Real talk, I get so nervous entering small fandom spaces when I know there's a white majority. Like seeing whitewashing or just casually racist takes makes my skin crawl, especially when it's media that's grounded in some POC culture (for me it's East or Southeast Asian culture in particular). I think it's why I can't touch Ninjago or Lego Monkie Kid anymore, Monkie Kid especially.
Ninjago is a strange case because the show does have some really racist moments bc it's not made by POC and is just drawing upon vaguely East Asian elements. But it has been improving somewhat (Arin?!?) and honestly I've buried the entire Master Chen Tournament arc and Skybound so far down my brain. But the entire 'is Arin white or POC' discourse has really turned me off for a while, and seeing people be so hateful in general towards hcing these legos as POC is so bizarre to me. Fandoms in general where people are bashing others for HCing certain characters as POC are so bizarre to me...especially for media (particularly in anime video games) where the cast is almost all paper white with maybe one POC with a mildly to very racist design.
RGU also suffers from whitewashing in fanart, but that one is even MORE rough because Anthy and Akio are canonically POC with a set skin tone. And while it's not not talked about, I would love to see more discussion of the role of race in RGU's allegory, but I digress.
Monkie Kid on the other hand...I have some really distinct memories of some really off takes by some white folks on the concept of 'blood brothers' from a Western lens. And with LMK being so grounded in Chinese culture and mythology, it feels weird to immediately try to apply Western standards to it? And without even under trying to understand different cultural nuances. I think the age demographic also plays a role with a lot of younger people interacting with the media. A lot of younger folks interacting with these media or folks around my age returning to a Ninjago fixation from childhood.
Honestly same thing with Project Sekai to an extent because the flat out hatred of Mafuyu's mother (and father to an extent) really makes me uncomfortable because the nuances of a parent's expectations and relationship with their child in an East Asian culture can be so different from a Western one that I feel like some fans are so quick to immediately demonize the Asahina parents. It doesn't mean that some behavior is excusable; you can clearly see Mafuyu in distress from her mother's treatment of her. But I highly emphasize with her as someone who had a very similar relationship with their mother and went through an arc much like Mafuyu's right now (minus the moving into your best friend's house), and if I were to go by my experience, I think Mafuyu's mother has the potential for growth.
Noticed something very similar with Turning Red with Ming Lee or Encanto with Abuela. But I think at that point it might be less about the cultural relativism and more about people wanting to label every mildly controlling or complex parental figure as abusive.
I digressed a lot, but anyway. Just musing on personal thoughts.
I don't really know the vibes of the IDV fandom. I know that there are some questionable choices made with its very few POC characters, but it does relieve me to see quite a few piece of fanart with diverse bodies and skin tones and hair types. Maybe I'm just insane about all of this, but after being in so many very very white fandoms, I'm just glad to have my corner of the internet.
I think in general though, it's just so hard to explain to a white person your particular experience as a person of color. And then you have to worry about the white person thinking that you belong to a monolith and there is a singular experience of [insert minority group]. Just exhausting man.
Maybe if I have the worms I'll draw the IDV chrs with my headcanons (probably as I go on and read each characters lore) but that would be a larger project for later.
