Reblogged hamfeather
Can’t risk it
The duck of creativity. I waited so long for it.
luckyferrero-deactivated2020081
i’m desperate huhu
Please give me some inspiration oh great duck of creativity
Reblogged druid-for-hire
does anyone wanna hold hands until we feel a little braver
the reblog map is all of us holding hands btw
We are each other's night sky. No one is alone here.
night sky continues to get brighter. theres always people here for you
Made a painting of all of us “Holding Hands” <3
Reblogged quantumlibrariansybillion
cool cool cool my car just broke down so if anybody wants to do something nice for me now would be the time
so the engine failed catastrophically and needs to be replaced. Awesome. if you want to do me a huge solid in my time of need, i sell keychains and stuff on my wifes etsy page. i also have a ko-fi account if u just want to drop some coin
if u send me any money i will do my best to draw a little something for you. just to sweeten the pot. its not exactly "opening up commissions" i just hate takin money for nothin. Thank u
thank u very much to everybody who has reblogged this and helped us out. it really means a lot to me.
i still dont know exactly how much were gonna be in the hole but it was 200 fuckin dollars just to get it towed to a dealership. apparently there was a safety recall on a part and they found that part sticking thru the roof of the engine so theres good odds theyll replace the engine for less than uh. the 5k we were quoted. im really really banking on that bc that is like.........all of our savings LMAO. haha. if i dont laugh ill cry
and also we only have the one car. lol. at least on the plus side im supposed to be in pittsburgh all next week and i get to tool around in a company car. but ubering to work is so fucking expensiveeee aaaggguuhhhh
anyway thank u again for looking at my post. even if u cant do nothin to solve my problems seeing nice words and support has really helped
Reblogged chryza
You can replace [ACTIVITY YOU ENJOY] with [SCROLLING] but watch out. This sucks bad 👍
Some things about this post since getting quite a few notes:
1. If you see this post, highly recommend taking it as an opportunity to set a timer for 15 minutes and switch over to ACTIVITY YOU ENJOY. if after those 15 minutes, you want to go back to scrolling, that's okay!
2. Huge shout out to this popping up in my notifs often, bc I do go back to activity.
3. I think there are times where scrolling is fine. Right now, for example, I'm being connected to a machine for two hours to donate plasma and platelets. Yes this is a brag but it is also a time where scrolling is one of the few things I can do. (Though I will probably also read or watch something on phone lol)
hmmm, this seems to be some kind of curse breaking spell… be free ye reader
Reblogged creatingblackcharacters
Being asexual and racist is embarassing as fuck. Being racist at all is obviously embarassing as fuck but the amount of racism and especially antiblackness i have been seeing from asexuals recently is obscene.
One of the only asexual activists is Yasmin Benoit, a Black woman. She has raised so much awareness for the community. She was the first asexual person to lead Pride in London, she started the #thisiswhatasexuallookslike movement and is THE leading voice for the community.
And you all will celebrate international asexuality day on April 6th but we wouldn't even have that if she hadn't cofounded it.
Edit: why are you all too scared to repost this. Cmon. Be vocal about being against racism
Reblogged ciderjacks
Come to think of it, it really is insane that my entire country is burning alive and literally no one in the rest of the world cares. Thousands of Indians are dying every day from the heat, it's 45+ degrees in multiple areas, the government couldn't give two fucks, we're getting severe warnings and red alerts, and not a soul outside of South Asia is speaking about it because why would you ever care about brown people
please keep talking about how Becky from Maryland doesn't like the rising gas prices. It's clearly the more pressing issue.
USA folks, that is a consistent temperature range hitting 113°. Death Valley temperatures. In Banda, it hovered between 116°-118° (47°-48° C) for a week straight.
This has been happening all month with little to no international media attention. Here are a few organizations you can check out for resources or to support:
GlobalGiving <- No longer taking donations
Reblogged
Don't Fall for this scam.
Transgender community, please please please do NOT use this product! It will kill you if used, please do not use it whatsoever.
Please reblog and spread the word
this is just straight up fucking evil 💔
and for any of my trans viewers and followers, please don’t get this product
REBLOG REBLOG REBLOG
OMG WHAT THE FUCK
THIS IS FUCKING AWFUL JESUS
OH MY GOD
THIS IS SO VILE
WHAT THE FUCK
Jesus christ. Stay safe.
Reblogged
transstuffandmore
Please Reblog is Your Blog is Safe for Non-Binary People.
bees-and-voids-deactivated20210
If my mutuals can’t rb this then we can’t be mutuals
Ive said it before and ill say it again all kind people are welcome here.
If you don’t support nonbinary people, then get the fuck away from my blog
Besides it’d be really weird if I didn’t support nonbinary people considering that I’m agender
As another nonbinary person my blog is safe for othered
Reblogged the-bitter-ocean
Anonymous asked:
How should you write/draw burn survivors? I know this isn't a drawing blog but I don't know of one that I could ask this question to.
Hello!
I'm not a burn survivor myself, so I'll mostly talk about facial differences/visible disability in general and link some stuff made by burn survivors.
First thing, I think it's important to remember that being a burn survivor changes a lot of things - not only appearance. Very important part is the psychological one, but I'm not a burn survivor so I will just let the resources linked below speak.
From the physical aspect, burns can also come with: chronic pain, limited range of motion due to scarring, tightened skin, problems with regulating temperature, itching, skin irritation, and even different nutritional needs during the initial healing process.
There is also specific everyday care associated with burns - something you basically never see in fiction. That could be things like occupational therapy, physical therapy, skincare (like heavy moisturizing and scar massaging), wearing sunblock, wearing splints, or stretching to prevent contractures or tightness.
There are also different types of burns and they (unsurprisingly) differ from each other - for example, electrical burns have a much higher rate of amputation than any other type. Chemical burns can cause eye issues. A burn caused by a fire in a closed space might result in a brain injury due to the lack of oxygen. A much larger portion of people than you (probably) assume have survived burn injuries as small children, and if they were young enough they might not even remember the event at all, unlike older people who might be very affected by the trauma.
Experiences of a person with 80% body surface burns, a person with quadruple amputations from an electrical burn, a person with a facial burn, and a person burnt very recently will be different from someone who has a 5% body surface 2nd degree burn in a spot that’s usually hidden, who has lived with their burn for a decade - despite them all being burn survivors.
When it comes to more thorough research, I recommend going through Phoenix Society’s and Face Equality International’s websites to learn more about both real burn survivor’s perspectives, and face equality as a social justice topic. I think the 3rd link (see below) puts it very well when talking about burn survivors being represented in fiction:
“Most likely, these characters were not created by someone with lived experience. The result is an increasingly garbled game of telephone [...] To avoid contributing to this false narrative, embrace research as part of the process. Explore interviews, first-person accounts, and articles from reliable sources.”
I personally think that the links below should be mandatory reading for writing not only burn survivors, not only people with facial differences, but visibly disabled people in general - because the treatment we get is often so similar the advice still holds up just fine. And if you don't plan on writing any of these, you should still read them to see how prevalent of a problem ableism in media is.
The main sentiment that you will read from basically any first-hand source is that if you're writing the burn survivor to be either:
- evil (just throw the whole character away)
- a guy with the "World's Saddest Most Tragic Backstory Ever and It's So Sad and Tragic" (because he revealed he has a scar)
- a helpless victim who is there to be The Helpless Victim
...then you're already doing it wrong and need to make some major changes.
From our blog's reblogs and posts, you might want to look at tips for writing a visibly different/disabled character and tips on drawing people with facial differences. Neither are specific to burn survivors but cover the topic of visible disability and facial differences.
Now for tips on drawing burn survivors (that weren't included in the last link);
- Reference real people. 99.9% drawings of burn survivors seem to go through the same "increasingly garbled game of telephone" that Niki Averton mentions with how burn survivors are written, in that the newer the drawing, the less in common it has with how real people with burns look like because people reference from each other and none of them ever think to actually check if their depiction is accurate. If you just google "burn survivor" you will very quickly notice that burn survivors don't have that damn red overlay layer put on top of their skin. It just doesn't look like that, and basic research (aka Google Images search) will tell you that - and still, people color a hand with bright red and think that's how it looks like (it doesn't).
- In the same vein, maybe don't just draw an able-bodied person and then put some scarring on top (or maybe do exactly that. No burn scar and no burn survivor is the same, and there are people that fit what I just described... but hear me out for a second). Think about how scars interact with their features - do they have both of their ears? Do they still have all of their hair? Do they only have parts of their eyebrow? Do they have all of their fingers? Can they move the same as before their burn, or are their scars limiting their joints? How did their body react to the post-burn hypermetabolism? Lots to think about. Take into account what type and thickness of burns your character has.
- Ditch the mask trope. Just ditch it. There's no need to cover your character's scar from the world unless you as the author think it requires to be hidden, is too scary to show, or other ableist trope that seems to always come up with drawings of visibly disabled people, especially burn survivors. The one exception I will mention is a transparent face orthosis/mask (TFO) that facial burn survivors might wear while awaiting a skin graft early after their injury. But as the name suggests, it's transparent and doesn't work for the "scary facial difference, better cover it up and only reveal it in some hyper dramatic scene!" trope because you can see right through it. (I will also mention that TFOs are a very modern thing. Your medieval burn survivor wouldn't be wearing one).
- No "body horror", no "gore" tags or trigger warnings or whatever. That's a human being. If you feel the need to warn your followers before they see a disabled person existing, you're better off not drawing them.
Some last notes;
Throughout this ask I used the term "burn survivor" rather than "burn victim" because that is, to my knowledge, the general community preferred phrase. Individual opinions will differ (because no group is a monolith) but "burn survivor" is generally the safest term to use and probably the best if talking about a fictional character.
Similarly, I used "facial difference" rather than "disfigurement". Just as the above, opinions will differ on what is the best to use but I personally, as someone with facial asymmetry and a cranial nerve disorder, heavily prefer the term "facial difference" over "disfigurement". (I am in this case The Individual Opinion Differing because you can notice that in the links above, facial difference and disfigurement are used interchangeably. The general community uses both, some people have specific preferences. I'm some people). When talking about a fictional character, "facial difference", "visible difference" and "disfigurement" are all probably fine. Just stay away from calling a person "deformed".
mod Sasza
Reblogged
The fact that there are still ppl in the year 2025 that are on the "Aang shoulda killed Ozai/Aang was selfish to not kill Ozai" is genuinely insane to me.
First off, we are ignoring the fact that Aang did resolve to kill Ozai when given no other option, after consulting with the other Avatars.
Yangchen: Many great and wise Air Nomads have detached themselves and achieved spiritual enlightenment, but the Avatar can never do it. Because your sole duty is to the world. Here is my wisdom for you: Selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs, and do whatever it takes to protect the world.
[Yangchen's spirit vanishes.] Aang: [Sorrowfully.] I guess I don't have a choice, Momo. have to kill the Fire Lord.
We're also ignoring the very obviously shown themes of mercy requiring strength and restraint throughout the show, not just with Aang, but with characters like Zuko and Katara. And despite that, mercy is constantly talked down upon and viciously mocked by representants of the Fire Nation.
Because the Fire Nation spits upon mercy, it's whole imperialist system is built around the disregard of the value of human life. Nations and cultures are to br squashed if they pose a threat, captured enemies are to be used for labour and even forced to fight their own people, the Fire Nation's own soldiers are to be sacrificed if it is convenient.
The Air Nomads' philosphies of valuing life under any circumstances is set as a stark difference to this mentality. It's a mostly unconditional value of human life, set up against the highly conditional values assigned to humans in the Fire Nation. And this is a philosophy that Aang grew up with, and more importantly, one of the only things he has left from his people who were genocided.
[Maybe we should bring back taring and feathering people some of y'all need to be publicly shamed. Is this Fire Lord Ozai's alt account???]
I think many people still fail to grasp the intersection between Aang the Avatar and Aang the Last Airbender. Yes, there have been previous Air Nomad Avatars, but Aang, at the point of 100 AG is the only Air Nomad. And yes, his hesitation around killing Ozai does directly tie back to his upbringing by the monks.
Aang: This goes against everything I learned from the monks. I can't just go around wiping out people I don't like. Sokka: Sure you can. You're the Avatar. If it's in the name of keeping balance, I'm pretty sure the universe will forgive you. Aang: This isn't a joke, Sokka! None of you understand the position I'm in.
And he is right. For all the support and empathy the Gaang can provide him, they cannot help him carry the legacy of the Air Nomads. Aang is the only member of them who still lives. And their legacy lives in him, only him. If he breaks his vow of non killing, that is not only a personal moral loss, but a moral loss of his entire people. It's agreeing with the idea that the Air Nomads and their traditions being wrong and weak, and in order to survive and "do the right thing" Aang must abandon their traditions. Which would've been rough in a world where the Air Nomads still exist, but in the world Aang exists in, it is essentially agreeing that the Air Nomads and their values have no place in the world.
Ozai: You're weak, just like the rest of your people! They did not deserve to exist in this world ... in my world! Prepare to join them. Prepare to die!
Let's remember this comes soon after Ozai could've been killed by Aang, but was spared.
Calling Aang "weak, like the rest of his people" and undeserving of life is not just an idle taunt, it's Ozai placing a fire national imperialism flavoured moral judgement upon the Air Nomads. In 'his world' mercy is a flaw, and since human life is conditional, the 'flawed', merciful Air Nomads don't deserve to live, their ideals and beliefs don't deserve to live.
The moment Ozai says this during the final battle, Aang killing him would be agreeing with him, proving him right. It's agreeing that human life is conditional, that his people did not make the cut. That they somehow brought their destruction upon themselves, by being weak, by being wrong. Aang's battle against Ozai is as ideological as it is physical, and I find it strange that so few people acknowledge that.
I don't even think it's fair to say that atla presents another toothless "killing bad" message, which is so common in many kid's media. Like yeah, it does tell tou that killing is bad, but it certainly isn't toothless. Multiple characters, characters we are meant to like and trust are not against killing and see it as the practical option. All the past Avatars we see, characters that are meant to bestow ancient wisdom upon Aang are like "yeah you should kill that guy"! Aang himself struggles with killing, and so does Katara, but they are shown to be the most empathetic and compassionate characters of the show, is that shocking to us?
Atla asks the questions, especially in "the Southern Raiders" and the "Sozin's Comet" episodes, of whether our characters are willing to bear the weight of snuffing out a person's life, and urges us to not do violent things when going through anger and pain.
This one isn't really fully on topic but I needed to put it on the wall of shame because what the hell kids.
Reblogging this because it's a decent meta that I am proud of but also because everytime I stumble on this post I am blown away by the absurdity of claiming a child may have NPD for not wanting to kill someone.
Yeah, people who say that Aang has narcissistic personality disorder for not wanting to kill someone and be true to his moral beliefs really needs to rethink things. I thought it was a very powerful message and it wasn’t too toothless, and in fact, I applauded it because the teachers kids that you could still be true to your moral values and do the right thing. That’s a very mature message. I mean, I hurt so many people when the finale came out that Aang was being childish or he was being a fool or it was just a deus ex machina. Yes spirit bunny was a little bit of a cop out, but the message was very powerful. I think.
Aang loves his people more than he hates Ozai.
And that, in large part, is why Ozai loses
Curious what the overlap with the "Steven Universe should have killed the Diamonds" camp is in all honesty.
Probably a pretty hefty overlap, especially considering that both shows have the protagonist spare the villains because killing them wouldn’t actually solve anything.
Like, the thing a lot of folks miss about Steven Universe is that the whole show’s a modern fairy tale about queer identity, with the Diamonds representing toxic family dynamics and the way that parental figures can harm their children through “tough love”. None of the Diamonds are really consciously “evil”, but they’re perpetuating a harmful status quo because the alternative would require them to accept fault and admit that they’re responsible for hurting the people around them. Killing the Diamonds wouldn’t have fixed anything because the show’s ultimate message is about love, not force — violence is ultimately just a way of enforcing your own will onto others, and while the show is clear that it is sometimes necessary to fight, it’s also a children’s show that doesn’t want to teach kids that their first and only solution to bad parenting is to murder their moms. Sometime it’s better to go minimal contact, even if your parents later change their minds and start trying to be better; what matters is that you love yourself and that you love the people around you.
As for ATLA, I think it’s actually similar in that the main villain is more of a metaphor than anything else: if the Diamonds are abusive parenting incarnate, Ozai is the sins of the colonialist Fire Nation manifested in one person. Ozai is written a deeply hollow character on purpose, with almost no real interiority to him besides conquering and gaining power. He’s written like this because this is the natural endpoint of a colonial superpower: while Fire Lord Sozin may have been a brutal conqueror, he at least loved his nation and viewed the war as a way to enrich them and share their culture with the world, while each subsequent Fire Lord had their motivations decay until they were merely conquering for the sake of conquering. (The elderly Sozin even acknowledges his regret over betraying Avatar Roku in his final days, though he still falls victim to the sunk-cost fallacy in the end.) Iroh and Zuko are both shaken out of this mindset after actually being exposed to the horrors of the war, but Ozai spends nearly his entire life insulated from the pains of the world, and the generational rot reduces him to more of a figurehead than anything else.
As Iroh notes in the finale, he and Zuko could both have theoretically killed Ozai in the past to try and end the Fire Nation’s threat, but they would’ve only been remembered as usurpers greedy for power instead of as the liberators they wanted to be. Aang had to be the one to defeat the Fire Lord, and he had to do it nonlethally because of the message it would send: that the Avatar, the sole survivor of a genocide and the person with the strongest possible reason to hate the Fire Nation, had ended the war on his own terms, not the Fire Lord’s. Avatar Aang would not be an avenger, but a healer, and he ushered in a new era by miraculously stripping the Fire Lord’s bending away for good. Ozai’s story doesn’t end with the bang of martyrdom, but a whimper as he’s reduced to a broken and inconsequential man whose death doesn’t even merit a footnote in the history of the world.
So yeah, it’s stupid that folks keep arguing about this. The decision to spare the villain’s life isn’t always made because of cowardice: these creators had very specific intentions behind their choices.
