#and didn't realise i was about to be gatekept

[galedekarios]

plagiarism in the bg3 fandom

disclaimer: this post should not be taken as a springboard to harrass anyone involved.

-

as i've stated previously, i didn't want to make this post because i have a lot going on in real life, but i have been watching this being done to others and myself for months now and i can't not speak about my experience anymore.

laiostoudenn (prev urls: lathanderr/spellbooking/wizardblood) is a plagiarist and he has a history of stealing from other creators like @minthara, @mercymaker, @onewingedangels and others.

in this post, i, finally and after much and long deliberation, want to add my voice to theirs.

i'll try to give a chronological overview of what happened as i have come to experience it, through others and myself, and as condensed as possible and to make it easier for myself to tell:

the story

i became aware of this new blog after he @ me and he messaged me. he's been following me. i was slow to engage because i have a lot of things going on in my real life that cost me a lot of energy during the day. i have also grown cautious of too quickly becoming close to strangers online. i became aware, however, that he had been doing this with multiple bigger creators in this space, like my friend @hawke, who is also a creator in the bg3 space, and who has experienced the same behaviour. they asked me if i knew him and i replied that i did not.

that was it for me at that point and i didn't engage much beyond that because i didn't know him and i thought nothing of it - until later.

during that time, whenever i saw his creations pop up increasingly, either in the tags or on my dash, i noticed more and more that they looked familiar to the works of others, from @minthara, to @mercymaker, to @onewingedangels and other creators, including myself.

it was then confirmed that i wasn't simply imagining things when, months ago, two creators were brave enough to speak up about the fact that he has been plagiarising gifsets and edits from them:

@minthara and @mercymaker:

@onewingedangels original set posted on 31st december 2023:

his set posted on 29th january 2024 (now deleted):

this was done without consent, and after he had already copied prior sets from @onewingedangels.

i would greatly recommend reading the posts shared above, and looking at the examples provided in it, so that you get a clear picture of what's happening here. it's not one isolated incident.

if you take a look at the notes in the post, you can also see other creators speaking about their experiences.

@minthara has recently also uploaded a google docs with the screenshots of the sets stolen from them because they either have been deleted, or lead to nothing due to now multiple url changes.

i was made aware today that he, following the first posts detailing @minthara and @mercymaker's experiences, apologised at first and admitted to what he's been doing on 31st march 2024:

but sadly, this wasn't to last, and the opportunity to learn and grow wasn't taken.

instead what happened was now painted as "bullying" from other creators, as "clique" behaviour and as "gatekeeping", despite many of us operating independently from each other. i, myself, have only started speaking to one other creator involved now that i have noticed the stealing and copying still ongoing.

i have in my time on this website never gatekept anything. i have shared metas, gifsets, creations, mods, art, tutorials, and many other things freely.

but back to the matter at hand: after he has been trying to ingratiate himself to me for some time now, following me, unfollowing me, and refollowing me again until i blocked him for my own mental health, i tried to remain civil before this point, engaging rarely if at all, hoping everything would go away on its own - which was a mistake in hindsight, i realise - i noticed that once again he's been lifting entire concepts and frame-by-frame gifs and sets from me.

things that he now claims - likely after he has been made aware of my prior personal posts and @minthara and @mercymaker's post circulating again by being reblogged by other people who have been affected) - were simply "remade" or "expanded" upon, that he may have been "subconsciously" influenced, while simultaneously claiming that he didn't know these sets existed in the first place, that he came up with the ideas independently, and that it's simply inevitable to use the same scenes because it's a limited game.

this doesn't hold up under scrutiny, however.

i want to make clear that i very much understand and that i am acutely aware that i do not own scenes and i do not own mods or outfits. however, what i do like to pride myself on is coming up with concepts and scene choices and captions accompanying these concepts that are unique, inspired by my metas, headcanons pertaining to gale and my own ocs altonaufein and karl, all of which i have seen copied by him several times now.

this is not as simple as simply gifing the same lines of dialogue from a scene as he and others supporting him are now postulating and i want to make that very, very clear.

another reason why this statement doesn't hold up under any scrutiny and, what ultimately confirmed my suspicion that he has been copying me, was when he - after the first post exposing his behaviour by @minthara and @mercymaker was made - reached out to me, asking if it it's ok to copy a gifset i made (note: again, this happened after he was called out for plagiarising the first time):

i didn't respond quickly enough, so he went ahead and posted it without waiting for my response (the response i gave him is pictured above and for transparancy, i responded about a day later bc of work and irl obligations).

below you can see the stolen post and what i managed to save from it:

the set was a 1:1 copy. he wanted a version for his oc so bad that he went ahead and stole my concept anyhow, without even waiting for the permission he asked for.

he went to take it down after my reply, made cautious most likely by his still fresh callout done in march 2024 by @minthara and @mercymaker, and i thought the issue was resolved and it wouldn't happen again, that he wouldn't take again without asking, despite having been told not only by myself, but by other creators as well, no. we are not comfortable.

but no. he "remade" the set, switching out gifs while complaining about how he "had to make it original":

my set in question was made on 1st february 2024, he reached out to me on 22nd april 2024 to "remake" the set. he is well aware of the existence of these ideas and concepts and sets he wants to copy, underlined by the need to ask for permission when it's simply too obvious to otherwise deny.

it's no coincidence.

like others have had the experience, i too noticed that he often would not engage with content he planned on stealing or did go through with stealing. he would sometimes present it as his own "remake" of a set he did, of another he was "inspired" or wanted to "expand upon", sometimes crediting, sometimes crediting someone largely unrelated, sometimes and, more often, not crediting.

as i mentioned above, this was not the first and not the only set/concept, which he copied from me - whether that was before asking or after asking, or not asking at all, if it was ok to copy.

i use this example mainly to show a clear pattern of behaviour that exists across the board: he takes concepts from other creators and inserts his own oc and/or favourite character into it because he wants a version of it so very badly. it does not matter if said creator might be hurt, if they told him no, or if they exposed his behaviour before. it doesn't matter how old the set is or how recent.

it is still going on today, the only difference is that he has stopped asking at all once again.

my story completely echoes that of @minthara and @mercymaker's.

concrete examples

i will now go into more detail about the concept sets he's been copying, include the caption or quote attached to it. i'm sorry that these will not be in chronological fashion. i will add at a later point, just like @minthara has done, a google document to better do side by side comparisons, highlight the similarities visually even more, and preserve some of the sets, which have now been deleted by him as recently as today:

the theme of hands in gale's romance

-> mine posted on 23rd september 2023

versus

-> his 1 posted on 24th february 2024

-> his 2 posted on 17th june 2024

i want to preface this by saying that the theme of hands was and still is incredibly important to story of my oc altonaufein and has concept of romance with gale. again, while i do not own these scenes, i wished to highlight a theme that i identified as poignant and profound within the relationship context. it's also why i added the poetry and quotes accompanying the set.

notice how even the caption format matches. the only thing lacking are my quotes / poems.

the format matches almost entirely: gifs from the same scenes (pulling gale out of the portal, the bench scene in an illusionary waterdeep, the astral sea scene, the boat scene, and more of the boat scene). the only thing that was added in this gifset are scenes that weren't available to me back then, namely the updated proposal scene, the kisses patches, and the epilogue as they came out well after i made my original gifset.

the second re-make even contains a gif that's not only the same minute detail of a larger scene - one that anyone who played gale's romance knows contains a multitude of other parts that could have been used - but also the same frames:

mine vs his:

i suppose adding that one to the original post with the same format i had chosen for mine would have made it too obvious, but that is only speculation.

gale + missing waterdeep/home

-> mine posted on 30th september 2023

versus

-> his (deleted on 18th july 2024) so i will have to include screenshots so you may compare:

same caption format, overlapping scenes chosen, only new additions are of content that wasn't available to me back when i first made my original set (the epilogue, kiss patches and proposal scene).

an attempt at "credit" even though he is only referencing my tags on an entirely separate set of a different creator, not the concept i came up with in my original set months prior.

and even though i have told him no before, just like others have told him no before.

i think it speaks volumes that this set is now, like some others, have been suddenly and coincidentally deleted.

gale of waterdeep vs gale dekarios

-> mine posted on 20th november 2023

versus

-> his posted on 13th may 2024

the concept is entirely the same, the scenes are largely overlapping, again, the caption format is almost entirely identical, with the sole difference of me including the full quote and devnotes as i'm wont to do.

gale + i love you

-> mine posted 16th september 2023

versus

-> his 2 (a "remake" of an "older" set of "his") posted on 13th may 2024

again, the concept is entirely the same, it's same caption format, the scenes largely overlap, some of the gifs added that were not available to me when i made my set (which, again, would include the epilogue, kisses patches, and the updated proposal scene).

mermay gale

-> mine posted on 13th may 2024

versus

-> his posted on 21st may 2024

it's the same concept again, the caption format is similar, it's the same setting (camp at baldur's gate), the same armour, the same armour tint, the same 3/4 pose except mirrored, and, this time, his tags were inspired too:

my tag: #i have the worst art block still and virtually no time but i still wanted to do smth for mermay so have this

his tag: #i can't do art so heres my mermay contribution i guess

copied oc post

-> mine posted on (likely) 30th september 2021

versus

-> his originally posted on may 7th 2024, which has also now been deleted on 18th july 2024:

the only thing different was the font. sadly, i deleted my oc post since i have redesigned some of them and wanted to make an updated version of it in the future.

thankfully i found the link on my friends blog, @ayrennaranaaldmeri.

as you can see, all of these happened after the first cases of plagiarism and after i personally told him that i'm not comfortable with him "remaking" my concept sets as his.

conclusion

there are many other sets that i suspect have been copied or plagiarised, i want to remain objective, however, and include the ones i feel are the most damning examples, supported by the fact that he has been deleting some of them today while again, trying to set up his narrative to his audience.

again, i want to highlight the pattern is here with him. my post is not the first, my suspicious are the first.

he knows what he is doing wrong, highlighted by the fact of trying to ask for permission, by deleting sets in question, by, at first, apologising, whilst now talking about "gatekeeping", "bullying", "inevitable repeats of scenes", "taking inspiration", "scrolling by", being "subconsciously" influenced, etc.

as a conclusion, i can say nothing more on this topic other than that i'm very sad. it doesn't give me joy. it stressed me immensely then and it still does now. i wish he'd have taken the already admitted wrong-doing to heart and grown from it, instead of attempting to change the narrative and doubling down on his past behaviour, not examining what he has done and is doing several times over by now.

i have blocked him now, as have done many others, and will not engage further with him. we have been through this before and at this point, i don't think he will change.

what i do very much hope, however, is that this is the last i hear of this happening.

edit:

updated the links to lead to his "archive" so you can access the stolen sets that he still hasn't deleted and seems to have no intentions of doing so.

[mirai1269]

Short: After MC started dating Vincent, Leon and Victor team up to make them break up.

——————

On the rooftops, Leon and Victor sit spying on the two lovebirds with disgust.

Leon: “Look at them, all happy and sh*t. He should have chosen me!”

Victor: “I didn’t mind who he dated, but he just had to date him of all people!”

Meanwhile, below them, MC and Vincent were sitting outside enjoying their Bobas. Vincent kisses MC head, while MC chuckles and kisses him back on the cheek. This makes Leon clench his fists in anger and Victor snarl.

Victor: ugh “We have to make them break up. It’s too dangerous for him to do this.”

Leon: “Way ahead of you.” He says, as he grabs his pocket knife.

Victor: “No! It has to be subtle. We can’t afford any more blood on our hands. Besides, it could hurt Vincent!”

Leon panicks realizing that killing Vincent in front of his Uncle wasn’t the brightest idea. He puts the knife back in his pocket.

Leon: 💡 “I got it! Since you’re his Uncle, you can restrain his spending money, that way he’ll lose interest in Vincent!”

Victor: “I’m not the one who controls how much money he spends, but I can convince by brother to take control of his allowance.”

Leon: “Yeah! And I’ll keep my friend away from Vincent in the meantime.”

Victor: “I like you, young man.” He says as the two shake hands.

——————

5 days, 9 arguments, 6 tantrums, 7 vases broken, 3 maids overworked, 1 MC gatekept, 4 gaslighting talks, and 25k spent on parental therapy and counseling later.

——————

Leon: “We did it! They’re no longer talking to each other! I’ve even convinced my friend to stay away from Vincent at school.”

Victor, looking very exhausted: “It was hard work, but we did it. I even sent Vincent to therapy for extra measures.”

Leon: “That’s greats news! I’m so glad our plan worked out.” He said, happy to be with MC again.

Suddenly, a familiar Red Helecopter flies over the two. From there, it dropped off a few notes on them before leaving. When they picked it up, they see that it’s in Vincent’s handwriting.

Dear Uncle: Thanks for putting me in therapy, you made it very easy for me to escape. I have taken the keys and money you so carelessly left on your desk. With these, I’ll be taking my Honeybee and I on a little 5 day vacation to make up for lost time.

Oh! And Leon, F*ck you! I know you teamed up with my Uncle to get us to break up. I saw your little group chat the other day while you were at practice.

Leon and Victor: “……………”

——————

Author’s Note: Another alternative scenario is where they don’t get along because Victor wishes to kill the MC, while Leon fights for MC’s safety. Visa Versa with Vincent.

Vincent exhaled in pride and satisfaction as the Sun's rays warmed his body. MC was sleeping on the sunbed next to his, a book threatening to fall from his hands onto the golden beach sand. The red head turned to the brunet, admiring the boy's sleeping face.

'He's so beautiful... This... it's all so perfect. We could stay here, just the two of us, forever. I have money, I know the local language, he won't miss anything...'

A sudden realisation made him furrow his brows.

'Oh wait, he still has his brother! Dang it... Oh well, I'll figure something out.'

The longer he stared at the youth, the desire to reach out to him and embrace him filled his heart more and more. Sure, it was a hot day and cuddling like that would make them both sweat bullets, but Vincent could care less about that.

'He didn't go into the water today yet, right? It'll be very hot soon, we should go now. The water is pretty cold yet, and he's going to get sunburnt. His ear is already red.'

With a gentle shake, Vincent awoke MC from his slumber. The boy let out a small yawn while he wiped his eyes.

"Come, sleepy head. Let's swim!" Vincent said with a soft smile. MC grumbled before sitting up on the sunbed, streching his limbs and checked the time on his phone.

"It's almost lunch time. We came out at what... 9 a.m?" MC mumbled sleepily. Vincent sighed as he sat up.

"We came out right after breakfast. If you're wondering, you've been snoring for the last half hour."

MC looked up at his companion in surprise. "I don't snore. At least as far as I know."

Vincent let out a sigh before reaching for MC's hand and dragged him to the water.

"Enough chit-chat, the water's calling!"

Since this part of the coast was the property of Vincent's family, the two boys could head to the water without the risk of the stuff getting stolen.

The boys enjoyed the sea. After a few attempt of trying to get deeper into the much colder enviornment, the water felt pleasant against their skin.

"Wait, MC no! I don't wanna get my hair wet!" Vincent shrieked as MC splashed him with the salty water.

"Vengance will be mine!" MC yelled in enthusiasm, his hair drenched from Vincent's little 'prank'.

After a while, both got out, sea water dripping from their hair.

"Great, I can wash it again." Vincent moaned. MC chuckled at his suffering, earning a pout from his host.

"I enjoyed it. Thank you for taking me here, Vincent!"

Though still angry at his boyfriend for messing up his hair, Vincent couldn't help but smile. His hand found MC's, their fingers intertwined tightly.

"I'm happy you're here. This is the first time I actually enjoy a vacation with someone close to me."

Hearing this, MC felt a bit sad, it was evident on his face. Seeing this, Vincent averted his eyes.

"A-anyways, we should head back, I'm sure lunch is alre-"

"VINCEEENT!!"

Both boys stopped in their tracks. They watched, freezed on the spot, as Vincent's uncle, Victor stomped his way towards the pair, his coat still hanging on his shoulders. His face was red, his eyes bloodshot, and he was huffing like a bull.

"YOUNG MAN! YOU...*huff* YOU'RE IN....*huff* BIIG TROUBLE!" Victor yelled. Once he reached the pair, he slouched and tried to regain his breath.

"God, it's hot...*huff*...You two...." He gulped. "Back to the house....

"Uncle, are you oka-"

"NOW!"

Back at the weekend house, the living room was more heated by Victor's rage than by the fireplace. The older man was furious at his nephew and MC. At Vincent for running away and stealing from him, at MC for... for whatever he was angry at him, along with 'helping' Vincent in this little escapade.

"You two are going to board the jet tonight and go straight back home. Vincent, you are forbidden from EVER meeting with this boy and you're back to therapy. And you, MC. If I ever see you near my nephew...let's just say, it's in your best interest I don't."

Both boys remained silent, holding their hands under the coffee table.

"I'll go eat lunch, I haven't eaten anything today."

With that, Victor stormed to the dining hall.

"Uncle-"

"AND PUT SOME ALOE GEL ON YOUR FACES. YOU TWO LOOK LIKE A TOMATO STAND!"

[inconveniententity]

Im in the student dormitory, and i hear my dorm neighbour singing. I love it. It is so cute. I don't know if he knows i can hear him. But he sounds so happy, so comfortable. Of course, thin walls can be annoying. But him singing? It is one thing about dorm life that i like.

Since going abroad, i realised that other cultures have such a different approach to public singing. I learned that public spaces have to be quiet. But here, it is normal to hum along to your headphones, it is not at all unusual for students in the shared kitchen to sing while they're cooking. I grew up with music being both commodified anfld gatekept. Through radio and always being able to play it through rapidly evolving technology, listening to music became mundane. But at the same time, making music was so restricted, because "how dare you sing in public? How could you even have the confidence to sing if you aren't perfect?" music, in my upbringing, was intellectualized. "You're not a musician, you're a hobbyist" and "you're not a musician, you didn't have lessons".

But here, right now, i hear the happy singing of my neighbour. It is far from perfect, but it does not annoy me. I can feel his joy. This is what music is supposed to do.

[capillata]

Honestly the fact that the DA fandom keeps being hell discourse and controversies wise is very much NOT GREAT even if it has some of the most talented writers and artists I've seen in more than thirty years of being in fandom spaces. But I'm curious, why do you say that DBH was weird in a bad way? I was very into it but mostly into Gavin9000 with a buncha friends, so I probably missed out on all the shitstorms

The weirdest comments I ever got on any fic was Eversion. The largest amount of people telling me how to write my fic and what I should do next was in the DBH fandom with Eversion. And the one time I joined a Hankcon server it was an unpleasant experience and I left pretty much three days later (most servers I get tired of I just leave on permanent mute, but that one I actually yeeted myself out of because it was uncomfortable. And as soon as folks knew I was writing a fic, they were telling me how I should write it, without asking me if I wanted that ‘advice’ lmao - it was a lot of people talking at me about what they wanted to see most, which is like, idk, I feel like some of the people I encountered in that fandom were kind of entitled? It wasn't that friendly either, it was very much a 'I think your fic would be worth reading if it did *this very niche thing I'm interested in*') 

Like, that fandom, at least what I saw of it, was just like... unpleasant, alienating, cliquey and strangely competitive. But I didn’t join it with a bunch of friends. I was kind of alone in my interest, though I had friends who liked it, in a more general ‘we just enjoy the game’ or ‘this fanart is nice’ way, it wasn’t anything in depth. As soon as I finished the fic, I was like... I had no reason to stay. 

Don’t get me wrong, the majority of folks who ended up commenting on Eversion were great, though the bulk of them were people who were already coming to my fic from other stuff I’d written, they weren’t ‘DBH fans’ they were folks who would try my writing (god help them) because they liked my older stuff. But I’ve also met like two or three really great folks from the DBH fandom, and chatted to some great fanartists too. 

But yeah I don’t want to write fic for it again, I never saw a ton of hostile discourse or anything, though I know it’s out there (especially with folks who hate Reed and then bash anyone who ships him with any character, those people suck), and I did enjoy writing Eversion. But the fandom experience was just weird and I no longer follow anyone (I’m pretty sure) who posts DBH content because of it. I think there’s like a gif blog or something, but I haven’t seen anything from them in months.

Also I’ll be clear, I missed out on a lot of the shitstorms too, but deliberately. My encounter with the fandom in AO3 comments, on Twitter, and Tumblr, and joining a Discord server had me exiting all aspects of that fandom until finally all I was left with were the AO3 comments, and that helped, lol. 

Obviously everyone has very different experiences of fandoms, and I think it’s great that you’ve had a good experience. I know a couple of others who’ve had good experiences too in DBH. I think once you can get that network of like, trusted friends in a fandom, you’re in a good space. For me it could’ve just been timing. I came to the DBH fandom when interest was kind of starting to even out, and I came to it via seeing some reverse AU fanart that inspired me to watch an entire playthrough and then write the fic (I never played the game), so some of it was also likely on my part - I just didn’t have like the hardcore passion for the characters or the game to see me through the weirdness, whereas other people can tolerate a lot of weirdness if they love the property enough.

So yeah, anyway, I’m not saying everyone’s experience in that fandom was weird in a bad way, I’m definitely just saying my experience was weird in a bad way. For a while, it had me wanting to quit writing Eversion, and I could only really keep going with it once I nixed out of all aspects of DBH social media, and just focused on the fic and went to the Wiki page for research. 

[bode-leone]

if we're gonna do this then i'll explain it:

TRIGGERNG EVENTS: i made mistakes tagging and blacking out triggering things, i own that. it was mistakes. it was times when i was mentally not fucking there enough to realise i had to do it. every time i was asked, i blacked it out or deleted it and moved it to the right channel.

COMBATIVE EVENT: mlfceman told me it was bad that i called american politics "pathetic" (that is the exact word i used, by the way) and proceeded to explain to me how i was bad and didn't care for millions of americans for saying it.

ROOSTER CHANNEL EVENT: INITIALLY a discussion around Rooster and going to college, which obviously devolved into a discussion about Maverick and his decision to pull Rooster's USNA papers. This goes on with more and more intensity, more people join in, I get overwhelmed and defensive which leads to more intense remarks (scathing could be the word used but i wouldn't say it was) to the point that the chat was essentially gatekept by an admin saying "you have to be an american to understand" and I felt forced to divulge my own family history with what happened to Bradley (my mother forcibly removed me from doing the paperwork to enlist because i felt it was all i had going for me, despite not wanting to. it's intricate.) which then basically turned into a fight about making people divulge their family history like i was the one to ask for them to. people kept hopping in and saying shit to me and about me, which culminated in me becoming fed up and saying, coldly, that Maverick took the words of a woman in pain and on drugs for cancer as the be and end all of how he parented Bradley. People were obviously not fucking happy about that which I can understand but then started saying bullshit about me, to which I asked them (this was the admin that i didn't know had a parent die) if they know what they did in late stage palliative care for cancer patients. and then people started telling me i was talking down to them, after they specifically and continually posted aggravating shit about me. and then the admins stepped in. the end.

but i mean, the truth is figurative. anyways enjoy this nice message about me and what i was talking about.

have fun and touch some grass (australian or otherwise) for me!!!!