RobCivecat's Trash

@robcivecat, I’m going to reply here to what you wrote in this ask.

Not everything revolves around fandoms. This is especially true for artists, and difficult to comprehend for people who are deeply invested in them. When we started making Zootopia fancomics, the only reason that kept us going was the pleasure of creating something out of our own passion. Fans were a nice addition, but nothing more than that. There’s not a single things that we did in order to please our readers, not even once. This is why people like us are less likely to “collect revenue” from our work, despite you saying the opposite in your first message. Patreon was something we did less than a year ago and only because there were people who supported us no matter what we were doing, and it’s only recently that we started using it in a more proficient way, with Patreon-only exclusives. (Besides, if we felt like we’re not entitled to gain anything from two original characters of ours, how people who do it on daily basis with non-original characters should feel, then?)

My opinion as author is that self-realization comes only when you’re capable of creating something which has no pre-existent base and that is sustained by an effort the author alone is able to make. The more we worked on BJ, the more became evident for us that having our work sustained by something someone else created was humbling. I’m not saying this like it’s an universal law, this is how it works for us. We wanted to take the next step and have our efforts be acknowledged in a way that was unique and not influenced by anything else. The clash with the fandom occurred precisely because there were, and still are, people who don’t understand this concept and insist on saying that we could just leave the references to Zootopia. I don’t doubt other artists could, in fact, do what you and many others suggest… but not us. It’s not about being petty or edgy, it’s about being true to ourselves. And we couldn’t have possibly understand that part of us if we didn’t go through a long and complex process while making things for this fandom. We didn’t want to deceive anyone. If someone happened to feel like they were deceived or betrayed, I’m sorry to say that it’s their problem and their alone.

That’s the reason people felt betrayed not because you two left. It's because instead of simply saying that you are done for zootopia for now, that you are feeling passionate about different projects, you said you leave because the fanbase is toxic and full of lunatics. The same fanbase that supported you. Money isn't the only support. Every word of encouragement even constructive criticism is support. People who don't love your work and wouldn't want to see it flurish or get even better wouldn't waste time writing criticism about it. But I feel like you shrub off criticism with calling people names and overall being exremly condecending. So let's take a look about your original characters that you feel so bad about whenever some criticizes them, that you went out of your way to label the entire fandom, including several fellow artists and writers, lunatics. Jack and Cyntia:

At the beginning of Zootopia’s development the idea was a rabbit spy, who was Jack Savage you based Jack on this concept end expanded it, gave an empty shell that was his design a personality. At the same time there were other concept arts, some show Jack in an Underwater setting called Savage Seas. Another called Savage City with the silhouette of a bunny and a fox in-front a bunch of savage animals. Meaning that the idea of bunny – fox dynamic for Zootopia’s narrative was there even when the protagonist was still Jack. Many fans theorized that another white/crème furred vixen concept design shown in the diving gear is part of the Savage Series and thus she is the intended original fox partner for Jack. The fandom dubbed this character Skye, and many artists felt like it’s good for the community to work on this character together, create stories around her. I absolutely believe you that you had no knowledge of Skye, and you came up with Cyntia on your own, maybe simply following the idea to create another Fox-Bunny duo to mirror WildeHopps. Thus because of the similarity a came the conclusion that Cyntia is your original version of Skye. And there is nothing wrong with that, and I am horrified that you would be so condescending that you would call people delusional for reaching this conclusion. This is a completely valid assessment. Skye is the fandom’s idea for a female fox partner for Jack, and Cyntia is your idea for a  for a female fox partner for Jack. Thus Cyntia and Skye are different versions of the same idea, different versions of eachother. And there is NOTHING wrong with that. This is a completely normal thing to do. What is not normal is going out of your way to then claim that Jack and Cyntia are not “fan-characters”. This is where things get ugly:

You wish for the fandom to stop seeing Jack and Cyntia as part of the fandom. You complained that people drew Jack Savage because you have developed his character and now he is yours. I’m sorry to say this, but just how you evolved YOUR VERSION of Jack from his concept art, others are allowed to do the same. When people draw Jack Savage, they don’t necessarily draw YOUR VERSION, it could be THEIR VERSION of him. Same goes for Jack’s female fox partner. You have YOUR VERSION, and others have THEIR VERSION that they evolved from a simple concept. You can claim ownership over your version of Jack and his vixen partner, but you can’t take credit over their concept itself, that DOES belong to Disney and free to be explored and expanded by every fan. That's why your actions are perplexing. Deleting those comics and working so hard to claim ownership of your original characters FEELS like you were more interested in marketing possibilities than expressing love for Zootopia, and now that the comics served their purpose, now you need them gone. You can keep saying that you are not obsessed over money, that you really loved Zootopia and those comics were made out of love, but as long your ACTIONS say the opposite, it won’t matter what you say. Deleting them and wanting people to forget about them, is an action that speaks for itself, and it says “we have no love for these comics, they are expendable for our purpose”.  And THAT is why your fans feel betrayed. Not because you left the fandom, but because you went out of your way to belittle, insult and devalue your own work that you’ve done in it. If you loved your work that you’ve done in the fandom, cherish it and build on it, don’t try to swipe it under a rug and pretend it doesn’t exists, that Jack and Cyntia have nothing to do with Zootopia, because it will never be true. They may have evolved from zootopia fan-characters to be their own completely original characters, but deleting their previous versions doesn’t aid that transition. It only make it feel like that you try to deny that they were fan-characters at any point.