ummm yah i probably won't FULLY FINISH his cosplay and the details because i ended up ordering the dokidoki SR version . . . but yeah :) here's my homemade lil Waven . . . i love him so much.
ummm yah i probably won't FULLY FINISH his cosplay and the details because i ended up ordering the dokidoki SR version . . . but yeah :) here's my homemade lil Waven . . . i love him so much.
up on YouTube now ‼️
heyyyy i'm SO NORMAL about how sugilite talks down to kakavasha . . . like there's so much for me to say about it but i will save it for when this comic is done. stay tuned ahhh
if you don't know me by now in here (you've probably seen my art) hi! i'm a romani artist who heavily focuses on the issues of trafficking and anti-romani racism when drawing and discussing aventurine. and this trailer. WOW.
i also want to preface this by saying i'm not going to argue with if you think aventurine is Romani or not. his name is literally based on a Romani festival and the parallels to our culture are literally as clear as day. take that discussion elsewhere. thanks!
so, obviously, aventurine didn't go to school. and that's actually the reality for many Romani people. (i implore you to look up statistics on this, because the numbers are really shocking! there's a variety of reasons for it. poverty, discrimination in academic environments, general lack of accessibility, just to name a few.)
oftentimes, Romani characters are written as complete caricatures in my opinion. I even had my own gripes at first with aventurine's labeling as a "blessed/lucky child," but realized very quickly how much of it is actually his brain and his intellect.
most Romani characters are "special" for some type of supernatural power. why? because that's the stereotype for us. fortune tellers, witches, anything along those lines. and really, it gets exhausting.
seeing the way aventurine is so methodical and strategic despite his lack of access to "proper education" is really amazing. remember, this is a man who was never able to go to school, but he's still communicating and negotiating with factions across the cosmos for what he needs. (granted, there was probably SOME type of supplemental education when he joined the IPC. but that's also much much harder than learning things as a young child)
to see a Romani character just... be intelligent really means a lot to me. I missed out on a lot of schooling myself due to a mix of cultural and traumatic circumstances (just like Aventurine) and people are very quick to judge based on that. it's easy to write off a Romani person with a lack of schooling as "uneducated" and not even worth the discussion. a lot of us are forced into accessing education at much later periods in our life if that's what we decide to strive for, and that's much harder than following the "typical trajectory" for education. many of us simply don't finish schooling at all. plenty of my family members didn't go.
there's something so, so special about a Romani character breaking stereotypes. if you couldn't tell, there AREN'T a lot of Romani characters. sure, you've got like, Scarlet Witch... but that's its whole own can of worms i won't get into. point is, Aventurine is the one of the first and only Romani character ive looked at and didn't feel sick to my stomach because it's a stereotype or a racist caricature. he embodies real issues (our rates of education, our significantly higher likelihood to be trafficked, our significantly higher likelihood to "commit a crime" out of survival or desperation only to be judged far harsher than non-Romani people for it, people hyperfixating on our looks and features and the fetishization that comes with that, which once again ties back into the trafficking piece, and so on.) while not being a jab at real life Romani people.
i know hoyo has its issues when it comes to writing characters from other cultures. but i really think aventurine is something special. and maybe a lot of it wasn't intentional, but Aventurine will forever hold a place in my heart as a character in general, but also as a Romani character where i looked at him and felt proud rather than sad.
i can't wait to see his story continue to develop. i am a firm believer in the fact that he will never truly abandon his culture entirely, and i hope hoyo keeps that up, because our culture is so important to us, and clearly it is to him as well. anyway, that was just my little yap session about aventurine as a romani character. i have plenty more thoughts but no way to organize them... so thanks for reading :)
WOW the feedback on this piece was so overwhelmingly and unexpectedly positive ! i was really happy to see how many people agreed with my analysis and art of him
i added a few more details this time but idk if i like this one or the sketch better HAHA i feel like the simplicity was also good at conveying the point . . . but yeah !
i am working on a comic of stuff between him and sugilite next, so please stay tuned for more aventurine angst
i told you all i would angstify his new form! i told you!
i have so much to say about it, especially with the new continuance mission.
there's so many parallels to what is said to him by his fans/photographers and what's said to him while he's enslaved. it's all about his looks and his appearance, always about his use and function rather than who he is as a person. you can see in the scene with the photographs being taken of him, he's Not Happy. he's smiling for the photo itself (which he admits he'd done to the point of physical pain earlier on) and that's it. he's not comfortable with the shots, he's not comfortable with the comments, and it is so sad!!!
i mentioned this in a comment before, but i do find it fascinating how we have this character who has been exploited for his appearance (probably one of the only things that kept him alive at times during slavery, after all the SA themes are heavily HEAVILY implied in a way that i don't think it needs to be spelled out any clearer) and we've seen it firsthand in the quest, yet we all also see a pretty guy and feel like pointing out his body and his face too. i know he's a fictional character i'm not trying to make anyone feel bad for thirsting over him lol it's completely natural— i just think it is fascinating that in a way, even the fandom participates in his objectification even unintentionally.
i also think there's symbolism in his design. the ipc triangle pattern used to be only hidden on his socks, and now it's wrapped around his arm and hips. he's smiling in a way that looks genuine enough for people to be like "oh, he's finally happier!" but really all i see is someone who learned how to fake it better.
it really ties into that idea of "you traded one pair of shackles for ones made of gold" that gets spread about aventurine both in the IPC and in the fandom. his fate always depends on his use and oftentimes his body and appearance, and nothing more. it's really common for survivors of trafficking & exploitation to find themselves in the same situation in a different font, and that's the tragic reality of it. and i think that's exactly what aventurine's character showcases again and again. sure, he's not weak by any means. but he's practically a collection of trauma responses and compartmentalization. his end goal has never been to be happy, to be rich, to be famous. it's always been to be alive. anything else is secondary, because deep down, he's still viewing the world as Kakavasha locked up in chains in his younger years. Kakavasha didn't "die" or end up buried in the dirt when Aventurine became Aventurine. there's still so much Kakavasha, especially in his fears and his perception. which the IPC knows, hence the easy exploitation.
god he's such a good character AGDDNDNDNDNDSDFNNDJD
also idk if i will finish this art better later 💔🥀
spoiler/leak warning !!!
i think a lot of you have probably seen the recent leaks. and i want to preface this by saying that i also love sunday. but i think it's a good thing it took him this long to get a ticket.
the thing about sunday is that he messed up. bad. sure, you can look back and understand WHY he did what he did, but it doesn't excuse every action in penacony. it doesn't absolve him entirely from responsibility.
Sunday is a character that really is in the luckiest spot out of any character in HSR if i'm being honest. going from antagonist to one of the mains is literally as good as it gets, and i don't think anyone else who's been viewed by the AE as a villain or bad or even slightly sketchy like we view the IPC and even kinda the Galaxy Rangers will ever get that opportunity. sometimes it kinda feels like people forget that fact. Sunday was never meant to be entitled a spot on the AE. it's great for his character arc that he got that spot. but that is exactly why this needed to take so long.
he needed a redemption arc. a long one. a difficult one. one where the audience could have the thought of if he was really going to make it as a Nameless or not. that's what makes a good redemption arc. I think of someone like Zuko from ATLA. his redemption arc took around 3 seasons. it took about a year of in-universe time. and that's a huge part of why zuko's character arc is consistently cited as one of the best.
this also might be an unpopular opinion, but i don't think there needs to be anything big and ceremonious about him getting his ticket either. of course, a lot of Sunday fans would love to see a 5 minute fully animated cutscene, but I also think that it being kept "small" doesn't dampen the significance of the moment.
I think we've spent a lot of time learning about why Sunday was the way he was, how he's working to become who he is. and I honestly think a giant grand event of him officially joining as a Nameless would be kinda over-the-top lol.
I also think a lot of people get way too stuck on "haters said he'd never get this far!" or whatever. like it's literally on every post. fifteen comments about the Sunday haters or something. I think you all really gotta realize that a lot of people are just jealous of the love Sunday got from the community and the story writers themselves. a lot of peoples' favs get left behind on a planet and never heard from again. just because Sunday took a while to have any presence in the Amphoreus storyline doesn't mean he was forgotten. and obviously he's played a MAJOR ROLE in Planarcadia. I think it's completely fine for people to feel spiteful and jealous of one character getting an opportunity in a way that might not make sense to certain people. but I do honestly think Sunday joining, or at least some antagonist in that slot, was planned from the beginning. also I'm gonna be Fr who cares about haters when you have your fav guaranteed to keep showing up. like man there's dedicated Lil Gui haters. every character has haters. that's kinda how it goes.
anyway, I love Sunday. I could've seen his redemption arc taking longer and I would've enjoyed that too. I think there will be a slow shift once he's accepted as a Nameless, as I honestly see a lot of the way he acts now to be a sort of fawning response due to his upbringing and not knowing how to get approval or validation any other way. I would've really liked to see more back-and-forth struggle with his past in moments beyond one off lines like during the Fulwish fight (watching someone control others "for the greater good" but ultimately making a horrible villainous move) but I understand there wasn't really time for that in the storyline.
I hope Sunday continues to grow as a character, and I hope that we continue to be patient over it. please just remember that even if you're excited, the best redemption arcs to exist in media always take time. a lot of time. that's exactly what makes them so memorable and good.
i was VY2 at anime NYC today ! surprised by how many ppl recognized me . . . we need more love for the obscure vocaloids ( yes he's handmade btw ^_^ )
Day 1 of anime NYC . . . yipee !
spy aventurine for anime nyc day 1! however everyone thought i was Leon Kennedy which is entirely fair
FINALLY GOT TO DRAW HIM !!!
low-key had the realization that i have been posting my art for like two years and NEVER PUT A SIGNATURE ON IT erm . . . oops. i think i assume my art was not good enough to steal. guys yell at me for not signing my art from now on !!!
finally got better pics with him (even though i forgot my gloves >:( . . . ) yahhhh
more of my aventurine cosplays yeahhhh