What's funny about the Pyro situation is that the last time a mcyt creator tried to police fandom, evoking boundaries, it turned out to be a red flag. You would think people would think twice about it since it was pretty recent, but apparently not.
I'm not accusing Pyro of anything Avid has done, I just find it funny that people aren't batting an eye, considering how it went down last time.
It is fair, I think, to note that Pyroscythe- like a lot of the group that made Vampires SMP- was somewhat blindsided by the explosion in popularity the series provided.
Separate from the troubles of its storytellers Vampires SMP is compelling as hell- a true encapsulated tragedy, with very little minecraft gimmick and almost no tacit nods to the camera. Unlike Unstable, it was broadly unscripted; unlike Skyblock Kingdoms, its run was brutally and intentionally short. Members of Hermitcraft are friends; the characters of VSMP were strangers in a strange land.
It truly is a special thing, and its fanbase flourished and flourishes because of that. Inevitably, the smaller or lesser known creators (because 'small' and 'lesser known' are not synonymous in MCYT) were provided a sudden surge in views and followers.
Which means, frankly, they weren't prepared for what comes with becoming a beloved content creator.
No one really is. There's a sense of lost control and agency whenever anyone starts playing with your toys and if any creator tells me otherwise they are a fucking liar. In some ways it feels insulting; I created this thing, without me it literally would not exist, and you call me only steward and claim domain over my creation? What right have you?
It's a complicated question with an easy answer that a lot of fans don't like, need to have shoved down their craws: that which exists in the fandom is a pantomime of the original material, a copy, a facsimile to play with. No headcanon matters to the bedrock of canon, no interpretation will change what stones were laid, all that matters is how they've been painted or washed or shifted ever so slightly.
A creator is the builder of the house.
A fandom is a madcap interior designer who cannot move the built ins or the claw foot tub or the original limestone fireplace, no matter how much they might try.
The faster both creator and fanbase accept that, the more room for growth and expansion there is.
We turn as ever to ZombieCleo, nonbinary Litch of our hearts, who has a simple rule: do what you want, but I don't want to see it. That's a clear boundary, easily obeyed- you don't tag Cleo in art, or in fic. You don't send Cleo unsolicited fandom creations or ask them lore questions outside of pre-established contexts.
In this way, Cleo does what Cleo will do, which makes their fanbase happy; and the fanbase, puttering around with their work kept lovingly out of sight, continue to get the content they love and continue to lift Cleo up, introduce them to new people, give new reach and new ideas.
But Cleo, importantly, has been on the circuit longer than PyroScythe. Cleo is on Hermitcraft, which is not- despite arguments to the contrary- galvanized from fandom drama or uncomfortable content. Rather the hermits have fostered Cleo's approach writ large, knowing full well the darker depths of the fandoms that love them but maintaining a pointed wall, allowing the greenery to run unchecked because that's what makes their influence spread.
the best advertisement is word of mouth, after all.
Experience is one of the best, if harshest, teachers. Fandoms will exist and operate with or without the sayso of writers or directors or sequential artists or youtubers. Whether PyroScythe misspoke in the stream where he encouraged his fanbase to oust people shipping content his partner did not feel comfortable with is not even the point anymore.
The point is he could have left the greenery on the far side of the fence well enough alone. He could have built a bigger wall. He could have consulted other gardeners.
Instead he turned on a flamethrower.
After the mess of Avid and Marm, I don't know what that particular corner of MCYT is going to look like. Maybe this all peters out into nothing. Maybe the more devoted of Pyro's little birds do in fact bully and harass his fandom into a graveyard, which I am just vicious enough to think he might deserve.
Maybe- just maybe- PyroScythe learns how to build a better wall, and let the garden on the far side run wild, fed by the runoff of his own enclosed space, content with his manicured lawns and sculpted topiaries.
