#d. reads

[pigeonfancier]

I hate how the darkskinned indigenous-coded man with more "nonwhite" features is written with no characterization other than being violent and abusive while the more light-skinned native man with light hair is shown as gentle and understanding. The scene where the indigenous women are shown staring in awe at Shuna drawing a bow feels particularly bad, I feel like it promotes the idea of white women being the ones who can introduce change and "save" women of color.

I got some hate on the elfquest forum for posting my criticism, ppl were telling me my opinions are "ill-conceived" and "dont like dont read".

This was sent November 2023, and I'm replying now, because I just remembered.. I wrote a response and then drafted it for all of eternity? I am truly a paragon of communication.

But yeah, everything about Shuna's books and plots is just shit. I was a bit more mealy-mouthed about this last year, but: the Pini's love their blonde, blue-eyed saviours, and the Sun Villagers' position as a rare exception feels largely like they were just trying to make their product stand out among other comics of the time. Once it did, the job was done, and they got to lean back into the white saviour shit. Antagonists look more ethnic, protagonists look more white (or will gradually shift to looking more white over time).

I'd add more analysis but you caught it basically on the nose. Shuna's entire narrative is not great, and it is an example of why having an editor to rein in creatives is generally a good idea. Most people need someone who is not invested in your story or your characters to produce objective criticism, because that editor is a hell of a lot closer to how your readers will perceive your work. I don't think the Pini's think of any of their writing preferences as racist, nor do they really care if they are - they are in their mid 70's. But it might have been a different story back in the 90's or 2000's.

Or might not have! Who knows?

Also, yeah, that's the Elfquest forums for you. The Father Tree Holt one born after the closure of the original might be better, but I doubt it - I know I joined when it began and was not impressed. It's a lot of the same people from the official forums, and subsequently, it's largely just a continuation of the same problems. The problem with older fandoms tends to be people largely wailing 'don't like, don't read' when it comes to criticising works. Which I almost understand, when you've been reading a series for the last forty five fucking years: for some people, that level of investment will come with a certain amount of defensiveness. I do not have that with media, but I can understand where it comes from.

But it seems very silly to me. Not everyone likes analysing media, and that's perfectly fine! Forums are great for that conflict, because instead of trying to shut down a discussion, you can just simply not click the thread. You don't have a feed that'll try to shove shit at you, you can literally just not click the fucking thread.

I still side-eye the fact I made a thread on the original forums discussing the biomes of Abode as a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed teenie, full swing into my obsessive EQ stage, and was promptly told by multiple people that I was overthinking it, I shouldn't bother, and it was silly to focus on shit like on the feasibility of biomes / speculate on how the biome could've ended up in the canon way over how it would appear irl. But that was the response to almost any variety of genuine analysis of the material on the forum, tbh, even down to things as relatively easy as "is Strongbow an asshole?", or "how long do the wolves actually live for?", or "do you guys think that the narrative has a weird take on consent?". I'm still slightly salty over that years later, obviously, haha, so not surprised that "but WHY are you trying to engage with the material instead of just fawning over it?" mentality carried over to the new forum.

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

dadwave

[occudo]

A fish out of water story I just remembered last year I did some siren!jon and selkie!martin, so here is some more of them, for the end of May

[isjasz]

commission on vgen for @darklighter-konoha but its literally the blorbos so everyone look at them <333!!!

[juiche]

a moment of peace before the whole world shatters 😇

get your own print here ❤️

[smatterbrained]

mwah mwah mwah

[triona-tribblescore]

Some quick little doodles tonight of the fic "Moon Cycles" by @jo-the-intellectual (Werehog Sonic/ Vampire Shadow AU) with zero context so you have to go read it if you wanna understand <3

[soaked-doors]

when it rains, it pours

[doubledudeski]

dumb sequel to this post bc their ear thingies are my fav

[kipokopou]

WIP!!! dont mind me pretending grace lived to meet li'l petey and dog man

[xnyu09]

‘And one day, I am gonna grow wings’

[taimanzano]

One of one. One, alone, one.

[doodle-list]

This has become an unfortunate tradition,,, drawing things for dates just after they pass 😭😭 ANYWAYS HERES A LUSAN MERMAID AU FOR MERMAY EVEN THO ITS THE FIRST OF JUNE LOL

[heytherecentaurs]

Emily studied abroad in Czechia. She visited the grave of Karel Capek, the man who introduced the word “robot”. This was mentioned in an Adventuring Party for A Starstruck Odyssey after meeting The Junkmother. She has also mentioned it on naddpod. This is why she likes making Eastern European characters, knows a lot of regional folklore and even uses Czech words like kočka, which is as others have noted the word for cat. Idk how fluent she is in the language but she does have an appreciation for it and the region.

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

PnF Spirit Week 1: May 27th - Pets

You never really forget your first ever pet. Especially if they disappear quite abruptly from your life.