#wtnv review

[nightvaleofficial]

2023 we finished touring the haunting of night vale that we started right before the pandemic in March 2020. Finally closing a chapter after 3 years so we could move forward, rehearse and produce a new show! Touring The Attic has been exciting and we can’t wait for more in 2024 ! We head back on tour Jan 9 and we hope to see y’all on the road!!

[quisters]

I’m going to start reviewing fiction podcasts. What should I do first?

(Please comment, ask, or reblog your suggestions!!)

[vvanillavveins]

Lauren is now canonically anywhere from 7 to 10 to possibly dozens of ft tall. Y'know what that means?- She can step on me.

[sade-of-spades]

I wrote about going to the most recent live show for an assignment and one of my peer reviews was just this when I described Night Vale

[colonelmajorkepler]

just finished listening to the attic liveshow and wow i really liked that!! it felt very reminiscent of old night vale to me, nothing too town-shattering but more personal (even if it did technically affect most people in town). my favourite line i think, and this is slight spoilers, was “abby and i would sit there in the dark holding hands, not knowing what game was being played, knowing only that we were losing”. like OUCH that hit me hard, especially because i’m a sucker for anything related to cecil and abby and their past (bc who isn’t) so anytime i hear smth like that i just want to cry and give their younger selves the biggest hug :((

other than that my favourite part i think was cecil and disparition just swapping places LMAO that was hilarious to me. it also made me wish, not for the first time, the live shows were recorded so i could see what’s going on. i’ve seen photos people have taken and i wish i could’ve also seen what was being shown on the screens and also cecil being silly on the piano. i’m sure there’s a practical reason it’s only audio recordings but as someone who is likely never going to see a night vale show live (australian city that nobody visits sigh) idk it would be nice to actually watch a visual live show

but yes anyways 10/10 live show loved it and we got to hear deb TWICE so that’s always a win

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

I-

Oh my gosh

That was ABSOLUTELY A M A Z I N G

SLFKGHLJHS DR LUBELLE GOT SQUISHED BY A COW

CARLOS IS THE NEW DEAN AAAHHHH!!!

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH 😭😭😭😭 HE'S INVESTIGATING THE DESERT OTHERWORLD!!!!

Also Cecil's attachment to the lights above the Arby's :'D like it makes so much sense obviously but just hearing him talk about it in the beginning and then at the end 😭😭😭 I literally can't :'))

And related to that, "ancient radio host" 👀👀👀 YESSSS we love when we vaguely acknowledge that ;)

And related to THAT, as I was thinking the whole time, I love how Dr. Lubelle didn't even try to explain Cecil XD. Girl really was just gonna leave him and the Ralph's lol, and that's how it should be 😌 I mena if it had to happen lol. Or just like, Cecil not being explained in general.

Anyway

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

YESSS EVERYONE'S BACK!!!

Except, of course, for one 😭

All Mourn the Glow Cloud <33

So yeah :'D I enjoyed this episode SO freaking much (the weather was beautiful by the way - not in a calm way, but just super good lol). Another year :').

Night Vale, I love you so freaking much <3. Thank you :')).

[khoshekhofpodcasts]

catching up with night vale after not listening for a while is such a strange experience, like

you see people freaking out but quickly scroll past to avoid spoilers. a few weeks later you have a chance to relax and dedicate 30 mins of focus to listening to an episode. your hand trembles as you slowly reach towards the "play" button. the intro plays. you are terrified of the emotional damage you are about to endure, but soothed by the calming tones of cecil gershwin palmer. you sit, paralysed with anticipation.

it's an episode about bread.

[nervousferret]

"Alice Isn't Dead: A Novel" by Joseph Fink

My mini review of this book; It's a really good book with great wlw representation. The main character Keisha has an anxiety disorder and I really enjoyed the way she was written. The first 2 parts of the book had me hooked and I loved the mystery it presented, the atmosphere the author set was a vivid testimony to rural/mid America and life on "the road." The relationship with Keisha and Alice was super cute and the way Keisha's grief was described really gave me an idea of her mindset. I love how Keisha chose to not forgive Alice because Alice deserved it, but because Keisha deserved to be happy. I rarely see books make their characters deal with the consequences of their actions, and it was a moment that felt very real and in character.

I will say that there is a pretty big tone shift in the second half of the book, I wont say any spoilers but the switch from small town, trucker, mid-west murder conspiracy wasn't something I saw coming. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, and the writing continues to deliver all its goodness from the first half.

All and all I highly recommend this book, not only to the Welcome to Night Vale enjoyers, but anyone looking for a good mystery/horror fiction/thriller book.

[arataka-reigen]

Here I was enjoying ep 70A and thinking about how happy I was to see Kevin again so I decided to browse the 'wtnv 70A' tag to see if anyone liked it as much as me and... well... looks like not a lot of people like Kevin lol

[thegalaxypanda1996]

WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE YEAR 3 REVIEW

This year of night vale took me on a roller coaster of emotion with Carlos and Cecil's relationship even with my knowledge of their future relationship it just hurts sometimes listening to their ups and downs as they navigate their romantic relationship

Not to mention all of the really cool stuff that happened like the list coming back I never really expected that to become relevant again such a bizarre thing That when I first heard the list I was like this isn't really going to come back but it did and I would have been one of the unfortunates that met a grizzly end because I didn't know the list lol

And then all the Cecil lore that got dropped in the best of episode was incredible like complete and total mind blown

Also I've always really liked the weather section because it introduces me to cool new music my music taste is pretty much everything so I'll like most anything but the sheer joy I got when true trans rebel soul started playing during WE MUST GIVE PRAISE was undescribable That is one of my most favorite songs ever it's the one I have going full volume with the windows down after work it's just one of my songs and it just brought such a smile to my face to hear it on nightvale

Favorite Episodes

54 a carnival comes to town

56 homecoming

57 the list

59 antiques

62 hatchets 😍

64 WE MUST GIVE PRAISE 🎸🎶

67 [best of]? 🤯

70b Review

[tgemorbingpaper]

carlos voice shawty kinda foreboding with it!!

[kerink]

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

[cyanmountains]

Guess the podcast

[enjoy-purple-skies]

If there is anything wtnv is doing to me, it’s motivating me to finish my science degree so I can explore a small desert community, get married to their ancient radio host, and outsmart a horde of scientists thru the sheer power of peer review

[vestaclinicpod]

Audio Drama Sunday - 2nd June ✨

I feel like I haven’t had lots of listening time this week, but what I have heard has been amazing!  

🌲 @hellofromthehallowoods (154) ohh I am such an arachnophobe but I loveddd the return of LEM. Clem selling Danielle out sure is a CHOICE but tbh Danielle has such Ethel vibes this season that I assumed she was who Clem was going to visit when she was introduced. If anyone can stare down all 8 of Ethel’s eyes, it’s our girl Danielle. I want her to blow strawberry smoke in them from her new sexy cigarette holder. I had been wondering how the other boat could possibly house our nautical murderer but they can fly!! Duh! Imagine being stuck in a room with futuristic Vermin Supreme while there’s a vampire outside?? Bonkers. 

I’m SO desperate for the next episode to find out the results of Shank autopsy!! Shelby better get 60000 apologies from the other pigs in the room…… 

🧳 Travelling Light @monstrousproductions (23) system administrator??? what does that MEAN? I really thought they were going to kiss this episode 🤭 What a lovely story of conservation and love for nature!!! 

👁️ @malevolentcast (42) I am OBSESSED with Yorick’s jaw snap. What a fun sound effect. I honestly can’t be coping with these situations Arthur gets into. A rapier?? Internally?? Sir. Please. You do too much. 

🎙️WTNV (249) I know I say this all the time… but the weather really did slap this episode.

🖥️ The Magnus Protocol (18) This one was genuinely unsettling. I can’t believe the neutral response from the autopsy guy?? Literally ‘felt cute, might delete later’?? I would be taking myself straight to A+E to wait 23 hours for a mental health review??? 

🍎 @notquitedeadpod (XXXX) AAAAAAAH. SUCH a good episode and SUCH a good ending to the season!! Ohh the acting was SO good. It hurt me to hear Neige like that. Alfie’s rage and panic and despair were so palpable. The scenes at the facility were perfectly gory. I guess the benefit of having a 10000 year old vampire boyfriend is that he’s survived without cars and electricity before and, by God, he’ll do it again. I am wishing Eira nothing but impeccable and easy planning and writing for the next season! I can’t wait!!! 

👻 @tellnotalespod (S2E11) eek! I feel very weird writing about something I’m in but just want to share how excited I am to be a part of one of my favourite shows 🩷 a huge thanks to Leanne for having me!!!! 

Today is the last day to support @monkeymanproductions' crowdfunder for their next show Waiting For October! They're so close to their goal!!

[nervousferret]

Okay, okay, I have so much to say about this book, and I know I'm mainly a wtnv blog so I want to recommend you freaks (affectionately) a novel I think you'd all really enjoy. "This Thing Between Us" is a horror/thriller/phycological fiction that combines haunted technology, something awful in the woods, cosmic horror, and a touch of surrealist vibes in an unsettling and gripping novel. The exploration of grief through our protagonist Thiago as he deals with the suspicious death of his wife is presented through surreal and unsettling imagery.

This book offers up incredible moments of horror that always caught me off guard. The atmosphere and mood that is established is guaranteed to unsettled you, and the ending will leave you both shocked and heartbroken. !!Content warnings for this book include: gore, disturbing imagery, death of a dog, death of people, existentialism, body horror, and themes of despair.

//SPOILER WARNING//

The author, Gus Moreno, uses disturbing imagery to explore the impact of grief on a persons life and mindset. For example, The Wall. The Wall appears in part II when Thiago chases after his dog into the woods of his newly purchased ~scary secluded cabin in the middle of nowhere Colorado OoOoOoOoh~. When he stumbles upon The Wall he describes it as "...a single slab with perfect ninety-degree corners at the top. The rest was webbed with veins of mud, moss, so it was hard to tell if it was all one piece or if the mud was its mortar." This strange, nearly perfect structure in the middle of the woods stands out like a polar bear in a bikini contest. With its jarring corners and stark lines it demands attention and acknowledgment. Yet it's made up of perfectly normal forest material, mud and moss; just as grief, in principle, is completely normal feeling and something others can look at you and understand. Unsurprisingly, The Wall symbolizes the presence of grief in a persons life. The Wall also acts as a literal and metaphorical barrier between Thiago, alive and...well "thriving" is a pretty strong word... and his wife, who's dead and cold as an Alaskan well-diggers ass in February.

I wish the exploration of Thiago's Mexican ethnicity and his troubled family tree was a bigger theme in the novel, but I understand why it had to take a back seat for narrative cohesion. But in the end when it circles back into a self-fulfilling prophecy, it had me in TEARS.

Overall, if you are a fan of horror, Welcome to Night Vale, work by Joseph Fink, or any regular Joe-Schmo, I HIGHLY recommend this book and I am in no way qualified to do it justice in this review.