Changing white characters into Native Americans

A political project where I change white based characters into Native American ones. This is to dispel stereotypes and broaden our genres as Native American creators. My art projects are also posted at Queenofotakus.deviaviantart.com

[eroscestlavie]

New discourse

who used to have a deviantArt 

[nativization]

I still have a deviantart.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

First Nations artist wants to #RenameBC with native name

“Why do we have British Columbia? Why do we have to have this name when they’ve never paid for it? This is our land. This is First Nations territories,” says Yuxweluptun.

A First Nations artist wants to change the name of British Columbia to a native name, and has launched a contest with the Museum of Anthropology to find one.

In a #RenameBC video Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, of Coast Salish and Okanagan descent, says British Columbia is traditional native land.

“Why do we have British Columbia? Why do we have to have this name when they’ve never paid for it? This is our land. This is First Nations territories,” says Yuxweluptun.

“This is traditional native land, this is a province that belongs to native people. But we are held hostage on reservations.”

The public are being invited to share their ideas for a new name. All entries will be displayed outside Yuxweluptun’s exhibition at the MOA, Unceded Territories.

Continue Reading.

[ahomeformyheart]

Speaking of which, how much of BC is divided into territories anyways? Is it all really just subtely stolen land? (Like for ex., I was shocked to find out how much non treaty land there was in Québec - I had this image of “oh the govt is there running it so the First Nations people’s must’ve just signed off on all the land in the province long ago or something” and like idk boy was I wrong)

[allthecanadianpolitics]

“British Columbia is unique in Canada in that most of the province (an area that’s about 95 percent of the land base, or nearly 900,000 square kilometres) is unceded, non-surrendered First Nation territories.”

(x)

[sophiamcdougall]

“Write novels.”

I have a friend who’s a journalist. She’s ridiculously awesome and I really want to name her because everyone should know just how awesome she is, but this isn’t a time where it feels wise to reveal the political thoughts expressed by a journalist in private, at least not without her permission. The day before I saw her last week, I’d locked myself out of Facebook and Twitter. I’d been forced to realise the psychological harm they were doing me outweighed any political good my frantic clicktivism could possibly be accomplishing. My brother had called, on my sister-in-law’s instructions. “R. says you’re tweeting and facebooking constantly about politics,” he said. “She said ‘call your sister, I don’t think she’s doing well.’”   “I’m okay, probably,” I’d told him. “I don’t think you are,” he said.  I felt a little better, though not by much, by the time I met my friend for lunch. She was shaken, she said. Democracy was falling apart. I muttered weakly that perhaps it wasn’t quite that bad. She said she’d rather act now than hope for the best. I agreed. But act how? She said she was getting onto the board of various charities. She was writing about the best way to report on extremism, avoiding the terrible false equivalencies of the “he said/she said” approach which has blighted our discourse with such ghastly effect. I said I was supporting the Stop Funding Hate campaign. Giving to Planned Parenthood and ACLU over there, refugee charities over here. Writing letters. Trying to think of useful ways to get involved in local politics. “You know what you should do,” she said. No, I really didn’t. “Write novels,” she said. I told her that in the days after the election I felt as if art had been revealed as an empty joke. An indulgence we could no longer afford. As if I would never be able to justify doing it again. What we were even going to write now? Flimsy, tinselly distractions from ghastly reality? Or sharp-eyed, unflinching commentary that no one except the already-convinced would ever read? What was the point of art? “No, no!” she said. “Art is what will save us.” “But it hasn’t,” I wanted to scream. We tried and tried. We’ve filled the world with our stories, our songs – we’ve tried so hard to make our stories better - with diverse casts and empathy and hope – and it’s not enough; no one’s saying it was perfect, or that the attempt was anywhere close to  finished. But we were trying. And now look.  It is so important, she told me, that there is art already made and due to come out in the coming year that embodies the opposite of this. Diverse, progressive stories, that are not going to go untold whatever happens. I’d had in my mind two quotes. Peter Cook, on Germany’s satirical clubs of the thirties “that did so much to prevent the rise of Hitler.”  And Kurt Vonnegut: “During the Vietnam War, which lasted longer than any war we’ve ever been in - and which we lost - every respectable artist in this country was against the war. It was like a laser beam. We were all aimed in the same direction. The power of this weapon turns out to be that of a custard pie dropped from a stepladder six feet high.“ But if they hadn’t been there? I thought, looking at my friend. Who was fierce and bright-eyed and smiling. Those useless satirists and artists and musicians pouring their spirits into their art and watching it land on the floor of history like that dropped custard pie?  What if there was nothing to look back on in those times but a culture in militaristic  lockstep, or perhaps worse, slumped in dead-eyed indifference?  After those years-long nightmares, what would there have been to wake up to? Maybe it was absurd to find the thought more chilling than the reality of what had happened, to feel that it would have been an international death of the soul,  but .. still … If artists couldn’t prevent disaster, could they at least preserve something precious from being lost while it endured? If they hadn’t stopped a single war, had they at least kept the rot from penetrating the human culture unchallenged?  It’s not enough. It’s not enough. “Write novels,” said my friend stubbornly. “Write novels.”

[dduane]

And for those of us who’re doing it anyway: there is no more important time to be found at our posts, doing our jobs: spitting in Entropy’s eye and making more goddamn art.

[antioch-actius]

All the same, a protest or two would be nice, though…

[plenoptic07]

Short term resistance: Protest, donate, make calls, write letters, social media.

Long term resistance: Fundamentally change culture. Do so with art.

[nativization]

I needed this.

[nativization]

Requests are OPEN

Requests are open to promote my blog. Ask me to draw or edit a character so they're indigenous American. Default is modern clothes for modern characters, traditional clothes for ancient and fantasy characters. You can request traditional clothing. You can request general-area cultures (i.e Great Plains, Pacific Northwest) but no specific cultures (exception: Osage, Aztec). I cannot do non-Incan South Americans. Please reblog.

[nativization]

EDIT: Fixed her eye, nose, and did a couple small color touchups.

You know, a long time ago I wondered why Sonic recolors set in an official screenshot would look so…out of place. How could these artists make such an obvious mistake?

Now I understand. Pixillation. I can’t replicate those shitty looking gray pixels in the rest of the shot. It’s so risky. I did it to her eyes though. Still, my recolor’s hair & squid are literally too good for the screenshot.

Anyways, this isn’t an OC. It’s NativeAmerican!Star Butterfly.

Unlike my last post from today, thos one only took me a couple of hours. Yay! And also unlike my other posts, it only has one url. I don’t want my other blogs being associated with this >.>

Nonetheless, I want this posted. Just to try it out. Just to experiment. I’m glad it’s on my blog, even if it’s a little cringey.

[nativization]

I'm DONE. No, no more touch ups! Been working on this for weeks! This is Native American!Star Butterfly. I kept the outfit because Natives can be modern. I don't have to dress her in ancient-based designs just because of her race/culture. I really wanted to push that message with her. I changed some of the colors to match her skin-tone better. Star's original design was meant to look good with her skin. I tried to reflect that. In the show, eyes are shaped differently to reflect race. Since I shifted Star's race, I decided to do this as well. It took awhile to figure out a design. I think she looks less absent-minded, and more attentive, unfortunately. Criticisms are encouraged with her. I want to edit these official works better. Be gentle, please. There is a way to critique gently while being on the mark.

[tenaflyviper]

I like how Dragondicks/Cuteosphere tagged this with “bullshit”, because that’s precisely what the post you see above is.

This person greatly enjoys twisting the facts in a situation to make it sound like they’re in the right, while others are in the wrong.  This is the same person that pitched a glorified hissy fit because a piece of her “artwork” was reblogged by a rule34 pony blog (HEAVEN FORBID someone appreciate your art that you don’t personally approve of!  We certainly wouldn’t want anyone promoting your work unless they’ve passed personal inspection!).

You see, folks, the irony in this post is that Dragondicks drew an image of Rarity that said, and I quote:

“Literally anything before bros.”

This is a clearly misandrist message.  What I’m guessing she doesn’t realize is that such messages go directly against the personal beliefs of the woman who created those characters.

Lauren Faust is entirely against the kind of man-hating, radical feminism that Dragondicks and others have been using ponies as political mouthpieces to express.  She even wrote an entire episode of The Powerpuff Girls that completely mocks it.  The only reason she now regrets writing said episode is because of the backlash she received from exactly the people that it was criticizing.

“I have nightmares that I will be an old, old lady on my death bed with people yelling at me for Bendy and Equal Fights. I hope I can put them behind me some day.” - Lauren Faust, 2005

To make matters worse Dragondicks PROFITS off of the imagery she has created, using Lauren Faust’s characters to promote ideals that Faust herself DESPISES. 

It’s also worth mentioning that this person continues to support someone who was found to have drawn sexualized cartoon horses themselves, despite previously crusading against that very thing.  In fact, said person has a hell of a rap sheet of lies, hypocrisy, and generally deplorable behavior.  Her followers (Dragondicks included) aren’t much better, and have been known for threatening others with violence, victim-blaming rape victims who disagreed with them, and even relentlessly stalking their blogs.  One of them I caught on Statcounter to have visited my blog 73 times.  That’s a disturbing level of obsession.

On top of that, Dragondicks also supports this person’s “girlfriend”, who was found to have a side blog that’s ENTIRELY EXPLICIT PONY PORN.  Of course, she panicked and password-protected it as soon as word got out about it.  

All of these people are basically the new “Burned Furs”.

Now, the thing about these “mouthpiece” images:

It isn’t the genuinely positive ones that people have an issue with.  Think for a moment:  Why in the hell would anyone have a problem with messages like those taught right in the goddamn show?  Rarity has taught us that femininity is not a weakness.  Fluttershy has taught us that being assertive does not make you a bad person.  Pinkie Pie has taught us that laughter is a powerful tool for overcoming your fears.  Rainbow Dash has shown us that women can be athletic.  Applejack has shown us that women can be strong.  Twilight Sparkle has shown us that women can be intelligent. 

The issue at hand is that there are images that are spreading negative messages promoting misandry, racism, and various other levels of discrimination.  There are also those that mean well, but present their messages with a built-in assumption of guilt, much like a loaded question.  Their abrasive presentation overshadows any underlying positivity.

I have previously discussed this topic here,  here, and here.  The last link addresses the topic of adult content that Dragondicks is too much of a coward to assess directly without acting like a petty little child about it.

The thing here is…these people are gigantic hypocrites.  They have little to no problem when it is either themselves, or people that agree with them, producing adult content.  They mask the truth by failing to mention that many of the images they’re producing as alleged “feminist” messages are telling viewers to:

“Eat shit”.

“Hate all boys” (another one from Dragondicks, using - of all characters- Fluttershy.  Yes, the Element of Kindness).

Telling others that they are “trash” if they don’t accept certain headcanons.

Promoting racism against white people.

Promoting hatred against cisgendered people.

These are not “positive” messages.  They are merely using ponies as a popularity crutch, and abusing activism as a “criticism-free” umbrella under which to practice their own chosen levels of hatred, just so they can scream “Misogyny!” when anyone disagrees with them.

If you can’t voice your beliefs in words like the goddamn adults and near-adults that you are, then don’t expect anyone to take you the least bit seriously.  

The majority of the people contributing to it at this point are only doing it because they know they have a built-in audience that will guarantee them notes and attention. 

These people are not feminists. 

They’re just using it as an excuse to be assholes.

[nativization]

Old post is old, but the side reason you’re attacking her for is stupid.

Yes, she is a bag of dicks. No doubt about it. Stalking, harrassing, misandrogynistic, hypocritical, victim blaming, a pure bag of trash She had to be stopped.

But don’t say that it’s “wrong” to use someone else’s characters as political mouthpieces for morals not represented by either the creators or the show.

That’s dictatorial, it crosses the line if freedom of intent and free speech. It’s thought and action policing over something that’s really wrong.

It sounds like tenaflyviper has no problem with My Little Pony porn. Attacking Dragondicks for deviating from the show’s moral code, but not the porn artists? Hasbro doesn’t stand for pony porn, though they allow it with respect to the fandom. When it crosses the line, they deal with it. They’re not going to do a massive fanart-cleaning-sweep just because one person deviated from the only one of the creators (who stopped working on that show, I think in 2013? This post was written in 2014.) So stop acting so afraid that Hasbro’s gonna take action against us all for her misdeeds.

Let’s be honest here, you were scared. You were scared of her misandroginistic messages hurting feminism. You hate people getting the two mixed up; and you’re right. The mix up causes real harm for the feminist movement.

But you shouldn’t attack them over using cartoon characters for political goals. People have been using characters in their political cartoons and words since characters became an important part of the public eye.

Now, I am 100% convinced that My Little Pony teaches Eurocentricism and racism. I don’t think Hasbro intended this, but they certainly failed to do their part to remedy it. I fell out if the show because of how they portrayed my people even with a consultant, the continued abuse of non-pony characters, implementing key themes that were racist by default, and the fact that nazis use it as successful propoganda.

So I’m going to continue making My Little Pony (and other Ameri-European shows) NativeAmericentric. The creators of all these shows are likely to have no understanding whatsoever in my reasons, and thus my political work wouldn’t be in line with the shows’ morals. But I feel my work is important: I need to show people what Native American fantasies can look like, I need to show them how variable the possibilities of our fantastical worlds can be, I need to give Native Americans of all cultures representation. So I’m going to keep redwashing characters and settings for my political goals.

[tyleramato]

It’s Thanksgiving which means tables decorated with tiny porcelain figures of Native Americans sharing corn with pilgrims. It’s a holiday about being grateful, coming together, and being at peace but while we use caricatures of a great people, mainstream media ignores their cries for help. While we set tables with servings of food that are far too large, the original inhabitants of this great nation struggle to fight for clean drinking water and respect for their ancestors.

I’m not great at words but this issue is very dear to my heart so here’s some art.

[nativization]

I could've SWORN I uploaded this a week or so ago! Maybe I put it on the wrong blog... This is Zeltzin. The Legend of Zeltzin :D NativeAmerican!Zelda; not OC. Her design is based on the Mexica people. (The common name is Aztec, but it really should be phased out.) The Mexica empire set out to conquer the lands around them. With a monarchy, huge military, huge buildings of stone, gold, taxes, and a heavily invested interest in ruling over cities and nations; I feel like the a Mexica-based Hyrule is the best American equivalent to this originally western European-based nation. (You know, I never got the sense that Hyrule was just for humans. The Zoras had a king, yes, but it was still part of Hyrule...? The Gorons seemed seperate, but only from WITHIN the mountains. An "everything the light touches" sort of situation. OOT made it seem like only the Gerudos had their own country.) I worked VERY hard on her, and I'm VERY proud of her.

[reclaimnativeamerican]

Standing Rock water protectors prayer chain

please add to these prayers in your indigenous languages if you are able. 

wakan tanka, i am praying for wicozani for our akicita in inyan woslata.  please watch over the oceti sakowin as they stand with our ancestors, our relatives, and each other for unci maka.  han.

[nativization]

To spread awareness of this cultural appropriative costume madness; and that Nightmare Before Christmas is about cultural appropriation.

[dswsubmit]

@mindofkye_ (📝: @theyoungempire_)

[nolabird]

Do we know her name?

[recovering-academic]

Kyemah McEntyre!

http://www.teenvogue.com/story/kyemah-mcentyre-prom-dress

[nativization]

I wanna see more like this.

[nativization]

[potter-inthe-tardis]

So I think we all can agree that 2016 was a pretty terrible year, but in an attempt to be positive, I think we should all put it the tag/respond to this with something(s) positive/good that happened to us this year. 

[slimegargoyle]

stay woke ponyboy 

[artheartsoul1]

Can I use this as a logo for my anti-racism mlp project?

[slimegargoyle]

now there’s a question I never imagined being asked. yes, totally

[nativization]

Stay woke, ponyboy

...

😂

[nativization]

Didn't put in a description on deviantart, might as well do it here. The Apple Family is your stereotypical white farmer. Applejack's pallet is designed to reflected a tanned white girl. Hence the change, since I'm turning her family into traditional Native American farmers. The Apple Family speaks in a southern accent, but their produce is a mainly northern crop. This allows me to make the RealAmerican!version more widespread. That's why they have Tamarillo trees. ...That's my excuse for not drawing squash/maize/beans. It also explains Big Mac's (Big Max? Big Maize?) llama saddle, and Applebloom's (Pumpkinbloom's?) butterfly whorl hair. Granny's shawl changed from apples to kidney beans. I kept Granny's visor, cutie mark and the fence, because I'm not limiting the technology. I'm merely changing the culture. I'm not proud of Pumpkinjack's cutie mark; but I'm very, very proud of Big Maize's.

[nativization]

Rarity, in all her Mexica/Aztec admiring glory. (I wonder how Canterlot would be renamed…Trotchtitlan?)

She has turquoise implants in her teeth. Look at that smile.