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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 1 year

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A bit of an out of the blue question but do you think the new event outfits are offensive or innacurate in any way?

I saw some people have started using this, Cater's New Year's outfit and Diasomnia's dorm uniform as an example of why Twisted Wonderland and Yana Toboso are offensive.

Note: I am not saying Twisted Wonderland is an offensive game in the slightest but I've seen a lot of people have issues with certain things in the game they find problematic.

[Referencing this post!]

Okay, so 💦 we’re going to get into a lot of heavy topics about real world events and cultures in this post, so please take note of the tags and content warnings before proceeding!

I also want to preface this with the disclaimer that I do not intend to speak on behalf of the groups affected by this, nor am I am an expert in matters of world history/various cultures. I am only presenting you with the preliminary knowledge that I have so that you can come to your own conclusions.

I will, of course, give my own thoughts on these situations, but please bear in mind that it shouldn’t be my responsibility or obligation to do the research for you or to tell you right from wrong; that’s a decision you need to learn to make for yourself.

***CONTENT WARNING: discussion/mentions of war, racism, colonialism, Nazism, orientalism, genocide, and imperialism!***

To make things easier for everyone (including myself), I’m going to begin with responding to the latter 2 asks above.

I will then address the immediately relevant topics regarding the clothing in the Sunset Savanna event, then work backwards chronologically (so the section after is about Cater’s New Year clothing, and the final section is about the Diasomnia uniforms). I will have my general thoughts at the very end of each section, and then my overall thoughts.

On “Orientalism”

To the second ask's Anon 💦 I believe you’re not using that term correctly. “Orientalism” refers to appropriating or condensing elements of specifically Asian cultures (which includes the Middle East), not African cultures. By definition, the outfits of the Sunset Savanna are not “orientalist” because the clothing is meant to draw inspiration from African sources, not Asian ones. "Orientalist" is not a synonym for the word "racist", but rather orientalism can be an example or a component of racism. Please be more careful with your wording.

On Ruggie and the “African Poverty” Stereotype

This part is to address the Anon in the third ask!

I don't believe that Ruggie is a stereotype of African poverty. It can appear that way because we have such a small sample size of students from the Sunset Savanna (3). In statistics, the conclusions drawn are significantly less reliable or accurate if you're pulling from a small pool of data. I think this is also the case with Ruggie. It's an example of representation bias, where seeing one extreme makes an observer assume that this extreme says something about the whole group without looking at other context clues. Even if we were to accept that comparing Ruggie to the other two Sunset Savanna students is an acceptable measure, the stereotype still doesn't hold. Neither Leona nor Rook are destitute, which would seem to imply that Ruggie's impoverishment isn't the norm in their country, but an outlier. Even other minor mentions of characters from the Sunset Savanna do not imply poverty (ie Sebek's grandfather, who is said to come from there).

Secondly, I think that Ruggie being the only "poor" character in the main cast is a conscious decision, but not one made from racist roots. Each of the TWST characters borrows heavily from their respective Disney counterparts, and as you've stated yourself, the impoverished background that Ruggie comes from harkens back to the struggle of the hyenas in The Lion King. This is different from the other six movies whose villainous characters are twisted, as they largely do not have circumstances which focus on socioeconomic class differences. The closest other example we get to that is Aladdin, but this doesn't hold up since we don't have a formal twisted!Aladdin with which to contrast to Kalim's enormous wealth. Jamil is twisted from Jafar, who is the Sultan's advisor, and thus would have a great amount of wealth himself (hence why this is reflected in Jamil by having the Viper family also be fairly well-off). This means that Ruggie was very deliberately designed to be the way he is because of his Disney inspiration. It's a large part of his character, right down to several lines he speaks in episode 2--all that talk about how even hyenas can "become king" at NRC.

Regarding NRC, we need to remember that it is considered a VERY exclusive private school. If it’s anything like upscale learning institutions in the real world, most of the students attending will be from wealthy/influential families or just middle class or upper middle class ones in general. Look at how stacked the NRC cast is; Riddle’s parents are healers (his mom being very highly respected), Leona and Malleus are royalty, Vil is a huge celebrity, Cater’s dad is a banker, Rook and the twins are implied to be from important families, Idia is the future director of a secret organization, Kalim is loaded, etc. It makes sense that there would be far fewer impoverished students compared to privileged ones (though I do think it’s unfair 😔).

Another thing to consider is that while Ruggie is definitely the most extreme case of poverty in the main cast (again, due to being twisted from the hyenas), there are others in less-than-ideal situations too. We cannot discount them in this discussion. Deuce is from a single parent household (which most likely means a smaller income than a two parent household), and it is implied in episode 5 that Epel’s entire village was struggling financially until Vil stepped in. Poverty is a spectrum, and we see this in lesser forms in the other students. As you’ll notice, even when we count Deuce and Epel, “poverty” is a small fraction of the main cast, which, again, is similar to patterns observed in real world posh private schools.

The final point I will make here is concerning Lilia and Vil. Yes, they’re unorthodox picks for a Sunset Savanna event, but this doesn’t mean there is ill intent behind them going. We can’t say “it feels like the devs made this decision to clown Leona” because the event is not out yet and therefore has not had an opportunity to explain why those two specifically joined the group for the trip. I don’t even think it’s particularly weird to see Lilia and Vil traveling in general; it seems like they do that a lot anyway (Lilia has canonically traveled a lot and Vil has traveled with his dad and must travel sometimes for his job). Leona also appears to dislike a majority of the main cast, not just Lilia and Vil; if anyone else had been picked, he’d probably be just as grumpy about it. (Leona probably doesn’t like that Kalim is coming along either; why is the hate presumed to be directed only at Lilia and Vil?) It’s grossly preemptive to make conclusions about the reasons why Lilia and Vil are present and how Leona feels about them going with him before the event has come out 💦

Sunset Savanna Clothing

While coding certainly exists (ie when fictional things are stand-ins for real world people, objects, concepts, places, etc), fiction is also able to draw on real world inspiration WITHOUT being a one-to-one parallel of the real world AND without necessarily being racist. This is true of media such as Avatar the Last Airbender, which exposits many eastern philosophies and concepts, such as balance with nature, balance, and destiny, while also having designs and a world heavily inspired by a number of Asian groups. Although it is clear that each of the four elements has a main inspiration (the Air Nomads draw from Tibetan monks, the Water Tribes draw from the Innuit people, the Fire Nation draw from Japan, and the Earth Kingdom draws from China), these are not absolutes. For example, Song, a healer from the Earth Kingdom (based on China), wears a hanbok, a piece of clothing which is traditionally Korean. Avatar intersperses ideas from many Asian cultures in a thoughtful manner because these are just parts of their world WITHOUT ever claiming to be “Chinese” or representative of Chinese. These real-world concepts and ideas were appropriately adapted for a fictional world, and it is not appropriation because it is not done in an exploitative or disrespectful manner.

I would argue that Twisted Wonderland is capable of doing the same, as we’ve seen places such as the City of Flowers (which is basically twisted Paris without explicitly BEING “just Paris but with magic”). You can tell from the food and the language spoken that the City of Flowers IS meant to be “French”, but they have a customs and traditions of their own that isn’t tied to real world Paris. Twisted Wonderland is never claiming that “oh, this fictional country is supposed to be a version of [this country in the real world]”; they are adopting ideas and making them into new lore for their own world. This is also true of other areas we have visited like Harveston and the Scalding Sands. The only reason conclusions are drawn that parts of the TWST world are “equivalents” to those on our world comes purely from fandom speculation and interpretations.

Some will think that the TWST world should be exact representations of the real world, and others choose to make the divide between fiction inspired by reality and reality itself. This distinction is important to consider in navigating this conversation, as the stance adopted will definitely play into whether one believes content to be in poor taste or not.

Yana herself has stated that the Sunset Savanna event has been in the works for 2 years now, so I’d imagine that a considerable amount of research and planning went into this event. I won’t speak on the quality of said research, as we can never know for sure. However, if previous homestay events are of any indication, the research was most likely NOT to make a one-on-one 100% “accurate” recreation of any African culture but rather to integrate elements of African culture to create a part of the TWST world which can exist as its own entity while still remaining respectful of its inspiration. We must also remember that the event itself isn’t out yet, so we can’t accurately judge if there is appropriation or offensive use of its inspiration with just some visuals. A similar situation happened when Rollo was first announced and we hadn’t even met him in the game yet; people jumped the gun and claimed that because the character he is inspired from is racist and genocidal that Rollo too is problematic—yet when the story actually unfolded, Rollo was not either of those things. He still borrowed ideas of self-righteousness and contempt for sinners (magic users in this context) from his Disney counterpart, but he was not the exact same as that counterpart.

With that being said, let’s talk about the new event outfits. The question on the table is “are these clothes offensive or inaccurate in any way?”

Firstly, is important to understand that Africa is NOT a monolith. It would be impossible (and frankly reductive) to boil down a whole continent to a single unified style of dress. Gauging the “accuracy” is simply something that cannot be done, as it appears that Twisted Wonderland borrowed from many areas of Africa when designing the looks. It wouldn’t be 100% accurate to any singular part of Africa, just as Avatar would not be 100% accurate to any singular part of Asia.

Secondly, we cannot speak for others or over others. If you want to know if the clothes are offensive, ask an African or someone who can speak wisely on the matter. It’s not that others cannot hold an opinion on it, but I think it's just as valid, if not moreso, to hear from the ones whose cultures are being represented rather than just the people who claim to speak for or defend those cultures while not being a part of it. Someone with knowledge of and experience of a certain culture can speak for themselves and how they feel about this. They just may choose not to, especially in the cases where they aren't deeply upset with the representation (because if they don't feel a strong emotion toward it, what is there for them to react to publicly?). The spectrum of hurt is also vital to consider here. When we focus only on the loudest voices (no matter where it may come from), it creates this false assumption that more people are upset than there actually are, or that one/a handful of comments reflects the thoughts of the entire group.

I personally don’t find the clothing offensive, but take my opinion with a grain of salt, as I’m not super familiar with African fashion. (I’m not counting a few Google searches as enlightening me on the full extent of it.) From my understanding, the outfits seem to borrow heavily from the designs of The Lion King’s Broadway musical and even Black Panther (two Disney productions that have been positively received by at least the African American community). I see a lot of similar patterns and accessories in Leona and crew’s outfits; my thought is that if the latter two pieces of media also borrow from many different African cultures and were not widely criticized for inaccurate or offensive portrayals of their costuming, then what is the issue with TWST’s? No one in any of these productions (TWST included) is claiming to be presenting Africa as a monolith but rather is borrowing elements from many countries, tribes, and even other cultures entirely to come up with their costumes. Again though, I wouldn’t take my word as gospel; please look around the community and see if there are any African fans that do take offense to the design direction that TWST has taken. (If anyone that is familiar with African fashion and/or culture does see this post, I'd love to hear your thoughts and broaden my understanding of this situation.)

In saying that, I also want to stress that you aren’t “wrong” or “bad” if you disagree with this take. I do not mean to discredit or to invalidate people’s thoughts on this matter; I understand why people feel so strongly about this, especially when popular media has historically not been kind or accurate in its depictions of other cultures. When a pattern has already been established, it’s so much easier to be wart of new content. You have a right to find whatever material you encounter as offensive or not offensive; all ask is that you respect differences in opinion, and at least give the event a chance rather than letting your thoughts prime (set expectations for) the perception of every bit of lore to come in the new event 💦

Cater’s New Year Outfit

The issue that people take with Cater’s outfit is associated with the particular design of it, which is very reminiscent of the style that was worn and popularized during the Taisho era of Japan. For those who may not know, the Taisho era is not remembered fondly because it is characterized by Japanese imperialism into significant parts of Asia, such as China, Korea, and Taiwan. There’s more grueling history there, but I’m going to cut it short for the sake of brevity. You’re free to do more research into this if you’re interested.

For comparison, here is Cater's New Year attire and here are some examples of Taisho era clothing:

As you can see from the linked images, Cater has some elements of Taisho clothing while also sporting a modern twist to them. The cut of his shirt imitates the cut of the nagajuban, and instead of an obi, he wears his usual Heartslabyul sash at the waist. Additionally, it can be argued that the Heartslabyul jacket worn over that is meant to be similar to the cloaks characteristic of Taisho fashion.

In any case, what I said for the Sunset Savanna clothing also applies here; please listen to the voices of people who were impacted by Japanese imperialism. Their feelings are valid, and if they find discomfort in Cater wearing the clothing, then those feeling should be respected. However, individual opinions will widely vary and are not representative of the entire group. If one Chinese person says they are offended by Taisho clothing, it doesn’t mean ALL Chinese people will find it offensive.

At the same time, someone is NOT automatically a bad person or supportive of imperialism just because they enjoy the fashion or excuse Cater for wearing it. Some will believe that clothing is just clothing and that there isn’t a deeper message behind it unless the one wearing that clothing acts in a way that glorifies what they wear. And indeed, it is possible to appreciate the fashion of a time period without condoning the things that occurred or were promoted during that same time period. For example, if someone were to wear Edwardian inspired fashion or just straight up Edwardian era clothing, it doesn’t mean the individual supports colonization. Clothing CAN be used to project a message, but it does not ALWAYS project a message.

This is actually something I feel I can speak on, as my family comes from one of the areas directly impacted by Japanese imperialism. I don’t personally take offense to Cater wearing what he is. I’m of the opinion that so long as he’s not acting in a way that glorifies imperialism then it’s fine; to me, wearing it alone does not promote imperialism, just as “problematic” material appearing in media does NOT mean automatic support of that material). That being said, I also have friends with similar backgrounds that are offended by Cater’s clothing. We are able to disagree without acting morally superior to one another or insulting the other’s views, and I feel that this is something that should extend to others when discussing this topic. At the end of the day, we must accept that one opinion does not define a whole country and that there is no clear “right” answer here; it’s all left to individual interpretation.

Diasomnia Dorm Uniforms

I’ve already previously addressed the Diasomnia uniform controversy here.

To quickly summarize, it appears to have been a mistranslation of a particular term; this most likely occurred due to the context of the rest of the sentence not being taken into account when translating. OP’s translation has since been deleted, but the Reddit thread of responses still exists and in it, OP apologizes for this error.

Personally, I don’t see a point in assuming the worst of people when the context clues all point to it being a translation error and not purposefully meant to invoke imagery of N*zis. To me, it looks like a general military look with some elements of equestrian fashion and nothing more than that. As is the case with Cater’s New Year attire, I have friends who think otherwise. While they concede that there was a mistranslation, they still perceive the Diasomnia uniforms as questionable in design. These opinions can coexist, because everyone’s perceptions will vastly differ based on their own world knowledge and experiences.

I want to reiterate a point I bring up in the Diasomnia post, as it relates to “problematic” or sensitive content in general:

[...] we should not make assumptions in such broad strokes about another person based on what they create. People are capable of creating things for reasons other than “I support this”. They may want to call light to something or critically discuss it in a way that isn’t possible in real life. This is true of much of literature, from the classics to contemporaries, fiction to nonfiction.

Depicting insensitive things in media becomes a major issue when “bad” things are glorified or treated like they are “good”. The presence of a “bad” thing in of itself does not necessarily make the entire work “evil”.

General Thoughts

When it comes to issues like this, I feel that the immediate reaction is to take sides, then throw terrible words at the opposing side or assume the absolute worst of the devs. Honestly, I don’t think that’s the best thing to do. It’s very narrowed minded and short sighted 💦and ultimately, it’s unnecessarily inflammatory and won’t make anyone want to hear you out if you do feel uncomfortable with something the game has presented. It’s all very reactionary rather than stopping to critically examine the context and looking at more informed opinions.

Of course, this isn’t to discount gut reactions. Sometimes they can be very strong, and rightfully so. This also isn’t to say that TWST, or Disney/Aniplex has NEVER screwed up, because they most certainly have. (For example, I don’t think using the term “exotic” was in good taste for Fairy Gala; they should have used another term. A lot of Disney’s attempts to portray certain cultures also fall flat and come off as reductive.) It’s just that these particular scenarios are circumstances in which I think the fandom is either oversimplifying the matter or shouting too loudly over the people that are actually impacted by this and may have something to say about it.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that whether you’re offended by their clothes or not, both sides are entitled to feel how they do. You’re not “right” or “wrong” for believing what you believe; just don’t go out of your way to claim the people who don’t agree with you are bigots or evil 💦and please, please, PLEASE listen to other opinions, especially those coming from the potentially affected groups. Don’t assume that just because there is a ruckus being kicked up that it is representative of everyone in that group, because it most definitely is NOT. Don’t take everything you see or hear at face value, LOOK INTO THINGS YOURSELF (I even encourage you to fact check everything I’ve told you in this post!). Lastly, if you’re going to discuss these topics, please remember to do so in a respectful manner!!

I’m sorry if I sound worn out by now or if I sound like a broken record but I’m just 😔 sad and tired, I guess?? These ARE important topics to discuss, and I will always support critiquing the media we consume, but I don’t enjoy it when such broad and instant assumptions are made. I wish people would be less reactionary, take a step back, evaluate the information being presented, do some research of their own (even into stances which clash with theirs), and then decide for themselves whether something is upsetting to them. As I said in the beginning, it shouldn’t be my responsibility or obligation to do the research for you or to tell you right from wrong; that’s a decision you need to make for yourself 💦

I also wish there would be more respect for those that take opposing opinions. Instead, there is a lot of hearsay and assuming that said hearsay is automatically correct just because there is an intense claim or emotion behind it, and a lot of judgment of others’ moral character based on these disagreements. It unintentionally leads to shaming people who are genuinely excited for new content. It’s all very tiring, it kills hype, and it makes people afraid to demonstrate their excitement 💦 I wish we’d just let the content come out in full and speak for itself before evaluating it so harshly... As for myself, I’m going to remain optimistic but still reasonably cautious 🥲

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oh-nowo-i-got-uwu · 4 months

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do y'all think there's an TWST equivalent to the british museum in the Queendom of Roses?

#twisted wonderland #twst #we know that twst has fantasy rasicim #but what about irl racism?#it's 4 am btw #the way i think how countries work in twst is that #the Queendom of Roses is just generally U.K + U.S + Canada #Sunset Savannah is Africa ofc #Scolding Sands is vaguely the Middle East #cause yknow?#Shaftlands is the rest of Europe #I honestly don't know where to put the Island of Woe and Briar Valley #and wherever tf the Octotrio live #probably near the north of Shaftlands #anyways...#i hc the Octotrio speak danish as a first language.#you can agree or agree. no other option 🤭

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adrianasunderworld · 2 years

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Why do you think so many people cling to the idea that Leona would be an asshole to his s/o? Like he would delight in beating up his partner and would be offended if his partner wanted a little bit of intimacy.

I know Leona is mean and he is very guarded but..still

He’s not that kinda character. Basically, why does the fandom have two very different versions of Leona?

I am going to be 1000% honest and say I'm pretty sure it's people being racist. Leona, someone who is based off a film that takes place in Africa, meaning he would be black. So people are vehemently characterizing him, the black housewarden, as an aggressive abuser? Hmmm...

Like you said, Leona is no saint, he's guarded and can be an asshole. But he isn't an aggressor. He's said time and time again that using brute force for a problem isn't his ideal, that he prefers to make a plan and out smart the opponents. When he found out some Savanaclaw students were going to gang up on and beat Jack up, Leona intervened. These are not the marks of an abuser. The only time I can think of him being over the top pissed (save for the Overblot, but everyone went off the rails leading up to their Overblots. So he isn't special in that regard.) was when the Mc meets him in the botanical garden. But the matter is let go once Ruggie shows up a moment later and it is forgotten. It ended up being all talk. The point I'm getting at is Leona doesn't get physical until it's needed, even with people he doesn't like. So him putting hands on his partner of all people doesn't make sense. In short Leona is a poc man who isn't some flawless saint, and thus will be villainized.

I think another part of it on some level is people being misogynistic. I see a good chunk female Leona fans putting him into the role of protector for girl!Yuus and xreaders. For example. Another thing about Leona as a character, that has been stated multiple times in game is in his culture, women are valued and respected, and him being raised in that culture, means Leona does too. Part of Leonas appeal ,to female fans specifically, is him actually giving a fuck about women, and I do think some asshats absolutely hate that. Because I've seen tik toks joking around about some of the boys being misguided, like they clearly took some bad "how to be more manly" type advice. Then look at the comments and it's stuff like, "He took advice from Leona" Are we talking about the same Leona? Because the one I know would hear you spouting that nonsense and think you're fucking idiot. People love to do the exact opposite of his characterization.

This all reminds when I was very into Pokemon SWSH. Raihan is my favorite character in that game. And I saw a good chunk of people really lean into the whole "feral dragon man" persona. If you haven't played the game, when the gym leader Raihan battles in the arena, he yells, he takes a wide stanch, he acts like the dragons he trains. And it's all an act for the cameras. Outside the gym he is friendly, takes care of historical artifacts, and likes taking pictures for his instagram. He is the most laidback guy in that game. And yet people really love to make his battle persona his only personality trait. Raihan is also a very tall dark skinned man. I can't help but side eye it all. Because none of that math checks out unless you add a racist bias to the equation.

#twisted wonderland #leona kingscholar #twst leona #racism mention #misogony mention

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anonyanonymouse · 7 months

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It's October 💕 anyone want to give me the gift of some ideas on a "darkest you can possibly imagine" twisted wonderland au?

#twst #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #I just like it when things are awful and bad. can you blame me #to give one of my own... I want to play around with more fantasy racism structurally built into the world #where fae are at the top of society with some species of fae still treated like slaves #and if even some fae are treated like slaves... you can imagine how poorly others are treated #any human kingdoms are turned into factories with fae choosing who breeds and what each human will serve as in their life #children are specially schooled to obey and submit to the fae #beastfolk are just livestock. Raised to be meat and little else #merfolk get ignored which would be the better end of the stick if they weren't already so cut-throat down there with their own issues #(maybe silver and sebek are pretending to be fairy slaves serving the draconias 🤔 hrmmm)#dark content #dark twst

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v-anrouge · 2 years

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OK GUYS GUYS HEAR ME OUT.. we all know that sebek is there to represent the internalized racism of mixed ppl right??!! SO IMAGINE SEBEK TALKING TO A MIXED MC WHO HAD TO DEAL WITH BULLYING BECAEUE OF IT

either yuu tells him or he hears them venting about how they never felt they fit in and abt how ppl would say that they're not really a *insert race/ethnicity/species/etc* because they were mixed and about how they felt like they were inferior for being mixed LIKE JUST IMAGINE OKAY

HE'D BE SO FLABBERGASTED LIKE HE'D BE SO SHOCKED HIS BRAIN MALFUNCTIONING YET AT THE SAME TIME EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE YK PLZ HEAR KE OUT ON THIS ONE

#twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #twst disney #sebek zigvolt #twst sebek #sebek twisted wonderland #yuu twst #tw internalized racism #cw internalized racism

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somehowmags · 8 months

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i am begging the twisted wonderland fandom to stop making jokes/aus about kalim or jamil having a harem

#read orientalism by edward said and shut the fuck up #twst #chatters #fandom racism

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distant-velleity · 5 months

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Chrysos raised around human like mers, Finn growing is surrounded by human like mers... they're really destined for understanding each other huh (tho I don't know if Chrysos was hate crimed and bullied like Finn was fjgjjgjgugig)

They're both pretty, screw the others

chrysos is partially protected because of his status (although i dont know how much of a status it really is…) so it probably wasn’t that bad but he definitely did not have an easy time getting along with others… especially in the palace

but yeah they are super pretty :(( it’s just that society will be society

#ask #twst oc ask #quinn !!#finn 🤝 chrysos 🤝 santiago: victims of fantasy racism

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themoonsbeloved · 2 years

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do you actually have any tips for designing an oc for scarabia that isn't just a bingo card of ways people can fuck up. legitimately asking bc i do not want to fuck this up

First tip I'd give is to stop being scared to fuck up, and to acknowledge that you can fuck up. I can fuck up too. No one is telling you to get it completely right or be perfect, because that's not possible when we grew up in a racist society and internalised racist ideas about certain groups of people. Its to just be mindful and respectful, and avoid very obvious racist, Islamophobic and orientalist stereotypes by doing your own research.

Honestly its really about being willing to take criticism and suggestions by those from the groups that these stereotypes actively cause harm to, listening to us without inserting your personal feelings into the issues of racism/islamophobia/orientalism discussed, and to use your own judgement and thinking to come to your own understanding on what you can do to avoid it moving forward, without victimising yourselves or reacting with hostility, or attempting to disprove and underestimate our realities and frustration. Truthfully speaking, its honestly not hard to just avoid putting your scarabia characters in belly-dancer outfits and overly sexualised, revealing outfits. You simply just. dont draw them with belly dancer outfits and sexualised outfits. Our ancestors weren't going round exposing their stomachs and arms and tits in desert climates lmao. We STILL don't do that.

But anyway, I digress. Here's some links.

Check my tags for twst racism:

and Orientalism:

And an ask I already answered previously, with additional tips in the notes: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/themoonsbeloved/642686620946006016?source=share

Lastly, the responsibility to consistently educate, provide resources and links does not and should not fall on racial and ethnic minority fans, so again please make use of your search engines and google. If you can spend hours researching other things, you can go out of your way to do the same for your ocs with the intention to not misrepresent or stereotype entire groups of real people in the process. I'm providing one last time because I have endless posts about scarabia (and other posts regarding savanaclaw and Sam in the tags) over the past 2 years, so I might as well make a post with all the relevant links in one place, since tumblr is incompetent in allowing folks to search tags properly.

#twisted wonderland #twst #jamil viper #kalim al asim #scarabia #twst racism

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mysaldate · 1 year

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Okay since you guys were curious to hear my plot idea, here’s roughly what I have. Heed the warnings, if you’re uncomfortable with any of the topics I will discuss here, this post is probably not going to be something for you, stay safe.

TWs: Classism, mental, physical, and sexual abuse (the sexual part will be implied but I won’t talk about it explicitly or in detail), eating disorders, self destructive behavior, fantasy racism, fantasy prejudice, toxic relationships, kidnapping, age gap relationships (one side being a vampire, the other being a reincarnated human), r/kvl is there but in possibly the worst light imaginable, R/ook is the villain here so if you like that ship or character and want to see positive things about them, you’re better off skipping this post as well, blood drinking, hypnotism, memory manipulation

This AU is set in a high-fantasy world with a multitude of magical creatures living more or less together. Obviously, there are scuffles and not everyone likes each other very much, but things have been getting... better. In the last twenty or so years, the most notable change was integrating vampires to predominantly human society. Consensual blood-drinking is legal and aside from organ donor cards, there is another set that gives consent to be turned into a vampire, should the patient suffer a life-threatening injury and vampirism was their only way to survive. The general consensus is slowly turning around, at least for the lesser vampires who got turned since these changes came in effect, but most people are still wary of vampires of old, especially the so-called greater vampires who have been around for a couple centuries. The Isle of sages used to be sort of a testing ground for these changes that are only recently being implemented around the wider world, so many greater vampires moved there some time ago and decided to stay. Partially due to this, the Isle of Sages also has a large magical police force presence, especially when it comes to those specialized for dealing with the supernatural.

When it comes to the vampire rules I use in this story, there’s quite a few. Sunlight, obviously, is deadly to them. In order to go out during the day, they can, however, carry umbrellas or large hats. While indirect sunlight can be unpleasant and give the more sensitive vampires rashes, it is not exactly harmful unless it hits their skin directly. The age and power of a vampire can be determined by their fangs, with lesser and younger vampires having smaller and thinner fangs while greater vampires sport both longer and thicker ones. This also makes bites from greater vampires significantly more painful. Both lesser and greater vampires have access to a limited charm or hypnotic ability, with greater vampires being able to essentially take control of another person for a short period of time. The target of such charm ability will usually have no memories of what happened while they were charmed. The older a vampire gets, the harder it becomes for them to eat solid food. This is not an issue with being unable to digest human food but rather stems from the limited ability to break down solid substances. A greater vampire may still be able to drink tea or coffee without any issue even if they can’t eat solid food. There are exceptions to this rule though. Some more sensitive vampires cannot stand even the smell of garlic but this is quite rare. Silver burns them but they show up in mirrors that aren’t relying on silver in order to reflect things. Their regeneration is incredible and it is very hard to kill or permanently injure one unless one uses silver or direct sunlight to aid them, though it is also possible to starve them. New vampires are created when a vampire shares their blood with a human they drank from. Last but not least, as vampires are beings of darkness and undeath, plants picked by a vampire wither or dry very quickly. Due to this, it became customary to gift vampires dried flowers instead of fresh ones. Vampires don’t have any transformative abilities on their own but those who have been around for a while and cultivated their magical abilities can become powerful mages.

Vil is one of the greater vampires. He came to the Isle of Sages pretty much as soon as the legal changes first took place not only to make his own life more comfortable but also because he genuinely feels more comfortable taking blood from people who consent rather than having to charm his way to them. He lives a mostly secluded life and only talks to a few people on a regular basis. The two people he would say he is the closest to would ba Trey, another greater vampire who works at the hospital primarily as a dentist but is also in charge of turning the people who gave their consent, and Silver, a human part of the magical forces with a specialization in vampires. Other characters who exist in this AU but aren’t relevant to the story include Azul, who is also a greater vampire, Cater, who is a lesser vampire turned very recently by Trey after what was dubbed a car accident, and the Leech twins who work with Azul but aren’t really interested in being turned into vampires themselves yet. Sebek exists and is actually married to Silver but Vil never gets to meet him.

First things first, Vil is very much the type to view his vampirism as a curse. We learn pretty early on that he never wanted to be a vampire and that his turning and the whole situation around it was... pretty traumatic. Even now, centuries after it happened, he still occasionally has nightmares when he sleeps at all, and physical contact is something he prefers to avoid and keep minimal when necessary. He carries a silver locket with nightshade flowers engraved upon it, keeping it wrapped in several layers of handkerchief to protect himself from its burn.

There is nothing big or significant happening on the world scale that would kick off the events of this story. Rather, the story starts a little bit before R/ook moves to the Isle of Sages. Shortly before that, Vil suffers a terrible nightmare of his past, vivid memories coming back to him as a dark premonition, and it disturbs him quite a lot. He shares a little of them with Silver but he opens up more to Trey who knows a little about his past already. The full extend of it would be revealed gradually over several instances but I do have the write-up of the bulk of it.

Before Vil turned into a vampire, he was part of the nobility and, behind his father’s back, was seeing a commoner whom he was very much in love with. Obviously, this was a relationship with no future and Vil knew about it but he was hoping he would at least be able to continue it even after the arranged marriage he was pushed into. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The person Vil ended up marrying turned out to not only be a vampire but also a terrible person. Not long after Vil got married, he was announced to have fallen sick and eventually succumbed to his disease, when in reality what actually happened was Vil getting repeatedly snacked on by his vampire partner, locked away in the dungeon underneath the mansion, and eventually turned into a vampire himself. A lot of this was tied to his partner being completely obsessed with him, and very paranoid about Vil leaving or cherishing someone else or not thinking about them enough etc. What resulted from this obviously terrible arrangement were several decades of every kind of abuse imaginable, Vil getting psychologically picked apart and rearranged as his partner saw fit, punished for not behaving the way his partner wanted him to, starved and fed minimally to keep him weakened. On top of that, since he was hiding the locket which was really his last tie to the life he had before, he had to live in constant fear that even that would get taken away from him. This lead to some quite self-destructive behavior from Vil such as hiding the locket underneath the clothes he was allowed to keep, putting himself in constant pain and going to great lengths to ensure his locket was safe. The treatment Vil was subjected to also lead to severe problems when it came to eating as even after being freed from this nightmare, Vil wasn’t able to feed properly, every solid meal making him violently throw up and drinking blood bringing back horrific memories of his abuse which made him continue to starve himself until he more or less resigned himself to his fate.

Vil was only able to escape his prison months after his partner mysteriously disappeared one day. After years of being locked up in a small room and having no news whatsoever about the outside world. Furthermore, in order to make Vil more dependent on them, his partner didn’t tell him anything about the powers or limitations of a vampire, leaving him completely socially crippled. And to make this venture into the outside world even worse, Vil was promptly confronted with a line of vampire heads and skulls on pikes just outside the town he once lived in – including the head of his torturer.

All of this kind of comes to a head when, during one of his friendly meetings with Silver, Vil notices R/ook in the crowd and is immediately distraught. While Silver doesn’t quite understand what happened, he accompanies Vil back home and makes sure everything is safe enough before departing for the day. Unfortunately, things are not quite as easy. Not only does R/ook already know where Vil lives but it doesn’t take him that long to visit, professing his love for the vampire and asking to be turned into one as well so that they may be together once more. Unlike most people who have reincarnated, R/ook regained full memories of his previous life – something he attributes to his strong “love” for Vil and the connection they supposedly share. And while Vil is much too panic-stricken to give a decisive answer, he is saved promptly by Trey who heard from Silver that something was off about the way he acted previously. While Vil is obviously shaken up, he does manage to somewhat calm down thanks to Trey’s presence, and Trey reads into the situation enough to not leave until R/ook does first.

After he does, Vil confesses to Trey that R/ook was the one who, in his past life, had turned him and subsequently held him imprisoned for several decades. However, there is more to his motivations than just obsession, and in some twisted way, Vil does believe there was genuine love in what he was doing. According to things that were said between the two of them in the past, Vil believes R/ook and him used to be lovers a lifetime or two ago, before Vil was the one hunted down and murdered. While Vil himself has no memory of these events, he does understand the yearning for lost love and how desperately one would wish to make things right again – he isn’t any different after all. At the same time, Vil is terrified of ever ending up being the same, or even similar, and inflicting the same pain on someone dear to him as R/ook inflicted upon him. He’s been hoping that, since he hasn’t heard from or ran into R/ook in all the centuries since, that chapter of his life was over, but unfortunately, he was not that lucky.

This, of course, unsettles Trey, and he reports this to Silver’s department. What this leads to is Vil having an officer by his side almost at all times, this often being Silver thanks to his special training. With their interactions growing more and more frequent, we learn another little bit of Vil’s past. Small memories of him and the person he was in love with, dancing together, watching stars, enjoying each other’s company. They almost always had to meet after dark due to the secrecy of their relationship, a fact which Vil laments now that he cannot enjoy the sun ever again. At the same time, Silver starts having dreams that feel more like foggy memories, prompting him to search for answers on his own. And after several weeks of no suspicious activity surrounding Vil, the protective guard is eventually called off as well. Vil is still rather distraught and Trey spends as much time with him as he can but that still gives the vampire quite a lot of time when he’s alone and vulnerable.

And, much as expected, R/ook comes back not long after, pleading with him, promising he changed and things will be different, even offering Vil to do exactly as he had done with him before. Of course, the only thing Vil wants from him is to be left alone, but he doesn’t exactly get that luxury. Afraid to leave the safety of his home, Vil begins to slowly grow weaker and his mental state also takes a nose-dive, a fact that greatly worries both Trey and Silver during their occasional visits. But between Trey’s hospital job, Silver’s police forces job, and their personal lives, they don’t really have enough time to keep tabs on Vil at all times, leading to both his mental and physical state further deteriorating.

A few days later, Trey gets a distressed phone call from Vil regarding his locket that mysteriously vanished without a trace. Trey helps him look but the only thing they find are traces that someone broke into Vil’s house and must’ve stolen it. Of course, R/ook is the main suspect almost immediately but even after his house and belongings are searched, the locket doesn’t turn up, and it only stresses Vil out further. Finally, he reveals to Trey that inside of the locket, he was keeping a sketch of the very person he fell in love with all those centuries ago which is also why he so painstakingly protected it from R/ook while he was imprisoned.

The next part needs some more thought as I am not quite sure what should happen to keep the search for the locket going so I don’t skip from it being lost straight to it being found so there will need to be more plot here. Perhaps Trey takes some time off work to spend more time with Vil to make sure he’s alright, perhaps I will delve more into Silver’s domestic life with Sebek or into his dreams of the past or how he and Sebek have actually been lovers over several lifetimes as well. I’ll have to decide.

After a week or two, a fire breaks out on the Isle and in its aftermath, the locket is found once again, but not as it was before. The sketch Vil treasured so much is burnt up and seems as though someone also scratched out the face of the person in it, but nobody is arrested for starting the fire as there are very few traces of the culprit. Vil is utterly destroyed and even though he takes the locket back, he no longer carries it with him. The next several days he spends locked inside his apartment. Painting. Sketching. Drawing. Pictures upon pictures of the same person, the same face. None of them small enough to fit in the locket but that’s the least of his worries. He cares a lot more about possibly forgetting the person he once loved so dearly.

When Trey visits him, he is shocked. Not only by the sheer amount of pictures but mostly because the person in all of them is unmistakably Silver, only with minimal differences – longer hair, freckles sprinkled over the bridge of his nose, a small cross-shaped scar on his upper lip... When he confronts Vil about it and why he never told Silver, Vil finally breaks down, admitting that yes, part of the reason why he befriended Silver was because he knew, but at the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to ever tell Silver about it, both because Silver has a life of his own, one which Vil is not a part of, and because Vil is deathly afraid of growing to be like R/ook and completely suffocating Silver’s personal life because of his own obsession.

This is, sadly, about as much as I have for now. I still need to come up with a proper ending that would tie all the loose ends together and resolve both the central conflict and the side issues. Unfortunately, so long as my current creative block continues, I don’t think I’ll get much more done but this is certainly an idea that I would like to finish one day.

#twst #twisted wonderland #disney twst #disney twisted wonderland #twst au #twst vil #vil schoenheit #twst trey #trey clover #twst silver #alternate universe #tw blood #tw abuse #tw self destructive behavior #tw obsession #tw obsessive love #tw mental abuse #tw fantasy racism #tw eating issues

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scrivenger-grimgar · 1 year

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So one of my twst ocs is a man named Biene Belle who goes to RSA, and I hate him. His character is a play on beauty and the beast, being a wonderfully handsome and charismatic young man who’s very open about looking for someone to love. He’s kind and outgoing, a lot like Niege in that he’d be nice to hang out with… and it’s not exactly a lie…

Born and raised in a noble family, he hasn’t been told “no” enough as a child, and has an almost unnoticeable superiority complex, and is subtly racist and classist, but he tends to phrase it in a way that seems helpful or concerned.

Biene Belle will flaunt his wealth in the same way Kalim does, acting oblivious and air-headed, but unlike Kalim he's not going to offer anyone riches or money. if he gifts you something its going to be of a lower quality than if he bought it for himself.

he'll offer his academic help to beast- and merfolk more often than to human students and will speak slower and simpler while speaking to them as well. he will often avoid speaking to fae or touching anyone who isn't human.

the arguably worst part of his character is how predatory he is. he'll use his kindness and gentle seeming nature to gather people who are loyal or committed to him because he helped them somehow. they'll defend him and do what he asks with little to no interest in Biene's reasoning.

this predatory nature extends to his "search for love". when he finds someone he wants to "love," will not let them go. he will buy them gifts and take them on expensive trips and feed them good food and basically do anything to coerce them into staying with him, whilst simultaneously attempting to make them solely dependant on him.

if they don't fall for Biene's "affections" it only gets worse. poisoning food to make them weak, setting up accidents and injuries to keep them in his care, and deliberately housing them in the most labyrinthine part of his mansion home.

Biene Belle comes finds Lazarus in the woods (post-first year NRC, post-missing incident), and falls in "love". he finds it odd that Lazarus fights harder than others before him for their independence, and it eventually ends with Lazarus in the mansion's basement in shackles. it is during Lazarus' escape that Biene gives him his signature facial scar. Bien thinks his escape is unfortunate but ultimately thinks that Lazarus would die without him, so it doesn't seem of consequence to him.

Lazarus does survive, though, and now has a new and severe fear of humans.

see, Lazarus is a selkie (remind me to post about them), and selkies have an unfortunate history with humans that, while no longer happening in current day (officially, it is illegal, but it arguably still occurs), selkie trafficking was once a prominent and lucrative business. selkies were seen as "lesser fae," easier to capture and control than fae, but still just as beautiful, perfect for concubines or sex slaves.

Lazarus knows this. he knows this very well. and so from his perspective, Biene Belle took him, tried to unmake him, turn him into an object for his personal use. it wasn't just being held captive, it was constantly under threat of being sexually violated, despite Biene not actually having that intention.

Biene Belle does not know of the gruesome history between humans and selkies, he genuinely wanted to take care of Lazarus but his extremely twisted way of showing affection had Lazarus assuming the worst.

Lazarus absolutely despises Biene Belle, as well as RSA overall making him prickly as a result of Biene Belle wearing his RSA uniform/apparel quite often. He knows, logically, that not everyone is going to be like Belle, but its an instinctive reaction to associate the RSA coat of arms with his SA trauma.

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 2 years

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Is it just me or is anyone else creeped out by Rollo being so nice to MC?? He goes out of his way to say nice things to us which is weird almost like he’s trying to get on our good side for some reason. He also suspiciously knows a lot about MC already. I’m thinking Rollo wants to use MC for something maybe related to Malleus. What are your thoughts on this?

I don’t know if I’d call it outright “creepy”, but I do feel mildly unsettled by it?? There’s also a few scenes where Rollo is implied to just be… staring at the NRC group (his portrait shows up on screen, but the dialogue box only reads as “. . . . .”), which I personally find a lot more disturbing. I just don’t like being watched 😭 I feel like it could all be foreshadowing something!! (… though it’s also possible that I’m totally overthinking this 💦)

For context, Rollo greets the NRC students when they arrive on Noble Bell College’s campus. He speaks politely, but the NRC boys remark that he looks angry. (Note: Rollo’s character portrait is not actually glaring most of the tome; the NRC boys are likely referring to him as having a resting bitch face 😂)

While showing the guests around campus, Rollo reveals that he knows who everyone is, as he read the materials provided to him by Crowley. Rollo lists off their full names, as well as relevant positions and titles—but when he noticed Yuu and Grim, he notably becomes a little chattier and even… friendly? (Like, he even smiles a little bit.) “It must trouble you (someone who cannot use magic) to be surrounded by magic users everyday,” Rollo says. He lifts his arms and invites Yuu to relax, then adds (with the scene shifting to include Malleus), “… and that goes for the rest of you as well.”

***CONTENT WARNING: I will be briefly discussing a theory which involves racism and war below the cut, so please read at your own discretion.***

If these lines have any meaning in the grand scheme of things 🤔 I think (well, considering Rollo’s Disney inspiration) that this could play into any potential prejudices that he holds? A lot of fans are already speculating that Rollo holds anti-fae sentiments, and, from a certain angle, one could argue that his off-handed remark to Yuu supports that theory.

Think about the wording and the history of Noble Bell College. What the students at NBC value above all else is maintaining fairness and righteousness, just as its founder, the “Just/Righteous Judge”, did. Then, consider that Rollo seems to express sympathy for a non-magical human stuck at a school of mages in training. And then add the fact that fairies are implied to be more magically inclined than the other races; only a mere 10% of humans can use magic (and at the most basic level), whereas fairies have magic so plentiful that they utilize it for everyday activities like flying to their destinations.

With all of that in mind, it’s possible that Rollo’s line of thinking is this: “if this world were truly just, then magic users and non-magic users would be equal”. However, because fairies are a race that are more magically inclined than, say, humans, this causes an imbalance. Perhaps Rollo thinks that this disparity is not “just” as the Just Judge would want the world to be, and goes about administering his own judgment to “right the wrong”. Maybe Rollo himself isn’t a strong magic user (we’ve only seen other characters so far assume he must be powerful due to his position as student council president) and must rely on tricks or magical items to get ahead, which amplifies his hatred for those born lucky or gifted. (Alternatively, maybe Rollo is a powerful mage, but just cannot compete with Malleus’s natural abilities, which causes jealousy to brew??) And maybe he despises Malleus in particular because he’s the very public embodiment of all that Rollo sees as “unfair” in the world?? (Malleus has political influence, money, magical powers beyond belief, etc.) Maybe this all ties back to the aftermath of the human-fairy war that is sometimes mentioned???

It’s very… twisted logic, but sometimes it’s the worst of people who think they’re the best of people. They so deeply believe they are in the right and try to go out and act on those beliefs 😔 If this does end up happening, I think that would actually make Rollo one of the most disturbing antagonists we’ve seen so far in TWST—because that arrogant way of thinking perpetuates a lot of hatred in the real world too.

… Buuut of course, that’s just a theory 😅 A gaaaaame theory

I think the other popular theory floating around right now is that Rollo actually admires Malleus and wants to be his friend...? But his behavior comes off the wrong way because of Rollo’s face naturally looking like he’s always scowling or unhappy. That’s a more light-hearted take, I guess!

#notes from the writing raven #Rollo Flamme #Malleus Draconia #twst theory #twst theories #twisted wonderland theories #twisted wonderland theory #question #Yuu #spoilers #Grim #Dire Crowley #tw // racism #tw // war #Rollo Flamm

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