A quick note before we get started...
So, today should be fun (and I’m not gonna lie, probably emotional for a lot of us) but first.. I think we should address the elephant (siltcat?) in the room.
A few months ago, (to be honest it feels a lot longer!) there was a comment thrown around on the Rover Red Discord about the Rover Council, and what they must be like. I mean, what are their jobs like, anyway? Do their entire lives revolve around bossing this little 15 year old girl around? I mean, surely not...
And then, we joked about making it a fic.
And if y'all were around for #punchsladeinthedick2017, you pretty much know where this is going.
People were recruited, plans were made, and we picked a date to drop everything. Halloween! It didn't align with a finale like the first event did, but it would do. the ball started rolling. It was fun. All the semi-controlled chaos you'd expect from the Council.
And, again, y'all probably know where I'm going with this.
Not long ago, the team announced that Rover Red/Rover Universe wouldn't be continuing. (For the post and all the reasons, click here.)
My knee jerk reaction was, "Well shit. We can't do this anymore, it could come off really shitty." I worried it would seem like, "Wellllll, so sorry the show ended. But here! Look what we did! Comments and praise, please."
We all discussed it, and pretty much decided that we'd put so much work in already, and it would likely be obvious it had been in the works well before the announcement. We also see it as a fun sort of thank you/ send off to the Rover Red creative team. Y'all have put so much work into this project, (and at least on my end put up with lord knows how many questions) we appreciate you so much. We all hate that it's ending, likely more than some of us let on; but I think it's safe to say we're all glad we got to be a part of it.
All that being said, it still feels bittersweet sharing everything today. Last time, I was buzzed and excited all night before, and all the next day. It was so much fun seeing all the reactions as the day went on. The comments on ao3, the notes and posts on Tumblr, it was a blast. The community here really is one of the best aspects of the podcast.
This time doesn't so much feel like that. I'm still excited and I hope people like it... but there's a finality to it that feels heavy. Do you know what I mean? Like, it hasn't hit me super hard that it's over yet. I knew this project was still in the works, and up until the day I wrote this, the After Apocalypse episodes were still a thing. So it wasn't over, over. (Oooh and the upcoming novel. That's still a thing. BW is doing editing streams for it and man, I am hype.)
I do hope though, that if anyone is still down or upset about all this, that you'll get a laugh out of the stories and art today. We had a lot of fun putting this together, and we hope you enjoy.