Dalton

Dalton (also known as 'Daltonfic' or 'Dalton-verse') is a popular canon divergence Glee fanfic by CPCoulter, published to Fanfiction.net. Taking off from 2.08 "Furt", it follows Kurt Hummel as he settles into Dalton Academy.
It is the highest ranked Glee fanfic on the site, and was later crossposted to AO3. It is known for its continuous allusions to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, original characters, infrequent updates, and extremely long length.
In addition to the main story, Dalton has an impressive number of side stories posted to CPCoulter's tumblr page. CP occasionally writes crossovers to fandoms like Teen Wolf, Trese, or her original "Blackwater". Additional facts, anecdotes, and missing moments became so numerous that the fic spawned a wiki and its own independent fansite run by Hufflebecks, the fandom archiver.It appears that the custom domain might have expired, but the site is still live.
While the fic has not been updated since April 2014, fans still eagerly await the final chapter.
==Fandom Overview==
Dalton is listed as one of the "Classic" Klaine fanfics, alongside the likes of The Sidhe, Go Your Own Way, or Little Numbers.http://fangirlrambles.tumblr.com/post/10439036326/klaine-fic-masterlist Accessed 20 November 2022. Fans consider themselves part of "The Coult" or generally "Daltonites". It was initially recommended on LiveJournal, Tumblr, Fanfiction.Net, DeviantART, and Twitter because it updated frequently with long, detailed chapters. Later, though, the original characters, dramatic plot devices, and independent fandom drew readers, before becoming known as a ridiculously long WIP.
The fans have a very affectionate relationship with their creator, calling her "Mama CP" or "CP".http://obeytherules.tumblr.com/post/11532956077/cp-coulter-is-the-best-fanfic-author-ever Accessed 20 November 2022. She would answer questions about personal problems and anxieties on her Tumblr from 2010 to 2012, either as herself or as her characters. She continues to support those within her following and keeping close friendships with many of those who happen to have found her through her fic.
===Early Years===
On November 29, 2010, Dalton was uploaded to Fanfiction.net. Coming at a prime spot before Glee's winter hiatus, the fic was able to capitalize on the wave of Blaine Anderson and Dalton Academy centric fanfic and it became an overnight sensation. With fun, snappy dialogue and a colourful cast of pretty blazer-wearing prep school boys, each 'episode' was meant to bring joy and excite readers- some of whom would wait until the small hours of the morning for updates.http://ashabadash.tumblr.com/post/8511895603/good-morning Accessed 20 November 2022. It updated daily, and before the end of December had over 157,000 hits.https://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/2380909770/how-often-do-you-normally-update-dalton Accessed 20 November 2022.https://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/2457485294/christmas-is-almost-over Accessed 20 November 2022. With trailers, art, fanfic, and a devoted following on Livejournal, Tumblr, and DeviantArt- it had gone viral.https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6601602/1/So-Contagiously|Dec Published December 29, 2010. Accessed 20 November 2022. https://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/2512106501/uhohcaitie-made-this-last-night-its-about-how Posted December 26, 2010. Accessed 20 November 2022. https://www.deviantart.com/muchacha10/art/Dalton-Welcome-to-Windsor-191532377 Posted December 30, 2010, "Just...ya gotta go read it. Take some time and just sit down and soak in its awesomeness."- Muchacha10, popular Klaine fanartist. Accessed 20 November 2022. 
By the end of Spring 2011, the actors who played the Warblers knew about the fic,https://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/3241271453/carouselcolours-even-in-my-sleep-deprived Accessed 20 November 2022. most characters had been introduced on CP's Tumblr or in the fic itself, and the fics showed no signs of slowing down. In fact as international acclaim for Kurt and Blaine grew, the appetite for Dalton simply got bigger.
The fic had grown so large by that that 'The Warblerland Weebly', latterly known as simply 'Warblerland' or 'Alfalfa Academy' was created to attempt to archive the fics and facts. Shipping as well had taken off with the introduction of side characters like Julian Larson and Clark Sawyer, distracting fans from the Glee content in the fanfiction. Once pairs like 'Jogan' were introduced, Dalton fanfiction grew exponentially, sometimes only being connected to Glee because the school simply happened to bear the same name. CP placed a fan's OC into the original Chapter 19;https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6515261/19/Dalton "A word: the winner of a small race I had instigated in tumblr will make a cameo appearance in this episode." cpcoulter, Author's Note. Accessed 20 November 2022. but the popularity of her characters meant that when she updated the fic for AO3 in 2014, she replaced that character her own OC.https://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/82452157488/canon-change-alert Accessed 20 November 2022. 
The difference between Dalton and Glee became more pronounced at the start of Glee's Third Season, after Chapter 26 "Hell Night" was posted, and the Glee fandom had endured the summer's Kum/Klaine Ship Wars. Dalton was entering what would be a year long hiatus full of 'Dalton Death' theories; and Gleeks overall were beginning to distance themselves with the Glee and Klaine fandoms.http://the-hypocritical-critic.tumblr.com/post/11531268973/dalton-quicksummary| "There’s also a character named Klaine or something" is an accurate summation of the growing view of Dalton's relationship to Glee. This aided Dalton's transformation to an autonomous fandom,https://twitter.com/backmaskwarning/status/77214354533134337 through rapidly changing content, and the fandom perception that anything wrong with Dalton was because of the toxic Glee fanculture, not Dalton itself.http://lionphantom.tumblr.com/post/12129736401/dalton-fandom-glee-fandom Accessed 20 November 2022. Anonymous users on Tumblr went after fans, as well as CP herself for various reasons like using similar literary tropes to Ouran High School Host Club, and not updating frequently enough. In an attempt to escape from what was seen as a strictly 'Glee' problem, fans to this day consider it the ultimate faux-pas to ask CP when she updating, or beg for an update.https://twitter.com/backmaskwarning/status/59348215987847169 It has succeeded with mixed results.
Many people felt safe, sheltered, and part of a tight-knit community away from the drama of Glee-specific wank. All these emotions culminated in October 2011: where numerous members of the fandom, originating in the Jogan bloggers,http://ashabadash.tumblr.com/post/11940128941/my-ask-box-is-basically-a-brothel Accessed 20 November 2022. wrote one another smut fics anonymously in an event dubbed "The Great Anon Sex Riot".http://ashabadash.tumblr.com/post/11801673978/ Accessed 20 November 2022. http://artemismoon12.tumblr.com/post/11819454944 Accessed 20 November 2022. https://wheezyboysclub.tumblr.com/post/11807329371/this-fandom-is-awesome Accessed 20 November 2022.
By the time Dalton reached its One Year Anniversary at the end of November, the fandom was firmly set, with its own (contested) hierarchy of big name readershttps://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/4411415893/dalton-royalty-list-br-kingqueen Accessed 20 November 2022. Just some of a few well known users from 2011; as well as taweesha, ashabadash, and twixtedtweedledee This post is from before it was revealed Shan at Warblerland was CP's alter ego. designated 'true' Roleplay Blogs, and OTPs.https://artemismoon12.tumblr.com/post/12895440958 Posted 16 November 2011. Agreement amongst users to create a universal tagging system to avoid confusion with general Glee content and #dalton. Accessed 20 November 2022. In honour of the occasion users wrote in expressing their gratitude to CP for bringing them together as a community, and for writing something they all identified with so much.http://warblerland.weebly.com/first-birthday.html Accessed 20 November 2022. It has been an annual tradition ever since to re-read the fic for lack of new material, and to liveblog your impressions.
===Tumblr Anons and the Move to Plurk===
Soon after the One Year Anniversary, the fandom was struck by a fresh round of anonymous hate comments. They attempted to rally together in support of one another, but in the Dalton hiatus it got harder to mobilize. A preview for Chapter 28 was posted in May 2012,http://www.warblerland.weebly.com/info.html Accessed 20 November 2022. but an update would not occur for another two years - longer than BBC's Sherlock's infamous series hiatuses. CP had been quite open and involved with her readers up until then, but with anonymous tumblr hate growing, "The Coult" suffered.
In the first months of Dalton, people had shipped CP with her own character Justin because she was so involved with the Dalton roleplay blogs on Tumblr, responding to and interacting with users like kingofswitzerland.http://diveintotheunknown.tumblr.com/post/2992133450/ Accessed 20 November 2022. CP responded to this post with a blushing Rachel Berry gif. CP's penchant for roleplaying had extended to her bringing out various OCs to indulge readers who had infatuations with certain characters, resulting in Reader/Character narratives sanctioned and even co-produced by CP herself. Some of these ships were so popular they made it into the Warblerland fanfiction archive, like Dwight/Jayhttp://warblerland.weebly.com/day.html Accessed 20 November 2022., Nathan/Jessicahttps://at.tumblr.com/thevioletandherprince-blog/100-days-of-nathessica-day-one-senses/9o7kdqmpr5k3 Accessed 20 November 2022. , and Danny/Weasleyhttp://warblerland.weebly.com/stories.html Accessed 20 November 2022. Categorized under "Deasley" (forgivemeannabelle, redqueenofprima, and weasleyinslytherin respectively).
This so-called favouritism, coupled with CP's announcement she would be including all members of the fandom in "Promenade," launched a fresh stream of anonymous hate, driving well-known users offline and into hiding for up to months or years.https://at.tumblr.com/partynymph-defunct/the-title-of-your-blog-may-be-abandoned-and/dpmdjntqndb1 Accessed 20 November 2022. Jay, forgivemeannabelle, abandoned her Tumblr blog in 2012 due to online harassment. CP was accused of favouritism so much that she retracted the fandom-inclusion idea altogetherhttps://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/19666236897/an-announcement-about-the-prom-event Accessed 20 November 2022. "I will no longer be selecting people from anywhere [...] I don’t want people to think that I’m choosing some people over others." , despite wanting to include anyone who sent her a dress and a name. The anonymous attacks of 2011-12 was what started the exodus from Tumblr to Plurk. Plurk.com was seen as a more attractive option in the wake of anonymous hate, due to better privacy settings and no anonymous option.
While redqueenofprima was frequently targetedhttps://jessicahereandnow.tumblr.com/post/11495443574 Accessed 20 November 2022. , the best known affected user was forgivemeannabelle, sometimes referred to as "Annabelle" or "Jay Warbler".https://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/4549507349/guys-and-girls Accessed 20 November 2022. Jay has always been an odd addition to the fandom. She was well known for her fanfiction, roleplays, and posts about her home country of Australia. Yet, rumours still circulate about whether or not she was a real person, considering her colourful, yet tragic lifehttp://thetalkingcrocus.tumblr.com/post/23732328961/attention-daltonites and reluctance to post pictures of herself - unlike almost every other well-known fan in what was perceived to be CP's "Inner Circle". She received pages worth of hate comments from people angry that CP roleplayed Dwight as Jay's romantic interest and based parts of the character Sadie Moore off of Jay's personality.https://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/12785611801/hi-mama-cp-i-want-to-talk-about-the-anon-hate Accessed 20 November 2022.https://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/4225078263/i-might-ship-morgandwight-a-teeny-tiny-bit-br Accessed 20 November 2022. The "Dwilaura Anons", as they were called, negatively affected fans of the prominent ships of Day and Dwilaura;https://artemismoon12.tumblr.com/post/10016729949 Accessed 20 November 2022. some fans wouldn't post fics or art for fear they'd provide more material for the users to use against Jay.http://philtatoss.tumblr.com/post/10216532819/dear-ectomoblier-in-jays-ask Accessed 20 November 2022. However, even once Jay removed herself completely from the ships, the comments persisted. She abandoned her Tumblr completely, using a secondary account for a few months before disappearing entirely. Besides a brief appearance in January 2013, she has not been seen seen on Tumblr since. Her last post on Plurk was January 12th, 2014.https://www.plurk.com/JayWarbler Accessed 20 November 2022. Her blog is now password protected and abandoned.http://forgivemeannabelle.tumblr.com Private plurk account is similarly abandoned. 
CPCoulter Writes My Canon was Jay Warbler's Fanfiction.net account, which was still online in 2018; but is deleted as of 2022. It is unknown if the site or the user was responsible for that. 
Later, in April 2015, daltonficconspiracytheories started by time_warping_daltonier on Plurk theorized on forgivemeannabelle's dissapearance. The user was not present for the original anon hate but was curious about the situation. They theorized about Jay's disappearance based on a glitch login on Jay's Plurk Account. The blog received anon hate,https://images.plurk.com/7hOFfA0JtYreYO9mv4EeCI.jpg Accessed 20 November 2022. with user thepaddlingloli on Plurk commenting "a lot of what happened with Jay went on behind scenes and only a few people know what happened [...] You won't hear a bad word against her" ironically coming right after laralouliz said: "even the mention of her name brings drama lol. that's one dead horse that should be left to float imo."https://www.plurk.com/p/kwqxwr April 20th, 2015 Plurk conversation regarding time_warping_daltonier receiving the negative messages. Accessed 20 November 2022. 
Many users were encouraged to join Plurk, as it was much friendlier there due to the lack of anonymous commenting options. Even once the anonymous 'whisper' feature was introduced to the site, few opted to use it. During 2013, CP didn't post at all on her Tumblr and it was a low point for the Tumblr based fandom, even while the Plurk fandom was thriving. CP had small events called "Buttons" where she would pretend to push a button, unleashing some strange scenario like a Beach Party or a Superpower AU in an IM-style thread. New facts were learned, but Warblerland was hardly updated and it was becoming difficult to cross platforms. Many fans picked one or the other, further dividing the remaining fanbase.
An attempt had been made in Spring 2012 to bring the fandom back together for The Dalton Games: a writing competition set up in a Hunger Games style 'write to the death' challenge by confringo- and Hufflebecks, archivist of Dalton Blog.http://hufflebecks.tumblr.com/post/19814005846/attention-daltonites Accessed 20 November 2022. The month-long competition would pit author/beta reader teams against one another, with length, quality, and execution as criteria for the judges. Interestingly enough, the first winner was Tumblr user gizardhttp://confringo-.tumblr.com/post/21353123959/ladies-and-gentlemen-i-present-to-you-the-winner gizard is currently holyboywonder on Tumblr. Accessed 20 November 2022. for thier story More Than Just A Game. Gizard was only competing in Round One because they replaced forgivemeannabelle for District 4, as the anon hate had sent Jay offline before the competition had even begun.http://hufflebecks.tumblr.com/post/20377479389/attention Accessed 20 November 2022. However successful the first round was, the attempt to run it for a second month in a row failed. The first round of Tributes were popular fanfiction writers voted on by other members of the fandom to receive a slot in the competition,http://hufflebecks.tumblr.com/tagged/dalton-games/page/3 without that backing, Round Two was not as well-read.
Individuals kept their own parts of the fandom alive, but the vibrantly evolving culture of 2011 could not be recaptured. The magic of Glee itself - though separate from Dalton - was also fading.http://joes-motorcycle.tumblr.com/post/115110976623/artemismoon12-joes-motorcycle-artemismoon12|Discussion on Glee and Dalton's linked fandom. Accessed 20 November 2022. More and more people looked "back" on Dalton as if it had ended, and users began to refer to it less as a "perfect literary feat" that captured their teenage imagination, more realistically as the melodramatic fanfiction it is.
===Chapter 28: Siege and Fandom Resurgence===
In 2013, CPCoulter promised to upload her entire fic to AO3, and that it would act as a countdown to the next update. The story sat at Chapter 14 for almost a year until April 2014 when Chapters 15-27 were added. Rumours of a proper update spread, and speculation as to the timing of it caused an entire week of leadup and anxiety, as many did not know what it would be like after such a long update.http://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/97838166948/aleclightwwood-just-a-brief-insight-into%7CTypical Dalton Fan Behaviour. Accessed 20 November 2022. Plurk users uploaded selfies of themselves at the moment the update hit, no matter what the timezone. Daltonites were pleasantly surprised as a good number of fanficcers and artists re-emerged for the update, on top of the remaining Plurk-based fandom. Things settled down again after a month or two, but it was one of the largest resurgences in ages.
Capitalizing on the resurgence later in the year, CPCoulter decided to celebrate the fic nearing 3.5 million hits on Fanfiction.net by hosting the first ever Dalton Big Bang, from August 1 to October 31. Seventeen teams collaborated in varied measure, but with general success, to create their art and fics.https://daltonbigbang.tumblr.com/ Accessed 20 November 2022. http://daltonbigbang.tumblr.com/Masterpost Accessed 20 November 2022. Many fics were posted to AO3 and, as longer works that displayed a greater degree of time and effort in their making, represented a departure from the fandom's history of mostly oneshots and drabbles.
In Glee's final season, the show featured Dalton Academy burning to the ground which resulted in many Tumblr bloggers sure that the TV show had in some way copied the most iconic part of CP Coulter's fic.http://reapingwithjoy.tumblr.com/post/112948480213/so-glee-youre-telling-me-dalton-had-a-fire Accessed 20 November 2022. Even if a Gleek had never read Dalton itself, most knew that it was a long fanfiction involving a sprawling cast and school arson. This connection resulted in no real resurgence of fandom, but discussion of the fic's influence on canon was widespread. The introduction of a female applicant to the Dalton Academy Warblers on Glee had a similar response, but primarily on the Daltonite side, as opposed to the general Glee fandom. 
Currently, the fandom is waiting on Chapter 29: "Promenade", treating it like a release of the next novel in a series. Fanwork is still produced on a regular basis, though by fewer artists and writers than during the fandom’s height. Although it is unlikely she will be able to keep her update plans a secret, CPCoulter is planning for a "ninja" update.
===COVID-19, The Discord Split, and The Tenth Anniversary===
In 2018, a number of new users joined the Dalton Plurk community. They did not receive a warm welcome from all fans, but a deep nostalgia for the story kept them online. A large factor in this was the Established Plurk Fans"I want to be clear that while I am writing a majority of this wiki, I don't want to name names or speculate without cold hard links to back it up. There were entitled people. Fact. They couldn't handle that folks who joined Plurk in 2018 had different opinions. The only reason I didn't get lumped into their witchhunt was because I had been upfront for years about not liking Jogan, otherwise I probably would have been put on the chopping block." statement, artemismoon12, 19 November 2022. who didn't think "the new people knew how we do things around herehttps://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/550029751968989185/702796521728376952/image0.png 
This now deleted quote is in response to the linked whisper thread, epitomizing this false dicthomy of "new" versus "old", dismissing valid criticism of the forced culture of Jogan shipping on Plurk. A small witchhunt began trying to 'unmask' the anonymous users. The anonymous hater of new fans of course ignored that ship wars and anons necessitated the Move to Plurk. The identities of all users involved has been highly speculated, however no one has ever stepped forward in any clear capacity. Accessed 19 November 2022. " regarding shipping Jogan, despite many of the new-to-plurk users had been active readers since 2011. Some of the 2018 Users had a private Discord chat named "Bible Study/Blonde Boyz Zone" to discuss Dalton precisely because "we were all Newbies™️ on plurk and felt a bit out of place."Interview with Fig halloween TWO!🎃#8733, server owner of the Dalton Academié Discord Server in #border-common-room, 18 November 2022. Accessed 19 November 2022. The private chat then became a full server when activity on Plurk stagnated in 2019, leading to Fig creating the Dalton Academy Discord Server on February 26th, 2019, mostly receiving the same users from the isolated members of the fandom. While user Hufflebecks created a Discord server for Dalton on October 30, 2018https://discord.gg/q7vJz52h 
As of 19 November 2022, the server only has 11 users, with most notifications being users leaving the server 2 years prior. , its user base was mostly Plurk users who still used Plurk as a main social media for Dalton. 
When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in early 2020, the isolation forced a renaissance of creation. A migration due to layoffs, lockdowns, and an abundance of free time resulted in a large Plurk and Tumblr migration to The Dalton Academy Discord Server- which, as opposed to the Dalton Discord Server, has never had CPCoulter as a user privy to the discussion that occurs there, making it a solely fan-owned and led space. Notably, users who had never joined Plurk did join the Discord, such as jarofspacestuff from Tumblr who was too young during Dalton's heyday to ever meaningfully interact with CP or treat her with authorial reverence. A move away from CPCoulter split fan conversations away from the author's involvement and oversight, perhaps in the first time since 2010. 
The difference in opinion this raised caused a discussion where author and fans agreed that she would allow fans their own space, as talk had shifted in the ten years since the story first was written- mainly over disagreements about racebending finally making its way into Dalton’s fairly white demographics (mainly Desi!Bancrofts, Korean!Brightmans etc.)Conversation in #Disc-Horse on Dalton Academy Discord, 15 April 2021 regarding statements made on Plurk across Various Accounts in the previous weeks regarding CP's relucaance to change the design of her own OCs and the link between believability via white privilege versus representation and escapism. Cited without Screenshot as the Discord is Publicly Closed, and CP's Comments on Plurk are spread across too many posts to be useful to this particular citation. Accessed 19 November 2022; but witnessed by artemismoon12 on both platforms at the time. CPCoulter took a Plurk break for her own mental health, staying mainly on Twitter for a month in the spring.https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/550029751968989185/702793341364076595/unknown.png Accessed 19 November 2022. However, she did introduce new characters for the first time in ages: like Bo, the boy with the hearing aids in Chapter 26; or Gianfrancesco Sanchez, a magnificent bastard who loaned Logan Wright crocs after a poker game where Danny Abbot won Wright’s shoeshttps://www.plurk.com/p/nvucg1 Accessed 20 November 2022. . 
Old fans who had been left on Tumblr, never moving to Plurk, were brought back into the larger discussion by the Discord. Many thought they were the only ones left who remembered this fic. The server over the course of the spring and summer created and hosted a 2020 Big Bang, with 11 weeks of content created (though the last two weeks dropped off severely in participated).https://daltonficbigbang.tumblr.com/ Accessed 19 November 2022. In the same time, hufflebecks did a full revamp of the Weebly, creating Warblerland2https://warblerland2.weebly.com/ Current Sites as of 19 November 2022 have the sites source data switched to have the update as the main site. Accessed 19 November 2022. with minor additions from other users. A couple users also used the viral platform, TikTok, to create and share Dalton specific content and memes.https://www.tiktok.com/amp/tag/daltonfic Accessed 19 November 2022. Collaboration fostered by the app's stitch feature led to some interesting combinations of cosplay.https://www.tiktok.com/@panpizzasexual/video/6934153507368865030?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1 Accessed 20 November 2022. A Kurt, Logan, and Adam combination. 
Multiple users, led by user CheshireChelsea, participated in a video for CP’s 33rd Birthday in the autumn; messages revolved around her creation changing their lives, wishing her a good birthday.https://vimeo.com/463301089 Accessed 20 November 2022. 
Some theorized that CPCoulter would update on the 10th Anniversary of her story’s posting: November 29th, 2020. When the day came, CPCoulter did not update, but she did confirm there were multiple chapters left and she did have parts written and sent to her beta. The anniversary prompted her to post the most content she had in ages. The fandom celebrated together and enjoyed the anniversary nonetheless.https://www.plurk.com/p/o41u4a Accessed 20 November 2022. 
The real update was the users of the Dalton Academy Discord, led by Executive Producer Sam "Ham" Florida, upabovetheworldyoufly. They had created an Audiobook of Dalton.https://thedaltonaudiobook.weebly.com/ Accessed 19 November 2022. An Audiobook project had been floated back in 2011, but never got off the ground.https://at.tumblr.com/daltonebook-blog/are-you-ever-going-to-release-a-dalton-audio-book/5rd5rulaat5z Accessed 19 November 2022. The group posted the first 5 recorded chapters to CP with 3 introductory videos from Telly Leung, Riker Lynch, and Curt Mega (the final of which, introduced the Audiobook itself).https://at.tumblr.com/duchesschameleon/the-nostalgia-im-feeling-listening-to-this/4ume85zltrso Accessed 19 November 2022. It is currently available to listen to on Spotify, Soundcloud, and YouTube. Up to chapter 8 was then released, with a standstill in production until further notice. 
Cast shirts for the Audiobook were created under the supervision of Dalten Academié LLC; but Zazzle removed the shirt for “copyright infringement”.https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/720048106535911568/783090710063742986/image0.png Accessed 20 November 2022. 
Discord’s influence is not to be understated. Feedback trickled for Plurk as the main source of Daltonfic content. CPCoulter last posted to Plurk January 15, 2022.https://www.plurk.com/p/oplpo4 Accessed 20 November 2022. Though she is still active on Twitter, the lack of interaction on a closed network may contribute to a growing disconnect between the fans and creator.
==Interactions with the Actors==
Around the New Year 2011, and into Spring 2011, many of the actors who played the Warblers on the show were recommended Dalton either on Twitter or other media, many letting the unnamed Warblers know that they had been fancast as characters.https://twitter.com/curtmega/status/171164065765408768 The original tweet is unavailable, but one reply is still active as of 20 November 2022. https://twitter.com/eclipsebam/status/130580153314181120 Riker Lynch for instance was the cast as the characters of Reed, Jeff, and the Twins, and they all responded to the fanfiction in their own ways.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_FPDEzt0pM The Darren Criss Street Team meets the Warblers after Glee Live in NYC and talk Dalton. Accessed 20 November 2022. The Warblers would tweet CPCoulter,https://twitter.com/rikerr5/status/201928621940670464 Accessed 20 November 2022. and congratulate her on her fandom success.https://twitter.com/curtmega/status/24045300188450816 This led to some resentment in fan circles that Dalton, out of all fanfiction, was gathering such real life attention and readership.
Telly Leung and Luke Edgemon were some of the first to actually read the fanfiction.https://twitter.com/tellyleung/status/13967926616920064https://twitter.com/lukeedgemon/status/21015614017507328 Accessed 20 November 2022. Dominic Barnes actually became a fan of hers,https://twitter.com/dominicmbarnes/status/20730468076879872 asking if he had a character.https://twitter.com/dominicmbarnes/status/23561342728278016 Like Glee's creation of the character Trent later in the seasons, CP created the character of Bailey Tipton to match Barnes' on-screen persona by matching him with a textually important sympathetic role in exposition, as the neutral perspective from the 'enemy' house.http://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/3043830567/now-that-youve-pretty-much-met-and-talked-with Accessed 20 November 2022. This was met with enthusiasm from fans, especially Barnes himself: "Cant wait to start reading more if this #Daltonfic!".https://twitter.com/DominicMBarnes/status/21284843950182400http://topsy.com/trackback?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fmyscarlettlady%2Fstatus%2F32303719773114368&infonly=1
Aaron C. Page, who played an unnamed Warbler, was facecast as a character called Logan Wright. Fans referred to Page as Logan, and would address tweets to him as Logan. Page had a teasing relationship with the fans, deliberately acting like Logan in scenes when he was not given any proper direction: "Just for you!"http://trainwreckstateofmind.tumblr.com/post/3909390013/o-m-f-g-i-found-a-daltonfic-reference-in-last Confirmation that Logan Wright was added into Glee Canon by the actor himself. Accessed 20 November 2022. The most visible of these examples was in "Original Song", Page was the last to raise his hand to support a duet between Kurt and Blaine, as they were Logan's ex-boyfriend, and present love interest, in the fic.http://fuckyeahcpcoultersdalton.tumblr.com/post/3892996450/alllright-so-im-talking-to-aaron Accessed 20 November 2022. 
Fans reached out to get Telly Leung, Riker Lynch, and Curt Mega to film videos via Cameo for CPCoulter to celebrate the 10th Anniversary.https://www.cameo.com/recipient/5fb973e8b8f771001fe0e501 Telly Leung's Video. Accessed 20 November 2022. https://www.cameo.com/recipient/5fb723d0d5812b001d0ab952 Riker Lynch's Video. Accessed 20 November 2022. Curt Mega specifically was reached out to by upabovetheworldyoufly to film a video specifically to introduce the Dalton Audiobook Project.https://www.cameo.com/recipient/5f89ce469b9a2c001dfd69e6 Curt Mega's Video. Accessed 20 November 2022. Mega was also asked if he would be able to cameo as Nick within the audiobook itself; understandably, Mega declined for legal reasons. 
file:Confirmation.jpg|Page's sly confirmation
file:Dom.png|Dom Barnes's opinion on Dalton
file:Bday.png|Aaron Clemens Page wishing CPCoulter a Happy Birthday
==Relationship with Spah!Verse==
infraredphaeton's Dalton Boys Are Geeks was written in the wake of Blaine's first appearance on Glee. Both fics both received independent fan followings for their original characters, and were on friendly terms - even writing collaborative fics of their schoolboy OCs.http://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/3824648480 Accessed 20 November 2022. http://cpcoulter-official.tumblr.com/post/3870893128 Accessed 20 November 2022. http://tricksterneon.tumblr.com/tagged/daltonfic 
Infra is now using the username ramblingstride on Tumblr as of 20 November 2022. https://ramblingstride.tumblr.com/post/5732542361/i-swear-to-god-i-will-nom-the-shins-of-the-next Despite Infra publishing first, she has been attacked for copying CP's ideas. The two no longer collaborate - but it is unknown if this was related to Glee's decline or lack of individual interest in the project.
==Related Works==
Though initially the story was based on Kurt and Blaine, interest for CP's original characters grew so much that fans almost forgot it was a Klaine fic. Much of the fanwork for the series focuses on the 'Conspirators' of Windsor House, the Stuart Trio, and a plethora of background characters. While mostly artistic, many memes such as imposed the name "Logan" on various macros, or incorporating 'fyeah___' style memes have been created.http://daltonmemes.tumblr.com Inside jokes like Logan the "Giant Squid of Ignorance" or Dwight's father being Perry the Platypus also exist;http://warblerland.weebly.com/mr-perry.html This page soley exists due to a request from artemismoon12 to hufflebecks based on this parody https://artemismoon12.tumblr.com/post/27815220677 Accessed 20 November 2022. or Youtube edits or meme style videos like Shit Jogan Gondoliers Say. 
Some attribute the numerous Supernatural references in the fic to a brief spike in Supernatural/Glee crossovers. Tiktok also played a role in 2020 evolution, such as discord compilations, or the Bread Store audio trend featuring jarofspacestuff as 'the manager' of racebending headcanons.Video posted 21 September 2022 by Sam "Ham" Florida in the Dalton Academy Discord for download in #dalton-memes. Still available on the server for members only viewing. 20 November 2022. 
===Music===
Dalton was based on a musical tv show; Dalton itself is a story about singing prep school boys, but as a fic, it lacks the same auditory element. On top of fanmixes and the fic's soundtrack, fans felt compelled to add their own twist on the story and were inspired to write their music and fan songs based on Dalton. Different approaches, themes, and characters are covered by various singer-songwriters to create an original piece of fanwork in the tradition of wizard rock; although most songs are folk-pop acoustic recordings.
* Fansongs Masterpost
* Soundtrack
===Fanfiction===
Between ics, drabbles, oneshots, and multi-chapters put the Dalton fandom at ~7000 fanfics (CP Fanfic, aka CPFs)http://www.warblerland.weebly.com/info.html%7C May 1, 2012 with some authors accounting for more than 300 alone. Since 2012 though, the CPFs have simply grown at too large a rate to track by an increasingly shrinking fandom and have solidified into certain ships, tropes, or characters. It's difficult to quantify Dalton's impact on the fanfiction community, as most CPFs are tagged Glee, if they are tagged at all across platforms. While Jogan (Julian/Logan) is generally the most popular pairing, Rane (Reed/Shane) is a close second. For solo fics, Dwight Houston seems to be the most popular character; however there are over a hundred canon and non-canon ships to chose from, like the canon Merril/Spencer to Laura/Sadie/Dwight.
====Notable Fics====
* Dalton House of Horror by lionphantom, a Tumblr event where users would select a choice at the end of each chapter to shape the fate of the Ensemble in the horror; an immersive, choose-your-own-adventure story where everyone lost except the author.
* Poison and Wine by redqueenofprima, one of the better known Jogan fics from the height of the fandom.
* Scratches and Ranebows by polkamusic, an early, and infamous Rane smutfic which epitomized the polarizing kinky and/or innocent characterizations of Reed in fanfic.
* In A Hundred Lifetimes by danibanaani/songofthe52hertzwhale, a 2018 Jogan fic which chronicles Logan and Julian in a possibly infinite number of alternate universe senarios; presupposing that the two are soulmates in every single one. Hundred Lifetimes is an example of the fandom’s continued passion for the work, and a shift after the Dalton Big Bang towards a trend of longer, multi-chaptered work over drabbles or single-chaptered fanworks.
====Archives====
* The Daltonfic Fanfiction Archive
* Hufflebecks's Rane Archive
* Hufflebeck's Jogan Archive
* Fanfiction.Net's Search Page with all mentions of CP Coulter
* The CPCoulter's Dalton Tag on AO3
===Cosplay===
Dalton cosplay is very difficult to distinguish from Glee cosplay because the Dalton Academy uniform is exactly the same. Main differences are either specific character costumes like Shane Anderson's scruffy hoodie, Laura Bancroft's colour-blind wardrobe, or a Dobry Hall uniform; or a typical blazer is paired with a Nerf gun for a Windsor student, or Supernatural style relgious paraphanalia for a Dwight Houston cosplay. Dwight is the most commonly cosplayed Dalton character simply because of the recognizablity of his accessories compared to other students. Cosplayers would attend conventions as Dalton characters amongst other Warbler fans, and not many people would tell the difference unless they knew the fic.http://2ndnovember1983.tumblr.com/post/92471276569 Accessed 20 November 2022. 
The most prolific cosplayer for the fandom is CaptainImaginary. He had photoshoots for Reed/Shane, Julian/Logan, Kurt, and Dwight, as well as a cosplay video.http://captainimaginary.tumblr.com/post/9122584983http://captainimaginary.deviantart.com/gallery/28494774/Glee-Dalton His dA account seems to have been removed but some posts are still available on his tumblr: https://captainimaginary.tumblr.com/post/13471664588 A noteable recent cosplayer is Vinnie, dwighthouston_irl on Tiktok who dominates cosplay content in the #daltonfic tag.https://www.tiktok.com/@dwighthouston_irl Accessed 20 November 2022. 
Before writing Dalton CPCoulter was known online for her cosplay and modelling in the Philippines; thus she has a healthy relationship with the cosplayers in her fandom. She herself has done a genderswapped version of her character Logan Wright.
File:Dalton vs glee.jpg |The Difference between a Dalton cosplayer (left) and a Glee cosplayer (right)
File:Catch me captain imaginary.jpg |One of CaptainImaginary's many Reed/Shane cosplays.
===Fanart===
Considering how prolific some Glee fanartists were, it was unsurprising many of them were also Dalton fans and drew some of the best known art, often as banners and manipulations. CP would reblog fanart, and continues to replurk a piece if she enjoys it. The most definitive Dalton art can be found decorating the Warblerland site without credit.
The support of popular artists only gave more clout to Dalton's permanence as a subfandom. Muchacha10 was the biggest name in Glee fanart from 2010-2013 on DeviantART and Tumblr. When her photoshop broke, it aligned with the popularity of Dalton, so many coloured, and reposted her Dalton fanart with permission, earning a name for themselves by doing a Muchacha colouring; or by emulating her style.
====Examples====
* The Cast as their 'Alice in Wonderland' Counterparts by kreamasuzuki
* A Jogan Doodle by Homemadedarkmark
* Windsor portrait An Ensemble Portrait by ElmerSantos
* A Comic from "Cheer" by yu-oka
File:Dwight4up.png|One of many pictures in a trend, celebrating Dwight's Panic! at the Disco Number from "Hell Night", by theultimatechaos
File:Dalton_2b5l.jpg|The Main Cast by Muchacha10, coloured by Artemismoon12
File:Questions_by_kennedyxxjames-d3809vt.jpg|Part of a series of Rane QnAs, by KennedyxxJames
====Archives====
* Dalton-Lovers on DeviantArt 
* Warblerland Gallery
* A Gallery of Muchacha10's work, and the Colouring jobs
==Communities ==
===Discord===
* [Dalton Academié]source: upabovetheworldyoufly.tumblr
* [Dalton]https://discord.gg/q7vJz52h
==Resources==
* CPCoulter's Website
* TV Tropes Dalton TV Tropes
* Warberland, Official Dalton Lexicon
* Official Tumblr Tag
* CP's Plurk
==References==
Category:Glee Fanfiction
Category:2010sCategory:2018 Featured Articles