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Otakukin and Fictionkin
(6 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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Typical Otakukin cat.
It always amazes me the subcultures that have either developed or are heavily perpetuated because of the internets. Where normally I’d rant about fetishes and slashers and Suethors when it comes to internets dumbfuckery today I’m traversing even more bizarre territories.
If you’ve been on the internets for more than 2 months you probably know what an Otherkin is. You know, people who believe their soul is really that of a lithe and nimble elf, a sleek, muscular and powerful dragon, a spritely and delicate little fairy, and it was just by some cruel cosmic accident they were born into their heavy, sweaty, stinky, pimple-covered greasy shell. Yeah. And where it may sound like classic escapism, the lengths these people go to to insist/defend/believe this are mindblowingly crazy frightening.
But if you think that is crazy, just wait ’til I actually get to my subject of this post: People who think their soul is that of, they are the cross-dimensional reincarnation of, they are linked spiritually to… an anime or video game or otherwise fictional character.
I’ve been on the tubes since the age of ten. I used to forum roleplay (of course it was called "interactive story writing" on AOL at the time), I evovled to chat roleplay, I used to play MUDs (Gemstone 3 to be exact), all around good times. These days I shudderingly look back at myself then, and see times where, had I been influenced by the right people, I could have ended up in one of these crazy subcultures. I mean I used to be into dragons, really into dragons (well I do still like them), I used to roleplay a dragon when I was a kid (insert FYIAD jokes here.) With an adult brain and eyes now long open to all the horrors of the internet, I choke in terror at the thought that I may have just missed being an otherkin only by the skin of my teeth and the grace of your deity of choice. Or even becoming a furry. Ugh. It hurts to even think about. I was also a bit of a weeaboo once, when I was alot younger, but wasn’t everyone at some point?
It’s a wonder I’ve managed to stupidly bumble through the internet unscathed and not fall completely into one of these batshit crazy subcultures (although something like that almost happened not too long ago, but I’m fine now.) That being said, I can see how this happens to these people, but I don’t understand entirely why. Does someone hate themself so much that they have to indulge this fantasy? Does it start out as a bid to prove they’re TEH BIGGEST FAN? Is it the offshoot of some pre-existing mental illness that they already had? And like I said, thinking your soul is a dragon is weird and delusions-of-grandeur-filled enough, but thinking your soul is that of Spike Spiegal, or you were Vincent Valentine in a past life in another dimension, calling yourself Jenova and starting a tiny cult by designating people as Final Fantasy characters, you’re married to Sephiroth, you’re spiritually linked to Edward Elric (who exists in another dimension), or the Ronin Warriors or Sonic characters are "imaginary" friends you can actually see and they hang out with you and are real, or any combination of scenarios and characters thereof… is quite a-goddamn-nother.
The most hilarious part is Otherkin look down their nose at these people, likely while trying to ignore it only does more to show how retarded their own "spiritual" beliefs are. And I’ve seen Otakukin who look down on other Otakukin. Sure, it’s perfectly normal and real for them to have a video game character as their real-life sidekick who is bound to their soul or something and it’s totally not crazy, a hallucination, a lie, a delusion or schizophrenia, but anyone else who claims the same is a weirdo, a liar, or even more laughably: a poser.
And you know, sure, I used to think the concept of "maybe fictional stories, places and people exist in some other dimension, maybe that dimension is created when an author comes up with it" was neat, like ten years ago, but the way these kinds of people take it bothers me, especially as someone developing original stories and original characters.
First of all is the idea that creators/writers/authors just "tap into" some existing dimension, psychically or something I guess, and that’s where they get their ideas from. It sort of belies all the blood sweat and tears that goes into creating worlds and characters, I mean to come up with quality, interesting or even decent stuff usually takes alot of hard work, research and thought. And not only does it totally negate someone’s hard creative work, but it suggests that people who can come up with unique worlds and characters have some special psychic connection and is probably a reassurance to these idiots because they can’t create anything more original than an Inuyasha fancharacter. And you just know it’s another goddamn dog hanyou, jesus christ. I’d take the "the dimensions come to be after they’re thought up" bullshit theory over that one any day.
And perhaps just as disturbingly, when you think about it: how would you feel if you created a story, and characters, and were met with success and fans, and then here comes some guy saying he was one of your characters in a past life, or really has the soul of one of your characters inside him. Furthermore, what if he’s nothing like that character or has grossly misinterpreted that character (which I believe most Otakukin do.) Well, you’d probably think it was hilarious, but I think I’d be a bit annoyed and weirded out as well. And like with the "tap into another dimension" theory, these people always seem to forget the creator, as if these stories and shows and comics and what have you just willed themselves into being without a hard working individual behind them.
To me this sort of thing has got to be a mental illness, either a pre-existing one (delusions of grandeur, god complex, schizophrenia, plain old fashioned pathetic self-delusional escapism) or some weird new phenomenon that is the product of our mass-media and highly commercial times. Either way it’s really stupid, and it’s just another example of fandom becoming so large or out of control that it eclipses the work it originally stemmed from. When you get to a point like this, you’re no longer a fan of the work, you’re a fan of yourself, of another person, or whatever way you or a collective have managed to twist that work, usually into something almost completely unrecognizable.
Also "Otakukin" and "Fictionkin" are the stupidest words ever invented.
I think my brain just stopped working…. Man! WHAT THE HELL?
I… “Otakukin believe that they have the souls of anime characters, or at least come from worlds best represented by anime, or other modern fiction”
Excuse me… what?
THEY HAVE THE SOULS OF ANIME CHARACTERS!
And I thought you got enough stupidity of the Tv. So, lets see: this http://www.otherkin.com/pages/aboutme.html#howoldareyou dude thinks he’s a vampire. I mean he really believes it. Really, like you know grass is green. He’s a vampire. A tax-paying vampire!
My god, this is genius. Its ever better than Buffy and that episode with the giant hamburger demon thingy! Wow. “I also study martial arts” Is this guy for real?
Oh. Now this is just downright crazy: “Yes. If there was no other option, and I was confronted by a person that was trying to kill me, I would do anything to protect my existence on Earth. If that means killing someone that is a danger to me and society, then I would”
(Ran out of room on the other post)
This is beyond stupidity, Sai! This is too wonderful to be true. I thought there weren’t people so easy to brain wash anymore. This is just genius!
Oh my god! He’s got two different spellings for vampires! I think I wanna marry this guy.
2.) Do vampyres really exist? Yes.
I haven’t the words to express what I feel. I can only tell I’m laughing. I’m laugh my ass off.
Holy Hell on a stick… That’s just fucked. I mean, seriously, that’s just fucked. I’m a little scared by that guy who thinks he’s a vampire. I am also a little scared of the person dressed as some person from, I think it’s DBZ, I never much cared for that show/manga. This group of people makes me feel so much saner. Ah, I don’t know that I’d give up laughing at the expense of others for anything at this point in time. This is just so glorious. I mean, really, if someone came up to me and said “The spirit of *insert character name here* is inside me” I’d probably have to smack them and scream something random like “Whatchu talking about Willis?” Just for the Avenue Q reference. Just wow…
That’s just batshit insane
I mean, I knew about otherkin, and I thought already THAT is pretty crazy, but this is just…so STUPID.
Funny thing is, I bet 98% of those people never EVER thought they’re someone else BEFORE their fave show came up and then they became so obsessed they MAGICALLY found out they’re one of the characters. I mean, come on! O_o;
As for the creeping out, yes, I would be. I mean, I based my main characters off of real people I actually know, twisted their personalities some to fit my over-retarded interpretation of real events mixed with my fantasies and that’s how they came to be. My fucked up brain just reinterpreted reality, and if some creep is going to tell me they’re my best friend reincarnated while I’m on the phone with the very friend mentioned, then there’s something seriously wrong with one of us, and it’s definetly not me O_o;
@Hiroshine I wonder if it weren’t for anime if all these people would think they’re Jesus instead XD
“maybe fictional stories, places and people exist in some other dimension, maybe that dimension is created when an author comes up with it”
Oo’ Something similar wanders through my mushy brain occasionally, but logic kicks it out just as quickly as it gets in.
And for the love of waffles these people need to take some time out, read some different books and pull their sense out of whatever orifice they’ve shoved it in. Gawd.
Wow. I fell of my chair i was laughing so hard, honestly. It scares me that some people really are like that, pretty creepy stuff. Anyway, I did actually have a point. At one point, wasn’t there a quite large amount of people that believed that “May the force be with you.” bullshit from the Star Wars movies? Don’t some people still believe that. Honestly, though, I bet you a few thousand years ago, a couple of average joe Roman guys named Marcus and Demetrius (completely made up names) were sitting somewhere having the same conversation.
Demetrius: Can you believe that Jesus bullshit? Seriously.
Marcus: Honestly, a bunch of idiots named Peter and David write a few crack stories about some idiot god, and now everyone thinks this Jesus guy is our savior.
And a few thousand years from now (if we haven’t completely destroyed the earth.) A couple average joe future people will be talking up some idiotic new religion we make up.
Christ. I was reading about that girl who thinks she’s Jenova incarnate… it’s frankly unbelievable. Don’t people realise that it’s one thing to pretend to be something, but something else entirely to actually BELIEVE it??!!
And I agree with you about authors; that few people stop and think how the creator of a fandom would think. I mean, I do sometimes feel like my stories write themselves, but if I didn’t write, they wouldn’t GET written!
I’d be, frankly, disturbed and offended if someone claimed to be the incarnation of one of my characters (that said, if they thought they were Satan, I’d laugh a lot).
Urgh… sometimes I wonder how the human race survives such terminal stupidity.
MangaPunkSai:// The sad thing is I’d bet there’s plenty of people who think they ARE the new Jesus ^^;;;
Just like people claiming they were pirates but get seasick just from seeing aquarium, all because they want Johnny Depp’s babies
Some people should really learn to differ between a fiction and reality
Sure, I believed in that different dimension crap (I didn’t believe I was anything, though, even when I WAS a Suethor/weaboo/role-player).
Then I realized I was mentally ill and only thought this because reality sucked.
I may be crazy, but at least I’m an HONEST crazy.
I’m not against different dimensions- however different dimensions that have ANIME and FICTIONAL CHARACTERS is a stretch beyond what my brain is gonna call logical. Seriously… I swear to God if I ever heard someone saying they had one of MY characters souls I’d laugh and tell them off soundly. Only person that has a characters soul is the creator. Simple as that. SOME people have to get a serious reality check.
There’s a difference between having some kind of connection with a chara because you like them a lot and/or it somehow helped you. The character is still a character and still fictional. Not to terribly difficult of a concept.
I can understand having personas that you roleplay and… I dunno, relate to I guess… But to actually think you’re one is… I dunno, desperate sad and pathetic? The psychic link to other worlds in an interesting concept… I’ve seen it used in stories and movies (Flight of Dragons is the only one I specifically remember though) and it’s cool… FOR A STORY. To actually believe it? I dunno, it’s like… Why are you so fixated on this thing that you won’t even believe it’s FICTION?
holy shit those articles are crazy. lol. How nuts can you be?
Pretty damn nuts, I must say. They make people who believe in reincarnation from and to animals look like bloody Jesuits. Hot DAMN these people make good targets for jokes, and what’s better is that they take it so damn serious. It’s no fun mocking someone who doesn’t take themselves serious, don’t you know. Making Pastafarian jokes, for example, would only make them laugh. These… things get angry, and that just makes me laugh the harder. I know several people that believe such, and damn if I thought they were relativly normal before that. It’s hard to even tell whether they are making it up for attention or just fucking insane, as you said. Ah, I’m just rambling now. I’ll say more if I have anything intellegent to say.
Okay Your grossly interpetating Otakukin and Otherkin and Fictionkin. We dont believe we are the people…We do believe that person exists out there somewhere, but we sure the hell dont believe we are them. At least thats my vision on that subject.
Stop being an asshole and see from both sides of the fence you close minded idiot.
And I will ignore everyone who says anything flameworthy to me because I dont feel like reading them. >_>
Lol. Well, isn’t that convenient on a blog that isn’t yours.
You say “we” like you speak for all Otakukin, but that other chick who runs “From Fiction” also uses the representational “we” and says that she IS some guy from Digimon.
I don’t think it’s close minded to be annoyed at fanbrats who act like authors, artists, writers, character creators etc. don’t put any effort into developing and designing characters because they tap into some alternate dimension and just copy that. Also OMG FICTIONAL PEOPLE R REAL IN SPACE/ANOTHER DIMENSION/WHATEVER is still a retarded concept.
Well then, she’s talking about Fictionkin but got the terms mixed up. Probably because a lot of Otakukin DO seem to believe they’re fictional characters. But if that’s not what you believe, this doesn’t apply to you, does it? But it really might be a bad idea to continue to introduce yourself as an Otakukin, because to the general population.. it sounds f*cking crazy. It just does.
I was under the impression that “Fictionkin” was just the non-anime version of the same thing, but I could be wrong. Then again the “kin” indicates “is the thing” not “believe in a thing”, as it derives from Otherkin.
Well if you entertain that idea about every possible scenario existing in some universe somewhere, you kind of have to entertain the idea that all those shows and games and stuff are real somewhere out of sheer fucking-everything-exists. (Giving them the benefit of the doubt much?) But if you’re fat and lazy and unemployed and sit around all day whining on the Internet but still think you’re some amazing hardcore warrior from another world, that’s where it just becomes fucking ridiculous. A lot of those sites talk about deep soul searching and stuff too. WHERE in one’s soul do you FIND this crap, so I can avoid it?? Shit, my BRAIN.
PS I just read that Jenova story. It comes close to that crazy roommate story about that Jed guy and the bathtub lasagna. (A must-read if you feel like descending into hell for half a day or so.)
Some of them try to sound less ridiculous by saying they’re just some random person from the world a certain series is based in, rather than one of the popular characters, but that’s pathetic in its own way.
What happened to people just thinking they were Cleopatra in a past life or something? Damn.
http://www.seiryuu.org/~raincrystal/soulbonding/
“plenty of writers like the Bronte sisters, Robert Howard and Edith Wharton journaled about doing similar things.”
Just disproved your whole article, with one link. I win.
Wat?
Having a connection with your own characters and feeling you are bonded to or are the reincarnation of someone else’s character is a tad different.