History of Sneasel Plushie!
Interested in the secrecy-shrouded origins of this mysterious site? Come then, and listen to the amazing tales that equal the creation of Sneasel Plushie! o.O
How'd It All Start?
Sometime in the spring of 2003 I'd venture, is about the time when I, fab, took to sharing my Pokémon fan art with the other good people of the Serebii.net forums. It was a few thumbnail images and a couple descriptions to go with them, all slapped on a primitive HTML page. That's how it all began. Gradually I began to collect more of my already hefty collection and put it on display, but the single page got crowded awfully quick.
At some point or other, having already created a successful web site for the Mega Man Legends game series, I began to seriously consider going on to create another with an emphasis on Pokémon. It was in fact an idea I had toyed with for several years already. I knew however, that one site demanded more than enough of my free time, and that a second one would be impossible to manage. Yet, if I could keep it very small, maybe I could build it bit by humble bit...
Pokémon Cove I called it, a simple little site (intentionally so) with a few bits of random intrigue. Among its few sections, the only one that really had anything to offer was my fan art area, which had expanded a bit. I had decided to divide my artwork up onto different pages according to their style and classification. However, lack of motivation ended this endeavor with nothing more than 3 pages of art; one had my True Art Series, one had The Eeveelutions Projects and one had 3D Models.
There things sat for the majority of 2004...
But Sneasel Plushie?
Ah yes, before going further I suppose a
brief explanation of the site mascot is in order. Basically, Vaporeon and Espeon had been my favorites by far for quite some time. Out of nowhere in the middle of 2004, my fondness for Sneasel seemed to rise immensely. Even though I don't collect plush toys, I somehow thought it would be cute to own a Sneasel plushie. Unfortunately my search for such a piece of Pokémon merchandise was met with utter disappointment. ;_;
[As of the beginning of 2008, I have acquired the
plushie]
Around the same time, I had become temporarily obsessed with hanging out in
Serebii.net's chat room. One night a few people were randomly exchanging names (oh what crazy things people do for fun in chat rooms!), and I unthinkingly changed my name to
SneaselPlushie while a friend of mine (
Togepi4eva, AKA
Mondo, AKA
Bluechu, etc.) took over the name
fab. Thus
SneaselPlushie was born!
I continued to switch to the name now and then while I still frequented the chat. Usually
SneaselPlushie would make its appearance on late, dudly nights. I'd take on a different personification, and everything
SneaselPlushie did would be shown using the /me trigger, it rarely ever spoke! Examples of random
SP activity:
* SneaselPlushie tries a Slash attack with its soft claws
&
* Tail is now known as Yello_Mit
<pokemew> i couldn't even catch a chocobo in FF8 ._.
* SneaselPlushie takes a walk around the chat
<ChaosMeowth> Your one of his..freinds, aint you?
<jigglyskitt> I can catch a Chocobo in Chocobo racing!
&
* SneaselPlushie grabs a bowl of ice cream
&
* SneaselPlushie gets run over by a light blue car with a broken headlight
<Yami_Ryu> I nearly have GunMage mastered for Rikku
<pokemew> i like the modified one
<Yami_Ryu> o.o
You get the idea. Anyway, as time went on,
SP started having more of a presence, some people even started interacting with it! Lots of fun. ^_^
* SneaselPlushie jumps up and... lands
* Yami_Ryu catches the plushie
* Yami_Ryu cuddles it
<Yellow_Lunch> bbs
<SneaselPlushie> O_O;;
* FlamingTorchic is now known as FT||ProbablySnoozin
* SneaselPlushie is caught!
<GreenShipper> So has anyone here read Magical Pokemon Journey? Please?
<FT||ProbablySnoozin> bbt
<Sciz> Bai Bai Nick-a-la-a-la-thong
* Yami_Ryu hands it a cookie and releases the Plushie
* Yami_Ryu smacks Sciz
<Chaos> O_O
* pokemew yawns
* SneaselPlushie smiles and eats teh cookie
Ah, nostalgia. Feels so long ago now. XD
Where Does The Relevancy Begin?
Okay, it happened one day in late September, 2004. I randomly clicked a link in someone's signature banner at
Serebii.net forums, and suddenly there I was at this cool site called
Suta-Raito. It was big, it was popular, and it was... largely fan art oriented? Yes, so it certainly seemed. It isn't as though
Suta-Raito inspired me so much, as it showed me a different way to look at what I had.
I had wanted to create a Pokémon site but didn't have the time. I had wanted to make my fan art into a portion of that site but hadn't followed through.
Suta-Raito showed me that if I gave it my all and created my Pokémon site but made the artwork the focus, it would be a site I could handle the upkeep of with my limited time, and yet if done right it could become something great instead of just an obscure, little gallery.
I began work on the new layout immediately, taking everything into account I had learned from my other web site ventures, and keeping a clear vision of what I wanted the site to become. But what to call it? As far as I can recollect, the idea just popped into my head as I began to work, and I knew right away that
Sneasel Plushie! was the perfect name for it. A totally unique name for a site, if I do say so myself. I got to work on drawing the official
SP! mascot artwork which is displayed in the upper left corner of the site, and worked on it when layout design would get too tedious. Within two or three days the site was made, uploaded, and all that remained was to gather together and organize all of my huge collection of fan art.
How's The Site Doing?
I find that this is an area of the history page that requires frequent updating. The site saw a great deal of growth and sponsored a series of seasonal coloring contests back its prime. Traffic peaked at an average of about 60 unique hits per day and the affiliation list was lengthy and packed with good sites. Things have really slowed down since then as I'm unable to be as involved and I don't have as much time for drawing Pokémon as I used to, but all in all the site has been a total success in my eyes, and I hope it will continue to be a friendly place that people enjoy visiting.
Why Not Show Us What The Old Pages Looked Like?
