#goofmallows

Lexi 🎮

Lexi is a gamer and artist in her late 20s. She spends a great deal of her time playing games of all kinds, few things put her at ease like relaxing with a good video game. Though that ease can falter when she leans into a challenge. While only slightly competitive, her mix of determination and stubborness make it difficult if not impossible to tear herself away from a personal challenge in a game before she's beaten it. When she's not gaming she also likes making art, with a special love for drawing characters and coming up with their stories. Lexi really wanted to combine her two loves to make her own gaming channel, but she'd been trying first to decide on a distinct theme to set her apart from all the others. At the time, she had no idea what direction to take it in.

If you asked her friends, they would describe Lexi in one word: Giggly. It really doesn’t take much to make her laugh, and once she gets going she often has trouble stopping. When she laughs especially hard she's even been known to let out a sound almost like a honk, prompting her friends to regularly and affectionately dub her a giggly goose. Though as much as she knows that they love her giggliness, she hides her love of tickles from them. She just can't be 100% sure how they'd react to all her tickly thoughts and desires, already embarrased enough at times hearing them run through her own mind.

Eventually she finds her way onto Tumblr and discovers a community of those who love tickling just like her. An incredibly validating experience, and one that begins to jolt her creativity. A new set of silly characters form in her mind that she begins to draw and write about, living out touch-starved tickly thoughts through them. Specifically through the main character of this new bunch, Ms. Gigglegoose.

Ms. Gigglegoose 🎪

Ms. Gigglegoose (or Gigi for short) is just about the most giggly clown you could ever hope to meet, though she's not entirely pleased with that fact. While she doesn’t by any means hate being giggly or even dislike the fact, she's on a mission to prove that she can be more than just a laugh. So in an effort to method act herself into a more serious mindset, she wears more business oriented clothes and glasses over her clown attire, not to erase her silly side fully but rather to balance the scales a bit. In addition adding "Ms." to her title to sound extra professional.

As she goes through the activities she enjoys she does so while endeavoring to keep a straight face and a serious focused attitude. She can keep this going for only so long though since, like Lexi, it really takes very little to make her laugh. Similarly once she gets going on a giggle fit she can have some trouble composing herself again, despite her frustration. She's endlessly determined to get better at seeming serious, but it's definitely an uphill battle. And none of this is made easier by her closest companions, the Goofmallows.

The Goofmallows 🪿

The Goofmallows are little marshmallow birds that exist alongside Gigi in the circus. Where did they come from? How are they alive? Nobody really knows, and honestly nobody really cares either. I mean just look how adorable they are! They mainly spend their time with Gigi who loves them each SO so much, even though these little goofs constantly test her patience and ability to maintain seriousness with their tendency to tickle her any chance they get. They absolutely love the sound of her giggles, but since they've noticed her attempting to hold them in, they've been forced to resort to more devious tactics.

Each have differing methods they favor for tickling. Razzle (the white goose) favors blowing raspberries, a honk coming through with each one they give. Nestle (the orange kiwi) loves to nuzzle, their wig providing some extra fluffiness which helps nicely. Tip (the pink chicken) and Tap (the purple pigeon) both enjoy pokes, pecking their soft yet effective marshmallow beaks into any tickle spot they can reach. Even with their mischievous antics they do always know when enough is enough, and are happy to cuddle their squishy adorable marshallow bodies into Gigi for a snuggly rest after big bouts of tickly fun.

An Idea 🖥

Lexi continued to draw and write about her new circus of characters, living vicariously through the fictional tickles, and then of course going back to gaming whenever she found herself mourning that the tickles can't be real. Then one day while looking online for new gear to upgrade her gaming setup, she happened upon a haptic suit. The suit is fit with loads of sensors all throughout, made to send vibrations corresponding to fights and other events in games for extra immersion. It was a bit pricey, but Lexi loves nothing more than feeling like she's actually in the world of a game, so she decided to treat herself and buy one. She was super excited to give it a try, but in practice it didn't quite give the effect she was originally expecting. The vibrations coursing throughout the upper half of her body tickled like crazy, sending her into giggly madness when she should be fighting off digital enemies. A mix of slight disappointment but also ticklish glee flurried in her mind, and suddenly an idea clicked into place.

This could be the distinct theme she'd been looking for, something to set her apart in the gaming content space. This suit and her characters could come together to make something incredibly silly, interactive, and cathartically ticklish. She immediately got to work drawing, turning Ms. Gigglegoose into a VTuber/PNGTuber model (still can't decide which is better for this), adding the Goofmallows as animated events for donations, going through tutorials to make stream events trigger the haptic suit's sensors, and once all was together she got ready to take her characters LIVE.

NapsInYourPocket: Haven't heard any laughs since I joined, Gigi going PRO 🤯

eeposleepo: I don't remember either 🤔

My GOD, what's it gonna take, you goofs?! Lexi smirks to herself, equally amused as she is frustrated. It's hard not to appreciate the humor of how hard she has to egg the chat on during slower days like these. Well, she doesn't HAVE to, but she certainly wants to. She does love a good challenge, after all. All right, time to pull out the big guns.

"Oh well, too bad, you guys just lost your touch," she says, with an evil smirk you can practically hear.

MallowMaya: Excuuuse me?

eeposleepo: 🙀

BirzaIRL: I didnt lose ANYTHING 😤

NapsInYourPocket: Wha- I JUST got here!

Now we're talking. "Yep, I remember waaay back when. You all would break me with the mallows and I'd giggle and giggle away, but I'm beyond that now. I don't think I'll ever laugh again, really. And there's nothing that's gonna chaaange thaaaaat," she says, singing her last few words gleefully.

BirzaIRL: If you're so confident about that, lower the cooldown time 😏

Lexi immediately blushes at the message, her character in-game freezing in place as the mood shift becomes quite apparent on Gigi's face on stream. "W-What's that now? "

BirzaIRL: Since we can't EVER make you giggle again, there'd be no harm in letting us send all the Goofmallow tickles we want in a row 😈

"I, uh.. I mean.." she barely manages to mutter.

MallowMaya: DO IT 😝

NapsInYourPocket: Yeeees I need ALL the giggles!

eeposleepo: This is gonna be fuuun 🤭

hickeyfromtheuniverse: PLSSSSSS

makerofgiggles: 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

Welp they're definitely pumped now, hehe. Didn't expect the cooldown challenge, buuuuut.. "Y-You think I won't? I'm the most serious clown here, cooldown or not, so there!" she says in-character with a shaky faux confidence, and with a few quick clicks a new message hits the chat.

GoofBot: Cooldown for 🪿ALL TIERS🪿 is now 2 seconds for the next 3 minutes, go crazy! ⏲️

That should get 'em, hopefully in a minute someone wi-

eeposleepo sent Nestle to nuzzle Gigi's side (right) for 10 seconds 🪿🙂‍↔️

MallowMaya sent Razzle to blow raspberries on Gigi's tummy for 5 seconds 🪿🎺

hickeyfromtheuniverse sent Tip & Tap to poke Gigi's neck for 15 seconds 🪿👈

UH OH! BirzaIRL sent EVERYONE out for some Mallow Mayhem for 20 seconds 🪿🤪🙂‍↔️👈🎺

makerofgiggles sent Tap & Razzle to poke Gigi's neck (left) and blow raspberries on her side (right) for 20 seconds 🪿👈🎺

NapsInYourPocket sent Razzle to blow raspberries on Gigi's tummy for 15 seconds 🪿🎺

The donated tickles queue up and the first animation and corresponding vibrations begin. Lexi attempts to hold back against the simulated neck nuzzles.

"N-No! I'm nnnever gonna laugh! You c-can't.. can't make m- AH! NAHAHA-" The moment the vibrations hit her tummy she loses it for the few seconds they stay there. The next minute of consecutive attacks have her laughter jumping back and forth between quieter high pitched giggles and near mic-clipping laughter.

She does her best to look back to the screen to see how long until the cooldowns are back to normal, but instead gets distracted by the chat.

makerofgiggles: her giggles, so high, so cute! 🥰

NapsInYourPocket: Literally the best sound in the whole world 🥰

eeposleepo sent Nestle to nuzzle Gigi's tummy for 15 seconds 🪿🙂‍↔️

eeposleepo: Nestle's gonna get you again, yes he is! ☺️ Nuzzle nuzzle nuzzle nuzzle 🙂‍↔️🙂‍↔️🙂‍↔️🙂‍↔️

BirzaIRL: Awwwww, someone can't handle the mallows all over her, poor ticklish clown 😇

"Shuhut up!! N-No tahahalking about mehehehehehehehehe!" Lexi whines as more donations and accompanying tickles are sent through.

eeposleepo: Call it bias, but her reactions to tummy tickles are the best ones 🥰🥰🥰

NapsInYourPocket sent Tip to poke Gigi's tummy for 10 seconds 🪿🙂‍↔️

MallowMaya: AW I hadn't noticed but they really are especially cute hehe!

BirzaIRL: Gigi does love her tummy tickles for sure 😋

hickeyfromtheuniverse: the tummmmm

Each message she reads makes the vibrations feel that much stronger. "STAHAP sahaying tummy, you GOOFS!!"

BirzaIRL: Hehe Gigi's tummy is a weak spot todayyyy

GoofBot: 1 MORE MINUTE before cooldowns return to normal! 👀⏲️

BirzaIRL: Quick guys! Go for the tum!

"WAHAHAIT! Don't yohohou DARE!" Despite the warning, several new donations come through, all targeting her tummy with every mallow and method. "AHAHAHAHA NAHAHA!!" she laughs uncontrollably, a honk-like sound sneaking out between laughs now and then.

Lexi sinks into her bean bag chair, finally dropping the controller and pointlessly trying to squirm away from the haptic suit's tickles. Her audio now sounding somewhat distant on the stream, regardless it's plenty audible enough for viewers to enjoy as she survives the last bunch of seconds before the queue is up and cooldowns are finally restored. She breathes a sigh of relief as the vibrations finally cease, just laying there in an effort to slowly come back to life.

The Idea 💭

After realizing her haptic suit was more effective at tickling than immersing her in games, Lexi knew exactly how she could use it to livestream with an added challenging twist. Firstly, she decided she'd do all her streams fully in character as Gigi (Ms. Gigglegoose). Partly for silly flair and partly so she could stream freely without her friends finding out it's her. Then she set up a page where viewers could donate, which some of the time would be just that, a simple place for donations. But whenever Lexi is craving an extra challenge, or just craving some tickles, she can hit a button and suddenly the Goofmallows show up on the stream alongside Gigi and hang around for a while. Once they're there, the donation page has some new and interesting options. Now each donation is tied to the Goofmallows, and each one a viewer sends in will trigger one or more of the mallows to tickle a chosen spot on Gigi. Which, thanks to the haptic suit, tickles the corresponding spot on Lexi.

Viewers can use this to mess her up while she's attempting a challenge in-game, to make her character-inflicted challenge of staying serious that much harder, or just because they want to hear her laugh. Now the chat gets a fun new gimmick that allows them to interact while watching, and Lexi gets the tickles she's been craving for SO long.

Gigi & The Viewers 💬

In streams, Gigi is seen in a constant battle of keeping herself in check. Every time she gets too excited, every in-game joke or funny moment she laughs at, she immediately does all she can to reel herself back. It's not that she doesn't want to have fun with whatever she's playing, she just wants to keep up her serious facade to prove she isn’t just a pile of giggles in a trenchcoat. Her viewers are definitely no help either. Playfully teasing her, referencing jokes and moments that previously broke her. Even before people started donating to break her with tickles, just the idea of a character trying so desperately not to laugh was motivation enough to want to challenge her on it. She tries so hard to resist the giggles, holding them in to the best of her ability, but they do almost always come out to the frustration of her and the delight of everyone else. And that's before any tickles are involved.

Once viewers did start donating though, all bets were off. As hard as she tries, she can't help but explode into giggles with every tickle that comes her way. And after every one she pouts all annoyed, saying she barely laughed that time or that next time she won't even react at all, trying to get her head back in the game. Even still she never blames the Goofmallows themselves, they're her little marshmallow babies who can do no wrong. She will gladly blame the game and especially her viewers any chance she gets. Gigi and the chat are effectively frenimies in a way, constantly messing with or raging at each other but still with love behind it all. Whether Gigi is yelling at them for making her laugh or they're teasing her into the ground, it's clear on both sides that it's all silly fun.

Gigi is also known to be quite braggy. Any time she's doing especially good in a game she'll talk like she's the most pro gamer any circus has ever seen. And especially when she manages not to laugh for a while, she'll act like she's cracked the code and will never laugh again. Even going as far as to tease the viewers that they're losing their touch and will never best her. Of course this only motivates the audience to want to take her down a peg and prove otherwise. Totally unintentional on Gigi's part, very intentionally on Lexi's.

Goofmallow Tickle Tiers 🪿

As mentioned earlier, the Goofmallows and their tickly antics are tied to stream donations. While watching, the chat can check out the various tiers, buy one, and the corresponding animation will appear on the stream and tickles will be sent to the haptic suit. Both the desired tickle spot and duration of tickles can be specified before sending it through, additional time past the default adding onto the price. Regarding the exact prices I'm not sure, I imagine they'd mostly be fairly cheap at the beginning of the list so more people can engage in the fun more often. Though the prices do of course go up as the tickles intensify, can't give away too many giggles for too cheap.

Additionally Lexi set up a cooldown timer for each tier. Otherwise if too many people donated all at once or constantly throughout the stream, she would be absolutely overwhelmed with too many tickles to handle and never get to rest or do any gaming. The cooldowns get progressively longer as the tickles intensify, anywhere from a minute or few for the simple stuff to an hour or more for the end of the tier list. Though she can edit the timers whenever she wants for any days she's feeling especially daring or generally craving more tickles than usual. Now that we know how the tier list works, let's see what's on it!

Tip/Tap Pokes - Either Tip or Tap will give a few pecks and pokes to 1 spot.

Nestle Nuzzles - Nestle will snuggle up and give tickly nuzzles to 1 spot.

Razzle Raspberries - Razzle will blow a raspberry or few on 1 spot.

Tickly Team-Up - 2 chosen Goofmallows can either team up to tickle 1 spot or each go for their own separate spots.

Mallow Mayhem - All 4 Goofmallows go tickle CRAZY, hopping around from spot to spot with no rhyme or reason, attacking all over with their respective methods.

Past that there are also 2 PREMIUM tiers available only to special paid subscribers!

Giving Gigi a Hand - The arm of another clown in Gigi's circus will reach from behind her and tickle a chosen spot. Can be used twice a month at any time, even when the Goofmallows aren't around.

YOUmallows - Design your own Goofmallow character and have it drawn and animated like the main 4, only appearing and tickling Gigi when you yourself donate. They can tickle using any of the established mallow methods.

These two are for the most dedicated and highly paid members of the Gigglegoose community, given the added chaos and customization involved.

Wrap-Up 🎪

And there we have Lexi, Ms. Gigglegoose, the Goofmallows, and their livestreams! Honestly, and I know I've said it a few times already, but I'm absolutely obsessed with these goofs 🥰

It's been SO fun coming up with the designs and all these character and stream details. Again a special thanks to @pingobuparts for all the brainstorming help and ideas he contributed 💜