He was perfect, we just grew up

Reminiscing a childhood hero, Mr. Stampy Cat

Joseph Garrett

Nostalgia is such a powerful force. Its power enough to strike tears down each eye, the fun and good memories flashing back inside your mind.

Growing up, I was always aware of the creative side embedded deep inside me. It allowed me to draw, fold paper into origami, and create paper structures with folders and illustration boards. I was having fun and was enjoying the creativity I was able to materialize as a child, but a day came and I discovered a game. One that will shape my childhood for the better. Minecraft is a three-dimensional sandbox game whose Classic version was released on May 17, 2009, and was fully released back on November 18, 2011. It was a game of creation, a medium to release creativity without any form of limits, except for the fact that everything is a square or perhaps a cube.

I first played the game on an iPad 2 on its demo version all the way back in 2012. Being a 10-year old intrigued by the wonders of the game, I formed a liking to the entire system. I knew it was another place where I can express my creative ideas of which I could also share with my classmates. Aware of the fame the game was getting, I started researching on YouTube in an attempt to find someone who’s interesting enough to expand my Minecraft knowledge.

I’ve seen through a lot of Minecraft YouTubers building incredible things. I even watched through their videos out of boredom, but none of them caught my attention. Not for an extended period of time, really. It was until a day back in 2013 when I found a channel named “Stampylonghead”. The video featured this monotone yet entertaining narration of Stampy’s tour of Galaxy City. For the first time, I knew I found what I was looking for.

After watching the tour in its multiple parts, I began watching more of his past videos. It was a weird transition because I was used to the Pocket Edition of Minecraft and Stampy mainly utilizes his Xbox 360, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

The start of an amazing journey

“Hello. This is Stampy, and welcome to…”

After realizing that Stampy was uploading Minecraft videos on a daily basis, I was even more drawn to his content. I remember every single day after I got home from school, I was very eager to open my phone, open YouTube, and look for his newly uploaded video. He featured a lot of Minecraft content back then including his Survival & Hunger Games matches, Adventure maps with friends, his most prestigious and still continuing series to this day, Stampy’s Lovely World, etc.

Looking back at it now, Minecraft back then was pretty boring. It was lacking a lot of fun and exciting concepts. It didn’t have the stuff Minecraft has now. Even the struggle with Minecraft Xbox, where it was incredibly laggy that chunks weren’t loading it fast enough or interactive objects weren’t doing anything, was evident. Despite these disadvantages, Stampy’s narration and his ability to crack a smile on my face, even though sad times, were enough to keep me watching.

I even remember having the idea of drawing something for Stampy and submitting it to him in an effort to be in his Love Garden, but I disregarded that idea mainly because I had no idea how to give it to him back then. I don’t even have a clue how I can stand out from the multiple fans submitting their own artwork. The bullying I experienced back then made me scared of being noticed, and my confidence being weak didn’t help. I just appreciated all of the art pieces and efforts of his other fans that got them a sign in the Love Garden and I gained happiness from their achievements. It’s funny how even now, I can still remember the only rule of the Love Garden; it’s that you can’t ask to be added. For some weird reason, I can’t help but laugh. Maybe because for an incredibly prestigious place, I expected it’d have at the very least, 20 rules.

Amidst his playthrough, he continues to speak as he plays. Now that requires a certain amount of skill.

Stampy wasn’t at all competitive with the other YouTubers, and it shows. He was just there to have fun with himself or with his friends. He was a pretty creative builder and redstone engineer from all the buildings he built in his Lovely World’s town and Funland games. Although he had no competition with the other builders and redstoners out there like Grian and Mumbo Jumbo, it was still fun to have someone we can all relate to. He’d often struggle in his videos, but that’s alright. No one is perfect right from the beginning. We all start somewhere. Looking at it now, Stampy had, and I can’t stress this enough, improved tremendously throughout the years.

In my opinion, in the field of fighting, Stampy’s biggest achievement in hunger games was his match in the map entitled “Enchanted Island” in which and I quote ‘I just went around like a wrecking ball.’, a direct statement from Stampy himself, due to his performance in which seemingly everyone was teamed up yet he killed everyone.

Stampy’s Lovely World, originally made as a Minecraft Let’s Play world created by Stampy himself, slowly became a roleplay word in which real-life afflictions and applications were applied such as Stampy stating whether the cake he eats is good or bad in taste, the behavior his pets have, etc. This also involves Stampy and HitTheTarget’s rivalry throughout the years. From then, until now, their battles are legendary, and I hope will continue to do so. Technically altered in such a way that removes the purpose of survival worlds, the roleplaying in his Lovely World is personally still entertaining and is such a big twist and adds color in his Lovely World plans. It’s even entertaining to the children who don’t fully understand the system behind the scenes.

A slippery bestfriend

I remember a time when Stampy did some quick building competitions with other fellas and was judged by someone else to announce who the victor between the two competitors is. Quickbuild is a competition wherein there are two (or more) people with a limited plot of land, tasked to build something that is related to the given topic within a specific amount of time.

One quick build stood out among the rest where he first recorded with a fellow small Minecraft YouTuber at the time, iBallisticSquid. iBallisticSquid was then called multiple names by Stampy such as Squid, Squiddy, but his most ear-catching alias was Squid nugget. He’d then transition his in-game name from iBallisticSquid to iSlipperyFellow due to his account being hacked.

A friendly competition

They had three matches, each with different topics. The first one was to build a floating house in which Stampy built a modern-looking house held up by a balloon with trees at the top while Squid built a medieval-looking castle with vines and water evident throughout the build; to which Squid won. The second one was to build a mob trap in which Stampy built a creeper with a top hat, much like the figure he once built in his Funland’s rollercoaster while Squid built a structure resembling both skeleton and creeper bodies and faces; to which Stampy won.

They had a draw and they knew there was only one way to figure out who will win their little competition; another match. For the final time, they were tasked to build an arcade game. Equipped with experience from his Funland games, Stampy built a type of “shoot the target” game he often refers to as “centipede or millipede” where there are minecarts moving on rail tracks. To win the arcade game, the player must shoot down all the minecarts, which he demonstrated to everyone. The player will lose if the minecarts reach a certain point. On the other hand, Squid struggled for the first few minutes due to the lack of knowledge of creating mini-games within Minecraft. He built a little box with water at the back and the sides, pressure plates at the front. The aim of the game is to use fishing poles to hook chickens from the water and get them on top of the pressure plates. He ended up not finishing his build which is sad, but it was a fair and fun match.

Between Stampy’s magenta shoot the target and Squid’s unfinished golden catch the chickens, Squid deliberately declared Stampy the winner of the match and accepts defeat.

Each other’s other half

Even after their quick building competitions, their collaborations still continue, having their first series together on Squid’s channel entitled Feed The Beast (FTB). Easy to say, they weren’t professional and organized with the mod pack, but nevertheless, I was entertained. Fun fact. It was actually the first time I discovered the entire idea of mod packs in Minecraft PC. Only lasting 49 episodes, they were able to ‘venture inside the Twilight forest and faced the Naga, Lich, and the Hydra. Ultimately unable to finish the series due to technical difficulties as addressed by them in the future, the series didn’t have the closure we all needed.

They were both featured on each other’s individual channels even way after the series ended. Their little duo was often referenced as Squid being the brains and Stampy being the looks. They started multiple series in which they played together, again, not professionally or seriously, but was for the fun of it. Coming to think of it now, it’s like the two types of teachers I encountered in school. One would be the serious and scary type, the other would be the fun and exciting type. The fun and exciting type was pretty much this amazing duo.

Along with Daisy (ZShoot2KilZ), often referred to as Daisy the cow because of her cow skin, they went on multiple adventure maps on the Minecraft Xbox Edition. For the first few adventure maps, Stampy was unable to host the maps, hence the reason why Daisy was there. Among all of their adventures, only Stampy and Squid were able to talk as Daisy did not have a microphone. It was sad, really. Their series could’ve been more colorful if she spoke, but oh well. However, when the time finally came and Stampy became the host of the maps, Daisy was no longer in the series, ‘though I think they are still friends and in contact with each other.

When compared to each other, Squid was admittedly better in parkour and bow & arrow battles, while Stampy was better in solving puzzles and close-combat. Aside from adventure maps, they were often teamed together in some hunger games (their nemesis being Finball and WeeWeeGaming due to their 2v2 battles in the maps Lost Paradise, etc.), and other mini-games. The luckiest match of their entire hunger game lives was in the map “Enchanted Kingdom” wherein Squid was able to go through a deadly parkour course and got lucky enough to find, and I too am still shocked to this day, a stack of diamonds. The most skilled battle they won was a 2v5 in a map they built whose video was entitled “Against All Odds Part 2”.

Their collaborations extended even beyond the scope of Minecraft. They had a barely cooking contest where they have to create a meal out of the products the other person buys. Another one was Tea-off in which they recorded themselves creating a cup of tea. I really found Stampy’s part very funny and entertaining because of his overly-exaggerated British accent but Squid’s version was more efficient. It both had no prize, it was all for good fun.

‘though it started off as an only Stampy thing, they began going through multiple challenges featuring both competition and teamwork. My personal favorite one was a teamwork challenge literally called “Teamwork Challenge” wherein they are tasked to create a castle and wear a crown to be regarded as the castle’s king. However, they have to do it while only using one controller where Stampy has access to the right side while Squid has access to the left side. This means that the player’s actions are controlled by individual minds. Stampy will be turning and breaking while Squid will be moving and building. It was hilarious the way they bicker at each other.

What seems to be the longest series Stampy and Squid had together was the Quest series. Originally starting off as a series to kill the Enderdragon, a boss of the End dimension, all of us thought that the series will end after the Enderdragon was killed. Fortunately, it did not end there. The series became a place where they have fun and do whatever they want, pretty much. They even have their own daily rituals they have to do at the beginning of every episode like flushing down a massive toilet, kissing Smooch (a snow golem), and doing the ice cream parlor. The ice cream parlor is a structure shaped like a big cone with ice cream at the top where they reenact their roleplay ideas in a comedic fashion. In the last episode of the series, the ice cream parlor became a mini-cinema wherein Stampy used a black screen to flash the most memorable and hilarious bits of their series. This world is also often featured in live streams even after the series ended.

Formation of an incredible group

Initially started by Stampy and Squid as a place to publish their out-takes or snippets of their recorded videos that weren’t good enough to post on their main channels. A Facebook group was created by Stampy, carrying on the name of the Magical Animal Club, which became a big thing where multiple people chat and share everything. For most of them, including Stampy, it was the Magical Animal Club.

Stampy stated that the group may be different for some people. For me, the Magical Animal Club is an unofficial group consisting of multiple people, all of which share the same love for playing Minecraft and generally creating content. As the name entails, most of the members carry a Minecraft skin of an animal while the others retain their human aesthetics.

They even completely embraced their animal roles, creating jokes about their animal personas such as Stampy stating he licks his fur, Squid stating he needs water to breathe, etc. They created vlogs of their in-person interactions (which were not uploaded in the channel but on other channels), especially in Squid’s birthday celebration. Honestly, it was fun to see them have fun in real life, just like how they have fun in-game.

However, as of this moment, the Magical Animal Club is a podcast channel shared between Stampy and Squid but is now under Stampy more than Squid because they lack interactions.

My favorite Minecraft series

Out of the vast selection of series they’ve been through, my favorite series of them all is “Race to the Moon” whose episodes are uploaded in Squid’s channel. It’s a competition about the Blue Team consisting of Stampy, Squid, and Chache, the Green Team consisting of Ash, SnakeDoctor, and Broomie, and the Pink Team consisting of Amy Lee, Mousie, and SalemsLady.

The aim of the series is in the name itself. These three teams are racing to find resources and build their machines or equipment that will lead them to the surface of the moon. To win, all three of the members must be on the moon. The first one to be sent there has to set up a base in preparation for the others. The base has to keep the lunar monsters out, support a food system, derive power from any means, and have the necessary oxygen to continue their survival. Once on the moon, they are not allowed to die.

Although the rules and instructions were specific, it didn’t stop Stampy from being distracted by the interesting things he found inside the mod pack. He continuously had fun with the hats, leading him to the idea of creating a puppet show. After discovering the abilities of the bounce pad Squid left for them, Stampy created a bounce room underneath their base where bounce pads were placed at the left, right and middle. It caused a lot of deaths, which Stampy prevented by placing water in the middle of every bounce pad. Soon, he let go of his obsession with this killing room and used the bounce pads to quickly reach their base, which was located at the top of a very high mountain. After their adventures through the different dimensions of MystCraft in search of oil, Stampy accidentally stumbled upon a characteristic the book used for MystCraft was able to do. He initiated that the episode after the one he discovered this concept is going to be ‘his’ episode. He created a small soccer-type arena, and through this, Book Ball was born. Although the Pink Team wasn’t able to come, the Green Team was present, ‘though missing one of their members.

Aside from these distractions, Stampy went on a sort of ‘soul-finding trip’ by himself after he took their ship in their 9th episode. It was personally hilarious how Squid attempted to chase him down while Stampy said in return that he’ll be going on a search for the other teams and sarcastically stated that he’s going to see if they will treat him better and that he’ll make sure he will write (a letter presumably). For the next episodes after Stampy’s departure, the episodes were split into two segments. The first half featured Squid and Chache’s attempt at creating progress, while the other half featured Stampy in his adventure. After a few episodes, Stampy was able to locate the Pink Team’s base and left them a chocolate cake. After his trip, he then rejoined with Squid and Chache again on their mountain base.

Despite Stampy’s distractions and apparent time-wasting, he played a big role in the team because of his contribution to designing the mountain base. With the floor martian red and both the ceiling and walls marble white which he was sadly not able to finish. Because of his lack of expertise in the mod pack, he relied on his teammates to carry him to victory while he carries out the basic tasks. One of his most impact on the team, which was also my favorite episode, was in their 22nd episode entitled “Diamond Rich!”. In this episode, Stampy was able to find 11 diamonds with his friend, Sharky the hammer. This episode just had a lot of humor and messing around, but still had the job done. Their argument about the diamond and the lava’s relationship was also hilarious with Stampy claiming that diamonds do not need to be near lava in order to generate while Squid claimed otherwise. Because of Stampy’s efforts, they were able to craft a quarry; a machine that literally does the digging and mining for them. Stampy sarcastically suggested that they put the quarry in the middle of their bedroom as a surprise for Chache, an absent member of the current episode.

The “Race to the Moon” series took an unexpected turn of events as some or all of the members of every team was kidnapped, Stampy included in this unfortunate event. The rest who were still free, after witnessing the aftermath of their bases’ destruction, had to help their friends by smoothly beginning another series entitled “Mission to Mars”. The divided teams joined forces, and with their combined efforts, they were able to save their friends on the series 29th episode.

A part that made me enjoy this entire series so much is my passion for learning science, especially astronomy which was also the series’ platform.

Photo by Ganapathy Kumar on Unsplash

Stampy’s other games

Although Stampy is mainly a Minecraft YouTuber as of this moment, he occasionally plays other games, as well. I can remember feeling like a rule breaker back then when Stampy did a playthrough of the first season of Telltale’s The Walking Dead as a child. I admit, being mentally immature at the time, I became extremely paranoid about going inside the bathroom in fear of zombies. I even dreamt of zombies at night. I am okay now, though.

The most memorable and extensive series Stampy had created, aside from Minecraft videos, is his Terraria videos. Terraria is a sandbox game, much like Minecraft. However, it was only in two dimensions and had an incredibly vast scope of abstract and unrealistic concepts. It was way more complicated than Minecraft.

He might seem like a newbie of the game, dying a lot for the silliest reasons and unable to kill the Wall of Flesh multiple times, he did admit near the very start of the Let’s Play that he doesn’t play the game that often off-camera, he even limited the knowledge he knows about the game by refusing to watch any Terraria videos by other creators; his research to plan for his next step was also completely controlled. This meant that everything he does in the game is, I’d say about 98% recorded. It was all for the thrill and excitement of the game, not knowing what is about to come.

His Terraria videos were very entertaining, even to the point that they inspired me to start playing the game myself. Since I didn’t have nor wish to have an Xbox, I played Terraria on the Mobile and Desktop versions. Just like the Minecraft videos, a transitioning was needed but was also worth it.

Aw. Love.

They started off as friends, and now they’re lovers. Squaishey first appeared on Stampy’s channel on their series entitled “Sky Den”. With the combined efforts of cat and duck, they had to finish the tasks given to them. Just like “Quest to Kill The Enderdragon”, even after the series had reached its ending, they still continued to play on the world, creating whatever they wish. It was here where their competition, the ‘grass race’ was first introduced. The grass race is a passive competition where Stampy and Squaishey both have lines of dirt with grass at the very start. To win, the grass has to reach the other side of the line and the person whose dirt line was able to completely turn into grass first is the winner. The grass race became so fun that it was even done in all the other dens that followed Sky Den. They also have a daily ritual that they do in every episode where Stampy goes on to seek Squaishey, who is hiding somewhere around their base. They go on ahead and talk to Kevin, the kitchen chef portrayed by a sign with a face and a dispenser as its body. The other dens that Stampy and Squaishey did were the Cave Den, Ocean Den, and Space Den.

In Stampy’s tweet back on the 29th of July 2018, it featured a picture of him and Squaishey whose faces are both in front of each other, a caption stating ‘going to marry my best friend’ with Squaishey’s tag and an ‘X, indicating a kiss.

I don’t know the details but I really hope that in the reception, Stampy said “Hello. This is Stampy, and welcome to my reception. I’m here joined with SquaisheyQuack, but we have to go find her first.” That will make me laugh so much, you have no idea.

What just happened

As of the creation of this, the Stampy we all know and love who posted videos on a daily basis took multiple breaks and is now only uploading once a week. He only ever really posts videos about Minecraft inside his Lovely World. Stampy and Squid, just like I feared long ago, started to drift apart from each other. Their interactions became limited, a rift formed between them. The adventure maps they went through are no more. The teamwork and competitive challenges they participated in as a 1v1, now discontinued. Hunger games no longer played. It was one of my worst fears, but it is the reality.

People come and people go. Personally, I’d rather honor and remember the good times I’ve had with my friends, instead of being sad as a rift grows between. People grow apart as their interests aren’t aligned with each other, and it is entirely normal. It was inevitable, and now we must face the truth.

I still continue to hope that a day will come when the perfect duo will come back and create the glorious things they once did a few years ago.

Unlike the old times where Stampy had actual friends accompanying him in his Lovely World, he is now joined by multiple personas that acts as a roleplay character with their own distinct characteristics and background stories.

1. William Beaver is a combat-type character first introduced on the 15th of November 2015 in a video entitled “Friends and Foes”. After recognizing an unexpected turn, the wither was summoned by the villain duo consisting of HitTheTarget and VeevaDash. Alongside Stampy, William Beaver killed the wither and became a friendly character residing inside the cave that Stampy first spent his Minecraft night in; the location of which is visible from Stampy’s bedroom balcony. William Beaver often wears multiple-colored leather armor but changes armor when faced with a threat. Formerly using diamond, he switched to Netherite at some point.
2. Polly Reindeer is a Redstone engineer-type character first introduced on the 26th of December 2015 in a video entitled “North Pole”. After recognizing the presents dropped all over his town, Stampy and the rest grabbed the scattered presents and placed them back on Santa’s sleigh. Santa then invited Stampy to accompany him to the North Pole. Initially surprised that the sleigh doesn’t move through reindeer locomotives, Santa began to move the sleigh using a ‘magic engine’. After having fun on a tour around the area, Stampy invited Polly to join him because of Polly’s passion and enjoyment of building and playing games. Santa immediately complied, they headed back to Stampy’s town. Polly and Stampy then built her house which replicates the one she has back in the North Pole. Despite being blown up by a laser, the house was rebuilt nonetheless. Just like William, the house of Polly was located near the theater, easily seen by the balcony.
3. Fizzy Elephant is a party-type character with a liking for fireworks and colorful blocks with a goofy personality. He was first introduced on the 24th of March 2016 in a video literally entitled after his name, “Fizzy Elephant”. After Stampy announced the episode’s lucky Love Garden shoutout, fireworks sprung out of the top of the decorated theater, appearing to have a colorful band exterior and carpets leading to the front. A trail of cookies led to the front doors and the colorful carpet trend continued on inside. Stampy then went on the stage of the theater and saw a sign on a yellow box with a text written as ‘To Stampy. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! From Fizzy Elephant’. Upon revealing that it wasn’t his birthday, Stampy opens the box to reveal an elephant, fireworks in hand, golden pants, and boots worn on his body. He then resided in Stampy’s disappointment of a music tower. Through Fizzy’s efforts, the tower became colorful and exciting, unlike the state it used to be in.

I’m not saying that I dislike these three characters. I actually prefer this system more because it seems to be a more professional and organized system. I do still miss his old friends, the ones he used to record with like Longbow, Ank, Squid, etc.

This is the importance of having an idol as a child. Someone to look up to, a brilliant example who will guide you through your childhood. Who will make you smile every sad rainy day; someone who will push you to be a better person every day.

Although Stampy is still uploading videos once a week and we’re all still here to watch them, the thing that had vanished is our childhood innocence. Stampy is a YouTuber whose target audience is children, and his content reflects that ideology. We, who started to watch Stampy back in 2013 or less, were pretty much children. I was 10 years old when I first watched his videos and for my age, he was extremely entertaining. However, as of the making and publishing of this blog, the year is 2021 and I am 18 years old. I have come a long way from being a child. Yes, I still love Stampy’s videos, but the way I perceive the world also changed my preferences. The fun and color I once had with Stampy as a child is now small, if not gone.

Whenever I don’t have anything to do, I often rewatch the old videos. Due to my personal problems, I am currently emotionally and mentally numb to pain and sadness, but with Stampy’s videos, the nostalgia is powerful enough to make me drop a tear.

To all the children and teenagers out there, don’t rush your way to adulthood. One way or another, you’ll inevitably reach it. Just enjoy your childhood while you still have it. Have fun, go play, dream.

Fun fact. I even envisioned this goal where I’d go to Britain just to meet him for a hug. It is a long shot, but I’ll see what happens in the future. It also took me five hours to write this blog, which is the most time I ever spent writing on the same thing.

I will be forever grateful to Stampy and all of his friends for making my childhood fun and great when my personal relationships weren’t able to. Stampy, if you are to ever read this, at the very bottom of my heart, thank you. If I were to forget everything and be a child again, I’d still do it with you.

Until then, goodbye.