Mystic Flour And Cultural Confusion: Part 2

Mystic Flour and Cultural Confusion: part 2

I'm going to assume you've already read part 1 and just move on from where I was. How about we start with One of the very first things we see in “The Awakening of White Apathy” update, The Ivory Pagoda itself! (Sorry for the awful image quality, This is the best I could get.)

...Except…What is a pagoda?

Well according to Merriam-Webster it's "a tower in eastern Asia usually with roofs curving upward at the division of each of several stories and erected as a temple or memorial" which is accompanied by this illustration.

Question answered, right? Answered, but not elaborated. There are many cultures in Asia So even though it could be assumed to be Chinese-inspired it doesn't guarantee it.

The next place to look is good old Wikipedia, which actually has a lot more detail for us. It references exact places and even mentions that pagodas aren't always used for Buddhism (didn't know that), But that's not what's important right now.

Have you noticed that many of the Pagoda designs don't really match Cookie Run: Kingdom? Yeah, you could easily say it's for the sake of gameplay, but I think there's actually a purposeful design to it. Looking on the Cookie Run Kingdom fandom wiki and looking up the origins of Buddhism, I found something kind of interesting. Buddhism has been around for a looooong time and seems to originate from India if my research is correct.

But what does this have to do with the design of the ivory pagoda?

Boom! Indian pagoda!

Pagodas in India tend to have a lot more variation with their designs, some being made out of multiple buildings or looking more like castles. Perfect for say…a map for stages.

Okay cool, kind of proved that it's not all chinese-inspired...Now what? The point of this mini post series...thing? It's inspire people to look at other cultures and a discourage those shaming others for looking. A lot of people only see the final product, but they never think about the hours of research put in to make sure a culture is accurately depicted. A lot of people in the West are very quick to just label Eastern culture as "Asian", which dumbs down the complexities of Eastern society.

Another reason why I made this post is simply the prove that Dev sisters there's no ways follow a single culture to the letter, which is why some people make it confused.

Well stranger, I hope You're well rested and enjoyed my rambles, hopefully you learned something new today.

Mystic Flour and Cultural Confusion: part 1 

Hello there, stranger. I see the smell of cookies has guided you through the white mist. Why don't you kick back and relax while I talk your ear off about the cultural significance of a baked good…

This is what I'm doing with my life.

So, Cookie Run: Kingdom. A game that starts with the tone of Dragon Tales and somehow mutates into Lord of the Rings territory (Which I love by the way). Cookie Run as a franchise has always had dozens of characters from all different walks of life, many of them inspired by our real world. Devsisters dedicate a lot of time and effort to getting the cultural significance of their characters and plot lines correct, and they do a pretty good job…

Mostly…(I ain't going anywhere near that until I get more research and opinions on it.) 

When pulling direct inspiration from a real-world culture and introducing it to an audience of a separate one, It can lead to a surprising amount of confusion. A good example of this would be when something originated in one culture, but is far more known in a different one, causing some people to believe that a certain thing only belongs to one culture.

Incomes the main subject of this post. (finally,) One of the first cookies baked! The hero of Volition turned beast of apathy! Put your hands together for Mystic Flour Cookie!

She's excited, I swear.

So…what does an overdesign treat have to do with what I just said? A lot actually. But alas, there's still one last thing I need to clarify, less I get mauled to death for not covering my bases.

Now, I'm not going to disclose the entirety of my identity as I care about my privacy. All you need to know is that I'm a minority in the Western hemisphere. The reason I feel it's important to disclose this is because people will use my identity, or lack thereof, to discredit anything I say, all because I MIGHT be some white guy in my 30s. One of the reasons for this behavior could be people trying to make sure someone isn't just trying to profit off of someone else's beliefs or culture, which I completely understand. I know what it's like when people attempt to use your identity just to benefit them in some sort of way, Even if it's not on the level of a religion or practice. It completely erases you as a person and just makes you an accessory.

However, the problem comes when you overdo it. I've seen a decent amount of people being attacked over interacting with cultures outside of their own, All because they don't fit the criteria of being enough of a certain ethnicity to do something. It's understandable to be mad when someone's making a mockery of what you care about, But it's entirely different when they're actively trying to learn and you still treat them horribly. It's kind of hard to learn about something when you're being told You're a monster for trying to do so.

To those who are curious or want to get in touch with your ancestry, You're still valid even if you don't breathe that culture every day. The only thing you really need is patience to learn and respect to understand.

Oh yeah, you're still here. (Whoops) 

The reason why Mystic Flour Cookie is important to this conversation is due to her cultural influence of Buddhism. Those who are at least somewhat familiar with the belief could probably pick up on the inspiration just by looking at her. (Keep in mind, children play this game so not everyone is going to know this.) From what I've seen, a sizable amount of people think Mystic flower is Chinese-inspired which…isn't wrong, But there's a bit more to it. I'll be showing quotes in links I used in my research, feel free to do your own digging. if you like.

Before I go ahead and start going into detail on Mystic Flour, I'm actually going to split up this post into 2 parts so it's easier for people to read. If you're interested you shouldn't have to wait long, and thanks for even bothering to read this.

Psst. One of my favorite things about the cookie run art style, is the fact you don't have to draw fingers.

An artist's dream, not having to learn actual anatomy.

Golden Cheese Cookie, The Beast of abundance.

And coming up for a beast concept for the ancients, Golden Cheese Cookie has to be one of the easiest to do so. This is because her virtue can easily be twisted into something dangerous, since it's so heavily associated with greed. However, just because there's an obvious answer doesn't mean we have to go for it.

Golden cheese is known for spoiling her subjects, so You could push it to an extreme. Maybe she locks her subjects away in their own personal paradise regardless of their protests, seeing them more as objects than people.

Golden Cheese arrives fashionably late as the final ancient in this collection! In this AU her name is Opulent Cheese Cookie, and like Dark Cacao before her she was difficult to get nailed down. But I'm glad she came out alright.

With her finished, I can now say that the beasts are complete. Now I 'll have the difficult challenge of trying to work out new designs for characters that technically don't exist yet. Silent Salt is going to run me over like a tractor. Expect some time for that to start, though. As always, transparents and alts below! Thank you all so much for the support for this project!

The ones who have these flags are "people" trying to make there damaging behavior seem normal, And that's the nicest I can put my feelings towards these individuals.

PLEASE block and report these freaks if you ever see them, they know what they're doing is wrong.

I am making so many “hey mutuals!” posts but this one is serious and it applies to everyone who sees this post actually. PLEASE REBLOG.

I just had to block someone with this flag as their pfp -

For those who don’t know, this is the MAP pride flag. This flag represents pedophiles.

Please reblog so people know that they are not welcome anywhere. Mutuals I BETTER see y’all reblogging this

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