#> the artists of them or remove those!! not looking to do any art theft here

[haunthouse]

happy halloween valentines day!

[mdzsartreblogs]

Recognizing AI Generated Images, Danmei Edition

Heyo, @unforth here! I run some danmei art blogs (@mdzsartreblogs, @tgcfartreblogs, @svsssartreblogs, @zhenhunartreblogs, @erhaartreblogs, @dmbjartreblogs, @tykartreblogs, and @cnovelartreblogs) which means I see a LOT of danmei art, and I go through the main fandom tags more-or-less every day.

Today, for the first time, I spotted someone posting AI-generated images (I refuse to call them AI "art" - and to be clear, that's correct of me, because at least in the US it literally LEGALLY isn't art) without any label indicating they were AI generated. I am not necessarily against the existence of AI-generated images (though really...considering all the legal issues and the risks of misuse, I'm basically against them); I think they potentially have uses in certain contexts (such as for making references) and I also think that regardless of our opinions, we're stuck with them, but they're also clearly not art and I don't reblog them to the art side blogs.

The images I spotted today had multiple "tells," but they were still accumulating notes, and I thought it might be a good moment to step back and point out some of the more obvious tells because my sense is that a LOT of people are against AI-generated images being treated as art, and that these people wouldn't want to support an AI-generator user who tried to foist off their work as actual artwork, but that people don't actually necessarily know how to IDENTIFY those works and therefore can inadvertently reblog works that they'd never support if they were correctly identified. (Similar to how the person who reposts and says "credit to the artist" is an asshole but they're not the same as someone who reposts without any credit at all and goes out of their way to make it look like they ARE the artist when they're not).

Toward that end, I've downloaded all the images I spotted on this person's account and I'm going to use them to highlight the things that led me to think they were AI art - they posted a total of 5 images to a few major danmei tags the last couple days, and several other images not to specific fandoms (I examined 8 images total). The first couple I was suspicious, but it wasn't til this morning that I spotted one so obvious that it couldn't be anything BUT AI art. I am NOT going to name the person who did this. The purpose of this post is purely educational. I have no interest whatsoever in bullying one rando. Please don't try to identify them; who they are is genuinely irrelevant, what matters is learning how to recognize AI art in general and not spreading it around, just like the goal of education about reposting is to help make sure that people who repost don't get notes on their theft, to help people recognize the signs so that the incentive to be dishonest about this stuff is removed.

But first: Why is treating AI-generated images as art bad?

I'm no expert and this won't be exhaustive, but I do think it's important to first discuss why this matters.

On the surface, it's PERHAPS harmless for someone to post AI-generated images provided that the image is clearly labeled as AI-generated. I say "perhaps" because in the end, as far as I'm aware, there isn't a single AI-generation engine that's built on legally-sourced artwork. Every AI (again, to the best of my knowledge) has been trained using copyrighted images usually without the permission of the artists. Indeed, this is the source of multiple current lawsuits. (and another)

But putting that aside (as if it can be put aside that AI image generators are literally unethically built), it's still problematic to support the images being treated as art. Artists spend thousands of hours learning their craft, honing it, sharing their creations, building their audiences. This is what they sell when they offer commissions, prints, etc. This can never be replicated by a computer, and to treat an AI-generated image as in any way equivalent is honestly rude, inappropriate, disgusting imo. This isn't "harmless"; supporting AI image creation engines is damaging to real people and their actual livelihoods. Like, the images might be beautiful, but they're not art. I'm honestly dreading someone managing to convince fandom that their AI-generated works are actual art, and then cashing in on commissions, prints, etc., because people can't be fussed to learn the difference. We really can't let this happen, guys. Fanartists are one of the most vibrant, important, prominent groups in all our fandoms, and we have to support them and do our part to protect them.

As if those two points aren't enough, there's already growing evidence that AI-generated works are being used to further propagandists. There are false images circulating of violence at protests, deep-fakes of various kinds that are helping the worst elements of society to push their horrid agendas. As long as that's a facet of AI-generated works, they'll always be dangerous.

I could go on, but really this isn't the main point of my post and I don't want to get bogged down. Other people have said more eloquently than I why AI-generated images are bad. Read those. (I tried to find a good one to link but sadly failed; if anyone knows a good post, feel free to send it and I'll add the link to the post).

Basically: I think a legally trained AI-image generator that had built-in clear watermarks could be a fun toy for people who want reference images or just to play with making pseudo-art. But...that's not what we have, and what we do have is built on theft and supports dystopia so, uh. Yeah fuck AI-generated images.

How to recognize AI-Generated Images Made in an Eastern Danmei Art Style

NOTE: I LEARNED ALL THE BASIC ON SPOTTING AI-GENERATED IMAGES FROM THIS POST. I'll own I still kinda had the wool over my eyes until I read that post - I knew AI stuff was out there but I hadn't really looked closely enough to have my eyes open for specific signs. Reading that entire post taught me a lot, and what I learned is the foundation of this post.

This post shouldn't be treated as a universal guide. I'm specifically looking at the tells on the kind of art that people in danmei fandoms often see coming from Weibo and other Chinese, Japanese, and Korean platforms, works made by real artists. For example, the work of Foxking (狐狸大王a), kokirapsd, and Changyang (who is an official artist for MDZS, TGCF, and other danmei works). This work shares a smooth use of color, an aim toward a certain flavor of realism, an ethereal quality to the lighting, and many other features. (Disclaimer: I am not an artist. Putting things in arty terms is really not my forte. Sorry.)

So, that's what these AI-generated images are emulating. And on the surface, they look good! Like...

...that's uncontestably a pretty picture (the white box is covering the "artist's" watermark.) And on a glance, it doesn't necessarily scream "AI generated"! But the devil is in the details, and the details are what this post is about. And that picture? Is definitely AI generated.

This post is based on 8 works I grabbed from a single person's account, all posted as their own work and watermarked as such. Some of the things that are giveaways only really show when looking at multiple pieces. I'm gonna start with those, and then I'll highlight some of the specifics I spotted that caused me to go from "suspicious" to "oh yeah no these are definitely not art."

Sign 1: all the images are the exact same size. I mean, to the pixel: 512 x 682 pixels (or 682 x 512, depending on landscape or portrait orientation). This makes zero sense. Why would an artist trim all their pieces to that size? It's not the ideal Tumblr display size (that's 500 x 750 pixels). If you check any actual artist's page and look at the full-size of several of their images, they'll all be different sizes as they trimmed, refined, and otherwise targeted around their original canvas size to get the results they wanted.

Sign 2: pixelated. At the shrunken size displayed on, say, a mobile Tumblr feed, the image looks fine, but even just opening the full size upload, the whole thing is pixelated. Now, this is probably the least useful sign; a lot of artists reduce the resolution/dpi/etc. on their uploaded works so that people don't steal them. But, taken in conjunction with everything else, it's definitely a sign.

Those are the two most obvious overall things - the things I didn't notice until I looked at all the uploads. The specifics are really what tells, though. Which leads to...

Sign 3: the overall work appears to have a very high degree of polish, as if it were made by an artist who really really knows what they're doing, but on inspection - sometimes even on really, REALLY cursory inspect - the details make zero sense and reflect the kinds of mistakes that a real artist would never make.

So, here's the image that I saw that "gave it away" to me, and caused me to re-examine the images that had first struck me as off but that I hadn't been able to immediately put my finger on the problem. I've circled some of the spots that are flagrant.

Do you see yet? Yes? Awesome, you're getting it. No? Okay, let's go point by point, with close ups.

Sign 4: HANDS. Hands are currently AI's biggest weakness, though they've been getting better quickly and honestly that's terrifying. But whatever AI generated this picture clearly doesn't get hands yet, because that hand is truly an eldritch horror. Look at this thing:

It has two palms. It has seven fingers. It's basically two hands overlaid over each other, except one of those hands only has four fingers and the other has three. Seeing this hand was how I went from "umm...maybe they're fake? Maybe they're not???" to "oh god why is ANYONE reblogging this when it's this obvious?" WATCH THE HANDS. (Go back up to that first one posted and look at the hand, you'll see. Or just look right below at this crop.) Here's some other hands:

Sign 5: Hair and shadows. Once I started inspecting these images, the shadows of the hair on the face was one of the things that was most consistently fucked up across all the uploaded pictures. Take a look:

There's shadows of tendrils on the forehead, but there's no corresponding hair that could possibly have made those shadows. Likewise there's a whole bunch of shadows on the cheeks. Where are those coming from? There's no possible source in the rest of the image. Here's some other hair with unrelated wonky shadows:

Sign 6: Decorative motifs that are really just meaningless squiggles. Like, artists, especially those who make fanart, put actual thought into what the small motifs are on their works. Like, in TGCF, an artist will often use a butterfly motif or a flower petal motif to reflect things about the characters. An AI, though, can only approximate a pattern and it can't imbue those with meanings. So you end up with this:

What is that? It's nothing, that's what. It's a bunch of squiggles. Here's some other meaningless squiggle motifs (and a more zoomed-in version of the one just above):

Sign 7: closely related to meaningless squiggle motifs is motifs that DO look like something, but aren't followed through in any way that makes sense. For example, an outer garment where the motifs on the left and the right shoulder/chest are completely different, or a piece of cloth that's supposed to be all one piece but that that has different patterns on different sections of it. Both of these happen in the example piece, see?

The first images on the top left is the left and right shoulder side by side. The right side has a scalloped edge; the left doesn't. Likewise, in the right top picture, you can see the two under-robe lapels; one has a gold decoration and the other doesn't. And then the third/bottom image shows three sections of the veil. One (on the left) has that kind of blue arcy decoration, which doesn't follow the folds of the cloth very well and looks weird and appears at one point to be OVER the hair instead of behind it. The second, on top of the bottom images, shows a similar motif, except now it's gold, and it looks more like a hair decoration than like part of the veil. The third is also part of the same veil but it has no decorations at all. Nothing about this makes any sense whatsoever. Why would any artist intentionally do it that way? Or, more specifically, why would any artist who has this apparent level of technical skill ever make a mistake like this?

They wouldn't.

Some more nonsensical patterns, bad mirrors, etc. (I often put left/right shoulders side by side so that it'd be clearer, sorry if it's weird):

Sign 8: bizarre architecture, weird furniture, etc. Most of the images I'm examining for this post have only partial backgrounds, so it's hard to really focus on this, but it's something that the post I linked (this one) talks about a lot. So, like, an artist will put actual thought into how their construction works, but an AI won't because an AI can't. There's no background in my main example image, but take a look at this from another of my images:

On a glance it's beautiful. On a few seconds actually staring it's just fucking bizarre. The part of the ceiling on the right appears to be domed maybe? But then there's a hard angle, then another. The windows on the right have lots of panes, but then the one on the middle-left is just a single panel, and the ones on the far left have a complete different pane model. Meanwhile, also on the left side at the middle, there's that dark gray...something...with an arch that mimics the background arches except it goes no where, connects to nothing, and has no apparent relationship to anything else going on architecturally. And, while the ceiling curves, the back wall is straight AND shows more arches in the background even though the ceiling looks to end. And yes, some of this is possible architecture, but taken as a whole, it's just gibberish. Why would anyone who paints THAT WELL paint a building to look like THAT? They wouldn't. It's nonsense. It's the art equivalent of word salad. When we look at a sentence and it's like "dog makes a rhythmical salad to betray on the frame time plot" it almost resembles something that might mean something but it's clearly nonsense. This background is that sentence, as art.

Sign 9: all kinds of little things that make zero sense. In the example image, I circled where a section of the hair goes BELOW the inner robe. That's not impossible but it just makes zero sense. As with many of these, it's the kind of thing that taken alone, I'd probably just think "well, that was A Choice," but combined with all the other weird things it stands out as another sign that something here is really, really off. Here's a collection of similar "wtf?" moments I spotted across the images I looked at (I'm worried I'm gonna hit the Tumblr image cap, hence throwing these all in one, lol.)

You have to remember that an actual artist will do things for a reason. And we, as viewers, are so used to viewing art with that in mind that we often fill in reasons even when there aren't. Like, in the image just about this, I said, "what the heck are these flowers growing on?" And honestly, I COULD come up with explanations. But that doesn't mean it actually makes sense, and there's no REASON for it whatsoever. The theoretical same flowers are, in a different shot, growing unsupported! So...what gives??? The answer is nothing gives. Because these pieces are nothing. The AI has no reason, it's just tossing in random aesthetic pieces together in a mishmash, and the person who generated them is just re-generating and refining until they get something that looks "close enough" to what they wanted. It never was supposed to make sense, so of course it doesn't.

In conclusion...

After years of effort, artists have gotten across to most of fandom that reposts are bad, and helped us learn strategies for helping us recognize reposts, and given us an idea of what to do when we find one.

Fandom is just at the beginning of this process as it applies to AI-generated images. There's a LOT of education that has to be done - about why AI-generated images are bad (the unethical training using copyrighted images without permission is, imo, critical to understanding this), and about how to spot them, and then finally about what to do when you DO find them.

With reposts, we know "tell original artist, DCMA takedowns, etc." That's not the same with these AI-images. There's no original owner. There's no owner at all - in the US, at least, they literally cannot be copyrighted. Which is why I'm not even worrying about "credit" on this post - there's nothing stolen, cause there's nothing made. So what should you do?

Nothing. The answer is, just as the creator has essentially done nothing, you should also do nothing. Don't engage. Don't reblog. Don't commission the creator or buy their art prints. If they do it persistently and it bothers you, block them. If you see one you really like, and decide to reblog it, fine, go for it, but mark it clearly - put in the ACTUAL COMMENTS (not just in the tags!) that it's AI art, and that you thought it was pretty anyway. But honestly, it'd be better to not engage, especially since as this grows it's inevitable that some actual artists are going to start getting accused of posting AI-generated images by over-zealous people. Everyone who gets a shadow wrong isn't posting AI-generated images. A lot of these details are insanely difficult to get correct, and lots of even very skilled, accomplished artists, if you go over their work with a magnifying glass you're going to find at least some of these things, some weirdnesses that make no sense, some shadows that are off, some fingers that are just ugh (really, getting hands wrong is so relatable. hands are the fucking worst). It's not about "this is bad art/not art because the hand is wrong," it's specifically about the ways that it's wrong, the way a computer randomly throws pieces together versus how actual people make actual mistakes. It's all of the little signs taken as a whole to say "no one who could produce a piece that, on the surface, looks this nice, could possibly make THIS MANY small 'mistakes.'"

The absolute best thing you can do if you see AI-generated images being treated as real art is just nothing. Support actual artists you love, and don't spread the fakes.

Thanks for your time, everyone. Good luck avoiding AI-generated pieces in the future, please signal boost this, and feel free to get in touch if you think I can help you with anything related to this.

[physalian]

I think the other thing that bothers me with the flood of AI into everything is how grandiose the companies marketing it make it seem. A Meta AI ad (when every Meta commercial is equally pretentious, ngl) treats it as the next great thing to bring the world together, an inspiration to us all, making our lives easier, yada yada.

The part of that commercial that stuck with me was this lady on a train, looked like a student, asking the Robot to summarize something for her. Looked like a page of notes. And like… lady you aren’t learning a damn thing if the Robot takes your notes and then summarizes them. Yes we’ve always had the means to cheat and no attempts to defend against it will ever work so long as cheaters lack the desire to learn, or suffer under too much pressure to get a good grade over an actual education.

Pretending you didn’t manufacture the problem your new product exists to create is nothing new. Tech is just like that. Capitalism is just like that. But I see people, smart people, buying into this bullshit and not seeing the forest for the trees. AI as a concept isn’t the problem, I know this. “AI” is such a broad term that lumping extremely useful tools in with art theft doesn’t help either side of the argument.

I don’t think for a second that any of the companies pushing it feel an ounce of guilt or had a shred of forethought before unleashing their utopian tools onto the market beyond the profits they could make. I don’t think the people who first made it did so maliciously. I’m just sick of the argument that “it’ll make lives easier and that’s worth the side effects”.

I was a student who rarely had to study for things—if I didn’t learn it in class during lecture, staring at my notes and cramming the night before the test wouldn’t fix anything. I had a very good retention of knowledge and a mental block to the concept of studying.

But when I really needed to make sure I didn’t wing it on a test, shocker, studying actually helped. I’d completely skipped over a concept on the study guide when reviewing, and that was the only question I got wrong on that test.

So seeing that actress on the train, pretending like the Robot summarizing her notes, while she’s on a train and has nothing better to do with her time anyway, as if it will in any way help her in the long run, is bullshit.

Nobody’s saying that artificial intelligence in medicine or forensics or computer science is a bad thing. It’s supposed to make the hard jobs, the menial jobs, the jobs that human error cannot compete with, easier. It’s not supposed to remove any sense of ambition, of trial and error, of failure and learning from it.

I can’t say these people had no idea what the world would do with these tools. Did you not think someone would use ChatGPT to cheat and do their homework and write their essays for them? Did you not think freelance writers and graphic designers would get fired en masse by cheap companies who can consult a computer for free? Did you not think copyrighted art, made by artists who are already struggling, would be stolen, and that they’d be mad about it? Did you not think singers and musicians might have something to say about their voices, wholly unique to them, and their lyrical and songwriting ability, being generated by a machine for free? Did you not think about the rampant misinformation that would abound by a robot that cannot have integrity, common sense, or think critically? Did you not think about how easy it is now to forge political images and speeches, to incite violence in gullible people who can’t spot a fake? Did you not think about how those images can start wars and cause catastrophe?

If you thought people would only use it for Instagram filters and generating surrealist nonsense at parties, you're criminally naive.

Piracy has always existed. Cheating has always existed. Ripping off someone else's book or script or speech or art style has always existed. The thing is though, that piracy comes with a risk of viruses and malware if you don't know what you're doing. Cheating takes finesse and risk if you get caught, especially now. Ripping off another's work still takes the time and effort to replicate it by hand. AI didn't invent any of this, AI just removed the barrier of entry and asked, why not?

I’ve quoted this movie before in my argument but goddamn, nothing fits better:

"Don't you see the danger, John, inherent in what you're trying to do here? Genetic power is the most awesome force the planet has ever seen but you wield it like a kid who's found his dad's gun.... I'll tell you the problem with your scientific power that you're using. It didn't require any discipline to attain it. You know, you read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourself, so you don't take any responsibility for it. "You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and you packaged it, and you slapped it on a plastic lunch box and now you're selling it. You're selling it. "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

--Ian Malcom, Jurassic Park

[marinsawakening]

For the record I do understand the posts urging people to focus on the material harm AI art does (trained via art theft, has the potential to make artists starve even harder than they do already by allowing corporations to bypass hiring them) rather than whether it is or isn't 'real art', and I mostly agree with them because those obviously work better as arguments against AI art in casual conversation.

But I also think that debating whether or not AI art is real art is actually important. And frankly, I feel like this is the one time that we should actually put our foot down and decide that no, this isn't art. Because I don't think the material concerns can be successfully divorced from the question of whether AI art is real art.

Here's the thing: AI art is the one type of art that you can say, with 100%, objective certainty, that it was made without any creative drive, without a message, and yes, without a soul. Because an AI, in their current form, isn't capable of that. All an AI can do is recognize data, process it, and translate it to output. It cannot want anything, it cannot hope for anything, it cannot want to say anything, no more than a mountain can. And while a mountain can be gorgeous, and inspire the same feelings of awe, wonder, dread, and fear as art, I think anyone who isn't being purposefully pedantic can agree it isn't art. Art, by definition, is in some way, shape, or form, created by people with purpose, even if that purpose is 'stop myself from being bored in a meeting' or 'I want to make money' or something. A mountain has a purpose in the wider ecosystem, but it has no conciousness with which to do anything with purpose. It's just a mountain. Same goes for AI; it's just an AI. Nothing else is there.

''But isn't it people who use AI art to create? Doesn't that make it art?" Depends. If someone is using AI as a tool to create their own art piece, then that's art, sure. The AI, in that case, is a paintbrush, being guided to create art. But if you let an AI go on autopilot, click a button to generate an image, and do nothing with it? That's not art, no. It may look like it, but an art-like object does not art make. Art can in fact be art without looking like it. It cannot be art without purpose.

(And before anyone says it: deliberate removal or avoidance of purpose is purpose. DADA is not a gotcha here. The pisspot had a message.)

And of course, in a debate like this, we can go in circles forever. I'm sure there are some people who got their hackles raised when I said a mountain wasn't art, and are ready to start arguing that although a mountain itself has no purpose, we look at it with purpose, and that our interpretation makes it art, or whatever. I call those people purposefully pedantic because if we lived in a dystopian government that started forbidding the creation of art, 'looking at mountains' won't be considered rebellion, and they know it. On a purely philosophical level, sure, maybe looking at mountains is art. On a practical level it isn't, and we all know it.

And this debate isn't merely philosophical; it's practical. What are we willing to accept as art? This matters. Are we willing to accept a square of colours by a thing that cannot create with purpose as art? How far are we willing to remove art from creative expression, drive, purpose? And if we decide that art can be created without artistic expression, purpose, or message, then frankly: what's the point?

This is the practical question. We live under capitalism. Already, artists experience alienation from their labour. To some extent, art for money will always be a compromise, even under a different economic system. But if we decide art needs no purpose, then what's the point? Why create art at all, if a click of a button can produce the same thing? If we decide there is no difference between the creation of a human with purpose and the creation of an AI without, why should we bother with the human? Why should the human bother?

I'm sure artists and art will always exist, because the obvious answer to that question is 'because we want to make art'. But just like traditional craftsmen have been largely pushed out of business – and thus, existence – because we decided that a factory-made chair did the job of a chair just fine, if we come to accept AI art as art, artists will diminish. The artist as a job will become even rarer than it is today, and slowly but surely, knowledge of how to make art will fade, just like the knowledge of many crafts (in and of themselves a form of art) has already largely faded.

In essence: AI art is the streamlined, commodified version of human art, convenient for capitalism because cutting out the human element makes things infinitely cheaper and quicker. If we accept AI art as real art, then what does it matter that artists will have a harder time finding jobs? It's all art, right? Some professions just become obsolete with technological improvements; nothing to be done about that. You can always make your own drawings in your spare time, or buy your own art if it's so important to you that it's handmade! If you can afford the materials or art, that is.

And why is it 'art theft' to train AIs on other people's art? It's normal for art to draw inspiration from other art! What, is it art theft to go to a museum and make something in Rubens' style, now?

See what I mean? The practical and the philosophical are intertwined. If we accept AI art as real art, we may start to see real, material harm come from that. Because the protection of the artist (not as a person, who always should have protection, but as a creator) hinges on the idea that art needs human purpose to be art.

Until such a time that AI becomes sci-fi level sapient, AI art is not art, and to me, this very much matters.

[killian-whump]

Why do you hate NFTs?

Well, I'll start with the main societal complaint against them - which is that they're horrible for the environment, chiefly because they churn through a downright ridiculous amount of energy. From Investopedia:

Every transaction on the Ethereum proof-of-work platform, including every NFT transaction, uses more than 260 kilowatt-hours of electricity—equivalent to the electricity used by an average U.S. household over 9.05 days.

That's why, IMHO, everyone should dislike the fucking things. I mean, we as a society will sit here and debate the carbon impact of cow farts, but we let shit like this just run rampant? Seriously, WTF is wrong with us? And yeah, there's ways to make NFTs less energy-consumptive, but that cuts into profits - which should tell you all you need to know about how often it's actually done and by whom. Which is to say "rarely" and "the smallest fish in the proverbial ocean".

Secondly, it's basically a giant Ponzi scheme. In order for NFTs to be financially beneficial to those partaking in them, more and more people have to invest/spend money on NFTs. This is why NFT Bros always sound like used car salesmen trying to sell you a broken-down Edsel, and why the entire community comes off like a weird ass cult. They're all trying to sell you something. They're all trying to entice you to spend your money on NFTs - because whatever money you put into the network, they're hoping to eventually pull out of it. Without your money (and the money of all the other dupes investors), there would be no money for them to make. And they love to tell everyone how they're in on the ground floor, and you could be too, and the biggest profits will be made by those who get in early! If it sounds like a Ponzi scheme and looks like a Ponzi scheme...

Oh, and they all like to act like they're hip and cool, and like NFTs are the wave of the future and all the cool kids are doing it and... yadda, yadda, yadda. #OnWednesdaysWeBuyNFTs #TotallyNotConArtists

There's also the issue of art theft. When you're a con artist trying to swindle people out of money... why let a little thing like legality stand in your way? You can right click on any picture on the internet, save it, and sell it on the block chain! Instant millions! Or, you know, at least tens of tens of dollars. Anyway, I have seen WAY too many of my favorite artists complain that their art is being illegally sold as NFTs. A lot of them are locking down or removing their online portfolios (or marring their beautiful artwork with extensive watermarks). While I'm not an artist myself, I hate seeing the damage this is doing to the art community.

And I just hate the whole idea of it all, anyway. What, exactly, are people buying here? It seems to me that they're buying nothing but imaginary coolness points and the vain hope that they'll be one of the millionaires to come out on top. And they won't be. The ones who will benefit from this whole debacle are the people already sitting at the top of the pyramid. The rest of them will either break even... or end up looking back on it with fond/bitter memories, like a former Beanie Baby collector. Only without the cute plush animals. Because these boneheads aren't even actually buying anything.

All of that said, it's now become the kind of "craze" that sweeps up well-meaning people in its wake. I don't think Colin is intending to scam or con anyone. I just think he's been sold on the "better" aspects of the topic by his brother, who does come off like an over-exuberant NFT Bro. So... I'll ignore it.

But ISTG, if he goes whole hog into the cult, that seriously could be something I'd leave his ass for. Just saying it now.

Let's hope this is just a one-off thing and passes quickly.

[dabi-the-burnt]

So i saw the insta messages before their Twitter (they'd blocked me on Twitter I guess) so get ready because we're going to look at this.

Had I seen the Twitter messages first I probably wouldn't have been so polite.

For starters, I have dm'd with them before.

Those screenshots are a few months old.

Anyway. That account got banned and they are claiming we never talked but whatever.

My Twitter threads that they claim are harassment are simply statements of very Public knowledge compiled along with my own personal experiences with that person added along. I do not condone harassing them or anyone and have been clear about that. See threads here.

Also I don't know what they're talking about with "getting involved in something with birf" (which, they got themself involved by taking all of birfs art but whatever) as I have said that I don't speak for birf. They didn't tell me to talk about it. I only involved myself of my own accord because my art was also taken, and what truly got me worked up was seeing my friends art taken (which was not properly credited).

Anyway, back to birf- I want to once again say that they haven't asked me to do any of this. The most I've ever interacted with them is the occasional reply to comments and liking posts that they're either directly mentioned or tagged in. I am a fan of their work and that is all.

And quite frankly, the threads and posts were not made on their behalf. It was made by me for me and for artists in general.

Anyone who has spent more than five seconds looking at birfs stuff would know that they don't go about asking for posts to be made to harass others or cancel them. They're actually pretty closed off in their corner of the internet.

Now let's forget about birf and talk about the art "not being stolen". To put it simply, giving credit is not the same as having permission. Taking someone's work and reposting it is still theft whether or not you state that youre not the creator. Fandom spaces tend to forget that.

Also the assumption that I've never been harassed online is ridiculous. I've definitely had my fair share of getting shat on. While I do understand that it was most likely just them being scared by the sudden attention and Twitter threads about them (which I get that- that's scary), that doesn't mean you should tell creators "fuck off :)" or bitch at them for asking politely to have work removed.

If it takes multiple threads and posts exposing your behavior to get you to remove it then you're not just being nice. Nice would be apologizing and removing it AS SOON AS ASKED TO. Not only after being called out and the call out gets some attention.

As for "reach out to me instead of posting about it" how do you expect me to do that when you constantly leave comments off and don't accept dms? I tried to reach out to you and I have before. This time though, I posted about it. Because we'd been over this before.

Also you can't say "I removed it. Go check. But I'm not unprivating for you to see." I can't see when it's private.

Ultimately though, they did unprivate for me to see. I didn't sit and dig though. From what I saw, some was removed though.

Anyway, give me one second to get my screenshots of the Instagram messages to talk about those.

[talkwithmarcy]

Art Thieves Must Be Eradicated

Okay, I can't believe this will be my first post to tumblr, but it's bothering me so much that I want to get it out somehow.

I understand that we have different perceptions of art theft. However, I want to make a point clear that if you are using someone else's art, stuff or property without permission and refuse to comply to any request that requires you to give the property back, refrain from using it or give credit to an artist properly, etc, I count that as theft. I know there are also people who try to defend their actions by saying, "If they don't want people taking their stuff, they shouldn't put it in public." Yeah, well, we put Mona Lisa to the public, but that doesn't mean people can just take it and leave. Plus, that is equivalent to a rapist or a mysoginist saying, "Well, if you don't wanna be raped, then you shouldn't have look so hot in public." I can wear any clothing in public, but that doesn't mean I would be okay for someone to just steal my clothes. It's a dumb excuse.

The reason why I brought this up is because of my experience WITNESSING an art theft.

There is a youtube voice actor named Israel's Night Time Voice Audios ASMR. He had a series where it has this mafia plot and I thought the story was interesting so I got intrigued to listen to the series. However, 4 episodes in, you have to continue the series in his own website, not youtube.

This website acts as if it's his own patreon, it's almost like a member-only website and there are videos that you can play only if you pay for it. Now, when I looked for the series, in his thumbnail, he used a character art on 4 videos. And this art is from an artist who said they don't want other people to use their art for anything, whether it be for role-playing, repost, videos, etc.

I commented to Israel and I told him not to use it because the artist doesn't want people to do so. I told him I like his stuff but I don't want him to use art when the artist does not give permission. He says he didn't know the artist and he used it because there were other who do the same thing. So I told him then next time, to be safe, try to research the artist of the art that you would use in your thumbnails so you wouldn't have any misunderstandings about being an art thief.

But OH BOY, little did I know that I will found out that this was no misunderstanding.

He then say it is impossible to research every artist of the arts he uses in his videos. While I agree with him on this one, this just lead to the question of why not just don't use it then? I've seen youtubers who used art because they know they got permission from the artist and they would take down any video when they found out the art was stolen. And for those of you who want to say, "but there are others who are doing the same", that's not a good excuse. If you know it's not good thing to do, don't do it, otherwise, you're the asshole here. But either way, he then said he will change it soon, he said after his dinner. So I thought things will be okay and settled.

When I checked the next day, it was still there. I thought he forgot, so I reminded him. 2 or 3 days later, I reminded him AGAIN. Keep in mind, I have not call him a thief or anything, nor insult him or bash him for not removing it yet. But he responded angrily, and tells me that this will be my last comment, saying he is doing it out of good faith even though Youtube doesn't require him to do anything, and said that it is on his to do list and he will take them down.

Now, if any of you want to say I was pushy, that's fine, I agree. However, Israel does not have a right to police me or anyone from reminding him to take down arts, that he used without permission, ESPECIALLY when he promised to do so in a specific time.

Him also saying, "I'm doing it out of good faith because youtube is not even asking me to take it down", is NOT a good defense. He's essentially saying, "Listen, I'm a good person and you should feel lucky that I'm doing this because I'm SUCH a good person." Shut the fuck up, I beg of you.

Also, him saying Youtube doesn't tell him to do anything, yeah, no shit, bruh. BECAUSE IT'S NOT EVEN ON YOUTUBE, it's in YOUR members-only website, WHERE YOU CAN MAKE MONEY from these videos. Youtube won't do anything because it's not within their power or it's not happening in their territory. Meaning if you don't wanna take it down, the artist won't have any power to put in a copyright claim, BECAUSE IT IS YOUR WEBSITE.

Also, how long does it take to just change your thumbnail?

Months later.....It's. Still. There.

It's clear now that he told me to back off, in hopes that I will forget about it and he can secretly still use the art. So he lied, didn't have the decency to ask permission before using someone else's stuff, didn't even bother to at least give credit when I told him who the artist was, and he tried to act as if he was in any right to tell someone to back off when he is in the wrong.

(Here are screenshots)

It was one thing to say it is impossible to research every artist of the arts you use and basically just saying you don't wanna do it at all, but then to lie to sneakily still use it after being told that you are not allowed to, you're really asking for a fight there. I’m not gonna bother commenting to him again, cuz I know either he will ignore, tell me to shut up again, or block me from his channel.

Anyways, that is the whole story, I’m sorry that this has to be my first tumblr post but yeah, stuff happens. The reason why I’m so mad at this is because, I've seen art theft a lot and some is way worse than this. The whole thing piss me off, even though I’m not an artist myself, but because of people like this, I’m afraid of posting art in public. I made a fanart of Twisted Wonderland uniforms but I'm weary of sharing them because of this, even though I really want to. And I've seen these entitled assholes who would go far to even erase an artists' signature.

Thanks for reading, and remember, respect artists' demands with their art. Even though some are made public, that doesn't mean you have the right to do whatever you want to them.

[introvertguide]

A Clockwork Orange (1971); AFI #70

The current movie under review is a well known but not often watched work from Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange (1971). It is one of the best known acting performances of Malcolm McDowell and it occurred very early on in his career. It turns out that McDowell plays a very good crazy. The movie was nominated for many of the major awards at the Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing) but didn’t win any because it went against The French Connection and Kubrick’s movie was so filled with explicit rape scenes that it was originally rated X. I am not one to judge a director’s vision, but it seems like the movie would have done a lot better without all the weird rape scenes. There is a lot of very beautiful cinematography as well, which makes the juxtaposition to the sex and violence all the more jarring. Let’s go over the plot and I will keep track of the violence:

SPOILER WARNING!!! THIS MOVIE PLOT IS ABOUT TO BE COMPLETELY SPOILED SO DON’T READ AHEAD UNTIL YOU HAVE SEEN IT ON YOUR OWN!!! UNLESS, OF COURSE, YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO KNOW AND REFERENCE THE MOVIE WITHOUT DEALING WITH ALL THE RAPE. IN THAT CASE, GO AHEAD AND READ AWAY!!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a futuristic Britain, Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) is the leader of a gang of minions he calls "droogs": Georgie, Dim and Pete. One night, after getting intoxicated on drug-laden "milk-plus", they engage in an evening of "ultra-violence", which includes a fight with a rival gang who are busy raping a girl (weird sexual assault #1 and violence #1). They drive to the country home of writer Frank Alexander and trick his wife into letting them inside. They beat Alexander to the point of crippling him, and Alex rapes Alexander's wife while singing "Singin' in the Rain" (weird sexual assault #2 and violence #2; this scene was cut down in the US to get an R rating). The next day, while truant from school, Alex is approached by his probation officer, PR Deltoid, who is aware of Alex's activities and cautions him. He does it at Alex’s house while on his bed and Alex is just in his underwear and Deltoid socks Alex in the nuts. Alex goes out that day and meets two girls and brings them home to have fast forward sex with them simultaneously (weird sex but not assault).

Alex's droogs express discontent with petty crime and want more equality and high-yield thefts, but Alex asserts his authority by attacking them (violence #3). Later, Alex invades the home of a wealthy "cat-lady" and bludgeons her with a phallic sculpture while his droogs remain outside (violence #4). On hearing sirens, Alex tries to flee but Dim smashes a bottle in his face, stunning Alex and leaving him to be arrested. With Alex in custody, Deltoid gloats that the cat-lady died, making Alex a murderer. He is sentenced to fourteen years in prison. His entry into the prison is shown in painful detail including a strip search for drugs. This includes a guard checking Alex’s butthole for drugs (which was cut down for an R rating in the US).

Two years into the sentence, Alex eagerly takes up an offer to be a test subject for the Minister of the Interior's new Ludovico technique, an experimental aversion therapy for rehabilitating criminals within two weeks. Alex is strapped to a chair, his eyes are clamped open and he is injected with drugs. He is then forced to watch films of sex and violence (weird sexual assault #3 and violence #5), some of which are accompanied by the music of his favorite composer, Ludwig van Beethoven. Alex becomes nauseated by the films and, fearing the technique will make him sick upon hearing Beethoven, begs for an end to the treatment.

Two weeks later, the Minister demonstrates Alex's rehabilitation to a gathering of officials. Alex is unable to fight back against an actor who taunts and attacks him (violence #6) and becomes ill wanting sex with a topless woman (attempted sexual assault?). The prison chaplain complains that Alex has been robbed of his free will; however, the Minister asserts that the Ludovico technique will cut crime and alleviate crowding in prisons.

Alex is released from jail, only to find that the police have sold his possessions as compensation to his victims and his parents have let out his room. Alex encounters an elderly vagrant whom he attacked years earlier, and the vagrant and his friends attack him. Alex is saved by two policemen but is shocked to find they are his former droogs Dim and Georgie. They drive him to the countryside, beat him up, and nearly drown him before abandoning him (violence #7). Alex barely makes it to the doorstep of a nearby home before collapsing.

Alex wakes up to find himself in the home of Mr. Alexander, who is now confined to a wheelchair. Alexander does not recognize Alex from the previous attack but knows of Alex and the Ludovico technique from the newspapers. He sees Alex as a political weapon and prepares to present him to his colleagues. While bathing, Alex breaks into "Singin' in the Rain", causing Alexander to realize that Alex was the person who assaulted his wife and him. With help from his colleagues, Alexander drugs Alex and locks him in an upstairs bedroom. He then plays Beethoven's Ninth Symphony loudly from the floor below. Unable to withstand the sickening pain, Alex attempts suicide by jumping out the window.

Alex wakes up in a hospital with broken bones. While being given a series of psychological tests, he finds that he no longer has aversions to violence and sex. The Minister arrives and apologizes to Alex. He offers to take care of Alex and get him a job in return for his co-operation with his election campaign and public relations counter offensive. As a sign of good will, the Minister brings in a stereo system playing Beethoven's Ninth. Alex then contemplates violence and has vivid thoughts of having sex with a woman in front of an approving crowd (weird sex), and thinks to himself, "I was cured, all right!"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The book did not have as much of a downbeat ending as the film. There was a final chapter that explained that Alex had actually become cured and wasn’t obsessed with sex and violence. This final chapter was actually added after the book was published for American audiences and Kubrick, who lived in London, was unaware of it and didn’t include this in his movie. Upon being made aware of the new ending, he did not like it and ignored it completely. I think this was probably the right idea because it would have been a lot less memorable if it would have had a nice happy ending.

I find it interesting that the AFI has claimed this movie for America when it is clearly British. The movie is based on a well known British novel from a well known British author who was speaking out against American psychologists who were promoting behaviorism and cognitive behavioral therapy. The movie is set and filmed completely in London, England with an all British cast. The movie is also filled with artwork from famous British artists that were popular in 60s swinging London. The only claim America has is that it was not banned under the relatively new MPAA ratings, it was only heavily restricted with an X rating. England, however, stopped showing the movie because of the backlash from the religious right and the film was not available in the UK from 1973 to 1999. 

I watched the unrated version with commentary by Malcolm McDowell and his insight made for a much more interesting watch. It became apparent that Kubrick did not care much about the safety of his actors. The director had a hard time getting the actresses being raped to exude the fear he wanted since they were impowered British art students and were legitimately having fun. Kubrick did not want fun, he wanted realistic assault and trauma, dragging out these scenes with dozens of takes. Malcolm McDowell was physically injured when his character was assaulted on stage during the Ludovico demonstration. He was also afraid for his safety when he was being drowned by his former droogs. Finally, McDowell’s cornea was scratched when they were wedged open for the conditioning scene and the actor was temporarily blinded for weeks. 

It seems like I am being harsh on this movie and that I don’t like it, but I find it fascinating to the point that I have seen it a dozen times. The use of the false eyelashes on the top and bottom of only one eye gives Alex this look of having two sides. The use of blocking to show the allegiances of characters towards and against each other is directing along the lines of Orson Welles. The use of the music diegetically throughout that causes Alex’s condition is truly creative. McDowell was a great choice for the lead because his face is so expressive. I have not seen a better “happy angry” face with the exception of maybe Jack Nicolson. In so many ways, it truly is a great movie.

One reason for so many viewings is that I have seen this in some of my psychology courses, specifically in cognitive and behavioral classes. The whole Ludovico technique is supposed to malign the work of Watson and Skinner as reducing the reason behind one’s actions down to the environment, removing the idea of free will. When using behavioral therapy, do we just alter the stimulus and response so that a person has no choice but to obey? If so, is that taking away their freedom of choice thus making them less human? If a person simply chooses to be bad, is it their right to do so and they must face those consequences without outside influence forcing them to change? All very good questions that are brought up by this movie. 

So does this film belong on the AFI top 100? I am going to say no. It is a British film in every way except for the director, so much so that this movie is ranked by the BFI. It was rejected in the UK for a long period of time while it became somewhat of a cult classic in the US, but this doesn’t make it an American film. It is worthy based on quality, but is disqualified by location. So would I recommend it? Well...no. I like the film and it is fascinating at a psychological level, but it is a lot of art for art’s sake without consideration for humanity. The message is horrifically bleak and the movie is very uncomfortable to watch at times, and most viewers don’t want to be challenged in that way. If you want a movie that will purposefully offend you and test your sensibilities, then give it a try. If you want a fun or funny movie with a happy ending, then this is most definitely not the movie for you.

[comfyspookyburrito]

doki doki what now....

Forgot about this?

That is understandable.

It has been 3 years since it was posted to the steam workshop only to be removed so quickly that nobody has had the chance to experience it ever since.

Who could’ve removed it? Why did they do this? Was it because of copyright infringement? Did the person remove it because they got called out for reusing somebody else’s artwork? Did they get canceled? What?

Well..... no. I explained beforea brief summary.

I deleted all of my artwork, my videos, and went on a hiatus. Back then I had no other choice.

The person who removed it, was me. (EDIT)

Here is the truth.

I deleted my artwork, accused innocent people of things that are completely and factually wrong from my end for no reason whatsoever. I was an insecure coward to the point where I even made up stories about me “stealing” “copyright infringing” artwork when in actuality the only thing I really did was hurt hundreds of people in the end when I could have avoided doing everything that ended up happening.

Afterwards, I started making up excuses to try and make myself sound like a victim when that was entirely my fault.

Now. I am by NO means, an art thief, tracer, or anything of sort! Some of my oldest artwork was just flat out GARBAGE. I’ve improved slowly at a poor rate of ten years. 

The truth is, I dedicate myself into my drawings as follows.

I don’t use any references or even go on google unless I need to know a character or other reference to work on. Most of the time, I already know what pose, anatomy, character, and even clothing I want to create.

I make sure I put my absolute honest work, and personal style into ALL of my drawings, artwork, and content. I respect art, I respect artists, I have always been inspired by people that put in the work to get to where they are, just as I have. Maybe not at a fast pace, but nowadays, I have no issues with my drawings, and never struggle the way I used to.

I could go into detail about modding, and reskins, but in short, that is NOT art theft, using a base AND giving full disclosure and credit, WITH permission is NORMAL.

I encourage everyone, to only listen to me now, not from the past, because I am going to do everything from now on in teaching my identity, and how I want people to view me going forward.

I ALWAYS INTENDED TO BE KIND AND HONEST, I ALWAYS CREDIT MY SOURCES WHEN NECCESSARY, AND I ALWAYS RESPECT WHEN AND WHEN I SHOULD NOT AND WILL NOT POST OR TALK ABOUT ANYTHING I’M NOT ALLOWED TOO.

I have done bad things, but I really do strive for everyone to be a good person, not copy the shitty things I’ve done. I will set the bar straight going forward, the correct way for anyone inspired to follow my footsteps if they wish to become the content creator that I am from now on.

I’m sorry to everyone and going forward I will show the way of genuine honesty and atonement to undo my wrongdoings and pushing myself to become trustworthy again.

.....

Now I’m back and better than ever. And promised to bring back that lost content via expansion, remade to look better, or reuploaded in higher res.

And while I’m here after 10 long years I also have an anniversary about myself for us to celebrate before this year is over.

And what you’re seeing below is a part of that content being restored.

Steam workshop Crypt of The NecroDancer/Doki Doki Literature Club Mod is coming back!

That’s right! These sprites are still a work in progress because things could change once I actually start putting them into the workshop data folder.

Below here is a stack of portrait placeholders using the images from the remaster doki doki plus.

The real portraits I’ll be making will be made in a different art style than in NecroDancer but filtered to resemble the game. Two versions of them will be created for those wishing to play with the mod without the dlc.

Here is a post that goes into more detail.

I even have a great idea that will please both old fans who have played the mod in the past and new fans jumping in for a fresh experience.

However I won’t talk about it until next time. Let’s just say that I wasn’t kidding when I said I would be expanding some lost content that I’m restoring!

With that said, thank you for spending the time reading this.

[rwrbreversebang]

Rules

First and foremost, because this is a general event meant to celebrate the novel in all its entirety, all ships—or lack thereof—are welcome in the fan works created. And below we will describe the rules of participation.

Propriety 

Though there is a screen between us, please do remember that all participants and we Mods are all humans. Always remember to speak with respect and kindness.

A huge part of this event is collaborative, so all participants must be mindful and respect one another’s squicks and no gos within the artist/writer teams.

General Requirements

Do not post the entirety of your works to any social media until your assigned posting date, however teasers are permitted to an extent. If you have a question about whether or not your teaser is too revealing, please ask us, that’s why we’re here.

You must comply with mandatory deadlines and check-ins; failure to do so will result in ineligibility to participate in the bang. This will make your art invalid to claim or require a pinch hitter to write the story in your stead. Though, we understand emergencies and life issues can get in the way, just please be open and honest with your Mods.

Artist Requirements

All art pieces must be created for this specific event by your own two hands, you cannot turn in an already published piece or anything of the like.

You cannot claim your own art if you decide to also participate as an author.

I know you’ve read this a thousand times over, but this is a—let’s say it together now—collaborative event! So you are highly (HIGHLY) suggested to be in contact with your author and to communicate with them through the process. Due to this, please give each other up-to-date contact information whether through Tumblr, Discord, Twitter, or email when you begin communicating. 

Artist Specifics 

Digital traditional art: Your final piece must be no smaller than 800x600 pixels, and the idea of a completed art piece is up to uour  discretion, what you would ordinarily post on ur own blog. You are permitted to create more pieces to accompany the story if you so wish once you and your author begin collaborating (but this is completely optional).

Comics must be at least one full page.

Playlist entries should have at least 12 tracks in the queue, with a completed front and back cover, and a accessible link.

Graphic edits should include a coherent story arc, while adhering to Tumblr sizing limitations.

For any other inquiries, please message us through the ask box or email.

Author Specifics 

You cannot claim your own work if you also signed up as an artist.

The minimum word count is five thousand (5,000) words and absolutely no maximum, but do take caution that your fic must be completed and beta’d by the final submission date.

All writing pieces must be beta read before publication. You may use your own beta or request a beta through the bang.

Again, this event hinges on the fact that it is CALLABORTIVE! This means means that you are highly (HIGHLY) suggested to get in contact and stay in contact with your artists as you create your project with one another.

As authors, you are required to take into consideration your artist’s squicks, no gos, triggers and etc. You want to stay respectful and thoughtful to your partner.

Please! Please! Do NOT claim a NSFW artwork unless you are 18+, we know that this is mainly based off of trust, but if you do lie about this and we somehow figure it out, you will be removed from the event and prevented from participating in any future events.

How To Sign Up

The sign up date and check in date are all published in our schedule.

Signups for the event will be through a google forms link, but for now we want to simply get a head count of how many people are interested and or excited to participate.

All forms—amidst the four separate ones for artists, authors, pinch hitters, and betas—will ask for your name, contact email, and one reliable social media contact (tumblr, twitter, instagram, discord) which are all required. If you agree to be a pinch hitter as an author in your form, you will not have to fill out the pinch hitter form separately. Beta forms have slightly different questions asking on their strengths and preferences for what to beta.

The discord link will be sent in the confirmation email once you’ve signed up.

Once Artists Complete Their Works 

One of the most important rules we hold is that when an artist completes their piece for the claiming rounds, that you do NOT include a watermark or signature for the preview page. We want folks to choose anonymously to try and make this as much of a fair playing field as possible.

We know art theft is a concern, but we promise that the preview page is simply a google doc with limited permissions, with the art works all shown in a column and it will not expand from that private viewing.

The preview will only be open to participants of the event, and we ask kindly for no one to share the link anywhere to anyone.

The only information in the preview page is simply the art piece, with a number indicating it for claims. The NSFW work will be divided with a distinct warning. But that is all, anything else the artist wishes to clarify to their author will be discussed once we pair everyone up.

You will be able to edit your artwork as much as you please once linked up with your artist, but it must be recognizable from your original submission.

Look above for the mandatory aspects of your art medium.

No artworks or artists can be accepted once the previews are opened to the authors.

Claiming 

Artworks are anonymous, without any watermarks or signatures by the artist. So they will be claimed based off the artwork and that is all.

All art pieces will be given a number to make claiming run smoothly.

All claims, once submitted to us, are final. So please authors be careful in choosing artworks you can and are excited to write for.

Take your time with claims, they are not done on a first come/first serve basis. But we will do our best to match everyone up with their preferred choices.

Authors should not choose an art piece with a possible trigger/squick already in mind before they even speak to the author.

Check-ins

All check-ins are mandatory. You will receive the check-in forms through a link via email and posted on the discord server. We really hope everyone is honest and consistent with communication.

All check-in dates are already scheduled and you can see them on our schedule post, though if you have a conflict on any of those dates, please communicate that to us before hand.

When you sign up for the event, you are required to give us an email that you check regularly and can communicate easily through.

You are only “required” to communicate with your artist/author directly after claiming and directly before posting begins. But again, we highly suggest you communicate throughout.

Always stay as kind as possible to one another.

How To Contact The Mods In Order Of Preference

Email  »  RWRBREVERSEBANG@GMAIL.COM 

Discord DM

Tumblr Inbox 

Tumblr DM

Instagram DM

Posting

Posting is obviously the final part of this event, please as stated above, do not post your works anywhere publicly before hand, besides small teasers that shouldn’t give much of anything away.

Your posting dates will be assigned by your Mods, but if there is any sort of conflict just message us ASAP.

There are no requirements for actual posting, besides the fact that the artist/author duo discuss with one another when they’d like to publish, and tag this blog on the post for round up.

There will be an AO3 collection that you can opt into joining, whether through the link or search box. It will be revealed and not-anonymous from the start.

There is also no posting standard, but in your posts we do ask that you both link to one another’s pieces so to help the folks consuming your works understand the full picture.

Because tumblr is unreliable, we ask you to both tag the blog, RWRBREVERSEBANG, and also send us the links through the submissions form.

If you miss your posting date, please contact us and speak with us to figure out when and how you can publish your work.

All stories and art works will be included in daily roundup posts, and a final master list of works.

Feedback

Please, whether participating as an author, artist, beta, pinch hitter, or simply enjoying the works, let’s spread love to one another’s creations. Reblogging means so much more than just a like on tumblr, and kudos are sweet, but comments are a God send. I promise that literally anything you say in the comments will make the creator feel like there is a legion of birds fluttering around in their heart.

And of course, if you have any feedback for the Mods or the blog in general, our ask box is wide open!

[omg-just-peachy]

Hi, it's my first time asking for a prompt, maybe a mafia au, where Steve is just this big scary mob boss but goes all soft and squishy for his tiny boyfriend Tony 😁 Thanks, and p.s I love your fics ❤❤❤❤

Ahh, thank you so much, anon! Tbh this is way outside my writing comfort zone, but I was listening to One Thing Right by Kane Brown and had an idea and wanted to try, so I hope it’s okay! 

~~~

Steve never meant for Tony to find out. Then again, he never really meant to get so far in himself. 

Then Tony got kidnapped, and it all went to shit.

For a man who prided himself on being organized, on his ability to prevent things from slipping through the cracks, Steve had to admit that his life was unraveling before his eyes, and it was entirely his own fault. 

The problem was that Steve was a planner, and he never planned on Tony Stark. Brilliant, kind, gorgeous Tony, who only knew Steve the painter, an artist who worked tirelessly to make a name for himself and his art, who taught sick kids to draw every other weekend. Steve hadn’t planned to lie about those things, either, but Tony caught him on a rough night, a brutal deal gone so awry that Steve had to step in. He was nursing a black eye and gruesome bruises at a dive bar in Brooklyn, alone at the corner of the bar, where the bartender largely left him alone unless he was refilling his glass. 

Most people had some idea who Steve was, at least in this neighborhood, but Tony hadn’t. He was an engineer from Manhattan, and so far removed from the world of organized crime that it was refreshing. Tony had made some quippy, forward remark about kissing Steve better, and he’d laughed, really laughed for the first time in forever. Tony was charming, and Steve found himself desperate to be the kind of guy who deserves someone like that. The lie had slipped from his lips easily; it’s what he did, after all. 

After that, for a year now, those lies just kept coming. He spun a careful web of omissions and half-truths and hated himself for it every time. But Tony was so… soft, and sweet and his, that Steve thought maybe he could have both. Two separate lives: Steve the Boss, who planned and orchestrated major art thefts, and Tony’s Steve, who did his own work and was great with kids and walked to brunch in the city holding his boyfriend’s hand so carefully it felt like nothing could ever hurt them.

If this was anyone else, had anyone dared speak about their feelings in such an openly vulnerable way, Steve would have told them to get their head out of their ass and ditch the guy. He would’ve offered to do it for them. He should have taken his own advice, he knows that now. 

When Steve finds out Tony had been taken, it feels like every part of him goes ice cold, then bursts into flame. He’s seeing red, because how dare anyone do this, take his one good thing. The only person he had who knew the Steve he wanted to be rather than the criminal he’d become. The one person who loved him, who trusted him implicitly, and… who didn’t know Steve at all. 

It doesn’t take Steve long to find Tony, tied up in an abandoned warehouse that was dark and musty with disuse. He kicks the door in, gun in hand, and storms into the room. The sniveling kid in charge of keeping an eye on Tony was clearly not expecting Steve Rogers himself to show up, and he backs away slowly, then flees the room entirely as Steve shifts the gun. He was only going to put it away, but it gets the job done. 

“Sweetheart,” Steve says. He hardly recognizes his own voice, and he hates the way terrified way Tony’s looking between him and the gun, like Steve was someone he didn’t recognize. His face is bloody, but he’s in tact. They hadn’t wanted to hurt Tony too badly, that much was clear. This was just a message, letting Steve know that he’d been found out. That he had something to lose. 

Steve brings a hand to Tony’s forehead, wanting to wipe the matted hair from his face, to comfort him any way he could before he took him home, and his heart breaks when Tony flinches away like he’d been burned.

“Steve, I… you’re…” He stares at him, clearly trying to piece together how Steve his painter boyfriend and the man standing before him now could possibly be the same guy. I am that person, Steve longs to tell him. 

“I’m so sorry, Tony. I never, ever meant for you to get hurt. I didn’t think… I thought I could have it all.”

“Steve, you’re holding a gun, you came in here and kicked the door down. Would you have killed that guy?” Tony demands. He’s shaking, and Steve balls his hands into fists to stop himself from reaching out to him again. 

“If they’d hurt you even worse? I can’t say no, Tony,” Steve admits. The honesty feels good, like a breath of fresh air. 

“That night, in the bar. The night we met you said… You said you stopped a mugging, but you were part of something even then. All of this has been a lie,” Tony realizes at once, and the pained look on his face nearly takes Steve’s breath away. Tony looks devastated, and he has every right to be. Steve had been lying to him since the night they met. He was selfish, and that selfishness had gotten Tony kidnapped, beaten, and it had ruined any shot at happiness he might have had.

Tactician. Meticulous. Strategist. Those were all words associated with Steve Rogers, so how had he managed to fuck this up so royally? 

“Tony please, I’m so sorry. That night I was…in a bad place. I went out not expecting anything more than a hangover in the morning and instead I met you and I just… I wanted to be a better person, so I created one, and that meant I got to keep you, and after a while, well, it’s not like I didn’t want to tell you. By the time I realized I loved you it was too late. I never wanted to put you in danger,” Steve pleads. Steve Rogers didn’t plead, not ever, but for this? For Tony, he would do whatever it takes.

Steve dares to reach a hand out again, and this time Tony doesn’t flinch away when Steve takes his hand. 

“This is fucked up, you do know that, right?” Tony asks, breath catching in his throat. 

Steve squeezes his hand. “I know, I’m sorry,” Steve apologizes again.

“I just… how can you be this? I’ve seen you paint, I know that’s not a total lie. I’ve seen you with kids. I mean you’re so… kind. Maybe it’s the blood loss, or maybe the blunt force smack to my head shook out my common sense, but I do want to know you. The real you,” Tony adds with a glare. 

Relief sweeps through Steve with a force that threatens to bowl him over. “You do? I mean, if you wanted to leave, I would,” Steve swallows hard. “I would hate myself, and I would miss you like crazy, but I would understand.”

Tony looks at Steve, really looks at him, and Steve can see his mind at work, processing. Steve can see his face soften almost imperceptibly. “The Steve Rogers I know and love is a good person. I see it, even now,” Tony tells him. 

“I love you, so much, and I know I’m sounding like a broken record here, but I am so sorry, Tony. I should have just told you.”

Tony snorts. “What a meet cute that would’ve been. Hi, I’m Steve, and I’m a … what are you exactly, anyway? A gangster or something?”

Steve winces. “Actually I’m… kind of the boss.”

Tony’s eyes widen and he gives a surprised yelp. “Christ, Steve,” is all he says. “You’re going to tell me all about this, I’m holding you to it, but for now, can you please get me out of this?” Tony nods to the chair he’s still tied to.

Steve springs into action, his eyes narrowing as he unties Tony and lifts him up and into his arms bridal style, like he weighs nothing. “I will hurt whoever did this to you,” he grits out. Tony shifts in Steve’s arms, and looks briefly like he’s going to argue, tell Steve he can walk, but he seems to bite his tongue.

“You’re a real tough guy, I get it. But please, avenge later, home now,” Tony says. Then he seems to realize something. “Bet your lackeys or whatever have no idea that this is all it really takes to have their wicked way with you,” Tony says as he leans up in Steve’s arms and kisses softly along Steve’s jawline, finishing with a warm press of lips to Steve’s ear. 

Steve shivers and gives a pleased little sigh that would be completely embarrassing in front of anyone else, then gives Tony a look. 

“They certainly do not,” he says.

Tony makes a thoughtful sound at this, and Steve can see his brain working. 

“Tony, whatever you’re plotting here, please don’t.” He’s smirking a little as he admonishes him, though. “You’re right, let’s just get you home and cleaned up and in bed. Let me spoil you a little this weekend, yeah?” Steve says. “We have a lot of catching up to do, anyway.”

“No promises. You did have a secret identity, one that I still need to hear all about, for over a year, Steven,” Tony says. His voice is lower now, weaker as the events of the day start to settle in and exhaustion hits him full force. Steve tightens his arms around him and nods.

“Fair. You know that no matter what I do here, I love you, right? That hasn’t changed. That’s why I did what I did, why I could never tell you the truth. Knowing I could come home to you and be someone good, knowing that you love me, those things get me through the day.” 

Tony ducks his head into Steve’s shoulder. “I know,” he murmurs. “Total softie,” he adds.

Steve carries Tony all the way to his apartment, shooting murderous looks at anyone who dares to look at them. They had a long road ahead of them, but Steve can’t help but think that despite all the wrongs he’s done, he still had Tony, which meant he’d done at least one thing exactly right. 

[usagi-mitsu]

This is something I never thought I would ever write – or would have even considered writing down even a few hours ago. But I feel like this needs to be addressed and I hope you all can forgive me for venting my feelings – about art, the reader/author relationship, art-theft, and the following consequence: deleted art.

And… this is also some kind of diary entry for me, to never forget.

About three to four hours ago, an artist who I truly admire, closed their account on Wattpad. Wattpad is not my personally preferred platform, simply because I’m not sure it’s ok for them to monetize an authors content the way they do – and that is a topic for a whole different discussion. But they had pulled their stuff from fanfiction.net a few years prior and (if it even was their account) even from AO3.

The last message they posted on Wattpad reads as follows:

“DUE TO PEOPLE CONSTANTLY TRYING TO STEAL MY FICS AND CLAIM THEM AS THEIR OWN, I HAVE REMOVED THEM ALL FROM THIS PLATFORM. VERY SORRY TO THOSE WHO HAVE READ AND ENJOYED THEM BUT ALREADY MULTIPLE TIMES MY WRITING HAS BEEN STOLEN AND IM DONE.”

 The author I’m talking about was called “Lusterrdust” on Wattpad and wrote the very popular Skyrim Romance Mod fanfiction about their Dragonborn Niamh and the mods main character Bishop. Their first story “Ranger of the Woods” covered the whole of the mod in about 52-53 chapters and told it beautifully: From when Niamh and Bishop first met in Riverwood (?), to them fighting side by side, him leaving her to go fight Alduin alone, them reuniting a few months later, the journey to Solstheim, the battle with Miraak and finally a small wedding far away from the public. The second story was called “Saviour of Tamriel” and was set about four years after the first one, with Niamh yearning to be a mother, while the Aldmeri Dominion was planning on slowly expanding it’s … well … dominion across the continent, with Niamh and the High King Ulfric receiving death threats, her actually getting pregnant and Bishop trying to keep his family as safe as possible. A meeting with the emperor Titus Mede was on the way and I think Niamh and Bishop were about to drop their baby boy Julian off with the greybeards to keep him safe, since the Dominion had already put a hefty price on the not even three month old infant.

 The reason for why I write this, why this is affecting me like this, is that Lusterrdust was the first author I ever interacted with: I wrote comments when I read the story and I left my impressions and came back to read it again and again. I even dropped theories in the comments, even though I knew the story was not yet one and when I left my ideas and theories at the end of one of the last chapters, they even asked me, if they could use my idea. And my comments were not there anymore, since I offered them to delete them – just so that nobody else would be spoiled by my … inspirational rants at the end of each chapter. (Which is why I assume Niamh and Bishop were in Ivarstead at the end of the last chapter – it was my suggestion to place the baby with the Greybeards. Who better to look after a baby, than a bunch of super powerful elderly men and an elder dragon..?

But aside from having a baby at the worst possible time, aside from Niamh and Bishop still trying to learn how to communicate with her being the Dragonborn and therefore a person of public and political interest, aside from a potential alliance with Titus Mede and a hopefully good ending for them all.. there was so much more: There was the sub-plot with Breezehome being remodelled to be an orphanage, Niamhs brother having been brainwashed by the dark brotherhood, Lydia and Farkas having a third baby, Vilkas being with a Mere (elven woman), the implication of Ulfric slowly growing old and openly admitting to wanting Niamh to be his High Queen …

There was so much yet to explore.

But the author stopped updating in 2018, when their grandfather died. Which was ok. And everything was still ok to this day. At least for me: Even though they did not publish any new content, I still had all those many chapters to read again and again in my own time, whenever I got to it.

And it inspired me. It inspired me so much, that I went ahead and dove head first into Elder Scrolls Lore. A few years back, I could name all the Daedric Princes (Sanguine is the god of tits and wine – change my mind) and tell you which of Tamriels nine gods ruled over which dominion and why the fight between the Elves of Summerset and the other peoples of Tamriel was utter religious bullshit.

It even inspired me to think about my own Dragonborn, a nord woman called Kahira van Rae, and what she would do in a situation like Niamhs. A train of thoughts, that lead to me having RP sessions with my friends via WhatsApp and hour long talks about the politics of fictional lands. It even made me call my new character in the next fandom I’d dive into “Shia Tamriel”. In honour of a story and fandom I had come to love deeply.

And while it has been some time since I last checked in with these stories, I never forgot them. I did keep on coming back, enjoying them again and again. And every time I read them, I discovered something new.

These two stories were important to me.

The author was important to me.

 And now, all of those things are gone, because someone apparently copied their work and posted them as their own.

And that’s what really gets me.

Some random person out there on the internet thought it was ok, to simply copy-paste another persons hard work and put their name on it.

And let me put this as simply as possible:

THAT IS NOT OK! NOT IN ANY WAY!

 Because of your selfishness, a few hundred people will never get to know the end of Niamhs story.

Because of your selfishness, a few hundred people will never get to reread the story.

Because of your selfishness, an author was hurt and annoyed so badly they decided to pull all their content.

You should be ashamed.

You stole someone’s precious art that they decided to share with the world and let me be clear – just because they shared their art, you are not allowed to simply make it your own!

 Copyright is an iffy topic in fandom culture, with different countries having different rules and different companies going after fan works in highly differing intensities. But it should be common curtesy to not simply steal another persons art! Be it literal artworks as in pictures or edited videos or cosplay ideas or written art like fanfiction!

If something inspires you, that’s great! But you always ask consent before doing anything with the art! And if asking consent is an entirely new concept to you, I’d like to ask you kindly to go educate yourself on it. It will not only pop up in fandom culture.

 To conclude this…

I’m just sad at this point. I remembered the story two nights ago and I jumped right back into it at some random point and read it. I even put up with Wattpads shenanigans like forcing me to log in to keep on reading or requiring me to download the app so that they can show me stupid 30 second long ads in between reading.

I know that the world is not ending because of this.

I am well aware of the fact, that it was just a story.

And I truly support the authors decision.

 But until they pulled all the content, until they deleted their account, I had always hoped to maybe one day read more about Niamh and Bishop. And Bragor and Julian. About their Ulfric and Ralof, Lydia and Farkas and their children. I had hopes to discover their Titus Mede and how they were going to resolve the conflict between Skyrim, the empire and the Dominion

But now I cannot even go back and reread the sassy exchanges between Casavir and Bishop. I will never again be able to experience Bishops anguish when Niamh receives an almost mortal wound. I’ll never again know the inner thoughts of the Dragonborn, who thought she was barren, getting told that she is pregnant.

 I think the author did the right thing. It saddens me nonetheless.

 So let me end this here with one last plea to everyone in every fandom out there:

Do not steal art.

 Thank you for reading.

[mizgrownnonsense]

On Cultural Appropriation

(copied from an email I sent to a student, who asked about this as part of our “office hours”--thought tumblr could find it interesting) Thank you also for your question--please forgive the extra time I've taken to give it proper attention.

The question of cultural appropriation is certainly a complex one. 

Our general contemporary understanding boils down to: "do not take what isn't yours, and definitely do not use it disrespectfully," however, this simplification relies on certain absolutes (what does "yours" mean, what does "taking" mean?) that can feel confusing or impossibly, even unnaturally rigid.  

On "Owning":

The fact is that no artwork or cultural product is going to be a purely "authentic" in an essential way, because no culture is static and unchanging. All cultures have histories, with various ancestors and influences from whom they've adapted and translated their traditions. As the members of that culture live into the present, those traditions will keep adapting in response to the new cultures, artworks, and ideas that they come in contact with. I frequently say in my classes (paraphrasing the art citic, Stuart Hall), "when you have found something purely authentic, what you have really found is the end of your memory." Especially as our world expands, most artists today have come in contact with thousands of different artistic and visual traditions, which we both consciously and sometimes unconsciously translate into our work.

Accepting that human cultures are essentially syncretic, and that almost all of the artwork or cultural products we encounter are fusions or translations of other artworks or traditions, how do we navigate the question of "owning" something or "stealing" something?

I think it is also important to recognize that a relationship between a people and their traditions (artistic and otherwise) can be profound without being "pure." Native Americans in this country have a profound relationship to their ancestral lands that is felt through the thousands of generations who have become part of that ground and through the spirituality that connects their original, and identity-forming, myths to specific features of the landscape--whether they initially migrated from across the Bering Strait or not. Although African American women did not invent quilting, the tradition of quilt-making in the American south and the way that quilts were used to preserve stories, hide messages, and express creativity despite significant barriers to this kind of self-expression makes these quilts an important part of black southern visual tradition (consider the Gee's Bend quilts and some examples of African-American story quilts).

In this sense, we can think of "owning"  as the result of a profound relationship to a (visual, etc.) tradition or practice, based on an ancestral relationship to it; its contribution to one's sense of identity; its centrality to one's spiritual traditions, etc. 

On "Stealing":

Ideas (traditions, artistic styles, materials, images, etc.) can move from one culture to another in various ways. Though gifts (travelers bringing their culture's treasures to their host, or teaching their practice where they go), through imitation (travelers recreating what they've seen elsewhere out of admiration or curiosity), through assimilation (moving to a new place and adapting the traditions that already exist there, sometimes mixing them with their own), through conquest (one culture taking over the other, and absorbing what was there into their own culture and/or forcing the original inhabitants of that culture to assimilate into the new dominant one), through theft/misappropriation (forcibly taking artwork from a place or person and thereby changing its meaning through a change of context), etc.

Being aware of how this contact happens is the most important question to ask when Identifying whether we are looking at syncretism or cultural appropriation/misappropriation.  When you want to analyze a moment of cultural contact is to ask: who are the actors in this exchange? Who is in control of how, and whether, this exchange happened?

For example: In the case of Van Gogh's use of Japanese prints and brushwork technique to develop his own signature style (he translated their visible brushwork into thick oil paints and focused on the humble beauty of countryside and daily life in the same way Hiroshige did, actually copying some of Hiroshige's prints as practice: see here), We can see that Van Gogh did not have control over Japan's artistic production through political, economic, or other means. Japan was considered a relatively equal peer to France, and Van Gogh considered Hokusai and Hiroshige as artists equal to (if not superior to), even if he exotified them in the process. For their part, Hokusai and Hiroshige were freely sharing their artwork with the west, and had chosen to adapt western techniques of perspective in their own work as well. While Van Gogh was certainly "appropriating" Japanese technique, this should not be considered "theft."

By comparison, Picasso's "invention" of cubism was also influenced by another culture. Cubism is essentially the translation of three-dimensional African masks into two-dimensional paintings. However, Picasso encountered these masks in exhibitions of stolen artifacts (not given willingly, but forcibly removed from the palaces, altars, and homes of African people by European colonial forces, both out of curiosity and because the Europeans knew that separating African peoples from their sacred and royal objects would damage their sense of self and will to fight, aiding in their imperial conquest.) Although Picasso clearly admired the formal qualities of these objects, he did not see the people who created them as artists, famously saying in 1907: "African art? Never heard of it!" (”L’art negre? Connais Pas!”) At the time, France was exerting significant military, political, and economic power over African people, from which Picasso benefitted: he could claim African influences as his own without any africans contradicting him, because he had a privilege to be heard and respected that they didn't have. Furthermore, Picasso was exalted for his invention of a new form of art, making money and building his reputation, while the African people from whom he had appropriated these forms continued to be disrespected and in many places forbidden from making these for their original spiritual and political purposes. In this case, understanding this point of cultural contact as "cultural appropriation" and “theft” is clear.

As you navigate contemporary questions of cultural appropriation, ask yourself the following:

Who might have a profound, identity-based or ancestral relationship to this practice? 

Who is in control of the exchange? 

Does one person have political or economic privilege over the other? (I.e: white Americans over Native Americans, Black People, immigrants; academics over uneducated people; autonomous citizens over incarcerated, or institutionalized people?)

Does the culture from which the practice organization/that has a profound attachment to this practice have the power to refuse the exchange--what are the consequences to them of if they do refuse? (i.e: seriously impoverished nations may not be able to survive economically without the influx of tourism to their sacred spaces, ceremonies, and imagery)

Is someone benefiting--making money/building their reputation--from the practice they are borrowing? Is any of that money or acclaim being shared with the "owners" of the practice? 

Are the "owners" of the practice recognized as peers by the person borrowing it? Are they named? Referred to as artists? compensated? credited? Treated with respect? Or are they treated as ignorant, "accidental" producers of something only the borrowing artist and elite culture can understand and appreciate? 

Is the "borrower" of the practice considered the expert of that practice?

I'm happy to talk about this more if you have additional questions (as you can see, I have spent quite a bit of time with the subject). In the meantime, I hope this offers you some clarity, and some things to think about!

Best,

[iobjectfa20]

Print: ‘Imposed migration’ by Pudlo Pudlat.

1986. Cape Dorset, Nunavut, Buffin Island, Canada.

British Museum

Explanation

This image appears in the current exhibit at the British Museum, “Arctic: Culture and Climate.” The exhibit was prompted by some recent archaeological discoveries in the Arctic, but contains a variety of artifacts and art pieces through a range of eras. Not all the objects in the exhibit are accessible online, but some interesting items I found were an intricately-beaded woman’s coat from 1898, an engraved walrus tusk from 1954, and a snowmobile from 1986. Interestingly, none of the objects from the exhibit featured on the website or in downloadable educational materials featured any of the ancient, recently-discovered artifacts; all appeared to be from the 19th century and later. In addition to the various artifacts displayed, the exhibit also features art from contemporary Native artists. These art pieces came from a partnership with the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative, also called the Kinngait Cooperative.

The Kinngait Cooperative was founded in 1959 by a white Canadian settler who has been credited with “discovering” Inuit art and a local Inuit artist. There had been a longstanding culture of sculpting in the area, but as the cooperative developed, printmaking, drawing, and painting became more popular. Similarly, Pudlat had begun his artistic career as a sculptor but after suffering an injury that made continuing to sculpt difficult, he turned to printmaking, drawing, and painting as his primary forms of expression. He ultimately created over 4000 drawings and 200 prints. Pudlat’s work has been honored and recognized in a variety of ways. He has been featured on UNICEF greeting cards and on Canadian postage stamps, as well as in a variety exhibits. Two years before his death, the National Gallery of Canada opened a retrospective of 30 years of his drawings, the museum’s the first solo show of an Inuit artist.

I chose this exhibit and this particular piece for a variety of reasons. What initially interested me in the exhibit was the murky moral quandary surrounding the newly-discovered ancient artifacts. They had been trapped in ice in the Arctic circle, and if not for Global Warming, would not have become accessible to archaeologists. I find it interesting that none of these artifacts were pictured on the British Museum exhibit page. Furthermore, to include the work of contemporary Native artists in an exhibit centered on cultural artifacts does not do justice to the value of the artistry itself. Pudlat’s drawing powerfully captures the impact of industrialization and militarization on the environment, and through the environment, on Native communities. The other drawings and prints from Native artist in the accessible materials for the exhibit did not offer such a jarring statement; instead they highlighted the aspects of Native life that many often romanticize. I do not know who chose Pudlat’s drawing, but I think it was a brave choice. I hope that soon, more museums will lift up Native artistry and resistance, rather than exoticize it as an anthropological artifact.

Reimagining and Reframing

The image is a simple one. A military-style helicopter appears suspended against a blank background. From the helicopter hang three animals: a walrus on the left, a polar bear in the middle, and a musk ox on the right. The walrus is hung from its head, the polar bear from its neck, and the musk ox from its belly. I find the polar bear in the center to be the most disturbing. It is emaciated, echoing the photographs of polar bears we see increasingly frequently, who due to climate change lose their homes and sources of food. Its coat is yellowed, another sign of ill health. But most notable is that the rope attaching it to the helicopter looks exactly like a noose. The title of the piece is “Imposed migration,” and the image offers the illusion that perhaps the helicopter is simply relocating the animals. We know, however, that this is not really migration, but extermination. The animals will not survive human expansion and the climate change that accompanies our consumerism and greed. The title of the work also echoes the history of forced relocation of Native people – a governmental policy that did not only result in displacement, but also untold death.

This exhibit serves as an example of the British Museum benefiting from climate change. They can attract crowds (putting the pandemic aside for a moment) with the promise of newly-discovered archaeological findings, without grappling with the reality that those items only became recoverable because of a catastrophic loss of Arctic ice. Native populations are among those most effected by climate change; for example, many still rely on hunting and subsistence activities for their livelihoods, and animals are becoming increasingly sparse, and no longer migrate as far south because of rising temperatures. Exhibiting these new archaeological discoveries in a museum provides no benefit or relief to Native individuals suffering from climate-induced food or housing insecurity. In a telling move, the British Museum intentionally kept the BP logo away from promotional materials about this particular exhibit, although BP is a major funding source for the museum. That the museum simply removed the logo, but changed nothing about the policy of accepting BP’s sponsorship and promoting the company, highlighted that this exhibit was constructed to skirt its moral murkiness, not engage in what could be a groundbreaking discussion of ethics.

Referring to the opening up of the new archaeological site as both a tragedy and a treasure trove, a curator at the British Museum continued, “It’s like the library of Alexandria being on fire ... You’re plucking out these books which are coming out … it’s a remarkable window into life, all coming out of the ground in one go.” It’s not like the library of Alexandria being on fire, unless that fire were in fact an arson set by an invading army who then tries to paint themselves as the heroes in the narrative.

There have been some interesting cases and discussions in recent years of museums returning items obtained through various forms of theft, including colonial force, to the original countries or peoples. Last year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City returned a coffin to Egypt that was determined to have been smuggled out of Egypt by a multinational art trafficking ring. Benin City in Nigeria hopes to open a museum in 2023 to display Benin Bronzes in their city of origin, but has experienced difficulty in getting other countries and museums, including the British Museum, to return them. The blockbuster movie Black Panther featured a scene at the fictional “Museum of Great Britain” in which the lead villain comments on how the items were looted from Africa before stealing them himself. The director wanted to shoot the scene at the British Museum itself, and use the real museum’s name, but the museum did not consent. That the British Museum comes up again and again in examples of pleas to repatriate stolen cultural artifacts speaks to how much of its collection was obtained illicitly. I believe that the objects obtained from these archaeological sites made accessible through climate change should be treated the same way as the Benin Bronzes and should be repatriated.

Reading this account by the curator alongside the belief of James Houston, one of the cofounders of the Kinngait Cooperative, that he had “discovered” Inuit art, reminded me of many of the points Gayatri Spivak made in her groundbreaking essay, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Although she did not use this terminology, she issued a powerful indictment of the white savior complex, famously identifying a dynamic of “white men saving brown women from brown men.” Colonizers give themselves credit for saving Native peoples without taking accountability for or even recognizing the compounded oppression that they inflict on those they colonize. Houston, for example, felt proud of introducing the Native people he encountered in Kinngait to art forms that they could profit from, taking public credit without also publicly acknowledging the role that the Canadian government and the industrialization and capitalism it introduced played in destroying Native economies.

I read that archaeologists felt rushed to excavate the Arctic sites because looters were pillaging them as the melting ice made them accessible. How do we know that these “looters” were not simply Native people looking to hang on to remnants of their culture? I think of the disparity in newspaper captions after Hurricane Katrina, in which White survivors who took food from abandoned stores were termed “resourceful” and Black survivors doing the same thing were portrayed as looters and criminals. What separates the archaeologists themselves from the title of looters? My reimagined exhibit would address these questions head-on. Who can claim ownership to an ancient item? What constitutes theft? How should such an artifact be displayed? If that artifact or piece of art is obtained through some form of violence, how should that violence be acknowledged? What is a just reparation?

There is a long history of museums degrading Native art. The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City for example, which primarily features dinosaur bones, animal panoramas, and other exhibits on the natural (non-human) world, has a wing on Native American art and culture. The inclusion of Native Americans in the AMNH is, to say the least, dehumanizing. Native Americans are not Neanderthals. They are alive and could be thriving if not for European settler colonialism. The myth and romanticization of Native ways of living as an older and purer but unrealistic way of life does violence to all the Native people incorporating centuries of ritual into their 21st-century existence. For this reason, I believe that Native art should no longer be featured in exhibits that also contain archaeology; nobody would put an Andy Warhol painting in an exhibit with colonial-era embroidery. Native people deserve the same degree of attention and distinction.

—Mira R

[dapolyshipping]

On Plagiarism and Art Theft

We’re just a few hours away from the second monthly DA Polyshipping Day open and we wanted to take a moment to address a serious issue in fandom. To help make sure everyone is comfortable with participating with our event, we have rolled out an official plagiarism and art theft policy. It outlines what we consider plagiarism/art theft and what to do if someone has submitted works to us which you believe violate your intellectual property rights.

We strongly encourage everyone participating to read the information. If you ever need to refer to it again (and we hope you don’t), it can be found in full underneath the read more of this post, as an answer to a question on the FAQ, and as a link on our website here.. We hope everyone has had a great January in the fandom and look forward to seeing what you have ready for February!

Dragon Age Polyshipping Day takes art theft and plagiarism seriously. We do not under any circumstances condone plagiarism or art theft, as we believe wholeheartedly in and support the intellectual property rights of fancreators.

We wanted to take some time to address what constitutes both plagiarism and art theft, and what you can do if you believe someone has tagged or reblogged @dapolyshippingday in an effort to promote a fanwork which has violated your intellectual property rights. To start we’ll define both plagiarism and art theft, and let you know how to proceed in addressing the issue.

Plagiarism

We will use AO3’s guidelines for plagiarism listed below:

Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s words or concepts without properly attributing those words or concepts to their original source. Simply finding and replacing names, substituting synonyms, or rearranging a few words is not enough to make the work original to you. Deliberately writing a work using the same general idea as another work is not plagiarism, but citation is always appreciated.

An expanded definition can be found here. 

Art Theft

If plagiarism is highly contested and disputed Art Theft is even more so. We have compiled a list of examples which we consider Art Theft.

Reposting someone else’s art, moodboard, or fanedit. [note: fic/art rec lists should link to these works, not repost them from an account that does not belong to the artist/author.]

Removing someone’s signature, watermark, or identifying symbol through cropping or editing.

Tracing someone’s artwork as a base without permission or attribution (credit) [please note: this includes using something other than free stock photos or paid stock photos for which you haven’t obtained a license.]

Using someone’s artwork in graphic edits (for moodboards, user avatars, emojis, etc) without permissions or attribution (credit).

What To Do

If you become aware someone has tagged @dapolyshippingday in a post with a fanwork which plagiarizes your own or which constitutes art theft, we ask that you do the following:

Attempt contacting the writer or artist directly to talk things out. Please do not attack or harass the other creator. Although it can be frustrating, try to approach the situation calmly, and ask for them to either remove their post or properly credit. We do not support callout posts or public confrontations. If they agree to remove their post, please have them contact us to request that the post be deleted from the blog or the queue. If they are going to repost with proper credit, we are happy to replace their original post in the queue or to include it in the next month’s queue if it has already been posted.

If you find you are blocked or the two of you are unable to come to an agreement, you still have options.

First, check out this post with resources to file DMCA takedowns and/or abuse reports with the site where the work is hosted. Next, please send us the link where you first posted your work, and either a link to the one which you believe violates your intellectual property rights or a screenshot of the post. We will not negotiate on behalf of either fancreator, but if we do agree there has been an abuse of intellectual property rights, we will remove the work which plagiarized or stole art. We will reach out to let the fancreator know why their work was removed.

[sociallyintroverteddumbass]

The Toxic people in the HH Fandom

Now this is something I wanted to talk about.

I have been in this community for some time now and it has been the most eventful, yet exciting time of my years. Seeing a large group of fans support a passion project / show made by talented and independent people is pretty damn great and I love it. But, there have been some situations that had reeked some havoc here and I think it’s time we talked about some of them. 

Unfortunately, I could not fit everything I wanted to talk about in this post since it’s a bit overdue , I will be discussing 5 types of toxic people and some situations that had happened in the HH community. 

Note: Most of the stories I’m going to talk about were either made public or had been told by my friends or people who have experienced these situations. 

I will not reveal the names of the toxic individuals or their social media names as I don’t want anyone to witch-hunting any of these people. As much as I hate these types of people, it would be inhumane to go and attack them. In this community, we are trying to bring positivity to the fandom and not attract any drama here. Despite this, I will offer the details of what these individuals have done that should have some light dazzled to help and inform of these disgusting  crimes in the community. Also if you go out of your way to harass any of these people I will beat you up and eat your fingers. You know better then to do that.

1. Harassment

Harassment is no uncommon thing. It can happen to everyone, but that doesn’t mean it’s ok. If you are being harassed or spammed by someone, BLOCK THEM. It is never ok for you to stay silent, especially when that harassment is continuous. If you disagree with someone about something, do not go spamming them in their dms or comments, cause’ that just make you look stupid and immature af. 

Allow me to explain. Role-Play / Role-Players are seemingly the most common in the HH Fandom and often answer questions from others to the the character they are rp-ing as or their ocs. But sometimes they are going to get weird fucking questions.

For example, my good friend @carol1826​ is a roleplayer. She roleplays Charlie and asks / answers ask from others (HH related or not). One day, she had a very annoying anon asking her the question “Are you single?” on her posts and ask box. Of course, she was uncomfortable about that question and deleted those until the anon finally said:

“Dumb bitch deleting questions I was only asking a question...”  

“I bet the real Charlie would answer my questions...”

Ok, first of all what the actual fuck and what type of human being would ask someone that question, especially to a Charlie rp blog. More specifically, why would anyone ask a roleplayer that question. It disgusts me that this anon would do this and I hope they get what’s coming to them.

----       ------      ---    --------         ----------  --   ----------------   -----                   ------- Another example of this comes from Tumblr and DeviantArt. You see, a strange user (we will refer to as “the User”) has been asking artists (minors and adults) a specific request in the HH fandom:

“Draw Angel Dust’s butt looking like his fluffy chest” Or sometimes even these asks: “Draw Angel Dust swallowing bullets” ”Draw angel dust smuggling drugs up his butt” “Draw Alastor killing Pentious with a penance stare” “Can I get a shot of Pentious' eye on his hat?” But it seems that the User would often ask artists to draw Angel Dust with his butt out or doing weird shit, but mostly Angel Dust’s butt.

Of course, they would be constantly asking and spamming artists to do this, even if the artist didn’t want to. They even went as far as asking a 13 yr old artist to draw his request. The User has also admitted that it was a fetish (butt fetish to be specific), which is ok but that doesn’t excuse their actions. Fetishes are normal and I have nothing against anyone who has one but it is not ok to try and demand and spam someone to draw it if they don’t want to. The User has been also stealing art, not crediting artists, participating in art trades but never doing their part, begging or persuading for artists to give free art to them (despite some artists who only do commissions), making fake accounts and harassing /  impersonating people, acting racist, etc. I recommend any HH artist to block this user immediately if you get an ask from them.

If the artist doesn't want to draw your request, then you should leave them alone.

It is not ok to spam an artist’s askbox or DMs the same request they rejected over and over again. It’s not going to do any good for you if you do this.

Not only that,

The User also does this to HH roleplayers, sending really weird rp asks to them, mainly those who roleplay Angel Dust. In fact, there was one instance where they sent an ask to a Angel Dust roleplayer in which they basically raped Angel or asked very perverted question about their “Fluffy Butt” (the worst one is when they asked Angel rp-ers to swallow a rat and see if it comes out through the butt), along with other weird asks and it’s fucking disgusting / disturbing as this makes the User look like an extreme creep. It is not uncommon for these types of people to ask others to satisfy their fetishes or sexual desires, and will do whatever it takes to get that fetish / desire expressed from anyone (minors or adults) they can contact, even if it is illegal.

Unfortunately, this User has also ask artists these requests on DA as well, but way worse than you could ever imagine. The worst instance was where they’d ask various artists to draw a frog with worms up its ass. Yeah, I’m calling the Art Police.  Recently, the User had posted on DA discussing this issue. Of course they were acting very perverse, deny that they spam artists (even though it’s the truth) and trying to pull a bullshit pity party / sob story by explaining how they used to be homeless for 2 years, abused and attacked, which (I clearly doubt is true). The fact they tried to defend themselves by talking about how shitty their life used to be fucking disgusts me and is so very pathetic, it makes me gag knowing that these people exist and we are forced to live among them. The User is obviously trying to pull people away from the situation by using the pity card, and it failed. Why the hell should anyone give you the benefit of the doubt that you have done these sick, twisted, and inhumane things to artists by spamming them gross requests and being a big baby when people call you out, as if you should even deserve pity to begin with?  Now of course, what the User is saying does sound very hard to deal with and very sad, but once it crosses the line (due to these actions the User has done and has been very immature and uncompromising about it) people won’t care about how you got there nor feel pity about it. Besides, I doubt anything that the User said is actually true, especially the “homeless for 2 years” part, since if that were the case, you’d be more focused on money and rent rather than asking artists to draw a character clapping their ass-cheeks. Currently on this user’s DA page, they’ve been doing these abominations of status posts for some time, posting pity-post stories in order to get sympathy and just bad. In one of their posts, they go completely ape-shit. Like, this is what happens when desperation and lies is your only option to escape your problems because you’re to perverse to try and fix those issues. I doubt anything this guy says is real anymore since, at this point, anything they say is just a way for them to get pity-points.  Here are the posts btw -----v

Overall, this user is a art thief, spammer, pedophile, manipulating, lying disgusting immature pig that should be eradicated from the internet and all communities for they have been nothing but harassed and cause problems in the fandoms they entered. 

In conclusion, If you are an HH rp / art blog and you are getting uncomfortable asks like these, do not respond and / or block the person asking, you have that right and these people can’t tell you otherwise. If you are harassing people like this, then shame on you for your actions and you seriously need to stop. Its not fucking ok and it will never be ok. NEVER FUCKIN’ EVER. 

2. Art Theft 

Now those of you who have been here for a long time in the Vivziepop Fandom, you will know that many people would sometimes repost Vivz’s artwork. Most of the time we usually don’t do this in the intent of stealing it but to share it or even criticize it. Seemingly Vivz doesn't have a problem with this, unless you are stealing it for you own personal gain and lie that it’s their art. That’s right, these bastards steal her art and claim its theirs. If you been frequently going to Vivz’s Twitter back in 2017, you might remember her calling out a blog that was stealing her art and saying it was theirs.

If you thought that was bad, not only does this happen to Vivz, it happens to other artists in the the HH fandom, the two I’m going to talk about come from @rabbit1225​ and @ztoonsz.

Rabbit1225 makes beautifully drawn artwork of characters, and they are especially well known for their fanart on HH characters in the fandom (Lucifer from HH to be specific). But, unfortunately as Rabbit continues with the fanart, others take it without permission. In fact, there was one instant where someone had ask Rabbit if they could use their picture of Lucifer in the Hazbin Hotel Wiki for Lucifer’s bio in a conversation on DeviantArt. Rabbit said no, but they didn’t care. They not only posted it on the wiki, they spelled Rabbit’s DeviantArt name wrong. Fortunately, Rabbit told the person to remove the pic immediately and told them off for not listening, and so far the pic was removed from the wiki.

This would soon lead to Rabbit putting big watermarks over most their artwork so art thieves couldn’t steal them. I mean, the watermarks are so big they take up the whole pic, which is smart. But still it is a very sad thing to see this happen to artist like Rabbit just because they make some good art of their favorite characters. Sure, asking artists for permission to use their artwork is ok, but taking their art (even if the artist said no) without permission is extremely wrong and disgraceful.  -------    ----              ------------                 --------------------------    -----    ----------

Ztoonz is also an artist who draws HH characters, including their HH oc. Suddenly, an Instagram user was not only stealing their HH art, but stealing various ones from another artist. Ztoonz confronted this thief, and it went pretty bad to say the least. The thief kept saying it was “Their art” and kept calling them insults like “Bitch” or “British Cunt”. What really put the nail in the coffin was when the thief  threaten to repost Ztoonz’s art and claim that Ztoonz was the one stealing it. Now that’s just cold. Of course, Ztoonz made a post regarding this and everyone started to report this thief. Thankfully, the thief deleted all of the art because they knew they fucked up and they deserved it. 

If an you are reposting another person’s art, you must ask for permission first. If don’t and just straight up do it anyway, be sure to credit them at least.

If the artist asks you to remove the reposted art, Do IT, as the art is theirs and not yours and you could get sued or even arrested by the artist for stealing their art.

 Respect an artist’s request to leave their art alone or credit them and move on with your life.

It’s not that difficult. You’ll look bad.

This also goes for Ocs as well, of course.

It is despicable and stealing another person’s character and / or art , it makes you look like you are devoid of creativity to make your own and it’s scummy.

 3. The Attack Of HH Shippings 

This is a tweet Vivzie made on her Twitter. I hope you read or at least acknowledged this tweet, because I’m going to talk about a certain issue regarding this. You see, the reason why Vivz made this tweet was because of the fact that there was an increase of actual people bullying other for certain  ships, canon or not, which I must say is just sad. Like, guys they’re just cartoon characters, calm the fuck down. If you’re seriously going to debate others about a certain ship and whether or not it’s canon for 2 hours, then you are the real fool here.  I don’t know what’s worse: -People shipping real-life people that don’t know each other / have no love or sexual relations with.  OR -People getting into heated arguments about certain fictional character ships from cartoons or shows. What more do we need to tell you? How many fucking times do we all need to say it to you people? Doing this is just going to make you look like a shit person, and an immature one at that. There is no reason for you to do this.There is no reason to attack someone for having some ship of an HH character because you disagree with it. I’ve said it, everyone has said it, even Vivzie herself has said it.  I know this is common in almost all fandoms and communities, but come on, ya’ll should be mature enough to know that being a bitch about stupid shit is just stupid. You guys are old enough to learn how to respect an opinion / interest, yet you people are crying like babies about how some people are shipping Vaggie and Angel Dust cause’ he is gay and not straight. THEY’RE JUST SHIPS! Not only that, even if Angel Dust and Vaggie used to be a couple in the older version of HH and it’s not canon anymore, you can still ship them regardless.

Sure, we all love our demons guys n’ gals but we need to remember they’re just characters and we can do whatever ships we want. Of course, there are going to be the weird looking ships, but we need to respect those ships. You have no authority to tell a person to kill themselves all because they shipped Charlie with Alastor. You are not the God of Ships, nor are you entitled to say you are. 

Speaking of the Vaggie x Angel Dust ship, my friend @scarecrowinc93 told me about someone supporting that ship here on Tumblr. They loved it so much, they made a kickstarter to make the ship canon. Fucking Madlad. But when people tried to tell them that it might not come true, they went ape-shit. They responded to all of this in a post and were extremely rude and bitter about it, though they tried to cover their tracks by deleting it as soon as they realize they fucked up. Now as much as we love fan ships and wish they could be canon, it might not happen and you need to except that fact. 

Just because you’re in a fandom that have excepting ships does not mean you can harass people for disagreeing with your ship or anyone else. I get it people should have free opinions here and there, but you don’t have the right to speak in a rude manner because someone didn’t like your ship. That’s not right and you know that.

4.”Is Hazbin Hotel a Scam?” Bullshit and Clickbait Slander

What happens when someone is desperate for views on YouTube? Slander and attempting to start drama of course! There had been two videos that have caused a bit of a steer. 

The first one was at the day of Christmas Eve, a video called “Is Hazbin Hotel a Scam?” was uploaded by some random person, and I gotta say I was pissed off and disgusted. This might as well be the most infamous video slandering Hazbin Hotel to exist. Words cannot describe this video, and the only way I can describe it is with this image:

I’m pretty sure everyone knows that Hazbin Hotel isn’t a scam. For one, Vivzie and the HH crew do not want to let the fans down, especially at this point in time as Hazbin Hotel is popular with a majority of fans, who are excited for the upcoming show. Do you really think Vivziepop would want to let her own fans down and lie about the upcoming show just to gain money? Yeah uh, how about no motherfucker. They’ve been working so hard to even stop the project at this point. Multiple clips from the pilot have been released to the public, and you can clearly see that the HH crew are working hard to make this show real. Animation that could make Disney cry, colors that pop and vibrate with beauty, and characters with designs that defy our ability to comprehend. For example, Ashely Nichols is one of the HH animators / artists working on the project. She is well known for the many streams she broadcasts. Most of them are usually of her animating various scenes, but with a bit of a twist. You see, to make these streams more entertaining, she brings in one of the several voice actors of Hazbin Hotel to the stream and have the viewers give voice requests said voice actor. In fact, she is currently in a relationship with Micheal Kovach, the voice of Angel Dust. Sometimes even Vivzie makes streams. During those streams some viewers would ask her various questions about Hazbin Hotel, and you know what she does? She answers their questions. Vivzie likes to talk about the Hazbin Hotel’s universe, especially her characters and want to share them with her fans.  So how is that a scam? If Hazbin Hotel was a scam, then why is the HH crew so dedicated to make this project successful? Explain that, cause’ it seems that the person who made this video might have something to say about this. I question whether or not this person is a troll or not, but I’m on the notion they did this for views since in their channel they have never talked about animation or anything related to that and probably doesn’t even know anything about it. Literally, when I first went on this person’s channel, there was barely anything in there that related to animation, art, or anything of that sort but (what I can assume to be) video blogs with barely any views. When I saw this, I could just feel the desperateness for views radiating from their channel. It’s like the equivalent of someone cashing in on a famous person’s death because they’re so desperate for views and attention. When first watching this “exposed video”, I honestly couldn’t even watch it at it’s fully entirety because it was that bad. The points this person made were too idiotic to take seriously and I feel bad for those who believed these disgusting lies. Here are just some of the “points” this person made about the so called “Hazbin Hotel scam”: - Having merch before the show has been released - Having no official release date - The crew only caring about money, not the fans - Having two Patreon pages (One is Vivziepop, the other’s Hazbin Hotel) These are just some of the “points” the person made in the video, and oh believe me it gets worse. While some seem understandable, most of them sound too abysmal to be true. Like seriously, “Having no official release date...”? How petty do you have to be to make up this shit? I get it, the internet can be a sketchy place and you can’t always trust the things you believe, but that statement does not make sense. Let me explain, most animation projects take time to make, like it can 5-7 hours to make a 10 second clip. Now imagine 30 minutes (which is how long the Hazbin Hotel pilot will be), imagine how long it would take to animate. Drawing every single frame neatly and correctly, making sure every scene is right, taking time and making it perfect. The amount of time and effort animators take on animating is astounding. Animation is hard and whether you animate or not, you know that it takes a great deal of toil and energy to do something like this, especially when it comes to 2D animation (which is the main animation style for Hazbin Hotel), where you have to draw each and every frame by hand. Animators need time to do this stuff and sometimes don’t when they’ll be done. Hell, animation companies like Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, etc. need time for this shit and it could take them months or even years to even start the animation process. Even if these companies have a larger budget then Vivzie, that doesn’t mean she can’t full-fill her animation dream. Like I said before, Vivziepop has already released multiple clips from the pilot, talked about the universe of Hazbin Hotel and it’s characters, and overall make the wait for the pilot something everyone can enjoy. If it were a scam, the animation wouldn’t look completed / smooth, Vivzie would not be talking about the HH universe as much, there wouldn’t be as many animation streams being made, etc.

Apparently, the video was so bad, misleading, and plain retarded, Jakeneutron (who is an animator well known for doing stuff related for Steven Universe), told the person off in the comment section along with other people who actually have a brain. This person, this fucking person, was just spouting bullshit claims like how: 

“They only care about money than the project”

and

“It takes 6 animators to make the merch line and several days to release the merch line”

This person obviously doesn’t know how to tell a good lie because his claims are total bullshit and easily debunkable. The video might have been deleted since it hasn’t been seen near the top when you search “Hazbin Hotel” on Youtube but I don’t want to say it too soon, but if the video is still up then I recommend to not watch it as, like I said, just an attempt to start drama and get views from a pathetic troll / leech.  Seriously, these lies are so bad I feel like my brain cells are slowly dying just reading them.

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Next one, a video was uploaded seemingly in December  of another random person’s “reaction” to the Hazbin Hotel trailer and was pretty bad. One of the most idiotic claims this person kept dragging was that this was for children and it is very inappropriate. How? HOW?!

How is a show about demons, murderers, villains in Hell (with mild cursing and sex jokes) for children? This person literally thinks that anything animated is for children. I swear people with that mentality about animation always being “Family Friendly” are just plain idiots. Like look at Family Guy / American Dad / Bojack Horseman / Mr.Pickles / The NutShack, they all have mature and inappropriate themes in them, and they’re animated.

Generally speaking here, yes I do think young children shouldn’t watch HH for obvious reasons. Yes, even though the characters are really funny and enjoyable and the animation beautiful, it’s not mean’t for a very young audience. You could tell Hazbin Hotel isn’t family friendly the moment they talk about drugs, Hell, murder, genocide, etc. but this person acts like it’s going to corrupt our kids the nano-second they watch it. Not only that, they were involving religion into the video. Unfortunately, due my poor memory, I couldn’t remember what they said, but what I do remember was the title saying “I’m never leaving my church ever again...” and the thumbnail being the person seemingly holding a mini bible. Unsurprisingly, they got a lot of hate from that video, but for some reason the person was liking every comment (including the ones that were going against him), which begs the question, What the fuck? The video was deleted, of course.

Now, oddly enough this person is special in a way. They may just seem like your average slanderer towards HH, but they’re a weird one. You see for some reason this person kept making “review videos” on the HH clips or videos apparently supporting HH. Yeah, excuse me but what the fuck? Are they trying to cover their tracks? 

It’s hard to tell if they’re a troll or not because at this point I don’t know. First they slander HH, now they supporting it? What is this person doing and why?

One of my most biggest problems with their HH ‘review’ videos is how the jokes they make are bland, unfunny, and just confusing (to me at least). When they make an attempt at a joke, it’s hard to even call it a joke because it makes you debate whether to laugh or not. 

For example, in their “review” to “A Cautionary Tale”, Angel Dust says he’s “Not too big on politics”, and then the person takes out a MAGA hat, wears it, and says “Well, then you and I are gonna get along great!” I think it’s suppose to be a political joke since in the corner it said *Republican joke*, but at the same time it comes across as not really funny.

My second biggest issue I have about them is how they literally have no fucking clue on what they’re saying. Like they have no idea who the characters are, the universe of the show, etc. and honestly comparing them to an average HH fan, they have the IQ of a penny when talking about HH. In their “A Cautionary Tale” review video, they literally claimed there was no such thing as an “overnight” in Hell and that they’ve been hearing people say that everyone in the main cast of HH died in the 1940s (even though most of the characters have different personalities based on when they died, which is not just the 1940s). Yeah, this ain’t it chief. 

One of the most stupidest things this guy said was that Alastor was Adolf Hitler himself...  Yeah no. Like I’m not sure if this is suppose to be some sort of joke, but judging from this guy’s low knowledge on HH and them being obsessed the 1900s, it seems likely. 

Firstly, Alastor died in 1933, New Orleans (which was told by Vivz in one of Ashely’s streams) during the great depression before WW2, while Hitler died in 1945, Berlin during WW2. Literally, you could just google “Adolf Hitler” and it would show you his date of death on the right side of the screen when you google him, and for Alastor you would go to the Hazbin Hotel Wiki. It’s not that hard.

Secondly, if Alastor was Hitler, then he would have spoken in german or german accent, hate Jews / African Americans / Gays / Hipsanics / etc., have a swastika on this arm, and have the signature mustache or at least something like Hitler. Alastor speaks in a 1930′s voice and speaks english, literally (seemingly) doesn’t care about what race or sexual orientation you are, has no mustache.  

If you went and researched about these characters more on the Hazbin Hotel Wiki, then you wouldn’t look so stupid especially if you want to be invested in the show’s characters or the show in general.

If you haven’t noticed yet, this person is into some war history judging by his interest of World War stuff. I can understand that they may not know, but (like I said) you could literally go to the Hazbin Hotel Wiki to learn more about the story, rather than make dumb assumptions on things you don’t know. You have the internet, use it.

If you think that making video’s slandering a show or person gonna get you good-ass views, then fuck you. Doing this will do nothing but bring angry fans and confused people believing the things you say. If you find satisfaction from that, you are fucking disgusting and a trashy human being. 

5. Roleplay Bullying

Much like HH ship-bullying, roleplayers are being bullied by their way of roleplaying. One that has come to attention is one coming from the Twitter RP-Verse. They roleplay as Alastor and has been acting like a tyrant. You see, they are also an artist who do HH fanart and are well-known for it actually (but I won’t tell who). They would insult roleplayers for their ability or way of roleplaying behind their backs and it’s quite childish for someone to be mad at something so small and idiotic. The roleplayer would use their fans to try and force other rp-ers from the roleplay, as if they control it, which is false and you can’t really control a roleplay, unless someone’s being annoying af and I doubt that this Alastor roleplayer is doing what their doing for that reason. I can understand that territories like this can get pretty hostile, but regards to this specific situation there isn’t really an excuse. I’m not going to go too deep into this topic since (let’s be honest) is another version of HH ship-bullying but except it’s roleplay. Maybe next time I’ll go deeper into this.

So what did we learn today?

Today we learn how truly pathetic us humans can be. How people would go out of their way to conduct such petty crimes to satisfy themselves because they have nothing else better to do in their sad little lives. 

I might make a part 2 of this post, since I couldn’t talk about everything I wanted to say in this post since that would take forever to make. 

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Thank you all for read my post!   

I wish everyone in this community the greatest and to be safe on the internet. Toxic people are crawling left and right and it is important that we don’t let these people get to us, we are better than these people.

If any of you guys want to make a similar post like this, then go ahead! It would be much appreciated to help spread this awareness and make our or other communities less toxic.