Amusement and poo-flinging on Tumblr

Since the summer, I've enjoyed following a few BJD-related Tumblrs, mostly whatshouldwecalldolls.tumblr.com, followed by bjdtextconfessions.tumblr.com and bjdconfessions.tumblr.com. The first entertains me by applying animated gifs to hobby-related experiences. The second and the third bear anonymous witness to the barely coherent rage apparently simmering just beneath the surface of your average BJD owner. >_>

Recently, much of said barely coherent rage has concerned recasts, or bootleg, knockoff BJDs. When I first discovered that there was even a controversy about recasts, I did not understand. Recasts are clearly wrong. Don't buy them. How hard is that?

Pretty hard, apparently. Defenders of recasts have loads of justifications for their immoral and illegal deeds, including the following:

"I can't afford a legit one."

"Only the recasters supply the resin color that I want."

"It's just like downloading music."

"You're just being elitist." [In the BJD community, calling someone the E-word is just about the worst insult ever. I could write a whole entry about that, but it's kind of a tangent.]

And my favorite: "[Keep your] noses, moral choices, and all that jazz out of everyone elses dollie buying decision." Because right and wrong are completely irrelevant to human social activities! Whaddaya mean -- you didn't know that?!

Interestingly, most arguments in favor of recasts boil down to, "You're not the boss of me! PPLLLBBBHHHTHTHSSSSST!" Historically speaking, this has never been an effective rhetorical strategy.

The amount of poo-flinging generating by the subject of recasts [see this thread, for example] fascinates me. O_O

O_O I'm inspired!!!

This guy over on One Sixth Warriors [OSW] did a bash of a short, fat, wide, round character, Pigsy, who I guess is from a video game. He got into all sorts of molding and sculpting and redoing for metal accessories, joints and headsculpt. I, however, am most interested in his clever use of parts from a baby doll as the base for the torso and limbs. It's such beautiful work!

Now I want to make some fat 1:6 women! The last time I made a short, fat woman, Margie, I started with a 1:6 male fig, shortened the limbs, added a bust with polyfill, carved up and sanded down a male headsculpt for the head and rebuilt the neck out of Sculpey. I enhanced the illusion of great girth by giving her baggy clothes. I loved her, and she was perfectly fine for a minor character, but, as with most of my customs, she was pretty raw, held together with hot glue and swear words.

I want to make more finished and detailed fat 1:6 women now. I'd love to use baby doll parts to give them wide, plush shapes, while trying not to compromise basic articulation. I want to give them actual hair and flattering clothes. Short skirts! Tank tops! Palazzo pants! Form-fitting blouses! [All of which will be very difficult because my sewing skill is limited to crooked hems in a running stitch.] I want to repaint them with lively expressions full of character. I want them to hang around my shelves being bad-ass and awesome!

Note to self: loose Hot Toy fem hands here

Monkey Depot has them [for when my Selina Kyle comes avec stupid gloved hands]. Yay Monkey Depot!

Are you kidding me?

[Thanks to Sparky at Racialicious.]

This "reverse discrimination" bullshit got funded?! WHY?

Re plot summary: SNORE. Also...saddest song, smallest violin.

P.S. I've started swearing in my LJ again. There's too much bullshit in the world that needs calling out as such.

EDIT: Wow, it gets worse. First off, the author says that she wrote this bullshit because anti-gay bigots need to "to feel, through the love story of Chris and Carmen, the wrenching horror of being denied the person you love." Yeah, somehow, reading about a persecuted straight couple will make anti-gay bigots more sympathetic to queers. Given that many anti-gay bigots believe that they are personally being persecuted right here and now by the "homosexual agenda," I doubt that a book making queers the majority will promote empathy in said anti-gay bigots. They'd read it as a cautionary tale of what will happen to this civilization if we let those evil queers have their so-called "rights." No, Preble, your book does not challenge anti-gay bigotry. It supports anti-gay bigotry.

Second of all, she thinks she's some sort of fearless crusader with a message from "the Universe" to "[l]ive your truth." Hey, Preble...your truth is that you're full of heteronormative privilege. Also self-aggrandizing bullshit.

Third, she's laboring under the misconception that her book is "LGBT fiction." News flash for the clueless -- in order to be classified as "LGBT fiction," your book has to feature some lesbian and/or gay and/or bisexual and/or trans characters as sympathetically portrayed individuals whose experiences are worth sharing. You can't just write a story  with some lesbian and/or gay and/or bi and/or trans characters who function not as characters, but as poorly wielded anvils to hammer home the Important Theme [tm] that Anti-Gay Bigotry Is Wrong. "LGBT" fiction requires valuing, promoting and centering various varieties of "LGBT" experiences, which Preble obviously can't do.

Fourth and most disgustingly, Preble feeds us some argle-bargle about writing this book in support of her gay son. Jesus Christ, if she really wished to support her son, why didn't she help to organize her local city's Pride celebration, join PFLAG, staff the fundraising phones at a marriage equality organization [since that's one of her pet causes]? At least do something directly related to queers. As mind-blowing as it may be to hear this, Preble, writing about straight people does not further the cause of queer civil rights. In fact, it just reinforces the broad societal assumption that the only stories worth telling are heteronormative ones. Get it? You're not helping. Shut up; bug off, and stop colonizing my subgenre. We don't want you here.

I can't expect Preble to get it, though. Her brain is so stuffed with straight privilege that there's no room for any critical thought. I mean, look -- she apparently doesn't think queers exist. She addresses her blog audience [and putative readership] as follows: "If the way you are, ie, attracted to people of the opposite sex, was criminalized, how would you feel?"

Three things, Preble: 1) You appear to be operating under the strange and old-fashioned notion that sexes have "opposites," a concept that is both factually incorrect and incoherent. What do you even mean here?

2) I AIN'T STRAIGHT. I am not attracted to people of the "opposite" sex. Amazing, huh? Not everyone in the world is just like you.

3) It ain't a conditional for me. The way I am is criminalized in some places, maybe not where I live, but elsewhere. Though I might have certain freedoms that people in more restricted places do not, we all suffer from the same societal biases. Don't tell me and others like me that our lives are speculative fiction. You don't get to dictate my reality.

Oh wait...I have a fourth thing. 4) I read your sample chapter of this book, and you can't write for shit.

I sold a head!

The original prospective buyer for Cyril's head dropped out, but I just received money for him today from another person and shipped him out moments ago. I'm $120.87 richer!



That's my favorite DOA icon, by the way!

I sold a head!

The original prospective buyer for Cyril's head dropped out, but I just received money for him today from another person and shipped him out moments ago. I'm $120.87 richer!



That's my favorite DOA icon, by the way!