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jewishvitya · 1 year

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Rowling had nothing to do with Legacy and I think most people forget that. She wasn't even consulted. WB bought the license and the devs did whatever they wanted. "Sirona" is a beautiful, feminine Celtic name associated with healing, and "Ryan" is an extremely common Irish surname. I feel like people are looking for reasons to be offended, especially when it comes to trans characters and antisemitism. The goblins are not and have never been Jewish stereotypes. They're a fictional race. They're based on Tolkien's goblins and old English folklore dating back to the 1400's, where they have always been depicted and small, ugly, and greedy. Rowling herself was shocked by the antisemitism rumors and staunchly stated they weren't true. Just like the rumors saying lycanthopy is a metaphor for AIDS. Just... who thinks of this stuff?

What's really sad is people have argued that Sirona was never meant to be trans, but a male character that the devs rendered to look "more feminine" at the last minute. People have made fun of her voice and said it's "too masculine", so obviously WB just hired a man to voice her and changed her gender later. But that's not true! Her VA is actually a trans woman and the backlash against the character must be devastating to the VA.

Okay, so, I don't think you're here in good faith. You're here to be dismissive. But I'll reply anyway, just in case I'm wrong.

One thing at a time.

I'll start with the one point you made that I agree with: the VA. She doesn't deserve to have her voice scrutinized and criticized. That's horrible, no one deserves that. I did see - and share - the misinformation that Sirona Ryan was voiced by a man, and I regret that. I edited it out of my post as soon as I knew, but this is tumblr and unedited versions do go around. I hope more people will see that corrected, and leave the VA's voice alone.

Now for the mess you threw at me.

Hogwarts Legacy is related to Rowling by virtue of existing within the world she created. It's still her goblins, since she gave her permission to create this, and she let it be added to the canon.

Rowling's world is the context.

I don't care that she wasn't consulted about the details, that just means the other creators are bigots too. When you build within a world that has such large issues, where so much time and effort was devoted to highlighting and criticizing those issues, and you create a story that continues all the problems from the original canon and adds to them - that's a choice that I have a right to criticize. They had the benefit of being a google search away from knowing how to be respectful about all of this, and they did the opposite.

Sirona Ryan IS a beautiful real name, that's not the issue. I already wrote this post where I tried to explain the reaction, but I accept that maybe my feelings about this name come from cultural ignorance. If that's the case, I apologize, and I'd love to be corrected.

My real issue with the game is the antisemitism.

You say "folklore dating back to the 1400's" as if that's far too old to be influenced by antisemitism. Fun fact: antisemitism is older than goblins. Antisemitism is literally millennia old. At least as old as Christianity, which is the root of many antisemitic ideas. It's older than many European mythological creatures, and it infuses a lot of European folklore and mythology, down to the depictions of witches with their pointy hats. Stories about goblins being used as a way to dehumanize Jewish people is not new. And using a fictional race of non-humans as stand-ins for real groups of marginalized people - either intentionally or not - is a very common practice in storytelling. Most fantasy races have those roots to them. But even then, where, in the original lore of the goblins, did they control the banks?

It doesn't matter if Rowling was shocked by the claims of antisemitism and it doesn't matter if she denied them. The reality of her story is that she created an antisemitic depiction. I can believe that it wasn't her intention, but that doesn't mean it's not what she did.

You don't get to look at an antagonistic group that embodies EVERY SINGLE TRAIT THAT WAS ASSIGNED TO MY PEOPLE TO DEMONIZE US and tell me that's not antisemitic.

I already made this list, but let's do it again. All antisemitic traits that can be found in Rowling's goblins. I'll break it down to the original book canon, the movies, and the game.

Books - Rowling's actual canon:

Short, with clever swarthy faces, sallow skin and pointed beards

A guttural language

Ruthless and known for their greed

Pursue someone who owes them money with violent threats

Have cultural differences that make them impossible to trust

Harmed by dark wizard but still suspected to support them

Only worth associating with for their metalworking and control of the economy

She placed a goblin's rebellion in 1612 - the same year as the events that led to the Fettmilch uprising, which resulted in pogroms and Jewish deaths. Rowling stated that wars and political unrest parallel between the muggle world and the wizarding world as the two societies influence each other

The most prominent named goblin character, Griphook, betrays Harry. Harry is a Christ allegory - literally sacrifices himself to save everyone, and then comes back to life

Movies:

Hooked noses - the best known antisemitic feature

A six pointed star in the building they chose for the bank - I don't believe this was intentional, but it's an unfortunate choice and they could have covered it

Here end the parts I blame on Rowling directly. And the game was built on these foundations.

Game:

A historical time frame of pogroms, where our people were murdered in large massacres that often had support from authorities

Explicit ties between the goblins and the dark wizards

Aiming to undermine wizard society - the goal assigned to us in every antisemitic conspiracy theory

Kidnapping of children for their magic - literally just look up blood libel

A character says the goblins can't appreciate art. It’s absurd to say considering the quality and coveted status of goblin-made artifacts. In the real world, this is a claim that was made against Jews by the Nazis (and it targets other groups hated by white supremacists as well)

A ram’s horn artifact that strongly resembles a silver plated Shofar - a Jewish ritual item. Said horn is from 1612, from the same rebellion mentioned above. According to the item’s description, it was blown to rally the goblins and to annoy witches and wizards. It was stuffed with gorgonzola to mute it, a specifically non-kosher cheese (most kinds of cheese are kosher). It's so disrespectful I still don't have the words to fully convey it

Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, those traits became associated with Jewish people as a group through hateful propaganda. Putting all of them on a non-human race isn't better. It just adds to the dehumanization of it. It's not just Rowling's fault. That's shared by every single person who had a hand in the creation of this story. For the issues in the game, I blame the people named here more. I see no reason to extend grace to far-right bigots.

But to focus on Rowling. You brought up lycanthropy. You seem to think we made up the idea that it's a metaphor for HIV. We didn't. She said that. In the ebook Short Stories From Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship, and Dangerous Hobbies - she said that. She said it before that, on Pottermore.

Lupin's condition of lycanthropy (being a werewolf) was a metaphor for those illnesses that carry a stigma, like HIV and AIDS. [...] The wizarding community is as prone to hysteria and prejudice as the Muggle one, and the character of Lupin gave me a chance to examine those attitudes.

This is a quote of her thoughts. It still exists on Lupin's page on her Wizarding World website.

And it's actually a pretty good example of how it's absolutely possible to be awful about depicting a stigmatized minority through a fantasy stand-in.

HIV+ people are stigmatized through no fault of their own. But in her books, it seems reasonable for the wizards to fear werewolves. And she did that, she made prejudice reasonable. We have: Remus Lupin, a named werewolf who is good and kind, and tries to avoid hurting people. Even then, he nearly does cause harm more than once. He turns in front of our heroes and spends a night loose in the forest. He tells the heroes that as a student, he almost bit people while out with his friends. So even while well-intentioned, he's a danger. That means we don't have a single safe HIV+ allegory in her work. The other named werewolf is Fenrir Greyback, who intentionally targets children to turn them young and raise them to hate the society they came from - which is fucking homophobic, whatever she intended, because of the way HIV gets associated with homosexuality. And the rest? A whole community of werewolves who side with the Death Eaters.

Did she mean to make a whole community of marginalized people into wizard Nazis? I DON'T CARE. SHE DID THAT.

I don't care to argue about her intentions while writing the text. I can't read minds. I can read the text she wrote. I can see what was put into the game that was added into her world. I can read about the history of my people and their persecution. I can see how disturbingly similar this game's story is to the propaganda that led to my grandparents suffering through the holocaust and losing their families to it.

If she cared about the antisemitism in her works, she wouldn't just act horrified and say "No, of course I wasn't being hateful to Jews!" - she'd look at whatever she lets people put into her IP, to prevent further harm. I do blame the other writers of the game more than I blame her for that plot, but it's not better that she gave her approval without being consulted. It's her IP, it carries her name, she gets royalties, it's her responsibility.

And at the very least, she doesn't care about antisemitism enough to worry about minimizing harm. I know that, because I know her friends. I know TERFs and Gender Criticals. Rowling saw an anti-trans event with white supremacist speakers, and she chose to criticize the counter-protesters. She went out to eat with Maya Forstater and Helen Joyce, who participated and spoke in events organized by Posie Parker - who explicitly includes far right groups in her events, and shares platforms with white supremacists. Rowling bought merch from Posie Parker. She wrote about Magdalen Berns as a "brave young feminist" - as if she didn't push the antisemitic George Soros conspiracy theory and share Breitbart articles. She praised MATT WALSH. The people she associates with now, read from Mein Kampf in their rallies.

She didn't put the antisemitism in the game, but she's very comfortable with antisemitism. Don't tell me she was horrified by the idea that her goblins could be called antisemitic. She just didn't want the label applied to her. If you willingly associate with Nazis, you're a Nazi. And enough of her friends don't seem to mind that.

I stand by what I said: playing this game, even pirated, is like printing out an antisemitic caricature and hanging it on your wall, saying “well, I didn’t pay the artist, I just like this art.”

#riki babbles #hogwarts legacy #antisemitism #homophobia #JKR doesn't care about Jews #She just likes invoking the holocaust #HP #JKR

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historia-vitae-magistras · 6 months

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In one of your last posts about Matt and Katya, you mentioned Alfred and Ivan’s dynamic, and that perhaps there is more beyond the hate sex they have had.

Do you mind expanding on that? What is your interpretation of their relationship, if it can even be called that?

LMAO god, gonna make me use the two and a half years I spent special interesting my way through Eastern European history on my way to a degree in 20th Century history, are you? About time I did lmao. Alfred/Ivan is one of those ships I don't enjoy purely as a ship, but it's so compelling. Much too compelling to the history to leave out entirely.

So, at the dawn. You have this old state in Ivan, considered backwards and rural by the Western European imperial powers, which has largely lost its verve for even trying most of the time. He has usurped his sister, who built most of their culture and claimed the power he has from the remnants of several cultures and expanded eastwards. And he comes across this young upstart, similarly held on the fringe of the powers of Western Europe. He's had similar obsessions with Jan when the Dutch Republic was new and a lasting one with François when he was the heart of European culture. Moreover, he's not only interested in and admiring of Alfred and the American experiment, but Ivan likes Alfred. Everyone likes Alfred. It's impossible not to like Alfred. There's an affection and attachment, a kind of love if I want to push. By the 19th century, Ivan wished him success because he and Arthur were locked into the Great Game in Central Asia. He spites Arthur, Matt, and Katya by selling Alaska to Alfred when he and Russia can no longer benefit. He's happy to raise a glass to American success. Alfred was touched by the gestures during his Civil War and the purchase of Seward's Icebox.

Afterwards, things declined quite quickly. Between the end of the American Civil War and the beginning of World War One, over 3 million people from the Russian Empire settled in the United States. But less than 5% of them were ethnic Russians. Most are Jewish, Polish and Lithuanian. Feliks mostly stays in Poland, a firebrand devoted to his survival, but Alfred meets Tolys, and he loves him. He lives with Tolys and his memories, perceptions, and opinions. Matt is up to his tonsils in Katya any moment he possibly can be, with a mouth full of their father's loathing of Ivan and a chest heaving with Katya's life. Alfred is increasingly their father's heir. The Pacific acquisition of Alaska was just the first step. If Alfred is the Christ to Arthur's God and lord knows he thinks of himself as a saviour, the Russian empire just looks shittier and shittier.

But he still has that reputation of being an outsider. He's not quite in with the European powers. He brokers the end to Russia's ultimate humiliation against Japan. Ivan, to a certain if somewhat limited extent, believes Alfred's bullshit. The deal is fairer than he would have otherwise gotten. But this is the high point of the pre-war Kiku, and Alfred's strange, tense and intimate relationship and opinion is still vastly with Japan during the war.

Then comes the Russian Revolution and the Polar Bear Expedition. Alfred is keener to do business with Ivan's new government when revolution breaks out. It must be an improvement over the Tsar, surely. He's not entirely in his complete form yet; he gets looped into the Entente's support, but he's pretty vocal about this thin line of hope that this may go well. The way his revolution went. There's this brief moment where Ivan and Alfred look at the world with a thought to a common future. They're looking at each other again with an ancient hope, maybe some mutual admiration. This may work. Maybe Ivan will get his shit together. Maybe Alfred won't become the heir to Arthur's Great Game. Maybe, maybe.

And then it goes up in fucking flames. Even American leftists became disillusioned with the USSR somewhat quickly. He helped lay down new states in the newly free Eastern Europe; God knows Tolys and Matt are doing their best to keep Alfred on-side. It took almost fifteen years, until 1933, for the US to acknowledge the USSR. Alfred is repulsed by the USSR even if he does cool his jets as interwar isolationism has slowed the process of him stepping into the fray as the head of his family.

By World War Two, Alfred is happy to write his redemption story and just dump treasure and materiel at the USSR. He's the balance of power between Arthur and Ivan, and Ivan is delighted to see Alfred snap at Arthur whenever he fucking pleases. But he's also miserable that he is the one dragging himself on his belly over the broken glass and ruins of Eastern Europe and doing the largest share against the Nazis. But there's a little hope that Alfred and Ivan will rule the world when this is over and find common ground in their power. It's only in the waning days of the war when Alfred's clearly suffering from the campaign in the Pacific and Eisenhower lets Zhukov have Berlin, that they shack up in some way or form. Alfred has more hope than Ivan, but Ivan is at least a little satisfied to see that Alfred has had a piece carved out of his idealism by his war against Japan.

It doesn't last. Alfred might be happy to take Arthur down a notch, but when the crown comes upon his head, as has been arranged, he wears it with a certain ease no one expected. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, but what is the weight to a man who fancies himself Atlas and Prometheus all in one. And it comes with the confidence to hate Ivan's ideas and opinions even as he revels in their fucking. Sex isn't love, and the feelings he gets throughout all of it are not love to Alfred. I still somewhat adhere to the thought that McCarthy almost denounced Alfred as both a communist sympathizer and a homosexual in the 1950s for this apparent attachment, but the intelligence apparatus intervened and prevented it.

And that is where I will leave off because I'm damn near at 1000 words RIP.

#I love how I managed to cover only half the fucking century #rusame #Ivan and Alfred || Atomic Hellfire and Nuclear Winter #the ask box || probis pateo

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synergysilhouette · 5 days

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Hogwarts Legacy spinoff/sequel wants

As an HL fan, I was absolutely pleased with the game--but for the next one, I'd like some changes/additions.

Make an Ilvermorny spinoff--As an American fan, it'd be so fun to see Ilvermorny in person, preferably in modern day; I'm still confused on how no-maj racism never existed in the Americas if most European purebloods didn't come to America, meaning that most American witches/wizards (of European heritage, at least) would be no-maj borns and half-bloods, and thus be influenced somewhat by no-maj ideals. Placing it in modern day would make it feel a bit more tolerant, imo.

GIVE EVERY HOUSE SOME LOVE WITH SIDEQUESTS--Ravenclaws got screwed terribly since Amit doesn't have his own storyline/quest like the other house representatives. It felt really unfair.

Flesh out the main character's background--It's never explained WHY the student is starting off as a 5th year, nor what kind blood heritage they have, despite this taking place in the late 19th century, when blood heritage would be even more important than it was when Harry Potter was alive a hundred years later. (And nit-pick, but it'd also be nice if we could say if they were from Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, or another country).

Friendship meter--I like the idea that you can have your friends join you on quests outside of their personal ones, as long as you have a close enough bond with them. Plus it'd be great for diverging storylines; imagine if we could've convinced Sebastian not to use the killing curse if we were close enough with him. I guess that's "Hogwarts Mystery" rubbing off on me (one of the few things I liked).

Romance options--This is probably a minority request, but I'd like the option. I think the devs said romance wasn't a factor because of your possible dark paths, which makes sense, but the aforementioned friendship meter could potentially alleviate this by convincing them to join you (or turn them away from their own dark path.

The option to be a metamorphagus or an animgus (or the sidequest to become one)--It'd be such a fun idea to use these powers on missions.

Change your face after initial designs--I remember being dissatisfied with my character's face after setting him up, and I was disappointed that I couldn't change it afterwards. It'd also be cool if we could experiment with their build/body type a bit.

A better story--Sebastian's sidestory was more interesting than the Goblin uprising, tbh. Even rehashing the blood purity storyline would've been better.

Trials that take place within the world--Maybe it was just me, but I didn't like how the trials took place within an alternate world (except Niamh's trial; hers was creative) rather than using the large world we already had.

#harry potter #hogwarts #hogwarts legacy #sebastian sallow #poppy sweeting #amit thakkar #natsai onai #ilvermorny

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youremyheaven · 2 months

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Omg rahu-ketu post😳

I was actually discussing my struggles around having prominent swati in my chart and staying grounded in my own reality on a forum fairly recently.

I have a very rich inner world which I essentially live in most of the time, and sometimes I feel like I miss out of my own life because I’m so detached. Limerence is also a big struggle for me, I find it much easier to centre myself in the energy of someone else than to be responsible for my own reality, which I guess comes from the things you talked about like rahu being a shadow planet and the mythology of rahu and obsession.

I also spend a large amount of time on social media and playing games 😶‍🌫️ I’ve tried to make uses of the positives by channeling my imagination into something tangible like art, but I have a hard time actually putting in the work to develop skills since I’m so distracted all the time. I think I’ve spent too much time in my head and now I’ve forgotten how to be in my body lol (my ADHD isn’t helping either💀)

Swati I think is especially a difficult nak because the libra/venus influence is only enabling rahu’s indulgence, unlike saturn or to a lesser extent mercury.

Aside from my personal whinings- the thing you said about occult/astro kind of intrigued me. All of my close family (incl. grandparents, uncles, etc) have atleast one rahu or ketu nak in their big 3, usually being ardra, mula or swati.

My mother’s side has lots of psychics and we have a dream interpretation system that gets passed down the family, whilst my father’s side has many tarot readers. My dad himself is an occultist who is interested in Thelema, astral projection, etc. There’s some interest in astrology on both sides but not particularly in depth and my parents usually end asking me about the transits. Oh yeah and I guess I had that one psychic dream last November that came true the morning after.

In general, my family has a history of very eccentric characters who occasionally got exiled or imprisoned or some crazy shit 😭 I feel like that’s just average Eastern European family lore though. Do you think such isolation is nodal? I think it is but there might be other planetary influence.

That’s enough yapping for today though. Interested to see your post on the positives❤️

Your observation about Swati is spot on

I do think Nodal influence+ well placed/strong Rahu & Ketu are necessary for learning and immersing yourself in the occult. Someone who cannot channel it well will remain ignorant of it no matter how much they read or study it. In some ways the Nodes can be understood as layers of the subconscious and the unconscious. The nodes represent karma (Ketu does) and our unconscious mind is our accumulated karma, if we remain ignorant of it, we will let it guide all our actions and lead us to self destruction. Therefore to have strong/well placed Nodes means you're aware of the different layers of your mind as a result of which you can understand the different layers of reality. Nodal influence creates a fog/veil that cannot be lifted until we gain true gnosis. This is why Nodal people get lost in addictive substances/pass times/people/ interests because their own reality feels foggy/veiled to them so they can only access it from other things. Obviously this is another form of Maya or illusion and that's why even these natives struggle with it. You hate the thing even as you indulge in it because on some level you realise that you're losing yourself to it.

Immersing yourself in the occult requires a certain discipline and consistency that can be hard for Nodal natives (malefic influenced, badly placed etc) to master unless it's well aspected but those who do master it are able to perceive reality and understand the esoteric realm in a truly sublime way. It's rare and magnetic.

I do think Nodal influence can contribute to being exiled/imprisoned/being isolated. There is a reason why 5/6 Nodal nakshatras all belong to the Shudra caste which is the lowest. These natives live lives that are "unusual" or different from the norm. They are "detached" because their life experiences already set them apart from others. They don't belong to the mainstream because they've been put in circumstances where they've been deprived of what is "normal".

Like I said in my post, what is "unusual" can vary a lot and can mean sooo many different things. Majority of the "child star gone wild" type celebrities have heavy Nodal influence. Why? because it's "unusual" for a child to be working or attaining fame and wealth or for their family to use them for the same. When you're deprived of anything ordinary or real, you depend on substances/unhealthy relationships/habits etc to feel centred. This is why after a point these stars "go rogue or wild". They amass a lot of wealth/fame but ultimately they're unable to benefit from it or enjoy it. This is also unusual as these are things typically understood as blessings. Being in a position where you can't connect to or relate to others is a very Nodal experience. That's why a lot of people with these placements are so introverted and withdrawn. If you're a famous child actor, you can't quite go to school and connect to the experiences of other people your age so you feel "isolated". Being imprisoned/exiled is another such experience. It permanently alters you and you don't know how to connect to others who haven't been through it.

I do think isolation is a big theme in the lives of Nodal people. It can be literal or emotional. But it's also obviously influenced by the rest of the chart. Heavy 12h placements also make a native experience the same themes to some extent.

#rahu #ketu #Nodal influence #jyotish

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woundjob · 3 months

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the data from the polls yesterday is fascinating! as i suspected, we are a very international fandom, with more than one instance of one person in a small european country tagging something along the lines of “I’m definitely the only one here,” and many many people outside of the English speaking world.

we’re also a majority white fandom, which i guessed and is of course very common, as fandom spaces are usually mostly white and also that matches my experience, but of the people that answered the poll 10% picked “other” and 66% picked white, meaning 24% of us consider ourselves people of color and/or mixed, and that’s not nothing when you consider that demographics on tumblr itself are largely white. of course I’d like the fandom to be a bit more diverse, and I’d definitely like to have more community, but 24% people of color is honestly not as bad as I’d originally expected.

there’s also definitely a point in here somewhere about where people are coming from, and the kind of diversity that brings to the table. the people in this fandom span all across the world, and many of the white people in, for example, Eastern Europe, are racialized white people. I’m not here to argue whether or not Turkish people are white lol, but my point is among the white people who answered both polls, there are loads of interesting people that don’t fit the American expectation of whiteness, and loads of people for whom class is determined in other ways.

So far, my thoughts on the findings are of two minds. Firstly, it’s disappointing but not surprising that white people are such a big majority here. Fantasy and video games both tend to be white dominated spaces, and we already know that tumblr/fandom spaces are mostly white in themselves. Also, myself and some mutuals of color have noted racism (or more harmless whiteness) we’ve experienced here. Second, and on the contrary, it’s pretty encouraging to see all types of people from all over the world. The white majority is obvious, but not as big as we thought, and also, the fandom spreads everywhere. That’s pretty cool! I think as a whole we could use more discussions on racism, especially since it’s such a huge theme in many of the elder scrolls games, and the white people in the fandom should also know to share in those discussions should we decide to have them, rather than muting this topics. A big part of liking a narrative very much is being able to critique it. Liking something blindly and being averse to any critique is what children do, not what people who are genuinely invested in a story do. I’d really love to see more discussions about important things like racism and xenophobia, both in the fandom and in the actual games.

Anyway this post has gone on for a long time now lol i hope you found this as interesting as i have!

#tesblr #the elder scrolls

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cosmopoliturtle · 6 months

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When designing new Pokémon, what do you consider first? Like, what’s the easiest way to think of new Pokémon for your region? Like how mine is giving out fanmade categories such as fossils, regional birds but also the official ones like starters

I think the biggest factor is trying to think of ground that hasn't been covered before, or has rarely been covered in the canon games. I try to think of animals, mythology, folklore or just concepts that aren't featured in the games and how to give them a distinct Pokemon-like feel. Some examples being the Manatubb line, being based on an animal not yet seen in the series, the Alvuff line which is inspired by the Wild Hunt from European mythology, or the Boufleece line being based on the idiom "a wolf in sheep's clothing". I find it a fun character design challenge to try to head-craft these kinds of things into a Pokemon design.

I also try to think of ways of diversifying or subverting how we view recurring tropes in Pokemon. For example, having the Duna line or the Marijell line be based on aquatic animals but not typing them Water, or having Bovelle and the Pupplebee line not fully resemble insects while being Bug type. I try to sell the idea that characterizing the type by certain design elements is more important than the animal species having to slot them into specific types.

Even though I try to explore new stuff, I do also try to keep it grounded in some Pokemon nostalgia. I'm the furthest thing you'll find from a genwunner but if there's one aspect I miss from old Pokemon, it feels like we've drifted from Pokemon I describe as "monster friends". Pokemon like the Nidoran line, the Slowpoke line, the Rhyhorn line, Sorlax, etc where they have some basis but are largely their own critter. I try to capture this in my designs but I'll try and set aside Fakemon just for this purpose, such as Hanako, the Loftling line, and the Yttri line.

A part of my project also is that I don't really consider there to be one region being explored. The premise is you're exploring far flung locales or wildernesses that act as a sort of buffer between inhabited regions that don't see much (if any) human activity. If I had to make it analogous to one of the games I would say its like Pokemon Legends: Arceus where you would explore decently sized maps that have their own internal level design and Pokemon variety that are connected by a hub you set out from, not like one big open world like in Scarlet and Violet.

So yeah, thank you for coming to my TED talk. Hopefully something in there makes sense! Thanks for the question!

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mi-spark · 3 months

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started this shiny hunt in pokemon Y a lil while ago in light of the recent plza announcement :] i’m gonna play with the same team i originally played this game with, so froakie is my target :D

not super far in bc these resets are slowww, for those who haven’t done this hunt you have a whole conversation with the friend group which includes getting 2 key items and choosing your nickname, and i insist on typing in mine each time LOL (it’s just “mimi” so it’s quick n easy to type, but if i have to type it in over 4096 times then so be it)

also!! i’m gonna dump my thoughts i had jotted down last week about plza below the cut. i’m excited for it!

i am mostly very happy for the xy freaks and those who grew up with the games. this is exactly how i felt about dppt and sinnoh getting attention with pla + bdsp a couple years ago! sinnoh is my baby and legends arceus has become one of my favorite pkmn games ever!! i’ve had my moment with its resurgence, and now the kalos people get to have this and IT’S REALLY NICE TO SEE :”)

my personal feelings about xy are that while they rank pretty low in my list of favorite core games, i do Not think they are bad— in fact, i liked them a lot (i am very easy to please when it comes to pokemon lol, but i still think they are solid games)! so i am looking forward to z-a too!!

i’m a little torn about the possible types of gameplay we’ll get. the fact that it’s set in one large city is an interesting choice but one that doesn’t worry me (i will say that it reminds me of detective pikachu in that way LOL). i have no doubts it’ll be a fun experience, but i just. REALLY love the gameplay of arceus dkjgdjfj i enjoy how it’s a nice mix of the usual pokemon strategy and action rpg, it scratches my brain. SO i can’t decide if i like the possibility of it being Just like pla, or something completely different. i guess i’ll be expecting a middle ground of those options as of now? not concerned, but interested ^_^

please. let the graphics be better. we love to see the 2025 release, it gives me hope for improved rendering and set design! arceus was kinda slacking on those fronts

i’m excited for another story and cast of characters to be Normal about… especially looking forward to anything they may do with my stupid idiot divorced french dads Sycamore and Lysandre

i’m definitely not the only one getting fullmetal alchemist vibes from the aerial drawing of lumiose + the prospect of underground catacombs, and the fact that Amestris is based off european countries hello? maybe i’ll have to do an fmab rewatch soon idk 👀

okay this has gotten off track lol the tl;dr is that I LOVE TO SEE NEW CONTENT ABOUT THE EXISTING REGIONS because there is!! so much to work with!!! and i’d genuinely be okay with not getting a brand new generation for another 7 years. THX FOR READING have a good day :D

#i came across a thought dump i made on my sideblog that i had completely forgotten about #it was about the announcements of pla and bdsp at the time #so i figured i’d ramble about plza this time! i have some (positive!) Thoughts

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audioletter · 8 months

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for the Clorivia fic, is there anything you've come across in your costume/clothing research that you're particularly excited to include? or something you're looking forward to looking into for further inspo? (this is...also just an open invitation to share more pretty images honestly)

I'm an amateur fashion history buff so I rely on obsessive Google searches and my 27283993902 fashion history books for information. The Genshin devs do a good job at research - please read this excellent post on Yoimiya's outfit for an example.

Fontaine is "European" (sorry Mondstadt), mostly French coded with some Italian and Spanish seeping in so it's hard to put an exact finger on the influences - mainly because it is a game, after all and they take a lot of liberties (no skirts were that short ffs). Having such a wide breadth of fashion history to draw on for Fontaine has firmly left them using Victorian/Regency influences and Victorian Steampunk like whoa. The NPCs are a good example of this, especially those in the Court of Fontaine.

Navia is a good example, too - she is very classic Victorian Steampunk. Her corsetry is early to mid 1800s French, but as Spina di Rosula comes from the Corsican language, we can see some Italian influences (coughMafiacough) as well. She's a bit of a hodgepodge, but I would squarely put her in the Steampunk category. One thing I find interesting and that speaks a lot on her character is her hat. Large, ostentatious hats (and parasols) were used by the eccentric rich to promenade - I think this is a key indicator that despite the Spina di Rosula being dirt poor, she's still trying to maintain appearances of being the affluent boss of an underground group and I think that's a neat addition.

Clorinde is very interesting for numerous reasons. Her outfit is basically genderswapped Military inspired, from her tricorne-esque hat (a hat used in and alongside Military institutions), as well as her cape giving late 19th century/early 20th century Military uniform vibes. The rest of her outfit is a very loose Victorian Steampunk index, but even her shoes are reminiscent of Military issue boots of the 19th and 18th centuries. This also lends to Clorinde being queercoded, deliberately, which is an interesting manifestation by Hoyoverse (good for them - I should note that "queercoding" here is very simplistic and slightly on the nose [a chick in dude's clothes!] but with the restrictions China has, this is the best we can expect). She's very utilitarian, which is necessary to her job. Her shirt is a signifier for her character - it doesn't fit completely well because she simply doesn't care much for fashion or her appearance, other than looking as "put together" as her job requires. Nice touch.

They are also supposed to be complete opposites in their clothing - hard and soft - plus blue and yellow are apposing colours that compliment, so there's that.

I'm talking out of my ass but that's my main take aways from both of them. I have been researching lingerie but neither of their outfits would allow historical garments so, yes, I'm not going to bombard this post with pictures of themesque lingerie but rest assured you can find them in my likes.

I just like them a lot, okay.

#genshin impact #clorivia #clorinde #navia #fashion history wank #ignore this i really am an amateur but i do like seeing the research hoyo tries to do and impliment

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chouchen · 2 years

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no need to reply to or share this but here's a comment from reddit explaining why sumeru is based on multiple countries and the link to the original comment. hope it helps you understand better but you are free to keep your feelings on the matter, i get it

https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact_Leaks/comments/v7omfz/new_informatiom_and_update_about_sumeru/ibm346e?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3

"Sumeru draws from Chinese cultural tropes of the Near West (i.e. the Middle East) and the Buddhist world of South and South East Asia.

The name Sumeru (須彌 in Chinese) comes from a mythical, sacred mountain within Buddhist and other South Asian religious traditions. For China, India was the birthplace of Buddhism, existing in the Chinese consciousness as the true source of received religious knowledge and tradition. However, given the geographical impediments to travel between China and India (the Himalayas), India was often treated in Chinese literature as an almost mythical region in itself. One of the best representations of this is found in the classic work, Journey to the West (西遊記), in which a Buddhist monk travels to India to find "true" scriptures.

Much of South East Asia (minus Vietnam, which was historically more in the Chinese cultural orbit) shares in South Asia's Buddhist/Hindu traditions through common religions (Therevada Buddhism in Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos and Hinduism in parts of Indonesia) as well as through [linguistic](https://sibresearch.org/uploads/2/7/9/9/2799227/riber_s15-240_158-165.pdf), [architectural](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Ankor_Wat_temple.jpg/1200px-Ankor_Wat_temple.jpg) and [cultural influences](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramakien).

While the Middle East on the other hand does not share these same cultural connections it does exist, along with India, as part of the traditional Chinese conception of the Near West. This is to say an exoticized land of caravans, genies, spices (remember the last event being titled "Spices from the West") and hidden knowledge.

Just as Mondstadt draws from a Chinese cultural understanding of late Medieval Europe, Sumeru is based not any single region but on the historic Chinese conception of the lands to their immediate south and west. While you can certainly make an argument that this understanding is based in large part on broad misconceptions and misunderstandings (just like how Europeans created their own exoticized forms of China and other eastern Asian nations), I think it's still worth noting that this isn't just some random grab-bag of countries thrown together but rather comes from a cultural tradition with long roots in the Chinese-speaking world."

mm i see i see

while that explains the "smash" of all the country, mhy should have predicted people complaining about it.

genshin is an international game, not everyone knows about this

people from said regions are going to be affected and back to point 1 are maybe not going to know about this

while it explains it, it still doesn't excuse it. people were still affected by it and some view it as offensive

again mhy is a chinese compagnie but when you use inspirations from another culture than yours, the minimum is to actually do research and respect the culture you take inspiration from and not limit yourself to what you know already (in that case the traditional view they have)

#long post #ask

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luvbug724 · 3 months

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sits next to you :) the thing about kevjeanee housekeeping/accounting is that while kevin is not dyslexic like jeanee i fear that he is not good at math either..... i think he's probably Better at it than jean and renee but he's not of much help i don't think........ last year i overpaid my credit card at least four times because im bad at math so i think kevin would be like that. they trust him and he's basically giving their money for free to the bank. jean (grew up poor in my mind) would be furious. but if they put their three thinking heads together they can surely come up with something!

i like chronic migraines for jean i think he's very bruised bird shot from the sky etc no matter what nothing really works for him........ and he can do something dramatic like drop to the floor like an unwound doll and put his head on kevins or renees lap..... and its ok because puppies do these things....!! in a way i think the most fun of kevjeanee is the potential for hovering + doting for jean it presents because its like two of his biggest supporters. (kicks feet) i also think jean and renee are also two people i can see kevin going easier on/excusing for so its cute to me to think about... renee spacing out in practice and kevin being like well she's trying very hard. or jeremy calling in and saying jean beat up another striker and kevins like he's working on it :) you know? you do know user luvbug724 you have to

also re: kevrenee mass together ITS CUTE... i think sometimes the fandom at large um i guess doesnt really think much about renee's relationship to religion but i feel like another one of the foxes (and especially kevin maybe... in my heart) being there with her would make her very happy. i hope when its ash wednesday she approaches him in practice and puts ash on his gay little forehead :) i hope all the old ladies think they're dating or getting married soon and have no idea of the jezabel in california waiting for them (jean)

kevin fucking up their taxes. HILARIOUS. kevin the loves of your life just want their tax returns please. what the fuck do you mean they owe a million dollars can you do the math again please. this is what jeanee get for trusting a history major with their money.

KEVRENEE DOTING ON JEAN YES YES YES. jean i think will be the type of athlete who is constantly at the trainer bc. you know. the mafia may kill him if he can't play exy ugh i hate when that happens but he has to stay in good shape even though he's dealing with So many longterm injuries. when kevin and jean are pro the moment jean leaves a game renee is already in the med room to hear what the doctor has to say and kevin's there as soon as the game is over.

kevin going easier on jean and renee........ I KNOW I SWEAR I DO. its very cute. how can you blame him? renee looks very cute when she's distracted i'm sure.

kevin and renee walking in late to practice with ashes.... mein gott......................................

the idea of ppl seeing kevrenee and not knowing theres a second european man in the picture is so funny. "renee, darling, when are you and your man going to get hitched?" "oh, i'm already married :)" she's the talk of the next church potluck. martha SWEARS she saw her with a different man with a face tattoo last christmas, but agnes says there's no way renee would cheat on her husband with a face tattoo with ANOTHER man with a face tattoo. kevin must have just gotten a haircut or something. they agree to never talk about it again.

#fandom ignoring renee's religion is so very interesting to me i have thoughts but i fear i start enough fights by accident that i will not #share them #asks #kevjeanee #this will be a tag mark my fucking word. if u all got kevseth i can have kevjeanee

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fandomshatepeopleofcolor · 1 year

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Racism in Elfquest

Hi!

This is a critique of the way the comic book depicts poc by @pigeonfancier. I will add my words for context and my own commentary. My text is in bold.

Context: Elfquest is a long-running indie comic book written and drawn by Wendy and Richard Pini. The first issue was published in 1975 and issues have been published until 2018.

It is a fantasy story about a community of elves and other fictional species like trolls and pixies who struggle to survive and coexist on a primitive earth-like planet with two moons known as Abode, alongside humans. There are multiple tribes of elves who vary in appearance and lifestyle, having adapted to different environments-the wolfriders are white elves who ride wolves and live in a forest, the gliders are tall, very pale elves who ride birds and live in a mountain and the sun villagers are dark-skinned elves who live in a desert.

Elfquest as a series handles humans poorly in the context of race and culture. In humans, darker skin and complexions are codified as signs of aggression, malice and foolishness. Lighter complexions are associated with the helpful humans of Abode, the ones who are more peaceful, more tolerant, less religious, and more “civilized” than their peers.

From the very get-go of Elfquest, dark skin and "savage behaviour" is explicitly linked. The ethereal, pale, gentle and naive elves are put in stark contrast to a human that does not even look particularly like a human.

This theme starts right at the beginning of the series, but it'll continue all the way throughout it.

Even when it doesn't particularly make sense. Nonna (a human woman) from the Original Quest is of the Hoan-G’Tay-Sho (a tribe of stone-age era humans). Her skintone is shown to be a match to Cutter's, if not also Skywise's. However, when compared to her husband fellow villagers, she's very pointedly pale.

This is in sharp contrast to how the Hoan-G'tay-Sho are depicted otherwise. In the Original Quest, it's noted that they are the same complexion as Suntop (the child of a wolfrider and sun villager), who is notably darker in most scenes than the majority of the Wolfriders.

When we see the descendants of the Hoan-G'tay-Sho later on in the series, off in the Forevergreen, their skintone is hard to quantify. The art throughout this arc is not very consistent, and characters switch appearances regularly. However, the costumes are largely consistent, and I feel comfortable saying that the influences they're drawing from are not European - the Forevergreen arc runs at the same time as Shards, which is set in the 1300's, but...

There isn't much difference between that and the tribal societies we'd seen previously, because the Pini's write their non-white humans largely only in one way. Regardless of the geographic distance between societies, almost all groups of non-white humans in the series share the same traits of being aggressive, superstitious, easily misled, and xenophobic.

The old lady covered in bones is the Bone Woman, an early antagonist. She is a shaman who uses the tribal chief's superstition to turn him against the elves.

I personally feel that she draws on primitive witch-doctor stereotypes. Her appearance is meant to evoke disgust-an elf remarks that "even trolls aren't that ugly" after seeing her-and she comes across as an one-dimensional stereotype of indigenous religious leaders.

She appeared in an issue published in 1984, but the problem of stereotyping continues during the comic's entire run.

In the first comic, the opening scene is of a group of dark-skinned humans dancing around a tied up white elf, about to sacrifice him:

the human cultures in Elfquest are also, almost unerringly, largely sexist.

In the story Mender's Game, the comic shows the asian-adjacent society as actively torturing their women for dishonouring them: https://href.li/?https://elfquest.com/read/index.php?s=MEN4&p=7 CW on this link for severe abuse.

What I think stands out about this is that the culture in question is based on mongolian and central asian steppe nomads who while still patriarchal, traditionally gave lots of freedom to women they weren't afforded in many contemporary societies. They could hunt, ride and influence the men on important decisions in the Mongolian culture.

While it's true that many cultures including ones of color were patriarchal, I feel that EQ lacks nuance when it comes to depicting gender roles in human cultures. Not all cultures were awful to women and in quite a few of them women had many rights and held quite a lot of power but we never see them depicted, the aforementioned mongolian steppe nomads and the iroquois are some examples.

the girl drawing the bow is Shuna, a girl adopted by the elves who comes from a culture analoguous to medieval Europe. In this storyline, she enters a culture based on pre-colonial north America, is believed to be a "spirit-woman" and gets married to a hunter named Nunkah, who becomes abusive towards her.

In Shuna's storyline, her first husband and Bee's tribe is shown to be heavily sexist. Her behaviours outside of her designated role are not initially punished, but ultimately are in the end, with the implication that this is normal for her first husbands' culture. Throughout the story, Shuna notes things such as that "the chief invited me to sit beside him. Later, I would learn it was unheard-of to honor a woman so." and then later, "though patriarchal and restrictive to its women, the hill-hopper clan was not so inclined to look down on a female forest deity. I enjoyed many privileges denied my humbler sisters."

Also, Shuna continues to refer to the tribe as "primitives" throughout the story.

Shuna later meets another man from the tribe named Ikopek who eventually becomes her second husband.

This is Ikopek:

and this is Nunkah:

while Nunkah turns abusive and controlling:

Ikopek is gentle and kind. I think it's worthy to note that compared to Nunkah and the rest of his tribe, Ikopek is light-skinned with white-features and blond hair, even though it doesn't make sense for someone from a culture based on pre-colonial American societies to have those features.

And, of course, Nonna is tossed out from her husband's tribe for not fitting the appropriate gender roles. Sexism is prevalent in many places throughout Elfquest, in the white-coded societies as well as the rest, but it's noteworthy in that it's linked so explicitly to the non-white societies.. to the degree that even the Sun Villagers note that there are expected behaviours of maidens, ones that the wolfriders do not necessarily conform to.

The wolfriders help them change, though, over time - and to bring us back to the human aspect of this criticism, this is a trend unfortunately evident throughout the entire series. Little Patch (a boy abandoned by his parents from a tribal society as an infant but gets adopted by the wolfriders) is tossed aside by his kin, but returns as a blonde hair, blue-eyed adult to eventually lead them. Shuna leaves the white society of Junsland and joins into Ikopek's tribal network, educating and enlightening those that she speaks to. When the Gliders- and eventually, the Wolfriders - interact with humans, they're inevitably seen as an ideal.

pictured here is Aramak, the human chief of a tribe descended from the Hoan-G’Tay-Sho. He is a cruel tyrant who did not hesitate to maim and kill his subjects, considering them little more than offerings to be used. He reveres the elves, to the point of mutilating his ears to look like theirs.

This is just part of a larger, unfortunate aspect of how the Pini's treat a lot of their human societies as well. For those in tribes, which is to say the majority of the societies depicted, they simply aren't treated with much respect by the narrative or even by those within it.

I also think it should be mentioned that the trolls in Elfquest have been criticized as being antisemitic stereotypes; they have large, hooked noses and thick lips and are early on characterized as greedy and dishonest, but get more sympathetic portrayals later in the comic.

#submission

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doberbutts · 2 years

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What breeds would you consider to be food options for outcrossing with the Doberman, and why. Have there been any promising outcrosses in your opinion? I’d love to learn more about this. It’s so interesting.

Hehehehe food options.

I think it is more than breed. I think it's going to need to come down to useage and temperament. Certain common mixed breeds and types may be better suited than purebreds to add into the gene pool.

First I would start with what we know. German pinscher, rottweiler, manchester terrier, and greyhound.

Greyhound we know was added mainly for aesthetic, and we really need to consider aesthetic last when it comes to this breed. There are plenty of dobermans that look correct that we can breed to when the time is right to regain aesthetic. If the addition of a sighthound is truly necessary, I would say something more akin to a RR or sloughi for the more protective/wary temperament, or ibizan for their robust health is probably better than a greyhound at this point.

Manchester terrier makes up the bulk of the terrier traits of the doberman, with hints of german pinscher thrown in. I wouldn't be mad about adding either or both to the pile however manchesters do have a known DCM problem and GPs do have CHF, so I can understand why many doberman people are leery of returning to the known terrier roots when trying to avoid heart problems in the first place. My suggestion- the airedale- also has a known heart problem unfortunately. However I do think terriers as a breed group should not be wholly discarded, simply that we would need to find a feisty terrier breed or type that is hardy and fearless. Feists as used by hunters, especially boar and bear hunters, are a solid possibility if we can find one that's actually health tested. Personally I wouldn't be too mad about a bully breed working in protection sport or big game hunting but that may add a little too much dog aggression to the mixture. Dobermans are described as "belligerent" with other dogs, but they IMO should still be controllable around another dog and not act like an idiot.

Rottweiler as "butcher's dogs", where they were more of an even mix of herding and mastiff traits instead of the heavily mastiff influenced breed they are now, provide an interesting perspective. Right now, the european show line doberman (often just called "euro") is far too molossus and far less terrier than it should be. Adding rottweiler as they are now would continue to exacerbate this problem, unless we added fairly fine-boned rotties which is technically correct (a "good doberman" should be difficult to tell from a "bad rottweiler" after all) but then we are seeking incorrect dogs in the breed we're borrowing genes from and that gets us into a whole additional mess. We may need to break it down into two separate pieces: herding and mastiff.

I'm actually not mad about the known mal/dobe and dutch/dobe crosses as I think that could have been fairly successful, if only the folks involved had used good dogs rather than just picking any old doberman and any old mal/dutch and expecting these puppies to be fire from birth. What ended up happening is that the puppies are largely fairly lackluster in protection, but okay as active pets and other performance sports. This is mainly a result of using dogs that were already lackluster themselves- a better result would have happened if they had used proven parents. How do I know this? Because for a very long time the most recent doberman ancestry dog that did anything in KNPV was not a purebred but a mal/dobe cross (in between a purebred dobe owned here in the states 20 years ago, and a handful of purebred dobes owned overseas a few years ago). The cross can work. You just need the right dogs for it.

As far as mastiff goes, personally I would prefer the mastiff traits to be somewhat diluted through a different type before being added to the doberman. What I mean by that is while I'm willing to acknowledge that the corso/dobe outcross was one of the more successful in creating a doberman-appearing and doberman-seeming dog, both physical and temperamental mastiff traits continue to appear in the dogs produced by the project, making them continue to occupy a weird "not really either" space. This problem is compounded by the fact that, once again, lackluster dogs were used in the first place. Perhaps with a proper working doberman and a proper working corso a better temperament result could have occurred, but we'd still be fighting those mastiff traits in the face and body.

Instead I again would bring up bully breeds, especially bully breed crosses with other working dogs, to dilute these mastiff traits and combine them with other traits we are actually looking for. The bandog [APBT x working mastiff]/dobe cross in I believe Czech Republic is, so far, the most successful by temperament. This is because the dobe used is a successful bitesport dog and the bandog used is successful in real life working fields as a security guard's dog. The resultant puppies are following in their parents' footsteps quite well from the looks of things. They mostly look like pit bull mixes but this is a much better result because the quality of the dogs used was better to begin with. I wouldn't even be mad about those bull terrier x malinois crosses I've seen occasionally for sport (which, btw, mega heart eyes) as that would combine THREE traits we're looking for.

I also think that this would need to happen more than once, more like several crosses of each of these suggestions to multiple different dogs as distantly related as possible, then bred together and with the wider doberman gene pool to spread the (hopefully) improved health throughout the breed. We will lose a lot in aesthetic initially but that is the least concern as that can be gained back fairly rapidly. The most important thing should be health, and immediately following after should be temperament.

No more of this "english bulldog to doberman" "smooth collie to doberman" "pointer to doberman" "husky to doberman" nonsense. It's nonsense. These dogs add absolutely nothing to the breed except traits we don't want, neither look nor act like the breed, and some of them only add more health problems that we already didn't want to worry about. No more of this "well I just wanted to make pets". The doberman is not a pet dog. It's a working dog. If you want to help fix the doberman breed then your first goal should be to create more working dogs. The health is in jeopardy but so is the temperament, and completely losing temperament for the sake of preserving aesthetic and maaaaaaaybe fixing health is completely unforgivable.

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magdasabs · 2 years

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The headwind to Wembley was a bit too strong

by Zećira Mušović

We went in with high expectations and a belief in finally bringing home that long-awaited championship gold to Sweden. A championship in England that would mean a whole new level of interest from supporters and media. It was a record-breaking championship in many ways and the grand final at Wembley remains in the tournament, although with Sweden eliminated where we didn't really have the margins on our side this time. There will be no gold this year, no matter how much we hoped and believed in it. There was a bit too much headwind.

We start at the bright end. We start by highlighting our supporters who created something magical for us during this tournament. Already in our opening match against the Netherlands, I felt the support of the yellow wall, which coolly decorated large parts of the stands and which let the match through. And the yellow wall followed. The crowds we got to witness before our matches both on site in England but also in various places around Sweden were moving to see. When we rolled in on the bus for our semi-final against England, we drove past a huge sea of supporters for the two nations. I had to hold back the tears. It struck me how far we have come in the sport, what moves have been made and how much we engage and inspire. There was palpable joy among the fans, who happily waved and stood fascinated with their cellphones trying to get the best picture of the player buses. These are new times now.

In order to go all the way in tournaments, everything needs to work out. Skill, momentum and luck along the way. Constant headwinds have rarely been a winning concept. Not this time either. The Corona pandemic reminded itself again and crept into our bubble. Injuries came untimely and also posed some tough questions. There were factors that meant that before each match, new constellations were created, which take their little time to sharpen to the extreme. It may appear to be excuses for some, but I am absolutely convinced that there are elements that cause it. Despite trials, we always gave it a try, we struggled to create our flow.Then add good resistance that invited dancing along the way. Nations such as Switzerland and Belgium probably guess some uninitiated are blueberry nations that we should easily beat. Those opinions were evident not least in certain media forums where some experts swung wildly over, what they thought, non-performance. But those of us in the game, who are a little more savvy than watching highlight clips and quickly Googling before doing an analysis, know that there are no such nations in a European Championship. It takes a lot to win.

Together with France, we managed to finish tied for third. Incidentally, I think it is strange that no bronze match was played in such a big championship. Now I understand that it is not done on the men's side either, but I think that in both championships a bronze match would have meant additional interest and an even greater hype around the concluding final. Alas, it was a bronze medal after a top group where we managed to get ahead of reigning champions the Netherlands. A tough and nervous quarter-final against an organized and tactically astute Belgium, with a match-winning goal in the final seconds by none other than Linda Sembrant. Then the English got a little too heavy in the semi-finals. Managed four goals against us and zero scored by us. Despite that, the statistics after the match showed that it was even. Details once again decided,

We went for gold but didn't make it all the way. A few days after our departure, I as a player have a strange feeling in my body. Being in a championship bubble for so long, with all the stresses that come with a tournament, makes it feel strange to leave when the day finally comes. This becomes especially noticeable if the journey home is suddenly earlier than what the brain has been preparing for for so long. Imagine the balloon slowly deflating, with a feeling that it all came to an abrupt end. We wanted to go to Wembley but had to finish in Sheffield. This time we have to settle for bronze, no matter how much we wanted the gold.

#zecira musovic #article

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calciopics · 2 years

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When Megan Rapinoe met Ada Hegerberg: ‘Euro 2022? Everyone was late to the party’

The Ballon d’Or winners come together to discuss England’s Euros triumph, next year’s World Cup and their teams’ sorority

It’s been three years since Olympique Lyonnais acquired a majority stake in Seattle-based NWSL club Reign FC, forging an international sisterhood between women’s clubs unlike any model in professional sports.

The partnership has brought some of the world’s best known players into the same organizational stable, including Lyon’s Ada Hegerberg (who won the Ballon d’Or in 2018) and OL Reign’s Megan Rapinoe (who claimed the trophy in 2019). Ahead of their clubs’ joint US tour, Rapinoe and Hegerberg sat down for an exclusive conversation with the Guardian to discuss their teams’ unique sorority, their impressions of England’s epochal Euro 2022 triumph and their hopes for next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

What were your thoughts on Euro 2022 and how it seemed to penetrate English culture, not unlike the 1999 World Cup in the United States?

Megan Rapinoe: My overarching feeling was like, everyone’s late to the party. This is not surprising to me at all. I feel like I’ve known that the level of play was going to be that [high]. I knew that the European teams, especially in the last five years with the rise of the club game, have been sensational. Of course this was going to be how it was going to go. We literally grow gardens out of cement every single time. Tell me one women’s tournament in the last 15 years that hasn’t exceeded expectations. Part of it is like: “Welcome, everybody, to the party. You’re extremely fucking late, but fine.” And I feel proud about that. Ada should feel the same and all the women’s players should feel the same because we did this. We did this. We put this into motion through literally sheer will, while also being the best players in the world.

The way that the English players held themselves in this tournament, they just embraced the moment fully and didn’t fall into the narrative or didn’t allow themselves to be stressed out about it. You could just tell they stepped into themselves. And it’s yet another data point, justification, reason, a clear picture of why investing in women’s football is good business, first and foremost. It’s a proper money-making opportunity.

So I feel so many different emotions. Just being as old as I am, it’s hard not to be jaded by some of this stuff, but progress moves at the speed that it does and I think being able to build on this is huge. And I’m just hoping that all of the main stakeholders can really take a look in the mirror and understand that it’s been them that’s been holding the game back, it’s not been us. I feel incredibly proud. I think all of the supporters should feel incredibly proud. I think this is a total watershed moment, this whole year, going from Champions League to what Barcelona did [setting multiple world attendance records].

While the US women’s national team routinely draws large crowds, the NWSL has failed to capture the same audience. What is the next step for growing the club game in the United States to what we’ve been seeing lately in Europe?

Rapinoe: It has to come from a place of investment. It can’t just be a charity thing. That’s sort of willfully naive at this point. I think we’ve proven time and time again – whether it’s in the club game, in the international game, in friendlies and Euros and Champions League, whatever – it’s good business to invest in women’s football. And it’s also the right thing to do, but I think before it’s the right thing to do, it’s good business. We shouldn’t be trying to copy every single thing that men’s sports has, and I think that’s obviously a really easy trap to fall into. But I think when you actually invest in women’s sports: the energy is there, the culture around it is there, the fandom is there, but if I can’t figure out how to find the [video] stream … nobody is going to watch the game.

So it’s investing around the streaming services, investing around the front offices, investing around the facilities for the players, the stadiums for the players, ticketing, marketing, all of that. That’s the only thing that’s missing. The players and the product on the field have never been missing. It’s just that we’ve been neglected and under-financed and under-invested in forever. Lyon’s a perfect example. Champions of Europe a million times, champions of France a million times. You have that success and now coupling that with maybe a sea change in the culture, especially after the World Cup in France, you’re seeing obviously massive returns. The Euros were just sensational, Champions League this year was absolutely sensational and you’re seeing bigger attendances around the world.

There is this unmistakable sense of momentum coming out of the Euros straight into a World Cup year. Aside from lifting the trophy, what would you most like to see out of next year’s tournament?

Ada Hegerberg: I keep on scratching my head after every big tournament. You have the World Cup, you have the Euros and then we get back to club and then it’s like the whole momentum just fades away. And I think that’s a huge problem. Like I’m a player in Europe, obviously, and I’ve seen what’s been happening here and – it’s like Megan mentioned earlier – every tournament has been a success in terms of interest from your home country, on a world basis, the coverage. You have this insane momentum and then you have all these best players going back to their clubs and it’s like you kind of lose this momentum. And I think it’s a shame.

Dazn did an incredible job with the Champions League this year. You had some pretty powerful coverage. People actually got a good platform to see all of the best games. But the problem is our home leagues, basically. I feel like England, they’re very good at selling their league. They’re very good at marketing their league, but the other leagues, we’ve got to step up. The federations are in control of these leagues and they have a huge job to do in order to lift the whole product, with the clubs obviously, and kind of shake it up a little bit and start selling the leagues, start selling good football matches where you actually have the best players playing every weekend. And that’s the next step, especially in Europe. You have to get the momentum up the whole year round.

Rapinoe: The only thing I would say about the World Cup next year, I would love to see the ball not be dropped. It’s absurd if it’s dropped again. That’s from the major stakeholders. That’s Uefa, that’s the federations, that’s Fifa, that’s Gianni [Infantino], specifically. It’s the Australian federation, everything. We know now that if you invest in this World Cup, it’s going to work. It’s just not even a fucking question. I would love to see people stop saying: Wow, I think we have something here! This is insane if you don’t invest in it. Whether that’s people are producing content or streaming services or sponsors or whatever it is.

It’s like a literal gold mine and I just don’t understand. I mean, I do understand: it’s sexism and patriarchy. The major stakeholders, most all of them are men and white men. Them being able to stand up and say: “You know what, like we got it wrong. We’ve been getting it wrong. We’ve been sexist.” Because that’s really what it is. We haven’t invested despite all of the key metrics pointing that this would be an incredible [return on investment].

You need to invest in the infrastructure around women’s sports, whether that’s streaming, branding, marketing, journalism, all of the things that help prop it up. I mean the men’s game, everybody talks about it all the time. I don’t want to know as much about LeBron James as I do, but I can’t not, because it’s in my face all the time. I’m sure in European football, with Canal+ and BBC Sport and all that, you probably don’t want to know as much about Jack Grealish as you do, but you’re going to anyway, because you can’t get him out of your mind. Stuff like that is really important.

Hegerberg: This kind of coverage will help change the mentalities, will help raise a completely different generation into training different, training smarter, to put the same demands to six-year-old girls that you do with six-year-old boys, for example. I wish that we were taken as seriously as boys when we started playing. And I think that has a huge impact on the level and long term as well, because I think that the game only can get better. The way the girls read the game, technically, we’ve seen that it’s been a huge change in the tempo and physically. Changing mentalities with having better coverage and investment, it will also have a huge impact on the next generation and how they play in 15 years, and I think that’s very important because we’re here to also raise the level year in and year out.

You mention the quality of European sides, Megan. How is the US women’s system planning on keeping up with Europe when they’re so clearly on America’s heels?

Rapinoe: The game is growing exponentially every year. It’s a huge challenge for us. I think the football being played at the Euros was the best football in the world that we’ve seen ever. I don’t think that’s even a question. It’s a huge challenge for us. We do know how to win. We do have a winning culture here. We know what we’re up against. So I think, for me, honestly, it’s exciting. It’s exciting that so many teams are so much better. It’s exciting that the level of competition is what it is. I think that brings out the best in everyone. But yeah, we’ve got a tall order to keep not only obviously our No 1 standing but to keep ourselves world champions. I’m excited for it. I think if you’re not pushed and you’re not challenged and you’re not shitting yourself a little bit, like what’s the point?

(Bryan Armen Graham by The Guardian)

#women's football #Megan Anna Rapinoe #Megan Rapinoe #Ada Hegerberg #The Guardian #Bryan Armen Graham #football #fussball #fußball #foot #fodbod #futbol #futebol #soccer #calcio

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edenorisshitposting · 1 year

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So, for the ask game: 5, 14 and 15 maybe?

5. Anything you haven’t drawn yet but want to?

Another comic.. About a young girl who who meets a large, kind, wolf. The story has a beginning and and end, but I haven't figured out the middle yet. But when I do HEHEHE.... It's gonna be sad.

14. How has your art changed over the years?

Oh boy, it changed a LOT. I went from drawing nearly exclusively edgy anime boys in middle and high school, to completely ditching anime but still drawing characters all the time, to actually drawing environments more than people.

My style changed a lot too. I think today I draw in a much more graphic, illustrative style. Kind of european comics inspired. Compared to my old thinking of "it's only good if it looks like the art on magic the gathering cards" (which it never did). I often just use one (two if I'm filling fancy!) additional colour, rather than fully colouring every artwork. Truth is, many of my illustrations don't actually need colour! There's so much more WHITE (or blank paper) on my art now, and I use it in much smarter ways. It actually adds to the composition now, rather than just be space I didn't bother filling out.

If you fancy a trip down memory lane, scroll all the way down on my instagram, or my art blog down to my pre uni days. it's different.

15. Biggest artist pet peeve?

You're adding too many details with your white gel pen, and it's making things look shiny that aren't supposed to be. You're buying art supplies with cute packaging that are garbage in quality (looking at you Himi Jelly Guache!). The same white girl with vacant expression on a blank background does not evoke as deep of a meaning as you think it does. You say your nude photographs don't come from a place of sexualising your subject, yet you photograph exclusively young skinny women (r/analog....). Shirts don't fold in between boobs like that. You're adding too many labels to your political cartoon. I can tell the person is being used as bait, because they're hanging from the end of a hook. No need to write "bait" on them in addition.

I'm gonna stop here before I make this post a mile long...

Ask thing

#ask thing #It accidentally turned into a rant at the last question there #I honestly could fill an entire longpost with just art pet peeves #I have a small bone to pick with youtube artists #which I am definitely blowing out of proportions and does not matter very much #But I swear to god if I see another mediocre ''ghibli frame study'' with himi guache and the same lo fi music....#AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE MOLSKINE SKETCHBOOKS #HATE HATE HATE #shit quality paper for way too much money #if you want a nice watercolour sketchbook get one form Khadi Mill #They're more sustainable #look nicer #better quality #100% cotton #for as much or sometimes even less money #Cass Art in the UK stocks them give em a shot #honestly some of the best paper I painted on #obviously not very suitable for inking or crosshatching but amazing for watercolour #or guache #ok I'll stop now for real

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