helooo i love your art! may i request a drawing of mcd vylad :]
Did it take me several months to finally do this? Yes is did, sorry kind stranger!
Vylad was always one of my favorite watching MCD as a kid. He was mysterious, but in a cool way, not a try hard way like another certain mysterious stranger....
This is a good time to let Aphblr know that, if we were all residents of Phoenix Drop and the Irene Dimension crew left the day the finale came out, weâd be over half way through the 15 years by now :)
You can always invent potentional dynamics in your head this is free and good to do.
Vylavis is something I've been thinking about in a "Travis as Enki's reincarnation and Enki representing knowledge and academia." Vs Vylad as as secrets and the unknown, I think they could be v fun.
Was discussing on discord Vylad and Katelyn and the like "Vylad reminding Katelyn of Jeffory" and how genuinely I do not think Vylad like. Knows who Jeffory is. Or his connection to Katelyn. So he notices Katelyn avoiding him n goes "Hm, maybe I reminder her of Zane, that would be awkard." and then fails his skill check on being not rude (hes not trying to be hes just. Bad at talking) when Katelyn eventually feels bad enough she apologizes.
If you're in the Aphverse fandom and you don't know what that title is referring to, you might want to sit down to read this. It's not... the best.
I want to use this post to both compile all the information I have from my own sleuthing, and express my thoughts and nuanced opinions in one place. I'm incredibly depressed by this whole situation, and I think everyone who's ever been a fan of anything made by this team deserves to sit with this uncomfortable truth with as much information as they need for as long as they need it. So lets get started.
This whole ordeal starts in the summer of 2026 on the main aphmau website, aka Aphmeow.com. As a promotion for their back to school line, this image was uploaded to the website.
Now you might not have clocked this as AI generated immediately, I was skeptical, but you can see where the cracks are showing when you look at the notebook on the right. It looks totally wrong, and once you see it, you can't unsee it.
People rightfully clocked this as an AI generated/assisted image within hours of it's posting, both fans and people who have previously worked with CatFace. I first cocked an ear at this whole controversy because of posts made by a voice actor who used to work with them, and when I dug into it, there was not any confirmation from the official team. In this stage of speculation I also heard a claim that I'm going to put in this post, but I need it to be read with many grains of salt.
There have been allegations made that on a job listing for CatFace studios within the last few years, there was a requirement for applicants to "be comfortable with the use of generative AI in the creative process." I have not seen any screenshots proving this, I have checked their recent LinkedIn listings and not found anything to this effect, and I cannot verify the truth of this claim. I bring it up because its a claim that you will hear thrown around this discussion, and I want it to be treated with a critical eye.
I don't think it's impossible that such a thing was on their job listings, I just cannot find proof that it ever was. Also I think it's important to remember that some companies use products and services that have generative AI features built into them, so comfort with those is necessary if you're going to work with them. It's possible that's what the listing is talking about, or it's possible that higher ups will ask writers to use ChatGPT to improve their workflow. We don't know.
Now let's get back to the thing we have proof of, that promotional picture. This we know was AI generated/assisted because shortly after it was posted, the image was taken off of the website and CatFace posted a statement on their Instagram addressing the controversy.
This statement is... a mess. I don't like it, it gave me a bad feeling the first time I read it, and it's only getting worse the more I sit with it. On the surface this seems... fine, but any additional thinking about it shows some flaws in the arguments proposed by the team who posted it.
The main thing that gets to me is the second paragraph, talking about contract artists and previous incidents. To be frank, CatFace seems like a terrible company to work at as a contract artist. Looking up "catface glassdoor" pulls up numerous reviews left by employees past and present, and discussions about how the reviews left aren't even news to some people. Some controversy about people lying in those reviews, and maybe some of them did, but if enough reviews of your company say the same thing, then it's not judt ex employees with an axe to grind.
A lot of these GlassDoor posts talk about a very toxic work environment, one that is unfortunately common for big channels like this, but is still a problem. A lot of crunch culture, last minute changes to staff and plans, and generally leaving a very bad taste in their employees mouths when it comes to the higher ups of the company. In a culture of crunch, where deadlines are sometimes impossible, artists are pushed to their absolute limit in what they are physically capable of. And if they're a contract worker who's ability to keep getting contract work depends on fulfilling these impossible requirements, they might be pushed so far they take desperate measures.
Like using Generative AI to meet those deadlines. And this is why I take issue with the mention of contract artists and previous incicents in this post. If there is a previous history of contract artists using generative AI to meet production deadlines, that is not necessarily the fault of the individual contract artist, even if this post is trying to make it sound like it is. It's the fault of the company that pushed these artists to their absolute limit so much that this has taken place multiple times.
I've heard mutterings of other antics Jess and Jason have gotten up to with AI on twitter, but I have too much respect for myself to actually log onto that website. So if anyone has any proof of any of that, I'd love to see it. As you may be able to tell though, misinformation spreads fast.
That's why I'm making this post. So that way everyone can see what actual easily compiled evidence there is, and come to their own conclusion about continuing to give their viewership to this company and their products. It's on you to decide if you want to keep supporting these series, and I'm sure you won't be alone if you decide to disown it but take a small handful of your favorite characters and claim them as your own.
Well... there was more stuff said because Jason can't not post on twitter. Screenshots and further discussion will be under the cut again because there's a lot more to it. Keep reading to see the bad meme I made in response to all of this
So Jason Bravura doesn't know when to shut his mouth and lie and now we're all paying the price for it. In response to... all the stuff I talked about in the original post, Jason took to his favorite website to give us an update (shout out to @menphias-flame for getting these screenshots for me so I don't have to open twitter).
There's so many problems with this I don't know where to even start. I guess the first thing is that clearly there needs to be some kind of work done on the internal Catface team if this kind of thing is happening without Jess or Jason's approval. That's a huge L on their parts.
The second thing is that comment about how this comes at the tail of character skin tones on merch and all I have to say is YEAH THAT'S NOTHING NEW. Skin tones of these characters have been off in merch for a while, and they have been completely butchered in thumbnails for even longer. Their thumbnails can't even get certain characters eye colors right, let alone their skin tone. That is a weak argument for why they weren't involved in this, because skin tones have been an issue for this team since they were Blujay studios.
Third, I really hate how Jason is making a martyr out of himself here. Talking about how he's responsible for everything, how he personally halved his salary for the team, how this is all his fault. I wish he just. Hadn't done that. Because if your content production is so overwhelming and incapable of keeping up with itself without using AI, MAYBE CHANGE YOUR CONTENT PRODUCTION SCHEDULE???
Nobody is making Catface upload that many cocomau videos a week, and I'm sure if they heard me say this, Jess or Jason would start talking about how much money it takes to run their operation. And my response to that is to downsize your operation along with downsizing your content generation. Because as it is now they are burning the cabdle at both ends, overworking every artist contracted under them, and still failing to meet their own requirements. Methinks their requirements might not actually be humanly possible anymore and they need to change what those requirements are in order to survive.
Fourth, and finally, we have confirmation. Confirmation of the job posting (lightly), and confirmation that yes Catface uses AI in their content creation. Now Jason is trying to convince you in this post that they use it in an ethical manner, that there is no art or writing generated for their works, only ideas and production tool creation, whatever that means. And uh, hey Jason...
THERE IS NO ETHICAL WAY TO USE THE STEALING AND LYING MACHINE THAT KILLS THE PLANET!! YOU ARE KILLING THE PLANET WITH EVERY TIME YOU ASK A CHATBOT TO GENERATE SOME IDEAS FOR AN ASMP VIDEO!!
We now have confirmation that Catface studios uses AI in the process of making cocomau videos. And that sucks!! I wish they had lied to us!! I wish that Jason had gone on twitter and told a bold face outright lie to the entire fandom! I wish we could've been forever stuck in speculation with squinted eyes, instead of having this ugly truth laid bare. This sucks.
That's all there is to this. This sucks.
I'll probably still finish Mermaid Tales because in my social circles I've been the only one who's watching it and reporting back to people on how bad it is, but once that's over? I doubt I'll watch another new Aphmau video. Even if MyStreet Season 7 actually comes back, even if Jeffory and Blaze and Cadenza are all in it, I'll not want to watch it. Because now I can't trust the creators or anything they make. I never can. Until I see a comprehensive behind the scenes production process on MyStreet with reliable proof of no gen AI usage, I can never trust them, and that kind of documentary would cost too much money to film.
I'll still work on my fanfictions, have my fun with these characters in my own worlds, and engage with other fan content. This fandom is a special thing to me, and I've never needed them actually making anything I wanted to watch for that to be the case. But I will probably talk less about critiques of the writing and just do more silly Blaze posting when I'm in the mood for it, cause he's mine now as far as I can tell.
Thank you for reading this far, thank you for keeping a critical eye about you, and remember that Jason can't take your childhood memories away from you. Sparkle on and remember to be yourself
Oh and here's that meme I promised, made in about 5 minutes with a reliable zero usage of generative AI in the creative process
HI IM SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO GET AROUND TO THIS đ Asking for my Vylad headcanons is like giving me a small kitten (I love cats). Though my blog does not look dedicated to him, I am definitely a huge Vylad fan. My little guy who I have so much written about and drawn him plenty and for some reason never post. I should do that. But thatâs besides the pointâheadcanons!!
MCD
Him and Travis are besties in my heart and it reaches past mystreet into mcd. Travis finds Vylad quite interesting, and anything about him that could be âweirdâ is something Travis quite enjoys about him. Vylad likes Travis because he finds his energy to actually be pleasant. They find comfort in their differences from everyone else in each other. Very much a âyapperâ and âlistenerâ sort of relationship where Travis will excitedly talk to Vylad about anything and he will listen and engage in his Vylad ways
Surrounding Vylad and talkingâin terms of the season two mcd cast, he is definitely more talkative towards Aphmau and Laurance initially than anyone else. Though most conversations with him where is he more talkative happen in private rather than in large groups
He does have quite a fondness towards children, though he is quite anxious about caring for them (though he is quite successful with it). And kids seem to like him in return. Levin was quite comfortable with Vylad as a baby in s1 when he took care of Levin in the gap between Matilda giving him up to being adopted by Aphmau. This attribute does stick around after the time skip too
He is quite bad at sleeping and has been since he was a child. Combination of insomnia, nightmares, and unfortunate circumstances in terms of location. When he was little he would go to his mom or to Garroth who would make him feel safe enough to sleep. The best sleep he got in the nether was when Laurance was in the cell next to him and wouldnât stop talking lol (not from disinterest but because it was calming). But the best night sleep of his adult life was a little after he met Hyria and fell asleep in her house
When all the Roâmeave boys were little, they used to play hide and seek a lot. Vylad would be quite good at hiding, but would get really sad when neither of his brothers were able to find him. So he started hiding in more obvious places so that they would see him better. It worked, and though he would lose, he felt much happier than when he would âwinâ
Mystreet
His college roommate was Travis. Aphmau would often stop by their dorm to hang out there a lot. Especially movie nights. In the same vein as that, they had a shared plushie cat that they talked as if it was a real cat. The RA had to come in and check their room once for an animal and they had to explain that it was this stuffed cat they shared custody of
One of the reasons he travels so frequently is because he does research. Sure heâs also a photographer and also picks up random little side gigs, but he primarily goes to random places to learn. Also leads him to having a crazy amount of stories and connections to people
Him and Cadenza are besties in my heart. By proxy he is close to the Zvahls in general. While this is definitely in part because I want my primarily off screen favorites to be friends, I also just think theyâd get along. Heâs also friends with Katelynâs little brother Kacey
He has a very active text thread with the Not Alone Buddies. He is not a big group chat guy, but he does love this one. It has survived every era
He loves Halloween. He wears incredibly detailed costumes of really obscure things every year. Heâs lucky if anyone sees him and actually knows what he is supposed to be without explaining it (and he gets really excited when it does happen). It also becomes a game for other people to try and guess what he is
He is actually pretty good at art! Prefers drawing and painting compared to other mediums, but has dabbled a lot. Draws a lot while traveling, so has gotten really good at live studies. Draws a lot of plants (because he loves them) and architecture especially, but can do people too
When she was very little after her birth parents died and she was adjusting to life in Meteli, the way she showed people she trusted them was by giving them a flower she picked. The first time Hayden ever got one from her, he cried. The first person who was not family to get a flower from her was little Sasha
After getting through the whole chicken saga, she definitely tried to talk to chickens. I donât think it worked, but she thought it Kiki could do it then maybe she could too. After all, she was was literally a chicken at one point
During the time skip and left to go back to Meteli, she stayed in contact with Dante. The two have so many letters back and forth between each other. In the same vein as that, she would write letters to Laurance too. You know, just in case
Speaking of the time skip, she meets Vylad during it. She clocks who he is fairly fast. Not as in âVylad Roâmeave, son of OâKhasisâ but âVylad, that guy who was in prison with my brother.â
Speaking of shadow knights, sheâs absolutely the most fearless when it comes to them. She does not care about someone being a shadow knight in the slightest. Some people have tried to tell her she was naive for that, but she frankly disagrees. Plenty of people who she loves are shadow knights, and sheâs not going to stop loving them because of that
She absolutely designed herself lord outfits that are much better than what she has in canon because I cannot stand for it
Mystreet
Used to ruthlessly make fun of Laurance for all of his romance sagas as teenagers/young adults. Actively ended up in some weird love shape as an adult and he made fun of her back
Absolutely ran a fashion blog in college which ended up leading her to get an internship or full time job at a fashion magazine. It was a big stepping stone for her to become a designer
I guess this is more of a general headcanon but she loves strawberries. But mystreet specifically is that she hates artificially flavored strawberry things. She has complicated feelings about strawberry ice cream especially
She used to do dance growing up. Not competition dance though, she would do recitals and stage shows. Because of this, she is very inspired by ballerinas and theatrical productions when it comes to designing clothes. Has also worked in the clothing department of many shows spreading across school, community productions, and professional
She is fantastic at throwing parties, but only if theyâre incredibly themed. And yes, she will put themed dress codes on the invitation for people to adhere to however much they like. Ranges from birthday parties and sleepovers to super themed holiday parties. On that note she would love Valentineâs Day regardless of her relationship status. In her eyes, itâs about all kinds of love, not just romance
You know that I have to come in here and ask about Jeffory headcanons (any universe). I'll send you a seperate ask for Cadenza
Finally getting back to these!! Sorry itâs taken so long!! But Jeffory headcanons? Oh yeah. He has been on the brain a lot recently. Miss him đ
MCD
He loves gifting flowers. He gave plenty to Abby and Katelyn
If heâs in a situation where he had the time and the ability to not be questioned for it, Jeffory was really kind to the bodies of the innocents he killed. Tried to leave them in a respectful manner, despite how gruesome it was sometimes
I donât really have an explanation for it but I feel like he would tell Abby about wyverns being gold, and sheâd get really excited about it. Sheâd think they would have a special connection to them because gold is in their name. So any time heâd see a statue of a wyvern, he would think of his daughter
within the jury, I feel like heâd have a really weird relationship with Lillian especially. Not inherently bad, not good, just really weird
Mystreet
Very active father when it comes to all of Abbyâs schools events for sure. Like, the go to field trip chaperone
I feel like he works in HR or something? And at one point he worked with Zane and work is why Jeffory hates Zane in mystreet lol
He is low key a makeup model. Abby would play makeover on him, Katelyn would try stuff on him (mostly like stage makeup things), and yk letâs throw Cadenza in there too. Man knows all the tips and tricks
He has at least one âlive, laugh, loveâ sign in his home. Aphmau bought it for him as a joke but he actually displayed it and now itâs just there
Any time he drops a stuffed animal, he apologizes to it. Because I feel in my heart that itâs true
She loves to push the bounds of her witchcraft abilities. So she creates a lot of things which may not always be the greatest, but also non-fatal. Then she will find someone willing to be a test subject and let them try it. Not sure who it is in season 1, but season 2 itâs absolutely a combo of Laurance, Travis, and Vylad (when they can get him on board)
In between having her shops in OâKhasis and being in Phoenix Drop, she definitely had these little pop up stores wherever she went
When she did get along with Hyria when she was little, she would often listen to her mom recount stories of the divine warriors which completely shifted her perspective on them. So she has trouble with the more organized/collective beliefs around them
She had Cadenza make Biggleworth outfit once. He hated it.
Her and Nana became much closer during the time skip and before Lucinda left Phoenix Drop. Those two have a lot of shared history, and they are forced to acknowledge it a lot more when the craziest settled down and the grief sets in. She is attendance during Nana and Danteâs wedding
Sheâs definitely the mcd era âself care girlieâ and itâs a pivot from her younger self who absolutely pushed herself further than she could go. So now she often is the reminder for her friends, which is acting as a reminder for herself not to do that again
While I have more than just this, the bonus mystreet headcanon is that sheâs really good at moving in heels. Like, could probably run in stiletto good.
Have any thoughts/headcanons about Amber from MCD?
(and alsoâŠas a bonus itâs okay Iâll understand if youâve got nothingâŠany Dreams of Estorra thoughts?)
For Amber, yes!! Someone else also asked about Amber which is awesome!! You can find that post here, but I will talk about her a little here too :D
In terms of thoughts: I really enjoy Amber as a character. So often we see thief characters be portrayed as these mysterious or misunderstood characters. Itâs kind of fun that Amber is just so excitable and oddly forthcoming about information about herself in comparison to what this archetype often is in fantasy stories (especially the ones written around 2015/16 when MCD was being primarily created). Sheâs such a fun character who has so much potential, and she is attached to some of the more interesting season 2 subplots within MCD canon in my opinion.
For headcanons, Iâll just throw another one in here too!! I feel like sheâs bad at climbing. Itâs another one of the reasons she prefers finding things like tunnels or passages as opposed to scaling walls and such.
Now for Dreams of Estorra!! I do not unfortunately have any headcanons for it đ simply because it has been so long since I revisited it. But in terms of thoughts? I do have those! I remember when it was originally teased, and it was quite interesting since it didnât have the mcd centric cast this time. It wasnât the first (for me at least), since I did watch Mod Mod World, but I remember I thought but was quite cool. I also remember that for a while, people used Dreams of Estorra as the game that Aphmau and Aaron played in their backstories. Overall I think the story would have been really interesting for Jess to continue, but I can also see why it didnât work as well as she maybe hoped.
I do remember that the sets and the skins for that series were super cool though?? Definitely a different vibe, but I remember thinking they were super pretty.
hi alex!!
I'd love to hear about your thoughts about Prof. Monty Modzilla :3
but if you aren't in a mmw/vp mood tonight, I'd also love to hear you ramble about (any) Katelyn :3
PROFESSOR MODZILLA!!! I am a MMW girlie to my core and I am so glad you gave me the chance to do both him and Katelyn. Because you are getting both.
Professor Modzilla
Though he is good at science, he is a terrible cook. He claims itâs because âcooking is an art.â Had to learn to get better at it when he created Tommy
Despite leaving to go back to his own dimension, he did feel sentimental about Tommy while separated despite their complicated relationship
He has most definitely almost consumed inedible science equipment while being incredibly tired
Has hearing problems likely as a result of his work
Okay now onto my girl Katelyn!!
MCD
Doesnât believe in dreams trying to tell her something, unless Jeffory is present in them
Before the Irene Dimension, the person she talked to most in Phoenix Drop that were not the other guards or Aphmau was Cadenza
Met Garroth when they were both really young, but neither of them remember it
While technically canon in season 3, I do think Katelyn becoming a mentor/teacher to future guards makes a lot of sense for her. It gives her a chance to teach them how to be strong, but also teach them not to do the many things she regrets from her youth
Has been poisoned on multiple occasions but never enough to kill her. Some of the times it happened because Ivy was mad it her, another was because someone tried to poison Aphmau but she tried her food first
I could do so many more for mcd đ but I will spread the love to mystreet Katelyn too
Mystreet
Absolutely has extensive knowledge on multiple childrenâs cartoons due to Abby and Jeffory
Was in an improv troupe in college and it made her realize she liked working in tech more then being on stage
Loves the Princess Bride. Rewatches it frequently with Aphmau, Travis, and Nana
She does not like celebrating her own birthday in a big way, but she enjoys doing it for others
Back on the headcanon grind!! Also yay!! Amber!! Love her and Iâm so happy to see her name pop up.
She finds comfort in small spaces. Thatâs why she is good at finding secret passages and such because of it
Initially wanted to be a guard as a young child, but that dream seemed unreachable to her when she became older and became more conscious how the world worked
Ideally she would want to use thievery to help others, and this is why the thieves of the guild find her to be naive
She loves to feed stray animals, especially cats. She wants to befriend them all. Maybe she can convince them to join in on her schemes by distracting people with their cuteness so she can take their items. But also she just loves animals
Unfortunately I have not thought about a mystreet variant of her much, so thereâs not much for her in that regard đ but I do feel like sheâd love littlest pet shops!!
AARON!! I never do Aaron posting. Great excuse to talk about him now! So thank you :)
Because heâs a more main character I will split his headcanons across both mcd and mystreet
MCD
I wrote a whole fic about this but I think Aaron buried all the bodies in Falcon Claw as the sole survivor and still dedicated to his people as their lord.
He used to practice doing Lilyâs hair in case he had a daughter. When they had Jacob, he simply used those skills to do his wifeâs hair instead. Whenever he would get really sad after she died, he would find tall grass and try to braid it, and probably eventually developed a talent to hand weave
Aaron does have a âcautionary tale/mentorâ thing going on with Aphmau for a while before he ever considers her a friend. The first time he allows himself to call her a friend rather than an ally is when she starts talking about Garroth and apologizes to him for doing that. He states itâs okay because âisnât that what friends are supposed to do?â without thinking, before having some sort of internal spiral about forming connections
Just because this is funny to me, he does get a shirt in my mind. We should give him clothing actually
Him and Laurance cannot have a normal casual conversation at all. They talk with a purpose and any time they donât, they irritate each other so badly
MYSTREET
I will try to make these as canon oriented as possible (and theyâre definitely going to be early mystreet), but I have a very special au variation of Aaron that goes along with the mystreet headcanon for Donna and Dale (and honestly Isabelle too) so I might drop one here for him too
Ends up in a horrific three person group chat with Dante and Zane somehow circa LLP time and doesnât know what to do about it
Occasionally gets hit with memories of Jenny in his adult life and cringes so hard that he has to what is effectively an emotional reboot
Plays online scrabble with Katelyn and neither of them ever tell anyone about it
Okay for the au headcanon that aligned with the other ones from other posts (the only reason theyâre so different is because many life circumstances for Aaron are different) is that he somehow ends up becoming a kids sports team coach. He just showed up one day to take his own kid and the coach was sick but they needed someone. He didnât volunteer to do it. They voted him in. But now he has to teach 6 year olds how to play idk soccer?? Baseball?? Thatâs not decided yet.
stormborns
baratheonpilled
titsay
