All The Stories Always Said

You were lied to (by someone who knew that if we knew these things we'd feel very differently), and you found out the truth, and the truth sucks. It's rarely fun to be lied to. You have to let yourself grieve that disillusionment and the expectations you had for the future, but eventually all griefs get small enough that you can carry them more easily.

Every time something like this happened I found that my ability to create was just in the garbage for a while, because my brain was hitting all the buttons at the same time and would NOT focus, but eventually the need to create and imagine was strong enough to come back in some new way. I couldn't and still can't look at the work I made before in the same way, but eventually I could see it for the love I brought to it at the time, and I do believe that no love is wasted, even if you feel differently about things or people later. It absolutely sucks and you have to let it suck, but you do eventually find a new way to navigate finding joy and creativity in your media diet (or friend group, like I said, I kind of had this happen in my real life).

hey guys im back from my grave. my... mixi grave... heh, get it?? get it?? please get it

i hope that this can lead to a united and kind community, that listens to victims. i encourage each of you to listen to the warning bells in your head as well in the future - trust your instincts and keep yourself safe. if someone in your life or someonw you watch starts to make you feel off at all, you can always personally back away, even if you don't see solid proof.

i have the honor of being friends with a couple members of sbk. they have been nothing but kind and supportive to me, and i encourage everyone to give them that same energy in return. the next while may be tough on everyone, just be patient with each other as the truth comes out and everyone heals.

Update from Legs,

If you are/were a fan of Avid or Marm, whether you created fan content about them or not, I would appreciate if you read this.

I am not here to talk directly about what they did, frankly, I could read every statement and still not know everything as I was never in that fanbase. (Though I will say that I have read all the statements)

I am here to talk to the fans of them. People who unintentionally put them on a pedestal, people who created things about them, people who like the characters they played, and the people that heard over and over 'don't idolize creators' but did it anyway on accident and are now devastated.

I did it too, not with Avid and Marm, sure, but with other creators who also turned out to be awful, most nobly, for me it was Wilbur Soot.

I know what Avid and Marm did is not easily comparable to what Wilbur did, not by scale and platform size at least, but the situation the fanbase is (and most likely will be in) the same.

Its gonna suck, especially for people who put so much effort and love into creating things about them, but you can still work on it if you feel comfortable.

The mcyt fanbase (and yt fanbases in general) toe the line between rpf and character fiction a lot. We do our best to separate creator and character all the time, this is no different.

The best strategy I have found over the years is to Oc-ify them. Those characters were given up by the creators as soon as they left. You can keep your VSMP-avid. He's yours now. Be free.

If they come back to release a statement, to apologize, take what they say into account, sure, but also take into account what their friends and victims said. Don't let what you saw in a video or on a stream make you think you know them. Don't be like Wilbur stans.

And one last thing. NEVER harass them. I'm serious. I don't care what they did. If you send hate, harass them, threaten them, anything. They will use it to convince one more person they are the victim. They will show the mountain of threats and harassment and go "See? This is what they really wanted" and some people will believe them.

It’s been a couple hours since the news really broke. We’ve seen a lot of statements, and we have a lot of information to form our thoughts on.

It’s important to stay informed, but the human body is not built for sustained stress over multiple hours.

If you’ve been refreshing the tags for a while, take just a second to pull back and feel. If you’re like me and tend to ruminate and feel compelled to see every single post as it’s happening, this is both of our excuse to step away for a moment and digest. We’re a better and more caring community when we avoid reactivity made in panic but instead work through things with clear minds and as clear as a picture as possible.

I don’t want to be one of those people who say “I was right”, but I really strongly disliked the way Avid handled certain situations (especially concerning other creators), so I’m lucky enough not to have too much attachment anymore.

That being said, everyone please take care of yourself!! Don’t beat yourself up for supporting them before everything came out. Don’t feel bad for liking or relating to one of their characters. And that goes for any fictives as well, the situation is absolutely not a reflection of you, your choices, or your morals.

As much as we want to know exactly what happened and everyone involved, remember that the other creators themselves are probably either in shock or the pain is too fresh for them to be speaking out right now. If it’s hard on us, imagine how hard it is for those who knew them personally.

Support the creators affected wherever you can without making this awful situation their whole identity. Keep making fanart, fanfiction, and posting about your favourite creators without guilt that you’re being insensitive. There’s a justified place for grief right now, but don’t let that completely extinguish your creativity and love for all the other wonderful characters and creators in the MCYT fandom.

i dont want to stop rau. i dont want to. i hate saying this so much because it's so shitty but that stupid fic series is the only reason i'm alive. it's been my entire life and all of my creative motivation since november last year and i dont have anything if i stop it. but at the same time i dont want to continue it and get harassed because people think i'm in support of the shit that's happened. i just don't want to let go of it. my life has gone fucking downhill this past week and this was just another horrible thing. rau is my safety place i dont want to lose it because it might mean i might end up dying im so sorry for saying this i feel like such an asshole right now

You don’t have to stop writing RAU! That story has brought you so much solace, I am not judging you for this, I will continue to read RAU and support you, Beanie

This is not your fault, you have every fucking right to enjoy something you made. You have every fucking right to want to continue the story that had brought you so much joy. And anyone who says otherwise can shove it and be met with the barrel of my fucking gun

You are A WONDERFUL human being, I am so fucking lucky to call you my friend. Keep writing RAU it makes you happy, don’t let one fucker keep you from your joy

If you need the permission to do so: take the character you love as yours, and toss the cc out the window. Love what they made and run away with it. This is what fandom is, what fandom does, and how fandom continues. The most unique and amazing thing about mcyt fandoms is our ability to hold onto characters separately from their creators, to turn them into aus of themselves and create something wholly new. And you’ve made an incredible au that can stand on its own. Just like the canon character exists outside of the creator’s influence once the video is published, so too are the rau!characters yours.

When William Gold was revealed to be a piece of shit, so much fanwork was deleted or discontinued. There were also people who chose to add disclaimers at the top of all their fics saying they don’t support the cc anymore, and are only writing about the character they love. And still others who wrapped up their fics with one final chapter where he died to a thousand hammers falling on his head. And the fandom still lives on, if much smaller. We’ve taken “death of the author” and run with it to places where the only connection left that the character has to the creator is a name, if that. Because we loved the stories and the characters, and hate the cc for what he did.

I don’t begrudge you or anyone else who chooses to stop because of what happened with the cc. It’s awful and sad and honestly I’m still processing, too. But you also don’t have to support a creator to continue loving what they made, or what you made from what they made. The stories and memories will always be yours, if you want to keep them.