Tumblr Bug Race 2023

Fandom
Name:	Bug Race
Abbreviation(s):
Creator:	crankyteapot
Date(s):	18 January 2023- early February 2023
Medium:	Memes
Country of Origin:
External Links:	Screenshot of the final results of the Bug Race
	Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
	Contents 1 Origin and Spread; 2 Fandom 2.1 Comments on the Poll; 2.2 Comments to crankyteapot; ; 3 Example Fanworks 3.1 Fanart; 3.2 Other; 3.3 Recursive Polls; ; 4 Links; 5 References;

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.

Origin and Spread

On January 18, 2023, Tumblr rolled out a Polls feature^[1] Like most new tumblr features, it was rolled out gradually, but users who first gained access to the feature quickly flooded the site with a variety of polls. One of the first polls to gain viral popularity on the site was a poll by crankyteapot titled "bug race", ^{Archived version} which allowed users to vote for one of three emoji: 🐛 (bug), 🐌 (snail), or 🪱 (worm).

While most early polls were more in line with traditional poll usage of asking a question and receiving answers (think "Which character would win in a fight?"), Bug Race gave Tumblr users specific factions to root for and framed the poll as a race instead, which likely helped with its popularity. The poll amassed almost 170,000 votes in 24 hours before closing, with 🐛 (bug) winning.

The Bug Race remained in Tumblr's popular memory for longer, but fandom engagement mostly droped off in early February. Memes and recursive polls continued to be made as late as April 2023, but got much less engagement than the early weeks of the fandom.

Fandom

While voting was still open, crankyteapot made fanart commenting on the popularity of the poll.^[2]

People made encouraging posts,^[3] wrote poetry,^[4] made voting stickers to support their preferred candidates while the voting was ongoing. After the poll closed, people made victory art^[5] and other commemorative fanworks (see below). The Bug Race also inspired numerous other emoji race/contest polls (see several examples below).

Comments on the Poll

[crankyteapot]
ok im sure ur sick of me reblogging this thing all day but one last addition bc its really.... bugging me :P
Can you guys Stop calling to get the snail disqualified for “not being a bug” because surprise surprise scientifically speaking neither are worms or caterpillars!!!! so in that case, THIS ISNT A BUG RACE!!!! but invertebrate race doesnt sound nearly as fun. do you wanna have fun here or are we being Technical.
Yes i gave a gold star over calling caterpillars bugs earlier but that was Incorrect and i am taking my gold star back :P
(source for image text, ^{Archived version}) (butterflies are Lepidoptera)^[6]

[animentality]
Tumblr finally gives us the option to poll each other and the first immediate thing we did was have a poll that was just racing a snail, a caterpillar, and a worm.
And it was so magnificent that both bug and bug race are trending.
I love you guys. I could kill you for not crowning worm the winner, though. ^[7]

[mystical-writings]
the fact that everyone is using the bug race to prove that everyone is lying about the "would you love me if I was a worm" is such a tumblr thing and I love it^[8]

[dikdikpronouncedxylophone]
Caterpillar stans: Aw yeah we won, sweet
Worm stans: WHAT THE FUCK THIS IS RIGGED I WILL SLICE YOUR EYEBALLS LIKE A HARD BOILED EGG THEY DESERVE BETTER MY SLIMY BOY IS THE TRUE CHAMPION AND THEY WILL CONSUME YOUR CORPSE WHEN I PUT YOU IN THE GROUND
Snail stans: Aw I was hoping for a sweep, that was fun tho^[9]

[Anonymous]
as a wormblogger how are you feeling about the election results

[txttletale]
im at peace with it because i internalized the moral of worm: that all bugs are of equal value when it comes to the important things (being forced into peoples orifices)^[10]

[bebx]
only tumblr people will understand the Great War of worms, snails and caterpillars^[11]

Comments to crankyteapot

[Anonymous]
CONGRATULATIONS: You have achieved significant notoriety thanks to a recent post! You have lost the privilege to die!

[crankyteapot]
[screenshots of half a dozen similar asks]
[drawing of a giant arrow labeled 'TUMBLR FAMOUS' pointing to crankyteapot's persona]
s'alright^[12]
#bug race #im glad ppl had fun!!!!! #still upset that the worm just didnt show up for a lotta people. definitely skewed results #also watch it fade in like a week lol

[Anonymous]
How many new followers have you gotten because of the bug race?

[crankyteapot]
[Drawing response: Crankyteapot's sona, a person with a one eyed square for a head says "IDK, a few? I don't see why anyone would follow me for-" They look at their phone which says they gained 1741 new followers in shock and yell "WADDA HELL"]
uh, hello new people! there’s a lot of you^[13]

[Anonymous]
Please tell me you're seeing all the posts about your bug race poll

[crankyteapot]
Oh yeah i just found out theres a bug race tag this morning, it’s been rly neat seeing people post abt it!!! ^[14]

[Anonymous]
Bug race was monumental, can we get a new one every year?

[crankyteapot]
I’ve seen plenty of folks make their own lil emoji races already tho! …and a bug knife fight. I wonder how that one’s goin
point is, nobody’s stopping ya!
#kind of you to think of me but i Know i'll forget abt it lol^[15]

[Anonymous]
How does it feel to have started the bug race phenomenon

[crankyteapot]
A secret: I had the idea cause a mutual of mine does poll snail races over on twitter semi-regularly and i thought it was very cute and I wanted to share ^[16]

[pickles4snickles]
*rasies hand* it's not even 100% my idea either, I stole it from a stream I watch and every now and then they do snail races in chat

[crankyteapot]
the nature of humanity is that we like to make little creatures race against each other for fun^[17]

Example Fanworks

"I voted" stickers created by safetyrat

Fanart

two works, ^{Archived version} by crankyteapot and firepestle
Our champions are now taking their deserved rest., ^{Archived version} by tunamoth, 19 January 2019
i did my part 🫡, ^{Archived version} by dongfangxunfeng, , 19 January 2023 -- link2
No matter who you voted for..., ^{Archived version} by imconfusedallthetimehelp (Jan 20)
bug race or something 🐛🐌🪱, ^{Archived version} by garlic-the-gnome (Jan 20)
who did you vote for, ^{Archived version}, knitted fanart by reiien (Jan 20)

Other

Voting stickers by safetyrat
Worm "I Voted" sticker, ^{Archived version} by pseuglam (Jan 19)
splatoon meme about the poll, ^{Archived version} by abraxas-calibrator
tumblr polls have amplified the human need to vote on things., ^{Archived version} with Roman Senate meme, posted by never-nevermore
so you’re telling me you wouldn’t love me if i turned into a rectangle either, ^{Archived version}, by mr-ribbit, commentary on the worm not winning and tumblr's "would you love me if I were a worm" meme
BUG RACE!! moodboard by calciferstims (Jan 20)
The Great Bug Race, ^{Archived version} by EeveeAroAce --fanfic based on the original Bug Race poll
more poetry about the result, ^{Archived version} by ghost-in-a-cup (references the "would you love me if I was a worm" meme, then current on tumblr)
This Barbie is winner of the Bug Race, ^{Archived version}, by fantasynonsense13 (April 17)

Recursive Polls

NEWNEW BUG RACE this time it's all snails, ^{Archived version}, another poll by trendytrashprince, inspired by crankyteapot's poll
Fish Race, ^{Archived version} poll by tmmyhug (alternate link with results)
reptile rumble!!, ^{Archived version}, poll by admin-cock
enough racing who would win in a fight to the death, ^{Archived version}, another poll by superioronion -- using the same emotes as the original Bug Race, but each accompanied by a knife emote.
ACTUAL BUGS BUG RACE by non-bird-nary (Jan 26)
bug race grand prix by teathattast (Feb 6)
bugracebracket (April 2023), a Tumblr blog for setting up a bracket competition of polls (a type of event which has been popular on Tumblr throughout 2023).

Links

#bug race on Tumblr
tumblr tuesday: bug race roundup, a digest/report on the event from Tumblr's official @staff blog

References

^ Ok folks. Everybody stay calm. It’s happening. Polls are here., ^{Archived version} Announcement by the Staff account. Posted 18 January 2023.
^ the competition is intense, ^{Archived version}. Post by crankyteapot, 18 January 2023.
^ duality of man, ^{Archived version} screenshots of example posts collect by gremlin-pattie. Posted 19 January 2023. alternate link
^ 'i lik the bred' style poems for each of the three candidates, ^{Archived version} by evilwizard, awritersbro, and owldart, respectively. Posted 18 January 2023.
^ see final post by firepestle, ^{Archived version}; alternate victory art by tunamoth, ^{Archived version}
^ Commentary on the poll, ^{Archived version} by poll author, crankyteapot. Posted 19 January 2023
^ Tumblr post, ^{Archived version} by animentality, posted 19 January 2023.
^ Tumblr post, ^{Archived version} by mystical-writings, posted 19 January 2023
^ Tumblr post, ^{Archived version} by dikdikpronouncedxylophone, posted 19 January 2023.
^ Tumblr ask, ^{Archived version} answered by txttletale, 20 January 2023.
^ Tumblr post, ^{Archived version} by bebx, posted 21 January 2023.
^ Tumblr Ask, ^{Archived version} answered by crankyteapot, 19 January 2023.
^ Tumblr Ask, ^{Archived version} answered by crankyteapot, 20 January 2023.
^ Tumblr Ask, ^{Archived version} answered by crankyteapot, 20 January 2023.
^ Tumblr Ask, ^{Archived version} answered by crankyteapot, 20 January 2023.
^ Tumblr Ask, ^{Archived version} answered by crankyteapot, 20 January 2023.
^ Followup comment, ^{Archived version} by pickles4snickles, with reply by crankyteapot. Posted 20 January 2023.

[1] Ok folks. Everybody stay calm. It’s happening. Polls are here., ^{Archived version} Announcement by the Staff account. Posted 18 January 2023.

[2] the competition is intense, ^{Archived version}. Post by crankyteapot, 18 January 2023.

[3] uality of man, ^{Archived version} screenshots of example posts collect by gremlin-pattie. Posted 19 January 2023. alternate link

[4] 'i lik the bred' style poems for each of the three candidates, ^{Archived version} by evilwizard, awritersbro, and owldart, respectively. Posted 18 January 2023.

[5] see final post by firepestle, ^{Archived version}; alternate victory art by tunamoth, ^{Archived version}

[6] Commentary on the poll, ^{Archived version} by poll author, crankyteapot. Posted 19 January 2023

[7] Tumblr post, ^{Archived version} by animentality, posted 19 January 2023.

[8] Tumblr post, ^{Archived version} by mystical-writings, posted 19 January 2023

[9] Tumblr post, ^{Archived version} by dikdikpronouncedxylophone, posted 19 January 2023.

[10] Tumblr ask, ^{Archived version} answered by txttletale, 20 January 2023.

[11] Tumblr post, ^{Archived version} by bebx, posted 21 January 2023.

[12] Tumblr Ask, ^{Archived version} answered by crankyteapot, 19 January 2023.

[13] Tumblr Ask, ^{Archived version} answered by crankyteapot, 20 January 2023.

[14] Tumblr Ask, ^{Archived version} answered by crankyteapot, 20 January 2023.

[15] Tumblr Ask, ^{Archived version} answered by crankyteapot, 20 January 2023.

[16] Tumblr Ask, ^{Archived version} answered by crankyteapot, 20 January 2023.

[17] Followup comment, ^{Archived version} by pickles4snickles, with reply by crankyteapot. Posted 20 January 2023.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

Fandom
Name:	Bug Race
Abbreviation(s):
Creator:	crankyteapot
Date(s):	18 January 2023- early February 2023
Medium:	Memes
Country of Origin:
External Links:	Screenshot of the final results of the Bug Race
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
Contents 1 Origin and Spread 2 Fandom 2.1 Comments on the Poll 2.2 Comments to crankyteapot 3 Example Fanworks 3.1 Fanart 3.2 Other 3.3 Recursive Polls 4 Links 5 References

✪ This article was featured on the Fanlore main page in 2023
How To & About	About Featured Articles How to Nominate
Past Featured Articles	2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017
Featured Article Nominations	2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017