#you can be white black asian and be latine

[kyros-tha-soldier]

If you support the ongoing Human genocide in palestine, DRC and Sudan or you are a "nUWUtral cutie patootie oooooh i am so neutral I don't care 💅💅💅" type of person and STILL be a fan of one piece ...

Then I've got bad news for you

Your ass is reading too fast or you're too damn dumb to understand what the story is about. Either way get off the fandom and shut up forever

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

affirmative action struck down. once again asians in the usa have been used by the oppressors to uphold systemic racism. congrats to those ungrateful asians who whine about not getting into some school with a Big Name because of a hypothetical latine or Black person. you just let yourself be played for fools and used as tools. hope you’re happy lmao

[imhidingonceagain]

QSMP English speaking fans:

I wanted to clarify some things because it seems like some of you are confused about the nationalities/ ethnic groups of the content creators on the server. So... If you want to educate yourself keep reading.

Spanish creators: A Spanish person is a person born in Spain. You may only call Spanish to the creators that were born in Spain.

Hispanic creators: A Hispanic person is a person whose mother language is Spanish but that person might not necessarily be from Spain (you may call them Spanish speaking creators as well but please don't call someone from Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, etc. just "Spanish". If you're gonna use it make sure to put the "speaking" in front of it).

For example: Vegetta and Quackity are both Hispanic because both of them come from countries that speak Spanish (Spain and Mexico). Quackity, however is not Spanish while Vegetta is.

Latin American creators: A Latin American (most of the time people just use the word Latin) person is someone who was born in the Latin American region (a series of countries with historical, political and social similarities). Most countries in Latin American speak Spanish. However, not every country in Latín America speak Spanish.

Brazil, for example, speaks Portuguese.

Therefore: A Brazilian content creator is Latin American but not Hispanic (because they don't speak Spanish).

EDIT: (This is very important).

Please refrain from calling people from Brazil "Portuguese" they speak Portuguese because they were colonized by Portugal but Brazil is an independent country)

Another tip: Latin American people are vastly diverse.

So, Latinos can be Indigenous, black, white, mixed. Asian, etc.

EXAMPLES:

Roier (from Mexico) and Spreen (from Argentina) are both Hispanic and Latino.

Roier and Spreen, on the other hand, are not Spanish content creators because they do not come from Spain.

Rubius and Vegetta (from Spain): Can be called both Spanish (born in Spain) and Hispanic (born in a country that speaks Spanish).

Rubius and Vegetta however, cannot be called Latin American (Because they were born in a European country)

Cellbit and Forever (from Brazil) are Latin American.

Cellbit and Forever, however, are not Spanish (they weren't born in Spain) or Hispanic (they don't belong to a Spanish speaking country)

Spanish creators:

Vegetta

Rubius

Maximus

Luzu

Hispanic creators:

Vegetta

Rubius

Maximus

Luzu

Quackity

Mariana

Roier

Missa

Spreen

Latin American creators:

Quackity

Mariana

Roier

Missa

Spreen

Cellbit

Forever

Pac

Mike

Felps

Lastly. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm over explaining.

I've seen some confusion and I wanted to clarify.

If you have any questions on any creator let me know.

(I'll leave a map I stole from the internet lol)

Again, I don't want to offend anyone, just educate

EDIT 2: There are countries missing on the map. I'm sorry, it is a very simple map I tried my best. If any of you find a better one let me know.

Or do your own post :)

There are more terms missing but if I add them this post will be too long. I apologize for that as well.

.

[elbiotipo]

>wakes up

>someone is preaching about race to latinoamericans again

What's funny about this is, when talking on the US context, most of us are aware of race issues in the US, at least in the basics. We are raised with US media and news, and in this context in particular in tumblr, many of us are in 'fandoms' of US media too. So even if we haven't experienced it ourselves, we understand how racism presents itself in the US and we also understand it's a very diverse country. When we see a Hollywood movie with a cast of people of many different backgrounds, it makes sense to us. The US is big and diverse.

Which is also why it's so incredibly annoying when people from the US or elsewhere have such an ignorance about Latin America, or to be fair, any other place. We wouldn't think of calling the US a "white-only" country, or to judge the ancestry someone of the US by their skin tone. They feel perfectly comfortable and willing to do that to us, though. They feel perfectly comfortable to judge entire countries by their own narrow views on race (reinforcing racism itself, by the way). The fact that Latinos have different experiences and issues with race, ancestry, nationality and identity is seemingly arcane knowledge to them. I've seen people outright deny to me the existence of black or indigenous Argentines (a tactic used by our own white supremacists, so congratulations, you two are friends now!), being completely baffled at the existence of asian or arab latinos, and pulling skin tone charts and calipers on anyone who doesn't fit the racial boxes they think apply everywhere in the world.

It's very, very hard for me to wrap my head around this. How one can be so insistent that their own country is diverse and has complex nuances with regards to race relations, and then going the other way and judging whole countries or complete strangers without any attempt at understanding them. My only suggestion is that they perhaps should stop thinking that their experiences are universal.

[pocketsizedowls]

My Conspiracy Theory about Natlan's Pale Characters

I started playing Genshin Impact around the 3.7 update, right after the Interdarshan Championship. While I wasn't around during the initial spark of outrage against Sumeru due to the characters' overall lack of melanin, I eventually learned a lot about Sumeru's cultural inspirations through the SWANA and South Asian creators in the fandom. I think it's beautiful how we learn about each other's cultures through Genshin, and I believe the designers at Hoyoverse do lots of research to facilitate these conversations. This is why I think it's a shame that Natlan, which features rich Indigenous cultures in the Americas, Africa, and Pacific Islands, features primarily pale characters AGAIN.

While it's possible that through the art, story, and fashion of Natlan we will once again learn about the diverse cultures of Indigenous Americas, West Africa, and the Pacific Islands, I don't think it's enough. Considering a lot of these cultures take pride in their skin color and bodies through tattoos, body paint, and other markings/piercings, Hoyoverse is doing a disservice to today's Latin American, African, and Pacific islander fan base by making the majority of Natlan characters pale. To insensitively cherry-pick what traits of each culture to represent and what to discard is the definition of cultural appropriation and racism, which is such a shame because of how many discussions about culture that Genshin has started since 2020. As a Chinese American player, I'm especially disappointed that the company who educated so many people about my culture is failing my brown and Black friends to such a spectacular degree.

Many people have come up with excuses such as it's just skin, it's just a game, Hoyoverse is a Chinese company so what do you expect, Latin America also has white people, etc. I won't bother debunking these myths because there are plenty of people doing this labor already, but what I do want to bring people's attention to is the fact that many Natlan characters were most likely designed with darker skin in mind. Through fanmade recolorings (here's an example), I noticed that Mualani and Kachina's tan lines and skin details look more pronounced with darker skin, while Xilonen looks more mature and Kinich looks more brooding. Having studied studio art during undergrad, I cannot unsee these intentional artistic decisions and cannot shake the possibility that the researchers and character designers of Hoyoverse were forced by higherups to whitewash everyone at the very last minute. If this is true, I hope Hoyoverse will find some way to reverse their decision or turn a new leaf in the future. Considering many other Chinese games like Reverse: 1999 and Dislyte already have diverse representation and melanated characters, Hoyoverse should find no problem following their lead.

As of right now (i.e. 4.8 update), Genshin players from all over the world are expressing their dissatisfaction with Hoyoverse through boycotts, review bombing, and posting on social media. The Chinese fanbase - Hoyoverse's primary audience - is especially vocal and organized about their efforts, which means if Hoyoverse doesn't notice now, they will notice soon. Despite how much we like using Genshin as an escape from real life, it's important to recognize how insidious the consequences of erasing melanated characters can be. Anti-Blackness and colorism harm people on the daily, which is why we must speak up when a company as big and influential as Hoyoverse is doing the harming.

Thanks for reading! Here are some related threads from X, formally known as Twitter:

Petition to "Stop Cultural Appropriation and Whitewashing in MiHoYo Games"

Valeria Rodriguez, i.e. Surcrose's English VA's thoughts on Natlan

Natlan Characters Look Better with a Dark Skintone

Kaveh rerunning in 4.8 is a ploy for WHAT!?!?!?

We Should All Email Hoyoverse

Official Account for HYV Boycott

[lisanees]

Non-lesbians love to act like being a lesbian is restrictive, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Lesbianism is freedom.

Lesbians are not all binary cis women; there are transfem lesbians, transmasc lesbians, nonbinary lesbians of all types, a lot of us even consider lesbian to itself be a gender. And that's only scratching the surface of how diverse lesbian gender expression can be, even within those categories there are yet even more types of lesbians, we play around with femininity and masculinity in so many ways!

Not to mention butch lesbians, femme lesbians, stud lesbians, and stemme lesbians; the latter two being black lesbian identities. Some lesbians are none of those things, and that's fine too! There are lesbians who use pronouns other than she/her; they/them lesbians, he/him lesbians, lesbians who use neopronouns...

Lesbians are not all TME; there are trans lesbians, nonbinary lesbians, intersex lesbians. The lesbian community is more inclusive of trans people than most, despite what others may think.

There are lesbians with many different relationships to their attraction; asexual lesbians, aromantic lesbians, lesbians with trauma around sex or romance, lesbians who don't want to be in relationships, lesbians who are sex workers, lesbians who experience comphet, lesbians who didn't always know they were lesbians and may have been in relationships with men before finding out...

Lesbians are not all white; there are black lesbians, asian lesbians, latine lesbians, native lesbians...

Lesbians are not all privileged outside of our LGBT identities; there are mentally ill lesbians, disabled lesbians, fat lesbians, autistic lesbians, lesbians with personality disorders, lesbians with eating disorders, lesbians with trauma, lesbians who struggle with addiction, lesbians with scars and bodies seen as atypical in the eyes of western beauty standards...

There are lesbians of all social classes and demographics; poor lesbians, working class lesbians, Jewish lesbians, Muslim lesbians, Hindu lesbians, Buddhist lesbians...

There are lesbians all throughout history who have fought and bled and died for who we are, lesbians who continue to fight today for who we are, lesbians who live completely isolated from any kind of support structures and aren't able to be themselves.

The thing that all of these different types of lesbians have in common? We aren't men, and aren't attracted to men; not cis men, not trans men, not nonbinary aligned men. We exclusively love other women and sapphic aligned nonbinaries.

Being a lesbian is not restrictive, and if it feels that way to you, you're simply not a lesbian. Don't try to change who we are, lesbianism is a beautiful and fulfilling identity just the way it is. 🧡🤍💖

[newsfromstolenland]

What other disturbing things do interracial couples have to deal with in Canada? Those sound awful.

I mean. I'm not going to list everything but I'll tell you a bit about it. I'm not really interested in describing my extremely traumatic experiences in detail, but I'll give you general idea

I'm the product of an interracial marriage and am in an interracial relationship myself. canada is...sucks about this kind of thing.

despite the carefully cultivated image of "multiculturalism" that the colonial state maintains, canada is very racist

a significant aspect of racism is the simultaneous fetishization and rejection of interracial relationships

by fetishization, I mean the way white people think it's acceptable to objectify people of colour based on race. they can get off to porn of women of colour being abused, or that paints black men as violent and abusive, they can talk about asian and latin american making good "submissive" wives (which. lol. they clearly don't know much about us)

and as long as we're sexual objects, the broader white canadian society doesn't seem to object very much. but a happy healthy interracial relationship is met with disgust

my gf is mixed but very much white passing, and often white guys who mistake her for a fellow white guy will try to talk about how she bagged a (and this is a quote) "thick brown chick"

because this fantasy allows them to see me as her property, there is very little hesitation to talk about it- even to congratulate her on it

however, my parents (a brown muslim immigrant man and a white woman) are constantly met with disgust. them being married, in their 50s, and having multiple grown up children leaves little room for classic fetishization tropes. so instead, white people default to disgust.

I think of all the times I've witnessed my mom being asked if she "feels safe" with my dad, if he hits her, if he tries to make her convert Islam, if he tries to make her wear a hijab (we're Ismaili...)

a lifetime of micro-aggressions carries a heavy weight.

and then of course there are the systemic issues:

Until 1985, women with Indian status who married someone without status lost their status rights. Men, on the other hand, did not lose Indian status in the same way.

and the "Indian" status of Indigenous people's parents continues to impact their status and thus access to land claims

racial segregation in canada had a huge impact on people's ability to form interracial relationships. while not explicitly illegal, segregation made the expectations for relationships and marriages abundantly clear- and segregated schools existed in canada until the 1980s

^ this impacted black people specifically, and it was known that their safety was at risk should they go against the set expectations

[ghostlysleuth]

Do you have any tips for when designing poc characters?? Like what not or to do, etc.

this is massively edited down to just keep the essentials. this isn't going to be as explicit as you were maybe wanting but saying "don't draw black characters this way, don't draw asian characters that way" isn't something i wanna do because it's not a good feeling to review a list of offensive design practices from a trauma standpoint and likely wouldn't be for any other people of color reading.

study from real photos.

really, any set of photos of people of color work but if you want a resource where people are not models nor actors that have been plucked up for their marketableness, here's a good site: Humanae — Angélica Dass (angelicadass.com) it's a photography collection associated with pantone to showcase diversity in shades of skin.

study faces within a group.

no two ppl look the same and character design is about showcasing this through certain features.

from these, study how much differently color works for melanated/non-white skin.

again, it's different for everyone even within groups. admittedly this is only something you'd need if you have a more in-depth or painterly style, but still. avoid grayish base skin tones. the aforementioned site is actually great for this.

LOOK INTO RACIST CARICATURES.

literally, people wouldn't find themselves "accidentally" slipping into racist designs if they just KNEW, explicitly knew, and internally acknowledged what people of color find offensive or what has been used against them in depictions of themselves.

yes, this includes looking at the old offensive cartoons, illustrations, etc. it's painful and uncomfortable and rough but it must be understood how these caricatures were a means of dehumanization and are mistakes to be learned from.

again, i'm not gonna list out exactly how not to depict a black person, an asian person, jewish person, latine, middle eastern, etc. etc. etc., because i feel these things should just be known, but if it's not, literally just be aware (or get aware) of the racial stigma faced by the group of people you are attempting to represent. put care into how you are depicting them.

BUT ALSO KEEP IN MIND: you shouldn't jump to default to white eurocentric features simply to "avoid" the any sort of backlash or offense that may be taken. because if you do so, a) in attempting to not be offensive, you're still perpetuating the upholding and favoring of white eurocentric features, and b) well, you're just stifling yourself.

designing characters of color REQUIRES acknowledgement of non-eurocentric features; hell, in the best cases, it's a celebration of these features.

as you would in replicating a style of architecture, a technique of painting, a depiction of a culture, you have to observe and become knowledgeable.

addendum: obviously, i'm not white, so i don't know the depths of how pervasive racism and white supremacy can be in a white person's personal life and upbringing; but i do know that racism and white supremacy are pervasive even (ESPECIALLY) in art, a much more tangible and permanent thing than a state of being, and knowing this, i do reserve a small margin of patience for white folks that are wanting to try to be in the know on this topic, especially younger people who have yet to unlearn certain things. if anyone reads this and thinks "well, it's not their responsibility or any person of color's to teach you these things," you're correct, but yknow. the effort's there, and trying's all we can do.

[mogai-sunflowers]

I hate it when I can't use a term that fits me very well because my brain (which processes everything with images) has an image of that term that doesn't look like me.

Like when I think of "transmasc" and all that pops into my head are skinny, white, American boys with very basic styles (which isn't a bad thing, it's just "too basic" for me personally), and of course, who look like cis boys and hate their bodies or prefer other body.

Meanwhile, I'm a POC, fat, Latine person, with questionable style (/joke), who CERTAINLY doesn't look like a cis boy and who really loves their body.

How could I use a term when my brain tells me that term doesn't fit people like me? I hate that. It's just me?

hey anon. i so wish I could reach through this screen and tell you that who you are is perfect and that you have every right to terminology that feels right, but as a fat trans person myself I know it takes more than kind words to deal with a pain like this, and one that’s even more intersectional than mine with your race and culture in the picture.

but that image you have in your head of what transmasc means, that is not the reality. that is what a small part of the community, of the world, WANTS you to think because they would rather throw other members of their community under the bus to gain faux acceptance for themselves, which is NOT your fault, but it’s also not everyone, there are so many people in this community who look like you or who truly stand with you. Transmasculine history is and never has been white or thin or any of that.

I’m going to link a few things you may want to look into if you’re wanting to start accepting your identity a little more, or just to see that you really ARENT alone. trans men/transmascs of color have been part of our history since the beginning. some of these things im sharing may be somewhat nsfw and have the word 'tranny' in them, just as a warning if that stuff bothers you.

newspaper clipping showing three trans men of color at a festival for a film they were part of, the first ever sexual/porn film by and for trans men of color

some pictures showing some fat trans men and trans men of color at marches are here

Bobby Cheung, the Asian and Pacific Islander trans man who won the Mr. Transgender San Francisco Pageant in 2004

trans men of color discuss intersectionality in a film they directed called "Trappings Of Transhood"

a photo showing the attendees of an FTM conference- you can see many non-white people in attendance

a photo of a group of Latino trans men who attended Tranny Fest in 1999

basic info on victor j mukasa, a Black transmasc lesbian active in East African LGBTQ rights scene

an older fat trans gentleman's photo and experience

a post on pauli murray (please look them up. his experience is much more nuanced than this post gives them credit for, and she was a wonderful intersectional activist)

various trans men (many fat and of color) who have contributed to our history

a conference of Indian trans men

the story of a trans man named Ben

one of my personal favorite transmasc historical figures, Amelio Robles Ávila

Zander Keig, the fat Latino trans man who won social worker of the year in 2020

a wonderful read on the intersectionality of transmasculinity and race

a digital archive of trans and queer Latino history

the Instagram page of a popular Black drag king

an article with interviews with various drag kings, including several of color

Florence Hines, the Black drag king once called the most excellent male impersonator in America

more drag kings many of color!

Drag Kings: An Archaeology of Spectacular Masculinities in Latino America

anon, it is so easy to feel like you are alone when your own history has been unfairly erased from you. but when I say “you are not alone”, I am not offering empty words of comfort- YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Transmasc and similar identity has truly NEVER actually been just for white people or thin people. You are WONDERFUL, and you are ABSOLUTELY a part of trans masculinity and transmasculine history is YOUR history and community as much as it is mine and others. You belong.

[sweetiebriar]

I really shouldn’t get involved in this debate because, first, it's utterly absurd and immature, and second, it will likely earn me a few enemies and drag me into conflicts, which I despise more than anything… Yet, I can’t stay silent. My anger is boiling over because creators and writers like myself are being bullied by so-called fans with narrow-minded perspectives, forcing us to bow down to politically correct foolishness just to be able to continue our work in peace.

¡Swearwords Alert!

What the fucking, shitty, bloody heck is wrong with these people?! This is a work of fiction—a story set in a fantasy, medieval Slavic world. The rules of the modern, real world do not apply here. Why on earth is representation being demanded in a context where it makes no sense?

¡Swearwords Alert End!

For those who’ve wisely avoided this whole debacle—and I congratulate you, keep doing so in the future if possible, let me fill you in: our dear RC team, along with the author of "The Thunderstorm Saga," Alexander D., were recently pressured (and in some cases harassed) into changing the main character sprites, which originally consisted of various elven races—forest, moon, and dark elves—into human representations (Asian, Caucasian, African, Latin, etc.).

AS: I didn’t get involved in the uproar about Volot’s skin tone in "And The Haze Will Take Us" being a player choice, because frankly, it was ridiculous for a portion of the community to react negatively, as if RC’s decision was some kind of racist move. Let me remind you, we’ve had this kind of choice before, like in "Vying For Versailles" with King Louis, and no one complained. Also, if you weren’t aware, book covers are often altered in their Russian versions. A main character who is Black or Brown in the American/European editions is frequently depicted as white in the Russian versions, except in rare cases where the character’s ethnicity is central to the story, like in "Garden of Eden" or the "Kalis". This change is due to the narrow-mindedness of the Russian community, and RC makes these changes to avoid backlash from its largest player base. Perhaps the decision to change Volot's skin was made with the Russian market in mind, and they decided to keep it consistent for all players. But frankly, I don’t care, and I don’t want to know.

Now, back to the main issue:

I’ve been a writer for most of my life, and I cannot stress this enough: a writer’s vision is theirs and theirs alone. While we might choose to revise certain aspects of our stories or find new ways to tell them, the opinions of readers and fans should never dictate those decisions. We are the creators of the content you enjoy. You read our work because you appreciate our vision. If we start crafting stories the way you want, it ceases to be our vision, and the magic is lost. Instead of venturing into the unknown, the story becomes a mundane reflection of everyday life. People read books to escape reality, not to mirror it.

Frankly, I find the elven races in this story quite representative, if you ask me—certainly more so than in LOTR (And remember the backlash about the Black dwarf queen? How ironic…).

- Forest Elves One have very fair skin, which can be linked to Caucasians. The Forest Elves Two can be more compared to Mediterranean people.

- Moon Elves One & Two, with their warm, brownish skin, can be connected to Hispanic or Latin people.

- Dark Elves, as you might expect, are associated with people of African descent, with group One being darker than group Two.

Sure, not every community is represented here—where are the Asians, the Eastern Europeans, the Arabs, Indians, and Indigenous peoples? There are more than just three skin tones, after all.

But this debate is utterly ridiculous. This is a work of fiction set in a fantasy realm. These characters are elves, not humans, and they don’t need to represent human diversity. The vast majority of players enjoyed the story as it was, and do you know why? Because they chose their main character based on who they found most appealing, not because the character resembled them. Contrary to what some believe, representation isn’t always necessary in fiction. Yes, there were fewer Black and brown-skinned characters in the past due to racism and segregation, but today, in a diverse and cosmopolitan world, young writers incorporate their modern perspectives into their work, and people generally don’t complain about representation anymore. So stop making a fuss over something that was never an issue to begin with. Let writers do their work. Criticising elves for not being "human enough" is not constructive; it’s just nonsense. And if you want to argue with me over this, don’t bother. I refuse to debate anyone over a fictional world, and especially over a game.

[dezertvideogames]

What the controversy? - Genshin Impact

I don't normally make post like this, maybe I should as a mixed video game addict. I bet you've heard about the understanding outrage about the skin tones of Genshin characters. Maybe you've seen the meme pointing out that the White Pharaoh has darker skin than most of the Genshin cast. I'm here to tell you the problem is even worse.

What happened previously?

Genshin Impact has been heavily criticized by fans from all over the world for the blatant colorism in the game.

Genshin Impact is a free open world game with gacha mechanics. Characters come from a myriad of in-game regions each based off of real life ones including Western Europe, Japan, China, the Middle East, Russia, Central Europe, and the most recent region taking inspiration from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin Nations.

This can be a very interesting approach to this kind of worldbuilding, as Genshin is not unique for this, and often makes it easy for fans to connect to the characters culturally.

Genshin's problems started to show immediately. In fact the first region's set of characters, Modstadt, based off of Central Europe has THE darkest skinned characters in the game. Kaeya and Xinyan, and one of them is a mean obnoxious black girl stereotype.

Like-

As the other regions have been added to the game, the problem has only gotten more apparent. Regions that would naturally have a few more diverse skin swatches among the cast just didn't have them. When Genshin did add darker characters they were often lighter than the average mixed person, or another variation of white skin tones, because lets be honest white people come in many colors too.

Now there isn't anything wrong with a region having diverse skin tones, especially if it's based off a real life region with a very commonly diverse population when it comes to skin tones like the United States, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, or South Africa. These places realistically are very diverse, and the people from then come in many colors.

The problem is in Genshin there are zero characters added with a darker skin tone than Xinyan, and the dark characters they claim to give us are barely darker than average Chinese person. There are very few brown skinned people, and they're all quite pale brown skin tones. Take for instance the Sumeru line-up.

When Sumeru came out fans of Genshin were outrages at the lack of darker skin tones among the middle eastern inspired characters. Since then there has been a demand for darker skin tones, and tons of criticism against Hoyoverse, but their pleas were never answered.

The Latest Region

The latest region added to Genshin Impact is Natlan. It takes inspiration from Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin nations. Players have waited with baited breath to see if Hoyoverse finally adds some darker skinned characters. The answer?

ABSOLUTELY NOT

Natlan came out with one brown skinned character. Meaning in all the regions of Genshin Impact there is a whopping three brown skinned playable characters, and zero black people to play.

This is worse than it seems: Hoyoverse

Genshin Impact isn't Hoyoverse's only game. In fact Hoyoverse's other popular games, including Honkai Impact 3rd, Honkai Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero also have zero black playable characters and sparse brown skinned characters.

In fact if you are a Hoyoverse fan in general you got your first two furry characters this year, before any dark black characters.

Like-

We got blue people before black people guys

The Outlook & Excuses

Many players are choosing to quit the game, boycott purchases inside the game, or completely moving on from Hoyoverse entirely. In fact I am one of these players (sorry to my mans Zhongli ]: ). I quit when Sumeru came out because I felt very offended seeing the outlook of colorism in the games as someone who is brown toned.

Some fans of Hoyoverse have tried to defend the company by mentioning how it's an Asian game, and these are simply Asian beauty standards.

So how does Genshin Impact hold up to other anime styled Eastern games? It doesn't... AT ALL.

These pictures all come from other Eastern video game companies, including Fire Emblem, Reverse 1999, Arknights, and Dislyte.

There is no excuse for Hoyoverse.

My Video Game Suggestions

If you're a fan of free gacha games I suggest wholeheartedly Reverse 1999 and Dislyte for their diversity. Arknights is also pretty good.

When it comes to open world games there's hundreds out there, many of which Genshin itself is based off of or has been the inspiration of in the first place; like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Palworld.

For games with anime styles the Persona series, and Fire Emblem are super fun. The Xenoblade series has very similar storytelling to Genshin Impact. There are many other series in development that plan to be similar to Genshin Impact, however most have the same hardcore flaw of zero to sparse dark skinned characters. Keeping an eye on them doesn't hurt though, as the lesson might be learnt before further updates are made.

Anyway, play Reverse 1999 if you want a free mobile game to fill the void Genshin brutally left. May Zhongli rest in peace.

I really like the writing, the animation style, the voice acting can be silly but that's because each character is voiced by native speakers of their background.

There's a tons of lesbians in the game too if that's your thing.

(PS. I judge no one who continues to play Hoyoverse games or holds hope for the future of the franchise)

[aoioozora]

The Ghosts: Ancestry Headcanons

The Ghosts are all American, but what is their heritage and ethnicity?

The Walkers

I have a huge feeling that on Elias' side, they're English with some traces of Germany and Scandinavia in their blood. Good ol' Anglo-Saxon Vikings.

We don't know anything about Mama Walker but I'd like to think she's a mixed-race, half-white (maybe English too?) and half-latina (Mestizo), so the boys are also mixed.

Thomas Merrick

He's definitely from the British Isles and I feel like from his personality alone, he could be more from the North.

Taking in consideration of his surname which, and I quote, "derives from the personal name Meuric, which is the Welsh form of Maurice. The surname Merrick is ultimately derived from the Latin personal name Mauritius, which means "dark."" (source)

I wonder if it's a coincidence that he is more tanned than the other Ghosts.

So he's totally either English, Welsh, and maybe a little bit Irish.

Keegan P. Russ

Also North European, perhaps also Anglo-Saxon like the Walkers, but maybe leaning more on the Saxon.

Again taking the surname in consideration, Russ is usually short for Russell, and Russ is also the German and American form of the Slavic Rus which means "brownish-red", "blond", or "Russian" (source)

Keegan being a bit Slav wasn't quite on my bingo card but considering him being so aloof, gruff, and quiet, I might have no doubt he could have a little of it!

I also feel like he could have Spanish blood too because for some reason, he has a very Spanish-looking face if you know what I mean???

So in short, I think he could be a mix of mostly Anglo-Saxon, some Spanish, and a dash of Slavic.

Kick

Kick's is the hardest to ascertain because his face is not visible at all and we don't know his name, but for some reason, I've always felt like he was Asian somehow.

But canonically, his eyes are amber, and a quick Google search tells me that amber eyes are most common among people of Spanish descent but are also around in South America, South Africa, and Asia.

I'll have to put South Africa out of the list because from Kick's pictures alone, he's obviously not Black. That would leave out Spanish, South American, and Asian.

Considering that migration and inter-marriage is and was a thing, Kick could just be a mix of Spanish and Asian, though I feel like he would be more Asian from the Middle-East (considering his black hair/eyebrows)

Alex "Ajax" Johnson

He's Black, so he could be Jamaican or from another Caribbean country previously colonized by the British

His surname is Johnson, which is very obviously English/Scottish so it all adds up.

Riley

He's a German Shepherd, can it get any more obvious?

[fayromance]

Jesuschrist. When people will get that writing a fantasy book means you can run wild your imagination because anything goes? Why it's so wrong for so many to ask for a black/asian/latine sprite? It's so weird. Elves are made-up creatures so I don't get why it's impossible for so many to see elves with different features beyond white/eurocentric ones.

I love Jester but I am so fed up with people bending over backwards to justify him. I bet if another writer did the same thing he did, so many would insult them/rant about them.

Being fantasy isn't excuse. I am so annoyed with people citing Tolkien/DnD as if that was impossible for things to change.

Sorry for my bad english.

No worries about your English (it's not my native language either btw) ❤🤝

I think it's all due to white defaultism. White people are considered the default for humans: they never have to explain their right to exist in fantasy (and other genres), whereas non-whites are treated as the other who need a special lengthy explanation and justification to be allowed to exist in a work of fiction

I hope that someday we'll outgrow this outdated mindset and just let anyone exist without questioning them about it 🙏

Also funny how they keep bringing up Tolkien's canon. I mean, if Tolkien had his way female elves wouldn't be so involved in battles and fighting to begin with (remember how Arwen fought in the Battle of the Pellennor Fields? Yeah, me neither cause that never happened). But then it would make for a very boring story so they're more than happy to "desecrate" Tolkien's legacy in that regard — as long as it lets those white women to self-insert as badass battlemage elven ladies (not that there's anything wrong with that). But when it comes to letting women of other ethnicities to also self-insert as badass elves — suddenly they're all up in arms defending Tolkien's views

Hypocrisy much? 🙂

[queerryan]

Begging gringos (and some latin-americans descendants who were born and grew up outside America Latina) to learn somethings.

There's no such thing as "white passing Latino" unless that person is indigenous.

Stop saying that you're not white because you're Latino, you are white. You're not a victim of racism for being Latino, you're affected by xenophobia.

Latino it's not a race.

If one of your parents is Latino and the other is not you're not "half Latino and half white/black/asian/brown etc" you're whatever race you are AND LATINO, you're both, the entire thing, no half.

Latinos aren't mixed or biracial for being Latino and white/black etc.

Latino it's A CULTURAL IDENTITY, an attachment we have to the country we came from. And that country HAVE TO BE PART OF AMERICA LATINA.

French, Italians, Spain people, THEY'RE NOT LATINO. (I can not believe I have to say this) yes, Latino have this linguistic meaning of people who speak a latin language and that includes french and Italian, but no one use the word in that sense most of the time. Latino it's a cultural identity related to only America latina.

PEOPLE FROM SPAIN AREN'T LATINOS, they're Hispanic, Wich is also not a race and does not make white Hispanics less white. Hispanic are people who are born in spanish-speaking countries, that's it.

For the mother of god STOP SAYING LATINX. Not only is completely useless when you're speaking in English since the English language ALREADY HAVE A NEUTRAL FORM OF SAYING LATINO (literally "Latin"), but also not even inside America Latina with our languages we say "Latinx" since people with Dislexia here often have a problem pronouncing and reading that. Insisting In the use of that is ableist and stupid. Either say "Latin" or "Latine"

NOBODY LOOKS LATINO, we don't have "Latin phenotypes", you could show me a picture of a Chinese family, tell me they're Brazilians and I would believe in you because that's how diverse america latina is, no one look Latino.

Doing this list because I was reading ultimate Spider-Man and miles called himself "Half Hispanic" and that pissed me off because he said that as a response of someone saying that he's black. As if this would make him less black or half black and he's both black and Latino, no halfs.

[lowresolutioncryptid]

I’ve been seeing a lot of terfs deny the very clear link between trans exclusionism and nvzism/white supremacy simply because they do not understand the history behind it. ignorance is not a legitimate excuse to perpetuate systems of white supremacy. And it is further testament to the harm that banning critical race theory and queer studies in schools is doing to y’all’s brains. Because if I’m being completely honest, I’m seeing an alarming amount of self-identified terfs and radfems who are legit STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE. My blog is 18+, not for children, anyone under 18 gets immediately blocked. Anyway…

Transphobia and anti-blackness are historically linked and continue, to this day, to be overlapping forms of systemic oppression. Black trans women, specifically, have higher murder rates than any other group. Both trans and black people statistically face more medical discrimination than cis and white people, respectively. The combination of both of these marginalized identities forms a particular and very sinister intersection of oppression.

Not only do both of these systems of privilege work to uphold the social and structural power of cis people and white people.. biological essentialism and transphobia also, historically, were used to define the beliefs of white supremacy and race essentialism. Race essentialism is the false belief that it is “natural order” for whites to oppress other races. For centuries, white “philosophers” made up a whole list of pseudoscientific “reasons” WHY they believed racism was “natural”. One of them was the idea that “distinct and separate biological sexes were the mark of a more evolved race-“ meaning the white race.. they compared European patriarchal sex roles and gender roles to the matriarchal cultures and gender variance that they observed in communities of color.

I have seen terfs accuse people who bring up this historical fact of “masculinizing” black women and women of color, which is a very real issue, but in this case and with historical context, that is a misunderstanding and most of the time is being said by people who want to silence trans people and shut down any criticism of terfism.

Acknowledging the thousands of years of acceptance of gender variance and third/fourth gender categories within pre-colonial African, Indigenous, Latin, Asian, & Middle eastern cultures, is not to blame for the masculinization of women of color, and as a matter of fact: the invention and enforcement of Eurocentric gender roles REQUIRES and RELIES on the masculinization of women of color in order to uphold white women’s place within white supremist systems as the “ideal of femininity” that they can then weaponize against women of color when they do not adhere to those Eurocentric standards.

During times of enslavement and segregation, black women were forced, legally and socially, to conform to very strict Eurocentric femininity standards in order to avoid harassment and violence, and if they deviated from these norms and codes they were dehumanized, masculinized, and were “made into examples” of white femininity being “superior”. Gender roles and biological essentialism do not exist in a vacuum outside of the white supremist systems that they were created within and invented to maintain. To imply that all women share the same experiences within these systems is akin to saying “I don’t see color”.. it’s denying the lived experiences of people of color.

Most gays are familiar with the symbol of the pink triangle, the badge worn by LGBT victims of ww2 concentration camps, but the transgender victims are often overlooked..

“Hitler’s Nazi government, however, brutally targeted the trans community, deporting many trans people to concentration camps and wiping out vibrant community structures.” - Museum of Jewish Heritage.

The US holocaust memorial museum that holds remembrance vigils for the victims persecuted by the nazis, under the Obama administration, included both gay men and transgender people in their list of victims. However, under the Trump administration this was changed to only include gay men. When asked about this change one of the museum’s head curators responded that because trans people were viewed by the nazis as indistinguishable from gay men that they are “included” with the definition. This is an obvious cop-out. The other reason that they gave was that the term “transgender” was only officially coined in the 1980’s, despite the thriving population of German trans people and gender-nonconforming subcultures that pre-date the nazi control of Germany.

Ancient Judaism recognizes at least six (6) distinct sex categories and gender roles, our women fulfilling “traditionally masculine” roles and vice versa.. this is a direct threat and opposition to nazism which relies on Eurocentric patriarchal gender roles. White women serve one purpose within nazi ranks: BIOLOGICAL incubators for white babies. If you don’t have 1) European genetic material 2) biological capabilities of reproduction (vagina, womb, mammaries) to be exploited for domestic labor, you are not considered a “true” woman by nazis. “Woman” being defined within nazism by biological, reproductive traits is so eerily similar to terf’s definition of woman that the only explanation for still perpetuating these ideas that I can think of, other than apathy or being full blown nazis, would be ignorance and historical illiteracy. The systemic eradication and erasure of trans and gender-nonconforming people by the nazi party was essential in maintaining these standards at a structural level, as well as the reinforcement of these false beliefs within popular culture. In order to maintain that false image of “dominance” “supremacy”, they had to invent a subclass that was then deemed “inferior” by their own standards.

When trans people of color and trans Jews are explicitly telling y’all that the harmful rhetoric you spread about trans people has DIRECT historical links to white supremacy and nazism, and (whether intentionally or unintentionally) upholds these systems that are killing us, it’s not your place to dig your heels into the ground and come up with excuses. It’s your place to listen and reevaluate your views.

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/737771866482212864/one-thing-i-hate-in-modern-adaptations-is-when-ppl

This is actually kinda an interesting example of the weird tokenism that's currently being peddled in Hollywood for some time. You have a story where you actually have an under-represented group, but because it's the wrong kind we're just going to swap them so that you can visually see the difference, and so it fits our worldview in a completely different part of the world.

Let' me switch the sides for a second: Does Hollywood actually think that poc want to have the "leftover" roles from white characters? Do they honestly think that pocs feel more represented when being put into a story that didn't actually include them and doesn't feature their cultures and heritages, and doesn't even acknowledge them as a poc character in a white story? Do they honestly think that poc people want a white story, by a white author to represent them? That poc want to be stand ins for fantasy racism against fantasy creatures? This story features hate against magical creatures like elves... how about we just add in regular old racism again poc instead? As if the rule is that if there's racism, then pocs have to be victims of it, even if the story tells about fantastical racism. Why can't Poc simply exist in a story where they aren't victims of racism?

Especially if it ends up being such a waste of time and money like what Witcher ended up being, especially the "Origin" spin-off, made by people who hated the source material, and who hated and ousted on the one singular man who not only wanted to respect the source material, but even fought to have vital parts of the story respected until he couldn't anymore. Then they blame "We thought our audience were brainless mongrels so we didn't want to make it too complicated for their little stupid brains." Great, not only did you ruin one of the few stories that was by a Polish-Slav about Slavic and Polish folklore which already doesn't have much of a foothold, and wasn't the typical anti-Slavic Hollywood + "everything is Russia" storyline, but you also insulted the intelligence of your audiences, didn't actually give good rep to pocs, and you even managed to shit on the value of representing actual poc stories once again by giving them scraps.

I've also noticed this has started the stupid trend between fans, because instead of pointing out how stupid Hollywood is, and noticing it's Hollywood doing this shit, I see poc making fun that token-trend with comments "If a poc movie for pocs is made, by pocs and written by pocs, don't forget the token white character." Yeah, exactly we all see the problem don't we? That's why everyone clowns on it, but it's like people just kinda forget how stupid this trend is when it actually comes to throwing the hard critics at Hollywood. Where are the stories for the people who want to be represented as their own figures and stories for once? Without having a stupid token character because Hollywood thinks people are too dumb to identify or root for a character who doesn't look like them. We don't need useless token characters, we need stories that are made FOR the people, written for them, with care.

We want poc stories. We want black stories. Asian. Latine. Indigenous. Hell even Slavic. Whatever! Written by them for them, we want to see stories that can just BE these stories without the need for token characters awkwardly forced in. Tell me a story where the identity of the characters is respected and fully realized! Who needs a token character when you have actually stories where these characters actually get their stories told instead of being a footnote or a throwaway line? I want to watch a big blockbuster movie who's source was written by eg a black woman, about her culture, shaped by her experiences, and with black actors who are playing roles that were always for them. I don't want another "Hey this book was written by a white person, how about we just turn some random white characters poc and call it a day. Who cares if the author doesn't know how to write a poc experience, they'll just eat it anyway." I'm not saying that a person can't write about characters of a different ethnicity not their own either, especially if they actually do research and ask people of that ethnicity or find good resources, etc! Write what you want, put effort into it and your heart.

But we first need to set a precedents for authors to be able to write for themselves and their experiences tied to their identity, to get a voice and be featured above constantly using stories that weren't made for it. If the story was made for Polish slavs, then make it a story for polish slavs. If you want a high fantasy story with actual poc characters that was already part of the story, then go and find one of the thousands of books by various poc ethnicities that already cover that!

Bullshit excuses by Hollywood that poc stories don't sell are a fucking sham. The old fucks at the top just hate the idea of actually doing something for actual diversity, by giving poc people a chance to see their own stories on screen that they themselves have written.

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