u/Radiant-Chapter4789

(my art is on the left. hers is on the right)

Hey y'all!

I honestly never thought I'd be posting in the Villainous subreddit 🧍🏼‍♀️, and I don't plan on ever becoming part of this fandom again. But I don't really know where else to turn.

Before I talk about why I'm here, I want to address my own past because I know it's going to come up. I was NOOOTT a good person in this fandom. I handled disagreements in really immature ways, I lied about things that I shouldn't have lied about, I was way too possessive over my OCs, and I pushed boundaries with friends that I never should have pushed. I was also very NSFW with my art, roleplays, and character designs, and I put that mindset onto other people even when they weren't comfortable with it. I was a really dumb teenager/young adult. Looking back, I regret a lot of the person I was..and there are so many things I wish I could take back, but I can't. All I can do is acknowledge that I was wrong and move forward, and attempt to be better. I'm not asking anyone to excuse my past. I don't excuse it either.

The reason I'm making this post is because I've been dealing with something for years now, and I really want it to stop. Years ago, I started noticing another artist's character becoming more and more similar to one of mine. At first it was subtle enough that I was kinda iffy about it, and when I brought it up, people understandably didn't believe me. So I backed off. I stopped trying to argue about it and went on with my life. But over the years, it hasn't stopped. It has become more obvious, and it's well past the "coincidence" it has been claimed as before. This person has access to artwork that I deleted, and over time I've watched more and more of those old concepts reappear through her own character. It's gone beyond inspiration. Designs, lore, outfit choices, and details from artwork that no longer even exists publicly have continued showing up. The most recent thing that finally pushed me to make this post was seeing my character's middle name, Linett, become her character's first name after I decided RECENTLY to reuse her outside of the fandom. I don't even participate in this fandom anymore. I still use Wyvern as my own original character outside of Villainous, and even if I didn't, that doesn't suddenly make it okay for someone else to continuously borrow from or recreate my work. The last time I tried to address this privately, my past was immediately used against me instead of addressing the actual concern. I understand why people are skeptical because of who I used to be. I really do. But my past doesn't give someone permission to keep doing this, and it doesn't make the issue disappear. I'm not posting this because I want anyone to bully her. Please don't. I don't want a witch hunt or people sending hate....saying something is fine, but be mindful of how it is said. But, I'm posting because I genuinely don't know what else to do. This has been going on for years, and every time I stay quiet, it just keeps happening. At some point, I feel like I have to speak up. I don't want hate sent towards her, but something needs to be said by me. And something needs to be said to HER. She can't keep getting away with this 🤷🏼‍♀️

(Venus__dark on instagram, Twitter, tiktok. I think she is venus--dark or Venus-dark on Tumblr. Sorry for the long message, y'all.)

(the piñata drawing was a collaborative piece with an ex friend, btw. forgot to put credits in the pic)

- u/outerspacesushi ​​