Fanlore:Featured Article Archives/2023: Week 23
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Bug Race is an overnight fandom originating on Tumblr in January 2023. When Tumblr introduced a polling feature, a poll by crankyteapot featuring three emoji of a bug, snail, and worm was one of the first to really go viral on the site. It was billed as a race, with more votes putting a particular creature ahead of the others.
The sports-like competitive framing garnered many fans among Tumblr's userbase. Users quickly began aligning themselves with one or more of the factions of the poll, campaigning for their preferred bug, and creating fanart and memes during and after the poll's run. The poll ended with bug winning, but fanac and appreciation for the race continued for several weeks after the poll's closure.