#nativenerd

An Indigenous perspective of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

Otakon was this past weekend and it’s really the only convention I attend these days. Well my main cosplay this year was indeed a pretty special one for me. I decided to go as Pharah’s Raindancer skin.  Now, I know this has been a quite controversial skin, and rightfully so.  I get both sides of the argument, but this is my feelings on it. I, as a member of the Muskogee Creek Nation (full blood!), adore these skins and I’m going to tell you why.  I love these skins, because they are not just incredibly beautiful because they were given to such a strong character. And not just any character, a strong FEMALE character, a female character that isn’t fetishized (not talking about Fan art, that’s a whole another can of worms), like a lot, if not all, depictions of Indigenous women.  For once, besides Infamous The Second Son and Never alone, an Indigenous people were included. Now was Overwatch’s inclusion the best? no, I would have preferred to have an Indigenous character at the start instead of a skin and added on backstory, but it is a start in the right direction. So this is why I love this Pharah skin, I feel so proud when I play as her, using this skin, cause I feel, I’m finally included and represented not in a fetishizing way. So I was determined to make this cosplay for Otakon. I had NEVER made armor before, so this was very testing, messy and many headaches along the way.  I never thought I would be able to make this and I thought about just giving up, but I’m so glad I didn’t. When I walked the halls of Otakon, and saw the amount of appreciation, the compliments, the pictures taken, the cheers during the Overwatch shoot. They all didn’t know just how much it meant to me because it took me so long to be proud of who I was, to be proud of my heritage and my culture. So to wear that Skin, that I made myself and actually represented me, was fucking amazing. So Thank you to everyone who gave me a compliment, took my picture, it really meant a lot to me. Mtvo.

#native #selfie #gaynative #gaynerd #nativenerd #beauty #smiles