Sometimes I Think About How 20+ People Witnessed Me Simping For Aja's Mom During My Instagram Story.

pov you are a fish or perhaps a berry

ive seen a few other posts about this that didnt get a lot of notes because i know it makes nonblacks uncomfortable (😐) but you people need to start examining why so many of your reaction pics and gifs and memes are of black people being expressive or literally just existing because its not a coincidence. it directly correlates to how black people are seen as overemotional and overreactive, the sassy black woman and the angry black man stereotypes and so on. like you really need to ask yourselves why such a large portion of the most used reaction memes this year are images of black celebrities like wendy williams and oprah and why non sequitur memes including dababys face seem to be so inherently funny to everyone, and if you are contributing to this problem.

this video explains it well:

"White people and nonblack folks using black memes and GIFs to express their emotional labor on black bodies contributes to what American literary critic Sienne Ngai calls 'the animatedness of black folks', A.K.A. seeing black people as hyperbolically emotional and expressive, particularly black women and [q word] black men."

in the video khadija also talks about how this relates to blackface and minstrelsy and about the appropriation (and butchering) of aave in online spaces, and cites these articles on the subject of digital blackface that i also recommend:

Teen Vogue

We Need to Talk About Digital Blackface in GIFs

Are you part of the problem?

escholarship.org

Digital Blackface: How 21st Century Internet Language Reinforces Racism

Author(s): Erinn, Wong | Advisor(s): Acevedo Butcher, Carmen

‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’ by James Jean.

Batman and Jim Gordon in The Batman (2022)

I was scared that plushie Jim was gonna jump-scare me ngl

Concept: Nari playing with the sewer rats while waiting for the train in New York. Douxie's supportive in her quest to make new friends, but a little squeamish due to his past experiences with the plague. 🐀🚇

Other physical symptoms were definitely something to consider while thinking about it! We know that their human forms do fall ill to whatever risks are there, such as Vex's old "geezer" form to be weaker.

The headcannon was primarily based off of appearances, though. I would like to imagine that Aja would do her best to take care of herself, despite being quite reckless most of the time! I also think that Mothership would've been aware of some of the conditions, and that's why Aja first appears with full-coverage clothing when her human form first appeared (idk Mothership being motherly is great).

The idea just resignated with me since I noticed the way people with albinism (or traits commonly associated with albinism) are often negatively treated in media; either perceived as evil, butt of jokes, etc,. So to have a kind, strong, and lively protagonist with these characteristics, it can be something that's important to someone, even if it's not explicitly said nor canon.

So short answer: yes

I always headcanoned that Aja's human form is genetically related to Krel's, but her's just has albinism.

I say this mainly because they do have similar facial features, such as their noses, large smiles, eye shape (large, a bit more wide-set), and slightly wavy hair texture.

But Aja does have many visual traits of albinism, such as her extremely light hair, skin, and eyes.