#but that has literally been creating xenophobia in me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

saintlupin · 2 years

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i think what many people fail to realize about hp as a whole is that it has reached 100% cultural saturation. everyone has either seen the movies, read the books, or at the very least, they have some vague understanding of the overarching story line. but, still, most people are unaware of jkr’s vile bigotry, unless they are both: chronically online and in our hp-related/fandom adjacent spaces. i was actually having a conversation with a co-worker today who had no idea about jkr’s views/the active damage they have caused. yet, she’s not only queer, but also an ally to the trans community. and i think a lot of the people who go out of their way to send anon hate do so with a “white-lens” view of advocacy. that is not to say that every hater on the internet is a white person, but what i mean to say is: most of these individuals have never actually done the tedious and often exhausting work that real advocacy calls for.

it reminds me of when people think they can hastily plan for a strike, where they publicly announce that they are going to stop financially supporting a multi-billion dollar corporation for three days and assume that will “hit them where it hurts” and incite significant change. when, in reality, advocacy takes months of planning and preparation and prioritizes the needs of vulnerable populations first. people are reasonably angry, but they fail to turn that anger into action because our society as a whole makes “on the ground” advocacy work seemingly impossible.

what we do here in fandom where we dissect, pick apart, inspect, and transform canon from a critical lens or create joy and inspire imagination are quite literally revolutionary tools, and i say that with no exaggeration. this is not a new idea, in fact, it is something black activists, trans women of color, and other marginalized populations have been saying for decades.

i don’t believe fandom spaces are inherently revolutionary and i don’t think they are the end all be all of advocacy work, but i do believe them necessary specifically because they incite joy and create space for imagination. instead of a breeding ground for revolutionaries, they are a "practice-ground" for these revolutionary tools. they allow us to deconstruct the things that have caused harm and transform them into something joyful and imaginative, which is important because it does not erase the reality of what exists, but instead, allows us to engage with it under a new lens.

to want to denounce and erase all media for how problematic it is would be to disengage with works that have both failed us and brought us to where we are today. popular fiction and culture is a powerful reflection of social problems, and to erase them is to both denounce how far we've come, but also to leave us with nothing to look back on. what would the world look like if we had nothing to reflect upon? nothing to consider? nothing to dissect and say: this is what we've gotten right so far and here is what we've done wrong. it is specifically why disney+ has not removed content that is blatantly racist media, but instead added a black screen with words that read: "this program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions" with the stated intention of sparking conversations about harmful stereotypes. while disney is not a shining example of allyship, this corporation has still managed to grasp an important concept: to erase, denounce, and disengage with content that is problematic is to remove examples of racism, transphobia, xenophobia and disallow the critical conversations that fandom spaces can be host to.

when we erase examples, and therefore critiques of these things, we stop being able to identify them, becoming first oblivious and then desensitized to tropes and stereotypes that find its way into the imagery of the world around us, even when they are right in front of us.

big thank you to @saintgarbanzo for your input and for helping me find the courage i needed to post this

#drarry #meta #harry potter

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menalez · 5 months

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any thoughts on the recent reveal of just how fucking fascist the AfD truly is?

Like I am natively German and have been convinced of them being literal Nazis for ages (like anyone who has the ability to read and look at their party program as well as the rhetoric some member have been spouting since day 1) so it wasn't a suprise but still shocking and I am very much concerned by the seemingly too small public reaction, the high approval ratings for the AfD, genuinely has me scared for the future of any and all BiPOC and international people living here aswell as my own safety and the safety of other LGBT members.

yeah they are really concerning & always have been but a lot of what they want to do is also like, not legal in either germany nor most democratic countries.

honestly i’m scared too. their power is growing and people in germany don’t seem to be as alarmed as i wish they were. germany constantly talks this big talk about antisemitism but AfD is genuinely and openly antisemitic— yet there’s no concern over their growth to power. maybe because AfD’s biggest platform is racism & xenophobia rather than antisemitism? i don’t know. they’re clearly very similar to neo-nazis and aren’t much better than the NFD (outright neo-nazi party) in germany.

since the hamas attack, the reality of being an immigrant in germany has become more & more scary honestly. even olaf schulz said he wants to deport migrants, and he’s part of the left wing party. so many german politicians are openly calling for deportations of migrants and making xenophobic statements and despite germany being a democracy, it’s like everyone who sees the issue with that is too scared to speak up. i know mixed race germans who are also afraid to say anything. and the most quiet people of all are the ones with the best social standing: native germans who have the privilege neither immigrants nor people of colour & especially not ppl who are immigrants of colour have.

the police brutality alongside these concerning statements from politicians alongside the growth of AfD should be creating more concern for germans than it is. i really hope they’ll start speaking up because this will not be good for anyone and sets a seriously bad precedent for the german democracy that germans have fought so hard & so long to have. it risks destroying everything germany have been builing towards since the end of ww2. and it’s already shattered germany’s global reputation as a progressive country that came a long way from nazi times to a country that actually has only changed in terms of image, not ideals. the latter is especially how people of colour and “3rd country” people in germany feel.

(side note i hate the term BIPOC used in the context of germany bc indigenous in the acronym does not make sense when taken out of its original context but that’s another topic)

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shingyou · 1 year

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RE: Finland

Some people say we never know we're happy until we lose the happiness. That's a sad perspective on life that might hold a bit of truth, but that truth is not inherent to the so-called "human condition", I don't think so. Rather, you might call it a reflection of how the society I live in has overglorified being absent from the present. Waiting on and on for a future that doesn't come, longing on a past that barely was here. In fact, there is something radical to claiming back the free use of your time; resting is revolutionary. So are my introducing thoughts to this open letter I write as I sit in a plane back to my birth country. It isn't somewhere that I'm particularly attached to politically, nor in terms of identity. In fact, as a black person born in Europe and detached from what I consider my culture, I've often felt lost. I thank internet for meeting some people who, although not from the culture I consider my own, showed me a lot about an identity that feels more like home. I feel closer to being at peace, and yet that means I'm angrier than ever. I suppose these are two elements that create an ongoing fight in terms of transmisogynoir; love and rage, radical and pushing against an oppressive policing, both feelings connecting us to years of history.

And so I went to college abroad. Although most people around me might think this has been a negative experience, and that I couldn't wait to go back to somewhere that feels more familiar, I would have to nuance the take. Of course, I've been through literal trauma as I "won" an entirely new phobia, and of course, we could talk about the pitiful state of the apartment I rented, of the sheer amount of whiteness and xenophobia that was seriously aggressive in the way that I couldn't even access to most things, and we could talk about the lack of communication, and we could talk about the racist landlord, and we could mention how the situation of systemic ableism and racism made me unable to care for my neighbour who seemed to be stuck in a home she didn't belong in, and we could mention all of that. But that's not all there has been, although all of that is more than enough to rightfully give in to anger. And so I went to college abroad. I still hate school, in personal ways, yes, but also because we need to abolish it along education [as the unredeemable concept that it is]. Still, currently forced to live one way or another, I appreciate how I manage to hang on. I shouldn't have to, but there is eventually this mixed feeling of pride about survival. "I did it." It would've been easier for somebody else, could've barely been an accomplishment for some people I resent, and would've been impossible for other people I'm closer to. And that's not to say I'm a special individual; it's barely an acknowledgement that under current conditions, there are possibilities that simply don't exist. I'm happy I'm doing well enough not to have to worry as much as some of my friends, and yet I grieve the thought. There are good aspects to the way uni worked here. I was freer in my essays, and those were my very first, I believe. I realised once again and further how much we'd like me not to write what I write. They'd want me to abandon the communities I've been longing for, and finding bits and pieces of on Twitter, making me feel closer to home. They'd want me to say we're wrong, to elevate me into a true academic; to appeal to the white leftist. And so I wrote, but I wrote that they were wrong. I wrote of psychiatric abuse, and I wrote of African genders, and I wrote of intersex liberation, and I wrote of youth oppression. Some didn't like it. For most, I even had to tame my own speech without conceding too much. One called me out on a lack of "proper sources": but academia is white, and there is an ongoing effort for "proper" (i.e. "academically acceptable", i.e. classism that necessarily intersects with everything else) sources to be regulated in dominating ways. Still, I was freer to write, and some appreciated it. I want to keep going that way. I'll make it hard for myself, and I know how I could make it easier and "succeed". But I don't want to succeed; success as we know it is lonely and a betrayal. No, I want to be a failure together. Maybe that's how I'd describe my idea of practising anarchy. Let's be losers, as they call it, because the cores hidden behind those things they discourage are based. Let's be childish, let's be fools. Mostly, it isn't so much that Finland taught me something, rather than it was a context that triggered something in me. My fiction writing started changing too. I used to know what I wanted to write, without knowing what I wanted to give. I know now. I want to give hope and I want to create seeds of radicalism. I can't force people to take them in and water them. I can't, and I don't want to: I've grown because I was challenged, not because I was worshipped. I'm a weird guy treated as a subhuman subject of experiments who can barely exists "IRL"; semi-verbal, still masks in face of eugenism, low physical strength. So I know I won't be the guy who shoots a brick at the government and burns it down. But those are not the only people we need, and that's why we should have each other too. I'll be somewhere else. I'm only at ease with drama [theatre] and writing. Although I'm sincere when I play, it's a role, and role doesn't have to be negative here. So I want to play teaching without being a teacher [without the authority of school, as much as possible]. And I want to write and write, both in uni and in fiction; I want to make that knowledge accessible and unapologetic. I am working on fiction projects, and I genuinely think they're going somewhere good, and every day contributes to shaping it better. I don't want us to ever shut the fuck up. I've grown. And I still grow. That's why I'll never be a grown-up, I don't have that kind of oppressive pretentiousness. Unfortunately, that also means it gets harder sometimes. I'm sorry, I can't be happy about half-accomplishments for the queern't whities we obtained well over 50 years ago any more. I don't long for a past that was never there to begin with now. I'm sorry, I can't be happy about assimilationism any more. I don't long for a future where I betray everyone and will most likely still die because I could never actually be assimilated. There are many things I want to do once I touch land again, in about two hours as I write this. One thing is sure, I'm happier than I ever was, and I want to acknowledge it right now, not after becoming unhappy. But do know that it's not greediness when I say I want more. No, it's our rights, and I'm tired of waiting to be nicely handed them. I'm happy, but not satisfied. Thanks to everyone who has ever been present in my life and influenced me for the better. Thanks to those who are currently here. Today, I smile as I go through clouds and see the sun shine, and yet, may tomorrow the sun be shinier.

June 6th. 8:33-9:32 PM.

#writings #writing #writing thoughts #literature #letter #open letter #finland #home #racism #psych abolition #youth liberation #queer #update

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peppertaemint · 1 year

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I don't know that you'll have a different perspective on this, but tmikpop posted about some of the goals of the possible kakao and sm "collaboration" and one of them was removing a restriction on artist performances(I didn't even know that was a thing) and having them do 20 performances a year.

Maybe I'm out of touch, but I would think that's a good thing? That's literally a tour? Artists(in general) like performing and touring. But you have everyone in the quotes crying about sm overworking the artists(including army, which is funny cause a couple days ago they were laughing about hybe disbanding all these sm flops and now they're concerned about them)

But like, am I the crazy one? I didn't see anyone celebrating the fact that these artists(their favs in a lot of cases) are gonna get to perform. Maybe its coming from the shawol side with Key just saying that he'd like to have a concert but he hasn't been able too, and seeing how much Taemin desperately wanted to perform for fans but couldn't cause of covid before his enlistment, the idea of being upset that they get to do that as much as possible would be insane to me?

Why are kpop fans so backwards???

Thanks for this great Ask.

If Kpop fans were predisposed to infantilization, fetishization, and victimization/othering of Asian artists, COVID exacerbated this. The "big bad" became real, affirming all their worries that Oppa needs to stay at home.

First, COVID really changed the playing field for those of us in jobs that involve extensive international travel. Some of us went from traveling every month to zero. This is true for traveling musicians, which is most SM artists. COVID put us all at home together but separately. I do think that some have gotten used to this "new normal" where no one goes abroad. I notice it in the outsized receptions at airports and with fans seeming to have soured on touring altogether unless it is directly benefitting them. The line seems to be "it's too much unless XYZ artist is playing my city."

The overwork stuff, in my opinion—and I'm focusing on English-speaking, western fans here—is tied into Orientalist views about Asia and the perceived cultural differences at play. I say perceived because there is interesting work I've read tiny chunks of about how colonizers in the past centuries created the myth of Orientalism and the East/West split. Essentially, we are more the same than we are different (duh, I mean, not rocket science) but I'm sure if you're a westerner, you could name lots of media, and even recent media, that plays on this facile idea of the strange and differentness of the East. It's tied to xenophobia, too, which was very pioneered by Xenophon who went around reporting on what he thought were backward, crazy cultures he countered in his travels during ancient times.

All this is to say that I think fans don't have a realistic idea of what a demanding career in any country looks like (because lol, omg ... ), and they cannot put their selves in the shoes of a person like a Korean popstar who has worked for countless years to enjoy an abundant career. If they could, they'd understand that while safety and health are important, they're not just about "too many tour dates". It's actually about what do those days look like, how much well-being is built in, and how much rest time is afforded?

I'm hesitant to use Haechan as an example, but I think I'll bite the bullet to say he got sick, he got COVID, and he now has a heart condition of some sort. We're not privy to the details of what that is or what its limitations are, and rightfully so because how is that our business unless he shares it? If, against medical advice, SM order Haechan to do X amount of work, he does it and then gets sick, that's grounds for a lawsuit. SM has made terrible mistakes in the past, but I do not judge them as a company operating against medical advice. If Haechan makes his own decisions against medical advice and SM fails to make an intervention, that could also be a lawsuit around duty of care, but I'm not a Korean law expert.

You might remember the Michael Jackson lawsuit against his record company regarding duty of care re his death. If the record label knew they were paying for a doctor who was doing XYZ, are they culpable for not providing safe care? Are they culpable for arranging a tour when they likely knew the state of his health? His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against AEG but ultimately AEG was not found liable. That case is really good reading if you have an interest in the duty of care that record labels have for artists.

All the above in mind, no I don't think extra tour dates are an issue because touring is the norm, and it's what artists and fans want. I also operate on the belief that SM operates legally (lol, what a thing to say right now), and does have artist well-being enmeshed in their work. Does that mean artists won't get sick? Of course not. People will always get sick or have personal problems, but whether the label is liable/culpable is a legal issue and for many a moral issue that isn't well represented in legal opinions.

#I find duty of care really interesting #maybe I'm a nerd

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taylortruther · 1 year

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I see you sharing paramore stuff and I wonder if you're a fan?I loved their new one, the news. you heard? if yes, what did you think? and how do you interpret the lyrics? I still don't understand some things very well, but I would love to hear your opinion because I love the way you explain things 😁

i love paramore! but i had no idea they released a new song jfkals, so thank you for telling me.

i think when she's referring to "war," she's referencing literal current events--

War, a war, a war on the far side On the other side of the planet

she's referencing actual current events here--the russia-ukraine conflict, for one, but also the endless stream of news we receive about wars and conflicts happening all over the world.

And I've got war, a war, a war right behind my eyes Right behind them just like a headache

imo this is a reference to mental health--hayley's been pretty open about struggling with hers

the whole song deals with this idea of helplessness: she wants to do something, so she donates and worries and falls into darkness, because she feels (like we all do) constantly deluged by information about all the awful things happening in the world. and she also feels guilt, because she's not risking her life on the front lines of a war, she's safe behind her computer, but mentally she's still

So I turn on the news Turn off the news (Damned if you do)

she wants to stay aware of what's going on in the world--but it's also too much to take in constantly (or in the way it's delivered, as a barrage of endless 24/7 information.) but if she stops paying attention, she feels intense guilt.

Exploitative, performative Informative and we don't know the half of it Rhetorical, deplorable Historical and, all along, we called it normal Exploitative, performative (Turn on) Informative and we don't know the half of it

she's pointing out here that all conflict happening in the world, within the US or otherwise, has its roots in history. racism, xenophobia, colonialism, etc.--they're all parts of the world's history, which many of us are ignorant of. and this history has created norms that people simply accept as "the way things are." and even when people claim to care, they may just be performing their activism for clout and attention.

#paramore

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fromthefishbowl · 3 years

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the neverending “question” of mob-boss AUs and italian characters

Every fandom in existence has mafia AUs, for some reason.

Usually written by anglophones, they show the mafia as the one portrayed in The Godfather or Goodfellas: dudes wearing bespoke suits who push the barrel of their gun into their enemy’s mouth as the latter pleads for their life, tears spilling down their cheeks and snot dripping onto their upper lip, pathetic as they kneel and beg while the mafioso stands over them, proud and manly and so handsome, with his gold watch catching the orange lights of the dying sun.

Well... let me shut down it real quick: that is a purely American and purely fictional vision of the mafia. A, for some reason, entirely idealized version of organized crime that Hollywood has been shoving into theaters for decades, to the point that you don’t even need to be American to believe that this is how things are in reality.

I feel like that, as a first note, I should say that “mafia” doesn’t mean anything: “mafia” is merely the type of organization, and it indicates a violent criminal organization with a moral code founded on the concept of “omertà”, silence regarding a crime and the unwillingness to confess to be the one committing it or turning in the names of the people who did.

So... what mafiosa organization is being discussed? Sacra Corona Unita? Cosa Nostra? ‘Ndrangheta? Camorra? Stidda? Banda della Magliana (in action between 1977 and 1993)?

Usually it sounds like the organization in question is Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian one, but there is always so little research and conversation with actual Italians - who have said over and over and over again that you shouldn’t portray Italian characters as sexy mafia bosses - that I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the first time you even hear about the fact that there are different kinds of organizations.

On the same route, since the dialogue with actual Italians is not considered in this conversation, for some reason, people are still running with the idea of “mobsters/mafia bosses are just bad boys” and sometimes they just need a redemption arch to come clean and become stand out citizens, while other times they are the epitome of sexiness and their partner gets into the organization too. In most cases, they are written as these loveable doofuses who will murder a bitch in cold blood but will then come cuddle with you.

No.

A round, absolute no.

Mafia bosses exploit people, they rape people, they murder innocent people, they steal from people, they enslave immigrants, they melt children into acid tanks because their parents were going to collaborate with the police. How is any of this sexy or even redeemable? Do you know that one of the reasons why weed will never be legalized in Italy is not because of the strong presence of the Church, but because mafiose organizations make a lot of money by selling drugs, including weed, and legalizing it would ruin their market?

And here, this is the face of a mafia boss who actually did it! His name was Totò Riina, a true Italian mafia boss who thankfully croaked a couple of years ago. You are literally one Google search away from seeing the other hundreds of heinous crimes he and his colleagues committed, as well as actually informing yourself regarding anything that has to do with the mafia and how it still affects and enslaves and terrorizes an entire country. Roberto Saviano, a writer who dared to call out the names of the Camorra boss and his associates during a protest, has been living under protection for fourteen years because they threatened to murder him. He is only forty-one!

This concerns the TOG fandom because I have seen that, although there is a lot of willingness from the many artists and writers that populate it to learn about Joe’s culture, religion, and traditions, everything regarding Nicky seems to be taken for granted and no one is willing to inform themselves, creating an astounding lack of dialogue with Italian creators.

Writing Nicky as being part of a mafiosa organization is a horrible example of ignorance and xenophobia, as well as unwillingness to understand how truly damaging those kinds of organizations are for our country.

You wouldn’t write about a KKK member being sexy and cool, so why is it okay to write about a mafioso that way? What part of murdering children and raping women and enslaving people for profit is cool?

For once we have a good example of an Italian character in the mainstream media that is not played by an American actor who pretends to speak with a broken Neapolitan accent, and the first instinct is to turn him into a horrible, horrible monster who is actually plaguing our country? And the wrong kind too, usually, because he’s from Genoa and not Sicily!

Seriously, I’m not saying that you cannot write mafia AUs, it’s fiction, who cares, but at the same time it should be a given that you should check your ideas with people who are actually from that country and who can actually explain to you how to do it correctly. For how mafia AUs are written, the mafioso could as well be just a normal criminal that has found themselves with their hands in drugs and murdering people and pimping out women.

If you have ever watched an Italian show or movie regarding crime, you should know that the main characters, the ones the audience is supposed to emphasize with, are never mafiosi. In Suburra, both TV series and movie, neither Aureliano nor Spadino are mafiosi: they’re just criminals. You know who the mafioso is? Samurai, the guy the director never tries to make you emphasize with, as he was part of the Banda della Magliana. In Trust, Primo is not represented as being sympathetic: he’s evil and his actions aren’t forgivable. In Don’t Be Bad, you’re supposed to be empathetic to Luca’s character, Cesare, but he’s a simple criminal with no ties to any mafiosa organization.

It really shouldn’t be this hard to even just ask Italians how to write about Italian issues with some touch and empathy.

Writing Nicky as a mobster could be as bad as writing Joe as a terrorist, and it’s crazy that no one seems to notice it.

#italian sources #nicky di genova #the old guard #tog discourse #luca marinelli #nicolò di genova #nicolo di genova #suburra #aureliano adami #spadino anacleti #trust #primo nizzuto #mafia au #non essere cattivo #don't be bad

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mrkcore · 3 years

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in light of this situation that has happened in atlanta recently, i’ve been a bit scared to speak up, but i really want to talk about the situations of asian immigrants in these western countries.

even though i’m not an asian american, as an asian canadian, seeing these things happen to asians everywhere hurts my heart deeply.

in chinese, america is “美国”, literally meaning “beautiful country”.

so many asians immigrate to america with absolutely nothing. no english-speaking skills, no friends or family, no home, no income, and building a family there. taking your child with the hopes of them being able to be successful and have a better life. leaving your homeland with the “american dream”, sacrificing everything you had for the future of your children.

usually balancing 2 or more jobs to even stay afloat, for non-asian to create this “model minority myth” really ignores and puts aside all of the hardships and sacrifices asian individuals had to endure. “asians are so diligent, they work hard, don’t complain, and stay silent.”; not only being silent because they couldn’t speak up, but diminishing all of the efforts they’ve put in to actually support their families, to have a good job, to get a good education, etc. (don’t even get me started on how this phrase also creates so much tension and hatred between different groups)

and all of this hard work only for white people to make fun of our culture, to make fun of our appearance, to fetishize our women, to put us down, is absolutely disgusting.

for the police to be hesitant to label the shooting as a hate crime truly shows how bad the tolerance of xenophobia is.

these countries create bans and legislations against us, put us in internment camps, hate crime us, when are all of these atrocities going to be recognized? why is the education system not teaching people about these things when asians are such a prominent percentage of their population? why are we just learning about these things from social media infographics? why is our history invisible?

the perpetrator stated himself that he blamed asian women for his “sex addiction” displaying that even now, in times where people say are more “socially advanced”, people are still fetishizing asian women to the standards of “docile”, “quiet”, and “submissive”, still making the generalization that these women are sex workers. this is sickening. the victims were only trying to make money for their families at home to get by. and they were wrongfully taken from them. they won’t be able to see their families again, they won’t see their children graduate, won’t see their grandchildren, will not be able to experience the fullness of life. it was stolen from them.

i watched this video today, talking about people that tell you to “toughen up” whenever something happens. the person said a really good point, they’re trying to weaken you, trying to silence you. so if you’re infuriated by this recent event, your feelings are valid. even though i personally have not faced super racist incidents, i see all of these people sharing their xenophobic occurrences and events in the news of asian elderly, students, anyone–getting killed, injured, traumatized. my heart goes out to everyone and their families affected. i too always think, “what if that was me?”, or “what if that was my family?”. we live in fear, and our experiences are belittled and our voices are taken away.

so as a child of an asian canadian immigrant, i am proud to be chinese, to be asian. i am standing up for my parents right now for when they couldn’t. i am angry and i will not be silent any more, my parents did not sacrifice their future for me to be silenced.

if you’re a non-poc ally that want to help, please listen to all of the experiences people have shared and educate yourself on our history in these countries.

as the new generation, we’re going to fight back until we get the respect we deserve. and we most definitely deserve that respect. so i encourage everyone to do something, even if it’s small. small still goes a long way, especially if everyone is speaking up.

we mourn with the families of the victims of this cruel incident:

Soon Chung Park, age 74

Hyun Jung Grant, age 51

Suncha Kim, age 69

Yong Yue, age 63

Delaina Ashley Yaun, age 33

Paul Andre Michels, age 54

Xiaojie Tan, age 49

Daoyou Feng, age 44

here are some resources for everyone to look at, as well as some gofundmes created by the families of the shooting victims. please take some time to look through them and share them:

gofundme for hyunjung kim - https://www.gofundme.com/f/in-memory-of-hyunjungkim-to-support-my-brother-i

CAA (chinese for affirmative action) website - https://caasf.org/

stop AAPI hate website - https://stopaapihate.org/

stop AAPI hate national report - https://a1w.90d.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/210312-Stop-AAPI-Hate-National-Report-.pdf

jenn im’s instagram post on anti-asian - https://www.instagram.com/p/CMnLjheJ9MJ/?hl=en

gofundme for tu hoang lam - https://www.gofundme.com/f/2awx9r78pc?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer

anti-asian violence carrd - https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/

self-help resources from northwestern - https://www.northwestern.edu/counseling/self-help-resources/fighting-xenophobia-and-anti-asian-racism.html

a tumblr post with lots of other links to resources - https://donkuroo.tumblr.com/post/644675764167524352/important-please-read-if-you-care-about-the-asian

so many other ones, but i couldn’t link them all, but please check them out yourself :)

i hope everyone is doing okay during these hard times, and always remember that you are valid, your feelings are valid, and make sure to take care of yourself first. my blog is a safe place for everyone, so if you need any place to release all of these emotions you’re feeling, i welcome you with open arms. whether that is with a private message, ask, or an ask on anon, please do not hesitate to reach out. <3

#!!!#stop asian violence #stop aapi hate #stop asian hate

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amendments · 3 years

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Pro vs Anti-shipping opinions from someone who is Neutral...and will get canceled on both sides anyway

It’s fair and 100% ok to deem ships that are problematic, “problematic”, and be uncomfortable with them...and maybe even try to discourage people from shipping them, but you absolutely do not have the right to act like an authoritarian little sh!t and dictate what people can and can’t do. Block and move on.

Proshippers can effectively draw/write/create whatever they want. This is the internet and no matter how much you whine and complain, the internet isn’t going to adopt a pro-censorship stance. However, if you create content for an obviously disgusting pair, you’re going to get criticism, and people are going to find you creepy. You will be judged, even if you’re using your ship as a coping mechanism. No one is free from it.

Criticism, suggestions, and expression of discomfort are NOT BULLYING. If someone doesn’t like your ship, too bad. However, if you’re blatantly telling someone to kay why ess, hurt themselves, giving them some type of violent threat, or are doxxing them, you’re a disgusting person and no better than the people who commit said actions you’re against.

If you’re a proshipper and bullying kids, you’re also apart of the problem. Be the bigger person and block/report.

No, not all proshippers are creeps, some are just people who are anti-censorship, sick of PC culture and ship said ships out of spite, and/or don’t actually like anything bad themselves.

No, not all antis are annoying harassers, stalkers, or minors, some are people who are genuinely concerned about the questionable work you put out or may expose to minors/victims. Also, the lack of restrictions of minors in NSFW spaces is...sus -_-

Yes, there are predators in proship spaces, but there are also predators in antiship spaces, and literally everywhere else on the internet. This isn’t a ship problem, it’s a fandom problem.

Antis who claim that neutral people are just as bad as proshippers, actually push us away. You aren’t making us want to side with you. In fact, you’re doing the opposite. Most people who are neutral/position-less are actually people who really don’t care. Why? Because ships and fandoms don’t engulf our lives, and we actually have more important things to worry about than bullsh!t that strangers online are fighting about.

No, not saying anything or having a position on a topic is not inherently condoning it, it’s just not involving yourself in the problem. -_- It’s hard to really speak about something that’s not on your radar.

No, literally nobody in real life cares, or will care, about this debate. Most people (surprise, surprise) don’t really care about fandoms in general. (Amazing I know). Frankly, I’ve seen people on both sides that are waaaay to invested in this discourse and need to go outside. If you are super passionate about literal internet discourse, go to the park and touch grass.

Antis who are minors, I can genuinely tell you, that no, bosses in the real world really don’t care about what their employees do as hobbies outside of work. If you actually tried to contact employers about NSFW art (of fictional characters) that an employee drew on their own free time, unless you give them actual evidence of them acting inappropriately towards real people, they will ignore you. It is only a concern if that person has actually expressed illegal behavior which could put actual people in danger. (BDSM art of All Might and Deku isn’t going to get someone fired).

Antis, yeah, people will find problematic ships gross, if you tell someone about them. But, unless they are actively involved in internet fandom culture, which the vast majority of people aren’t, they’ll completely forget about it 5 mins later.

Proshippers, no, people in real life don’t care about what you ship in your private life, but if you make your whole identity about your ship, or proshipping, people will think you’re a creep. You’re chronically online. Get a hobby outside of internet discourse.

I will unfollow problematic people, and people who have caused harm, but if you tag me because I’m following a proshipper, simply because they are a proshipper, and have not actually been a perve to real children, I’m not unfollowing them. And if you pester me about it, I will unfollow, block, and report YOU. Who I follow is my business, and I will not tolerate being harassed over Twitter drama. Buzz off.

I will also not unfollow someone who identifies as an anti, or simply criticized your ship if you do not give me evidence of them actually harassing people. I am allowed to have an opinion and engage with people who have similar disapproving opinions. Who I choose to interact with is my business alone.

I’m not un-tweeting a tweet just because a self proclaimed “proshipper” or “anti” tweeted it. Good art is good art, and good takes are good takes.

Some of you overuse the word “p£do” in references to ships. I don’t care how you view it, a ship between an adult and a minor that has a 2-3 year age gap is not p€dop1llic. This age gap is completely common among teenagers in real life, and you’re honestly sheltered if you think that’s automatically predatory. A 16 year old dating an 18 year old is a LOT less worse than a 20 year old dating a 30 year old, and the latter isn’t any less predatory or weird just because they’re both adults.

No, ships between two adults with a very large age gap, are technically not p€doph1llic, either. They may be predatory in nature, and you may perceive them as wrong and gross, but if it ain’t already illegal in real life, then it definitely ain’t on paper.

It doesn’t matter if she’s 1000 years old, we all know what the underlying intention of that character design is, buddy.

Speaking of underlying intentions, there’s a lot of unspoken racism and xenophobia rampant in anti-spaces...like more so than in pro-ship spaces. Racism is everywhere in fandoms, but white, western antishippers are...a particular breed...oozing with arrogance and ethnocentrism.

Thanks for reading my rambling novel if you made it to the end, this is just a venting post. I hate discourse.

#pro ship #anti ship #pro shipping #anti shipping #ship discourse #pro shippers #anti shippers #fandom disk horse #haha #I don't care if i anger you #stay mad #don't like block #fandom #pro shippers aren't oppressed #but neither are antis #this is such a white debate lol #minors aren't oppressed either #boo hoo #oh pooor me

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geshertzarmeod · 3 years

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In Other Lands Character Arcs

(Spoilers Abound)

I’m thinking about how the character arcs of all three main characters from In Other Lands center largely on moving away from what their families expected of them, even as each of them doesn’t necessarily think moving away from that is possible. And how it’s their relationships with each other that help them move in the directions they actually want to move in, and believe in their abilities to forge their own paths and lead fulfilling lives. Even if it’s not what their parents or home communities think a fulfilling life entails. This culminates in their refusal (along with Golden) at the end of the book, to let anyone else influence them when it comes to deciding where to be stationed. They’re ready to choose their own paths, together.

There’s something deeply appealing to me about this as a queer person, even as queerness (as defined by orientation or gender) is not actually a central factor in the shifting of each character’s relationship with their families. Actually, the character who comes closest to that is Serene, who is presumedly straight, but whose pushback against the rigid gendered expectations of her society so challenge her community that she and Golden are essentially banished at least for a time. This is only tangentially queer, I’d say, because she does this not for herself, as she seems to proudly fit & identify with elven womanhood, but recognizes the false limiting of manhood within her society and fights fiercely for Luke, Elliot, and eventually Golden, who I’d say is GNC for sure. For Luke, it’s not his being gay but his being monogamous and waiting longer than they expected (though he’s like, still 17!!! that’s still young!!!) to become sexually or romantically active that is off-putting to his family. For Elliot, his father is shocked not to see him with a man, but to see him happy (cue my tears).

I was just thinking this after reading Girl, Serpent, Thorn especially, but I really love when queer books parallel queer narratives of shame and struggle and difference and growing pains, with queer characters, but about issues unrelated to their being queer (especially when they’re about magical/fantasy elements). Then we get to relate to queer characters and see them process a lot of the feelings we have experienced, but also get to see them be loved and value and supported unconditionally in their queerness. Anyway, for an individual analysis:

Luke Sunborn

First, because I know a lot of people might not have read it, I’m going to quote Luke’s perspective from Wings In The Morning:

There were reasons Luke hadn’t kissed anybody. The Sunborns, as a family, loved life and loved love, and treated it as a game. It was fine for them: it worked for them.

Luke had always known that a riot of brightness and different loves and leaving someone laughing was beyond him. He wanted kindness and steadiness: he did not want someone who would leave. He wanted love that would last. (location 2527 in my kindle book, I can’t tell what page)

Luke, the Sunborn champion, expected to excel in battle, and love (read: have sex) freely and easily and non-monogamously, becoming an avid reader because of Elliot - something his father is shocked by and a little ashamed of. Learning Elvish because of both of them. Breaking border camp rules, threatening superior officers, to protect Elliot, and to support Serene, even as he continually complains about it and, on paper, would always argue that those choices are Not Okay and Very Bad. Luke, whose bashful shyness around his crushes, whose concern over his first kiss, whose choice of Elliot as a partner, is incomprehensible to his family, snapping, “I don’t want anyone else,” at the elves. He’s chosen Elliot, even as Elliot still doesn’t at all believe it at that point, and he’s happy with that decision. Elliot’s his choice, and only Elliot. Notorious Sunborn sexual voracity be damned.

Luke’s journey is also largely about him working through his external, and later internalized, biases against magical creatures. It’s pretty clearly an analog to xenophobia, and Luke expresses more disgust, disdain, or fear, the more different a culture is from the one he grew up in. This obviously becomes internalized against himself, when he realizes he is half-harpy. He literally represses his wings from coming out, he sees harpies as monsters and includes himself within this. It’s awful, and it’s sad, and it’s a mixture of Elliot’s meticulous research and adamant arguments that harpies are people, and that Luke isn’t a monster at all (and neither are harpies and other non-human creatures), and Serene’s calm acceptance of him, that helps him move through this.

This xenophobia, although clearly ingrained since childhood, don’t seem to be coming primarily from his family (certainly not from his mother) but from the culture of the borderguard in general. To me, it is implied that his father might at least casually buy into a lot of this, although he would never extend it to his son. It also is an interesting dynamic as related to the other two’s relationships with family, because Luke coming to love and accept himself, and to open his mind about non-human creatures, is actually him coming closer to his mother, rather than moving away. In my view, a part of why he bought in so clearly to this prejudice coming from the general bordercamp culture is because he was pushing away from his parents in the first place - he saw his parents being so wild and free in a way he knew he could never be that he pushed himself into the opposite side, into “reason” and restraint and conservatism. What he needed to learn was how to hold his more “traditional” wants and needs (although like, he’s kind of wrong about that. Elliott Schafer is not the traditional kind quiet love he’s imagining, and he didn’t want that anyway) while still celebrating all of the different approaches and cultures and loves out there, and that’s what he’s learning alongside Elliot and Serene. And he does this partially because Elliot’s love for him as a half-harpy is, according to his previous beliefs, just as wild and out there as his mother’s affair with his biological father, or all of Elliot’s flirting with various magical creatures. And as he accepts Elliot’s love, he accepts that too.

Serene-Heart-In-The-Chaos-of-Battle

From the first moment we meet Serene we know she ran away from home to join the border camp. She’s chosen to join the humans, to fight alongside men, to learn about the borderlands from a human perspective and use that to create an alliance and to create peace. She enters a world where she is looked down on, where she is sexualized and punished for trying to swim shirtless, and has to fight hard to take the classes she wants and have the opportunity to prove herself as she wishes. Instead of deciding her parents and community were right and going back to the elves, she digs her heels in and with Elliot and Luke’s help, fights back, fights to excel at the border camp and make things different and better, and prove her detractors wrong.

Not only that, but she learns to respect men in a way she was not raised to do, learns to treat men as equals and partners, always defending both Elliot and Luke when her community disrespects them. This prepares her for her relationship with Golden (although Elliot still helps her along a lot, especially with their written correspondence) and ends in her and Golden essentially eloping after Golden ran away to fight alongside her. It’s also important that she accepts Golden fighting alongside her. That was not at all a given, especially as even towards the middle of the book, she seems to be thinking of human men as capable of fighting and strength and other “womanly” qualities, but not necessarily believing the same of elven men. She’s chosen a nontraditional path and a GNC partner in Golden, and for the time being, her closest family is not her blood but her beautiful boyfriend, her swordsister, and her loved and loving best friend Elliot.

Elliot Schafer

Last but the opposite of least is Elliot. What Elliot learned from his family is that he will come to nothing, that he will be forgotten, and that he will not be loved. I am so angry on this child’s behalf, for the ways he was neglected not only by his parents but by everyone before Serene. The ways his father had no interest in him because all he wanted was Elliot’s mother back (and I love Elliot’s observation that even if his mother did come back, his father wouldn’t know what to do, and would not be happy). The way his teacher literally accepted a small bribe to just...... leave him at the entrance to the borderlands, and none of the students cared. The way his mother not only left when he was a child but knew who he was the second she saw or even heard about him at the bordercamp, and never bothered to tell him, or show any interest in him whatsoever.Elliot has been taught, over and over again, that he is unwanted and uncared for. That he has to go it alone, and fill his own needs.

Elliot learns to respect Commander Woodsinger and to know that while she doesn’t necessarily love him, she knows him, and appreciates who and what he is, and sees value and strength in it. She, unlike his previous teachers and school professionals, understands him, and likes him, and values him. She’s not warm, but she’s a positive presence in his life, and part of him learning to believe he has value just as he is, and not just because he spitefully decided it to go against what everyone else has told him, but because it’s actually true.

He didn’t want his parents and his peers and the adults who have let him down to be right about this, so he does dream of being loved back. But he shows himself fully prepared to be the one who loves more in relationships, especially with Serene. He’s ready, at first, to take all she’ll give him, and revel in each part of it, even if it doesn’t match up to his love for her. It’s not until the moment he turns down Serene’s final advance (when she’s clearly settling for him) that he realizes how much he wants to be chosen first. And he believes that’s possible, and worth waiting for (and that in the meantime, he will help Serene up and help her find what she truly wants too).

Elliot knows Serene loves him. She shows him he deserves love, and in his devotion to her, Elliot begins to excel and challenge himself and learn to see his brand of obnoxiousness as something that might not be everyone’s taste but isn’t inherently bad. He trusts Serene to love him, at least as a friend, but he doesn’t trust that Luke will, because Luke reminds him of all of the kids who hurt him in the past.

And that’s why the slowest arc of this whole book is probably Elliot realizing that Luke.... actually likes him. Actually wants to be around him, and enjoys his presence, and even like-likes him - loves him even. It just can’t compute for him. And so we get basically an unreliable narration for most of the book regarding Luke. Elliot’s “aha” moment about Luke rewrites years of his life, shifting his understanding of so much of their lives together. And it solidifies Elliot’s discovery that he can be loved exactly as he is, obnoxious and annoying and all. He’s found people who love him for it, and they’ve chosen him, and they’re going to stick around.

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ponyguru · 3 years

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My Little Pony: A New Generation Review

By ME, Ponyguru! Because you were all waiting for it, I’m sure! (Hee hee!)

The movie has been out for a couple of days, so I’ll list my general opinion, then add some spoilery bits behind a cut, in case you haven’t seen it yet! It’s on Netflix right now, but I’m sure (if the fandom is keeping up its pace) it’ll be mirrored elsewhere pretty soon.

So, overall: I liked the first MLP movie more than this one. (No, not the 80s one, I mean the one with Tempest Shadow!) That’s not to say that this movie wasn’t enjoyable! It was very fun, and I got some genuine laughs and ‘OMG did you see that?!’ moments out of it. I became invested in the characters! I will be watching it again! And considering that I’m not the market audience (adult woman in her 30s), that’s probably pretty good! But then again, I have watched some truly questionable stuff in the name of pony, so take that as you will.

Highlights: new pony content (always fun!), fun jokes, intriguing plot, nice songs, and the ponies are not quite as human-shaped as I had been afraid. The muzzles are actually pretty well defined from the side, so they look much less like humans than I had feared, based on screencaps and vectors. I was also worried it was going to be Social Justice Lite based on some plot spoilers, so the fact that it wasn’t (and didn’t devolve into Br*ny memes or fandom references) had me incredibly relieved. This may make me more forgiving of the movie as a whole than the average viewer, due to the psychic damage I’ve taken from viewing the Brone Documentary.

Lowlights: the plot feels rushed at the end, the resolution feels hurried; the fact that the villains are never really, uh, addressed? feels weird (I guess I’m used to the clear-cut ‘you are defeated and will face punishment/get redeemed’ pattern from G4), the music isn’t as catchy or hummable as the first movie (none of the songs ‘stuck’ with me, meanwhile Tempest Shadow’s ‘Open Up Your Eyes’ literally stuck with me to the point that I had to buy the soundtrack), some of the characterization feels very shallow and, again, rushed. I felt there was a moment where Izzy referenced not having many friends, and I thought there would be some kind of exploration of that... nope, rushing into another musical number! And, finally, after years of BLM and police brutality protests, the choice of villain feels timely (trying to be vague for the sake of spoilers)... but when one of their ‘friends’ is a ‘by the book, we gotta follow the law’ cop (which they try to soften by calling him a ‘sheriff’, which doesn’t work in a non-American West themed world), makes me distrust him more than anything. I don’t really want to see MLP redeem a cop; I want MLP to be outside of that kind of real-world ugliness. Pony xenophobia is one thing, but pony police forces feel like a step too far, at least in our current society. Even if he’s voiced by the handsome James Marsden!

Okay, some spoilery thoughts beneath the cut! Thanks for reading this far!

Only keep reading if you’ve seen the movie! I’m not kidding about spoilers! :P Proceed with caution!

Okay, so, the villain: ostensibly, it’s Sprout, right? The overpowered cop who has a grandiose sense of self, seizes power, literally pilots a pony-robot and smashes up Sunny’s home.

Why the fuck is his mother allowed to, what, remain in power in Maretime Bay? The movie ends, and it’s all “whoopsie-doopsie, I know I was a xenophobic war-profiteer who fed my followers a fake sense of fear and urgency to the point of creating a mob mentality for the sake of capitalism, but since my son (who I groomed for this) built a Gundam I guess I get off scott free!” What the fuck? First of all, Karen would have been a more fitting name than Phyllis in this case (although Phyllis is funny too, ngl), but she’s allowed to just ... stay in power? We see her standing next to the pegasus and unicorn leaders at the end of the movie, vowing to abolish xenophobia or whatever, but why the hell isn’t she in chains??? (And yes, I’m sure it’s partly because it’s a children’s movie, but that doesn’t mean we should see her face ZERO repercussions!) Alphabittle and the pegasus queen aren’t great leaders, sure; but we also don’t see extended scenes of them war profiteering, either. They both seem like more capable leaders than Phyllis!!

The other ponies, like I said, felt pretty flat, characterization wise; the vibe I got from the movie was that Izzy was incredibly lonely, which while it sets us up nice for some more character exploration in the miniseries, you need to have ... SOME, for the movie itself? Pipp was a super-fun character for me, but that’s because I basically just viewed her as Ariana Grande the pony. I also was waiting for an explanation of why Hitch was so magnetic to animals that ... never happened. Does he eventually get out of sheriffing to be a friend to the animals? Who knows!

I did like how we saw the differentiation between technology levels in the movie; the unicorn forest seemed to have very little if none, whereas earth ponies were more mid-level technology, and pegasi ponies seemed very high-tech. The little advertising/influencer references I caught were all very fun, but I wish they had leaned into the pony references a little harder, like in Zootopia. The icon they used for the pony news show seemed to just be the CBS eye icon. Do ponies have CBS? It felt kind of lazy. That said, I thought I’d hate ponies with cell phones, but they made it very fun, so I enjoyed it! (I definitely had the ‘ha ha, I do that!’ kind of amusement.)

Like I said, the ending felt rushed, and it felt a little bit ‘okay movie’s over now, let’s wrap it up!’ kind of feeling. Okay, Sunny got wings and a horn; it felt almost, idk, a foregone conclusion? Almost like a letdown, like it was so hurried it didn’t feel like it gave the proper payoff. The return of alicorn magic should be a HUGE DEAL, but maybe because her dad was fridged for drama (which never really happened? it felt brushed aside unless Sunny needed to have a 30-second depression which she immediately got over) we didn’t have anyone with the knowledge base to point out how important that was for the other ponies/the viewers.

Did I mention yet that I still don’t like the idea of having cops as sympathetic characters in the movie, even if they don’t call them cops, even if they have a good cop/bad cop dynamic to make us empathize with one? Because TBH, Hitch was not very endearing to me for a lot of the time (”I love rules” isn’t gonna sell it to me or to kids, I imagine), and the fact that he was a shitty friend to the orphaned Sunny didn’t endear him to me, either. I’m sure it was supposed to show his character growth - first he’s just Phyllis’ lackey, but soon he grows into his own man who sides with Sunny because it’s morally right - but I didn’t really feel that payoff very strongly. I mean ... he’s still a sheriff at the end, right?

All in all, I may just be more critical of this movie because A) I’m an adult and B) I’m viewing it through the eyes of a fan who enjoyed years of pony stories. It may be that all of my nitpicking is something that they chose to gloss over for the sake of the runtime or the young viewers! But I wouldn’t be a fan if I didn’t nitpick, so maybe my nitpicking will be fun to read, at least! I’m curious to see how my viewpoints change after I watch it again, or read more fandom insight. I know I’m someone who goes ‘woah, I didn’t think of that!’ when I read other peoples’ opinion pieces!

While on one hand I do hope the Br*ny thing dies, I hope that the same level of fandom interest won’t fade. I’ve gotten spoiled over the years by having tons of fan art, fan fiction, merchandise info and immediate uploads of episodes to enjoy. I will be very sad if that dies, but if it’s the sacrifice that we need to make to end the B-word stuff, it’s a trade I’m willing to make. Either way, I’ll still be here enjoying pony stuff, and making my own content! It’s just nice to do it with other people!

#in which I ramble

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mcnuggyy · 3 years

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As a POC I think the race in bio is a bad idea? Looking at it critically I can’t imagine a way in which having to disclose your race (and by not having a race posted also discloses your race) could not break bad eventually. People don’t owe you their identity, especially on an anonymous platform like this, and that statement has to include white people. You need to consider that by asking a certain group to disclose their race you’re creating a divide that can be turned against POC

Honestly I would agree if we lived in a perfect world, but we don’t. Again, I clearly stated that I would obviously not force anyone to ever disclose any info if they didn’t want to, especially if they’re a minor or feel unsafe or uncomfortable to do so!

HOWEVER, if you ARE a white person, CONSTANTLY talking about issues of race or inserting yourself in specific spaces for POC, THEN YOU NEED TO DISCLOSE THAT YOU ARE WHITE. I feel like that is a very obvious thing to do. ESPECIALLY if you have seen the way white artists and NonBlack artists have been acting towards Black artists on twitter... Idk if you’ve seen the amount of white people who hijacked Blacktober, or other specific events made for Black people, to celebrate their work, that have had to deal with so many NonBlack artists either posting in their spaces or trying to purposely speak on issues that do not concern them, or “accidentally” using the tag because they didn’t realize it was only for Black people even though it clearly stated that it was. LIKE the list goes on and on.

And AGAIN, I said, the average Joe doesn’t have to disclose shit, but as soon as you start making content or comments about issues that are not specific to your unique experience, then I think it’s pretty understandable to say, “ hey, where are your thoughts and idea’s coming from? “ Ya know?

And you know what, White people DO owe me, as a Latine person, to tell me they are White, the SECOND they try and start having a conversation with me on Immigration, or Mexican caricatures and stereotypes, or racism and xenophobia specific to me and my families experience. Or making content that is specific to mine and my families experiences. Cause that HAS happened to me before.

All I asked was that White creatives and White people who have something to say about race and or want to participate in conversations that deal with race and culture, or make art outside of their experiences, say they’re White. That’s IT. I never said every White person HAS to do this, and agree that NO ONE should be forced to disclose any information if they feel unsafe doing so. White people would be completely safe disclosing their race... I mean they’re literally white. So I don’t understand the issue in what I’m saying at all.

I feel like this is so obvious, and I think most people now disclose their race and pronouns all the time anyways, it’s just a nice thing to do, (and artists do it all the time cause we know it’s important as small public figures) and I feel like POC do it ALL the time already cause it helps us connect with one another and find safe communities, but when I ask WHITE people to do that, (and only very specific groups of white people aka creatives and people who want to talk about race) now I’m causing a divide... okay 🙄

#I mean agree to disagree #but i really did say this specifically applies to a certain group of white people #smh #I'm not saying anything controversial at all too #like other POC have been saying this for a while too #Like not to be an asshole #but the fact that you're anonymous #and are trying to have this convo with me #I have to give you the benefit of the doubt #and usually I do #but there is ALWAYS a chance that the person being anonymous is someone else #and that's why I either have to decide if I can trust this random anonymous person in my inbox #or not #ya know?#that's part of the issue #anonymous #replies #callate guero

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tweedstoat · 3 years

Note

What's your favourite quotes or lines that you've written in your fics?

THANK YOU FOR ASKING ME THIS. I’ll discuss my all time fav quote

Ok so if you’ve read the end notes of my fic A tigress, not a woman you’ll know that i drew a LOT of inspiration from my favourite Greek play - Medea by Euripides. As i stated in my note there are a surprisingly large amount of similarities between Medea and Elia:

Both are foreign princesses

In a strange city facing huge amounts of xenophobia

Abandoned by their husbands for a woman who arguably has more social capital than them (Lyanna is younger, able-bodied, and white. Glauce in Medea was the princess of the city in which Medea lived and from context clues seems to have been younger than Medea)

They have 2 children with the husband who abandoned them

Their children's lives are directly threatened by husband’s actions

Also this was me mining the show for the few good scraps they created but both Elia and Medea are connected with Tiger imagery. Medea is described as a "a tigress, not a woman" and Elia "fought like a tigress against Gregor Clegane".

Both are connected with sun imagery. Elia’s house sigil is a spear piercing a sun and Medea is the grand-daughter of the sun god Helios

Both are connected with snake imagery. Dorne’s got a snake motif, and Oberyn is the red viper and Medea has a golden chariot drawn by flying snakes (so basically dragons but they look distinctly snakey in art)

The play ends after Medea murders her two children, her husbands new father in law, and her husbands new wife all for revenge on Jason. And escapes using the golden chariot sent down by her grand-father in what is probably the first and most literal example of a deus ex machina.

The interesting thing though is that Medea is defiant to the last. She isnt sorry for what she’s done to Jason her philandering husband. Although she does escape with the bodies of her children to give them proper burials, she expresses regret for what she had to suffer as the mother who killed them, and rightfully points out that Jason was a terrible father who was willing to exile his own children and shouldn’t cry crocodile tears now that theyre dead. In fact the last part of the play is them raining down curses on each other and Medea doesn’t face any retribution for what she’s done. The rules are different for her. Shes a sorceress, and of divine descent and Jason, who discarded her under the presumption that she was a woman and couldn’t do anything to stop him, is left with nothing.

I really wanted to drive home the connections between Elia and Medea and show that Elia wasnt sorry for what she’d done to Rhaegar and that she gained strength and confidence from her public victory at the trial and was defiant to the last - so I included this part:

“She catches a glimpse of a woman in a window as she walks past and is stunned to realize it is her own reflection. She can barely recognize herself. Her eyes are flashing, her head is thrown back proudly, and a curious trick of the glass makes it look like she is in the street; standing at the head of her own gilded carriage that waits outside.

Elia’s red mouth curves upwards and she takes one last look at the lady in the glass, making her triumphant procession in a golden chariot.”

Elia is making her triumphant progression after Rhaegar humiliated her under the assumption that she would never leave him, would agree to a polygamous marriage, and would have to grin and bear it because she was a woman. She doesnt care that she’s dragged his name through the mud, basically implied that he’s an apostate and therefore a danger to the ‘god-fearing’ adherents of the faith of the seven further de-legitimizing him. She’s getting away in her golden chariot!

I toyed with the idea of having Oberyn drive a carriage to come pick her up (so literally a snake at the head of a carriage) but I decided not to. I wanted to drive home that the victory was completley Elia’s so I had her have a sort of vision/optical illusion of herself through the stained glass window (this was also me being catholic on main)

Thank you for asking me!!

#Elia Martell #A tigress not a woman #straight up this is my favourite part of everything ive ever written so thank you for the opportunity to talk about it #also sorry for the long ass lesson on a totally different story lmao #see this is how my essays get so long i always gotta do a 500 word history lesson #anyways everyone go read Medea its great #sansakatara #asks

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kendrixtermina · 4 years

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The “Genocidal Edelgard” Shallowtake

I was not going to make a post about this because it’s most likely futile and not going to convince anyone nor do I believe in dinifying the purity police with attention, but maybe it will let some ppl know that they dont have to let themselves be shamed for liking the wrong video game character

Whatever might have been the case in the distant past when Nemesis was around, by the “present day” the Nabateans are not at all some commonly oppressed stereotyped minority - the setting is chock full of characters that fit that bill a lot better like Dedue or Cyril. Characters that are ordinary humans not magic dragons.

And even that is more founded on general purpose xenophobia than from the specific, relatively new early modernity construct of racism. (the dedue situation probably comes the closest)

Sure, Seteth and Flays have to hide from their old enemy the Agarthans, I see how some might find that relatable etc. but most of the population isn’t aware that they exist at all. They hold high status positions, are worshipped by the local religion and Rhea all but rules the entire continent (and says so herself to Byleth in that speech about how she was just “ruling this wayward country in your stead”, “you” being Sothis) - though that is mostly Rhea’s doing of which Seteth and Flayn are relatively innocent.

The interviews pretty much confirmed that the Nabateans constituted the local aristocracy and that many humans genuinely saw the Elites as liberators - though there was definitely also an element of ppl going around killing random Nabateans to gain superpowers, not to speak of Nemesis’ very obvious very unambiguous mass murder. Not wanting to be ruled over by foreign powers is understandable, though obviously killing them all down to the last civilian was just flat out evil - its certainly not a simple situation, we can all agtree Nemesis & the Agarthans were evil but there is no clear defined good guy.

There are historical conflicts you could compare this to, perhaps some conflicts in Africa or the middle eastwhere different groups took turns being the ruling class after the latest war, but it’s not at all like the modern USA or early modernity colonialism, and forcing every real or, in this case, imagined scenario inherently dependent of fantasy elements, into this one framework from the present or near past isn’t conductive to understanding at all.

And in the present day, by the time Edelgard is alive, we are talking about three specific people that she has good reason to dislike individually. Not any sort of group at all.

She calls Rhea a cruel beast because that’s all she’s ever seen Rhea to be. She’s the shadow tyrant who rules her world, who created the crappy world Edelgard grew up in. It’s no different Cubans thiking badly of the castros after suffering through famines - or, no need for such extreme examples really, ppl call their least favorite politicians monsters all the time.

She’s wrong to assume that Seteth & Flayn are wholly on board with this, but on the other hand, it’s not at all a far-fetched assumption to make: They hold high positions in the church though they ostensimbly just appreared out of nowhere one day. Do you have to be an evil bigot to assume that the brother and right hand man to the tyrannical god-queen is condoning & supporting her actions?

The truth is of course that underneath her pseudo-parental facade Rhea is sort of a scared girl, very lonely, very afraid, and ashamed, in a shallow, childish way, for “breaking the rules” just because they are rules. She says she can’t trust anyone, that she feels lonely & isolated... and while no one can blame her for distrusting humans after the slaughter of her people, but the reason she can’t trust Seteth is that she’s keeping her bad deeds secret from him. He wasn’t there the whole time, he just showed up a few decades earlier.

She sees herself only as filling out for Sothis and doesn’t quite grasp that she’s in charge, very much a follower personality bent on stasis & regularity.

Is Edelgard obliged to try & unravel the complex psychology of the tyrant who rules her home to correctly deduce why she would deceive even her own family? By all intents and purposes, Edelgard is the one getting rid of an oppressive government that doesn’t let ordinary humans let a say at all. A government where ppl of others faiths and nationalities are typically oppressed unless they work directly for the church.

It’s like having a disdain for, say, Ivanka Trump. She holds a high position in her father’s administration despite having no obvious qualifications, she appears to be profiting & making bank from her father’s atrocities, she certainly hasn’t done anything to stop him or disavow him the way that, say, her cousin Mary did - if you suffered under Trump’s regime you’d be very justified in assuming that Invanka is probably a bad person.

Flayn only looks young (She might not if we saw her in other clothes). I mean, Kronya could badly impersonate a schoolgirl. At the very least they’ve supported the regime by refusing to question their own side and they show some however benevolent belief that it is their duty to “guide” the people. Leaving her to the Agarthans is certainly questionable, but no more so than doing it with Rhea herself, under the assumption that she’s guilty and that it’s a sacrifice that will prevent larger chaos. The agarthans had their plan long before they created Edelgard as we know her, and she couldn’t stop their plots all on her own.

You could say that it’s callous, distasteful or a deal breaker - as the death knight is her direct subordinate & she makes a personal appearance in mask, I would argue that she definitely knew & sanctioned the kidnapping - but she’s no more callous towards Flayn than towards anybody else.

Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re evil, or that they deserve to die.... and Edelgard would agree with me. She doing all this to prevent death – flipping the lever on the trolley problem so it crushes one person instead of five so to speak. She always gives her enemies the chance to surrender, unwilling allies the chance to leave, and jails enemies whenever leaving them alive wouldn‘t lead to further death… even the ones she has the most personal reason to hate, like the PM.

As servants of the church who have chosed to back her enemies, she’ll certainly kill them if she has to, but not any more than any other enemy. At no point anywhere in the story does she say anything like that they need to die on principle. Nowhere at all. Indeed there is much evidence to the contrary.

The church paints her as being completely against the religion or even wanting to set herself up as a satanic godess cause it‘s good politics & they don‘t get what she‘s doing – to an extent her own credibility & messaging is compromised by her secretive and at times unscrupulous actions, no one said she was perfect. In truth all she wants is to have the church out of politics, you know, what we have in nearly every modern country outside the vatican and saudi arabia.

You can absolutely let Flayn & Seteth go on CF and there is no word, no fuss about it anywhere. No „make sure to kill em all“ which would certainly be there if the narrative wanted to portray Edelgard that way. It requires the mediation of Byleth as someone they would talk to & not immediately assume the worst of, but, they see the church as the embodymet of all that is good & fighting its enemies as their sacred duty so of course it wouldn‘t be possible for just anyone to talk them down. It‘s framed as Flayn letting Byleth go cause they saved her life once, even if we know from behind the screen that she wasn‘t going to survive a fight to the death against the player-controlled faction.

Heck, even when it comes to Rhea, the one most guilty that Edelgard has the most reason to loathe, she‘s ultimately surprisingly gracious. She gives her the option to surrender – and this is not a lie, she discusses this with Byleth in a lecture question, and seriously ponders the possibility. Here Byleth gets a range of options like „stab her in the back“ and „keep the church under imperial control“ but you know which one nets you the support points? „Strip her of her authority so she can‘t interfere in politics“. She wasn‘t gonna mess with the religious folks & their religion at all, just make it so it‘s separate from government. Rhea could even keep being pope, if she could be satisfied without having complete supreme authority (and ripping her precious artifact out of Byleth‘s chest) – even when she puts her down she‘s not 100% without pity, telling her that „Your duty is done“ (the translators mucked this up)

Couldn‘t be any further from „lets kill them all on principle“.

What really annoys me is how ppl go and twist everything Edelgard says out of context to ascribe a motive to her that just isn’t there.

Common examples:

„If you have Flayn or Seteth fight her she‘ll say they need to die because they‘re nabateans“

Actually what she says is this: „You are a child of the godess. You must not have power over the people!“ Not getting to be privileges rulers anymore =/= being opressed. Stay out of politics =/= Diediedie. Also, this is from the VW/SS boss fight, where they have literally come to get her in her own capital.

„Linhard & Leonie don‘t tell her & hubert about Indech, probably cause he expects that she‘ll go & kill him„

What he actually says is: „Lake Teutates is a place that concerns the saints of the Church of Seiros. It may become bothersome should the two of them find out...“

„It may be bothersome“ as in, „we might get in trouble“, for doing the possibly very inadvisable thing of waltzing into what could possibly be an enemy location to satisfy personal curiosity. If it‘s something related to her agenda she might take over and Linny wouldn‘t get to investigate as he pleases – at very most you might construe it as Linny fearing that they‘ll be accused of consorting with the enemy, but „bothersome“ suggest possible annoyance not imminent murder.

The whole scene ends with Linhard telling Byleth to fill her in later. Doesn‘t sound at all like he expects her to go back with a harpoon.

„She said Claude isn‘t fit to be a ruler cause he‘s a foreigner“

What she actually says: „I understand your ideals are not so far removed from my own. But without knowledge of Fodlan‘s history, I cannot entrust its rule to you“

Now without the additional contexts that Claude won‘t get until after the fight, it might easily feel a bit like the former with the raw spots he‘d have from his backstory, but what she means is that he‘s ignorant of the Agarthan threat – which he is. Edelgard is all for making peace with Almyra and sees fostering isolationism & prejudice as one of the many faults of the church.

Once Claude basically kills Edelgard for information, he winds up having to take care of the storm she had been holding back. But to his credit, he DID „finish the job“ and get the info. But he didn‘t have it at that point.

And I don‘t mean any of this in the least bit as a diss of Claude - He is the smartest character, so there would be no plot if he got easy access to the info. At this point, they both think they can probably do better, and more importantly, both their backstories have made them so that they won‘t let down their guard far enough to cooperate in this scenario.

That‘s also why the outcome in CF is contingent on Byleth‘s choice. - You‘d sort of have to trust that he will also act so as to minimize casualties.

Very disingenious since many players wouldn‘t necessarily trigger these dialogues.

I guess because Adrestia got a vaguely central-european aesthetic (partially; all the countries are hodgepodge mashups and there’s more than enough spanish or ancient roman vibes there) and central europe existed only for those 12 years of tyranny I guess, even though many other places have had similar BS happening, including the US that delights in making craptons of movies about their faraway victory because their governments haven’t added much of value to the planet as of late. -.-

Faerghus (vaguely french/ russian - not at all places where nothing bad happened ever) has actually annexed some territory from their northern neighbors in the recent past, not to speak of the whole Duscur atrocity - but no one seems to go around laying that at Dimitri’s feet, because it would be nonsensical - he was a child at the time and as an individual he is super against it and champions a policy of reconcilliation if he gets to rule. after all, there wouldn’t be much of a plot if the characters inherited three perfect faultless problem free countries.

Edelgard, too, is completely against the previous administration under Duke Aegir (which was in charge during the Bridgid war). She deposed him and is plotting to do the same with Arundel once she can politically afford to do so. For all that one can understand why she would chose the other path (depending on how much she knows about what Edelgard’s doing and why) it makes all the sense in the world for Petra to support her on CF or if not recruited, because again, she got rid of that previous administration.

#edelgard #edelgard von hresvelg #fe3h #fire emblem: three houses #fire emblem three houses

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loadet851 · 3 years

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Pc Games With Character Creation Offline

Games With Character Customization Pc

Steam Games With Character Creation

One of the things I love most in a RPG (Role-Playing Game) is the possibility of creating my own character with tons of different options and add-ons. I made a research yesterday and found some interesting PC Games I already knew about, adding them to the titles I have or plan to get with the best Character Customization. I’m going to list them here for you guys also attaching a few videos so that you can see directly how they work and what kind of possibilities they offer.

It’s the main reason I enjoy games like Skyrim and Fallout. But there seem to be so few good (single player) games with decent character creation - and not just picking from a few presets. The character creation in Dragon Age: inquisition was amazing (although I struggled to enjoy the game) as well as Saints Row (which I really enjoyed). Addicting Offline Co-op Games For PC You’ll Want To Play. Dennis Patrick / Features / Best Co-op PC Games, Co-op, Cooperative. Sonic the Hedgehog is a staple video game character. Best MMORPG with Character Creation. Final Fantasy 14 has one of the most complex and sophisticated character editors. In this game, you can change the smallest details using different sliders, pick a unique voice, or add unique tattoos, accessories and facial paint. What Are Best RPGs With Character Creation? Role-playing games let us live out some of our greatest fantasies like slaying dragons, saving the world and owning a house. Whether your main character is dead, alive, or somewhere in between, these games will let you adjust your appearance and abilities to however you see fit. I've always loved games that give you the option to create your character before you start in the world. I enjoy the game even more when it has role playing or social aspects added to it, allowing you interact with NPCs, or other players if the game has a multiplayer feature. Just character creation would interest me enough to check any game out.

Follow me under the cut if you’re curious!

I’ve been introduced to this type of creation with a game I still keep in my heart and consider one of the best of all times; The Sims 2. Seriously, I’ve created so many 3D characters that if I could win an award I’d have 200 on my shelf by now.

With that said, here you are my personal list of PC games with their awesome customization in no particular order:

I tried this game myself (the free beta that is) a few times in the past and I swear the CC included in it is currently one of my favorite. Without the complete pack I probably didn’t have a lot of additional options available in terms of clothes, makeup and hair, but what truly mesmerized me at the time was the shaping tool, not yet common in games when they released EVE. You can grab and drag different parts of the head and body, modeling unique characters every time.

2. Black Desert Online

This game has been released recently with two different packages and it seems to be quite a popular MMORPG (Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) in Russia and Korea. I’m not surprised considering the quality this game seems to have and its customization is clearly no less. Just like EVE Online, Black Desert offers a good sculpt instrument to shape faces and bodies as much as you like, plus a beautiful variety of colors and combinations.

UPDATE: The game is also available on Steam!

This patch lets you play Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks with mostly non-touch based controls. The new control bindings are Control Bindings: D-Pad=Run Y+Dpad=Walk B=Wide slash B+Dpad=Long slash Y+B=Spin Attack A=Interact A+Dpad=Roll. Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks D-Pad Patch This patch implements non-touchscreen controls for essential actions in Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks. Legend of zelda spirit tracks xenophobia patched rom.

3. Blade&Soul

This is another Asian MMORPG with the classical ‘Anime’ style, you cannot freely reshape the character’s structure, only pick one of the available presets and play around with the sliders to modify the whole body. Andy mckinney molly hatchet. Still, I honestly like the bright colors, the races/classes and the fact that you can actually recreate other existing characters using additional content (just like this guy did with Cloud from Final Fantasy VII).

4. BLESS Online

Yes, another Asian online title. Hey, it’s not my fault if they look so pretty! Bless is quite recent and not yet released in its final stage, but judging by how the CC works you have as much freedom as in EVE or Black Desert and the same unmistakable Fantasy touch.

5. The Sims 4

Didn’t I mention The Sims 2? Well, looks like the latest title in the series has improved quite a lot in this area. The shaping/sculpting method is here as well, considering that we finally have more possibilities I certainly won’t complain!

Note: In this video I can see the woman has a few mods installed. If you decide to get this game (or even the previous chapters) I definitely suggest you to do the same if you don’t like the default character design.

6. Fallout 4

Another recent (and quite famous) game. Apparently you can only work on the face here, but once again we see the sculpt tool in action. Even if the hair options are a bit limited you can still customize your character and create unique features playing around with your cursor.

7. Dragon Age: Inquisition

Who knows me is well aware of the fact that I am completely OBSESSED with this game, thus I couldn’t really leave it out. The hair options are definitely questionable and just like in Fallout 4 you do not have any body morph nor slider to alter, but as you can see from this video example you are still able to personalize your Inquisitor in a good way, also using real people or other characters as reference. To be honest I like some of the default presets too, if you don’t like spending two hours working on a face (I do that all the time, but I am a basket case so please ignore my madness :P), you can pick those and get a good result nonetheless.

And don’t forget about mods! 😉

8. Skyrim (The Elder Scrolls V)

This one has been around for a very long time and it remains probably the top 1 Fantasy game out there. If you’re not into mods at all and want to keep your game vanilla be sure that the overall quality is not as improved as the current generation, you can see that from the low-res hair and general textures. The reason why I’m including this CC in the list anyway is because even if old, Skyrim looks quite good compared to other games where you only get 3/4 slider options.

9. APB Reloaded

The last game I’d like to mention (and I literally just discovered it) is this not so new title which has a kick-ass Character Creator. Not only it shows some quality graphics there, but the level of customization is unbelievable! You can make hair shorter, beards longer, create beautiful tattoos (and place or rotate them wherever you want!), add patterns to clothes and even get your personal car! 😀

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There are of course many other games with a Character Creator, but they all seem pretty similar or not good enough to be mentioned in my list.

What do you think about these? Let me know with a comment if you like!

Those late-night multiplayer sessions can be really fun sometimes. Surely, everything is better with friends, they say and you’ll agree with that at some point. However, after a long day of work and studying, I like to relax with offline games. Sometimes, it’s satisfying to let yourself indulge in a great single-player story and forget about any problems bothering you. So, if you are like me, then welcome to the club! Below is my list of 20 best offline games for PC and I hope you’ll enjoy them.

1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

W2k16 pc download. Well, you’ve guessed it! The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt takes first place on the list with its epic setting, characters, gameplay, and those breathtaking visuals! It’s a compelling game that will offer you more than a hundred hours of non-filler gameplay, and there’s always something to explore. The game looks amazing, and the combat system is great. This open-world title is everything you need on your free days! Combine that with the great RPG elements and fun dialogues with NPCs, and you got yourself a pretty good offline game! Go and play it now, it’s a must-play.

2. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

Wolfenstein series has been once again revived with Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. The positive reviews flashed all around the globe, and this game quickly became one of the best shooting games of 2017. B.J Blazkowicz is such a badass protagonist and the characters surrounding the game are interesting. You’ll quickly start to care about each and every one of them, making this game a worthy offline title. Bethesda said that they won’t be focusing on multiplayer, so they can bring an immersive single-player experience. Well, you nailed it, Bethesda; great job!

3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Bethesda is one of my favorite companies when it comes to gaming, at least they were a few years back. A few years back, this masterpiece called The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released and it took the Earth by storm! This offline open-world title offers hundreds of hours of exploration and you’ll probably never get bored of it! The combat system might be dated, but it’s damn fun to play and explore every corner of the game. After six years since its release, I’m still eager to give Skyrim another go. It’s that great!

4. Fallout 4

Games With Character Customization Pc

Fallout 4 is one of those top offline games that you either like or dislike. It’s a great single-player experience, as you explore a huge world of fictional city Commonwealth. I mean, the story here is scattered here and there, and our protagonist is in search of his abducted son. However, the game often steers away from that and let you have some freedom and exploration. It’s a fantastic reboot of the series, and it’s surely the best game in the franchise. If you are up for that Stalker-ish feeling, then give this a try!

5. Hitman (2016)

Hitman isn’t a strictly offline game, but I included it because it has a great single-player campaign. While the previous entry in the series Hitman: Absolution relied more on linear, claustrophobic, and confined experience, Hitman (2016) went in a different direction. Here, you’ll experience a vast, open-world with lots of stuff to do. The levels are not that numerous, but they are as big as hell! You can complete your missions in various ways and earn certain rewards and points for doing so. Hitman is a challenging stealth experience, but once Agent 47crawls under your skin, there’s no going back!

Steam Games With Character Creation

6. Nioh

Nioh is a less-known offline game released this year, and I feel like this game is very underrated. It’s a child of Dark Souls and Bloodborne series, which can tell you much about this game. It has a single, crushing, and unforgiving difficulty that will leave you begging for mercy. It’s hard, and you’ll need some blazing fast reflexes and huge gaming skills to finish it. There are more than twenty bosses in the game, and every single boss will kick your ass! Don’t expect to finish this game in a few days; you’ll need weeks to finish it and it will be painfully slow as the bosses shame you every little time… you helpless gamer!

7. Nier: Automata

Another underrated game – Nier: Automata. How could the gaming community overlook this game? Are you blind, or what? This game offers thirty hours of a pure, refined, and amazing experience! It’s a hack-and-slash title that mergers several genres with it. The open world in this game is huge, and the post-apocalyptic environment looks depressing and feels like a void. Nier also introduces RPG elements so you can now level yourself up, upgrade weapons, buy stuff, etc. On top of that, there are some 2D sections that feel like a great platformer, and that’ very unique! Nier: Automata is better than most AAA titles and costs double the less of that price, which is one more reason to get it.

8. Dark Souls 3

Dark Souls series got a fantastic reboot with Dark Souls 3. Just if it wasn’t enough for the previous games in the series, and now we got this punishing game. What can I say? Prepare to die a LOT in this game, as it’s created to kill you. I’m not joking, the whole game is against you, and you can’t do anything about that except fight like a lunatic. Even when you die, the enemies around you respawn and you must fight again and again, which is really frustrating. However, if you have the balls to play it, and manage to finish it, then you deserve a medal, Sir!

9. Bioshock Infinite

Bioshock Infinite is the newest installment in the Bioshock series. This cheap game can give you a huge value for your buck, especially when the Holidays come. I mean, for just a couple of bucks, you can get a fantastic FPS game, which campaign isn’t short and definitely isn’t boring! Bioshock Infinite continues its tradition with great shooting mechanics, various powerups, and that fast-paced shooting in a beautiful environment of the game. Get ready to cause mayhem!

10. Alien: Isolation

Alien: Isolation is that PC offline game that will haunt your dreams every time you try to sleep. It’s a horror game in which you try to stay in one piece and escape that damn space station called Sevastopol. Sounds similar? Well, that’s because the game is based on Alien (1979) movie, which was a very disturbing experience at the time. It’s an intense game that makes your palms sweat and your heart beating so fast that you’ll think it’s gonna come out of your chest! Try this horror if you dare, and watch yourself getting swallowed by the Alien, in a single bite!

11. Far Cry Primal

Elephants are cool, but mammoths are so badass! In Far Cry Primal, you can hunt mammoths and even ride them when you get to higher levels! How cool are you from zero to riding a mammoth? This beautiful-looking game is set 10,000 years BC and no, you aren’t going to shoot guns, but bash the hell out of your enemies. The arsenal of weapons might not be that huge, but the combat is great and requires more thinking, as the enemies are sometimes overwhelming and can easily kill you. If you have the luck to tame a sabertooth tiger, you may survive in this harsh world!

12. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

There is something special about that claustrophobic feeling, especially when it comes to horror games that you can play without internet. That sense of dread and despair when you don’t have much space to move is priceless. Don’t think of me as a psycho, but I LOVE the horror genre! RE7: Biohazard is a game that caught my attention as soon as it was released. This bad boy will provide you with a horrific experience that will leave you scared to death! As the game plays from the first-person perspective, it’s much easier to get yourself immersed, but also scared.

13. Outlast 2

Outlast 2 is yet another offline horror experience, where the developers decided to leave your powerless. There aren’t weapons for you to use, and surely no means to defend yourself. So, what are you left with? Well, a camera and a journal should do the trick! The game does a damn fine job of melding the horror and the dread with stealth and great storytelling. In the end, you may feel a little let down by the ending, but I know you’ll enjoy it until the very end.

14. Dead Space 3

Cat et 2015a factory password generator. While the past games in the series focused more on that horror experience, Dead Space 3 is more of an action-horror game. Sure, there are Necromorphs and they are vicious and all, but the action part is more prominent. Needless to say that Dead Space 3 is an amazing game and I’m very sad that Visceral Games is closed by EA in October. This survival horror game is hugely underrated, but it’s awesome and I recommend you to play it. It’s just a couple of bucks for this experience, don’t be a niggard!

15. Portal 2

There’s something awesome when it comes to Source Engine. The games made with this engine looks amazing, yet they run smoothly. How did Valve manage to do that? Well, as I am not a game developer, don’t ask me! But ask me about Portal 2, which is Valve’s magnum opus, and a compelling puzzle game. The whole point of the game is to use a Portal gun in order to create portals and pass through them. However, the game isn’t that simple and requires some brain skill to finish it. Grab your Portal Gun, and let’s go on a venture!

16. Limbo

This 2D game is straight-up terrifying, dark, and misanthropic from the start to finish! In Limbo, you are a little boy that needs to survive this colorless world of the game as he overcomes various obstacles and escape scary monsters. I like the game’s artwork and the atmosphere is simply top-notch here if you like the dark ambient in the games. It’s a must-play for every offline Indie games lover!

17. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Speaking of the atmosphere, very few great offline games can replicate the atmosphere as it is in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. That post-apocalyptic atmosphere of Pripyat looks great, and the game isn’t colorful, which is the whole point. Everything has that grey-ish tint, as this town suffered greatly when the Nuclear Powerplant in that area exploded. It’s based on a real-life event that occurred around 1989, which gives the game a certain weight and meaning.

18. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

With MGSV: The Phantom Pain, Hideo Kojima proved that he still has what it takes to create such immersive PC games without internet. This stealth game is challenging and full of stuff to do, due to its open-world nature. The characters are badass and the game feels somewhat dark, with a very serious tone. Oh, and not to forget that plot twist at the end that’s worth those thirty hours I’ve spent on this game!

19. SOMA

Horror fans will be pleased that I mentioned another horror title here. SOMA is an absolutely spooky and nerve-wracking experience! It creates that atmosphere that’s very unique, and with the story being told in the shape of various documents scattered through the game, it’s even more badass! You are all alone here and you’ll fight for your life, only to find out that you aren’t actually alive! A truly wonderful offline game for Windows.

20. Superhot

Superhot is a cartoonish-looking offline game that revolves around time. To make it simple, the time in the game moves when you move, so if you are standing still, nothing will happen. Vice Versa, if you are moving and shooting, then the enemies will do the same. It’s a lot of fun, but a lot of challenges too. I played it with some of my favorite death metal albums, just to ensure that I’m hardcore enough to beat it!

As we are approaching near the end of our journey through the offline PC games, I’m here to ask you a question. What is your favorite offline game for PC? I tried my best to count some of my favorite offline games, and although I’m maybe going to start a war for not including some of the games, I stand behind my words. Oh, and why don’t you tell me what game did I miss? Do you have any favorites besides these 20 games? Please, let me know, and don’t forget to do some gaming today!

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