#this is going in main tags bc i'm mad and tired of this shit happening consistently

[sour-teeth]

I’m pretty sure most fans who are super gung-ho about “Dick Grayson is Romani and POC and you are Racist if you disagree” have never actually read the source material for it (Nightwing 96) because it is VERY bad. Like, irredeemably bad in terms of stereotyping and racism. 

When BoP came out, SO MANY people were defending Cassandra Cain’s disability getting erased because “her character is racist!!!!1!” but no one mentions how Dick being Romani is racist. And honestly, Dick getting characterized as Romani is WAY worse because:

1. Cass has always been Asian and Dick being Romani was retconned literal decades after his character had been established.

2. Cass started out as a racist trope, but if you pick up (almost) any issue of Batgirl 2000 you’ll see that she was developed well beyond that. Dick was made Romani in a way that was racist, and idk if anything productive/progressive/even interesting has come about from him being Romani.

3. Kelley Puckett (one of Cass’ creators) said in an interview that he made Cass half Asian because he has a half Asian daughter and he wanted her to see herself in a character. That’s at least SOMETHING, because Devin Grayson probably went “let’s make Dick Romani because… racism.”

(Also, just so we're clear, Cass having a disability is not inherently racist, but saying that it IS is ableist.)

And I get that not everyone in fandom reads comics - which is fine - but it really sucks to see fans care way more about a male character who was white for most of his existence (and whose characterization as a POC is VERY racist (AND who is still functionally white)) than about a female character who has ALWAYS been POC (who also gets ripped to shreds when her CANONICAL DISABILITY gets erased).

Like, with regards to "Dick Grayson is Romani" I’m willing to cut some slack to fans who are younger and/or POC, but damn if that still doesn’t leave a bad taste in my mouth.

[piracytheorist]

(different anon here that also needs to rant - apologies in advance) would be also real nice if some stans could just use anti tags and also not insult/namecall real people who like a fictional character that they hate? then they tell you to 'go outside and touch some grass lol just a joke why u mad?' (little do they know some of us are bedridden thanks to covid, so nope I can't! at most I can open a window... being able to see grass and people should be enough tho)

-- also, just to add something: Lisa was canonically 14, a child! when Umbrella started experimenting on her and her family (her parents were executed when the scientists didn't like the results of the experiments)! she was chained like an animal! for 30 YEARS! injected with not just viruses but parasites too! you find most of this in the game!

meanwhile the lords were grown adults emotionally manipulated into being implanted w cadou (one could extrapolate Miranda used the whole family spiel for Donna after losing Claudia - and for Moreau too; finding a cure and being pretty forever for Alcina; unknown for Heisenberg - and yet all that is STILL just reaching on my part :/ ), and the moment she saw they were unfit vessels for Eva she dropped them like hot potatoes, she handed jars of cadou to them (you can find them in their houses, and the Duke has one in his wagon) and p much told them to make themselves useful and experiment on villagers too (while Karl uses corpses, one of his notes practically says that he's one failure away from using live villagers) bc further experiments on unfit vessels would be a waste of her precious time looking for the perfect one. why waste her time on failures when she can use them as more figureheads to keep her godlike status and control over the village?

(this comes from me being a giant lords fan, but being unable to find anything about them being taken from their families as children, experimented on and tortured (as fellow fans say) in the game. i've read every note, quote, concept art text! other than the 'humiliation' and 'forced to serve her for decades' 'won't let us leave' Karl mentions, i saw nothing. so where the f are they getting it from? if there was an article from the devs i missed I'd love to read it! all we know is that they are all the last desendants from their respective noble families, the 4 founding houses (does that mean that they're all kinda rich and powerful? just not moreau lol). maybe dlc will have answers. maybe not.

once again I'm sorry for the long rant.

Yeah, some stans just take it upon themselves to proclaim how "right" they are for liking a specific character, and how everyone who likes other specific characters is stupid and out of touch with reality. Same shit happened in the previous fandom I was in, for the TV show Once Upon a Time. That's the reason why they also refuse to use anti tags. They're so self-absorbed that they think their opinion is the only right one, and that EVERYONE has to hear their negative thoughts about that character because they're RIGHT and EVERONE SHOULD BOW TO THEM HALLELUJAH.

At this point, the moment I see people post negative stuff in main tags without using anti tags, I just block. I used to be against blocking people on tumblr, but at this point it's gotten tiring, and one of the main reasons I visit this hellsite is to peacefully fawn over Mold Dad. I don't have time for people who hate on him (or Mia, for that matter) and think everyone is obligated to listen to them.

I'm not sure how much manipulation there was in Miranda experimenting on the Lords. Heisenberg says, in his diary, "I'll never forgive [Miranda] for what she did to me," referring on her altering his body and taking away his consent and dignity. I thought that she simply kidnapped them and just straight-up experimented on them without any talk about it. Maybe I reached a wrong conclusion, lol. But in any case, they all reach the point where they do the same thing to the rest of the innocent villagers. Heisenberg using dead bodies is still immoral, like, I doubt he had the clear consent of those people, when they were still alive, to use their bodies (concept art shows him overlooking his Soldats or sth gravedigging for new corpses), and using a person's body however you like, without that person having agreed to it during their lifetime, is considered immoral in most cultures. Even if he somehow had the consent of all the people whose bodies hung around his factory, the fact that he even CONSIDERS using live people for his experiments... that's no freedom fighter, darling. That's turning into your abuser. Which is an actual thing that happens sometimes to abuse victims, and a much more interesting dynamic for Heisenberg than woobifying him and only presenting him as an abuse victim. He's not misunderstood. He uses people's corpses to make an army. He's no poor little meow meow. He has a conscience and he woke up and chose violence. And he looked sexy doing it.

Again, I have seen people say "Poor Heisenberg was taken away by Miranda when he was a kid" and I'm like "DUDE WHERE???" If anything all that sounds like further woobification by the stans, like it's okay if you love him and want to give him a super tragic childhood, I'm a whumper myself, I get it, but again it's just a headcanon. Unless I've missed something myself, lol, I'd like to see it if it has.

no worries! you are under no obligation to answer, being acknowledged and letting me rant in your inbox is more than enough <3 was just feeling a bit cranky after my shift yesterday then saw the other anon and brain just went 'I wanna rant about this game too'

Yo, I love this game an irrational amount especially considering its genre, so I love talking about it, and its characters, and everything, and though I try not to dwell on fandom wank, sometimes it feels cathartic to talk about how said fandom wank is just wank XD So rant away about re8 all you want, my inbox is open and waiting! <3