okay gonna kinda try and summarize my feelings on the current tetro going-ons!
i'm not very active on twitter i check like once a week and these hasn't been much on youtube or tumblr about all this and no one has mentioned it in the tetro staff server because of how von might react. so i'm sorry for not really saying anything publicly sooner! i just kept worrying i was sticking my head where it didn't belong but. i kind of feel like i need to say something.
this is really bad! at least partially true but idk how true and for what things!! sorry i cant help more!! she has written and drawn in the staff server VC many a time. drawings i've never seen start to finish and i don't know how exactly using a hidden overlay works or anything so i'm not entirely sure just how much to believe. scenes i have seen written start to finish! although i have no confirmation of anything i do feel like there's a lot of proof she has made and posted AI art and claimed it as her own and has traced art and claimed it as her own. this on its own is really bad but the fact she has taken highly priced commissions and has a kofi people pay for access to see her art, this is straight up scamming. all artistic integrity down the drain. and it's shitty for the environment. terrible for her reputation as an artist and something i feel like no self respecting self made artist would ever participate in. i have known von to use chatgpt and character AI chat bots. which isn't great, but to my understanding all the scripts in tetro are written manually by her. so even if the story itself maybe was inspired somewhat by AI i think the dialogue itself if her writing. but i really don't know who or what to believe anymore. that's all i know. mostly i just feel really upset and betrayed. at the very least i know all the voice acting, audio editing, and video editing are done by human hands. there's a whole big team for all those things! and i'm really grateful it seems a lot of you understand that and aren't directing any of your anger towards the rest of the team. many of us are just as upset as you are
as many mistakes von has made, i do not think she is a groomer/pedophile/hebephile or anything of the sort. i know a lot of people disagree with her stance on smut of the tetro cast, but i think it's important to remember that they're all fiction characters that she herself is the creator of. the way someone interacts with fictional characters and media is not indicative of their actual real world morals. to imply this is to assume everyone who plays shooter games genuinely wants to kill people, that anyone who enjoys media that covers dark subject matter wants and agrees with all topics covered in said media. it just isnt rational and is easily disproven by psychological study. i think the only reason von making sexual content of tetro characters or endorsing such is concerning has nothing to do with the characters themselves. its the fact that some of the voice actors of these characters are minors. it's when fictional media crosses the line into real life, having actors that are underaged playing the characters in question or the characters being based heavily on real world underaged individuals, that makes it much more concerning. casting minors, ignorant about the themes surrounding their characters, into roles that involve extremely dark topics, bad morals, and sexually explicit content is the issue. while a handful of the cast members who were cast while underaged have grown up, the voices recorded and associated with said characters are still their voice when underaged. it's the same way how it's apprehensible to make sexual content of kai yuuki. the character is fictional and the voice actress is an adult now, but the voice in use for the character is that of a child. that is where the issue lies. if it was just smut of her OCs, i would understand people finding discomfort in that, but it's a subject of moral nuance on how acceptable someone's engagement with taboo subject matter such as underaged sex is. it's when real human beings, real teenagers and children are involved, that all nuance goes out the window. it's bad and that's the end of it.
impulsive/rude accusations!
somewhat true but i really don’t think shes malicious!! mostly just careless and rash and immature!! but i wouldnt say shes cruel or intentionally manipulative or hateful!!! i think she just really needs therapy and to read a few self help books!!! i am no psychologist, but i am autistic and have BPD and i wholeheartedly believe von likely also has BPD and/or NPD. it really explains why she lashes out so aggressively and thoughtlessly in the face of criticism. none of us in the staff ever really feel comfortable criticizing her work or behavior because we know she will take it as a personal attack and begin to spiral or lash out as a result. because of this, her occasional admittance of suicidal ideation or intentionally singling out cast members due to things she perceived as rejection, the staff server has become a bit of an echo chamber in favor of not setting her off. i think many of the issues in tetros management and production arose from von being a disabled and mentally ill individual who is refusing to seek treatment acting impulsively and refusing to rethink her choices and own up to her mistakes because of the damage to her ego doing so would cause. i don't think von is a bad person at her core, but she has done bad things. unquestionably. and it's unreasonable for her to think it's possible to move on and just keep producing tetro and ignoring everything going on here without owning up to those mistakes and apologizing to the people she's hurt. there's a few staff members in particular i think she really owes apologies to who have not ever received a single message from her following confrontations. i know i can only face situations like this carefully, acknowledging the nuances and the feelings of each side, because i've been in therapy over half of my life, including a heavy dose of DBT. i really really really wish she would try that out too and find a therapist who will be able to gently point of to her that she isn't always the victim and that sometimes these issues are caused by her behavior and that it's her responsibility to resolve them. mental illness and disability can be a cause of many interpersonal problems, but they are not an excuse to gloss over them and hurt others without ever even trying to apologize.
the blue and white leaks!
i hate this. i really don't like this. to my understanding, the leaks first surfaced because someone was trying to get back at their ex? or a groomer lashing out at their victim for speaking up? i'm not aware of the details, but i know it was a revenge plot. i don't approve of it at all. even if you hate von, even if you believe all the designs to be AI art or you dislike them in some way or another, its hurtful to the rest of the tetro team. i am not confirming the leaks are real. some of them ive seen are just straight up false and made up for drama. but regardless of if theyre real or not, tetro danganronpa white has been cast. criticize tetro all you want. it's inevitable. as much as i typically think fan-made and indie projects deserve to be treated more gently that shows and games created with thousands of dollars and massive corporate teams, i know people are going to nitpick everything they see online no matter what it is or who its made by. but can you please just be a little bit considerate? think about what you're saying online and who can see it? maybe keep it in servers between friends or private accounts with small followings? even if the art is AI and you loathe von with a passion, i still really wish for there to be a bit more thought behind these comments. criticism the voice actors and see and think "i can understand how someone would feel that way." criticism that OTHER fangan creators might see and go "oh, that's a good point, i should make sure to avoid doing that when i design my cast" yknow? maybe try and make something good come from this situation? i dont know. maybe im being too sensitive and lenient. i just can't bring myself to hate von or tetro, even after all this and how betrayed i feel and how many people i see hurting. i'm just sort of at a loss. the story and characters touched me and so many other people, and then all this surfaces. i guess i kind of understand how people who were harry potter fans as kids felt now? if tetro white does in fact happen, please promise you'll keep being kind to the voice actors and video editors, okay? because i know theyre trying really hard. many of them are very kind and hand working individuals who have never done me wrong in my time knowing them. so please, no matter how you feel about tetro as a whole, please reserve some kindness for them. they had no idea what kind of mess they were being brought into. none of us did.
sorry for rambling so much. i know this is rather unprofessional of me to say, but im not a professional yet, so im going to let this slip. i just want everyone to be okay.
TLDR: ai art is bad. involving minors in sexually explicit/taboo dark subject matter portrayals is bad. lashing out at your friends for trying to guide you in a healthier direction is bad. being overly critical out of anger and hurting uninvolved individuals as a result is bad. be good people. thank you so much for you support. im so sorry about all of this. i wish i couldve done something to stop it, but i was in the dark for way too long.
