volot

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Surprise || Closed @volot​

(3/6)

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volo as lucifer is OUT volo as icarus is the cool new symbolism. to me

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"If you've come this far, what choice do you have but to keep going?"

Happy PLAnniversary! The quote is from Pokemon Emerald. In my Volo brainrot, I've wanted to draw him with it for Ages.

(screenshot under the cut)

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Paarthurnax's "What is better - to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?" line is excellent, but I just found out the translation of what comes before: Zin krif horvut se suleyk: "Honor is fighting the lure of power"

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hold on. post canceled. he's so big on his merry jaunt?

so. i've been replaying pla..........

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so. i've been replaying pla..........

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❤

Game asks: unpopular opinions || Accepting

Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

{ ooc. Alas this is where I am burned at the stake and dragged out the fandom, because i KNOW people are not going to like hearing this

It's Volo.

Yes it's another pla rant, despite me loving the game

Let me just preface this by saying I come from an indigenous family. I'm not indigenous myself, but a large part of my family is (through my half-uncles). I also do a fair bit of work in truth-telling programs, and have done so for a while.

The way Volo, an indigenous/Ainu-coded character, is largely portrayed as a satan-aligning, unhinged, purely manipulative character capable of nothing but atrocities, that either has to be stopped or saved by someone who isn't but has the Favour of God(tm), or becomes the punching bag/big bad of American-adjacent characters (Ingo and Emmet) by a shockingly large part of the fandom is not it.

And before you say it's not that deep and there are no parallels to real historical events, a reminder that the Galaxy Hall is modelled after the Former Hokkaidō Government Office, and they don't even try to hide it. If they're including a building like that, with so much horrific history behind it, as the HQ for the protagonist of the game... yeah. No. You don't get to say that anymore.

Is he a good person? No. Am I saying he needs to be portrayed as a saint that is justified in everything he does?? Also no.

Largely, it comes down to giving his character dignity. This take that seems to be really prominent in the fandom strips him of it, and, unintentionally, reduces him down to a derogatory and harmful stereotype. He is one of the last of the Celestica left. It's clear from his dialogue that a large portion of his life has been in pursuit of reconnecting with his culture (while not the best way to show this, this is why he's so interested in ruins/unravelling the mysteries of the past and latches on to Cogita), and all the while doing that has been mistreated so badly by the people around him that he genuinely wonders why the powers that be allow a world where suffering like that exists.

I'm not saying you can't portray him as an antagonist, but I am saying to think carefully about how the way you write/draw antagonistic qualities for him might play into harmful and insulting depictions of indigenous people.}

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boop! (nefarious)

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ohhhhh my god i'm not talking about the leaks in detail but

i cannot express the sheer magnitude of which i am shaking like i'll explode any minute from the pokemas leaks. lucian nation you are not going to believe the size of this win all you need to know is #lucianwasright

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OH HIGH MOUNTAIN, HOW I LONG TO REACH YOU BREATHING YOUR SWEETNESS EVEN HERE!

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          ALMIGHTY ARCEUS ABOVE!                  BEHOLD THE GLORIOUS CONCLUSION TO                                            MY LONG EFFORT!  © &  ©

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his voice....... it is so Deep in japanese.......

GUYS

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GUYS

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happy 2 year anniversary to pla and this blog! ♡

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i need to actually be ic here... will start on the 25th. this is a promise.

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Shirō Kasamatsu (1898-1991) — Fireworks [woodblock print, 1957]

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by the way! with oncoming activity on this blog, i do also plan on setting up another blog that will have a pokemon au if anyone is Interested:tm: