I wrote a 20 page story in high school, which was pretty much a space opera-esque all encompassing myth about how our galaxy was created. It wasn't very good, objectively speaking. The characters were thin, it was melodramatic, and it was clear I had a lot to learn. But guess what? I'm still proud of it. Because it was mine. I can't help it. Even as I lived on to write more stuff and hone my craft and hope to be published one day, I can't help but feel proud of it anyway.

And you know what? If Shad is proud of his fumbling attempt to tell a story about a dictator redeeming himself, then okay. He's allowed to feel that way. Even if it has things which I find abhorrent about it from the way it portrays survivors of sexual assault, how it thinks "feeling bad" is what's needed for redemption, how it has a weird double standard for how despite all the terrible things Daylen the Conqueror did, he is portrayed as a badass worthy of redemption while other rapists are monsters who need to be killed and castrated by Daylen; I find all of that horrible... but if he wants to feel proud of it, then fine. It's his baby and there will always be a place in your heart for your baby, even when they have glaring flaws. And he doesn't have to agree with me or anyone else who makes those criticisms.

But what gets me is the way he takes all of that criticism so goddamn personally. How he tweets at people who try to dunk on him, how he treats these criticisms as "ideological" and how at every chance he gets, when he talks about other creators who have read and criticized his book, he plugs it and says, "Oh but I've got thousands of copies sold! Look at all those people who love it, so you're wrong! Now let me show you the same two clips of Daniel Greene again to show you how legitimate I am."

Being proud is one thing. Wanting to stand up for your work is one thing. Disagreeing with criticism is one thing. But being this sensitive to criticism is another. I'm not saying you should cater to every person who complains about your work. But if you're a creator, if you're making art and putting it out there in the world, you have to accept it's going to happen, even if you think it's just way off base. If you're confident in your abilities as an artist, then just let the work speak for itself. Accept feedback and criticism where you think it's valid, ignore what you don't think is valid, and hone your abilities to make something better next time. That's just what you do.

This behavior though? Over a book like this? It doesn't scream to me of someone confident in their abilities. It doesn't tell me this person has a story to tell and they're sincere about telling it, even if it's deeply flawed and lacking in understanding. It screams of a person who is deeply insecure about their own creative abilities. Who constantly needs validation from others. And it honestly feels, to me, like Shad wrote Shadow of the Conqueror because he wants to feel important. Because he wants to feel like a creative genius, that's he's got so much to say about society and culture and how people are, but it's clear he just doesn't have the emotional bandwidth for it. He just doesn't. He doesn't seem like a person who cares about the harm sexual assault and tyranny does to both the victims and perpetrators, but as someone who uses those subjects to show how edgy and dark and important this book is. Look how brave and ambitious he is for being so bold. It's so hollow and it's so blatant how incurious he is.

-Did a Shadiversity video on the swords of Attack On Titan were he criticized them for stuff that was later addressed in the series itself.

-Praised My Hero Academia for depicting women as hot and attractive, but not much else than that.

-Reacted to the live-action One Piece trailer and said it was shit despite also admitting to only reading the first two arcs of the manga, and confidently said some stuff about the series, that anyone with basic knowledge of, is factually wrong.

-Criticized the live-action Cowboy Bebop for being political, despite the original anime being quite political itself and the live-action arguably made it less so.

-Got mad at the Ranma 1/2 remake for making changes from the old anime and saying that "woke translators" ruined it, even though all the of the changes that were made were either super minimal or made to match the manga.

-And recently has been having a meltdown on Twitter, exclaiming that the art style of Studio Ghibli, a style that has inspired countless other animated shows and movies, not just anime, animation as a whole, is boring and uninspired, while is ai generated images, that """"borrow"""" from other people work, is better.

idk if this is allowed but here goes. there's this channel, Tods Workshop, that I've watched a video or two of, but after shad going crazy I'm a bit cautious of getting into another medieval history youtuber in case they too turn out to be a nutjob. any info appreciated.

Are there any videos/streamswhere shad talks about his views on race or racism?

i remember a video that's honest about conspiracy theories that shads second stringers have, then there's this awkward cut and shad himself is now apart of the video? sorry if this is confusing but i don't really remember it clearly. could you guys help me find i think its biggest silver bullet towards proving shad bigotry but i havent been able to find it again.

Unlike the previous video that was filled ​with negative comments about Shad's advertisement of Temu this one has no critical comments about Temu. You'd think people who were disappointed in Shad's advertisement for Temu will be interested in sharing their voice when he did it again but the backlash has disappeared for this one.

Not that removing comments and excessive censorship is anything new to Shad and his staff but advertising a shady brand and censoring people who try to warn your audience about it is a scummy move.