Hey there everyone, DeepRising here. It’s great to be back with the Weekly Newsletter and Topic competition.

But first, I’m delighted to hand you over to Meggo and our panel of judges for some exciting competition results.

Sudomemo Flipnote Animation Tribute Event F.A.T.E. 2025 Results

Hi, Meggo here, with the much anticipated results for F.A.T.E. 2025!

From modern reimaginings to old-school Hatena Mvs, memes, and AVs, your animations brought back that classic spark we all know and love.

You can view all of the submissions for this event by clicking this link F.A.T.E. 2025.

Now, it’s the moment you've all been waiting for! The winners are in!

A huge thank you and congratulations to everyone who entered You truly made this a tribute to remember!

Judge Introductions

First of all, let's introduce the judges:

CerealBowlby:

CerealBowlby here! I've been animating with Flipnote Studio since 2011. I look forward to seeing Sudomemo creators have fun making new Flipnote classics!

HelenaRisc:

Hey! I’m Helena and I am the creator of SketchTube, which is a social media for animators that I’m currently developing! I was super inspired by Flipnote Hatena as a kid and grew up longing for that kind of artistic community.

McBoo:

Name’s McBoo! I’m a Flipnote creator from back in the Hatena days. I’m currently working on remastering my old Flipnotes on my YouTube channel, Erik Stensrud Animations!

Meggo:

I’m Sudomemos’ event organiser, and also a designer! I mostly animate MV Flipnotes or join chains :3

Purinpomm:

Hey everyone, Purinpomm here! (You might remember me as Yuneo from Flipnote.) I’m a designer for Sudomemo, and I truly wouldn’t be where I am today without the incredible Flipnote Hatena. I’ll always be grateful for everything it gave me.

F.A.T.E. 2025 Results

After a heartfelt celebration of classic Flipnote charm, creativity, and timeless flair, the champions of F.A.T.E. 2025 have been crowned! Each judge awarded a gold, silver, and bronze medal worth 5, 3, and 1 points respectively.

This was a close competition, with several ties and many beloved entries that just missed the podium. Let’s take a look at the standout entries that truly captured the spirit of our past, and see what our judges had to say about each nostalgic animation:

First Place

“Tonight is the Night (Of the DarkFox)” by [Will$ten]

Meggo:

WOW this entry blew me away! The part with the lyrics scratches an itch in my brain that I didn’t know I had. It’s so satisfying to watch; a great homage to DarkFox’s clever lyric animations with a fresh, innovative spin. I really love the polish in the frame design. It’s simple, but a very nicely refined update of the original. The attention to detail is great. It’s really fun to see these old characters drawn in such a sleek and modern style. What a wonderful remake of a classic MV.

Gold!

PurinPomm:

This Flipnote perfectly captures that nostalgic art style—it even gave me chills! Darkfox was a huge influence on my childhood and my passion for art, so seeing someone recreate and bring back one of the most iconic creators out there was amazing. Huge props to the creator of this beautiful Flipnote! It brought me right back to those days of staying up late just to scroll through Flipnote Hatena, watching loops over and over because they sparked something magical in me. The timing, the expressions, the music—everything about this felt like a love letter to the community we all grew up with. It's creators like you who keep that spirit alive!

Gold!

HelenaRisc:

This entry is so nostalgic! The song choice, character design and the lyrics displayed legitimately made me feel as though I was transported back to 2011 for a hot second. I love the polished spin on Darkfoxs’ original flipnote, it’s as if it was displayed in a higher resolution! Really really great job.

Silver!

McBoo:

*Art critic snob mode activated*! As a connoisseur of clean line-art myself, ah yes, you have my utmost respect for such a polished and tidy piece of craftsmanship. *sips expensive tea* ☕️

Also, the text animation feels like a classic Flipnote. Great work!

Bronze!

Second Place

“Flipping the Channels” by CosmicGAZ

HelenaRisc:

This captured Umbrella’s style perfectly! The sound effects and smooth animation style give a super polished looked. And I rewatched it multiple times to get all the references when the TV was paused, that was so funky I love it! This was made with so much care and attention to detail and I’m really blown away. Well done!

Gold!

McBoo:

In terms of emulating Umbrella‘s style of animation and sense of humour, you had this one… COVERED! dB

I also appreciate the callbacks and references you included on the TV. Well done!

Gold!

CerealBowlby:

Gaz absolutely nails Umbrella's style AND humor. Glance and Gaze fit the roles of the classic characters to a “T”, which makes this flipnote feel like a crossover from a time long past. Big fan of the other classic flipnote references that flashed on the screen as the two duel over the channel! I had to pause and rewind to catch them all.

Silver!

Third Place

“Spongebob Squarepants | Ripped Pants” by SmashX

CerealBowlby:

SpongeBob and Flipnote animations go way, way back. On Hatena, this yellow sponge and his undersea friends were just about as frequently seen and heard as, dare I say, Mario himself. The greatest thing about this animation is how limited it is, with a few looping frames that sell the motion without getting stale. If this was an original on Hatena, it would have been an instant classic.

Gold!

Fourth Place - Tied

“FUNKEHTOWN =D (rofl)” by moofie

Meggo:

Everything about this just screams Hatena nostalgia for me, right down to the epic title and creative username design. I love this level of attention to detail!! The character designs are peak, I especially love the detail of one character having red and black heterochromia and a strand of hair that looks like a heart. The super cute and expressive character designs are complemented by simple but effective animation. I love how the different art styles add so much emphasis to the expressions. I have watched this SO many times and it will forever live in my head rent-free.

Silver!

Fourth Place - Tied

“BLAME IT ON DA POP!!! o3o” by ミ★dess!⛄♪

PurinPomm:

The audio alone brought back so many memories—it was definitely one of my most used tracks during the Hatena days! I absolutely love the style and animation technique used to create this masterpiece; it really takes me back. This is why Flipnote will always have a special place in my heart. Thank you so much for bringing all those memories flooding back. Amazing work overall!

Silver!

Fourth Place - Tied

“Radio Harcore” by Sep Sep

McBoo:

Love the traditional animation and homage to EpicGuitar! It’s cool to see the new Pokémon included here as well. Oh, by the way! How do you get Pikachu on a bus?… …You just keep him in his Pokéball and get on the bus.

Silver!

Seventh Place Tied

“fatemovie” by Kabez

HelenaRisc:

What a creative spin on the asdfmovies!! I think we all binged this series back to back and then memorized it at the time, so when watching this and the flipnote puns appeared, it really caught me off guard! It was cool to see the combo of professional fonts mixed with the loose sketchy characters, it gives it a polished and goofy look simultaneously. Love!

Bronze!

Seventh Place Tied

“Do You Like Waffles??” by ☆Rainstar☆

CerealBowlby:

Do you like waffles? Or do you prefer pancakes? This was a (remarkably) frequent point of discussion back in the 2010s, and Parry Gripp's classic song wormed its way into many flipnotes, even when it's been reduced to the startup of a bait and switch. This was Hatena humor: The epic face, waffles and pancakes, a loud shout, and over-the-top cartoon violence. And imagine my surprise in 2025 when I still get a laugh out of it! Some things never change. By the way, I'm more of a French toast person myself.

Seventh Place Tied

“Waka Waka!” by Silvesary

PurinPomm:

This Flipnote unlocked a core memory for me. I used to watch it on repeat and never got tired of it. The animation and audio just hit perfectly every time. It takes me right back to those simpler days when all I cared about was drawing, watching Flipnotes, and being inspired by stuff like this. It's wild how something so small can bring back such a strong wave of memories. I'll always have a soft spot for this kind of art!

Bronze!

Seventh Place Tied

“Super Mario Troll” by Soups

Meggo:

This feels like it was taken right from Hatena in 2010. How many different ways can Mario be trolled?? I really love how universal this entry is. While some Hatena memes were more localized by server region, an epic super Mario fail compilation can truly transcend borders. Are we sure this creator didn’t invent time travel??

Bronze!

Thank you all for another wonderful F.A.T.E. contest this year! Congratulations to all the winners, and well done to everyone who entered!

And now, back to DeepRising!

Hey there again. What a truly Awesome contest that was! And in just a moment, we’ll be returning to our weekly scheduled Topic competition, but first a word about our ongoing fund raising activities.

Sudomemo Fundraising

We're still trying to raise more cash this month for additional Sudomemo expenditures.

If you would like to make a donation then Sudomemo Patreon is the way to go! It will really help with the upkeep and running of Sudomemo, and there’s loads of special rewards to enjoy.

Here's the link to our Sudomemo Patreon site:

https://www.patreon.com/Sudomemo

Why not check it out! And thank you so much for all your support.

OK, now back to the Topic. And here’s this week's brand new Topic theme.

This Weeks Topic - "Ticker-tape Parade"

A ticker-tape parade is an event held in an urban setting, where large amounts of shredded paper is thrown down onto the parade route from the surrounding buildings, creating a celebratory flurry of paper.

Your Flipnotes could feature Ticker-tape, or ticker-tape celebrations in any way you like;

You could go for a full-on traditional parade! Or how about a personalized celebration, a character showcase, or an online/media styled ticker-tape idea?

It should be fun to animate, with many possible ticker-tape techniques you could try, including background color change (to show up the ticker-tape), random flicker animation, as well as the ‘Scrolling Screen Stylus drag’ (where you drag the stylus, set to draw, paint, or erase, across or around the screen, while scrolling through multiple pages).

With any technique you choose, the use of reduction, re-paste, and over-lay could help achieve the ticker-tape movement and detail you need.

Whatever you decide, get shredding, and start ticker-taping a topic entry today!

We really love the way you're all so creative with these topics and look forward to seeing the Flipnotes you create for them.

Make sure to post your entries to the Weekly Topic channel Weekly Topic - Ticker-tape Parade and the deadline for your entries is June 15th (12pm EST / 4pm GMT).

We would also encourage you to add a description to your Flipnotes, to highlight any details you’d like us to feature in our winner reviews.

Tip: The frame you save your Flipnote on will become the thumbnail, so choose your favorite or add a title page!

Keep on Flipnoting and the best of luck with your entries.

Upcoming Topics

Topic - Forgetful (June 22nd)

Topic - Segways and Hoverboards (June 29th)

Topic - New Art Style (July 6th)

Topic - Strike a Pose (July 13th)