#whisp grant

[twylatistic]

The Gossip but it’s monster high

[gayforspelldon]

Pretty sure Val freaked out when he finally accepted he likes boys and in the middle of his crisis he called Whisp to tell her he met a guy who is his friend but now he thinks he feels something more, and Whisp being like "oh, the witch you always talk about and how much you think his eyes are beautiful and you never met someone like him before and how much you adore spending time with him? Woah, what a shock"

Sorry, I just think she's kinda sassy with Val sometimes 💔

[jxst-jada]

Diverse Shows: Bigoted Fandoms

(trigger warning: mentions of violence, rac*sm, pol*ce br*tality, etc)

Have you guys ever wondered why some of the shows that celebrate diversity and inclusion and/or depict messages of racism, prejudice, discrimination, oppression, police brutality, along with other sensitive topics - "woke" themes, if you may, have some of the most BIGOTED fandoms...

One Piece and Monster High are two shows that explore some of these topics (I'm sure there are more, but these are the top two that come to mind at the moment I'm writing this) and I've seen nothing about hatred and every type of hate formed from these fandoms (luffy and frankie would HATE yall btw).

(You could argue that Avatar: The Last Airbender celebrates the diversity of Asian and Indigenous cultures, and also touches on some of these topics, and the hate they gave Elizabeth Yu and Thalia Tran was absolutely insane... but that's for a next post.)

So you know, it turned out to my surprise that when I saw the most racist/colorist comments on the recent trailer of One Piece's S2.

(These are just comments I've cited from TT, X, and from Charithra's literal IG)

And ofc, they blame black people because these people see a dark-skinned person and IMMEDIATELY think that person is black (why can't we be left alone... 😐)

I'm so glad that some of Charithra's castmates actually came out and defended her from these nasty comments; she needs all the support she can get right now.

But I think a serious conversation to have is the constant erasure of proper MENA representation in Hollywood. For as long as Hollywood has existed, any sort of MENA character has typically been portrayed by a South Asian, Latino/Hispanic, and at times, even European actor (usually the former).

(These are just some examples I've seen across several media)

Jasmine (Persian) in “Aladdin" was played by South Asian and British actress Naomi Scott.

Sayid Jarrah (Iraqi) in “Lost,” played by South Asian actor Naveen Andrews.

Ahmad Ibn Fadlan in 'The 13th Warrior', played by Spanish actor Antonio Banderas.

Abed Nadir (Palestinian) in 'Community', played by a South Indian and Polish actor, Danny Pudi.

Mr. Aziz (Arab) in 'Spider-Man 2', played by an Indian-American actor, Aasif Hakim

And here are some other examples (some of them, I've already mentioned, but yh):

(and several Middle Easterners express their (rightful) disappointment in not seeing themselves represented by a SWANA/MENA actor)

Now these are VALID criticisms, SWANA/MENA representation doesn't come by as often, but the fact that people aren't really making it a conversation about "MENA characters being played by non-MENA actors" and more of "Vivi is being played by a bLaCk actress, why isnt she white", to the point that "fans" are calling Charithra the hard r.

I've even seen this criticism.

(whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean...)

(we won't even START on this one...)

Do these people not know that brown MENA/SWANA people exist? (Here are some if you didn't know).

(Imaan Hammam - Egyptian, Moroccan)

(Yara Shahidi - half Iranian)

(Anthony Keyvan - half Iranian)

(Razan Nassar - North African)

(Dior Goodjohn - half Persian)

(Karim Zeroual - Moroccan)

And these are just a FEW examples... (honestly, they should have cast a dark/brown-skinned MENA actress, I would have LOVED to see their reactions when told that the actress is MENA, she just happens to be of a darker skin tone...).

Furthermore, why do I get the feeling that even if they WERE to cast a SWANA/MENA actress for Nefertari, there would DEFINITELY be people complaining that the actress "isn't white" like...

Realistically, it makes sense for DESERT princess to have a slight tan... Toei Animation did her kinda dirty by making her pasty white (not saying that Middle Easterners with paler skin tones don't exist, ofc) to the point that people think that a girl named NEFERTARI VIVI is (racially) white even though her kingdom is CLEARLY based on MENA cultures/influences.

The conversation should have just been that she was not a SWANA/MENA actor, but these losers think they're sooo cute with their "full body haki" jokes.

Back to the topic of non-MENA actors playing MENA roles, though... the live action is CAPABLE of casting MENA actors.

Tamer Burjaq (who is Jordanian), played Higuma (you know, the thief guy who threatens young Luffy and Shanks)

Very funny how they cast a MENA actor in a villainous role... but not ones for the desert princess and her father (again, no hate to Charithra Chandran or Sendhil Ramamurthy, Charithra literally was regarded as "the diamond of the season" in Bridgerton and anyone trying to convince me that she's ugly is WACK as hell - she looks like princess!).

Even Mikaela Hoover, who is voicing Chopper, is of Iranian, Italian, and Spanish descent.

So again, ANOTHER instance of the OPLA capable of casting a MENA actor, but just where you can't see them onscreen (in this case, at least).

Arabasta (also referred to as Alabasta, because in Japan (Toei Animations, the studio that adapted the anime is located here) they dont use "r" in their language, at least that's what I've heard - please correct me on that) was mostly inspired by Ancient Egyptian architecture and culture (w/ a few South Asian inspirations here and there).

Even Oda himself said that he modeled Alabasta after Ancient Egypt.

I think he recently changed his stance, though, and said that he modeled it after both Ancient Egypt AND India. There is even official art of Nami wearing a lehenga (?) (again, correct me if I'm wrong!).

From what I've heard, fans speculate, the executive producer of OPLA, Marty Adelstein, has signed a petition to take an Emmy away from a Palestinian journalist. Read here:

Over 1,000 Jewish Creatives and Professionals Have Now Denounced Jonathan Glazer’s ‘Zone of Interest’ Oscars Speech in Open Letter (EXCLUSIV

More than 1,000 Jewish creatives, executives and Hollywood professionals have signed an open letter denouncing the Oscars speech from "The Z

Even here so:

So that could have been what influenced the casting choices of both Nefeteria and her dad.

I know you guys might have been wondering why I even brought up Monster High in the first place, even though the post mostly focuses on Charithra Chandran's casting (and why I just waited up until now to mention it yet again, I digress). However, MENA erasure is so... normalized to the point that Monster High has at least 5 different MENA characters (Cleo De Nile, Nefera De Nile, Gigi Grant, Whisp Grant, Seth Ptolemy) and for some reason Monster High fans think it's okay to fancast any and any actor as them even though, they have SEEN w/ their own eyes how much of an impact these characters' MENA background influence them.

Cause why am I seeing

Megan Fox as Cleo??? Alexa Demie?? KYLIE CANTRALL???? ELIZABETH GILLIES??? KYLIE JENNER???

(and dont even get me started on people thinking she's Greek like... do they even know Cleo's backstory...)

(Slight edit, but I remembered when the G3 live action cast was announced, and EVERYONE had a think piece, especially people who were (rightfully) mad that Cleo was played by Jy Prishkulnik, who was a white woman (or at least so I've heard), and that they should have cast an Egyptian actress (thats fair to want). Then they would go ahead and fancast non-MENA actresses as Cleo, like... I had to straight up argue w/ someone because they thought Camila Mendes was a good choice for Cleo, and when I pointed it out that Cleo is MENA... they started talking some shxt bout "actors dont play the same nationality as their character" and im like bro 💀 yall were the same ones complaining about the LA cast not being "accurate" to the character's ethnicites but you can fancast whomever actor you feel like ??? 💀moving on...)

Madison Beer as Nefera (she's not even an actress...)??? Janel Parrish???

SADIE SINK as Gigi Grant??? Abigail Cowen???? (what are we doing here?)

And dont even get me started on Jaden Smith as Seth Ptolemy... (that man can neither sing nor act)

To conclude (cause I feel I'm making this post a bit too long lol), the problem isn't Charithra Chandran... at ALL (I love her, and I'm glad she's in more roles, especially since her costar Simone Ashley has expressed the struggles of getting roles as a South Asian woman).

It's more of Hollywood's obsession with mixing South Asian and MENA/SWANA cultures and thinking that they can be used "interchangeably," when that's... wrong... (and orientalist asfff), and it doesn't help that the creators of the show are Zion*sts, too...

Leave Charitha Chandran alone... if you have a problem w/ the casting (aside from she's a South Asian woman portraying a MENA character), dont watch the show or go phone Oda, himself - he selected the castings and had said that Charitha has fit PERFECTLY into his vision...

(Also, P.S. DONT CRY THAT MENA CHARACTERS ARE BEING ERASED FROM THE MEDIA THEN FANCAST NON-MENA ACTORS AS SAID MENA CHARACTER, IT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE A HYPOCRITE!)

[simonslimin]

Reference under the cut. Saw the fit and wanted to put my princess val in it

[checkyourasianbias]

CYAB Redesign & Recreate Challenge POLL #1

Link to the challenge guidelines

Which character should we feature in our first redesign challenge!!!! Omg this finally happening <3

Chun-Li (Street Fighter)

Ada Wong (Resident Evil)

Jill Valentine (Resident Evil)

Gigi Grant (Monster High)

Djinni "Whisp" Grant (Monster High)

Noriko Ashida (X-Men/Marvel comics)

Yang Xiao Long (RWBY)

Peni Parker (Spiderverse)

Damian al Ghul (Batman comics)

Talia al Ghul (Batman comics)

Abbey Bominable (Monster High)

Jinafire Long (Monster High)

Voting ended onMay 1

Also just a heads-up, for the first post with additional information to be out before the end of May 1, the poll may end early in order for us to have time to prep. So if you're interested, try to vote as soon as you can!

[chaotically--calm]

Monster High (g1) rewrite. I don’t hate it per se, but there are some parts that miffed me, so I’d like to try my hand at changing some things.

Calling it the New Salem AU

Side note: It’s not a school anymore, it’s more like a small community. I never understood why centuries-old beings were sitting in regular classes with fifteen year olds

Draculaura-

Spoiled socialite, daughter of Dracula. She died of a plague, so she doesn’t have any open wounds, just an occasional bone-rattling cough. Since learning to turn into a bat, she’s rarely without some batty features. When the Council of Vampires went radio silent, her father included, she knew she had to find a way to them.

Frankie-

Constructed from dead bodies, they’re not used to any of their limbs yet. They walk off-balance so they use crutches. Due to how their brain is from someone that they aren’t, they go through occasional personality switches for a few years until their body is fully adapted to the pieces. These personality switches drive them to a place of mystery: The Bloody Woods

Clawdeen-

An average Were with many siblings, she’s used to being overshadowed. She’s learned to appreciate the lack of attention as a way to get away with her schemes. Of course, she does spend a lot of said time to work on her fashion designs. Her wanderings for inspiration take her many places, one being a library where she goes to hide from people and ended up finding a certain spirit

Cleo-

She’s spent a lot of time alone, trapped in her tomb, giving her an immense fear of enclosed spaces and isolation. But, as a royal, she has to play it off. She claims that she simply isn’t used to being without servants so she can drag her ghouls everywhere with her.

Ghoulia-

A zombie girl who died in a hit and run when she was fifteen. She doesn’t remember her death, just like most undead, but knows that she left life unfulfilled, so she spends all her time trying to achieve her goals before her life is ripped away from her again.

Howleen-

A young werewolf with bright ideas and plans for the future. She’s sure that with the help of older siblings and new friend Twyla, she can achieve her goals of becoming a world-famous musician for both humans and monsters. Since she doesn’t have many friends her age, she spends a lot of time with Clawd, Clawdeen and their friends, and she’s starting to get the idea that Draculaura knows something about Howleen’s plans that she won’t say.

Spectra-

A ghoul who spent ages alone before headmistress Bloodgood found her manor and asked if she could use it as a safe haven for monsters. Since her death, she’s had chains hanging from her limbs, but doesn’t remember who they’re supposed to be connected to. Spectra is prone to maladaptive daydreaming because of her isolation, but don’t let that fool you. She knows more than she’s letting on, even hiding a secret that could divide monsters and the undead forever

Whisp (Deny)-

Twin sister of Gigi Grant, Whisp is literally used to living in her shadow. The two don’t talk much anymore, despite Gigi’s attempts to reconcile. She decided that she needs to be alone to achieve her goal. Well, mostly alone. Whisp drove them even farther apart by befriending someone most of Gigi’s friends can’t stand: Kieran Valentine

Gigi (Grant)-

Gigi is living her best life free of the lap and her obligations, but can’t help feeling guilty about her and Whisp’s relationship. She know’s it’s not entirely her fault, but she does want to have a proper relationship, as her sister is the only family she has now. It doesn’t help that Whisp has failed to share a piece of critical information with her

Valentine-

A centuries-undead boy with a hot-and-cold personality. He only seems to have a solid opinion on three people, and views everyone else as an obstacle. Upon death, he gained hypnotic powers that he uses to dispose of said obstacles. The chains wrapped around his body suggest he owes someone his soul, but who?

Clawd-

One of the oldest kids in his family, he’s starting to get worried about Clawdeen. She hides from the world much more than she used to, and he doesn’t know why. Between keeping by an eye on his younger siblings and trying to live a life of his own, he ends up friends with someone’s who’s recently come to New Salem and doesn’t know too much about the community. He’s starting to get an idea that his new friend may have some more… eccentric opinions on socializing, but that’s fine, probably?

Spelldon-

The new boy in town, fascinated by most everything due to how sheltered he was for most of his life. As an immortal, you’d think he’s seen everything, but he actually has less experience in the real world than many mortals. He’s grown to resent his mother for this, and both admire and envy his sister who’s been travelling for millennia, and only just took him to the mainland. Though he may not know a whole lot about most cultures, he knows who he does and doesn’t like and how to curse people.

Still working on: Abbey, Venus, Robecca, Twyla, Deuce and a few others

[asheermh]

I finished the video much faster than I thought. It didn't turn out perfectly, but I really enjoyed making it.

[fang-ghoul]

I think I'd be cool if Spelldon having a famous sister was kind of a secret and only valentine and catty and maybe deuce knew that.

I think itd be interesting if they said the reason he has few friends/interactions outside of valentine rn is bc he tries to keep a low profile n not tell ppl Casta is his sister

I feel like he n Whisp would get along well talking about keeping yourself in your sister's shadow n such if he ever told her too

Maybe his thing could be being afraid of ppl valuing him differently based on his sister's identity, therefore keeping a low profile at school for long, and now slowly finding people who value him for him? ofc starting with kieran💖