in light of people's confusion over cecil's longevity in @sexymanotd i wanted to document a bit of his history for those unfamiliar or nostalgic
welcome to night vale is a podcast written by joseph fink and jeffrey cranor. cecil gerschwin palmer is the main character and voiced by cecil baldwin.
it debuted on june 15, 2012 it reached its peak in popularity in 2013-2014
despite this, wtnv has been one of tumblr's top fandoms since staff started tracking fandom-related data in 2014
for the longest time the only thing we knew about cecil's appearance was: "He is wearing a tie. He is not tall or short. Not thin or fat." and that wasn't until episode 19 which aired march 15, 2013. for almost a full year we had no idea what cecil looked like. so tumblr's collective unconscious kicked into high gear and we did what we do best
we created a tumblr sexyman
from know your meme: "Defining traits of the archetype include skinny body type, trickster or villain role and dapper clothing."
know your meme identifies wheatley (portal 2, 2011) and the onceler (the lorax, 2012) as being likely tumblr's first sexymen. and the onceler fandom was at its peak in 2012-2013, the same time as wtnv. in addition to this, the hannibal fandom has been cited as one of the contributing factors to wtnv's success on tumblr.
so tumblr had created an archetype that worked and the wtnv fandom was made up of mostly hannibal fans - the foundation for putting cecil in a suit was there. and honestly? cecil's at work in the show, why wouldn't he be well dressed?
however, while this explains his attire it doesn't explain some of cecil's more unique sexyman features, namely the tentacles. for this we have to return to the 2014 fandom review analysis where you can see the most popular fandom at the time: homestuck
haven't you ever wondered why almost a quarter (189/923 at time of writing) of E rated wtnv fics on ao3 are tagged tentacles or tentacle sex? why cecil having tentacles for a dick is such a seemingly popular headcanon? well look no further then homestuck cultural hold over.
throughout all of this, the development of the sexyman archetype on tumblr and the rise of homestuck, one creator really stands out: kinomatika
kino was one of the most popular homestuck artists on tumblr at the time, popular for their eridan fanart. if you google image search "welcome to night vale" kino's art is still one of the first results you'll get
their design was so popular in fact it was featured in wtnv related articles from the time
and yes there were absolutely other artists giving cecil tentacles and moving tattoos at the time, but it can't be understated the reach kino had and the influence their homestuck roots had on their design choices
i recommend going through the archive of @nightvaleartclub to see how cecil used to be portrayed back in the early days. unfortunately the earliest fanart i've been able to find is july 2013 and i find it hard to believe it took tumblr a year to draw him. although, i started listening at episode 5 and didn't start drawing him until then myself so who knows...
cecil has had tumblr's heart in a vice grip since episode 1, with "20,000 posts, 183,000 blogs and 680,000 notes using the #Night Vale tag" during its first week. tumblr's love for wtnv has always been fairly genuine, from the impact the writing has had on tumblr humor and future story telling, to how wtnv paved the way for lgbt+ representation in indi media, to how it popularized podcasts as a medium for story telling, to the little comforts some of cecil's quotes still bring people today
cecil is not only a founding father of tumblr culture, but also a blorbo of the people. cecil the character in canon has a tumblr account where he posts his art and slash fanfiction.
although cecil's character has developed over time and we've come to see what a ditzy, eccentric, brat he really is, changing his status from sexyman to babygirl, cecil is absolutely a character you should embrace. and you know what... despite what i've said in the past
#cecilsweep
[ID: Images one and two are Google analytic graphs for the search terms "welcome to night vale" and "wtnv" between June 15, 2015 and January 27, 2023. They both depict very sharp spikes around 2013-2014 until the lines decrease greatly over time.
Image three is a drawing of Cecil from Welcome To Nightvale. He is white, with white hair, glasses, a third eye on his forehead, and he is wearing a suit. In the background is the silhouette of a neighborhood from the WTNV official art, a galaxy, and a moon. It is tinted purple. Image four is the always has been meme. Instead of the earth is the tumblr logo, and the text is: “a wtnv fansite?” “Always has been”. End ID] id thanks to @princess-of-purple-prose
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(part 1) Character/Show information found on Gooseworx's tumblr
I went into Gooseworx's tumblr and made a list of all the info found on there so far.
Caine:
Caine named himself before deciding that it's an acronym that stands for Creative Artificial Intelligence Networking Entity (he thinks it makes him sound professional)
‘’[Caine] does not have an age, as he is an AI.’’
Apparently, Caine is likely the best singer out of everyone in the circus.
Caine would own a circus peanut shotgun.
Caine can’t grasp the concept of irony.
Caine is not affected by “this statement is false”
if Caine could remove his clothes, there’d be nothing underneath. His clothes are his body.
Caine constantly gives silly nicknames to everything.
Caine would only bite his eyes or tongue if he thought it’s funny. Otherwise, they clip through his teeth
the restaurant that Caine was in with Bubble is “one of Caine’s special realms.”
Bubble:
Bubble speaks in reverse once in episode 3.
Bubble is a much simpler AI created by Caine
Apparently, Bubble is the biggest slut.
Bubble is ‘’Caine’s little hype man’’
Bubble likes being popped.
Bubble is a boy
Pomni:
Pomni’s hat is a part of her body
Pomni does not like being touched
Pomni’s first design looked liked a frog
Pomni’s reaction to herself in the mirror isn’t a positive reaction
Apparently, Pomni’s hair is black.
Pomni is good at accounting.
Ragatha:
Ragatha gives the best hugs
Ragatha has been in the circus the second longest.
Ragatha likes horses.
Ragatha can see through her button eye
Jax:
‘’There’s a particular character who hasn’t been revealed yet who’s practically a self-insert.’’ (He’s the mean one…Jax?)
Nobody likes Jax
Jax doesn’t have a tail.
Jax deserves to be trapped in the circus the most
There’s nothing heroic about Jax.
Jax is morally the worst character in the show.
Jax didn’t enter the circus at the age of 14.
Jax didn't react well when he first entered the circus
Jax is afraid of corn because it reminds him of something called 'the farm’. (this turned out to be a lie)
Jax mainly bullies the girls because he has issues he hasn’t worked out with himself yet.
Gangle:
Gangle likes to draw, specifically anime.
Gangle can walk on water, but only during a full moon. (this turned out to be a lie)
Gangle’s favourite anime is Azumanga Daioh.
Gangle has a body pillow with a character on it.
Gangle watched One Piece, and her favorite character was Chopper.
Kinger:
For some reason, when Gooseworx was asked to describe the next character (who we now know to be Kinger), she used the word ‘’dad’’
Kinger is not British.
Kinger is the tallest and oldest
Kinger knows how to play chess.
Zooble:
Zooble almost gets no screen time in the first two episodes
Zooble has a 'zooble box’ of extra parts in their room, and it has no end.
Zooble does not like hugs
Zooble has been in the circus the second shortest.
Zooble is very grouchy and irritable.
Zooble would smoke weed.
Zooble is the worst at giving hugs
Zooble is constantly trying out different parts.
Zooble was a tattoo artist at one point.
Zooble most likely dyed their hair in the real world.
the Sun & the Moon
The Moon (and the Sun) is an AI "like bubble"
the Sun can talk too
Queenie
The black queen chess pieces name is Queenie
Queenie being a black chess piece and Kinger being a white chess piece has no relevancy to their relationship. It’s only a design choice.
Queenie and Kinger aren’t siblings.
multiple characters
How each member of the cast would react if you called them 'adorable’.
Ragatha: oh! Thank you so much!
Jax: Well that makes one of us.
Gangle: oh…
Pomni: Uhhhhhh… thanks I guess?
Zooble: Shut up…
Kinger: Heh!
Caine: You’re absolutely right!
Bubble: *says every slur*
Jax is the youngest member of the circus, with Zooble being the second youngest as they are half a month older than Jax.
Nobody in the circus is truly sane
the ages of all the humans.
Pomni - 25
Jax - 22
Ragatha - 30
Zooble - 22
Gangle - 26
Kinger - 48
The performers can feel pain
Every character has a reason for the way they act.
We’ll get to see the characters' rooms eventually.
Ragatha can play the cello and Zooble can play drums
None of the characters have bones, but they do have a visible skeleton when they’re being electrocuted.
Other
There wont be any singing, only instrumental songs
There are “many” that we don’t know of.
The typical episode length will be 21-25 minutes.
There won’t be any romance
‘’the entire show is about exploring these characters on a much deeper level.’’
Abstraction can’t be undone.
The abstracted all look the same
Someone asked who was closest to abstracting besides Kinger, in response Gooseworx said ‘’You wouldn't believe me if I told you.’’
“This show isn’t going to be very suitable for young kids, especially in the later episodes.’’
Future Episodes
There’s “technically” a worm in episode 2.
There is an episode that heavily features Kinger.
Some episodes are a '1’ on the horror scale, some are a '6’. all of the following
"If it were to get made into a full season, yes each character gets their own little episode."
all of the following episodes in one word.
boy
damn
oh…
haha!
guns
huh?
OH
what…
On 7th of November, Gooseworx said "the plan is eight episodes total, one season".
Note that some of this info may have changed since posting. Some may change during the course of the show, and some may be jokes and lies. Please let me know if there's anything I missed!
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Hello, it's Lelly.
As you may know, I have recently deactivated my Twitter account. A lot of people are speculating I left because I was being harassed for drawing my older depiction of Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls as chubby. However... that's not the direct reason I left. In fact, I didn't really see much of the comments of folks on there getting riled up about it as I muted the tweet the morning I saw that it blew up. I was only merely aware of it all by being told about it from friends, with there being some other users on the site making other really fuckin' stupid comments about my art.
This does however lead into why I actually left Twitter, and it's because of Twitter's overall toxic nature. Overtime, I've really gotten sick of how absolutely revolting Twitter has become to experience. The site is basically built around dunk culture and doom scrolling. You know that one tweet of someone making an example of Twitter's utter stupidity by using pancakes and waffles as an example?
I bring this up because I think this fits my point about how Twitter has this thing of assuming the absolute worst about the most insignificant things, even the most innocuous. The "Bubbles obesity" comments weren't the only stupid comments that came out of that post. I also got a quote retweet that I was "forcefully feminizing Buttercup", even though the whole fucking point of that drawing was to depict a usually tough character in an unusual situation for her. I have also gotten stupid comments on other drawings though, like the one where Mitch pushes Buttercup down for trying to look taller than she is and I got called a misogynist for it, though I'm pretty sure that one was bait (Twitter users have a tough time figuring out what is and isn't bait, it's dunk culture that I'm about to talk about really doesn't help this).
The site's dunk culture is also really fuckin' bad. Quote retweets are a disease, as unlike Tumblr's reblog comments, quote retweets count as a different post. Someone disagrees with you? Show your audience how stupid they are on your page! Hey, are you trying not to see the most abhorrent racist statement imaginable? Well TOO BAD FUCK YOU here's a le epic own giving them all the attention in the world even though one of the most common internet rules are DON'T FEED THE FUCKIN' TROLLS YOU IDIOT. Oh hey, are you trying to explain how you prefer a certain artistic choice over another in something you like? Well you're a deranged ungrateful whiny nitpicker, get owned!
I've seen so many of my friends be belittled for simply discussing their artistic preferences of things they're passionate about. I'll never forgive y'all for beating down my friend for saying he prefers the original Crash Bandicoot design over his redesigned look in Crash 4, even when he had legitimate reasons for why he felt that way. I'm sick and tired of it all. The reaction to my art is only a mere example of the shit I despise about that site.
I had been planning on leaving Twitter for quite some time, as my follower count was growing nearer and nearer to 10K. I had planned on leaving after 10K followers because that amount was wayyyy too fuckin big for me to handle. I'm a young and growing lad, and I felt it wouldn't be good for my mental sanity to handle all that, so I dipped. The amount of attention I've been getting is simultaneously both wonderful and extremely overwhelming. Even the explosion of new followers and asks on here is quite the load! (Seriously, calm the fuck down y'all) I am very grateful for all the supportive asks I've gotten even though I won't be able to answer them all, thank you all so very much.
tl;dr I didn't leave Twitter because I was being harassed or anything, but rather because of the site's overall toxic and belittling environment.
Adios.
-Lelly
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