#i doubt the other tags have anyone trawling them

[littlest-salomon]

If anyone still cares about the Wakan Tanka/Great Spirit Gate discussion:

(I haven't yet read the Invaders chapter where Wakan Tanka's alternate form and more story content is introduced; however, I did notice the reference to US settler's mass bison slaughter in his type and design)

1. Inclusion: In the context of the Housamo world, leaving out Native religions would mean that they had been destroyed and their spiritual beings dispersed or dead; in the context of Housamo as a game, leaving them out would essentially be a statement that they didn't matter as much as other Northern Hemisphere religions, which would leave the Lovecraft mythos as the only representative "religion" for North America.

2. Indigenous identity: Housamo also includes Gates for the religious cosmology of two Indigenous peoples within Japan's own borders--Ainu and Ryukyans--as well as Central American and Oceanic Indigenous worlds. If including Indigenous religions is a problem, it's much bigger than just Great Spirit.

3. Equality: Along with Indigenous religions, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, and more are all represented in Housamo. Every character is designed to be sexy because it's still a dating game and the only ones who can't be in romantic relationships are either beyond evil, overpowered (Wakan Tanka explicitly reigns in his power to be fair to other people/divinities), walking spoilers, your character's legal guardian, and/or not romanceable yet.

4: Representation: Wakan Tanka is depicted as an all-loving, all-good ultimate divinity who chose to incarnate as a person in Tokyo to experience human life and to bring the exiled player character back to Great Spirit, which seems to be a wonderful world. Meanwhile, on the colonist side, the player character is literally Satan and the Christian Eden is written as an aggressive, exclusionary nightmare that some transients voluntarily leave as protest.

Also:

5: It's the Internet: I really doubt that many people who seek out fandoms and DM random members to say that their interest is problematic are solely motivated by social justice concerns. People love doing drive-by attacks on other social groups and fandoms online, especially if they feel like they have the moral high ground: it takes barely any effort and the "win" gives them a serotonin boost. Ironically, Mononobe's description of the App makes it unambiguous (imo) that Housamo's App battles are a metaphor for this uniquely online experience. Attack is much easier than defense: look at how long this defense of one single aspect of this game is, vs the ease of trawling the Housamo tag and choosing a target for whatever "Housamo is bad" argument they have on hand.

6: Who's Asking?: Unless they say they are, it's unlikely that any one given person complaining about Wakan Tanka is Native (note: the person who asked me about it did not claim to be Native, IIRC), even less likely that they're from a nation that worships Wakan Tanka, and even less likely that they've played Housamo long enough to ever encounter Wakan Tanka. Some people treat social justice as a hobby and criticizing video games is a lot easier and more fun than stuff like voting or donating money to reservation communities.

#housamo #tokyo afterschool summoners #housamo lore #housamo meta #wakan tanka #yes i spent over 200 days thinking about this

[bluntblade]

Thanks very much for the tag @sinvulkt - here we go...

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

71 as of just last weekend.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

484,157

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Primarily Star Wars (and that mostly Sequel Trilogy, though I written some High Republic and a little Original Trilogy and Clone Wars), Horizon: Zero Dawn/Forbidden West and The Horus Heresy (WH40K)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Fire Hawk, Snow Thrush (Horizon Zero Dawn/The Frozen Wilds)

Episode IX: Resurgence and Reckoning (Star Wars Sequels)

Rex's Ruminations (Star Wars: The Bad Batch)

In the Footsteps of a Death Seeker (Horizon Zero Dawn/The Frozen Wilds)

Treat it like a Duel (The Horus Heresy)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

If I get a comment then yes, I absolutely respond. They're relatively sparse for me, so I appreciate them very much.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Angstiest ending, you say. I'm kind of bad at sitting in a bad feeli- no, I tell a lie. It's absolutely A Fine Officer, A Good Soldier. Captain Appo locked inside his own head by the Order 66 programming, watching helplessly as his body advances on the Jedi Temple with a blaster in his hands...

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'd say my Episode IX but there is a big sad beat toward the happy ending, so really Fire Hawk, Snow Thrush carries the day here.

8. Do you get hate on your fic?

Luckily no. My shipping choices and maybe other elements make my fics pretty niche, but that also means that I'm not involved in shipping drama, and I don't seem to enrage anyone to the point of leaving angry comments.

9. Do you write smut?

You won't find any under this moniker, that's all I'll say.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I don't presently, although, a year after everyone seemed to be drawing Spider-loys there is a full-on "Horizon characters as Marvel comics superheroes" AU running riot in my head (with Aloy dating Ikrie, who's X-23 Wolverine, Talanah as Hawkeye, Erend Odinsson, Helis as Venom and Regalla as the Prowler). If I ever free up the spare brainpower... maybe that'll happen.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yep. It was one of those "steal fics to sell" trawls and it was very odd.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I haven't, but if anyone would like to, please drop me a message.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Not since my time in the Brotherhood of the Lost "alternate Horus Heresy" AU project, and that was fairly sparse too. I like collaborating more broadly, but when it comes to the writing itself, I prefer to fly solo.

14. What‘s your all-time favourite ship?

Rey/Kaydel in Star Wars, and Aloy/Ikrie in Horizon. I can't choose between those two.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Probably one of my Sequels-era fics, set between The Last Jedi and Resurgence and Reckoning. I have some WIPs that threaten to be very plotty and I just don't have as much spare time as I used to. Also I have some OC apprentices for Rey and Finn, whose stories I really want to begin telling and promise to let me move the older characters forward as well.

16. What’s your writing strengths?

Probably my action writing. I read a lot of action and films and tv influence my prose a lot. I think a lot about rhythm, dynamics and all that stuff, and I just enjoy it, which probably helps.

17. What’s your writing weaknesses?

Mystery? I'm yet to really try to write one tbh, but I look at something like Glass Onion or Silo and just struggle to imagine coiling my brain into those shapes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've only used it the once, I think, and very much for comic effect. It depends very much on how long a scene is, and how much I want to emphasise a language gap.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Horus Heresy

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Err. Arrgh. I really can't answer that. But I am very proud of my recent Star Wars: Lost Stars one, so let's say Stars' Flight.

Not tagging, but feel free to run with this :D

#My writing #my fanfic

[brawltogethernow]

SpideyTorchMJ end up in GG Paris. Discuss.

Notes I would want to hit:

⚜ There’s no convoluted reason this happens. They were just standing in Reed’s lab at the wrong time.

⚜ Peter, Johnny, and Mary Jane are respectively villain-, hero-, and damsel-coded, and upon arrival tropes hit them in the face and the local energy rolls right over them with attempts to recruit, jovially elbow-knock, and kidnap.

Confusion slows Peter down a little, but he still knocks the crowd who scooped him up around pretty neatly, causing Johnny’s group (who are all very shiny and aren’t displaying the deep core of sadness and inadequacy that defines Johnny Storm and give Johnny imposter syndrome) to go “oh what ho, he doesn’t seem so bad after all” except then Peter kind of tries to fight them too and has to be restrained. Like just arm grabbed by a familiar face without super strength but still.

By the time Peter and Johnny catch up to MJ where she’s being held captive by a hidden society, not related to any of the ones we saw during the Paris arc, she has hit their ruler with a blunt object and shouted at everyone else, and is now posing on their throne while they design merchandise based on her likeness. After a little cajoling she tells them that two men is already enough commitment in her life but she’ll be their long-distance figurehead monarch if they want. This status is permanent and follows her back to the Marvel u.

⚜ MJ and Johnny: We’re young! We’re beautiful! We’re in Paris (sorta)! We’re ready to party!

Peter: I don’t know what time it is in New York but I’m probably missing Jeopardy.

MJ: It’s in reruns right now, dear.

Peter: I’m missing Jeopardy reruns.

⚜ MJ is mistaken for a Valois descendant because she has the hair and is swept up into a secret meeting. She quickly realizes she’s already heard too much to extricate herself honestly and has to bluff her way through and leverage her acting skills to pretend she belongs among the incredibly treasonous scheming.

She gets a little bit too caught up putting on a silly accent and pretending to be Cousin Ernestina and gets caught out while throwing her weight around about the topics she’s got half figured out, forcing a dramatic escape scene.

⚜ Johnny loses Peter and skywrites:

Meet Me at the Usual place (local Analogue)

He means the Eiffel Tower, their usual place being the Statue of Liberty. The actual local analogue is the Awful Tower, and they both get genteelly detained by Colette upon approaching her base. She lowkey considers murdering them for the greater good, but decides to hook them up with someone to send them home instead. She hits on MJ.

⚜ Johnny after someone finally tries to explain Sparks to them, after making a bad fire joke about what they’re called: It’s like...if a small percentage of the population...were Reed. They have millions of Reeds.

⚜ Peter kind of starts to Vibe with Colette’s crack team, and MJ is like, “Hey, hot stuff, tell me if this is silly. I feel like, if we let this go on, we will, on some level, never fully get him back from this world. Y/N?” And Johnny is like “YEAH, actually” and then they either knock Peter out or haul him into a side room for a “distraction”, cue tasteful-ish suggestive fade-to-black. Peter is not a Spark but he is a mad scientist and you gotta keep an eye on him.

#mary jane watson #peter parker #girl genius #spideytorch #petermj #i doubt the other tags have anyone trawling them #ff #marvel #spidey #bullet point format is being weird again so have some thematic fancy fakes #phoenixyfriend #asks answered

[cescalr]

9 and 23 for the ask game please 😊

9: Are there any fics you'd love to see but don't want to write yourself? What are they?

Ooh, um... I'm not sure! Something substantial for Cursed 2005, maybe, like a crossover with buffy or teen wolf or something, with jimbo as the pairing from cursed and idk just something interesting (please no b*angel or st*rek or st*dia), or a time travel fic for Supernatural that involves Dean as the POV but absolutely zero, nada, nothing of (even hints) De*tiel or winc*st, that's 100% a fix-it fic (bc my mans deserved a lot better than that ending smh. And so did Jo, and Anna, and Lisa and Ben and Charlie and Benny and- ).

23: What's one piece of advice you would give to anyone who wants to start writing or posting their writing online?

Hmm... Just go for it? Like, write whatever comes to mind and post it. And keep doing that. Over and over again, because it's all the same thing - practise. If you can't think of an idea, there's no reason not to go trawling for prompts. I've got this list of 200 prompts, can't remember where I found it, but it's really useful if I'm stuck. But yeah. Find some time, any amount of time, whether its 5 minutes or five hours, and write what you can, as much as you can, whether it's ten words or 10,000, or more or less, it doesn't matter. Just get words on screen (or on paper, if you prefer.) And then... post it. If the main issue is getting the courage to post it, don't read back over it. That's when the nervousness rears it's ugly head. Just post it. Straight up. Type right into the Ao3 doc and hit post if you have to, just... find a way to minimise the amount of time you give yourself to get all worked up about whether it's 'good enough' or not. It won't be perfect the first time you write something - nothing ever is. Everything requires practise. And each time you post something, you get better at it. It gets easier. If proofreading is the bane of your existence, just post it and come back later to fix any issues. If titling it is a problem pick a random word or a song lyric or hell, a sentence from the fic, anything at all. 'Working Title | Stiles POV All Human AU Stira Fic', even. Just. Anything. You can always change it later. Summaries an issue? Grab the first paragraph. Grab the first sentence. Put 'Stiles POV all human au, stira focus.' as the summary. Who cares? You. Can. Always. Change. It. Later.

That's the great thing about fic. Changing everything later is possible. Nothing here is permanent. If you aren't happy with something, that doesn't matter. So long as it's out there, you can get feedback (because often, we don't know why we aren't happy with something - outside help is always invaluable). Being scared of criticism is half the problem, for a lot of people... but - not to sugar coat - it's necessary. And, just to note, in my 10 years of fanfic writing, I have never, ever, gotten a single malicious comment. Not. Once. It's much rarer than people think it is. And even if you do, you can always delete it. Put comments on moderation, turn them off, if it's the main issue. Gather your confidence at your own pace - but don't forget feedback is necessary for improvement. Eventually you will need to accept it's going to happen - it's not an attack on you. It's an attempt at help. We're taught in school to consume media critically, and those who internalise that will comment constructively. English class can leave an impression - the worst thing is to take any of it personally. Having a negative mindset (they hate it) versus a positive mindset (they want me to improve at this thing I enjoy doing, they're trying to help, they're being supportive) can make all the difference.

Eventually, you'll need to turn those comments back on. But you don't need to take anyone's shit, hence why moderation is a thing. There is a difference between constructive criticism and hate - but it's rare you'll get the latter. Tone is hard to convey in text form; benefit of the doubt is the best way forward.

Make sure you've got friends/mutuals you can ramble with about your fics. it's genuinely the most helpful thing. Give them snippets, do the whole cheerleader routine for each other. It's great. Brainstorm with each other. Not necessarily doing collaborative fic (though you might find that's what works best for you!) but just, geeking out with each other. It makes a huge boost for your ego, and that's useful for your confidence when it comes to posting things. But also, if you trust them, it makes taking their advice easier.

Sometimes, it might feel like two steps forward and one step back. That's great! It's still a step forward. Go at your own pace. The worst thing you can do is rush yourself and burn out. If it takes you a year to update, it takes you a year. I assure you, the readers will still be there, and they'll be happy to see the update. Nobody's going to hate you for taking your time. Prioritise your health. I promise it makes your work better if you're in a good place, and you don't have too much on your plate.

Though, having said that, if you find you work best with about twenty wips all at once updated every week, then go for it! Like I said; your own pace. If a schedule helps you, have one. If it doesn't, don't. I don't have a schedule. I have about 40 wips posted, and a few that aren't yet. It can take me a year to update, or I'll do four in a week. People are pleased either way - what matters is that you wrote something, and it exists, and other people can read it. Isn't that awesome? You've made something. You've made a mark. Someone's happy because of you, because you wrote something they like. Who cares if there's twenty typos and you use the wrong you're* (*or equivalent in your language, ofc) - you can fix that later. And it didn't stop that person's enjoyment of the first fic you ever posted, which might not be as good as your future fics, but it's still special. It's still yours.

Prioritise the thing you want to prioritise. Plot, relationships (of any nature), whatever. Prioritise that. The rest will fall into place. Personally, I prioritise characterisation. interpersonal dynamics follow, part and parcel of character exploration, then plot, as an extension. Do what suits you. And people don't tend to mind very much about any of these. If characterisation matters to you not one whit, just put OOC in the tags and be done with it. Plot doesn't matter? Perfectly fine! You don't want to write ships? Nobody's forcing you. Do what you want. It's just fanfiction. That's kind of the point. There's no need to feel pressure to write a certain thing. I'm in a lot of fandoms with a lot of very large ships. I'd get a lot more readers if I wrote st*rek, or d*stiel, or whatever, but I don't, because I wouldn't enjoy it. Write what you want to see. What you want to read. That's the best advice I can give. If you cry at your own fic, perfect. If you laugh at your own fic, brilliant. If your own fic leaves you all giddy like, grinning wide, amazing. It's gonna give someone else that reaction, too.

Hits, kudos, comments - they're not everything. Ao3, for harry potter, has 5000 pages of fic, with some of the tags I don't like excluded. It's not a case of people not liking your fic - it's a case of people not finding it. Don't worry. Recognition will come with time. Also, the ratio for fics is kind of awful, anyway. Comments and kudos vs hits is always poor; 2%, 5%, 7%. Don't worry too much about it. If people read it, it's likely they liked it. A lot of people are just lazy, and don't press the kudos button. A lot of people are incredibly nervous, or don't know what to say, so they don't comment. Another thing; some of your fics are going to be more popular than others. This is normal. Fandom size, fandom activity, content of fic, tags - prevalence of fic type, etc etc. One of my fics has around 15k notes. the rest are all below 6k. the runner up is a whole 10k below that fic. This is to be expected, and it's nothing to tear your hair out about. Write, first and foremost, for yourself. The rest, as always, comes later.

Really, tldr; you can always fix it later. the rest comes later. recognition comes later. the best thing to do - the first thing to do, the only thing to do - is just start. Post something. Anything. And go from there however you wish.

In 2016 i had zero subscribers on Ao3. I've got 72 now. These things just take time. In 2016 i'd written 30k words. I've written 1.2 million now. These things just take time. Through fandom, mostly fanfiction, I've gained people I'd consider friends. I think it's a really cool endeavour, and I think - for your confidence, peace of mind, and social sphere - it's also a really positive one.

#me; motivational speaker? no. but I try. #thanks!!! #these were really interesting ones :D #ask game

[hiyorisarugaki]

Shipping interview!

Multi, single, or fewship?:  Singleship with @hirako5hinji​ !! >w< / Good luck Shinji lmao.

What are you willing to RP when it comes to shipping?:  Everything, of course. Give me all their daily, mundane little habits from sharing their blankets, brushing their teeth, who picks the colour of the wall to even big things like parenthood, moving house, fighting and conflict and how to resolve it -- misunderstandings.... learning new things about each other. Discovering the old. Getting hurt-- and of course, always always falling in love with each other every time.

How large does the age gap have to be to make it uncomfortable?:  Well, this is bleachverse and depending on the race of the character you rp, it’s difficult to discern certain ages unless you take the ages of others around them for consideration? So, Hiyori despite her attitude, is a young adult in my view. I believe only Toshiro or Ichimaru Gin were explicitly stated to be children at the time they became shinigami. However, it is pretty obvious Hiyori is one of the youngest in the group of Visored along with Mashiro. I don’t think Hiyori actually minds the age gap between herself and Shinji. He acts ridiculous around her too, so it doesn’t matter. She only feels uncomfortable when Shinji’s obvious experience in romance trumps her own. It often makes her feel inadequate and unsure of what to do. It’s not the age gap, but the lack of previous romantic experience that has her feel at a loss on how to be a better partner for him. However, Shinji is generous and patient as a lover so most of the time her discomfort is alleviated very quickly.

Are you selective when shipping?:  Err... well not really? I mean, I knew when I rped Hiyori that she wasn’t going to win anyone’s heart with her attitude lmao. I actually doubted that she would ever find romance or anything like that. However, I adored Shiyori a lot and I actually trawled through the shiyori tags and luckily found @hirako5hinji‘s shipping call. FROM 4?? YEARS AGO!! WHAT ARE THE ODDS?! So, yes. I am very lucky that things worked out and Annabean was interested in still shipping shiyori after so long. ;u ;

How far do steamy moments have to go before they’re considered NSFW?:  Uhhh... Hiyori thinks anything past holding hands is nsfw, but I think... uhh, as soon as the clothes come off. xD

Does one have to ask to ship with you?:   I think I usually rp and see what the characters do in each interaction? I never like putting pressure on others so I just take it all as rp and see if the writing works well, if our characters love one another and then we can always try it out together. The thing is, it means nobody is obligated to ship with me or have their character behave in an out of character manner just to force a ship.But honestly, it’s nice to be asked to ship after we see the characters getting along. I can be clueless so I think my method isn’t that great. I believe once you have certain things in mind, try not to assume things-- it’s always better to talk because we can inadvertently hurt someone’s feelings. So yes, always be clear about shipping and I was lucky enough to be asked with my Hiyori.

How often do you like to ship?:  Uhh, well, with Hiyori it never really happens that often. Like she says to Shinji, she can’t do this love thing again. It’ll only happen once.

What is your favorite ship in your current fandom?:  I’m currently a residence of shiyori hell. :D

Tagged by:  @skyvar​ thank you!! Tagging: @praedulcis--helianthus​ @meishutori​ @elxfi​ @themercyless​ @hanabiira​ and anyone else~~

#meme replies #hirako5hinji #// tagging you because hiyori muse wants to claim her husband smh

[okayto]

As a fellow adhd librarian, I can't help but ask....how do you deal with the lull times when you have maaaaaybe 4 patrons an hour, you have finished all your projects and there are NO at desk tasks to be done, but SOMEONE just blew it for everyone by being caught doing her homework and ignoring the ONE patron who wanted help, and now you have desk hours and have nothing to do and all computers and books are banned. *twitch* I might have a bit of an issue with boredom right now.

First, that sucks, completely. Curse that ~*~someone~*~ who ruined everything for the rest of you.

Second…can you not use your own computer, or is there not a computer at the desk? If there’s nothing at the desk at all, I am out of ideas and the only thing I can think of is having a chat with whoever makes the rules and being like, “Hey, we agree I’m a good worker, and I get my stuff done, but that means that sometimes I’m at this desk for literal hours with no projects and nothing to do.” Get them to agree that you should be able to do something, even if it’s “only reading magazines/books from the library collection” or something. ‘Cause otherwise, jeez that’s cruel.

If there is a computer at the desk, I have some go-to websites I can browse–nothing objectionable, makes me look busy if someone comes up (because I’m obviously working on the computer!), etc. 

If I have a project (however tenuous it is), I can justify searching for resources for it. My projects include:

Bulletin board creation. I can trawl Pinterest and the internet for inspiration anywhere.And once I have inspiration, I need info on the topic…which could be poetry, or cooking, or gardening, or chickens, or whatever.

Helping with collection management for our young adult and graphic novel collections. I haven’t done much but hey, I should probably read these blogs about YA book reviews, right?

Posting to social media, so I look up articles on how to do that engagingly, and I look at other accounts for inspiration/things to share/hashtags to join/tweets to retweet

If using a desk computer is something feasible for you, some ideas for non-project fun things, moving from “okay probably anywhere that lets you on the computer” to “use your best judgement about whether this would fly in your workplace”:

Start with more academic resources (this looks better if someone sees the screen). At my library, I’ll browse our digitized archival collections because I think reading 40+-year-old student newspapers/yearbooks is interesting (and I can get ideas for #ThrowbackThursday posts).

Other university/library/museum digitized collections are also fair game. I have some links in my blog (tagged “link”) and I just save a bunch of stuff when I see something interesting. Places like the Smithsonian’s digitized stuff, or links I find on Twitter by scientists and archaeologists, etc.

Local/national newspapers. If you can get it approved, you could try reading physical copies at the desk, but at my library we also have a digital subscription of the local paper included. And through some library databases, I can read things like the New York Times (or specific articles) without using my “10 free articles a month” thing.

Also, NPR, BBC and other reputable news sites that will have stuff like book reviews, features, etc. On my to-read list is NPR’s “Reading the Game” occasional feature, which looks at video games from a literary perspective.

The Awful Library Books blog is fun and interesting

Mental Floss is also informative and fun

Ask a Manager is great, and directly related to work (in fact, I used it to help me figure out a firing last year), with all the intrigue and gawking you get with an advice column.

Other blogs that are safe for work. So, not The Bloggess because language and stuff that people wouldn’t like in my workplace, but Cake Wrecks and Epbot and Book Riot (maybe not technically a blog, but whatevs) are OK for me.

(IDK about anyone else, but once I’ve read enough recent stuff to know I like a blog, I then try to go back and read things in chronological order. I’ll skip/skim boring stuff, but otherwise, this is a good way to make blog-reading last a while.)

Ebooks! In your library, or Project Gutenberg’s online HTML pages, or through the Internet Archive, etc.

Fanfiction, but probably only if you’ve checked its tags/warnings/visual ahead of time. Like, save a direct link to a fic that’s the equivalent of PG. Start curating a SFW list. When in doubt, don’t browse or search for new fics at the desk. You’d hate for someone to come up behind you just as you scroll past something that’s warned for fisting.

Webcomics–most are colorful so this is really only if it’s completely okay for you to be obviously (to someone who can see the screen) not Doing Work-Work. There are ones like Hark! A Vagrant and XKCD (along with Explain XKCD, and the What If? blog) that are black and white, but most have color. You’d have to decide about contents and propriety. FWIW, I enjoyed reading Hyperbole and a Half (blog/comic combo, inactive), Adventures of Superhero Girl (complete),  Girl Genius, and Gunnerkrigg Court (ongoing).

I hope you’re allowed to do something, Anon! Does anyone else have any suggestions?

#I have no idea what I'd do if I wasn't allowed to be on the computer--which I have to use when I have work--but probably I would die or just #links #working in a library #tumblarians #link #good information #website #webcomic #ask

[angelinuhh]

you seem really knowledgeable about race-related issues w/ the rpc so i thought i'd ask: is it just me, or does the rpc seem to have a problem w/ actually acknowledging and using japanese fcs?

ty ! but when it comes to race issues, i genuinely have a lot to learn.

 to answer your question—— i do believe the rpc has a problem acknowledging and using japanese fcs. but– in the same way the rpc has a problem engaging with most types of poc. however, if you (or anyone else) feels differently, please enlighten me. i would love to know. 

in the meanwhile, i did some… statistics and analysis for you below the cut. thank you to the 21 roleplays from which I used their taken character information. 

A STUDY IN THE USAGE OF JAPANESE FCS (a la the RPC 2019)

for a fuller and better understanding of your question, i decided to do a little research. i wanted to see which japanese fcs were being used, how often japanese fcs were being used, compare this to real-life numbers and more. 

STEP 1. GATHERING DATA 

trawling the tags, i came up with a list of rps. from there, i excluded any rp with under 20 muses— though i do note that none of the rps under 20 muses had more than one japanese fc. and then, i noted every single time i saw a japanese fc being used and the frequency of japanese fcs in the rp. i also went ahead and identified what country’s entertainment industry they were in (western/american, japanese, korean) and if they were of mixed descent.  

STEP 2. RESULTS

Based on these 21 RPs, the AVERAGE % of Japanese FCs is 1.53%.

OF NOTE, if there is any japanese fcs in an rp, the average is boosted to around 2.59%. With the exception of 2 RPs, every single RP that had any japanese fcs in it was within .2% of this score… aka, while there are some failures in our sampling (non-random), all of the members of our sample were fairly similar in terms of % of japanese fcs. 

The most popular fcs to see were RYAN POTTER (½ japanese and a western fc), NANA KOMATSU (full japanese, in the japanese industry ), & KAYLEE BRYANT (¼ japanese and a western fc). 

nearly all the fcs with multiple occurrences were mixed fcs from western entertainment. in addition, nearly all the fcs from western entertainment were mixed while the ones from eastern industries were full-blooded.  

STEP 3. INTERPRETATION. 

according to worldometers, the actual percentage of japanese people in the world is equivalent to 1.64%. the census shows that the percentage of japanese people in the us is 0.4%

so yeah. based on my crappy data, we’re doing okay. 

and tbh. im actually. really shocked and impressed by that. 

on one hand, it makes sense. while i would love to see more japanese fcs used (catch me… making gif icons of chiharu okunugi and saila kunikida in my free time all day), i’ve never noticed anything egregious abt japanese fcs in particular and this does back up the argument. 

 but… on the other, you’re right. i feel you 100% on the fact that we have a problem. as someone who is asian and in the rpc, i feel like it is important to emphasize that we need to and we CAN DO so much better. my data, as presented thus far, is skewed heavily in favor of “everyone’s doing the right thing! and everyone’s writing these people as japanese!”– when really that’s not the case at all.

for one, just because the percentages show that japanese fcs are being played, this does not guarantee good portrayal.

secondly, changing the definition of japanese… will change the results extensively. for example, this dataset includes people who are less than ½ japanese (booboo and fivel stewart (japanese, chinese, korean, ½ white + claims of blackfoot), ming lee simmons and kaylee bryant (¼ japanese) ) while they are still japanese, they ARE also mixed. and it’s hard. to make that decision. whether they should count as japanese portrayal and representation. 

i’ve also noticed that not all these characters are even played as japanese. in particular, kaylee bryant’s japanese heritage is sometimes ignored and she will be used to play played a white character, while booboo stewart is usually either native or just… ambiguously asian. neither of these things are good. 

and thus… if i stop giving people the benefit of the doubt and actually look for japanese portrayal instead of just … any japanese fc, this will put us  BELOW average.   

WHY WE MIGHT FEEL THAT PEOPLE ARE NOT USING OR ACKNOWLEDGING JAPANESE FCS (also WHY WE R VALID TO)

mixed fcs have privilege. and while we can love and support them and validate their identity, it is sometimes hard to see ourselves in them or to immediately identify them and acknowledge them as representation. sure, ryan potter is great. but even he’s spoken at length about how being hapa/hafu benefits him. 

other races (cough… just white people and maybe kpop fcs) seem to have a lot more variety in terms of fc choices. there’s a hundred different white fcs in use. in contrast, when there is japanese representation, it is usually the same people. if you go to ten rps and they each have one japanese fc, that’s dope. but if each of those ten rps just use nana komatsu… then you’re going to feel like. people don’t use japanese fcs. 

people might be writing shitty japanese stereotypes or portrayals. 

regardless if… all or none of the above is what you think, if you feel like an ethnicity is being slept on in the rpc. you are not wrong. you are also not alone. this is not the only group that feels this way. a big reason i run @vietrpc is for similar reasons. i wanted to see more viet faces. i wanted to see more diversity. but— lbr, the frequency of just lana condor in an rp will probably equal to the frequency of vietnamese people in the world. even though, lana condor is the only viet person ppl play (s/o to jessica vu, hyulari + karrueche for trying tho). 

i’ve seen black muns do similar things when they say that people don’t play black muses. while most rps i’ve seen do have some sort of black characters in it. they just happen to be… the most ‘passable’, the most ‘acceptable’. we all love zendaya, but when she’s the only black person that ever gets used in the rpc– that’s not great. it is so easy to feel like… because these are token fcs, that they don’t count. 

( note: i haven’t done the math. but i would probably put money down on that people don’t play black muses… to a level that’s beyond what asians in the rpc face. and there’s a lot more going on with this issue than there is w/ viet or japanese representation. i just wanted to reference it, because it is a similar topic.)

look. the rpc sleeps on poc. we know that. even if they use our faces. they still suck at doing it right. 

part of it is most of the rpc is western. and… lbr… there’s really not that many asians in western media. people just don’t like using fcs they’re unfamiliar with. and they’re not willing to immerse themself in the japanese entertainment industry or whatever.  that’s just going to be a thing. 

part of it is. cough. racism. wow, look at the time. 

.

.

lastly. 

ok ngl that was… more work than i expected but it was really rewarding to see the data like that. if anyone enjoyed reading that or seeing that and wanted to see more, lmk. you could even help out tbh. i think it would be interesting to do this for other races. 

my lab reports always include my errors, so, if i had to redo this, i would have a larger sample and choose a random sample of 20 from it. i would do all my data in excel so i could see how my data was affected by removing people who were less than ½ japanese. i would also maybe include… a poll on how people write their characters. inclusive of the following questions.

what is your race? (you may answer with non-japanese/japanese or your specific race)

what do you do to write this character? what references do you draw upon?

is your character japanese

this would weed out the white-washing ppl n ppl who just don’t play a multiracial character in that way. 

if your fc was changed to that of another ethnicity, would your backstory change? 

would the way you play your character change?

on a scale of 1-4 with 1 being not important at all to 4 being very important, how important is your fc’s ethnicity when it comes to writing and developing your muse?

these open-ended questions would help me understand the portrayal of japanese characters in the rpc

if you can contribute anything to this conversation, my inbox is always open. i’m glad to hear it. 

#rpt #rpc #rph #Anonymous #mine

[becausesecondsnotthesame]

Fanwork Appreciation

Since it’s fanwork appreciation day I’ve compiled a list of my top stormpilot fics and art for your own use. I would highly recommend the things on this list, but there are so many amazing fanworks out there that I couldn’t possibly include them all! My love goes out to all the amazing creators who work so hard to supply our fandom with such amazing content, you all deserve so much love! Now, without further ado, my recommendations...

Fic Recs

Everyone has scars by @beautifullights1

This series is absolutely stunning. It’s angsty as fuck, and has a lot of really intense themes (torture, potential rape, PTSD etc.) and I swear it’s the embodiment of the ‘Poe Dameron hurts so prettily’ tag, but it is all so amazingly written and it confronts all the issues so well! It’s also crazy long, so I’d advise setting aside a nice big chunk of time to read it...

Doubt thou the stars are fire by @linatrinch

You know those brilliant bodyguard AUs that you need in every fandom? Well this is it, but so much better, because it has dramatic plot twists and slow burn relationships, and sub-plots that will blow your mind with their complexity. It’s perfect for anyone who likes a good bit of prince!poe, and even if you don’t like that trope it’s worth a read! 

Incendiary materials in war by @deputychairman

This series is stunningly complex and is definitely the epitome of ‘slow burn’. I reread this series almost constantly, because I just love the finer plot details. In essence, Poe is smitten for Finn, who thinks they’re only fuckbuddies, and a lot of mistakes are made. Mainly by Poe. But no, it’s just generally amazing, 10/10 reccomendation.

Favourite Fanart

Star wars 20s AUs by @radio-silents 

1 2

I am of the opinion that these two bits of art are the coolest things I have ever seen, and I wish I could will my brain to write a twenties fic inspired by this, but the juices just aren’t flowing that way. I think (and I apologise here because I know fuck all about drawing so my description is poor) that the way the characters have been drawn is amazing and I love the individual characterisation to fit the AU. It’s just all-round amazing!

Stormpilot Witch AUs by @saraduvall

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I could trawl through @saraduvall‘s art tag for ever, but this AU set really stood out to me. I really love the bright colours (apologies again for how bad my description is) and the quirkiness of the ideas included in the art. There’s also a brilliant fic inspired by this (not by me though) here by @linatrinch

And of course lets not forget all the absolutely amazing contributions to Stormpilot Week, everything I’ve seen has blown my mind with how awesome it is, honestly this fandom is so talented it’s unbelievable! 

I wish I could compile a list including every single thing that I adore, but I’m fairly sure it would never end. So if you’re reading this I want to thank you for all your contributions, even if it’s just reblogging something and making an author or artist or other creator’s day! You are what keeps the fandom going!

All my love x

#stormpilotweek2017 #stormpilot #finnpoe #starwars #fic rec