RCDart

Fan
Name:	RCDart
Alias(es):	Rory, rorykcd, rcdart
Type:	artist
Fandoms:	Star Wars, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Communities:
Other:
URL:	Twitter (archived)
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Rcdart is a fanartist who became controversial for their stylized art, which many found to be offensive caricatures. Their art of Steve Rogers as a trans man was considered fetishistic and transphobic, their art of Finn was considered racist, and their style in general was mocked and criticized. Controversy over their art unfolded on multiple platforms, including Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, and Kiwifarms.

• RCDart on knowyourmeme

Accusations of Transphobia and Fetishization

RCDart headcanoned Steve Rogers as a trans man and drew art as such.

In 2016, Rory drew the ire of Tumblr users for their depictions of trans man Steve. Specifically, their depictions of Captain America emphasized his breasts and feminine hips, which Tumblr users, specifically trans men, found untrue to the trans male experience. In May of 2016, Rory posted drawings of trans Steve working out. The caption read, "i actually hc steve to get top surgery pretty early on, but also, If He Didn’t, i only think he’d wear a binder like 10% of the time he’s concious bc fuck dat shit he’s in the future and buff he doesnt need to hide his tits."

Tumblr user nitrosplicer made a post, rcdart and trans fetishization onn October 8, 2016, criticizing that art, saying that the post was fetishistic of trans men:

This art of a trans steve showing off his “tits” is honestly pretty fetishizing of the trans experience. I’m not the only one who’s felt a rush of inexplicable dysphoria over having this post cross my dashboard: I’ve spoken to other trans men who share my opinion of rcdart’s trans steve…. The fact that rcdart chooses to draw him as a pinup, in poses that emphasize his breasts and hips, only seem to add insult to injury. Their assertions that they don’t think he’d wear a binder specifically to show off his breasts is fetishistic.

Rory also ran a NSFW porn blog that has since been deleted where the fetishization was more egregious. Tumblr user kayvsworld explained the problem thusly in December of 2016:

Ok, so, all of their regular art of steve had him post-op or binding and talking about feeling dysphoric about his chest…had him muscular and looking like a Regular Reasonably-Proportioned Person…..and then all of their porn art focused on giving him exaggerated breasts and huge thighs and big lips and eyelashes and soft arms and a tiny waist and other exaggerated “feminine” proportions. Exclusively for porn. There’s a difference between appreciation and fetishization, and this was a lot closer to the latter… There was also the matter of the noticeable difference between how they drew cis girls and trans girls. Their trans girls were all huge and muscular with strong jaws and other “masculine” traits, whereas cis girls weren’t nearly as exaggerated (and also their body types were much less stylized than steve’s, which, yikes). They repeatedly exaggerated their trans characters into gross caricatures in ways that were very very different to how they represented cis characters.

Accusations of Racism

RCDart's Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Finn fanart led to a huge backlash. It was shared on Twitter and Tumblr and many said the work was reminiscent of racial caricatures. The artist was quick to apologize and take down the offensive work, saying "im extremely disappointed in myself. thank you all for letting me know that my interpretation of finn was wrong. it will never happen again." However, they continued to receive harassment and criticism directed at their depiction of Finn and other people of color.

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  Fanart by RCDart that was widely shared as an example of racist fanart

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  Fix-it fanart by chase2452, in response to Rcdart's work

RCDart's art of other characters also received criticism and comparison to racial caricatures. Some of this was racebent art of characters who were white in canon.

Anonymous said:

honestly like i kno the focus here is abt their fetishization of trans men bc the trans steve stuff is so popular but the other anons got a point abt rcdart wrt racism and caricature like. idk what their personal racial bg is but im like super (eyes emoji) @ their portrayals of ppl of colour bc like idk racialized features like buck teeth or huge hips on black ppl mustaches on latinas like anon said are v prevalent and like. suuuper like over emphasized 1/2

2/2 and itd be one thing if this were a person of said races trying to reclaim those features in art but its gotten to the point w several diff races n such that i find it hard 2 believe that thats the case (also like i dont wanna be one 2 assume race bc white passing/mixed ppl do exist but idt theyre any of the listed races that theyve fetishized/caricatured if im goin off pics on insta.. but i cant kno for sure tho)

nitrosplicer replied:

yeah, i dont know much about their background, but it’s questionable that they draw their Iranian tony in a very lascivious and stereotypical manner as well.

they also drew maria from tbol in a less than flattering manner too: http://breastforce.tumblr.com/post/154052311350/when-are-people-going-to-address-rcdart-is-not