#support your local farmers tbh

[spicy-apple-pie]

I think this is going to be pretty unanimous but fuck it.

[guardian-angle22]

maybe you’ve already done this but I would love to know your top underrated tarlos moments

Thank you for asking! I did make a set once for my favorite background moment. That set is here. I do like that one!

As far as underrated, I think that can be tough with a fandom like ours with as much hiatus time on our hands as we've had... because I think we've hyped up about every possible tarlos moment we possibly can. 🤭

HOWEVER, I can't leave you empty handed here. So! here are some of my Top Slightly-Maybe-Underrated Tarlos Moments:

Carlos Being at Owen's Remission Cake Celebration. Something about the exchange between TK & Carlos at the beginning of this scene just always strikes me. Carlos says, "It's cool your mom came down here for this." and TK says, "It's cool you did. Thanks for being here, babe." and something in his face after that exchange just says to me that he's not used to having a boyfriend show up for things like this. So it feels like a subtle but big moment for them!!

TK & Carlos Shopping at the Farmer's Market. There's something very domestic and sweet about the two of them walking through the farmer's market together swinging their tote bags, buying flowers, sniffing random plants, checking out the local jam offerings.

TK & Carlos Cuddling on the Couch. Much has been said about the cuddling specifically in this scene, the equal opportunity big/little spoon situation. but also I just love the thought of them doing this regularly: cuddling up in front of the TV at the end of their shifts, decompressing, and telling each other about their day and their struggles. encouraging each other. and then also cuddles.

Holding Hands at Owen's Intervention. The tone they kind of took this scene in with the music and editing made it seem less serious, but I feel like the situation would've been very stressful for TK (especially as someone who had been on the other side of an intervention before like he said) and I love the silent support Carlos offers here and the way he tucks his fingers into TK's sleeve.

TK Sleeping on Carlos as He Works. This probably isn't underrated but. it's one of my All Time Favorite Moments and therefore it makes this list. Here is a set I made for it awhile ago that I still really enjoy. The way TK tries to get Carlos to stop working in the middle of the night and when he realizes that's not going to work, he says okay. I'm gonna sleep right here and be with you then. He said I'm not going to sleep alone ever again if you're here so MAKE ROOM, BABY!

Carlos Keeping His Eyes on TK. not sure how else to describe it tbh, but just the way Carlos zeroes in on TK taking the phone call at the end of 3.07... it's like he always has a feeler out for what TK is doing at all times, even when surrounded by their friends. I truly wish we got to see the aftermath of that phone call. the way Carlos would've taken care of TK in that moment.

Scritchy Scratches. that's it. send tweet.

Soft!Dom Carlos Backing TK Up. listennnn this scene might be talked about a lot. but never enough. the gentle dom carlos of it all truly eats at my brain constantly. the way he backs TK up, reigns in his spiraling and calms him down with just a couple words and grip of the neck. I cannot.

TK Offering Carlos Back Rubs. another instance of TK waking up because Carlos isn't next to him. recognizing that Carlos needs comfort and offering to rub his back, like he's probably been doing for multiple nights now. it's just another sweet look into the way they comfort and support each other that might not get fully shown but is still there.

The Wedding Leg Grip. this is my Most Favorite of all the gifs I've made for the touch series. idk what it is about this particular gesture, but the way Carlos grabs TK's leg will forever be famous to me and we should be talking about it every week.

[hopetorun]

anon, for some reason tumblr won't let me answer your message but here are the answers to the questions you asked

i am really fond of home by now tbh. it has its flaws but i'm really pleased with how i pulled the thematic points together and how i built out supporting characters to underpin them

my favorite fruit is a perfectly in season fresh strawberry. specifically the ones from a vendor at my local farmer's market because they are the best strawberries i've ever had and the only place i've ever gotten big strawberries that are ripe and bright red and juicy all the way through. seriously they are such a deep gorgeous red that they look photoshopped

a burger place near my first apartment (which has since gone out of business) used to serve a burger that they basically covered in au poivre sauce. it is one of the messiest things i've ever eaten and also a transcendent experience. there would be sauce on your elbows afterward.

[purplesurveys]

1782

What are some of your favorite cities you’ve been to?  Bangkok was so much fun that I'm already itching to go back. I was there for 4 days with the most jam-packed, NONSTOP itinerary you can imagine someone having; and yet it still felt like barely scratching the surface of what could have been explored there.

Shanghai was fun too, but you also have to be filthy rich to fully enjoy their offers – for me though it was fun enough to people-watch and try the local McDonald's haha, so I'm still counting it as a favorite.

Would you allow your children to date prior to 16? I did, so it would be hypocritical of me not to allow them. The only thing I'd change is to foster an open, warm environment at home so my kids can share with me what they're up to and ask questions if there's any concerns, because I had to hide my relationship for the entirety of it.

Did you ever go through a phase where you thought guys in bands were ‘hot?’ I guess, but I wasn't super deep into the phase. There was just a brief point where I wanted to date like a drummer, and I didn't even attend small shows in an attempt to catch a band member's eye.

What’s something about adult life you were never warned of or prepared for? How lost everyone is. I thought you'd kind of just figure everything out once you turned a certain age.

Did your parents teach you proper table manners when you were growing up? More my mom than my dad, but yeah. My mom had this brief phase where she kept telling us she'd enroll us in this series of etiquette classes – she never did lmao, but she tried to teach whatever she could when she had the time.

What was the last thing you baked? I've only ever baked chocolate chip cookies and I haven't done that since I was like 14. I don't have the natural skill for it and would much rather support a small business since there are like 593875954 local cookie shops who could do the job so much better anyway.

Do you live more than 5 hours away from the nearest international border? Well if you swam the distance it'd definitely take weeks haha, but as far as I know Taiwan is only a 1.5 hour plane ride away.

Does your town have a farmer’s market? We have markets literally everywhere, it's a focal point of every city. I don't know if a farmer's market holds a different meaning.

What’s the westernmost point you’ve been to? Thailand.

What was the last restaurant you made a reservation at? Blackbird. I haven't stopped thinking about their cheesecake either.

When did you last feel lonely? It's been a while tbh! I like my own company and seldom feel lonely.

Can you easily tell when others are masking their true emotions?  Sure, sometimes. I know a few people who are great at being on autopilot that I can't help but think about what they're really feeling or how they're holding up with everything going on around them.

How often do you wash your car? Every couple of weeks.

When did you last lend money to a friend? I don't do that. That's enough of a problem in Filipino society that I simply don't want to be a part of that cycle, whether it's me lending the money or me asking to borrow money.

Which app on your phone do you tend to get the most notifications from?  Viber as it's my main line for work.

Do you own a Dutch oven? If so, what was the last thing you cooked in it? I don't think we do.

What is currently on your kitchen table?  Just a towel.

What is your favorite time period in history to learn about? Any era pre-World Wars.

How old were you when you met your current best friend? 7.

Have you ever kissed a smoker? Sure.

What is the minimum age to obtain a driver’s license in your state/country? Do you think this is an appropriate age? 18, and yeah that's fair enough to me. Personally I needed it to be 18 because I needed a way to bring myself to and from university and I wasn't willing to commute, so being able to drive immediately after graduating high school was a relief.

If you won the lottery, do you think any of your family members would ask you to give them some of your money? Hypothetically, I think they would be very indirect about it; but in the first place I wouldn't even be saying a word to anyone so that I don't have to worry about people messaging me out of the blue with an agenda in tow.

What is the craziest thing you’ve seen happen at your workplace? Nothing too crazy tbh because we've had a WFH setup ever since I started. It's probably just the office looking like a hoarder's paradise as we often have boxes upon boxes of PR packages populating the area, and it often feels like a warehouse more so than an office.

Do you own any home automation gadgets like wifi thermostats or wifi bulbs? Nothing too high-tech. Our aircon downstairs can be controlled via its phone app but that's it.

What is something you gave up on after many failed attempts? Learning Photoshop.

How old were you when you started to seriously think about what career path you wanted to pursue? Towards the end of college. I had a brief, last-minute crisis where I suddenly wanted to be in law school, but it was happening when things were more or less wrapping up for me in college so I had had to sit myself down and start thinking about what it is I wanted to do.

Eventually I came to the reflection that law school will spit me back out nearly immediately, especially if I'm only thinking about the money; so between that and already hating journalism enough, I decided to take up PR and comms.

Have you ever disliked a book so much that you didn’t finish it? Yes. Maybe not dislike, but I was just so bored of the book that I didn't bother reading through the rest anymore.

Would you rather read a book, or listen to the audiobook? I'd rather read the book. I did download an audiobook recently – and it's my first audiobook too! – but I only did it because it would be impossible to find a physical copy of the book where I'm from.

Do you think tomorrow will be a better day than today? Not in the slightest.

[venusianmystique]

Im just reflecting on my time back home in Jamaica and when I’m there it forces me to be more intentional about food. Like in the US, nothing follows seasons. You can eat whatever you want to eat regardless if it’s in season or not. But like when I’m back home, you’re going to eat what’s in season. And it really makes you appreciate the taste more and be more creative with cooking. And it’s not just that but also how you obtain food. In Jamaica, yeah I would go the supermarket but for the good chuck of the food I ate. I got from open air market or vendors on the side of the road. Or I got it from our garden or from one of my family members or neighbors who would also grow stuff. I would love to do more that when I’m in the US. Be more environmentally conscious, support local business/farms and be more connect with my community. But for me or tbh most Americans, we do not have the time, resources or money to go to farmer’s market or build a garden. And I know no country is perfect and every country has its own bullshit. But in America, it feels like your only purpose in life is to work. Your well-being doesn’t matter at all

[cyanghostcat]

tbh

the obvious answer to ableism and classism is... making things free. like, everything free. socialism with edits (i don't know exactly how it works by the book?) would literally save the lower class, as we move further and further into the already far begun late stage capitalism and global warming, both of which already killing way too many people.

like, i'm not saying "give ubi so nobody has to work!!!". i'm saying give ubi so people have the choice to work. to work jobs they like. so the jobs that kill people's bodies faster than their minds (we hate manual labour shit) can get automated with ease of mind of everyone.

yeah moving directly instantly out of capitalism would fuck over ... the capitalists. but that's not the... 80% of the general population that's non-capitalists? 90% even? not sure of the number but it's irrelevant, the large majority doesn't want capitalism to run (we want anything else, just a lot of us want it under the same name), because the large majority are suffering under it. whether lower class or middle class, or hell even the lower parts of the upper class, everyone suffers if they're not rich. so, no rich people. or, everyone is equalised a bit (equity makes for equality over time, so it's worth doing it as well), so everyone's around the same amount with some obvious highs from layover from capitalism.

make shit free, not to fuck over businesses, but to fuck over people trying to/already becoming rich. to fuck over people already rich, especially those richer than every other person could ever become. try it out federally on a small town, make sure the town can be properly supported by the required industries and local businesses (like farmers), sure make luxuries like alchohol stay having a cost, but make it so people have money so they can buy stuff they don't need, and make the things they do need free. no personal hygiene products should require people to pay, most able-to-be-shared products (like shampoo/soap/toothpaste etc.) should be much much cheaper, basically try out a long-term sale on every product you have, and make sure people have money to see what it'd work like. that's it. just try it. watch what happens later, if it's good or bad it will end up with a result. if it's good, try it on more towns. have them work together. if it's still good, try it on a large scale. lots of towns, hell a city even. (put a land tax on those fucking landowners as well too, that's just a side thing though). the attempt is worth it, no matter the result.

this was longer than i meant to make, sorry y'all. but yeah, make required shit free, give ubi, fuck over lobbying groups and banks. fix your economy by taking it by force, governments. markets stopped working when capitalism took over.

post done.

fyi things like insulin, hearing aids, wheelchairs, glasses costing money at all is a form of structural ableism

[icarianiscariot]

2 7 10 24 27 and 30:

favorite book from middle/high school (preferably one of the dime a dozen dystopian love triangle books that flooded the market after hunger games and fundamentally misunderstood what made hunger games actually so good or something you had to read for school- scratch that- answer both)

LKSDFJLKSDJFKSLDFJ THIS IS SO MANY ILY

2. thoughts on veganism?

while i do believe that the meat industry is fucked, i don't see anything wrong w supporting local farmers/butchers whenever possible instead. i have no issues w vegans, but ultimately my stance is less rooted in "animals are intelligent and eating them is evil" and moreso "capitalism-driven meat industry leads to abuse and pollution on a massive scale and needs to be better regulated"

which is not to say i pass any judgement on vegans who are vegan for the more "sentimental" (?) reason. but i do be a meat eater (haha. gay-) and tbh i'm broke as shit in a small town so i also be buying from walmart so. take this all w a grain of salt i suppose

7. what animal do you look forward to seeing when you visit an aquarium?

SHARKS

10. on a plane, do you ask for apple or orange juice?

....contrary to what u might believe. apple juice. i find it much more refreshing than oj. (also obviously airplanes cannot handle the depth of my oj needs, so best not to open that can of worms, save those poor flight attendants from seeing me at my worst like that)

24. which do you find yourself using, american or british english?

murrrrca all the way! lmao. only exception is gray/grey because i learned "grAy is closer to blAck, grEy is closer to whitE" as a child rather than "grAy is America and grEy is England"

i see random "u"s in words and i scoff upon them /j

27. what’s your favorite or go-to outfit?

i have these big baggy yoga pant things?? like cotton parachute pants? that are super comfy so i wear em whenever i can get away w it. + tshirt + hoodie.

ideally the tshirt is my neon orange koolaid shirt. ideally the hoodie is my black as it is hoodie.

30. ask me anything ! - "favorite book from middle/high school"

specifically of the YA dystopia novels?? hmmm. probably Uglies, if that counts? i'm trying to remember which all i read: hunger games ofc, divergent ofc, that crossed/matched/whatever series (w the girl in the orb on the covers), the uglies series.

actually idk if the maze runner counts but it does show up on lists of ya dystopian novels and i fucked HEAVILY with tmr!! absolutely OBSESSED. still occasionally seek out newtmas content tbh.

send me a number!

[thedreadvampy]

On the other hand, and moving away from direct Mechanisms Discourse (which I prefer to not get over involved in tbh but also this ISN'T about that it's just jumping off it) - it absolutely is deeply classist to assume that somebody is illiterate or ignorant because of poverty/assumed poverty, and that's a huge problem. but also I think on a broader social level (at least in the UK) there is an idea in the left that it's classist to acknowledge the connection between poverty and illiteracy, while the truth is that illiteracy is a problem of poverty (poverty not in the sense of just Not Having Money but in the sense of system denial of adequate resources). Poverty doesn't = illiteracy but illiteracy is very much a problem of poverty - not a failure of a marginalised individual but a failure of the system marginalising them.

Adult illiteracy is a surprisingly large issue in eg both rural and urban Scotland, but it's not because poor people are stupid, ignorant or unwilling to learn - it's because schools are inadequate or inaccessible, classes are managed not taught, teachers are stretched thin and schools are underfunded so don't have resources to help struggling students, if you get to secondary school still unable to read and write you're completely locked out of the educational system unless you can access a school with the resources to teach you individually, and because of this, classism and a lack of support, poorer kids are more likely to switch off school as early as possible.

Social geography is also a big issue. In urban areas, schools in poorer areas get bad reputations, so they're underfunded, so they do worse, so they're funded less, etc, until they're a bare minimum of staff just trying to get through the day in collapsing buildings with no resources and five textbooks. Where better-funded schools can afford teaching assistants, 1:1 support for struggling students, decent food provision for kids, follow-up on children in need of support at home, more teachers for smaller classes, maybe counseling and psychological support, maybe Special Educational Needs classes for older kids to work on basic literacy and numeracy to catch up, worse-funded schools have one underpaid unsupported teacher trying to manage a class of 35 kids with wildly different needs. They don't have the resources to help support kids with issues that might affect their schooling, like parental abuse or neglect, trauma, a parent in prison, care responsibilities, hunger, homelessness, neurodiversities that affect their ability to learn in the prescribed way, learning disabilities like dyslexia, physical health issues including visual or auditory impairments...all things that when supported are highly surmountable but when unsupported often end up with children being perceived and treated as stupid, disruptive or evil. The problem then compounds itself because the kids are badly treated which makes them more disruptive and less able to learn, and more and more work is needed to help them which teachers continue to not have any capacity or resources for.

Rural poverty comes with its own schooling issues as well, in that poverty is generally correlated with remoteness. Poor rural communities are often hours away from population centres, so either you have tiny highly local schools serving a handful of families where a single teacher needs to invent lesson plans that somehow balance the needs of 11 year olds and 4 year olds of all abilities, or your kids need to somehow get into town every morning before you get to work, which may mean dropping them off at 6am, having to part pay for buses, taxis or ferries, sending them on their own, or leaving them with friends and family, and realistically the way that often shakes down is that they don't go. You teach them at home, and they may not even exist for the truancy office to know about.

Literacy is also connected to family culture. Both my parents were people with degrees from educated families, and my mum was a full time parent, and the result is that school didn't teach me to read - I was already a confident and enthusiastic reader. Even richer families may hire tutors for small children, pay for extracurricular learning, etc. The poorer a family is, the more likely neither parent is available to spend time reading with their kids, because they're working full time - at that economic level a single income household is almost entirely unviable so either both parents work or there's a single parent working extra hours or they're just exhausted from worrying about the bills and what's sold to them as a personal failure to look after their family.

One thing it's easy to forget is that while people in the UK still do drop out of school in their teens to work, a generation ago it was almost the norm for a lot of communities (especially the children of farmers, miners and factory workers) to have left school well before the end of compulsory education, both because of school being a hostile space and because of the need for an additional income. Now as well as then, a lot of kids drop out to work as unpaid carers, disproportionately in poorer families that can't afford private care or therapeutic support. Literacy aside, generations of leaving school with no qualifications doesn't tend to teach you that formal learning is as important as experience and vocational learning, and you don't expect to finish anyway so why put yourself through misery trying to do well? But it includes literacy. I grew up in a former mining area and a lot of people my dad's age and older were literate enough to read signs and football results, but took adult classes in middle age or later to get past the pointing finger and moving lips. and if you're parents don't or can't read, it's a lot harder for you to learn.

There's a lot of classism and shame tied up in the roots of illiteracy. Teachers and governments and schoolmates will often have vocally expressed low expectations of poorer students; a rich child who does poorly at school has problems, a poor child who does poorly at school is a problem child. They're often treated with hostility and aggression from infancy and any anger or disinterest in school is often treated not as a problem to be solved but as proof that you were right to deem them a write-off. Poorer or more neglected children (or children for whom English is a second language) will often be deemed "stupid" by their peers, and start at a disadvantage because of the issues around early childhood learning in families where parents are overstretched.

Kids learn not to admit that they don't know or understand something, because if you start school unable to read and write and do basic maths when a lot of kids your age are already confident, you get mocked and called stupid and lazy by your peers, and treated with frustration by your teachers. So kids learn to avoid people noticing that they need help. That means that school, which could help a lot, isn't somewhere you can go for help but a source of huge anxiety and pain - more so when you factor in the background radiation of classism that only grows as you get older around not having the right clothes, the right toys, the right experiences, my mum says your mum's a ragger, my mum says I shouldn't hang out with you because you're a bad lot - so again kids switch off very early and see education as something to survive not something helpful.

The same is very much true of adult literacy. A lot of adults are very shamed and embarrassed to admit that they struggle with reading and writing - a lot of parents particularly want to be able to teach their kids to read, but aren't confident readers themselves, and feel too stupid and embarrassed to admit out loud that they can't read well, let alone to seek out and endure adult literacy classes that are a constant reminder of their perceived failure and ignorance (and can also be excruciating. Books for adult literacy learning are not nearly widespread enough and a lot of intelligent experienced adults are subjected to reading Spot the Dog and similar books targeted at small children's interests). Adult literacy classes also cost time and also money, so a lot of people only have the space for them after retirement, if at all.

And increasingly, illiteracy (or lack of fluency in English) increases poverty and marginalisation, and thus the chances of inherited literacy problems. Reading information, filling out forms and accessing the internet in a meaningful way are all massively limited by illiteracy, and you need those skills to access welfare, to access medical care, to avoid exploitative loans, to deal with any service providers, etc. Most jobs above minimum wage and a lot below require a fairly high level of literacy, whether it's office work or reading an instructional memo on a building site or reading drink instructions in McDonalds. Illiteracy is a huge barrier between somebody and the rest of the world, especially in a modern world that just assumes universal literacy, and especially especially as more and more of life involves the internet, texting, WhatsApp, email, and so on - it's becoming harder and harder for people with limited literacy to be fully involved in society. And that means the only mobility is downwards, and that exacerbates all the problems that lead to adult illiteracy.

People who can't read after the age of 6 or so are treated as stupid. People who can't read fluently when they're adults are seen as stupid and almost subhuman. There's so much shame and personal judgement attached to difficulty reading, but the fact that illiteracy is almost exclusively linked to poverty and deprivation is pretty conclusive. Illiteracy isn't about the failure or stupidity of the individual, it's about the lack of support, care and respect afforded to poor people at all stages of their life. Being illiterate doesn't make you stupid - many people are highly intelligent, creative, capable, thoughtful, and illiterate. I know people who can immediately solve complex engineering problems on the fly but take ten minutes to write down a sentence of instruction. It isn't classist to say that illiteracy is caused by poverty - it's both classist and inaccurate to say that illiteracy says anything about the worth, intelligence or personhood of the poor, that it's a result of a desire to be ignorant, or that it's evidence that people are poor because they're stupid, incapable, ignorant or bad parents. The link between poverty and illiteracy is the problem of classism and bigotry, no more no less, and we deal with it by working against the ideas that both poverty and lack of education are a reflection of individual worth.

Illiteracy isn't a problem of intelligence, it's a problem of education, and that matters because education is not inherent. it's something that has to be provided and maintained by parents, by the state, by the community. you're not born educated. you are educated. except more than a quarter of the Scottish population isn't educated, because the system doesn't give a fuck about them and actively excludes them or accidentally leaves them behind.

[four-loose-screws]

I have a another question about localization since you say all of the FE localizations are good but then there's the localization I hear about of FE fates a localize game that I hear so many Nintendo and FE fans say really bad things about it such as a lot of Mistranslations, Big Script changes, Memes being add in, etc also there was some censorship that got some of them really mad and with some of them saying that it's the wrost localize game of all time is it really that bad as they say?

Whew, this ask has been sitting in my inbox for actual months! Sorry for taking so long to respond! It’s probably unsurprising, but there’s so much to unpack here, and just deciding what to write had me going in circles for a long time.

I’m not entirely satisfied with this answer, but if I tried to discuss everything I have in mind about the Fates localization at once, I’d never be done. So I stuck to 5 topics to give a basic summary. If anyone wants to follow up on one particular issue for more info, or know more about something I didn’t discuss here, please do! I’d love to round out my argument.

First off - a little history just to get our minds situated into the history of localization. Bad localization has always existed, in fact that’s pretty much all we had in the 80’s and somewhat into the 90’s until it became clear that video games were going to become very complex in story and text going forward. Even a surface look into old localizations like this one tells a very long story. We have to remember that “bad” localization is everywhere, and it’s just always going to exist, even now that we have professional teams dedicated to localization, so long as humans aren’t perfect, time crunch is standard in the gaming industry, and we all have our own definition of “good”.

Next, here’s the short answer to the question:

When I say “overall” good, I do stress that pretty heavily, because of course there are plenty of changes that each individual player of the game will have their own take on. The Fire Emblem games simply have so much text in them that even a hundred small mistranslations or changes are just a drop in the bucket.

But I do agree that Fates is one of the worst of the FE localizations, if your terms are in number of changes from the Japanese. Awakening’s is up there too. 

Yeah, Awakening’s localization has a lot of questionable moments too. I know this take isn’t a surprise to all fans. But ever since Fates came out, I’ve seen people praising Awakening’s localization, and saying that 8-4 (an outside studio often hired by Nintendo, they localized Awakening) is an amazing localization team and Treehouse (Nintendo’s own team, did Fates) is garbage. TBH… They both did a job that has huge ups and downs. Are people really doomed to always forget the flaws that the previous installment in a series had as soon as something new comes out? Ha ha.

I think it’s common knowledge at this point that localizations are not made for the people who want a more direct-to-the-Japanese version. And that sucks, and the feelings of anger, disappointment, etc. in those who wanted a more direct translation are perfectly valid and entirely understandable. 

But we really, really need to understand and accept that localizations are made for the target audience/culture as a whole, and to sell to the most people possible. By getting angry and rejecting the entire game’s script as “total changes,” “butchering,” “changing the games to fit the localization team’s motives,” and all sorts of other toxic nonsense, we miss out on all of the nuance that actually exists. We rob ourselves of the fun that could be had analyzing whether or not the localizers did their job of adapting the game to the target audience, and how they might have done it better. And we can’t notice and appreciate all of the times the team did do a great or good job.

In the vast majority of cases, localizers only want those who play their games and read their scripts to have fun! To imply anything else is just wrong.

What I feel I can do here, to define if “the localization is as bad as they say,” is debunk these “all or nothing” arguments, and show that the changes aren’t usually anywhere near as drastic or simple as people make them sound.

Now let’s goooooo!

I read these two articles to prepare myself to write this, link here, and link here, which I got off a quick Google search. They are from the time of Fates’ release, and report on how a lot of people generally felt back then, so I found them to be good references to put myself back in time with the thoughts people had then.

Character Changes

These often tend to be the biggest topics of conversation. Hisame will be my topic of more detailed discussion today, but I’ll bring other characters up for a hot second too.

I can never stress this enough, but Hisame made pickles in the Japanese. He was always talking about them in the Japanese, too. (Fates loves supports revolving around food in general, really.) I think people generally know this to be true? But I did read some comments saying that the pickle love was totally made up in the localization, you can see the proof above, so I had to point it out.

I don’t think a lot of people who have talked about his character picked up on this - admittedly, I didn’t until someone close to me explained it - but the main gag of Hisame’s character is that he’s young, but already acting like an old man. He lectures his own father on how to behave, etc., and makes pickles. And the “acting like an old man” is not totally lost in translation, with him still acting serious and lecturing his father. But the making pickles trait… I’d never pin that as an “old man” stereotype as a US American. Well, now I would, because I know Japanese culture well enough… but anyway.

And this is where the cultural differences come in. The number of people farming and making traditional foods from scratch is dwindling fast in Japan. In just five years there, I watched countless rice paddies and other small produce fields be turned into houses or apartment buildings. The elderly farmers are becoming too old to care for their crops, and their kids choose to pursue other careers, so the family sells off the farmland. Following along this trend is traditional pickle making. You can just buy them ready to eat in the supermarket, so why make your own? Most people don’t even have the space to be making them if they wanted to. And so, pickle making has come to be seen as something old people do. It fits in with Hisame’s “old man” character perfectly.

But again, as an American, I never would have figured that out without knowledge about Japan. Of course you could argue that the localizers didn’t need to change anything about him. The making pickles was quirky and unique, and would give you a chuckle as is. But there was space to make him funnier, so they did. That is, after all, was what the Japanese intended, for it to be funny. It’s not funny in the same way… but sometimes it’s impossible to be.

And that is what is most important in localization between two wildly different languages like Japanese and English - not retaining the same words, but the same intention or mood. The same words can convey a totally different meaning or mood, or make no sense, because of cultural differences. So localizers need to achieve the same mood, not the same words. I have come to see people understand this much better as the years go on, and the general gaming population becomes more learned about what localization is.

Of course, that’s a pretty simplified way of looking at it. But that’s how I summarize localization as a whole, in an easy way to understand. You might not agree with exactly how the localizers did what they did, but I think we might all be able to agree that they were trying to do their job and had no malicious intent to butcher the Japanese original or something absurd like that.

One more thing that’s relevant to this - Japanese people don’t care about repetition so much. The same character tropes are repeated over and over, the same lines are repeated over and over… In the US, we don’t like that! It’s boring and dull! This cultural difference is a constant struggle in localization. A lot of the people who think they want a direct translation don’t realize that it will be boring to them… So localizations alter and add details and lines here and there to give some more variation. This also helps to explain Hisame’s changes to talk even more about pickles.

And I’ve seen many a comment from people saying they liked Hisame in the localization. They found his exaggerated pickle lines fun, and enjoyed many good laughs. How can we call his new characterization outright bad when it worked for some? When they like it more than a straight Japanese translation? He’s still essentially the same guy… just some of the things he says are different. That’s not much of a change at all.

...And back to that original screenshot I showed. Isn’t Hisame still serious in the localization? His lines are funny, but I’m under the impression that he himself is still dead serious. ...Anyway. That’s about all I have to say about Hisame.

Many characters have changed lines. There’s no disputing that. But something to always question is how far do these changes go? Did the localizers completely change the intent or tone of the original? Or are they playing up certain character traits the characters always had in the Japanese? Or is something else going on? 

This is also a prime example of how shallow some articles or “analysis” into the Fates localization are. You can’t look at one line change and make a sweeping conclusion about an entire character. Always be suspect of stuff like this. Kana ALWAYS acted like a little kid. That’s their entire schtick. They are your cute little mama/papa loving kid. That one line may have changed that scene significantly, but Kana’s whole character? No, not at all.

Even Kana’s S support changes aren’t as simple as it seems. They aren’t all changed. The 2nd gen characters that Kana is close in age to retain their romantic endings, such as Midori. Only those considerably older than Kana turned platonic. 

And Effie, another character commonly cited as changed? She wasn’t radically changed from some deep character to a one-note workout buff. If only a conclusion could be that easy to reach. Overall, on this specific aspect of Effie, the localization simply added in extra strength or workout jokes when the opportunity arose. Some workout jokes were in the Japanese! She was always an extremely devoted retainer who was always working out and training to get stronger so she could better fulfill her duties.

What is MUCH more interesting in my opinion is the issue of her femininity. In the Japanese, her speech nearly always trailed off with ellipses, and she had feminine voice acting. Whereas in the English, all of that femininity is stripped away with a deep voice, and virtually no ellipses. How refreshing it would have felt in English for Effie to have retained that femininity! Women can bench press trees and be feminine! It would be unique to see a female character like that. ...Or so a US American might think.

But from what I understand, strong female characters in Japanese entertainment are nearly always very feminine. They send a clear message: “You can be whatever you want in private, so long as you still fit the girly-girl mold in public and fulfill society's expectations for you!!” In the Japanese, Effie is fitting their stereotype.

So in one way of looking at it, Effie wasn’t really changed, because in both Japanese and English, she paints a stereotypical and the most socially accepted image of a physically powerful female in each culture. ...That’s an interpretation of mine, anyway. I’m not sure how many people would agree with it.

...See what I mean, that the answer of “changed or unchanged” really isn’t as straightforward as “are the lines translated directly?” 

Looking into the deeper details creates a much more interesting picture! You come to paint a picture in your mind, without even thinking about it, of what the localizers intended to do, and you can at least understand what they were thinking. This forms a much more accurate conclusion on whether or not the team achieved a good localization, and whether or not that sacrificed the intent of the original.

So as you can see, few issues are as bad as they’ve been blown up to be. None of the characters are completely different from their Japanese counterparts, or anything so extreme. They were just localized. Whether or not they were localized well, is up to each person’s opinion.

...I do want to write about Soleil, as an example of someone who I think could have been localized better, but I’ll save that for another day. It’s gonna get long. If anyone is interested in seeing this post, just remind me every couple of months or so until I find the time and write it, thanks in advance.

Memes

Since I mentioned Kana’s dragon speak in the last section, this is a perfect time to transition into my feelings about memes, aka context-specific humor. I agree with the most commonly shared opinion: memes don’t belong in localization. Though it’s not just because of a simple “change from the Japanese is bad!!!!” approach. In my opinion, the best localizations will be as timeless as possible. I want my future self and everyone else who will play the game in the years to come to enjoy the game as much as possible.

Memes come in and out of fashion so quickly that they’re almost guaranteed to be out of date by the time they release. And only the most popular of popular stories will be widely-known enough for most everyone to get the reference. Of course, it’s pretty difficult to know what expressions and such people will remember and use 10, 20, or 30 years down the line. Some language you think will be timeless will fall out of style. But using memes and references that are not likely to appeal to as many people as possible… that’s one of the few things I can almost universally call “bad localization.”

Unless, of course, the game was intended in the Japanese to be a product of its time, and used a lot of references. That’s a whole different ball game.

Accurate translation, much less full localization, requires creative thinking to recreate the tone and intent of the original. 

Here’s another example that showcases another couple of things I find really important to localization.

Number 1: The writer of the article said “The American localization … gives her silly lines that aren’t in the original.” But does it really “give” her anything new at all? I’d argue not. Tottemo is commonly translated as ‘really’ or something like that… but doesn’t ‘super-dupity’ convey the same meaning as ‘really’? Just because an English word isn’t given as a common definition for a Japanese word, doesn’t mean it can’t be a definition. Sometimes… a word we don’t commonly think of as a translation for the Japanese, can still be a perfectly valid translation. This is not an addition. Just an uncommon translation of the Japanese word.

Number 2: Japanese has a wide range of “I” and “you” pronouns, sentence endings, and other little things that define character age, personality, gender, and more, that simply don’t exist in English. To not use similar features of English when localizers find opportunities to do so, would just take away that sense of nuance the Japanese had in utilizing their language’s own unique features.

Of course it’s one possibility that Sophie uses kiddy words. She’s not a little kid, but she’s still pretty young! To have everyone use the same word choice, because that’s how the words translate into English, is not only inaccurate to how real people talk, but also inaccurate to how the original Japanese was used. Since many equivalents for Japanese word and grammar choice that define personality do not exist in English, the localizers have to use what does exist in English in new places. I think that makes sense, and creates a much closer script to the Japanese than just translating the words.

Again, it’s all about how we look at the lines!

I see a lot of people define “translation” as “one-to-one recreation of the Japanese words.” To reinforce what I said in the first section, I do not think this is true. To me, translating is recreating the same tone, mood, meaning, and message of the original. You CANNOT achieve that just by translating the words and grammar alone.

Different words conveying the same overall meaning.

This section is really just a continuation of the previous one. But reinforcing central arguments over and over again is the core of good essay writing.

So this is one of my strategies for deciding whether or not a script is a good or bad translation/localization: “Does the script convey the same basic meaning?” (or tone, etc.)

Changes, adding detail to what the Japanese said, and “playing-up,” are all wildly different things.

So first, I break down the bit of dialogue into as few words as possible.

-Nohr royals inherit dragon blood.

-So they have superhuman power.

...And then I look to see if the localization conveyed that same basic meaning. Which, in this case, I think it did. Your mileage may vary, but I think I’ve made my point at least.

I wanted this scene to be one of the five I addressed because I think it exemplifies yet another of the fascinating differences between Japanese and English. Japanese is a language that likes to be vague, and leave out context that is already established. Speech can seem super boring as few characters say anything unique. (At least… that’s how us English speakers see it! Japanese people think they are just being normal, and not vague or boring at all!) ...English, not so much. So much as leaving out the subject of the sentence is chastised as incorrect grammar. And we like unique dialogue and prose more than most other languages.

I saw one person in the comments of the article I got this visual from argue that the tone is totally different, that the Japanese was more of a history lesson, but the localization is trying to pump Corrin and Leo up for battle, but… eh, I just don’t see it. The English also just feels like he is describing the powers of their bloodline to me. Again, that’s why this is so complex and fascinating, because everyone has their own viewpoints they are coming from.

The “direct translation” and “localization” reach the same message. This isn’t a big change in my opinion at all.

Sometimes mistakes happen...

These interpretations of Saizo and Beruka’s C Support have always boggled my mind. Coming up with all these explanations as to why the omission was done on purpose to completely erase the support when… it just seems… obvious to me… that the localization team never wrote or programmed a translation and shipped the game with the placeholder? 

After all, if the localization team felt they had to remove or change content that might be questionable for the target audience, wouldn’t they alter or rewrite the conversation, like they have with Soleil’s supports, for example? This very game has multiple examples of proof that the localizers will rewrite entire chunks of script if they feel it makes the scene better fit what the target audience be more comfortable with.

Mistakes happen. That’s all I think Saizo and Beruka’s C Support is. We probably never got an update just because Nintendo doesn’t have a track record of being the best with those.

Of course, I may be wrong. Nintendo and Treehouse keep pretty much all of their processes a secret. But I never, ever would have imagined on my own that Saizo and Beruka’s support was omitted on purpose. Citing this as a reason why we need to be up in arms about bad localization is so absurd to me.

Mistakes happen. It’s not like the Japanese creators didn’t have embarrassing moments with underdeveloped content in this game either… they didn’t even name the continent in this game!

Sometimes, “bad” localization is just human error. It’s something we can’t eliminate entirely, and will just have to accept.

Final thoughts:

I realize that this analysis, for as long as it is, is very short, and still leaves out so much that could be talked about. 

But what I hope that it did was not really help convince readers that the Fates localization is actually good, exactly… but helped to create some more balance in how we look at the Fates localization and localizations as a whole. All localization changes have a reason and nuance to how they ended up happening, and it’s important to be thinking from that perspective when we discuss them!

Since I know I may have created more questions than answers, again, feel free to keep the conversation going through more asks! I’ll answer them in time!

[bi-kisses]

hm.. i want to be a farmer but im allergic to everything on a farm.. i also want to hear how you feel about farming.. like have you ever wanted to live on a farm?

there's a lot of farming country nearby and I have a few farming friends, I've thought about living on a farm before but I'm more of a city slicker tbh

farming in general is underappreciated and the voices of farmers are underrepresented also. If at all possible, buy local, go to farmers markets, support your nearest farming families.

we get honey, meats, veggies, gin, beer, and whatever else we can from the farms around our area. It's tough in the winter especially, but you'd be surprised what kinds of local initiatives exist for produce!!

in conclusion I'm not the farming type but I respect and admire those who are.

[hallease]

If you are deathly allergic to eggs, do not risk your life doing this at home! Seek out a medical professional/allergist! #eggallergies #top8allergies I've been allergic to chicken eggs for most of my life, but my husband wanted to test a theory: can Hallease actually have duck eggs instead of chicken eggs? In this video, we decided to go to our local farmer's market and pick up a dozen duck eggs to see. We made our usual Sunday morning breakfast only this time, I actually scrambled a few duck eggs and also made some gluten-free buttermilk biscuits with the duck eggs as well. We did what is known in the medical field as an oral test. Have you tried duck eggs? Let me know! SUBSCRIBE https://www.youtube.com/hallease?sub_confirmation=1 FOLLOW https://ift.tt/2Xo5hbh I'M BINGE WORTHY TBH Chloe Ting Challenge: https://youtu.be/PYOITN0qIYc House plant tour: https://youtu.be/U1rUL5EdsIQ To help you cope: https://youtu.be/ClYpJC-6HFM Hi, I'm Hallease, a video producer and digital storyteller based in Texas. On this channel, I document my chaotic good life through vlogs, tutorials, and good vibes. SEND STUFF Hallease 4007 McCullough Avenue, #173 San Antonio, Texas 78212 PRODUCTION GEAR GEAR IN THIS VIDEO: https://ift.tt/2SnKfFY Editing: https://ift.tt/2SrJzQ5 SKIN/HAIR Loc Products: https://ift.tt/2SMSBqI SUPPORT https://ift.tt/2twB6NB THE MUSIC: https://ift.tt/2SYKd9a Transcriptions provided by Bianca Brown https://ift.tt/37AXmJl , made into Closed Captions by Transcribe and Auto-sync This description box includes affiliate links. If you click the link and purchase something Hallease will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting this channel! by Hallease

[etraytin]

Quarantine, Day 46

The kittens have reached the age and cognition level where they understand that when I come into the room, it means they're going to get picked up and fed. Woe betide anybody, especially me, who comes into the room for any other reason, as they will be treated to a Symphony of Sorrow. In stereo, even! Jake is feeling a lot better today, pooping real poops and drinking his milk without making a federal case of it, but his energy has also brought mischief and now he is in solitary confinement for Butt Crimes. He hasn't been suckling very long which means he should forget the habit quickly, but in this case suckling could make his diarrhea come back, a very bad scenario. So Rosa's got the playpen and Jake is back in the carrier, and there is Woe. I am happy, because the existence of Woe means that the kittens are healthy enough to be bothered by things other than immediate physical discomfort. 

The increasing health of the kittens also meant that I got several more hours of sleep than recently, even if they were not all at one time, and I had energy too! I finally got around to planting the rest of my herb garden that we picked up from the drive-thru farmer's market, which is one of my new favorite contactless things. A couple big shiny basil plants, some rue, some pennyroyal and some lavender thyme. I have now officially used up all my pots, so there can be no more buying of plants for now. But my balcony is full of green living things and when it's warm enough, it smells really good. The kiddo spent a lot of time out there this evening, yelling to his friends. Parents around here really are very dumb and a lot of kids are out again. I try not to be judgy of people when they go out, lots of people are essential, lots of people have to go work even when they'd rather be home, and lots of people need things from stores at the same time other people need things. But there is no reason at all not to wear a mask when you are shopping in a store, and no reason at all to let your children run around in packs like it’s summer vacation. That's just bullshit.

  In related news, I found a flea on Jake today, not unusual for a barn kitten, and needed a flea comb. I didn't want to go into the little local pet store again because nobody, neither customers nor staff, masked up there at all when I had to go in for formula, so I tried getting a curbside delivery. Lady comes up and does our delivery, no mask again. I try to support local businesses, but next time I'm ordering online. If a pet store doesn’t take steps to protect their humans from infection and disease, what the hell is happening with the animals in their care? We also went to McDonalds, fulfilling a promise I made to the kiddo days ago and also easing the pain of not being allowed to join the Human Fomite Brigade by getting him food from his favorite restaurant. (He’s a cheap date!)  At McDonalds everything is fully masked and touchless, with plexi barriers. I'm not a great fan of McDonalds, but at least they're giving their employees and customers some modicum of protection. I don't know why people can't understand that wearing a mask is less for your own protection and more to show that you are not an asshole who doesn't care if you infect other people with any nasty you may have. Okay, done ranting now, rant time is over. 

(And yes, I know humans cannot be fomites by definition, shush. You know what I mean.) 

Not too much else interesting today, tbh. No interesting food; we ate McDonalds and leftovers. Some of us, desperate for energy after hours of kitten care, ate chocolate chips straight from the bag like a filthy animal. Some of us are not even sorry. Desperate times call for desperate measures. 

[cookinguptales]

kaleideyes said: HOW DO YOU SPONSOR A BEE HIVE?!

---------------------------

Ask around at your local farms! (Or just google, I guess.) A bunch of farms are starting to do that now, where you can pay a certain amount and it’ll go towards the maintenance of a hive and depending on how much you donate, you might get honey from the hive. It can be a real struggle to maintain hives (it’s very expensive) so a lot of beekeepers are turning to a sort of crowdfunding model.

I personally am incredibly extra so I’m doing a half hive sponsorship at a (semi) local cemetery. Gonna get that spooky honey. Mine is also fun because if I’m in town during the harvest, I get to help. :o

Anyway, I’m a Big Fan of bees and honey (you should... see my honey cabinet...) so I’m always trying to plant bee-friendly plants and support local apiaries at the farmer’s market but if you can’t do that tbh every little bit helps. There are a lot of charities out there that’ll let you donate to apicultural initiatives. Or that’ll help you yell at your local representative so they can ban agricultural practices that harm local populations. And honestly, just buying a jar of local (to you) honey is good when you can. It helps prop up the people doing the hard work of caring for bees. It’s also good when you can donate to groups that are saving bees that don’t produce honey! They’re super important as well!

[gaysessuale]

vegetarian master post

"why are you vegetarian"

an ethic choice pal

"do you eat fish"

nope

"can I eat meat in front of you"

sure please go

"but people are omnivores"

i know, but because of my ethics i prefer not to eat meat. if you do it's cool im cool we are cool you can even eat rocks if it makes you happy (but be safe okay)

"you are not going to talk about what happens in [insert place where animals get slaughtered]"

lmao no and if you'll ever ask me something im probably just going to talk about how you should support your local farmer if you have one and buy meat there but thats all

"i cant live without meat"

it's okay just support your local farmer they need it and the meat is heathier and the farmers need your help

"where do you get proteins"

vegetables, legumes, milk, eggs, like everywhere, my blood is fine thank you for your concern tho!

"i dont like vegetarians"

I believe you are referring to radical vegans and tbh mood, your ethical choices should not be imposed to other people am i right lads

[villainanders]

@greed-the-dorkalicious replied to your photo “hey alison bechdel i have a quick question about stuart’s shirt in...”

Isn't that that thing where people only eat food that's native to their area, for... some reason that I don't really understand tbh

idk if that’s an official name but yeah i’d imagine that’s what it means in context. you can’t put the word “vore” in front of me tho and not expect me to comment lmao

as for the reasons, getting food locally generally means less chemicals are going to be used to preserve it when transporting it, you’re probably purchasing from smaller local businesses and farmers instead of giant ag corporations that have an almost complete monopoly on the industry, smaller farms generally means more environmentally sustainable, sales taxes on the purchases go to support your local community, and not exporting from foreign countries where the food was produced with some rlly awful labor laws (not that we treat farm workers great here either :/ but again you’re less likely to get that sort of thing from buying from a local farmer’s market booth than from buying from some giant corporation from who knows where at costco)

source: 20 years of knowing my mother

[testedbyhoggers]

***SUPPORT LOCAL FARMERS*** 🌿 Farm Fresh 🌿 . . In frame: Chikoo (Sapota) . . Funfact: Chikoo helps your body get rid of water retention, regularize metabolism and thus aid in losing weight . . . Keep supporting: @tested_by_hoggers @tested_by_hoggers @tested_by_hoggers . . . #indianfarm #indianfarmer #vocalforlocalindia #vocalforlocal #vocalforlocalproduct #mumbai_foodie #tbh #testedbyhoggers #roseapple #newoninstagram #tbhpost #foodpicoftheday #newoninsta #farmfresh #freshproduce #fruit #farm #lockdown2020 #healthy #healthylifestyle #chikoo #fruitsbasket #fruitarian #healthyfood #healthyliving #healthandwellness (at Palghar district) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBaz1tllGt8/?igshid=11xmd4rn5xby3