I've been worrying for a long while, ever since the more thorough synopsis and information for ep 100 came out, that Vinyl would end up not getting any lines. This worry increased even further when the clip for the Octavia and Vinyl segment came out.

Believe me, I loved the ep! I really did! But...

I worried that if it ended up how I imagined it, and She said nothing, that it would end up setting a new "Status quo" so to speak, of everyone considering Vinyl a mute, even if the reasons for her having no lines stemmed from not wanting to upset fans and the like.

It seems to be happening as I imagined it so far. I look around, and many people seem to be saying that "Oh, Vinyl must be mute, that's now canon," and I worry that it's all we'll see now fic wise, instead of the myriad of different Vinyl personifications we've seen up to now.

It did actually give me an idea for a fic that could give me the Vinyl I like, but still address the concept of a mute Vinyl, so I'll give it that, but otherwise, does anyone else think I'm wrong to worry?

Edit: This seemed a bit lacking, so I decided to add on. One thing that I believe contributes to how I feel about this is how it works in stories as a whole. Dialogue, natural, smooth dialogue between characters is a very tricky thing for many authors to do well, at least on the first pass of writing a story. Compound that in, say, a conversation between Octavia and Vinyl alone for instance, and the problem can easily be escalated. It would work without much issue with one shots, but longer stories would be much more difficult to move things along without telling more than showing.

I share that worry a bit, i mean ppl seem to take this no VA way too far (or misunderstand it). She spoke in the comics in public and thats what im going with, may not be speaking alot then but eh im cool with that. Most writers here had no issue writing a speaking vinyl did they, so why shuld that change cuz Hasbro doesnt want to let her speak in the episodes for good reason.

tldr: continue Octascratch as it was week ago (just now with confirmation they actually live together)

4467285

Frustrating thing is that people either forget the comics, or sometimes refuse to accept them as "Canon," since they do sometimes conflict with show canon. I think the most common way of looking at it is that they're tentatively canon.

4466870 Personally I'd prefer to think of her as someone who thinks actions speak louder than words. She can talk; she usually chooses not to.

4467491
Thats the thing tho, dont alot of Octascratch stories rely on stuff like the banter between them, by having Vinyl being this silent you remove that aspect and to a certain degree something that makes Scratch and Tavi attract us so much? (As Meltian basically said in somehwat different words in the first post here)

4467483
True, the comics boils down to personal interpretation i suppose. I guess luckily th greatest Octascratches have already been finished or are on their way atm. And they set the course i think, i can only hope this Mute Vinyl wont overtake that.

4466870 Me too, man! I was just… unsatisfied.

4467546

I'm thinking that for a lot of authors, they would be turned away from the prospect of writing an entirely mute Vinyl in a story, as it would make it harder to make anything work well if Vinyl and Octavia are the main players, or if it's a story that focuses on Vinyl alone. When I think about it after a day of thought, I don't think it'll stop anyone from writing Vinyl how she usually is, because I'd think most find it really fun.

4466870
If you don't mind me putting my two bits in the matter, I don't think it should spread out too much, the whole idea of her being a mute. I mean, I'm sure someone out there will play with the idea a little bit (and it was probably gonna happen eventually, with at least one story already out there that had her either blind, color-blind, or deaf), but I think her usual chatty self is more heavily accepted overall in the fandom to really be suddenly taken to be mute. Even if it does, I'm sure there will always be a good number of the fans who will go against it and never fully acknowledge the fact, I mean we kinda already do regarding Vinyl's eye color (with it being supposedly magenta, canonly, but being ruby-red to the fans).

4470229

That's very true. Yeah, as I said above, after giving it a fair bit of thought, I realized that this one thing probably isn't going to have many people accepting that as the only way to write Vinyl. People will likely play with it, but it severely limits her character, and I think most people will prefer to write her as they always have.

It's really been bothering me too. Lately all I've been seeing is Mute Vinyl fics. All because Hasbro wouldn't let her talk in Slice Of Life for some reason. It's like the chatty Vinyl Scratch I enjoy from the fanon is never going to appear again.