Tumblr Humor At Its Finest, Part Two

In a previous blog post, I talked about the warped sense of humor that Tumblr users have. In this post I continue my investigation of Tumblr humor and what exactly people who use this social network find funny.

One thing that must be considered is Tumblr’s main audience. According to Business Insider, Tumblr “is strong with teens and young adults interested in self-expression” with 46% of its audience between the ages of 16 and 24. The type of humor generated thus caters to people who are currently in or just left the awkward stage of adolescence and are merging into adulthood.

The post above brings to light a dark past that I myself have experienced. Our generation began to embrace social media around seventh and eighth grade, a time that nearly everyone remembers as awkward. I remember sending many texts that proclaimed how random I was, and I also used the “xD” emoticon much more than should have been allowed.

Tumblr’s demographic also collectively remembers the same cartoons, movies, and music from their younger days. A few posts became popular in part because everyone knows the characters from the cartoon which got its start in the 90’s, Spongebob Squarepants.

Both “stepping on the beach” and the-groundskeeper’s caption “what i did in graphic design class today is” refer to popular Spongebob episodes. The picture itself imitates an older meme which takes The Perks of Being a Wallflower’s quote, “And in that moment, I swear we were infinite” and applies it to ridiculous situations like this one.

This next post kind of terrifies me.

By itself, the picture is pretty funny. The character of Spongebob is oddly distorted and the accompanying text is nonsensical. But Tumblr, as usual, takes it further with these pieces of artwork by moopdrea and pentecost, respectively.

These rather terrifying additions turn a funny post into a hysterical one.

Tumblr users are also fans of defying expectations…

…being somewhat rude…

…and using puns wherever humanly possible.

Of course my favorite types of Tumblr humor are the completely odd and unexpected posts that just kind of jolt you.

The staff of Tumblr understands its demographic and the type of humor its users have. So every once in a while, they get in on the fun as well. The following pictures are all a part of one post.

 

Come Together: When Tumblr Collaboration Becomes Awesome

One of Tumblr’s main features is that any user can add to any post. They can add comments, sources, pictures, reaction GIFs, anything that will supplement the original post’s message, prove it wrong, make it funnier, etc.

A lot of the time, Tumblr users create art based off of a text post to add an element of visualization, such as in the following examples:

Tumblr user hauriret was inspired by nonbinaryeldritchhorror‘s post to create a piece of art and cited it as the stimulus for the artwork.

The vision of the original user came to life with a work of art done by a different Tumblr user. The same thing happened in the next post. Suncalf created the text post, and dorirosa added the art to go along with it, uploading it directly to the original post.

While some Tumblr collaborations result in amazing fanart, others add just the right touch of humor or wit to make the original post much funnier than it originally was.

One of the most well-known examples of adding to a Tumblr post to make it hilarious is Tumblr user perchu’s addition to the “Moreos” post. His addition to shslvalkyrie‘s post made him Tumblr-famous and he in essence became his own meme.

The original post can be found by clicking the screenshot below. It featured a fake advertisement for “Moreos,” which separates the cream and cookie segments of Oreo cookies and allows the consumer to combine them in whatever quantity they want. Perchu’s reaction to this idea is interesting to say the least.

Perchu’s intense use of profanity was part of what made his rant so hilarious. Completely overreacting to a post about Moreos made perchu extremely well-known on Tumblr, and to this day his username is tagged in multiple Oreo-related posts.

Finally, there have been some amazing audio posts created based off of text posts. On Tumblr these appear as audio files, but unfortunately I can’t transfer the audio files to WordPress. I’ve included links to Youtube videos which contain the full audio, and you can also click on the screenshots to see the original Tumblr posts.

This one makes me cry laughing. The original text post makes fun of the style of A-Ha’s song “Take On Me,” and the audio makes fun of the text’s posts interpretation of the style. It turns into a hilarious manipulation of the song.

This post is one of my favorite examples of Tumblr users’ creativity. It started with a simple yet brilliant manipulation of FUN’s “Some Nights.” Lovelyklaine changed the lyrics to make the song apply to Tumblr users, and merryblangstmas (now found at the username brickshack) took the one verse and created a Tumblr-themed version of the entire song.

 

The lyrics and merryblangstmas’ addition can be found here. If anyone ever asks you what Tumblr is about, this song is actually a pretty good description of the life of a Tumblr user.

Let me know if you have found any other examples of Tumblr collaborations!

Hidden Geniuses: Tumblr’s Brilliant Fanart

One of my absolute favorite things about being a part of the Tumblr community is seeing spectacular works of art on a daily basis.

Tumblr’s artists post fanart to the site very freely, sharing their gorgeous works with the communities who will love them the most. These original works can be crossovers with other TV shows or movies, cartoon panels giving the artist’s take on the newest episode, and countless other variations. I myself have a fanart tag on my Tumblr page where I reblog great artwork. In this post, I’ve included a few of my favorite examples of Tumblr fanart.

One of the most well-known Tumblr artists is Alice Zhang. She has posted her art for years and often sells her pieces at conventions. This is her interpretation of Starlord, the main character of the recent movie “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Click the picture for the original post.

Some pieces combine fandoms and historical artwork. This fanart by yamiswift places Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the role of Rosie the Riveter.

This fantastic crossover combines the characters from Marvel Studio’s “Thor” with the popular Broadway musical “Wicked.” With fanart, there are no limitations. Any genre, any book, any movie can be combined with anything to make a great original work. I absolutely love Tumblr users’ endless creativity. This piece was done by velvet-toucher. (Warning: Some of the art featured on the page is NSFW).

Here’s a picture of the original Wicked poster that the user imitated.

Photo via Frank Gumola on Flickr

Euclase is another popular Tumblr fanartist. She creates pieces of art on Photoshop based on her favorite fictional characters. This one depicts Tom Hiddleston’s character Henry in his recent film “Henry V.”

This fanart by natalaze shows Dean Winchester, one of the main characters of “Supernatural.”

Some art is based off of text posts. The post serves as the inspiration for a truly brilliant or comedic piece. This work by not-a-comedian, ironically, is hilarious. The text post combines Gotye’s song “Somebody That I Used To Know” with Dr. Suess’ “Horton Hears a Who.” Not-a-comedian’s addition combines them artistically, putting the Seuss characters in the style of Gotye’s music video.

For more amazing examples of fanart, you can check out the Tumblr tag. I’ll also link to some great art collections: This Spongebob anime fanart, an artist’s portrayal of Disney characters as real women, pompeii77’s lifelike artwork, and some awesome money art. Enjoy!