leon-on-the-froggy-chair - Tumblr blog

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

G A R D E N J A R G O N

Thank you SO sosososososososo much @starishsky for helping me figure out what flowers are on Luis’ jacket <<<<3333

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

hey you know who it is but im writing this anon because my social position makes it hard for me to speak for myself/you have a bigger platform irt RE4 stuff than i do (for reasons i will mention shortly, i do not interact w RE4 fandom sans you and our other friend hahaaa)

hi. i'm a spanish person. i love RE4 both remake and OG but im unable to participate in the fandom because its directly harmful to my mental health, solely because of the way people talk about a certain spaniard in the game.

when i first played remake i was very excited to see a well written, interesting, and relateable spanish character in a video game for once. the closest i ever got to good spanish rep was zevran from dragon age, who was spanish only in the fantasy context which gave him an accent and a culture more or less adjacent to that of spain. i got into that fandom at a young age, and was swiftly driven out because of the way people characterized and spoke about zevran online. it was not only annoying and frustrating to see the stupid ass takes people had about him, but harmful to me as well, and as a result it damaged the way i exist with my identity because when you say something publicly, authoritatively about a character with a certain ethnic/racial coding (explicit or implicit), you are saying this about real people as well. the same is the case with luis in RE4r.

yes its a video game. yes its a character. hes not real. i know! im not fucking stupid. but if you are going to make grand statements about someone who is directly tied to a real life identity, do some baseline research first. i beg you.

in particular, i am disturbed by the characterization of luis as "evil" or otherwise immoral. i am not going to deny that his actions were not always morally clean, or that he is a Good person or a Saint. he absolutely isnt. but the world is not black and white! i also want to preface this by saying that nationality (which i take into question with luis in particular) is not equal to race. nor is it equal to political ideology, or social status, or ethnic identity, or religion, or anything. if i said that all people in the united states are white anglo saxon protestants and republicans living in mcmansions, would that be a true and informed statement? no. this kind of thought doesn't apply to any nation. not even ethnostates, where the percieved ethnic or racial homogeneity is a construction of the state and not a reality at all. anyways.

im thinking explicitly about a post referring to luis as a mad scientist, and general posts ive seen talking about how he has a "sick fascination" or whatever with las plagas, and how that makes him a Bad Person who agrees with Bad People. i wanna point out firstly the alignment this characterization has with nazism. nazis were known to use scientists and scientific research to commit atrocities upon their victims. without getting into the discussion of these scientists' personal morals and ethics, an unecessary and tired discussion IMO for what im trying to say ("they were just doing their job" im tired of hearing this), i wanna point out the issue of applying nazi coded traits on someone from spain.

after a horrific civil war from 1936-39, spain was under a fascist dictatorship until the peaceful death of francisco franco in 1975. during the war, and the subsequent dictatorship, the people of spain lived under horrific conditions -- families were torn apart, civilians were gunned down, children disappeared, babies were kidnapped from hospitals and given to right wing fascist families to raise. ethnic minority groups were violently suppressed. this was widely ignored by the western powers especially after WWII ended, though some people were conscious of it; participants in the international brigades included people such as george orwell, who wrote about his experience on the frontlines of the spanish civil war.

anyways, back to nazis: spain was indeed a fascist regime. this regime did indeed not only follow the lead of other fascist state leaders (hitler. mussolini.) but also were allied with them, despite not participating in WWII directly. but the only beneficiaries of these alliances were state officials. if you are familiar with picasso's Guernica painting, im gonna mention its historical context. if you aren't, i urge you to take a look at it. its a depiction of the horrors of the aerial bombing of the town of Gernika. the town is situated in the basque country, a region of the iberian peninsula whose people were violently suppressed and persecuted due to their ethnicity, and under the regime their language was banned from being used. so Gernika, already a target of the spanish state, was devastated by german bomber planes. this was ok, because the town was basque. basque people were targets, and so franco invited the germans to bomb the shit outta their region. this was the first of many air raids, and weapon tests carried out in spanish territory by the nazis in particular.

anyways. back to resident evil i guess. valdelobos is not canonicaly placed anywhere in particular on a map of spain, but from the landscapes its safe to say it is in the north, and from hints in names of people and places i tend to place it somewhere in the region of galicia, another one of those areas that wanted (still does want) autonomy and is ethnically and linguistically different from the rest of spain. additionally this is a very isolated village with no contact with the outside. theyre using pesetas in 2007, a currency that was phased out in the 90's and replaced by the euro in 2002. it would take thousands of words to explain what i would like to explain, but im trying not to be overly verbose, so bear with me. from personal experience with the fallout of the civil war and dictatorship, its safe to say that the people from this village were hurt deeply by war and fascism (everyone was!) which would explain their isolationism, and the vulnerability to a power hungry interloper like saddler makes sense considering post war/dictatorship instability. people from a village like this were victims of the state, and outside states.

so i ask, why would you align luis with nazi science? maybe im being overdramatic, maybe im too sensitive, maybe im overreacting, but thats why im on anon… why would you characterize a victim in the way of their oppressor?

i doubt anyone will read this but you and i doubt it is even coherent. i dunno. theres too much to say and too little attention to hold onto. but like, i dunno. if u wanna look into a character, understand their motives, understand their personality, why they are they way they are, maybe do some research before you make uninformed and harmful statements. if you are truly interested in a character from a different culture than your own, understand this culture before you speak about it with authority. understand that people from similar backgrounds as this character have been made to feel unwelcome and alienated in discussions about their own life experiences.

sit on it for a minute and think: should i say this? i understand ignorance. we are all ignorant in our own ways. something that is a taboo in my own country to be spoken of like the dictatorship and the war of course is not going to be immediately common knowledge outside my nation, but perhaps knowing that there is more to a character than what you know as someone from a different cultural and historical and social context will urge you to reconsider the way you speak about them in a public forum.

-- a nameless, silent descendant of mozarabs and gitanos, whose ancestry lies scattered across the countless mass graves that paint my country's landscape blood red.

here guys, if you are still believing that this spreading of this character take is not problematic, you can listen to an actual spaniard who has grown up in spain about why this thought process is harmful. thanks.

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

i have a lot to say about luis and idealism and how frequently it seems this part of him is misinterpreted, but since my lovely translator is actually from spain, unlike most people writing about this character, i think i have a lot insight about why i characterize luis the way i do, so allow me to give my take on it, since everyone else is: in order to do that, though, we have to talk about spain.

so let's get started there. firstly, spain is in an ongoing civil war and has been for centuries. not silly little tee hee kind of tension either, it's war where sisters and brothers have killed each other and have to act as if they have not. even if luis was not directly a part of this generation, he still feels the affects of those things (as the entire country does), which is that there is a lot of trauma and harm associated. luis' family was likely included in the ethnic "cleansing" that occurred as well, where people were turned to an outsider religion or killed off otherwise. this also foils his circumstances, which with umbrella and las plagas, he would be at risk of being killed were he to refuse to do the things asked of him. knowing this, it gives a different angle to the people we encounter as leon, and it also changes the way that luis is likely approaching them as well. if we consider that as the background in spain, because it quite literally is -- it explains a lot of the his mindset and why i believe that luis did not know the extent of what umbrella was doing when he came to america. spain was never industrialized, therefore, knowledge of the outside world would not be present when interacting with it. luis would have no idea about those things, but has enough intelligence to navigate them, as he has the mind to.

that's the first bit, but the second bit is luis' obsession with don quixote. now, if we look at the story of don quixote, he is an idealist, with an unrealistic view of the world. since luis calls himself don quixote, it's not too far fetched to believe that he shares such ideals with the character. because of this, it makes him more prone to believing there is good in the world when there is not. such a thing is even explained in the books, where don quixote believes in these things so rigorously that he is called delusional and naive. luis wants to do good, he is just not in the circumstances to do so, and the oppressive hand of umbrella looming overhead says that one cannot escape. there's a reason that luis chose the raccoon city incident to disappear, because umbrella was being gutted from the inside out. damned if you do, damned if you don't.

we know that luis is extremely smart and likely wanted to prove his abilities, and that is the only weapon luis has. being intelligent, thus knowing that, we can assume that his actions with umbrella were done in an attempt to make a name for himself. such a thing comes with a cost, however, since we have to consider the fact that he later ends up having a hand in the destruction of other people. even if luis was outwardly wondering what is ability is, he realizes in that moment that his abilities cost him. so, what would luis do in this case? he returns to his hometown, the place where people he knows are, to find saddler in place. saddler, seeing an outsider who is not under his control, takes him under his wing. luis sees this as an opportunity to fix the things that were done wrong previously, and therefore begins work on the amber in an attempt to reverse it. by the time he finds out what saddler intends to do with it, although understanding of the intention, luis knows that this will not be the case. he is even infected with his own research, adding salt into the wounds. everything in his hometown is being destroyed, but by this time, luis is well in the trenches of disillusionment. he's bitter and cynical, but carries himself well, which is legitimately reflected in separate ways.

luis at no point acts particularly friendly with ada (unlike leon and ashley), until he tells her he'll reverse the infection, but that's after the inciting incident of meeting leon. you can spin this however you'd like, but saying that luis did the things he did for the sake of furthering himself and nothing else, is frankly an incorrect assessment. looking at the history of spain, it would be more aligned with luis' character to better the world, as he has watched people suffer the after effects of everything his whole life. luis doesn't want to aid in the suffering of other people, believe it or not, because it would place him in the same role as the oppressors in spain (like ramón, for example, as it's no mistake he's in a castle, as when spain was 'cleansed' by colonizers and turned to monarchy). in my humble opinion, it's a misreading of his character, as we have a lot of background knowledge to go on: luis is an idealist, and leon is a realist, which is how they oppose one another, the same as don quixote and sancho do inside the story of don quixote. he viewed the amber as his chance to reverse the damage he did in raccoon city, only to find that he's repeating the same cycle, which is what causes him to leave. in his lab notes, he mentions wanting to leave and fight such things elsewhere, which shows that luis always wanted to fight those things, not aid in their spread. saddler is the same cycle as umbrella, and trapped in his hometown, surrounded by his mistakes and danger, luis will do what he has to in order to keep himself alive. we see later in his talks with leon that he feels guilty for such actions, that he wants to feel better about himself, because it's been a long time coming. being in circumstances beyond one's control will do that, so in aiding to rid the world of the plaga, he's taking back the control he never had. he pays with his life for it, however, and that's how his story ends.

view this character however you like, but what i won't do is watch people demonize this spanish man for funsies the way a lot of people have in previous characterizations, as even the original telling of luis serra wanted to look for a CURE for the infection. he was brought the amber and asked to work on it, he didn't discover it himself, and based on the fact that he was already well into saddler's cult by then, he would be unsafe to do otherwise. self preservation with luis will always come first. he's not innocent baby but he's also not exactly a mindless, doing this for fun person either -- he's just a man who's lost his spirit, which happens to all of us. resident evil is, at base, stories about characters who are suffering from the cards they are dealt. jill/chris with the mansion, leon/claire with raccoon city, and luis with the las plagas and the t-virus, which he did the work on in order to not be killed. thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

(you'll be sorry that you did it)

cigarette duet - princess chelsea

side by side :) p proud of the big panel

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

The beans have spilled, it is true I am a finger and phone artist. Fear me.

ALSO THANK YOU ERIC GGMFKKDKEMDJEJEDJEGESGEEGHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHHEHEHEKEE

"The Scalpel Shines in God's Sunshine"

(click for better quality)

Guess who's still alive, this drawing has been the bane of my existence for the last 2 days after I got the idea back in like August djjjdjsk hope yall like

Lyrics from Scream of The Butterfly by Acid Bath

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

"The Scalpel Shines in God's Sunshine"

(click for better quality)

Guess who's still alive, this drawing has been the bane of my existence for the last 2 days after I got the idea back in like August djjjdjsk hope yall like

Lyrics from Scream of The Butterfly by Acid Bath

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

DAY 3 - Fantasy AU

Luis:

*Casting Axii*

"You desperately wish to spend the night with me..."

Leon:

"You know very well that these don't work on witchers, you lusty jester."

Witchers! Long haired Luis! Dilfy Leon! Going full ham with the scars!

@serennedyweek2024

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

Chris: "He worked for Umbrella, you know what that means?"

Leon: "Yeah, I do."

Chris: "And you're still going to protect this man?"

Leon: "...I am."

Thought it would be fun to depict Luis's older incarnation with a little shorter hair and no beard for once, something fresh :D (makes him look younger instead of older imo lol, but it's kind of cute <3)

DAY 8 - Free Day (RE6 Era day again for me, woohoo!)

@serennedyweek2024

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

Hey gang, so

Life update time.

This is mostly for my friends, and any whom it may concern regarding my inactivity in recent time.

Choosing not to sugarcoat it too heavily, I've found myself in an unstable and unsafe living situation with people I currently have to entirely financially rely on. I am physically still safe, nothing has happened, backup plans are in place if things get too bad. And I'm currently looking for long term solutions. Just shit is hitting the fan.

But. I promise I'm not trying to ignore or ghost anyone. I am super super sorry if it seems like I've been ignoring or disengaging with things or people, or have seemed rude in showing less excitement about stuff. It's just difficult at the moment.

Will be back to normal functioning soon, hopefully. But till then. Yeah. Yeehaw.

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

@serennedyweek2024 Day 2- Death Island Era AU!!

They’re eepy <<33 snug as a bug in a rug <<<<333 they make me so ill

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

I CANT BELIEVE I FORGOT TO POST THIS OH MY GOD BUT HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY @leon-on-the-froggy-chair THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING THE BESTEST PAL A GUY COULD ASK FOR <<<<<<<<<<33333333333

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

with the current global strike nearing its end, please remember keep donating & raising awareness for palestine even after this weekend 🍉🍉🍉

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

Tumblr Scams

Hey everyone, it is really important to donate when it comes to causes aiding those facing genocide in Palestine, to those who need medical assistance and/or help escaping, but if someone 1. (most common) Sends you an Ask asking you to donate to them and/or reblog their pinned post, or 2. (less common) Spam tags you and tons of others in a post asking for donations for them, it is a scam. They always have real looking accounts, but they are always scams. And their Ask or pinned post explaining their situation may sound absolutely real, because they often steal directly from actual people who need the help, copying their words. It is disgusting beyond words that people are using the plights of those facing actual genocide to trick people into giving them money, and I hope they rot. If you receive an ask from someone asking to donate or reblog their pinned post, report them for phishing and explain that it is a scam in the description box. Fortunately, the scammer that contacted me deactivated their tumblr within minutes of me calling them out, but not all of them do. So be careful.

If you can donate - find legitimate sources, seek out the many sources being shared. But I need you to know that people using the tactics above are scams, they are known and proven tactics of scams, and you cannot donate to them.

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

HEY GANG SO SORRY IF IM INACTIVE AS SHIT LATELY I HAVE A LOT GOING ON AND LIFE IS CRUSHING MY BALLS UNDER A SPIKED BOOT I PROMISE I DONT MEAN TO IGNORE ANYONE

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

Oops meant to post this earlier for valentino white bag day JRJJEEKKE

Better late than never as they say

[leon-on-the-froggy-chair]

Due to drawing straight people my friend told me to "draw him kiss the tan man again"