Chapter 12: Fancy Bald Cunts (full)
Added 2021-05-28 04:15:39 +0000 UTCNew chapter is UP! Been looking forward to this one for a long time, hope you like it.
Might take a little break before diving into the next chapter... I've got a project that's a little different I want to get a start on. I'm also switching over to a sweet PC from my slowish imac AND hopefully moving my work from Photoshop over to CSP; that'll probably be a very grumpy transition full of confusion and angry googling, so June might be kinda quiet. I do have something I'm excited about coming up hopefully within two weeks--not exactly new but it will be to most of you. I'll keep ya posted. Thanks for reading!
Comments
Yeah, I'll generally let the work speak for itself but for things like this, that overlap with the real world in a potentially harmful way, I think it's best I explain where I'm coming from & where I'm going. Especially since the story isn't whole yet. I think I'm generally good at delineating a given character's voice from an authoritative 'voice of god', but it's not always easy in a long-form story that comes out in chunks. Thanks for the tip! Hoping I can just import my PS brushes... I hate new software so I'm steeling myself for a grumpy time.
Alexis Flower
2021-05-28 17:00:02 +0000 UTCmuch respect to you for this, i would rather have someone be wary than going in and butchering it like many people do, its very tiring, i will stop destroying your notifications now, great work on this comic, the quality and writing are always amazing :)
Lesbian Squid
2021-05-28 16:47:48 +0000 UTCMeanwhile Zeta's inbox is blowin up. Regarding trans representation, there's some characters chillin in the margins but I don't have any major players who are explicitly trans. Even though it's a fantasy universe I don't know enough about the real-world stuff to feel confident I could do a well-rounded job. As with my lovelyss/lovesyck comics, I hope what comes across is that in this universe, the gender identity and sexual orientation of humans are the least of anyone's problems.
Alexis Flower
2021-05-28 16:45:11 +0000 UTCI love the contrast of the breathtaking vista on page 175 with two friends chowing down on burgers while talking about getting waxed. Nice cliffhanger too. What characters say and do don’t necessarily reflect what the creator actually believes because otherwise you’d just have a bunch of clones. On the other hand, it gets dicey when it comes to showing people who are already dealing with negative stereotypes so that’s quite the needle to thread. Apparently Frenden’s CSP brushes are great if you find yourself hating whatever CSP comes with. Good luck making the switch!
Liz
2021-05-28 16:41:53 +0000 UTCThat's exactly the idea, yeah. In a non-episodic format you could just keep reading til the end of the story and hopefully everything would fall into place, but the way IRO updates it's full of seemingly loose threads that rarely have an immediate payoff/comeuppance--so even putting aside everything mentioned above I can see why you'd have that reaction for sure. Thanks for telling me. I'm glad it tracked on re-read but I'm sorry it made you feel that way in the first place.
Alexis Flower
2021-05-28 16:27:52 +0000 UTChavent been getting notifications from patreon for a while, so i just pin the page and look every now and again, thankfully its my day off so i can look frequently :)
Lesbian Squid
2021-05-28 16:11:40 +0000 UTCYeah that's exactly what I mean :P my instinct for Maeryll in this situation was problematic as hell so I'm just not gonna go there. (Completely unrelated, do you get a notification when I reply here? Patreon replies are stupidly not threaded so it looks like i'm just replying to Zeta.)
Alexis Flower
2021-05-28 16:06:35 +0000 UTCi get that, thanks for the response, and just to say that a trans man would be a man so a lesbian wouldnt be with one as lesbianism does'nt include men, but also out of respect for their identity as a man. as trans women are women they would be included in our sexuality, but other than that i respect the want to stay away from a touchy subject. thanks again :)
Lesbian Squid
2021-05-28 15:48:58 +0000 UTCThanks for your reply. Yeah I understand that maeryll isn't exactly the paragon of moral virtue so she'll naturally fall into some less than model behavior/stereotypes. I reread it and it does seem more like she's joking/using it as an opportunity to boast a bit as a way to distract herself from thinking about Naga. I'm sure I've said similarly unsavory things if I felt like my ego was wounded. I think I was just caught off guard because nothing within IRO has ever triggered triggered a knee jerk negative reaction in me before. As you said, it's porn and the characters can be jerks so im not expecting them to be perfect.
Zeta
2021-05-28 15:29:23 +0000 UTCI realized a while ago that having Maeryll with a trans lady OR man was something I'd best leave untouched... because my initial instinct is that she'd care more about the individual's body than what's inside (like, she might be with a trans man who was biologically female) and I just dooooon't want to get into that. I figure no matter how well that's handled I'd be ruining someone's day and it's best to just leave it open.
Alexis Flower
2021-05-28 15:13:58 +0000 UTCI went back & forth a lot on that part for pretty much all the reasons you list here, but decided to keep it in after all... I hope it reads (from Cinder's reaction and the kind of change-the-subject mood) that Maeryll's just being a little sassy/kind-of-mostly-joking. Like you say, it's based on jokes I've heard lesbian friends make throughout my life, and the "how gay someone is" conversations that happen in such groups that you wouldn't necessarily broadcast or even really believe in. I'm hoping that in context it comes off like less of a cheap shot at lesbian stereotypes and more like a person joking around in a kind of douchey way. It's a tricky thing to write because I want to say these things about Maeryll the character without it feeling like HERE is the TRUTH about LESBIANS, but that's a subjective line and it's up to the reader whether or not I succeed there. I think with Maeryll I'll always be dancing around the predatory lesbian stereotype (while also kind of reveling in it because it's a porn comic), because she is kind of predatory, and has some slightly nasty qualities, but I hope as the story continues it will be apparent that this wasn't included thoughtlessly & is an aspect of the character that will be reckoned with. (I hope that explains what I was thinking, I'm typing in this stupid little reply box on patreon and can't really see what I've written)
Alexis Flower
2021-05-28 14:43:36 +0000 UTCi get that, i was the same, still am sometimes, especially with the whole "bi/pan lesbain" thing going over the past few years, its very invalidating and you get stressed about it, some see it as being too sensitive but if it means something to you, you should express yourself about it :)
Lesbian Squid
2021-05-28 13:57:36 +0000 UTCYeah I was surprised because I also thought maeryll has been written really well. Thank you for replying; I was worried I was being too sensitive. I've definitely made jokes like that as well but only when I first came out. Looking back on it though I think I was just trying to fit in by speaking about women in a demeaning way so it's something I don't feel great about seeing in LGBT rep.
Zeta
2021-05-28 13:50:26 +0000 UTCLesbian here! i agree, it did feel like that but i also have made similar jokes in the past so im not sure what to think, so far the representation with maeryll has been done amazingly. (although as a transfem lesbian, i would ove some trans rep, but with current discourse its understandable not to have it)
Lesbian Squid
2021-05-28 13:30:37 +0000 UTCAmazing art as always! However there was something in this chapter that didn't really sit right with me. I debated whether bringing this up was even worth it; I don't at all mean to complain or bash my favorite comic. But the part where Maeryll said that there's "no such thing as a straight girl" seemed to play into the whole predatory lesbian stereotype. Additionally it's rhetoric I hear a lot from men who are trying to sleep with lesbians...the idea that you can "turn" someone if you try hard enough (which maeryll seemed to imply she was trying with slutface). As a sapphic woman I thought I'd give my two cents, as this is something I've spent a lot of my life grappling with.
Zeta
2021-05-28 13:21:58 +0000 UTC
