I’m still resting up after the show but thank you everyone who celebrated my 5th anniversary with me this past weekend. Thank you for coming to the show, whether it be in-person or through the live stream. Thank you for grilling stuff up with me at the offkai. And thank you for all of your lovely letters. I’m going to personally respond to all of them soon.
5 years is a long time to be doing anything. Every single one of you who’s touched this project has made it special. Thank you for being by my side. Here’s to many, many more years. I love you guys so much.
Thank you, Pan Ranger's 5th Anniversary Live: All The Things You Can Dream!
We had an amazing time! The energy from the crowd was wonderful and we hope we can perform live for you all again sometime soon. Thank you to @bakerysentai and Wota Sans Frontieres for having us!
You might have noticed a new tab on our Tumblr. At the show, we handed out a free CD that's a compilation of some of our cast's favorite works: Broadwaystuck's Greatest Hits! You can view the track list for the CD as well as all of the song credits here and listen to the full album here. The cover art was created by our fabulous artists @broadway-equius | @srnear and @rose-bloods-studio! Happy listening.
You can check out a recording of our performance at @voftdubsofficial's Charitystuck on Saturday, June 13th at 2:15 EDT! We'll see you there!
A special anniversary message from me, Pan Ranger. We'll see you at 5th Anni next weekend! You can find a text-only version of this message under the cut.
Happy 5th anniversary of Bakery Sentai Pan Ranger!
This is going to be an incredibly long, sappy message.
Every journey has its high points and low points. It’s a complex mess. Where do I begin? I know that every year I tell the story of how I considered quitting for good during my first year but decided to push through just to see what would happen. But it’s true! In fact, there were a lot of points during my story where I considered giving up and most recently, that was last year.Â
There was a point in time where All The Things You Can Dream was conceptualized as a graduation live. One last hurrah, one last Bread Party to go out on a high note. But you’ll notice that the subtitle is “Pan Ranger 5th Anniversary Live” and not “Pan Ranger Graduation Live”. The reason for that is a story spanning 5 years that includes all of you (and Homestuck, but we’ll get back to that).
I’ve always described myself as a guy that “fumbles upward”. I never know where anything is going to take me but I’m here for the ride .I’ve accomplished a lot over these past few years. I’ve gotten to grow and help build this incredible kaigai idol music scene. I staffed for the International Idol Network from 2022 to 2025 and worked on a few of their zines, I staffed for the first years of NorthWest IdolFest (now US IdolFes), helped build up the north eastern scene’s infrastructure through founding the Tri-State Idol Union in 2021 and running as head admin from 2022 until last year . And now, even more still, through helping at Wota Sans Frontieres.Â
I also ran the first venue-based event in the north east in 2024 with Bread Party, which was one of the catalysts to forming WSF in the first place. I was also one of the first kaigai idols to tour the US. I’ve really struggled to “own” my accomplishments. I may have been in a leadership role for things like TIU and the tour and Bread Party but I’m not the only guy who was there to do them. There are countless other performers and fans and fellow staff that I worked with to make them happen.
Primarily, I’m inspired by tokusatsu. As time has gone on, my relationship with the genre has shifted. When I first started, I was consuming series and pulling inspo left and right but as time has gone on, more adjacent influences have joined the pool: Mecha anime, wrestling, heisei moe, Homestuck (we’ll get to that), random niche movies and pieces of media, Planck Stars and other YABACUBE idol acts, and various non-idol but heavily themed musicians. I’ve been described as “no longer inspired by toku” by some but I would argue that Tokusatsu is such a wide genre. Just because I’m taking inspiration from other things too doesn’t mean that Kamen Rider Stronger (specifically, dear sweet Tackle) and Robocon and Ultraman Taro and the shows within the Fushigi Comedy series don’t still run through my creative veins.
Every year, toku franchises change their theming and do something new to keep it fresh- but they still keep their core!! Many of the Fushigi Comedy series entries and Robocon center around the every day with a strange suited guy who makes every day exciting by just hanging around. Both of those are what I seek to do as Pan Ranger.
I owe so much to the indie tokusatsu and indie wrestling scene that’s supported my work. I know I’m on the outskirts and that I’m the odd duck who’s not quite an indie toku production and not a wrestler, but your support all inspires me each and every day. (Maybe I should go be an idol wrestler some day.)
Speaking of influences, I guess it’s as good a time as any to talk about Homestuck. It is one of those works that sunk its claws into me at 13, showed me “Look, kiddo!! You can be an artist too!! You can make whatever you want and as long as you build it, people will come!!”, and I owe a great deal to it. I’m often surprised when people tell me “oh my god, I didn’t know you liked that thing”! You could say that more than tokusatsu, Homestuck’s influence was… already here. My first 2 stage costumes were inspired by Mituna (my favorite Dancestor growing up) and Redglare (my favorite Ancestor growing up). Even now, my KAiZOU NiNGEN costume was inspired by the design of Ultimate Dirk Strider as much by the spritework in Undertale and Deltarune. Even my 5th Anniversary costume steals from Hussie again, too.
I was a longtime fan but not a “fandom” person and certainly not an MSPA fan content creator until recently when I joined Broadwaystuck last year to voice Jane Crocker. Me and her are quite alike: Goofy go-getters, linked to baked goods who internalize things to their own detriment. She’s my favorite of the Kid characters and she has been since I was her age when I read the comic. Being in Broadwaystuck actually saved Bakery Sentai. They showed me so much warmth and love and encouraged me to keep going and keep singing. Without the active members and their alumni, I wouldn’t feel so motivated to keep going.
I’m still one of the only tokusatsu inspired idols (but I’ve seen a few projects pop up!). When I was first starting, my influences/aesthetic was not seen as “idol enough”. I was often told it was not going to work out or that it was too weird. I really owe a lot to the event runners and people that believed in me during my first year for giving me a chance and pushing me.
Through being Pan Ranger, I’ve gotten to meet so many cool performers and artists. I’ve gotten to work with people that 11-12 year old me, wishing they could be an idol and an artist, could only dream of. I’ve gotten to travel the US and go to Japan. As I said at the start, this journey is filled with highs and lows. For every time someone has told me that I “represent what’s wrong with US kaigai idols” or that I’m “the wrong look” or that I’m only good for the “clout” I can provide through everything I’ve done, 5 more have told me that I’ve been a positive force in their life. That my work has helped them work through things or inspired them to create or that something I did helped them become a kaigai idol or get into kaigai idols.
Anything you care about that makes you work hard is important. Anything you care about that inspires you is important. And anything you care about that makes you CARE is important.
I hope I can do this until I’m old and decrepit. I hope you’ll still all support me when I’m old and decrepit and it’s like taking a cheki with the Crypt Keeper. I’ve heard at one point when I started out that the 5th year of a kaigai idol project is when shit gets real and you really start to bloom. I can’t wait for what that entails for me as Pan Ranger and I can’t wait to share it all with you.Â
To all Civillains:
Whenever you joined me on this journey, whether you were one in the first people to believe in me back in 2021 or you just met me today (and everyone in between)-
Whether we’ve gone our separate ways-
To the fans I know have passed on-
And every single person who’s touched this project in one way or another-
Thank you for being here with me. I hope to spend another 5 years with everyone. Bare minimum.
As part of ALL THE THINGS YOU CAN DREAM: PAN RANGER 5TH ANNIVERSARY LIVE, Wota Sans Frontieres is partnering with Charitystuck and @voftdubsofficial! Join us on June 13 and 14, support a great cause, and relive the magic of @broadway-stuck's performance at All The Things You Can Dream!
It’s been an incredible experiencing working with VOFT to make this happen and I’m so excited that we were able to pull this off for this year’s Charitystuck.
Whether you’re a Homestuck fan or just visiting, this event supports a great cause and features a lot of cool programming and artists. Let's break through what was raised last year!
You can watch the stream on VOFT's YouTube:
We make voices for your voiceless characters.
Come find us using the links below.
Sales for SSR VIP and VIP for ALL THE THINGS YOU CAN DREAM: PAN RANGER 5TH ANNIVERSARY will be ending on May 15!
Don’t miss your chance to get exclusive items (especially that happi!! It will NOT be available elsewhere outside of the SSR VIP Tier)!
I do all of my own graphic design and art and I'm super proud of how this t-shirt and this happi came out! And even if you only want the goods and can't attend the show- we will ship them out.
You can come grab these here:
Join Pan Ranger for a celebration of five years of their idol life, featuring special guests important to Pan. Are you BREADY to celebrate?
Join me and my team at a special lunch after the live. Talk about your favorite parts and talk with fellow fans of both Pan Ranger and grilled meats at this offkai featuring hot pot, barbeque and special gifts from the team!
(We promise the day choice was unintentional, it just happens that June 7 is the day after June 6)
Tickets can be found here.
*Please note: This is a separate event to All The Things You Can Dream: Pan Ranger 5th Anniversary Live.
My 5th Anniversary Show officially passed the 1/6th sold out mark!
Thank you everyone who’s supported this event thus far! I’m working really hard on a few things behind the scenes for the 5th Anniversary that’ll be announced in May. This has been a huge labor of love and y’all’s continued support of me and my work is the biggest thing that keeps me motivated.
If you’d like to join in all the fun be sure to grab your tickets here:
Join Pan Ranger for a celebration of five years of their idol life, featuring special guests important to Pan. Are you BREADY to celebrate?
I wanted to make an out-of-character post talking about the cover. There's gonna be a lot of images under the cut and yes, there's an AMA waiting for your questions in the replies of this post!
During the week I was writing this, it's hit way more views than I thought. Thank you all so much for watching this! If you haven't watched it yet, please come check it out:
MCLS was something that I wanted to do when I initially joined Broadwaystuck and slowly picked at until the start of this year. 3 weeks of active work. Blood, sweat, and tears. It ain't no Karkalicious and I don’t expect it to do numbers and there's some things I would futz with in hindsight but I am really proud of it!
I learned a lot and got really comfortable with digitally sketching my art in CSP!
One of the big things I wanted to accomplish with this is covering the things I thought were important about Jane Crocker as character. Jane has a lot to facets to her, she’s one of my favorite Homestuck characters!! Jane loves detective stories, she loves her friends, unfortunately she also loves capitalism but that’s her environment, she more often than not puts her feelings aside of others (to her detriment), she’s silly, she’s serious, she’s smart, she’s a Problem Sleuth fan (girl, me too), she’s a certified lover girl…
While I will eventually do a set of “evil Jane” things or specifically Epilogues/Beyond Canon things, I think that’s a different Jane Flavor. I love Jane in all her forms. This cover is all about my own personal favorite Jane Things.
Cosplay Segment
Yes, I did get in cosplay for a 2 second clip! I didn't expect people to be so excited about my God Tier Jane cosplay from NYCstuck both IRL and online. That post is doing some numbers. Thank you!
This also means I get to don her again on stage at Broadwaystuck's Next Live Performance with a proper stage costume. You should come up to see us!
Did you know? Broadwaystuck Jane has 2 stage costume variants designed by @mediasploshion: One with a skirt and one with pants. I drew the one with the skirt for the promo since it reads more "Magical Girl" to me, but the pants version appears in the MV.
Pop-Up Sprites
Lil' Seb
It was really important to me to include Lil' Seb. I love that thing so much. Easily the best character design in the webcomic. He has an uchiwa (kind of like a decorative fan used at idol shows) and a penlight. His uchiwa says “Janey daichuki”. Some baby talk "daisuki" for a little baby guy. Wotaku Seb... A little something from my usual idol performance and singing background over at @bakerysentai.
Go, Seb, go!!!!!!!
I’m working a full size 1:1 scale prop of him for Broadwaystuck-related things. He’s kind of just wonderful. It's also really important to me that he's absolutely, postively rotund. Another Seb for the road but this time from my sketches:
God Tier Jane
I wanted to create a key art piece that I could use throughout the music video. I think the winking variant is soooooo cute. Maybe I should make her into a sticker?
Crocker™ Branded™ Beam™
Is it really a M@GICAL CURE! LOVE SHOT! cover without doing a Miku Miku Beam frame?
I was worried this was going to look a little incongruous next to the rest of my art since I cranked up the anime on this one. This little Crockertier Janey turned out suuuuuuper cute. Some days, drawing hands with references are easier than others. I'm glad the day I drew this (and also the key art right before this) was one of those days.
All Of The Other Sprites
I have nothing more I really wanna say about these other than they're so cute. Kid me really struggled with drawing Homestuck’s characters (especially the cherubs) so if they saw what I could do now, they’d be hype. Here's kind of a haphazard sheet of all the sprites I made:
Enjoy some jokes we made at Broadwaystuck HQ.
Key Illustrations
SO. I made a few illustrations.
Her friends that she cherishes and loves!
This is the first time I've drawn Jake, Dirk, Roxy, Callie Ohpeee, Lil' Seb, and funnily enough, AR/Lil' Hal. Fun fact: Broadwaystuck has a handful of IRL props (still in progress) and our Lil' Hal prop hangs out on my desk.
Roxy is so kitty. I love Roxy. I should draw more Roxy. Here! Have another Roxy:
Truthfully, the way she’s drawn is inspired by looking like a very nice Roxy cosplayer I met at NYCstuck in the merch line that was just so Roxy, it was unreal. I was thinking: What does Roxy Lalonde look like? And then the memory from that weekend popped into my head. If you’re out there and saw this MV, thank you for existing.
PANEL REDRAW: Jane: Give Cera beagle puss
Get up, little Chuddie!! Joy has a habit of returning. This hurt to draw. I don’t like seeing Jane sad!!
I feel like I made Jane’s body type inconsistent throughout the MV but I did use pictures of myself for reference for some of these higher detail/not mushy little chibi drawings and I am a real person who’s body shape fluctuates.
No matter what, Jane is fat in some way in my mind's eye and it’s a popular take rock I’ll continue to die on.
Distressingly Handsome Jake English
This Jake was too handsome. I had to get up to pace around after drawing him. I don’t think he’d be this handsome for real (don’t get me wrong, he’s most certainly a nice boy though) but I do think this is how Jane sees him: Unrelentingly handsome.
Had to take him down a peg. I'd draw a beagle puss on him but really, it wouldn't be much of a change.
The Instrumental Portion Illustrations
I wanted to do some of my favorite Jane moments past and present. I could see it so clear in my head when listening to the song. I'm a long time HS fan-- Brand new to participating in fandom through Broadwaystuck but I've been a fan of Homestuck since 2011, existing in my own little corner. SO! IN order of appearance:
Detective Pony
Dirk and Jane's friendship means a lot to me. Kind of an underrated duo and their dynamic is very fun. They clearly love and care about each other (as do all the Alpha Kids about each other). They're a little bit the same kind of evil. Their friendship is why it was so important that Lil’ Seb got included- He’s kind of a manifestation of the kind of friendship they have as a gift Dirk gave to Jane… just like Detective Pony!
I recently reread sonnetstuck's completed Detective Pony and I still think the folding pages are one of the funniest things I've ever seen. You think Ultimate Dirk ever tried to explain what his deal is to Jane by pointing to that? (Though, I think Dirk would know better about Jane’s interests and point to Pickle Inspector from Problem Sleuth. Except Dirk's ass is not fondly regarding anything at all.)
I think if I ever do anything to the extent of MCLS for something with Dirk and Jane, I'll go off about this so much more.
Callie/Jade/Jane Friendship
One of my favorite parts of Act 6 is Jane, Calliope, and Jade recounting the story while in the void. The three of them are also an underrated trio. Also, back at Broadwaystuck HQ, me, Broadway Jade, and Broadway Callie are pretty much always hanging out and co-working so honestly? I had to include this, too.
It's a real shame to me that their friendship wasn't expanded upon! One of these days, I will draw all of their trollsonas together.
Did you know? I used to pronounce the word "Calliope" like "Callie-Oh-Pee" for years because of Homestuck, even in the context of the instrument or the muse or the Vtuber.
Namco High
Remember Namco High, Broadwaystuck Fan Reading This? Homestuck visual novels used to mean something. (Sorry.) This fed me when I was in middle/early high school school. I was super pleased until I found out I had to DLC so I lived vicariously through people's liveblogs. Even as an adult living in these times of inflated prices, $2 per character DLC is still my balking price.
I only recently got back around to playing it with the other members of Broadwaystuck with the archival versions of this. I’ll have to get back to you on how I feel about Jane’s route when I’m done now that my frontal lobe has developed.
Snapchats
Up until this past year, my experience of Homestuck ended with these. Unfortunately, since then, I have a habit of taking selfies like this.
If you got excited seeing this or Namco high referenced, you might need to check on your AARP card's renewal.
Meat, Chapter 14
Unfortunately, I like the epilogues (and general post-canon) a lot. Fun fact: I'm a fan of the Meat side over Candy. Always was a savory person.
It’s a fraught work with a lot of flaws but some of the concepts have a lot of potential in the hands of fans. When I read this chapter for this first time, I was trying to pass the time before a flight at the airport and fanning myself.
But honestly? Between you and me? I really wanted to illustrate her in the sexy dress. More people should illustrate scenes from the Epilogues.
Jasprosesprite^2
I've been warming up to this pairing. Jasprosesprite has the sauce but is so bad for Jane. She’s the type of cat-girl-hybrid-sprite that’ll never settle down. It's not my top ship for Jane by any measure.
But ooh... Those panels... I’m not immune... Shout out to women. Speaking of HS^2:BC- I didn't have time to include Swiss since Jane seems to be his exile. I think that's really cute! Again, there will always be another time for me to do something more focused on post-canon.
Thank you for the food each and every update, Beyond Canon Team.
Thank you for watching this and reading this post. Be free to ask me anything in the replies! I love talking about my art, about Homestuck, and about Jane specifically!
Our last performer reveal for All The Things You Can Dream is Xander Bellerose!
「The Tweedledum of the Pan Ranger fan club. This rose-colored idol from the Meadowlands of the Garden State is proof that being insane about your oshi can in fact get you places. Xander Bellerose's main goal is to put on a show to make you smile and to remind you that it's okay to stop and smell the roses every once in a while.」
I fucking love this guy and owe him my life.
You can grab tickets for All The Things You Can Dream here!
Our next performer reveal for All The Things You Can Dream is Mai Urania!
「The Tweedledee of Pan Ranger's Fanclub Are you ready to Bubble, Fizz, and Pop? Mai Urania is your caffeinated, carbonated, 2.5D idol who drinks way too much soda! Specializing in Anisong, Love Live Classics, and freaking out over her Oshi Pan Ranger, Mai is overjoyed to dream at Pan's 5th Anniversary Live!」
I'm really excited to be performing on stage yet again with one of my good friends!
You can grab tickets for All The Things You Can Dream here!
Yes, you did read that correctly. Our next performer reveal for All The Things You Can Dream is @broadway-stuck!
「”2012 called, they want their grey paint back :/“
Broadwaystuck is back from the depths thanks to pan rangers crazy ability to pull performers out of hell and into the spotlight! BWS is a lively group of performers that is new to the idol world but a staple of Homestuck fan-music from the early 2010s. This next generation is very excited to debut some new performers!」
The following Broadwaystuck members will be appearing at this show:
A lot of hard work went into getting Broadwaystuck for my 5th Anni show and I'm very proud of it the work we've done so far. Joining the project as Jane gave me my spark back for music and without them, All The Things You Can Dream would have been the final Pan Ranger show instead of a celebration of 5 years, looking into a bright future. I'm so excited to have them.
Art: ArachnidzTIZM - @8vrizkaserket8
You can grab tickets for All The Things You Can Dream here!
