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Holiday hangout ౨ৎ‧₊˚

[Lysimachia europaea] arctic starflower/Siebenstern

[Cardamine pretensis] cuckoo flower/Wiesen-Schaumkraut

[Ranunculus acris] meadow buttercup/Scharfer Hahnenfuß

“There is happiness for those who accept their fate. There is glory for those who defy their fate.”

taking the train going anywhere 🚃 🌱

These are paper menus from the Herbstfest in Japan in which the VAs and directors hosted an autumnal radio show set in Gold Crown Town to celebrate the anniversary.

Treats are the most important part of any event, obviously, so let’s take a look!

One of treats offered, pictured left, was a chocolate mouse cake with vanilla ice cream, topped with gear-shaped baumkuchen cookies and fruit. The cookies are a special detail, not only for their shape, but because this specific food is enjoyed by both the German and Japanese. It was meant to be reminiscent of Drosselmeyer, who gleefully let audiences know that the dessert was in “limited quantities” e3e

Pictured right is a lemon and white chocolate cake with fruit. Suspiciously similar-looking to Duck’s bird form, the treat’s ahoge was made from white chocolate and was fully edible. The toppings were meant to represent her pendant, although, I can’t help but see a very high placed beak with no eyes and a beaded crown. It makes me laugh.

Two signature drinks were crafted and offered at the event as well!🍹

Pictured left is a drink, available in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic forms, that included five different colors of jellies. I’m not sure why five were chosen, as I can’t think of significant groups of five characters that they would represent. Maybe the five unnamed heart shards? Maybe five is just a solid number to use? If anyone knows, speak up! :0

And on the right is a cocktail themed after Mr. Cat! Available only in alcoholic form, something interesting about this drink is that it comes with a plastic straw with a paper cutout of Mr. Cat on it. You were meant to use it as a “muddler” and mix the drink yourself. I imagine multiple Mr. Cats did a lot of dancing in circles that night. Terrifying.

The duck/Ahiru was born after the director of TUTU, Junichi Sato, was chosen. I am an animator, so my job is to sublimate what the director wants to do into the picture, so after the decision was made, I set the direction I wanted to take with the character so that Director Sato could enjoy directing it. (Next)

But wait, there’s more!

hello! I work in tech and here are some important things to know about "tumblr is going into maintenance mode." please note I do not work at tumblr, I've just worked at tumblr-adjacent sort of companies for my entire adult life and i've gone through this before.

what does maintenance mode mean?

literally what it sounds like -- Automattic is not going to be hiring new staff, investing in new product features, or doing anything new on tumblr. the staff that remains working on tumblr will be maintaining the status quo. most of the staff will be allocated elsewhere (or possibly laid off, though it looks like from that memo that's not what they're planning to do). it does not mean tumblr is shutting down. you should still buy premium, get merch, etc, because this is definitely step one of the shutdown process, but a maintenance mode designation is basically to see if tumblr will generate a revenue without putting more money into it than strictly necessary.

why did this happen?

obviously I do not know directly. from my observation, it's in part because Yahoo had absolutely no idea what to do with this platform, and then when Automattic bought it they also... struggled... but it is also in part because the user base has been so viciously anti-monetization that most attempts were killed outright.

yes, the user base is part of the problem. the absolute feral anti-premium, anti-ads, anti-tipping, anti-everything tumblr tried to do to make money is part of the problem. it's not the only part of the problem by a long shot, but I would be remiss not to mention it.

what do I do now?

use the platform. just like, keep using tumblr. do not abandon ship. buy premium, get yourself some badges, get yourself some merch, but use the platform. ad revenue is based on impressions and clicks. if a ton of the user base gives up, that revenue disappears.

--

tumblr is extremely special. I've never seen anything like it in my 20-odd years of being Very Online, and I was a minor BNF in WolfStar during LiveJournal days. I don't know that it can be recreated elsewhere. I don't know where fandom will go. I know that something else will exist after tumblr and that nothing gold can stay, but i don't think the specific kind of joy found here can be recreated. i say this not to be a downer, but to be realistic. I guess I should find a Bluesky invite.