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I feel like people don't introduce themselves enough before posts like this, and it makes people think that they're somehow just crusading machines, desperate to spew social justice on people who just want to live their lives without being looked down on their beliefs, and I'm totally okay with that, so before we get started, hiya. I'm Ty. A bunch of you guys may know me because I'm a compulsive RPer in the BZPRPG and OTC. Some more still know me because I have a Tumblr I use like once a month (haha jk no one knows me on tumblr) A bunch of my friends know me because I'm a very pretty young man. Some of you don't know me at all, and that's totally okay. Thing is, I have a little bit of an anger problem. It doesn't come out often but, as anyone close to me will tell you, when I smell blood in the water, a different Tyler is born. I get volatile. I curse frequently. I throw statistics and papers like a baby flinging spaghetti bombs in Olive Garden and I won't let you breathe long enough to so much as mount an argument around them. Why not? Because I was born and raised in an environment that has allowed me the unique perspective of knowing what fights are worth fighting, and knowing people based off merit. I am a cancer survivor. My father was emotionally and occasionally physically abusive - and not in that copout way you use to get numbers at speed dates. I am bisexual, and I realized it partially because of this website - there's a straight guy on this forum (h i y a a a r o n) who I jokingly called my first love until sometimes I questioned whether I was really joking or not anymore. I was in Ambage for a year and a half, and I made many conservative friends. Their beliefs all made me incredibly uncomfortable. They have made me incredibly angry, make no mistake. You wouldn't know it by talking to me. I have an encyclopedia of pop culture references in my head and I'm the king of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. I play Cards Against Humanity with friends on the weekends. I tip waitresses 20%, I can flirt with my eyebrows, I spend ridiculous time on my quiff, Arrested Development is my anti-drug, and I put on my skinny jeans one leg at a time just like anyone else. But make no mistake. I am furious. People don't want me to be, and I can understand it - I was affectionately given the moniker 'The Oakland Mafia' by a BZP member I highly respect not too long ago, and I'm okay with that. People vanish from their keyboards when I challenge them on a point, and I'm okay with that. I've seen a couple people on this website use the defense that their beliefs are a product of their environment. And that's okay, actually - I'm completely cool with that. Because I am a product of my environment, too, and my environment has made me mad as ######. I'm mad now. Didn't mean to get mad, but I'm mad now. It all started with this, in Fishers' latest blog entry, My lecture for the night: Make no mistake, Roablin (and I plan on posting a link to this in the blog entry in question, because if there's one thing I have never done it's talk behind someone's back without the intention to shoot straight and say it aloud) I don't think you meant to offend anyone here. Your comments are innocuous enough; you looked at the status quo and followed suit, and I don't feel a thing against you specifically for it. Honest. I harbor anger, but not grudges. There's an innate difference in my mind; the worst thing I could do is delete you entirely from my memory banks and worldview, which I believe only serves to worsen the matter. So this is nothing against you personally. This is against what you're defending - a culture and environment that shapes negative worldviews in subtle, clever little ways in people who would otherwise totally be able to see what HH, DeeVee, Makaru (and other people who are totally quicker on the draw and smarter than me) fight for regularly, because while you yourself may not intend to cause harm, your beliefs certainly do. Remember what I said - I'm mad as can be, but I don't want to pummel you. I want to inform you, in frank terms, yeah, but terms that I would use and have used on several close friends before. It's what I would tell anyone. First off, I know this term is beaten to death, but I think it needs to be said over and over and over, not so it annoys you but because of the simple fact that people don't like to talk about: you can beat a million terms into the sands of time, but it rarely means you can beat down the system itself. What you are defending from your past writings is a patriarchy. The very notion that you used solely white males (presumably straight) males when until 2008 with the election of Barack Obama, we had nothing but cisgendered white men with heterosexual tendencies (with one notable exception; James Buchanan, people, look it up!) does nothing but indulge a status quo that is corrupt and derogatory to the core, and even dangerous; sexual and racial minorities are at greater risk of suicide, homicide, harassment, and incarceration by broken systems and broken social codes, and it is our job as a generation to begin to turn the tide. In 2008, we elected Barack Obama as U.S. President - and honestly, I think it's great that changed your worldview! It was meant to! For a country to, just a century and a half ago, go from human slavery to electing a biracial President is a huge accomplishment, and I'm really glad that it affected you. But that's just a baby step - it's only a start. You have to realize that the unspoken social rules that kept minorities like Barack Obama and strong, intelligent women like Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren out of office are still intact and out there today; when we reinforce the stereotypical image of the white man as the leader of the "free world," we're only breathing new life into those codes. But how does this relate to you, you ask? All you did was write stories, and they were purely for fun's sake, because you love writing. That's totally okay! I've been RPing for four years, and there's nothing on this site I love more (besides the people!) so I totally get where you're coming from. But you know the rough thing about the BZPRPG? I've been in it for four years, and in that time, I've seen: - Two gay relationships; both of which came about only in the last few months, and both characters were RP'd by the same character - Two lesbian relationships - One male-to-female transsexual involved in a relationship; one transsexual in general, actually And that's still a big problem, because while we just write about it, we write based on our environments and our experiences. And even if nobody ever sees it, the people who write the movies we watch, the shows we DVR, the books we read and rave about - they all were raised in the same constructs, and people do see their works and take inspiration from them. And then they show their kids. And then their kids show their kids. And it all comes back to what I was saying about breathing life into these tired, backwards notions. They're there; they've always been there; most of them were disguised, shown under different names and with different twists, but they're there, and they had impressions on all of us to some extent. That's where the saying "everyone is a little prejudiced" comes from. It's true! We can't help but be a little prejudiced! But it's part of the struggle to grow as people - it's our responsibility to overcome it so we can grow as people. You also said that race and gender shouldn't have impact on a person's decisions, but that, again, is basic human instinct. If a minority is picked on and abused for years, and then gets into power, why wouldn't they let their past experiences color their decisions and try to improve things? Who wouldn't try to make things better after working years being paid less than her male counterparts just because of her status as a woman; who wouldn't be bitter about being refused the basic human right to plan a wedding ceremony and see it through - something that is a lifelong dream of most people! - while their heterosexual friends are sending them wedding invites every year? How do you expect people to lie down and let themselves be kicked and spat on while never once implementing solutions to fix it? It's absurd! It's absurd and it's hurtful, and it's almost entirely subconscious in the day-to-day lives of most people. And what do I do all the time most people do when they feel offended, or hurt, or want to bawl their eyes out after a long day? Curl up with some Americone Dream and turn on the TV, or read a good book - two mediums where transsexual characters and even bi/homosexual characters are still sorely underrepresented, where the phrase "token minority" is still a thing, where characters like Catelyn Stark or Skyler White are hated or reviled for not stepping back a tick or two so that they can let the men in their lives make the decisions. The prejudice has already permeated our laws; as ordinary people, how can we allow it to seep into our entertainment, too? Is it so wrong to ask for a black Human Torch, or a female Doctor Doom, or a gay superhero in a Marvel film? Why can't we have a same sex relationship in the new Star Wars mythos? Why couldn't Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy at least share a bed in X-Men: First Class, I ask you? That chemistry was there and no one will stop me from saying otherwise! How does it make the lives and experiences of those characters any less realistic - and if you can't work with characters outside your normal worldview, why are you writing at all? But again, none of this is a slam on you specifically, Roablin - they're things I've wanted to get around to saying for a long time in debates and have never been able to for fear. But I'm not scared anymore. I'm just angry. Angry, and a little hopeful that someone will read this and understand what's being done wrong, and maybe think of ways we can fix it. We have a wealth of possibilities and talents that no other generation has ever had - we could be the first wave of a new beginning in society. If we let ourselves be. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go grab some ice cream. Regular cookie dough, unfortunately - out of Americone Dream. -Tyler Durden / Aegon Targaryen / Tyler St. Francis

My friends and I play the most cruel of games, Mario Party, for the prize of a pint of Americone Dream. It is the best. We have a conqueror in our ranks tonight, ladies and gentlemen. -Tyler

MY LITTLE PONY HAS ONLY GIRL PONIES WHAT IS THIS MEN ARE BEING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST. ALSO THE LEGO MOVIE DOESN'T NEED MORE WOMEN; IT HAS ENOUGH. If you agree with this, go read this post. If you don't agree with this, then good job! Go read this post instead. If you're confused, go read this post. If none of the above apply to you, then this post is the one for you. #tylerbomaye

BZPower is the only place on the Internet where I feel as if I can truly state what I feel without fear of someone seeing half a sentence and assuming something terrible about what I'm trying to communicate. I take a middle-of-the-road approach and try to see the good in people, and I feel as if BZPower is the only site that won't blow up in my face when it comes to moderate viewpoints. - - - - - Well, the latest firestorm of drama hit BZP earlier - this time on representation in media. It's a change of pace from what these flare-ups are normally about, but that doesn't mean that it's not an important and hot-button issue. My three major points are bolded. There is no excuse for not having female characters in modern media. None whatsoever. First, though, let's look at what representation really is. Representation is, for the most part, determined from capitalistic tendencies. Once the media gets in its collective head that the men are the people they should be focusing their energies and spending their money on, the vicious cycle begins. This goes for race as well - I was watching an episode of the brilliant late '90s sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun the other day and the main characters - aliens in the show's narrative - said that they'd chosen to be white because that was the color of everyone on TV. While a throwaway gag in the context of the episode (one which poignantly highlighted the inherent absurdity of racism), it stuck with me. Women make up half of all the people on Earth, so it's much easier to explain a male-dominated media as an offshoot of a patriarchal society. But if we defocus the issue from one of representation of women and into representation as a whole, things get quite a bit dicier. People of all races, genders, and orientations exist. I mean, there are over seven billion of us now, so even the most minor of minority groups have significant numbers. One would think that what would follow would be representation for every group equal to their number. Unless you've been living under a rock, however, it's clear that it hasn't happened. So ... why? Some point to internalized prejudices. While this could account for some media behavior, I harbor serious reservations that it accounts for all media - and all media are affected by this. What, then, is the most logical explanation? Like I said - by following the money. If you're a member of a group, you're going to want to get a cut of the majority. In America and much of the West, this means white people. If you're the biggest ethnic group, people who want to market stuff to the mainstream will probably market it towards you, because that's where the money lies. If you're a member of a minority group, I think it's only fair to have media representation for you. The culture that led to the situation we're in has to change. When minorities appear, they are often in token form. I shouldn't have to explain why this perpetuates stereotypes, but if we look at this from the broad view that I keep trying to get at, then we see that the smaller the minority, the less of a chance that a character from that minority will appear in media. Why? Again, money. If you're a studio executive and you want to make a movie sell, would you include characters that the perceived "majority" would relate to? Most of them answer "yes," because it's the easy way out. Only now are we started to see the inklings of a fundamental change. The more bits of media that have minorities that are successful, the more that the people who are in charge of the media will see the fundamental error of their ways. Here's another thing to keep in mind here: Representation does not always mean positive representation. Let's take The Big Bang Theory. Among its quartet of protagonists, a trio represent some sort of minority: asexuals, Indians, and Jews. All of which are, at some point, played for laughs - or for whatever the writers think is funny. (It's not funny.) When the most prominent asexual character in modern media is Sheldon Cooper, you know something's gone off the rails somewhere along the line. While gay characters are on the rise, a lot of them are accompanied by harmful stereotypes. Don't even get me started on bisexual erasure and the dearth of pansexual characters. Hypothetically, every movie and book and TV show could change tomorrow to one where women outnumber men, but yet the women are always portrayed with harmful stereotypes. Let's imagine the same with sexual and ethnic minorities. You'd have more representation, but if it's with even more sexism, racism, and homophobia, how is that better? Mathematically speaking, it's actually worse. Let's not support mere representation. Let's support good, positive representation. Let's prove to the media that they don't have to follow where they think the money is, but rather, where the moral thing to do lies. I welcome discussion on these issues, but I am not afraid to defend myself if I see something I wrote taken out of context.

Here's the deal: every story that emphasizes the importance of male characters while pushing female characters to the side is sexist. Every story that makes white people the heroes and people of colour the villains (LotR and Narnia are prime examples of this) is racist. Every story that, intentionally or not, promotes a worldview that heterosexual white men are superior to people of differing race, sexuality, and gender is prejudiced. "Old lit" may be good in a sense, but it can also be incredibly harmful when we allow it shape how we perceive the world. Here're another few examples, because I'm in a good mood. You know the TV show "Friends? It's a great show, yeah, but why is it that the six main characters are all white heterosexuals, especially when New York City is one of the most diverse cities on the planet? There are more people of colour living in New York than there are white people. Or How I Met Your Mother (one of my most beloved shows)? Again: five people in New York City. All white. All heterosexual. Here's why it's a problem:Whether you believe it or not, the stories we choose as a culture shape who we are. They shape our worldviews, which, in turn, shapes how we will tell our own stories. And when we choose to read books and watch shows that present us with a distorted view of reality, then, like Tyler has already so eloquently said, we're breathing life back into these constructs that we should be trying to tear down. Let me reference you back to what Tyler's already said on the subject: I wrote much more, but I feel like this is me getting long-winded enough as it is. Should the occasion arise, I'll post the rest of my response. Hopefully, this is enough to clear things up a bit for you. (<3 u ty)

I'm sorry I told the truth. I promise to be more careful next time : ( -Tyler

Source: Games This is why we love Ryan. -Rez

My friends and I play the most cruel of games, Mario Party, for the prize of a pint of Americone Dream. It is the best. I'm just 100% with you on this whole thing. The only explanation I can have for the BZPRPG situation is that BZP's active community might be predominantly in the demographic that is more comfortable with roleplaying straight characters 'cause that's what they know best or might just be very uncomfortable with the alternative. This is a forum for a toyline and there are a lot of youngsters on here who might just not even be aware of these issues or just haven't started to question the status quo yet. It's ridiculous, yeah, but at least it's somewhat understandable why that's the situation? Still not an excuse, of course, but yeah.

Preach ~

Wasn't agreed upon by world leaders that The Big Bang Theory was a terrible show? Also I always viewed stereotypes as a sign that the writer is lazy and/or really terrible at writing. I'm not saying prejudice doesn't have anything to do with it, but it still is just terrible writing. We also can't forget the people who say without a hint of irony that said minority character "didn't act like a minority character". People honestly say this and it bugs me to no end.

Just remember, the sign of a truly great contest is that its title gets automatically cut off by IPB and leaves the host looking silly until someone higher up the staff ladder can clean it up. (All LEGO RPGers, or Chima fans, or both, or neither but nonetheless interested folks: go give the topic a read! This is something that depends on all of you to make it a success.)

Ridley needs a better tail and wings, but it looks pretty nice, regardless. I reeeeally want that minifig and gunship. What I really want to see is much larger-scale sets, like Ridley to a scale where his mouth is full of those white spike pieces, or a much larger gunship. Preferably in the 1k+ piece-count range. =P -

So far I don't think it's a firestorm yet. So far everyone who has discussed this topic has remained respectful of everyone else's opinions, and I would like for that to continue. (I did, unintentionally, start this - people slightly misinterpreted a blog entry of mine which led to this discussion, but I entertained it because I didn't wish to cross two upper-level staff members, and it sort of needed to happen after that news topic. I hope it doesn't turn into another BIG BLOG CONTROVERSY though. Urg.)

Quite frankly this blog makes me speechless, I mean what can one say about perfection?

i back this really hard -Tyler

Tyler, I can count the number of times something I read turned my soul into an emotional dynamo and actually made me stop and think about life on exactly one hand. As of now, I officially have to use two. (also, why all the hate on cookie dough, it's wonderful! ;~; )

I love you. I really do.

I wouldn't really call it taste, I would just call it bigoted. -Tyler

Just a tiny bit misconstruing the argument there. You seem to think I said that since the real world does not have to dictate what stories are about and do, that I was arguing it does not matter at all. I did not. Fiction affects the real world, one way or the other. The real world does not have to affect fiction. Imagine, if you would, two one-way highways. One is going into from city A to city B. The A-to-B highway is always open, in this case, fiction to the real world. The B-to-A highway, however, is only occasionally open, maybe from 7am to 9am; in this case, the real world to fiction. Well, other than the cultural and societal implications and ramifications of a lack of important women around in a story, the fact is that this argument, as you said, can go both ways. When such a thing happens, we have to look at the burden of proof. It is the responsibility of the defenders of a system to have the burden of proof as to why it should remain this way. They must present arguments as to why this system deserves to continue on. So far, I've seen no arguments here that have not been successfully rebutted by those before me. The need for change is because the old system has proven itself ineffective at standing up to debate, by people more skilled than I at doing these things. If something cannot validate itself, then it's time to find something else.

I was asked about to how sprites are created and used. This post is an attempt to explain the basics behind a sprite sheet. What are sprites? Sprites are pretty much normal digital images, but they are made at a very, very small scale. The term "sprite" usually refers to the images used in video games and for small animations, etc. The only thing special about a sprite compared to other images is that the sprite is usually made by meticulous work at the pixel level – each pixel being placed by hand, one by one. Being a pixel artist is different from being a graphical artist in other types of digital painting, but the principles of art - such as geometry, light and shading, color palettes, and more - still applies in much the same way. What image format should we use? Sprites are usually saved as either GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) or PNG (Portable Network Graphics). BMP (BitMap) can be used, but it's a very big format and does not offer any real benefits nowadays. JPEG/JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), while very common for other image files, is not recommended at all for sprites! JPG is made for keeping photo quality while reducing the use of harddrive space. This is done through compression – the image processing program goes through the image and reduces the amount of info stored as much as possible. For a photo, this still leaves it looking OK, because it has an extreme amount of pixels and differing color values already, and it can stand to lose some. For a sprite, the change in pixels will be very noticeable. A typical sprite has maybe 16 distinct color values, and a single color that is defined as the background – it should be treated as transparent, and never mixed with the main sprite. But when the compression does its work, a nice sprite can have its colors blended together, making it horrible and unusable. Take a look at this comparison: This is a properly saved sprite. It can easily be moved across different backgrounds, because even if we save the background as non-transparent it is still a single pure color that is not used anywhere else in the image. Thus we could easily cut away the white or the pink in this image, and move the sprite somewhere else. But then we add compression... This sprite is ruined. It has been saved as a compressed JPG, and when we try to cut away the background we find that the white is no longer pure – it has been blended with other colors in an effort to cut down on file size. And it's not just the background that has been blended. Shock and alarm! The original sprite (left) had 9 colors – 4 shades of blue, 4 shades of metallic green, and 1 bright eye color. The compressed image (right) has far more colors, and they are visibly blurred and "dirty". If you want to use a different background, you have a lot of work ahead of you. If you want to extract a color palette, you're not getting anything useful. Lesson learned: Never ever compress an image containing sprites or other things you want to keep unchanged. If you save as JPG, use a program that actually gives you the option to set Quality to 100%. If you don't get such an option (like in MS Paint) assume that the image will be blurred and blended due to compression if you save as JPG. BMP, as mentioned, is a big format. It has no compression, and saves data about every single pixel in the image. It will give you perfect image quality, but the file size makes BMP undesirable for web. People do not want to download a 10 MB file just to see your forum banner, after all. PNG files have no compression either, but the way they save info makes PNG images pretty much a replacement for BMP in most situations. Furthermore, the PNG format also saves an alpha value for each pixel in addition to the standard red/green/blue values, which means that PNG files can have true transparency. This is perfect if you want to make a sprite that feature transparent parts – instead of being forced to use, say, a pink color to simulate transparent red on a white background, you can just up and use red with a low alpha value – thus making it possible to place the sprite on any background afterwards. The PNG format is excellent for sprites, and I highly recommend their usage as the standard format for sprites and other web graphics. GIF is another small-size image format. It has the option of turning a single color transparent, but no more. It can be restricted to a certain amount of colors, to save space. Nice for sprites, so long as you get to pick what colors to keep and which ones to discard. If you are saving a sprite – which has only a few colors to begin with – saving as a GIF will usually have no effect on its quality. Some programs, though, such as old versions of MS Paint, will force a certain pallette, which may affect color shades a bit. Modern image programs will not do this. While it lacks full transparency support, the prime advantage of GIF is that it can be animated. Making a GIF animated requires an image editing program which can edit individual frames and which supports exporting to an animated GIF format. Recommended: Use PNG for all sprites except the ones that need to be animated when you post them online. In that case, use a GIF. Otherwise, sprite animations are best saved as a strip of individual images, which the recipient can cut up and use as needed. What programs and tools do we need? This guy explains it pretty well. (Read the rest of the tutorial as well, it is excellent.) I have a tendency of being overly verbose. But here goes: We only need an image editing program that can work with raster images – i.e. normal image files. Even MS Paint can do this, so if you're on a Windows machine you're already set. To work with a sprite, just open a file, zoom in until you can clearly see each pixel (turn on the grid if you want to) and then start placing dots. You can cut and paste and move parts. If you want to recolor sprites, first pick the existing color as your Secondary Color, then the new color you want to use as the Primary Color, and then right-click with the Eraser tool to replace one with the other. Still, this is the hard way of doing it. Making sprites in MS Paint works up until you need to recolor a large amount of them, or when you need to make parts that overlap each other. Say, you want to paste armor onto a character. Then later you want to move the arm of the character a few pixels left – but naturally the image underneath the armor you pasted on has been lost. You will need to redraw it. And as Les Forges mentions in the link above: You can't open more than one file at a time, so copy-pasting to and from different sprite sheets and image files is a nightmare. Instead of mucking with this waste of time any further, download a proper program which supports layers and all the proper jazz. MS Paint is meant only for the most basic of image editing needs. Even if you only need to stick image A above image B, you're generally better off with something other than MS Paint. Some people are reluctant to download anything that is not included with the machine, because "this works for my needs". Quite frankly, these people waste time and effort and usually get a worse result from their endeavors than someone who takes a minute to install a proper program. Paint.NET, GraphicsGale and GIMP are all image editing programs which are up to the modern standard of layers. For example, here you can place your base character sprite on one layer and his armor on another – the base sprite will then be unaffected by anything you do with the armor sprite! Layers allow you to compare sprites by placing them over each other, and they allow you to edit part of an image without affecting other parts. These image editing programs also include other useful functions, such as the ability to change the color hue of an image with a quick drag of a slider, and the ability to apply effects such as blur or brightness adjustment – things that are simply impossible in MS Paint. Personally I use Paint.NET for my sprites, since it is simple and lightweight and can be extended with plugins if needed. It's completely free to download and use. Others swear to GraphicsGale – a program which also includes the ability to edit animation frames, though that one costs money. GIMP is a free program which is "the poor man's Photoshop" – it has many powerful functions, but it may be overly complex to use if you're only going to make simple sprites. Photoshop is the king of modern image editing, but it is expensive and is not particularly well suited to sprites anyways. For sprites you have all you need in "lesser" programs. How to work with sprites As mentioned, all you need to do is to zoom in to a comfortable level, then start placing pixels. There are many good tutorials on how to make a proper sprite, so I'll leave it up to them to explain palette selection, geometry, shading and similar things. The main things to consider are: * Is my sprite the right size? It should be big enough that you can see what the object is, but it should not be so big that it stretches the page. Take note that if you want to resize a sprite, do so AFTER you are done with it. Make it on a 1:1 pixel scale, save that, then make a separate copy which you stretch bigger. Always scale uniformly – never scale a sprite to, say 150% width and only 120% height. This will make the resized "pixels" look rectangular – a sprite should always have square pixels, even when scaled up for display purposes. Also: a stretched sprite sheet is pretty much useless. A sprite sheet where a pixel is a pixel is perfect. * How many colors am I using? Don't use too many different shades for a sprite, and don't use too few. Maybe 4 or 5 shades per color tends to be a good balance for classic sprites. * Are my colors working well with each other? Don't use the standard palette. Don't go Bucket Fill with bright lime on your sprite. Remember to add highlights and shadows to offset the garish color if you do this. If you have downloaded a sprite sheet you will often have an existing color palette to choose from that does the job well. * Am I using layers? If you need to plece one sprite (part) over another, use a new layer until you're 100% certain you want that piece to look like that permanently. Then you can merge the layers. When you save the final image layers will auto-merge, so don't worry. In your project file you should keep the layers. Imagine placing a sprite into a car, saving, then wanting to move the character somewhere else? Do you honestly want to re-paste the character into a new, blank car sprite (doing all the work over again), or do you want to do it the smart way and just move the layer a bit? This is far from a comprehensive tutorial on how to make sprites, but it covers the basics of image formats and program usage. Consult other sites and blogs for details in the art of making sprites.

of college is officially done. Now I just need to wait and see if I did well enough to make it into my major next year. *fingers crossed*

You can read it right here.

Alright guys, that's enough. If anyone wants to further discuss Tyler's comment, they can do so in the blog entry he has provided. Entry locked.

If you've ever played an instrument, it revives it.

Just wanted to say I really liked this entry and I'm proud of you for it! You stand with us and don't try to speak over us and that's cool. I can see that what you're saying comes from the concerns you've heard minorities express, and that your eyes are open to its presence in everyday life. It's also cool how you keep in mind that a lot of this is a problem in our specific society and not necessarily other areas and societies of the world. And of course, mentioning the utter lack of pansexual representation is A+ in my book.

I'm well-aware. But there's two big things I've come to feel about stereotypes in my experiences with them; the first being that being defensive only makes it worse. Every time I would get angry or defensive when someone made them, one of two things would usually pop into their head, depending on whether they were actually antisemitic or not. If they were, it'd usually be something along the lines of "That's making the Jew kid mad, I bet he doesn't like hearing the truth." and if they were just ######, it'd be something along the lines of "Hah, that's getting under his skin, I should do this more." It just made it worse unless it was a friend, in which case it never happened until the past two or three years when I started laughing this stuff off. If you get upset, then in the mind of someone that already has the preconception that X is true and is going in with that bias preexisting - which, even if they aren't bigoted, they're typically going in with as a result of how reinforced the stereotypes are - the fact you're so defensive means to them that you have something to hide. The way they're looking at it, if it's not true, then you shouldn't get upset about it, and if you are getting upset, it's because you feel guilty or embarrassed about how absurd your people are. It's the same way that when someone's accused of anything false, all acting out and getting upset does is make them look more guilty. Is that right? Absolutely not. Things shouldn't be like that at all, and it's sad that they are. But few things in the minds of the bigoted are the way they should be. What we're looking at is the thought process of someone who, in this case, is antisemitic, so their perception is what's important to my argument since that's what impacts their thoughts, not reality. Reality comes in a minute. Meanwhile, laughing it off or shrugging it off, every time I've done it, suggests that you don't have anything to hide, because it's not true. It suggests that it's a fictitious notion that doesn't bear any weight, and therefore doesn't hurt. Does it hurt? Yes. Even when I've put on a stoic face, things that are genuinely hateful and antisemitic hurt. A lot. But I know that if this is someone that already has those biases and prejudices, all that will happen if I react strongly is it will make them more eager. After all, what do you think is the reaction they want when they call me a money-grubbing hebe? I'd be willing to bet my life they're trying to rile me up and make me mad and/or upset. I'm playing right into their hands if I let it show that I'm upset. If I just let it roll off my back, or even give a positive reaction to it, then that's not the outcome they want, and most people don't plan for an outcome they don't want. It's when things don't go how someone's biases tell them they're going to go that they get confused and question things, and it's when I've taken the hits and kept a smile on that I've been able to educate them and actually do some damage to those prejudices, not when I get angry and upset. People should care about the feelings of others and not making them upset, but if they're intentionally saying hateful things and already look at me like a lesser person, then they're probably not going to care about that, and if anything it'll be amusing to them. It's wrong, but that doesn't make it untrue. The second thing I've come to feel about them is, being honest, there's some truth in them somewhere. Is it interweaved with a bunch of hateful nonsense? Absolutely. But plenty of it has some basis; every Jewish guy I know, myself included, is a momma's boy. One guy I know is the son of a stockbroker and a CEO, he's filthy rich. Another guy is a short, round, brash, and fun. Another is a goofy klutz who embarrasses himself every time he tries to be athletic. Then there's a girl from New Jersey who is every Jewish woman stereotype rolled into one, she's short, loud, fun, smart, great cook, says whatever she's thinking, and really caring. Heck, I have a big nose, and while it's less because of its monetary value and more because I make jewelry so find them beautiful, I love gold and silver. And all of us - all of us - love to eat. Does that mean that we all have beards and hats and say "oy vey" every other sentence? No, it doesn't. Does that mean that even the more realistic ones that apply to some of us apply to all or even a lot of us? No, it doesn't. Are all of us the same or incredibly similar? Not a chance. And does that mean that I don't mind the lack of good Jewish characters? No, it doesn't. Why do you think I love BJ Blazkowicz even though I've never played the Castle Wolfenstein games? Because he's a big, mean, butt-kicking Jew beating up Nazis that fits so few stereotypes that you wouldn't know he's Jewish without hearing his name. Magnetism is a fascinating superpower, but that's far from the sole reason I like Magneto. I'd love more well-written, non-comedic/stereotypical Jews. But, are there certain elements of the Jewish stereotype that, more often than not, ring true? There are. I laugh at the parts that are true, because, well, it's true! I don't know if this is the case for most groups, because I can only speak for those I'm a part of, but for Jews at least, there are aspects of our stereotype we laugh at because if we don't know someone that fits a certain part of the bill, odds are we do ourselves. There has been no greater weapon when it comes to me becoming a much happier person than being able to laugh it off when barbs are thrown my way. Plus, considering the producer of the show is Jewish, I doubt any of it is done with any sort of malice or hatred. In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to worry about any of this stuff. But our world's far from perfect. I like it as a whole, but it's far from perfect. If people were perfect, then this wouldn't be an issue, because everyone would have a genuine care for everyone's feelings, everyone would be able to tell fiction from reality, and everyone could take a joke knowing there's no malice behind it. But people are even farther from perfect than the world is. I don't claim that this applies for every prejudice for every group in every situation - like I said in my first post, I can't speak for everyone - but I do claim that it's applied in my experiences with the ones directed at me. Just because it's a stereotype doesn't mean I'm offended, and just because it's a stereotype doesn't mean it isn't funny. Can it be unfunny and offensive? Absolutely, but it's not automatically either. This got really tangential and disorganized, I hope it made some sense. Not sure how applicable it is to representation, but I think some of it is.

retweet -Tyler

And just when I woke up thinking I needed something else in this blog: Janelle Monae. <3 (thx for the comments everyone; Roablin, I have a test to get to this morning but I'd be more than happy to reply this afternoon) -Tyler

I can't speak for everyone, but speaking as someone Jewish, I find most of the Jew jokes that the Big Bang Theory used - at least before it completely fell to pieces - hilarious. I have strong opinions on the whole representation issue, and heck, I wrote an entire research paper for my last college english class on the subject, but I've been involved in enough internet arguments about things like this to know that, regardless of side, it's not a headache I find worthwhile personally.

I'm glad you feel so strongly about this, and again, I'm sorry that I offended you. I'm also glad that there aren't any hard feelings between us as people. However, I still feel like what I said is being pulled out of context. I never said or implied that Obama's election changed my worldview. I would have been totally happy to have a black president at any point in history before now. All I stated was my tendency to create stories within the universe we live in. It is a preference for a type of story, not a type of reality. Am I a ###### writer? Totally, I only just started after all. I need to improve in just about every way. But if I am to follow your reasoning, every story with a white president before 2008 is bigoted. Every story that did not contain progressive themes in the areas of gender or sexuality is bigoted. My whole point coming into this discussion was that old lit can be good too. TV shows I don't have an opinion on, I don't watch many of them. But you cannot look at LotR, Les Miserables, The Book Thief, or at any other of a great number of books that reveal beauty within a broken reality, and tell me that their existence harms society. Also, I'm totally curious. Why do you have variations of your name crossed out twice at the end of your entry and "St. Francis" at the end?

Word of advisement: I am reading this blog entry's comments. At this point, I'm not aware of anyone being disrespectful of each other (and I appreciate the attitude of respect so far), but if it does happen such comments will be edited or deleted, and if I get a lot of it this is going to be locked. With that said, Tyler, your comment was toeing the borderline. I understand at this point that you were calling Roablin's idea "bigoted", not Roablin himself, but please be more careful when using such language in the future, as that may offend some people and be interpreted in ways that you didn't intend. Thanks. Carry on.

I mean, it's like putting a Corvette sticker on a keychain, shoving me out into the driveway, and showing me that you really gave me a Ford Pinto. Can't expect me not to vent. -Tyler

10/10, would read again. In fact, you've got me thinking about some things for a blog entry of my own. (Americone Dream is the best ice cream flavor and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.)

My Response -Tyler

Oh please. We were having a polite discussion until now. But perhaps I made myself unclear. In reality I hold no preference as to race, gender, etc. in the presidency. And actually, if I was to make a story in the future, I would probably make a woman president just to spice things up. But if I was to write a fictional story set in our current time (and I added the qualifier, before our current president), then I would have had a white male president. This is NOT because I prefer white males in the presidency, but because fiction that I read and write tends to mirror reality in all things but specific things with a purpose. It's basically a desire to suspend the reader's disbelief about even the smallest details (and I do believe that race or gender is a very small detail in the president considering that it should impact none of his decisions or actions). I did not intend to offend anyone in any way and I will give you the benefit of doubt since I probably did not make myself clear. I must have missed something. What exactly is the old system that you speak of and how is it ineffective in debate? The section of my argument that you quoted speaks of Tolkien's system of writing a universe from scratch or my system of only changing a few things and preserving logical consistency. I haven't seen anyone argue against this, and I don't think any argument against it could hold water because writing is a free pursuit and the works I have spoken of are absolutely beautiful in terms of conveying the truth of the human experience and in terms of providing an entertaining story. Also, I'd like to thank Fisher and everyone else who posted for the interesting discussion.

I just did a bit of research on the wage difference between males and females in the acting industry. Until today, I wasn't aware that female actors made so much less than males. I consider myself more informed now, and I would completely agree that that should stop... except that they are paid ridiculously high amounts anyways. The articles I found only described actors and actresses that earn tens of millions. I would be inclined to reduce the wages of male actors to lessen the wage gap, but I don't really want to ask that someone be payed less than they are just to even a score. Does anyone know if there is a significant wage gap between lesser known actors and actresses? If it exists among people who actually struggle to make a living, than reducing that would be a cause I could get behind, especially because I know several girls who are going into acting. I totally agree with you there. I just think it's important that we don't treat traditional roles like they are a bad thing, even though they result in fewer women taking a limelight in the media. @Humva You make some interesting points. But the reverse of your argument holds true by the same logic, and I think your metaphor with the president clarifies this. If a character is a good character regardless of gender, than it doesn't matter at all what the ratio is. Most great books that I read follow this logic, which is why I am a bit puzzled by efforts to provoke change where it is not necessary. For example, before our current president, I would have made any president in a fictional story a white male unless I had a specific reason not to. If making the president a black women would add something tangible to the narrative, be it amusement, intrigue, drama or whatever, then of course I would give him those attributes. Otherwise, my natural preference is to make him standard in ways that audiences would expect. You can consider this a difference in tastes, but I usually build stories from the ground up, changing only one or two things in reality to make it my own universe but then discovering where the story naturally flows from there. And because I believe that women are just as important as men, I don't object to putting genders where they would logically find themselves. I just don't find a universe without women in the direct limelight to be a universe without important women. Perhaps this is because I myself do not wish to be in the limelight of our universe. I get what you are saying about total escapism, but that is just a difference in tastes, with me preferring the the meticulously calculated fantasy of Tolkien. I am not against changing more, I am just puzzled by the need for it.

Rez - Nothing. It's just an internet expression. Too bad, Razcal. Go home. Roablin - You're right. +400 MBP. Makaru - You're also right. Have another +400 MBP, courtesy of my ever-expanding account. Humva - But if the real world is irrelevant, why would this whole representation argument matter in the first place? Couldn't writers write whatever gender ratios they wanted, since the real world didn't matter?

So I mostly skimmed this, apologies to those who made great arguments. A recurring theme I did notice, though, was a lot about being accurate to the real world and being accurate to real world gender ratios in various occupations. It's been replied to already but I simply had to get this off my chest; The real world is irrelevant. This comes with a clause; if you're going tout yourself on historical accuracy or somesuch then yeah probably probably is relevant. In your standard fiction, however, these things to not apply. Is the gender ratio 1:1 in an American big city police department, say, Chicago or Seattle? No, it isn't. If I go write a story about my own city, Wichita, and write about the WPD and introduce a 1:1 gender ratio in a department that certainly doesn't have it... yeah, I've messed with the real world. But it is fiction, and more often than not fiction is there to make some sort of point while being entertaining. Even if it is purely for entertainment purposes, the argument that depicting a police department with a 3:1 gender ratio or somesuch is alright because it's how it is in the real world is tenuous at best and simply false at worse. If you were writing a story about the hardships of a female officer in the force, then that ratio probably makes thematic sense. If you're just writing a cop story, then why not have a 1:1 ratio? It's a theme I see springing up a lot in all of this. People desperately defending the current ratios because it's how the real world is. The real world is a pretty terrible place, war, famine, pestilence, all sorts of nasty stuff. Fiction can comment on this, or it can provide an escape from it. Commentary requires some level of realism, though a competent writer can insert commentary in practically any story. Escapism requires the consumer to be able to really connect with the character. Is it impossible for one gender to connect to another gender? No, and I hope to live to see the day where the differences between the genders are negligible or nonexistent in popular culture and everyday life. For the world we live in right now, however, we have girls being raised in a society that propagates its stereotypes on them. They need someone to connect with, strong characters, weak characters, confident characters, nervous characters. Most importantly, though, they need characters that are front and center, that are there in the public eye. Female characters simply do not occupy this role, or when they do, they represent some stereotypical image. This image is not bad, but when it is the only image for girls to see, it's very problematic. There are exceptions, and in the modern day, progress is being made. Those exceptions are not the rule. The rule right now is that "woman" is its own character archetype. Having a female character is something special. It propagates the notion that while men are capable of being all these things, a woman being all these things is something odd, out of the ordinary. This idea is riddled all over the debate in this entry. Having a perfect ratio, advocating it, should not matter. This is not saying that the battle is meaningless, but that by simply being in opposition is meaningless. I do not mean to put words in others' mouths, but this functionally what the argument boils down to. We can run in circles all day long talking about the effects of media on society at large, realism in fiction, so on and so forth. The fact, though, that this debate exists at all represents the problem. Hmm. I do need to work on getting my points across better. The tl;dr of this all is that writing more female characters is good simply because it should not matter if your character is male or female, they should simply be a character. As such the resistance to a 1:1 ratio is puzzling. Appeals to reality hold no place in fantastical movies. If the Avengers had a 1:1 gender ratio, it would seem very silly to be crying about reality while they're fighting alien invaders. Even in real-world movies, like my previously mentioned cop show, reality influences but reality does not have to be the end all to be all demographics-wise. Contemplate this; up until 2008, all American Presidents had been white males. If someone in 2004 had made a show with a female President, or a black President, then this very argument about realistic ratios would apply quite well here. The profession of President of the United States had been completely dominated by white dudes, much like how police departments are dominated by men right now. This is not a strawman argument, this is not a logical extreme. This is simply the argument about reality, transplanted over. So yeah. A bit lengthier than I was hoping for. If I repeated previous dead arguments, my apologies. I just really needed to talk about this for a bit. Incidentally a 1:1 avengers casting would have been godly. I have a list right here of the roles. Also might be slightly counterproductive to the argument but yeah MakBoss, I argue for 1:1 ratios a lot.

Yeah I saw them. What I said earlier about it was directed to each and every one. +1,000 mega bonus points to Mak.

So I got Rapunzel's Creativity Tower in the mail earlier this month (like a week ago), and I finally got around to stop playing with Flynn and Rapunzel long enough to build it. However, Lego's design kinda sucked, so I wanted to make my own version to be closer to the movie set. Front Side Bed Spiral Staircase with cat looming in background So that is what I have done so far. I am glad I had so many spare pink pieces from my trips to the lego store pick a brick. They really came in handy with the color scheme. Will I finish this? Not any time soon as I am running out of pieces and have a limited supply of purple for the roof and fewer grey pieces for the base of the tower. Even so, I think for what I have thus far this looks promising. Whassat, Billy? You agree with Lego's decision to not make a Mother Gothel Figure? ... GET OFF MY LAWN! ~Tekulo <3

Lego Flynn is fun. ^^ I did switch his hair piece, though. Also thanks to you both! As for the pink, I did want to keep with the original colors, but now that I look at it, I'm thinking of switching the pink wall parts to pastel blue to help match with the grey bricks. Also my main focus was the layout over the exact details. The roof will probably be the biggest challenge overall, and I will definitely need to visit my local lego store to get the parts I need for the base. Still, I am getting excited about this. I was hoping to make the closet that Rapunzel stashes Flynn inside among a few other furnishings. I still need to decide where I will put the stickers as well.

Just because you didn't seem to understand what I was saying there: the girls I was talking about are real live actual members I know who spoke about this elsewhere, and were too frustrated and afraid of backlash to respond to anything related to this discussion, not guests or people I figured exist. But yeah, BZP discussion is dominated by men. But there are definitely several women listening in, and I'm not just guessing at that. Sure there are assertive women in this world, just as there are many passive, aggressive, and passive-aggressive ones. But assertiveness is a set of tools, not a personality type, and even women who know how to be assertive may choose to keep silent in certain situations rather than risk someone on the internet being horrid to them or getting in to an argument with someone who just wants to shut them down. This is incredibly common around the internet and in our society as a whole, and sadly has tended to create a lot of passive women who'd rather not speak up. I used the "nonsensical" bit (notice the quotations I used up there) due to some people in the discussion saying that it wouldn't "make sense" to have a larger amount of women in certain media, which is funny because so much of the Lego movie didn't technically "make sense" in the first place, in a real world sort of way. That argument just baffles me to no end.

It's the middle of the day for me. Haha. -Rez

But we do believe so many lies fed to us. It doesn't make us helpless. Countless women, men, and other people believe the drivel that the media and other sources lay before us and ingrain in us. A lot of sources don't even realize the harm they're doing. Men come to expect things from women. Other women expect things from women. People shame women for not being some sort of norm. You know this; I can tell from this blog entry because you fight to be who you are. The struggle you have is real. Women damage their bodies and their lives trying to lose weight. Girls of color in our culture believe they are not beautiful because they are not white. They try to straighten their naturally curly hair. Women try to wear clothes that make them unhappy. They are shamed into speaking quieter and not laughing as loudly. They are told to "be like this so guys will like you". And it's good that you fight that. It's good that you decided to be yourself. But this doesn't mean all other women are going to do this. Too many of them don't even realize what is happening, and that's why we're having this problem. I've known so many girls and women who try to be what we are told to be, verbally and by implication. Shave your legs because you have to. Cover that face with makeup. Be cute. Be dainty. Be submissive. Be feminine. No man will want you if you don't. No one will respect you if you don't. I starved myself. I picked at my face until it bled trying to get rid of acne. I'm in therapy because I have anxiety and depression resulting from expectations that I should be a certain way "because I'm a woman". I'm not alone. I'm nowhere near being alone. Countless women have hurt themselves, hurt each other, been killed, settled for less, been denied privileges given to others, and ended their own lives over this stuff. But at the same time, there's an overwhelming voice that tells us something else. You shouldn't shave. You shouldn't wear makeup. Don't be cutesy. Be outgoing. Be a STRONG WOMAN who likes fighting and guns and "manly" stuff. Don't be what we told you to be, and you'll be praised as "not like other girls". This compliments some women by shaming the lifestyles and preferences of others. This is also very, very wrong. I copied this from something I can't share as a whole: The point isn't that we shouldn't do certain things because they're a stereotype. The point is that you need to be who you are and don't shame other people for being who they are. People in our culture seem very concerned with telling women what they can and can't be. That's the problem here. And like Pat said, we're gonna come across this stuff in our lives no matter what. We can be all they tell us, and they say we're trying to hard and we're mindless conformist bimbos. We can completely ignore it, and we get ignored or told to "freshen up", "smile", "reinvent our wardrobe", "don't speak up for ourselves". We can do our own thing, and we still get fussed at for "being or not being a certain way". Now, I'll get to why I'm saying all this on this entry. I don't like speaking up on things like this because I get nervous and have trouble expressing myself, especially on BZPower. Guys on BZPower have tried to shame and argue with me too many times, and also done the same to many other girls. But unless they're trans and lived through these struggles, they don't have that firsthand experience. They may accept what we tell them happens. Some of them see all this garbage at work in the world. They want to help. That's why DV and Makaru speak up. I always appreciate what they have to say. They've learned from women around them, such as myself, Nukaya, and Tufi Piyufi. You say you're speaking to an audience of guys, but to be honest, several women are reading this blog entry. They read the topic about more female characters in the next Lego movie. They love the idea of more women being represented. I know this because they're my friends. But why don't they speak up? I wonder if it's because of the backlash we've received, both here and in other faucets of our lives? In the end, yeah, the only one you can control is you. You have to go into this stuff being willing to let go and know that you're not going to change the entire world by yourself and in one go. But I'm not going to give up or fall into "all or nothing" thinking. I haven't changed the minds of plenty of people. But I have friends now who have watched me and what I say and support, and they understood and now stand beside me. Some of them are content creators who are writing excellent balances of men, women, and non-binaries in their works. Would that have happened if I hadn't been fighting and speaking out on my blog and other internet spaces where they could see? I'm not sure. Other, greater content creators have seen this huge outcry for equal representation. That's part of why we have the Lego Movie creators so ready to include more women in the first place. We shouldn't get angry over every single lie told to us, no. But I think getting fired up over feminism is a really excellent cause. Why? Hey, I've got another quote. We don't have to explode or lose our minds. I mean, in this entire post I'm not upset or angry. But as a woman, I want to speak up. My voice is important here because it's about the representation of women, the lack of which has discouraged and hurt me inside. I am passionate about my cause and ready to educate anyone willing to listen to me. And if people don't, okay. But I'll still speak out. I'll still speak up for equal rights and representation and a proper treatment of all women. We need to see more varied women in our media because it reinforces that we all exist outside the stereotypes and we're more than what people say we should be. There are just as many women in this world as men (I hear that it's more women than men actually but I'm not sure atm.) So why are there way more men in so many movies and comics and games? And why is this so when women and girls are close to half of the consumers of said media? If we can have something as "nonsensical" as a giant floating cloud city or mecha cyborg pirate with a live shark on his arm in a movie, then we can have something as "nonsensical" as more female characters, too.

I'm not like the female stereotypes, either. I'm actually a dog. Actually, I was amused by your stereotype breakdown and wanted to fill it out for myself. Stereotype: "Girls don't like Lego."Me: *was really into Bionicle but kind of appreciates LEGO from the side nowadays* *mostly buys Friends and Mixels sets because I'm poor and they're cute* *also wanted more girls in the Lego Movie* Stereotype: "Girls like fashion."Me: *loves clothes* *is becoming a lolita so as to wear frilly poofy dresses with bows* Stereotype: "Girls like animals, especially horses."Me: *desires kittens you have no idea* Stereotype: "Girls are less likely to enjoy courses in science and math, and rarely do they program."Me: *hated math in school, enjoyed science, did some programming in college but eh* *wasn't for me* *loves programming games tho* *but is an amateur* Stereotype: "Girls are soft."Me: *doesn't have to wear lotion* *ever* *also I just shaved* *feel my legs* *so smooth* *blue belt in taekwondo tho* Stereotype: "Girls like jewelry and painting their nails, etc."Me: *me too omg* Stereotype: "Girls can't use logic."Me: *spills your fruit* *excellent comeback* *10/10*

I don't really want to get drawn into this argument, but while both sides make good points, I will mention that I tend to agree with fisher's points on the matter more so far.

This is mostly my opinion as well; I still watch Mark, but I find him more than slightly frustrating when it comes to overreaction, particularly his unnecessarily inarticulate responses (what happened to scientific explanations of static, and the economics of indie developers using pre-made textures?). Game Grumps are probably my favorite current gaming channel, but I admittedly don't spend too much time watching other people playing games when I have a chance to experience do it myself.