#did not know tumblr was against asians apparently

[oikasugayama]

me when i see a tiktok of some photographers at the met gala talking shit about stray kids because they “look emotionless like robots”🤠

i’m gonna kill someone it’s their first met gala and they look incredible SHUT UP

Oh my fucking god I was literally just coming onto Tumblr to talk about that, you and I are on the same wavelength.

Not only was it incredibly disrespectful, it was racist. Idk how many other ppl are clocking that, but imo!!! 😒

Now, I'm an American white woman. I can't say that I feel targeted or hurt by what the photographers said or anything because I'm not of the affected group, BUT I, as an American white woman, have heard a LOT of a racist people say a lot of racist shit, and this is not the first time I've heard ppl say disparaging things about Asians being emotionless and robotic. I recognize the racist rhetoric and I'm pissed about it.

It's obvious that he said that because of a racist misconception/stereotype perpetuated by American media, and I'm pissed that he not only said it to begin with, but seemed so giddy while doing it. That is a grown man. If he's photographing the Met Gala, he has to be experienced in his field. There's no way he hasn't seen models/celebrities/etc. do stoic poses before. Did he call other people emotionless robots? Did he say they ruined the shots because they were "emotionless"? I doubt it. He only said that because he has racist misconceptions about Asians being stoic, or being robots, because racist American films often show Asian=Technologically Advanced=Robot, and I don't have the room to explain why that is, but trust me. It's absolutely an American/Western racist notion.

So that photographer saw a group of Korean men walk in together and turn and walk out together, and instead of thinking "wow apparently this is a really popular group" "oh their outfits are cool and coordinated" he thought "heh they're robots" because that's a reflection of the racist rhetoric he was taught, and believes.

Fucking disgusting. That photographer has no business being invited back to a high profile event, or any event, period.

Also, it should go without saying, Stray Kids didn't deserve to be subjected to that shit. It's their first Met Gala. It's not their first time in the States, but I hope to God it's their first time having someone say nasty shit to them as if they couldn't hear it. There is such a brain-dead disconnect between racists and the groups they're being racist against. That photographer probably has no idea basically everyone in SKZ can speak English. Two of them aren't even native Korean speakers. That photographer somehow doesn't know that these 8 grown men were posing for the cameras, like every. Single. Other. Guest. Was.

SKZ have such beautiful, infectious, bright smiles and laughs. They have such full emotions and expressions. Everyone does, for fuck's sake.

Get that racist photographer out of the damn industry.

[just-a-girl-with-a-pistol]

OK SOOOOOOOOO pm might've dun fucked

Please remember that:

THIS SITUATION IS STILL IN DEVELOPMENT, YOU WILL HEAR MISSINFORMATION ABOUT IT, EVEN THE VERY BASIS OF IT CAN BE COUNTED AS SUCH.

Note: I WILL be editing this post as the situation progresses so you can stay updated, feel free to pop in every now and then.

Have the offical statements from pm:

no english translation was provided yet HOWEVER pm provided a statement:

Source: (x)

I have OPINIONS but im not going to voice them here, its not the post. I can say though, they are very negative.

Essencially what you need to know:

Pm fired a CG artist because of their political views relating to a retweet which happened around 5 years ago (the artist is relativley young while being an adult, they looked into the artists past which... taking teenagers actions into account while judging an adult should only happen when the teen commited terrible crimes) due to them getting a lot of hate from the korean side of the community which apparently spiraled from them getting a wetsuit ish and not a bikini ish among other things like update direction. And yes, it started on an incel forum, at least screenshots say so.

The political views are centered around feminism which is viewed negativley in south korea due to their extreme views and actions. If you want to see their state or mind when it comes to feminism, check the tumblr post made by: @fatestayyuri on this situation.

All 3 games are being currently review bombed by angry korean fanbase and by the angry western fanbase

Evidence of death threats given to PM are given out in a comment made by @worthy-opponents as well as the stance of the attacking group.

(I apologise about putting it in the wrong section yet again, this situation is going off like hell and I can barely keep up weeding out actual useful information out of the useless shite, will take the blame tho, ain’t trying to wipe the blame or anything, again sorry if I insulted you in any way that wasn’t my intent)

Note and edit: the original target of the cyberbully attack was the artist who was actively responsible for drawing the ish wetsuit artwork, however upon discovering the artist is male, the attack switched to Vellmori due to her deleted feminism driven retweets. The lack of sexualisation of wetsuit ish is seen as radical feminism by the group who decided to start such an attack. Which is why they decided to target Vellmori. Note. These retweets were deleted around 3 years ago and recovered using the wayback machine.

Another note: there is no winner in this situation, the group did threaten project moon with physical violence if they did not remove Vellmori. PM already had to deal with death threats from the Asian fanbase before when LoRs ending happened if you remember that situation. They didn’t want to risk actual physical harm to their employees. I am only stating the information as I find it not trying to influence your view on the situation. I just want you to make a rational decision.

Yet another note: The biggest PM server on discord went into lockdown due to spreading misinformation.

Important:

There is an actual hate campaign against Japanese artists who support PM:

There might be a possibility this will keep on spreading into other Asian countries. If you have any friends from such, inform them.

Image of the protestors right in front of the PM office:

Source: (x)

Currently theres a fundraiser for a truck with a screen that will display a protest messege regarding the termination of Vellmori, it's a form of peaceful protest in south korea. Source: (x)

project moon fired Vellmori through a phonecall (illegal) as well as did so on the spot without giving her the necessary notice. Source: (x)

Worker unions got into this situation, as well as limbus ended up in newspapers. Source: (x)

Statement from the Digital Content Creation Working Association:

Source: (x)

A fundraiser which will potentially go towards Vellmori (x)

Turns out Jihoon is a very strict and emotional CEO, source and more on here (x)

(x)

Theres currently a bunch of hashtags made on twitter to bring the opinion of the fanbase to PMs attention. These tags are (but not limited to): #PM_FaceTheTruth, #PM_unfairdismissal. Previous hashtags included: #Projectmoon_unfairdismissal_Protests, #Truck_Protest_Against_Unfair_Dismissal_of_ProjectMoon. There were many more, an account that started these hashtags as well as the organiser of the truck protest: (x)

Potential missinformation:

death threats right in front of the pm office from the angry fans

concerned fans visiting the office to ask for the wellbeing

Complete misinformation:

Vellmori being a terf. It’s a misinformation campaign targeted specifically to the English part of the fanbase because of the feminist retweet’s.

Mili and Studio EIM cut contact with PM

Thank you to: @ahmedmootaz for the information in the screenshots!

Link to the official status here: https://twitter.com/LimbusCompany_B/status/1683854709046808576

IF ANY OF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION, EITHER POST IT WITH A WARNING ABOUT POSSIBLE MISSINFORMATION OR COMMENT!

[barananduen]

"ChongZi and Mu Yu - Sleepytime Hugs" - Fanart of the Chinese drama "The Journey of Chong Zi" - Digital Painting

Part of my "square cdrama chibis" series...

...of which I have a few finished already, but this is the first one I'm posting on tumblr.

This one is based on this deleted shot from ChongZi ep. 29:

(I hope this embed method shows for everyone😅)

I was experimenting, trying a new style of chibi. There were things I liked, things I didn't, so I took the ones I liked into the next painting of them, which I'll post later.

For more, click this tag: #fanart - asian media The series will be shown here.

Spoilery explanation of this scene under the archive link, so if you don't want to know, don't read past the DA link.

💜ARCHIVE LINK:

Originally posted to my DeviantArt on April 26, 2023 here: https://www.deviantart.com/barananduen/art/ChongZi-and-Mu-Yu-Sleepytime-Hugs-958772047

💜SPOILERS:

Once ChongZi became a demon, she'd have nightmares every night, but she discovered that she wouldn't have them if "Mu Yu" (I'm avoiding further spoilers here, ok? XD) hugged her to sleep, so she'd sleep in his arms every night. The bed scene was apparently(?) filmed but taken out of the drama. On the drama, we just see one night, where she's sleeping on her bed and he's sleeping on the floor, sitting against her bed, and holding her hand all through the night.

On ep. 29, we see a scene where they're arguing in her room, and then he hugs her from behind, but, next, it pans to scenery while the dialogue keeps going. This fanart is of the frames they deleted, that happened during that scenery dialogue: she simmers down and they both close their eyes and she goes sleepy (naturally) in his arms. Why did they delete that? I don't know. :(

[irithnova]

I wish I wasn't shown this because it's even more fucking annoying than her first response

Meeru is absolutely backtracking and no I don't believe she's trying to be self critical for a second.

I quite literally explained to Meeru in my first response to her that Panda's behaviour is genuinely abusive and dangerous (for example, causing someone to relapse in their eating disorder). I even provided Meeru with a WHOLE LIST of the things Panda did which includes blatant racism, suicide baiting, victim blaming, and inappropriate behavior infront of and towards minors.

I then went on a provided Meeru with FOUR screenshots of Panda's behavior, one of the screenshots showing her saying that she wants Manchurians to be genocided. I then pointed out that Meeru's interest in Siberians and Northern Asians is purely orientalist because she has built her blog off of the back of Northern Asian and Siberian cultures, but when being told that her friend Panda is racist against Northern Asians and was even provided a screenshot as evidence for this, she STILL went on to call it "boring cancel culture".

In the first response I also said how MULTIPLE people tried to talk to Panda privately, and she did not listen. Her behaviour is not only dangerous but we have found out that Panda has been trying to control the narrative about what happened to people throughout the fandom and telling them absolute lies about what happened, concealing the extent of her abuse and bad behaviour and outright orchestrating a hate campaign against @/miyuecakes by not only spreading lies about her with 0 evidence throughout the fandom, but by sending her posse to harass her on tumblr.

How did Meeru respond upon being given a list of the things Panda did with four screenshots of ACTUAL evidence?

"Don't blame me for not reading all 80 pages!"

"My family is struggling!"

"I care about Siberians!"

"Why did this come out around Christmas!"

She's now backtracking saying that I can't blame her for not reading all 80 pages when

1) No one fucking forced her to release that post before reading the whole document and it's quite stupid of her to release that post despite apparently not reading it

2) Even if she didn't read the whole document? I provided her with screenshots of Panda's behavior and a list of the things she's done to hurt people.

Despite this, Meeru STILL called it purely cancel culture and dismissed the evidence I gave her!

Stop backtracking!

This post is backtracking central. Oh. So NOW you agree that Panda's behavior was harmful even though I literally told you what she did and gave you evidence in my response to you?

"Why are things being handled in public" bestie I don't think I need to keep explaining to you that multiple people have tried to talk to Panda about her dangerous behavior privately but she didn't listen. She shows 0 desire to change and IMMEDIATELY went to make other friends to lie to about the whole ordeal after she left. This post is a WARNING to people to avoid her.

When I said you were orientalist , I said it was because you were given literal evidence of Panda being racist to Northern Asians , yet you decided to carry on with the narrative that this is cancel culture and that we're overreacting. I didn't say jackshit about Putin girly. If you treat racism against Northern Asians like it's just a newspaper article for you to reblog rather than an actual material reality, and dismiss racism against a Northern Asian just because your friend did it, your so called interest in their cultures means nothing!

Meeru is now blaming ME for why she couldn't read the whole document because she was too busy "defending herself" against my "insults"😂 You lie almost as often Panda does. Again, no one forced you to post that post before finishing the whole document! Don't speak on shit you don't know about !

I have the right to insult someone who stands by an abuser and shits on the victims for speaking out! Thanks !

[42bakery]

Hi Waru. Is Pol going to be a regular on DAZN?? Or like something similar to Dani and Jorge??

Also wondering if you know more about the changes they made with the commentators you liked. It seemed like they knew some good stuff and I enjoy you posting what they say. No worries if not. Just curious

Hi Victoria 👋👋👋👋

So Pol's role is different than Jorge's or Dani's role. He's supposed to be a pitlane reporter/pundit/talk with the riders. What I don't know yet (until tomorrow at least) if he's going to do only MotoGP, or if he's going to do more categories. He's also only doing if he doesn't have to race/do wildcards. In a recent interview he said that he will have a different point of view and maybe he will convince the riders to talk about different things, but he doesn't wan to be to mean as he also will race against them. (He might be talking about him returning to the 2025 grid, but not sure).

So yes, they did a toon of changes during the off-season. We have now a complete MotoGP team formed by a new pundit, Carlos Checa, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo as experts/ex-riders that are supposed to rotated. And in Moto2/Moto3 we have Carles Pérez, who stays and will continue to be the king of the plato and only 1 expert. In this case, he's an ex-Honda engineer (I never remember if he worked with Hayden or Casey) and I think now he's in the European Moto2/JuniorGP. 8or at least until the last year. We also apparently have 4 pit-lane reporter. Two of them return from last year, another one did the Asian leg and now is a permanent feature, which I'm glad because apparently Ajo is all soft for her (in not a creepy way, just that he apparently likes to talk to her)) and Pol.

It's true that I lost the ones with the ones that knew all the rumors, but at least I got to keep Checa, who is basically Tumblr made men. We also won a whole new program for Monday's (I think it's on Monday's) post race weekend to analyze what happened.

Don't worry, that I'll keep posting their shenanigans when I can, I just need to get used to the new team

[sakuranplays]

Asian Representation in Cyberpunk 2077

For a long while, I have this idea floating about writing what Cyberpunk 2077 did about Asian representation. This long overdue but similarly complex topic that was an unintended follow up to my previous post about my argument against Orientalism in Cyberpunk 2077. In that post, I tried to write as concisely as I can but I realized that I did not articulate further using the game itself which leads to some persistent confusion and casual assumptions about the game.

As a disclaimer, I am not defending orientalism or even war crimes while discussing about Cyberpunk 2077. I am not endorsing only negative portrayals of Asian people nor defending the problematic western stereotypes of Asians in the media history. We could have a civilized discussion over this entire matter because lucky for all of you, I am fluent enough in English that I could use my own voice for this. Every words that I wrote in this series; about the topics I explored, about myself, my lived experiences, my history, my opinions and my criticism are all solely my own. I think I am uniquely qualified to talk about many aspects of this topic but I like to think I am not immune to criticism and neither was the Cyberpunk 2077 game itself. What I generally hope was my writings would help, inform, educate and hopefully clarify some of the contentious takes directed towards me, CD Projekt RED, R. Talsorian Games and the video game; Cyberpunk 2077. There was simply no perfect Asian representation that could encompass all of the wealth of diversity. We couldn't perfectly portray everything either in academia, in media, in writing, non-fiction or even fictional works either by Asians or non-Asians. Asia is the largest continent on earth. Asian people are richly diverse, complex and sometimes described to many people across various ethnicities and nationalities. All we could in representation works was to attempt, to explore, to criticize and to create more and better works as an honor to ourselves and to our people. We all have our own stories to share and our interpretations. There was so many things that I could write about Asians in Cyberpunk franchise but I intend to fully explore again that was more than just the controversial Arasaka family or the Tyger Claws. I want to talk about the Asian aesthetics of Night City and many Asian characters in the game and including Cyberpunk Edgerunners' Lucyna Kushinada and Cyberpunk 2077 : No Coincidence's Aya and because of the impending release of Phantom Liberty, I am looking forward to explore Song So-mi @ Songbird. (Especially with the OST release, I know that CDPR used traditional Korean performance Pansori as Songbird's musical leitmotif and I'm so excited to explore that once I played the expansion) But for starters;

Not all Asians are East Asians

I wished I didn't have to write that down but I realized it was something that a lot of online discourses in English seemed to center itself either by non-Asians or East Asian diaspora in Western countries. It was most apparent within these published articles : Orientalism, Cyberpunk 2077, and Yellow Peril in Science Fiction and How Cyberpunk 2077 Resurrects the 1980s’ “Japan Panic” which were very hyperfixated on Arasaka and the Tyger Claws. Another element that I noticed from these articles and by their writers, they both neglect the fact that not every diasporic Asian portrayed in Cyberpunk 20777 are East Asians. Not every Asians are Japanese or Chinese or Korean.

I am not East Asian.

I am Southeast Asian.

My V was a Malay woman like me. Someone who was flawed, imperfect and maybe portrayed many sides that was very unbecoming to the image of a Malay Muslim woman. I created this Tumblr blog mainly to share my own CorpoV. She was my own OC that I was simply obsessed with. Cyberpunk 2077 remained to be the only game that truly allowed me to craft a genuine Southeast Asian woman protagonist with her personal history that was almost relevant to me on personal level.

However, V could be anyone of any races or ethnicity. She could also be Japanese, Korean or Chinese because the game have localization with those languages. In the game, V can love sushi, drink tea, burn incense and work for a fictional Imperial Japanese company. After all, Cyberpunk 2077 is a roleplaying game . But did you know who else was also a Southeast Asian in Cyberpunk 2077?

Aha... think I don't notice the casual disrespect towards our glorious living legendary Pinoy rockerboy ever? My next post will be all about Kerry Eurodyne.

We will discuss Kerry in the TTRPG, what he become in Cyberpunk 2077, his complicated history, his character analysis, his traditional Batok tattoos, his relationships to Johnny Silverhand, their band Samurai and other Filipino representation within Cyberpunk 2077 game. However, I have to admit that my own exposure to my dear neighbouring Philippines was genuinely abysmal. I live in West Malaysia and unlike my Sabahan and Sarawakian friends, I am not exposed enough to the Phillipines. Personally, I won't claim I am an expertabout Filipino people, culture and heritage (and if you are from Phillipines, feel free to DM me, please) but I hope to do justice about our beloved rockerboy in the way he truly deserved. Didn't just make music on that boat. Busted my ass servin' drinks, waitin' tables. Free time, I-I composed till my fingers bled. - Kerry Eurodyne "Boat Song"

[maswartz]

Collection of my Weird Dreams

1. I had a weird dream last night. I was reading a (very very nicely drawn) King of the Hill comic where Dale got bit by a vampire. Soon Lauane was too and either turned or killed Peggy. I don’t remember seeing Bobby. But I know it ended with Dale biting and turning Hank as fangs emerged from Hank’s teeth. The weirdest part was it was on tumblr and I could see all the details of the blog it was on. 2. I don’t know why but for some reason lately I’ve been having dreams about a TV show that was basically a live action Superfriends. It stared Sinestro (in a heroic role and a really weird costume) and a cast of DC heroes. It aired in the gap after Smallville ended but before the Arrowverse began. I even remember the title “Sinestro and the Corps of Justice” The really weird thing is that in the dream I just had last night the description for one of the episodes (which I just realized I shouldn’t have been able to read in a dream) mentioned Squirrel Girl and I saw Deadpool in it. I still remember the intro from last nights dream too. It started with animated versions of the heroes floating in space rising up as they turned into the live action versions. 3. I had a strange dream last night, it was a zombie apocalypse but it was in the Monsters Inc. universe and the monsters were using the closets to save the children. 4. I had a weird dream last night. Basically it took place in one of those idealistic 50-esque towns but everyone had a dark secret. It begins and ends with the town’s greatest actor dying in the center of town. Eventually it’s revealed he hid evidence that would have cleared the main character’s brother of a crime. As he died he confesses. This is where it gets weird. There’s also some deep rivalry/conspiracy between people who wear dog shirts and people who wear cat shirts. Oh and did I mention that everyone was either a barbie doll or a ken/GI Joe doll? Basically by the end the town is torn apart by all the secrets. 5. I had a weird dream last night, basically it was one of those festivals you see in RPGs celebrating the defeat of some ancient evil, only it was like a modern carnival with tacky stands and food and rides and stuff. And in the middle of the carnival the evil guy was inside a room with glass windows so people could look at him inside the seal. And at one point he’s going on the usual “if i were free I’d turn this mockery into a crater” until a staff member just hands him cotton candy. 6. I just had a weird dream It was like a combo of Earth D and the DCAU/batman beyond. Here’s what I remember Robin was an indian version of Tim Drake and his daughter was a new heroine and he had a job making historical holograms Supergirl was asian or something and her son had a crush on the daughter of Robin Aquaman was older and a bit chubby but still kicked ass when an atlantian tried to attack the surface world he led the army against them Aquagirl was the same as Batman Beyond Terry apparently was a brat before but through time travel or something had gone through what we saw in BB and become a better hero for it and for some reason had a sword and was in a semi relationship with Aquagirl. The joker was still alive and somehow got all the heroes to surrender there was a subplot about a spikey nut thing one of the batmen (bruce was still batman too) kept dropping and a villain telling another villain not to let a monster dog eat them During the climax Terry drops a gas pellet, bruce throws a flash bang and terry uses one of the nut things to set it off near Superman recharging him and that’s where it ended. 7. Every time I hear this song I can’t help but think back to a dream I had once. There was a massive giant who walked across the world until they noticed small creatures suffering. They taught the creatures how to farm, how to build, how to craft weapons to ward off predators and so on. One day there was a terrible disaster (right as the song reaches the zenith) and the giant protects the small village with their body dying in the process and their body becomes a tall mountain that watches over the village for all time. 8. I had a weird dream once where it was a horror movie that took place in a mansion, it was haunted by a banshee but the banshee was summoned by a teenage girl to save her from other teens at a party gone wrong. Basically it ended with the girl becoming the new banshee. 9. I don’t know what reminded me of this but a few years ago I had a dream about a kid about 5-10ish who carried around a stuffed bear dressed like a knight. One night the kid and his mom are attacked by a mugger and the bear begins to glow and grow until it’s about 6-7 feet tall and it attacks the mugger. It turns out the kid has the power to bring the bear to life to create KnightBear! That’s pretty much all I remembered 10. I just had a dream where I was watching an LP/playing one of those “found journal” games. I mean I remember seeing the progress bar at the bottom, I even skipped ahead a few times.

The journal belonged to a boy at one of those troubled boy places decades ago.

It kept talking about some imaginary friend thing trying to pressure him into horrible choices.

Then it got weird when the journal revealed a nerf gun you had to use to spell the name of the “friend” and a creature appeared and had the player use various objects to play pranks on other boys and the staff.

However the pranks get more and more violent as the creature gets more and more demented looking. Then the journal reveals why the boy/you were in this place, with a bloodstained page and a photo. 11. I just had a weird dream it started with a newspaper comic crossover that somehow involved Yogi Bear and turned into a zombie outbreak. Then for some reason four old comedians including Bill Muray were tasked with stopping it but they failed however it turned out to be a groundhogs day loop. I know at one point Murray is talking about the last loops failure and it involved a showdown on a bridge where they all died and zombiefied and destroyed the bridge. That's when I woke up 12. Last night’s dream was about a group that was pretty much the Voltron Force/Power Rangers. It began with something about time travel where it was revealed things hit the fan bad! Some evil parasite that for some reason looked like the leg of a horse or a moose had taken over all but one of the team. The lone survivor managed to free two of the others so it was the leader, the comic relief and the brooding one against the second in command and the gadget genius. During the battle the gadget genius revealed they had rebuilt a ton of previous versions of the mecha only for the comic relief to remind him that he helped build them all so he took them all down. The parasite was having them use their space station to super heat the earth so they could thrive on the planet and after all five were free they formed the mecha and were forced to destroy the station but for some reason the mecha began to tear itself apart. Only the leader survived and used some gadget to go back in time and stop it all from happening but one of the last surviving parasites infected him and his past self had to kill him… 13. It’s 4 am and I just had a weird dream about a body horror game. The premise is a couple (randomly generated each play through so one play through is MF another MM and so on) are in an accident and found by a mad doctor who attaches them at the pelvis (Barbie/ken anatomy, the whole thing is played for horror) and the couple must adapt to this in order to escape.   It’d control like a two player QWOP.   I just had to get this idea out 14. I had a weird ninja anime dream last night. Basically it was one of those realistic anime styles. The main character was a female ninja who trained to be the best of the best for the usual reasons (fighting evil) but the twist was when she actually got to the battle this super deformed ninja guy was wiping the floor with them. He pledges himself as her pupil. The SD Ninja would be one of those “how scary a comedy character would be if their abilities were taken seriously” situations but he’d still act like he was in a comedy anime. At some point the female ninja’s friend is revealed to be a centipede themed monster. Oh and the female ninja managed to convince one of the monsters that hurting people was wrong and they started to teach that to other monsters. But they had to keep up appearances in front of the boss so they’d threaten people only to let them go when the boss wasn’t looking. 14. I had a weird dream last night.It was about a cartoon superhero, a boy whose powers had something to do with animals. He was fighting a supervillain who was the big bad and had a medallion that allowed him to steal the power of animals. The villain realized that people count as animals and tried to steal the boys powers but ended up draining a side character to death. The opening was then changed to include a bit with their face included among the various beings the villain stole the power of. The finale then had the villain somehow puppet the rest of the side characters to prevent the boy from attacking. Seeing the boy risk his life gave them the courage to fight the control and create an opening for the boy to strike. 15 A. I had a double whammy of weird dreams last night.The first was about Ducktales and I remember the most about it. It started off with the main cast in an amusement park playing a life sized board game thingy (Duckworth won right before someone else could) But during it they’re confronted by animatronics of themselves that FOWL had turned evil. The stinger revealed that the Louie one was turned good but thought it was the real Louie. Then it cut to Louie, Fenton, Della, and somehow the HDL father in a cave trying to escape. Part of it had caved in causing Fenton and Louie’s eyes to glow green revealing Fenton was a robot too. He had one hand as a chainsaw to clear the rocks and offered to help unlock some of Louie’s programming to help escape. But Louie was scared so he pushed him...right into Della. It cut away to the father and Louie screaming. 15 B. The next dream was RWBY with elements of Miraculous Ladybug. This one was all kinds of jumbled up. It involved Ruby dressed as Tinkerbell going mad with jealousy until an Akuma/Grimm Yang broke in the room? Then it cut to Ruby being freed from the same state? Then it cut back to Ruby actually being possessed? 17. I just woke up from another weird dream It was basically Teen Titans/Young Justice + A bad B Movie The lineup was Robin/Red Robin/Red Bird? Starfire Cyborg Superboy And Mammoth of the Fearsome Five joined the team As it went on however Robin went way off the deep end and even attacked his teammates. Starfire revealed that he’d been working solo more in secret and doesn’t even talk to the cops about the other members. Meanwhile there was a subplot about two hazardous material disposal workers who had a drum of material get stolen/fall off the truck. It ended up in a pond behind someone’s house. Superboy talked to a teenage boy genius who was either Blockbuster or some Hulk rip off who had a notebook with a bunch of notes until it was just “Blockbuster” over and over. As Superboy was confronting him two women (I think they were Titans) for some reason were in the pond and got a face full of chemicals and began throwing up. That’s when the hazardous material guys showed up and helped them not die. Then I woke up. 18. I had a freaking weird dream last night I was trapped in an anti-sexual assault PSA video. Like literally inside it. It was in universe in the MCU and Natasha was there but every time someone touched her it tore away to reveal a scared little girl inside her. Then I was running down a hallway and I could literally see the cast and crew filming the PSA, like I could see a guy in the ceiling working on lights. And the hallway kept repeating until I jumped up and grabbed the guy’s arm. That’s when I woke up and went back to bed. I legit have NO idea what spawned this. 19. It started with a skeleton villain voiced by Mark Hamill (so either Skeleton King or Skeletor) marching down the street ranting about the positive values of revenge. Going to confront him was the girl from Two Stupid Dogs (aged up to like middle school age) walking the skinny dog. The dog got scared and refused to go any further. (Apparently the dog had somehow wronged the villain) The girl was about to give up hope when a high school version of Bayonetta showed up next to her and put a stencil on the fence next to her. It was of magic words arranged in a magic shape. As she penciled it on another girl, a high school version of Zatanna helped activate it forming a seal to protect the girl and dog. That’s when I woke up. 20. I had a weird ass body horror nightmare last night. It started as a Doctor Who/Ben 10 crossover thingy with the “plot” being a musical as everyone got ready for Gwen’s wedding. Then it took a turn as along the side of the “screen” cartoony veins went up and these worm like things popped out of them and started singing. Then the person’s hand pulled on one and I could FEEL them all moving inside. Then it cut to a person searching TVTropes for more info on it and it was like the first step of some horrific transformation into a parasite monster. I full on woke up after that. 21. I just had a really bonkers dream Already forgetting small details It was some kind of movie trailer, the star was done woman in her 20s who reminds me of Frankie Foster. She was visiting some weird store with a Seussisn/willy wonka vibe to it there was some kind of secret passage hidden via a special combo on a vending machine that had some Suessian monster guy inside near the machine was a taxidermied elephant man (actual humanoid elephant) nothing graphic but their skin was red and leathery and was apparently the dad of the guy in the vending machine the skin of the elephant guy was apparently a clue in some big treasure hunt too it ended with the woman leaving to go home and the monster guy saying something like “everyone needs a vacation or you’ll work yourself to death like my old man” pointing out the elephant guy at that point she asks if he was dead when they taxidermied him and the monster just shrugged and I think it was implied he wasn’t even dead but was totally fine and that’s honestly all I remember

[sunsinourhands]

I Love Stories

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. But, maybe I just have to vent some frustration. I love stories. I love writing. I love world-building. I love looking for small things that are overlooked, or just not explained, and expanding on them. I love fandom. I like it when I can write content that other people enjoy. It gives me a sense of fulfillment that is hard to find. But, sometimes I can't. I do my best when I'm mirroring. What that means is that I have an easier time doing things when other people around me are also doing them. It's easier for me to exercise at a gym, because there are people around me that are also exercising and I really want to give it my all. It's easier for me to study when I'm in a location or with someone else doing the same thing. I feed off of the vibe.

I also have a big fear of abandonment, and being alone. And fandom really slapped me with two doses of that this year. Let me preface the rest of this by saying when people refuse to communicate, people on the other end can only make assumptions. And if you don't want assumptions made about you, you have to communicate. I was a member of a fandom discord server for a long time. But, I was suddenly kicked out under several accusations--while the moderators actively ignored their own procedures. I am on the autism spectrum. Sometimes I try to relate to other people by sharing that I have had similar experiences. Sometimes this is misinterpreted as me trying to shift the center of the conversation onto me. Apparently I did this a few times and instead of talking to me about it, people complained to mods--and the mods declined to speak to me about it. That by itself is unhelpful, but not a huge deal. I appreciate it when people can just talk to me, but I get that some people don't like communicating directly. I was also accused of being a pedophile when I talked about aged up characters who were 17 and 18 at the time of canon with an OC of similar age. And I don't want people acting like they had zero knowledge of their peers messing around when they were teens. I, myself, made out with a boyfriend when I was in high school. (and later decided to break up with him, partially because he was an awful kisser, but that is a different story.) And several people on this same server did the same thing. But, I was the only one kicked out without warning. When I spoke to a mod about this, I was told that 'Oh, well normally we would have spoken to you about this directly and warned you--but you were just too intimidating to talk to.' And that's bullshit. I was also actively told that this was a mod decision made despite their knowing it actively went against their own rules. I was told to 'understand' that they couldn't clarify things amongst the other users. No. I had to accept what happened because it was 'for the good of the group' and 'their hands were tied.' And to that I call fucking bullshit. That's just a cover for 'it was more convenient to kick you' and 'we didn't feel like doing our jobs.' I joined another server. In this server, I think I was the only non-black user. I'm Asian. At one point, I was also kicked out of this server without warning and without any mods returning my PMs. And I had discussed what happened with the previous server with the admin before I joined. So it wasn't that. I also clarified that I was Asian in this server at a later date--to the surprise of everyone else. Once again, I DMed some members of the sever. No response from the mods. And I can only imagine they enjoyed gossiping about me the way they gossiped about other tumblr users in the same way when I was still in that server. But what happened directly before? I made a youtube video criticizing a single section of a single work of black author that I liked. The author herself commented that I made very good points, and had great ideas. She asked if she could use some of them. Now, most of my videos barely get any reaction from anyone. But, I had a bunch of thumbs-down on that video in particular. So what am I left to assume, but that I was kicked for criticizing someone's work in a way that the author herself acknowledged was a good critique. Some time later, the thumbs down reactions were removed. And honestly that seems fucking suspicious to me.

I'm not going to say anything about race here. Because I don't think that's the issue. Maybe something about toxic insularity. Definitely a lot about poor communication or the choice not to communicate. What I'm going to say is that I think it's fucking bullshit that people will act like they have your back and support you -- but will toss you out like trash the moment you do something inconvenient for them. A lot of my former fandom friends have left fandom. A lot of them have left social media, because they didn't like it anymore. I understand that. But it's so fucking painful that people can seem to like your content and encourage you, but be so two-faced behind your back. I hope that one day I can find another writing community. Or another fandom community, and I won't be treated the same. I love making content. But, I also hate the way fandom interacts with me. So I'm torn. Part of me wants to throw a tantrum and remove all of my content from all fandoms. But, I don't think anyone would actually notice.

And I don't think I would have considered fandom writing again if my Star Trek Worldbuilding hadn't started getting so many reblogs. Do you like my content? Do you like what I write? I'm honestly glad. Because that's what I wanted.

But I also hope that some of you read this, and come to understand...something. I don't know what I want people to get from this. I guess I just wish I had friends I could trust.

[youtiaoshutiao]

i just finished "the romance of tiger and rose" and i have nothing to watch now :( do you have any cdrama recs?

hello!!!! sorry i got to this a week late my tumblr is like... neglected currently

anyway i’m so glad u enjoyed tiger and rose!!! i love it so much too :D for cdrama recs, omg it really depends on what u’re looking for!!!! i find it so hard to narrow down dramas that are my faves to recommend because i actually watch very little HAHA and i only watch to completion dramas that i really like anyway xD anyway i’ll just list a few that i’ve watched recently (meaning like... from mid 2019 till now) and really enjoyed!!!

period dramas:

- joy of life 庆余年 (2019): hard to describe this tonally because it’s v irreverant and hilarious yet moving and deep and suspenseful?! the first 15 episodes are fun and enjoyable but i think i really really truly got into it after that and became invested 100%. in my eyes it felt like a fervent love poem to life and the human condition especially towards the end. the characters are all very fascinating and there’s a lot of twisty plot twists. excellent acting and script writing. only caveat is that it’s the first season out of a planned 3 season series so it ends on a cliffhanger, and the female lead doesn’t really have as much agency compared to the other supporting female characters (mainly due to her circumstances and the role she plays i guess).

- young blood 大宋少年志 (2019): YOOO THIS is a huge lovelovelove for me, you have the most lovable squad consisting of 6 very different and generally lonely teenagers who get roped into this secret services thing where they deal with top secret government plots and stuff. and they start off all on the wrong foot and grow to LOVE EACH OTHER and RELY ON EACH OTHER and HAVE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. *sobs just thinking about it* has many supporting characters that are interesting and whom u also get invested in. It’s an original script written by Wang Juan 王倦 who also wrote the joy of life script, except young blood is 100% original and not adapted from a webnovel! just like tiger and rose’s script, which is also an original script written by Nan Zhen. this is SUPER SUPER rare nowadays in cdramaland which is why i stan these 2 dramas so hard hahaha. caveat: young blood also ends on a kind of cliffhanger/open ending, but it still felt like the arcs that the entire series covered in terms of character development were well completed so i was okay with it. plus there are lots of hints that there’s also gonna be a season 2, though I think Wang Juan is still writing the script for that.

- under the power 锦衣之下 (2019/2020): this is the drama that tiger and rose is sometimes compared to in terms of how it became so popular unexpectedly. i would wholeheartedly recommend this 100% solely for the OTP which is a Tsundere Embroidered Uniform Guard (Ming-dynasty secret police) ML x Bubbly/talkative/street smart Constable FL. they are SUPER SUPER cute and the leads (who are both my faves) play them super well and their romantic development is presented really organically. the outfits esp the male lead’s are A+++ also and make him look super super hot. i like the OST too. however everything else is quite mediocre lol especially the special effects and the meandering sideplots and there was a whole plot arc that didn’t really make much sense because a lot was edited out because of censorship. STILL VERY ADDICTIVE THO

- the story of ming lan 知否知否应是绿肥红瘦 (2018/2019): a very long drama (but quite normal by cdrama standards lol) basically about the ~journey~ and ~growth~ of our protagonist minglan, unfavoured daughter of a concubine of a relatively high ranking civil servant. it’s a very different vibe to a lot of other cdramas in that it’s very slice-of-life and slow paced, but i think it’s fascinating how it showcases how women deal and work with the internal dynamics of a household in a patriarchal society, and how that affects societal and political affairs as well. her OTP with an unfavoured son from another family (lol) is also very very delicious as it’s basically 2 people who have gone thru a lot of Trauma as children treasuring each other/learning that they too are treasured by the other and them building their own family and household against all odds and evil family members. it’s v long and slow paced as i mentioned earlier but it’s very very rewarding!! and i think many of my tumblr mutuals would agree it’s quite a favourite :D

modern dramas:

(i’ll admit that i’ve only had the brainspace the past 1 year for fluffy brainless modern dramas so all these are just for the FLUFF)

- skate into love 冰糖炖雪梨 (2020): uni drama where the FL re-picks up her true love speed skating after abandoning it for Reasons and gets back into it competitively. her OTP is her primary school deskmate who is an ice hockey player. the otp is very very fun!! the ML has a lot of resentment towards FL initially because FL was quite the bully in primary school but i really like how they resolved it and eventually the ML falls first and falls Really Really Hard and it is Delicious. the career aspects was quite well done also and i really rooted for the FL to rediscover her passion and pick it up again, and also for the ML to become better at his craft. caveat: i actually still have 10 episodes to go as i stalled because i know there’s a couple of episodes coming up that are going to be frustrating because of typical Misunderstanding and Miscommunication blablabla. but that’s pretty common lolol and overall it’s still a cute watch.

- the 致我们 series consisting of 3 dramas : 

1) a love so beautiful 致我们单纯的小美好 (2017): high school drama basically tsundere male lead x bubbly female lead, they’ve been classmates since young and are next door neighbours, female lead has a crush on him since forever

2) put your head on my shoulder 致我们暖暖的小时光 (2019): set in uni, female lead’s doing an internship far from her school, male lead is a physics student and his parents have a flat for him that is near female lead’s internship place, BAM THEY ARE FLATMATES!

3) the love equations 致我们甜甜的小美满 (2020): uni drama, female lead is a chinese language major who loves writing forensic novels online, male lead is a forensic science major.

all 3 are really cute lolol. i put these 3 because i just watched the third one two months ago and i feel like i have to mention it in the context of the first 2 haha. the first 2 were definitely hits both domestically and internationally. i feel the 3rd one kind of flopped? in terms of reception compared to the first 2 and a lot of my drama mutuals couldn’t get into it, and i can understand why because it did feel more unpolished? in terms of directorial choices/the editing/the acting/the script. but i still somehow really loved it for some reason, i think some parts of the ML’s life esp his relationship with his mum really resonated with me, and i loved FL and her friendships with her dormmates so so so so much. so i really rooted for the OTP.  i think objectively in terms of quality i would rate them 2 > 1 > 3, but in terms of feels... i loved them all. and it’s all just pure fluff anyway at the end of the day HAHA.

ok i’m running out of time writing this hehe but also a quick shoutout to my 2 favourite youth/high school dramas forever - With You 最好的我们 (2015) and My Huckleberry Friends 你好旧时光 (2017) which are sister dramas/set in the same universe and imo, are the pinnacle of youth dramas and what it means to capture the anxieties/stresses/mundane joys/pain/beauty of the Chinese/Asian high school experience. 

there are many others from before 2019 that i watched and enjoyed but i didn’t put them in hehe. and i’m sorry HAHA i actually don’t have much trust in my own taste LOL but i hope it helps!!

ohhhh and i’ve been trying to avoid starting on new dramas because of Exam Prep but there’s been SO MANY airing lately that i’ve been interested in:

The Bad Kids 隐秘的角落: apparently super well done suspense/thriller drama that’s receiving rave reviews everywhere!!

Love A Lifetime 暮白首: an original wuxia starring ren jialun (ML in under the power) whom i love so much and zhang huiwen

My Girl 99分女朋友: this is a modern day cdrama written by nan zhen!!! (who wrote tiger and rose) so i think it might be worth checking out :))

[magpiejay1234]

Defeated the main storyline with Zeromus, now I got stuck at Lunar Ruins because I missed the save point. Oh well. Further thoughts on FF4 GBA

*Cave of Trials is definitely a later addition, not because it literally is an addiiton for this version of the game, but it is also antithetical to the Sakaguchi approach. Not the bosses for the ultimate-ish weapons of the additional player characters. Specifically, there are 7 levels of this dungeon. In all other dungeons in the original version of the game, you only have 5-6 at the very worst, except for the Lunar dungeons.

Nonetheless, it was very enjoyable, and I managed to grind better here than on Lunar surface, which was quite harsh. I still used the “canonical” party of Edge, Kain, Rydia, Cecil and Rosa because the IGN walkthrough recommeded it as such, though.

*Of all of the ultimate-ish weapons, the one that surprised me most was Triton’s Dagger. I didn’t know Palom could use daggers, though considering both FFI Ninjas and Edge can use Black Magic, it makes sense.

The Triton part of the dagger is also interesting since Palom cannot use water magic, but it is meant to reference his final scene with an unnamed girl (Leonora, according to the After Years). Of course the After Years made them a couple essentially, of course.

*It feels weird to see King Giott and Luca in both the Mysidia Tower and the final celebration for Cecil’s wedding. Other NPCs, particularly those in Troia don’t show up. Granted, Luca will eventually become an actual playable character in The After Years, but it is interesting to see how SE decided to squeeze the ending for more creating more content. Again, very anti-Sakaguchi, but also very Pokémon/Digimon/Yu-Gi-Oh!.

*And Zemus, as many people pointed out, you either believe he is a Diablus ex Machina, or a moral anvil to hammer in the “Fascism is bad” theme. Granted, for a JRPG series, FF’s anti-fascistic streak is actually unique, since most other Japanese media tends to be very pro-fash (you can look around Tumblr to see why, or just read early AoT criticism).

I’m more weirded out by his design. He doesn’t have legs, and according to the Yoshitaka Amano artwork of Fusoya, neither does he. But in the DS version, Kluya clearly does. From what I can understand, the Lunarians in the original game were meant to be more like a mixture of Asian dragons and comets, and both Fusoya and Zemus fit the bill. But Kluya is just a dude with animé blue hair.

Speaking of Kluya, the original translation seems to imply Kluya has been on earth for at least a few centuries, and having many progeny. But in the DS version, it is implied he had a traditional marriage with Cecilia, and only two kids, after centuries of wandering. I’m not sure if I like this later reinterpretation, because it makes me feel Kluya only found value in humanity after finding a chick who looks like a Lunarian. IDK.

*Going with the crystal retcon in The After Years, the Lunar crystals have not only kept Zemus at bay for so long, but they also actively help your party. So yeah, I don’t think the retcon works as well as I previously thought it did.

*The game obviously has a lot of Judeo-Christian symbolism in addition to the Star Wars references. Some of these are clearly deliberate. Others are NGE-levels of visual and textual flair. I planned to do a deep dive ages ago, but there might be a lot missing stuff from the later versions I might miss. So if I do a post like that, it will be less of a compendium and more of an overview.

*For the endings of each character:

**Tellah surprisingly shows up at the final battle, which wasn’t something I expected. The final battle overall obviously inspired the final battle against Giygas with all characters praying for your success and recovering your party.

*Edward actually lives up to being a good king after his father’s death. Edge doesn’t, because he is very horny. 

*Yang being the King of Fabul after the king’s abdication feels weird, because I don’t think it was set up really well.

*Cid is still stuck at Baron. I thought he would be a bridge between Dwarves and regular people, but I guess the dwarves already have the village of Agart. I didn’t notice that he was the best man in Rosa and Cecil’s wedding, which is cute.

*Porom is the one that instigates people in Mysidia to pray for Cecil and the gang, which is interesting. I guess Sakaguchi and Takashi Togita (co-writer of the game) really liked the character. 

Palom, as mentioned above, becomes a chad at the age of 5 somehow (Leonora at the point of this game is apparently 7, even though her sprite is clearly shorter. Again, Palom is a chad.) With him, I always think of him as a Bumblebee-type character, a character designed for the younger children in the audience to relate to. Games after FFIV would keep this tradition, but it feels weird to see here since Palom would become an edgelord like Edge in The After Years (despite technically following on Tellah’s footsteps.)

*Rydia remains with her new adoptive family. But I feel weirded out by Leviathan’s comments regarding Rydia’s beauty. This wouldn’t pass by censors in this day and age.

*Of course, Cecil and Theodor’s(aka. Golbez) closures are meant to parallel Kluya and Fusoya. Theodor ultimately decides to go into cryogonic sleep with his uncle (The After Years would put a kibosh on that, though), and Cecil takes on his biological father’s morals while taking his adoptive father’s role as the King of Baron. Symbolism aside, I really like this. Cecil was a character in need of a cause, and Theodor was a character in need of a connection with his past. 

Not to mention, if he decides to return after the all the shit he done under Zemus’s influence, he will be crucified by at least 50 people. So there’s that as well.

*I’m still stuck at Lunar Ruins, but I really like the face on the moon joke. Speaking of the moon, I wonder if the humanoid enemies in the Lunar Subterrane inspired the Maenad in the After Years. Anyway, that’s for another time.

[finestoftheflavors]

Liveblogging The Lorax

The Lorax is on Netflix so I’m watching it. It’s Tumblr famous, right? As far as I can tell, you need to see The Lorax to understand Tumblr culture, because of the unique importance of the character of The Onceler. 

First off, I felt sure at the beginning that the boy we see in the intro, our protagonist viewpoint character (Ted, apparently), was going to grow up to become The Onceler. I mean, they look so similar! Look at Old Man Onceler’s silhouette through those window slats, you can’t tell me that’s the same nose as the Onceler we see in the flashback scenes. No, the Onceler we see in the flashback narrative has the same “generic cute” facial features as the boy! The obvious conclusion is that this is ultimately not meaningful, and that Ted is simply imagining himself as the viewpoint character of The Onceler’s story, and that explains the resemblance.

What makes The Onceler sexy? This is the Tumblr sexyman, right? That’s what I’ve been told. I wouldn’t know, I wasn’t on Tumblr back in that era. I notice his proportions. Very lanky. Look at the rise of his pants -- kinda odd, innit? If you focus on his torso, like the lower end of his waistcoat, then it looks like he’s wearing low-rise pants. But if you focus on his hips, then it looks like he’s wearing high-rise pants! That’s an impressive amount of abdomen going on there! I imagine this thirst represents the people who favor tall skinny men instead of buff ripped dudes.

Thneedville. During the intro song, I thought they were actually saying Sneedville, based on the audio. But no, the signs clearly spell it with a Th. Is this movie making fun of people with speech impediments? I’m personally offended. I mean, not really, but... you know.

What’s up with this O’Hare dude? From the image I’d think this guy is supposed to look Asian? I guess that’s mainly based on the hair. But the voice is definitely supposed to sound like an Italian-American mafioso! I’m idly curious to know what amount of thought was put into this character design.

The Onceler chops down a tree, and this is presented as a noteworthy atrocity against nature. What!? Has nobody ever chopped down a tree before, in this world? Where did they get the wood to build that wagon, then? This movie presents a ridiculously simplistic view of environmentalism. The intro song shows an absurd degree of artificial modernity, and now the image of the natural world is equally absurd. It’s as if this narrative expects us to believe that Nature consists of perfect harmony with no conflict, like a Garden of Eden with no predators. Of course, in the real world, there’s no binary distinction between primitive peoples existing in harmony with nature, and modern society that destroys nature.

An example of this movie’s portrayal of the natural world: The scene where Lorax sneaks the sleeping Onceler out of his house in the night. They’ve got Onceler onto the river but one of the little bears is still on the bed/raft. So the Lorax must rescue it. WTF!? What happened to “nature, red in tooth and claw”? I’m pretty sure that a realistic personification of Nature would use the population of the forest as cannon fodder without hesitation.

[lilquill]

Are you doing okay what with all the VV stuff that happened? It seemed like you and Mina were close

Hey hey, thanks for the worries anon! Mina of mvcreates/Violet Vineyard and I were properly talking as friends for only a few months quite a long time ago. Emotionally I’m completely fine, but I do have stuff to say and I do want to help document things if any of it is useful in any way. A lot of it will be dry because it’s just documenting, but some of it will be “juicier” I guess, and I’d like to corroborate some of the things my friends are saying. I’ll put this under the cut for people who don’t want to scroll through all this and/or have no idea what I’m talking about and want to keep it that way!

You guys can check @nuwuhorizons‘s blog to see what exactly is going on and I believe they’re also reblogging some things others who were members are saying. The case of people dogpiling a 19-year-old trans person and making fun of their name is on the blog (post here, wayback machined here).

I can corroborate a bunch of what @rrrawrf-writes (post here, wayback machined here) and @gingerly-writing (post here, wayback machined here) have said. I backread through the interaction that Ginger talks about in her post (of course not the DMs, but the interaction itself).

I know some people may be confused about why Ginger only has that one screenshot of what she said and may not see that as full evidence, but Violet Vineyard had a super strict “don’t screenshot and post anything” with lots of scary looking legal stuff attached to it policy and, well, Ginger can’t be sharing stuff without anyone’s permission if it’s just the message she herself sent, but they’d have grounds to take god knows what action with what backing against her if she posted something else. But, well, for what it’s worth, as someone who read through that conversation a little after it happened, it was certainly a case of dogpiling and left a bad taste in my mouth, and it strikes me as really odd that the mods would try to shut someone down like that.

I haven’t really been doing stuff in writeblr lately as you can probably tell from my blog, but yeah, Mina herself and a lot of people in that particular friend group of hers, as Lisa mentions, have just disappeared off Tumblr. I can also attest to the dogpiling tendencies and this Mina Is Always Right tendency, and the fervor with which people would defend her.

I was honestly never close enough to Mina to be in that friend group. She and I were only really talking to each other for a few months over a year ago. I don’t think I was “writeblr-y” enough to fit in with them. I was also not super active in that server. I didn’t post much about my wips because I in general don’t think I really post a lot about them. Therefore I didn’t get like, massive benefits off of the whole “network” thing, but  I’d reblog some stuff when I saw it. I was probably most known for posting pictures of my plants, lol. And I would occasionally hop in to talk briefly about kpop with like, one person? (They went by Kay and their url was like, lvcrezia? lvcrezias? Something like that.) In fact, probably the last thing I ever said in that server was a super quick conversation about Red Velvet’s “Monster” music video around the time it dropped.

In fact, for the sake of being super transparent/establishing credibility, and for documenting purposes, I’ll list all the non-plant-pictures and non-kpop conversations I can remember actually participating in. Some of these will lead off into bigger topics, and I’ll specify those. But first, a word.

TO ANY OF THE FORMER MODS WHO MIGHT COME AFTER ME FOR SAYING THINGS ABOUT THE SERVER, SINCE THIS HAS APPARENTLY HAPPENED TO OTHERS: The server is deleted, and so is the text of the whole “contract” (yes, really) that people had to agree to in order to join VV. I remember that the agreement made sure we didn’t post screenshots publicly, but other than that I genuinely do not remember the text and I have no way of referencing it to keep in line with it since the server is deleted. I do not remember if documenting things like this is against anything I have agreed to, I have no record of the agreement, and I have not been notified of any place to access a record of the agreement before the server was deleted. If my post is some sort of violation, you cannot hold me accountable for rules that I am unable to follow, and I would greatly appreciate not being targeted with empty threats shrouded in scary legal language. If you have any point of contention with what I have said, feel free to take it up either publicly or privately. Please do @ me if it’s specific to me; I’m not really the vagueposting kind. If any of you want me to delete this post, you will need to provide actual proof of the agreement that I made by joining Violet Vineyard, and you will also need to prove that the rules were not edited after I agreed to them. If any of them were follow-up rules not from the beginning of the server, it’s possible that I did not see them and therefore you need to provide proof that I agreed to those, too. In addition, since image editing is what set off this avalanche in the first place hence we’re all aware that there’s software that allows us to edit images and pass them off as an original thing, you’ll need to provide proof that any screenshots/images are undoctored. Furthermore, since the rules have been deleted with the server, as the method I used to agree to follow them, you must prove that my agreement is still valid, since it seems to me it’s been nullified since it’s, well, gone either through deletion or kicking me out alongside everyone else. Tl;dr you don’t scare me lol.

Anyways, back to a list of the non-kpop, non-plant-pics, non-my-wips-promo conversations I can actually remember:

On January 5, 2020, the server had a conversation about Roshani Chokshi’s book The Gilded Wolves. I can give the date because during/in the aftermath of the conversation, which I talked about the book in, Mina DMed me quickly. (This was also the last time Mina ever directly contacted me.) I’ll talk about this later.

In February 2020 I believe I quickly mentioned getting concert tickets.

Either early this year or late last year I think I posted some stuff about landscape photography, with some photos of the beach.

I believe I posted a couple fashion pics at some point?

Back in May 2019 I got some kinda weird asks about Violet Vineyard and I think people were talking about that, and I assume I participated since I was the one who received the asks. At that time VV was like a super new server and didn’t really have much as far as the issues we’ve been talking about go, so I defended it. (I’ll be talking about this later.)

Probably in June/July 2019 people in the server had a discussion about Black Muslim characters and representation, initiated by me for one of my WIPs.

I think we talked about South Asian sweets at some point???

I believe in April/May 2019, there was some stuff in that server reagarding “drama” with Castor who at that time went by the url pilipalea that I honestly don’t remember much of. Castor was never in VV, but I believe they were in a server with Mina at some other point. There was something about grammar and proofreading?? (I’ll be referencing this soon as well.)

I helped someone with their computer science homework at some point.

I asked for r&b music recs at some point either late 2019 or earlier 2020.

I’ve also talked about ethnic clothes I think.

We’ve talked about Hindu nationalism and how awful it is.

I think we’ve talked about tone policing and how woc are often portrayed as “aggressive.”

We’ve talked about health/fitness and exercise.

I recommended Jade City and some other books I’m a fan of in there.

Probably talked about Bollywood movies at some point.

The fact that I can remember probably most of my conversations that lasted more than like, one message in there is, I think, a pretty good testament to a) me having at least a kind of decent memory and b) I wasn’t participating in the server so regularly that the conversations kind of blend together. I know this is all kind of long and dry for anyone who’s here for drama purposes lol, but I did want to establish that I’ve been in that server for quite a while and that I wasn’t monitoring it heavily; in fact, I had it muted very soon after joining it.

I wasn’t super close to anyone that I’d met through VV. People who are friends that I still regularly contact who were in VV with me, I had met through other servers and other interactions on Tumblr. I’ll disclose right now that I have been longtime friends with Ginger, Lisa, and Eff (@time-to-write-and-suffer), who have all come out against VV, and that we are in our own servers with people from writeblr. Ginger and Lisa were both in VV, Eff has never been.

Okay, back to maybe “juicier” stuff.

Mina had always positioned herself almost as this “tumblr mom” type. She’d reference her age a lot, which would contrast a lot with how a significant portion of the members were much younger and, I think, set up the dynamic of people looking up a lot to her and always coming to her defense. After all, we’re talking a bunch of passionate kids who’d found a writeblr network. And the server definitely seemed “legit”; I myself was pretty impressed with just how tightly organized everything was, and like I mentioned, there was fancy legal language to ~protect their rights~ and whatnot. Mina herself seemed so accomplished with so many talents: she’d post her writing and artwork, I believe she’d made a couple pieces of music, she’d work out and keep in shape, she had a seemingly wonderful loving relationship with her husband, she was active in research fields professionally and as an outbreak responder, and she, of course, had a significant online presence as a “big writeblr.” I remember when she’d started blowing up, so soon after her blog had been created, because of her prolific content and friendly persona. People, especially younger ones who had no other writeblr support group, looked up to her and trusted her. And the nature of the server was to shower everyone in praise, so Mina found herself on the receiving end of quite a bit of it. Mina would also actively boost and review other writers’ content, genuinely engaging with it and providing feedback, support, and valuable resources.

Mina also had a tight-knit group of adult friends. Some of them I believe carried over from pre-VV times (incuding CJ of typewriter-jade if I’m remembering correctly, who made fun of the trans person’s name in the reblog chain in the link to nuwuhorizons’s blog), while some were made afterwards. They would act super friendly and familiar with each other, which I think contributed to a lot of people falling into this little “friendship” super fast. They were also authority figures and role models, and tended to agree with each other, so everyone just went along with that.

These factors, I think, heavily influenced the dogpiling tendencies. People were eager to defend their community, where they’d found so much love and support for their work. Minors would go along with adults in conversations. When someone said something, others would enthusiastically support them. And people were just so into each other that I really couldn’t keep up, which is probably why I didn’t participate too much. People became just super fast friends and the server was so large and so seemingly “professional” and structured in how it was made. I think people just kind of assumed everyone in there was great and their friend who could be trusted deeply, when in reality that’s just impossible if there are like, 100+ members. Meaning if something minorly negative happened (like on that literal eleven-year-old’s blog), everyone would come in to say something to demonstrate their emphatic loyalty, even when it became excessive for something as small as an ask game done wrong.

This happened with the Gilded Wolves discussion as well. Someone stepped in to say that the way Gilded Wolves coded its antagonists as this shady secret society of people was antisemitic, and everyone joined in to rip the book apart without having even read it. I joined in the conversation to state that I didn’t see it that way, since that shady antagonist group was very much coded as white Christians (their names are all French Christian names) and were colonizers (meaning making them this shadowy group of powerful and evil people was accurate) and one of the protagonists, who is Jewish, is opposing them and antisemitism is portrayed as horrible, and that the book had had (if I’m remembering correctly) Jewish sensitivity readers and multiple Jewish book reviewers really enjoyed and recommended it. Then Mina stepped in to say that multiple Jewish journals she followed rated the book highly and recommended it meaning the accusation of antisemitism clashed heavily with what a lot of other people thought, and that since me and the other person who was saying the book was antisemitic were the only ones who had read it or were familiar with it in any capacity, it wasn’t fair for everyone to be judging it like that. It was like she’d flipped a switch: people were suddenly much more “reasonable” and “fair” and willing to give the book a chance, just because she’d stepped in. (As a quick note, I don’t remember exactly whether Mina stepped in first or if I stated my opinion first. I also want to mention that Mina DMed me to state that the person who accused the book of antisemitism had expressed some Zionist sentiments in the past and to say that maybe their take on the book could have come from Islamophobia with them maybe assuming obviously ethnic name of the author was a Muslim name. The Zioinist stuff is something I can’t actually speak on since again, I have no access to the server anymore and I don’t remember that person’s url. This was the last time Mina DMed me or I her.)

I wrote all that out because I think it illustrates a few things. Firstly, a good example of the tendencies of people going with the flow of things even when it led to dogpiling/drastic conclusions. When I say they were really trashing that book, I mean it! Secondly, it demonstrates the willingness of everyone to go along with what Mina said. Third, it shows that Mina was capable of stepping in to prevent dogpiling (and, seemingly, she would, at least if her beliefs aligned with the opposite of whatever incited the dogpiling) and that people would listen to her and actually change their minds. 

Whether or not Mina supported something was pretty important. Of course, it was her server, so she was definitely allowed to run it how she saw fit, but she would very swiftly pass judgement on things and everyone would just comply. One time, I think there were more than one different threads of conversation happening in the general channel of the server. Jess suggested making a second general channel to allow for other conversations, as is common in a lot of servers, including ones I’m in and moderate/own/have some power in. I don’t remember if I supported that suggestion or if I only backread that conversation, but I know at least one other person agreed. Mina said that as an older person (she’d very frequently bring up her age) she thought people could just wait for their turn in a conversation and didn’t even consider trying it out. Other mods, I believe, backed her up and said no to the second general conversation channel. I remember being a little confused as to why nobody even considered trying a member’s suggestion to make the server more easy to participate it and help provide additional structure/support how big it was, and why it was shut down because people could just wait for their turn, when clearly the general channel was getting overloaded before our eyes. But Mina didn’t see the need, so therefore nobody else wanted to do anything about it, and nobody ever mentioned it again, I think. I know this is a super minor instance lol, but I do think it illustrates something about the behavior in the server and how it was run. It’s not like other channels weren’t added based on need; one was created for the 2018 elections, one was created for talking about race in June during the height of BLM protests having news coverage, I’m pretty sure one was created for talking about the coronavirus. So, the mods were watching conversations and responding as they saw fit, they just wouldn’t field this request, for some reason. Obviously conversations getting muddled in a general channel isn’t as significant as major political events, antiblack racism, or a pandemic, but these channels were made to improve the server experience and likely to prevent these topics from completely overloading other channels, so, well.

Okay, the Castor/pilipalea stuff and dogpiling. I’ll say this stuff now because Castor has opened up about it (here [wayback machined] and here [archived in a google doc]), so I see that as permission for others to comment on it. If I’m remembering correctly and looking back at the right things, there was something about Mina giving advice on a grammatical error to one of her mutuals, or something asking if her mutuals wanted grammatical advice? Castor vagueblogged, presumably about that, and talked about classism in expecting good grammar from people, which is a valid issue, but seemed misapplied to this instance of someone consenting to receive advice on grammar/syntax/mechanics, if that’s what the vagueblogging was about. I reached out to Mina to let her know that I thought someone was vagueblogging about her, and she told me about past conflicts with Castor. I also reached out to Castor over DMs to ask what the vagueblogging was about, because you genuinely never know; classist prescriptivism is harmful and bad, and so many people on Tumblr are in so many different circles that similar topics may come up coincidentally. Castor wasn’t clear with me either about what the post was targeting and skirted around naming names.  

At this point, looking back, it still seems to be that it was about Mina, especially considering that Castor had previous history with her and others in her circle. Mina was irritated by the vagueblogging (who likes being vagueblogged about?) and also informed me, all the way back in April 2019, about this past server drama that Castor mentioned. It seems to me that it stemmed from a misunderstanding: Mina and I believe other mods noticed another person using Castor’s PSDs without credit. Mina checked with Castor about whether people should be crediting them for PSDs and Castor said that, yes, they wanted credit; you can see this interaction in the screenshot Castor linked on their post. 

This is where the accounts of what happened diverge: Mina expressed to me that she and the other mods weren’t very harsh since they’d seen that Castor’s friend had credited Castor in the past, so they just wanted to remind Castor’s friend to give credit, without knowing that Castor’s friend had permission to use the PSDs without crediting. I was told that Mina and the team of mods were professional in their handling of this; Castor has stated in their post that the group was extremely harsh. Since I don’t have any screenshots or exact records of what they said before I was in contact with Mina, I can’t comment, so I’ll withhold judgement on that. According to Mina, she and the other mods had not been very vocal about this crediting/PSD stuff, and very few people knew about it, so it did seem like Castor had attacked Mina out of nowhere.

What I can say is that the VV members were certainly quick to respond to the grammar vagueblog, and that if I’m remembering correctly, readily jumped to Mina’s defense. I distinctly remember that one VV member specifically asked whether it was about Mina in a reblog. This happened pretty early on in VV’s existence and I believe was the first major “drama” that VV got embroiled in. Looking back, I do think it was fair to be critical of Castor’s post. But this was also the first look at the tendencies people had of getting embroiled in the fervor of any perceived slight against a member (in particular Mina).

I noticed this again when I received anons that were sort of bitter about VV’s existence in May 2019, way before VV had gained the reputation that it has now. People were very quick to respond with hostility and slightly amplify the anger expressed by other members, and little by little things got really out of hand. I can totally understand being upset and irritated, since the asks were kind of unwarranted and the sender did apologize if I remember correctly. But there was a huge outpouring of vicious language from a lot of the members, and this was, I think, the first instance of proper dogpiling in VV, especially since it was an easy antagonist; the sender was out of line, and they were totally anonymous.

These were the only two instances of going to bat for VV that I ever participated in. For the other things, I either only backread or missed them completely. While they don’t really paint VV in a super bad light, not like the dogpiling of an eleven-year-old that Jess mentions in her post, it did give me a pretty good idea of how VV handled controversies.

I’ve mentioned some of my theories of why this dogpiling/toxicity happened. I’d also like to add that Mina would often send concise, decisively-worded statements about things. I think this may have come across as final-word judgments to a lot of people, so they would take that as the last say on a certain matter and escalate in severity of their response from there. And like, you should trust your friends and take what they say in good faith. But you still need to be thinking critically and considering your response, especially when you haven’t known someone for very long. And this, I think, was a big source of toxicity in the server. There were just so many people responding to the same issues and aligning their beliefs, and they’d build off each other and create an environment where these kinds of responses were okay. Plus, VV was always portrayed as a tight-knit family when not everyone knew each other and not everyone was active (as is totally normal for a massive server), so this also contributed to people wanting to defend each other all the time. And I don’t think the mod team did an adequate job of shutting it down, despite the veneer of a structured, sort of more “professional” space.

Okay, now onto the art stuff.

Disclaimer, I don’t draw digital or physical art. I was always aware that Mina was certainly at least using references for her work. In some cases I could even pinpoint which pictures were used, like one where the faceclaim was Ranveer Singh. I also received fanart of one of my characters that, of course, looked very similar to the faceclaim. It certainly was clear some tracing had happened in that picture because of the level of detail in the chikankari embroidery, but like…..it’s free fanart, chikankari isn’t copyrighted, and that embroidery is super difficult to draw anyways. What I was not aware of was Mina apparently tracing images and using them to advertise for commissions, which is something I do not condone. I also know my photography and photo editing tools, so I was aware that there was some filtering/editing going on. I’m not sure if Mina traced and didn’t disclose it for commissioned art.

Okay, now the server shutting down stuff!

I was completely unaware of the dogpiling/transphobia stuff happening in the server because I had it on mute. I only found out about all this two days ago. I received the message where everyone was @’ed about VV’s “migration” off Tumblr and that the server would be shut down. I can confirm that the concern was about mirror sites and that the server did discuss these mirror sites as a big intellectual property issue. I didn’t know people wanted the server shutting down to be kept so secret, and I honestly cannot think of a reason why; I feel like if those mirror site concerns were serious, people would be trying to spread the word on writeblr? So I think that people are right to be a little suspicious of the exact reason for the server’s closing.

I think I should mention also that people were pretty much always friendly with me on VV. I met a bunch of cool people, and Mina was always kind and supportive with me. @radley-writes has echoed similar sentiments here (wayback machined here) and here (wayback machined here) while being critical of the environment in VV.

I know this post is like, wildly long and probably quite dry and rambly at points, but I hope it does provide some specific examples to back up some of the criticisms of VV and document it a bit better.

Thank you for reading! I’ll make sure to edit this to add stuff if I remember things/see the need.

I also want to state that my post is more a critique of the environment than anything. I’m not trying to attack anyone at all, I’m just giving an account of stuff that has happened, my level of involvement, and my own thoughts on all this.

I also want to say that I am completely open to hearing what any of you have to say. Feel free to critique/discuss anything I’ve said in this post with me. If you want to vent about your experiences in/with Violet Vineyard, my inbox and DMs are totally open. If you want to keep things confidential, I won’t break your trust or reveal your identity (unless you start idk, spouting racist stuff at me or something). If you want to anonymously tell people about an experience, feel free to shoot me an anon.

I hope you’re all having a wonderful day! I’m sending you lots of love. Take care! <3

[jackinique]

My past self would hate me for criticizing a movie I never watched, but she would understand. And by the way, this is an emtional rant and not meant to be a fully fledged argument with packed evidence. And of course, spoilers ahead. ANYWAY, WHAT THE FUCK IS MULAN.

Mulan the animated movie was my THE favorite Disney movie OK. As a Chinese watching a strong female Asian lead, you bet my ass I loved Mulan!! I also loved the fandom calling Li Shang bisexual, but that's another story.

But the live action. Hell no. I was already against it ever since it came to light the main actress was supporting the HK police, and was just waiting to pirate the movie the month after it came out, because hey at least the witch looks hot 👀👀.

But when bad reviews started flooding in this month, that completely discouraged me. I read a lot of articles about Mulan, and apparently the witch could have been a very interesting villain and an excellent parallel/contrast with Mulans character, but they fucked it up anyways. THE POTENTIAL. TO NOT JUST BE A PRETTY FACE. And what the fuck is up with Mulan having chi?????? It really didn't sit well with me. Someone on tumblr mentioned how her having these magical powers defeated the message from the original film of how Mulan had to work hard to be acknowledged as a true warrior, and I totally agree. Mulan being born with powers fully defeated that purpose LMAO.

The only thing they had going for them is the fight scenes. Really good stunt doubles and storyboard action sequences. (Yes, I didn't watch the movie but only watched all the movie clips from YouTube, because that was how much I didn't want to give money to Disney.)

And lastly, this is only my personal opinion, but I HATE Mulans live action design?? First of all, is her wearing red supposed to symbolize her rebirth or something? (because I know there was a phoenix scene or some shit that was a GOT rip-off.) Why is she so red?? Even in Chinese culture, red is usually used for Chinese New Year festivities and marriages, so this visual is hella confusing to me. Did they only want her to be more striking compared to the rest of her characters? because her face expressions sure as hell doesn't say so!! (She is legit the second Kristen Stewart, I only saw her smile for two frames in all the movie clips I found, and literally the rest are all ._. faces). (Also I actually love Kristen Stewart, please don't come for me. I'm just comparing her fandoms' previous perception of her to Mulan right now.) why couldn't they have chosen more complimentary colors to add, like some dark forest green that could have been inspired by her animated version? the pure red is so BORING and monotonous. even the witch had some color going for her, what with blacks and off whites and browns and golds. but mulan? hell no, I'm going to be a red blob. I CAN'T. its too simple. I can't deal. goodbye.

so yeah I'm going to binge watch the animated mulan now.

[bitter-opal]

Yellowface is Alive and Well in Steven Universe

Ok, so I know this post is going to get a lot of hate, but

Steven Universe treats its POC horribly. Today Is I’ll be talking about the racism towards Asians and Asian-coded characters in the show since I have personal experience with that.

Definitions and Terms:

A quick overview of Yellowface: Yellowface consists of very narrow eyes, buck teeth or tooth gaps, and very yellow skin. This was used as justification to keep Chinese people out of the US using Chinese Exclusion Acts during the 19th century after Chinese immigrants were used to build railroads or clean laundry. It was used as an argument for US imperialism of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War concluded. It was also used as anti-Japanese sentiment to justify the shameful Japanese internment camps of the 1940s.

Remember the episode “Steven’s Dream” where Greg and Steven go to visit Korea. They made an anti-Asian joke. The joke here was that all Asians look the same. Asians have to deal with this kind of shit everyday. That we all look alike or that our cultures are interchangeable. But oh, it gets even worse than that.

Connie: Connie is Southeast Asian. But she constantly gets shunted to the side as Steven’s sidekick. First, Connie is portrayed as a nerd, and although I am a nerd, that is a hint that they would go the stereotypical route. The nerdy Asian is a stereotype used to hold Asians to perfectionistic standards and justify being shunted to the side because we’re “nerds.” In season 2, Pearl conditions her to serve Steven and put her own safety last, which is extremely unhealthy. She’s even called a “pet” by Blue Diamond, which is super racist. A brown kid should never ever be called a pet. And then I see people on Tumblr defending Blue Diamond, but if you want to avoid being racist, awful epithets like this are something to avoid completely. Also, whenever she fuses with Steven into Stevonnie, their fusion is sexualized, which is typical of Asian fetishization (something I have had to deal with unfortunately irl) When she is rightfully upset at Steven, her concerns and feelings are considered non-issues. Why? Because she’s a POC and POC don’t matter in Steven Universe.

Lars: just everything about his character was done completely wrong by the crew. Lars has always been colored orange on the show, which is pretty weird unless you contextualize it as another form of racism. If they were going for tan, then the tan they did was really shitty. Lars is implied to be Filipino based on the dish he makes right before he gets kidnapped. His dish ends up thrown in the trash out of shame, which is a big old middle finger to Asian culture and food. He’s portrayed as a jerk before he gets kidnapped. He’s the only human character to explicitly die...Apparently the only way an Asian character is good is if they die for the white hero and/or get their skin turned much, much lighter. And then, Steven leaves him stranded in space. Like hell, this kid had a very high chance of dying again, and you fucking left him?! But if it was your racist Uncle Andy, I’m sure you wouldn’t leave him behind. That is pure racism. But here’s what really shocked me to the core:

Blatant Yellowface with Jade: This one may require some historical context since many people think that it’s impossible in modern day cartoons, but I see it on a regular basis. Yellowface is defined above. Can you figure out what’s wrong here? Hint: It’s the facial features of the fusion. Neither of Jade’s components have the features of the fusion: specifically the tooth gap and the “slanted eyes.” Jade is also stereotypically associated with East Asian cultures especially China. When using such a culturally charged gemstone, you need to make sure that you’re not being racist about it. This is what the crewinverse failed to do. They gave the fusion “slanted” eyes and a tooth gap even though a quick Internet search says this screams Yellowface. This blatant example of Yellowface is not talked about a lot and I wished to draw more attention to this extremely problematic depiction. When I watched the episode that night, that shit seriously traumatized me. It made me stop watching the show for any kind of pleasure because a show that shows this much disrespect and mockery of Asians does not deserve my viewership.

Conclusion: This kind of racist motherfuckery by the show is extremely upsetting especially to kids who grew up in racist or intolerant environments. All the time, Asians are often considered foreign even if they were born and/or raised here. Asians are often fetishized, which often leads to sexual harassment and/or assault. Just because something claims to be “progressive” or “racially diverse” does not mean it is unproblematic or anti-racist. Because this allegedly progressive cartoon committed at least 4 majorly racist acts against just Asian people..

[purplesurveys]

816

Gonna do a before and after of one of the first surveys I took when I was FOURTEEN. Fucking wild that I’ve been doing this for nearly a decade. Kinda my way of celebrating the fact that I’ve just been reunited with my old blog, which Tumblr has apparently changed the URL of. Baffled by the move but still stoked, and @a-zebra-is-a-striped-horse​ is absolutely the coolest person for being able to find it haha. Let’s gooooo 1. Are you registered to vote? No. I still have 3 years to go. < That’s so precious. I’ve been a voter for four years now. I registered the second I turned 18 and I remember being very excited to make it to the presidential elections because only a handful of people from my high school batch were 18 by the time of the elections. 2. When days go by, do you cross them off on the calendar? Only when I’m counting down for something. < This still sounds like something I would do, but I don’t really get to anymore because I have digital calendars on my phone and laptop now. 3. Are you currently counting down to something? If so, what? Summer vacation! 4 days left! < Again, so cute. There’s no countdown that exists because I honestly don’t know when it will be okay enough to go out like normal again, but I am waiting for Covid to go away or at least for a vaccine to be available.

No #4? 5. Ever got injured at work? What happened? Nope. < I sprained my ankle at one of the parking lots in school, while walking to my car. Worst thing was it happened in front of an ongoing rally, and I heard their chants slightly falter when they saw me fall. I tried to play it cool, but my foot clearly felt fucked and someone had to hold my arm as I hopped to my car.

6. What color is your roof? Brown. < Stop pretending like you have a roof, Robyn. The house has always had a rooftop.

7. Do you use MySpace or Facebook more? Neither. < I was still far too young when MySpace peaked so I never did get to participate in its glory days. I definitely use Facebook a lot more, then and now. 8. Last time you sharpened a pencil? When I took a diagnostic test last Monday. < Sometime in 2019 when I was still heavily into coloring and I bought several coloring books and a pack of coloring pencils. I loved coloring and wish I kept it up, but it was just a bit of a hassle for me to sharpen every ten minutes or so. 9. List all the people in your phone under T: Zero, zilch, nada. No phone. < A high school batchmade named Dani, a college colleague named Kate, and a couple of aunts and uncles whose contacts start with Tito and Tita.  10. How old were you when you got into text messaging? I once had a super obsessive text problem when I was 11, I think? < That would be the first time I got hooked with texting, but I got my first phone when I was 7 and was already texting by then. Mostly my parents and grandpa, but still. 11. Do you pay rent to your parents? No. < No. They’ve already told me they won’t pressure me to do so either, but out of gratefulness for taking care of me for 20+ years I have absolutely no problems covering some of the bills when the time comes. 12. What do you think of Obama’s new healthcare bill? I don’t know a lot about it. < Honestly, still same. That’s another country’s politics altogether and we have enough issues in our own nation as it is. I do pay attention to US issues that are more universal like LGBT issues, police brutality against black people, Trump as a person...but not the more in-depth ones like healthcare or student debt. 13. How many icons are on your desktop? 34. < Exactly half of that. 14. Do you spit or swallow? Get outta here!!! < Still can’t relate. 15. Ever wrote something on a bathroom wall? Nope. < Eugh no, public bathrooms are so nasty. I don’t usually touch anything in them other than the faucet. I’ve written on other things though, like the desks in school. 16. What’s your definition of a slut? Uh. < Someone who often has casual sex with a lot of people, is how I understand it. 17. If you use the word “slut”, do you apply it to men who do the same thing as what you listed above? Nah. < I don’t really use the word. 18. Do you dye eggs for Easter? I did once, in a children’s party. < Yeah, just that one time at my second cousins’ place when they were in the mood to paint on eggs and invited me and my siblings. 19. What did you do on the first day of spring? Never experienced spring. < We don’t have spring. 23. Are you currently crushing on anyone? No. < Yes. 24. What color hair did the last person you kissed have? NKSB. < LOOOOOOOOOL I spent like two minutes puzzling over this like who tf is NKSB??? Eventually realized this just meant ‘Never Kissed Since Birth’ oh my god 14 year old Robyn you were SO uncool. Anyway, her hair is black. 25. Do you stand up to say the pledge in school? We don’t have a school pledge, but we do recite our country’s pledge and yes, we stand up every time we say it. < Not anymore in university. Everyone just kinda does their own thing in college and we’re never gathered as one student body for anything, except for graduation. 26. Do you like your eye color? God no. It’s so boring. < I mean yeah it is a bit boring, but we kinda have no choice. Unless you go to West Asia which is nearing Europe as it is, nearly all Asians have brown eyes and black hair. 27. What brand of orange juice did you last drink? Zesto. < That’s the only brand of orange juice I’m okay with drinking, even eight years later. 28. Pens or pencils? Pens. < Still feel the same. 29. Last skirt you wore and why? My school skirt, because I have to go to school. < Omfg again, this is so precious. The last one I wore was my denim skirt, but it’s also been a while since I wore that because one of its buttons has since popped out and I never got around to having it fixed, leaving me with no skirts. 30. Last time you wore heels, what kind were they? A prom I went to. I actually have no idea what kind of heels they are so I’m just gonna say old-women heels. < They were stilettos, you dumbass. I also wore a pair of stilettos the last time I wore heels. They’re my favorite kind, so. 31. Shoes you wear the most? My Keds. < My pair of Onitsuka Tiger sneakers. . 32. Favorite quote at the moment? “YOU DUMB BITCH! I’M NOT HOLDING A MICROPHONE! ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID?” - CM Punk < Holy crap, I do not remember this quote at all and had to look it up on YouTube and – no regrets. Watching it made so many memories come rushing back lmao that clip is hilarious; Punk is the greatest. Right now I don’t really have a favorite quote. 33. What was the last magazine article you read about? I forgot. < It’s from the website version of the magazine, but the last article I read covered a viral Facebook post wherein someone had photoshopped the faces of The Big Bang Theory boys onto the traditional graduation photos of my university out of boredom. Article is here for anyone who wants to see how well the pictures turned out lol. 34. What do you think about communism? I don’t know enough about it. < I completely support the progressive youth orgs, especially the ones in my university, that are aligned with communist, socialist, and Marxist ideals. They speak the truth more than any other orgs, so I don’t shy away from defending them or promoting their ideals, especially on social media, even if it puts me in danger. 35. Are you planning on going to college? If so, which one? Of course. I want to study in Ateneo. < CAN WE CANCEL 14 YEAR OLD ROBYN?????? What a disappointment omg. You were always meant to be in UP, you weirdo. 22 year old me takes that appalling statement back lol I can’t even begin to imagine spending my college years in Ateneo. 36. What’s your favorite flower? Ugh I hate flowers. < Peonies and roses. 37. What’s the nearest beach? I think it’s like…600 km away + a 2 hour boat ride. < No it is not. There’s a beach I come back to in Nasugbu and that’s only 100 km away. 38. Ever been to Florida? Nope. < Still nope. 39. How old is your brother’s best friend? He’s probably 9 as my brother’s 9. < I don’t know if he has one and I don’t really care anymore. 40. What type of car did you ride in last? A Kia van. < Sksksksks this was referring to the school bus I used to ride omg :( I was last in our Vitara, when I had to go to the hospital to get some tests done back when I still had a pesky fever. 42. Are you excited for summer 2013? Fuck yeah. < I honestly don’t remember how it ultimately went, but apparently I was excited for it so that answers the question. 43. What class were your parents (ex. class of ‘75)? They’re the same age so batch ‘89. < There we go. 44. Are you in debt right now? For what? No. < Kinda-ish? I promised my sister I’d pay her for helping me out with iMovie (I wanted to make Gab a video for her birthday, but had never done it before), but I haven’t had the chance to do it since I only have big bills at the moment. She’s asking for ₱200 but I only have ₱1000s in my wallet, so I can’t pay her for now. 45. If you’re old enough, do you have a credit card? If you’re not old enough, do you want one when you’re older? I definitely want one. < Yep, still want one. Though I’ll need a crash course on how to use it because my parents never really taught me how cards work. 46. What color is your phone? No phone. < Apple calls it space gray but it’s really just black. 47. Have you ever had someone read a text message they weren’t supposed to see? Yes. < Yes. That person was me, and I accidentally read a text from my dad meant for only my mom when I was 5 because I had stubborn fingers that would click on anything. 48. What’s the minimum age you think someone should have a cell phone at? 10. < Holy cow, that’s a nope for me. I’d say 12 or 13. 49. Would you ever work night crew? Sure. < Yes. I’ve seen my girlfriend’s mom do it and honestly I find it pretty badass, especially because while everyone is stuck in traffic trying to get to work by 9 AM, she’s cruising down the highway on the opposite lane with no problem, to be home by 9 hahaha. 50. How old is the last person you texted? 41. < 22.

[cyandero]

Hello Tumblr

I haven’t been here for forever and occasionally I may check back in every now and then just to release some thoughts. I am still not over the fact that Girls’ Generation lost a very precious member, Jessica Jung. I was a big fan of the TaengSic ship so I’m hugely affected by this, and still is to this day. The only thing we could do is scope out what really happened through deep investigation and speculations. The investigations lead down to OT8 and their parents influencing the agreement that Jessica will be kicked out of SNSD. I honestly feel like some of the members were influenced by their parents’ decision or they couldn’t do anything about it honestly. Asian culture in general is to highly respect your parents, without a doubt. So I’m sure the other members were forced to decide to kick Jessica out because of their parents.

A lot of Sones are going to believe what they want to believe and this is my sole opinion. Taeyeon, Yuri, and Sooyoung apparently were among the ones who voted her out. Yoona and Seohyun were the ones to disagree although Yoona soon was compromised into agreeing with her older members.

I feel bad for what happened to Jessica. I feel like it is unfair for the other members’ parents to influence their children and vote her out just because Jessica is successful with her Blanc and Eclare. It wasn’t her fault she wanted to pursue a fashion business. If they were that greedy, they could have easily opened one themselves and SM Entertainment would support it, just like how SM Entertainment never stopped Jessica from opening up Blanc and Eclare. Jessica paid her necessary dues to the company but the others’ parents were driven with greed.

Greed? Yes. It seems as though they were jealous that Jessica would probably be the richest member out of all of them. It angers me that parents even have an influence with the group’s decisions. Why be greedy at the peak of your daughters’ career? What did SNSD get after that? They plummeted. The group was divided. Nobody really believed in OT9 anymore. Even the Sone fandom fought against each other because of what happened.

I’m not going to blame Golden Stars (Jessica’s fandom) for protecting and defending her. I, as a Taeyeon stan, do believe Taeyeon was definitely one of the girls who voted her out. It was pretty evident that they don’t have as close of a relationship together. They have their highs and lows like a bipolar person. I am deeply hurt to even know or believe that Taeyeon would be one of the members to agree with expelling Jessica from the group.

They really messed up with forcing Jessica out of the group. SNSD will never be the same for me. I’ve always known them as OT9. It’s very upsetting, still to this day, when Sept 30, 2014 happened. I still support Taeyeon in her solo activities, but it will forever sit with me to believe that her parents probably influenced her a lot to make that decision to kick her out. Taeyeon was, after all, the main vocal.

Believe your opinions but I will stick with mine after thorough research. All of us do not actually know what happened unless you were there when Jessica got kicked out of the group, unless you were OT8, and unless you were part of the SM Entertainment. I will never probably find the answers everyone as well wants to look for until maybe years from now or probably never...

If you are against my opinion, please present me with facts... when the facts are literally all across the internet, even Dispatch’s removed article and Jessica’s deleted Weibo post.

I wish Jessica the best of luck in her career and I will continue to support Taeyeon’s solo career. I wish the rest of the girls with their solo careers as well. (Hyo’s DJ career be poppin’)