#in character interactions ( threads ) .

[bohemian-nights]

Unpopular Opinion: Every time a black female character (especially if this black female character is dark skinned) enters into a relationship with the popular fan-favorite white male character usually one of three things happen a. the black female character is now headcanoned as a lesbian (never bisexual or queer or anything that would leave the character with the possibility of still entering into a relationship with a man) b. white male character is now shipped with other popular fan-favorite white male character/other white female character (the popular fan-favorite white male character is usually headcanoned to be bisexual and when he is, shipped with a woman that woman is always white) or c. black female character (and sometimes their actresses) is now being talked about as if they are the devil himself.

Wanting characters to explore their sexuality is fine but I always find it odd how this always happens when one member of the relationship is a black/blackish woman. *forgot to mention the suddenly polyamorous relationship the three (black female, white male and white male/woman) characters are now without a doubt in*

Anon you spoke nothing, but facts right here 🙌🏽

(The only thing I’d add is that they don’t just do this when the woman in question is with a white man, see Namor and Shuri and the backlash some shippers got for shipping them).

You aren’t the only one who has been noticing this trend.

I say trend loosely because really just a new stereotype to add to the bunch😒

It would be one thing if it was a want for actual representation, but every time now like clockwork. as soon as they see a Black woman who looks like she’s going to have a romantic arc with said popular fandom man, boom she must be gay😑

Hell, it’s getting so bad that these shows/movies are automatically just writing their Black women characters in that way.

If people can’t see how this can be harmful/dangerous, that’s cool, but anytime you want to paint all of a group a certain way and won’t show them in any other setting, that’s how you end up birthing new stereotypes.

This isn’t creating diversity. It’s limiting it(once again).

It’s so all or nothing with our media representation. Black women don’t want to be shown as one thing(which seems to go right over most people’s heads).

We just want the same opportunities as everybody else and not to be put into one or two narrow boxes of acceptable characterization that doesn’t threaten the status quo(aka you can't have Black women looking desirable especially not when there is an available white woman right there next to her).

[minthe-drawings]

Threads of You: Beyond the Bay is so good y'all!! Ended up creating my own Minthe Mc for the game🥰❤

[wizardsimper]

So I'm seeing a few people (mostly on Reddit) claim that Gale is evil from the start due to the fact that he doesn't immediately leave after raiding the grove

I'm so confused because he only stays after raiding the grove because he's desperate, if he leaves he dies and the orb blows, I can only imagine just how difficult of a decision that can be. If Gale is evil, it's because you as the player convinced him to be, similar to Shadowheart who can be swayed to be good or evil depending on your choices. At worst Gale is neutral, but even that's hard to say considering his approvals are mostly from carrying out good deeds. And even his misgivings (his desire for godhood) are coming from a place of wanting to be better for everyone (even if we know the power corrupts)

I think this sentiment is mostly coming from people who not only dislike his character, but don't bother to even interact with him, so they instead jump to conclusions.

An evil playthrough with Gale is fun, but he definitely does not start the game that way.

[starsaught]

If Octavia had been any other demon of a lower stature ; the sight of the King morphing from the many forms he wore would petrify then. As it should, from the legends told of him, they had every right to be afraid of the creature who stood before her.

A courteous bow, a show of respect to the patriarch, her lessons had to be good for something, hadn't they? ❝ Thank you, for having me. I hope I did not keep you waiting too long for my response. ❞ An odd feeling, to be in his presence, not so much a shift of power dynamics but rather how her father had little resemblance to him. In his eyes, perhaps she could see the similarities ; but there was doubt that someone like her father could come from someone like him.

Soon enough, her attention turned to the little butler who presented the gift ; her eyes taking a brief moment to admire the creature. It hadn't been one she happened to be familiar with ; no doubt one only he & close companions should know exist. It was a thoughtful gift ; but even she knew there had to be a catch or something hidden that has yet to be mentioned.

❝ No, thank you. That won't be necessary. May I ask the reason behind your unexpected invitation? ❞

@avispatr from x

[joshhutchersonseggsalad]

its so cool logging on tumblr seeing notifications + posts from thee clapton davis

god i love this pookie shmook 🩵🛹

[fractempyreal]

Every day i long for continuity in threads in the sense of like.... Conversations between two muses happening and another muse gets brought up in that convo. Or characters meeting through a mutual friend kind of thing, I just think that kind of stuff is so fun and so much can come from it.

[phoenixfiiire]

Tentatively maybe returning tomorrow, maybe... friday? Depends on vibes and what me and Sera are doing.

There is going to be a rule change for my own comfort. This sounds ominous and for all I know it is but I don't have the energy to really write it out eloquently so I'm just going to ramble in tags for now.

[8cfc00]

augh who up feeling like they should be humanely euthanised for liking media the wrong way... sorry for fandomising certain characters but not fandomising others enough in the right way.

[viaetor]

hi everyone! i hope you're all doing well and taking care of yourselves and having good days. i haven't been very active here because of my surgeries, but i plan on being more active soon since i've been missing writing a lot. before that though, i need to state something very important for my blog going forward: i will not be interacting with any natlan characters/blogs or characters related/inspired by the region (including ocs), only if they're canon divergent. this will not change with the release of the archon quests. i will simply take whatever i feel is relevant to my aether and that’s it. my reasons for this drastic decision will be explained below. please take this post not only as an announcement but as well as a vent and an attempt to call for awareness, especially since many of us are not only roleplayers but writers, artists and content creators. i'd appreciate it if you could all read this post in full.

this post is also not directed at my mutuals or any people i have contact with. this is just me trying to make my boundaries clear, explaining them, and hoping you can understand (and perhaps relate to) my hurt. read this post and make your own judgement. i appreciate your time regardless. 

i'm latin american, proudly born and raised. my parents fought in the dictatorship of our country, my grandparents were of indigenous settlements. i'm a history graduate with honours, and before that, i studied social and political sciences. i've been a part of political movements in my university to guarantee equality and education, and i only stopped being part of some of them because i received threats by alt-right extremists targeting my family. even so, i still continue to be a constant participant in assemblies and projects. i'm an avid volunteer worker in local schools, and i worked in hospitals, too. i speak portuguese, spanish, french and english with varying levels of fluency. i've lived most of my childhood and early adolescence in villages. i've participated in many religious rituals, invited by practising people of those beliefs, and i've shared so many wonderful memories with people from so many latin american backgrounds that i can't even make a cohesive timeline of all my adventures. 

i'm saying all this to emphasise that i'm speaking from a place of experience, knowledge, and culture. my word is by no means the law, but i sure do believe it holds weight. you're free to disagree with me and think otherwise, of course. but i do think that, if that's the case and you have very strong positive feelings regarding natlan as a whole, it'd be best if you would unfollow and block me for both of our sakes.

i've been playing genshin impact since its launch, and ever since the release of inazuma as a region, i've been discontent with how the game has been progressing in design. i've also written and published scientific articles about the inherent colourism, racism and orientalism found in genshin, specifically in sumeru, while also nodding in acknowledgement to some of the research that the design team put in some characters—namely al-haitham, nilou and cyno. i know the issues we are seeing today are not new. however, it for sure has gotten worse. 

with these disclaimers out, i'd like to put some of my grievances out in the open. 

when you play genshin, you can feel that liyue is china. mondstadt feels like germany. inazuma resembles japan. fontaine is an ode of love to french steampunk and was very well designed. even sumeru, with all its issues of blending all of swana in one single region, has some research done when it comes to the islamic golden ages and pre-islamic mythologies. so if you see anyone arguing that hoyoverse is “just a videogame company”, know that they can and have done better. as their popularity and revenue grow, as players—free to play or otherwise—we are entitled to expect the same quality or more from them.

i don't feel the same way about everything we've seen of natlan so far, and i've been feeling more and more disrespected. 

i was sceptical when natlan was first announced, and some leaks were happening. i expected the worst, and honestly, it sunk even deeper than i thought. the names of the characters we've got, alongside some leaks, suggest that the characters we will be getting are based on the north, central, and south americas, africa, and oceania. this worried me very, very deeply and today, with the newest released trailer, i just gave up hoping for anything good, really.

although some people may (ignorantly? optimistically? blindly?) claim that all these continents are connected—and they certainly have many influences on each other through religion, culture and economics, born from colonisation processes—, it's at best stupidly naive to believe that one single entire region in an online videogame will tactfully tackle complex non-western and non-asian cultures and customs. because, yes, those are non-western and non-asian societies: we are progressively denied a place in western politics and cultures, we are treated as lesser, and we do not participate in global economics. when did you last buy a chilean videogame in the united states or europe? or a fiji pair of shoes? or a nigerian movie ticket in your city theatres? if you've answered "never" to just one of those questions, you've proven my point that these countries and regions are not "part" of the west or even asia. we are outsiders. we have always been treated as outsiders. while these european and asian powerhouses were allowed to stand as their own regions, genshin muddled all these cultures and ethnicities into one melting pot that they are calling natlan. the game is quite literally a global phenomenon now. imagine the impression natlan will be projecting to an audience that is none-the-wiser to the cultures natlan is meant to be inspired from.

so, again: when it was announced that natlan would take inspiration from all these regions, my heart sank. it feels like we're all being put together in one single frying pan of "exotic," "distant," and "unknown." everything that is considered "tribal" (because that's how westerners and asians tend to see us) is being thrown in natlan. it's demoralising. 

this is not to mention the clear money-grabbing and capitalist recycling of character designs going on with some of the characters—something never seen before in genshin impact’s history, by the way! they always came up with new concepts—and the abhorrent colourism that has been intensified. 

the disrespect has been getting rampant. some of the already shown characters have tribal tattoos that are used by some of the indigenous people for important rituals. the patterns of clothes they've shown also mix many cultures and peoples (sometimes even historically rivalling ones, to top that off) that are disrespectful. they went for a streetwear/biker kind of look that looks completely soulless and unimaginative, instead of doing the bare minimum of researching beautiful contemporary indigenous-owned fashion companies. because it's easier. i think it’s also easier to hire voice actors who aren’t latines, right? we must be “scarce, barely existent”.

and, what kicked the bucket for me, after trying so hard to give genshin the benefit of the doubt: an important deity for the yorubá people, iansã/iansan/oyá, has been shown as a fucking child in the game. she… and olorun, who you might know as ororon if you play in english, even though in all other translations (japanese, korean and chinese), his name is written correctly as olorun. but of course, the english translation team for hoyoverse, as usual, couldn’t do the bare fucking minimum. because it’s a nigerian name, right? why do they/you care? but just so you know, in case you’re the least bit curious: iansan and olorun are two of the most important orixás/deities in african and african-latin american religions. they’re worshipped to this day. they’re real, representative religious symbols. not tokens. not your average dead gods. i want to ask you, sincerely: what would you think and how would you feel if genshin named a guy "mohammed", or "allah", or “jesus christ”, or a girl "mary magdalene"? what do you think happened when cod vanguard showed the quran's pages on the floor? people were pissed. and of course, people should be pissed. and don't try to "oh, but people do that with greek and egyptian gods". don't be disingenuous, i know you’re smarter than that and that you know there's a difference and creeping power dynamic here. 

if this is not enough for you, then please, enlighten me. where are the beautiful forests of natlan that could have been inspired by the amazon? where are the amazing deserts inspired in bolivia or chile? how about the colourful cities of el salvador or cuba? is it truly enough for you guys to have something slightly resembling the aztec empire and its continuous fetishisation? wouldn't it be easier to play crash bandicoot or the old indiana jones games? why are we celebrating this?

i'm beyond heartbroken. 

to my latine siblings, whether you’re celebrating/enjoying natlan in your own way and finding light in it or if you’re as disappointed as i am, we deserve better than this. 

to my usamerican, canadian, european and asian friends, please, please, please listen to people who have lived and loved latam and all the other regions. i already did what i could: i've sent tickets to hoyoverse, i'll be muting natlan-specific words, and i will not be rolling on any upcoming natlan banners. 

so this here is just the nail of the coffin: i will not be accepting anything natlan-related on this blog.

thank you for reading!

[sercphs]

⠀⠀⠀⠀She's studying up on "manners" and "appropriate behavior."

⠀⠀⠀⠀This all seems very arbitrary to her... Wouldn't things be easier if these were less followed, and-or not followed at all..? She doesn't really get it, seems like a lot of flash just to take longer to get to the point.

"Is this really the best way to talk to people..?"

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Society is weird...

[biggreenstache7]

two stupid piece of shit assholes walk into a bar (comic)

[18catsreading]

Awww Brennan in the background telling Zehra: I'm so glad you're alive -- I didn't want to -- and then Zehra giving him a high five.

Brennan: theater!

Travis: theater kids!

[gemkun]

hi i've noticed how incredibly difficult it is to write threads with people so i think the best approach might be to stick to one thread per person and go from there instead of juggling like 20 asks that are all single instances. if you want to thread with me please give this a like and i will slink over for discussion !

[raytm]

I’m so invested in Gepard I think, for now atleast, I’m going to cull my muse list quite a bit and focus on gep and sparkle and a few other hsr muses.

[weavinghands]

@foremyth ; yhwach !

THE ABYSS STOOD BY THE HORRORS . the quincy , one she had met so long ago , once again ruins the lands he stood upon . his feet are heavy with sin , & she was the divider between divinity & damned . [ does he know that ? ] red hues refuse to remove from his position , locks of raven hair dancing as she tilts her head in his direction .

--- ❝ what a foul thing . ❞

[yume-fanfare]

and tbh the time skip in switch and knights climax events is what makes me the most mad of it all. "oh true hmm maybe i should've added foreshadowing earlier for my acid-trip plot to work hmm well ill start the story at the beginning of the year and then do a bunch of timeskips" no you absolute idiot you are going to write your stupid story on the foundations you built before or ill kill you