5 Year Anniversary
(If you’re just looking for the Pixel Art thing, see the project tab listed below)

5 years ago today I made my Stick Nodes account. Not even 2 months later, I uploaded my first figure. In truth, what got me into the site was the goal of badges; Crusader, Noder badges, etc. I wasn’t known well in the community, but I wanted to be. Well, I was younger then, and of course, like most users, I wasn’t the most likable or mature person; but I’ve always thought it was interesting how you can see how someone grows here. I remember users 5 years ago acting completely different, and it’s admirable how they’ve grown.

That being said, I know that even though compared to a lot of users here, I am not that well-known, this site has still influenced who I am and who I will be. Meeting new people, interacting and participating in unique projects, and receiving feedback; behind the mess of drama and cynical bickering, are these not the core values of this site and community? I’m not going to waste your time and say cheesy stuff, but I can say this; my time here has made those 5 years much better.

The People

There’s been plenty of people I’ve called friend on this site, and though many I have not seen for months, years even, I still get the privilege of talking to some. I’m not going to make a list of every person I’ve ever interacted with, since honestly, that would take hours. Still, though, some users here are genuinely good people, and that is the greatest challenge; to remain good. Below I’ve listed some of the best users.

Some of the ones I truly appreciate: Manny, CWD, and Arda.
3 users I feel I can say I consider friends.

The real respectable users: Lemon, Humble Damien, DownwardGhostly, NARR, and Master Strike.
Clean reputations, great opinions, calm and collected, I can’t help but respect these guys.

My inspirations: EB, Vincent, ThoughtsofEverything, InfiniteGuess, and K-ZILLA.
Some of these are obligatory, some of the best 5 members in this entire community with raw talent and ability.

That is not all, of course, just names that come to my head. To everyone else; whether you’re a kingpin of the community or one of the ones that people kinda say ‘that guy?’, you’ve still contributed to the structure of the site. People used to say that the site was devolving, getting worse, and dying even. I used to agree, but honestly, in recent times, I’ve been proven wrong.

Community Interaction

One of the best parts of this site is the occasional gem of interaction and teamwork. Most prominently, the Site Log; without a doubt one of the best things to ever happen to the site. You can also see the other projects that, though ‘little’ by standard, still influence the community and bring it together. Seasonal collabs, that Starship group, the Silly SMP, and even those Forge Competitions (Who remembers those?). Those are just the more recent ones, of course.

The Pixel Art Project

To say the least, it’s the kind of thing to keep someone around for 5 years. But to stop the cheese and get to the center of the post, I’ll cut it short. A little while back, I announced I’d be drawing some of you, and I picked 20 (21 if you count the Stickguy reference) to do exactly that. Sorry to all who I left out. It was not biased or anything malicious, I either couldn’t fit you on the base or didn’t have enough room at all. There were some I included that did not ask to be put, and I hope it’s alright that I went ahead and included you anyway; I suppose you were too good to be left out.

This piece isn’t supposed to be a masterpiece or anything remarkable, just an attempt to show my appreciation for this community. Though there are many people from the past (not that long ago at all) that I’d like to have included to fully represent the community (Stew, Soup, Slap, to name a few) I couldn’t find the space or actual reason to do so, as it would’ve seemed like plain bias. So to put it simply, this is not a representation of our entire community, just a gift.

I would like to note on some characters presented minor changes had to be made to be recognizable in pixel format. Body shape, design, or face changes are notable examples. Just think of it being done in my style. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

(List of users included will be in the comments)

What else?

I’ve already typed a lot (I ain’t readin allat) but I’m going to use this time to shamelessly advertise and self-insert. On Saturday, I’ll be hosting a game night, join my discord server (Warlock Imperium) to play some Gartic Phone with some of us. I kind of want to revive the server to be fully active and get a good community running with very frequent game nights, movie nights, and other fun events, so it would be cooler if you joined.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll be here for another 5 years. Maybe I’ll leave in a month. I’m excited to see what this site can become now that the drama has started to die down.

Below I’ve attached the Pixel Art project, a quick sketch, and a comparison between 3 of my older figures and 3 of my newer ones. Hopefully, the attachments work, it’s weirdly finicky.

Have a good day and thank you to everyone. If you have any questions for me about the project or anything else, I’d be more than happy to answer.