Trans2011–Trans2017 Transition Tips
Uncommon Pop Culture Facts Edition!
a few disclaimers before we start! this is heavily influenced by us growing up as a weird kid, being afab and being in middle school atp. these were my formative years tho!
also this is a long ass post! please go block the tag "#long post" if you'd like to skip this, because its LONG LONG. because i dont want this to get erased if i get termed, i don't want to cut it off TvT
this is gonna be super all over the place and random but ill try to organize it at least a bit lol. also im not gonna try to stay "in character" for this because the person writing this is not Black Sapphire lol, he didnt exist yet atp :P
also, some of this is positive and some negative, because im giving you an honest and blunt look at what those years were like to live in! i may reblog this later to add more info too, but this is what i can think of rn!
also I dont recommend transitioning to be, for example, fatphobic, just because ppl in these years were. the goal of this post is to help you understand the social structure of the time, and give you resources and people to research so as to better study the time! many of the people listed here (ytbers especially) are not good people or role models — even if theyve changed or developed as a person NOW — but their actions and behavior at the time can still tell you a lot about the social environment and what was commonplace and normalized at the time.
please emulate these people and times at your own risk and try not to nonconsensually harm others when you're transitioning!
also, the way i write has not changed significantly since 2014-2016 (becuase ive been dormant sicne then lolol), and so you can sort of use this entire post as a talking guide if you wish ^-^
edit: tumblr glitched and duplicated some of the bullet points for some reason. yay. sorry if I missed any!
most subcultures were very unknown at the time. being alt in any way was seen as a sign of mental illness (incredibly stigmatized at the time)
pick me/not like other girls were everywhere. it was a majority of girls tbh.
cringe comps on YT used to be mainstream and popular. often times these included ppl and children getting hurt? idk why these were so normalized ngl lol. it wasnt considered tabboo or weird to watch.
ppl used to make "artist cringe compilations" too, which was mostly just kids art and borderline furry porn lmao.
YT censors were rlly lax at the time to the point you could straight say racial slurs on cam and it get milllions of views w/o getting taken down.
being "Basic" was considered cringe. some signifiers of being "basic" were liking starbucks, using with pumkin spice lattes and fall as a personality trait, doing noticable (mainstream style) makeup, talking in a "white girl" voice (like a valley girl voice but less intense), and wearing the following style:
insta and snapchat were the most mainstream social media. the photos usually looked like this, and 99% of the time had a sepia vignette filter on it. the tilted camera was super popular too. "basic" girls usually took MANY photos like these too. the puppy filter was crazy common.
infinity scarves, pumpkin spice lattes, peppermint mocha cappuccinos (and really any seasonal drink, especially starbucks ones.), starbucks branded cups, yeti tumblrs, tote bags, scrunchies, bangle bracelets, bubblegum, plaid, chunky or beaded pendant necklaces, autumn colors, butterflies, spaghetti strap tank tops, off the shoulder tees, bejeweled/blingy sandals, and ugg boots (pink or brown) were some other hallmarks of this type of girl.
none of these on their own made you a "basic white girl" but together they usually did, especially if you centered ur personality around them. some girls took pride in this, while others avoided them to avoid being shamed.
that being said Yeti tumblers were all the rage (they were the 2014 version of hydroflasks and stanleys) and ppl collected them (though not to the extent that they collect stanleys now, because that would have been considered cringy and being a tryhard!)
also, being a tryhard or poser was considered way worse than being basic.
many scene, emo, and alt girls were a lot more lowkey (though not all) and looked more like this. also domo and invader zim were popular aesthetics online, esp in alt girl spaces.
that reminds me, lowkey and highkey were commonly used slang, both online and irl.
internet acronyms had finally picked up in popularity, and became more common knowledge.
hashtags were considered cringe but also, paradoxically, mainstream.
Swag and YOLO were common phrases. internet users more commonly used rofl, haha, omfg, kk, and jk (which had the same use as /j). lol, afk, and brb were also common. lmao was starting to come into use atp and changed between two main meanings, "laughing my ass off" and "lay my ass off" (arguments occured over which was correct).
rage comics were popular and well known on web user circles but not outside it.
the iphone C and iphone S were popular at the time. many ppl still used ipods and cd players for music tho.
the nintendo DS, DSi and 3DS were popular too.
the fatphobia was sooo rampant and normalized :( often ppl would be best friends with someone fat while mocking of them for it both behind their back and to their face.
straight hair was THE standard. it had a lot of racist connotations sadly, but it was considered "well groomed" and "correct." ppl would make fun of curly hair a lottttt and call it mangy and sometimes even unclean.
an//rexia & b//llemia was often encouraged online, esp if you were fat. ed blogs were commonplace and semi-normalized on every platform.
even if ur hair was curled (with an iron usually, after straightening if necessary), you had straight bangs, usually side bangs. it looked just as jarring as ur imagining. straight side bangs were the norm and the style.
"going gluten free" was a popular fad diet at the time. this fad is how gluten intolerances and celiac came into common public knowledge for many people and led to a lot more food being changed to be or properly labelled as gluten free. (this cisceliac thanks the fad dieters profusely). if they were radqueer, these dieters could have been transceliacdisease or transglutenintolerant :O
veganism was becoming more widely known at this time due to internet spread (though it wasnt unknown before per se, simply less popular.) it also recieved quite a bit of satirical backlash and mocking at this time. it was common to act like vegans and other ppl with strict diets were personally and purposefully inconveniencing others or even harming others around them by simply eating differently. also ppl would gaslight others abt their own fiets/allergies and try to serve them food that didnt follow their diet, often framed as a joke or prank. guess how i, a cisceliac, know this. definitely not because it happened to me often.
makeup YTbers had a dif culture. its hard to explain but it was less hauls, more tutorials, and videos were often longform, between 16-30 minutes in length. they usually gave you a slow, live step by step on how to do what they were. I think mainly of nikkietutorials and simplynailogical as examples of this format.
if you want to experience the worst parts of YT at that time, look up LeafyIsHere, sh//ne d//wson, and Onision vids from then. they were all quite popular at the time.
slightly better than them is Jenna Marbles, though her early stuff (now taken down but reuploded by others) was often full of internalized misogyny. she worked on herself a lot tho :)
popular mcyt at the time were the following: skydoesminecraft (+his friends), captainsparklez, SSundee, ldshadowlady, smallishbeans, stamppee, ihascupquake, aphmau (in the later years), dangthatsalongname, joeygraceffa, staceyplays, grian (less so but still), mumbojumbo (again, less but still), and many others im forgetting lol. those are some examples though!
uh. idk also skydoesminecraft got sued by his wife for custody due to hitting her around 2016-2017 or so. that was smth!
pewdiepie was popular. also he was a nazi and white supremacist (and still is)...
popular youtube included markiplier, jacksepticeye, dan and phil, (original) smosh, tyler oakley, thomas sanders (moreso in 2017-18 but still), jennamarbles, vanossgaming, roosterteeth, and the react channel.
Red vs Blue was a popular ongoing YT series. Annoying Orange also existed and was well known even by those who weren't online much lol.
emoticons were more popular at this time, and emojis were seen as mainstream or "not internet cool" for a while. in particular 😂, 😹, 😁, 😜, 😘, 🥰, 😍, 🤥, 😈, and 💩 were all seen as "normie" or "basic" emojis, but all were seen as fairly uncool in netizen circles.
kaomoji became fairly popular in less mainstream circles, esp in fandom circles.
because the transition from old internet to modern internet was literally happening during this time, many old internet things like buttons and forums were common.
skype was the major calling platform at this time! i believe there was some others, but it was common to say "wanna skype?" instead of "wanna call?" if you werent calling on the phone.
anime was SUPER SUPER hard to come buy. the only ones i remember being on netflix or mainstream services was like. one piece (only sometimes due to its length), attack on titan, black butler, death note, FMAB, and other really well known ones.
if you wanted to find other anime, pirating was the only way unless you could afford to import a CD. subtitles were done by fans and were funny as fuck a lot of times due to their...rough nature. yes, this is a real screenshot from a death note fansub.
attack on titan (AOT) was rlly popular. its biggest ships at the time were erin/levi, erin/mikasa, christa/ymir, jean/marco, levi/hange and levi/erwin.
Hetalia was also huge at this time! very controversial due to it making light of WW2 and having germany and italy as its protags.
Gravity Falls was releasing and hella popular at the time! humanized Bill Cipher was at its peak in this era. BillDip was the most common ship, and incredibly controversial. second to that was mabcifica and usually they were shipped simultaneously side by side (and treated like there was no difference in the dynamics which is very funny in hindsight). some people also shipped pinecest but i didnt see a lot of it honestly. not many other ships were happening until the stanford reveal, following which billford became popular.
VINE! vine was still running for part of this time. it was honestly mainstream too. one time a girl pointed at my normal ass black boots in the middle of 1st period and said "WHAT ARE THOSEEEE." i had never watched any vines at the time so her attack did negative 5 psychic damage and made her look like the insane one of us two.
oppa gangam style was popular. do i recommend bringing that back? no. could you? i suppose!
so was the whip and the nae nae. do i at all wish to see a nae nae renaissance? god no. you could however occasionally subject everyone to it like i do though — its like a beautiful, war-crime-level psychological flashbang. its very fun watching everyone who witnesses it feel a thousand knife cuts of mental anguish instantly. until they add it to the geneva convention, you can still legally use this cruel and unusual torture method against your enemies.
another way to cause everyone around you significant soul level pain is to dab unironically. the pain in their eyes is delicious. its also a really fun way to respond to minor inconveniences or being clumsy/fucking smth up. 10/10 do recommend as long as you are a sadist like i am /silly.
playing minecraft was considered majorly uncool, and admitting to it was considered either tryhard or cringe, it depended on who you told and whether you were afab or amab lol.
owo voice/typing escaped containment from furry circles at this time and became popularized in niche circles and weirdkid subcultures. homestuck typing quitks experienced a similar phenomenon.
memes at the time were formatted much differently: (the last img is overly attached girlfriend, who was a popular YT satire channel.)
the tumblr girl/tumblrina aesthetic and attitude was alive and well in 2011-2012, and then died out after 2013.
a common tumblr post was guilt trip posts telling you that you were a horrible person if you didnt donate irl money to an unverified source. also fearmonger style chain mail was super super common.
oh also ppl commonly used to go through ur entire blog's history to find smth problematic you said and use it against you, often claiming it was a current opinion even if it was 4 years old.
gold star lesbians were a whole thing. lmao. someone sent me an ask asking if I was one once, meanwhile my bio said bisexual.
look up the "sonic for real justice" blog saga if you want to laugh at insane ppl, it was nuts. ppl spectated their downfall as they all turned on each other.
also popular on tumblr was "rise of the brave tangled dragons." ppl liked to ship jack frost and hiccup horrendous haddock due to this, and often got in fights with ppl who shipped jack frost/elsa. jic you were curious, i was a HiJack shipper :3
phan (dan/phil) and ian/anthony of smosh were the most well known and common RPF ships out there. rpf was not seen anywhere near as tabboo as it is today honestly. the main rule was to not send it to the people or expose them to it unwillingly. often times though the ppl shipped would read fanfic of themselves on camera to cringe for 20 straight minutes LOL. why? i could not tell you except that it got hella views.
SUPERNATURAL (show) PEAK ERA. FANDOM WAS TRHIVING AND SUPERWHOLOCK WAS ALIVE AND WELL. there was constant of infighting at the time lol. wincest vs destiel was RABID.
voltron: legendary defender was also popular and releasing atp. so was Steven Universe and MLP: friendship is magic. all had their own drama and infighting going on and frankly i think it would be fun to study these subcultures and get into one like its the peak of their fandom again. find a controversial opinion to stake ur life on or smth. some people hated klance because it was "abusive," some people hated shieth because they were "brother-coded." people individually claimed p much every SU character was an irredeemable monster. mlp was notorious for controversy despite its innocent premise. i think choosing a fandom discourse to defend until death is the most 2014 (or thereabouts) thing one can do really.
fandom discourse blogs were rlly big at this time, and so were confession blogs. ask games were popular on tumblr too and the culture surrounding them was well established. to reblog the ask game, one has to send the previous reblogger an ask! this was common courtesy that sadly died out.
onceler+oncecest and the sans aus+sanscest stuff was really big at this time. huge years for selfcest enjoyers.
nightcore was at its peak atp, and so were AMVs!
wattpad was the main fanfic platform at this time. fanfiction.net had lost most of its users due to censorship and ao3 was not yet created!
Marble Hornets was at peak popularity since it was actively releasing atp. this was also one of the most active times in the CreepyPasta fandom.
portal 2 had recently released and was incredibly hyped up and loved. half life 2 found a resurgence in popularity at this time too!
dont starve, BATIM, sims 3 (kinda), fallout 3, fnaf, the forest, the stanley parable, undertale, Town of Salem, and yandere sim were all highly popular Recent Releases at the time.
bob ross was popular because he was so wholesome and positive. idk who popularized him tho.
graphic tees tended to have really dumb (/affectionate /nostalgic), usually punny or "basic" phrases like these on them.
"random lols" or "im so random" humor was popular in 2011-2013 before being percieved as annoying after that and then fading from perception.
doge was a huge thing! it didnt yet have the connotations of elon musk or dogecoin or techbros yet lol
oh and this was a hugely cultural video at the time!