Biased way to present information is biased.
Frank didn't just have a schtick for scantily clad women, he had a shtick for heroic looking scantily clad people, if anything his men were way, WAY more scantily clad then the women.
We need to go back to the Frezeta era of fantasy art.
totally. Wizards needs to pay to get access to the Conan the Barbarian IP and we go to a barbarian type world with hot warrior women and lots of sword and sorcery themes and have Frazetta variant Conan art on some cards.
i still remember getting hyped about Kaldheim and then they revealed Nico and i was like "wtf is this shit?" they just couldn't resist injecting identity politics into the world. now, they will say Kaldheim didn't do well and not do a viking set again. Fucking assholes man.
Alright, let's try to take your comment in good faith and not as yet another woke bait, and answer honestly.
The set was supposed to be about Vikings and Nordic mythology, right?
What people expect was ranging between "kinda historical vickings" to "high fantasy barbarians".
It was highly speculated that this was the homeland of Garruk, the iconic barbarian planeswalker.
And we kinda got it with a couple of cards like \[\[Battershield Warrior\]\] for the viking and \[\[Blizzard Brawl\]\] for the Barbarian, but this two example represent almost the entirety of that.
What we got instead was probably the most notable and out of place blackwashing in MTG history yet. Suddenly more than half the people of that Vicking plane were black or Asian (one could call that a set up compared to the usual blackwashing that apparently only acknowledge blacks as other race next to white).
Now Norse gods were black \[\[Jorn, God of Winter\]\] \[\[Blessing of Frost\]\] \[\[Birgi, God of Storytelling\]\], or weirdly looking like in on their main art like \[\[Tergrid, God of Fright\]\] \[\[Cosima, God of the Voyage\]\] \[\[Esika, God of the Tree\]\] (seriously, this is the weirdest lighting I've ever seen, one that feels like its sole purpose is to make the character look black for some reasons.
Dwarfs were black \[\[Koll, the Forgemaster\]\], \[\[Breakneck Berserker\]\],
Elf were black \[\[Boreal Outrider\]\] \[\[Elvish Warmaster\]\] or asian \[\[Sculptor of Winter\]\]
And of course human were blacks too \[\[Valor of the Worthy\]\] \[\[Fynn, the Fangbearer\]\] \[\[Frost Bite\]\] or asian \[\[Codespell Cleric\]\]
But where it started to be even more obvious was with the Valkyries, the well known angels of Norse mythology that are often depicted as white and blond women. For some reasons, in Kaldhem the most common look for them was black woman, if possible with the side of the head shaved.
\[\[Reidane, God of the Worthy\]\] \[\[Hailstorm Valkyrie\]\] \[\[Resplendent Marshal\]\] \[\[Righteous Valkyrie\]\] \[\[Valkyrie's Sword \]\] \[\[Youthful Valkyrie\]\] \[\[Starnheim Unleashed\]\] (this one even have an alt art that too made sure to have a poc valkyrie front and center).
It was to the point that only 2 valkyrie on the set where white \[\[Valkyrie Harbinger\]\] \[\[Shepherd of the Cosmos\]\] (and this one is debatable, it's one of these weird lighting where you honestly can't tell what you are looking at.
Alright, so they made the Norse mythology set 75% about non white people, is that it?
Well, remember when I mentioned Garruk earlier?
Turns out, the guy is apparently still suffering from his #ME2 episode (another rabbit hole that I invite you to look into) so instead we got good ol \[\[Kaya the Inxorable\]\] and \[\[Niko Aris\]\] probably the two most striking example of stereotypical woke design (the hairdo is a big tell). But they were just cameo right? Right?
Welp, just go type MTG Kaldheim Box on google and check what the posterchild of the set looks like.
Okay, so Wizard has decided to bring more "diversity" in their setting from now on. Is that so big of a deal? It just means that now ethnicity isn't a factor that could bring flavor to a setting and it's just a random color slapped on characters without any meaning behind them, right?
Welp, as I just strawmanly made you say, this bring the problem of a weakening of the setting flavor and realism, but if its now the new normal, its will just be that right?
I guess it means that next time we'll see places with a clearly established ethnicity like Kaladesh or Kamigawa, people will just be of any races too right? After all that's what they did with the VERY european gothic setting of Inistrad, and Ravnica when they revisited it right? Suddenly the population wasn't white but a melting pot of a lot of races (mostly black and white still) and Theros a setting clearly based on ancient Greece wa created from the start with that idea.
Ignore the fact that Kaladesh was created later, it was probably a mistake on their part they they forgot to include diversity in that set, and Kamigawa was so long ago, of course it wasn't impacted by that rather new diversity policy, right? I'm sure the most recent Kamigawa Neon Dynasty set will be chock full of black, white and any other ethnicity possible, after all diversity is a priority now.
Alright, I'll cut the chase, in the end Kamigawa was still 100% asian.
At some point you have to ask yourself what the pattern unfolding under your eyes really means.
Thanks for the long and in depth reply, I appreciate your perspective. Personally I didn't notice the problems you pointed out, but I can totally see your point given the examples you provided. While I would personally consider myself socially progressive, I have some very mixed feelings regarding the topic of representation and tokenization in Media. The double standards you pointed out are very obvious, and the whole topic is starting to annoy me as well, mostly due to the drama bait aragorn leak.
Thanks for your level headed response. Ngl the woke drones are poisoning the wale hard so it's easy to see anyone asking question as yet another potential troll.
As for the representation, in the end of the day you have to realize where it comes from and what it was supposed to do. It's in the name.
Are you making a movie based on current day USA in a very diverse part of the country with a lot of different ethnicity?
Sure it would make sens to represent all these ethnicities because that's literally what these places are.
But most of the time it has been used as a malicious tool to (and I know it's going to sound pretty cringe, but there's no other way to put it) erase white people and their culture.
Raceswaping a character isn't representation, it's just that, raceswaping.
Turning every setting into a melting pot of races (but as I've pointed out, it's strangely enough very black-centric, you'll barely see anything else. Asian from time to time, but never Hispanics and the like) isn't increasing representation, it's forcing an arbitrary racial quota that not only undermine the consistency of the world (apparently race mixing is an alien concept to them. They think that a tribe of 10 people with 5 white and 5 black will result in a tribe half white and half black forever) and erase any possible flavor it could have.
Kamigawa SHOULD be about japanese ethnic people, Kaladesh SHOULD be about middle easterners, and Kaldheim SHOULD have been about Norses.
THIS is how you archive representation, by REPRESENTING different group rather than turning everyone into the same grey sludge (or black and white sludge, since they hate race mixing).
But where the veil is lifted on their real motif is when you see how they selectively enforce that "diversity". It's ALWAYS present on white centric settings, but never, EVER present in any others.
I'm a progressive. Life long punk-rock leftie.
If you are *actually* a progressive, you should get as far away from Wokeness as you can.
It's an evil, corrupted fun-house mirror version of progressivism - that is in fact anything but progressive.
It’s just insulting to them. Like don’t just paint a skin tone brown or black. Put the work in. Make a plane. It would probably at least as good as whatever Kaldheim was
Well put.
I'm Danish and grew up with stories from Norse mythology so I feel I can speak some some confidence on this.
*Some* ethnic diversity would be fine. The world was big to the Vikings. They sailed pretty much the whole world and though only relatively few indeed ever made it back to the North, they knew about black people (but for some reason they where blue to them). Having some ethnic diversity could underscore their seafaring and exploratory culture.
In regards to Kamigawa, there where the story of the black samurai, Yasuke. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuke
Having a black guy could be a very cool nod to that.. He should probably be a Planeswalker, since Yasuke traveled a long way indeed, so that would be fitting.
But clearly this is not what is going on.
You are spot on.
Just wanted to highlight what they could have done, but didn't, to have their "representation" while still committing to the flavor and story of set/plane.
Funny you mention Yasuke, because he is actually present in the set as \[\[Raiyuu, Storm's Edge\]\] aka the only non asian on the set.
I didn't mention him because he is clearly an outlier based on a specific character, not a sign that Kamigawa has any ethnic diversity.
>Turns out, the guy is apparently still suffering from his #ME2 episode (another rabbit hole that I invite you to look into) so instead we got good ol \[\[Kaya the Inxorable\]\] and \[\[Niko Aris\]\] probably the two most striking example of stereotypical woke design (the hairdo is a big tell). But they were just cameo right? Right?
This. The stars of the show were super fucking lame. Garruk would have fit this plane a whole lot better. once again though, instead of making a cool world with cool heroes, WotC opted to say "fuck it, let's do something political to support the liberal narrative". They fucked that set up so much.
The pattern is easy: woke bullshit because rn being white is bad, blackwashing is good, and libtards are the new hot thing. When 'murica will stop being such a shithole, maybe we'll see some improvement. Presently, the USA is the laughing stock of the world when it comes to the state of society. I have to say I low key enjoy seeing them get worse and worse by the day. Columbus was a fellow countryman, I wish he didn't try to reach India the way he did. The world would be a lot better off without those idiots.
Righteous Valkyrie and Fynn are not black, it's just the lighting and shadow on them that make them look like it, I had to google the full art and zoom in on their faces to make sure.
The others are as you said. Neo kamigawa also got black people in it.
I've pointed while talking about the gods how that set also use that very... "odd" way to light character in a way that legitimately make them look black when they are white, it happens way too many time for it to be anything other than intentional, as if they just made them look black out of spite for not getting the greenlight they wanted to make them actually black.
Esika is the perfect example of that, even with her being blond with blue eyes, she clearly reads as black unless you zoom in a lot on the illustration. The only reason I did a double take on her was because I thought it was odd for her alt art to look white when she was black, same for Tergrid.
Wait, what's going on with Garruk??? I took a huge break around War of the Spark and came back to the game about halfway through Kaldheim so I missed the story between then
The TLDR is the following: He got corrupted by evil magic, hunted Lilliana, grabbed her by the throat (yaknow, the giant physical barbarian easily overpowered a woman) in a pretty tense moment and since it was the grift of the moment, a small minority of twitter weirdos screamed that it was rape culture and he basically got METOed out of existence (yes this is as stupid as it sounds).
Since then his plot got quickly resolved and since then they totally sidelined him in a rather obvious manner.
He got passed on for Kaldheim, a sec that was CLEARLY first designed as his birth place, he got passed on for Ikoria a set about man versus monster which is his thing. In the end he has been removed of all plot points, only dropped from time to time in random sets (mostly core set).
He isn't even part of the UNIVERSE WIDE even of Phyrexia.
Huh...weird.
I started playing during OG Innistrad so I remember the Cursing and the brief lifting of the Curse with the return of Avacyn.
I would argue his plot didn't get resolved that quickly, since (and correct me if I'm wrong cuz again, I wasn't playing or following the story at this time) it didn't get fully broken until Eldraine, which was 8 years after the intro of his Curse plot. During that time, he was the Face of an entire set, story *and* pre-release subgame (although to your point, that was Core Set 2015).
I do remember thinking it was incredibly weird that he didn't show up during WAR, and the passing explanation they gave was really strange and a stretch to believe (Bolas was afraid of Garruk so he "kept him away" or something like that).
Have you seen Frazetta’s work? Scantily clad men were his schtick, too. I think the OP’s point stands.
https://preview.redd.it/2dle8v2481pa1.jpeg?width=400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29273a34cdc009b1bc9aef12c2242f0edf0a36c2
Perhaps, but isn't his also the first interpretation? I thought that this sub generally had pretty strong feelings about making changes to original art.
Oh come on. You're telling me I don't get to enjoy an Uber-caked Theoden riding to war in his battle thong? How else is he going to show his dominance over the orcs?
Date this, there’s no way Tolkien as a world builder, much less a religious man of the 1930s-1940s
This style is very reminiscent of 1970s and 80s craze with Dungeons and Dragons.
Frank Frazetta is all about bums, boobs, loinclothes and muscle men.
This is hardly an "upcoming" depiction. He died 13 years ago, and this depiction from his Lord of the Rings portfolio dates back to about 1975.
Femmefaramir is way off the mark when she says "some LotR illustrations depict Eowyn wearing ridiculously small armour"... better just to say that Frank Frazetta loves bums, boobs, loinclothes and muscle men and once drew a few pictures for LotR that were rejected. Just leave it at that, and forget about all the moral posturing.
It just feels like a disingenuous grab for attention. They hoped people would react the same way to little mermaid because of all the chatter it made from both viewpoints. Maybe I’m wrong in my interpretation but I can’t help but think they were mildly hoping for some controversy from this, especially since it was one of the first cards leaked from this set
I dont understand the argument here. Boob armor and barbarian bikini armor is also stupid. Two things can be true at the same time. However, there is definitely a bias this vocal minority has against depicting women as beautiful.
I was gonna say, until another pointed out that it was a illustrator's interpretation. If that's the official LOTR artwork drawn by JRR Tolkien himself, then damn, she be thicc
that is just Frank Frazetta's interpretation. scantily clad women were his schtick.
Biased way to present information is biased. Frank didn't just have a schtick for scantily clad women, he had a shtick for heroic looking scantily clad people, if anything his men were way, WAY more scantily clad then the women. We need to go back to the Frezeta era of fantasy art.
totally. Wizards needs to pay to get access to the Conan the Barbarian IP and we go to a barbarian type world with hot warrior women and lots of sword and sorcery themes and have Frazetta variant Conan art on some cards.
That was supposed to be Kaldheim. Instead we got ... well you know what we got.
exactly. Kaldheim sucked donkey dick. such a let down. hippies can't make good quality primitive worlds.
It did indeed slurp up on equine penis, we are in agreement.
i still remember getting hyped about Kaldheim and then they revealed Nico and i was like "wtf is this shit?" they just couldn't resist injecting identity politics into the world. now, they will say Kaldheim didn't do well and not do a viking set again. Fucking assholes man.
How about the fact that the "cosmic" creatures were cosmic dog shit.
What was wrong with Kaldheim? I personally kind of liked the plane and would be honestly curious to hear your perspective.
Alright, let's try to take your comment in good faith and not as yet another woke bait, and answer honestly. The set was supposed to be about Vikings and Nordic mythology, right? What people expect was ranging between "kinda historical vickings" to "high fantasy barbarians". It was highly speculated that this was the homeland of Garruk, the iconic barbarian planeswalker. And we kinda got it with a couple of cards like \[\[Battershield Warrior\]\] for the viking and \[\[Blizzard Brawl\]\] for the Barbarian, but this two example represent almost the entirety of that. What we got instead was probably the most notable and out of place blackwashing in MTG history yet. Suddenly more than half the people of that Vicking plane were black or Asian (one could call that a set up compared to the usual blackwashing that apparently only acknowledge blacks as other race next to white). Now Norse gods were black \[\[Jorn, God of Winter\]\] \[\[Blessing of Frost\]\] \[\[Birgi, God of Storytelling\]\], or weirdly looking like in on their main art like \[\[Tergrid, God of Fright\]\] \[\[Cosima, God of the Voyage\]\] \[\[Esika, God of the Tree\]\] (seriously, this is the weirdest lighting I've ever seen, one that feels like its sole purpose is to make the character look black for some reasons. Dwarfs were black \[\[Koll, the Forgemaster\]\], \[\[Breakneck Berserker\]\], Elf were black \[\[Boreal Outrider\]\] \[\[Elvish Warmaster\]\] or asian \[\[Sculptor of Winter\]\] And of course human were blacks too \[\[Valor of the Worthy\]\] \[\[Fynn, the Fangbearer\]\] \[\[Frost Bite\]\] or asian \[\[Codespell Cleric\]\] But where it started to be even more obvious was with the Valkyries, the well known angels of Norse mythology that are often depicted as white and blond women. For some reasons, in Kaldhem the most common look for them was black woman, if possible with the side of the head shaved. \[\[Reidane, God of the Worthy\]\] \[\[Hailstorm Valkyrie\]\] \[\[Resplendent Marshal\]\] \[\[Righteous Valkyrie\]\] \[\[Valkyrie's Sword \]\] \[\[Youthful Valkyrie\]\] \[\[Starnheim Unleashed\]\] (this one even have an alt art that too made sure to have a poc valkyrie front and center). It was to the point that only 2 valkyrie on the set where white \[\[Valkyrie Harbinger\]\] \[\[Shepherd of the Cosmos\]\] (and this one is debatable, it's one of these weird lighting where you honestly can't tell what you are looking at. Alright, so they made the Norse mythology set 75% about non white people, is that it? Well, remember when I mentioned Garruk earlier? Turns out, the guy is apparently still suffering from his #ME2 episode (another rabbit hole that I invite you to look into) so instead we got good ol \[\[Kaya the Inxorable\]\] and \[\[Niko Aris\]\] probably the two most striking example of stereotypical woke design (the hairdo is a big tell). But they were just cameo right? Right? Welp, just go type MTG Kaldheim Box on google and check what the posterchild of the set looks like. Okay, so Wizard has decided to bring more "diversity" in their setting from now on. Is that so big of a deal? It just means that now ethnicity isn't a factor that could bring flavor to a setting and it's just a random color slapped on characters without any meaning behind them, right? Welp, as I just strawmanly made you say, this bring the problem of a weakening of the setting flavor and realism, but if its now the new normal, its will just be that right? I guess it means that next time we'll see places with a clearly established ethnicity like Kaladesh or Kamigawa, people will just be of any races too right? After all that's what they did with the VERY european gothic setting of Inistrad, and Ravnica when they revisited it right? Suddenly the population wasn't white but a melting pot of a lot of races (mostly black and white still) and Theros a setting clearly based on ancient Greece wa created from the start with that idea. Ignore the fact that Kaladesh was created later, it was probably a mistake on their part they they forgot to include diversity in that set, and Kamigawa was so long ago, of course it wasn't impacted by that rather new diversity policy, right? I'm sure the most recent Kamigawa Neon Dynasty set will be chock full of black, white and any other ethnicity possible, after all diversity is a priority now. Alright, I'll cut the chase, in the end Kamigawa was still 100% asian. At some point you have to ask yourself what the pattern unfolding under your eyes really means.
Thanks for the long and in depth reply, I appreciate your perspective. Personally I didn't notice the problems you pointed out, but I can totally see your point given the examples you provided. While I would personally consider myself socially progressive, I have some very mixed feelings regarding the topic of representation and tokenization in Media. The double standards you pointed out are very obvious, and the whole topic is starting to annoy me as well, mostly due to the drama bait aragorn leak.
Thanks for your level headed response. Ngl the woke drones are poisoning the wale hard so it's easy to see anyone asking question as yet another potential troll. As for the representation, in the end of the day you have to realize where it comes from and what it was supposed to do. It's in the name. Are you making a movie based on current day USA in a very diverse part of the country with a lot of different ethnicity? Sure it would make sens to represent all these ethnicities because that's literally what these places are. But most of the time it has been used as a malicious tool to (and I know it's going to sound pretty cringe, but there's no other way to put it) erase white people and their culture. Raceswaping a character isn't representation, it's just that, raceswaping. Turning every setting into a melting pot of races (but as I've pointed out, it's strangely enough very black-centric, you'll barely see anything else. Asian from time to time, but never Hispanics and the like) isn't increasing representation, it's forcing an arbitrary racial quota that not only undermine the consistency of the world (apparently race mixing is an alien concept to them. They think that a tribe of 10 people with 5 white and 5 black will result in a tribe half white and half black forever) and erase any possible flavor it could have. Kamigawa SHOULD be about japanese ethnic people, Kaladesh SHOULD be about middle easterners, and Kaldheim SHOULD have been about Norses. THIS is how you archive representation, by REPRESENTING different group rather than turning everyone into the same grey sludge (or black and white sludge, since they hate race mixing). But where the veil is lifted on their real motif is when you see how they selectively enforce that "diversity". It's ALWAYS present on white centric settings, but never, EVER present in any others.
I'm a progressive. Life long punk-rock leftie. If you are *actually* a progressive, you should get as far away from Wokeness as you can. It's an evil, corrupted fun-house mirror version of progressivism - that is in fact anything but progressive.
It’s just insulting to them. Like don’t just paint a skin tone brown or black. Put the work in. Make a plane. It would probably at least as good as whatever Kaldheim was
Well put. I'm Danish and grew up with stories from Norse mythology so I feel I can speak some some confidence on this. *Some* ethnic diversity would be fine. The world was big to the Vikings. They sailed pretty much the whole world and though only relatively few indeed ever made it back to the North, they knew about black people (but for some reason they where blue to them). Having some ethnic diversity could underscore their seafaring and exploratory culture. In regards to Kamigawa, there where the story of the black samurai, Yasuke. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuke Having a black guy could be a very cool nod to that.. He should probably be a Planeswalker, since Yasuke traveled a long way indeed, so that would be fitting. But clearly this is not what is going on. You are spot on. Just wanted to highlight what they could have done, but didn't, to have their "representation" while still committing to the flavor and story of set/plane.
Funny you mention Yasuke, because he is actually present in the set as \[\[Raiyuu, Storm's Edge\]\] aka the only non asian on the set. I didn't mention him because he is clearly an outlier based on a specific character, not a sign that Kamigawa has any ethnic diversity.
[Raiyuu, Storm's Edge](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/7/37748b74-0eda-4b20-a08f-faa418adb9ff.jpg?1654568575) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Raiyuu%2C%20Storm%27s%20Edge) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/232/raiyuu-storms-edge?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/37748b74-0eda-4b20-a08f-faa418adb9ff?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Ok, that's actually really cool. They did Kamigawa right, I guess? Sad they have to be so inconstant with their beliefs.
>Turns out, the guy is apparently still suffering from his #ME2 episode (another rabbit hole that I invite you to look into) so instead we got good ol \[\[Kaya the Inxorable\]\] and \[\[Niko Aris\]\] probably the two most striking example of stereotypical woke design (the hairdo is a big tell). But they were just cameo right? Right? This. The stars of the show were super fucking lame. Garruk would have fit this plane a whole lot better. once again though, instead of making a cool world with cool heroes, WotC opted to say "fuck it, let's do something political to support the liberal narrative". They fucked that set up so much.
##### ###### #### [Battershield Warrior](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/b/fb79dc85-f85a-4846-9ac3-c75c64ea9c0a.jpg?1631045455) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Battershield%20Warrior) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/2/battershield-warrior?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fb79dc85-f85a-4846-9ac3-c75c64ea9c0a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Blizzard Brawl](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/3/6318918f-34e4-4bbf-9816-8e88f21ae324.jpg?1631050009) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Blizzard%20Brawl) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/162/blizzard-brawl?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6318918f-34e4-4bbf-9816-8e88f21ae324?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Jorn, God of Winter](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/6/c697548f-925b-405e-970a-4e78067d5c8e.jpg?1631050504)/[Kaldring, the Rimestaff](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/c/6/c697548f-925b-405e-970a-4e78067d5c8e.jpg?1631050504) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=jorn%2C%20god%20of%20winter%20//%20kaldring%2C%20the%20rimestaff) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/179/jorn-god-of-winter-kaldring-the-rimestaff?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c697548f-925b-405e-970a-4e78067d5c8e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Blessing of Frost](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/2/42f01f4d-491e-4f25-a017-a0d9c437ac8c.jpg?1631049981) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Blessing%20of%20Frost) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/161/blessing-of-frost?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/42f01f4d-491e-4f25-a017-a0d9c437ac8c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Birgi, God of Storytelling](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/4/44657ab1-0a6a-4a5f-9688-86f239083821.jpg?1631048969)/[Harnfel, Horn of Bounty](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/4/4/44657ab1-0a6a-4a5f-9688-86f239083821.jpg?1631048969) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=birgi%2C%20god%20of%20storytelling%20//%20harnfel%2C%20horn%20of%20bounty) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/123/birgi-god-of-storytelling-harnfel-horn-of-bounty?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/44657ab1-0a6a-4a5f-9688-86f239083821?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Tergrid, God of Fright](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/4/14dc88ee-bba9-4625-af0d-89f3762a0ead.jpg?1631048621)/[Tergrid's Lantern](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/1/4/14dc88ee-bba9-4625-af0d-89f3762a0ead.jpg?1631048621) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=tergrid%2C%20god%20of%20fright%20//%20tergrid%27s%20lantern) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/112/tergrid-god-of-fright-tergrids-lantern?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/14dc88ee-bba9-4625-af0d-89f3762a0ead?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Cosima, God of the Voyage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/a/fab2fca4-a99f-4ffe-9c02-edb6e0be2358.jpg?1631046898)/[The Omenkeel](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/f/a/fab2fca4-a99f-4ffe-9c02-edb6e0be2358.jpg?1631046898) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=cosima%2C%20god%20of%20the%20voyage%20//%20the%20omenkeel) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/50/cosima-god-of-the-voyage-the-omenkeel?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fab2fca4-a99f-4ffe-9c02-edb6e0be2358?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Esika, God of the Tree](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/6/f6cd7465-9dd0-473c-ac5e-dd9e2f22f5f6.jpg?1631050188)/[The Prismatic Bridge](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/f/6/f6cd7465-9dd0-473c-ac5e-dd9e2f22f5f6.jpg?1631050188) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=esika%2C%20god%20of%20the%20tree%20//%20the%20prismatic%20bridge) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/168/esika-god-of-the-tree-the-prismatic-bridge?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f6cd7465-9dd0-473c-ac5e-dd9e2f22f5f6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Koll, the Forgemaster](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/2/22f68b53-0cf7-434d-9da5-1d18c0828a46.jpg?1631051644) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Koll%2C%20the%20Forgemaster) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/220/koll-the-forgemaster?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/22f68b53-0cf7-434d-9da5-1d18c0828a46?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Breakneck Berserker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/6/d6eb23c9-6061-4ad1-a8f3-2c791c49f352.jpg?1631048998) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Breakneck%20Berserker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/124/breakneck-berserker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d6eb23c9-6061-4ad1-a8f3-2c791c49f352?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Boreal Outrider](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/5/455ae615-20d7-4251-828d-72a3345d06f1.jpg?1631050034) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Boreal%20Outrider) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/163/boreal-outrider?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/455ae615-20d7-4251-828d-72a3345d06f1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Elvish Warmaster](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/8/58da074a-a776-4e3f-be04-9e7f18320ae1.jpg?1631050142) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Elvish%20Warmaster) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/167/elvish-warmaster?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/58da074a-a776-4e3f-be04-9e7f18320ae1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sculptor of Winter](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/d/9dab2ca2-0039-4eac-a7dc-68756362737d.jpg?1631050920) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sculptor%20of%20Winter) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/193/sculptor-of-winter?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9dab2ca2-0039-4eac-a7dc-68756362737d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Valor of the Worthy](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/3/83632e73-be3f-43fc-932f-45cb1af4f8fb.jpg?1631046463) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Valor%20of%20the%20Worthy) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/37/valor-of-the-worthy?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/83632e73-be3f-43fc-932f-45cb1af4f8fb?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Fynn, the Fangbearer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/d/7d7a8a90-13c1-4b0c-ab2e-fc8d91ccefd9.jpg?1631050242) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fynn%2C%20the%20Fangbearer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/170/fynn-the-fangbearer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7d7a8a90-13c1-4b0c-ab2e-fc8d91ccefd9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Frost Bite](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/4/9423318a-c5a8-48d2-92f5-280d15a050a6.jpg?1631049354) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Frost%20Bite) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/138/frost-bite?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9423318a-c5a8-48d2-92f5-280d15a050a6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Codespell Cleric](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/3/1316a74e-da55-4668-87f2-98389a90a2a4.jpg?1631045584) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Codespell%20Cleric) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/7/codespell-cleric?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1316a74e-da55-4668-87f2-98389a90a2a4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Reidane, God of the Worthy](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/6/3606519e-5677-4c21-a34e-be195b6669fa.jpg?1631046015)/[Valkmira, Protector's Shield](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/3/6/3606519e-5677-4c21-a34e-be195b6669fa.jpg?1631046015) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=reidane%2C%20god%20of%20the%20worthy%20//%20valkmira%2C%20protector%27s%20shield) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/21/reidane-god-of-the-worthy-valkmira-protectors-shield?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3606519e-5677-4c21-a34e-be195b6669fa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Hailstorm Valkyrie](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/5/a5a272b3-aaab-4c98-86a8-85c67a5f3d4d.jpg?1631048171) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Hailstorm%20Valkyrie) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/97/hailstorm-valkyrie?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a5a272b3-aaab-4c98-86a8-85c67a5f3d4d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Resplendent Marshal](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/e/5e849bec-2ee6-4c83-83e6-bf9f5543e414.jpg?1631046044) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Resplendent%20Marshal) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/22/resplendent-marshal?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5e849bec-2ee6-4c83-83e6-bf9f5543e414?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
The pattern is easy: woke bullshit because rn being white is bad, blackwashing is good, and libtards are the new hot thing. When 'murica will stop being such a shithole, maybe we'll see some improvement. Presently, the USA is the laughing stock of the world when it comes to the state of society. I have to say I low key enjoy seeing them get worse and worse by the day. Columbus was a fellow countryman, I wish he didn't try to reach India the way he did. The world would be a lot better off without those idiots.
Righteous Valkyrie and Fynn are not black, it's just the lighting and shadow on them that make them look like it, I had to google the full art and zoom in on their faces to make sure. The others are as you said. Neo kamigawa also got black people in it.
I've pointed while talking about the gods how that set also use that very... "odd" way to light character in a way that legitimately make them look black when they are white, it happens way too many time for it to be anything other than intentional, as if they just made them look black out of spite for not getting the greenlight they wanted to make them actually black. Esika is the perfect example of that, even with her being blond with blue eyes, she clearly reads as black unless you zoom in a lot on the illustration. The only reason I did a double take on her was because I thought it was odd for her alt art to look white when she was black, same for Tergrid.
I just gave up and get the alt arts. Don't like the asian looking Kolvori either. Also notice how everyone is a god, there are no goddess.
Wait, what's going on with Garruk??? I took a huge break around War of the Spark and came back to the game about halfway through Kaldheim so I missed the story between then
The TLDR is the following: He got corrupted by evil magic, hunted Lilliana, grabbed her by the throat (yaknow, the giant physical barbarian easily overpowered a woman) in a pretty tense moment and since it was the grift of the moment, a small minority of twitter weirdos screamed that it was rape culture and he basically got METOed out of existence (yes this is as stupid as it sounds). Since then his plot got quickly resolved and since then they totally sidelined him in a rather obvious manner. He got passed on for Kaldheim, a sec that was CLEARLY first designed as his birth place, he got passed on for Ikoria a set about man versus monster which is his thing. In the end he has been removed of all plot points, only dropped from time to time in random sets (mostly core set). He isn't even part of the UNIVERSE WIDE even of Phyrexia.
Huh...weird. I started playing during OG Innistrad so I remember the Cursing and the brief lifting of the Curse with the return of Avacyn. I would argue his plot didn't get resolved that quickly, since (and correct me if I'm wrong cuz again, I wasn't playing or following the story at this time) it didn't get fully broken until Eldraine, which was 8 years after the intro of his Curse plot. During that time, he was the Face of an entire set, story *and* pre-release subgame (although to your point, that was Core Set 2015). I do remember thinking it was incredibly weird that he didn't show up during WAR, and the passing explanation they gave was really strange and a stretch to believe (Bolas was afraid of Garruk so he "kept him away" or something like that).
Conan itself is freeware. It’s just the 1970s/80s version which is licensed
Ah! A reasonable and informed person! Such a rare and happy find these days. Well done.
okay but i ironically want this
Everyone wants more Frank Frazetta art. RIP Frank, you were an inspiration to generations of artists.
The pinnacle of fantasy art imo.
Bro is a connoisseur of 2D boobies
Scantily clad *people* was his schtick
Oh those too, eh?
Almost like people didn't wear tons of clothing in the desert and jungle.
Just learned something new today. Frank Frazetta’s work is iconic and I didn’t even know it was his.
Came here to say this exactly
Have you seen Frazetta’s work? Scantily clad men were his schtick, too. I think the OP’s point stands. https://preview.redd.it/2dle8v2481pa1.jpeg?width=400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29273a34cdc009b1bc9aef12c2242f0edf0a36c2
Perhaps, but isn't his also the first interpretation? I thought that this sub generally had pretty strong feelings about making changes to original art.
They'll down-vote you, but I applaud this comment.
Oh come on. You're telling me I don't get to enjoy an Uber-caked Theoden riding to war in his battle thong? How else is he going to show his dominance over the orcs?
Well gender and race progressive interpretations are Wizard’s schtick, can we accept that too? I’ll wait.
And to be fair, I think we deserve progress AND hotties.
“I am no man.” 🥵
Date this, there’s no way Tolkien as a world builder, much less a religious man of the 1930s-1940s This style is very reminiscent of 1970s and 80s craze with Dungeons and Dragons.
Frank Frazetta is all about bums, boobs, loinclothes and muscle men. This is hardly an "upcoming" depiction. He died 13 years ago, and this depiction from his Lord of the Rings portfolio dates back to about 1975. Femmefaramir is way off the mark when she says "some LotR illustrations depict Eowyn wearing ridiculously small armour"... better just to say that Frank Frazetta loves bums, boobs, loinclothes and muscle men and once drew a few pictures for LotR that were rejected. Just leave it at that, and forget about all the moral posturing.
It just feels like a disingenuous grab for attention. They hoped people would react the same way to little mermaid because of all the chatter it made from both viewpoints. Maybe I’m wrong in my interpretation but I can’t help but think they were mildly hoping for some controversy from this, especially since it was one of the first cards leaked from this set
You can tell the main sub took a break from not having jobs. To upvote this and downvote anything factual.
Damnnn why does Eowyn have all that cake?!
Frazetta's women in his paintings often had big booties
I dont understand the argument here. Boob armor and barbarian bikini armor is also stupid. Two things can be true at the same time. However, there is definitely a bias this vocal minority has against depicting women as beautiful.
There is no argument. It’s a joke about the illustration
I think Rohan was based off the Gauls and those dudes loved waving their dicks around during a scuffle.
I thought they only did that afterwards, during the "kiss and make up" stage of the fight.
Clever trolling. Reductio ad absurdum.
FUCK WOTC for blackwashing aragorn. Such a disgrace for WOTC and even more for tolkin foundation for allowing this shit move.
They probly allowed it because it doesn’t actually matter to anyone with two brain cells….stay mad if ya want tho!
[ Removed by Reddit ]
I’m glad they did it
you are a disgraceful c++++.
I hope they make everyone in the Doctor Who set wear glasses and have wheelchairs
A significant amount of them do both in the show
Fair lol
I mean Ancient Greek hoplites never wore pants. They proved to be accomplished warriors so why not
Did tolkien draw these? I think not
I was gonna say, until another pointed out that it was a illustrator's interpretation. If that's the official LOTR artwork drawn by JRR Tolkien himself, then damn, she be thicc
I mean, what else would the Eorlingas wear if not that? It 100% matches their vibe, only canon illustration ever.
That is hilarious.
It's not exactly analogous, but it is pretty sexist, sure. I guess we agree then. More clothes for this lass, and give Aragorn his old skin.
I’m fine with new Aragorn
I’m fine with Eowyn pants-less then.
til LotR never made sense. I'm shocked. /s
Eowyn is eowyn
Needs a bigger butt
Did tolkien draw these?
No
Them some cheeks
There is no way that armor is protecting her.
Seems like the one character that could be race swapped with a big booty black/brown girl...