which is fine to make a design that is merely /inspired/ by qilin, imo!
but it feels hella condescending and white guilt-y to have several paragraphs about wanting to be culturally sensitive and "leaning into" the qilin inspiration and then they show us a horse/unicorn dragon with paws. i think the design is pretty, fwiw, and im excited to see that foal.
but it's got about as much in common with a qilin as obelisks do with guardian lions/shishi. which is to say that there's an obvious Inspira there, but it's not A Qilin, nor is it "fully leaning into" the inspiration.
It does feel, as you put it, "white guilt-y", but I don't think it's performative or intended to be condescending. I think staff has just been burned by the type of fanbase FR has cultivated in the last decade one too many times and are playing it safe. (From their perspective. I think they're damned if they do and damned if they don't and am not sure I would have handled this the way they did, TBH.)
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Re: Wind Ancient
(Anonymous) 2025-05-07 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)which is fine to make a design that is merely /inspired/ by qilin, imo!
but it feels hella condescending and white guilt-y to have several paragraphs about wanting to be culturally sensitive and "leaning into" the qilin inspiration and then they show us a horse/unicorn dragon with paws. i think the design is pretty, fwiw, and im excited to see that foal.
but it's got about as much in common with a qilin as obelisks do with guardian lions/shishi. which is to say that there's an obvious Inspira there, but it's not A Qilin, nor is it "fully leaning into" the inspiration.
Re: Wind Ancient
(Anonymous) 2025-05-09 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)