#ALSO STOP WHITEWASHING THE POC CHARACTERS YOU

[squiddcakes]

YALL GOTTA UNDERSTAND ZENIX HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL HE COULDVE BEEN MY GENERATIONS PRINCE ZUKO—

[shittygaypornmagazine]

......................so is tumblr not aware of the fact that disney's z-o-m-b-i-e-s movies are fuck awful or.....................

[pasteilian]

Do you have a recommendation when designing a black character? Or tips, or maybe pages you visit for references?

Suck at explaining stuff but I’ll try

‼️ Ethnic Features ‼️

So, the art world is in a very weird place when it comes to ethnic features. The conversation was about how using POC ethnic features as an insult in media was damaging and needed to stop, and that somehow morphed into people being scared about drawing people with those features.

Black people have big ears, big noses, and big lips. That's not the problem. The problem was that media was using it to make us look like giant ape, monkey, monster creatures. It's okay to give them these defining features.

Also, remember that brown people have lighter pigment under their feet, hands, and bottom lips. 🌸 (didn’t really know where to put this but drawing mix people is basically a spin the wheel we come in all different shapes and sizes and features. There’s really no wrong way to draw a mixed POC.)

‼️ It's Just My Style ‼️

I'm so goddamn tired of hearing this goddamn excuse. A style does not mean you can't properly represent POC. I would even go on to say that if your style is stunting you so grossly that you can't draw a proper black person, you have a bad art style. Sorry—not really.

Media has shown us that style does not stop representation. The only thing stopping that is your ignorance and refusal to improve. Great examples of ranging styles still being able to represent different POC are "Adventure Time," "Disney's Soul," "Proud Family," "Afro Samurai," etc. I'm just saying this because I've seen this excuse be more prevalent in the art world, and it's just better to nip that in the bud.

‼️ Whitewashing + I Don't Know How to Use the Color Brown ‼️

I've seen people make the excuse that the skin color is lighter because they use a pastel style, but they never bring up the fact that the only color in the art that's lighter is the skin tone. 💀

Also, the whole thing about people saying they don't know how to shade and color brown palettes is just completely bullshit. I would even say that trying to shade pale colors is harder than shading darker colors. Additionally, there are multiple artists and tutorials showing you exactly how it's done. You have no excuses other than you just don't want to.

YouTuber Sinix has a great video on painting skin tones!

‼️ Black Hairstyles ‼️

I love dreads. Dreads are a very pretty hairstyle. However, we have more hairstyles other than dreads. If you're going to draw black characters, I would encourage you to branch out and explore beyond dread heads. There are so many unique black hairstyles out there. We need to move on from just focusing on dreads.

YouTuber Ari has two wonderful videos on black hairstyles in video games. I would recommend checking them out.

‼️ References ‼️

I love referencing old black media such as "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "The Proud Family," and "Little Bill" (before all the Bill Cosby stuff came out). I also appreciate how "House of the Dragon" implemented black people into the lore. Other references include "BOTW/TOTK Rottmnt," etc.

Some artists I reference all the time are Mohammed Agbadi, who doesn't do many art tutorials anymore but often discusses black characters in media, and his art is still amazing. Ethan Becker has a very interesting video on the racist triangle that I recommend checking out.

On Instagram, I love the art of Jojo.Dreamie, Chibichanga12 (holy shit, love their art), Bruniosktch, and Caw.Chan. I also just reference my family a lot. 💀

This is a lot of rambling, but what I’m gonna say is don’t stunt yourself by tricking yourself into believing that your art can’t include POC 🌸🌸‼️💌💖💌💌🎀💕💘‼️🧁

[teeth-cable]

I need more people to talk about how just like the POC designs, the writing is terrible at clueing the audience what race and ethnicity the characters are.

Beside stereotypes, the racial coding in the writing is little to non-existence. The characters don’t have mannerisms from their cultures, speak in slangs or idioms relating to their group from their time periods, or make cultural references.

Without having to rely on outside sources (Livestreams, looking up VAs, leaked audition sheets, etc), the only characters I would successfully guess would be Vicky, Val, and Velvette, and even then, it doesn’t mean the racial coding is good.

Vicky is the only one from this list whose racial coding isn’t atrocious. I can tell she’s Latino because she curses in Spanish, but that’s it. This is admittedly nick-picky , but I wish when cursing she would have used Salvadoreño specific slang and curse phases to signal she’s Salvadoreña.

Val, I can tell is Latino too, because of his accent and him cursing in Spanish, but it’s egregious. The accent fluctuates so much, it’s strong, then weak, then strong again. Not sure if the VA was struggling or if this was an intentional direction given to him, though the fact, I and other people were confused, at the direction, speaks for itself. Another issue with his accent is how it’s sexualized, contributing to the Latin Lover stereotype of his character.

Velvette, I won’t sugarcoat it. I wouldn’t even guess she was supposed to be black though the writing or the majority of her designs until the finale. The finale, the last episode of the season and the only time she has textured hair with her screen time being around two minutes and sixteen seconds in total.

Visual designs isn’t where race coding ends. This is important to remember because it ignores the good coded characters (King Dice from Cuphead, Darwin from TAWG, the Funk trolls from Dreamwork’s Trolls) and how Viv failed and could have done the racial coding better.

For Viv, she has to rely on other coding methods too because there are characters who aren’t humanoid enough, or even humanoid at all, for visual coding to work. There really isn’t anything I can say to explain why the race coding sucks beside Viv doesn’t care about representing POCs.

I wanted to create this post to highlight how Viv fails at coding in every aspect. The fandoms and critics shouldn’t praised her for giving Velvette textured hair or darkening Sera’s skin from her leaked audition sheet. We need to stop praising creators, especially white ones, for doing less than the bare minimum (The bare minimum being making POC characters look POC) when creating POC characters, or worse, justify it. I’ve seen people tried to justify the terrible POC designs by using one of Carmilla’s daughters as an example, as if one decent POC design in a sea of ashy and euro-centric or erased features for the majority of the POC cast suddenly invalidates the criticisms.

I’m also getting tired of the fandom making posts questioning why people have and still draw the POC characters as white, as well as people harassing artists for accidental whitewashing. I’m hate the whitewashing too but in this case, it’s different because this is Viv’s own fault due to her poor racial coding. Not every fan will have the same intense knowledge you do or even should, to know what a character’s race or ethnicity is, that’s Viv’s responsibilities as the creator.

Mind you, these were the human designs we had before the show aired. Alastor being mixed creole and Niffty being Japanese yet they look white as hell here.

[agent371]

This post is talking about the designs (and the designs only, I haven't read anything from the authors and dont even know who they are so this is design based only) released for the new Damian Wayne comic - The Boy Wonder. I will be heavily critical and btching about these, but please tell me your thoughts as well. After Damian, the others are under the cut. Please read because it's important.

Damian's design is actually really good and the best one, which is probably good since this is a comic about him. And I love how he's not whitewashed, which is something that happens way too much in comics.

Now, to Nightwing, his design is okay for a Nightwing design, but he just looks off in this style. I think if they tried to stylise him more, it could look a lot cooler. So I think he's just got wasted potential. Also, he's probably whitewashed as well to make damian more special as the "only" POC in the family (probly why Cass, Duke, Luke, and Luicus aren't here as well).

Babs is next, and this is the main reason I made this post. They abled her. DC authors stop abling disabled characters, please, for the love of me, I can't stand it. She can be disabled and still be relevant in the plot. I swear the only reason authors do this is because they don't know how to write disabled characters. If they need a Batgirl, use Steph or Cass because they are more than capable of doing it. I know they aren't as iconic as Babs, but move on DC. She's so much more interesting as Oracle.

Batman, I'm not a fan of his big blocky design. I just don't like it. He also looks really irrelevant and giving this is a comic about Robin (his son!) I think he should be relevant or look like he isn't a background character who just grunts, like for the design it looks like he doesn't talk. Don't like it.

Jason now, I actually love his Red Hood costume it looks sick, and the R on the chest *chefs kiss*. But his robin outfit is too gritty, and from that, I can tell he's going to be mischaracterised as the "angry Robin," so Hood looks cool, but that's all it is, his looks.

Tim. There is so much to say, omg. Where is his hero outfit! Everyone else got them. Why didn't he? You can actually see RR in the preview, so why wasn't that design put here? Why is it just Tim? And why does kid Tim look homless you know he grew up rich, before and after his adoption sure he has a style but his cloths wouldn't be friad he'd still look sleek and scruff not on the verge of his cloths falling off his back. For this, I can tell he'll also be mischaracterised as just like Jason since this is a Damian comic they are doing to do him so dirty. :( Sad day for a 90's Tim Drake fan (like every day, tbh save my guy). His RR design also has a shitty mask, but other than that, it seems fine, I like the wings/cape for it that looks pretty cool.

Alfred is a stereotypical old man. He's got no individuality what so ever and will proble be in one panel, say something sarcastic, and never show up again.

Ra's is okay. That's all.

Talia doesn't even look like herself . If you showed me her design with no context, I would not know who she is.

Carrie. Why is she here? Like honestly, why? There are better characters to include in a comic like this, like Steph or Cass or Duke or Helana. They would all be better chooses than Carrie. I'm not the biggest Damian fan, but ofter, Damian fans have been wanting him and Huntress as in a comic for a bit. I do like her design, but I just don't get why she's here. (I'm not including her image because of the limit bit is on my previous repost)

[wickjump]

Hey how do you think the sans AUs would act like if they had hair.

Like who would dye it , what haircut , how often would they wash it and stuff.

i’m choosing to go for ‘human au’ on this one because skeletons with hair isn’t something i want to think about for long. mind you these are my hcs and everyone is allowed to have their own interpretation of characters! this is just how i view them. i still enjoy other human designs for them tho and arent really that picky with anything really.

error’s hair by all logic should be in awful condition because of the years without caring for his hair in the anti void but his body seems to be in a sort of stasis. oh well, to hell with all logic. i love both long dreads and braids on him and i’m always unable to pick so either or, no preference. i adore both interpretations equally. definitely blue hair, at least at the ends. maybe it’s dyed, maybe the antivoid gave him blue hair, who knows. he doesn’t remember.

ink. this is heavily inspired by a design i found on tiktok (by hlebna11) that i enjoy the concept of. long thin white hair, a good bit below waist length. he’s dyed his hair plenty times before but it all seems to fade out completely after a week or two no matter what dye he uses. his hair gets in the way of a lot/is dipped in paint/gets caught on things, but he refuses to cut it. thankfully once it hit his ‘below waist length’ it stopped growing out. (edit: by inspired by, i mean exclusively the hair part, not the skin tone! i was unaware he was canonically poc, and the design mentioned shows him as white. whitewashing is a bad thing and i did not mean to support a design featuring that!!)

dream and nightmare both have long hair. dream’s is thick and wavy golden (i don’t mean blonde, i mean actually unnaturally bright gold colored), while nightmare’s is thin and straight. nightmare’s hair would be more like dream if he wasn’t ‘corrupted’, and it was more of a curly darkish purple when he was younger than pure black like it is now. his hair is also much longer than dream’s, reaching down to near hip length while dream’s hair is like. middle of ribcage length. dream puts his hair up a lot, nightmare doesn’t. for some reason, nm’s hair never gets tangled. like at all. lucky mf

cross had short hair most of his life because it was the royal guard standard, but over time at nightmare’s without those rules, he grew it out a bit. not too much, less than shoulder length, but it's still visibly longer and more full. his hair is naturally white because xgaster had a theme going on, possibly with a black underside. he’s huge on ‘keeping it natural’, as in not dying it, but nobody believes his hair is naturally those colors.

(100% inspired by crixcrocz on tiktok you have my favorite human design for killer ever) killer’s hair is about shoulder length and the cut looks like it was done in complete darkness with a chainsaw. not much else to say here. it’s uneven and always ruffled. who let him cut his own hair. he also has that ramona style ‘two strands in the front that are longer than the rest of the hair’ thing going on. he’d dye it if dyeing it didn’t require bleaching it, which he doesn’t want to put in the effort of doing.

now for dust. i am physically incapable of imagining dust in any way other than junipers-insects’ design for him?? i’m in love with it. so that’s what i forever see him as in ‘human form’. im far from picky with designs for him tho, i've seen a lot of cool ones.

classic’s got short dreads i’m sorry i don’t make the rules. i really don’t. while i love the idea of him dyeing it he’d be way too lazy to. also this ain’t about him but classic papyrus would likely have short hair with shaved sides. you know the style. he probably also has ‘cool guy’ shaved into said sides. or flames. either that or he's got cornrows. sans does his hair

geno’s got classic’s same hair because they’re the same guy, except it’s gone pure white in the save screen because he has a theme to keep up. he jokes that he’s gone grey due to stress and i wouldn't doubt it. i also like to think his hair is longer but that "wouldn't make sense" because "his body doesn't function normally when in the save screen" or whatever so SIGH i guess he has short hair (lame)

fell is similar to classic but his dreads are longer, a little bit more than shoulder length i’d say? he puts his hair up in a ponytail a lot. there's this one human design i love for him but i cannot find it which is killing me.

swap on the other hand has short curled hair. on the hair scale i’d say it’s 3a? 3b? it’s above shoulder length but it goes below his chin. he showers like twice a day so 30% of the time you see him his hair is wet. his hair is thick too so it takes forever to dry which annoys him (me fr). i like both white and black and brown hair for him so i have no preference for color between those three. he probably dyed it blue for a while for sake of color scheme but didn't like it much. i've also seen good designs for him where he's got ginger hair too.

fresh’s hair i imagine the same as his actual human design so there’s not much in that regard for him. greaser’s hair is the same as well. i don't have many thoughts for them because their hair has already been ingrained into my mind for years

horror has thin hair due to malnutrition. like it’s really not healthy at all. it used to be much fuller and shorter years ago, but time and starvation both do numbers. his hair reaches halfway down his humerus and is often knotted or tangled, he just doesn’t care much for it compared to other things.

reaper has long straight dark gray hair that goes down to his waist. geno (or rt!tori, or whoever you ship him with/hc him to be close with in general) likes to mess with it and put it in different styles. reaper lets him because it’s fun to see him so concentrated on something.

i’m so torn on lust. honestly i’ve never seen a bad hairstyle on him, he can pull off literally anything so i don’t mind what hairstyle he has nor do i have a preference. in fact, he probably switches styles all the time, so there’s no definitive one he uses the most. his hair is def dyed purple/pink/teal at the ends. he probably also uses that hair glitter spray on it

btw i am in fact white so if i messed up with any of the poc hairstyle descriptions PLS PLS PLS let me know!!!

i also don't really imagine any of them with facial hair because i don’t like facial hair i’m too lesbian for that. stubble is fine. they got arm/leg/other such hair too when applicable but i personally just do not like big ol beards/mustaches. that's just my personal preference with that one no shame in having facial hair or enjoying it it’s just not my thing ^^;

ok yeah that’s all :33

[zumurruds]

yall KILL me. he is based off ancient Greek people/culture. just because the man is tanned doesn't suddenly erase his proximity to whiteness. the conflict between vere and akielos is xenophobia, not racism, and conflating the two is so dangerous. it's seriously so disingenuous to try and use Damen as some sort of POC representation. the Fandom fuels the baseless critiques calling capri slave porn because they conflate any big tanned man with blackness. pls just stop.

so you agree, you think pacat is asking everyone to stop white washing a white man?

that’s so embarrassing for you bestie. let's break this down, shall we?

whitewashing and authorial intent:

pacat explicitly stated that whitewashing damen makes him “uncomfortable,” and is a “terrible and oppressive act.” this directly indicates that damen is not white, as whitewashing concerns arise only when characters of color are misrepresented as white. if damen were white, there would be no basis for these comments.

pacat has unequivocally stated that damen is not a tanned anglo-european, emphasizing his olive skin, dark hair, and dark eyes. this directly contradicts your claim that damen's racial identity can be reduced to mere tannedness. 

pacat's portrayal of damen as a character of color is clear in his own statements and the descriptions in the books, emphasizing damen's non-white features.

the very first marker we’re given about damen’s skin is in chapter one, when jokaste is taunting him. she says,

“I see why you prefer pale skin. Yours hides the bruising.”

meaning damen’s skin is dark enough to hide bruises. it’s also deliberately contrasting his own tone to paleness – he is not pale. later, after he’s been beaten, we’re told,

“his olive skin did not hide all the bruising”

meaning, he was beaten badly enough that these bruises, unlike the earlier ones, can show through. the detail that damen’s skin is so dark it hides bruising further emphasizes his deep, rich skin color.

against this, we’re told constantly about laurent’s “very fair” skin. we’re meant to picture laurent as being very, very white, and damen as noticeably darker. damen’s skin is also described as

"brown as a nut"

which is a significant indicator of his non-white identity. this description highlights a darker complexion that is distinctly non-anglo-european.

in prince’s gambit, a veretian woman distinguishes damen as akielon based on his accent and skin tone alone:

“He realized that she had heard his accent. He knew that he possessed the coloring characteristic of Akielos, especially of the southern provinces.”

this passage specifies that damen's foreign accent and darker complexion are key factors in his recognition as akielon. it also emphasizes that in akielos, particularly in the southern provinces, people tend to have darker skin tones. damen’s origin from the southernmost city further reinforces that he is meant to have a significantly darker complexion. this is an important textual clue that damen does not have stereotypically eurocentric features and cannot be mistaken for a white man.

to ignore all of the above is to ignore the author's intent and erase damen’s racial identity.

historical and modern diversity:

while akielos may draw inspiration from ancient greece, it remains a fictional world distinct from historical reality. damen's portrayal as a character doesn't rely on mirroring ancient greek demographics.

however, this point becomes moot when considering that both ancient and modern greece have been incredibly diverse, boasting populations that include individuals of various ethnic backgrounds, including black and brown people. the ancient mediterranean was a melting pot; rome conquered carthage, which is in north africa; various roman emperors were black, and the egyptians certainly were.

ancient greeks:

modern greeks:

your narrow and ignorant view of ancient civilizations overlooks the rich diversity that existed then and continues to persist today.

american context and projection:

your argument reflects an attempt to impose american racial categories onto a different context. racial identities and constructs are not universal. the insistence that damen must be either white or black ignores the complex spectrum of racial identities that exist outside of a binary american framework.

the term "w*g" is recognized as both a racial and ethnic slur in australia. to dismiss damen as white based on american racial categories overlooks the complexities of racial identity in other countries.

in the context of the series and the way pacat intended, being called a 'w*g' specifically indicates that damen is not considered white within his cultural framework. it is crucial to understand it within the series' cultural and historical context.

ignoring this context and imposing american perspectives on damen’s identity is both ignorant and disrespectful.

here’s a greek australian talking about their experience being labeled a w*g:

pacat joins in on the conversation and reaffirms that it is indeed a harmful racial slur used against ethnic groups:

your baseless accusation that i'm introducing race into the series is not only ignorant but absurd. pacat purposefully integrates this racial element into the story, crafting damen's character around his belonging to this ethnic minority, and consistently addresses it both within the narrative and beyond the confines of the books.

the flawed "proximity to whiteness" argument: damen’s culture in the fictional world of akielos might share similarities with ancient greek culture, which some perceive as part of the foundation of western civilization. this cultural proximity can lead to a false assumption that he is closer to whiteness. however, this view overlooks the racial and cultural diversity that existed in ancient greece and continues to exist today. ancient and modern greeks can have a range of skin tones and features. a perceived proximity to whiteness does not equate to being white, especially when pacat and the text clearly position damen within a context that marks him as non-white.

additionally, as a prince and a person of high status, damen might be seen as having privileges that align him more with whiteness, particularly in societies where whiteness is associated with power and privilege. however, racial identity is not negated by socioeconomic status, and to claim so is highly ignorant. moreover, the idea that a character’s "proximity to whiteness" negates their non-white identity is flawed logic. racial identity is not solely about skin tone but also about cultural, historical, and social contexts. pacat has clearly stated that damen is not white and has explicitly opposed the whitewashing of his character. ignoring this direct statement in favor of a misconstrued idea of damen’s “proximity to whiteness” disrespects pacat’s intent and damen's identity. pacat actively engages with w*g identity in the series: he wrote damen as a prince to counter the working-class connotation that w*gs are associated with in australia. when damen enters a northern or anglo-european country, he experiences a class shift and is viewed as a person of low status and culture, despite the high classical culture of his home – again the w*g experience in australia. his being marooned in a northern-european country and feeling a sense of ethnic/racial difference as well as a sense of cultural isolation is an analogy for the w*g experience living in australia.

none of this supports a “proximity to whiteness”, rather it only supports damen’s “otherization” in the text. pacat discusses how w*gs are othered in australia, illustrating the deep ethnic divide between w*gs and anglo-australians:

the argument that damen somehow has a “proximity to whiteness” and that it negates his non-white identity overlooks the nuanced racial and ethnic dynamics within the series.

damen's otherness is central to his character, highlighted by his experiences in vere. damen is frequently abused with racially loaded language by veretians that’s still used to vilify people of color in the real world (“cur,” “animal,” “brute,” "dog", “barbarian,” “savage”) and which has deep associations with the justifications used to enslave and oppress people of color in the modern era.

these terms, intentionally used by pacat, highlight the racial dimensions of the vere-akielos conflict, confirming that the series engages with themes of race and w*g politics, and that damen is meant to be read as a non-white character.

xenophobia vs. racism:

xenophobia and racism can and often do intersect. the argument that the conflict in the series is purely about xenophobia and not racism is a false dichotomy. the series illustrates how racial prejudice and cultural hostility can coexist and reinforce each other. by dismissing the racial aspect, you simplify and misrepresent the narrative.

discomfort with non-whiteness:

the insistence on damen’s alleged “whiteness” and "proximity to whiteness" reveals discomfort with engaging with non-white identities. it is an attempt to sanitize damen to fit a more comfortable, palatable narrative because you are uncomfortable with racial complexity and the implications that may have on your reading of the text or of other white characters.

engaging with complexity:

readers have a responsibility to engage with the text thoughtfully and acknowledge the racial and ethnic implications as intended by the author. ignoring these aspects isn't a valid interpretation, but a refusal to engage truthfully.

your remarks reveal a cognitive dissonance: fans acknowledge damen's darker skin but deny racial implications, selectively engaging with aspects of his identity to avoid criticism. this selective approach denies and erases essential elements.

fans should embrace the full complexity of characters and themes, including discomfort in addressing race and identity, as they do with other sensitive topics like abuse, incest, rape and trauma.

conflating issues and denying representation:

claiming that portraying damen as a character of color sparks baseless critiques confuses the issue entirely. acknowledging damen as a character of color is not just about ticking boxes — it's about respecting the author's intention and embracing the diversity in the world of captive prince, whether some like it or not.

for many readers who share the same ethnic background, pacat's creation of damen as a character for w*g representation holds significant meaning:

suggesting that recognizing damen as a character of color is "disingenuous" ignores the positive impact that diverse representation can have on readers.

pacat said he intentionally wrote damen as a positive representation for w*gs:

ignoring damen's racial and ethnic identity not only disrespects the author's vision but also diminishes the importance of diverse representation in literature. accurate representation matters for readers who see themselves reflected in these characters.

tl;dr

pacat firmly establishes damen isn't a tanned white man and emphasizes his otherness in the narrative. he cautions against whitewashing damen, explicitly labeling him as a w*g from a w*g country and vere as an anglo country. descriptions within the series accentuate damen's dark skin and features, contrasting him with fair-skinned veretians. the racially charged interactions directed at damen and other akielons by veretians throughout the narrative emphasize this. it all contributes to a specific racial construction that is taking place within the series.

[mikelogan]

Color Reference Guide to Recognize & Avoid Whitewashing by mihareth How to Spot and Stop Whitewashing POC in Edits by augustds Don't Whitewash Me: A Guide to Coloring POC (Pastel & Pale) by mohanas How to Fix Orange-washed Characters by aubrey-plaza How To: Coloring East and Southeast Asian Celebs by blueshelp POC Coloring Tutorials Tag by gifmakerresource

Please share any other resources you might have in the replies or tag @gifmakerresource!

DISCLAIMER: I am white and in no way do I wish to speak for or over people of color. If anything here is offensive, incorrect, or nonsensical, please let me know and I will remove it and do better moving forward.

When I first started making gifs again last year, I didn't really know about whitewashing. It was a concept I'd definitely heard of and I knew what it was, but I didn't think about it in the context of gifmaking. Since becoming part of a couple gifmaking networks and starting my own resource blog, it's something that I am now very conscious of. I will periodically ask for opinions on my coloring when people of color are in the gifs and I've learned so much from doing so! I genuinely cannot recommend networks like PSCentral and LGBTQCreators enough. Everyone is so kind and helpful and being part of them has only served to better my gifmaking.

I have always liked to give people the benefit of the doubt and believe the best of them until I'm proven otherwise. I know not everyone feels this way, but especially since my personal experience was borne out of ignorance rather than malice. When I see colorwashed gifs, I want to believe (or hope) that OP just isn't aware, the same as I was. But ignorance also isn't an excuse. If someone points out to you that your coloring has whitewashed or otherwise colorwashed a person of color, you should take that and adjust your coloring as necessary, removing the original post. The resources listed above have been instrumental in helping me keep skintones realistic and true to life. There are, I'm sure, many more tutorials out there that discuss this topic. It is on you to take the initiative to learn, not on the person educating you. If being told you've white/colorwashed someone makes you angry, I would urge you to ask yourself why.

As always, please be kind to one another.

[bitterrobin]

Things I hate/dislike about Fanon-Damian Wayne

AKA me just bitching about the various icks of Damian portrayals in fanon that range from weirdly racist things to a blatant misunderstanding of the core character.

Whitewashing - not only in art, but in descriptions; making Damian pale or white, an "exact copy of Bruce" and having blue eyes. He'll share features with Bruce of course, but it's rare I see anyone describe him with traits from Talia or Ras or Melisande. Y'know he's still half Arab/Chinese despite Bruce being white. He should have, at the very least, a shade of brown skin and non-blue eyes.

Describing Damian like an animal (hissing, biting, clawing), calling him feral or rabid - I already have a post about how its pretty racist to constantly describe a poc character like this, so I won't go any further here. Also, rabid, really? Anyone who calls Damian that will die by my hand because it's so genuinely ignorant that I just can't excuse it.

Overuse of terms like "Blood Son", gremlin, "Demon Spawn", "Satan" - these spawned completely in fandom and its gotten to the point that I will immediately click off something if its included. Just stop using these as shorthand to describe him or joke about him. Come up with something else, or maybe just don't include Damian in a fic if he's only there to get made fun of.

Connected to the "Blood Son" term, making Damian obsessed with his biological status as Bruce's child and making him demean his adopted siblings/other adopted characters - he's only had a couple instances of this in canon comics. Once, in his introduction in the fight with Tim written by Grant Morrison when his character was still being fleshed out. Again, in a fight with Tim in Red Robin when Damian is mostly being written as an antagonist and not a character of his own. It frustrates me to no end when this is brought up because Damian's status with being Bruce's son has nothing to do with biological connection or genetics. It has everything to do with just being a son of a father that doesn't put any effort to knowing you and seeing him have deep connections to other kids that you have been raised to see as competition, not family.

Constantly having him carry around a sword/katana - this does happen in some comics, but its really not the main weapon he uses as Robin. A good majority of his time as Robin he just used the standard stuff (batarangs, grapple etc). The really aggravating part is when fics insinuate that he'd carry one around in public or in school.

Making Bruce's half of the family his good white saviors, while also making the al Ghuls evil abusers - if you demonize Talia and then prop up Bruce as a good dad who's done nothing wrong to Damian then I'm going to assume that you don't read comics and you don't have a good understanding of Damian's relationship with his parents. If you make Dick or Jason the good protective big brothers while putting down Talia or Ras or Mara, again, I'm going to assume the worst. Dick did not like Damian when they first met. Tim spent most of their time together as Red Robin/Robin hating him. Jason shot Damian point blank in the chest the first meeting they had, and then continued to threaten his life. Damian has never had a great relationship with anyone in the batfamily when he first appeared. Yes, not even Stephanie or Cassandra or Duke. With everyone, it took time for him to be tolerated much less liked or understood. Making them the ones who understood him and babied him from the start ruins his character development and his relationships with them. Only if you're writing an au where Damian is raised by Bruce, then it's excusable but still not the least bit right when handling the al Ghuls.

Making Damian ignorant or plain stupid, especially when comes to white American concepts - Damian is insanely smart. He knows what riddles are. He knows what metaphors are. He knows that Gotham is a city in New Jersey in America, and that American concepts like school clubs and sports teams and cliques and dances exist. Sometimes it sounds you're making Damian intentionally an idiot when you imply he doesn't know what a video game or a tv show is. Just because he grew up sheltered does not mean he's fucking blind. He's a kid who grew up Middle Eastern, not in another planet.

nitpick but Damian calling Bruce "baba" at every turn or throwing in "habibi" when you write ship content - I am not Arabic, but i'd feel the same kind of annoyance if someone wrote Damian calling Bruce "papa" or "padre" all the time, or randomly listing off Spanish endearments in ship fics. In moderation, it can be cute and appreciative. But sometimes it reads like you just discovered a new funny word and you're throwing it around for no reason.

Insisting that Damian should have learned morality or been punished severely by any of the bats when he first showed up - I must stress that none of them did jack shit to teach Damian any kind of morality when he appeared. Bruce met him, yelled at him, fucked off for a mission, came back and then promptly left him behind with Talia before they were presumed dead by explosion. Then Bruce straight up died. Bruce had very little to do with Damian in the early era. Dick, also, didn't really do anything in terms of actually sitting Damian down and explaining the Bat code or just general "killing=bad". He taught Damian to be Robin, and by that process, gradually got through to him about being a hero and a good person. You cannot expect good behavior from a child from the get-go if you've done nothing to teach that child. On that matter then, implying that Damian should have been kicked out of the house or beaten up on behalf of Tim as a form of punishment or a "teaching moment" is genuinely insane. You're going to abuse the already abused ten year old because he hurt your favorite character? Really? You're truly the pinnacle of an adult figure that he should respect /s.

Being annoying about Damian's attitude towards other characters - he's sarcastic and rude on purpose. It's pretty clear from the start to Damian that no one likes him, so he chooses to not like them back. If you cry about him calling Tim names, then I honestly think you don't have a high opinion of Tim at all if you think a seventeen/eighteen year old teenager would be hurt or psychologically scarred by a ten year old calling him a mean name.

Exaggerating Damian's violence and making people terrified of him - calling his fights with Tim "attempted murder" both undermines what murder actually is and undermines Tim's skill levels. The cutting the line incident for example. Obviously the action of cutting it was dangerous, but if you genuinely believe that Tim would have died from it or that he would regard it with any PTSD-level importance is (imo) kind of stupid. We always hear about the actions Damian takes around other characters, but never the canon reaction. In the 2009-2011 era, Tim was angry and annoyed about Damian. Whenever Damian did anything to him, he fought back. He would shoot back remarks, land a blow. Tim wasn't scared of Damian. They didn't even live together long enough for Tim to feel "unsafe in his own home." The second Damian became Robin, Tim left. They never lived in the same house since then, until the reboot, and even then Tim has been pretty independent and Damian has been away from Gotham more often than in it. Same deal applies to Dick and Steph and Jason and Cass, they never took Damian's actions lying down. He's just a mild annoyance to them. In fact, Damian doesn't attack them in their sleep. He doesn't try to kill them every chance he gets. He doesn't plot their demise. Every instance of Damian fighting someone in the family has either been; protective impulse, a reaction to a fight they instigated, or a sparring-type situation where neither of them are taking things seriously.

[punkeropercyjackson]

I've said it and i'll keep saying it that the reason Todomomo is and was so hated is that it's an extremely asian ship,not just in the characters being japanese but as in that they're WRITTEN instrictvely and designed super japanese/asian(Shouto is closed off with his emotions due to an aggressively traditionalist dad who stripped his mom's rights with his high scial status but learns to let himself feel and express emotions as healing and straight up lives in an old school home in modern day and Momo is a 'silk hiding steel' girl who's pressured by her parents to be the perfect student and lady and this manifested in adultification and objectification even though she's underaged but this dosen't stop her from standing up for herself and being a total badass)and so is their dynamic(Shouto expressed his admiration for Momo silently to not cause a big show since he was taught not to but did a grand love confession-esque speech when he realized he accidentally hurt her and Momo openly gushes about how cool and charming she thinks Shouto is because it's normalized for teen asian girls to fawn over asian boys their age but it IS important to note that Tdmm's genders are never brought into the equation in-universe or by Horikoshi so that removes the cisheteronormativity element and that's why it's such a good ship and their interactions and little bits/hints across material are basically a japanese romance fantasy that's healthy and positive for men AND women)

This really gets under white western gays' skin because poc4poc romances make them uncomfortable since they 'can't relate to them'(see how they react to western shows making poc4poc ships canon instead of pairing up one of them with a white character and even just woc x white boy endgames instead white gay boy ships that were never even hinted at)so they whitewash Shouto and Momo's characters to make them act like white queer people,as if queer poc don't exist and when there's nothing stopping TODOMOMO from being a queer ship and as an afrolatino queer person,you cannot convince me Todomomo isn't also a transgender abd autistic4autistic love story just like it is a poc4poc one.Shouto and Momo are trans autistic asians so Tdmm is a t4t autistic4autistic asian ship,not 'heteronormative' because they're not palpable to white american gays.This is why it's so popular with Bnha fans who're actually asian,older asian women especially and y'all's colonizer asses got some fucking audacity clowning them for it because you assume they're all cishets cause just like with Shouto and Momo,you don't think poc can be queer and are homophobes who hate trans people BECAUSE they're poc.Ntm i've literally never gotten hate for my Todomomo headcanons INCLUDING that i see Shouto as part bangladeshi on Rei's side and Momo as a blasian latina from Todomomo shippers and in fact i've gotten tons of support from them because they think they make sense and are super cute

Todomomo is a good ship and i'd go as far to call it the best Bnha ship,if not THE best shonen ship fullstop.Y'all are just racist

[iconsumethesoulsofthedamned]

Y’all need to stop whitewashing Miguel O’Hara but y’all also need to stop turning him into Spanish settings buzz lightyear ok.

I, a half Hispanic teen sat in the theater with my best friend and got so excited when they said that he loves empanada’s and when he and miles talked in Spanish for a second. I previous to Miguel O’Hara have never seen a mixed Irish white and Hispanic character. Just period.

I was so so unbelievably excited to have a character who was like me. This is why representation is so damn important I have never had that until now.He has an extremely similar face shape to me and I got so excited when I realized it I made a side by side of us to show it and sent it to all my friends I was over the moon. I have been self conscious ab my lips since I was little bc I feel like they are ‘too big’ and ‘too feminine’ but his lips look like mine and for the first time in forever I don’t feel self conscious ab them at all. I’m gonna be him for Halloween. And there are some people (98% of y/n writers) who are fucking him up.

A very cool and very correct poc made a post ab how they, as a black person experience racism in this fandom whenever they want to find Hobie content and all there is is people constantly over sexualizing him bc he’s black and tall (their post here) and they are right and it sucks. And people are doing the same damn thing to Miguel and it needs to fucking stop. If you don’t know how to write Spanish dialogue but you want to use it FUCKING ASK SOMEONE WHO CAN SPEAK IT FOR HELP. Stop turning him into this creepy severely over sexualized predatory super romantic guy who speaks in nothing but cookie cutter smut dialogue and google translate Spanish. He is a depressed dad with a dead daughter and a shit ton of pressure and it’s ok to have fantasies but not when the fantasies are clearly racist fetishization.

(also this is not ab people saying he’s sexy he is he has a fat ass no one is denying you that what I am denying you is making him a racist stereotype fetish)

last but not least if you are gonna draw a character with dark skin then draw them with dark skin it isn’t that hard and if you’re like ‘Nono I can only draw skinny white people’ then you can’t draw Miguel O’Hara fuck off.

@Violettfae

[figmentof]

i’m gonna share a little story, my close ofmd friends know about this but i think it’s due time that i tell it because i’m tired. so tired of the racism this fandom has exhibited towards me and others

back in late march, around a week before episodes 9+10 aired, i joined a server called “our flag means brainrot”. you might’ve heard of it as it is the biggest ofmd server on discord and still remains so to this day with approximately 2100-ish members. everything was fine and dandy for a couple weeks, i even made several friends-- and then the mod team asked for new mods as the server was growing at a break neck speed and it was getting harder and harder for them to wrangle. naturally, i applied as i had experience running discord servers and i figured it would be best if they had a poc on the team that also lived in asia (the mods and admins were all white save for one other mod who was also asian). i did things that mods do and let people have fun and hosted a couple game nights and movie nights. as the days went by however, the number of izzy apologists (not enjoyers, apologists) started to grow, and of course, the racism started running rampant

increasing amounts of fic where ed was described as being “twice stede’s (or triple izzy’s) size” or would engage in rough behavior with stede and that “stede (izzy) was often terrified of him” was starting to gain traction on ao3, several fans (poc and white) were expressing their concerns about the way ed was being written and how unbelievably racist it all is yet those fics still get disturbing amounts of clicks and kudos. our indigenous main character was being written as a savage brute when canon has vehemently dispelled that trope, but racists would come to these fics defense with “it’s just fiction” or “well canon has them being wholesome so we can do whatever in fic! it’s not canon anyway!”. most of these defenders were indeed, izzy stans. i expressed this to the mod team and asked that we need to step in to give warnings to these fans as they are being racist. i was told that people are allowed to write what they want, and if people don’t like it they simply don’t have to read it

i had also asked the mod team to make a PSA about whitewashing/greywashing ed in art, and that as mods we should notify artists to fix the art they post if ed is too pale or grey. they ignored me and claimed it can’t be helped that artists have their own art style

that was only the first few incidents where the white mod team allowed racism to slide, and told me, a poc, that i should make racists feel welcome and let them have a safe space

back in early may, several ed/izzy shippers had asked for a channel that was aptly named #nsfw-dark and it consisted of, you guessed it, dead dove do not eat metas and discussions where ed (and only ed) was brutally, revoltingly, violent towards poor defenseless izzy. it got so bad to the point that several poc members (and white fans alike) had expressed to the mod team that the depiction of ed by these fans were disturbingly problematic, and it didn’t help that often times their discussions would branch out into other channels. if you’ve ever been in a discord server, you’d know how easy it is to accidentally start talking about something in the wrong channel. the mods stepped in and those fans reigned themselves in a little. but eventually the existence of that channel became too much that even the merely curious spectators/lurkers broke their silence and spoke up because underage content was allowed within that channel

finally the mod team decided to remove the channel only because they were getting so many tickets about the channel being inappropriate that it got too overwhelming, which caused an uproar amongst the contributors/enjoyers of that channel. i had suggested that the subject matter simply wasn’t suited for this server and that they could easily open up their own server so they can act and chat however they please with no one to stop them. several people expressed how this server shouldn’t make them feel excluded (using the kink belongs at pride argument of all arguments) and that my suggestion of them getting their own server made them feel judged and unwelcome, and that i was effectively kinkshaming and policing them. the next day i was removed as mod without warning. no discussion within the mod chat, nothing, just removed because i expressed that an overwhelming amount of people stated that their boundaries were crossed. a couple weeks later, people in the server who made me and other poc uncomfortable were added to the mod team

so that was the treatment i recieved as a poc who tried their best to make fandom a safer space for my fellow poc. white people talked over me and ignored me and sided with racists

[abyssal-debonair]

hey Sky community, you have a racism problem

look at this

these are officially released promo art depicting the in-game spirits. I am also going to gesture at a few stills from the animations.

not even touching on that the spirits in-game are all various shades of blue, but yknow what, I will touch on it. they’re blue. the ancestors spirits are all various shades of dark blue, sometimes with darker brown wisps of skin or explicitly dark brown when portrayed as alive. likewise the skykids are various shades of brown or darker colors. I know y’all can see that.

so with that out of the way

why the fuck would you draw them white?

see, this has always bothered me for the year I’ve been playing Sky and interacting with its online fandom – seen it speckled in Skyblr, in the art channels of Skycord, throughout Twitter, disconcertingly prominent on Instagram – but given how immaturely the Sky community handles confronting any amount of discourse, I never wanted to say anything publicly cos I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of a deluge of harassment this oh so positive and kind playerbase is known for.

then TGC Twitter retweeted a piece of art that whitewashes the ancestor spirits.

deep breath.

I don’t want any of you racist shits to take this as confirmation that it’s somehow acceptable to make the ancestors and skykids white. sure, TGC says a lot of things in this game are “up to interpretation,” but it strikes me so strange that some of y’all look at these darker-skinned characters and immediately go against canon to give them light pink or paper white skin. why is it so hard to draw these darker-skinned characters with the dark skin they have both in game and as how TGC officially depicts them?

I’ve seen several excuses for this:

“I’m humanizing them.” okay and why does this humanization necessitate making them white? why do you have to make these nonhuman characters human? why does your brain immediately go to “white” when considering “human” and not any other palette for the many people of color who make up the majority of the human population?

“I’m projecting onto them.” you can’t project onto characters with dark skin? you don’t find characters with dark skin relatable? that’s quite racist. I, as a black child, often projected or saw myself in pale-skinned characters that dominate the entertainment media I watched growing up. surely it shouldn’t be that hard for white people to see themselves in non-white characters. surely.

“it doesn’t fit my artstyle / I’m not used to drawing POC.” then you are a terrible artist unwilling to challenge yourself or your own biases, unwilling to improve your skills or explore other palettes you may find favorable and attract a larger diverse audience. drawing with another color is not that difficult. if you do find it hard, there are a monumental amount of tutorials on illustrating people of color and darker skin tones out there online for free. you can even color pick from your reference! the only thing stopping you is your racism.

"they’re not human so it can’t be whitewashing.” true, the characters of Sky are not human, they likely don’t have human conceptions of race to them. I’ve been asked before “why are you bringing race into this?” as if I’m the one racializing non-raced characters. look, I wasn’t the one who drew them white. believe it or not, white is a race – it isn’t the “default,” it isn’t a non-race, white is a race. making these non-raced characters white is racializing them, putting race upon them that they do not have. it’s weird. for all you complain about “making everything about race these days,” why go out of your way to portray these humanoid characters with dark skin as white? fun fact: it’s still whitewashing even if the character is not a human being, especially if said character resembles humans of color.

however, I will add that is particularly insulting to see characters with explicitly black hairstyles drawn white. if I see another ancestor or skykid with an afro, afro poof(s), or dreadlocks with pale skin, I am going to bite someone. likewise, the Enchantment spirits take inspiration from Arabic cultures, Flight crew have influence from Inuit and other Northern American indigenous cultures. no, I am not invoking cultural appropriation to condemn your skykids with Lively Navigator’s hair or Cheerful Spectator’s afro or Fire Prophet’s short dreads or Indifferent Alchemist’s turban – that is perfectly okay. it’s the far too many Sky fanartists whitewashing skykids and these ancestors that is the problem.

I’m not demanding you to be canon compliant, I’m asking you to stop whitewashing, to stop erasing the little representation the players of color have overall. we do not often see people who resemble us in Western media very often, especially as the majority of the characters. it’s the same for those who ascribe gender onto these canonically agender characters, contributing to nonbinary erasure, though that is a story for another time.

and this doesn’t even touch on the afro chibi trend (how come this black hairstyle is only ever “cute” when it’s on an infantilized character? and for fucks sake do not call it clown hair or broccoli or, god forbid, cotton) or how Vault Elder’s headscarf is used to make “eggs” or “chickens.” why can’t you appreciate our hair and our headcoverings as just as fashionable as uncovered white hairstyles? why do y’all keep calling POC hair fucking food? if you do it as a joke, it’s still a racist joke. do you know how hard it is for me to exist without white people nonsense as a Black person with an afro irl? don’t get me started on the bullshit hijabi Muslims have to deal with. the best you could do is not mock their appearance.

now there are those of you who have been doing these racist things without really thinking about it. you just drew the ancestors with pale skin cos that’s where your mind goes or you’ve been a silly afro chibi for a while or you drew your white self as a white skykid. reading this, you’re doubling down now cos you don’t think you’re racist, you’re not a raging bigot, you can’t be a *gasp* bad person!

and, yknow what, I don’t think you’re a bad person either. I condemn the actions, not the person (unless you’re an asshole). like you, I grew up in a white supremacist society participating in racist institutions down to the micro level, not questioning what I was taught or socialized even if I was often on the receiving end of microaggressions. but I learned to confront the prejudices that have been socialized in me because they maintain an unjust world that hurts  people unnecessarily. even now I am still confronting prejudices that have been ingrained in me because I understand the harm they cause and the oppression they perpetuate, how bullshit have and continue to make the world a hostile place for people of color like myself. I stop doing bigoted things. it’s the least I can do.

surely, you can too.

and for those blokes who are aware of how racist you are and continue to do this shit anyways? fuck you.

sincerely, a Black Sky player

[saintsir4n]

— there are some things I want to say, many of which are regarding race!

The fact that Francesca Amewudah-Rivers is receiving hate the fact she’s playing Juliet is not surprising, since people do not need reasons to hate black women. She’s a dark-skinned pretty woman but of course, because she has prominent black features she’s seen as manly and shouldn’t be playing alongside someone like Tom Holland. I’m not one to put down people but Tom Holland is not God’s gift, and neither is he publicly defending his co-star, a matter that I won’t get into as the focus is Francesca. The role of Juliet is one that was originally played by a man, and since then has been played by people of different ethnicities, some being black women. The fact people are using her appearance or the fact she’s deemed as “not conventionally attractive” is disgusting as if that’s an excuse. I’m glad that over 800 black actors signed a letter in solidarity because of the racial abuse as well as the production company who issued their own statement.

POCs especially darker-skinned women are constantly the target of racial abuse even over things that don’t exist and yes I am talking about fan-casts, especially tangled. I haven’t watched the film but I know the source material isn’t from Brothers Grimm but a Persian poem written in the 10th century by Ferdowsi, 8 centuries before it was turned into a “German folklore.” It’s hilarious how micro-aggressions and racism come out when people think white characters aren’t at the centre of it all. People crying about how their younger selves Would hate to see a stunning South Asian actress in the place of a blonde hair, blue-eyed ADAPTION of an original when brown and black girls had little to no representation at all. “Why can’t we stick to the originals?” Please look up what the original is before you start with your insults specifically those who are crying on TikTok or trolling on Avantika Vandanapu’s Instagram.

And lastly, stop bringing Tiana into it. She’s based on a real person just like Pocahontas, their race is important to their stories, black and indigenous, it’s tiring and also just foolish to post edits of “if they can have an Asian Rapunzel why can’t we have a white Tiana” when it’s clear that missed the plot of the princess and the frog, blind to/ ignoring its micro-aggressions (that are written in solely for a black character) and are just showing their bias all in defence of a film that doesn’t even exist.

And before anyone starts on “Why don’t you just invent your own characters?” Many have tried and the movie itself wasn’t watched, had little to no promotion or has been whitewashed but of course that gets little backlash.

And don’t get me started on wish…

So just to conclude, stop attacking us!

[woomycritiques543]

https://twitter.com/NazFX_Studios/status/1199643032292749312?t=1zGGNfvZkOKvFd0ItADX7Q&s=19

Vivziepop recently made a Collab with NazFX on Twitter who's releasing a Loona remake tomorrow. It appears she has collabed with this person twice? In the link I'm sending is a video of a white Alastor plush. My favorite character in the Hazbin Hotel series is whitewashed to oblivion again! Like WTF, Look at him? Why is he so white 😭? WHY IS HE STILL BEING PORTRAYED AS A NON BLACK CHARACTER? First it was Sallie May that was overly sexualized for being a trans woman which insulted the community and got a lot of backlash, then making another transmasc character Cis which got more backlash and now we're pushing for anti black, white Alastor! I encourage others not to buy from Viv or get the Loona plush to pocket her pockets because she's anti black and is absolutely terrible at portraying black characters, characters with different ethnic backgrounds in general or just LGBT characters. Vivziepop is not a spectacular person with great ideas. She can't represent characters period!

This is "OOAK." Not a collab. It's fanmade.

I get your concern, but please provide clear evidence before making accusations like this. Though yes... Vivziepop does whitewash him still, in fact, she made him lighter after the backlash about the Vodou representation, something fans and non-fans alike were disgusted by her doing this kind of anti-black behavior, and kept the symobols in the episode- just more hidden now.

Look at Vortex, look at how this character is drawn, look at how the muscles are emphasized while the white muscular characters are drawn otherwise normally or with Ozzie, have skinny arms.

Look at how they drew the white muscular characters and their anatomy compared to Vortex and try to tell me that there was "no anti-blackness" involved here. The white men have even anatomy, while for Vortex, it's emphasized to hell and back, and he's given almost no sympathy for being a slave, while Loona is multiple times just because she's white coded despite being Hell's equivalent to how black people were/are treated. Yet for Vortex, he's not sympathized with, even in his debut, and is only animated to "look intimidating" and to be violent while also having not a single black person influencing his writing. He's just meant to be the "token strong black man" while Coco and the rest of the background characters are put their for brownie points while we get no respect from these writers underneath this narrative. It's hypocritical, selfish, and downright racially insensitive. These stereotypes are far from "harmless", especially today with the newest Helluva Boss episode and how it relates to the harmful stigma against drag queens.

The fetishization of trans, drag, and black lives hurts us.

These stereotypes are not "comedy", they're reputational harm.

-while the other black characters are whitewashed and given names like "Coco" based on their skin. You can actually tell that the direction of this show had not a single black say on these shows, at all.

HB also made over half of their main poc characters succubi as an excuse to fetishize us. It's just hentai for minority fetishists, that's it, the show is just what Americans think hentai is, but worse, since it includes all misrepresentation of women from hentai along with ableism, racism, homophobia, and blatant transphobia from the writers being put into the tones and dialouge of the scenes.

The double standards need to stop. There is no such thing as a "good" dergogatory stereotype. Black stereotyping and fetishization is equally as harmful as blackface. This goes for Brandon Rodgers as well. Both him and Vivziepop have gotten away with racial stereotypes and sexism for far too long. There needs to be at least one black say behind this writing. This needs to stop.

Also look at the anniversary posts on Twitter:

Not a single black person in sight. I want to be excited by this show so badly due to the nice animation, cool world ideas (Hell with different demon species- how cool is that?!) and the cool looking bg characters but the creators keep ruining it with active bigotry.

So you're right about that one... 💀

Vivienne is speedrunning her own cancellation now...

-and it's just sad to watch. All she had to do was apologize for how she misrepresented multiple minority groups and let her stans attack us, none of this discourse needed to happen smh.

If racism and all around bigotry is "not ok" with Oye Primos. It's "not ok" with how Helluva Boss treats minorities as well. People need to stop having double standards just because one creator benefits their fan content more than the other. To the HB tag, if you like any of Vivziepop's shows, cool, but dont pretend to support us while denying how much bigotry the creators have just because you want more of Vivziepop's cartoon softcore porn.

Racism and queerphobia should not be normalized with any writer.

Stop the hypocrisy!

[baobhanlore-art]

*Across The Spiderverse Spoilers*

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I'm just gonna rant a bit about whitewashing Miguel O'hara and how people don't know the difference between race and ethnicity.

Disclaimer: I am not poc. I'm white passing (Jewish whiteness is complicated) and if you are poc then I'd love to hear your perspective. I'm just repeating the views and teachings of poc figures and their analyses of media and representation.

So there's been a lot of crackering towards Miggy. It's happened to most of the poc characters, don't get me wrong, but I feel like Miguel's has fallen under the radar for the most part. But Miguel is often drawn with very light skin even though the movie has portrayed him as having light brown tan-ish skin.

This is a screenshot from the train scene. As you can see he is still very much a light skinned person, not pale but a light skinned poc. And yet somehow people still make his skin way lighter than this. Practically the same colour as me and I'm Scottish and have ridiculously sensitive skin that makes me avoid harsh sunlight. Like it's not even that dark. And the train scene is bright as hell anyways, harsh sunlight and the white train exterior reflecting onto the characters, everyone's skin was lighter so I'd say his skin tone may even be a bit darker than this.

And often the excuse is that he's half Irish. But like, do you realise how terrible of a justification that is? Zendaya is half white. Barrack Obama is half white. Halle Bailey is half white. Are they perceived as white? No. Lukas Arnold is half black. Halsey is half black. Are they perceived as white? Yes. I'm not arguing Miguel doesn't have white heritage, but Miguel, at least in ATSV, is Latino passing. Just like I'm half Jewish and half British White but look more like my white mother, with the exception of my warm undertones and dark hair, meanwhile my Dad, Aunt, Grandad and Uncles are very explicitly Jewish/Middle Eastern passing. Nobody is arguing I don't have non white genes in me and according to eugenics I'll never technically be white, but I'm white passing. Similarly, Miguel has white genes in him and his Irish heritage could very well be part of his identity (I haven't read the comics so idk) but he's Mexican passing. He has Mexican phenotypes and you are erasing them by lightening his skin.

In short, if you want to know if a character or person is white or not, ask yourself how cops or airport security would profile them. That will give you your answer.

This is something Harriyanna Hook touches on in some of her videos, she's a queen, but I think the main reason why whitewashing Miguel isn't as openly critiqued as whitewashing other ethnicities, including light skinned ones, is that light skinned and white passing Latine people are overrepresented in Hollywood and the media to the point where people who aren't even Latine can be cast as Latine characters. Case in point: Ronni Hawk. It's incredibly rare to see anyone in mainstream Hollywood who doesn't pass the paper bag test unless they're a black man, which has its own history of fetishism and abuse (Watch F.D. Signifier, he talks about this in his colourism video.) Race and ethnicity are not the same thing but they influence how you're perceived.

(This is not me saying that they don't deserve to be represented, every culture deserves attention and representation, but dark skinned Hispanic and Afro-Latine people often get erased. Miles Morales is the exception, not the rule.)

So people don't tend to pick up on the erasure of Latine features and skin colours because it's so normalised.

I don't want to call out any artists in particular, that's not cool, but if you do see an artist who lightened the skin, I think it's important you let them know that it's an issue. They're more likely ignorant than intentionally harmful, but I feel like education around this issue is still very important.

Also idk if this is an ethnic thing but please stop giving him a K-popish soft boy face. This isn't an ethnic issue, it's an artist's having same face syndrome issue, but Miggy is hot enough without you erasing his sharp facial features. Istg if it weren't for his suit half of his fanart would be unrecognisable.