When you look back into the past, the gods and goddesses of specific places and people across the eras, it's a pretty decent way to understand what those people and places were actually like, or at least what was important to them. You don't only have to do that with the people of Tombow though. They've kind of gone ahead and developed their own reputation throughout the internet on their own. Have you ever seen Breakfast Club? There's a character named Allison Rindle II seems like she's simultaneously pissed off at everyone and also equally terrified of them. She's thoughtful, edgy, talented, and above all else, kind of weird. Personally, I feel like that's exactly how the rest of the internet sees Tumblr. It's a community that was built almost entirely on fandoms, you know, these groups of fans that spring up around popular media, TV shows, movies, comics, music, whatever. And they sort of make it their own through fan art, fan fiction, and shipping oftentimes, you know. I think we're fans paired together, two characters who they thought should have always been together. It's not exclusive to Tumblr, but I definitely feel like they popularized it. Tumblr is also very pro-LGBTQ plus, and very supportive of minorities in general, both in terms of the people who use the site, and also those who actually run the site. Officially, this means that Tumblr is very active in promoting minority-friendly media and making sure to use appropriate language when addressing the users of the site. But, unofficially, well, remember how I described Allison Rindle II? I think you definitely described Tumblr as being constantly pissed off and also terrified. I know the same could be said for a lot of online communities, but I think it's much more evident on Tumblr. A lot of its users feel persecuted in their real lives, and they rely on Tumblr as a community they can feel safe in. So, even though I'd say a majority of the site's blogs aren't focused on people's personal lives, I think that sentiment of being an outsider, trying to survive the rest of the world, I think you can see a lot of it in Tumblr's content. And I don't think there's much better evidence of this than when you look at one of Tumblr's favorite Greek gods, Asperian. The first time Persephone he left Hades for five months, he had grown so attached to her that he was often depressed. He would often have dreams of what they would be like to have a child with his beloved Persephone. He named her Asperian. She was just a figment of his imagination until one day, when he was done day dreaming, she didn't disappear. She was physically there with her father, and she was very beautiful, like her mother. And when the news of her beauty reached Mountain Olympus, the goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite was outraged. Aphrodite grew very jealous of the supposed beauty Asperian possessed, so she devised a plan. Asperian is much like her mother, she loved being outdoors. One day, when she had gone for a walk, she saw a lovely golden comb with elegant designs and pearls decorating the sides. She pinned her lovely strawberry hair out of her face, but when it caught sunlight, it burst into flames. Asperian tried desperately to put the flame out with her hand, but when it had finally gone out, she looked at her reflection in a nearby stream and was devastated. Though her father had imagined her as a goddess, he forgot to give her the skin that does not burn like the rest of the gods. She equipped a sharp metal claw for her charred, blackened hand, and a sinister helmet to hide her hideous burns. Her warm heart had melted and she had been turned bitter by another woman's envy. Though her beauty perished, she was reborn under a new moon, one of her vines. Legend says that Asperian searches for people who deceive and lie so that she can torture them and punish them for their crimes against humanity. The people of Asperia named their nation after the thing they know best, an old story about how something once so beautiful and innocent can be reborn into something terrifying and vengeful. If you're not familiar with this particular bit of Greek mythology, that's completely understandable. Asperia is a lesser known deity and actually kind of a late addition to the Pantheon. In fact, she showed up in 2015, you know, only 2,146 years after Greece fell to Rome. So, yeah, Asperia is kind of an invention of tumblers. If you're looking for the real origins of Asperia, we can actually just go back to a thread in 2015 on tumbler where somebody raised the question, what Greek god is known for being the most beautiful? You get your typical answers like Aphrodite, and some of you are applied if you're ever actually in the situation, pro tip, name Persephone. Half the goddess is we too surprised to smite you immediately, and while Hades won't do you any favors, he may at least high five you on your way down, and that's when tumbler user 28 weeks later hater spoke up. Another tip, name Mesperian. Not only will you shock everyone, including her, since Aphrodite was a jealous hoe who burnt her face half off, but you win Hades favor, as is most beloved daughter, anything that praises her will make you a kind human to her, and okay human to him, and a genuinely good person to anyone else. As far as I can tell, this is the first ever recorded documentation of the goddess Mesperian. This is how gods are born people, and the notes of a tumbler post. Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, instead of fact checking this, people would just assume that Mesperian was an obscure goddess that they hadn't heard of before, and a lot of people took this concept and ran with it, you know, the way tumbler does, there's fanfiction, fan art. I think this description I found on DeviantArt does a decent job summarizing the response to Mesperian. I was told that Lee Mesperian was made up by someone on the internet, but the truth is, I really don't care, it might be possible that she did exist, but information about her could have been lost over time. So you might see this as sad or, you know, upsetting, but you want to know something crazy? I believe in Mesperian. I don't think she's a great god of torture though, I think she's the god of tumbler. I mean, I know there are gonna be people out there who disagree with me. All online communities have pretty diverse crowds that populate them. I mean, hell, technically I'm a tumbler user. Link my blog down in the description, but I don't personally identify as a tumbler user. In the same way a country can contain a diverse group of people and still have a lot of similarities, a rise amongst its civilians, you can see the same thing happening in online communities. Forchan might have some very kind and politically correct people on the site, but it's much more likely you're gonna run into some rude folks on there. Maybe not all Reddit users downvote posts they disagree with, but that's kind of what comes to mind when you picture your typical Reddit user. And when I think of your average tumbler user, I think the mythology of Mesperian makes complete sense. Born from imagination and loneliness, a beautiful woman made ugly by a jealous and cruel world, a life dedicated to vengeance, the protection of the innocent, and the punishment of those who deceive and lie. That last point is probably the most crucial if you really want to understand tumbler, I think. I mentioned earlier that they were very supportive of minorities, but really this extends to anyone or anything that isn't able to defend itself. On its surface, the site just seems to be a haven for fan girls, but you don't have to look very far before coming across the social activism that is the site's lifeblood. The desire to stand up for the wounded and the defenseless is the passion of tumbler. And even if you were actually trying to stay out of the discourse, you're going to inevitably find yourself being drawn into all sorts of conversations and debates and just grudge matches. It's difficult to remain socially unaware if you're active on tumbler. Help, you're likely to become hyper aware of a lot of issues that have little to no bearing on your life. The site is full of warriors and guardians of social justice. All of them with different perspectives on who is the liar and deceiver most worthy of Miss Perian's tortures. I think it's because a lot of the users on tumbler at some point in their lives that they have stepped out into the sun and been burnt themselves. Maybe it was just because of something they were wearing or maybe somebody they have never met and hated them. Maybe they just hadn't stepped out into the sun before. But whatever it was, it was an experience that changed them. Scard them. Left them a little bitter. Left them with a desire to put on a mask every now and then and maybe even go torture those who deserve it the most. I believe in Miss Perian. Go check out my tumbler in the description and maybe you'll see her for yourself. Thanks for watching, guys.