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I am so proud to present this piece, which is the result of many months of work and research.
This piece is dedicated with great respect and admiration to my nahuatl teacher tlatoanitsin. Without his suggestion to do art of the Aztec gods I would never have made this. Half of all print sale profits go to him to support his work in preserving the nahuatl language and fighting for the wellbeing of indigenous communities of Mexico.
This piece depicts a scene from Aztec creation mythology. Under the cut you can find a writeup of the story, in three languages: english, spanish, and nahuatl (huasteca potosina variant), many thanks to my teacher for providing the translation.
This piece is mixed media, roughly 2000 layers of sketching, photobashing, and overpainting.
English
Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl in Mictlan
The fourth world was drowned in a fifty-two year flood of blood, tears of the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue. The cycle will continue, and now begins the time of the fifth world. It must have people to populate it, and those people must be made from the bones of the people of the previous world. Those bones are in Mictlan, land of the dead where the sky is always dark, where the bitter ceaseless wind is like obsidian knives, and where all that grows is tough and dry.
Quetzalcoatl, lord of the wind, of the arts and of learning, is tasked with retrieving those bones. He is accompanied by his twin brother Xolotl, lord of monsters, deformity, and death. Xolotl takes the form of a sickly and pitiable skeletal dog; the kind of creature that stands on the doorway of death with a foot in each world. Xolotl knows Mictlan well, in this guise he guides the sun through the underworld each night just as he guides souls from the world of the living onwards.
Mictlantecuhtli, lord of the dead and ruler of Mictlan, tells Quetzalcoatl he can take the bones and leave unhindered, but only if Quetzalcoatl can complete an impossible task: play a conch flute that has no holes. But Quetzalcoatl is lord of the wind and if he wills the air to move through a flute then it shall sing. He plays music with the shell, and Mictlantecuhtli is forced to concede and allow Quetzalcoatl to retrieve the bones of the people of the fourth world.
The lord of the dead does not take kindly to being bested by one of the four Creator Brother gods, the Tezcatlipocas. Lower in the hierarchy though he is, this place is his domain, and he will not allow his kingdom to be plundered easily.
He tells his minions to dig a great pit to trap Quetzalcoat. Quetzalcoatl falls, breaking the bones, and his own body. He dies in the pit in the land of the dead, but gods do not stay dead. The death of gods is only part of an endless cycle of change and renewal. He resurrects, and brings the broken bones with him to the fifth world. He mixes them with maize (a symbol of rebirth from death) and with his own holy blood, offered from his earlobes, calves, tongue, and penis. As each bone was broken in the fall into a different size piece, so the new people of the fifth world became different heights.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Español
Quetzalcóatl y Xolotl en Mictlán
El cuarto mundo se ahogó en una inundación de sangre que duró cincuenta y dos años, las lágrimas de la diosa Chalchiuhtlicue. El ciclo continuará, y ahora comienza la era del quinto mundo. Debe haber personas que lo pueblen, y esas personas deben estar hechas de los huesos de las personas del mundo anterior. Esos huesos se encuentran en Mictlán, la tierra de los muertos, donde el cielo siempre está oscuro, donde el viento amargo e incesante es como cuchillos de obsidiana y donde todo lo que crece es duro y seco.
Quetzalcóatl, señor del viento, de las artes y del aprendizaje, tiene la tarea de recuperar esos huesos. Le acompaña su hermano gemelo Xolotl, señor de los monstruos, la deformidad y la muerte. Xolotl toma la forma de un perro esquelético, enfermizo y lamentable; el tipo de criatura que se queda en la puerta de la muerte con un pie en cada mundo. Xolotl conoce bien Mictlán, bajo esta identidad guía al sol a través del inframundo cada noche, al igual que guía a las almas del mundo de los vivos.
Mictlantecuhtli, señor de los muertos y gobernante de Mictlán, le dice a Quetzalcóatl que puede llevarse los huesos y marcharse sin obstáculos, pero solo si Quetzalcóatl puede completar una tarea imposible: tocar una flauta de caracol que no tiene agujeros. Pero Quetzalcóatl es el señor del viento y, si desea que el aire se mueva a través de una flauta, esta cantará. Toca música con la caracola y Mictlantecuhtli se ve obligado a ceder y permitir que Quetzalcóatl recupere los huesos de la gente del cuarto mundo.
Al señor de los muertos no le gusta que le supere uno de los cuatro dioses hermanos creadores, los Tezcatlipocas. Aunque es inferior en la jerarquía, este lugar es su dominio y no permitirá que su reino sea saqueado fácilmente.
Ordena a sus secuaces que caven un gran hoyo para atrapar a Quetzalcóatl. Quetzalcóatl cae, rompiéndose los huesos y su propio cuerpo. Muere en el hoyo de la tierra de los muertos, pero los dioses no permanecen muertos. La muerte de los dioses es solo parte de un ciclo interminable de cambio y renovación. Él resucita y lleva consigo los huesos rotos al quinto mundo. Los mezcla con maíz (símbolo del renacimiento tras la muerte) y con su propia sangre sagrada, ofrecida de sus lóbulos de las orejas, pantorrillas, lengua y pene. Como cada hueso se rompió en la caída en pedazos de diferentes tamaños, así el nuevo pueblo del quinto mundo tuvo diferentes estaturas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Náhuatl
Ketsalkoatl uan Xolotl pan Miktlan
Nauipan tlaltipak misaui pan se esotlaueixtli tlen uejkajki makuilpoalli uan ome xiutl, iixayotl tlen siuateotl Chalchiutlikue. Tonallis panotias, uan aman peua makuilpan tlaltipak. Ma onkaskiya maseualmej tlen mamochantikaj, uan inon maseualmej ma mochijtokaj tlen omiyo maseualli tlen achtouika tlaltepaktli. Inon omimej mopantiaj pan Miktlan, tlalli tlen mijkatsitsin, kampa illuikatl nochipa tsintlayouatok, kampa ajakatl chichik uan moollinia ken istlitlatentli, uan kampa nochi moskaltia tetik uan uaktok.
Ketsalkoatl, ajakatlakatl, toltekayotlakatl uan tlamichtitlakatl, kipia pan imako tlakuepas inon omimej. Kitlauika iiknin kuate Xolotl, tlakatemajmatijketl, tsikuiltik uan mijketl. Xolotl moixchiua tlen se chichi kejkelechtik, mokokoyaj uan mochojchokillia; tlen ken se tlapialli tlen mokaua pan kuatsajketl mijkayotl ka sejsen iikxi pan tlaltipak. Xolotl kiixomati kualli Miktlan, tlen ken ka ni iaxka kiojtlallia tonati pan chiknauimiktlan sejsen youalli, noijki kinojtlallia elluayotl tlen tlaltepaktli kampa maseualmej yoltokej.
Miktlantekujtli, miktlantlakatl uan tlanauatijketl tlen Miktlan, kiillia Ketsalkoatl uelli kinuikas omimej uan moojuitlallis, sanijki Ketsalkoatl uellis kichiuas se tekitl tlen oui: kipitsas se atekokolli tlen amo koyoxtik. Yesej Ketsalkoatl ajakatlakatl uan, tlan kineki ma ajakatl ma moollini pan se akatlapitsalli, ni kuikas. Kuikachiua ka atekokolli uan Miktlantekutli motemaka uan kikaua Ketsalkoatl ma kikuepa omiyo tlen maseualmej tlen nauikpan tlaltipak.
Miktlantlakatl amo kipaktia ma kitlanikaj se tlen nauipan teomej iknimej tlaelliyanij, Teskatlipokamej. Maske iststok tlatsintla tekiuayotl, ni kakiuilli ya tlanauatia uan amo kikauas pan itlanauatillis ma kiichtekikaj nimanok.
Kinnauatia innintekiua ma kichiuakaj se ueyi ostotl uan ma kitskikaj Ketsalkoatl. Ketsalkoatl uetsi, moomiyoposteki uan nojkia itlakayo. Miki pan ostotl tlen Miktlampa, yesej teomej amo mokauaj miktokej. Miktli tlen teomej sanijki se tonalli tlen amo kipia itlamika tlen mopajpatla uan moyankuillia. Ya moyoleua uan kiuika omiyo postektokej kampa makuilpan tlaltipak. Kinmaneloa ika sintli (kistosneki tlen yoleua keman se miki) uan ka ieso teoyalli, temaka tlen inakayotl nakastli, kotstli, nejnepilli uan tepolli. Ken san sejsen omiyo postejki keman uetski motlatlapatski, ijkinon yankuik altepetl tlen makuilpan tlaltipak kipixki miak tlamantli tlen ijuejuexka.
going to give some extra info about the myth being depicted, details of the piece, and common questions i have gotten, like:
who are these guys? what is that thing? what's with the dog? how was this made?
this is probably going to get very, very long, so if you'd like to know more about this aztec creation story, this art piece, and the process of making it, info under the cut!
the setting
this piece depicts mictlan, the aztec world of the dead, ruled by mictlantecuhtli. i scoured ancient sources for physical descriptions to make this piece appropriately accurate, and though physical descriptions of the place are relatively few, i did learn these qualities were generally consistant or often repeated:
-the sky in mictlan is always dark
-there are perilous mountains, which crash together violently
-the wind in mictlan constantly blows and is like "obsidian knives"
-surprisingly, mictlan itself is not barren and dead. it is said to have plants (though all that grows there is tough and dry, including hardy plants like cactuses) and animals (often fierce and dangerous animals which act as hazards or guardians, like jaguars, snakes, and owls, but small animals like quails are also said to live there! in one version of the story i included with this post it is the quails fault that quetzalcoatl trips and breaks the bones.)
what are the layers?
our current world is said to be the fifth world. each of the previous four worlds, resided over by a different god, ended in a different cataclysm caused by the quarreling of the gods. each world was populated by a different kind of people, and when their worlds ended they were sometimes transformed: the fourth world ended in a flood and the people became fish, and the second world's people became monkeys.
to represent this aspect of the mythos, i made the underground of mictlan out of layered ruins, and each layer's ruins were carefully chosen to be progressively older. the second world, which belonged to quetzalcoatl, is made from parts of a temple to quetzalcoatl! on this layer among the skeleton denizens of mictlan you may spot several skeletal monkeys, and on the top layer if you are eagle eyed you may spot the remains of fish.
how was this made?
the base layer was a sketch. it was actually originally one i drew a long time go of a dragon in a well, which i never completed but liked the composition. i changed it into quetzalcoatl, and then spent around 100 hours carefully assembling photo textures, arranging and shaping them in literally thousands of tiny pieces, and then drawing again over the top to unify the light and shadow and add detail. here are some in-progress shots:
here i was showing my friend who posed for the arms how i used his photos; he had seen the end result and thought it was a drawing that just referenced the photos he kindly provided, and i wanted to show him no, that's your actual arms! the whole thing with brokemon was great practice for this piece, a fantastic crash course in assembling hand poses out of a single finger. note that the hands have six fingers (as do the hand shaped frills around the corner of the mouth), i use this as a visual signifier of holiness in a creature.
here is an early iteration of the head. the face was the first part of the image that i did. i ended up scrapping and redoing the feathers almost entirely for something with a more intentional arrangement, as well as scrapping the axolotl-inspired frills, which i thought would be cool but i felt cluttered everything too much and drew attention away from features which were drawn from original depictions of quetzalcoatl. surrounding it you can see some of the component pieces used for the face: a thin strip of red/yellow lip from a crested caracara eagle was shaped into the majority of the face, the teeth and gums were built from one baboon tooth, the hand parts of the frill were contructed from a piece of turkey neck, etc. sometimes merging lots of pieces (like the top of the snout, which was made from jaguar nose, baboon gum, caracara lip, and turkey neck) ended up making something which felt like a nice building block, so i would then use that combined piece in other areas, like to make the tongue. i started with many potential source photos but ultimately using a limited palette of pieces made the final textures have a more cohesive and organic feel.
the final piece was around 2000 layers of photobashing, drawing, and shading, almost half of them being in quetzalcoatl and most of those in the head alone.
what's that light?
this piece depicts life returning to the dead immortal god, and i decided to represent this visually by having him reaching for this light. the symbol is based on a stary eye, something used in aztec art to represent, shockingly, both stars and eyes, and often in association with gods of death. i tried to make it look like both an iris and a star system. quetzalcoatl has taken many forms across aztec mythology, and one of those is the morning star, so i thought a sybolic rising star would be an apt visual representation of resurrection.
below you can see this symbol on the gods xōchipilli and xolotl.
and here you can see this symbol as both eyes and stars in one image, with a god of death.
who's the dog?
this is xolotl, twin brother of quetzalcoatl, in the form of a starving dog. i wanted to give the impression of something that is not a literal dog, but a god taking a vaguely doglike shape, so the closer you look the stranger the anatomy becomes, particularly with the details of the face. xolotl is eyeless because in another myth all the gods are sacrificing themselves in order to make the fifth sun move across the sky, but xolotl backs out and runs away, hiding in the form of an axolotl, then a two headed stalk of maize, then an agave plant with two stems. he is eventually caught, and cries his eyes out for his cowardice, and is often depicted with empty or bloodied eye sockets.
conch shells?
see that white spiralled object around the neck of xolotl in the codice art above? that is an ehecailacacozcatl, a "spirally-voluted wind jewel". here is a photo of a real one!
it is a cut section of a conch shell, and is an object with associations with the wind, with the shape being considered reminscent of a hurricane, and conches themselves being used as instruments. this object is associated with quetzalcoatl, and is worn by him in his human form, as well as by related gods like xolotl above. here you can see it worn by quetzalcoatl and ehecatl. these depictions, with their red beak masks, are why i gave the feathered serpent form a bare red face!
if you are eagle eyed you may spot that quetzalcoatl wears one, tied to his horn, and the conch shell from the story can be found at the bottom of the pit among the bones.
the arms?
any excuse to draw an arms guy :D
in my research for this story i also looked into the feathered serpent god equivalents of quetzalcoatl from other cultures, such as the mayan kukulkan (which also means feathered serpent), or the vision serpent.
these versions of the feathered serpent were often depicted with an emerging face or figure, the mouth of the snake being like a doorway through which spirits or ancestors can interact wiht the world. i wanted to draw quetzalcoatl in the form of the feathered serpent, but also wanted to have him manually interacting with the scene (carrying bones, reaching for the light), so integrating these features from other variants of quetzalcoatl seemed a good way to do that.
bonus info part 2, covering the skeletons and whatever other little details i can think of before hitting send.
skeletons? mummies?
the mummies at the top left are the servants of mictlantecutli, who dug the pit which trapped quetzalcoatl! my partner posed for them, and the mummies were the last thing that i added, so there was, briefly, a version of this image where instead of mummies it was my partner 4x in his underwear.
the skeletons are the denizens of mictlan, people of the doomed previous iterations of the world. if i counted right you may spot a total of 13 complete skeletons, plus three monkey skeletons. the people of the first world were giants, so the skeletons on the bottom layer are noticeably bigger!
the maize field? blood?
maize was considered a symbol of rebirth in aztec tradition, the return of bounty and life after periods of barrenness and hunger. xipe totec, "our lord the flayed one", a god of agriculture, warfare, and seasons, flayed himself in one story to give humanity food. this was representative of how how maize must remove its outer layer before eating/germination, and the appearance of fat under flayed skin was compared to peeled maize.
with this piece i wanted to get across the later part of the story where quetzalcoatl mixes his blood with maize seeds and the bones to create the new generation of people, so i imagined that where he fell, in the time where he was dead a maize field might spring up.
additionaly, where his blood directly touches the ground agave/maguey plants have sprung up, a plant esteemed for how it could be used for fibre, water, needles, syrup, and many other things. a story told about how quetzalcoatl tried to smuggle a lover, mayahuel, from the heavens down to the human world. together they hid as pklants, but her grandmother noticed her absence and sent other gods to retrieve her. they killed and devoured her, leaving quetzalcoatl behind with only scraps of her bones. he buried those bones, which grew into maguey plants, which bring humans so many good things, as quetzalcoatl had loved us and mayahuel.
ok, that's everything i can think of, i think i've covered all the details and interesting mythological aspects, if anyone has any questions about things i didn't do yet i will answer them but if not, thanks for reading this impromptu essay
The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve.
Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.
If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.
Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.
This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!
We rolled out a significant change to how notes work on reblogs, and the reaction has been strong. We're not going to pretend otherwise.
First things first: We're reversing the change. Your feedback in comments, emails, and especially reblogs, made clear that the rollout created problems we need to address before moving forward. We also should have communicated this differently from the start, and we didn't.
We still believe there's a better version of how reblogs can work. One that gives every voice in a chain the credit it deserves. But we want to get there with you.
In the coming days we'll share more on how we plan to do that, including ways to work directly with some of you on this and future changes before they ship.
Hey, I appreciate the rollback and I hope you aren't going to just do it again. We are all BEGGING you. PLEASE! Leave reblogs alone entirely. Leave it ALL alone. None of it needs to be changed, or fixed or "improved". No one needs or wants credit for a comment. We can already like comments and reblogs already give everyone credit and notes! It's was PERFECT. (the way it was before you ruined it with the reblog stuff and the HORRENDOUS separation of the notes) Please don't do anything to it again. I know you think you can improve it, but there is nothing to improve there.
Now, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do away with the separate notes. WE ALL HATE IT. Please listen to us on this because we are the ones using Tumblr! This is NOT Twitter! Every single one of us hates that look and interface, and we are here to experience Tumblr because of how it operates. We love that Tumblr is Tumblr and not Twitter. The separation of the notes isn't just "disorienting" like you said. We genuinely don't like it at all, and it greatly impacts how we use, see, and interact with Tumblr as a whole. It take all the fun and joy out of posting. We ALL hate the separate notes. Please just put it back to the way it was, and let us thrive so you can flourish too! No one wants the twitterfication of this thing we love so much. We want to pay for premium and sent gifts to friends and reblog, and post, and have fun, but we can't do it without you. Please hear us. This last change can improve morale so so much and it's one we all want. Please no more twitter format!
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Hey, I appreciate the rollback and I hope you aren't going to just do it again. We are all BEGGING you. PLEASE! Leave reblogs alone entirely. Leave it ALL alone. None of it needs to be changed, or fixed or "improved". No one needs or wants credit for a comment. We can already like comments and reblogs already give everyone credit and notes! It's was PERFECT. (the way it was before you ruined it with the reblog stuff and the HORRENDOUS separation of the notes) Please don't do anything to it again. I know you think you can improve it, but there is nothing to improve there.
Now, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do away with the separate notes. WE ALL HATE IT. Please listen to us on this because we are the ones using Tumblr! This is NOT Twitter! Every single one of us hates that look and interface, and we are here to experience Tumblr because of how it operates. We love that Tumblr is Tumblr and not Twitter. The separation of the notes isn't just "disorienting" like you said. We genuinely don't like it at all, and it greatly impacts how we use, see, and interact with Tumblr as a whole. It take all the fun and joy out of posting. We ALL hate the separate notes. Please just put it back to the way it was, and let us thrive so you can flourish too! No one wants the twitterfication of this thing we love so much. We want to pay for premium and sent gifts to friends and reblog, and post, and have fun, but we can't do it without you. Please hear us. This last change can improve morale so so much and it's one we all want. Please no more twitter format!
The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve.
Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.
If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.
Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.
This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!
We rolled out a significant change to how notes work on reblogs, and the reaction has been strong. We're not going to pretend otherwise.
First things first: We're reversing the change. Your feedback in comments, emails, and especially reblogs, made clear that the rollout created problems we need to address before moving forward. We also should have communicated this differently from the start, and we didn't.
We still believe there's a better version of how reblogs can work. One that gives every voice in a chain the credit it deserves. But we want to get there with you.
In the coming days we'll share more on how we plan to do that, including ways to work directly with some of you on this and future changes before they ship.
I appreciate the rollback and I hope you aren't going to just do it again because we truly are all against it. We are all BEGGING you. PLEASE! Leave reblogs alone entirely. Leave it ALL alone. None of it needs to be changed, or fixed or "improved". No one needs or wants credit for a comment. We can already like comments and reblogs already give everyone credit and notes! It's was PERFECT. (the way it was before you ruined it with the reblog stuff and the HORRENDOUS separation of the notes) Please don't do anything to it again. I know you think you can improve it, but there is nothing to improve there.
Now, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do away with the separate notes. WE ALL HATE IT. Please listen to us on this because we are the ones using Tumblr! This is NOT Twitter! Every single one of us hates that look and interface, and we are here to experience Tumblr because of how it operates. We love that Tumblr is Tumblr and not Twitter. The separation of the notes isn't just "disorienting" like you said. We genuinely don't like it at all, and it greatly impacts how we use, see, and interact with Tumblr as a whole. It take all the fun and joy out of posting. We ALL hate the separate notes. Please just put it back to the way it was, and let us thrive so you can flourish too! No one wants the twitterfication of this thing we love so much. We want to pay for premium and sent gifts to friends and reblog, and post, and have fun, but we can't do it without you. Please hear us. This last change can improve morale so so much and it's one we all want. Please no more twitter format!
The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve.
Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.
If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.
Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.
This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!
It’s very clear that you all have strong feelings about Tumblr and about this change. We hear you. The passion people have for how Tumblr works is one of the things that makes this place special.
As this rolls out over the next few days and you explore it, we’ll keep reading your replies and reblogs, so please keep sharing your questions, concerns, and ideas.
Your creativity has always been the heart of Tumblr, whether you’re the original poster or adding something brilliant in the reblogs, and nothing about this change is meant to limit that.
If you’d like to talk directly beyond the comments, leave a reply and we’ll follow up with as many of you as we can. We want to work with you to make Tumblr better.
We ALL fucking hate the separate notes and needless extra steps. It quite literally ruins tumblr. Why doesn't Tumblr care what the users want? I can't even use Tumblr now. We are here because we don't want twitter, and yet tumblr is morphing into a site we don't want. This thing that brought us so much comfort has been destroyed. Shit like this shows all of us all that Tumblr truly not only doesn't care about its users at all, but will actively do things to harm the little community that remains on the site despite all the stuff you do to our detriment. ALL of us have said we hate the latest Ul. It is unnecessary. Listen to us. The separation of the notes and the clunkiness of reblogging and navigating now are the biggest gripes. You see and hear this from your userbase and yet you are draining the rest of us away from the site instead of going back to what your users want.
There are people who have been here for over a decade. We matter, and the fact that you won't listen to us is heartbreaking. These latest updates iare not "disorienting". They're fucking bad, and it is absolutely ruining the site for us.
Hey, I appreciate the rollback and I hope you aren't going to just do it again. We are all BEGGING you. PLEASE! Leave reblogs alone entirely. Leave it ALL alone. None of it needs to be changed, or fixed or "improved". No one needs or wants credit for a comment. We can already like comments and reblogs already give everyone credit and notes! It's was PERFECT. (the way it was before you ruined it with the reblog stuff and the HORRENDOUS separation of the notes) Please don't do anything to it again. I know you think you can improve it, but there is nothing to improve there.
Now, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do away with the separate notes. WE ALL HATE IT. Please listen to us on this because we are the ones using Tumblr! This is NOT Twitter! Every single one of us hates that look and interface, and we are here to experience Tumblr because of how it operates. We love that Tumblr is Tumblr and not Twitter. The separation of the notes isn't just "disorienting" like you said. We genuinely don't like it at all, and it greatly impacts how we use, see, and interact with Tumblr as a whole. It take all the fun and joy out of posting. We ALL hate the separate notes. Please just put it back to the way it was, and let us thrive so you can flourish too! No one wants the twitterfication of this thing we love so much. We want to pay for premium and sent gifts to friends and reblog, and post, and have fun, but we can't do it without you. Please hear us. This last change can improve morale so so much and it's one we all want. Please no more twitter format!
The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve.
Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.
If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.
Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.
This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!
We rolled out a significant change to how notes work on reblogs, and the reaction has been strong. We're not going to pretend otherwise.
First things first: We're reversing the change. Your feedback in comments, emails, and especially reblogs, made clear that the rollout created problems we need to address before moving forward. We also should have communicated this differently from the start, and we didn't.
We still believe there's a better version of how reblogs can work. One that gives every voice in a chain the credit it deserves. But we want to get there with you.
In the coming days we'll share more on how we plan to do that, including ways to work directly with some of you on this and future changes before they ship.
Just don't do anything. It's fine as it is. It ain't broken, so don't bloody fix it.
More to the point, no one actually wants any changes, whatever you say 'giving every voice the credit it deserves'. No one was complaining, and until such time as they do - which they never will - just leave it alone.
You have the easiest job in the world, relative to other social media companies. The guys, they may want innovation, and change, but Tumblr does not. All you have to do is keep the servers running. Maybe fix stuff that breaks, every so often, but never in such a waste as to fundamentally change the site.
Hey, I appreciate the rollback and I hope you aren't going to just do it again. We are all BEGGING you. PLEASE! Leave reblogs alone entirely. Leave it ALL alone. None of it needs to be changed, or fixed or "improved". No one needs or wants credit for a comment. We can already like comments and reblogs already give everyone credit and notes! It's was PERFECT. (the way it was before you ruined it with the reblog stuff and the HORRENDOUS separation of the notes) Please don't do anything to it again. I know you think you can improve it, but there is nothing to improve there.
Now, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do away with the separate notes. WE ALL HATE IT. Please listen to us on this because we are the ones using Tumblr! This is NOT Twitter! Every single one of us hates that look and interfac, and we are here to experience Tumblr because of how it operates. We love that Tumblr is Tumblr and not Twitter. The separation of the notes isn't just "disorienting" like you said. We genuinely don't like it at all, and it greatly impacts how we use, see, and interact with Tumblr as a whole. It take all the fun and joy out of posting. We ALL hate the separate notes. Please just put it back to the way it was, and let us thrive so you can flourish too! No one wants the twitterfication of this thing we love so much. We want to pay for premium and sent gifts to friends and reblog, and post, and have fun, but we can't do it without you. Please hear us. This last change can improve morale so so much and it's one we all want. Please no more twitter format!
The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve.
Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.
If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.
Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.
This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!
“The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else.” So you’re taking that away and making tumblr like anywhere else?!
“We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve.” So you’re taking away the thing that would enable conversations and recognition?!
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The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve.
Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.
If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.
Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.
This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!
We rolled out a significant change to how notes work on reblogs, and the reaction has been strong. We're not going to pretend otherwise.
First things first: We're reversing the change. Your feedback in comments, emails, and especially reblogs, made clear that the rollout created problems we need to address before moving forward. We also should have communicated this differently from the start, and we didn't.
We still believe there's a better version of how reblogs can work. One that gives every voice in a chain the credit it deserves. But we want to get there with you.
In the coming days we'll share more on how we plan to do that, including ways to work directly with some of you on this and future changes before they ship.
Hey, I appreciate the rollback and I hope you aren't going to just do it again. We are all BEGGING you. PLEASE! Leave reblogs alone entirely. Leave it ALL alone. None of it needs to be changed, or fixed or "improved". No one needs or wants credit for a comment. We can already like comments and reblogs already give everyone credit and notes! It's was PERFECT. (the way it was before you ruined it with the reblog stuff and the HORRENDOUS separation of the notes) Please don't do anything to it again. I know you think you can improve it, but there is nothing to improve there.
Now, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do away with the separate notes. WE ALL HATE IT. Please listen to us on this because we are the ones using Tumblr! This is NOT Twitter! Every single one of us hates that look and interfac, and we are here to experience Tumblr because of how it operates. We love that Tumblr is Tumblr and not Twitter. The separation of the notes isn't just "disorienting" like you said. We genuinely don't like it at all, and it greatly impacts how we use, see, and interact with Tumblr as a whole. It take all the fun and joy out of posting. We ALL hate the separate notes. Please just put it back to the way it was, and let us thrive so you can flourish too! No one wants the twitterfication of this thing we love so much. We want to pay for premium and sent gifts to friends and reblog, and post, and have fun, but we can't do it without you. Please hear us. This last change can improve morale so so much and it's one we all want. Please no more twitter format!
The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve.
Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.
If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.
Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.
This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!
We rolled out a significant change to how notes work on reblogs, and the reaction has been strong. We're not going to pretend otherwise.
First things first: We're reversing the change. Your feedback in comments, emails, and especially reblogs, made clear that the rollout created problems we need to address before moving forward. We also should have communicated this differently from the start, and we didn't.
We still believe there's a better version of how reblogs can work. One that gives every voice in a chain the credit it deserves. But we want to get there with you.
In the coming days we'll share more on how we plan to do that, including ways to work directly with some of you on this and future changes before they ship.
Hey, I appreciate the rollback and I hope you aren't going to just do it again. We are all BEGGING you. PLEASE! Leave reblogs alone entirely. Leave it ALL alone. None of it needs to be changed, or fixed or "improved". No one needs or wants credit for a comment. We can already like comments and reblogs already give everyone credit and notes! It's honestly PERFECT. (the way it was before you ruined it) Please don't don anything to it again. I know you think you can improve it, but there is nothing to improve there.
Now, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do away with the separate notes. WE ALL HATE IT. Please listen to us on this because we are the ones using Tumblr! This is NOT Twitter! Every single one of us hates that look and interfac, and we are here to experience Tumblr because of how it operates. We love that Tumblr is Tumblr and not Twitter. The separation of the notes isn't just "disorienting" like you said. We genuinely don't like it at all, and it greatly impacts how we use, see, and interact with Tumblr as a whole. It take all the fun and joy out of posting. We ALL hate the separate notes. Please just put it back to the way it was, and let us thrive so you can flourish too! No one wants the twitterfication of this thing we love so much. We want to pay for premium and sent gifts to friends and reblog, and post, and have fun, but we can't do it without you. Please hear us. This last change can improve morale so so much and it's one we all want. Please no more twitter format!
The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve.
Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.
If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.
Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.
This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!
Hey, I appreciate the rollback and I hope you aren't going to just do it again. We are all BEGGING you. PLEASE! Leave reblogs alone entirely. Leave it ALL alone. None of it needs to be changed, or fixed or "improved". No one needs or wants credit for a comment. We can already like comments and reblogs already give everyone credit and notes! It's honestly PERFECT. (the way it was before you ruined it) Please don't don anything to it again. I know you think you can improve it, but there is nothing to improve there.
Now, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do away with the separate notes. WE ALL HATE IT. Please listen to us on this because we are the ones using Tumblr! This is NOT Twitter! Every single one of us hates that look and interfac, and we are here to experience Tumblr because of how it operates. We love that Tumblr is Tumblr and not Twitter. The separation of the notes isn't just "disorienting" like you said. We genuinely don't like it at all, and it greatly impacts how we use, see, and interact with Tumblr as a whole. It take all the fun and joy out of posting. We ALL hate the separate notes. Please just put it back to the way it was, and let us thrive so you can flourish too! No one wants the twitterfication of this thing we love so much. We want to pay for premium and sent gifts to friends and reblog, and post, and have fun, but we can't do it without you. Please hear us. This last change can improve morale so so much and it's one we all want. Please no more twitter format!
So we're all pissed at the new update as we should be and I've been seeing many people proposing blackouts, which is amazing! But all the dates are different and people might get confused at what's happening when, so I just want to organize every blackout (at least that I saw) in one place.
So far I saw six people with dates.
The earliest one, organized by @yourlocalfandomfriendo begins on March 18th and will last 48 hours.
This overlaps with a second proposed blackout by @veejiez for March 19th.
There is also one on the 20th proposed by @daysleftofsecondterm and another one on the same day from 6AM UTC to 6AM UTC on the 21st by @everythingwsnormalhere.
EDIT: someone just sent in another call to blackout action for the 19th and 20th by @mattpurplehoodie, who shared links for Magma and WhiteboardFox for anyone who wants to hang out there during the blackouts.
These three days are all very soon so not everyone may see them in time to participate, but if you are able to participate for any or all of these days, I highly encourage you do. Otherwise there are two more blackouts coming up:
The next one after these will be on March 24th as organized by @aroacesafeplaceforall who suggested doing 12 hours.
And the last one, which I personally have a lot of hope for as it's a major day for activity on Tumblr and a blackout then could be especially impactful: April 1st, as proposed by @darkwood-sleddog
There is also a discord set up by @yourlocalfandomfriendo and @aroacesafeplaceforall for anyone interested in joining in!
SO OVERALL, it may sound like a lot, but no one expects everyone to participate to every date here. But PLEASE try to participate in at least one or two of these, even if you feel it may not do much.
Typical strikes, the ones we hear about all the time, win by withholding their labour for consistent periods of time; that's the power people have at work because that's what's exploited.
For blackout strikes, we need to withhold our attention; the resource we own which is exploited through the selling of both advertisements and data.
My comparison of blackout strikes with regular strikes will be for a whole other post, but for the time being, just know that
withholding our attention is our digital bargaining weapon
Tumblr literally lost 63% of its monthly traffic from 2024 to 2025; they are not in a position to play around with those of us still here.
So PLEASE try participating. We cannot let every decent online space get enshittified with no care or consideration for the communities using those spaces.
And where labour strikers risk losing incomes and jobs, all blackout strikers risk is... gaining some of their attention back for a little bit.
The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve.
Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.
If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.
Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.
This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!
It’s very clear that you all have strong feelings about Tumblr and about this change. We hear you. The passion people have for how Tumblr works is one of the things that makes this place special.
As this rolls out over the next few days and you explore it, we’ll keep reading your replies and reblogs, so please keep sharing your questions, concerns, and ideas.
Your creativity has always been the heart of Tumblr, whether you’re the original poster or adding something brilliant in the reblogs, and nothing about this change is meant to limit that.
If you’d like to talk directly beyond the comments, leave a reply and we’ll follow up with as many of you as we can. We want to work with you to make Tumblr better.
Reblogging with updates on the ACTUAL number of notes.
Don't let their new ui fool you because of the break-up of notes. There are nearly 30,000 comments screaming about how terrible and harmful this is. Keep commenting, keep reblogging, keep emailing and tagging and flooding every possible avenue you can. Tag the CEO @ photomatt, tag @changes and @staff. Leave 1 star reviews in the Google Play store and the app store for iphone. Keep doing all you can. We all matter. Our voice, our safety, our needs matter. Tumblr is nothing without us and they can't just walk all over us. WE MATTER! OUR SAFETY AND OUR NEEDS MATTER! WE HAVE A VOICE. PLEASE DONT GIVE UP!
I will do my best to keep posting updates on the actual numbers since Tumblr isn't showing the truth due to the new notes. Tumblr has made a choice to make us unsafe and they have walked all over us and tried to silence us. It's not okay.
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✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
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The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve.
Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.
If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.
Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.
This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!
It’s very clear that you all have strong feelings about Tumblr and about this change. We hear you. The passion people have for how Tumblr works is one of the things that makes this place special.
As this rolls out over the next few days and you explore it, we’ll keep reading your replies and reblogs, so please keep sharing your questions, concerns, and ideas.
Your creativity has always been the heart of Tumblr, whether you’re the original poster or adding something brilliant in the reblogs, and nothing about this change is meant to limit that.
If you’d like to talk directly beyond the comments, leave a reply and we’ll follow up with as many of you as we can. We want to work with you to make Tumblr better.
Reblogging with updates on the ACTUAL number of notes.
Don't let their new ui fool you because of the break-up of notes. There are nearly 30,000 comments screaming about how terrible and harmful this is. Keep commenting, keep reblogging, keep emailing and tagging and flooding every possible avenue you can. Tag the CEO @ photomatt, tag @changes and @staff. Leave 1 star reviews in the Google Play store and the app store for iphone. Keep doing all you can. We all matter. Our voice, our safety, our needs matter. Tumblr is nothing without us and they can't just walk all over us. WE MATTER! OUR SAFETY AND OUR NEEDS MATTER! WE HAVE A VOICE. PLEASE DONT GIVE UP!
I will do my best to keep posting updates on the actual numbers since Tumblr isn't showing the truth due to the new notes. Tumblr has made a choice to make us unsafe and they have walked all over us and tried to silence us. It's not okay.
TUMBLR'S RECENT UPDATE IS AWFUL AND WE SHOULD COMPLAIN LOUDER AGAINST IT.
Hey so, I thought maybe we should participate in a blackout day to protest against the new tumblr update.
Let's try March 19. So that people have time to see this and plan for it.
Do not log in or use tumblr for 24 hours on this day.
Reblog this and make a tag chain to maximise visbility—the more people aware of this awful update, the better.
Circle the date on your calendar, or set a reminder on your phone. As a bonus it will be a good break from social media. Spend the day doing things you like—start that book you've been waiting to read, go outside, watch a good movie... just do anything except open tumblr.
I think we should show tumblr that we are not happy with this update in every possible way we can.
File support tickets with feedback (SEE BELOW ON HOW TO SEND FEEDBACK), post about how this update makes you feel, reblog other's posts about this update, offer as detailed and honest feedback as possible to tumblr—WE DO NOT WANT THIS UPDATE!!
Remember that WE are the end consumers.
WE build their platform, WE fill it with posts, WE are the reason they generate revenue, WE are the reason this platform has power, and for these reasons WE should feel satisfied with the service they provide. ESPECIALLY if you pay for tumblr premium, you are entitled to make a complaint about the platform you are PAYING.
I used to like tumblr and I'd like to cling to it, but this update is just horrible. It makes me not want to continue posting at all. It is utterly demotovating as-is with my being mature labelled, but this update is just intolerable. I do not know how I will feel motivated to post at all in the future if this update is not rolled back.
I know I don't have much reach, especially with a label on, but I hope this reaches at least a few people.
Please participate if you care. Please reblog and tag people you know. Send every bit of feedback to tumblr that you possibly can.
I really don't want to see my once favorite site ruined beyond repair. I really want to continue enjoying this site. I have a community of people here which I have built over years, a community which I deeply love and appreciate and cherish interacting with. My blog thrives on being able to see feedback in reblogs on my post. The whole point of posting is that people see it and engage with it. This update is at best nonsensical and at worst, going to shred off many creators from the platform and rip apart any last bits of fun we have using it.
SEE BELOW for more information on the update & how to send a support ticket to give feedback.
HOW TO SEND FEEDBACK THROUGH SUPPORT TICKETS
Go to tumblr support
Select the category "feedback"
Write in formal, polite tone—try not to sound rude, but constructive and earnest about how dissatisfied you feel about the update and its effects
EXAMPLE: I am writing regarding tumblr's recent update. I am not happy with this feature and do not see myself enjoying the platform with this being implemented. Please rollback this update.
IMPORTANT LINKS
Comment your feedback on tumblr's twitter
Here is the original tumblr post stating the update change
This post by @thatlittleegyptologist explains the effects of the update
Dear tumblr please listen to our feedback and rollback this update.
The Update SUCKS @inthepiness - Tumblr Blog | Tumlook
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