Re: The Line Between Otherkin and Otakukin
The big difference between fictionkin and other otherkin in my mind is twofold.
On one hand, no otherkin that I know of proclaims they are one specific demonstrably fictional person, demonstrably created by an author, incarnated (often before the author created the character too mind you) into a human body.
It's the difference between identifying as a night-fury type/shape dragon and identifying as "Toothless".
Not saying that all fictionkin identify as a specific character, but they aren't too few or far between, and this bothers me to no end.
See, I'm an artist. I draw, write, create. I build up the concept, give it shape and nature, I make something from what begins as an idea and a desire to express it.
Lets say I write a book, and in this book is a man, someone I've built, based on my experiences of people, in life, to an extent, fueled his shape by my ideas and concepts, the things I want to convey, give him stature, texture, etc, I make him, and then I write about him, I create his situations and his reactions to them, I try to express something new and different and yet familiar enough for people to identify with while putting all this together in a plot which carries my idea, my concept, my message through to it's conclusion. I "make" this whole thing by writing it.
Then let's say someone reads this book, and reads about this man, and decide that even though they are a dozen times older than the book that I built, I took great care to create, that I constructed, edited, rewrote, finished off, edited again and made into what "I" wanted it to be, and decide they're this man, re-incarnate/incarnate.....
I don't even know what to call that.
In my mind, it's even worse than plagiarism.
They haven't just taken something that is mine, wholly and fully, and claimed it as their own, but also stripped it of anything and everything that I put into it. They don't take credit for my work, they proclaim this work utterly and totally and completely meaningless, pointless, worthless. They've stripped away everything, absolutely everything that has gone into the creative process, and... it's just... a horrible thing to do.
The closest I've seen otherkin come to doing that is when they identify with a specific biblical angel or some-such, but otaku or fiction-kin... I've seen these far too many times, and even when it comes to identifying with a specific type of critter from fiction it still irks me somewhat, for much the same reasons.
I've read of the research and care that goes into a certain author's work. The systematic way he works on his writings. The intricate details he carefully works into his writing, etc, etc, etc...
And then I read a fictionkin's "article" about how this author had perfectly captured his world.... A world he'd taken the care to create, down to it's slightest detail....
It's just...
There's something inherently wrong with taking someone's hard work and care and commandeering it for yourself like that.
Most folk that I know that identify as "dragon" (or any other term) just use that term cause it's the closest they can get to what fits.
![[Image: Signiature.jpg]](http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/Miniar/Signiature.jpg)
"Those who can't approach discussion with a basic level of intelligence and maturity shouldn't expect to be taken seriously." ~ Qualia Soup
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