iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I reported them. Again, I can show you the dms/the individual in question so you can do the same. (I'm unsure if I should mention who it is publicly that did this, but the evidence seems pretty obvious.)

020

Could I DM you/you DM me? I've been made aware/shown someone who's assumedly a friend of yours doxxing another individual who was posting in relation to this conversation.

110

I think the characters are cute but I'm not touching it while I still believe it's pro-LDS, pringle boy 😒! Not interested in promoting or engaging with that while it's still "questionable".

030

Anyways if I wanted to further my success (which is never really my goal) I wouldn't be having this convo at all. Also I'd probably post more 🫠.

050

But I am trusting the author and their LGBTQ+ friends to believe theyre an ally not attempting to convince people of the LDS and sanitizing it, even though the text is far from that.

160

I don't think you really understand how bad the LDS is or being cagey about it and potentially being crypto-LDS is. I suspect a lot of ignorance comes from not being a big target of the LDS bigotry or supremacist shit but it's beyond no good. I do not mess with that kind of thing.

170

Again, presumably, this is in a future where Im not clocking the VN as pro-LDS, which I still do, so for now no. Also if my point was to further my success I wouldn't draw this, or I'd just make up my own cult-religious characters I can humiliate, or blacksad where the message is clear.

180

It's possible it could pull a 180 and go "LDS bad, racism bad" in its final route or something but that'd be odd writing to put mildly after the reverence. If it ends on any note id expect it to be "Im faithful I can change the LDS for the better!" Which I don't really care about fixing cults.

0161

The VN is pro-LDS, and the author still didn't confirm whether it is or not so it's up to your personal interpretation 😬. It may have some mild critique of LDS homophobia, but it still complies to its beliefs, and has only reverence of colonial missionary activities which is still pretty gross.

1170

TL;DR I dont mind drawing problematic or hateful characters, since I get to decide how to draw them, and strip the reverence of their bigotry and actions. If its cute/hot I'll call it what it is, and I also want to know if the author accepts my expression of queerness and engagement with their work.

040

Also the characters in this VN ARE cute and sexy, their artist is good. Making appealing fashionable things is a very propaganda playbook though, albeit I think that's simply the artist style, a coincidence. But combined with the cageyness and reverence it feels like another piece to sanitizing LDS.

130

Anyways, there's hateful characters too I've wanted to draw getting plowed by the heroes 😶‍🌫️ like Karup and Huk from Blacksad, and those are way more explicit than LDS.

130

I'm a pervert good sir. There are many ways to portray characters, and stripping hate groups of their reverence & humiliating them is hot... IMO 🤔. Zciks drawing is incredible sexy for example, the humiliation, kind of "corruption" like the Lossow painting of the nun straddled through the bars.

480

Furry is a very queer space, but the text is not just furry, it is also queer, explicitly. It's existence is pushed into queer spaces specifically and promoted in them, not just furry. And If someone has or had taken it as a message to harass then inform me of them and they will be blocked.

040

As I said in the post, if the author had indicated as such or the text did I would agree and we wouldnt have had this conversation, however, lack of transparency with hate groups can easily turn into accepting propaganda and normalizing them. Even now I still suspect the author supports the LDS.

1300

As for harassment; I have said to Toledo, whose said there wasn't any in particular he can recall, that if someone is harassing any individuals I will block and possibly shame them. This has been my policy, I do not tolerate harassment. Critique, emotional, negative, positive and otherwise is fair.

1310

I would also be careful with mixing "should not exist" with "should not exist in this space". Certain spaces are safe spaces for groups and not appropriate for certain content. Obviously you should not tolerate and defend, say, explicit pro-racist white supremacist content in a PoC space.

1290

I would say if people are making and pushing hateful or anti-LGBTQ+ content in an LGBTQ+ space it should probably not be tolerated. LDS is very racist, colonialist, and anti-LGBTQ+. I believe if you truly shared my feelings you would understand why caution should be taken with it.

1410

As for the doxx threat, if you or a friend can find who that was please share. That deserves attention and a huge block/shame.

130

TRUE. That would be a benefit of having DMs closed. If you got any through other routes, still please share, I don't tolerate fans harassing people. I know I got a few people in my DMs/replies that were nasty, mainly character attacks, I chose to block.

With the previous occurrence of this I didn't want to push the individual when they'd already dealt with BS, but you seem to be in a much better place and I think examples should be set at the very least.

110

Man I said last question, but this is truly my last one; Could you please send me screens (privately) of people (especially my followers) who have harassed you so I can vet? I've said it before, and I want to act on blocking these people.

110

I think there's confusion here, but that's fine! You are allowed to have a negative takes on media, and even think it's harmful. Not all media, autobiographical or not is safe or valid for everyone and Toledo recognizes as much; this isn't for everyone. If you enjoy it then feel free to read it!

1180

Nope. I don't want to share space with a hate group, but art 99.99% of the time has a right to exist even if I find it distasteful. Reviews are subjective. As you said, it's based on your personal perspective and experience. You've never heard an objective review. Of course it's an opinion piece.

1180

Not going to reply to most people on this one as my intents to put it to bed, so I'll do a first few; Form your own opinion with an asterisk, be cautious and smart. Finding disgust in a piece of media does not equal pro-censorship; negative reviews exist, and I never said this art shouldn't exist.

1220

Posted! bsky.app/profile/dang...

for anyone still engaging with this post, I'm not taking it down, but after speaking with the author a bit my final take is available here: bsky.app/profile/dang...

0352

I would caution this is not a VN for everyone. If you suffer from religious trauma or want to avoid pro-LDS material it may be best avoided, and I would advise you to inform yourself of the LDS before reading. That being said, the VN is here to engage with yourself: toledo-art.itch.io/campo-largo

toledo-art.itch.io

Campo Largo by Toledo

Elder Hartley is fine.

1440

I still currently hold the same opinion of the VN and the church it oft reveres, from it's explicit power of prayer, to it's pro-colonial atmosphere and activities, but I am more keen to see the author through their journey, assuming it's intent isn't convincing me of the LDS "good nature and acts".

1600

As a gay PoC who's aware of the church's racist anti-LGBTQ+ tendencies, I find it hard to "accept" the potential for hate groups coming into these spaces. If the intent isn't VERY clear with the text I'm going to err on the side of extreme caution and probably disgust.

1722

My initial emotional reaction was spurred on by the cageyness of the author's reluctance in revealing their intent and identity, my reading of the VN itself, it's anti-LGBTQ+ subject matter discussions, and very real existence of the racist anti-LGBTQ+ group that is the LDS.

2531

And while I suspect the author to still be supportive of the church, I feel between testimonials from LGBTQ+ friends of theirs being helped by them and their own conversation with me that this is primarily meant as just an autobiographical piece, and not meant to convince you of the LDS good ways.

3510

While I find the VN's reverence to be repugnant and uncritical, especially regarding missionary efforts and repressing of queer actions to fit into the church, I do not believe the VN itself to be a malicious attack on LGBTQ+, nor, as far as I've read, an attempt to push the church's ideology here.

1550

The text is reverent of the LDS activities and beliefs and generally uncritical of the LDS past some conservative thoughts regarding if gays are allowed to exist in LDS. The VN itself doesn't really answer this question in its first route. The closest it gets is "as long as you don't act gay."

1490

Campo Toledo, from my reading of the first route, is a semi-autobiographical, faith-heavy, pro-LDS, pro-colonial VN about a queer NA missionary in South America. It uses cute, well-drawn, furry art and fantastical elements to relay the character's struggles being queer in a regressive ecosystem.

1591

When you approach and harass people this is effectively what you are doing. Proper critique, even emotional, isn't harassment, ofc, but if I find out you are harassing the dev I will block you. Now for my actual thoughts:

1561

I've been speaking to Toledo (Campo Largo's dev) and I feel that it's worth going over my feelings again on their work. I'm gonna start by saying, do not send harassment anybody's way. Despite my energy when initially talking about it, I do not believe in censorship even of art I find distasteful.

1215411

Sure. It'll be a second before I post mine as I wanna formulate my opinion/response well, and I don't wanna come off too harsh while still being stern enough with my PoV. (Also currently busy!)

020

Still I can always leave it up AND just make a new post on the topic as well. I don't mind linking the VN either, as long as I get to add my own personal disclaimer in relation to endorsing it. Would you prefer that?

BUT I do understand how social media can lead to further erroneous discussion, and I don't want to fuel harassment your way since, between testimonials from LGBTQ+ friends of yours + these discussions I don't believe you're someone acting maliciously for the church or otherwise.

Again, only if you want to! I am not someone who regrets leaving up stuff like this, and I don't regret what I said or my caution, simply my way of saying it. The vitriol and emotion in the post isn't how I like to roll when talking about serious subjects like this, I was triggered, genuinely.