So... I haven't been active since the fall season of last year as it seems. Well, more particularly, since the holiday season as I am going to begin explaining why I basically "quit" Newgrounds.

I know I don’t have that many followers here, but if you know me from Twitter, then you probably remember the rants and call outs I posted about the very past Secret Santa event that was hosted here on Newgrounds in 2022. Yeah, I had basically left because of that, however, there’s more to it: When I participated, the rules were essentially the same as 2021, and I requested one of my Pokémon OCs to be drawn. Before I get deeper into that detail, I’ll just say that this entire dilemma all started with me not receiving my gift first thing on Christmas morning as others are supposed to until 10PM; as if the artist knew my time zone to post a horrific… terrifying… abomination. What I got was so bad, I can’t show it to anybody, even if it’s for evidence. I reported to the moderators, and they turned out to be no help.

Allow me to deliver you the Monday/Thursday translation of the response I got from them: “Sorry to hear that the artist made you an abomination for Christmas, but consider it coal as you weren’t supposed to submit OCs based on video game/anime/movies like last year; especially when it’s a generic premature recolor of a Pokémon.” Insults aside, they should’ve given me a warning instead of waiting 35 days after I made the submission to enforce the rule. They then replaced the image with something that at the very least eliminated any sense of it being terrifying; so, at least I can look at it, but the new image was just the mod(s) mocking me for simply having the thought of participating. In other words, the whole event was a set up. They PLANNED this to screw over ONE person.

To further prove that approving my character WASN’T an accident: I found out that roughly 11 to 17 people got away with breaking the same rule I broke, and what they got weren't abominations, but rather perfectly made artwork. I saw a Kirby, some Pokémon here and there, an Inkling (Splatoon), a Binding of Isaac character, as well as what is literally Jugo from Naruto Shippuden sitting on a wheelchair. Yet, an Icy Nidoqueen that can become a Lapras isn’t allowed. I wish I found out about these submissions sooner and use to call out the hosts for their hypocrisy, but when I found out at the time, it was already too late to make damage control without relying on external help (which at the end of the day--year even--I did). Now, it’s 2 1/4 months later, and here I am rambling this entire story again just to tell my next-to-no audience where I've been ever since 2022 ended.

I don’t just fade out of a site without notice, you know. Like with DeviantArt. Despite that site having its own issues, I left for a different reason, being that the site is a barren wasteland filled to the brim with abandoned accounts made by people who are in their 50s to 70s, and interacting with people just gets harder as my career went on. I didn't delete my account until 2 years later when it gets to the point where that account is now following countless people who aren't my friend anymore, and I don't want to take all the time in the world to delete each gift art I made for them; hence why I don't upload artwork involving my friends on here or Pixiv.

Here, on Newgrounds, I feel like my issues with DeviantArt have gotten worse, minus the abandoned accounts part. In addition, the whole secret santa incident is what finished it off. I lost all my respect for this website. Hell, I was active to consider this page my vent account whenever I want to get something off my chest but not on Twitter.

In conclusion, Newgrounds don't know how to manage their events, and I have lost all my respect for this site. The games are great, but the contests are as graceful as tits on a nun. Pixiv is already my primary art gallery, while Newgrounds had been my secondary gallery for a while, I'm just going to move on to another site. If any of the mods from back then finds this status and deletes it, or worse, ban me, I don't care. It will only mean they are as insecure as the admins on Miiverse. (Remember that place?) Otherwise, I'll likely only have this account still be open for private messaging.

Follow me on all these other sites: https://solo.to/kirbyranitar.