disabilityshowdown - Tumblr blog

[disabilityshowdown]

*hands u a gumdrop, because you hav given me considerable happiness since the start of this torunament*

thank you!!! this means a lot <3

[disabilityshowdown]

i'd like to showcase a character i really like... saki tenma!!!

saki is from a game called project sekai, where 5 groups of teenagers all have worlds in their phones called SEKAIs, manifestations of their emotions and feelings, and in them is hatsune miku (and other vocaloids) to help them figure out their true feelings!

saki is in a rock band called leo/need with her 3 childhood friends. saki is chronically ill, although her exact chronic illness hasn't been mentioned, and had been in and out of the hospital since she was little. during middle school, she was practically always in the hospital, and her and her friends had drifted away, due to all of them having different problems in their lives at the time.

saki's described as having a very physically frail body, along with fainting very easily. she catches illnesses very easily and can make herself sick from overexerting herself, so most fans agree she most likely has some form of an autoimmune illness.

after being deemed healthy enough to return back to school in her first year of highschool, her and her friends eventually reconcile and decide to form a band together, she's the keyboardist! she is very cheerful and tries her hardest to get things done. because of all the time she spent alone in the hospital, she's dead-set on making the most of her life! she loves hanging out with her friends.

she also has an older brother (one year older), tsukasa. the two are very close and have an ADORABLE relationship. tsukasa is an actor/performer, and became one because of saki's support!

overall, i think saki's chronic illness is treated really well in the plot of project sekai. while it does affect her and how her life goes, she isn't reduced to only her chronic illness. she has struggles other than her illness, and has plenty of times she is happy, outgoing and enjoying herself. i think the writers did a very good job writing saki.

also, most importantly, shes adorable! what's not to like?

fun fact: the pink gradient in her hair is completely natural! her brother has a similar natural gradient, but orange rather than pink.

[also im very sorry for not including image descriptions, i am mentally disabled and cannot properly explain images and cannot write image descriptions properly]

[Image 1 ID: A fully rendered and dynamically posed art piece of Saki, a light skinned anime style character with pink eyes, and long blonde hair in two pigtails, that fades to pink at the ends. She is dressed in a white collared shirt, red tie, black skirt, and yellow jacket. The background behind her is of a classroom with some tables put up for the end of the day, and she is posing at a piano keyboard, with one hand on the keys and the other reaching out to the viewer]

[Image 2 ID: A much more chibi style comic panel set in a hospital, where Saki is in white pyjamas with a bunch of magazines in front of her, and flowers to her right. Her brother (who looks similar to her but with short hair that fades to orange) is posing with a flower while doing a dance move, wearing a similar uniform to Saki in the first picture. He says "As your brother I'm here to cheer you up with a new move!" while a person behind him says "Mr Tenma, please keep it down! This is a hospital!" There is a "Yay!" not in a speech bubble above Saki's head, and more onomatopoeia illustrating the dance]

[Image 3 ID: The same art style as the first image, in bright colours. Saki looks to have fallen down, lying amidst a pile of toys and music equipment, adjusting glasses on her face. A white coat and orange sweater have been added to her outfit, and she holds an open notebook in one hand. /end IDs]

thanks for sending this in! i can totally see why you like her, and as a disabled actor/musician i can relate so much

[disabilityshowdown]

Since polls are already underway just a shout out to my beloved Marci from Dragon Knight. In the Netflix series the only thing I watched of the dota series, she was an orphan who reported others for stealing bread, after they attacked her for reporting them she was left mute due to the injuries. The princess Mirana took her in as a servant and eventually Marci becomes her bodyguard due to some magic stuff I've read, and it's been a while but I remember her helping princess mirana aim when doing archery but can't remember specifics so I won't say for sure how much that went on, regardless she's an amazing character and I really love her personality and loyalty to her friends

hello! i can finally get to this now i've announced i was gonna ask for these anyway (same page!)

but yeah thank you for sending this in and she sounds awesome :D

[disabilityshowdown]

for the "show who were missing" thing would it be ok if i rambled abt a character who lost way back in the preliminaries? because she didnt get much attention then

go for it!

[disabilityshowdown]

alright! everyone in this tournament has now been featured in a poll at least once! (previous pinned post listing all the winners can be found here)

i'm gonna take a bit to put the rest of the tournament together (with graphics for those who find those easier, and hopefully to streamline things so i can put polls out faster)

but in the meantime, this is still a tournament dedicated to showcasing everyone's favourite disabled characters, so i'm starting our first secondary event:

show me who we're missing!

basically this is a free for all to send in propaganda, art, general yelling, anything you want for characters who didn't make it into any polls, but who are meaningful disability representation to you, and i'll showcase them, we can talk about them, maybe get some freebie advertising in there for the more obscure fandoms, just a time to let more people know about all these good characters! (and i may add some of my own in here too)

i will tag all the posts from this under #bonus events, in case you're just here for the polls, but for the rest of us, i look forward to hearing all about how much you love your faves!

[disabilityshowdown]

Find it kind of.. how do I say it.. weird a character who's disability is played for laughs is in here tbh..

and as i've said before, i'm not in the majority of the fandoms represented here, so im not sure which character you're talking about

but every character that made it into the tournament had multiple submissions from people who cared about them as disability rep, and i've seen just from round one that the vast majority of characters that some people see as bad representation do mean something to others (and the few characters that ended up here without people willing to fight for them get absolutely obliterated by the poll itself), so i don't really have an interest in gatekeeping

[disabilityshowdown]

ROUND ONE, PART 8/8

Rani vs Haruka Sakurai

Wilt vs Handy

Izumi Curtis vs Nog vs Spock

Juno Steel vs Merle Highchurch

Imperator Furiosa vs Massimo Marcovaldo

Bentley vs Symmetra

Quasimodo vs Cyborg

Nagito Komaeda vs Link

(Full tournament list can be found here)

Existing winners under the cut:

Eda Clawthorne (Owl House)

Hiccup and Toothless (HTTYD)

Barbara Gordon (DC)

Toph Beifong (ATLA)

Edward Elric (FMA)

Ashton Greymoore (Critical Role)

Wade Wilson (Marvel)

Kitty Softpaws (Puss in Boots) AND Jean Havoc (FMA) - exact tie

Matt Murdock (Marvel)

Maedhros (Silmarillion)

Jancy True (Drawtectives)

Donatello (TMNT)

Dr Carmilla (The Mechanisms)

Nemo (Finding Nemo)

Renarin Kholin (Stormlight Archives)

Long John Silver (Treasure Planet)

Dagen Underthorn (Critical Role)

Viktor (Arcane)

Taimi (GW2)

Johnny Joestar (JJBA)

Vash the Stampede (Trigun Stampede)

Drey Ferin (JRWI)

Geordi La Forge (Star Trek)

Kaz Brekker (Six of Crows)

Melanie King (TMA)

Snake (Zero Escape)

Future Leo (ROTTMNT)

Janice Palmer (WtNV)

Wylan Van Eck (Six of Crows) AND Linh Cinder (Lunar Chronicles)

Alphonse Elric (FMA)

All Might (BNHA)

Della Duck (Ducktales)

Jayfeather (Warrior Cats)

Shouko Nishimiya (A Silent Voice)

Brightheart (Warrior Cats)

Briarlight (Warrior Cats)

Ticket Jerry (Dialtown) AND Darth Maul (Star Wars Rebels)

Dulcinea Septimus (Locked Tomb)

Ricky Potts (Ride the Cyclone)

Vanellope (Wreck-it Ralph)

Terezi Pyrope (Homestuck) AND Sam Vimes (Discworld)

Custas (Witch Hat Atelier)

Gunthrie Miggles-Rashbax (Dimension 20)

Moon Knight (Marvel)

Goro Majima (Yakuza)

Maria Robotnik (Sonic)

Kazuhira Miller (Metal Gear Solid)

Hermann Gottleib (Pacific Rim)

Heinz Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb)

Charlotte Webber (Marvel)

Sage Beldaruit (Witch Hat Atelier)

Mamoru Urakawa (Mega Man Battle Network)

Teo (AtLA)

Tavros Nitram (Homestuck)

Gabriella (Little Mermaid)

Mera Salamin (Epithet Erased)

[disabilityshowdown]

clarification on link from anon (under the cut bc mentions totk plot):

"Some clarification about Link: in BOTW, he has amnesia because he almost died and was in a healing sleep for 100 years. He is also technically a mute protagonist, although there are implications of him speaking in backstory/dialogue options, and his muteness is because of stress. In TOTK, he loses his arm and it's replaced by another guy's arm (it's actually handled pretty badly by the writers but whatev); he gets the original arm back at the end."

[IDs: Komaeda is light skinned anime-style character with a mess of white hair, dressed in a white shirt, black pants, and long green coat. Both the coat and shirt have red markings on them. Link is a light skinned character with long blond hair and pointed ears, wearing a blue tunic and heavy cloak in typical fantasy style. They have a sword and quiver of arrows on their back and are wielding some kind of magic through a gauntlet on their right hand.]

Disabilities: Link as a mute/non-verbal protagonist (one submission also mentioned amnesia?), Komaeda has lymphoma, dementia, and is later an amputee

[disabilityshowdown]

Some clarification about Link: in BOTW, he has amnesia because he almost died and was in a healing sleep for 100 years. He is also technically a mute protagonist, although there are implications of him speaking in backstory/dialogue options, and his muteness is because of stress. In TOTK, he loses his arm and it's replaced by another guy's arm (it's actually handled pretty badly by the writers but whatev); he gets the original arm back at the end.

noted, thank you!

[disabilityshowdown]

[IDs: Rani is a light skinned fairy with long blonde hair, wearing a long sleeved, floor length blue dress. She is manipulating water around her with magic. Haruka is a light skinned boy with short blue hair, and is dressed in a white outfit covered in straps and buckles that resemble a straitjacket]

Disabilities: Rani lost her wings, Haruka was a headcanon round winner due to the fact that what kind of developmental disorder he has is ambiguous, but fans have told me the fact that he has one is crucial to his story

[disabilityshowdown]

[IDs: Wilt is a red cartoon monster in sports shoes, wearing a wristband, and with a blue number 1 on his chest. There are stitch markings on his face, and on his left forearm, where the rest of that arm has been amputated. One antenna-like eye is drawn much smaller than the other, and isn't facing the same direction. Handy is an orange cartoon beaver dressed as a builder, with yellow hard hat and a tool belt. He is missing part of both arms, and the remaining arms are bandaged.]

Disabilities: Wilt is missing an arm and is blind in one eye, Handy is a double amputee

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[IDs: Izumi is a light skinned woman with long dark hair in a ponytail, wearing a white collared vest. Nog is a brown skinned alien with a very large forehead and ears. He has no hair and is dressed in a grey and black starfleet uniform. Spock is a light skinned alien with short dark hair, a beard, and pointed ears. He is wearing a formal looking blue jacket]

Disabilities: Izumi has a chronic illness due to missing organs, Nog is an amputee, Spock in this series has the Vulcan equivalent of dyslexia

[disabilityshowdown]

[IDs: Juno is a black person with short hair, leaning broodily against a wall. The lighting of the art makes all his clothes shades of brown, with a dark turtleneck and long coat. Merle is a dark skinned dwarf with a grey robe and white beard, closing a spell book with a snap.]

Disabilities: Juno lost an eye, Merle lost an arm and later an eye

[disabilityshowdown]

[IDs: Furiosa is a light skinned woman with a shaved head, ragged clothing, and dark paint across the top half of her face. She is holding a rifle, and her left forearm is a skeletal metal prosthesis. Massimo is a broad light skinned man with short brown hair and mustache. He is wearing a brown cap and beige sweater.]

Disabilities: Both are amputees in one arm, Massimo from birth

[disabilityshowdown]

[IDs: Bentley is a green anthropomorphic turtle in a brown vest and hat, glasses, and yellow gloves. He is sitting in a wheelchair with his arms crossed. Symmetra is an indian woman with dark skin and long dark brown hair. She is dressed in a sci-fi looking blue white and grey body suit with gold accents that partially resembles a sari, and her left arm has been replaced by a cybernetic one]

Disabilities: Bentley is a wheelchair user, Symmetra is missing an arm (and is also canonically autistic, though this tournament isn't including autism solely due to there already being so many autism specific character tournaments)

[disabilityshowdown]

[IDs: Quasimodo is a light skinned heavyset man with short brown hair, wearing a green shirt. He has a hunchback, multiple facial deformities, and is holding a bird in his hands. Cyborg is a black teenage boy who wears a white and blue metal suit and has a lot of his body replaced by cybernetic parts, including some of his head - his left eye is a red cybernetic one. He is jumping out threateningly at the viewer.]

Disabilities: Quasimodo has the hunchback (one submission additionally mentioned partial blindness?), Cyborg has multiple prostheses and other cybernetic implants

[disabilityshowdown]

[IDs: Komaeda is light skinned anime-style character with a mess of white hair, dressed in a white shirt, black pants, and long green coat. Both the coat and shirt have red markings on them. Link is a light skinned character with long blond hair and pointed ears, wearing a blue tunic and heavy cloak in typical fantasy style. They have a sword and quiver of arrows on their back and are wielding some kind of magic through a gauntlet on their right hand.]

Disabilities: Link as a mute/non-verbal protagonist (one submission also mentioned amnesia?), Komaeda has lymphoma, dementia, and is later an amputee