use of whitewashing and tan skin shaming. Things I'm trending for ?? Red cherry nails, stars and cherry accessories, my mini collections of random stuffs, diy fits, kajal, bangles, kammals, sandalwood scent, long skirts, hair headband (?). My curly hair is loved by enegenes, not too curly nor too wavy, just in between, framing my face and dimples. Click the link for more >.< !!

Oh yes, Enhypen is known for taking two - three weeks break after each comebacks and tours so we can catch up to our personal hobbies, families and friends !! Soon other groups started picking up this similar break routine thus creating a healthy working environment in k-pop industry and reducing the work overload and tight schedule.

[ 📰 ] OH WHO IS YOU . . ! is there anyone in the industry that you really can't stand? someone who gets on your nerves no matter what they do? what happened between you two? is there a happy ending in sight?

➤ Ah, how do I answer this... BangPd. He didn't really like me when I was a trainee. I can't understand his logic to be honest. He favoured this specific trainee as they had all the requirements to be in iland and to be part of the co-ed group, Enhypen and he had plans for me to debut in Lesserafim. I think I messed up his plans, on purpose or not, I won't say. I also voted for to remove him as the ceo of bighit.

But he didn't expect me to drastically improve during my trainee days despite being a foreigner trainee with little to no speaking skills in Korean, catching the attention of multiple mentors and producers who placed in I-land participant line. He even had cut off few of my scenes in I-land but that didn't stop from the audience for voting me. He was bitchy during the evaluation behind screen. The joy and smugness I felt when I became part of the line up atlast, staring dead eye to eye with bangpd.

I probably have made few beef with few trainees back during the trainee days... Don't know if they are out for me but I'll gladly indulge them for a bit before I can pull out lawsuits.

🍒

🍒 :THANK YOU FOR THE ASK !! I definitely had fun answering these and making a pintrest board 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ I yapped alot, I know 🫡🫡

[faerghusfucker]

Hey how are you doing. If you don't mind repeating old ask memes then I'd like to 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 and 23 for Claude. Specifically Houses Claude not his fake counterpart Fraude from Hopes.

im doing alright! feeling significantly better now that i'm getting my shit together with school and also finally starting a project ive wanted to do for a long time. i love to repeat old ask games lets gooooo

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

claude has a special place in my heart bc verdant wind was the first route i played in 3H and. i wont lie to you, i exclusively chose the golden deer for my first run bc i thought claude was hot. and i was right he is hot. frankly in my mind golden wildfire is fake and never happened. as far as im concerned there is just not a golden deer route in hopes :3

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

his ARABNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!! ive been a jrpg fan since i was like 12-13ish and i got 3H as a gift for my 15th birthday. i had pretty much accepted the reality of not seeing anyone who looked like me (im egyptian) in the media that i like, and then claude graced my screen in the intro cutscene and i was like omg!!!! melanin!!!! and before i knew he was almyran i had already Claimed Him as arab bc i was like. i need something. AND THEN I LEARNED HE WAS ALMYRAN AND HIS NAME IS KHALID!!!!!!!!!!! i was like. i didnt know this could happen. wow. my mind was blown. regardless of the quality of the rest of the arab representation in this game (it's bad) im rlly happy to have claude just in general lol

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

keep in mind i havent played verdant wind in like 3 years so the nuances of his specific actions are a liiiiiittle murky. anyway this is so unserious but i cant get over the way he DEMANDED to see jeralt's diary after he died. and like RIGHT after he died lmao. byleth is crying in his office and this little shit just pulls up like "hey. whats that book. gimme that book. lemme read the book." IN A MINUTE CLAUDE MY DAD IS DEAD DAMN!!!!!! i dont even hold it against him i just cant rlly think of anything else lol sorry this isnt super nuanced

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

DRAW HIM WITH ETHNIC FEATURES!!!!!! this game suffers from severe same face syndrome and it especially shows when the poc just have the white facial structure and darker skin. i love seeing claude with curly hair and thick eyebrows and a roman nose i live for it!!!!!

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

whitewash him,,, this doesnt happen as often anymore in the circles i run in but an angel loses its wings every time claude is drawn pale. even IS is guilty of this (are we rlly surprised tho)

23. Favorite picture of this character?

sorry to acknowledge fraude's existence but a) i rlly like his design in hopes. purple is the perfect accent color for him and i rlly like how he looks without that nasty chinstrap. and b) im rlly amused by the fact that this support chain got???? art???? does this happen at literally any other point in this game lol i was so confused. this made me want art of other supports too. gimme felix carrying dimitri to bed. gimme rodrigue apologizing to felix. i seem to be wanting a lot of images of felix. anyway yeah i like this art lol

[stormsbourne]

i would kill to know what trends you were referencing in the tags you posted about da fans making shit up

the specific one I thought of was the idea that alistair's heritage is obvious and being hidden on purpose by the devs post-dao. alistair has been, since moment one, a human looking white guy. I absolutely have no issue with disliking this or seeing it as a problem that they didn't make his elf blood more obvious, or if you personally read fiona as brown in the books (it's deliberately ambiguous, so white guy alistair is still feasible) then being mad that he's not shown as mixed, but I've seen more than one Influencer Who Doesn't Know Dragon Age accuse bioware of whitewashing because in 2 and dai they depict him as white. they are doing this because people have told them that originally he was mixed and it was clear he was part elf in origins too. it's not true! again if you think he SHOULD have been shown as mixed that is fine and has merit, but presenting it to people as "he was originally mixed in dao and then they CHANGED THEIR MINDS" is simply not true. I've seen people use this specific example of proof of how da's writing team went downhill since dao and they're all racists now.

this angle specifically confuses me because there are other characters of color IN dragon age origins, and there's ones you could argue whitewashing for (compare zev dao to zev da2). in origins alone there's zevran and sten. in da2 there's fenris and isabela (and arguably merrill depending on what version of the dalish elf coding reading you subscribe to -- she could be read as jewish, indigenous, traveller, or all of the above). in inq there's cass, josephine, dorian, and viv (fandom doesn't mention viv to people because they don't want to own up to how hideously racist they were about her when they could say the GAME is racist about a character who was depicted as white or at least as passing). and in tv there's neve (se asian/indian), lucanis (hispanic), bellara (east asian), and davrin (black) as well as taash (coded as the child of an immigrant). I just can't figure out why people are so attached to alistair specifically outside of having dated him and wanting him to be the most politically correct romance. or I guess just trying to find something to be righteously mad about when trust me there's plenty of other stuff you could be mad about wrt the writing in dragon age. and it's also like man don't give them credit they aren't due. the headcanons of a wider fandom are not equivalent to canon writing and depiction.

there's other things like claiming that solas was never complicated/flawed/a liar, and the veil being torn down was always depicted as a good thing (????? when????) or that cullen is also mixed/nonwhite (?????) or that the elf god lore in datv is a retcon even though solas spends his entire romance telling it to you in dai. but since you asked that's the one I was talking about!

[whispersofalostsoul]

RUNAWAY

Summary: Image if Lando Norris has follen in love for the first time….with a woman that he never thought he could fall for… and when his whole world turns upside down, he finds himself alone…once more...

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(Please leave comments to help me improve my story ! Would also love to hear your opinions ! thank you !)

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Chapter 1 - Encunter --- https://www.tumblr.com/whispersofalostsoul/756913230598815744/runaway?source=share

Chapter2 - Belgium ---https://www.tumblr.com/whispersofalostsoul/757021516150030336/runaway?source=share

Chapter 3 - Dinner --- https://www.tumblr.com/whispersofalostsoul/757096323375824896/runaway?source=share

Chapter 4 - The fight --- https://www.tumblr.com/whispersofalostsoul/757270709880930304/runaway?source=share

Chapter 5 - Sleeping inhttps://www.tumblr.com/whispersofalostsoul/757554318977204224/runaway?source=share

Chapter 6 - Confrontation

Confrontationhttps://www.tumblr.com/whispersofalostsoul/758005643926011904/runaway?source=share

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Chapter 7 - Greece

The Greek breeze felt amazing against Dalia's skin, like a cool splash of refreshment. Syros, a lesser-known gem compared to the more famous Santorini, was just the right spot for celebrities wanting to escape the spotlight. Its charming streets, vibrant culture, and serene beaches offered a perfect retreat from the relentless attention of the media.Carlos, Lando, Oscar, and Alex had booked a spacious villa on the outskirts of Ermoupoli for their summer getaway. The villa, with its traditional Cycladic architecture, boasted whitewashed walls and blue shutters that mirrored the colors of the Aegean Sea. As they stepped out of the car, the intoxicating scent of blooming bougainvillea and jasmine filled the air, wrapping around them like a warm embrace."Finally!" Lando shouted, his voice echoing with excitement as he parked the car beside the stunning villa. The sight before them was breathtaking: the place was nestled among gorgeous plants and flowers, with a sprawling terrace that overlooked the sparkling sea. Lily, Alex's girlfriend,  dashed toward the terrace, her eyes wide with wonder. "Look at this view!" she exclaimed, leaning over the railing to take in the panorama of the coastline. The azure waters stretched endlessly, dotted with small boats bobbing gently in the harbor.

Carlos chuckled, shaking his head at Lily's enthusiasm. "Just wait until you see the sunset from here. It's like the sky is on fire," he said, joining her at the railing. Alex, meanwhile, was already unpacking their bags, his mind racing with plans for the week ahead. "We should hit the beach" he suggested, glancing back at the others. "I heard there's a secluded cove not far from here. Perfect for some sunbathing and swimming without the crowds."Oscar nodded, already envisioning the adventures that awaited them. "And we can explore the local tavernas for some authentic Greek food. I'm craving moussaka and fresh seafood!". "Hey Carlos, how did you end up with this place?" Lando asked as he stepped onto the porch. "I thought you already knew," Carlos replied, looking a bit puzzled. "It was your buddy Max who suggested it." Lando just shrugged. Meanwhile, Lily had left with her boyfriend to pick out their room. Carlos leaned in closer to Lando, still gazing at the stunning view. "Looks like this is your chance," he said with a grin. "I'm not so sure," Lando admitted, looking confused. "Last time she called our situation a 'friendship,'" he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "And you want to keep it that way?" Carlos shot back, giving Lando a playful jab in the groin and chuckling. "Come on, Lano, grow some cojones!"

The hallway seemed to go on forever, filled with tons of rooms. Dalia peeked into each one, searching for the right choice. On her fifth attempt, she flung the door open wider and was blown away by the stunning room. The decor was pretty minimal, featuring white walls and a spacious double bed. A classic wooden nightstand fit right in with the dresser. There was a window showcasing a beautiful vase of colorful flowers and a balcony that offered a direct view of the sea. In its simplicity, the room radiated elegance, comfort, and a refreshing vibe. "Have you set up you mind ?" Oscar asked leaning against the frame. Dalia nodded in contempt. "How about you ?" she asked. He sighed heavily and plopped down on the bed. "I'm really trying to steer clear of the room next to Carlos. That guy gets up at the crack of dawn and starts working out. Plus, I want to avoid Alex and Lily too, you know," he said, making a face at Dalia. "Those... weird noises." Dalia chuckled at his words. "What about the room at the end of the hall?" she suggested. "Ghosts," he shot back, looking dead serious. "Wait, you actually believe in ghosts?" Dalia laughed as he went on about how every horror movie shows those rooms as haunted. Just then, they heard a voice. "Have you made your choice?" Lando asked, standing by the door. "Yeah, I'm taking this one," Dalia said. "Cool, then the next one is mine," Lando replied. "No way, I already called dibs on that one," Oscar interrupted, chasing after him. The two guys bickered for a while, while Alex and Carlos just watched, clearly entertained. Eventually, they all decided to settle it with a card game.

The private villa beach was just a short stroll from the back garden. The chairs and sunshades were already set up, ready for a day of fun. The guys took off first, sprinting toward the sparkling blue water, while Lily and Dalia decided to whip up some lemonades and snacks before joining in. Dalia felt lucky to have Lily by her side; she was such a sweet girl and had opened up to her pretty quickly on the way here. Unlike the typical image people might have of F1 drivers' girlfriends, Lily seemed like someone Dalia could really connect with. "So, are you and Lando a thing?" Lily asked, slicing a lemon. Dalia felt her cheeks heat up at the question and replied, "No, no, we're just friends." "Hmm," Lily said, taking a bite of a lemon slice. "The way he talked about you was a bit different." Dalia's heart raced at the implication, and she couldn't help but ask what Lando had said. "I don't know, things like 'Oh, Dalia is such a gorgeous woman; you all are going to love her. '" Lily waved her arms around, trying to imitate Lando's voice. "You know, not in a 'just friends' kind of way, but more like an 'I find her attractive' vibe," she said, giving Dalia a cheeky smirk and a playful wink. Dalia's eyes lit up with curiosity. "You should totally make the first move!" Then she sat up straight, her face turning serious. "I mean, I know Lando, and even though he seems all confident, he's actually pretty shy around girls." Lily shot Dalia a playful grin. "He just needs a little nudge."

The water felt amazing, and Dalia just couldn't get enough. While everyone else headed back to the beach to soak up some sun, she chose to stay a little longer. With her eyes shut, she soaked in the soothing sounds of the cool waves and the warmth of the sun on her skin. It was like she had found her own little slice of paradise. The water started to ripple a bit more, and Dalia spotted Lando swimming her way. He flashed her a smile and said a quick hello as he reached her side. His eyes, reflecting the blue and green of the water and his sun-kissed skin made him look even more attractive. The way the water cascaded off his toned arms and shoulders only added to his allure, making her heart race a little faster. "Hey," she replied, trying to keep her tone casual, though her cheeks felt warm. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, suddenly aware of how the sunlight danced on the surface of the water, creating a shimmering backdrop for their conversation. "So do you like it here?" he asked his eyes not leaving hers. "Yes I do, thank you for the invite" she smiled shily, "Of course" he whispered as if his thoughts were trailing away.

Lando couldn't take his eyes off the woman standing before him; it was a feeling he had never experienced. When he caught sight of her in her swimsuit, he was taken aback. She usually wore baggy clothes, so he had no idea her figure would be so appealing. Her skin appeared incredibly smooth, and the blush on her cheeks made her utterly captivating. Those round brown eyes sparkled with a mix of innocence and warmth, drawing him in like a moth to a flame. He couldn't shake the feeling that this was a turning point, a moment that would change everything.  The thought both excited and terrified him. What if she didn't feel the same way? What if he ruined again whatever they had ?

Dalia caught Lando's gaze drifting from her eyes down to her lips, and her heart raced. The world around them faded into a blur, the sounds of water dimming as the intensity of the moment enveloped them. Finally, she thought, he's going to kiss me! The anticipation was electric, sending shivers down her spine. Oh please, just kiss me already! Dalia's pulse quickened, and she bit her lip, a nervous habit that only seemed to draw his attention further. She could see the flicker of desire in his eyes, a silent conversation passing between them that needed no words. Her thoughts spiraled, imagining the softness of his lips against hers, the warmth of his hands cradling her face, the way time would stand still in that perfect moment. But as she waited, the seconds stretched on, and doubt crept in. What if he didn't feel the same? What if she was reading the signs all wrong? No way! I won't let these doubts take over again. Just when she was about to lean in, her heart racing with anticipation, Lando suddenly plunged into the water with a splash that sent droplets flying in all directions. The moment was so unexpected that it startled her, breaking the tension that had been building between them. He stayed submerged for a bit, and Dalia held her breath, half-expecting him to resurface with a serious expression, ready to address the unspoken words hanging in the air. But instead, he popped back up, his hair slicked back and water glistening on his sun-kissed skin. "Come on! It's time for dinner!" he urged as he started swimming back towards the villa.

Lily was spot on; Dalia had to take the initiative. The thought of stepping out of her comfort zone sent a shiver down her spine, but deep down, she knew that she couldn't let fear dictate her life any longer. It was time for a change, she thought as she slipped into her light green dress adorned with tiny white flowers. With Lily's help, she styled her hair into a messy bun that framed her face beautifully, allowing a few delicate strands to cascade down her neck. The casual elegance of her look made her feel more confident, and she could see the excitement in Lily's eyes as she added the final touches. "You look amazing, Dalia! Tonight is your night," Lily encouraged, her voice brimming with enthusiasm. Dalia took a deep breath, feeling a mix of nerves and exhilaration.They decided to have dinner at a cozy outdoor spot in a traditional Greek restaurant, where the air was filled with the tantalizing aroma of grilled meats and fresh herbs. The soft glow of string lights overhead created a warm and inviting atmosphere, perfect for a night of new beginnings. As they arrived, Lando, dressed casually in his white shirt and black shorts, felt his heart race when Dalia appeared.

She looked stunning, and the dress highlighted her complexion perfectly, accentuating her natural beauty. The way the fabric flowed around her as she walked made it seem as if she were gliding rather than simply moving. Her hair pulled up showcased the lovely curve of her neck and shoulders, making it hard for him to catch his breath. As she approached, Lando couldn't help but notice the sparkle in her eyes, a reflection of her newfound determination. "Wow, you look incredible," he managed to say, his voice slightly shaky. Dalia smiled, a hint of shyness creeping in, but there was also a glimmer of confidence that hadn't been there before. "Thank you" she replied, her voice steady and filled with a newfound. They were all gathered around the big table, the atmosphere buzzing with laughter and the clinking of glasses. Oscar and Carlos sat across from Dalia and Lando, while Alex and Lily were at the end of the table enjoying the view from the window. As the conversation flowed, the Australian driver wasted no time in complimenting Dali's appearance. The compliment hung in the air, and Lando felt a slight knot form in his stomach. Without really thinking about it, Lando reached his arm around Dalia, gently brushing against the bare skin of her back. The warmth of her skin sent a jolt of electricity through him, and he immediately regretted the impulsive gesture. Dali was surprised by the unexpected touch, her eyes widening for a brief moment as she processed the intimacy of the action. However, she quickly adjusted to it, leaning slightly into Lando's side, a subtle smile playing on her lips as she turned her attention back to the conversation.

As the night wore on, the conversation ebbed and flowed, with jokes and playful teasing filling the air. Lando and Dalia found themselves gravitating toward each other, their connection deepening with each passing moment. They shared plenty of close moments, their conversations punctuated by playful nudges and knowing smiles. Occasionally, Lando's hand would lightly brush against hers, a fleeting touch that lingered just a bit longer than necessary, sending a ripple of warmth through them both. Sometimes, she'd notice him gazing at her, his eyes twinkling with delight as he absorbed the sound of her laughter. There were also times when he'd lean in to whisper something in her ear, his breath warm against her skin, sending delightful shivers down her spine. The intimacy of those moments was intoxicating; she could feel the heat radiating from his body, and the way his voice danced just above a whisper made her pulse quicken. Each time he leaned closer, he couldn't resist taking in the sweet scent that surrounded her—a delicate blend of floral notes and something uniquely her, a fragrance that lingered in the air long after he had moved away. 

As the evening stretched on, the group figured it was time to head back to the villa since exhaustion was starting to set in. When they arrived back to the villa, Dalia grabbed Lando's hand, halting him from joining the others inside. The suddenness of her grip surprised him, and he turned to her, a bit confused, waiting for her to say something. Dalia felt a wave of panic wash over her, fidgeting nervously as she tried to muster the courage to go for that kiss she had been dreaming about for weeks. "Are you alright?" Lando asked, puzzled, his brow furrowing slightly as he searched her face for answers. "No, please don't say anything," she begged, her voice barely above a whisper, as she gazed up into his eyes. The intensity of his gaze made her heart flutter, and she felt as if the world around them had faded away, leaving just the two of them in this suspended moment. She could see the concern etched on his features, but all she could think about was the way his lips curved when he smiled, the way his laughter echoed in her mind long after it had faded.

Without further thinking, she leaned in closer, closing the distance between them. Lando's breath hitched as their lips met, a spark igniting between them that felt like fireworks exploding in the night sky. In that moment, everything else faded away, leaving only the two of them lost in the intensity of their connection. Dalia jerked back, laughing nervously, "Oh my god, I actually did it!" Her heart raced as the adrenaline of the moment coursed through her veins. The thrill of spontaneity had taken over, and she couldn't believe she had just kissed him. Lando, still in shock from the moment, blinked rapidly, trying to process what had just happened. "No way, that doesn't count," he replied. he moved with a quickness that took her by surprise. In a fluid motion, he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer. The warmth of his body enveloped her, and she felt a rush of electricity at the contact. He closed the distance between them, capturing her lips with his. The kiss was soft at first, a tentative exploration, but it quickly deepened as they both surrendered to the moment. Dalia felt herself melting into him, her worries and doubts dissipating like mist in the morning sun.

His hands found their way to her waist, pulling her closer, and she could feel the steady rhythm of his heartbeat against her chest. Each gentle caress sent shivers down her spine, awakening a longing she hadn't realized was there. Dalia's fingers tangled in his hair, feeling the softness of each strand as she deepened the kiss, her heart racing with a mix of excitement and vulnerability.Time seemed to stand still as they explored this new territory together, their breaths mingling in the cool air. She could taste the sweetness of his lips, a flavor that was intoxicating and addictive.

In that moment, nothing else mattered. The chaos of life, the expectations, the fears—all of it faded into the background as they lost themselves in each other.

As they finally pulled away, breathless and wide-eyed, Dalia searched his gaze for reassurance. The warmth in his eyes mirrored her own feelings, a silent promise that this was just the beginning. She knew that whatever challenges lay ahead, they would face them together, emboldened by the spark that had ignited between them.

[esper-lit]

Listing them out Rq for the iceberg, cause I’ve played Dislyte on and off since it came out so there’s gaps in my memory: beta Gaius, “special loli” Chang Pu’s age, Legge, Celebrity events.

(Btw I love the iceberg it’s so funny seeing community events all piled together)

Hiya, thanks for the ask! Here's an elaboration of those specific entries:

Beta Gaius

Gaius is a well-known character in the game right now - one that was introduced in version 3.1.1 with the static shock Event.

But! His name was known way before that. Gaius has made an appearance in promotional material before the event was released - before the game itself was actually launched, even! His strange absence after the game's official release was a point of many discussions and a lot of confusion within the fandom, many wondering if he was outright scrapped or just being withheld for an unknown reason.

(the above is a clip from an October 2, 2021 live-stream - about half a year before Dislyte had it's global launch)

As you can see, his early design was a bit different from his final look too - being a lot more yellow than pink.

"special loli"

This is a reference to a very... peculiar ad.

Dislyte is known for having weird advertisements (which I was told is a result of Lilith outsourcing most of their marketing), but this one garnered particular notoriety.

Chang Pu’s age

When the game launched, Chang Pu was officially 15 years old. Later on, however, her age has been changed to 18.

(I could not find screenshots of her in-game bio that showed Chang Pu being 15, but the wiki's change history can attest to this actually happening)

Many speculated this was a result of players being gross towards a minor character, and thus a reason for why we hadn't gotten any non-adult espers since.

Legge (Heimdall)

Datamined information shows that Heimdall's esper was originally conceived as a male character named Legge:

(his name and this image are the only things I have been able to find regarding him)

As you probably already know, Legge has since been scrapped and replaced with Ashley. Not much is known about him I'm afraid.

Celebrity Profile Events

These events have been used to introduce new characters during the game's beta and are the very first Event Tales (at least as far as I know) ever released.

There have been two of them: one for Clara and one for Sienna.

Post-launch, these have been replaced with the story events we have now - beginning with Ollie and The Lone Star event.

Whitewashing and Blackface

(I'm including it here so I don't have to make a separate answer lol, for the sake of being tidy and all that)

There have been minor controversies within Dislyte due to how it has treated it's dark-skinned characters.

One such instance was when the Amunet - Bloody Hunt trailer was released, featuring imagery that many considered racist:

(on the left - the original trailer; right - re-uploaded version)

The other instance included characters having their skin tone made lighter than originally depicted. The most famous example being Ahmed:

I distinctly recall an advertisement doing the same to Asenath, but I cannot find it anymore, so you'll just have to take my word for it

2024/03/25

this has been answered in a previous ask and I kinda don't really wanna repeat all of that, so I recommend checking out an earlier post of mine if you're still curious!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about this game some more <333 And yeah! Icebergs are a really fun way to present a bunch of scattered information in an engaging manner, and it's always fun to see how deep your knowledge of a topic goes :3

[booktomoviebrawl]

We are not judging how bad the movie is, we are judging which adapted the book the worst. There are good movies that are bad adaptions.

Propaganda below the cut (spoilers may apply)

Tales From Earthsea:

I don't think it could have been better, but it was just so off from from the books it was mainly drawing its inspiration from (I mean, I had no interest in seeing that weird weaver guy decide to off himself in the boat, but still).

Studio Ghibli is the perfect studio to capture the Le Guin vibe and yet Goro torched it so hard for no reason

To give credit where it is due, the film has some good settings and animation. Unfortunately, its beauty is only on the surface, and it is the worst Studio Ghibli movie I’ve seen. (I’ve seen almost all of them but Earwig and the Witch.) The plot is a collage of random bits of context from the first four books of the series, as well as its own stuff. It really is not the same story at all. I may have enjoyed it more if I had seen it as a child before reading the books, but not covering all the events exactly isn’t the only issue, it’s just worse. It takes the moral complexity and sensibility of the original and turns it into a typical fantasy war between good and evil (the Japanese title even translates to Ged’s War Chronicles) with emphasis on physical violence, in which evil is personified as a goth queer-coded villain whose death resolves everything. It completely misses the point of the books, which gives no such simple answers and is more focused on the darkness within everyone than an external battle. Where is the nuance? It also whitewashes everyone: most of the characters in the book are dark-skinned, but in the movie…

I was also bitter that they did my favourite character, Tehanu/Therru, dirty. She’s supposed to be horribly scarred and disfigured on half her body and reviled by people as a monster but in the movie she’s just a pretty girl with a red mark on her face. In the books, she doesn’t appear until the fourth book, Tehanu, which takes place after Lebannen is grown up and ruling a kindgom, and in which she is a mostly-nonverbal child. But here she’s aged up and thrown into the earlier story to give the protagonist a love interest and the film has him stay with them so it can focus on their romance. Even though a plot-relevant part of his character as well is his lack of interest in women and not settling into a relationship despite the people’s wishes.

Basically, they whitewashed, heteronormatized, macho-ified, and de-nuanced the narrative, and also took out the feminism.

On top of this, trying to cram the whole series into one movie is just not a good idea, and it would have been better to just decide on one book to adapt and do more justice. And yet they still added in so much that didn’t happen. When you have that much material to cover, you don’t have time or budget to be putting other things in, mate. Turning four books into one results both in a mess. Abridgment is one thing; taking particular aspects of different parts of the timeline and combining them in different ways is another. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s in an unfortunate middle area where it doesn’t follow the source material but also doesn’t give enough context that people unfamiliar with the source understand. For Earthsea fans, it’s infuriating; for others, it’s confusing. Also, why did they name it after the fifth book, which is a short story collection that it doesn’t reference whatsoever?

The failure of the movie is upsetting because the books are sooo good. Yet, it was the highest-grossing Japanese movie of the year, and did win a couple awards… The Bunshun Kiichigo awards for “Worst Director” and “Worst Movie”.

The Golden Compass:

The Golden Compass isn't even the title of the book! It's called Northern Lights! And now there are editions of the book with the wrong title on them. Enfuriating. Anyways, the movie tries to follow the books story and fails completely because they don't kill off a character because they wanted a happy ending when that character being dead is crucial to the story in the third book. Also they made Mrs. Coulter blonde. Unforgivable.

They remove the ending of the book so it has a happy ending and I guess leave it for a better beginning to the second movie, only of course they never made a second movie cause the first one bombed. They also rearranged the order of the events, and, more importantly, made it lose its bite by removing darker elements and removing explicit critique of the catholic church by making the antagonistic magisterium way more generic

Terrible movie. The acting is awful, especially Mrs. Coulter, whose character in the books is chilling because of her smooth, sweet nature that belies a deep sinister calucating mind. Plus they butchered the story and took out any mention of the church as the main villain for fear of offending Christians. This ultimately defeats the purpose of the book. I hate this movie so much it's unreal

[esoteric-chaos]

Alchemy: The Basics (A teaser for Ko-Fi & Patreon)

Today, we’re diving into the realm of physical alchemy, not to be confused with spiritual alchemy (yes, there’s more than one kind). The two often get tangled up in magical and metaphysical spaces, but while they mirror each other in some beautiful ways, they are not the same thing.

So, picture this: medieval laboratories, bubbling flasks, strange symbols, and the age-old obsession with turning lead into gold. That’s the classic image, right? But beneath the theatrics lies something far more grounded. Alchemists were early scientists, mixing natural philosophy with what we now know as proto-chemistry. They dabbled in metallurgy, medicine, astrology, and philosophy, pushing boundaries long before science was a formal discipline.

Unfortunately, alchemy has been seriously misunderstood, thanks to centuries of Eurocentric whitewashing, sensational media portrayals, and the general loss of knowledge over time. Much of its wisdom has been distorted or forgotten, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone.

In fact, alchemy is still very much alive today. It’s woven into glassmaking, cooking, brewing, baking, fermenting, cleaning, herbalism, perfumery, pottery, art, and more. You’ll even find it in modern spiritual practices, many practitioners (myself included) have brought its principles into their craft. It’s all around us, hiding in plain sight.

One of the first things any alchemist learns is the principle: As Above, So Below. And while we often nod at it in spiritual circles, we don’t always appreciate how deep it runs. Just as the spiritual (above) shapes the physical (below), the physical influences the spiritual just as much. It's a two-way street.

At the heart of alchemy is transformation, the sacred study of how one thing becomes another. Through time, through care, through intention. It’s about witnessing change and learning how to reflect that process in your own practice.

An alchemist isn’t just chasing rare ingredients or mysterious rituals. They pay attention. They understand that everything has value, especially the things we tend to overlook. The mundane isn’t meaningless, and rarity doesn’t equal sacredness. Lead can be just as worthy as gold, it’s not about what you have, but how you work with it.

True alchemy is about honouring the essence, use, and potential of all things. Whether you’re holding something common or precious, your task remains the same: to work honestly with what you’ve got, to recognize its worth, and to help it become what it was always meant to be.

Tria Prima - The Three Primes

In alchemy, we work with what are known as the Three Primes, or Tria Prima. While different cultures and traditions have their own names and interpretations, English is my first language, so I'll be using Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt.

...

Would you like to see the rest of this post?

Please check out my Ko-Fi & Patreon's Sitka Spruce Tier to subscribe for special posts! This helps me create fantastic and in-depth content for you! Posts like this, hours of research and formatting are put within them, along with some of my personal processes included. if you choose to support me, I go into Tria Prima - The Three Primes, Base Metals & The 12 Alchemical Processes. All my personal notes and research from when I first started the practice. Books can be recommended as well, but all information is sourced and cited in APA format for use (and there's a ton of them.) I also could not have learned ANY alchemy if it wasn't for my friend @syntheros-artemidos, my partner & Satan (no, not that satan lol). They've been huge supporters and pillars for me as I've learned and evolved. PLEASE check them out where you can to figure out how to support them.

Thank you for all of your support!

Blessings,

Juniper

[catermeow]

Okay so I watched the minecraft movie with some friends and. I have thoughts. I'm putting them under a cut in case anyone cares about spoilers and because I suspect this'll be pretty long.

Okay so to give the movie a little bit of grace I saw it the evening I came back from a three day competition/convention, so I was exhausted, sore, and very very drained, so very much not in the mood for the kind of tone it was going for. I don't think I would have enjoyed it more under different circumstances but I might have had more fun laughing at it and would have been less critical

The movie was thoroughly unenjoyable, but! let's start with the positives.

The bit at the end where the sorceress keeps trying to stab Steve was actually kind of funny. One of like 2 times during the whole movie where I laughed. The other one was the 'Frodo vibes' joke

Some of the wide shots, both on earth and the overworld, are actually really pretty and I could see how nice this movie would have been if it had tried harder

I do like the piglin designs for the most part

The enderman lore is kinda interesting. Personally I don't care for it but I'm sure someone could do something cool with it

Having the whole theater cheering during quotes from the trailer was kinda fun. I give the movie no credit for this though

I like how devoted they made Steve and Dennis. Accurate to a lot of players and pretty sweet

On to complaints! I'm gonna separate them into different categories, starting with:

General

These are just general complaints that don't fit under any other category. First of all, I didn't like that literally every one of our protagonists is struggling financially. I don't go to the minecraft movie to think about capitalism. I don't want to worry about economic stability in my escapism, so that was annoying. Steve having two elytra but complaining about having almost died to get a single ender pearl was odd. Being able to craft literally anything from real world items could have been really interesting but it got completely brushed over. Having the piglins view a cube shape as an orb but then calling humans roundlings was strange, and both of those things are fine on their own, but together it's like. Can they perceive circles or not. It's not even like the Orb would have been an orb to them anyways, since ender pearls are much more round. The game shop dude was also a jerk, and then he showed up and saved the kid from dying and the movie acted like he was redeemed now. Like no buddy, that's the bare minimum, do better. Also why is that thing called an earth crystal, it's not really a crystal and it's barely from the earth, and also it's very processed by now. Why do the pillagers have an extra one. Also, biggest lie of the movie is that mansion chests have anything in them. And at the end Dennis is going to go with the real estate lady to change her life like he did Steve's, except she has so many other dogs now? So Dennis can just stay with Steve? Also what could he have done anyway? Very confusing. I feel like casting could have been done better also, because that guy just does not look like a Steve. Frankly I think there are too many characters in general. I also don't like the idea that creativity should only be rewarded if it's useful, which seems to underline a lot of this story.

Bigotry

There wasn't anything horribly insensitive to my knowledge, but there were a few bits that felt a bit off. Whitewashing Steve is of course the big one that people were talking about all the way when the trailer came out. There was a bit of fatphobia and ableism as well, with a 'have you lost weight' comment and a focus shot of a piglin getting hit in the stomach that read as trying to gross out the audience with body fat, and then the main villain was the only visibly disabled character (also note that the disability was not present during her 'sympathetic backstory' flashback). The treatment of that principal lady(?) was a bit weird as well, it reminded me of people making fun of women for not performing femininity well enough/performing it in the 'wrong' way. Then the whole thing with Steve and the game shop dude is so clearly queerbaiting, and not in the 'we can't do more because of censors' way. Also, having the ending lesson be 'yeah you were struggling under a capitalistic system and were finally able to find a safe space where you could express yourself freely, but that's actually a Bad Thing and you should go back to the real world and just tough it out until things get better. You just weren't trying hard enough :)' seems thoughtless at best and malicious at worst. Overall, enough things stuck out to me as insensitive and 'why would you put this in a kids movie of all things' that it kind of took me out of the story.

Comedy

Almost all of the comedy in this movie sucked. It's so clear that they were trying really really hard to be funny but they failed so badly. Like I said before, there was only like two bits that I thought were actually funny in the whole thing. The 'as a child, I yearned for the mines' joke at the start was a bit disappointing, because that joke has been told so many times before, and it felt like the people in charge desperately trying to relate to the minecraft community by going 'look! see, we know what your jokes are! we can do them too!' but it just feels wrong. Like a corporate sanitization of what makes minecraft enjoyable. Which kind of sums up the whole movie actually. Then there were the designs for the passive mobs, which I can tell were only like that for a cheap joke and trailer appeal. There was also that one piglin, Chungus I think his name was (which also feels like a bad attempt at being hip with the kids). He comes on with a deep roar and then clears his throat and sounds like a regular guy, both in tone of voice and in word choice. This is funny for about one sentence, and then it gets old very quickly, especially since this guy is actually supposed to be at least a bit intimidating. The jokes through the whole movie are either cheap, tacky, and stick around way too long (the passive mobs and the voice bit), or very tonally clashing and completely ruin the stakes of the scene (the gay joke during the ghast chase scene, everything Steve and game shop dude were doing in the woodland mansion).

Visuals

Of course everybody has been making fun of the pink sheep for ages now, but the entire movie just looked really off. Everything looked so fake, and I get that there's only so much you can do when working with real people in a world like minecraft, but still. The props looked so wrong, like the kind of thing I would expect from maybe a stage production where they'll be seen from a distance and don't need to look good up close. Also they did a really bad job of making the weapons and armor look like they were actually dangerous or like they had any weight to them. They looked more like those plastic versions we have here, which really doesn't work on screen. Also, I didn't notice this myself, but one of my friends said the greenscreen was really bad in some places. Overall the whole thing looked very cheap and plasticy for a movie that clearly had plenty of money to throw around.

Plot

The whole storyline felt kind of forced and random, and there were never really any stakes. It felt like the characters were kind of just wandering around aimlessly, even though they did have a goal. Like they need to go to the woodland mansion to replace the thing they broke, but it's dangerous so they need to get armor. Okay. Except Steve is supposed to be stealing the Orb, and even if he doesn't want to do that, which he says he doesn't, he would still do it anyway to protect Dennis, which is why he's out of the nether in the first place, so why is he doing any of this. Then they get to the village and get attacked, and Steve acts like the sorceress betrayed him, which is kind of true except she did want him dead anyways he was just useful, but since he's not stealing the Orb he's not. Except she doesn't know that! As far as she knows he's still working for her! So why is she doing this if supposedly he's better for her alive? Then they get split up and go to the mansion, except they didn't grab any of the stuff for some reason so they're defenseless, and then whatever happens there goes on. Very confusing sequence all around. Then game shop dude gets a fakeout death, except it really doesn't feel like they even tried. It does not feel like a character died, in-story or out, and I didn't even realize they were trying to do a death scene until after because there aren't any stakes. After that it mostly makes sense until the end, with the aforementioned lesson about going back to the real world. As for the piglin side of things, no major complaints except for the backstory the sorceress gets. That was completely unnecessary, added nothing to the story, and she didn't even get redeemed so it's not like it was an attempt at making her seem less evil for a redemption arc. It's just 'oh she was nice and there was peace and love on planet piglin, but then she got treated badly about her creative expression so now she's evil and somehow also in charge of everyone'. It made the story worse.

Conclusion

This movie is so, so disappointing. There's so much wasted potential. It completely misses the point of minecraft, spending almost no time on exploration or the wonder of this new world. They talk about creativity a lot but creativity is the solution to maybe three problems in the whole movie. The wide shots are good enough that I can so clearly see what it could have looked like if they had actually cared about this. None of the joys of minecraft are actually focused on. Plenty of people have talked about that though, since that was pretty clear just from the trailer. The part that's less immediately obvious is the lessons it could have told. I was complaining earlier about not wanting to think about the horrors of capitalism in my escapism media, but it could have had such good themes! Having the villain be someone taught to dislike creativity by a system that rejects it, having the protagonists all be creative people struggling under a system that does not allow them to survive that way, having this world be one of endless creativity waiting to be explored... this could have been a really impactful message about societal problems, but instead this movie is a joke that fails in almost every way and then tells the audience that the solution to their problems is to just try harder. Any sincerity the movie could have had is sacrificed for a cheap laugh and the belief that they could make a profit off this by marketing it to children, who apparently don't deserve meaningful storytelling. It manages to side with its own villain, disallowing any real creative expression and becoming a pile of corporate, sanitized slop. This movie is a disappointment, and not worth the time it takes to watch it.

[genshinconfessions]

Im sorry but i find it very hard to believe they dont know the western meaning of whitewash. Thats not a word youd just learn without knowing its meaning especially when there are more common words or phrases that mean the same thing that they would have learned to use instead in english.

Also no one was being mean lmao how do you misconstrue three comments being confused about whether anon even knew what they were talking about as everyone being mean?

anon, i'm only posting this confession for what i am going to say below:

do not target anyone or be rude to a specific person.

some of the confessions we've been getting lately have been toeing the line but i've let it slide because no one was being rude or mean to one specific anon.

but this message bothers me.

first off, no one gets to decide what comments other ppl find mean. the second anon may have history with being bullied over not knowing exact english terms, or maybe they just wanted to back up the first anon due to a presumed shared background.

regardless, it is not okay to dismiss their feelings about the comments they mentioned. i went back and read them and i can understand why second anon thought they were mean. all three comments were quite passive aggressive, and nowhere did anyone bother to actually explain the term 'whitewashing'.

on that topic, i find it believable that someone not entirely familiar with the english language could conflate the term 'whitewash' with '洗白' (the term first anon probably meant to use and that second anon mentioned; it literally translates to 'washing [something] white').

it's not an uncommon term in chinese internet circles, and it's possible that someone who just moved into english-speaking circles saw the term and thought it meant the same thing that they were used to.

yes, first anon should have researched the term before using it to make sure it meant what they thought it meant, but it's a simple mistake that does not warrant passive aggressive comments. all it needs is someone to simply explain what the term actually means in english.

speaking of, i just googled the term, and i found this:

this is the way the term is used in chinese slang, and apparently, also in the field of communications. it's entirely plausible that someone unfamiliar with english slang would learn this term and believe it's the only definition.

btw, if first anon is reading this, and if anyone else is unaware, 'whitewashing' in everyday usage typically refers to when a company or film director or someone in a position of power deliberately lightens a character's skin color so that they're not as dark as they could be.

in the case of films, it could be casting a white actor for a black role. in the case of genshin, it could be making a character's skin color white when they should have had dark skin. for example, mualani's skin markings seem to imply that her skin should have been much darker, but instead, she's quite pale. that's what most ppl would think of when they hear the term 'whitewashing'.

i will post no further messages on this particular topic, from neither the first anon, the second anon, this anon, or anyone else. this post was an exception due to the message i wanted to send.

if we get any more confessions targeting a specific anon or being exceedingly sassy or rude regarding someone else's confession, i will delete those messages so that they never see the light of day.

[opinated-user]

Funny thing about Lily not doing research… She claimed Alistor having Deer antlers and such is problematic deer imagery. Which antlers by themselves isn’t vindication of anything. It’s just an animal part. Many cultures have demons and such having multiple animal parts. Even an anon asked her “Why is deer imagery appropriation” and Lily responded “It’s not appropriation but it’s a problem.” and didn’t explain.

Like… are you alluding to something specific like wendigos? Explain Lily!

to tell you the absolute truth, i think that LO either has no idea what the issue is either because she just read somewhere it's an issue and ran with it without understanding why or that she misspoke entirely because this woman only does one draft for each script without revising anything and now doesn't want to admit her mistake. i believe those are the most likely explanations for that kind of statement. either way, no, deers imagery is not by itself problematic because it's not particularly emblematic of any culture, closed or otherwise. for what i could see with just an easy google search, deer or antlers being representative of wendigos is a construction originated in fiction created by white authors. if LO said "Alastor is meant to be a w3ndigo and thus associating him with deer antlers on his design is perpetuating the whitewashing of the w3ndigo" thant that is an argument to be made... if you completely ignore that Alastor is never declared to have any relation with w3ndigos specifically. for what i could see, he is just tall, skinny, gangly and have antlers on his full demonic form so (white/non native) people interpret that as w3ndigo-like because, again, that's how they are represented in popular culture. but i couldn't find evidence anywhere that was supposed to be intentional or a thing inside the show. the most i could find is that the creator said he has "w3ndigo themes", which is just entirely confusing because what does that mean? w3ndigo according to whom, the actual original foklore or the whitewished in popular media? is just because of the cannibalism?

at the end of all of this, i just find uncomfortable that LO pretends to want to have a conversation about cultural appropriation around this character and hasn't invited not one person from any of those cultures to share their own perspective. has she actually linked any article of any person talking about this? does she know of anyone with more experience talking about it? i know at some point she talked about "reading books" about voodoo, but that means very little if nothing at all to me without more information. of course not everyone of any culture is going to agree on every issue, but at least show that you actually care to advocate for those groups by giving it's members a chance to speak on their own term rather than have everything filtered through her own white understanding of everything.

at the end of the day we're all a bunch of outsiders.