#textpost //

[a-bag-of-cats]

I made things

[teathattast]

I'm an outfit repeater idc I will wear the same fit every day idgaf

[filledtothebrimothy]

spam post of those mfs connected to the five sinners in some way cuz they’re my favs

[madokamagicaheritageposts]

Madoka Magica Heritage Post

[ANGRILY FLIPS HAIR LIKE HOMURA AKEMI]

[soyoudontlikejazz]

By @portwinestains/Foeyeahboi on Twitter!

[psychicandruins]

I love you kpop demon hunters. Thank you for giving me a crap ton of ships to occupy my skull and giving me characters to obsess over.

[solradguy]

Damon And Baby

[iamlostonthepathoflife]

me, with a grand total of 0 lovers : 'hold my (metaphorical) cigarette' *smashes reblog*

i hope my next lover is my last i can’t do this again

[ego-osbourne]

I have tried to make a nice introduction to this post many times and keep fumbling it so I’m just going to jump right into it.

There’s a few posts/reblogs going around discussing the—for lack of a better term—racially charged designs of elves in the Oblivion Remaster. You can find the post here—op expressed that they didn’t want to continue the conversation on their blog, and I’ll try to respect that as much as possible, but I wanted to contribute to the argument because I feel like a lot of people are missing the point.

To summarize, an anon pointed out to op that NPCs like Mankar Camoran and Mannimarco look like racist Asian stereotypes, the kind you’d find in WWII propaganda (extremely slanted eyes, talking in a way that emphasizes their top row of teeth, etc.). The counterargument by op was that they did not agree with the assessment, saying OBRE’s Altmer were not much different from the Altmer of Morrowind, Skyrim, and ESO. In a reblog, op added that many of OBRE’s character artists came from various Asian backgrounds. In a final reblog, op added that TES’s elves have always been based off of potentially offensive stereotypes of Asians (with exaggerated facial features and hastily-woven inspirations from various Asian cultures), but since the studio behind OBRE probably didn’t intend to offend anyone, it shouldn’t be of much concern.

This is where I find the most concern.

The biggest thing I want to address is the argument of intent. Many people claiming that the OBRE Altmer aren’t racially charged will say that the developers did not intend for these designs to be offensive, and intent should be a serious contributing factor when judging these designs. I agree! I do not think that the devs at Virtuos and Bethesda ever intended to be offensive with their designs. That does not mean that they still weren’t offensive designs though, and the devs not realizing that their designs could be seen as offensive is half of the problem.

Think of the artists and animators over at Disney and Warner Bros in the 1950s when they were making what we can clearly see in hindsight as racist cartoons. Whether it be the indigenous people of Peter Pan, the siamese cats of Lady and the Tramp, the black characters of Tom & Jerry, or the crows of Dumbo, each of these depictions likely weren’t seen as offensive by the artists creating them. If anything, these characters were probably seen as “accurate” for who they represented.

This same idea of “not stereotypical, just accurate” followed the attitude of minstrel shows. Many white people performing these shows would claim imitation as flattery—they weren’t making stereotypes, they were just living out the “Black experience,” and it couldn’t be offensive if it was “enjoyable” and “accurate.” The point is, something doesn’t need to be seen as offensive by its creators to still be obviously offensive, even when its creators are part of the demographic that is being the most affected. Minstrel shows were also performed by African Americans, and at least one of the crows of Dumbo was voiced by a black man (with the other voice actors being uncredited aside from one white voice actor). This phenomenon has been argued to be a blend of desensitization to offensive depictions (they’re “funny/accurate,” so what’s the harm in participating?) and as a way to appease those with more power (the white man) so that you’re seen as “one of the good ones” and can avoid being targeted in the future.

That^ is to say that the many Asian developers at Virtuos don’t discount the fact that these OBRE Altmer designs are still very uncomfortable to other POC people, especially those of Asian background. You can be “on the team,” so-to-say, and still do something that offends and disgusts “your team.” I’m very certain that the people over at Virtuos did not intend to make something that resembled a racist caricature out of elves, but intent starts to matter less and less when you are a big company that, purposefully or not, is reinforcing an ugly, exaggerated stereotype and desensitizing both white fans and POC fans to the point that they (the fans) will not only refuse to criticize designs like this, but actively fight against people who point out the harm these designs cause.

No matter your racial background, if you can stomach these designs and enjoy OBRE or TES as a whole, if you can treat this series as a form of escapism and have the privilege to live apolitically through it, that’s awesome. Escapism is a very healthy and valid way to process the events of the real world, and if you are able to experience that, great. That’s not what matters though.

Not everyone gets to live apolitically. It’s important not to disregard or discredit those who point out real issues in any media, no matter how you view it. You might see TES as nothing more than the Funny Elf Game, but there are many very valid people within the community who recognize the very biased hand of the author and cannot enjoy it to the same extent that you do. I found it baffling that so many people were so quick to disregard the arument responding to op as a “violent, non-intellectual group hounding a concept art blog” (paraphrased from many different responses, though all these words were used)—the use of “violent” and lacking “intellectual integrity” has been the common kneejerk response to POC concerns for decades on decades to discredit and devalue genuine critiques, thus shielding the offending party from having to think twice about something that makes them uncomfortable (I don’t think you intended to touch on an offensive and racially charged practice still used to this day, I just think you have been desensitized to that particular reaction so much you have failed to recognize how it can affect other minority groups, even if you yourself are part of a minority group (/ironic); the use of “hounding” is also a bit… silly? Much smaller blogs cannot “hound” a bigger blog, and it is the responsibility of op to understand that they are prone to considerable backlash just by virtue of being a bigger blog—there is no such thing as “punching down” on or “hounding” a bigger creator than yourself, especially not when the conversation remained as on-topic as it did; additionally, op is not just a “concept art” blog, if they were they wouldn’t have engaged in this conversation in the first place. They did not have to answer the ask.

To finish off, I want to make it clear that I am white. I have been a fan of TES since I was a kid, and did not recognize any racially/marginally charged aspects of the game on my own, because, obviously, none of those aspects have ever affected me. I am making this argument on the grounds that all of these things were pointed out to me by POC friends within the community (especially my Asian friends, in this regard), and I find it important that anyone from any background is able to validate the concerns of the marginalized.

This is my main argument, but I’m going to go into a few extra details in a reblog. If you’re interested in a very in-depth post from an Asian POC regarding this, @bforblitz has a project in the works.

[youruinedmylifebynotbeingreal]

[sunnywalnut]

Yk I never understood the whole trend of "I'm no better than a man" "don't ask me what color her shirt is" etc etc because like... You do realize what you're doing is bad right?

Like sure. It's funny. If you know each other.

Calling your friends hot is literally what friends are for. Especially if they're feeling down about themselves.

But if you go out of your way to actively thirst over any kind of person(especially women) in a way that objectifies them, even if you think it's positive, that's not right!!!

It's one thing if the person is specifically asking to be talked to in that manner. It's another thing if you see them just existing, even if in a manner you deem sexual, and start hopping on their ass about how sexy they are

And also!!! Just because somebody is okay with you talking like that about them at a specific time does NOT mean that it's okay to do it all the time!!!

Just because you're not a cishet dude doesn't mean that your actions aren't predatory!!!

Stop it!!!

"the demonization of queer desires and queer sexualities is so widespread that it is necessary to defend them and amplify them" and "barging in on a post by a trans woman you don't know to comment on how you are sexually attracted to her is not ok, especially if she's specifically discussing transmisogyny" are not in fact contradictory statements.

[thewizardslime]

Krusie CAN work as a romantic relationship in fact i fw the ship a lot HOWEVER i feel like how they are written is also a really good example of a close and healthy and absolutely POWERFUL platonic relationship, so i often just see it as that, they are the best friends of all time. Also tbh they are also super relatable at times w some of my friends lmao.

[teathattast]

Whenever I feel bad about myself for not being immediately good at something new while also being popular and well liked, i have to remind myself it took me 10 years to get to where I am on tumblr

[bull-shit-suji]

considering posting about a kuro oc but everyone has to PROMISE to be nice and cool about it

[gordonstanheight]

george making a joke in the it takes two challenge that butterflies are his favorite animal…… Guys. likes butterflies, haunted by deer motifs, semi-pretentious, always getting into hijinks with his childhood best friend known for dying his hair……… galex = pricefield i See it