depresso deer

Anton Seder. Die Pflanze in Kunst und Gewerbe /The Plant in Art and Industry. vol.2. ca. 1887-89.

A garden snail, a hare, a lizard, a moth, and a small songbird each find their place among the voluptuous, almost fantastical foliage of some kohlrabis. Have the leaves of a root vegetable ever been this lush?

Kinda feels like when in the queer community people make up a new "better" definition of an old term that ends up excluding a bunch of people who were using it who are now expected to use the new shiny term.

It's especially frustrating when i feel like the word it ends up as makes less sense than originally. I keep seeing people describe the common experience of phantom shifts that feel like physically having a limb but are not visible, which is... to me the old definition of a phantom shift as physical experiences. No ? A physical experience... would be when you physically change. I can get it for people who see themselves change or have no genuine difference between "real life mythical shapeshifting" and whatever they're experiencing, but... really? are we starting to claim feeling a good ol' phantom shift is shapeshifting? because it feels real? are we just re writing what physical means now. Ugh. I feel like we're losing so much of the nuance of therianthropic experience over pointless renaming for things to feel more validating and real. a phantom limb is not less important bc it's not physical as in physically touchable and visible to you. if any brainfeel is physical therianthropy bc it pertains to your body / you feel it in your body, then... literally all therianthropy is physical. congratulation now physical therianthropy means nothing.

signed, a rambling frustrated big cat who doesn't know what words are supposed to mean anymore

Constelic / “ID hoarder”: An alterhuman term for someone who collects identities of animals, fictional characters, mythological beings, and otherwise. It is often done by choice, though it doesn’t necessarily need to be, and constelic identities can be dropped, hoarded, and have priority over others. Constelic identities are often casual, “in the background”, or not very intensive, though this may not always be the case. Furthermore, there may be specific tiers of how much someone relates to said identities.

These identities in question may be called constels (ex: “I have a deer constel.”) or they may just be called an ID. You can also put an identity along with the suffix “-stelic” (ex: I am deerstelic). Someone who is constelic may range from only having one ID, to having a very large number of them, or anything in between.

Reasons for why someone is constelic may vary. Popular reasons may be because of hyperfixation, projection onto characters, a need to “hoard” things (possibly due to things like OCD), or simply for fun. The term comes from the word “constellation”, and the symbol is meant to represent a star that branches out into their own identities.

While I coined this as an alternative to KFF, this does not mean it’s okay to force this label onto others, or try to force them to use the term, symbol, etc.. Basically, don’t use this term to be a jerk, or to throw people under the bus.

Symbol below the cut! You can use the flag, symbol, term, etc. on their own if you want to. You don’t have to use the flag or symbol in order to be constelic.

[ID: A small banner with the plural flag in the background, with bordered white text saying “No discourse interaction, please!” in the center. End ID]

I know I'm made of clay that's worn / blinded by imperfect form (creature - half•alive)

a drawing i did a few days ago that im extremely proud of. its about nonhumanity of course, about how a person is not their body, but how they see themselves. it represents my three kintypes: dragon, enderman and unicorn, and how phantom shifts can make them overlap sometimes over my physical body.

ah fUck shit sorry gimme a sec.... almost got it......

I’m - gasp! Finally changing my avatar to something updated, after almost four years of the scales close-up (which, fun fact, was only a thing originally because I didn’t have a good idea of what my head looked like at the time!). I will feel at least as weird about this change as any of y’all, I promise sdkfjsdkgj

Apologies for the late response - my work schedule has been hell on me these past few days.

As for your ask - no, that is not the correct definition of “kin”. To be kin - otherkin, or fictionkin, or whatever else you might call it - you must identify as that character, in some nonphysical form or another. It is not relating to that character, or being similar to that character. If that were the case, and being ‘kin was just something we did because we found a character relatable... then I’d have a lot more kintypes on my already-too-long list!

Fictional characters are meant to be relatable in some way. Even villains can be relatable, provided they’re being written well. If you relate to a character, that is a writer doing their job! We are meant to sympathize and feel for fictional characters, because our current human species has spent its entire history telling stories. It’s ingrained in our blood to seek out connections with others, be they animal, or human, or fictional, or whatever. It’s completely natural to relate to a fictional character.  So seeing a character with self confidence issues and saying “Oh, me too! I kin them!” is both fundamentally and grammatically incorrect. It’s more than just relating to them. It’s always been that way, and it always will be. 

To be fair, relating to a character absolutely can be a part of being kin with them, but that’s not the true nature of the concept at all. For example, I have unapologetically evil villain kintypes, but it’s not because I relate to them. My god. I can hardly see the person I am now reflected in those characters. But, on some level inside myself, I still recognize them as me.

To identify as kin is to identify as that character or animal or what have you. And perhaps more than that, it is an identity that you do not choose. Yes, fictional characters are relatable. They’re meant to be. That doesn’t mean you can pick your favorite, or the one you relate to the most, and be kin with them. That’s just not how it works.

I know it’s been somewhat popular (especially on Twitter, it seems...) in lots of fandom spaces lately, and bastardization of the word “kin” has been running rampant, but please know that’s not what it’s supposed to mean. We have had a documented history since at least the early 70′s, we’re not just some fad terminology teens use to get clout or whatever in their favorite fandoms. 

(Not to mention - it’s not just anime characters. It’s all fictional characters, even fictional species.)