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huginsmemory · 11 months

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The Eye of Micheal design and the Zia Sun Symbol

I'm not exactly the best person to talk about this, since I'm not Zia/Tsʾíiyʾamʾé (an Indigenous people group from what is today called New Mexico, for those who don't know) but I'm also Indigenous and this is something that has been really bugging me for a while.

The new eye of Micheal design in Stampede is very clearly heavily based off the Zia Sun symbol, a symbol that is found on the state of New Mexico's flag... and is originally a sacred symbol of the Zia people that has been grossly misappropriated by the state itself and internationally.

ID: Two photos. Left is of the flag of New Mexico, with the Zia Sun symbol in the middle in red on a yellow background. There are four rays emanating from each cardinal direction from a circle in the middle, in such a way it forms what could be a 'square cross'. The rays touch the circle.

Right is a screen cap from episode 10 of tristamp, showing Wolfwoods contract. The symbol of the Eye of Micheal is on it. Instead of four from each cardinal direction, 'north' has three medium length rays, and 'south' has three long rays, while 'east' and 'west' have only one short ray emanating from (but not touching) the centre circle. As a result it looks like a typical Christian cross with a lengthened 'south'.

History

This article provides a really good background on it, but to summarize:

The symbol is an exceptionally significant religious symbol that represents the Zia themselves (along with other specific meanings) and is involved in religious healing and wellness processes; it was originally a secret symbol. However, the symbol was stolen from the nation by an anthropologist who was working with the nation, when he stole a piece of pottery with the symbol on it. The piece of pottery with the sacred symbol was then showcased in a museum, where another anthropologist took the design and submitted it for the flag of New Mexico; thus, it ended up becoming the state flag of New Mexico as we know today.

As a result, the design became legally public property, without the consent of the Zia, who now have no control over how the sacred symbol is used, and it has been grossly misappropriated and exploited by non-Zia, both within state and internationally. The Zia peoples have been lobbying to raise awareness of this issue, to both stop exploitation and frivolous use of the symbol which is considered desecration, and also have requested that those who want to use the symbol to ask for consent and for them to provide funds to the education of their children.

How this applies to tristamp

The Zia Sun symbol is, well, to put it bluntly, basically used as the symbol of the Eye of Micheal, just altered to more represent a typical Christian cross... something which would be considered misappropriation and desecration of the symbol. This ESPECIALLY so as the Eye of Micheal is clearly a Christian cult; misappropriating an Indigenous religious symbol and saying that it represents Christianity and a Christian cult no less, is, as an Indigenous person, EXTREMELY disrespectful, considering the history of Christianity and how it's been used to actively destroy Indigenous religion and culture. Also, as the symbol has been said to represent the Zia people, and is related to religious healing and wellness processes, having the symbol basically be used to represent an Christian cult of assassins who essentially medically experiment and abuse Wolfwood who is Hispanic-coded for their own gain is... Not great.

I overall understand that since as Wolfwood is heavily Hispanic coded, the crew behind stampede likely wanted to tie more of that into his background, and so seeing the Zia Sun symbol thought that would be a good way to nod to a Hispanic background (instead of, I dunno maybe not white washing him), but then failed to do proper research on it.

Going forward

Ok, so what does that practically mean for fans? Well, again... I'm not really the best person to say exactly what, but if this was my own nations sacred symbol, and by going from what I've read on the requests about the Zia Sun symbol then here's a few pointers:

I'd just avoid using the design in fanart. Hell, it's only showed up in tristamp, so there's plenty you can work with without the design, based around just general Christian imagery. I know a lot of people really like giving Wolfwood tattoos of the 'eye of micheal' symbol, since tattoos are hot, but I'd ask to please just use Christian symbols instead. I've seen so much nsfw fanart with essentially the Zia Sun Symbol...

For art you've already posted with the Zia sun symbol; it'd be nice to remove the art and put another version of the art up without the sun symbol.

Also, I know I've seen people talking about getting tattoos of it as a quiet nod to trigun... Please don't. It's more likely that people will recognize it as a Zia sun symbol rather than a Trigun symbol which might be an awkward conversation for you.

I do want to say this: I know most people don't know about this, and honestly I didn't know about the Zia sun symbol issue until a couple months ago when talking with a friend about Trigun. It's fine if you didn't know before! We live and learn and grow, and what matters is that going forward you adjust your behaviours.

TLDR: The 'Eye of Micheal' symbol is very clearly an adjusted Zia sun symbol, a sacred and originally secret symbol of the Zia people that was stolen from them and has been grossly misappropriated and exploited by both the state of New Mexico, and internationally. The Zia people as a result have asked people to not use the symbol without their consent. Within tristamp the use of the Zia sun symbol to represent a murderous Christian cult is extremely disrespectful and would be considered desecration, considering how Christianity has historically (and continues to) help destroy Indigenous culture and religion. As a result, it is suggested that artists avoid using it within fanart out of respect.

#trigun #wolfwood #nicholas d. wolfwood #trigun stampede #tristamp #informational post #eye of micheal #eye of micheal tristamp #livio the double fang #vashwood #trigun wolfwood #livio trigun

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lost-technology · 2 months

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So, a while back, I saw a post here on the tumbles regarding the Eye of Micheal symbol - specifically how it resembled the state flag of New Mexico, United States. The post was in complaint that said symbol was a colonial theft from one of New Mexico's indigenous peoples. It's the Zia Sun Symbol, a sacred symbol that the U.S. really has no right to. The Stampede crew likely did not know this, as not too many people outside the U.S. (and even many within) are particularly familiar with New Mexico's flag, nor its history and are likely to see it as just evoking "the West." The symbol also resembles a cross, but that is not seen as problematic, as no one really likes Christians (even a great many of us who are Christian. Hi there, lefty-Christian who doesn't mind twisted use of Christian symbols here -and these things are generally thought of as "given out for free"). Well, after talking with a friend in this fandom about a video game series I like, I wound up on a Youtube rabbit-trail enjoying some of the old ads the series-makers put out and realised something I'd forgotten, just staring me in the face: It's not as likely as the Zia Sun Symbol an inspiration, but here is a POSSIBLE inspiration for the Eye of Micheal insignia? Get a load of this:

The Vault-Tec logo from the Fallout universe. It is the logo for the mega-corporation that constructed fallout shelters in the games' lore. They were U.S. government contracted and billed themselves as a friendly company that would help people survive in the event that the Sino-American cold war that was present in the year 2077 of that world went hot, which it did. What Vault-Tec didn't tell any of its prospective residents was that most of the shelters (there were control-units) were actually built for unethical human experimentation (most of it psychological, some physical). The symbol has nothing to do with the New Mexico flag. It's drawn from old American / Russian cold war energy-symbols, if I am not mistaken. It also might represent a sealed Vault-door (although those are usually symbolised by a gear, as they are shaped like gears). It is VERY evocative of common old electricity / nuclear warnings. And looking at it again, I have to wonder if there was some inspiration there, perhaps more from this than from the stolen indigenous symbol. The EoM symbol doesn't have the central circle, but Wolfwood does put his thumbprint as such on his Pastor's Contract. It would also make sense in terms of Vash and Knives, the Two Angels, being born from energy-reactors. But I have no idea how familiar anime-producers in Japan are with the Fallout games. They are very America-centric games, explicitly American setting with particulars set in American culture and history. Buuuut, they're also post-nuclear wasteland open-world shooty adventures, which are fun for the whole family everyone!

#trigun #trigun stampede #eye of micheal #eye of micheal symbol #fallout #vault-tec

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chaoticvictorianspirit · 8 months

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I love all the acting choices David and Micheal made for their characters but one I'm especially obsessed with (and frankly I don't see it being talked about enough) is the body language/posture.

David took one look at Crowley and decided this boy is Bouncy™. He has cooked spaghetti for bones. Ninety percent of his walking is done by his shoulders actually. He might be man-shaped but he's actually a liquid constantly changing form to fully fill the container (chair) he's in.

Meanwhile Michael went - We'll he's an angel, of course he's prim and proper and carefully put-together. He has the posture and grace of a classically trained dancer. There is also One Million Bees under his skin at any given moment.

And they were so right.

#seriously how is david tennant a human man so good at portraying what a snake would move like if it had limbs and walked upright #like. you just look at him and **know** that is a lil snek guy. he slithers. he saunters on his two human legs and looks like a serpent. how #and micheal can shuffle through the whole spectrum of emotion know to man in 30 seconds flat with just his eyes. these men are INSANE.#good omens #gomens #david tennant #micheal sheen #crowley #aziraphale

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reegis · 6 months

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have you ever drawn michael distortion? i think he would look really cool in your style,,

of course i have hes my silly… have some michaels (mostly from my tiktok)

#just a big ol pile of em #tma #the magnus archives #the spiral #tma micheal shelly #tma micheal distortion #eye strain #my art #asks #ALSO DID U KNO ONE OF MY TIKTOKS COMES UP IF U IMAGE SEARCH TMA MICHAEL #HELL YEAH???

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theallegedbird · 5 months

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finally drew the door twink

#id in alt #just a doodle bc i wanted to test a design for it again :D #i just think hes Neat #<-(gave me a gender crisis when i first heard it)#tma #the magnus archives #the magnus archive fanart #tma fanart #fanart #micheal distortion #the distortion #avery draws #cw eyes #cw bright colours #cw eyestrain #cw body horror #<- maybe??

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dimsunstuff · 2 months

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Gerry and Michael for a lovely friend of mine

He specifically requested Catcher in the Rye to be up for burning.

(the lighter is loosely based on a special Zippo design)

#tma micheal shelly #gerard keay #michael distortion #tma fanart #gerrymichael #doorkeay #gerry keay fanart #the magnus pod #the magnus archives #tma #illustrators on tumblr #digital painting #artists on tumblr #art #tma distortion #spiral #the eye #ceaseless watcher

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bluarlequinno · 19 days

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Charlie my bbg (she's the goat)

And Micheal my boyfailure

#fnaf fandom #fnaf fanart #fanart #fnaf #micheal afton #charlie emily #five nights at freddys #five nights at freddy's #art #fnaf the silver eyes #fnaf book trilogy #charlie the silver eyes #charlotte emily fanart #charlotte emily #micheal afton fanart #digital art

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milosneptune · 4 months

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cuz nothing bad has ever happened hereヽ(^。^)ノ

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jonahmagnus · 6 months

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Jonah starts posting about his fnaf/lsoh au, 100 dead 2000 injured.

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dannybobany · 2 months

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I think people forget that Michael’s eyes aren’t canonically grey-blue

In the SL cutscene, which as far as I’m aware is Michael’s only appearance in which his eyes are visible, they look like this

Like, it’s never even directly said that Micheal looks like William, no shame to anyone who draws his eyes like that I just want people to know it’s not actually canon, he has big ocean eyes ,,,,

#fnaf #five nights at freddy's #Micheal Afton #william afton #fnaf sister location #the only characters with fully canonized appearances are actually like… cc and Elizabeth #because of thier logbooks art #I’d argue that Williams desgin only applies to the novel timeline #which as made clear by the movie. could be completely different from his game one #and for what it’s worth …#movie Vanessa’s eyes are green … so

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blazepandaartz · 9 months

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Me after consuming a copious quantity of Crispity Cruncy Munchie Crackerjack Snacker Nibbler Snap Crack N’ Pop Westpoolchestershireshire Queen's Lovely Jubily Delights.