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This is a post I made a short time ago to my Tumblr that I feel beneficial to put here too. Not only to quell any questions on the matter at hand but also for a fun little piece of personal history sharing. The original Tumblr post can be found here.
--- "HEY, TICK? Why is your name Tick?" asks nobody in particular, but if you're one of the lucky ones who have ever wondered, then I am here to finally reveal the full juicy lore behind the origin and continued use of this here name of mine. Because although the accusations of "OH YOU'RE NAMED AFTER "THE TICK!" I LOVE that comic/show!" have mostly quieted down, I still want this out there. Some might find it fairly obvious, but I don't rant about my characters outside inner friend groups these days SO HERE WE GO. So it begins with a little show called Invader Zim which I was OBSESSED with as a kid. When I watched the first episode premiere on TV, I tell you I was utterly giddy. It was weird. I hadn't even seen the show yet, and I was like, "this is my jam." I was deeply invested in all of the fan websites and forums and hand wrote fanfictions down in my little composition notebooks before I really knew what a fanfiction was. One night I began to imagine my own Invader Zim character and named her Tick. It felt like a good in universe name. I gave her an adopted sister named Roach because that felt right too. I wrote her into stories and would roleplay on forums and e-mails (that's how it was back in the day) with her. In recent years I've tried to return and flesh the two of them out more and her SIR unit too.
Mind you all, this was actually before the introduction of the canon character Tak. Tick was pre-Tak. They should team up and form Tick-Tak, just saying. ANYWAY. Baby me ventured forth into the world to discover more of Jhonen Vasquez's work which, to be really frank, were not exactly made for anyone my age to read. I read them anyway and quickly also grew obsessed with his vast repertoire of comics. I had also already discovered the vast world of online role playing forums through the likes of websites like AvidGamers (RIP) and was a member and owner of a number of them. Cue the creation of another new character, one that was pretty much at the time a gender-bent rip-off of Johnny from Vasquez's JtHM series with a bit of Inuyasha inspiration for flair. A true product of its time. When it came time to name her, I borrowed the name "Tick" from my Invader Zim OC because it fit too well. They were two vastly distinct characters, but I was really moving away from the Invader Zim content at that time anyway. There aren't a lot of pictures of Tick that I've drawn that I like enough to share. I need to practice humans more to get her look down best to my liking, but here's an edit of a Padoru I made for her. Merry Christmas. Okay, maybe this one's alright. So here's a little niche internet corner history lesson. Those roleplaying forums in the vein of AvidGamers allowed you to apply to individual games through the creation of an account for different sub-websites. You would name your account after the character you intend to roleplay there. When I was on my anime RPing boards RPing Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho, my display name was, of course, Hiei. Everyone there would refer to me as Hiei. Over time, as you built up friendships through these websites, those names followed you. Such was the case with Tick. Although I would argue my Hiei name was used more often (I was the co-owner of that anime RPing forum so was most active there), I adopted the moniker of Tick for myself since she was an OC, and I felt most connected to her. Also I really loved that as a nickname. Still do, it just fits so well. Me Tick. SO HERE COMES THE DILEMMA since the character Tick still exists to this day, both the OG Zim one AND the much more refined one who's no longer a JtHM or Inuyasha rip-off. Thank god. There is a difference between the character Tick and the me Tick. Also the IZ OC which I most often refer to as Invader Tick to avoid even further confusion. I am the Me Tick. Me is Tick, but me is not "THE TICK" COMIC BOOK CHARACTER FIRST INTRODUCED IN 1986. Further confusion might also arise from Septic, the My Little Pony-fied version of the character Tick. But I don't suspect that to happen since that is stupid. Look at the name. It's not even a True Tick. False Tick. Included in this essay will not be the origin of the username Zsteube or how to pronounce it. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. There will be refreshments in the lobby as you leave through the double doors.
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