I have thought long about this, and I came to the conclusion that I am no longer taking part in SalamiTober 2022. I have also stopped doing RWBY fan art for the unforeseeable future. The drama at Roosterteeth have impacted my mental health severely which had lasted for over four days. I will use my time during October to focus on my wellbeing and prepare for National Novel Writing Month on November.
I still found it very disgusting that Roosterteeth have treated their staff poorly in the past, which made me feel upset and frustrated for days. It even made my mental health far worse, including anxiety, insomnia and depression. I also found it extremely difficult to find support from other people, where most of them are not on the same page as I am. That made it extremely difficult for me to do more RWBY fan art without having to think about the controversies at Roosterteeth.
I have considered solutions around SalamiTober 2022, which included doing prompts from Inktober or Drawlloween, which I can still do. The best one was doing Salamitober prompts with Shion or May Marigold as replacements for Salem, but given the recent controversies involving Kdin, it would not be a good call to go for that. I have been burnt out. I struggled to find the time in the night for me to start my art, and I even compromised my Health to complete a prompt every single day of October.
What affected me the most about the drama was Roosterteeth's bad management and underpayments. The accounts from other people made me realise on how badly I was treated doing my previous work experiences, which led me to end up with work-related stresses and increased social anxiety. Therefore, I will not continue this challenge and instead be taking a stand against their practices. I will also no longer be finically supporting Roosterteeth, which extends to buying more RWBY products.
There are feelings from people, including CRWBY staff, who worry that RWBY Volume 9 likely to be heavily impacted by the recent drama, which I understand their worries. However, to be perfectly honest, I still continuously struggle to support and enjoy the show given its issues in both production and execution. It started with too many ideas to fit within its given scope. It had too many characters to explore enough time on each. The recent volumes, especially 8, became more muddled in the story, leading to some parts that didn’t work. The list goes on, but Roosterteeth’s string of failures had led to its reduced amount of animated shows and continued dissolution of staff roles. They didn’t even organise themselves enough, which led to more delays over their media. All of that has made me more doubtful about the show’s future.
I am truly happy though that more positive experiences at Roosterteeth are being shared online, showing they are still passionate about their work and that the company have improved in the past two years. It is for this reason that I still hope Volume 9 will eventually release next year, on time, and be loved by many fans. But that, unfortunately, will still not change my views on Roosterteeth and their resulting commitments.
What I can say is I still enjoy being part of the RWBY community, so I can still interact with them in the future with more art. But as for now, I will step away from there and the Roosterteeth drama, so I can reflect on my experiences and hope to improve my life.
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