Episode 41: Insider Interview
Ep 41 Insider Interview Transcript
Host: djin7
Guest: tripperfunster
Topic: Even the kids shows aren’t safe!
DJ: Welcome to the Slashcast Insider Interview, I’m DJ and my guest today is Tripperfunster, also known as The Mistress of Squick. And she is here to discuss her many forays into slashing inappropriate characters for the lulz. Tripperfunster does amazing work and we’ll be linking to her art and tumblr archive so you can check it out. In many fandoms Tripp is well known for her fanart, but she is perhaps most infamous for her sense of dark humour and lack of boundaries. And it is these gifts that brought her here today for Slashcast Episode 41: Fandom Goggles, Even the Kids Shows Aren’t Safe. Thanks for joining me today, Tripp.
Tripperfunster: I am totally putting that intro on my gravestone.
DJ: [laughs] Are you saying it’s appropriate?
Tripp: I’m saying it was fantastic.
DJ: It is all true.
Tripp: It is all true, but it was fantastic. And it was well put, how’s that? Eloquent.
DJ: Pleasure. So of course what everyone wants to know is the story of how you decided to start slashing cartoon characters and/or the like?
Tripp: I don’t know if slashing anything is something you decided to do - shipping - it is, it’s just so organic. You know, you don’t sit down and say ‘I think I’ll make these two guys fuck’, you just sort of [DJ laughs], I mean, well you do that too, but that’s not how it begins. It’s just, er, um, well I didn’t actually, I wasn’t in fandom before I had children.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: Um and I actually have a son that I named Harry and never would have named him Harry had I, you know, drawn some of the fanart that I have drawn since.
DJ: Yeah.
Tripp: With Snape that is.
DJ: Exactly.
Tripp: Um, I would have named him Snarry if I’d known. [both giggle] Forever to be beaten up in the playground. [laughs] And my daughter, Snermione. [both laugh] Um, so I found fandom later on after reading the Harry Potter books, and very innocently googled ‘Snape and sex’ and, er, found my very first fanfic ever, and it was - thank god - slash. And I didn’t know that slash as a lifestyle choice, I guess, existed, or as entertainment or whatever. I was er, it was possibly the best moment of my entire life.
DJ: One of those wonderful epiphanies that only come around-
Tripp: Including the birth of both of my children. [both laugh]
DJ: I hear that!
Tripp: And er- says the childless woman. [both laugh] [sarcastically] ‘Including the pretend birth, of both of my pretend children.’ But it was, it was amazing. It was a Snape/Sirius slash by isiscolo.
DJ: Oh.
Tripp: Which, if you’re going to stumble on a writer it might as well be isiscolo for your first.
DJ: What luck!
Tripp: Oh my God, no kidding. Um, so I seriously just about had a heart attack I was so excited that I found this and figured that it was like one teeny gem in massive ocean of what might be out there. Little did I know that it was, you know, ripe for the picking. So much slash. Erm…
DJ: But it was a teeny gem in a mountain hill, still.
Tripp: Oh it was, but I really didn’t think I would find much homoerotic writing out there though, let alone good. I mean I wasn’t even- good wasn’t even an issue, give me all the crappy stuff as long as it exists.
DJ: Right exactly.
Tripp: But it was my luck that there’s just a, you know, a shit ton of fantastic slashy art and fic out there. So then after getting into shipping, and getting into the whole slash genre, you just can’t help but when you’re watching television, you know the kids are watching, say The Wiggles [DJ starts giggling] and for those of you - which sounds slashy all by itself - um, for those of you without children, you know, children don’t watch a television programme once, they watch it 75 million times and just through sheer exposure, after your brain melts and you lose your will to live a very small part of your brain tries to make sense out of what you’re seeing for the billionth time and, you know, it’s for the gay. You know, let’s make everyone gay, and all of a sudden the show is a lot more interesting. So, er, you know I didn’t actively slash The Wiggles but I mentally slashed The Wiggles because that’s the only way to listen and watch The Wiggles for any amount of time. Thank god my kids didn’t like Barney!
DJ: Right. Thank god.
Tripp: Because that’s just wrong, on so many levels.
DJ: I’ve heard of Barney fic.
Tripp: Oh, oh, yes I’m sure there’s more than enough- there is actually some horrific Wiggles fic out there too. [both chuckling] Not written by me.
DJ: No.
Tripp: But just you know, and as their programmes thank god, became more - the television programmes or movies my kids watched became more interesting, or well written, or plotty, or better character development just because the kids themselves were older, the more it sort of became more interesting for me to watch it as well as them because there was better rounded characters, and better looking characters than The Wiggles. [laughs]
DJ: Well I think a lot of those, a lot of those, the makers of these things start to understand too that the parents are forced to watch them and they do kind of sneak in sometimes adult-ish content that only you’ll get because they’ll make some crack about mash (M*A*S*H), or some TV show from 20 years ago, right?
Tripp: Can I just that my friend texted me the other day, her kid was watching iCarly which is, you know, rated for, well not rated, but geared toward pre-teen crowd, you know, the tweens, and on the show they said the word hobknocker and it was like an insult and they wouldn’t say what it meant and so my friend Googled hobknocker and it’s actually somebody who hits you in the face with their penis.
DJ: Oh my god.
Tripp: [laughing] And this is like a, I don’t know if it’s Disney, but it’s like Teletoon or, you know…
DJ: Right, right. It’s a family-slash.
Tripp: It’s a family - not a family-slash! - but a family show and yeah, I’d not heard the term hobknocker, nor have I experienced it, but um it was pretty amazing-
DJ: I’m sure you could draw a picture about it, fairly sure.
Tripp: I may just. [laughs] But anyway I guess my whole point being just being exposed to all these shows ad nauseum you can’t help but slash them. And some of them really slash themselves. And I know we’re specifically talking about cartoons today, and kids shows, um, one show that I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of is Phineas and Ferb, which is a Disney cartoon. Which is really clever, and wickedly funny, for people who have to sit through kids programmes that’s a really good one, and the writers totally slash the two - it’s about children and then they have a pet who is a platypus who is also a secret agent, unbeknownst to the, who battles an evil scientist. But two of the kids are constantly slashed by the writers, there’s a bully and his, whatever, wimpy kid he picks on, smart little wimpy kid. And they are constantly- one of them carries the other around in - what are those? - like a baby backpack, or puts him in his shirt, or does all sorts of terribly slashy things, and the platypus and the evil scientist are constantly slashed. It wasn’t that my mind made this up, it’s that they kept serving it to me on a silver platter-
DJ: There’s a deliberate pandering of some kind of bromance going on there is what you’re saying?
Tripp: Oh, like they break up, like the scientist cheats on the platypus [DJ laughs] with another secret agent. Like they, and there’s he has his own breakup s-[audio breaks up, could be song or storyline]
DJ: [joking] Do they have a divorce?
Tripp: They do! Like, he like hides the other guy in the closet because the platypus comes and he hides his other secret agent because he’s cheating on him with a panda from Seattle [DJ laughs] believe it or not.
DJ: [still laughing] A platypus and a panda from Seattle.
Tripp: And there’s one scene where they’re going through this laundry thing and they both come out wearing different clothes and the platypus is dressed as a groom and the evil scientist is dressed as a bride. Like, they seriously…
DJ: Easy, yeah.
Tripp: Oh, yeah. But it’s, and it’s so wrong. I’m not into furries, I don’t- it just isn’t my thing, whatever. And being an artist there’s furry art all over the place. I totally ship this platypus with this evil scientist, though this is not a furry ‘cause he’s an actual animal.
DJ: Actual!
Tripp: If you know what I- like he’s-
DJ: Bestiality’s okay but, furries: no good.
Tripp: Yes, exactly. That’s my point. Bestiality is completely is, it’s the best-iality. [DJ laughs]. And er, but yeah, again there’s probably… gone, gone in a whole flurry of porn. In fact, I happened to happen upon one of the artists and writers for Fineas and Ferb on one of the art sites, and sent him a piece of art. I have Perry the Platypus and the evil scientist wearing housecoats in bed, and just reading the morning paper kind of thing. And the scientist, Doofensmirtz is his name, says, er, he’s doing the crossword and he says to the platypus, ‘I need a ten letter word for what we just did.’ And I sent that piece of art to the artist that works on Fineas and Ferb, you know, part of me thinking that - ‘cause I don’t generally cross the line of-
DJ: Right, the fourth wall there.
Tripp: Yeah, I don’t generally break the fourth wall because won’t appreciate what I do at all. [both chuckle] In fact cease and desist orders would be sent to me, and er - although I do it in love - er, he, the writer, or writer-slash-artist, that works for Phineas and Ferb enjoyed it and said that it was seriously nothing compared to what they draw at the studio. [DJ laughs] Which filled me with all sorts of glee I can’t even tell you. And I sent them a pretty tame piece, you know I have full on bondage porn of the two of them, this was just a bit of a cute, somewhat worksafe thing. You know, as worksafe as bestiality can be.
DJ: Right. Right. Thanks for putting my brain there though that’s great.
Tripp: And I work in a pet store so you can imagine how-
DJ: So you probably know the best way to tie up a platypus. [Tripp laughs] I mean you have a pretty good-
Tripp: It’s the scientist that gets tied up, come on!
DJ: [Laughs] That’s awesome. Alright, well, obviously your brain is definitely in that place where you can take a look at these sorts of things and bring them to a whole new level for the rest of us to enjoy. Crack wise, and everything else wise. What, how your process goes from watching the show, seeing the pandering done to you and/or the slashy moments and then bringing your pencil to paper and posting it, going in that direction.
Tripp: *sighs* That’s a good question. I er, I-
DJ: What inspired you to get to that point?
Tripp: I would like to tell you that there is a very involved process [laughs], but it’s more of a ‘wow I really need to draw them doing buttsex’, you know, it’s the… although I mean I guess a lot of what I draw tends to be more cracky or funny. [DJ makes agreeing noise] I usually like to fool myself into thinking that I’m really just there for the humour factor. So usually the first, you know, five to ten times I draw a pairing, especially a pairing that would be more of a technically children’s show pairing-
DJ: I remember when you were doing Spongebob a few years ago.
Tripp: There you go. Like, you know my first Spongebob picture was implied oral sex as opposed to actual oral sex.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: It was more, you know, Spongebob has such a great reaction, such a great… facial expressions, like seriously as an artist everyone should study Spongebob and the cast of characters for all of the facial expressions they make, they’re just fantastic. So it was more about his facial expressions than the actual sex act. And I had one where Spongebob was holding up Patrick, kind of like Titanic. [DJ laughs] And ‘I’m the King of the World!’, you know one of those-
DJ: I remember that one.
Tripp: Yeah, and then, and then I had to draw, you know everybody, you know all the main characters of the cast of Spongebob and how their penises mimic what their body shapes look like. [DJ starts laughing] So Spongebob would have square balls, of course,
DJ: We absolutely have to have that link to this, just so you know.
Tripp: Yes, okay. I’ll have to- make me some notes on what I have to find the art for. But I would say that it’s generally kind of gradual where it goes from like cute, and silly, and funny, and then cracky, and then holy fuck what the hell is wrong with that girl, why would she draw somebody, you know Patrick fucking one of Spongebobs holes in his sponge? [DJ laughs] Like it generally degrades into, you know, like Perry the Platypus with the Doctor there was some hugging, and some implied after sex, and then it degraded into sounding. [Both laugh] Of the Platypus-
DJ: As you do.
Tripp: Putting his penis into the human’s penis. I mean I really honestly spent way too much time thinking about how they could actually have sex because they are so dimorphic of size and shape and species that, um…
DJ: That never stopped fandomers.
Tripp: Well exactly.
DJ: That’s just another challenge.
Tripp: Yeah, exactly, you know everyone likes a good challenge. But I guess my process is not intentional I don’t think, but it tends to be more - cause most of the characters that I draw or write I really like - and I really like the dynamic they have together and I draw them because I love them, and then I draw them because I’m a dirty old lady! [DJ giggles] So it’s a progression… into porn.
DJ: So it comes from a pure place-
Tripp: Except when it’s not.
DJ: -and then it ends up, um...
Tripp: And then it gets sullied-
DJ: -in a pit of despair.
Tripp: -and sullied and sullied, it’s just like a big bukkake. [laughs]
DJ: Well you know, you know anime people have been doing that from Asia for a long, long time of course. They take their animes like InuYasha and all those, have always had sort of slashy shipping, erm, pornographic variants, even that get published in that country because the Asians are pretty forward when it comes to that sort of thing, so-. But when it comes to North American cartoons, and sponges for instance.
Tripp: Yes!
DJ: You know, that’s different, that, my friend, is vision. That’s what you have.
Tripp: [laughs] I am so ahead of my time.
DJ: Well, I know, I mean the anime characters all pretty anyways and everybody wants them to have sex. So what you do is you take somebody who couldn’t possibly have sex really, ‘cause he’s a sponge-
Tripp: But you know what, I have to say, that I genuinely focus on the ugly. I don’t know why, but I just, you know, the evil scientist?
DJ: Yeah.
Tripp: Not a good looking dude. [DJ chuckles] It’s like I’m doing ugly cartoon characters a favour. [both chuckle]
DJ: Getting ugly laid one pic [might also be fic] at a time.
Tripp: I suppose it’s pity sex, pity sex for all the ugly cartoon characters. I’m that girl.
DJ: Yes you are. We love you. You have some other ones too, not just Phineas and Ferb, but Megamind which is I think a movie.
Tripp: Megamind, oh my god, and Megamind wasn’t even a movie that particularly interested me. I’ve been burned by Will Ferrell. I have a love-hate relationship with Will Ferrell, and he did the voice work for the character Megamind.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: Um, and I ended up seeing the movie because it was sort of the only kids movie that was available that my kids were willing to see at the time we went out to a movie. And, like, seriously half way through the movie I was, like, clapping and squealing with glee because it was just a really cute heartfelt wonderful movie and the character was completely, I guess like a woobie, you know, like just somebody you wanted to take home and you know breastfeed. It was one of those were I didn’t know if I wanted to breastfeed him or have sex with him. [DJ laughs] And then I thought, why can’t I do both, really? Why do I have to choose? Er, and [DJ says something inaudible] yeah, and then, so yeah I spent a lot of time, you know, torturing and rewarding the characters from that movie. With sex, upon sex, upon sex. And also, another whole issue of, you know, the person I paired him with was the large superhero of the movie, and they also are very physically incompatible.
DJ: Of course.
Tripp: Or, whatever. It was a challenge. My kind of challenge. But, yeah Megamind definitely was something that really pinged my little slashy radar.
DJ: Nice.
Tripp: Um. Avengers, which isn’t technically kids, but is definitely geared towards kids, and always has been, I guess, is something that I’m very much into at the moment. But also Star Trek, which again isn’t so much kids but it something that I went to see with my kids and they quite liked. And more things that I can scar their childhood with.
DJ: Of course. Well done.
Tripp: Thank you, thank you very much.
DJ: Well like with Harry Potter of course, comic book movies and TV show movies are geared towards the kids originally and then eventually get geared towards the people who have the money in the wallet to go see the movie. So…
Tripp: Right, yeah.
DJ: They make it a bit more adult-oriented for us all, but you’re right they all stem from entertainment for children originally.
Tripp: Right. Um, something we haven’t really hit on, and again not something I judge other people for, but in almost all of the fandoms that I draw in or write in, and it’s not a conscious decision, but I, if there are children characters [DJ makes listening noise], I don’t, like I’ve seen you know, I’ve seen lots of stuff where they have the kids together or whatever, it just doesn’t interest me. Maybe because I have kids.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: It’s sort of like, I don’t know. It’s just like a l- it’s not like ‘oh I’ll never do that’, it just doesn’t occur to me to do it. It doesn’t really, you know, I mean obviously I get something out of what I’m drawing and that isn’t something I’d get something out of. The exception being [chuckles] there’s always one.
DJ: There’s always one.
Tripp: Would be Harry Potter.
DJ: Right you don’t like him particularly young, obviously.
Tripp: No, I mean with everything, you know er, pubes. I draw the line at pubes, if you don’t have them I’m not interested thank you very much. [DJ laughs]Um, I mean it is a cross-generational ship, but you know I wasn’t particularly interested in a Harry/Snape relationship when he was eleven years old and came to the school. It was much more- I guess one of the tropes that I really like is first time fics, you know either the first time two characters get together, or the first time one of those people, you know like a virgin kink or whatever. But, erm, and I certainly have no problem with what I guess would be considered illegal in some countries, um, like I don’t mind the characters being under eighteen but I definitely want them to be willing participants.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: And that’s not going to happen with an eleven year old, or well, I shouldn’t say that. In my world it’s not going to happen with an eleven year old.
DJ: You got that right.
Tripp: It may happen in real life, but that’s- this is not about real life, this is about fun and fantasy.
DJ: That’s right, that’s not cracky fun.
Tripp: Yeah.
DJ: So you have said you’re dealing with some current fandoms like The Avengers and Star Trek which is going to be hitting right big in tumblr very shortly when the movie comes out of course, I expect to see eight hundred thousand posts with that crap in it.
Tripp: Oh my God, Star Trek and Iron Man 3 both come out in May.
DJ: Right. So tumblr will be unmanageable.
Tripp: And I’m already like getting my adult diapers ready. I’m very excited. [DJ laughs]
DJ: But, so is that what you’re looking forward to coming up soon, or any cartoons or things coming up, new stuff? Any current projects or…?
Tripp: You know nothing… oh actually, believe it or not, because I’m sure your mind will be blown when I tell you, but the creators or Phineas and Ferb are actually doing a Phineas and Ferb x Avengers crossover. [DJ chuckles] Coming this summer. And it was like they crawled into my head and then into my pants and said ‘This is what Tripper needs in her life’. And er, so there’s actually going to be a Phineas and Ferb Avengers movie coming out in the summer.
DJ: Nice.
Tripp: And if they could just throw a little Spongebob in there and maybe a little Megamind, I might never-
DJ: You know what else is coming up soon is a new Monsters Incorporated, it’s Monsters’ University.
Tripp: That’s right, Mike and Sully.
DJ: Mike and Sully, yep! Those guys totally do it. They do it in the dark.
Tripp: Well they must be, pft, they don’t do it in the dark, they do it in the light.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: But there is a movie that I have seen a hundred thousand times, it just didn’t occur to me. I mean, obviously it always occurs to me, but it didn’t, I didn’t have that burning desire to draw it. I don’t know why. Toy Story, fantastic, I mean great dynamic between Buzz and Woody, would be an obvious pairing… just didn’t occur to me, like it just didn’t, I don’t know why ‘cause they’re great characters. They’re super well-rounded and they’re both attractive… maybe that’s it!
DJ: Maybe that’s it. Even though Mike really has no appendages to speak of-
Tripp: Mike Wazowski is a-
DJ: He’s got one eye.
Tripp: Yup. We’re not going to talk about poking it out. [both laugh]
DJ: What was that, hobknocker? [both laugh hard]
Tripp: Yeah, I don’t know why, I don’t know why those… you know what I mean? I, there is no understanding what the hell pings my slash alarm, it just does. It’s not for me to question.
DJ: Yeah, I mean all of us-
Tripp: It’s just for me to draw.
DJ: -all of us in slash fandom can get on board with that. I mean everybody’s had that epiphany moment, although usually not with sponges, but you know- [both laugh] but you just have a great depth of creativity is what I’m trying to say.
Tripp: I think I know what it is, I think part of what is is that the ones that I slash I tend to have a crush on. Not necessarily the pairing, but like I totally crushed on Megamind, totally crushed on Patrick from Spongebob. I have like, seriously, amazing taste in men. Um, but I guess it’s just have these sexual feelings for these imaginary characters and since it would be really inappropriate to draw me having sex with Patrick, it would totally scar my children forever. I guess I self-insert with another character.
DJ: You Mary-Sue!
Tripp: I Mary-Sue, I do, I really do. Um, I assume, I like to assume in my own mind that’s what everyone does.
DJ: Yes, that’s what everyone does.
Tripp: Yeah, it’s just that I don’t want to actually Mary-Sue so I pretend. [chuckles] I pretend that I’m just this skilled artist-writer that fills out these canon characters, but in fact it’s just me with a cheap plastic mask on pretending to be another character. [both laugh] Something I did slash instinct, I don’t know Jake and Josh if you’ve ever seen that show.
DJ: I have not. I do have somebody on my flist that does slash them. I have seen-
Tripp: I didn’t because they’re kinda young, [DJ makes agreeing noise] but from looking at that other people. [laughs]
DJ: Oh right. Of course. Have you seen Teen Wolf yet?
Tripp: I have not. I’ve heard lots about it.
DJ: Yes.
Tripp: I honestly cannot afford another fandom. Like I just do not have the time.
DJ: I just tripped into one myself, but not that one yet.
Tripp: Oh but it’s apparently great, I hear.
DJ: Yes. Yes, and apparently they pander to the fans as well and they really, um…
Tripp: -slash it up?
DJ: Slash it up, and, er, do all kinds of things to involve fandom, break down that fourth wall.
Tripp: Right. Well, I have Netflix, so we’ll have to…
DJ: But you know, and of course that begs for bestiality also. [Tripp laughs] They’re asking for it, they’re gonna get it, in spades.
Tripp: Now is Teen Wolf a kids show, or is it?
DJ: Um, I guess it’s you know it’s like The Vampire Diaries, you know it’s Buffy-like.
Tripp: So it’s like young, young adult?
DJ: Young- young- young adult, I guess. It’s kids are, most of the kids characters are in high school.
Tripp: Okay.
DJ: Do you have happen to have a favourite fic or piece of art in any of your kids show fandoms?
Tripp: Ohh, could I narrow it down, that’s the question? I, I think some of my best art, um, serious art in the kids fandoms would probably be Megamind. There’s great colours in that show.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: And there was great art in whatever the graphics is, it’s a 3D graphic, which generally isn’t my favourite, but they did a really nice job on it. Then I did a lot of pastel work and stuff, I’m not a digital artist per se, and was really unhappy with a lot of the art that I had drawn for that. I mean part of the problem you know like with Harry Potter you can imagine what the characters look like and draw them as you like.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: You know you don’t necessarily have to stick to the movie people, and even if you did they’re real people and when you draw them they’re going to look like you’ve drawn real people as opposed to photographs. When you’re drawing a cartoon, um, at least I give myself the expectation that it has to look like it does on the screen.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: When you’re drawing a cartoon, um, at least I give myself the expectation that it has to look like it does on the screen. You know what I mean it’s almost a literal translation which can be difficult, especially when it’s a digital item-
DJ: [Something] to these cartoons, yeah.
Tripp: -yes, and I’m very much a traditional artist. I ended up finding that pastels, chalk pastels on black paper look really fucking good and managed to do some really nice work that way. I mean I think some of my most- my funnier work was probably Phineas and Ferb because, you know, it’s a guy fucking a platypus. [laughs] How can that not be funny?
DJ: Exactly.
Tripp: On any level.
DJ: So, listen, do you have any pairings or cartoons that you have never done that you’d love to try some day?
Tripp: Something I see a lot of, is there’s a lot of Transformer art out there.
DJ: Oooh, nice.
Tripp: And it’s generally the cartoon transformers, like The Transformers or whatever.
DJ: Right, right, right. Yeah, early Transformers.
Tripp: As opposed to the movie guys, yeah I guess so. You know I almost kind of wish that I could go back in time, and you know I watched a lot of Rocket Robin Hood and He-Man-
DJ: And She Ra.
Tripp: Yeah, and, er, what was that guy? Hercules!
DJ: Oh, god. Thanks that song is running through my head now.
Tripp: Yes, thank you, anytime. [Sings] “With the strength of ten ordinary men, it’s the sign of Hercules.” Um
DJ: “Herc, Herc!”
Tripp: “It’s the Daedalus creature, the Daedalus creature.” But, you know, those shows were virtually unwatchable they were so shitty and had I been slashing back then those cartoons would have been so much more amazing than they are now for sure. A show that is really quite funny and clever, and quirky is Gravity Falls, that’s what it’s called, Gravity Falls.
DJ: Is it good?
Tripp: It’s something my kids have been watching, but there’s not a lot of episodes out there, but super funny, super clever, I could totally see myself drawing horrible, terrible things for that one.
DJ: Nice.
Tripp: Yes.
DJ: So do you have any advice for anybody, you know, fanartist or fanfic writers who, you know, want to go to that edge and then, you know, go wheeling on over? [laughs]
Tripp: [chuckles] Follow right along. Um, you know just do it. Just do what you like. I started my entire art career in fandom, I didn’t, other than, like, in high school like everybody I drew a little bit, but I didn’t draw for twenty years before finding fandom and I was inspired by a lot of the artists that I saw - this was all in the Harry Potter fandom at the time - and thought, hell I wanna do that, and picked up a pencil and absolutely fucking sucked. And kept drawing anyway, and, you know I wouldn’t say I’m great but I’m a hundred miles from where I began and I’m happy with a lot of the stuff I put out. It’s, I’m not as good as I wanna be, but I get better all the time. I mean I’m at the point now where I can generally successfully express what I’m trying to say, I guess.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: Which, you know, is a nice place to be. For sure. I can get my point across, you know, I can get the joke in there, or the feeling or the emotion that I want to emote generally will come across and that’s just from, you know drawing, drawing, drawing, drawing, drawing. But it’s, it really is such a gift, like fandom, to be able to put stuff out there and have other people enjoy it the same way I enjoy it. And I enjoy it way more; I mean I would probably draw it for myself anyway, but the fact that I can draw something and go ‘Oh, fuck, you know that’s funny’, you know I really liked the joke in that and then I can put it out on the old internet, the intertube and have other people enjoy it as well, and find it funny, and laugh along with me is just, you know, the experience times ten.
DJ: Right. Have you ever had a bou- when you do cross the boundaries of - as some people might say - good taste do you ever find situations where you feel like you’ve been taken to task for that, or have you been able to just withstand that sort of thing, or does nobody even come up and say ‘Hey, this is-’? I mean except for the whole platypus/wild kingdom thing. Has anybody ever really made you feel uncomfortable? I mean for those people out there who might want to go a little cracky, or do a little crazy stuff, there’s a couple of artists in fandom who’ve done it and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen any of them sort of around, and you seem to just not care… which is awesome.
Tripp: I have been totally been lambasted, I am, er, I am insulting the original creators of these shows. I’m told. That it’s disrespectful of me to draw what I’m drawing. That it’s, um, that I am going to hell, that I’m a paedophile - I hear that a lot. [laughs]
DJ: A lot of normal, standard sort of fare, er, fanworks get that sort of talk too so it’s not just you.
Tripp: No, it’s not just me, and I honestly think that if you look at the body of my work you can really tell, um, if you can stand to look at the body of my work [DJ laughs] I really love the characters. To me I am not disrespecting the characters because it’s not just porn. Which, there’s nothing wrong with just porn, but when I see, you know pick your fandom, let’s say Phineas and Ferb. You know I have seen porn of, let’s say, the parents on the show, or whatever, two characters having sex.
DJ: [says something inaudible under the last part of Tripp’s previous comment]
Tripp: Yeah, or whoever. Where it really just is like, I don’t want to say dirty, but really there’s no, there’s no underlying message, there’s no humour, there’s no…
DJ: It’s just porn for the sake of porn.
Tripp: Yeah. They’re just personified and sexualised and that’s it. And if that’s what you want to look at and that’s what you want to draw that’s fine, but I think that, again not necessarily every single piece I draw, but I think if you look at the body of work it really is a celebration of, and a loving mockery of-
DJ: Because you truly love these cartoons too.
Tripp: I really do. Most of them. You know what I certainly have drawn some things where it’s like - you know I haven’t gone and drawn Barney getting assfucked by someone - you know what I mean? I can totally see…
DJ: Tellytubbies and, and, and My… Magic Ponies and all those you know…
Tripp: Yeah I can totally see… well I did draw actually, um…
DJ: There was this one time…
Tripp: There was this one time at bandcamp… where I draw Umbridge pegging, it was a My Little Pony but it was supposed to be Dumbledore’s Animagus… Animagus [pronounced two different ways]-
DJ: [laughing] Oh, god.
Tripp: Whatever it was it was a My Little Pony with a tear coming out of its eye and she was pegging it, with a big angry red dildo. Um… [laughs], so maybe that picture doesn’t portray my love of the characters.
DJ: But that was Umbridge, it was portraying your love of [something] Dumbledore.
Tripp: Or maybe, you know, Hagrid jerking off in the pumpkin patch-
DJ: Yeees.
Tripp: -you know, as a standalone.
DJ: Well that was just a brief moment in time.
Tripp: Everyone does it.
DJ: A vignette as it were.
Tripp: [laughs] You’re so Canadian, that just hurt.
DJ: Blame Canada, eh?
Tripp: But so I do get flamed occasionally that a. I shouldn’t be doing this with a children’s show, because they totally air it after I draw it, right? for kids, on PBS, and that b. you know if I ever do use an underage character, and again underage being, you know, 15 and up as opposed to like 5 and up, but I don’t really give a shit. Like, no shits are given.
DJ: So that’s your advice for anyone who decides they want to go over the proverbial edge?
Tripp: Sure, well I really think if you’re that thin skinned that maybe you should just, you know, be a lurker and not a participator.
DJ: Yeah.
Tripp: Because, even if you don’t do anything controversial you’re still going to get people who think you suck. And I-
DJ: Welcome to the internet.
Tripp: Yeah, welcome to life! You know what sometimes I do suck, and sometimes I suck really, really good! [both laugh] So it doesn’t bother me at all. So that would be my advice. If you like it and you want it: do it. You know, it also brings me a lot of joy, there are things that I don’t really care for that, um, you know like your request; I don’t particularly ship them, but I will have a really good time drawing them for you. You know what I mean? I will get enjoyment out of your potential enjoyment. And that’s a really great thing as an artist or a writer that you can gift people these things that make them happy.
DJ: Yes, you can pass the fandom goggles around.
Tripp: Yeah. I don’t know who needs goggles, but you know. It’s a wonderful gift. If you can give some sort of under-aged bestiality porn to a friend.
DJ: [laughs] With a platypus.
Tripp: With a platypus. It’s a beautiful gift to give, yes absolutely.
DJ: Yes, and it’s a unique gift too.
Tripp: [laughs] Yeah, it’s not something they’re going to get two of, you know, for Christmas.
DJ: No it’s not.
Tripp: It may get re-gifted, but they’ll have a hell of a time. [both laugh]
DJ: Re-gifted. You heard it here first. Listen, Tripp, thanks so much to coming to talk to us today for Slashcast Episode 41, the Fandom Goggles version. Slashing inappropriate characters for the lulz. I couldn’t think of anyone better to call upon when the time came for this interview, so I really appreciate you taking the time and giving me a call in the middle of your snowstorm to umm, to come and talk to me today.
Tripp: Well I am honoured that I was the only person that would do it. I’m honoured to be on the list of one.
DJ: [laughs] List of only one.
Tripp: Yes, it’s a prestigious and lonely list.
DJ: No, that’s awesome, thank you so much.
Tripp: Alrighty, well, you’re welcome.
Transcribed by: angelbabe_cj
Host: djin7
Guest: tripperfunster
Topic: Even the kids shows aren’t safe!
DJ: Welcome to the Slashcast Insider Interview, I’m DJ and my guest today is Tripperfunster, also known as The Mistress of Squick. And she is here to discuss her many forays into slashing inappropriate characters for the lulz. Tripperfunster does amazing work and we’ll be linking to her art and tumblr archive so you can check it out. In many fandoms Tripp is well known for her fanart, but she is perhaps most infamous for her sense of dark humour and lack of boundaries. And it is these gifts that brought her here today for Slashcast Episode 41: Fandom Goggles, Even the Kids Shows Aren’t Safe. Thanks for joining me today, Tripp.
Tripperfunster: I am totally putting that intro on my gravestone.
DJ: [laughs] Are you saying it’s appropriate?
Tripp: I’m saying it was fantastic.
DJ: It is all true.
Tripp: It is all true, but it was fantastic. And it was well put, how’s that? Eloquent.
DJ: Pleasure. So of course what everyone wants to know is the story of how you decided to start slashing cartoon characters and/or the like?
Tripp: I don’t know if slashing anything is something you decided to do - shipping - it is, it’s just so organic. You know, you don’t sit down and say ‘I think I’ll make these two guys fuck’, you just sort of [DJ laughs], I mean, well you do that too, but that’s not how it begins. It’s just, er, um, well I didn’t actually, I wasn’t in fandom before I had children.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: Um and I actually have a son that I named Harry and never would have named him Harry had I, you know, drawn some of the fanart that I have drawn since.
DJ: Yeah.
Tripp: With Snape that is.
DJ: Exactly.
Tripp: Um, I would have named him Snarry if I’d known. [both giggle] Forever to be beaten up in the playground. [laughs] And my daughter, Snermione. [both laugh] Um, so I found fandom later on after reading the Harry Potter books, and very innocently googled ‘Snape and sex’ and, er, found my very first fanfic ever, and it was - thank god - slash. And I didn’t know that slash as a lifestyle choice, I guess, existed, or as entertainment or whatever. I was er, it was possibly the best moment of my entire life.
DJ: One of those wonderful epiphanies that only come around-
Tripp: Including the birth of both of my children. [both laugh]
DJ: I hear that!
Tripp: And er- says the childless woman. [both laugh] [sarcastically] ‘Including the pretend birth, of both of my pretend children.’ But it was, it was amazing. It was a Snape/Sirius slash by isiscolo.
DJ: Oh.
Tripp: Which, if you’re going to stumble on a writer it might as well be isiscolo for your first.
DJ: What luck!
Tripp: Oh my God, no kidding. Um, so I seriously just about had a heart attack I was so excited that I found this and figured that it was like one teeny gem in massive ocean of what might be out there. Little did I know that it was, you know, ripe for the picking. So much slash. Erm…
DJ: But it was a teeny gem in a mountain hill, still.
Tripp: Oh it was, but I really didn’t think I would find much homoerotic writing out there though, let alone good. I mean I wasn’t even- good wasn’t even an issue, give me all the crappy stuff as long as it exists.
DJ: Right exactly.
Tripp: But it was my luck that there’s just a, you know, a shit ton of fantastic slashy art and fic out there. So then after getting into shipping, and getting into the whole slash genre, you just can’t help but when you’re watching television, you know the kids are watching, say The Wiggles [DJ starts giggling] and for those of you - which sounds slashy all by itself - um, for those of you without children, you know, children don’t watch a television programme once, they watch it 75 million times and just through sheer exposure, after your brain melts and you lose your will to live a very small part of your brain tries to make sense out of what you’re seeing for the billionth time and, you know, it’s for the gay. You know, let’s make everyone gay, and all of a sudden the show is a lot more interesting. So, er, you know I didn’t actively slash The Wiggles but I mentally slashed The Wiggles because that’s the only way to listen and watch The Wiggles for any amount of time. Thank god my kids didn’t like Barney!
DJ: Right. Thank god.
Tripp: Because that’s just wrong, on so many levels.
DJ: I’ve heard of Barney fic.
Tripp: Oh, oh, yes I’m sure there’s more than enough- there is actually some horrific Wiggles fic out there too. [both chuckling] Not written by me.
DJ: No.
Tripp: But just you know, and as their programmes thank god, became more - the television programmes or movies my kids watched became more interesting, or well written, or plotty, or better character development just because the kids themselves were older, the more it sort of became more interesting for me to watch it as well as them because there was better rounded characters, and better looking characters than The Wiggles. [laughs]
DJ: Well I think a lot of those, a lot of those, the makers of these things start to understand too that the parents are forced to watch them and they do kind of sneak in sometimes adult-ish content that only you’ll get because they’ll make some crack about mash (M*A*S*H), or some TV show from 20 years ago, right?
Tripp: Can I just that my friend texted me the other day, her kid was watching iCarly which is, you know, rated for, well not rated, but geared toward pre-teen crowd, you know, the tweens, and on the show they said the word hobknocker and it was like an insult and they wouldn’t say what it meant and so my friend Googled hobknocker and it’s actually somebody who hits you in the face with their penis.
DJ: Oh my god.
Tripp: [laughing] And this is like a, I don’t know if it’s Disney, but it’s like Teletoon or, you know…
DJ: Right, right. It’s a family-slash.
Tripp: It’s a family - not a family-slash! - but a family show and yeah, I’d not heard the term hobknocker, nor have I experienced it, but um it was pretty amazing-
DJ: I’m sure you could draw a picture about it, fairly sure.
Tripp: I may just. [laughs] But anyway I guess my whole point being just being exposed to all these shows ad nauseum you can’t help but slash them. And some of them really slash themselves. And I know we’re specifically talking about cartoons today, and kids shows, um, one show that I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of is Phineas and Ferb, which is a Disney cartoon. Which is really clever, and wickedly funny, for people who have to sit through kids programmes that’s a really good one, and the writers totally slash the two - it’s about children and then they have a pet who is a platypus who is also a secret agent, unbeknownst to the, who battles an evil scientist. But two of the kids are constantly slashed by the writers, there’s a bully and his, whatever, wimpy kid he picks on, smart little wimpy kid. And they are constantly- one of them carries the other around in - what are those? - like a baby backpack, or puts him in his shirt, or does all sorts of terribly slashy things, and the platypus and the evil scientist are constantly slashed. It wasn’t that my mind made this up, it’s that they kept serving it to me on a silver platter-
DJ: There’s a deliberate pandering of some kind of bromance going on there is what you’re saying?
Tripp: Oh, like they break up, like the scientist cheats on the platypus [DJ laughs] with another secret agent. Like they, and there’s he has his own breakup s-[audio breaks up, could be song or storyline]
DJ: [joking] Do they have a divorce?
Tripp: They do! Like, he like hides the other guy in the closet because the platypus comes and he hides his other secret agent because he’s cheating on him with a panda from Seattle [DJ laughs] believe it or not.
DJ: [still laughing] A platypus and a panda from Seattle.
Tripp: And there’s one scene where they’re going through this laundry thing and they both come out wearing different clothes and the platypus is dressed as a groom and the evil scientist is dressed as a bride. Like, they seriously…
DJ: Easy, yeah.
Tripp: Oh, yeah. But it’s, and it’s so wrong. I’m not into furries, I don’t- it just isn’t my thing, whatever. And being an artist there’s furry art all over the place. I totally ship this platypus with this evil scientist, though this is not a furry ‘cause he’s an actual animal.
DJ: Actual!
Tripp: If you know what I- like he’s-
DJ: Bestiality’s okay but, furries: no good.
Tripp: Yes, exactly. That’s my point. Bestiality is completely is, it’s the best-iality. [DJ laughs]. And er, but yeah, again there’s probably… gone, gone in a whole flurry of porn. In fact, I happened to happen upon one of the artists and writers for Fineas and Ferb on one of the art sites, and sent him a piece of art. I have Perry the Platypus and the evil scientist wearing housecoats in bed, and just reading the morning paper kind of thing. And the scientist, Doofensmirtz is his name, says, er, he’s doing the crossword and he says to the platypus, ‘I need a ten letter word for what we just did.’ And I sent that piece of art to the artist that works on Fineas and Ferb, you know, part of me thinking that - ‘cause I don’t generally cross the line of-
DJ: Right, the fourth wall there.
Tripp: Yeah, I don’t generally break the fourth wall because won’t appreciate what I do at all. [both chuckle] In fact cease and desist orders would be sent to me, and er - although I do it in love - er, he, the writer, or writer-slash-artist, that works for Phineas and Ferb enjoyed it and said that it was seriously nothing compared to what they draw at the studio. [DJ laughs] Which filled me with all sorts of glee I can’t even tell you. And I sent them a pretty tame piece, you know I have full on bondage porn of the two of them, this was just a bit of a cute, somewhat worksafe thing. You know, as worksafe as bestiality can be.
DJ: Right. Right. Thanks for putting my brain there though that’s great.
Tripp: And I work in a pet store so you can imagine how-
DJ: So you probably know the best way to tie up a platypus. [Tripp laughs] I mean you have a pretty good-
Tripp: It’s the scientist that gets tied up, come on!
DJ: [Laughs] That’s awesome. Alright, well, obviously your brain is definitely in that place where you can take a look at these sorts of things and bring them to a whole new level for the rest of us to enjoy. Crack wise, and everything else wise. What, how your process goes from watching the show, seeing the pandering done to you and/or the slashy moments and then bringing your pencil to paper and posting it, going in that direction.
Tripp: *sighs* That’s a good question. I er, I-
DJ: What inspired you to get to that point?
Tripp: I would like to tell you that there is a very involved process [laughs], but it’s more of a ‘wow I really need to draw them doing buttsex’, you know, it’s the… although I mean I guess a lot of what I draw tends to be more cracky or funny. [DJ makes agreeing noise] I usually like to fool myself into thinking that I’m really just there for the humour factor. So usually the first, you know, five to ten times I draw a pairing, especially a pairing that would be more of a technically children’s show pairing-
DJ: I remember when you were doing Spongebob a few years ago.
Tripp: There you go. Like, you know my first Spongebob picture was implied oral sex as opposed to actual oral sex.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: It was more, you know, Spongebob has such a great reaction, such a great… facial expressions, like seriously as an artist everyone should study Spongebob and the cast of characters for all of the facial expressions they make, they’re just fantastic. So it was more about his facial expressions than the actual sex act. And I had one where Spongebob was holding up Patrick, kind of like Titanic. [DJ laughs] And ‘I’m the King of the World!’, you know one of those-
DJ: I remember that one.
Tripp: Yeah, and then, and then I had to draw, you know everybody, you know all the main characters of the cast of Spongebob and how their penises mimic what their body shapes look like. [DJ starts laughing] So Spongebob would have square balls, of course,
DJ: We absolutely have to have that link to this, just so you know.
Tripp: Yes, okay. I’ll have to- make me some notes on what I have to find the art for. But I would say that it’s generally kind of gradual where it goes from like cute, and silly, and funny, and then cracky, and then holy fuck what the hell is wrong with that girl, why would she draw somebody, you know Patrick fucking one of Spongebobs holes in his sponge? [DJ laughs] Like it generally degrades into, you know, like Perry the Platypus with the Doctor there was some hugging, and some implied after sex, and then it degraded into sounding. [Both laugh] Of the Platypus-
DJ: As you do.
Tripp: Putting his penis into the human’s penis. I mean I really honestly spent way too much time thinking about how they could actually have sex because they are so dimorphic of size and shape and species that, um…
DJ: That never stopped fandomers.
Tripp: Well exactly.
DJ: That’s just another challenge.
Tripp: Yeah, exactly, you know everyone likes a good challenge. But I guess my process is not intentional I don’t think, but it tends to be more - cause most of the characters that I draw or write I really like - and I really like the dynamic they have together and I draw them because I love them, and then I draw them because I’m a dirty old lady! [DJ giggles] So it’s a progression… into porn.
DJ: So it comes from a pure place-
Tripp: Except when it’s not.
DJ: -and then it ends up, um...
Tripp: And then it gets sullied-
DJ: -in a pit of despair.
Tripp: -and sullied and sullied, it’s just like a big bukkake. [laughs]
DJ: Well you know, you know anime people have been doing that from Asia for a long, long time of course. They take their animes like InuYasha and all those, have always had sort of slashy shipping, erm, pornographic variants, even that get published in that country because the Asians are pretty forward when it comes to that sort of thing, so-. But when it comes to North American cartoons, and sponges for instance.
Tripp: Yes!
DJ: You know, that’s different, that, my friend, is vision. That’s what you have.
Tripp: [laughs] I am so ahead of my time.
DJ: Well, I know, I mean the anime characters all pretty anyways and everybody wants them to have sex. So what you do is you take somebody who couldn’t possibly have sex really, ‘cause he’s a sponge-
Tripp: But you know what, I have to say, that I genuinely focus on the ugly. I don’t know why, but I just, you know, the evil scientist?
DJ: Yeah.
Tripp: Not a good looking dude. [DJ chuckles] It’s like I’m doing ugly cartoon characters a favour. [both chuckle]
DJ: Getting ugly laid one pic [might also be fic] at a time.
Tripp: I suppose it’s pity sex, pity sex for all the ugly cartoon characters. I’m that girl.
DJ: Yes you are. We love you. You have some other ones too, not just Phineas and Ferb, but Megamind which is I think a movie.
Tripp: Megamind, oh my god, and Megamind wasn’t even a movie that particularly interested me. I’ve been burned by Will Ferrell. I have a love-hate relationship with Will Ferrell, and he did the voice work for the character Megamind.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: Um, and I ended up seeing the movie because it was sort of the only kids movie that was available that my kids were willing to see at the time we went out to a movie. And, like, seriously half way through the movie I was, like, clapping and squealing with glee because it was just a really cute heartfelt wonderful movie and the character was completely, I guess like a woobie, you know, like just somebody you wanted to take home and you know breastfeed. It was one of those were I didn’t know if I wanted to breastfeed him or have sex with him. [DJ laughs] And then I thought, why can’t I do both, really? Why do I have to choose? Er, and [DJ says something inaudible] yeah, and then, so yeah I spent a lot of time, you know, torturing and rewarding the characters from that movie. With sex, upon sex, upon sex. And also, another whole issue of, you know, the person I paired him with was the large superhero of the movie, and they also are very physically incompatible.
DJ: Of course.
Tripp: Or, whatever. It was a challenge. My kind of challenge. But, yeah Megamind definitely was something that really pinged my little slashy radar.
DJ: Nice.
Tripp: Um. Avengers, which isn’t technically kids, but is definitely geared towards kids, and always has been, I guess, is something that I’m very much into at the moment. But also Star Trek, which again isn’t so much kids but it something that I went to see with my kids and they quite liked. And more things that I can scar their childhood with.
DJ: Of course. Well done.
Tripp: Thank you, thank you very much.
DJ: Well like with Harry Potter of course, comic book movies and TV show movies are geared towards the kids originally and then eventually get geared towards the people who have the money in the wallet to go see the movie. So…
Tripp: Right, yeah.
DJ: They make it a bit more adult-oriented for us all, but you’re right they all stem from entertainment for children originally.
Tripp: Right. Um, something we haven’t really hit on, and again not something I judge other people for, but in almost all of the fandoms that I draw in or write in, and it’s not a conscious decision, but I, if there are children characters [DJ makes listening noise], I don’t, like I’ve seen you know, I’ve seen lots of stuff where they have the kids together or whatever, it just doesn’t interest me. Maybe because I have kids.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: It’s sort of like, I don’t know. It’s just like a l- it’s not like ‘oh I’ll never do that’, it just doesn’t occur to me to do it. It doesn’t really, you know, I mean obviously I get something out of what I’m drawing and that isn’t something I’d get something out of. The exception being [chuckles] there’s always one.
DJ: There’s always one.
Tripp: Would be Harry Potter.
DJ: Right you don’t like him particularly young, obviously.
Tripp: No, I mean with everything, you know er, pubes. I draw the line at pubes, if you don’t have them I’m not interested thank you very much. [DJ laughs]Um, I mean it is a cross-generational ship, but you know I wasn’t particularly interested in a Harry/Snape relationship when he was eleven years old and came to the school. It was much more- I guess one of the tropes that I really like is first time fics, you know either the first time two characters get together, or the first time one of those people, you know like a virgin kink or whatever. But, erm, and I certainly have no problem with what I guess would be considered illegal in some countries, um, like I don’t mind the characters being under eighteen but I definitely want them to be willing participants.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: And that’s not going to happen with an eleven year old, or well, I shouldn’t say that. In my world it’s not going to happen with an eleven year old.
DJ: You got that right.
Tripp: It may happen in real life, but that’s- this is not about real life, this is about fun and fantasy.
DJ: That’s right, that’s not cracky fun.
Tripp: Yeah.
DJ: So you have said you’re dealing with some current fandoms like The Avengers and Star Trek which is going to be hitting right big in tumblr very shortly when the movie comes out of course, I expect to see eight hundred thousand posts with that crap in it.
Tripp: Oh my God, Star Trek and Iron Man 3 both come out in May.
DJ: Right. So tumblr will be unmanageable.
Tripp: And I’m already like getting my adult diapers ready. I’m very excited. [DJ laughs]
DJ: But, so is that what you’re looking forward to coming up soon, or any cartoons or things coming up, new stuff? Any current projects or…?
Tripp: You know nothing… oh actually, believe it or not, because I’m sure your mind will be blown when I tell you, but the creators or Phineas and Ferb are actually doing a Phineas and Ferb x Avengers crossover. [DJ chuckles] Coming this summer. And it was like they crawled into my head and then into my pants and said ‘This is what Tripper needs in her life’. And er, so there’s actually going to be a Phineas and Ferb Avengers movie coming out in the summer.
DJ: Nice.
Tripp: And if they could just throw a little Spongebob in there and maybe a little Megamind, I might never-
DJ: You know what else is coming up soon is a new Monsters Incorporated, it’s Monsters’ University.
Tripp: That’s right, Mike and Sully.
DJ: Mike and Sully, yep! Those guys totally do it. They do it in the dark.
Tripp: Well they must be, pft, they don’t do it in the dark, they do it in the light.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: But there is a movie that I have seen a hundred thousand times, it just didn’t occur to me. I mean, obviously it always occurs to me, but it didn’t, I didn’t have that burning desire to draw it. I don’t know why. Toy Story, fantastic, I mean great dynamic between Buzz and Woody, would be an obvious pairing… just didn’t occur to me, like it just didn’t, I don’t know why ‘cause they’re great characters. They’re super well-rounded and they’re both attractive… maybe that’s it!
DJ: Maybe that’s it. Even though Mike really has no appendages to speak of-
Tripp: Mike Wazowski is a-
DJ: He’s got one eye.
Tripp: Yup. We’re not going to talk about poking it out. [both laugh]
DJ: What was that, hobknocker? [both laugh hard]
Tripp: Yeah, I don’t know why, I don’t know why those… you know what I mean? I, there is no understanding what the hell pings my slash alarm, it just does. It’s not for me to question.
DJ: Yeah, I mean all of us-
Tripp: It’s just for me to draw.
DJ: -all of us in slash fandom can get on board with that. I mean everybody’s had that epiphany moment, although usually not with sponges, but you know- [both laugh] but you just have a great depth of creativity is what I’m trying to say.
Tripp: I think I know what it is, I think part of what is is that the ones that I slash I tend to have a crush on. Not necessarily the pairing, but like I totally crushed on Megamind, totally crushed on Patrick from Spongebob. I have like, seriously, amazing taste in men. Um, but I guess it’s just have these sexual feelings for these imaginary characters and since it would be really inappropriate to draw me having sex with Patrick, it would totally scar my children forever. I guess I self-insert with another character.
DJ: You Mary-Sue!
Tripp: I Mary-Sue, I do, I really do. Um, I assume, I like to assume in my own mind that’s what everyone does.
DJ: Yes, that’s what everyone does.
Tripp: Yeah, it’s just that I don’t want to actually Mary-Sue so I pretend. [chuckles] I pretend that I’m just this skilled artist-writer that fills out these canon characters, but in fact it’s just me with a cheap plastic mask on pretending to be another character. [both laugh] Something I did slash instinct, I don’t know Jake and Josh if you’ve ever seen that show.
DJ: I have not. I do have somebody on my flist that does slash them. I have seen-
Tripp: I didn’t because they’re kinda young, [DJ makes agreeing noise] but from looking at that other people. [laughs]
DJ: Oh right. Of course. Have you seen Teen Wolf yet?
Tripp: I have not. I’ve heard lots about it.
DJ: Yes.
Tripp: I honestly cannot afford another fandom. Like I just do not have the time.
DJ: I just tripped into one myself, but not that one yet.
Tripp: Oh but it’s apparently great, I hear.
DJ: Yes. Yes, and apparently they pander to the fans as well and they really, um…
Tripp: -slash it up?
DJ: Slash it up, and, er, do all kinds of things to involve fandom, break down that fourth wall.
Tripp: Right. Well, I have Netflix, so we’ll have to…
DJ: But you know, and of course that begs for bestiality also. [Tripp laughs] They’re asking for it, they’re gonna get it, in spades.
Tripp: Now is Teen Wolf a kids show, or is it?
DJ: Um, I guess it’s you know it’s like The Vampire Diaries, you know it’s Buffy-like.
Tripp: So it’s like young, young adult?
DJ: Young- young- young adult, I guess. It’s kids are, most of the kids characters are in high school.
Tripp: Okay.
DJ: Do you have happen to have a favourite fic or piece of art in any of your kids show fandoms?
Tripp: Ohh, could I narrow it down, that’s the question? I, I think some of my best art, um, serious art in the kids fandoms would probably be Megamind. There’s great colours in that show.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: And there was great art in whatever the graphics is, it’s a 3D graphic, which generally isn’t my favourite, but they did a really nice job on it. Then I did a lot of pastel work and stuff, I’m not a digital artist per se, and was really unhappy with a lot of the art that I had drawn for that. I mean part of the problem you know like with Harry Potter you can imagine what the characters look like and draw them as you like.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: You know you don’t necessarily have to stick to the movie people, and even if you did they’re real people and when you draw them they’re going to look like you’ve drawn real people as opposed to photographs. When you’re drawing a cartoon, um, at least I give myself the expectation that it has to look like it does on the screen.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: When you’re drawing a cartoon, um, at least I give myself the expectation that it has to look like it does on the screen. You know what I mean it’s almost a literal translation which can be difficult, especially when it’s a digital item-
DJ: [Something] to these cartoons, yeah.
Tripp: -yes, and I’m very much a traditional artist. I ended up finding that pastels, chalk pastels on black paper look really fucking good and managed to do some really nice work that way. I mean I think some of my most- my funnier work was probably Phineas and Ferb because, you know, it’s a guy fucking a platypus. [laughs] How can that not be funny?
DJ: Exactly.
Tripp: On any level.
DJ: So, listen, do you have any pairings or cartoons that you have never done that you’d love to try some day?
Tripp: Something I see a lot of, is there’s a lot of Transformer art out there.
DJ: Oooh, nice.
Tripp: And it’s generally the cartoon transformers, like The Transformers or whatever.
DJ: Right, right, right. Yeah, early Transformers.
Tripp: As opposed to the movie guys, yeah I guess so. You know I almost kind of wish that I could go back in time, and you know I watched a lot of Rocket Robin Hood and He-Man-
DJ: And She Ra.
Tripp: Yeah, and, er, what was that guy? Hercules!
DJ: Oh, god. Thanks that song is running through my head now.
Tripp: Yes, thank you, anytime. [Sings] “With the strength of ten ordinary men, it’s the sign of Hercules.” Um
DJ: “Herc, Herc!”
Tripp: “It’s the Daedalus creature, the Daedalus creature.” But, you know, those shows were virtually unwatchable they were so shitty and had I been slashing back then those cartoons would have been so much more amazing than they are now for sure. A show that is really quite funny and clever, and quirky is Gravity Falls, that’s what it’s called, Gravity Falls.
DJ: Is it good?
Tripp: It’s something my kids have been watching, but there’s not a lot of episodes out there, but super funny, super clever, I could totally see myself drawing horrible, terrible things for that one.
DJ: Nice.
Tripp: Yes.
DJ: So do you have any advice for anybody, you know, fanartist or fanfic writers who, you know, want to go to that edge and then, you know, go wheeling on over? [laughs]
Tripp: [chuckles] Follow right along. Um, you know just do it. Just do what you like. I started my entire art career in fandom, I didn’t, other than, like, in high school like everybody I drew a little bit, but I didn’t draw for twenty years before finding fandom and I was inspired by a lot of the artists that I saw - this was all in the Harry Potter fandom at the time - and thought, hell I wanna do that, and picked up a pencil and absolutely fucking sucked. And kept drawing anyway, and, you know I wouldn’t say I’m great but I’m a hundred miles from where I began and I’m happy with a lot of the stuff I put out. It’s, I’m not as good as I wanna be, but I get better all the time. I mean I’m at the point now where I can generally successfully express what I’m trying to say, I guess.
DJ: Right.
Tripp: Which, you know, is a nice place to be. For sure. I can get my point across, you know, I can get the joke in there, or the feeling or the emotion that I want to emote generally will come across and that’s just from, you know drawing, drawing, drawing, drawing, drawing. But it’s, it really is such a gift, like fandom, to be able to put stuff out there and have other people enjoy it the same way I enjoy it. And I enjoy it way more; I mean I would probably draw it for myself anyway, but the fact that I can draw something and go ‘Oh, fuck, you know that’s funny’, you know I really liked the joke in that and then I can put it out on the old internet, the intertube and have other people enjoy it as well, and find it funny, and laugh along with me is just, you know, the experience times ten.
DJ: Right. Have you ever had a bou- when you do cross the boundaries of - as some people might say - good taste do you ever find situations where you feel like you’ve been taken to task for that, or have you been able to just withstand that sort of thing, or does nobody even come up and say ‘Hey, this is-’? I mean except for the whole platypus/wild kingdom thing. Has anybody ever really made you feel uncomfortable? I mean for those people out there who might want to go a little cracky, or do a little crazy stuff, there’s a couple of artists in fandom who’ve done it and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen any of them sort of around, and you seem to just not care… which is awesome.
Tripp: I have been totally been lambasted, I am, er, I am insulting the original creators of these shows. I’m told. That it’s disrespectful of me to draw what I’m drawing. That it’s, um, that I am going to hell, that I’m a paedophile - I hear that a lot. [laughs]
DJ: A lot of normal, standard sort of fare, er, fanworks get that sort of talk too so it’s not just you.
Tripp: No, it’s not just me, and I honestly think that if you look at the body of my work you can really tell, um, if you can stand to look at the body of my work [DJ laughs] I really love the characters. To me I am not disrespecting the characters because it’s not just porn. Which, there’s nothing wrong with just porn, but when I see, you know pick your fandom, let’s say Phineas and Ferb. You know I have seen porn of, let’s say, the parents on the show, or whatever, two characters having sex.
DJ: [says something inaudible under the last part of Tripp’s previous comment]
Tripp: Yeah, or whoever. Where it really just is like, I don’t want to say dirty, but really there’s no, there’s no underlying message, there’s no humour, there’s no…
DJ: It’s just porn for the sake of porn.
Tripp: Yeah. They’re just personified and sexualised and that’s it. And if that’s what you want to look at and that’s what you want to draw that’s fine, but I think that, again not necessarily every single piece I draw, but I think if you look at the body of work it really is a celebration of, and a loving mockery of-
DJ: Because you truly love these cartoons too.
Tripp: I really do. Most of them. You know what I certainly have drawn some things where it’s like - you know I haven’t gone and drawn Barney getting assfucked by someone - you know what I mean? I can totally see…
DJ: Tellytubbies and, and, and My… Magic Ponies and all those you know…
Tripp: Yeah I can totally see… well I did draw actually, um…
DJ: There was this one time…
Tripp: There was this one time at bandcamp… where I draw Umbridge pegging, it was a My Little Pony but it was supposed to be Dumbledore’s Animagus… Animagus [pronounced two different ways]-
DJ: [laughing] Oh, god.
Tripp: Whatever it was it was a My Little Pony with a tear coming out of its eye and she was pegging it, with a big angry red dildo. Um… [laughs], so maybe that picture doesn’t portray my love of the characters.
DJ: But that was Umbridge, it was portraying your love of [something] Dumbledore.
Tripp: Or maybe, you know, Hagrid jerking off in the pumpkin patch-
DJ: Yeees.
Tripp: -you know, as a standalone.
DJ: Well that was just a brief moment in time.
Tripp: Everyone does it.
DJ: A vignette as it were.
Tripp: [laughs] You’re so Canadian, that just hurt.
DJ: Blame Canada, eh?
Tripp: But so I do get flamed occasionally that a. I shouldn’t be doing this with a children’s show, because they totally air it after I draw it, right? for kids, on PBS, and that b. you know if I ever do use an underage character, and again underage being, you know, 15 and up as opposed to like 5 and up, but I don’t really give a shit. Like, no shits are given.
DJ: So that’s your advice for anyone who decides they want to go over the proverbial edge?
Tripp: Sure, well I really think if you’re that thin skinned that maybe you should just, you know, be a lurker and not a participator.
DJ: Yeah.
Tripp: Because, even if you don’t do anything controversial you’re still going to get people who think you suck. And I-
DJ: Welcome to the internet.
Tripp: Yeah, welcome to life! You know what sometimes I do suck, and sometimes I suck really, really good! [both laugh] So it doesn’t bother me at all. So that would be my advice. If you like it and you want it: do it. You know, it also brings me a lot of joy, there are things that I don’t really care for that, um, you know like your request; I don’t particularly ship them, but I will have a really good time drawing them for you. You know what I mean? I will get enjoyment out of your potential enjoyment. And that’s a really great thing as an artist or a writer that you can gift people these things that make them happy.
DJ: Yes, you can pass the fandom goggles around.
Tripp: Yeah. I don’t know who needs goggles, but you know. It’s a wonderful gift. If you can give some sort of under-aged bestiality porn to a friend.
DJ: [laughs] With a platypus.
Tripp: With a platypus. It’s a beautiful gift to give, yes absolutely.
DJ: Yes, and it’s a unique gift too.
Tripp: [laughs] Yeah, it’s not something they’re going to get two of, you know, for Christmas.
DJ: No it’s not.
Tripp: It may get re-gifted, but they’ll have a hell of a time. [both laugh]
DJ: Re-gifted. You heard it here first. Listen, Tripp, thanks so much to coming to talk to us today for Slashcast Episode 41, the Fandom Goggles version. Slashing inappropriate characters for the lulz. I couldn’t think of anyone better to call upon when the time came for this interview, so I really appreciate you taking the time and giving me a call in the middle of your snowstorm to umm, to come and talk to me today.
Tripp: Well I am honoured that I was the only person that would do it. I’m honoured to be on the list of one.
DJ: [laughs] List of only one.
Tripp: Yes, it’s a prestigious and lonely list.
DJ: No, that’s awesome, thank you so much.
Tripp: Alrighty, well, you’re welcome.
Transcribed by: angelbabe_cj