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A Word About the ToonKriticY2K Scandal

Prospekt

Entry posted by Prospekt

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I have avoided the ToonKriticY2K thread for the past several days. I noticed that it very much turned into a Debate Pit-esque thread in which a few members of our forum community (who will not be named) have lashed out. And it is completely understandable that they are having difficulty dealing with the disgusting actions of a prominent member of the fandom as a whole. I wanted to let all of this process for a bit before saying something apart from merely condemning ToonKritic's actions, which I have already done on a few occasions.

About a week ago, I first learned about Toon's actions via a video that gave a basic rundown of the situation. I have been a brony for over 3 and a half years now. I often took to the internet for my fix of pony-related content long before I even made a Poniverse account. During that time, I grew to enjoy the brony analysis community on YouTube: their personalities, their unique insights, and above all, their passion for what they love. While I wasn't really a fan of ToonKritic's content from his own channel, I certainly recognized him from the wide array of collaborations that he did with other people in the analysis community. I even came across some of his writing on Fimfiction and enjoyed what he brought to the table.

It pained me to find out what Toon has been doing behind the scenes. And at first, I didn't even know the full extent of what had been happening. I looked into the situation even more and eventually I learned that ToonKritic had been engaging in similar illicit acts with minors for more than a decade. I already knew that what he had done was heinous and has no place in not only this fandom, but a civil society. But as I dug deeper, things began to look even worse.

I am incredibly ashamed of members of this fandom who have allowed such perverse activities, no matter how serious they actually were, to continue for a long time. I am ashamed of members of the fandom, specifically the analysis community, who learned about the full extent of ToonKritic's sexual abuse of minors, and kept their mouths shut about it until a Skype call and various screenshots of Toon's interactions with his victims were leaked.

Pedophilia, and indeed ALL forms of sexual abuse or harassment, are not something to be taken lightly. There are victims whose livelihoods were shattered by the actions of a manipulative child sexual predator. They will forever have to live with the memories of this man taking advantage of them. Justice needs to be served, but that alone is not enough. What about other people who have suffered at the hands of members of this fandom?

It is an odd coincidence that a thread about pedophilia and underage dating in the MLP Forums community showed up in the Feedback section over a week before ToonKritic's behavior was made public. And this reminded me that incidents of a similar nature have happened close to home. This community is made up of people from their teens all the way to their 40s. In a setting where adults are grouped with and allowed to interact with minors, then there is a risk of abuse. I'm not saying that the majority of adult users of this forum would do such a thing. I'm not stereotyping adult users of the site, because I myself am a 20 year old. But it appears to me that in some way, shape, or form, there have been underage members of this very community who were victimized by older users (who were then given appropriate consequences). And that hurts.

Yes, the fandom has proven time and time again to be a force for good and positivity in the world. It has broken down barriers. It has changed lives for the better, like my own. It has been a light in the lives of many people in this dark world. But every group is going to have its bad apples.

If we won't bring to light and discuss the truth that sexual abuse can and does exist within this fandom, then how are we going to fix the problem? While the fandom has been a wonderful thing for many people, staying silent about a problem we are aware of for the sake of preventing controversy is a disaster waiting to happen.

What do you care about more? The public's view of a fandom that is honestly already stigmatized to begin with, or the innocent young people who have fallen victim to abusers who just so happened to be bronies?

So in light of the ToonKritic mess, I have this to say to the members of this forum, and indeed all members of this fandom who may happen to lurk on the site without being active contributers. If you are being victimized by a member of this forum, this fandom, or anybody else, then there are people you can reach out to for support. We have administrators and other staff here who have dealt with abusive situations within the community before. There are authorities who can help you get out of an unsafe situation. And I honestly believe that there are good people within this very community who you can talk to and who will be there to support you. You are not alone.

As for myself? I have noticed quite a bit of talk--not just here, but indeed across all places on the internet where bronies congregate--about leaving the fandom behind in light of the controversy. I will not be leaving the fandom as a result of the actions of people like ToonKritic. I believe that it is your choice, and your choice alone, to stay or to leave. If you no longer feel comfortable in the fandom, then I respect that. But I am incredibly ashamed of the members of the community who have committed such acts of abuse, and who let such things slide without making it clear that there is a problem. I sincerely hope that together, we can tackle this problem head-on, and foster not just a forum community, but a fandom with no tolerance for sexual abuse, harassment, or misconduct in any form, as well as a positive culture that seeks to empower the individual fans in the community and make a positive difference in their lives.

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So, with that, I thank you for reading this. I didn't plan on it being this long, but I needed to vent and express my thoughts on the matter.

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Nightfall Gloam

Thank you for posting this. I do think that it is a weird coincidence we had a conversation about this very issue a week before the incident occurred. Of course, months ago, I was starting to have concerns about pedophilia in the fandom, this turn of events has at least helped me to speak my mind.

Personally, I'm staying in the fandom, because of people like you and the others on and outside of this forum who I've seen that are showing that they have ABSOLUTELY NO TOLERANCE for pedophiles and other sexual predators, and the response has helped restore my faith in this fandom. All I'm really awaiting now is a serious discussion among members of the fandom, as well as site admins, convention staff, etc... (including Equestria Daily, which I have my own issues with, but that's not relevant right now) about how they are going to deal with this problem, and coming to some sort of conclusion...

To everyone concerned about our reputation: our fandom's reputation has already been ruined from day one, there are bigger issues at hand here, and I think it will help fix our reputation anyway if we start taking these problems with our fandom more seriously...

  • Brohoof 5
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Guest

That was my issue in the first place. I saw people already going into "Defend the fandom mode" trying to find a way to downplay this and protect the public image of the fandom and we haven't even caught the culprit yet. He's still out there, talks like that show the victims that your priorities lie elsewhere. Not to mention as you have said, such attempts are futile anyway. People already think this fandom is a bunch of weirdos, you're fighting a losing battle.

Right now all of our focus should be on helping the victims and catching the culprit.

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Jade Fire

heres my take on it. he's actions dont reflect the fandom as a whole. some people are just evil. most people from this fandom are very caring and loving individuals that would never think about doing such an evil thing. this monster, no matter what group he was a part of would have found a way to do what he did, and there are people leaving the fandom over it, or saying its a sad day for the fandom. this kinda thing even happens in churches of any religion, or any group started with the intention of helping children when they get big enough. does that make those groups evil? no. it's not what they stand for, but it's does make the individual evil. i see it no different here.

im not defending the fandom, or making it out that it was less than it was, but in my mind he stopped being part of the fandom, and became a monster that fed on the fandom the instant he chose to start down this path.

Edited by Jade Fire
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Libra

I mean, im more so concerned with the media coverage.

as we all know, the media has estabolished a sort of vendetta against fandoms. I mean. The brony fandom gets enough controversy as is, the last thing it needs is media slander.

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Guest
6 hours ago, Fennekin said:

I mean, im more so concerned with the media coverage.

as we all know, the media has estabolished a sort of vendetta against fandoms. I mean. The brony fandom gets enough controversy as is, the last thing it needs is media slander.

That shouldn't even be a thing to be worried about. The media was going to cover it negatively if they were at all anyway no matter what the fandom did.

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Libra
Just now, Key Sharkz said:

That shouldn't even be a thing to be worried about. The media was going to cover it negatively if they were at all anyway no matter what the fandom did.

I know.

i have my own complaints about the fandom, but they arent pedophiles, and i dont need cnn screaming that the fandom is.

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Guest
14 minutes ago, Fennekin said:

I know.

i have my own complaints about the fandom, but they arent pedophiles, and i dont need cnn screaming that the fandom is.

 

They're going to do it anyway. CNN, Fox, etc? It's all fake news. They don't report the news they report their opinion. So there's not even a point in worrying about it.

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Libra
Just now, Key Sharkz said:

They're going to do it anyway. CNN, Fox, etc? It's all fake news. They don't report the news they report their opinion. So there's not even a point in worrying about it.

fair enough.

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Prospekt
15 minutes ago, Key Sharkz said:

They're going to do it anyway. CNN, Fox, etc? It's all fake news. They don't report the news they report their opinion. So there's not even a point in worrying about it.

Which is something I probably should have added. Mainstream news tells people what they want to hear more than what they need to hear in order to make fair judgments. Many people still can't wrap their minds around the very concept of bronies. The media can very well capitalize on that perception if it wants readership and/or viewership.

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Veil
On 2/2/2018 at 2:26 AM, Lambdadelta said:

People found a new way to shit on bronies.:scoots:

Bronies brought this on themselves. There is no one else to blame here.

Edited by Veil
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Clod
1 hour ago, Veil said:

Bronies brought this on themselves. There is no one else to blame here.

Yep, we're all ToonKritic. Sorry you had to find out this way. Just thousands of fake accounts here as ToonKritic talks to ourselves.

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Veil
43 minutes ago, meme said:

Yep, we're all ToonKritic. Sorry you had to find out this way. Just thousands of fake accounts here as ToonKritic talks to ourselves.

So the quote was "people found a new way to shit on bronies", so my point was how would anyone shit on bronies for this behavior? This person got caught. There is bound to be more than just Toon. Toon is just the one who got caught so far, or on the other hand because he is such a toxic person that people felt the need to expose him where if other pedo bronies are at least being nice to girls they won't report them to the police?

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Clod
4 hours ago, Veil said:

There is bound to be more than just Toon.

Yeah. There are. That's true for every group, though. There are going to be pedophiles and stuff. They like things too, so they become part of groups. It's not fair to then say that it's the entire group's fault.

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Veil
10 hours ago, meme said:

Yeah. There are. That's true for every group, though. There are going to be pedophiles and stuff. They like things too, so they become part of groups. It's not fair to then say that it's the entire group's fault.

I don't remember when I said it was the entire pony fandoms fault. I'm also more upset at the fact that people knew about this for years and those people did not do anything about.

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Clod
47 minutes ago, Veil said:

I don't remember when I said it was the entire pony fandoms fault. I'm also more upset at the fact that people knew about this for years and those people did not do anything about.

 

19 hours ago, Veil said:

Bronies brought this on themselves. There is no one else to blame here.

 

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Veil

I guess it was a vague statement. I believe I clarified it somewhere. You might not have gotten the memo. Sorry about that.

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