Isn't the sync rate just a bit too high?
Preface
First, I apologize for possibly taking up your valuable time, sacrificing your reading experience, and affecting your good mood. If you don't like this article, please feel free to ignore it. One thing you need not worry about, though: the Tropic Line staff each have their own duties, so writing this article will not affect the magazine's production schedule. The recent delay is mainly because many staff members had things to attend to during the Spring Festival, so progress is a bit slower.
I understand that in the vast field of creation, converging inspiration and similar ideas are natural occurrences. However, we found that the degree of similarity between an official column and our fan work seems to go a little bit beyond the scope of ordinary coincidences of inspiration.
We invest time, energy, and even heart and soul simply to express our love for the original work and the joy of sharing with fellow fans. Yet these efforts often go unrewarded, and may even be improperly borrowed from or used commercially. Although we have donation income and Bilibili incentives, and Suiwanzi once tipped about a hundred yuan too, this is far from enough to cover the costs of attending events and giving out copies for free. Behind every event, each staff member pays thousands out of pocket for printing, let alone being able to pay for the years of selfless dedication of even a single staff member. We have always created out of love, and this is entirely a money-losing endeavor, and in the end we still have to accept improper borrowing by the official side. This should not be, and ought not to be, the fate of a non-profit group.
There are some perhaps-not-coincidental coincidences: the question setup and section arrangement of the Islander Tea Chat (for example, in the Yang Yan interview, the questions are divided into “About Arknights,” “About Creation,” and “About Life”) share many similarities with the Tropic Line special interview section, which has been in use since August 2022.
Especially in the first two installments, the interviews with Yang Yan and Zc (in the latest installment most questions are marked as coming from netizens, so we set it aside for now), some questions not stated to be from netizens are almost word for word identical to Tropic Line's.
I fully understand that people doing this kind of interview can sometimes have very similar approaches, but similar approaches rarely produce identical questions and layouts. I also fully understand (and welcome) learning from predecessors' experience when writing, but could you perhaps let the original author know before learning from them?
This article only compares the Tropic Line special interviews (earliest August 2022; fan work) with the Skland Islander Tea Chat (earliest October 2023; official), to help readers better understand the similarities and differences between the two.
Part I
| Skland “Islander Tea Chat” Issue 1: Magic Zc Directory (October 30, 2023) | Tropic Line |
|---|---|
| Thank you very much for accepting Skland's interview.Although everyone already knows you quite well, please give Skland's islanders a brief self-introduction~ | First of all, thank you very much for accepting our interview.Although the audience is already very familiar with you, please still introduce yourself. (Tropic Line, August 2022 issue: Special Interview: Bilibili Uploader Yang Yan) |
| As early as 2019, when the server launched, you published Arknights strategy videos. What was the occasion that led you to learn about and get into Arknights? | As early as 2019, when the server launched, you published Arknights-related videos. Could you tell everyone what the occasion was that led you to learn about and get into Arknights? (Tropic Line, August 2023 issue: Special Interview: Zuomu Buxiu) (In fact, all of Tropic Line's Q&A-format interviews since August 2022 ask uploaders this question) |
| Among Arknights' SideStories or story collections, which one do you like best? Why? | If you had to choose your favorite SideStory and story collection, which would you choose? Why? (Tropic Line, August 2022 issue: Special Interview: Bilibili Uploader Yang Yan) |
| Has your experience creating Arknights-related videos since 2019 brought major changes to your life?Or, how has it changed your life plans from before? | Has your experience creating videos brought major changes to your life?(For example, changing some plans, or meeting some important people?) (Tropic Line, August 2023 issue: Special Interview: Zuomu Buxiu) |
Part II
| Skland “Islander Tea Chat” Issue 2: Yang Yan (November 17, 2023) | Tropic Line |
|---|---|
| What was the occasion that led you to learn about and get into Arknights? | What was the occasion that led you to learn about and get into Arknights?(Tropic Line, August 2022 issue: Special Interview: Bilibili Uploader Yang Yan) (In fact, all of Tropic Line's Q&A-format interviews since this issue ask uploaders this question) |
| As an Arknights player, could you share who your favorite operator is?Can you tell us why you like them? | As an Arknights player, could you share who your favorite operator is?And could you tell everyone what qualities of theirs attracted you? (Tropic Line, February 2023 issue: Special Interview: Madam Lu) |
| Among Arknights' SideStories or story collections, which one do you like best? Why? | If you had to choose your favorite SideStory and story collection, which would you choose? Why? (Tropic Line, August 2022 issue: Special Interview: Bilibili Uploader Yang Yan) |
| As a member of the directing team for the Spring Festival Gala and Birthday Gala, what was the occasion that first made you want to do the Spring Festival Gala? During the preparation process, did you run into any challenges?Is there anything that left a deep impression on you? | You hosted the 2022 Arknights Spring Festival Gala and the third-anniversary Birthday Gala(Note: Yang Yan said in the answer, “I can't really say I hosted it; as director or lead planner, I was mostly just standing in the position of a service provider”), bringing one visual feast after another to all the audience who love Arknights. These fan galas lean more toward animation, music, and so on, while you are actually an uploader who leans more toward text and expression. When preparing the shows, what challenges did you encounter while working through your collaboration with illustrators, animators, and others? How did you resolve them? In the process of preparing these fan galas, is there any interesting experience you could share with our readers? (Tropic Line, August 2022 issue: Special Interview: Bilibili Uploader Yang Yan) |
| (Question section design) About Arknights ...(questions omitted) About Video Creation ...(questions omitted) About Life ...(questions omitted) | About the Game and Story ...(questions omitted) About Creation ...(questions omitted) About Life ...(questions omitted) (Tropic Line, August 2022 issue: Special Interview: Bilibili Uploader Yang Yan) (In fact, Tropic Line's question design from August 2022 to the present has all used this structure) |
| That concludes Yang Yan's answers to the islanders' questions~ Finally, please say a few words to Skland's fans, Yang Yan~ | Finally, is there anything else you would like to say to your fans? Please also leave a parting message for this magazine. (Tropic Line, August 2022 issue: Special Interview: Bilibili Uploader Yang Yan) |
This is not everything, only a partial comparison of content that we feel goes beyond what can be explained as mere borrowing.
This article does not represent the views of the TCA organization or other TCA members.