PlacePod and other works are part of a collection of pixel art projects on the subreddit r/place, an April Fools' Day experiment hosted by the administrators of Reddit in 2017 and once again in 2022.
PlacePod 0
The first planned but not constructed PlacePod was a hypothesized idea for how the iPod community would cement themselves in the fabric of r/place in 2022. Disord user lexd0g#3502 announced the plan on the r/iPod subreddit and the r/iPod Discord guild at 11:18 EDT, with details outlining the start of the project in a chunk of white space at (23, 669) that was seemingly unreserved. This plan ultimately failed due to its sheer size and conflicts with plans for the Israeli flag, later, the Palestinian flag. The occupied territory prompted the community to relocate and replan, leading to the subsequent creation of PlacePod 1.
PlacePod 0 served as the first crippling of the iPod community's influence on the initial 1k x 1k map. It became apparent that nationalistic pride would be a challenge that smaller communities would have to face, as the few contributors to PlacePod could not rival the vast imperialism of nation-states and their flags. This foreshadowed a challenge that would be faced with PlacePods 2 and SadPod.
PlacePod 1
The original PlacePod was located from coordinates (893,986) through to (901,999), on the southern border of the map. PlacePod 1 was adjacent to the leftmost border of TheBlueCorner's claim. Under the threat of eradication, PlacePod 1 had to be relocated in order to remain on the map.
Timeline of PlacePod 1
- On 1 April 2022 at 10:13 EDT, Official plans had begun to be put in place, with the official artwork being completed at 16:35 EDT.
- On 1 April 2022 at 16:30 EDT, an official location was selected by Xournal from (893, 986) to (901, 999) due to its easily modifiable faint black outline.
- On 1 April 2022 at 16:30 EDT, pixel-by-pixel planning began with the new selected artwork on an easily sharable spreadsheet
- On 1 April 2022 at 17:03 EDT, the spreadsheet was finalized and shared by r/iPod discord staff on the announcements page.
- On 1 April 2022 at 17:27 EDT, PlacePod 1 was completed.
- On 1 April 2022 at 17:48 EDT, expansion plans into the blue lattice to include a vertical text displaying "r/iPod" were started and halfway completed. However, following an expansionist wave by the lattice, the text was eradicated.
- On 1 April 2022 at 18:21 EDT, the first diplomatic mission had been made to the r/TheBlueCorner guild by Xournal and lexd0g#3502 to inquire about the vertical "r/iPod" text, which was promptly rejected by TheBlueCorner diplomats.
- On 1 April 2022 at 18:39 EDT, the second diplomatic mission had been made to the "r/Eminem on r/Place" guild in reaction to the nearing completion of the Eminem logo, which would collide with PlacePod by 3 pixels. This mission had resulted in a newly formed alliance between the two.
- On 1 April 2022 at 18:53 EDT, The Eminem wordmark neared completion, however, three pixels of horizontal space were needed by the wordmark that would not be ceded by TheBlueCorner border lattice, hanging the fate of PlacePod in a fragile state. In a unilateral agreement between the r/iPod and r/Eminem diplomats, it was decided that PlacePod would be relocated above the first E in Eminem with the bottom-left pixel of the body to be placed at (855, 989).
- On 1 April 2022 at 19:10 EDT, PlacePod 1 had been overwritten by the Eminem wordmark.
PlacePod 2
The final version of PlacePod, PlacePod 2, was created as a direct replica of PlacePod 1, shifted 39 pixels to the left on the X-axis and 9 pixels up on the Y-axis following a unilateral agreement curated by diplomats Xournal and lexd0g#3502 of the r/iPod discord guild and the "r/Eminem on r/Place" discord guild.
- On 4 April 2022 at 18:50 EDT, The colour palette has been reduced to one colour - white. This was indicative that r/place was coming to an end, and the map was destined to be blanked.
- On 4 April 2022 at 19:00 EDT, the screen was blanked.
- On 4 April 2022 at 19:05 EDT, the clickwheel was blanked.
- On 4 April 2022 at 19:18 EDT, PlacePod 2 was blanked.
Opponents of PlacePod 2
PlacePod 2 never had any official enemies, but it faced various attacks from stray expansionists from r/TheBlueCorner, r/SouthAfrica and uncoordinated attacks from the blue lattice. These attacks were quickly painted over and were never considered serious threats by the iPod community.
Mae Mark
The 'Mae Mark' is a highly controversial addition to PlacePod 2 that made it into the final rendition of PlacePod 2. It comes in the form of a single grey pixel located at (860, 979) inside the PlacePod 2 screen. The Mae Mark is a symbol of a scratch in a real, physical iPod (4th generation) owned by Lucy. This mark was birthed by the "iPod Haven" discord sub-community of the primary r/iPod guild who were allowed to modify PlacePod 2 by Discord user curl#1280 of the r/iPod Discord guild as a way of thanking iPod Haven for its contributions in protecting PlacePod 2 and the construction of SadPod.
Controversy
Major opponents of the pixel were Xournal and the DankPods community Discord guild, who strongly opposed the inclusion of the Mae Mark due to its resemblance to a vandalistic attack, and the potential provocation of other vandals that it brought along.
Opposition for the MaeMark was fierce but was no match to the many alternate Reddit accounts employed by the iPod Haven staff in the preservation of the pixel.
PlacePod nano
An unofficial branching of PlacePod had been PlacePod nano. It was situated immediately to the right of PlacePod 2 and the left of the Foo Fighters hawk. PlacePod had been implemented as part of any official plan, as it often conflicted with the r/Eminem guild, who wished to construct the Music to Be Murdered By album cover in the same location.
PlacePod nano was idealized to be a iPod Nano (4th generation) in white, a colour which only shipped in the first generation model of the nano. PlacePod nano did not make it into the final rendition of r/place.
Dankification
- On 4 April 2022 at 1:46 EDT, a small collective of r/DankPods members converted PlacePod Nano into a green iPod mini (2nd generation), as a tribute to the DankPods channel. It was promptly dismantled by r/Eminem folk who wished to revert it to the MTBMB covert art in an extension of the edit war.
SadPod
SadPod was a proposed off-shoot by the iPod community on r/place that was planned from coordinates (1300, 1401) to (1327, 1447), but never executed due to an impending collision with the /r/PlaceBE project. Allegedly, r/PlaceBE had the power of bot accounts and combined with the fierce expansion of the Belgian flag to the south, the border of SadPod had been painted over within mere minutes.
A diplomatic mission was made to the /r/PlaceBE Discord guild, however, after initial contact diplomat Xournal was muted and was jeered out of representing the r/iPod community and the project it stood for in its coordinates as the Belgians had believed SadPod would be easy to trample in their nationalistic voyage to the south to meet the flag of Spain. Further attempts to contact and mediate, and even compromise with the Belgians had been made by diplomat lexd0g#3502, however, the proposition was strongly opposed by the Belgians and the iPod community saw the abandonment of the white background of SadPod in a negative light.
This move was highly unpopular by the r/iPod community and despite efforts to continue construction, the Belgians had overwritten enough pixels for the r/iPod community to lose hope and abandon the original coordinates.
Facing defeat, the r/iPod Discord community attempted to relocate SadPod just outside the western bounds of the Belgian flag to the coordinates (1343, 1357) to (1370, 1403), but due to already diminished morale, progress was slow. Additionally, the community began fraying at this point. Low morale and repeated failure to expand had split the community apart, with a vocal minority led by Xournal had provoked a "declaration of war" against the Belgians because their nationalism was disproportionate to their following, however, the battle was short-lived and ultimately insignificant due to support by the iPod community, who had attempted relocating.
The relocation, while initially promising was quickly dismantled by the newly established presence of Spanish streamer unicornio using his following to paint over SadPod in favour of a pixelart portrayal of his profile picture on Twitch.[1]
PlacePod mini
PlacePod mini was an off-shoot artistic project in the name of the iPod community on the last day of r/Place. It was a blue iPod mini (2nd generation) designed by Yuuiko that was initially located inside the NATO military alliance flag, but quickly moved just north of the alliance's flag after a short diplomatic exchange by Discord user curl#1280 of the r/iPod Discord guild and r/NATO.
PlacePod mini did not make it into the final rendition of r/place due to a lack of community morale and pessimism shared by a select minority that resonated with the rest of the builders of PlacePod mini, leading to the eventual surrender and retreat to defending PlacePod 2.
Timeline of PlacePod mini
- On 4 April 2022 at 15:31 EDT, construction of the PlacePod mini began at (1425, 1399) after a lewd project had been overwritten by the r/place community and a free spot was made available.
- On 4 April 2022 at 15:47 EDT, the clickwheel and the base of the housing had been completed.
- On 4 April 2022 at 15:50 EDT, the black void led by an unknown force had begun consuming the PlacePod mini.
- On 4 April 2022 at 15:56 EDT, the void had mostly consumed PlacePod mini.
- On 4 April 2022 at 16:01 EDT, the void had entirely consumed PlacePod mini.
- On 4 April 2022 at 16:14 EDT, the void had ceased. Another artwork had begun building in its place. PlacePod mini had been attempted again, but the new artwork had overpowered the PlacePod mini.