@galaxouniverse - Attempted Art Theft.
Disclaimer: This is going to be a long post, I apologize in advance for this. Please Read In Full And Do Not Harass The Mentioned Person Under ANY Circumstances! That is not what I want. I just want them to be seen in hopes they'll finally stop this self-victimizing and toxic behavior.
I made a Twitter post about this a few days ago, but I feel it's not getting as much traction.
The individual above is someone I know and had a falling out with. I wasn't able to go into much details in my Twitter post, but I will here.
Some time ago, before the new year. Gale sent me a DM in an attempt to reconnect after we lost contact with each other. I'll be honest, I was very skeptical because Gale had some problematic behaviors in the past. I personally just wanted to leave them on seen -- but I decided to give them a chance regardless, assuming they had changed -- but not without telling them my honest feelings that I didn't exactly trust them.
After some time of chatting, they mentioned to me how they wanted to also try reconnecting with my gf, Crystal -- which again -- I was skeptical of, but after talking to Crystal about it (who was also skeptical), we agreed to join a group chat with them on Discord.
Things went well at first, until we noticed that Gale would pay more attention to me than Crystal. Now -- my gf has severe social anxiety and PTSD, which has only gotten worse thanks to a history of people trying to wedge themselves in-between our relationship -- either to get to me or to get to Crystal, but primarily -- people were usually trying to steal me away. We explained this to Gale before we all joined the group together.
One day, after my gf was starting to feel ignored -- she noticed Gale had given me a nickname (Harmony) which honestly and understandably rubbed her off the wrong way, especially with our past of homewreckers. I honestly thought it was just typos, but once I was told it was a legitimate nickname Gale gave me -- it rubbed me the wrong way, specifically because of my gender dysphoria. My name, Harmon, is literally supposed to be a more masculine version of "Harmony" -- so it felt off to me to be called that. So I told them to not call me that anymore -- but after that, my gf had an anxiety attack and left the group chat.
This, naturally, upsetted me -- and I confronted Gale about this and reminded them as to why my gf had the reaction that she did -- and Gale swore up and down they weren't trying to appease me by trying to befriend my gf. Due to me having significant trust issues at that moment, I gave them an ultimatum, which was the following: unfriend me and talk to Crystal (my gf) for a month in order to prove this "reconnection" isn't just to get close to me. I asked them if that was too much to ask for, and they said no.
Afterwards, I removed them as a friend, but I noticed they did not add my gf back. I came here on Tumblr to see what was going on, and they said they were having their own anxiety attack -- so I told them to take their time and care for themselves. The next day, I went to check on them -- and they blocked me -- which only made me distrust them more.
Soon after, I decided to vent to an artist friend of mine, who also knows Gale -- and they informed me that Gale was running around with a fabricated version of the story -- saying I simply "lashed out at them over a nickname" when it was obviously more than just that. I simply told them not to call me "Harmony" since it messed with my dysphoria -- what truly got me upset, was them giving my gf an anxiety attack, which I think is a reasonable thing to get upset at, and even then -- I didn't "lash out" at them -- I was simply being stern with them. Being stern isn't the same as "lashing out".
Forward to just a couple of days ago -- and the same artist friend I vented to DM'd me telling me Gale had made the post above on Twitter, claiming my art and the OCs of mine and many others as their own. When my friend confronted them about it, they simply said it was "just for fun". I never gave them permission to use any of my art or the OCs -- and even then, they just straight up traced my work and called it their own.
They have artistic skills -- they know how to create their own art and characters, so doing this makes absolutely no sense to me. I said this on Twitter, so I'll say it here. I don't care what kind of spite or vendetta you have against me, Gale -- this ain't it. You do not get to attempt to steal my art for some petty ass reasons, or no reason at all -- at that.
Down below are some of the original pieces that I thankfully still had in my art files to prove that, yes -- those are my pieces. I know this is an incredibly long post, and they did immediately take the post down when they were confronted -- but I do not take art theft lightly -- and this is a habit of Gale's, along with pathological lying. I feel it's now time that someone made a call out post, they need to learn that this behavior is not ok.
Please signal boost this so it can get more eyes, but again -- Do Not Harass Them! That will only cause more problems and unnecessary stress and damage. I simply want them to stop this behavior and grow into a better person, and unfortunately -- some people need to be put on blast in order to make that change.
