What's your interest in yukkuri?

Like the title says, this is a thread to discuss why you're interested in yukkuri, and apologies if this topic already has a thread.

For me it's a number of things. For one thing, I find them interesting from a biological standpoint. Their various methods of reproduction, their peculiar societal structures and mindset, their capacity to heal and their mutability: they're just plain fascinating creatures to me.

For another, I think they can be genuinely cute and heartwarming. That's not to say I find them universally endearing, though. I loathe Deibus as much as the next person, but I might not automatically break out the hammer. In general I don't hate yukkuri, and am willing to judge each on an individual basis.

On the flipside, I have an interest in horror and the repulsive, so the many violent tales involving yukkuri provide riveting horror.

They're surreal, and silly, and touhou-related.

Also, so many of the artists make them so mind numbingly stupid that pretty much anything they do is entertainment in some form. See: http://yukkuri.shii.org/post/show/42846/

Confession: I'm not into yukkuri for yukkuri's sake alone. They're opposite of what my interests in Touhou Project lie.

I love Touhou, but I despise the fandom. And that's from a Pooshlmer regular. Or used to be, at any rate. Fuck those guys.

Thus, I love the yukkuri fandom. Yes, even the douchebags and the trolls, I don't really dislike you at all. (Okay, maybe not that one fucktard, but even I can recognize their contribution to the yukkuri community.)

They don't really hold a candle to the sheer volume of fanwork in the main Touhou community, but if we're basing it on proportion, the Yukkuri fandom's output trumps them all in quality and how they entertain me. (Not that it's that hard: anything yukkuri-related is entertaining, no matter how mind-numbingly stupid they get.)

I just like their deconstruction of the cute critter, at least the "shithead smug snake being abyused" side of it, since it isn't about a cute critter that gets maimed and doesn't deserve it, or a cute critter that is actually a eldritch abomination in disguise that can kill you, but plainly wicked and stupid cute critters that bite more than can chew and face the consequences of angering and antagonize the rest of the world while mistakenly thinking they own it and can order it around with no room to questioning them.

The "torturing nice yu's for kicks and giggles" side isn't interesting to me, it's more of the typical "kill barney/pokemon/happy tree friends" that had inhabited the internet for at least a decade so I shrug at it and ignore it, unless there is something seriously hilarious in a grim way, like stupidity kicking in and the death or pain being 100% their fault.

It's an old discussion for all of us that are still here.

Like you, I think the biological perspective is peculiar and interesting, and opens up doors to a lot of different fanfics and creations. Their personality creations are interesting as well, and you can see we have a lot of background on how yukkuris behave just from the english speaking community. There's a lot more from the japanese community as well, and the cross-culture stuff is very nice.

There was a point where I was really pretty obsessed with yukkuris, and although that has cooled off somewhat I still enjoy the whole fandom more than I do touhou (which just kind of degenerates into massive collections of porn...)

Secondly, from an abyuser's perspective... it's satisfying to "play" with the yukkuris and read/see the creations from various artists. It's good stress release, similar to a good game of your favorite FPS or even a poker game.

From a family friendly perspective... yukkuris are cute things.

Overall it's just entertaining. Frankly I don't really quite understand people who see yukkuris and go "that's so fucking stupid" and rage like internet nerds, but I suppose that's what you can expect from the pretty polarized touhou community.

Well, it took me a while to get the answer.

Firstly, they're mostly simple-minded. This gives it a lot of potential for childish settings and stuff, which then leads to family-friendly works. But then, there's the factor of scum personalities. It makes some easy to hate, and invokes the desire to punish. So you have the so-called fairy tale potential, with justice and all. And I particularly like the concept of justice.

Also, their simple-mindedness gives rise to a lot of funny situations, some sadistic, some innocent. I particularly like this one where a Yukkureimu was attached to a gadget that kept lifting her up and down repeatedly, and its every statement was interrupted with "It's like flying in the sky!".

Secondly, they're remarkably easy to damage due to their nature, yet somewhat sturdy as well, needing only orange juice and stuff. This fragileness of their lives is a dream for the sadists. You can make them scream, cry, and then heal them to start all over again. Their simple body structure has a lot of potential for damage to be inflicted (Eyes, accessory, tongue, feet, penipeni/mamumamu, anyaru, teeth, paste core), and their fragile psyche is another area as well.

Lastly, it's their potential. Most of them are paste-brained, but some can learn and adapt, which is why you get gold-badged yukkuris, or should I say, Platinum. I'm part of the 'Like good guys to win' group, so I enjoy seeing a yukkuri triumph over scum.

Of course, the other part of me just likes to troll their dumb characters. I'm all about trolling, like the short fic I wrote about a 'King' yukkuri.

They're cute, I give them that. But due to the large majority of Deibus and Bawizas, it's not common.

Like Wrathkal, their simple nature and behaviour, although I like it better in innocent or teasing rather than abuse stories.

But for story, my favourites would be natural stories or even urban without direct human intervention; and even better if it's creatively hillarious stories where the author tried new things and the yukkuri is stupidly clever in showing the unexpected.

I don't even like Touhou but I like Yukkuri. I guess I just like cute, innocent, childlike magical animals get abused.

I know i'm a sick fuck.

Animal stories where the animals can talk and people aren't afraid to simply kill the animal because of political correctness.

They are cute, cheerful and gentle.
Innocent.

poweryoga said:
There was a point where I was really pretty obsessed with yukkuris, and although that has cooled off somewhat I still enjoy the whole fandom more than I do touhou

The same.
Sometimes life can be really busy and the world hostile, but our little manju friends are still here, waiting for us.
To take it easy.
No amount of touhou could do the same!

Touhou fandom is really big.
When there's not much time, the smaller "bite-sized" yukkuri fandom is easier to catch up with.

Anon kun said:
No amount of touhou could do the same!

Well, if you want 2ch drama touhou will do that for you above and beyond.

The community is so conflicted and people get so emotional over the plot/relationships that its really hard to sort through what's universally accepted and what's one man's vandetta against a certain character he doesn't like.

poweryoga

And to make matter worse, 90% of it is fanon trying to be imposed as canon. At least yukkuris are 100% fanon so it's understable for people to discuss, agree or disagree about aspects of them.

JusticeItEasy said:
And to make matter worse, 90% of it is fanon trying to be imposed as canon. At least yukkuris are 100% fanon so it's understable for people to discuss, agree or disagree about aspects of them.

More like 99.9% of it. Its kinda humorous to see people cite fanon as canon and then watch them get defensive when someone tries to correct them.

yukiyuzen said:
More like 99.9% of it. Its kinda humorous to see people cite fanon as canon and then watch them get defensive when someone tries to correct them.

Well I'm being nice, 10% is a good number for all the canon that the games, official side materials and similar things could be "cited" by the fandom. And in all the touhou discussions there is always someone who mentions and remind the people about the canon of the games and official materials, always, even if it's a minority against the wave of "FANON = SERIOUS BUSSINESS > CANON".

Frankly yukkuri are just plain fun. They're good for any mood you happen to be in; if you're mad, shitheads get squished or otherwise justly punished. If you're feeling sadistic and in need of some grit, shitheads and good yukkuri alike scream just as loud, and their bizarre and intriguing anatomy makes it even better. If you want to be practical, you can look at breeding and look at the science the fandom has put out. And if you just want to see something heartwarming, there are family friendly things that'll make you smile.

The entire yukkuri fandom is a "one-genre fits all" kind of deal. There's something in it for everyone, and you don't have to fight your way through the other fans if you voice your opinion or open a discussion. Touhou fandoms just get too damn complicated and trivial.

JusticeItEasy said:
Well I'm being nice, 10% is a good number for all the canon that the games, official side materials and similar things could be "cited" by the fandom. And in all the touhou discussions there is always someone who mentions and remind the people about the canon of the games and official materials, always, even if it's a minority against the wave of "FANON = SERIOUS BUSSINESS > CANON".

Rule #1 of touhou: There is no canon.
Rule #2 of touhou: THERE IS NO CANON.

No, seriously. I remember a transcipt of a zun interview where a fan asked for clarification on something zun wrote in a game and zun's response was basically: "lol, I dunno". He literally couldn't remember what he wrote and didn't care. That's why its called the Touhou "Project", its a series still under construction with any and all parts subject to sudden and sweeping change. The entire pc-98 era can attest to that.

In the end all this canon/fanon talk is just a bunch of overbearing fans having a pissing contest over who's got the better opinions/fanfiction.

But, yeah, the lack of canon/fanon whining is definitely a plus for the yukkuri fandom that keeps me around, too.

My doctor would say I'm here because I have a brain tumor. But he's retarded, I don't have a brain tumor.

JusticeItEasy said:
Well I'm being nice, 10% is a good number for all the canon that the games, official side materials and similar things could be "cited" by the fandom. And in all the touhou discussions there is always someone who mentions and remind the people about the canon of the games and official materials, always, even if it's a minority against the wave of "FANON = SERIOUS BUSSINESS > CANON".

I'd agree with you if it wasn't for the fact that the Touhou community can't even agree on which ending is the "canon" ending for each game (aside from IaMP).

I cite 99.9% because I've noticed that some fans don't even regard some official side materials as canon for one stupid reason or another. (Remember when SSiB came out and people cried foul about the Lunarians winning?)

yukiyuzen said:
I'd agree with you if it wasn't for the fact that the Touhou community can't even agree on which ending is the "canon" ending for each game (aside from IaMP).

I cite 99.9% because I've noticed that some fans don't even regard some official side materials as canon for one stupid reason or another. (Remember when SSiB came out and people cried foul about the Lunarians winning?)

I've only ever gotten the bad ending because I suck at danmaku. So bad end is canon for me. >_>