#this goes for all poc but im talking about black people here

[thetransguard]

okay i knew it was coming but its kind of killing me how obtuse people are being towards toshiro (im not fucking calling him shuro and honestly yall should stop with that too). should he have told laios how he really felt about him, sure, yeah, but im going to go off on a limb here and suggest maybe! maybe! he's been raised in an environment where it's actually like legitimately unheard of and taboo to be very open and straight forward about his feelings. the entire party has been calling him by a name that literally isnt even his own because he is so used to quashing down his own reactions to others. like i think other poc diaspora dunmeshi fans might agree with me here but he just reads like someone whos not bothered enough to correct every microaggression thrown his way. because that shit is exhausting. and after like five hours of laios bugging him about stories of his homeland why would he have a good opinion of him. genuinely. im not saying laios is entirely at fault but neither is toshiro. i love laios too but it is Very Weird that toshiro gets the brunt of their friendship's falling out (ill circle back to this)

also to preface this i am a farcille shipper so im. not pushing for falin/toshiro. but people acting like his affection for falin is somehow not relevant or he has no devotion to falin at all is CRAZY. immediately after being teleported out he threw himself back into that dungeon and didnt eat or sleep properly to rescue her. we literally watch him collapse from it. after multiple episodes emphasizing the importance of nutrition and caring for yourself and your take away from a man willing to toss that away is that he just. doesn't care for falin? why is he in the dungeon then? answer. quickly. granted he's not as onboard with the whole black magic thing but his concerns are literally valid and before we see falin chimera he seems to have been talked down from reporting them all for it. its the proof of his concerns of the use of black magic that he decides to go up and report them at all. his bond with falin isn't nearly as strong as marcille's bond but its also not nothing. ignoring that or minimising his own sacrifices is such a nasty bad faith disservice to his character.

speaking of bonds. toshiro doesn't hate laios. guys. his last act this episode was to give laios and the rest of the party (yes, even black magic user marcille) a way out of the hole that they'd already dug for themselves. fleeing to the east and leaving falin to the elves isnt the best case scenario but it is one that lets the majority of the party survive whatever's coming. its the realistic play. is this the act of a man who hates his former colleagues? is he wishing harm and further misfortune on them? his actions speak for themselves. you guys are being way too hard on toshiro and its really fucking telling. this goes for white viewers especially

[starrysharks]

i wonder if white people specifically white progressives realise that black people are only ever seen as their skin color first and foremost

[nandorsrelentless]

there seems to be far too many fans who can't seem to wrap their head around the fact that no relationship in the Vampire Chronicles is healthy. every relationship includes an element of abuse/power imbalance by normal standards. literally every single one.

they are all monsters who are no longer constrained by societal rules. so I don't think it's too crazy to expect them to do mosntorus things. the genre is Gothic HORROR. the show really prioritizes the HORROR element more so than other adaptaions, which i love.

i don't need louis to be a liar to enjoy lestat. if louis lied or misremebered things about the fight in episode 5, i literally do not care because it's never gonna make me hate louis. the baseline of what constitutes "evil" or "bad" is so different in iwtv because of the fact that they are NOT HUMAN. Claudia is literally a serial killer and she's still mother to me. ykwim?

the nature of vampirism is they have to kill to survive. so it would be really cool if people could accept louis, armand, and claudia as complex characters who are fundamentally not good people (because they aren't people!) without being racist about it. THEY ARE ALL KILLERS

im more interested in this exploration of the complexities of memory and seeing how the show integrates the other books into this story in a way that hasn't been done before than I am in discoursing about whether louis is a liar or not. who gives a shit???? grow up and realize that there are no good guys here and that's OKAY

[yeoldontknow]

I think you need to really take a look at what that girl is saying. She's not saying anything about how the author is not entitled to a safe space or her audience. She is discussing how the statement "unlike those white people" is a hateful comment against white people. It's not right to say something like that and it's not right of you to ignore her main point to get on a high horse to tell her she needs to educate herself. Some people really need to learn to read.

i have sat on this message for a whole damn day because i honestly believe trying to get through to that blog, or you, or anyone who refuses to take kind and thoughtful advice is like talking to a wall or beating a dead horse. but yet again, i cant just sit here with this because this is not a topic that just goes away. it has never gone away, and silence gets us precisely nowhere.

as i stated in my original post, this is not a racist statement. at best, it is derogatory. it is not necessarily racial prejudice or discrimination. im not going to rehash information from my first post because it appears you glazed over it so here is new information.

the problem you seem to be having with this statement is the 'white people' part, correct? and you are, i suppose and assume, stating it would be wrong if the statement was 'unlike those black people' or 'unlike those asian people' etc etc. right?

the problem is that changing out white people for a different group of poc is not a fair or equal comparison. historically, yes. poc groups have enacted violence and colonialism against one another. but there is no other group with as much power, privilege, access, or economic footing as white people. white people have enacted violence and colonialism, and prejudice, and discrimination, against every poc group and identity across the globe. every. single. one. there is not a single poc group unharmed or unaffected by white acts of institutional or systematic racism. you cannot swap the statement with another poc group because it is not a fair comparison by any sense or stretch of imagination.

additionally, we should not be having this conversation because - again: the statement was written by a poc author for a poc audience in a closed poc community. we are having this conversation because, once again:

a white person entered a closed poc community and was upset they were excluded, that it was not for them, and felt triggered by a comment a poc person made against a privileged group of people. there are reasons many poc communities are closed to white people and they should, in all cases, be respected.

im going to try again with another quote and if you do not listen, i will not be responding further. not because we should not be educating and learning, but because you are proving you do not care and that is dangerous.

“Racism has nothing to do with feelings. It is a measurable reality that white people are not subject to, regardless of their income or status”

[mrsmiroir]

i finished all the grishaverse books over the summer and tee bee aych all the races based on poc were a lil weird. there r like 3 ? zemeni (black ppl) that we talk to in all the books, the shu han (basically all east asians) are murderers, the suli (based on romani stereotypes) dont have a country are "mystical" performers etc. its a ya book i really cant be talking but it seems the author wanted to throw in hashtag representation. plus fjerda is the only nation other than ravka to get good worldbulding and theyre all (imo) caricatures of racists lol

let me preface this by saying that i am not an authority on this matter nor should i be considered as such. also im pretty sure ppl have talked abt this before so im not rlly adding anything to the conversation. anyway here goes.

it’s pretty clear to me that bardugo has a comfort zone when it comes to her fantasy worlds. she writes vibrant urban areas like ketterdam and it feels so vivid and real, hell even the little palace has a certain liveliness, but rural areas? fjerda’s description feels almost as barren as its landscape. i think something similar can be said abt how she writes cultures. she can incorporate diversity into her cities (or the little palace) and work with it, albeit not always perfectly or even well, but when it comes to writing groups based off of non-western (euro-american) cultures? it feels like she relies on stereotypes.

basically what im saying is it feels like she’s better at writing cultures dominated by white people. the shu feel anachronist at times and while i haven’t read kos or row, i find it odd how… malicious? they’re presented as? also how kuwei is treated by fans… yikes! the suli are a mix of various cultures but are pretty clearly based off romani stereotypes, which is only compounded when bardugo decided to make them straight up mystical in row (maybe there’s a logical explanation later in the book but it was very Weird and i didn’t care enough to find out whoops). someone (i want to say zemenipearls, but im not positive) pointed out that the main things we know about novyi zem harken back to some pretty. :/ tropes (guns, pearls, and jurda farming). if i find the post i will rb later but rn i have a migraine. also kerch/novyi zem relations… and the historical parallel… hm.

i would argue that kerch (mainly ketterdam) also had good worldbuilding, because you can tell bardugo is in her element writing it, and i also don’t think fjerda is a caricature (but that’s a whole thing). basically soc is fun and it does read as an attempt at representing a nuanced society with people from various backgrounds (and ethnicities), but it’s not the paragon of diverse YA that people say it is and should be read, like anything else, with a critical eye.

[mcfuckity]

fr tho hate how white characters can get away w shit like actual genocide and fucking blowing up planets but let a character of color have even the littlest bit of attitude and people show up w fucking pitch forks and torches

"bob got his feelings hurt🤬", idgaf about his feelings, if he wanna be out here beinf a menance to society, then he deserve to get his feelings hurt. talking bout some "i just sympathize w morally grey characters" but let them see a lil color and all tgat sympathy goes out the fucking window, yall asses aint slick

and god, dint even get me started on them purposefully misinterpreting canon to justify a white characters actions, that shit will never cease to blow my mind

The worst part is when majority of a fandom write off those criticisms from actual black ppl/poc as us just complaining about everything and making it about race. Like, let me ask you, would all this vitriol exist if the characters were white? They claim it would but then just so happens to love a canonically worse yt character.

Im not saying people can’t like villains or anything but it’s always crazy how in most fandoms, the most hated/disliked/ignored characters will be the non white ones no matter their affiliations but the boring yt mf will be the fan fave ESPECIALLY if they’re a villain.

But if/when you call out the racism/colorism, now everyone is up in arms and claiming that you’re calling people racist for not liking certain characters or saying that you’re just labeling anyone who disagrees with you as a racist. It’s crazy asf how we’re expected to be happy with bare minimum crumbs but I just cannot.

[screechingkingdomhottub]

hey guys angry white boy here to talk about racism, what could go wrong? I saw a post the other day that I won’t tag or anything cause I think it’s for a safe space for black people and that’s not my place? Anyway the post was essentially pointing out that people defend Billy from stranger things and glorify him even though he was very very racist. It got me thinking about how obvious racism needs to be for people to be like “oh that was racist”. Cause so many people are denying Billy was racist, he singled out the black kid and hated him, I think he called him “like that” or “that kind” at one point whICH like how can’t you tell??? But we live in times where people can say that stuff irl and worse and everyone goes “oh it was just a joke”, “oh it wasnt about race”. and that sucks. So I became hyper aware of racist shit I’ve been doing (yeah apparently you can still do that stuff once people have forgotten about black lives matter, shocking I know) and I’m gonna address them.  - Avoiding watching media starring black people. I swear I never did this intentionally but when I look at the shows I’ve watched it’s like modern family, the middle, parks and rec, the office, boy meets world and brooklyn 99. While all these shows have some representation, some better than others, you can very easily make the argument that the main character and thus the person the audience is set up to empathise with most is white. And whilst characters like Captain Holt are main characters, I’d say Jake Peralta would be the main character of the show. I grew up watching fresh prince, thats so raven, true jackson vp so it’s not like I had a primarily anti-black childhood either. I genuinely think this is just because I subconsciously think I’d relate more to “white shows” which is stupid and anti black. I say anti black and not racist here cause I’ve recently been watching shows starring latin casts and as I’m typing this I’m realising I don’t know about a lot of asian shows that aren’t anime. What brought this to light is the new show Killing It which looks great, has one of the best actors around in it imo but I genuinely hesitated before watching it and I’m relatively sure it’s cause the main character is black. And that isn’t right but if I don’t admit it then it will continue.  -Being hyperaware of my friends that are poc. This one I hate that I do, I’m really trying to see people as people while appreciating their cultures and where they came from but I’m so desperate to ensure that that isn’t always the focal point of our conversations that it does more damage than good. I think this will get better once I hang out with some of my poc friends (genuinely a mix of all different races here hence why im not naming the races but i get that it can sound like i mean the 2 black people i work with or something stupid like that) more and get more comfortable, right now non-white people seem new to me and I think that’s where this is an issue. 

Those are things I currently do that I’ve realised are a problem and I’m fixing them. Things I used to do included: assuming people were white unless proven otherwise, spoke over poc especially black people, avoided reading about racial issues, got butthurt over really dumb stuff, assumed poc weren’t neurodiverse or queer (representation matters so much).  Oh also just as an ending thing, a lot of this Ukraine support is rooted in racism - let me explain. Supporting Ukraine is important, supporting anybody suffering is important, that’s what being a human is about. However some of you acting like this is the first war and suddenly wanting to support refugees better start applying that same energy to Palestine and Syria and Iraq (yeah damage remains after a war, just cause they aint at war anymore doesnt mean theyre suddenly back to normal). “But if you look at who our enemies usually are...” 1) Racist af. 2) The enemy in the Ukraine situation is Russia and idk bout you but to me they look pretty similar. 

There are so many videos on the internet of different animals coming together to take care of the young of a different animal. Because in nature, we’re programmed to look after children. If there’s a kid in need of money, I’ll give them some. If there’s a kid needing to know good adults exist and rescued, I’ll help them. I’d do absolutely anything to help a kid idk, most people are supposed to be that way like tigers and lions and wolves and dogs and any animal you can think of. But some of you won’t help a kid in a warzone because the media you like and the daily mail taught you to be scared of different melanin levels. This was a really long rant but sometimes I think this stuff is necessary, and I think sometimes a guy like me needs to say it cause you dont trust the guys that look different to me.

[liyawritesss]

Class 1-A Boys and How They Like To Cuddle

Okay LOOK HERE-

@todorkihoe made a shitpost abt touch starved Todoroki and im like *aggressive inhale* creative juices are FLOWING

It would be right for me to do JUST Shouto tho plus I forgot to do Iida last time and feel HORRIBLE so its gonna be as many Class 1-A boys I can think for!!

Warnings: some cursing maybe, fem! black/poc!reader and a bunch of f l u f f

BAKUGO KATSUKI

Angry pomeranian boy will probably want to cuddle when he's burnt himself out

You'll be hanging with your friend group and Katsuki will text you something along the lines of "come to my room" and at first your like what the hell whats wrong?

So you excuse yourself and head to his room and you find that Katsuki's on his bed, looking like he had a really intense training session because of the little scratches and bandaids here and there. Plus he's not yelling at you.

You head to the side of his bed and try to see if he's awake or not, and you get startled when he grumbles something you don't quite here

You ask him to repeat he mumbles "get in bed, dumbass"

You wanna punch him for calling you a dumbass but you don't because he actually looks peaceful? Like not mad or stressed or anything, and he seemed to just want your presence...

So you oblige, slipping into the blankets and having him pull you close into his chest, the mixed smell of caramel and his body wash reaching your nose.

You wrapped your arms around his torso, his arms enveloping your shoulders and bringing you closer to his chest

His hand buries itself into your hair while he presses a kiss to your forehead that he WILL threaten you not to talk about in the morning

Him just tired and want his teddy bear in his arms after a long day of training.

MIDORIYA IZUKU

Broccoli boy wants to be big spoon 🥺

Like one day you come over his house, you talk with his mom for a bit before Izuku drags you to his room

And even though its what you'd think an All Might fanboy's room would look like, its surprisingly cozy as well

Soon the weather changed from bright and sunny to raining and dreary

You and Izuku's energy slowly drained as the dreary weather continued.

Youre on his bed, snuggled up in his blanket and watching something on your phone or scrolling through social media

Izuku comes in from helping his mom with something and just has the urge to cuddle you

He asks you what're you doing while crawling into bed behind you, slipping under the blanket you were snuggling with

You start to babble on what you're watching or what you see on your socials while Izuku's arms wrap around you from behind, nuzzling into your hair which smells so so sooo nice.

In a few minute your realize he's not really listening anymore, he's just fallen asleep and he's just too cute

You fall asleep shortly after because of the comforting pitter patter of rain and soft thundering sounds from outside

Inko takes a picture of you two cuz she's so happy her baby boy got him someone who makes him happy she might even use it as blackmail

IIDA TENYA

Iida is definitely one of those people thats like "no handholding !! You'll get pregnant !!"

You'd probably have to beg him for cuddles lets be honest

On the occasion you two DO find the opportunity to cuddle, it'll probably be after an intense study session

Of course he's not tired, but you just fried your brain trying to remember math formulas

Tenya sees this, and suggests a light snack since you both had been studying for a while

He leaves to go get some snacks and you drag yourself to his bed, needing to feel a plush mattress under you and not hard wooden chair

Your curl up in his blanket, into a little ball

Tenya comes back with snacks and drinks to find you curled on his bed and its the most adorable sight ever

He realizes that maybe he worked you a bit to hard, and you deserve a little nap before heading home

His heart goes "you should hug her, she'll like it" but his mind says "no! boundaries"

Eventually his heart wins and he crawls into bed next to you, sitting up and leaning on his headboard.

You curl up into his side, and he rests his hand on your shoulder, rubbing figures into it

This isn't invading boundaries right? He thinks this is okay

Most probably gonna read a book or something while you take your nap

And when you wake up, you apologize profusely, but Tenya says its okay.

"Boundaries were respected! So no harm done."

Tenya drinks his respect women juice diligently.

TODOROKI SHOUTO

Every time I think of touch starved shouto Endeavor comes up and I just want to strangle the smug piece of shit for ruining Todo's childhood

Because let's be honest, Shouto can, would, and does and a hard time understanding affection, especially when its physical

You'll do simple things like hold his hand or peck his cheek and he's like "is that a thing? Should I do that too?"

Probs feels bad that he can't really show his love the way others do, and you'll have to tell him that everyone shows love differently, and thats okay.

He's over your house because it's the weekend and neither of you have anything planned.

You're both on your bed, Shouto admiring your room while you're maybe on your phone or reading something

Then shouto asks "do you want to cuddle, love?"

You have to ask him to repeat what he said because what that came out of no where

He repeats himself, a bit hesitant

"Couples do that right? I want to try it."

Okay now you HAVE to oblige

At first its kind of awkward, he tries to find a position you're both comfortable with but it doesn't seem to be working out

Then you just kind of guide his head to lay on your chest and he wraps his arms around your waist and its like heaven for him

He can hear your heart beat and feel you close to him, while you're still doing what you're doing on your phone or with your book

Your hand strokes his hair and massages his scalp and Shouto can't even fight the sleep thats taking over him.

In 5 minutes he asleep, and you can't help but smile because fuck he's so adorable, and so at peace

You take pictures because they last longer

After that, will always ask you for cuddles in that position, nothing else will satisfy the boy now

But you always oblige, because you know it really does help him

KIRISHIMA EIJIRO

Cuddles with kiri are so soft and playful

You'd probably be in his dorm room, you're entertaining yourself while he's on the game

You try to mess with him because he's cute when he's irritated

You poke him, tickle him, nudge him, anything to annoy him

Kiri's just like "you want attention? Bet"

Tosses the controller away most definitely upsetting denki and sero and pulls you onto his lap caging you in his arms

"Eiji lemme gooo!"

"I thought you wanted my attention babe? Now you got all of it!"

Eventually you stop struggling cuz you can't do anything stuck in his arms

So you just relax Into him in your straddling position that's oddly pretty comfy with him

You nuzzle into his neck and wrap your arms around his torso and the dorkiest smile plasters his face cuz look, his baby's cuddling him

Has to try and keep his voice under control when he gets back on the game

So now everytime you come over he holds you like that while he plays the game, balancing game time and his precious girlfriend

KAMINARI DENKI

I dont know why but I feel like Denki would want to be little spoon

Like just imagine the baby loosing a game with Kirishima and Sero and Bakugo and the angry pomeranian is being especially mean today

And you over hear it and see that Denki's really disappointed in himself so you offer cuddlss

And his eyes just light up and he's like "yes pls!!"

He lays in bed with you and you wrap your arms around him from behind, placing kisses on his cheek and hair and back of his neck

Surprisingly he doesn't short circuit??

He just kinda like hums and relaxes cuz you give the best kisses

And he needs them cuz Bakugo mean 😢😢😢

You always offer him cuddles after losing a game and remind him that he's always a winner in your book

Gives the dorkiest smile, says thank you all the time

Would probably fall asleep on you but you don't mind, at least he's not short curcuiting.

SHINSOU HITOSHI

I HEADCANON HITOSHI AS A THIGH MAN

He just loves him some thighs and he loves your the absolute most

Theyre so plump and soft, they make him want to sleep on them

So yall are in your dorm room

Its night time and Shinsou just can't fall asleep for the life of him.

Its fucking 2am why is he up

You just so happened to not have fallen asleep yet so he asks if he can hang with you for a bit.

You make him that sleepy time tea you drink when you have trouble falling asleep and he admits he's a bit drowsy now

Without warning he grabs your legs and uses your thighs as his pillow

Well, more like your thighs and your tummy, since the way you're laying down has your legs bent a bit

Shinsou's like "wow this feels really nice" and you start to play with his hair, and he's sent to heaven

Homeboys out like a light in no time

This happens like once a week honey, get used to it

He could just mind control you to do it but he hates using it on you, because he wants the actions and emotions to be real and authentic

So the fact that you do love him cuddling you like this makes his heart melt

Please send more comfort to this boy.

Whew, now that thats out of my system

Please leave a like, a comment, reblog to your friends and don't be shy to send a request!!

[derangedspacefreakk]

Monarch's Guide on how to write Diversity

As a black and questioning girl and as someone who's writing their own diverse characters, I will be the first to say that you don't need diversity for a story (no,I'm not one of those "representation is a prison" kind of people). I'm not saying you can make cardboard cut outs of each character,but you don't need to feel bad because there's not enough black people in your cast. But if you are going to add diversity,here is some things you should keep in mind. (Note: when I'm talking about diversity,I mean all kinds of diversity. Like skin colour,sexualities and mental illnesses and disorders.)

1. Diversity really isn't everywhere

This might make a few people angry,but I rarely see people talk about it except from a YouTube comment on a video. Contrary to popular belief, diversity isn't in every country. Take a look at East Asian countries like Japan,China and Korea. What do you see there? Asians, Asians beyond the eyes can see. What if you go to Africa? Black people,black people beyond the eye can see. There isn't really any diversity there, and even if there is a Latina there,it's few. Even with countries like America,where there's different kinds of people, im pretty sure there's some areas where there's only white people or only black people.

So,when you're thinking of writing diverse Characters,think about where the story takes place. If said place is diverse,the character (s) would probably be normal to others, and the opposite applies when the place is not really diverse.For example, my Characters Kasai Yumi (first name Yumi last name Kasai because how Japanese names are structured is different) is Japanese Mexican, and Erika, Ilya and Kevin Hirose-Goyrynych are Japanese russian. The setting is in Japan,and as we all know from early Japan is not diverse. So these 4 will be viewed differently by the other Characters. If you're writing a fantasy kingdom/town/city/etc that's different from our own, try to figure out the demographic of that area and what is the most common ethnicities,nationalities and religions there.

2. Response

This goes with the next tip like peanut butter to strawberry or just basic jam, but think of the reaction the other characters will have of the other characters. If the character is diverse in a place where it really isn't and most of the cast is able bodied non disabled straight whites, they're probably going to question why someone like them would come here,and will probably face some racism. If the character is diverse in a already diverse setting, they will just be another drop in the pond.

Also, and depending on the setting, you might want to look at the historical rivalries and how certain nationalities and ethnicities will react to each other. Depending on their culture, people will view other races differently than the next one, but that also depends on their environment. Im not gonna dwell on this too long, but you should think about what reactions your characters will have to this/these Character(s), whether their disabled,LGBT or poc.

3. Research your Character's Illness,Mental disorder, disability etc.

This a tip mainly reserved for characters with mental disabilities, illnesses, disorders, learning disabilities and etc. This is also something you can't just skip,this is something you NEED to do. Unless you have what your character has, you cannot skip researching Anything your portraying in your story that you don't know about. The reason why is quite obvious: people who have or know about the illness can tell that you half-assed your way with research. So take out your computer and search up whatever and look at the articles and whatever you can about the illness, disability or whatever on the internet,and make you plenty of sources. You also want to make sure the sources you're taking information from are reliable. The best sources that I would recommend government(.gov.), education (.edu.) and organisations (.org.) websites or the sites run by the health services in your country such as health.gov and the NHS.

For example,my main character that my story follows is Nagasawa Cho (first name Cho,last Nagasawa). She had nacrolepsy, so I went and researched it and knew how it will impact the story and her life. You want to know the resource I took my information from the most? The NHS.uk site. This isn't just some random site made by a failed medical student who has the memory of a koala, this is a site run by the literal National Health Service of the UK (it's literally in the name). So it's one of, if not the most, reliable site if I want information for an illness. These are the kind of sites you want as sources. But also,it's important to turn to people with the illnesses, disabilities and such. This is a thing your supposed to do for when you're including a subject or something you haven't experienced or don't understand,but we're not talking about that. People have different experiences,and you can combine that to make you're character.

4. Research the culture your Character (s) from's culture and social norms and customs

This is something I don't really see get talked about much. Maybe it's just me,but it seems many people don't understand how easy it is for culture shock when people from different cultures interact. Like just today, I suddenly remembered years ago when a teacher talking about some Muslim children (I don't remember) entering a church and being like "dO i hAvE tO tAkE mY sHoEs oFf?" And being dumbfounded by how church is.

Unless your characters were raised by a family of different race/ethnicity/national, you should research what cultural norms,social customs and ideals the culture your characters are from. Then compare them to eachother and see how they'll interact. For example,Japanese view slurping as a way of saying the food is the shit. This is pretty different to most western cultures,who view slurping as annoying.

I'm not gonna focus on this much,so let's move to the next one.

5. You're Character's diversity shouldn't be the only thing they have

Is your Character a mexican pansexual trans girl with vitiligo and has a black plus size genderfluid boo with autism? Great, you do you, but what else do they have? Do they have any goals,do they have any motivations, do they even contribute or do anything in the story except face racism that isn't even realistic? No? Then why should we care?

I hope I don't come off as racist or mean, but your diverse Characters are still Characters. They need to have goals, personality,conflicts and connections, and just because they're poc or LGBT or a person in need, doesn't mean they have to have discrimination or prejudice as their main conflict or even a conflict they face at all.

Their diversity shouldn't be the only thing they have going for them, and off it,they're just a flat Character. They shouldn't be a genderfluid Character,they should be a character who just happens to be genderfluid. They shouldn't be a bisexual Character they should be a character who happens to be bisexual. I'll repeat this again: a diverse character is still a character,no matter how diverse they are. If they have nothing going for them except that they're semi realistic,the audience isn't going to care.

This is all I have for you guys. I hope it works for you.

[hematomes]

I saw your post about ppl losing their shiz about Kaeya fanart being “whitewashed” when it’s literally darker than he is in canon. I agree btw I love like basically all Kaeya art out there I love one eyepatch man.

anyhoo, I have a story. I once saw a tiktok about a kaeya art. it was specifically labeled “IN PROGRESS” or whatever so you knew the artist wasn’t done. it was a gorgeous piece of art btw. So far, the only thing that had been colored was his hair and some of his clothes.

pretty much everyone in the comments started harrasing her about how he was whitewashed and the artist had to be a white supremacist and i think someone said “see I knew everyone who played genshin was racist just delete the game at this point.”

i was just like 😳 wow jeez it’s literally IN PROGRESS the artist legit said so.

the artist eventually posted the final version (after having to delete the first video and deal with several threats) it did turn out beautiful, but on the comments there and on every post of theirs after people are lurkign in the comments bad-mouthing them.

as much as I definitely am for characters not being whitewashed (especially Kaeya bc I love him your honor) I think some people take it way too far when the person they’re yelling at literally just wanted to get people excited about their WIP.

hi! sorry im so late this issue became quite sensitive lol i had to work up the courage to come back to it. it's gonna be a bit long, but i really need to say all this

if there's one thing i noticed about the genshin community on tiktok and twitter, it's that there is a whole, whole lot of social justice warriors and overall it's extremely toxic. it's something that surprised me because the people i interact with on tumblr are all super sweet and not one bit toxic so? idk, tumblr is just a different breed i guess

your story is extremely saddening. everytime there's a kaeya fanart, people forget about the color theory and the artists' style and claim it's whitewashed and i genuinely don't understand why. if someone could explain it to me, am i missing something? im not an artist so perhaps im mistaken, idk, but i've never seen a fanart where kaeya was whitewashed.

the thing that pisses me off the most is that most of the time it's white ppl calling something whitewashed. i'm not saying you shouldn't call out racism if you see it just bc you're white, just that these people aren't even right - and often you see poc coming into the debate and explaining it's not whitewashed/saying it doesn't bother them. moreover, i've literally seen fanart of beidou as a black girl, which isn't representation in my opinion - beidou is already a poc, and asian people need at least as much representation as black people, so it's plain racism. same thing with kaeya, i've seen edits of him with stereotypical african features, and it's really sad that no one is calling this out but yelling about whitewashing as soon as he isn't the exact same color as the official arts. hell, someone even said "so what if it's darker? it's still whitewashing" and i??? am flabbergasted. whitewashing is absolutely disgusting, but ppl keep misunderstanding what it means and just using it to gratuitously harass artists.

now, don't get me wrong. i believe that you can draw whatever you want. but the thing is - if you get mad when someone draws kaeya white (if they really do, i mean), you can't just applaud someone else's that draws another character black. racism goes both ways, and it's bordering on fetishism. i, as a poc (mixed-race, caucasian + african), am extremely uncomfortable everytime i see this double-standard.

but anyway, the fact remains that sjw have plagued the genshin fandom. and it's not just about kaeya's skin color (we don't even know if he's really a poc - we know he's tan according to paimon, and i believe she called him "exotic"? so idk) but also about the ships. everytime i see a shippy tiktok, there's plenty of ppl out here saying it's wrong, claiming their own ship is the most canon. if i'm not mistaken, kaeluc is the one that gets the most hate, and i genuinely, once again, don't understand why.

i talked about them before and explained how it's not incest bc they really aren't brothers, but i swear every now and then i see people throwing death threats and slurs anytime someone hints at them. idk if you are familiar with the eng va's fandom, but sometimes they play among us together, aether's va does some livestreams where he invites different voice actors. but diluc's va is never there, and i was wondering why - recently i learned that it's because he retweet a fanart of kaeya and diluc fighting alongside each other (not even a shippy fanart, apparently) and people harassed him and excluded him from the fandom. and now the same thing is happening to griffin burns, childe's va, bc he retweeted (or liked, idk) a fanart of lumine and childe fighting or something and people called it pedophilia bc lumine would be a minor. i'm not even gonna dive into this bc the travelers are canonically like 30 times childe's age, but what i mean is - people are so full of hate and i can't fathom living like this?

the point is, i totally respect anyone who doesn't ship something i ship. i myself don't like certain ships - like zhongli/xiao, jean/diluc - but im not gonna harass ppl who do just because i can? that's messed up, i just don't get it. i wish the fandom wasn't that bad bc i really enjoy this game

anyway, im really disappointed but still grateful, bc my followers & people i've interacted with here have been nothing but sweet and respectful. i hope none of y'all come across the toxic side of the genshin fandom. stay safe y'all!

[dameferre]

I posted 4,902 times in 2021

336 posts created (7%)

4566 posts reblogged (93%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 13.6 posts.

I added 6,089 tags in 2021

#qew - 4197 posts

#art by artists - 669 posts

#watch this - 231 posts

#elle answers your questions - 214 posts

#atla - 210 posts

#anon - 150 posts

#zukka - 136 posts

#t.t - 98 posts

#black sails - 95 posts

#sokka - 89 posts

Longest Tag: 136 characters

#‘it’s just one of those areas yknow. like there aren’t enough poc living there so all the food sucks’ and she was like ‘mmhmm i getcha.’

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

happy prince phillip is dead day to my mom, who when i showed her a page of ‘prince phillip is a walking corpse’ memes said (after she’d finished laughing) ‘all of those people are going to feel so bad when he actually dies’

290 notes • Posted 2021-04-09 12:41:09 GMT

#4

i know no one asked and im never gonna write it but my comfort fic this week has been one that only exists in my mind, which is... just a collection of zuko and katara moments

zuko coming out to katara, bc she’s got accepting mom vibes, and katara gets to experience the sweet euphoria of hanging out with a dude, who is not related to her, without worrying about him being attracted to her in the slightest

sokka proposes to suki, suki accepts, zuko cannot understand why it feels like his entire world is crumbling around him but katara can, and she and toph distract him for a bit

zuko and katara comforting sokka together after suki breaks off the engagement

zuko giving a speech at katara and aang’s wedding

the slow progression of zuko and sokka best friends to lovers as seen by katara, who at one point sits sokka down and says ‘you’re my brother and i’ll stand by you no matter what, but please for the love of fuck be sure about this before you get zuko involved. dont risk your friendship if you aren’t 100% sure’

zuko telling katara he plans to propose (katara cries)

katara giving a speech at sokka and zuko’s wedding (zuko cries)

just a thousand little moments of the two of them bonding over how ridiculous and wonderful the loves of their lives are

most crucially, katara and zuko doing some diplomatic thing together or whatever and accidentally getting stranded together. and then katara goes into labour. i cannot express how much serotonin i get from the idea of zuko. zuko. helping katara through labour. and by helping i mean letting her squeeze his hand until she breaks a finger (she’ll heal it later) and talking him through delivering the baby. he cries more than she does, and probably passes out. i think i personally deserve this scene

it probably ends with zuko and katara, helping each other through grief after both sokka and aang pass, but im not trying to make myself sad here this is a happy imaginary fic about best friends okay

378 notes • Posted 2021-04-15 22:34:06 GMT

#3

ok this is nonsense so don’t take it too seriously but my friend just reminded me that before the panaderia hit her 2020 mission was to sleep her way through the alphabet (she got to h)

so now i can’t stop thinking about sokka who makes the same resolution one year and asks zuko ahead of time to fill the ‘z’ slot because “who else am i gonna hook up with? some asshole named zach?” and zuko laughs it off at the time but then slowly realises he. might not be entirely opposed to that.

and then hijinks ensue as zuko tries to rush sokka through the rest of the alphabet by way of overly enthusiastic matchmaking and simultaneous aggression towards anyone on earth with a name that starts with ‘z’

385 notes • Posted 2021-01-25 21:21:31 GMT

#2

people of colour, for fucking lifetimes: white supremacists in america are dangerous terrorists and if they go unchecked they will try to bring about the downfall of our democracy

white people, today: wow?? white supremacists?? in america?? are DaNGerOus??? terrorISts??? and they’re trying to bring about the downfall of our democracy???????/????????/??/?//?

592 notes • Posted 2021-01-06 20:37:28 GMT

#1

What You See You Might Not Get (art by the incomparable @sebsketchs)

Five things Zuko learned about Sokka, and one thing Sokka already knew about Zuko.

a zukka star trek au for three days of zukka week 2021 prompts! 5+1, hurt/comfort, and free space day bc it’s about as au as it gets

1267 notes • Posted 2021-03-21 02:49:16 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[mack3030]

Types of Paywall Abuse --- A post...

I think it’s time to tackle a topic that might make a few simmers uncomfortable, but we need to talk about it, because in addition to seeing a lot of people complain about it in general, I’ve also been getting some anons in my inbox talking about it. So let’s discuss this. 

Now, first of all, I would like to clarify a couple of things: 

When I speak of PAYWALLS here, I am talking about custom content that can ONLY be accessed by paying, or viewing an ad through a virus filled ad shortener link (which is just as bad).  Pure early access content, where you pay for it and get it earlier than everyone else who gets it for free IS NOT PAYWALLED CONTENT. 

This is why it is called a pay “WALL” because the wall portion indicates that you cannot access it without paying a fee/toll. 

Second of all, I would like to remind the public at large that this is not hate, it is a critical commentary. I am not going to go for these creators personally, nor do I want to. I, as a member of the community who plays the sims 4, and downloads/uses CC, would like to simply hold some of these creators accountable for actions that are unethical and unsatisfactory to the community in which they serve. That is it. No more, no less. I simply believe they CAN do better and BE better than this. 

Now, let’s get into the meat of this. 

The main type of abuse that I have focused on has been what I call Permapaywalls. 

Permapaywalls:

Content that cannot be accessed ANY other way than either paying a certain amount via patreon or another service, OR viewing a link through a virus-filled ad that puts your computer at risk. 

There are many creators who are well known permapaywall creators, with at least 80% or more of their content being locked behind these permapaywalls. Sometimes they may release a few items for free, but this is very similar to being allowed to test drive a car before buying it. It’s to entice the user/viewer into liking the brand, and then buying in.

I’m not going to delve into this too much because I’ve already expounded on this topic a bit. So let’s go further. 

The next type of abuse is what I like to call “Exclusive Loopholes”. 

Exclusive Loopholes: Creators who try to “get around” EA’s early access policy by offering a majority of their content as early access, but holding back certain items only to those who “subscribe” to their “patreon exclusive” content. 

There are some who are okay with this, thinking of this as a neat “bonus” for those who subscribe and support. However, the sims team made it clear: 

Folks who have a Patreon page are welcome to provide folks with "early access" incentives for their content but it should be made available to the general public within 2-3 weeks of it being given to folks early.

- Simguru Drake, The Sims Forum

Notice nowhere in this answer does it say anything about BONUS CC incentives. Nowhere. This is just a method that certain creators try to use to keep people from decrying them as “big bad paywall creators”. This way they can say “oh look, we do early access, we’re following EA’s rules~!” while still holding content hostage. 

If you want to offer your patreons some exclusives, here’s some ideas:  * Share pictures of your process, or work in progress content coming up.  * Allow them to have input into your process via polls and questions.  * Have an exclusive discord community just for your patreons where they can talk to you easier and share excitement and input about your content with you and each other.  * Have exclusive streams where only you and your patreons have the link to see you go live making content.  * Host a workshop on how to make CC using your process. (I see all of you who steal meshes from other sites sweating over this. ;D)  * Pause billing for a month and say “you know what, since you guys have been loyal and supported me, have a month of patreon on me!”  * Anything that honestly doesn’t involve only giving those patreons CC and not releasing it to the public. 

Let’s talk about another type, and oh my lanta, this type has had some anons messaging me ALL up in arms. I like to call this type “The Donation Disaster”.

Donation Disaster: Someone who CONSTANTLY uses the “downs” in the up/downs of life as excuses to not release content on time, or delay it while still collecting payment from patreons. Bonus “you’re a jerk” points if they then try to use those misfortunate circumstances to beg for even more money from their patreons on multiple occasions. 

Look, we all have junk that goes on in our lives. But when that junk is used as an excuse for you continually delaying content while still charging your patreons (and not using the pause feature), it makes them feel cheated.  In addition, when you then ask for donations to help you during your difficult time, and turn to your patreons instead of the support networks that are around you (ex: friends, family, religious communities, etc.), that can be VERY off-putting. You might be able to get away with it once, maybe twice, without a large chunk of your community turning against you. But the more regular it becomes, and the more they hear about how strapped for cash you are and how you’re asking them to give more than their pledge, and you’ll soon find yourself being called a scammer. Regardless of your intent, or if your problems are reality, you’ll find people’s empathy for your situation will be lacking.

I’ve had a few anons in my inbox talking about different patreon creators that always seem to have an excuse for why updates aren’t coming just yet, or why x is broken, and with their excuse comes a plea for help with bills, and a link to a paypal or venmo. 

Everyone has junk, don’t get me wrong. And it sucks to go through the junk we have in life, but if you’re reaching out to random people on the internet as your first method of support, you might need to be looking someplace else for support first before you come to the people who are already paying you for content you make. A one time “hey I’m in a bind, I need some help” donation thing might not be a bad thing, but when it becomes a constant pattern on your patreon....people aren’t going to take it well...at all. 

And last, but not least, I’d like to talk about the last kind of patreon abuse, which frankly, is really upsetting to me. I don’t even really have a name for it, because it’s literally so much of a “what?” thing in my head. I don’t even understand why it goes on.  Now, this practice involves the black/POC community, and frankly, as a white girl, I don’t feel I should be speaking over the community and what they have to say. Thankfully @xmiramira​ spoke on it, all the way back in 2019. Here’s an excerpt from her fantastic POST:

Even new creators who JUST joined the community sliding up in TBS with locs and braids talking about Patreon only. GTFOH. I’m not okay with creators doing Patreon only CC PERIOD, but my main discussion is focused on NON BLACK simmers making CC catered to US, and making it PATREON EXCLUSIVE IN AN ATTEMPT TO FORCE US TO PLEDGE, and how people are ASSUMING that I’m OKAY WITH THIS, and ASSUMING that I’m letting it FLY in my community. Just because I don’t go off about shit as frequent as I used to doesn’t mean I cannot see and I am not doing what I can to keep the fuckery OUT.“Oh but your friend has a Patreon” I don’t have an issue with what @ebonixsims is doing because it’s all early release. It gets released to the public a few weeks later. It’s not being kept behind Patreon, forcing people to pledge to her. Despite this, she’s still doing really good with it. So don’t get it twisted, I’m not on social media arguing with folks so people just assumed I’m okay with this shit, I’m really not. I’m actually two seconds off dropping Patreon share folders. (That also have my shit in it) Supporting people is one thing, but a lot of these motherfuckers are becoming extremely exploitive, and it’s aggravating. It’s like you goofy motherfuckers sit in DMs like “yeah let’s make some CC for the negros and put it on Patreon” Fuck outta here. And it’s not even just hair, it’s skins and even CLOTHING STYLES. Y’all are really wilding the hell out. African necklaces, black girl magic chains, Juicy Couture sweatsuits. Who the fuck do you think you’re fooling? IM TIRED! Next time someone asks me where I got something and it’s Patreon exclusive I’m dropping a SFS link. FUCK OUTTA HERE!

Here’s the deal. The black community has been fighting for a while to be able to feel represented in this game. Here’s two articles (ONE, TWO) talking about this issue.  But the thing that has me upset is the fact that SO many creators of content that is AIMED at Black/POC simmers are locking that content (or a good majority of it) behind paywalls. And what’s even more shameful is some of those creators are POC themselves! They understand what it’s like to feel that they cannot make themselves or have sims that look like them in this game, yet they still lock their content away and expect people not just in the SIMS community, but in the POC community to pay through the nose for it.  The fact that this is STILL going on, two freaking years after she made this post, and that both NON POC creators and POC creators are engaging in this behavior is honestly disappointing and shameful. I believe black/POC creators should be supported, BUT they should be supported without depriving their OWN community of representation and access. And frankly, if you’re a NON POC creator and you’re specifically targeting this group to make money off of them with paywalls, I have only one thing to say to you:

I’d speak on it more, but frankly, I’d rather let the people who are actually in the black/POC community speak on it, so if any of you want to let loose in the comments about this problem, go wild. I’m happy to sit back and listen, and I suggest others do the same.

[nerajaana]

The most irritating thing about these people who call Daenerys racist (and apparently all of us, lol) is that they think they are morally superior for supporting the martinis.

but the martinis aren't even poc, right?

Hit the bullseye nonnie!

Nothing can be more hilarious that some noobs screaming into the void about how the rl wocs stanning dany are a bunch of white feminists......ever used the brain cell your ancesters underwent evolution to obtain over millions of years? like, have some respect for them at least???? The ones who're still suffering the aftermath of the imperialistic colonial regimes are here stanning the fuck outta Daenerys Targaryen while many many of her haters, who accuse her of being a imperialist tyrant, are the same fucking people stanning the british royal family irl.....how much more hypocritical can they get?????????!!!!!!!! Who's gonna tell them this series is not for a bunch of bourgeoisie enthusiasts to live vicariously through the characters??? Absolutely pathetic.

(😣😭pls im a martell stan lets not call the canon ones martinis pls feel free to deride the fanon versions tho the book ones are bae💖💖💖#EllariaDeservedBetter #ArianneMyLove #FUGeorgeBringBackQuent2021 #FuckD&D)

The Dornish's race is something i don't think even the creator of the said characters has any fucking clue about. One time he goes they're a combination of Wales, Moorish Spain and Palestine (........tf george), another time he mentions how the sandy dornishmen are supposedly inspired from the mediterranean/greeks. Is it a case of colorism or xenophobia or a combination of both? It's definitely not just simple racism and bRoWn CuLtUrE....istg i will virtually throttle the next fool to talk about dornish culture being equivalent to the real world brown cultures- mr privileged ignorant old white guy has exposed his blatant orientalist attitude already why the fuck are you outing yourself as the same how the fuck will you justify that line of thinking you're all millenials and Gen-Zers you grew up with internet what's stopping you from educating yourselves what's your fucking excuse-

it's insulting as fuck, really. even the aryan remarks. do they even know what Aryan is truly about, before hitler and the french tart went ahead and desecrated it?? (and, gosh the aryan terminology also opens up the can of worms that is the caste system of my country and boyyyyy that's a whole another set of problems this bunch of wokesters will never even bother to look into, let alone attempt to understand)

Reeks of performative activism, they think they're championing for the oppressed or some crap while infantilising us in the same breath about how we don't know any better since we like dany and the targs ....what exactly are you lot attempting at you fools? The entire fucking human population can't be categorised into black, brown and white and call it a day. It's so much more complicated, the issues are way too fucking messed up and complex to be boxed into categories. The spectrum between white & black is so bleeding vast and beyond their understanding that wouldn't even fuckin know where to start, let alone draw conclusions and parallels to throw em about. Some rando comes up with bullshit about how Rhaenys being in dany's place wouldve been empowering.....how? how does reading about a half mediterranean greek/moorish spainiard and half elfin white girl being in the place of a character you call a white coded saviour trope woman make your woc self feel better? how's that supposed to work??? Oh and how seeing people like her being enslaved would make the issue of slavery more personal........newsflash hon, Lysenis, the ones who closely resemble Valyrians are right there in the slavers bay, shackled. The whole cursed thing isn't even about the race, the writer himself literally said how it's got to do with the Romans not what the fcking whites attempted at a couple centuries ago. Does he need to write a mfing essay about it?And really, isn't a bit of human empathy more than sufficient to want to abolish something as cruel and inhumane and disgusting as slavery? what the ever loving fuck-

*deep breath*

wow would you look at that length. Hope my answer's adequate nonnie, apologies if this isn't what you'd expected😓

have a lovely day ahead!

[gopeachllama]

My hopes for the VA tv show

So i got into vampire academy when i was in like grade 8/9 i think? So i would have been in my early teens. It's a book series that is very near-perfect to me, and it is very dear to my heart bc it's been with me for so long. That being said, i will be the first one to admit that there is a serious lack of diverse representation. Like i said before, i got into it almost ten years ago, and back then, even as a poc growing up as a minority, i was aware of this however it wasn't much of an issue for me mainly becuase it wasn't a issue for the people (the non-pocs) around me. Now that va is being developed into a tv series, i think this would be the perfect opportunity to change some things up to include more diverse characters. I've seen that there's already qutie a few people on here dicussing the sexualities of the characters, and they're really great. But this conversation is about race-bending. For anyone that wants to contribute to this post, i'm all up for kind and careful dicussions, it's not my intention to offend anyone, and i'm not trashing the series or it's creator.

Also the points about diversity and race in particular shouldn't be dimissed just because it's a fantasy/paranormal genre. Yes it is a fantasy/paranormal series but it is set in the real modern world, where issues like race and prejudice are relavent! You can't just ignore it. Also im sure that a lot of va stan are like me, in that they got into it at a very young age and now are older and also find these issue important to them, whether they are a poc or not.

Just a warning there will be a lot of spoilers (also random spiderman homecoming spoilers) in this post, so for anyone that hasn't read the books proceed with caution.

So firstly, i want to talk about the characters that won't be changed. Dimitri will obviously be russian. I like the idea that the royal families originating from european countries, so alot of the royals in this series lissa, adrian, victor etc. i think should stay white. It reflects a lot of the real world issues about how the people in 'higher class' western societies are mainly white. this is more personal but i have this weird headcannon that christian is like half-southeast asian (i say south-east asian bc i am also, and i would love more representation of my race (s/o to any of my sri lankan book stans if y'all even exist on here!!)) In the later books there is a focus on the prejudice regarding his relationship with lissa. this is due to the fact that his family is shun from the other royal bc of his parents willingly turning. It was a good plot point, but there was somthing about taking the real world prejudice of interracial relationship and using here between two white characters and framing it as something else that just rubs me off the wrong way (again, i never had these feelings as i was reading it for the first time, it was only until i got older that issues like race a representations became more important to me). This way, they can keep still keep the bit about christian's parents and race-bending christian would have any affect on the overall story. Rose (my baby) she could be made fully persian but if they stick with her being biracial, then i hope when it comes to casting that they find someone that has more persian physical features rather than someone with more eurocentric features.

Now for the main characters I think should be race-bent are eddie, jill and sydeny should be black. For eddie, i first thought that mason should be race-bent but then this would be a major problem in the second book because of the harmful sterotype about black people always being the first (major character) to die (i am STILL taumatised over mason's death and its going to destroy me all over again when i see it with my own two eyes).

Sydney, as far as i know, there's nothing in the books that make is pivitol for her to be white. And while is important to be diverse with race, it's important to be diverse with black characters in itself. Sydney has always been such an interesting character to me. she's analytical and methodical, she's book smart, and she's almost the complete opposite of rose, but doesn't make her any less a compelling character. So much in books, movies and tv shows, black females characters are mainly potrayed as strong, hardass, take-no-prisoners (sometimes even hyper-sexualised) type personalities. So rarely do we see them as with characteristic like sydeny's, so i think it would be really great to show this. Also her relationship with adrian has a lot of the same points with i said about christian's relationship with lissa regarding prejudice.

With Jill, i noticed that in the books, Mead sort of goes out for her way to describe her physical appearance, so that when later it is revealed that she is lissa's half sister, the readers are able to think "oh yeah of course they look really similar" and so it doesn't seem like a telenovella style outrageous plot twist. But for this i want to quickly talk about how in spiderman homecoming, peter's love interest who is black, is revealed to be the daughter of the villan who is white. For me, it was amazing reveal and something i was not expecting at all, but at the same time, its wasn't hard for me to believe because of course birracial people exist. I think it would be really cool to do the same thing here with Jill. It a great way to subvert people's expectations and wouldn't make the plot twist any less unreasonable. Aslo from what i can remember there are no black vampires?? for some reason? that was always kinda weird to me. Also with the three of these character's being black, they can still maintain the storyline of them passing off as siblings when they're in hiding, that is if they ever adapt the bloodlines storyline too.

Whether or not these characters, or any of the characters, will be race-bent, it won't change my experince with the book series. Like I said at the start, vampire academy will always be THAT series for me. The world-building is simple and easy to follow but the plot and characters are so compelling. But this upcoming tv adaptions would be a good oppotuny to address the very few things i (and a lot of other diverse readers) have with it.

[trshpando]

Rewriting Twilight (2009) cause I’m bored

- I may or may not be looking into this as a modern thing bc fuck the 2000s lmfaoooo so let’s say... 2017? that works right ?

- Okay, starting off, can we pLEASE give Renee a better reason for ABANDONING HER TEENAGE DAUGHTER? literally just the while leaving to be on the road thing just, pisses me off so badly

- okay okay okay hold on if i have to go into that route to fit with the story🙄 can we at least do it so that renee and phil take bella to forks instead of just being like “yup here’s your plane ticket see ya whenever” like renee at least takes bella and helps her settle in, even if she and charlie aren’t on the best of terms they’ll get along for their daughter

- growing up, charlie was way more involved with bella. she would spent several weeks during summer with him in forks, and the occasional time in several other places given that charlie got the time off

- while in forks, bella and charlie would spend time with the blacks; billy, rebecca, rachel, and jacob. she and the twins were closer than she and jacob ever would be, but the four of them were always disappointed when bella had to return to arizona

- bella and renee were like a perfect lil mother-daughter duo up until bella realized how lonely her mother was and encouraged her to date. although she was the one to encourage her, there was an immediate shift in their relationship

- when bella moved to forks, she hadn’t seen charlie for years—having decided herself to just, stop visiting. the few days renee was spending in forks with her were very much, as the kids say, awkward as fuck

- the boys in the high school weren’t just, so attracted to her? like have you been a new kid in a school? you’re the interest for like a week or two and then everybody is like eh whatever

- she still met mike, jessica, and angela and whoever the other guy is, um his name isn’t on the wiki so pardon me and they are absolute best friends, minus mike who 100% has a crush on her from the moment he sees her

- ERIC HIS NAME IS ERIC

- jessica, angela and bella totally have girl nights and you cannot tell me otherwise i mean theyre 17 ofc theyre gonna have girl nights and hangouts all the time

- jessica and angela help bella settle into the school, angela actually asks for bellas help for tips for the newspaper from time to time

- CULLEN TIME BB

- bella and edward are intrigued with one another but after that one day in science (biology? idk science class let’s go) bella thought he was kind of a massive dick and didn’t want anything to do with him, especially after jessica mentioned that he was totally closed off from everyone except his family

- okay fr cullen time

- i 100% am keeping the stories of emmett rosalie esme and carlisle cause yes

- one thing i do want to change, my girl rosalie is poc<3 fuck that white cullen vampire bullshit

- jasper was nOT a confederate soldier, fUCK THAT he was drafted, upset about it, but he still tried his best to make his country proud—which maria took advantage of.

- alice is poc too<3 we love poc women in this home<3<3

- (im only saying poc the rest is up to you<3>)

- can we pUHLEASE have the cullens act like regular people? instead of “oh those foster siblings and their love lives, oh dr cullen adopt me pls” can it be like, yeah carlisle and esme are foster parents and the only ones they’ve really “adopted” are edward and alice. rosalie and jasper are twins, and they just kind of have permission to live with the cullens and then emmett comes from let’s say an abusive home and the cullens were like wow fuck that shit we give you shelter AND THATS LESS WEIRD THAN FOSTER SIBLING LOVE

- AND THEY DONT SPARKLE IN THE FUCKING SUN, PLEASE

- okay back to regular programming

- edward still saves bella from getting crushed, and bella tries to talk to him about it but after edward is rude once again bella just says fuck you and bounces off

- jessica angela and bella say fuck boys and decide to do a girls group to prom bc my girls are besties

- edward knows that bella is his mate but he is pushing her away bc of her being human and he’s hurting bc of it

- despite his protests, alice befriends bella on her own and becomes close to her, with bella even inviting alice to join her and the girls to girls night — alice 100% tries to invite rosalie, but she only goes when she has nothing to do

- victoria james and laurent are still 100% tracking the cullens

- jessica angela bella alice and rosalie all go dress shopping. rosalie goes for the dresses while alice goes to watch over bella for edward. bella still detaches from the group, and gets harassed by that group but ITS ROSALIE THAT SAVES HER bc fuck if she’s gonna let another woman go through what she went through

- it’s through alice and rosalie that bella realizes the truth about the cullens (with the help jacob and his lil group making comments about the cullens)

- alice invites bella over to the house a lot, mostly trying to get edward to get close to her but it mainly just became a thing of bella getting close to literally everyone but edward bc he’s a pussy and doesnt wanna be near her out of fear of hurting her

- it isn’t until the baseball game (which rosalie thoughtfully invited bella to) and james victoria and laurent attack that edward finally admits that he is attracted to bella but at this point she’s like yeah that’s cool but you’ve been nothing but rude to me so

- as much as it pains him, he settles on just being friends with her

- the same tricky james story is the same. he tricks her to the ballet studio and tries to kill her blah blah blah

- edward tries to suck the venom out of bella’s system and nearly kills her in the process; rosalie and carlisle practically have to drag edward off of her, with rosalie taking him out of the building while carlisle takes care of bella

- everything is happily ever after, bella is in the hospital but edward isn’t there. he can’t trust himself around bella anymore, nor does he want to be near her after having almost killed her, though she doesn’t blame him cause he was really just trying to save her life

- bella still goes to prom, but it’s as a group instead; her, jessica, angela, mike, eric, and tyler (the guy that almost killed her with his car lmao) all go as a group.

- the cullens be there too with edward watching over bella but the moment she tries to talk to him, edward bounces.

- victoria still watches over, a plan already set in motion to kill bella as revenge for the cullens killing james

[alberteatsglass]

lets talk about the diversity in the danger days universe (ft. dirk gently)

now i wanna start this off by saying im a white passing native bitch. if any POC want to add to this or debate my points with me i will be happy to listen and if i am in the wrong please let me know! that being said if you are white and stan val velocity this is not a post for you to comment on im so sorry my guy

okay now that thats out of the way lets get into this

the representation of people of colour in the comics is fucking shit. like sorry im not being all formal in this but lets be honest here its not good. the one not ambiguously brown character gets killed a couple pages into the first comic or even sooner. the main character who is supposed to be african american gets white washed when she is finally the main character. becky literally learn how to draw people of colour oh my FUCKING GOD.

oh and lets not forget that our canon asian representation are two driods one of which dies and the literal main villain who gets over sexualized constantly. even if that wasnt intentional it still is a glaring issue mx gerard.

and in all honesty its not that hard to write at least decent representation. im going to be bringing up dirk gently’s holistic detective agency which is such a good show oh my god i have the link to the youtube version if anyone doesnt have hulu. now dirk gently isnt a comic so of course the writing is going to be a little different, and i dont personally think that the show is revolutionary in the sense of pushing people of colour’s stories but its a good example of what danger days could have done and failed at if they wanted to keep the main character white (even though im not going to pretend like that isnt problematic)

anyway I Wanna Talk About Farah Now

in my personal opinion farah is a great character, and the characterization is something the writers team could have done with the girl. i dont want to spoil the character arch because it is super interesting and i love it to death my bi icon farah deserves the world but the world does not deserve her. her arch seems to center around her feeling like she needs to grow up to be like her family, but failing their expectations and trying to cope with that while everything goes to insanity. she started out as the black women stereotype that was just tough and didnt care, but grew to be a good character and stop repressing her feelings. im not lying when i said this lady has made me cry.

she gets to be emotional, she gets to not know what to do and she gets to tell people that. i feel like a lot of the time in media thats not show with women of colour making them not well rounded characters. which is when the girl gets put into this.

ignoring the fact that the girl is white washed, lets pretend she isnt. what is one time besides when her mom comes back that we see her genuinely have no clue what to do? besides crying hugging cherri for like one panel what emotional growth did she make? she just didnt get any actual character that i can see. she was a blank slate and honestly not good rep in my opinion. the main character trait i see is just lost and confused? and like didnt she run wild in the zones since she was 6 why is she so confused??? oh and yeah she was white washed so there goes one of our only POC characters. what the hell gerard.

the girl being a blank slate could be seen as giving the reader a point of view to see the universe but like in the nicest way possible thats lazy writing and 90% of the time an excuse for weak main characters.

cant talk about POC rep in the comics without bringing up the ultra v’s so here we mc fucking go. this is where i want to bring up the rowdy three, because the rowdy three is literally more diverse than the entire character list of danger days drink PISS.

now the rowdy three are this gang of (starting at four but i believe ends up as six? i dunno man found family is really strong in this show) reckless teens/young adults who run around and basically destroy things in a fuck cops dead fascists make no noise kinda way. be gay do crime icons.

the rowdy three is a group composed of martin, cross, gripps, and vougel. they are lead by martin who is white but the rest of them are POC. a lot like the ultra v’s. unlike the ultra v’s the characters (or character because vougel is the one who gets the most character development in season two) have an impact on the story, even more than just the token white leader.

im not going to pretend like the representation is perfect, of course its not these guys did cross and gripps dirty in the second season, but the entire rowdy three arch in the second season focuses on amanda (a canonly physically and mentally disable person) and vougel (a canonly asian person) trying to find their friends. AND MIGHT I ADD THE ARCH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ROMANCE!!!! sorry i just get to excited about these two

now lets look at the poc side characters in the danger days comics. we have volume who got killed as soon as he showed up, vinyl who does like nothing for the plot except stand there (bless his soul but sir please val just shot dee), and vaya and vamos who are icons but also the last ambiguously brown characters and serve as antagonists it seems (or at least how the comics want to show them? im not quite sure where the comics were going with them honestly)

only two of them have personalities and none of them do anything for the plot accept follow around the white guy. fantastic.

oh also this is mainly about poc characters but can i just say amanda seems like a more developed disabled character than dee? she isnt in a wheel chair or anything but her pararibulitis stops her from going out and doing things until she realizes its following her so an attack can happen anywhere. i dunno she is a cool character and as someone who suffers from hallucinations and sensory issues that mimic the fake thing they created for the show its really important to me that a disabled character is able to do something with themself instead of sitting in their radio shack and then getting shot by a white dude for plot. thats a nitpick i think i just like figured i would put it here while im ranting about the comics.

this is really long so im going to end it here because this is all i had to say about the matter but if the new comics pull this shit im revoking my gerard way stan title because he definitely has a part to play in all of this as the one over seeing the comics being made

also dirk gently’s holistic detective agency is a super good show and i need everyone to know that have a good day