{"id":58207,"date":"2025-01-28T18:49:45","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T18:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/2025\/01\/28\/porcelainmaid-overcame-fears-with-vtubing-thanks-to-a-marionette-doll-dexerto\/"},"modified":"2025-01-28T18:49:45","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T18:49:45","slug":"porcelainmaid-overcame-fears-with-vtubing-thanks-to-a-marionette-doll-dexerto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/2025\/01\/28\/porcelainmaid-overcame-fears-with-vtubing-thanks-to-a-marionette-doll-dexerto\/","title":{"rendered":"PorcelainMaid overcame fears with VTubing, thanks to a marionette doll &#8211; Dexerto"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PorcelainMaid overcame fears with VTubing, thanks to a marionette doll Twitter: theCecilz \/ SuppliedPorcelainMaid is a stalwart of the indie VTubing scene. He was doing it before there was even a recognized name or community. Seven years on from his streaming start \u2014 six as a VTuber \u2014 much has changed, especially as he\u2019s grown as a person. It can be a bit of an experience tuning into a PorcelainMaid stream for the first time. If you\u2019re unprepared for the voice that comes out of the six-foot \u201csexy female doll\u201d, it might be a bit shocking. Most viewers are relatively chill, getting a laugh out of it before sticking around for the shenanigans. It\u2019s also a decent way to weed out any bad actors who might use that as a point of harassment. That\u2019s just who Jowol is now though. A long-time streamer and content creator of more than a decade, he can\u2019t really see himself as anything other than, well, \u201ca bisexual\u2019s wet dream \u2014 sexy male voice trapped inside a sexier female body.\u201d The origin story doesn\u2019t really stop there. In fact, that\u2019s where the fun begins, as he jovially recounted how this obscure marionette became his callsign. \u201cIt was an OC I made,\u201d he told Dexerto. \u201cI\u2019d take things I was scared of and then draw them really hot, then that way I\u2019m not scared of them anymore and I feel more attracted to them because I thought that\u2019d be a good way to get over things. \u201cI took a porcelain doll and turned it into this hot, tall anime woman that had the ball joints and I was like \u2018wow, not as scary anymore\u2019, and that\u2019s how the OC became to be. Then I chose the character to be my VTuber way back when because I was playing around with VRoid and I just made my OC in it, and it just became my VTuber.\u201d That was a split-second decision made six years ago now, and one he couldn\u2019t be happier with. It took a while for him to get used to, but this is just who he is now. Through PorcelainMaid, he has become one of the most recognizable characters in the English VTubing scene. It\u2019s not just his looks, but his longevity and veteran status that makes him remarkable. He\u2019s seen as an inspiration for many in the scene, and a name often floated when newly-debuted VTubers highlight who gave them a final push down the rabbit hole. And while you may think an extensive history online might take its toll, he\u2019s still got pep in his step for plenty of years to come. VTubing before it was even a thing Jowol has an extensive history of creating content long before PorcelainMaid was dancing around on our screens. He started as many people did in the early days of YouTube \u2014 random videos centered on his favorite games like Halo Reach. \u201cI would do Halo Reach Forge map reviews, do blogs, but as an 11-year-old you\u2019re just dumb and you don\u2019t really know what to say,\u201d he laughed. \u201cIt was the worst thing ever. I\u2019ve shown [my Twitch] chat some of my old videos.\u201d But there was something missing in the content he made. He loved chatting to people and just passing the time with wacky stories. That was something lacking in his YouTube space, which up to 2016 only had a few people in the comments at any one time despite him actively trying for six years to that point. There wasn\u2019t a community. That led PorcelainMaid to Twitch, where he would start streaming to try and find a group of like-minded people and get some back-and-forth flowing. \u201cI immediately fell in love with it because there\u2019s a community to be had, people are actively watching your stream from the very beginning until the end, and you get to hang out with people,\u201d he explained. \u201cI don\u2019t go outside much. Even if I did have friends in school, they weren\u2019t really people that I wanted to hang out with or spend my time with. Being able to do this and spend time with people who I want to is a joy to me.\u201d As he continued to fall in love with the medium, his goals started to narrow down. For Jowol, there was no future beyond his love of art and streaming. There wasn\u2019t anything else motivating enough to go to college and study. While he had flirted with the idea of using his art skills to become a newspaper cartoonist \u2014 an idea he laughs at now because \u201cwhen was the last time you saw a newspaper floating around\u201d \u2014 he put all his energy into becoming the best possible content creator. That crossover led PorcelainMaid to VTubing, even if he didn\u2019t really know it. Starting to get involved in the wider communities through streaming, he fell into the rabbit hole in 2017 after learning about VRoid from fellow early adopter \u2018rosedoodle\u2019. \u201cBack in the day it was just Kizuna AI,\u201d he said. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t that much of a space back then. It was mainly artists doing everything with it \u2014 Hololive [and NIJISANJI] weren\u2019t much of a thing. \u201cWe never really saw ourselves as VTubers. What we were doing was VTubing though. I would call it \u2018anime girl-itis\u2019: when I was young I had a disease that turned me into a 6\u20191\u201d anime girl. Crazy how that worked out.\u201d His story of transitioning from regular streaming, where he\u2019d occasionally show his face, to VTubing is very common. There was an equal amount of support and confusion. Back then though, there wasn\u2019t a huge community to lean on \u2014 at least, that\u2019s what Jowol thought. \u201cSince I didn\u2019t use the word VTuber, there was apparently a community growing without me. There was Hololive, NIJISANJI, the indie scene, VRChat people turning into VTubers, and I just had no idea. I didn\u2019t have an idea of what a VTuber was until early 2019 when Zentreya raided me with around 300 people and I was like \u2018woah, what is this, somebody else who does the thing I do?\u2019 \u201cIt was really cool finding out there were other people around me. I got into the community and found a bunch of other VTubers that were starting out, and it was enjoyable.\u201d There was a little tinge of regret surrounding the fact if he hopped on earlier, maybe he\u2019d be bigger or have made it mainstream faster. But there\u2019s a silver lining: \u201cit\u2019s a gradual growth, and I think that\u2019s something a lot of people can look up to. \u201cA lot of people nowadays think VTubing is something where you blow up or you don\u2019t. You can look at my stats, point to them, and say you can gradually grow into a [successful] VTuber if you keep bashing your head into a wall until it goes through.\u201d That point has resonated with the community too. If you were to ask many upcoming VTubers who are only starting to break into the wider consciousness nowadays, two of the names they\u2019d point to as inspirations are the aforementioned Zentreya, and Jowol. That\u2019s a point of pride for the veteran streamer: \u201cA lot of newer-age VTubers would watch me a lot of the time, but never told me they were watching my stream. I only found out when they told me years later saying \u2018I was lurking in your stream before VTubing was a thing and I liked watching your little model move around.\u2019 That\u2019s really cool to me. \u201cVTubing is such a wonderful thing. I know a lot of people can look at it with negative connotations, but VTubing is what you make out of it. You\u2019re just using a mascot to represent yourself on stream. \u201cYeah I do some light roleplay \u2014 I\u2019m made out of porcelain, I have my own lore video, and I keep the lore very important to my streams and keep that immersion as much as possible even if it\u2019s light \u2014 but it\u2019s really cool to see I made other people become VTubers and they get to enjoy this experience as well. \u201cIt\u2019s not only something I do for income, but it\u2019s my only hobby. If I don\u2019t have streaming in the future, I don\u2019t know what I\u2019d be doing. I wouldn\u2019t have anything I enjoy\u2026 While I don\u2019t recommend being as reckless as me, I wanted to do this.\u201d Smashing through gender norms VTubing does often get boiled down into a gendered game. People look at the overwhelming success of women in the field, and a comment about how it\u2019s all eye candy and no substance isn\u2019t far from that gaze. PorcelainMaid knows this plight more than many other VTubers. His male voice does cut through the visuals of his model. As much as it shouldn\u2019t be a point of contention, it does lead to transphobic comments (something he takes great pride in quashing whenever they crop up). \u201cIf you come into my stream and try to say gross things, it\u2019s easy to take it and turn it against them and use it for my own content,\u201d he laughed. \u201cIt\u2019s not a traditionally male role for a very masculine person to be inside a feminine body. It says no to gender norms which is what I really like, and I like that I can be comfortable with myself and just be more open with my sexuality \u2014 more expressive. \u201cI\u2019ve gotten a lot of DMs from people saying \u2018you made me feel comfortable with my voice.\u2019 Maybe it\u2019s someone who is trans\u2026maybe it\u2019s just someone who is plain uncomfortable and they\u2019re using a model that is different from one someone would usually perceive [with their voice]. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to take sh*t from people because they can look to me and say \u2018if Jowol can do it, I can too.\u2019\u201d On top of that, as women started thriving online, male VTubers struggled to take flight until the Luxiem branch of NIJISANJI EN exploded onto the scene. From the early days, Jowol noted it was only a natural reaction to feel a little jealous. \u201cWhen I started, I had insecurities about \u2018do people not want to watch me because I\u2019m a man,\u2019\u201d he mused. \u201cBut I realized no, that wasn\u2019t a thing, and even if it was, why would I care? Those aren\u2019t the people who are going to be watching you in the first place. \u201cI don\u2019t want to use the word \u2018male VTuber\u2019 to describe myself. Yeah I\u2019m a man and I use a VTuber model, that\u2019s it. When you start using gendered terms, you start creating a divide between yourself and other people and that seems really lame to do. \u201cYou have to just stream, and find your niche.\u201d VTubing, as a medium, is a powerful tool for expression. There is really nowhere to be bound by the traditional gender norms of society. You can look how you want, and if you want to go the extra mile with a voice changer, sound that way too. It\u2019s why there\u2019s a massive trans community. Fans might have preferences in what they want to watch, and that\u2019s something Jowol acknowledges: \u201cWhen you want to watch somebody who is male-presenting, with a deeper voice, because that\u2019s your preference, I can understand you putting on a label. \u201cBut when you\u2019re a VTuber and you\u2019re putting that on yourself\u2026 it\u2019s not as appealing to me personally. I don\u2019t want to define myself as a male VTuber. I am Jowol, a sexy man trapped inside of a doll. I want to be open to everyone.\u201d It\u2019s an awkward \u201chill to die on\u201d in Jowol\u2019s words, especially when other streaming spaces are heavily dominated by men. And for all the praise NIJISANJI\u2019s Luxiem and Noctyx, as well as Hololive\u2019s STARS project, get for giving a platform for male VTubers, it still proliferates a divide of the VTubing audience. \u201cI can understand why companies would make them gendered, but I really enjoy how NIJISANJI has been doing it recently where they will make mixed-gender VTuber groups [in ILUNA and XSOLEIL]. \u201cThey\u2019re only making the divide worse when they separate teams of VTubers by gender. I think we should specify on it less. We shouldn\u2019t look into it too deep. Let VTubers be VTubers, don\u2019t look at the gender, and let them stream.\u201d Keeping motivated after seven years For someone who has been streaming for seven years and making videos for even longer, PorcelainMaid is rather chipper. There\u2019s a bit of a stereotype about streamers being jaded after chipping away at the craft for years. He\u2019s far from that though. He\u2019s competitive at heart, and seeing the VTubing space continuing to grow around him invigorates his spirit to keep pushing the next frontier. \u201cYou\u2019re always happy with your community and you\u2019re happy with what you have,\u201d he reflected. \u201cYou always stay grateful and humble. But at the same time, you\u2019re never satisfied with where you\u2019re at, because there\u2019s always someone above you. That sounds a bit competitive, but it\u2019s in the nicest way.\u201d The joy he has captured through VTubing and his little \u201croleplay\u201d (not too much, though) hasn\u2019t faded yet. And as long as that spark stays alive, there\u2019s no reason to think about leaving. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be where I\u2019m at right now without VTubing. I\u2019d be stuck, at a dead end, and depressed. In college I was not having a good time. Streaming was my only joy, and without that, I can\u2019t imagine where I\u2019d be. \u201cThis is the one thing in my life I wake up for, and it keeps me up every day. It gives me something to do. \u201cI just want to keep growing. I want to feel where I can comfortably be at the same level as my friends without having any inferiority complexes. I just want to stream and keep growing to the best of my ability, and to keep growing my community to spend more time with more lovely people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PorcelainMaid overcame fears with VTubing, thanks to a marionette doll Twitter: theCecilz \/ SuppliedPorcelainMaid is a stalwart of the indie VTubing scene. He was doing it before there was even a recognized name or community. Seven years on from his streaming start \u2014 six as a VTuber \u2014 much has changed, especially as he\u2019s grown [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}