Intertwined Fates (MDZS zine)

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Zine
Title: Intertwined Fates
Organizer(s):
Author(s):
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Type:
Date(s):
Topic:
Medium: print, digital
Frequency:
Fandom: MDZS
Rating(s):
Warning(s):
Language: English
External Links: twitter; carrd
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Intertwined Fates was a planned Mo Dao Zu Shi zine containing fanart and fanfic that was cancelled in February 2024.

The zine was intended to include a print version, fan merch, and a digital copy.

Theme

The theme was weddings or "anything that’s related to marriage: arranged marriage, betrothal, ceremony, honeymoon, after party, bridal showers, bachelor(ette) parties, proposals, etc."[1]

The zine would have two sections: modern and ancient settings.

Content Rules

Noncanon ships were allowed, but incest ships were not.

"Intertwined Fates requires all marriages to be between characters of at least 18 years of age. Betrothals and other promises to be married between younger characters are acceptable."[2]

Schedule

  • May 20, 2023: Project Launch
  • May 30 - June 20: Interest Check
  • June 26 - July 20: Contributors Applications
  • Sep 5: Check in 1
  • Oct 5: Check in 2
  • Nov 5: Final Submission
  • Jan - Feb, 2024: Preorders
  • Feb - Apr: Production
  • Apr - June: Shipping

Mods

  • An - head mod
  • Jin - graphics, formatting
  • Sora - art
  • Shadaras - writing, beta
  • Kuro - animation
  • Kai - graphics assistant

Controversy

The project seemed to be on schedule, with the final list of contributors posted on January 22[3] and the preorder interest check posted on January 29.[4] Shortly after the preorder interest check tweet, Twitter user luckymarrowb started criticizing the zine for accepting sweetlolixo as a contributor, referring to sweetlolixo as "miss colonizerji herself"[5] and accusing her of being a "genocide enjoyer"[6]. When the zine twitter account asked if luckymarrowb would be open to discussing his concerns via DM[7], luckymarrowb replied,

I’m happy not to! Seems pretty cut and dried to me. Super stoked for the artists and I look forward to supporting them—just not with your zine. To put sally as a contributor considering her history, particularly when there is an ongoing a genocide, is frankly beyond the pale....[8]

I wish all non-genocide-masturbatory contributors the best! You have some great talent here![9]

But it’s clear you picked at least one writer on the grounds of popularity and not talent, without consideration of her history and the optics of promoting her while millions of Palestinians are enduring genocide much like the kind she found enjoyable in a fandom context. Cheers![10]

luckymarrowb

In July 2022, sweetlolixo had expressed a wish for more fic with Dark Lan Wangji. 3neetee then wrote a controversial threadfic that referenced the use of smallpox blankets in the genocide of Native Americans and gifted it to sweetlolixo, who expressed a positive sentiment. Much discourse then occurred on Twitter[11] and also on fail_fandomanon[12]; the threadfic and/or the entire incident is often referred to as "Colonizerji". sweetlolixo later apologized for liking the threadfic, explaining that as an ethnic Chinese person living in Asia, she had been unaware of the historical context and had assumed the context of the story was closer to the fantasy "human face disease" in TGCF rather than a real-world event.[13] Other fans have argued that 3neetee's (now-deleted) twitter thread itself provided the necessary context. 3neetee's tweet:

context: basically, this is inspired by the history of colonizers conquering via diseases. like… they purposely spread that by giving blankets fresh from children who died of smallpox

anyway, sally wanted darkji so I wrote colonizerji for tonights's #DarkLanZhan[14]

3neetee

Meanwhile, in 2024, it seems that both luckymarrowb and the zine twitter account deleted some of their tweets, but on February 1, the zine mods posted a google doc with screenshots analyzing each of luckymarrowb's allegations in depth and concluding that luckymarrowb was spreading misinformation.[15] Some anons at fail_fandomanon agreed that luckymarrowb's behavior was problematic, but thought the zine mods handled the situation extremely badly.[16] Anons suggested that luckymarrowb was engaging in grudgewank, possibly motivated by top/bottom discourse and/or jealousy over sweetlolixo's fic being more popular.[17] One person remarked, "If he were actually upset about the fic and not the fact that Sally writes the wrong guy topping and is more popular than him, he would have gone after the person who actually wrote it."[18]

On Twitter, many users took luckymarrowb's view of the situation at face value and criticized the zine mods for defending sweetlolixo. Observing the Twitter situation, one fail_fandomanon commenter said,

I've seen random accounts who have had nothing to do with all this getting comments trying to make them weigh in on the situation, contributors of the zine being pressured to drop out (not specifically by Marrow but by his supporters, which I find ironic given half of his complaints are about what Sally's followers have done), it's a total mess.

And while I agree the mods handled this badly, the fact that this was 100% started because of grudgewank over something she didn't actually do is insane.[19]

fail_fandomanon

Cancellation

Zine mods announced the cancellation on February 5, 2024:

We sincerely apologize for any stress experienced by our contributors due to our management of the situation, as well as the unwarranted harassment directed towards Marrow for being mentioned.[20]

Links

Fanlore:

fail_fandomanon:

References

  1. ^ carrd - Info, Archived version (Accessed 25 March 2024.)
  2. ^ carrd - FAQ, Archived version (Accessed 25 March 2024.)
  3. ^ ❀ Contributor Lineup ❀, Archived version, second tweet by MDZSweddingzine, Archived version, 22 January 2024.
  4. ^ ❀ Preorder Interest Check ❀, Archived version, tweet by MDZSweddingzine, 29 January 2024.
  5. ^ tweet by luckymarrowb, Archived version, 29 January 2024.
  6. ^ this is my final statement. platforming such a person is ridiculous, especially when it’s clear that she was not selected on merit but on popularity. when it’s genocide o’clock, maybe don’t put the genocide enjoyer on your zine. that’s just me tho, maybe i’m stupid, Archived version, tweet by luckymarrowb, 30 January 2024.
  7. ^ Hello, we understand that you’re upset about the situation. If you’re open to DM us about it please let us know., Archived version, tweet by MDZSweddingzine, 30 January 2024.
  8. ^ tweet by luckymarrowb, Archived version, 30 January 2024.
  9. ^ tweet by luckymarrowb, Archived version, 30 January 2024.
  10. ^ tweet by luckymarrowb, Archived version, 30 January 2024.
  11. ^ 28 July 2022 tweet thread by wuji_mp3
  12. ^ Re: Cnovels - MDZS/CQL - Mods?, Archived version, fail_fandomanon, 2022-07-31.
  13. ^ twitter thread by sweetlolixo, Archived version, 30 July 2022.
  14. ^ Wayback Machine copy of a screencap of 3neetee's tweet (Accessed 27 March 2024.)
  15. ^ tweet by MDZSweddingzine, Archived version, 1 February 2024.
  16. ^ Re: Cnovels etc - colonizerji wank again, Archived version, 2024-02-02.
  17. ^ Re: Cnovels etc - colonizerji wank continues, Archived version, fail_fandomanon, 2024-02-04.
  18. ^ Re: Cnovels etc - colonizerji wank continues, Archived version, fail_fandomanon, 2024-02-04.
  19. ^ Re: Cnovels etc - colonizerji wank again, Archived version, 2024-02-03.
  20. ^ tweet by MDZSweddingzine, Archived version, 5 February 2024.
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