#not pictured in this post: the way yuri is used in official artwork with other tales characters

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

"yuri lowell is a manly heterosexual"

yuri lowell:

#DCB Comments #keeping this off my tales blog/out of tags bc i know the heteronormatives will come for me LOL #with their heteronormative v3speria dub (yes the dub actually altered/watered down #his relationship with a man probably bc it was too undertoney for them and western media is allergic to that) #not pictured in this post: the way yuri is used in official artwork with other tales characters #and is often surrounded by men. or the comic of him admitting he's popular with guys #also not pictured: the way yuri's alts for gacha games often feature flynn's color coding #and/or both of their color coding mixed into his outfit or accessories #also not pictured: the way yuri's wedding outfit alt is flynn color coded #also not pictured: the way yuri's bouquet in the other picture of his first outfit on this post #is almost identical to flynn's ''joke weapon'' bouquet of roses in the game #also not pictured: the entire gacha game of rays (that's based off respective game canon). i can't explain that to you in just tags #also yes yuri has a metal corset in that fourth picture. i don't... know many men who wear a corset #and the only other one i know in this franchise is in fact also the other main m/m pairing in the franchise #i also don't know many manly straight men who the character designers dress and style like this #i just want you all to know. if you're looking for a non heteronormative man. yuri has you covered #just maybe not so much in the dub just ignore that LOL. also worth mentioning that #japan gets a L O T of extra yuri material thanks to gachas merch and other official side material #everything in this post is official artwork and the last one is from this year #it's merch up for pre-order for t@lfes so yes they're still playing with his hair LOL #and yes if you ever pick up his game i am here to advertise to you not to play the dub (even tho the text will still sometimes be wrong...) #i am in fact writing giant lengthy posts abt it on my tales blog so i will not explain to you here in these tags #but the dub sapped yuri of so much emotion to make him seem cool and edgy and more of a troll #instead of playful fun and silly and just a dork but who is emotional when it matters #woe is them to let yuri's voice shake with heartbreak when he's worried abt a man! #i bet the localizers didn't even realize the entire opening theme song was abt yuri and another man and their relationship #maybe one day i'll make a fun post with all of flynn's color coding slapped all over yuri #also i BET there's someone out there who will see this and be like ''she's reaching'' #yeah i guess the official gacha game is reaching then too with how it treats yuri and flynn the same as the franchise's canon het pairs

[yoiauzine-receipts-blog]

The Yuri on Ice AU Zine was created and modded by Angela (@xintaowan on tumblr and twitter) and Vil (@cmdrrockhard on twitter) on March 2017. 

We are writing this post to address the mistreatment of the artists by the mods, the mods’ conduct, and the lack of proof of donation to the intended charity. 

Before we begin we want to let everyone know that we don’t want anyone to use this post to attack the mods in any way. We are just deeply annoyed, aggravated, and saddened that we were all treated this way and we wanted the public to finally learn about it.    

And since there are many new zines being created and in the works, we also hope this post can serve as a “what not to do” when organizing a zine project or any project. We want both clients and artists to be aware of how important it is for projects like this to be transparent and honest for the protection of all parties.

The Start

The zine ran smoothly up until pre-orders opened, with the exception of a few rude responses to asks sent to the zine's official blog. (More on that later). And that a charity had never been announced even when the project was nearing its end. 

Around when pre-orders were about to begin and all the artists were finishing up and turning in their works, one of the artists received a crushing email from the mods about their piece. The mods decided that their work wasn’t appealing enough to be in the zine, and they only chose them because they liked one certain style they drew in. (Which they did not specify to the artist upon acceptance to the zine.)  

They gave the artist five days to either fix the artwork or to start a completely new piece. Keep in mind that this zine is for charity, none of the artists are getting paid and our only compensation is the zine itself. We found this email to be more than harsh and even insulting. The artist was always on time with their WIPs and they never gotten critiqued on them and we know the mods saw them. 

The artist replied back apologetically and they tried to work on a new piece but they couldn’t do it in the time due to their full time job and other responsibilities. The artist sent back another email asking if they could use the picture they had originally submitted. 

The mods replied back with this, telling them that they would not be accepting their piece and that they believed 5 days was fair. They went as far as bullying them and their artwork, as well as kicking them out of the zine discord. 

Angela even publicly tweeted about their art, (without mentioning the artist’s name) and called it “half-assed”. 

The Artists’ Response

When the rest of the artists of the AU zine found out about what had happened to this artist, a private discord was made so we could discuss what was going to be done about the situation as well as to discuss the matters of the mod’s previous rude behavior on the tumblr, and lack of transparency as to which charity would receive the zine’s funds.

The artist received all positive feedback, encouragement, and solidarity from the rest of the zine’s participants. Some artists even wanted to pull their own pieces out of the zine to stand with them. In the end we decided that we would write the mods an email addressing all of this, even share screencaps of our conversation. We wanted this to be solved privately because we still wanted this zine to be a success.

Unfortunately, some people had told Angela that the artists were discussing this and at first Angela believed that the artist had contacted us themselves to “bother us” about letting them back in the zine.

Angela’s DMs

Our email in reply

The mods’ reply

The mods had apologized and let the artist back into the zine, however since then Angela believed that the artists formed together to create a “lynch mob” in order to attack her, which was never the case. We were even against public call outs from the very beginning. Nevertheless, an email was still written and given to Angela about what we were talking about and why. 

The mods did address some issues on the tumblr, like their rude behavior and the lack of a charity listed. The charity they wound up choosing was HopeforPaws a non-profit animal rescue. 

The Following Weeks

Angela since began vague tweeting from that point on about the AU zine artists, firmly believing that the artists were out to attack her, when all we wanted was to defend a fellow artist, ask for a charity, and address rude behavior.  

One | Two | Three and many others.

And here are some DMs Angela made to one of the artists on the zine. 

We all quietly put up with it, figuring that as long as the zines are printed, the customers and the artists receive them, and the charity receives its donation, then we could just ignore the whole thing.

The Zines & The Charity

Some time between these incidents we noticed that the AU zine discord had been deleted. 

We received an email on September 4th, regarding the zine bundles for the artists.  We learned that our copies were damaged and we would be getting new copies printed so we had to wait a short while for them to get made. 

On September 24th, we received another email saying our artist zines would be shipped the following week.

On October 17th, we received yet another email saying that the zines were shipped out that same day and every artist would receive an individual email with their tracking numbers. Except we never did. 

Many artists contacted the mods themselves for weeks and many did not receive a reply back. 

One | Two | Three

An artist contacted the mods and the mods claimed to have sent out the tracking numbers + pdfs to the artists already but the pdf file size was so large that it probably didn’t go through. But upon checking the tracking number, it shows that the zine was NOT sent out on Oct. 17 like they said they did, but rather on November 7th. 

After more artists contacted the mods, we received a very extensive email from Angela. We redacted a big chunk of information out of the first part to protect Angela’s personal privacy. 

Angela’s Email

While we understand that everyone may experience personal difficulties that will hinder them from working on other things, we believe that it’s still not an excuse for the poor treatment the artists received for trying to reach out to the mods, as well as the various lies we were told and negligence of this zine, even when she knew she was going to get found out. 

Vil was also a mod and she could have helped Angela with some of the burden or they could have found some help elsewhere if they felt too overwhelmed. if these issues were explained to the artists instead of hiding and lying about them we feel that the zine would have ran a lot more smoothly.  

A tweet was made on the AU zine twitter on November 15th, about how the amount raised for the charity was going to be posted at the end of that week but we have yet to see a receipt for it as of November 25th.

Zine Conditions

One of the artists received their zine today 11/25, in very poor condition. 

The Damaged Zine

The zine was packed in a bubble mailer with no additional bubblewrap protecting it nor any cardboard backing. The acrylics and the stickers were stuffed in the middle of the zine with no extra protection and stuck to the saddle stitching of the zine. The book itself arrived warped and creased. There wasn’t even an effort to pack the zines properly and it arrived damaged. It just adds onto our mistreatment.   

Step Sequence Zine

Angela also moderated the Step Sequence zine back in Late 2016 - Early 2017. 

One of our own AU zine artists had bought the Step Sequence zine around 5 months ago and never received their copy. They are currently unable to get in contact with the moderators of Step Sequence because the zine’s twitter, tumblr, and tictail store have all been recently deleted. 

 - - - - - - - -

We will keep updating this blog as we get further information and as artists receive their zines.

As of right now, we are still not getting answers for any of our questions, and we feel like our hard work on the zine has gone unappreciated. We have tried to speak with Angela on multiple occasions in order to avoid making this public, but the problem has still not been solved and we have no reason to believe that it will be solved. We hope our honesty has given everyone an understanding of our situation. Thank you for reading.

#yoiauzine #yuri on ice #yoi #xintaowan #commanderrockhard

[milkplusvn]

Patreon Page + Discord Server Coming Soon!

Hello everyone! We have exciting news! We'll be launching a Patreon page on January 12th, 2018 at 6:00 PM PST, and along with it, a (temporarily Patron-only) Discord server! 

If you don't know what Patreon is, it's a platform that allows indie creators like us to receive financial support from fans like you for just as little as $1 (USD), in exchange for rewards and a community of fellow fans. 

You can view the drafts of the pledge tiers and what rewards you'll get with them, along with more information about the Discord server, under the cut.

Reward Tiers

We have planned a total of seven reward tiers that you can choose from. Every tier grants you access to the Discord server, as well as varying levels of access to the development process. Later tiers also include special credits shout-outs and discounts.

Skim Milk ($1 Minimum)

The lowest tier available for pledging. Recommended for those who just want early access to news and the server.

With Skim Milk, you'll get:

Early access to public development updates

The special "Skim Milk" role on the Discord server and access to the Patron-exclusive category.

My eternal thanks

Whole Milk ($5 Minimum)

The second lowest tier available for pledging. Recommended for those who want a little more than just what's released publicly.

With Whole Milk, you'll get:

Sneak peeks with spoiler content that the public will not have access to (don't worry - they'll be marked with warnings, and are never major)

The special "Whole Milk" role on the Discord server

Plus early access to public development updates

Soy Milk ($10 Minimum)

A cheap in-the-middle tier. Recommended for people who want to see bigger snippets of progress and some drafts, but don't want the surprise ruined (and for people who want credits shout-outs!)...(and discounts!)

With Soy Milk, you'll get:

Sneak peeks of new characters, content, basic concepts and gameplay, and logos way before the public has access to it

A shout-out in the game credits

25% discount on all games

The special "Soy Milk" role on the Discord server

Plus previous development access levels

Almond Milk ($30 Minimum)

A nice, somewhat expensive tier. Recommended for people who want to see the art process and a goofy title next to their shout-out name.

With Almond Milk, you'll get:

WIPs of game art assets/key promotional artwork

A shout-out in future game credits, with a custom title of your choice next to it

50% discount on all games

The special "Almond Milk" role on the Discord server and access to #art-wips channel, where Papaira will regularly post WIPs of game art

Plus previous development access levels

Chocolate Milk ($90 Minimum)

An expensive tier. Recommended for people who want to see the guts of development.

With Chocolate Milk, you'll get:

Access to the full development process, including spoilers, design notes, prototypes and more

75% discount on all games

The special "Chocolate Milk" role on the Discord server and access to the #exclusive-dev-muttering channel, where Papaira will regularly post updates on her progress, down to the littlest things

Plus previous development access levels and the Almond Milk tier shout-out

Pearl Milk Tea ($150 Minimum)

The second most expensive tier. Recommended for people who want free stuff and a bigger, cooler shout-out.

With Pearl Milk Tea, you'll get:

A much, much larger credits shout-out, with a custom title and a cute icon of a cast member of your choosing (or a pairing!)

Free games!

The special "Pearl Milk Tea" role on the Discord server

Plus access to all development progress.

Pan Tres Leches ($300 Minimum)

The most expensive tier. Recommended for people who want a really cool shout-out with a custom character design, OR for businesses/other studios seeking sponsorship/partnership opportunities.

With Pan Tres Leches, you'll get:

Huge credits shout-out with not only a custom title, but a custom, personal character design to go with your shout-out OR (for those running their own businesses) a public statement detailing your sponsorship and your logo at the start and end of every game

The opportunity for those same character designs to show up in backgrounds and CGs

The special "Pan Tres Leches" role on the Discord server

Plus free games and access to the whole development process!

Discord Server

While we're just starting up, the MILK+ Discord Server will only be available to Patrons until the first goal, $50/month, is reached. After that, it will become public, but will still have exclusive Patron-only channels, available to anyone who pledges at least $1/month.

In the server, you'll get a chance to speak directly to Papaira and Beignet and engage with a community of fellow fans. You'll also get to play around with the server's official NadekoBot clone meet our mascot, Magenta Milk!

Categories and Channels

We have a variety of channels planned for the Discord server, ranging from general chat, to MILK+ game chat, to even a Yuri channel!

General Channels

We have two general channels planned, one for, well, general talk, and another for shitposting. Both are pretty self-explanatory.

MILK+ Related Channels

All channels going in the MILK+ related category will relate to the studio in some way, whether it's the games we've released, the universe the games will take place in, or just general discussion about the studio. 

You'll notice certain channels have a little lock on them. Those channels can only be accessed if you either A. don't mind spoilers or B. finished the game in question, in which case we will give you a special role to get access to them.

Patron-Only Channels

These are currently the only Patron-only channels available, as the server, as it is now, is designed for just private access. However, after we reach that goal, there will be many more Patron-only channels available, including a Patron-only general chat.

Miscellaneous Channels

We have many other channels planned in this disorganized little category here! You can discuss anything from other visual novels, to horror, to mobage and even yuri/shoujo-ai.

Voice Channel

We only have one little voice channel and a text channel to go with it. However, if voice chat proves to be popular or everyone would like a music channel, we'll be willing to add that to the server as well.

Magenta Milk Bot

Magenta Milk is a clone of NadekoBot, capable of running a large variety of fun commands. You can play around with her in the #botspam channel to see the full extent of what she can do, but some of her features include:

The ability to play a variety of games, from typing contests to Connect 4.

The ability to get currency (pills) and gamble it in games that let you bet any amount of pills.

A shop where you can buy discount and free game codes.

A quotes system, where you can add pictures of your bestgirl with your name as a keyword so you can retrieve pictures of her at any time

Please note that for now, Magenta Milk will not always be online, since Papaira has to run her locally from her machine. But if we reach the $250/month goal, we'll be able to run her 24/7 on a Raspberry Pi.

Closing

That's it! Tell us, are you interested in pledging? Or do you think there are things that could be improved on? Is there something you want to see? Do you have any suggestions? Feel free to leave a reply, or @ us on Twitter. 

We hope to see you at launch!

(This is a crosspost from the original Wordpress entry here.)

#vndev #patreon #discord server #yuri