/bl/ - General BL

I've never done a zine before but a fandom I'm currently in had one announced with spaces still open, promising to send artists a free copy of at the least items their art was used on. I got a little excited until I saw the guidelines, where they said all shipping must be omitted, headcanons were free game (changing genders is ok but changing relationships isn't? They're rarely isolated in fanworks given the kind of support network most people envision between characters), no nazi-reminiscent salutes or banners but the outfit is fine (fair enough), and one character's costume and theme is banned but still on the available list. Apparently the zine mods have designed a new costume for the character that removes the offending details and whoever picks him has to just try to embody his character song without using the original content. The wording on the guidelines made it sound like they wanted you to reanimate the entire music video yourself but I'm sure that can't be what they meant.

I had no idea the fandom had such an issue with one of the most popular characters and outfits. It strikes me as odd that they don't have problems with more things in canon, since before this all the warnings I would see were about fascist imagery, suicide, alcohol use, or assault. In light of that I'm curious what takes on the canon will come from the project, but so far the mods are only sharing their own original costume designs. I'll have to wait some time to see what their redesign costume preserves from the official themes.

Maybe I've thrown away a chance at getting custom merch of one of my faves, but it just didn't feel right to agree with.

>>4409
I can only speak as a buyer not a contributor but personally I'm way less likely to buy a zine with ships unless it is specifically a shipping zine due to fear of a notp appearing. For instance I bought a Joker/Akechi zine, but if a general P5 zine centered around summer or something came out and allowed ships I wouldn't buy it due to not wanting to see him get shipped with Ann or Makoto.

Usually I see zines focused on one specific pairing as opposed to a general zine that is ship-inclusive, though recently a Dungeon Meshi zine "Melting Pot" that was ship-centic did really well with pre-sales so the "I don't care whl just give me ships" audience is out there.

Which fandom are you talking about with the military uniform? Heltalia or Ranbu? That mentality is a red flag for me and as a buyer it would push me away.

>>4410
You have a point, I hadn't thought of that. It's an all male cast and most ships are based on childhood friends, characters who ask to have sex with another, or who have mock dating gags or repeated team ups. To me it was more like they should have just said "don't draw more than the character you signed up to do", because all the characters are fairly close and how would you know when it became shipping or not. The focus of the zine is the costumes from the character songs so they should just say stick to the song you picked.

It's a youtube comedy called Charisma House, and it's not outright a military uniform, just pseudo uniform styled, but the music video has arm gestures over a podium and chess pieces marching under red banners with white circles. It's calling the guy a nazi for his strict attitude.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST8TNoq4izw

Embed is the video they find culturally insensitive. Just to be clear the lyrics aren't the issue, nor are the ball and chain far as I know, this character is into submission play and being used so slavery is a common word in his dialogue and lyrics, and he's the most popular in the western fandom after the suicidal guy. His second costume is being included in the zine without alterations but to be fair I've only ever seen JP fans discuss them looking like a jiangshi and an oiran, so I don't think the western side are aware of those interpretations.

>>4411
NTA but people have an issue with that Iori costume? Huh, I didn't know that. I don't really see what's culturally insensitive about it, maybe I'm missing something. I completely understand being hesitant about the project, I never get good vibes from zine projects that impose bans and limitations like that without a really, really good reason. If you do end up joining the project or buying the zine, I do hope it'll be a good experience for you though.

>>4412
That was my reaction too. They say it's a depiction of orientalism, so presumably they want to remove any Chinese cultural references because a Japanese artist isn't allowed to use those? Ever since reading that I feel like my brain's been wandering in circles trying to figure out what parts are any worse than the designs I see from Chinese speaking creators. The theory that it was jiangshi inspired explains the inclusion of the big sleeves, the hat style, the type of pants and so on. The dragon imagery for ascension matches the lyrics. I'm just baffled how you would replicate this without the theming. By replacing them with western cultural imagery in a Japanese series? By having a western artist replace it with Japanese theming? I'd much rather a fantasy slave than something grounded in history.

I wish I could, but the more I think about it the more it sours my impression of the fandom. It would be hard to communicate and enjoy things if I just keep thinking why that one costume.

Was in a bunch of zines, never made a negative experience. I don't want to come off as arrogant, but 99% of the transwashing artists suck, and since tine admins are usually picking the decent artists you don't have these people part of your zine. I stay away from "representation" or OC zines of course or zines where the majority of mods/admin themselves are cringe.

I have more negative experience with certain users trying to sabotage zines because they can't participate as artist or mod. Wish there were more fanzines but most western fandoms are simply too fucking small these days.

>>4422
Was it stressful to apply? I've seen a few zines that I've wanted to apply as a author on, but ultimately chickened out since I didn't think I was good enough.

>>4423
No. Usually zines are announced months earlier so you should have enough time to finish the artwork or fic.
If it's well organized they have multiple check-ins to assure that everybody is progressing. Like 2-4 weeks after the start you should have an outline, 6 weeks later roughly 50% done and so on. So if you should apply but something in real life happens that makes you unable to draw/write for a while they will notice it in time and replace you. There are always people ready to contribute two pieces, that's usually asked at the start when someone applies.