About
4chumblr refers to the artistic depictions of the relationship between 4chan and micro-blogging website tumblr that arose as a result of the recent war between the two sites.
Origin
On November 14th, 2010, 4chan (more specifically /b/) launched its planned campaign, Operation Overlord, against the blogging website, Tumblr. Anonymous began spamming shock images to the site and continually fired their Low-orbit Ion Cannons (a type of denial of service program) and managed to temporarily bring down the home page of Tumblr, although individual blogs continued to function.
In retaliation, the “hipsters” from Tumblr posted multiple images of cats to /b/ as part of Operation Overkitten.
While the initial counterattack seemed to have little effect, several of 4chan’s moderators decided that anonymous had crossed the line and proceeded to render /b/ dysfunctional for a short while, causing all threads to 404 upon creation.
During the aftermath of the mod-sponsored attack, a decent fraction of anonymous contingent decided they would rather “live in harmony harmony oh love~” with Tumblr than remain hostile.
Clik here to view.
Thus 4chumblr was born.
Tumblr-tan
Shaded in the same blue and white color scheme as her namesake, Tumblr-tan usually bears objects and clothing associated with the “hipster” subculture, often sporting thick-framed glasses and a hair clip that is in the shape of a “T” that Tumblr uses as their logo. Her personality and relationship with anonymous varies, depending on the whims of the individual artist. Tumblr-tan’s persona ranges from shy, love-struck, and clingy to aggressive, openly antagonistic, and spiteful.
Clik here to view.
Anon-sama
Anon-Sama (“-sama” is used as a male honorific suffix) is portrayed as he always has been: green, faceless, and with a snappy suit. Character-wise, his personality also fluctuates, being anywhere from simply disinterested or nervous to that of a rapist in Lincoln Park.
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Reaction
On tumblr, after the initial pictures were made, the craze spread like wildfire. Several bloggers on tumblr reblogged already made pictures and fanfics and even contributed their own. Due to the “exclusive” nature of /b/, tumblr users unaware of the raiding incidents were curious as to the origin of 4chumblr and drew more attention to it.
Alternatively, /b/‘s reaction was very mixed. It seemed one-third of anonymous welcomed this new relationship with tumblr, while another third despised this newfound association with the “useless hipsters” and the final fraction couldn’t careless. The fraction of /b/tards hostile to 4chumblr decided to post more gore than usual to the boards in order to shock the new flow of tum/b/lr users into leaving.
Spread
After the initial outbreak of original content posted to /b/ and DeviantArt, youtube user desiredblasphemy uploaded a montage of 4chumblr images, generating nearly 5,000 views in under 3 days.
A day later, Whatislulz uploaded another montage, earning over 14,000 views in 3 days.
In addition, the days following Operation Overlord saw the rise of multiple DeviantArt accounts and Tumblr blogs created for the sole purpose of displaying and reblogging 4chumblr art, as well as that of the newly-created Tumblr-tan.
Clik here to view.
The short-lived war between the two websites brought a surge in attention for both of them, causing a noticeable spike in search volume on November 14, 2010.
Clik here to view.
As of November 18th, 2010, google insights show 4chumblr approaching its peak in publicity.
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Screenshots
4chumlbr was not limited to images in its early stages; both anons and bloggers demanded rule 34 of Tubmlr-tan and Anonymous together, and for better or worse, the internet complied.
Fanfic Three. posted on tumblr.
Comic – part one Comic – part two, posted on tumblr.
Author’s Note
ALSO, a special thanks to Captain Blubber, for helping us out in our time of need!