Personally, I'd love to see Alexander dress as a character from one of Subeta's books, like Bumbles for instance, rather than any real-world literary character.

I agree with Chat, Bumbles would be flipping adorable.

Ohhh yes, I third Bumbles xD

I like that idea! It's always fun to see new Bumbles books released.

throwing in my support too! i love all the suggestions that have been said and would be happy to see his outfit changed to any of them

I don't mind a change of outfit. However, I'd like a bit more of separation between books and authors.

I kinda dread to think that somebody related to a decades-long franchise might get a moment of notoriety. Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who...

For some people Harry Potter books were/are their magical world. With a definite article THE. A world that made them believe in friendship, get reading at all, etc, etc.

No matter what the author said in a social media years after author-ing, that world she's created years before is not at fault. Nor are the readers who loved that world. So, telling them "But she's horrible!" every time anything HP-related is mentioned is... not really nice. A white owl might do for a symbol of magic - it's not fair for it to be turned into a symbol of "why JKR is bad", along with, yes, a whole imaginary world.

Thinking about stuff you dislike every time you see a bird in white or a scarf in red and gold, being sad/mad at it - that's letting that bad stuff live in your head, rent-free. Letting negative associations ruin a magic is letting the negative win.

Furthermore, it's creating more and more unpleasantness. Even people who didn't know get pulled into the scandal. Some would say "But we're spreading the word that X is horrible!", I find such things a bit like a news feed: even if bad things make up a tiny fraction of all the things in the world, there are enough of them to read for 24 hours a day; in fact, the publicity suggests that there are only bad things around that I can't do a thing about.

Does the world need more people feeling helplessly frustrated at everything far away and fearful of everything that might get close enough to see? No, fear and frustration was the cause of at least half of those bad things in the news.

People being unpleasant to an unpleasant person is sometimes necessary, but trying to erase all mention of everything the unpleasant person did, good and bad, is 1. overkill and 2. creating too much unpleasantness all around if a few million folk do it at once.

Thus ends the speech in defence of ideas against their proponents and worlds of fiction against some reactions to some of the stuff done by their implementers(/creators?). I'd write a shorter speech, except I couldn't without loss of whatever sense I tried to make.

On costumes proper: I'd loooove more obscure stuff, like Ibbotson's "The Secret of Platform 13" or Nix's "The Seventh Tower" or Rodda's "Rowan of Rin" (or some other hidden gem to discover, all "10 books to read" lists are stuff I've read by now :/). Or less-known mythology. Subetan mythology is also cool. In any case, some link to what the costume's about would probably be needed for less-known books/films/items/other... but something that's too recognisable is getting boring a bit. Ahh, the philosophy of shout-outs!..

I understand your feelings. Separating the art from the artist can be done in regards to personal feelings, but action is different.

For example, I still appreciate the feelings / experiences that I had in reading / watching the HP works. I can still read them from time to time or watch them from time to time and enjoy those feelings for what they were. But, I cannot ethically do or promote anything that provides financial gain to someone who I know is harming others. Any purchase of HP branded merchandise of any kind provides financial gain. And in this case the author has openly stated that she sees any support of her works as support of her views. So not only does it provide financial gain, it bolsters her voice and makes her believe others support her harmful stances. Additionally, I know that she actively causes harm to people. Though I still can, at times, enjoy the stories - bringing the series up, promoting it, trying to get others into it, etc (especially without very clearly and loudly addressing the issues involved) creates pain. It creates a situation where I am saying "my personal enjoyment of this work is more important than the safety of others" and where those around me who belong to groups she attacks feel unsafe because I have now created a likelihood that I support those harmful views. If a creator is harmful, if they have dangerous views, if they use their resources to hurt others - we cannot separate our support for their work from them, because our support for their work benefits them and in some cases allows them to cause harm. So for me, if I already have the book or movie (or whatever it may be for a given individual) great! I can still enjoy that. If I don't, I'm going to look for it second-hand so that if I purchase it it does not benefit the creator. If I want to talk about it with people, I consider first if it is harmful to them, and I always speak up about the issues if I am also going to speak about the works. It can be a bummer for sure, to have to not get more things from a work that you have personal attachment to because now that purchase power is aiding harm. But I think in the end not being harmful is more important.

To your example of a white owl, or a scarf of certain colors - I think that's a bit of hyperbole. I don't know of anyone who has decided that all white owls, or all robes, or all wands, or all any single thing that is not purely specific to this work is "not okay". Now, a white owl holding a wand in their beak with a scarf of certain colors - that's pretty clearly a reference to the works. For a site like Subeta to opt to have a NPC wearing a costume from the works of someone who is loudly and actively harming others when they could choose from any number of other options and when they know that imagery seen as supporting the works / author may be harmful to members of the community? It's understandable why it would be asked that this is changed.

I don't think anyone is saying that a work cannot be enjoyed or appreciated on a personal or individual level. Rather what is being said is - it is not ethical to continue to show support for or support an individual who is actively and knowingly harming others.

While there is a lot of bad in the world and it can feel overwhelming, it is also important to bring light to issues so that we as a global community can continue to grow our education, understanding, and empathy. When we discuss issues socially, we become able to use our collective power to create change. It's important that we try as individuals to not exclusively share "bad news" and to share it in ways that try to focus on how we can help. It's also important that we as individuals are self-aware and seek out ways to balance the emotionally heavy information we take in with healing or refreshing information. Ultimately, if we are doing or saying something that makes someone feel hurt or unsafe, we need to be open to that feedback. We may not always end up feeling that we have any responsibility to change our actions, but we need to be able to hear others and hold up their feedback against our personal values to determine our actions going forward.

These are my thoughts and feelings, coming from my own core values. You may or may not agree (or may partially agree), and that's okay. Hopefully presenting this perspective adds to the conversation and offers things for consideration in regards to words and actions going forward.

To the Core Topic - I like your idea as well of linking to the lore related to the costume! I think having a Subeta character is such a fun idea and it could be cool to see that used as a way to expand the community's connection to / interaction with the site lore! Long term it could be super fun to eventually have a plot that includes all the NPCs having costumes and links to certain lore that helps move the plot along!

Alexander has a new morostide outfit now!!!

SPOILER (click to toggle)

What's that a reference to?

EDIT:

WHO DREW THIS OMG

Not only is he the CUTEST THING ON THIS SITE but holy crap thank you staff for hearing the voices of community members and taking into consideration keeping Subeta as safe and welcoming a place as possible

This new outfit is beyond beautiful. I'm in awe!!

Omg he is precious!!!!

I love this new costume! I like that it ties-in to more Subeta-specific lore too.

His new outfit is awesome and I love that he's holding a bumbles book to help explain his outfit for anyone who maybe hasn't stumbled across the series floating around subeta.

I was going to say both of these! Agree!

I'm so glad that they changed Alex's costume which is extra adorable! I need his hat and satchel for real now! ♥

The same artist that has done his other outfits throughout the year! I'll see if they want to reveal themselves. 👀

Ohhhh! He's for real one of my favorites and I love seeing his changes throughout. If they don't want to reveal themselves that's of course okay! But if you wouldn't mind making sure they know how beloved he is thanks to their artwork it would be super appreciated! I know multiple folks have already sung praises about his costume / look! :3

Chiming in as another trans person to say THANK YOU to the artist who gave him a new costume for taking the time to do so. It's super adorable, a great link to some item-based site lore, and a relief to not cringe a little every time I see him this month,