Going From 1.0 To 2.0: My VTuber Redesign

I’ve talked a LOT about my current journey within the VTuber sphere on Bluesky and other social media platforms. Since diving into the rabbit hole way before the iconic 2020 boom, I’m honored to know so many indie VTubers on a personal and/or professional level through countless interactions over time, even if we’ve gone our separate ways at any point.

Also, anyone who I knew, as an active member of the Youtaite community from 2014 and beyond, has probably seen or heard about me switching between personas. The main one that I’ve been rocking with online, especially on YouTube, has made me feel a lot happier as a queer Black woman who’s been doing content creation on & off for about a decade now.

Seeing this YouTube video about Anarkee’s Live2D model & other recent experiences got me thinking again about how much my ongoing 2.0 VTuber redesign really means to me. Of course, 2025 is still unfolding like a snake that left home.

Once I chose the new theme of “tulip princess” for my VTuber identity starting from 2023, it was SO much fun to create the initial concept designs back then. I even did some minor research and all of that jazz. I have always loved princesses since I was a little girl because of watching some of the older Barbie movies & other iconic media inspirations I’d known of.

Folks following me via Mastodon likely have seen those past works by now because I previously shared WIPs on there. It’s also a lesser known secret that both friends & family unironically refer to me as “princess”‌ in Japanese and/or English. This detail, alongside other facts taken from my private life and familial roots, helped to further cement my official decision.

Then my close friend and fellow VTuber fan, Tsukiyomi, drew her own iteration that mixed certain elements of my OG design together with the completely new one a while back. I fell in love with it! The rest is pretty much history at this point.