THE GIRL SCOUT YEARBOOK ZINE IS FINISHED AND AVAILABLE TO READ!
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This will be a dual digital + physical printed zine project, in the style of my TF2 gore zine. The zines will be designed by me (SKUMSUCK), and the physical zines will be printed by me in my home studio. You MUST read the information pages before submitting to either zine!
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Zine will be free to view on my website's comics page after orders are shipped!
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★ DETAILS:
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TWO ZINES!
First: Girl Scout Yearbook Zine (online only, everyone is accepted and free to view!)
Second: Gorl Scoutz RULE! A Field Guide (print zine, curated application process)
Projected time frame:
August 2020: interest check
October 1st 2020: sign-ups
Summer 2021: zine releases!
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ORGANIZERS:
DEAD (@skumsuck) and SHANE (@deflectricc)
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THEME:
SFW art celebrating characters that are female Scouts, whether they're OCs, genderbends, self-inserts, or based on pre-existing characters like the official female Scout designs, Scout-Chan, or even the infamous SFM femscout model! No porn! A lil' cheekiness is allowed, think saucy Spongebob jokes or somethin.
I aim to have a collection of Scout characters in these zine that reflect the diversity of the artists who play TF2, so I encourage everyone to submit a variety of Scouts that are non-American, Black, white, Puerto-Rican, Chinese, skinny, fat, gay, trans, tall, short, or anything your characters happen to be! Your Scout does not have to reflect you personally, I just think it's neat that not all Scouts have to be skinny Boston big slappy boiz.​
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WHO CAN CONTRIBUTE?!
Anyone can apply, from any country and any background! One does not need to be a girl or a scout, you just need to LOVE and APPRECIATE girls and scouts. HOWEVER: You must be 18+ in order to contribute. Although the zine is SFW, my social media is meant for adults, I do not wish to expose children to my art, and Paypal (which I send money and invoices through) REQUIRES that whoever makes an account be over 18 years of age. At the time of applying, you MUST be over the age of 18. I don't care if your birthday's in a week, YOU GOTTA BE AN ADULT.
I will not be judging applications based on skill level, but on characterization and ideas. You will need a paypal account to get the money compensation, and a shipping address if you want the physical book shipped to you!
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No silly internet drama over fake cartoon ships, or any girl-hatred of any kind whether it's towards fujoshi, yumejoshi, himejoshi, gay girls, trans girls, or 30+ year old moms who write vampire romance novels!! If you have an issue with someone, please fight it out over an MGE Scout v Scout Viaduct Mid. Immaturity will lead to a kick from the project.
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For questions and inquiries about the zines, please message the main organizer SKUMSUCK via email (tempural@scumsuck.com), on curious cat (https://curiouscat.me/SKUMSUCK).
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★ What IS a girl Scout? A hopefully helpful definition:
Not the kids who sell cookies! We're talking about girls who are SCOUTS from TF2!
First, we must address:
Why Scout?
This post by WritingCyan is a great synopsis of WHY SCOUT?
What I enjoy most about writing Scout is his mutability, the flexibility of his character. He can be the brash and obnoxious antagonist, but his overconfident attitude can also cover deep insecurities and a desperate longing for a father figure. He can be a comic relief or the unexpected voice of reason. You can even, if you’re good, justify turning him into a whimpering uke. He can be the blushing virgin, the exhibitionist (look at me, hey, look at me!), the voyeur, secretly a masochist, he can be so furious, so sweet, so broken.
A Scout character can be ANYTHING. You can change the base game character of a brash white boy from Boston, into a shy azn girl from Brooklyn, and it'll still feel "in character". Plus he's my favorite character in TF2 and my kintype, and there's such a rich mini-history of trendy tropes to slot him in.
And now we address:
Why GIRL Scouts?
Because girls are AWESOME!
I want to have more girls in male-dominated spaces! When I was growing up in fanspaces in the 2000's, there was so much irrational hatred for girl characters (think Sakura, Fuu, Orihime, Hermione and Ginny). Whether the characters were written well or not was irrelevent. The fact that they were presented as girls was enough for everyone's (internalized misogyny) to activate! How dare this GIRL get in the way of our MANLY adventures and yaoiz?!?!
Even though things are better in modern fandom, it's almost always male characters that receive the most attention. Probably because most media depicts male characters, with maybe one lady sidekick. Even TF2 falls to this imbalance: 9 men, and Miss Pauling and The Administrator. There were female characters planned in the wonderful concept art, but Valve never got around to implementing them. That speaks volumes about how male characters are considered the generic default in most games, and girls are considered an unnecessary afterthought.
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★ FAQ:
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Q: "Can we do girl spies too?"
A: Of course! Your main character should be a girl Scout, but she can have a girl Spy for a friend, as a treat. I'm def gonna draw my gorl scout n gorl spy for my piece...
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Q: "Is there an age restriction?"
A: You need to be 18+ to have a paypal account to get paid. Content can and should display canon typical violence and saucy jokes, but no pornography. Think Spongebob and getting "adult" things past the censors!
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Q:"Can u elaborate more on the criteria for SFM"
A:SFM is the same as any art. Whether you want just a character or whole scene, is up you. You can paint over, use the femscoot model, make your own model... just make sure to make a credit list for assets you didn't make yourself!
Q: "do I have to submit my piece in English?"
A: HELL NO! Please feel free to write in any language you want, I wholeheartedly support all non-english speaking artists! Esp since TF2 is an international community! We can use google translate if needed :p
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Feel free to ask more questions by DMing me on any social media, or sending an anon question to curiouscat: https://curiouscat.me/SKUMSUCK
The official female Scout designs are quite a good base to build on, because they show that Valve actually did want some form of that ever-vaunted "diversity" in their game about 7 white men. I interpret these Scouts as a Latina Scout, a Black Scout, and a white Scout, and they all showcase base Scout characteristics like brattiness, exuberance, and small-framed athleticism.
I'm personally VERY inspired by the fan creations of female characters in TF2! Girl Scouts can come in genderbend, self-insert, or original character flavors!
My personal favorite Scout character, as many may know, is from the Scout-Chan OP. It's SO different from the "canon" Scout -- but it feels so right to make her into a zombie fighting schoolgirl who crushes on her teacher! Especially because Uberchain used the default model for Scout to make him a Scout-chan. There are so many attempts to "feminize" Scout into a female character that squish the face and make the model look strange, but simply keeping the model as-is is just so effective! Girls don't have to look a certain way!
Even the notorious squished-face Femscout model is inspirational in a way, because it made me want to design my own take on a girl Scout character that fits my own taste.
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There's something about GIRLHOOD that a female Scout evokes, that anyone regardless of age or gender can relate to due to a Scout's mutability. Girls should be able to enjoy "cringy" things like Twilight and yaoi manga! Girls can look however they want, and dress however they want! Girls can be average schoolgirls, or adult women who bash people's heads with a baseball bat for a living. They don't have to have the generic Scout traits - Girls can be Black, white, Asian, Latina, indigenous, trans, gay, fat, autistic, diabetic, missing a leg, EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING! As long as they like to be girls, and Scouts!
and so. GIRL SCOUTS RULE!!
