#post apocalyptical matriarchy

[cindysimblr]

The newest addition to the hot springs lot

[rollercoasterwords]

hiiiiiii!! i don't have the brain to do or watch anything atm but i would LOVE some movie recs please 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

YAY ok assuming this is coming from the 80s movie post so. here r some of my favorite 80s movies:

ridiculous campy fun:

earth girls are easy (1988) - fucking LOVE this movie!!! such a fun time. horny aliens crash their spaceship on earth + get taken in by a human woman. also it's a musical comedy + the aliens are played by jeff goldblum jim carrey and damon wayans

hell comes to frogtown (1988) - also. obsessed w this one. post-apocalyptic world where society is a matriarchy + humans need 2 repopulate. protagonist is a Manly Man who has been discovered to have a Mega-High Sperm Count, making him a government asset so a sexy military doctor locks him up in a chastity cage 2 conserve his precious sperm. also there are mutated frog people + they kidnapped a bunch of ~fertile~ human women to keep as sex slaves so Manly Man needs 2 accompany sexy military doctor + sexy soldier to go rescue the ladies from Frogtown so he can fuck them <3 also his name is Sam Hell. hence. 'hell comes to frogtown'

clue (1985) - based on the board game!! murder mystery comedy w wacky characters + an ending that is oh-so-fun

weird dark fantasy:

the company of wolves (1984) - the movie that inspired my 80s movie post 2nite <3 creepy fairytale retelling of red riding hood w a bunch of stories-within-a-story so that it ends up feeling like some sort of fever dream matryoshka doll

labyrinth (1986) - one of my FAVORITE movies of all time!!!!! david bowie is a goblin king who kidnaps the protagonist's baby brother as a favor 2 her + then when she's like actually i want him back he's like ok solve my maze then <3

return to oz (1985) - sequel to 'the wizard of oz' that is like. 10 times darker + weirder + creepier + definitely scarred me + my twin when we watched it as children lol. dorothy won't stop talking abt oz so she's taken 2 a mental institution for electroshock therapy. queue dramatic storm + sudden return to oz except the city is in ruins + dorothy needs 2 save the day

horror:

aliens (1986) - sequel to alien (1979) which just missed the cutoff for making this list + i also recommend--but u don't NEED 2 watch it 2 watch this movie. outer space creature feature meets slasher survival horror. xenomorph i love u <3

the thing (1982) - another sci-fi alien horror but this time it follows a group of researchers in the arctic who encounter an alien that can change shape 2 look like any of them. queue paranoia. there's also a more modern remake of this movie if i'm not mistaken

day of the dead (1985) - probably romero's least well-known zombie movie lol but a fun one nonetheless! good if u like 80s movies + zombie movies which. i do <3

the shining (1980) - oooh artsy spooky hotel horror.....a classic to be honest....

animated:

the last unicorn (1982) - ANOTHER favorite movie of all time for me!!!! unicorn who lives in isolation in a forest overhears two humans talking about how there are no more unicorns in the world + is like what i can't be the only one left...so she sets out on an adventure 2 try and find out what happened 2 all the unicorns <3 another movie that scarred me as a child bc of how creepy + dark it was

nausicaa of the valley of the wind (1984) - studio ghibli <3 this is one of my fave ghibli films. post-apocalyptic wasteland where giant bugs roam the earth....amazing

castle in the sky (1986) - more ghibli! girl w mysterious magic necklace meets boy who is searching for castle in the sky. also they are being chased by pirates + creepy government agents. FUN

kiki's delivery service (1989) - aaaaand more ghibli. teenage witch sets out 2 make her way in the world + encounters existential dread <3

classics:

heathers (1988) - veronica decides that she's sick of her mean-girl popular friendgroup + at the same time meets Mysterious New Boy. when she complains 2 him abt her friends he starts killing them <3

the princess bride (1987) - based on the book (which i also recommend!!); i feel like everyone knows this movie but. basically fairytale-esque romance abt a girl named buttercup who falls in love w a farmboy named wesley but then wesley gets murdered by pirates...or so it seems....

ferris bueller's day off (1986) - teenagers decide 2 skip school + run amok in chicago. wahoo!!

[simnopke]

Hi simnopke! I love your inventory inheritance mod! However, due to the politics in my post-apocalyptic matriarchy hood, I would like for ONLY household members to inherit the inventory items. Inventory items should not go to other households, unless a Sim is the last household member to die (which, in my game, shouldn't happen). I've tried to edit your mod myself, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by the Find Person for Inheritance Sub and can't figure it out. Can you please help me? Thanks in advance!

You need to edit the Tuning - Household Weights behavior constant from the config file. -5000 for unplayable households and +5000 for a dead Sim's household should be enough 😉

[yttz-boss]

bp038

31/01/24

slept inside my wardrobe last night

my head was at a 75 degree angle all night

why, might you ask?

I seeked refuge and comfort in box to watch mad max movies

Mad Max, a series I hadn't experienced before

I first watched the original, Mad Max (1979), after that Fury Road, and then I watched about a third to half of Mad Max 2

my first feelings watching the original were "wow I guess it's not that post-apocalyptic, these are just Tom of Finland-esque cops battling a biker gang"

then I watched Fury Road

most of my feelings toward Fury Road were "wow feels like a big timeskip" and "why did they reboot his kid"

come on

sprog was a blond baby boy(I think? I don't remember all that well)

I mean sure fun thing to make him like something that could speak and all but

also why not have his wife pop up

it's clear she died the more painful death

in a hospital bed, trying to recover, Max's hope still teetering the edge, holding on to all that is holy

sure, the kid hurts more as a baseline

but like

not even a little bit of a cameo?

come on

did they like

struggle with casting someone who could plausably mother the reboot sprog?

idk man

anyway watched a good bit of 2

noticed "not (in-canon) much of a timeskip, but a weird decision still"

and also though "wow is he gonna have a strong female love interest every movie?"

unrelated but I hoped to GOD Furiosa was gay in Fury Road

I mean COME ON

COME ON

10000000% the old women from the Green Place were gay

I mean it was a matriarchy at least and probably a woman-only society

I cannot expect them not to be gay

all I wanted was a kiss though

are you telling me seeing two old women, looking fucking badass with guns and like 5 layers of leather, sand up the asshole, kissing, would not be incredible?

I just hope the only officially gay character isn't the miniboss from 2

he's cool and all but I need MORE post-apocalyptic punky gay people

MOOOOOREEEEE

also fifi? *blushes, looks down, fans face, steam rolling out of ears*

[veganbroodmother]

[genrerolereversal]

Comics

(Last updated: 13 June 2022)

Gifts of Wandering Ice by Olga McArrow (read here)

A sci-fi, post-apocalyptic ice age world with women in leadership and military positions.

Ōoku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga

Alternate history manga set in Tokugawa Japan. Plot-centric and heavy on political and interpersonal drama. The story is that a disease outbreak causes the male population to shrink to a 1:4 ratio compared to women. This upends the gender dynamics of their society as women become the leaders and breadwinners. The shōgun, now a woman, is served by a harem of men. A significant part of the manga examines gender roles, although its focus lessens when a cure is found, and gay and lesbian relationships are depicted occasionally. Be warned not to get too attached to the characters, as many of them meet gruesome ends. Personally, I wouldn't say this has a lot of GRR (I would have liked to see more GNC characters and female warriors), but it was still a good read. If you enjoy historical fiction, you'll probably like it. There's a film and TV series adaptation.

Operation Liberate Men by Mira Lee (Korean: 남성해방 대작전 ; can be read on Naver)

Shōjo isekai fantasy with influences from Indian mythology. Sooha, an ordinary girl from Korea, finds herself in a female-dominated world where men are treated like property. Due to Sooha’s tomboyish looks, she is mistaken for a boy and recruited into an underground rebellion seeking to liberate men.

Queen’s Palace by Morel (Chinese: 女帝的后宫; can be read on Bilibili Comics)

Also known as Empress’s Harem. Ever wanted to see Game of Thrones as a cutesy isekai manhua set in historical China? With a harem romance to boot? Queen's Palace has you covered. Ambitious CEO Yan An, chafing against the sexism of the modern world, is transported into a matriarchal society in the body of a princess who was originally executed for her crimes. She resolves to take the Empress' throne... and take advantage of the situation to become the chivalrous pervert she always was. But she must use her wits and gather allies to survive the machinations of the Empress's palace. Yan An's various love interests include her dutiful and tender husband Fei Yue, vain yet delightful courtesan Butterfly/Zi Zhao, tsundere bodyguard Qian Han, mysterious and brilliant musician Bai Yu, and the enigmatic Xiao Bai/Little White. It's rather slow-paced, but the characters and plots are well-developed. Its version of matriarchy stays mostly on the realistic side, although some low-fantasy elements exist such as men having a virginity mark on their wrists.

Sword Princess Amaltea by Natalia Batista (available on Amazon and Comixology)

A typical European fantasy world with the gender roles switched. The titular princess, Amaltea, goes on a quest to rescue Prince Ossian. Their relationship is fraught at first, but they learn to become friends as they journey to the castle of Queen Ylvasin, Ossian’s powerful and mysterious mother. There is also a sequel visual novel available on Steam.

The Way of the Househusband by Kousuke Oono

A slice-of-life manga about an ex-yakuza who makes use of his unique talents in the domestic sphere. Light-hearted and comedic with some good art. There is also an animated and live-action version on Netflix.

[awesomenell65]

Still chewing on the idea that t100 has presented us with a story framed by matriarchy....an idea that strikes me personally as ludicrous, but different strokes and all that. (If anything, given Becca Pramheda’s story - the message of t100 seems to be that allowing women real power destroys everything. And is therefore, a very very bad idea.)

But I started thinking about what would I change in the existing story to make it a story about the rise of matriarchal societies in a post apocalyptic world that would satisfy me?

Honestly - after giving serious thought for ten or so whole minutes (!) - I don’t think you can. The entire premise of the story is rooted in a world shaped by patriarchy and patriarchal values. And even though they have all dispensed with anything as crass as money - though what people traded for and with in Polis is an unanswered question whose answer is probably... money - I think it’s still framed by capitalist and industrial values as well (all the labor belongs to me, says whomever is in charge).

Once you start tinkering with the existing initial framework to attempt to imagine what a society that actually put women and women’s bodies and women’s concerns at the center would look like ... the entire story of t100 ceases to be.

Nothing would happen like that, nothing would look like that. Everything from the organizing principles to the sources of conflict and tension would be different. It would be a different story altogether, and there is no bridge between the two.

[cindysimblr]

The hood so far. It needs one more End-of-Road-Lot and two Beachlots.

[weirdletter]

The Politics of Horror, by Damien K. Picariello, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. Info: palgrave.com.

The Politics of Horror features contributions from scholars in a variety of fields—political science, English, communication studies, and others—that explore the connections between horror and politics. How might resources drawn from the study of politics inform our readings of, and conversations about, horror? In what ways might horror provide a useful lens through which to consider enduring questions in politics and political thought? And what insights might be drawn from horror as we consider contemporary political issues? In turning to horror, the contributors to this volume offer fresh provocations to inform a broad range of discussions of politics.

Contents:     I. Petrifying Politics 1. “The American Nightmare: Graveyard Voters, Demon Sheep, Devil Women, and Lizard People” – Christina M. Knopf 2. “Horror, Crisis, and Control: Tales of Facing Evils” – John S. Nelson 3. “We’re Witches and We’re Hunting You: Matriarchy and Misogyny in Conjure Wife” – Meghan A. Purvis     II. Apocalypse and After 4. “The Democratic Impulse in Post-Apocalyptic Films” – Christie L. Maloyed and J. Kelton Williams 5. “Through a Glass Darkly: The Dimensionality and Inadequacy of Political Fear in Stephen King’s The Stand” – Jordon B. Barkalow and Jennifer A. Mogg     III. Ghoulish Games 6. “The Monsters Among Us: Realism and Constructivism in Vampire: The Masquerade – James D. Fielder 7. “Anxiety in Suburbia: The Politics of Gaming in Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom” – Michelle Salerno     IV. Terrifying Television 8. “The Exorcist and a New Kind of American Television Horror” – Lynn Kozak 9. “Reality TV as Horror: Psychological Terror and Physical Torture” – Carol Westcamp     V. Creepy Comics 10. “Zombie Komiks in a Cacique Democracy: Patay Kung Patay’s Undead Revolution” – Lara Saguisag 11. “...Just as You Will Do to One Another!”: Colonialism that Consumes Itself in Warren Publications’ Creepy” – Zack Kruse 12. “Witches in the South: Past, Present, and in Comics” – Daniel V. Goff     VI. Nightmarish Nature 13. “Bring Him the blood of the outlanders!”: Children of the Corn as Farm Crisis Horror – Kathleen P. Hunt 14. “mother! and the Horror of Environmental Abuse” – Emma Frances Bloomfield 15. “Let the Bodies (of Water) Hit the Floor: Development and Exploitation in John Boorman’s Deliverance” – Salvatore J. Russo and Chelsea Renee Ratcliff 16. “The Mayor of Shark City”: Political Power in Jaws” – Leslie Stratyner     VII. Return of the Repressed 17. “Fear of Founding from Plato to Poltergeist” – Damien K. Picariello 18. “Post-Racial Lies and Fear of the Historical-Political Boomerang in Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad” – Cammie M. Sublette     VIII. Cradle to Grave 19. “’The Mother Who Eats Her Own’: The Politics of Motherhood in Irish Horror” – Eamon Byers 20. “Frankenstein’s Dream and the Politics of Death” – Jeff J.S. Black Index

[pistageglace]

Horizon Zero Dawn

I'm playing Horizon Zero Dawn right now and this is one of the best games I've played. And this is completely spoiler-free. What's sad is that when the game came out I decided not to play it because I read online that the game appropriated from Native American cultures. Now I can say that the Nora tribe in the game have Native American, Celtic and Viking influences like the game makers have said in an interview. I can also point out every last thing they've taken from Native Americans: The Nora call their hunters/warriors "Braves" which the game makers have also said in an interview they picked specifically because they thought it would be inoffensive. There are dream catchers in a few places, which are non-interactable and not explained. They wear brown leather and use bows. There's a lot of blue accent on brown going on but that's mostly on the bridges. I think the protaganist Aloy has feathers attached to her bow and spear But that's everything. There are also a lot of white characters with matted hair. I also read that there would be offensive feather headdresses in this game but there are NO such things! What could have been confused with this is that the Carja tribe, who are inspired by Egypt, Rome and Greece, have those helmets with the red fluff on top of them, you know the ones. And the Banuk's shamans, who seem to be inspired by Inuits, have headdresses with colored fabric bands hanging down to their knees.

But this game makes such an obviously conscious effort to be diverse and feminist. The Nora are a matriarchy. And while I don't believe a matriarchy is the goal of feminism, it's clear the game makers intended for this to be feminist. Like how the Nora men are not subjugated, but with the Carja and Oseram tribes which are patriarchies, the women Aloy meets will tell her all about how they are second-class citizens. There are also at least two moments I can think of. One where Aloy is talking to two Carja soldiers and one of them says "I was going to report to a Nora commander, but I didn't see one" His superior snaps at him and screams "Have you never seen a Nora woman before! Show some respect! Report to her, not to me!" Not that Aloy becomes a commander, but you get it. And another where Aloy is talking to an Oseram quest-giver and he says something like "You could afford garments more suited to your fine shapes-" Aloy cuts him off and says "If you want me to do this, you need to stop talking now." He says "I was just saying, a woman as well molded as-" Aloy cuts him off again with a sigh and a shrug. But it's not a sigh like she gives up, it's a sigh with a look that says "No, you can't say that either". And because it needs to be said, Aloy is an eighteen-year-old woman who is not sexualised in any way, shape or form. There is no sexualised armour, not even dlc. There are three armours that show her belly, and one that shows off her legs as well. And those are still not sexualised.

As for diversity, they have a good mix of white, asian and african-american characters, with some middle eastern characters thrown in there. I think the best example of why this was a conscious decision by the game makers is that the three High Matriarchs of the Nora is one white, one black and one asian one. There was also concern about how the game uses the word "savages" to describe the Nora because they have influence from Native Americans. That word is only used by snobby, xenophobic Carja. They make a big deal about how xenophobic some Carja are to mirror a certain modern political situation. And by the Oseram quest-giver above to joke about how politically incorrect he is. NEVER have I felt like the game was calling Native Americans "savages". Although I understand that it's not that simple. A future America with no native people around is troublesome no matter how you look at it.

The game is set in Colorado and Utah in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity has had to start over from scratch. The Nora are hunter-gatherers for example. Humanity has no understanding of technology anymore, as it belongs to the ancient world. There are machine dinosaurs and animals that roam the wilds and attack humans for reasons no one knows. You play as Aloy who grew up as an outcast to the Nora for reasons no one will tell her. Her goal is to win the Proving so she will be granted a boon from the matriarchs and ask them who her mother is.

It's an open-world, Action-RPG. I usually dread combat in video games because it's usually just button mashing against an OP enemy or throwing you into combat out of nowhere and not letting you flee like it's an arbitrary task that needs to be done. But in this game I spend like 5-10 minutes in combat because it's so much fun. Here's the thing: it's not really combat, it's hunting. Now, I despise hunting as well. But you hunt machines, and they make it fun because there are so many different ways to do it! You hide in the tall grass, which makes you literally invisable. You can lure the machines closer by whistling or throwing a small rock. You can shoot them with an arrow, a fire arrow, a precision arrow, a freeze arrow, a shock arrow, a freeze bomb, a shock bomb or an explosive bomb. You can tie them up, you can set traps, and you can set up tripwires which either explode or shock them. You can also shoot tearblast arrows which removes part of a machine when aimed right. Like a freeze cannister to stop it from using ranged freeze attacks. When a machine gets close enough to you whithout noticing you, you can use Silent Strike to down it without the other machines even noticing. If a machine notices you and attacks you, you can just button mash with your spear on R1 and R2. And that's not even all of the different ways you can take down machines! You can kill animals and humans too, and it hurts my soul, but it's mostly aviodable. There are some quests that require it though.

For example, let's say you crouch down and hide in the tall grass. You shoot an arrow just right to take down a weaker machine. This catches the attention of a medium strong machine, and that machine starts looking for you. But it still can't see you so you shoot out some Blast Wires without leaving your hiding spot and whistle to make it come towards you. The Blast Wires do some damage and it stops to look around but it still can't see you so it keeps moving closer and then you use Silent Strike.

The game has a realistic animation style and it is absolutely, breathtakingly, gorgeous. It won some awards for that. I got the Complete Edition which gives you the art book and it is equally gorgeous. I have a love-hate relationship with this one aspect though, the game shifts between sunny, pouring rain and light snowfall. It also shifts between daytime and nighttime. This makes the game world feel so much more real but it makes it way more challenging to hunt during the night or even just find your way around a settlement. But it's probably supposed to make it more challenging. You can't see the beautiful game world during the night though which is a shame.

This is also the most mature video game I have played. "Mature" video games usually fall into one of two categories: blood and tits or edgy youtube video essay. But Horizon Zero Dawn is actually mature. There are no sexualised female characters, there are no sex jokes, there's no blood, there's no gore, there's no edgyness... And Aloy is not the Choosen One who will rise to become more powerful and inexplicably influential than the mere commoners. I mean, she is the Choosen One and some characters have heard of her skills but most people just treat her like any other hunter. Good, but not the best. The game also gets pretty real in some parts, like, realistic in a serious way. It also showed me one of the best, most lovingly crafted, realistic things I have seen in a video game: NPCs with idle shifting-from-side-to-side-with-your-arms-crossed-at-a-party animation.

TL;DR: Horizon Zero Dawn is fun, beautiful, feminist, diverse and the height of appropriation is dream catchers and using the word "braves".

Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition are on sale on PlayStation Store until the 19th of January!

[prokopetz]

Could you elaborate on those D&D settings? Maybe two or three sentences describing each? I always thought D&D was just set in Generic Fantasy Land #357

(With reference to this post here.)

Yeah, a lot of people have the wrong idea about that. Dungeons & Dragons is a set of rules for running a particular kind of game, with a number of published settings associated with it, few of which resemble the generic Tolkien pastiche most folks picture when they see that it’s got elves and hobbits in it.

In the same order as the previous post:

Planescape is set in an industrialised quasi-Victorian city constructed around the inner rim of a giant ring hovering atop an infinitely tall spire at the centre of the universe. The streets are ruled by warring gangs of philosophers who can literally argue you to death. Playable races include anarchist goat-centaurs and sapient geometric shapes.

Dragonlance is basically medieval fantasy meets World War II, wracked by constant open war between the forces of Light and Darkness. Knights ride dragons into battle while sinister dragon-men prowl the countryside (there are a lot of different kinds of dragons). Playable races include steampunk gnomes and musical minotaurs.

(If that last bit sounds familiar, it’s because most of what World of Warcraft didn’t borrow from Warhammer, it lifted from Dragonlance).

Ravenloft is pretty much as described in the previous post: it’s a prison dimension for the multiverse’s worst baddies, which has evolved into a confederation of dystopian city-states ruled by thinly disguised expies of various Hammer horror villains, like Dracula and the Wolfman. And also an evil version of Pinocchio, because why the hell not?

Spelljammer is D&D in space, where enchanted galleons sail the luminiferous aether in search of fortune and adventure. If you’ve seen Treasure Planet, you’ve got the right basic idea, though Spelljammer predates Treasure Planet by some decades. Standout features include mercenary hippo-men and gnomes whose ships are powered by giant hamsters running on wheels.

The Forgotten Realms is probably the closest to what folks are picturing when they think of “generic fantasy land”, though they’re a couple of decades off with respect to its inspirations - it’s much more 1980s romantic fantasy than 1960s epic fantasy. Talking housecats, cosmopolitan cities with suspiciously modern amenities, enlightened matriarchies ruled by beautiful sorcerer-queens - you know the drill if you’ve read your Lackey.

Dark Sun is a post-apocalyptic milieu set in the wake of a global environmental collapse brought about by irresponsible use of magic. “Mad Max with wizards” would be a glib but not-wholly-inaccurate description. Playable races include savage cannibal hobbits and giant psychic praying mantises.

Birthright assumes that the player characters are members of ancient ruling houses empowered by the blood of slain gods. Beyond that, it’s almost entirely generic - its whole shtick is that you get to rule a domain right from first level, rather than having to work your way up to it.

Red Steel is an Age of Sail swashbuckling game set on the Savage Coast, a region tainted by magical fallout that grants wondrous powers, but also induces progressively more hideous mutations. The economy is based on the eponymous red steel, a rare metal that grants resistance to the mutations without suppressing the accompanying powers. I wasn’t kidding when I said The Three Musketeers meets the X-Men.

Eberron is a “magipunk” setting that envisions a high fantasy world in the process of undergoing an industrial revolution. Trains powered by bound lightning elementals crisscross the land, and one of the major tensions involves the integration into society of a race of mechanical soldiers constructed from enchanted wood to fight in a recently ended war.

Greyhawk is tough to pin down, as it’s basically the collected campaign notes of one of the game’s original designers. It covers a lot of ground, but the focal point, the eponymous city of Greyhawk, is a straight up sword-and-sorcery pastiche. In terms of inspirations, think Robert Howard, Fritz Leiber and Michael Moorcock. Sinister cults, baroque cities ruled by degenerate nobles, and player characters who are as likely to be planning urban heists as delving dungeons.

[trashy-greyjoy]

Sydnee Recommends: Comics/Graphic Novels

These are just my personal favorites that I deem recommendation worthy, enjoy!

Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples

this series is so vast it’s hard to summarize, but basically a couple from opposite sides of a huge space war, are on the run from authorities that want to kill them and their daughter

so. fucking diverse. the two mains are both poc, their babysitter is a lesbian ghost missing half her body, there’s a bisexual black woman that kicks major ass, a trans woman that they actually verbally say is trans, a robot species with tv’s for heads, a gay couple of investigative journalists, a girl rescued from sex slavery, and LYING CAT

it’s like a very high stakes romeo and juliet love story set in space where everyone but romeo and juliet die. 

the dialogue is AMAZING and HILARIOUS

**it’s an adult series so there’s lot’s of nudity and violence.

Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

set in a fantasy version of 1900′s China that’s a fucking matriarchy

main character is of asian descent (not specified but implied chinese) and is missing an arm

takes place during a war between humans, the arcanes (descendants of ancient gods), and witches, as the main character, Maika Halfwolf (what a name!) journeys to get revenge for her mother and uncover the secrets of her past and the demons within her

tons of racial and sexual diversity, 95% of the characters are women, there’s a mute character that uses sign language, and the only confirmed canon couple is between two women

**major trigger warnings: mutilation, abuse, racism/speciesism? (since they aren’t technically human), rape mentions, and violence. it’s really fucking dark, guys.

Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughn and Cliff Chiang

a group of girls that share paper routes in the 80′s get caught up with a weird alien species that jumps dimensions, takes people, and there’s time travel involved (it’s got like MAJOR Stranger Things vibes)

i’ve only read the first volume because i’m on a book buying ban, but i’ve heard there’s wlw in the later issues!

the art is soooooo gooood

We(l)come Back by Christopher Sebela, Clair Roe, and Jeremy Lawson

this one is really hard to explain, you kind of have to just read it to understand, but i’ll try my best

soulmates are reincarnated and trained to kill each other in every new life, then the cycle starts over

in the current lifetime both soulmates identify as wlw (one has a boyfriend), but in the past they’ve been and identified as different genders and sexualities, so they can be viewed as genderfluid and pansexual

it’ll break you

the art is amazing and graphic and so cool

but come on like... ‘lady’ soulmates trained to kill each other????

Runaways by Brian K Vaugh and Adrian Alphona

Brian K. Vaugh basically owns my ass when it comes to graphic novels

a group of kids find out their parents are super villains and runaway and become heroes

it’s like one of the most diverse marvel teams out there with: a black boy-genius, a japanese gothic witch (that might be confirmed bisexual in the reboot idk yet), a chubby jewish feminist with a psychic link to a dinosaur, a lesbian alien that turns into a rainbow, a mutant child with super strength, and a boy with an abusive father and a knack for tech

and in later installments: a genderfluid skrull, a latino cyborg, and a swiss immigrant that was the child bride of an abusive man and can control plants

deals with so much stuff like finding your place in the world, the fear of turning out like your parents, the importance of found family, and dealing with loss

it’s a show on hulu premiering next month!

ODY-C by Matt Fraction and Christian Ward

its a gender bent, queer retelling of the Odyssey where everyone’s a lady

set in SPACE

the art is omg so colorful and vibrant and gorgeous

honestly what more do i need to tell you guys?

Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine DeLandro

set a dystopian world where any woman deemed non-compliant with the patriarchal government’s laws is sent to a prison planet 

follows a group of prisoners as they take part in the prison version basically fight club 

super dope and diverse and lots of ladies kicking ass but also bonding

Leigh Bardugo has a tattoo reference to this series. if that means anything to y’all *eyeballs emoji*

Y: The Last Man by (shocker) Brian K. Vaughn, Pia Guerra, and Jose Marzan Jr.

follows a man and his pet monkey in a post apocalyptic world where every other male (in every species) has died

so like there’s literally only one human man in the entire thing

so many kick ass ladies wtf 

commentary on feminism, politics, and survival

**controversial opinions on the ending but the rest of the series is worth it

Teen Titans by Geoff Johns

this isn’t everyone’s favorite version of the story, but i’m a hoe for raven and beastboy so it’s my favorite

you guys probably know the deal, group of teens form a superhero team and battle evil and all that fun stuff

but full disclosure: raven x beast boy is like 90% of the reason i read these

[sixeightsuited]

Horizon Zero Dawn and Cultural appropriation: A very different view.

For the first time EVER, I’m sitting on the other side of a discussion about appropriating native culture.  Why?  Well, let me lay the framework.

First off, I’m not a guy who “knows a Native American” or has a “Native friend”  I am a 100% Anishinabe (Ojibway) dude who lives on reserve and has fought racism, stereotypes, pan-Indianism, and cultural appropriation fiercely for as long as I can remember. I’ve been the victim of horrendous racial violence as a child, adolescent, and adult, and I’m also a gamer.

I am the first to point out anything that smacks of any of the above and after I saw the Dia Lacina essay on “Horizon: Zero Dawn” being culturally insensitive and appropriating Native culture, I felt for the first time in a situation like this that I had to say something in rebuttal.

Lacina takes issue with the use of the words Tribal, Primitive, Braves, and Savage being used in the game (fyi they’re used to describe predominantly white people in game and they’re White words we didn’t use to describe ourselves thus I claim no ownership of, nor want to, anymore than I want to be a redskin, Indian or Wahoo)  

It seems (IMO) that most of her beef comes from an apparent belief that numerous aspects of generic tribal culture that appear in the game (making clothing from skins, hunting with spears and bows, living in a Matriarchal society, etc) are the sole domain of the Native American and just to be safe and cleverly keep her POV less subject to scrutiny, she applies it even more broadly to indigenous people world wide (I will just refer to us in particular as NA cuz I’m lazy and I also don’t refer to myself as a Native American) and basically that anything that is remotely “tribal” shouldn’t be used in gaming without our or someone else’s permission.

 In fairness, I don’t know if she’s actually played the game but as someone who is currently in the midst of doing exactly that, I can tell you that I have a pretty good idea of what stuff triggered her being upset and why, and while I absolutely respect her right to get offended by whatever she likes, and she makes excellent points about some other games, I am going to point out that there are flaws with this logic.

First of all, the basics: HZD is set in a post-post-apocalyptic future where people are living in tribal groups in a very destroyed world.  Machines exist but as hybrid animal/dinosaur type creatures and technology is pretty much non-existent in day to day human life.  

The heroine of the story is a red haired, white girl named Aloy who lives as an outcast with her adopted father, Rost.  Without giving a lot away, they are fiercely shunned by the local tribe for something Rost did and also the fact that Aloy is motherless.  

Impressively and rightly, though somewhat dismissively remarked upon by Lacina, is the way women and especially women of color are portrayed so positively in-game as this particular tribe is a total Matriarchy run by elders of various ethnicity.  African, Asian, White, and a variety of undefined people of color are common everywhere in the game.  (The leader of one band of warriors is a very fierce, commanding, intelligently portrayed black woman with a powerful presence.)  It reflects a fairly global society from a “skin color” perspective without any horrible accents or broken speech.

They worship an “All-Mother” goddess and their culture is (at least how I saw a lot of it) fairly heavy on European i.e. Celtic, Germanic, Scandinavian, etc type symbolism and the rest is filled in with mostly generic tribal-ish stuff that you could find in countless cultures around the world.

 I really didn’t get a “Native American” vibe off the game.  Of course, I don’t automatically presume to claim sole ownership of things like tribal life, hunting with bows and spears, and worshiping spirits of various elements solely for my own.  Random fact: Because there are over 500 distinct First Nations in N. America, we, believe it or not, didn’t all ride horses, live in tipis, use bows and arrows, tobacco and sage, and worship Eagles and Wolves.  Why? Well…use your brain.  Tobacco and Sage don’t grow EVERYWHERE, horses came over with the Europeans (and if you saw where I live you couldn’t have and cant for the most part get a horse through the bush if you tried) Eagles and Wolves don’t live EVERYWHERE….get the point?  Anyways….

If you examine Rost, he like most of the men has a braided beard and other seemingly Viking/Middle Ages inspired features, is white, speaks clear, unbroken English, and is a loving, protective and very positive role model for the girl.   Aloy for her part, is also fairly Viking-esque (to the point of looking incredibly like Lagaertha from the show Vikings but with red hair) also Egrit from GoT, and is no damsel in distress who needs men to save her. NOWHERE in the game have I encountered any Tipis, wigwams, Sweatlodges, or Non-White people speaking in stereotypical “Me smoke-um peace pipe, He go dat-a way” fashion.

The  opening cinematic is very touching (and long) as we see the orphaned Aloy as a baby in Rost’s care being carried around in a bundle on his back (which pretty much every culture did in one form or another at some point in time) and him ultimately taking her to the spot where a child of the tribe receives it’s name.

I really liked this idea as it isn’t often portrayed in a lot of mediums outside of stereotypical “Dances With Wolves” bullshit. Also, naming ceremonies are not the sole domain of NA people and what occurs bears zero resemblance to any NA ceremony I know of.  (It was actually a little Lion King at one point lol) But it’s a powerful moment in the beginning with much more that occurs during it but I won’t spoil that either.

Aloy herself is a pretty complex character.  She’s extremely independent, defiant, and questions pretty much everything about why things are the way they are and wants to do something about it.  You actually begin playing her as a 6 year old which is pretty unique and even then she’s tough and fearless and determined to explore her world.  

She is in no way hyper-sexualized (I’m looking your way Overwatch) Her clothing and everyone else’s, is utilitarian and appropriate for the environments she lives in, and so far, I have not encountered anything with her or any other character that made me go “WTF?”and trust me, my radar for that shit is HIGHLY SENSITIVE.  This isn’t Avatar, people.  It’s not John Smith. It’s not The Great Wall or Pocahontas.  This isn’t white dude shows up and saves the helpless non-white people while helpless native woman falls in love with him stuff.  It’s a fictitious future where we maniacs blew it up, damn us all to hell!

But here’s the more annoying thing for me as an actual Anishinabe.  I don’t need people speaking for me or getting offended on my behalf.  I am very capable of doing that myself. I am also in no way writing this claiming to be speaking for any other NA people or persons. It’s based on my observations from actually playing HZD and examining the various fictional “cultural” elements in the game.

If you see a skin tied inside a hoop and automatically assume it’s a dreamcatcher” ripping off “our culture” (FYI Dreamcatchers are a 20th century thing whose popularity was a result of pan-Indianism that exploded in the 70s.) or if you see feathers on a spear or as part of a costume (nowhere is anyone wearing a single eagle feather in the back of a beaded headband or a Dakota looking headdress either) and automatically presume it to be ripping off NA culture, you’re REEEEEEEEEEALY reaching.  If you think caring for the environment, obeying matriarchs, worshipping elemental spirits, or making your own clothes is solely the property of NA culture, see previous statement.

By all means get offended.  Get offended by Chief Wahoo.  Get offended by the Washington Redskins.  Get offended that thousands of Native women have been murdered or gone missing and nothing’s been done about it.  Get offended by Johnny Depp or Robert Beltran playing Native people instead of actual Native people getting those roles.  Get offended by shit like Adam Sandler’s “Ridiculous 6” where a native woman is called a “hot piece of red prairie meat” or Depp’s “Lone Ranger” movie.

Get offended that my family was destroyed by the Residential Schools and that the 60s scoop took babies away from their families and people, that forced sterilizations took place and mass graves of dead Native children exist at former Residential School sites.

Don’t just jump on the I’m offended bandwagon because you saw some feathers or skins or spears or bows in a game and immediately grew indignant and wanted to claim them as OUR culture.  They’re not.  They’re almost globally universal in numerous cultures at various points in time.  Get offended, as she rightly mentioned, when the game Overwatch sexualizes the shit out of almost every female character and takes West Coast tribal art and makes a costume out of it.  

THAT is appropriation.  White people holding powwows in Europe (powwows are also pretty much not traditional and are extremely pan-Indian, not to mention full of us appropriating each other’s Native cultures ie. Dakotas wearing Jingle Dresses, Ojibway wearing Dakota regalia, etc) is appropriation.

This game……I’m just not seeing it the same way.  And I’m nobody.  I have no ties to Guerilla or anybody other than myself and my community.