#problematic creators

[duckies27]

I'm not one to normally interact with drama, but at this point, I have waited way too long to just sit here in silence. There is a creator on this platform named Hamlet Unfortunately, also known as Kenny, and I can’t just stay sitting on this.

I despise this man for multiple reasons, and I'll get into all of them here. In my opinion, it's not fair that he continues to do this sort of thing and just gets away with it, getting love and attention while doing so. All while other people similar to me get 5 to 10 likes on some of our work. I don't want to spend this entire time just completely thrashing him. However, there’s too much evidence to just ignore.

My friend Dork (@zestfeast ) and I are on a server with another Discord friend (who I won't name for their own sake, I don't want to drag them into this whole thing). I met the two of them on the fan-made Stinky Dragon discord, and we bonded pretty quickly over our love of the characters and our love of the cast. The show was something we bonded over and we wanted to spend as much time together by talking about it, without other people getting in the way. So the third party made a server and invited the two of us. We had a great time for the first two and a half weeks. It was a safe space with all the people that I trusted. We are all afab and personally, that makes me more comfortable as someone who is a cis woman. We talked about all sorts of things mainly relating to our enjoyment of the characters, coming up with AUs, and coming up with stories, all of which were pretty fun. At the time of the start of the server, I was personally barely baby 18, while the other two were and are still minors. This may not seem like a problem, but the problem came when. Kenny or Hamlet Unfortunately, as you know him, joined the server.

He was a friend with the third party and both me and Dork were completely comfortable with him joining. It wasn't our place to choose considering it is the third party's actual server. We sat and talked for a little bit, but after joining he didn't say anything. I didn't think anything of it, I'm also pretty shy but he was just awkward. Once again, I didn't think anything of it but then we started talking more. He started talking more. I wasn't a part of this conversation simply because I was at work at the times he was more vocal. I'm super busy, I work from 3:00 to 7:00 every single day right after school and it's too much hands-on work for me to come and check Discord all the time. A lot of the big conversations would happen when I wasn't there, and while I was currently doing things that took my full attention. I am a custodian worker at a middle school, I'm constantly working around kids, I'm constantly working around other people and it makes it hard to be on my phone. I missed the majority of these conversations, but to make sure that this was fully correct, I made sure to read back to all of the things that he said. It's not fair to judge a book by its cover without fully reading the contents. I read over 600 messages all sent over the course of a few weeks and I'll be dead honest, they were pretty terrifying to read back. Especially someone who has been around victims of the jokes he was mentioning. These included sexual content, drug jokes, and stuff that no person should ever joke about, especially not with minors.

It started simple enough. We just were talking about art relating to the characters and I'll be honest, some things weren't exactly always super family-friendly. We try to keep it light and airy the majority of the time within the server, but we had a few dedicated chats for the not-so-family-friendly stuff that includes some maybe more suggestive fan art. Most of the time it was and is pretty clean. We tried our best to censor what wasn't, especially because we had two minors on the server and people could always glance over our shoulders. I was in, particular, very aware of this and made sure that I didn't post anything without censoring first. One of the first things Kenny said to one of our minors on the server was "I'll suck your dick", when talking about fan art that Dork had done. Dork is very young compared to me or possibly him. I don't know how old he is but I just know that this comment made me uncomfortable reading back on it, especially because Dork is like a brother to me. I would protect him with my life if I could. I love this kid and would unironically do anything for him. They continued talking and he was incredibly mean to Dork, often calling him stupid and often acting as if his actions were childish and not as important as Kenny’s actions. When Dork tried to bring up another subject, relating to theater, not only did Kenny call him a fool, but he also said “I don't want to suck your dick anymore" continuing the uncomfortable, NSFW environment that he was starting to form.

As many of you who've read my page know, I like writing angst but I also enjoy writing stuff that's not so family friendly. I like pushing my boundaries and learning how to write, as an adult now, because it's a way of expressing myself that people don't need to see. It was a personal server thing that I kept it censored to protect people who didn't want to see it at that time. At one point I put out a request question saying I would write anything anyone wanted smut, angst, or fluff. I like writing requests and I like writing gifts for friends. It's a personal love language of mine. Kenny stumbled around for a bit, trying to come up with an idea before eventually asking me for Sliqueborg smut. I don't like the ship. It's not my thing, I'm more into BrinkBorg or the canon Lynn Mer and Kyborg. So I asked, “what are your headcanons?” I might as well be proper when I write this story. I don't want to come up with some idea that he didn’t agree with. He went to the headcanon channel and gave me one of the most inappropriate and jarring strings of sentences I have ever heard. Not only did he make our beloved wood elf incredibly abusive, but he also took Slique’s character and destroyed it. It was horrible to listen to and even more horrible to read back. I am 18, a barely illegal adult and the other two are minors on this server. I was terrified to see that he willingly put this down on paper for anyone to see. He only censored the thing because I had personally asked him earlier on.

I already was feeling uncomfortable with this guy. He was being pushy and mean and a lot of his headcanons were hard to swallow, and more and more times he brought up sexual things. I have a personal headcanon for the Groethe crew that relates to the musical instruments they would play. Ella plays violin, Mathilde sings, Barney plays flute, and Chip plays French horn. I thought it was a cute thing because of how Ella and Chip would very well complement each other, but Kenny took the opportunity to make a very inappropriate joke. That made me very uncomfortable because it was about Chip, who I see as a close similarity to my father. Chip acts and says things like my father would, so hearing this very sexual joke automatically took me out of the conversation. I hated it. I hated the idea of it. Not only that but there was one point in time when Dork was opening up about something very personal (which I won't share here) However, I came in at the worst possible time because I was on break. It happened to be insanely out of context, so of course I was like “What the hell?” But I didn't say it in a mean way. I meant it in a kind, confused way, similar to how an older sibling would walk into a conversation that you're having, that happens to be weird. Kenny continued to then look down at Dork, calling them dear and darling as if they didn't understand what I was saying. I came in and I was like “Wow this is kind of weird”, but that was it. I didn't push or prod. I didn't judge them beyond just that it was a weird message to get out of context and went back to work. Kenny belittled Dork for another 20 minutes after I went back to work.

Dork came to me the next day or so, in tears. They were terrified. They felt horrible. Kenny was being such an asshole to him and he couldn't do anything about it. It's a third party’s server and Kenny was a friend to the third party member. We didn't feel comfortable talking right to her right away. So instead the two of us hopped on a 2-hour long call on Discord to talk about our grievances. I helped Dork write a message to Kenny but instead of apologizing in response, he just said that it was his humor, a mask to protect himself. As someone who uses a mask constantly to protect myself from trauma, this pissed me off. His mask was being a jerk, his mask was being mean, and most importantly his mask was being overly sexual when it wasn't required.

Another thing that he often did was make fun of drug culture. Make fun of the “druggies”, including snorting pain pills and other issues that should not be joked about, while talking about his headcanons relating to Slique and Kyborg. He also mentioned rape, which I am completely uncomfortable with as a cis woman who has dealt with uncomfortable situations that deal with my body. I hated this. He came in as a cis male (based on what he said himself) completely invading a comfortable and safe space. Kenny is not the type of person I would leave my drink with at a party. I felt uncomfortable talking to him the majority of the time but I didn't want to bring it up because I didn't want to hurt the third party's feelings. After Dork came to me in tears, I said enough is enough and I reached out to her anyway. Thankfully the third party was kind, kicked him out of the server and I haven't had to interact with him since.

However, I've seen issues within the Tumblr fandom, the fandom that's taken me so warmly and held me to a higher standard than I've held myself for years. I love to see the community interacting with my posts and I love seeing my moots talk to me in such a kind and happy way. However, I know there are multiple people within the community, one who I talked to and wishes not to be named, has had issues with him. Most people see SliqueBorg as a very abusive and toxic ship due to his headcanons. He's ruined a ship, that though I don't agree with, is valid. Not only that, but he also still ships Mudd with multiple characters including Gum Gum (This is just vague posting and suggestive tagging, but it's very easy to see him doing something like this). which is a huge issue on its own. He doesn't care about if someone is a minor and if they would even want to be in a relationship.

During the whole “Mudd Gate '', which is what I'm calling the one actual problem we've ever had within this community, when actual Aro ace people were coming out and talking about how they didn't like how Mudd was being shipped with characters. A lot of people agreed, including me, but Kenny came onto the server and started complaining along with the third party (who will again, stay unnamed). Both of them came with swinging swords, dragging down the entire Tumblr community saying it was unfair for them to completely block out a ship component just because of a canon sexuality given by Jon himself. It took me a little bit to feel comfortable within it as someone who's Demi who was personally was seeing Mudd as Demi. But now I see the issues of my ways. How little aro ace representation there really is in the world, that is untouched by fandoms. Just look at Alstor from Hazbin Hotel. He's constantly shipped with people despite being a canon Aro ace character.

Through this all, I just want to say that we should stop supporting him. We should stop giving him a platform. Not only is he a fake fan just with how he characterizes Kyborg but he also has issues with sensitive topics that he will continue to joke about until the very day that he dies. I can tell that he thinks a lot of people are sensitive. Just saying things are offensive for clout or some other reasons, but a lot of the things that he actually says are very offensive and very inappropriate around the people he's been around. His actions almost took Dork away from this fandom. It isn't as bad as some other things that have come up in the past relating to other communities (*cough cough* Wilbur *cough cough*) If you hate me for making this post then I'll just say I don't care. I am planning on blocking him after I finish this post or at least until after he can react. I don't want to just completely block him from seeing his criticism but I will stop supporting any posts I have seen. I will make sure that he is no longer on my dash because he has done things that I am severely uncomfortable with. He does not bring good vibes to this community and he especially should not be allowed to continue being in the fandom if he's going to spread such hate. This is a kind and loving fandom that has taken me and others with open arms in times of struggle and times of pain. He has made it uncomfortable to be in. I cannot support him and I implore the rest of you to do the same after his actions.

[fricketyfrackinggay]

Having to literally force yourself out of a hyperfixation because you know the creators done problematic things<<<

[litttlelostlola]

A quick post just to tell you to be careful out here on tumblr because some creators just like me, who provide you with google templates or avatars are bullies who have fun raiding discord servers. They claim to be engaged in peace actions, but truly, they live for the drama and like to ruin everyone's joy on discord roleplay servers by being the most awful pr!cks on earth, spamming channels and sending extreme political opinions when we all try to not let any of our opinions get in the way of the fun time we are supposed to have when roleplaying. By that I mean, no, posting a hundred emojis of a sickle blade and a hammer will not make you less of an assh0le, S. Those persons that claim they are a humanist also have fun writing 50 pages long manifestos about people they don't like over a testimony told by someone who knows someone who knows someone. About that, no, you are not even close to a vigilante, S. I am sure my obvious use of the first letter of your username will get your attention, because obviously, you've pretended to be my friend for so long and then treated me like shit over the suspicion that I would have stolen a gdoc, which is stupidly untrue. You do not deserve any of the attention you get, and I say that as a person with the same amount of notes as you do. Let me finish this by this : fuck you. No offense.

[skjam]

Tiffany's Griffon and the Monsterization of the Author

So, I recently read and reviewed Tiffany's Griffon by Magnolia Porter Siddell and Maddi Gonzalez. I have some more thoughts that involve spoilers for the graphic novel, so were not in the review.

Basic plot description: Marnie Plummer is a huge fan of The Griffon Riders of Crystalfall, a beloved children's epic fantasy book series. When a being from the world of the books appears and reveals that a Chosen One is needed to save that world from the Witch Elel, Marnie is thrilled. She is less thrilled to learn that the Chosen One is Tiffany Rodriguez, a pretty, popular girl who already seems to have a good life and has never even read any of the books. So Marnie lies about who she is to be given the role of The Chosen One.

Plot ensues and everyone learns valuable life lessons.

SPOILERS from this point forward.

The Witch Elel turns out to be L.L. Fabry, the author of beloved children's book series The Griffon Riders of Crystalfall. A severly introverted woman with what looks like social anxiety, she did not adjust to her fame well, especially after she learned of the death of her one friend, Tiffany's mother. Faced with the pressure surrounding the finale of the series, L.L. had a nervous breakdown, and when the chance presented itself of living within the world of her imagination, she took it.

But L.L. couldn't resist tampering with her creation, initially just minor adjustments to fix things that had annoyed her once she saw them in print, but more and larger changes because she could. But this damaged her memory, and bit by bit she became the wicked Witch Elel. She became the monster to her own world.

And I couldn't help reading this in the context of another author of a beloved children's fantasy series who in recent years has become more and more unpleasant in real life. Which admittedly puts her in the company of a long line of authors of beloved children's books who for one reason or another were unpleasant to monstrous in their personal life. It's just that most of those folks either limited the unpleasantness to only their personal lives, separate from interacting with fans, or went to some lengths to hide their unpleasantness from the public.

Because this is a children's book, Elel can be brought back from monstrosity by the power of friendship and a reminder of just why she created the books in the first place, and I don't think it would be quite that easy with Jaykay. But this might be a good choice of a book to discuss fandom with your kids and how to deal with problematic creators and building a healthy relationship with fictional works to protect their hearts.

[cynicalclassicist]

We want to believe that this person created such wonderful stuff so can't be horrible. Well, they can. We have had our hopes dashed by many problematic creators. Neil Gaiman comes to mind, but there are many others, likely some that we don't even know now.

And likewise, people who create art that we don't like aren't bad people for doing so.

Artists are people like any other.

to pretend that horrible people cannot make good art is another way to conflate beauty and talent with integrity and morality. the works of monsters are best examined with knowledge of the author in mind but art is not inherently reflective. human beings are creative, and habitual liars- it'd be stupid to pretend art must always be a portrait of its creator

[incognito-princess]

Do you think that there is a point where a piece of media (book, film, play, show, etc.) where it ceases to be the creators and becomes the property of the viewer? If so, when?

[thehumanarkle]

"Looks like we have a new member. Do you want to introduce yourself?" "I am Dream of the Endless." "Is that your name or your title?"

"Hey, can we join too?"

Via Josh Nickerson

[vroomvroomwee]

The Hazbin Hotel cast discussing Alastors aroace identity. The compassion when talking about aspec identities and the points raised are so good, the whole discussion is wonderful

[cheschesterpossum]

i challenge you to make most cracked ship you could!!!! GO

Im sorry

[cinamun]

If I'm being SUPER honest, kits that don't add something functional to the gameplay are pointless. BGC versions are out there, but I think at this point I have enough clothes and furniture that unless we're talking Home Chef Hustle or Bust the dust where we got new appliances/foods/etc and associated gameplay and new interactions, its not worth the trouble.

[mighty-mations]

i'm back on my undertale. unfortunately

[scribbyz]

guess horror is now owned by the community guys 🤷

[youllrebeltoanyth1ng]

"unpopular opinion but class of 09 is actually really problematic!!!!" thats the fuckinf point.????

[lovelywaterbuffaloes]

[sandeewithtwoe]

Hey, this whole drama has been giving me a headache. Just wanted to see your opinion on whether it’s still cool to like and use horror and horrortale as a whole. You know separating art from artist. Cause I love that au but… whyyyyy

Oh I’m sorry about that, it’s making me upset too. And yeah of course it’s still okay to like the characters. The story isn’t around proshipping or anything, so I don’t see any problem with that?

Personally, I won’t keep reading the comic. I don’t want to support it until Sour Apple posts a statement about the situation (if they even do).

[piosplayhouse]

Absolute favorite twitter level discourse is when people are like "yaoi is bad because it's created by women which makes it evil and fetishizing, but bara is good because it's made by gay men for gay men" as if the creator of bara wasn't one of Japan's most famous alt-right hyper-nationalistic conservatives and also porn writer on the side who trained and maintained his own personal militia to enact a failed coup on the modernizing government in 1970 and then proceeded to publicly commit suicide after because he had a fetishistic obsession with ritual disembowelment