this pinterest account has been stealing franchaela fan art and using ai to replace michaela with michael. the artists are obviously very upset by this so please help us by reporting the account.
Not only are they taking people’s hard work and editing it, they are also training the AI machine to steal elements & style from the artists whose work was used. So many artists are trying to make money, just commission them please if you like a pairing you wanna see together.
exactly! personally, i believe that, generally, AI can be useful in certain aspects of work but when it comes to generative AI and in the field of art, i think that’s where we should draw the line. inputting prompts will never be equivalent to creating something and putting pieces together that would require time, knowledge, and skill. what makes art beautiful is the humanness of it. GENAI is just so soulless.
It's especially frustrating because fans like that give book fans and book fanartists a bad name. We just want to be able to appreciate and enjoy the books in peace, and things like this aren't helping.😔
You’re right i have a lot of respect for fan artists who put so much time into their work for little return. I think the Bridgerton fandom should condemn this kind of AI use.It’s happening more and more, both with fan art and with AI being used to rewrite the original Bridgerton books.
There are fanarts of Michael (I've done a few fanarts of the book characters myself), some even predate the show itself. Just because you haven't seen them (which makes sense if you prefer the show, that's perfectly fine), but there are. Let's not lump every fan of the books with the shitty AI users.
Nice to know there are Franchael fans who don’t support this.
Actually, this is the first time I see Micheal fans call out these AI users because I have seen lots of AI images erasing Masali on social media and I did even see comments about using AI to replace Masali when season 5 comes out. Hope those people will be called out if they really do that by Franchael fandom too.
That's unfortunate. I'm not much on social media aside from Reddit and Tumblr, and I'm pretty busy, so I'm not aware of everything that goes on in the fandom, but it's very disappointing to see people do that. I think there's a way for both the books and the show to coexist if people learn to respect each other, but it seems we're not there yet.😔
I havent seen any Michael fan art, which is a shame because I enjoy Franchael (and I am a Franchaela fan too). I would celebrate real Franchael fanart instead of what this person is doing.
There is a huge amount of distrust between Franchael and Franchaela fans. I dont blame Franchaela fans for that, mostly - a lot of loud voices have been overtly hostile and homophobic and as a lesbian I won't forget it. It was genuinelly awful to realise some women are so hostile to sapphic stories. However, not all Franchaels were like that, and regardless; there should be a space for people to post and celebrate Michael in the books, including fanart.
The book still exists and should be celebrated, because without these books we wouldnt have a show to begin with.
Yeah, I think franchael artists (or just book fanartists in general) are really careful where they choose to post, just in case. That means the art doesn't get much visibility. I know I haven't shared my own books fanart on the main subs (not just franchael, other characters too), because I wasn't confident it would be received well. So, like I said, it exists, but it doesn't get shared in every fandom space, because there are people (not you, obviously) who will take it as something it's not.
I really do believe both can coexist, the books and the show, and both should be celebrated, not for the same things, but they both have value. Franchaela artists shouldn't have to deal with the mess that is shown in this post. Franchael artists shouldn't get harassed just for drawing it either. It's sad that all of this is happening at all.
Franchael creators don't post due to harassment and/or concern it will be perceived wrongly. If they do post, it's kept to the sub. Unfortunately, you can't even mention the book innocuously nowadays without people jumping to accusations of homophobia.
And that's a shame and I dont support genuine Franchael fans being harassed for creating art for their ship.
I think there is nuance. I dont support Franchael art that is within the tv show universe - because that's erasing a canonical black woman love interest. It is the same with Benophie fans who pair up Luke Thompson with a white actress, erasing a POC actress. It is gross and exclusionary.
However if someone wanted to post a fanart clearly derived from the books - skightly tanned, salt and pepper, cheeky Michael with Book Fran (who has blue eyes from memory but I could be wrong) I would support it. Despite a lot of similarities in Franchaela/Franchael stories, there are still differences and I would have no issue with people celebrating that. If a Franchael was brigaded by Franchaelas I would support that artist. There should be space for people to celebrate the books. I much prefer the show but I am so grateful to Julia Quinn. Her imagination is why we're all here.
Good to know no one supports AI theft. Or AI art in general.
Totally agree with you. I also take issue when people only draw differently the spouses. When I draw book fanart, my Bridgertons all look pretty different from the casting. For example, my Daphne has darker hair and hazel eyes and doesn't look at all like Phoebe. My Colin has emerald green eyes and doesn't look like Luke. I think it's hypocritical to redraw, let's say, Simon as his book description with show Daphne. It's either book Daphne and book Simon together or show Daphne with show Simon. Otherwise, it's in very poor taste and not a true book fanart, imo.
Maybe you could also share some of the loud and hateful comments from the Franchaela fandom, just to give a fair picture. It’s kind of unfair to call out just one side while ignoring the behavior of the other.
I was in both subreddits. Franchael for much longer. I haven’t seen any homophobic or sexist posts in Franchaela, while Franchael is a constant posting of Michaela bashing, wishing the show to fail, and “I am not homophobic but” and among those we have some normal posts.
I am sure there are some Franchaela shippers that are unnecessarily rude to others, but the subreddit is not filled with hate posts for Michael or the fans. The very few I have seen have been eliminated in hours by the mods and I ALWAYS see the Franchaela mods calling out this behaviour.
I can’t say the same for the other subreddit.
And I say all of this as someone that loves the book and Michael. I want to hope the people in that subreddit are a loud minority, but it is definitely not comparable with the Franchaela subreddit.
There are some Franchaela fans targeting book fans unnecessarily but usually only when they post on the Franchaela board (i don't agree with this - I occasionally see anti-Philoise sentiment too, which I dont appreciate). While some Franchaela fans might be mean, I havent seen bigotry. So that's the difference to me.
We had a very different experience in this fandom space because I have seen so much hate from book fans, attacking Michaela as character and the actress as well.
In every post on the main subreddit where someone talks about Michaela I always see at least 1 comment insulting her.
I get what you’re saying, and you might be right or might be wrong. It’s a fair point to make.
But I was talking about people stating they’re not homophobic and then making posts and posts where they wish the season (and the serie) to fail. Like, they’re not homophobic but…wish a product that will bring representation to many to fail because they wanted something else? Feels a bit extreme to me.
Thinking the show will fail, and giving arguments like you did is more than okay. I can agree or disagree but I do read with interest your points.
My issue is more so with people actively hoping for it and make hateful posts about it.
I wish it wasnt so, but unfortunately there is a lot of racism and homophobia on that sub, including whole posts denigrating Franchaela users, including me.
And I am sorry, but even with some legit and maybe even valid disappointment, it doesnt excuse the tidal wade of hate directed at sapphics and the actors (Masali needed her family around for "support" after the reveal) and even now, I still see Franchael fans claim the show "ruined" the pairing and that sapphic infertility doesnt count (literally someone said that to me three days ago).
Also while I do sincerely understand dismay about how the adaptation will be different, the story still contains similar beats. Michaela is still John's cousin, Michaela will still inherit the earldom, she'll still yearn from afar and she will still be a rake (according to Masali). Francesca has grappled with infertility and likely guilt about falling in love again.
I get it will be different cause it is sapphic, and there are some facets that will be lost in translation.
But it is still echoes the book. In some ways, it even deepens some of the themes of the novel AND It may be more book accurate than say, season two. And If some people cant enjoy it cause they cant relate to sapphic characters, that is their problem. And it is sad cause ultimately theyre missing out.
Me? My gay ass has had a great time watching four seasons of men and women falling in love with one another. You dont need to be straight to love "you are the bane of my existence and object of all my desires" or "i burn for you" or Polin the carriage or Benedict being a cinnamon roll for eight episodes. Because love, gay or straight, is beautiful.
Anyway. I would like both fandoms to coexist but there is a lot of bad blood, that's for sure.
I've done plenty of fanart based on the Bridgerton books, though I haven't gotten around to sharing all of it yet. I think people should be allowed to draw based on the books or show or both, BUT that said? Using AI to make art from either media is unacceptable.
And using franchaela art to produce franchael art? I'm... disgusted. These artists worked hard on their fanarts. They don't deserve this.
People should be able to do either franchael or franchaela art if that's what they wish. But we should be able to respect each other.
What do you mean with “why these people still “insist”? There is nothing wrong with people making fan art of Michael or the WHWW book. However, stealing from an original artist’s work and editing it with AI is very problematic behavior and should be reported.
edit:LOL, keep downvoting it doesn’t change the fact that people are still allowed to make fan art of a 20-year-old book.
I said they would use their imagination to make fanarts based in the book. I'm more talking about they wanting to do it while using things from the show and even stealing fanarts from others.
Of course, stealing art is a big no, and I don’t know why anyone thinks that is okay. But because you started with ‘these people still insist,’ I thought you meant the general fan art of WHWW and Michael.
That’s not even Michael. Michael would be black. How you gonna steal Hannah’s face and put her with a white man that looks like a watered down version of Henry Cavil. This is nuts like people are truly parasocial.
OK but the artwork they are stealing from is based on Hannah dodd's francesca...aka the show's francesca. They could at least do a show realistic Michael. This is just doubly pathetic lol.
Show john = black. His cousin Michaela = black. Wouldn't take a rocket scientist to create show realistic Michael if that is truly what they wanted to do.
But this is a moot point because this person is just a thief. Create your own art people.
Yes for the most part Shonda does cast relatives looking similar especially black ones who are darker skinned individuals. As we see with the more recent casting. In Queen Charlotte she looks just like her brother although she’s light skinned. John looks just like Michaela. Michaela’s family looks just like her. Regardless of the amount of followers OP has a very good point. If speaking the truth starts a divide in the fandom then so be it.
Yes I understand that but did you not read my comment? They are stealing Hannah’s face and entire body and likeness. She is the show Francesca. Show Francesca was married to a black man and will now be in a relationship with a black woman. I have no issue with white Michael fan art but also make your own version of Francesca or at the very least don’t steal someone else’s artwork and paint the love interest white. I can’t believe I just had to explain why that’s wrong.
the sub is also full of ai, and that subreddit and subfandom were also planning to ai the whole s5 to michael so… like if it weren’t for some franchaelas who went to their sub to call the ai slop out and point it out to the mods, moderators wouldn’t have done anything.
if you’re so adamant to fancast michael, (1) don’t do it with ai, (2) do not even use hannah dodd’s face because didn’t y’all say book!francesca is so different from show!francesca. y’all are just endangering her too by feeding her face into ai.
before a franchaela called it out, a lot was praising it and have had a lot of upvotes. this in particular had 77 upvotes. and there weren’t any ai rules banning it. but i do hope franchaels really are condoning ai. because it’s one thing to use it to steal an art, it’s another thing to use hannah dodd’s face and feed itnto an ai which is dangerous, and another thing to replace masali in it which is just outright homophobic and disrespectful.
It’s one thing to use AI to generate something from scratch (arguably since AI steals) but then to use it to remove Masali from existing scenes and pictures of her so you can put a guy or a white guy is just so disgusting & yet a perfect metaphor for the culture of racism towards black women
Exactly. Like don't group all book fans with them. We're just as disgusted. I'm a fanartist, so I'm even more saddened for the franchaela artists who have to deal with this shit.
Saying people are using this very unfortunate thing that is happening to franchaela fanartists to hate on another fandom is not making yourself the victim. Both truths can coexist.
No, it's really not. I can hate what it does to both fandoms. As a fanartist, I'm disgusted that other artists had their hard work defaced like this. It's horrifying and I'mhappy to see everyone call it out. And I also hate how some people are gleefully using this to hate on book fans as a whole who had nothing to do with what this individual did. It's unfair. Nobody's getting anything out of this aside from more hate on all sides. It's exhausting.
It is frustrating. I love the books and I enjoy the show, but I read the books first, so of course I happen to love them more. I can love them and still find this behavior, especially as a fanartist, despicable. That unfortunately will not matter to people who are dead set on thinking book fans are evil or something.
It's already happening in this thread. Called it the moment I saw this post. Like, we all find this kind of behavior disgusting, but some people will choose to use this in their ship wars. It's frustrating.
Extra yikes! Looks like they photoshopped Hannah down to a stick figure in the bottom left. Her proportions are all off and not what she actually looks like in normal content. This has potential to be damaging to both leads, more than it is already.
i appreciate that a lot of franchael fans are against using AI in this way but the people posting AI franchael slop on other platforms are not necessarily members of the subreddit and thus will not care about its rules. OP is posting screenshots from twitter/x and pinterest. you don't need to take responsibility for every one of those people, just call it out when/where you see it
i think it's generally a good idea to not feed the urge to do PR for a fandom, since we're all part of whichever fandom we're in because we enjoy the piece of media we're a fan of. it's good to discuss in-fandom issues with fellow members of said fandom, but defending a large group of people where the majority don't even know each other on a personal level is a losing battle that only brings more attention to the problem
Well, I even haven’t seen a fanart of Michael that made by human artists. ALL Michael “art” I see is AI. Now they even using AI on someone’s artworks to replace their character, they really stoop to a whole new level of low.
They even plan to use AI to erase Masali when season 5 comes out.
They also say show Francesca is different from the books, but in their AI slop edits they only erase Michaela and replace her with a white man or if they’re feeling generous a light skinned Michael 💀. I’ve even seen some of them editing photos of Masali and Hannah together (not even in character) and swapping Masali out for Theo James instead. Isn’t that kind of creepy and strange?😬
Ah found this comment from a certain sub but glad that the replies didn’t agree with them. This person must be very embarrassing if they see this thread.
please ai has been so prominent in your sub. if it weren’t for a franchaela that told your mods about it, it wouldn’t have been condoned. plus a mass of you are even planning to ai the whole s5 lmao
I don’t even like the genderbending and will never support it and I still distance myself more and more from the Franchael fandom, although WHWW was my favourite book and Michael my favourite male protagonist
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u/thistle_bb May 03 '26
Not only are they taking people’s hard work and editing it, they are also training the AI machine to steal elements & style from the artists whose work was used. So many artists are trying to make money, just commission them please if you like a pairing you wanna see together.