DANCING IN THE MINEFIELDS

Oh god. That’s 1 5 years of your nonsense. Don’t worry—it comes as a surprise to literally all of us that the world continued to do its thing, bringing us to this point.

So, how you been keeping since we celebrated the big one-oh, well, five years ago now?

A bratty teenager at heart, Tumblr has remained the same hellsite you’ve always made it: with your faves, aesthetics, and fandoms, your blogs and sideblogs, your reblog chains and tag conversations. Some of you will have been here for The Dress and the ball pit; some of you know those as lore but only come here for the sexymen and, idk, bees, the bee movie. And you’re all valid.

Throughout February, we’ll be reblogging some of the most iconic reblog chains from our time here with you to @best-of-reblogs. To kick it all off, here is a selection of ~moments~ y’all have manifested. You obviously don’t need us to talk about this—you do that enough among yourselves. But, for heritage purposes, here’s the lowdown anyhow. Don’t mind us while we lurk in the back with the popcorn.

~

Friends.

We all learned that friends come in many shapes and sizes—some of your favorite friend shapes are frogs, Furbies, worms-on-a-string, and orbs.

You asked your faves a bazillion questions.

You’ve asked Neil Gaiman about your ineffable husband headcanons, Joseph Gordon-Levit for filmmaking tips, and Taylor Swift about re-recording her albums and the provenance of Meredith and Olivia’s names. All ask answerers have remained equal here, where follower counts are private, and “influencer” is a dirty word.

Standing up for what’s right.

In the last five years, you continued to fight for net neutrality. You worked towards making the internet a safer, kinder, and more joyful space. You’ve celebrated and lamented three very different US presidents. You’ve rallied in the face of racism, learning from and educating each other.

All the memes.

From Superputinelection to the disruption of the international shipping trade, you learned about real-world happenings right here on Tumblr. You remixed reality with the best of ’em in a celebration of new traditions and old—some now illegal to scroll past without reblogging, while reblogging others constitutes a crime. Then there’s the homegrown variety lurking in the depths of tags and posts that couldn’t go viral anywhere but here.

Cottagecore Aesthetics.

You started craving the simpler things in life—the woods, frogs, dresses with aprons, gingham, homemade pies—in an unforeseen age that made living those dreams impossible outside of moodboards, Animal Crossing, and Stardew Valley. Your cottagecore hopes and dreams fueled the Radar and log-in screen.

Destiel goes canon.

In what became one of the biggest moments on Tumblr in the last five years, Destiel went canon. Many times. In many languages. In memes, on your televisions, on your blogs. For decade-long fans of Supernatural and non-fans with transdimensional cracks in their dashboards, November 5 became A Day in 2020.

~

In the five years since we celebrated our first decade, you created 170,926,810 new blogs, made 40,798,681,685 new posts, and liked 75,280,353,933 posts, both old and new. You made each other cringe, celebrated the mundane and the extraordinary with your Fuck Yeah blogs, and shared many cursed things we are unable to utter here.

All this to say, come celebrate with us. Stay tuned for some historic reblogs throughout this month of February in the year of the orb, 2022.