Why, Fandom, Why?

It’s not “people who contour are themselves automatically racist” but that the desired face shape created by contouring is one that, at the end of the day, pretty much reflects existing white standards of beauty. A thinner, pointier nose, smaller chin, high angled cheekbones and (on occasion) smaller lips. Also if you’re darker skinned you have to use a much lighter shade of foundation  thus ending up with an overall lighter face.

You might know him from a thread where he was getting wowed by free appetisers in a Mexican restaurant.

Firstly: He is doing a bit pretending to be a wandering samurai. It's a joke and his posts are all made up. This is very obvious if you actually look at his account and website:

He does purport to be Japanese but based on some of the other content he posts there's reason to believe he's British.

Which brings me to my second point: his Samurai content is interspersed with posts like this:

And this:

Yeah this is also the guy from the truck thread going around. That's what prompted this post and in retrospect I should have said so explicitly.

He claims he just uses AI to translate his posts from Japanese. He also says the art on his website isn't AI generated. I think he is full of shit on both counts.

I only gave a couple of examples but even on a brief look through his twitter it was apparent that he posts a LOT about UK politics to the point where he's quite patently British. He is a Restore supporter which is a party that split away from mainstream far right party Reform due to feeling they weren't right wing enough.

It might not surprise you to hear he does not seem to know shit about Japan? Both the salsa story and the truck story failed the smell test for people who are familiar with Japan. There's also a story about going to a potluck where he seemingly couldn't come up with a single Japanese dish for the character to cook??

the adventure zone: balance fanart in 2025 that's right

based on this post

also, for the unaware: mclaughlin v. florida was a 1964 supreme court case that struck down a florida anti-miscegenation law that criminalized cohabitation (and thus, as implied, sex) between white people and people of color of opposite genders. anti-miscegenation laws made marriage and sexual relationships between white people and people of color, most often specifically black people, a FELONY in several states in the united states up until the 1950s and 1960s. though it was already struck down by the supreme court, the state of alabama didn't repeal their law until 2000! there were THREE ATTEMPTS at codifying anti-miscegenation into the us constitution!

like yes, the issue here is partially straight white people's ignorance on the united states's history of homophobic policy, but it's also really important to recognize that arguably the majority of the issue here is straight white people's ignorance of the united states's history of codifying eugenics and antiblack racism.

Unlike the rest of the Gaang, Sokka’s Fire Nation outfit is almost entirely Chinese-inspired. The capelet he’s wearing is inspired by “cloud collars” or Yunjian (云肩).

Fun fact, Sokka’s cloud collar is traditionally considered to be women’s fashion. Considering that Sokka would obviously be clueless about civilian clothing in the Fire Nation, the “inaccuracy” of the design choice can simply be written off as Sokka’s ignorance. That said, it is pretty funny that this is the second time Sokka has visited a new nation and ended up in traditionally female clothing.

Aang

Aang’s outfit is canonically a school uniform and inspired by Thai male formalwear. He’s basically wearing a posh boarding school uniform.

Katara

Katara’s design is inspired by the female folk-dance costumes of the Dai people, so I’m assuming her outfit would be something like a street performer’s outfit in the modern day.

Sokka

As I implied earlier, the cloud collar was historically a popular accessory with Chinese noblewomen. Meanwhile, sleeveless tangzhuang tend to be associated with martial arts; I’ve seen quite a few listings online refer to them as “Kung Fu Vests”. So quite a contrast in clothing choices. The modern-day equivalent would be walking around in a tank while wearing a pearl necklace… Which is apparently a thing.

Toph

Toph’s shawl-cape thing is inspired by the sabai (สไบ) worn by female performers in Thai ballet renditions of the Ramayana. Basically, a very fancy piece of clothing. The hairband she’s wearing also resembles costume jewelry. In contrast, her pants are Thai fishermen pants, which are about as practical and unfancy as you can get. In short, she’s basically wearing the modern equivalent to sweatpants with a tutu and a tiara. I imagine Fire Nation locals assume she’s just a very whimsical 12-year-old.

and for all of yall that are still figuring it out or aren't getting the support you deserve:

eyeshells aoolia zeelool lakoh vooglam lens alter

like, eyeshells in particular has a startlingly vast collection of asymmetric glasses:

(this isn't even all of them)

and also this steampunk nonsense that I love so fucking much and cannot justify spending any money on:

while aoolia has...tbh a lot of the frames the other sites have, but more expensive, but also, a collection of the gayest people you've ever seen:

though tbh not nearly as gay as whatever lens alter has going on:

and vooglam has uhhh...whatever this is!

huh.

(I can't vouch for any of these companies ofc, though I think I'll get something from at least one of them. ideally not the slime glasses, but hey!)

but honestly the absolute best thing I found in all of this is this site that makes vintage fashion, and which happened to have:

these replica victorian railway glasses like the bisexual guy in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter had, AND WHICH

you can even buy with prescription lenses, jesus fucking christ you have no idea how hard it is to not immediately drop $180 on this shit, I'm having to physically restrain myself, I want them so fucking bad

and hey, if you don't need prescription lenses, y'know what else you can buy from this site?

the glasses from national treasure 😭😭