RIP, Lemmy's Land

As my fellow Koopa fans doubtless well know, the marvelous Koopa fansite Lemmy's Land hasn't updated in over a year.  While that may seem like a long time to wait before finally admitting that it's dead, well... it's not been a thing I've really wanted to admit.

Lemmy's Land has been a Mario fan institution since 1998, and it must have helped spur the resurgence in popularity of the Koopalings in the mid 2000s.  It was a massive site, updated weekly with religious adherence during its prime, filled with fan content ranging from preposterous short fanfiction "scribbles" to artwork and music files.  And the entire operation was run by one Koopa, the titular Lemmy.

But Lemmy, to me, was more than a fastidious webmaster... he always seemed to have a soft spot for new artists and authors, and I think that he gave me a chance to prove myself back when my own drawing skills were tenuous at best.  Had he not accepted my offer to volunteer as a Caption Assistant ten years ago I rather doubt that I would know any of my current watchers or that I'd be posting artwork online today.  Rather unsurprisingly, I suppose, Lemmy's Captions section was always my favorite— I long delighted at reading the hilarious lines written by fans for the caption pictures each week.  There was always an additional joy, I admit, when the caption picture in question was my own.

As much as I'll miss the site, I worry about Lemmy far more.  He was always punctual, professional, and polite day in and day out, and would even leave a message on the front page of his site if he was planning to skip even one of his weekly updates.  To suddenly leave his site utterly abandoned and without a single message or e-mail response describing his plans to quit or otherwise is as out of character as I've ever seen him.

I've heard rumors that Lemmy himself isn't dead in the literal sense— obviously I can only hope that this is true.  If it is, I can still thank him— generally, for creating and maintaining his magical site that united Koopa fans for 13 years, and personally, for giving me a chance to draw for him for so long.  It was a wonderful experience.