an AntiLO Keyboard Masher blog | Tumblr Rainbow Checkmark Winner x14 | Creator of LORE REKINDLED | Honorary Lore Olympus TV Show Director (according to Google AI) | Please DO NOT use general #lore olympus tags when reblogging my critical LO content or Rekindled!! #lore olympus critical + #anti lore olympus + #lore rekindled only please :)
LORE | REKINDLED is a transformative project dedicated to the S1/Pilot era of Rachel Smythe's Lore Olympus. Rekindled will attempt to re-interpret and reconstruct the foundations laid by Rachel Smythe in S1 of Lore Olympus' publication, while also remaining true to the themes and messages of the original myths upon which Lore Olympus is based.
We hope you enjoy this re-interpretation of The Hymn to Demeter - also known as The Rape of Persephone - expressed through the lens of a meta re-interpretation of Lore Olympus. Made by the fans, for the fans.
Disclaimer: This is a non-profit transformative fan project drawn and written by @genericpuff. All brushes, textures, and font packs used to replicate Lore Olympus' art and style are sourced legally, and panel art is created from the ground up. All Lore Olympus-relevant character designs and branding belong to Rachel Smythe. All interpretations of Greek characters, mythologies, and themes are purely fictional and should not be used in any factual sourcing when researching Ancient Greek material.
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CURRENT COMIC STATUS: ONGOING
Read the latest episode here!
or...
Start from the beginning!
*Because of Tumblr's link limits, I unfortunately can't use this pinned post as the episode masterlist anymore. So the NamiComi mirror will now be acting as the full episode list resource:
Full episode list here!
(please reblog / bookmark this post so you can check back to it for new updates!)
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Have questions about how Rekindled is made, what tools I use to draw, and why I'm making it in the first place? Please check out my FAQ first!
Bit of a story time + rant, based off something that happened last year.
I am AFAB (assigned female at birth), and my partner is a cis man. I've lived in this apartment for years with him. The unit's not in the best condition (it's still totally livable, just an old house with old house quirks) but the landlord, also a cis man (p sure I've never had a landlord who wasn't) has proven time and time again that he's someone we can trust and rely on. He charges an INCREDIBLY fair rate for the space we have, he's friendly, he doesn't poke his nose in our business, and he doesn't care when we hang things on the wall or chip the paint or leave behind signs that the house has actually been lived in. He doesn't charge us any pet fees or care what pets we keep here, just so long as they're legal animals to have and don't become a disruption.
Like seriously, this guy profusely apologizes every time he has to swing by to do maintenance work, even when it's work that we WANT him to do. He even recently gave us notice that he's increasing the rent in October, something he made VERY clear he DID NOT WANT TO DO but unfortunately felt he had no choice due to our city's rising property taxes. How much did he raise the rent? $40. Split between my partner and I as we split the rent 50/50, that's an additional $20. All that apologetic spectacle over chump change, at least within the grand scheme of rent increases which are usually within the hundreds around here.
Point is, this guy is one of the exception few who are challenging the landlord stereotype. He's a gem.
Despite all that, I can't deny that I felt uncomfortable when he came over one evening to do maintenance work - while my partner was at work doing an overnight, and I was chilling in the living room - and he asked me, completely unprompted, "is it just you here tonight?"
There wasn't anything creepy in his tone, and again, he has been a decent landlord for years and I know I have no real reason to distrust him or fear him.
But it was still not a question I particularly enjoyed being asked. It left me feeling stupid and worried that I had so casually answered, without a second thought, "yep!"
Such a simple question, one that did fortunately turn out to be entirely innocent (when nothing bad happened and I survived the encounter) and yet it left me feeling stressed out the rest of the night reeling over all the what-if's.
And the real sucky part about this (where this will be turning into a rant) is that my feelings regarding this story would surely be downplayed or dismissed, purely because I am AFAB and the person who made me feel uncomfortable - if only for a brief moment - was a cis man.
This story, and many others like it from other AFAB's, often prompt others to jump to conclusions that do not validate the feelings of the AFAB sharing it, but rather, almost instinctively try to protect the feelings of the cis man. Not because they even know the cis man involved, but because that's what society primes us to do - men are the strong magnificent heroes, whereas women are the flighty princesses who need to be saved and spoken for by the men.
I'm sure there are those reading this post who would absolutely call me unreasonable and unfair, accuse me of "over-reacting" or being a "man hater", whatever.
I don't give a fuck. Think what you want. I'm allowed to value my personal safety and feel the way I do when men ask me questions like that.
I would much rather come across as a skittish "social justice warrior" basket case to randos on the Internet than disregard my own gut feelings and wind up allowing actual predators into my life who would make it their goal to harm me.
It's not my job to protect the image and ego of a man - especially men who I am not in an invested, genuine relationship with, be it romantic or platonic - regardless of whether or not his actions and the effects they had on me were intentional.
That is just the reality of being an AFAB, a reality that was created by a patriarchal system that devalues the safety and feelings of AFAB's. It sucks, and I promise you, we do not get a thrill out of living like this. We are not getting some kind of sexual thrill off "shaming" men who say or do things that come across as predatory.
We are also not ignorant to the fact that not all men are like this. An overwhelmingly large amount of men are simply ignorant, immature, or lack basic social skills; but are still otherwise completely harmless and can be trusted and depended on by their AFAB friends/partners without much concern or second-guessing.
But none of that changes the reality AFAB's have to live in, with constant vigilance towards who could be like that. Our social life is a dark alleyway that always demands some amount of attention and skepticism to ensure you don't get jumped, by a stranger or even a trusted friend who you didn't suspect.
If you're a man who "would never do any of those things", then I'm sorry the men who did and do have made it harder for you to be immature or ignorant or slip up with an innocent social faux pas without immediately triggering red flags in AFAB's.
But also, if you're a man and you're really and truly sympathetic to the struggles of AFAB's? Then you can show it by not dismissing AFAB's feelings when they confide in you about their concerns. You can show it by not automatically assuming an AFAB must be exaggerating or "easily offended" when they express their feelings towards things cis men have said to them or around them. You can show it by not automatically choosing to believe an assumed version of another cis man who may or may not exist, over believing your AFAB friends and romantic partners when they tell you through their own lived experiences that that assumption isn't true.
Most of all, you can show it by holding your cis male friends accountable, and choosing to be aware of the subtle red flags your cis male friends are waving that your AFAB friends and romantic partners have to be consciously aware of all the time.
They are in fact ONLY compatible with Clip Studio Paint because they were downloaded from the CSP assets store (•̀⌄•́) (just note that they do cost clippy points but they're super cheap)
i love being an obsessed little autistic weirdo because sometimes you find friends who are also obsessed little autistic weirdos who think of you and message you about a poetry project they're working on that involves some mysterious post that breached your local town containment and made it to the front page of reddit, and she's now following some lead on some local town rumor involving a secret network of pagans and witches that's connected to an old bookstore that closed nearly a decade ago but was owned by one of your partner's distant married-into-the-family relatives
and as you inevitably get sucked into the rabbithole you find out that the windows '95 computer your husband and his cousin used to prop up on a milk crate to watch 15-part 240p anime episodes on youtube back in the 2000's when they were kids was actually possibly a shared digital journal hub for local witch activity which also had its own secret name and website that compiled and listed resources for witches and shops that were specifically tailored to witches
but every time you search up this website or this front page reddit post all you find is a single thread about a sculpture that was apparently on display out in the sticks and that sculpture had been stolen
so then you find out who made this sculpture and you search them up and it turns out they are a multiple-award-winning scientist and artist with a massive website compiling all their credentials over the past 20 years
and so you search and search and search some more, CTRL + F'ing every relevant term and name you know through this website
AND LO AND BEHOLD
ON HER MASSIVE WEBSITE OF CREDENTIALS
IS THE TAXIDERMY SCULPTURE THAT WENT MISSING
AND SHE HAS A NAME AND THAT NAME IS ALMA
(cw: taxidermy that resembles human anatomy)
AND ON ANOTHER PAGE ENTIRELY SHE LISTS AN EXHIBIT SHE DID THAT INVOLVED DOING A LIVE WINDOW DISPLAY DEMONSTRATION IN A PUBLIC BUSINESS
WHICH BUSINESS?
THE BOOKSTORE THAT STARTED THIS HUNT IN THE FIRST PLACE.
WHO EVEN GIVES A FUCK ABOUT WHATEVER RUMOR PROMPTED MY FRIEND TO APPROACH ME IN THE FIRST PLACE ???
I JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THE COOLEST MOST OVER-QUALIFIED WOMAN ON THE PLANET
HER NAME??? WHITEFEATHER HUNTER.
HER JOB?? FUSING SCIENCE. WITH THE MYSTIC ARTS. AS A MEANS TO STUDY AND EXPRESS FEMININE SEXUALITY AND AUTONOMY AND QUEERNESS AND ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY BOTH AS AN INFLUENCE AND CONSEQUENCE.
SHE HAS ACHIEVED THIS THROUGH A NUMBER OF RESEARCH PROJECTS, EXHIBITS, AND THESIS PAPERS, ALL LISTED WITHIN THE MOST IMPRESSIVE CV I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE.
INCLUDING (BUT DEFINITELY NOT LIMITED TO):
ARCANUM SANGUINIS: OCCULT BLOOD
HOMUNCULARIUM BASILISCUS
THE PUSSIFICATION OF BIOTECH
THIS WOMAN IS AN ICON AND MORE PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW IT.
You dont have to answer if you're not comfortable but in your opinion who can claim to be mixed indigenous? Say if I person is a quarter or an eighth on one parents side and the other side has unsure heritage could the person still claim to be mixed indigenous?
This is an extremely complicated and nuanced question that I simply cannot give you a concise answer for, sorry.
That said, I can give you some insight into the subject that will hopefully help you going forward in researching your own ancestry and heritage. But note, before I go on, this is entirely my own opinion as a Saulteaux-Mi'kmaq person (Saulteaux by legal definition / ancestral connection, Mi'kmaq by communal relation / tribal recognition). Please do not take what I have to say on this subject as the last word, as much of it is influenced by both my own understanding of my heritage (which is still extremely limited because of colonization) and my own lived experiences and opinions. I am not a monolith for the Saulteaux and/or Mi'kmaq community, I am absolutely not a monolith for all Indigenous peoples.
If you are someone of First Nations and/or Native American descent and want to pitch in on this topic, I welcome you to reblog this post with your own opinions and viewpoints. Otherwise, OP, please consult more people than just myself if this is truly something you want to know more about. Thank you.
Okay, here we go-
If someone were to simply see "Native American" pop up in their 23andme test (or however that might appear on one of those, I've never done one lol) then I'd say, at the very least, that's not nearly enough information. Many Americans have "Indigenous blood" in them as a consequence of cultural mixing over the decades. There's also a lot to be said (and criticized) about blood quantum laws and how they've been used to systematically suppress and "breed out" Indigenous heritage. And god knows we don't want to leave Indigenous validation in the hands of the legal system, because that would once again be subjecting ourselves to the standards of a colonial government.
If you have an Indigenous relative though, such as a parent or grandparent? Talk to them. Talk to their parents if they're still around. Do some research on your family tree. And I don't mean just google your last name, I mean go to your local community library and look up paperwork and documents concerning your direct family tree.
Aside from that, understand that even if you were able to claim yourself as "mixed Indigenous", that does not allow you to claim yourself as part of a tribe. Tribes aren't just like vague lines drawn in the sand (like idk, fandom or something lmao) they're independent legal entities built on the backs of Indigenous families and their ancestries, with systems and expectations in place to ensure no one is taking advantage or accepted in just on good faith. Whether or not you're actually considered 'part of the tribe' can vary based on the tribe, but it usually involves actually being part of that community, whether directly as someone who was raised within it, or indirectly as a descendant of that tribe (in which case, they might not know you, but they might know your father, or your grandfather, or your aunt, etc.) Some tribes are fine with 1/16th's, others need much more than that. Hence why this is something you really need to do your own research on.
If your only relation to the Indigenous identity is "apparently I'm 1/16th Indigenous" then don't expect people to take you seriously if you try to claim you're mixed Indigenous. Not only does that make it way too easy for anyone and everyone to claim they're mixed Indigenous or part of a tribe (because again, just about EVERYONE has some amount of Indigenous relation) it also doesn't take into account the unique experience of being Indigenous - and that experience in and of itself is made up of a complicated web of systemic oppression, community relations, generational trauma, and government restrictions, among many other things.
In other words, just because you can claim you have an Indigenous great-great-great-grandfather, doesn't mean you can suddenly relate to the Indigenous experience or what it means to live as an Indigenous person.
Kinda like that episode of Family Guy where Peter finds out he's got a black ancestor. Like sure, technically that means on paper he can qualify as someone who's African-American, but in practice (i.e. in the real world and not strictly within a bureaucratic framework) it doesn't mean black people gotta be okay with it when Peter uses AAVE or injects himself into their spaces or personally benefits from reparation money. Because at the end of the day, he's still white, and a white guy has never had to live the life of a black person or suffer from black oppression.
Mind you, that example is still imperfect because the Indigenous experience isn't the black experience, and as you might have seen from my previous reblog of my Two Spirit post, being Indigenous is a lot more complicated than skin color.
So again, if your only relation to the Indigenous identity is some small percentage simply through circumstantial blood relation, that's not really necessarily enough to justify calling yourself "mixed Indigenous" to other people (esp other Indigenous people), because evidently, if it's just something that you happened to find out on a whim, then arguably nothing about your life has ever been Indigenous. Even if you could legally call yourself Indigenous with a government card stating it as such, that still doesn't necessarily mean you've lived as an Indigenous person.
And when many legally-recognized Indigenous people have suffered oppression that's threatened to erase their heritage and take it away from them and their children... you're really not entitled to try and take from that culture yourself if you have no natural incentive to beyond "I found out I have an Indigenous relative".
I remember reading something somewhere once in relation to this topic (I think it was on reddit or in some online space discussing this very subject) that went along the lines of "Ancestry is discovered, identity is formed, belonging is relational." All that's to mean, your ancestry is something you need to put an active effort into learning and understanding, your identity is consequential of your upbringing and how your ancestry affected that, and your belonging within that culture entirely depends on how your experiences and upbringing intersects with others who already exist within it.
Definitely keep that in mind as you do your research. Again, it very much varies depending on the tribe and how they quantify the Indigenous identity, whether it be legally, biologically, or spiritually.
I would say, at best, unless you know more than just circumstantial relation, it's fine to simply say "I have a Native American great-great-grandfather" or whatever term applies, and leave it at that. You can just say you're related to an Indigenous person without claiming yourself as Indigenous (and for the love of god, make that clear to anyone who assumes otherwise, people WILL assume because they just tend to do that). Just don't try to claim yourself as Indigenous or pitch in on Indigenous issues, especially if you can't actually personally relate to those issues. And if you want to claim you're of any specific descent, don't even think of doing so until you've done your research, traced back your own family history, and actually put in the effort to listen to other Native Americans and Indigenous peoples on the subject, especially those who you might be descended from or related to.
Your goal should be to learn, without the ulterior motive of being able to slap a new label on yourself. Don't let any excitement in claiming something new for yourself outpace reality or your common sense.
Kwe! It's officially ✨Pride Month!✨ Happy Pride to all my friends and enemies alike <3
Just as a reminder (or announcement to those unaware) I am a Two-Spirit Saulteaux-Mi'kmaq person!
My pronouns are she/he/they. You'll usually see me refer to myself as a woman, but this is simply because it's my assigned gender at birth and not because I exclusively identify as a woman (so please don't be worried about using the wrong pronouns on me, I am, as they call me, Miss Gender /j)
But I figured in addition to this ceremonial outing, I wanted to provide some fun facts on the Two-Spirit identity, as there are still many people out there who don't understand the term beyond just being a queer label (it's a lot more complex than just being an Indigenous word for 'trans'!) and oftentimes, the 2S (for Two-Spirit) is noticeably missing from the LGBTQIA+ line-up (though this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I'll explain more about why below!)
Text version:
Two Spirit (Anishinaabe definition: niizh manidoowag)
To put it simply: a term used to describe Indigenous peoples with both masculine and feminine spirits.
Coined in 1990 by Myra Laramee (Cree Nation), the term was designed as a unifying term for Indigenous peoples to reclaim roles, identities, and teachings that were disrupted by colonization.
Contrary to non-Native belief, Two-Spirit is not simply an Indigenous word for "trans" or "non-binary". Rather, it's often used as an umbrella term for many gender and sexual identities. Most importantly, what distinguishes Two-Spirit as its own unique term is how it uniquely describes the Indigenous experience as it pertains to queerness, separate from that of non-Native peoples.
To inherit the label of Two-Spirit is not just to identify one's own queerness, but also to inherit the roles and responsibilities passed down through individual tribal traditions. It is a term of reclamation and resistance.
Whether an Indigenous person chooses to use Two-Spirit exclusively or in addition to colonial terms within the LGBTQIA2S+ umbrella is their choice. There are even Indigenous peoples who identify solely with colonial labels such as non-binary, trans, and gender fluid, but do not identify as Two-Spirit.
Regardless of how an Indigenous person chooses to use Two-Spirit, it was a word made for Indigenous peoples, by Indigenous peoples - the term is and always will be theirs to choose.
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Of course, there's a lot more to the Two-Spirit identity than I can summarize in a single image, and what the Two-Spirit identity means will vary to different people and tribes. Some people do purely use the term to describe their trans identity or their sexuality; others use it to uphold the traditions of their tribe, especially as they pertain to the roles and responsibilities of members of the tribe, and how gender often influenced those roles and governed those responsibilities.
As an example, in many tribes (see: not all) women were often considered the healers and caretakers of their tribe, while men were considered the protectors and hunters. Within that particular framework, someone who is Two-Spirit would often be embraced as an asset to their communities, as they could fulfill the duties and roles of both men and women, being both caretakers and creators and also protectors and fighters.
But not all Indigenous peoples or tribes define Two-Spirit in that way. Many exclusively use it as a sexuality / gender label, the same way one would use "gay" "bisexual" or "non-binary"; some even doing so as resistance of their own against established gender norms, even as they existed within their own tribes.
What's important is to acknowledge, identify, and respect the term as an Indigenous word. It is not for non-Natives to use for themselves. It is our word, one that we cherish as a sacred thread connecting all Indigenous peoples who've lived through the shared experience of being raised and oppressed under colonialism. While all queer people regardless of race are constantly under threat, it's absolutely vital to recognize and understand how cultural context plays a contributing role in queer oppression, and how the suffering of Indigenous queer people naturally varies from your own.
And so this is why, as I mentioned above, it's not necessarily a bad thing when 2S is excluded from the LGBTQIA+ umbrella - because Two-Spirit encompasses all of that umbrella, but exclusively for that of Indigenous peoples. Same, but different.
At least, that's how I try to rationalize it for myself, but in reality, it's hard to deny that seeing 2S excluded from the umbrella can feel exclusionary, ignorant, and neglectful - but that's all the more reason why I personally choose to take power in its exclusion, because in my view, its exclusion from colonial terminology gives it strength and importance. As for the road to inclusion, we've made some progress - such as having our own flag and symbols - but we've still got a long ways to go.
With all that said, please respect this post as education, not as an invitation. Non-Natives have their words to describe their relationship to sexuality and gender; Two-Spirit is ours, and ours alone.
I hope this was informative for you all, Native and non-Native alike ! Kesalul <3
Reblogging to accept your sentiment / raging grumbling as an Indigenous pal! Because yes, it's absolutely something more people need to be aware of. Not to start off Pride month with a stern lecture or anything buuuut for white queers, white privilege is still bunking in the same room as queer oppression. That's not something to feel guilty for or shamed for, and I'm certainly not saying that white queers don't experience queer oppression - but the oppression that white queers experience is naturally going to be different from the oppression that BIPOC queers experience. That is just the unfortunate reality of our world and the systems that govern it.
But ALSO public service announcement / reminder / education time: Indigenous identity is not intrinsically exclusive to skin color! There are many Indigenous people who are mixed or are otherwise 'white passing' even if they have other uniquely Indigenous traits and physical features outside of their skin color; there are also many non-Indigenous people who simply have darker skin tones that could be confused for Indigenous identity if not properly confirmed.
To speak from my own experience with this, I'm the only kid out of my many siblings who "looks Native" in the way that people think of when they hear the word "Native". Especially when it comes to my darker skin tone and curly hair that I inherited from my Indigenous dad (though it's uh, not so curly these days, obviously LOL).
But many of my siblings are on the lighter side more similarly to that of their non-Native mothers, and don't immediately "look Native" unless you know what to look for outside of skin color. We are all still Native, though, regardless of that difference in skin tone.
But obviously my experiences growing up have varied from my siblings' because unfortunately, we do still live in a world where people immediately judge and make assumptions based on skin color. While I was treated differently for being an obviously brown kid in an all-white school (an experience that's unique for me as compared to my siblings) many white-passing Indigenous peoples (i.e. my siblings!) aren't taken seriously, either by non-Natives or even Native people from their own community who judge or distrust them for not looking "Native enough", thus invalidating their heritage and cultural identity simply because they don't meet the criteria of onlookers trying to "clock them".
I imagine many mixed race peoples have gone through this themselves; and in the greater context of queer discussion, it's similar to what trans people often experience, where they're made to feel that they have to 'look a certain way' to 'qualify' as who they are, either for the benefit of cis people, or other trans people. All the while, they never really get to just be.
Regardless, my point is, please be wary of strictly viewing Indigenous representation through skin color! This is why you'll notice, throughout my original post, I specifically use the term non-Native and not 'white', because 'white' is too broad a scope for this kind of discussion, especially when there are Natives who are white-passing and are often oppressed in an entirely unique way because of it. Even if some people are knowledgeable enough on this subject to understand that the casual use of the word 'white' is to mean 'non-Native', it remains to be said anyways for those who aren't knowledgeable on this subject and could accidentally misread or misuse the word 'white' in other contexts or discussions surrounding Indigenous representation.
Skin color definitely plays a role in the discussion of Indigenous reconciliation and reclamation, but like our definition of Two Spirit, it's a lot more complicated than that! But that's also what makes it such a rich and beautiful culture. It deserves to be respected, and to be able to practice and protect their own traditions separate from that of the colonial world.
so sorry for all the weird asks and comments you've had to deal with since you made your post :((( racism sucks
right after I read your post, I went to sleep and listened to this ASMR (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikKn1zwVH8w) and was delighted to hear her charity of the month was for indigenous people's education in Canada! a happy coincidence, except not really cause June is indigenous history month lol
so much love from a queer South East Asian; sending solidarity as someone also living in the after math of french colonial bs
lmao it's okay, i hunt racists for sport and dipshits for sport. competitively.
I'm not particularly into ASMR but I'm thrilled to see an ASMR girly raising money for Indigenous charities, bless up 🙌💓
holy fuck y'all a pal got their hands on the new volume of LO and it's either a miracle or a sign of the end times
hades. is normal sized.
and he's CONSISTENTLY NORMAL SIZED. IT'S NOT A MISTAKE. IT'S. IT'S INTENTIONAL. AND WELL-EXECUTED-
it's. it's the most beautiful thing i've ever seen.
y'all don't understand, i'm not even being sarcastic, i can't remember the last time i looked at LO art and didn't physically recoil in terror at the body proportions. maybe my brain is just so fucking fried from hater-ade but like this actually looks totally fine and decent.
and it's not just hades, persephone looks good too. like ofc she's wearing the boob window dress but it actually LOOKS GOOD ON HER because instead of looking like an adult toddler who got cheap buccal fat removal and lip filler, she LOOKS LIKE A NORMAL ADULT WOMAN. SHE'S STILL SHORT. BUT SHE'S PROPORTIONATELY SHORT THE WAY AN ADULT WOMAN WOULD BE. NOT AN OVERSIZED CHILD. AN ADULT WOMAN.
AND IT'S. CONSISTENT.
i don't know if it was rachel or a guest artist who did this or maybe a small team of rachel and someone else, or maybe it just took not working with lisette who i'm like 99% certain was the cause of those fridge bodies, but. regardless. well done. it still has its quirks. it still has some goofy poses and angles and jank. but it's not a complete eyesore.
genuinely, if the S3 artwork looked like this throughout, i probably wouldn't have had as much to bitch about it. at least in regards to the art specifically, the writing would still be a tire fire lmao
this bonus chapter isn't perfect, there are definitely things regarding the actual story / content that i'm 'meh' on, but like. NONE of it comes close to being as blatantly absurd and offensive as the main comic was. and that delights me and pisses me tf off because why couldn't we have had this in the COMIC dammit.
can't believe they actually got me hoping again that the show might be able to turn things around. christ in hell. i gotta go load up on my hater-ade.
Does it sometimes feel to you that a lot of very popular Webtoon Originals, while having pretty art, are lacking in their writing? I've even been disappointed over some mildly popular Webtoons because I was intrigued by the premise and thought the artstyle was cool only to end up being disappointed over how the writing of the story went. It feels like a lot of Webtoon creators are pretty skilled when it comes to art but not as skilled when it comes to long term writing.
Aaaaaalllll the time LOL I could chalk it up to any number of things (like the fact that Webtoons doesn't really do much at all when it comes to providing a proper editing pipeline for fine-tuning or any resources for improving a work the same way a traditional publishing house would) but personally I feel the biggest reason this happens is simply because many webtoon creators were artists first, not writers.
caution: self-certified banger ahead
Like, think about it. Many artists do inevitably wind up dreaming of creating a comic one day. It's a visual form of storytelling that, while tedious and labor-intensive to create, doesn't require the kind of overhead that animation requires. Many artists grew up reading comics, whether it be Marvel or DC or Japanese manga. And if the OC's that artists create for themselves are dolls, then comics are like the dollhouse, a theatrical setting in which the creator can act out their OC's stories on both a narrative and visual level.
Because of all this, comics are just sort of a natural 'next step' in the artistic journey.
Writers, on the other hand, don't really tend to gravitate towards comics in the exact same way. Or, at least, there are more degrees of separation between writing as a skill, and comic books as a medium. Someone who is born to be a storyteller and expresses it through prose won't necessarily immediately jump into writing comics - they're more likely to be interested in writing novels, or screenplays, or poetry, or stage plays, or even news articles, all of which only require the writing.
That's not to say there aren't writers out there who didn't fall in love with the craft through comics; many often do, especially those who grew up reading comics, just like artists did.
But comics are predominantly visual, the art is the very first impression a reader has of a comic, and so of course it's artists who naturally slide into that role more so than writers. Unlike artists, writers can't really pull "double duty" as naturally with webcomics like artists can. Oftentimes if a writer has a story to tell, they'll opt for novels or fanfiction instead. Artists, though... they can just draw a comic, and it won't matter whether they're good at writing, because it's still a comic. Unless a writer has an artist friend or they pay someone to do the work for them, a comic writer without an artist is just a writer - but a comic artist can just create comics without feeling the need to seek out a writer.
So because of that, I do think there's a bit of an opposing "levelling curve" when it comes to the process of creating comics and how it differs between artists and writers. How do I put this... okay, IDK if you've ever played Kingdom Hearts, but the first game opens with this sort of dream sequence that doubles as a tutorial / introduction to the game's mechanics (especially it's combat). And during this dream sequence, there are these interactions you need to have with Sora's FF-cameo friends on Destiny Islands (specifically, Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie) before you can continue. And each one of them asks you a question.
These questions are very uh, philosophical? (especially if you played these games as a kid, which considering Sora's age, I think was the point lol) And it almost feels like it's purely for narrative purposes, to create some air of mystery for the journey ahead.
Depending on your answers, you're given one of three results telling you when your journey will "begin" : dawn, midday, or night.
Initially, this conclusion doesn't mean anything. It's poetic, but vague, and even if you do another playthrough with a different result, you won't really initially notice anything's changed within the game.
But the result you get actually fundamentally changes how the game will treat the very mechanic that began as soon as you started a new file - the levelling system.
If your journey begins at dawn, then the first 50 levels require less XP; but after level 50, levels start to require significantly more.
If your journey begins at midday, the XP you need to earn to level up will remain consistent throughout the game, regardless of what level you are.
If your journey begins at night, then the first 50 levels require a significantly large amount of XP; but after level 50, levels start to require significantly less.
It's a difficulty scaling system. And it's entirely invisible. Many people (myself included) didn't even know this system existed during their first, second, or even fifth play through of the game. Shit, I'm willing to bet there are probably people who have played this game front to back dozens of times who still don't know what this sequence is actually for and this post is how they're finding out (surprise!). It's hiding in plain sight, and with such a simple tweak of the levelling curve, it can vastly change your experience playing the game.
While the midday route is pretty balanced, dawn and night are both stark opposites of one another.
Starting your adventure at dawn will give you an easier levelling curve during the early game, allowing you to level and gain new abilities quickly and breeze through the first half of the game, with the trade-off being that the endgame will be more challenging, and you'll have to grind more to really earn those levels and abilities needed to finish the game.
Reversely, starting at night will challenge you with a higher levelling curve, a disadvantage for early game that will ask for upfront grinding to level up and earn new abilities; but the reward is that by the time you get to endgame, that curve will lower, and you won't have to struggle or grind as much to prepare for the final bosses of the game.
Okay, okay, but where am I going with this?
To me, when it comes to comics, artists and writers are like the dawn and dusk mechanic of Kingdom Hearts 1.
Artists start off significantly advantaged by immediately being able to harness the visual aspects of comics, which are, again, the first impression and what people think of when they think of comics. Drawing a comic is significantly more work and learning to draw has a much higher upfront skill ceiling than writing, so if someone already has the skills to draw, then they're starting off on a pretty strong advantage. To an artist who's dipping their toes into comics, it's just more drawing, but with panels and words.
But good art can only carry a comic for so long. If a comic doesn't have substance, if it doesn't have strong writing, then readers will not be as compelled to stick around. You can draw cool characters, you can create amazing worlds, but if you don't make those characters or worlds interesting, if you don't refine your writing skills, then your comic is just a glorified image gallery. So it often takes artists many attempts to finally create something good, because while their art may start off on a strong foot, it can take added long-term effort (and a lot of trial and error) to develop the writing skills necessary to write a strong story that's brought to life through the artwork.
And so, artists are starting their journey at dawn - an easy early journey, but it will become harder as time goes on, especially if you're not refining your writing skills alongside your art.
Writers start off at an immediate disadvantage. Unlike artists, they can't just 'jump into' making comics on a visual level, they're limited to the prose; and learning to draw takes time, money, patience, long-term investment. So if a writer wants to make a comic, they only have so many options - learn how to draw themselves, find an artist friend who's willing to create a comic with them (either as a mutual collaborative effort or paid) or write comic scripts / light novels and hope that a comic company like DC / Marvel / Dark Horse / Webtoons will notice them and pick them up to adapt into a comic. It's not as natural for a writer to just "jump into" making comics, you need to put in a lot more upfront effort to eatablish a portfolio and make connections with people who could help turn your script into a comic.
But if a writer sticks with it, if they keep working at writing comic scripts, finding artists to collaborate with, pitching their scripts to comic companies, etc. they might just actually pull off finding their chance to work on a comic. And when they do, they're golden, their foot is in the door and now the bulk of the work gets passed off onto the artists to adapt the work into a comic properly. And best of all, it's the writer's contributions that will help give the artwork context and meaning. Great art creates viewers, but great writing creates fans. For better or for worse, the writing is what people remember when all is said and done and the story reaches its end.
Writers are starting their journey at dusk - a difficult early journey, but over time, can build up to a satisfying payoff.
With all that in mind, none of this is to say that one is better than the other, or that writers should just "give up" or that artists aren't capable of being good writers, etc. They're just two entirely different skill sets, and comics are a fusion of both. In a perfect world, artists wouldn't struggle with learning how to write, and writers wouldn't struggle with finding artists for themselves, but that's the reality and the challenge that comes with trying to create comics.
Ultimately, no matter what, the most important thing is to just make the thing exist. Even if it's bad, hell, especially if it's bad. Because at least if it's bad, you can learn from it, and do a little better next time. And then the next, and then the next. You still made something, you still learned, you still put forth a real and honest effort to connect with an audience.
If you're an artist, don't worry if the first story you tell is a confusing, incomprehensible mess - you can write another story. And god knows there's no shortage of writers looking to collaborate, you have the leveraging power as the one that will be doing the bulk of the long-term labor.
If you're a writer, don't wait around to find an artist to make your idea exist, just write, in whatever form you must, even if it's not comics like you had been hoping for - because when you finally write that one story, the script that demands the attention of readers and literary agents and publishers, that's when you can play your hand and land the comic project you've been working towards.
Okay, now I am bit confused of what you want. And this is coming from non USA person so my understanding of rwo spirit people ends "I think have heard that word before"
You want more two spirit people tagged posts, but (based on the reblog) you also don't want non Native American people to talk about them? A population that only lives in one continent in relatively small amounts (it's own issue, yes I know). And knowing any continent wide native populations, I am assuming that the concept of two spirits isn't even found in all Native American tribes.
So what is the issue here? You are frustrated that people from certain Native Americans tribes who have good understanding of their culture/cultures aren't posting enough on Tumblr to create a trending tag during first days of Pride?
Oh, you're referring to the post I reblogged that said "don't talk about Two Spirit people"?
I can't vouch for the intent of the creator of that post, but on the whole, my takeaway from it was simply this - Two Spirit people are their own identity, who deserve to be respected as such both within and outside of the LGBTQ+ discussion.
That's it. It's not a literal "don't talk to me or my Two Spirit pals ever again" thing, it's asking non-Natives to educate themselves on what Two-Spirit is so that they're not confining the definition to a single misinformed assumption or simplification. For example, if you're only ever mentioning or talking about Two Spirit people within the context of trans discussion (which is very often the case when it's used by non-Native people), then you're fundamentally misunderstanding and misusing the term. Two Spirit = / = trans.
Yes, Two Spirit is commonly used by trans Indigenous individuals to describe their trans identity, but that doesn't make Two Spirit exclusively trans by definition. It still deserves to be celebrated and recognized during Pride, as Two Spirit is an umbrella used for queer Indigenous individuals, however it also needs to be acknowledged that Two Spirit exists as reclamation of queer identities and how they exist within the framework of Indigenous culture. How a non-Native person experiences queerness is not the same as how an Indigenous person experiences it. And thus we have our own word to describe it, to use as we see fit, one that we can take full ownership of because it's designed specifically for the Indigenous experience. All I really "want" is for people to become more aware and educated on that.
Also I'm not mad about the tag not trending on Tumblr. I mean sure, it would be nice if it was trending because that would ideally mean more Two-Spirit people are speaking up about their experiences and letting their voices be heard, but I cannot control the numbers and neither can Tumblr so it's really not worth being unironically mad about lmao
But man, sure would be nice if it had its own neat lil' color. I don't think that's a big ask 👉👈 (it's not, because it's not an ask, it's a demand, give us a color dammit-)
Fun fact Hawai’i has something similar called “Māhū” where someone feels both feminine and masculine spirts. And it was an important role of the community. Unfortunately I don’t know much about it because, im sure you know, Hawaiian culture was LITERALLY OUTLAWED. And secondly im unfortunately not as connected to my hawaiian heritage as much as i wish i was.
Anyway i get what you mean
Ouuu, thanks for sharing!! I'm thrilled to hear there's a Hawai'i equivalent of Two-Spirit.
I definitely relate to that feeling of disconnection all too well, because many First Nations people - including myself - have gone through the exact same thing.
Y'see, Indigenous people here in Canada live under this little thing called the Indian Act, and for decades, one law within the Indian Act decreed that any Indigenous woman who married a non-Indigenous man would have her legal status stripped from her. This would then extend to their children.
Suffice to say, that's exactly what happened to my grandmother when she married a French man, my grandfather on my dad's side. Neither she nor her 7 children (my dad, my uncles, and one aunt) were legally recognized as Indigenous peoples. It didn't help either that she had been forced into residential schooling, where they had systematically enforced Christian ideology on her and essentially tried to erase any amount of "Indian" out of her.
That law was appealed in 1985 with the approval of Bill C-31. That said, even with that appeal in place, it took many, many years for my family to get their status back. We had to go to extensive efforts to trace back our ancestry so we could prove to the government that we were Indigenous; that eventually led to us finding we were a part of the Saulteaux Nation specifically.
The damage had already been done though. I grew up in a predominantly white community (a very SMALL community, literally its population was like ~1500 at most) and so I was very disconnected from my culture. In many ways I almost resented it because of how alienated it often made me feel.
After I moved out of that community, though, I found myself in a much larger city, where reserves and Indigenous communities were right next door. For the first time ever, I wasn't the "only brown kid", there were many like me, adults and children alike, even schools for people just like me. Actual schools, run by actual Indigenous people, not residential schools run by Catholics and Christians enforcing their religious dogma as they had done to my grandmother.
Ultimately being around other Indigenous people of various tribes - Maliseet, Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, Passamaquoddy, etc. - really helped me find peace with my heritage, peace that had been threatened my whole life in ways I didn't even realize. They helped me find the words I could never find to describe what I had gone through growing up, and most of all, the security and comfort in knowing I was no longer alone in my experiences. Since then, I've been working hard to heal from the wounds that I always felt my heritage caused me growing up; and doing everything I can to reclaim what they took from my grandmother, and what they nearly took from me, too.
I realize that was a bit of a rambling personal anecdote, but I hope, if nothing else, it gives you some reassurance that your culture is still in you, and is waiting for you to come home <3 While our tribes and ancestries may be vastly different, our spirits are still all connected and are fighting for the same cause. Thank you for telling me about the Māhū <3
just a quick reminder that if you are not indigenous I don’t want to hear you fucking talk about Two Spirit people nor should you be automatically looping them into American politics on being trans. not all 2Spirit people identify as trans, and being 2Spirit is not being inherently trans. being 2S is tied to nativeness- if you are not an indigenous person, then you are not Two Spirit. ergo, your conversations around dysphoria, passing, medical transition, etc. need to be mindful of this. respectfully, I never want to hear an American trans person challenging or questioning my identity. we are different creatures.
being 2S is not being non-binary. it’s not being trans.
I believe the other LGBTQ+ tags do in fact have assigned colors, it's just that the trending colors seem to 'overwrite' the original colors when it's active. You'll notice in the original image that lesbian, asexual, enby, pansexual, and queer pride were not trending at the time of this screenshot, so they all have their colors, whereas all the pride tags that ARE trending are uniformly purple.
It's annoying and confusing, but I hope that's at least some reassurance that when they're not trending they still have unique colors of their own.
So yeah, give two spirit their own color :))) I can accept it not being a trending topic but I cannot and will not accept it being the default grey.
hey so if your first response to a two-spirit person asking for tag colors for their specific tag because that's what they're personally inclined to do is "yeah but um nonbinary and aromantic and queer also don't have unique colors" and then i explain to you like a teacher explaining to an overgrown toddler that just because i love pancakes doesn't mean i hate waffles and you double down by calling my response a 'tirade', insinuating that i'm not responding "reasonably", and then weirdly project onto it as some sort of admittance of guilt-
then regardless of your own identity, you're part of the problem and no ally of mine, and you will be promptly blocked, followed by unapologetic spectacle in the town square that is my blog.
how's that for a tirade, you insincere jackass? allow me to repeat myself, this time with more gusto-
Do the heroes of the mythology exist or just da gods
I assume you mean in LR? at this point in the timeline we're not really in the true age of heroes yet.
LR's current setting is roughly within the Silver Age. Here's a simplified timeline:
Many of the mortal heroes (ex. Odysseus, Jason, etc.) simply haven't been born yet :p
That said, obviously this timeline is mostly for LR purposes, so don't mind if there are a couple minor inaccuracies with the timeline or if it's placement forces you to suspend your disbelief a little with certain aspects that appear in LR.
As an example, Herakles obviously has to exist in some capacity for there to be films about him. But his films and other affiliated merchandise are exclusive to the gods' realms, because obv the mortals don't have access to that technology yet LOL You could argue though he hasn't yet completed all of his Twelve Labours, because one of those labours does technically require Hades and Persephone to be married already (his journey into the Underworld to retrieve Cerberus).
That said, this is a loose placement of the story, and while there's a lot of debate over the timeline of Greek myth stories as a whole - leaving us quite a bit of wiggle room as far as estimating a timeline is concerned - if anything is blatantly wrong please let me know because I still want LR to feel at least believable as its own fictional retelling LOL
