amenokawa replied to your photo: I very recently developed a crease eyelid on my…

Eyelid tape is a thing? D:

It’s totally a thing and has a lot of techniques involved! You can force a crease on a creaseless eye by making a section of the skin taut, which makes the skin above it fold over. By cutting the tape into different shapes and place it in certain places, you can change the shape, position, and style of the fold. Some people use it cosmetically if they want to change up the shape of their natural crease, or maybe to balance a crease (such as if someone has a visible crease on one eye, and then a “hidden” crease on the other eye— which is when you do have a crease but the upper part of the lid that folds over covers the crease).

Longtime users of eyelid tape have noticed that eventually a natural crease will fold if they do this long enough (think consistently for years and years) as the fat distribution and skin elasticity changes from the stress of the tape. It may not look as dramatic as getting eyelid crease surgery, but a little crease can eventually form for the diligent that also happen to have less fat in their upper eyelids. : ) However, eyelid tape and glue do not work for me— even if I just want to take a peek at what it would look like if I had the creases or to just do for fun as dress-up— due to how one of the muscle groups and the skin of my eyes cross at one point. I’ve had this explicitly explained to me before by my aunt who is a plastic surgeon and is eager to give me the snip to get eyelid creases, hahaha! Oh welllll.

ampersandand replied to your post: So I know you guys are all focused on whether Tim…

I don’t think it’s actually been said by DC one way or another whether Tim is Jewish. It’s more a fanon thing.

I realize that, I’m just in a grouchy mood about this whole “diversity” shit that DC is trying to pull without actually really making things diverse. Also, what I’m saying next is not directed at you— it’s just something I have on mind in general. Here I go!

People on Tumblr do mention that DC is missing out on a great opportunity by not making Tim outright gay due to all the “subtext”— I like that scans_daily makes it a rule to state that it’s not subtext unless it’s subtle. Well then on the same hand, if Tim has had implications in the past that he’s Jewish and now that DC is trying to make people think they’re progressive despite all the things they have done, then why not explore the avenue that he may be Jewish?

DC’s attempts to spice things up, shock and surprise the readers, and make lasting, compelling, actually amazing changes have all gone flat over the years. What have they done to try to shock fans that has not either been a story that goes sour and is eventually retconned or just full of gore? It feels like it’s one or the other. All this reboot stuff is ruffling my feathers quite a bit because I’m honestly not impressed by what I’m seeing or hearing— and I am getting very agitated by how much I feel like they exploit trigger issues for shock.

People have strong feelings about rape, right? Let’s have Dr. Light rape Sue Dibny for no reason at all! Seems random? Oh, of course not, he’s a serial rapist don’t you see! We sure pulled the wool over your eyes on that one, guys. Yeah, that’s going to really shock the fans and they’ll love that kind of excitement! Oh, people seem quite upset that Marvel has more gay characters than DC and that many of the gay characters are treated much better than DC when it comes to how they’re written. Let’s have Renee and Kate get together, and do a whole bunch of publicity about Kate being a saucy “lipstick lesbian” to really perk up people’s ears about our new lesbian pair!

Also, I’m confused as to why diversity to DC also apparently seems to mean people who are not white. What about more female heroes that get to lead? What about people who are not white but have other issues in their life? DC, maybe you can toss us a few aliens who look like Kilowog who are female but not sexy and who are compelling and part of the main team? You can do ANYTHING, man, you are a comic book company that has lots of magic, scifi, and all sorts of other elements in your main universe already! Yet in the end when you decide you’re going to make a diverse Teen Titans team you say that out of seven members, only four of them will be Caucasian. You focus on just making them not white, and that’s okay to you. Okay, sure, maybe you just want American characters only. Hmmm, but let’s look at the demographics of America, shall we? The ratio of men to women in the total population of America is roughly .97 male to 1 female (looking this up unscientifically on Wikipedia). I like this quote from an interesting article from this blog:

“It’s been a running gag among my friends that in comics, only white Americans ever find meteors, get splashed with chemicals or get visited by spacemen, everyone else (from Jack O’Lantern to Black Bison to the Gaucho to Apache Chief to Samurai and so on) has to have a power that relates to their race or their country — specifically, the broad stereotypes drawn from white Americans’ perception of their race or country. It’s almost inescapable, and it reinforces the idea that non-white characters are defined solely by their ethnic differences.”

The racial make-up of DC? Harder to talk about, I feel, since minority groups are not equally dispersed across the USA. However, many of DC’s stories happen in either New York or California. Let’s look at that, then. First numbers are New York, second numbers are California. Roughly ~60% ~42% white (not Latino descent), ~17% ~7% black, ~.6% ~1% American Indian or Alaskan Native, ~7% ~13% Asian, and ~.01% ~.4% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, ~17% ~37% Latino or Hispanic, ~2% ~3% two or more races.  51.4% 49.9% female total population. Come on, DC, come on. Why are the main heroes mostly white males? Why did the heroes who were not white males mostly eventually get shoehorned away for white male roles? My friend on Facebook linked me to this list:

Ryan Mullenix charts the fate of other non-white characters in the DC Universe, in a Women In Refridgerators-style list.

Could this be seen as an emerging theme of unfortunate consequences?

Legacy Characters

1. Amazing Man II (William Everett III) African-American. Killed by Mist (Caucasian).

2. Atom (Ryan Choi) From Hong Kong. Choi was severely beaten and murdered by Deathstroke (Caucasian) and his band of Titans. The mantle he inherited from Atom II Ray Palmer (Caucasian) has now been passed back.

3. Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) Half-White, Half-Asiatic. Cassandra is still alive but has been replaced by blonde hair, blue-eyed Stephanie Brown (Caucasian).

4. Black Adam (Teth-Adam). Inheritor of the power of Shazam. Former member of the Justice Society of America turned genocidal madman. The wizard Shazam (possible Canaanite) has turned Tenth-Adam into a statue.

5. Cheetah III (Sebastian Ballesteros) Argentine. Killed by Cheetah II, Barbara Ann Minerva (Caucasian).

6. Dr. Midnight (Dr. Beth Chapel) African-American. She took up the mantle of the original Dr. Mid-Nite (Caucasian). Slain by Eclipso. The legacy of Dr. Mid-Nite has now been passed on to Dr. Pieter Cross (Caucasian).

7. Eclipso (Alex Montez) Latino. Commits suicide to stop the original Eclipso from taking over his body. The Eclipso entity goes on to possess Jean Loring (Caucasian) and back to original host Bruce Gordon (Caucasian).

8. Firestorm (Jason Rusch) African-American. When the original Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond, Caucasian) was killed, his powers were passed to Jason Rusch. During Blackest Night, Black Lantern Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond) forcefully merges with Jason Rusch. Now Ronnie Raymond is alive and permanently merged with Jason Rusch creating a new, white Firestorm.

9. Green Arrow (Conner Hawke) Mother is half-black, half-Korean. Father is white. When his father, the Green Arrow Oliver Queen (Caucasian) came back to life, Oliver decides that both he and his son can share the Green Arrow title. However, Conner gets turned comatose by Dr. Sivana. Conner comes back to life and abandons the Green Arrow identity. Now Oliver Queen is the only Green Arrow.

10. Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) Half-Irish, Half-Latino. Once Green Lantern Hal Jordan (Caucasian) came back from the dead, Rayner loses his place spot as the Green Lantern of Earth and his membership in the Justice League of America.

11. Guardian (Jake Jordan) African-American. Jake Jordan was given the title Guardian by the newspaper Manhattan Guardian which purchased the rights from Project Cadmus. He is replaced by clone of the original Guardian Jim Harper (Caucasian).

12. Hawkgirl (Kendra Saunders) Latino. Kendra gets killed by Black Lantern Sue Dibney. Then gets brought back to life as the Golden Age Hawkgirl Shiera Hall (Caucasian).

13. Hawkman (Katar Hol, post-Zero Hour) Half-Cherokee, Half-Thanagarian. Banished to limbo. Katar Hol becomes reconstructed as the Golden Age Hawkman Carter Hall (Caucasian).

14. Hero (Hero Cruz) Latino/African heritage) Keeper of an H-Dial previously used by Robbie Reed (Caucasian), Chris King (Caucasian) and Vicky Grant (Caucasian). The only H-Dial currently in use is the one belonging to Robert Reed.

15. Isis (Adrianna Tomaz) Egyptian. Instilled with the powers of the goddess Isis, Tomaz tried to use her abilities to reform Black Adam and become a superhero. After being fatally wounded by the Horseman of Apokolips, she tells Black Adam that his violent ways were for the best. She gets resurrected and sexually assaulted by Felix Faust. The wizard Shazam (possible Canaanite) has turned Isis into a statue.

16. Jai West (Half White, Half Korean) Son of the Flash (Wally West, Caucasian). Jai gained super strength powers thanks to his connection to the Speed Force he shared with his fraternal twin sister Iris. However, their connection to the Speed Force was altered by Reverse-Flash (Caucasian). Only Iris West (the more Caucasian looking twin) gets to use the Speed Force. Iris becomes the super speedster Impulse while Jai currently sits around playing video games.

17. Osiris (Amon Tomaz) Egyptian. Shares the powers of Black Adam (Egyptian). Osiris sought to be a superhero, even going as far as joining the Teen Titans. But after accidentally killing the Persuader (Caucasian) to save his sister’s (Isis, Egyptian) life, he became shunted by society. He was later killed by the Horsemen of Apokolips Sobek. Osiris came back to life at the end of Blackest Night and joined Deathstroke (Caucasian) and his Titans in killing the Atom Ryan Choi (from Hong Kong).

18. Son of Vulcan (Miguel Devante) Latino. When the original Son of Vulcan (Johnny Mann, Caucasian) died, he passed his mantle onto Devante. Miguel joined Titans East only be attacked and left comatose by Trigon.

19. Tarantula (Catalina Flores) Latino. Flores adopted the Tarantula identity to honor the Golden Age hero Tarantula (Jonathan Law, Caucasian). She sacrifices herself to in a battle against a small army of super villains over a Neron created “Get Out of Hell Free” card.

20. Tempest (Joshua Clay) African American. Killed by the Chief (Dr. Niles Caulder). His name gets taken up by Garth, the first Aqualad (from an offshoot race from Atlantis).

21. Wildcat (Hector Ramirez) Latino. Former boxing protégé of Ted Grant (Caucasian), the original Wildcat. Killed by Killer Croc in an underground fight club. The mantle was reverted back to the original Wildcat Ted Grant.

22. Wildcat (Yolanda Montez) Latino. Fought crime as the second Wildcat. Slain by the original Eclipso. The mantle was reverted back to the original Wildcat Ted Grant (Caucasian).

Other DC Characters Of Note:

1. Arak, the Wind-Walker. Native American. Killed by Penny Dreadful (Caucasian) for betraying Prometheus (Caucasian).

2. Bialya. Middle Eastern country. Black Adam (Egyptian) killed about two million of its men, women and children because the government housed the Horseman of Apokolips. As Black Adam went to attack the creators of the Horsemen on Oolong Island, he just flies right by the blonde-haired, blue-eyed scientist Veronica Cale (Caucasian).

3. Bushido (Ryuko Orsono) Japanese. Killed by Superboy Prime (Caucasian).

4. Bushmaster (Bernal Rojas) Venezuelan. Killed by Fain Y’onia.

5. Celsuis (Arani Desai Caulder) Indian. Went insane. Killed during Invasion.

6. Dr. Mist (Nommo) African. Killed by Mordu.

7. Freedom Beast (Dominic Mndawe) African. Killed by Prometheus (Caucasian).

8. Gloss (Xiang Po) Chinese. Killed by Prometheus (Caucasian).

9. Impala (M’Bulaze) African. Killed by Fain Y’onia.

10. Jet (Celia Windward) Jamaican. Contracted H.I.V. fighting a character named Hemo-Goblin. Apparently she died but now is now brought back to life.*

11. Lian Harper. Half-White, Half-Asiatic. Killed by Prometheus (Caucasian).

12. Orpheus (Gavin King) African-American. Killed by Black Mask.

13. Pantha (Rosabelle Mendez) Latino. Killed by Superboy Prime (Caucasian).

14. Ron Troupe. African American. In the Post-Crisis DCU he married Lois Lane’s sister Lucy (Caucasian) and had a baby boy Samuel. In the Post-Infinite Crisis DCU, Lucy Lane has become the villainous Superwoman and there is no mention of her relationship to Ron or if their child still exits.

15. Saganowahna “Super-Chief” (John Standing Bear) Native American. Killed by Mr. Mind (Venusian worm).

16. Thunder (Gan Williams) Half-White, Half-Vietnamese. Killed by Lex Luthor (Caucasian).

17. Thunderlord (Liang Xih-k’ai) Taiwanese. Killed by Fain Y’onia.

18. Trevor Barnes. African-American. Love interest of Wonder Woman during the Phil Jimenez run of the series. After Jimenez left to do other projects, Barnes was killed off in the following story arc. Thomas Tresser aka Nemesis (Caucasian) became Wonder Woman’s next main blonde-hair, blue eyed love interest.

19. Lighting (Tavis Williams) Half-White, Half-Vietnamese. Killed by Lex Luthor (Caucasian).

20. Vibe (Paco Ramone) Latino. Strangled to death by one of Professor Ivo’s robots (Caucasian).

I dislike the direction DC is going. I dislike the purging of fun, new characters that may have been innovative and good role models for someone like me just so that some top dogs at DC are nostalgia-ing over their favorite heroes from the 30’s-50’s. Marvel, you’ve done your share too. Where is my sassy, Chinese-American, flat-chested, take-no-shit role model Jubilee? As a fellow flat-chested Chinese-American growing up in the city, I really enjoyed her growing up. She was lost to me when you gave her massive honkers and giant hips. Jubilee was the teenager who they used undercover as a boy. She was already far along in her development— she just wasn’t a full-figured woman like some of her teammates. The visual contrast was refreshing. SHE was refreshing. Everybody knows that Jubilee is an insanely charming, recognizable, and popular character from the old cartoon! Even people who don’t like her know her.

Anyway, I’m just going around and around here and I should get to bed so that I have enough rest to work tomorrow. All I can say is that I’m dissatisfied, and there’s a lot of things that I’m not sold on with DC. There’s diversity to be found even in the characters they already have, but they don’t use it anyway.

Just chalk this up to another grumpy post from a grumpy old fan. Bah humbug indeed! I’m open to letting DC win me back someday, but man… it’s hard to even keep my eyes open at what they’re doing. I can see that they’re trying, but they just don’t seem to get it. You don’t get diversity by exploiting hot lesbians, okay? That doesn’t make people who are LGBT feel well-represented in stories. And I don’t mean, “Don’t ever do anything bad to characters of color or who have different sexual orientations! Never kill them or hurt them!”

Marvel is doing a pretty damn good job of having stories about Billy and Teddy that are awesome and tragic and good and funny without it feeling like they’re exploiting their relationship. I was in tears when they were being tortured and it was their love for each other that made it even more powerful. It wasn’t because it was sexy-hot-idealized gay love— it was just love. Props, okay. Props. DC, don’t make ethnic characters have powers based off of Western stereotypes of the ethnicity they have. I don’t feel good about movies like the Karate Kid remake where in the trailer they say that China is a country where everybody knows kung-fu. I liked that Jubilee was Chinese American and that’s that. She wasn’t eating with chopsticks in every panel or something. I know that my best buddy Gabe who is Cree was tickled when I showed him a Native superhero from one of DC’s big events that wore ambiguous garb. DC can’t decide what tribe he’s representing? Just combine all the tribes and do no research anyway! It’s not like there are any differences between Native tribes when it comes to customs and garb! As long as he looks like the stereotype of an Indian, then people will get it and that’s all we need to do to get the ball-rolling for this story. Just keep on perpetuating that image of all Natives as buffalo hunters riding painted horses with long braids and feathers in their hair, along with Disney Pocahontas-styled necklaces. Yep. YEP.

Okay yeah bed THIS CONVERSATION WILL NEVER END.