Deadmau5

Joel Thomas Zimmerman, recognized more widely by his stage name, deadmau5, is best known as an electronic music producer. He also heads his own record label, mau5trap.
See Wikipedia for more detail.
== Shipping ==
By far, the ship when it comes to Joel is Skrillmau5, the pairing of him and Skrillex. The pairing has several DeviantArt groups dedicated to it, while no other Joel ship does. Out of the 83 fanfics on AO3 that tag deadmau5 as a character, 42 of them are Skrillmau5. (Accessed 6 January 2024.) 
The second most popular ship with Joel, Mau5mello- which pairs him with fellow producer Marshmello- has five.
The next two after that are Gerardmau5, shipping him with Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, and Zeddmau5, the pairing of deadmau5 with Zedd. 
Joel is also possibly subject to the highest rate of Original Character and Self-Insert shipping in all of Electronic Dance Music RPF.
It should be noted that while Joel was for a time engaged to Kat Von D, and fans seemed surprisingly calm about Joel's relationship with a woman, there was relatively little fic and art of the couple.
== Depiction in Fanon ==
Joel is usually portrayed quite true to life as a snarky, sarcastic grouch- he even views himself this way, given that his personal blog is called choleric-mau5. Fans in fic communities often note that he doesn't like being touched and that he's generally quite closed-off, not liking to be emotionally vulnerable. He is sometimes shown as struggling with his mental health and interpersonal relationships, likely inspired by this blog post he made, among other things. 
That said, he's also a major geek and a cat lover, so he does have his soft spots.
=== Mau5borg ===
Mau5borg, also called Cyborgmau5, is a trope used in many Sci-fi AUs, in which Joel is a cyborg. The reason for his cybernetic enhancement varies by author, but is most commonly to save him from death or severe injury. The exact details of which parts of him are and aren't robotic may vary, but in almost all cases, his head is a robotic mau5head. The trope seems to have risen to prominence sometime in mid-2011, coinciding with the trope of Skrillex being an alien. Alien!Sonny and Cyborg!Joel are often paired together in fanart.
Notable examples:
* the Cyborgmau5 series by DeviantArt users Rinzler-chan and Hafell.
* Deathdetonation's EDM Zombotverse, which also features actual robots Daft Punk and Alien!Skrillex.
This trope seems to have originated in DJ Hero 2, where the opening cutscene of the Deadmau5 megamix features Joel spinning his head around on his decks, before attaching it to his neck and going on to play his set.https://youtu.be/sHZKuSjZ17U?si=-K5KotlrsoLTacDz&t=18
=== Ghostmau5 ===
Ghostmau5 is a trope in which Joel is a ghost. Often, in Fanart of this trope, Joel's spirit will have mau5head for a head. This usually goes unexplained. Sometimes, Ghostmau5 is paired with Alien!Skrillex. This trope was likely inspired by the music video for his song Ghosts 'N Stuff, where he dies in the hospital and then runs around messing with people as a ghost (portrayed using a sheet ghost costume, which is incongruent with the common depiction of ghostmau5 in fanart).https://youtu.be/h7ArUgxtlJs?si=NZZ3xwYWpMKfmjsv
The oldest traceable use of the ghost!Joel trope appears to be in Ghost n' Skrillex, an anonymous Kink Meme fill, which was requested in September 2011 and later filled in November that same year.
Another notable example of this trope is All Of Eternity by StripesCO.
Related and similar, but not falling under this trope, is Joel's incarnation as Mau5prite in Ke$hastuck. The difference between Mau5prite and Ghostmau5 is that Ghostmau5 is a ghost in the traditional sense, while Mau5prite is a Homestuck sprite.
== Other Fannish Expression ==
=== Mau5heads ===
Joel's most distinguishing characteristic as an artist is, indisputably, his mau5head logo. He has many different variants of the iconic head, and even more casual fans who do not participate in Fannish Community will often make their own replicas or versions of his head at home. Sometimes, just for fun, and sometimes, they'll take the heads to Joel's shows, other people's shows, meet and greets, or conventions. This is effectively a form of casual Cosplay, even though many mau5head makers might not consider it as such.
Deadmau5HelmetMakers is a DeviantArt group dedicated primarily to sharing photos, designs, and construction tutorials/advice for mau5heads.
== Fannish Resources ==
*fuckyeahhh-deadmau5 tumblr
*toomuchjoel tumblr
*the-cult-of-mau5 deviantart group
*Deadmau5-FC deviantart group
*Deadmau5 fandom tag and Deadmau5 character tag at AO3
== References ==
Category:Industry
Category:Music RPF