The only celebrity death I’ve ever cried about after hearing it was Stephen Hillenburg. A marine biologist made an amazing cartoon, that was milked when he left it, and now double-milked now that he’s gone.

Random thread.

I’m not even a big spongebob fan or anything. It’s just the thought of a man who believed he’d spend his days in a lab instead created a cartoon that’s entertained millions, and is more quoted than anything even Disney has made. I often wonder why he thinks of his own legacy.

I think that’s the impossible goal: some people want to make a show with the reach that Spongebob has, and yet it seems that those who don’t look for that success find it anyways, because it’s out of their control. I wonder if that’s what Stephen ever wished for.

This is one of those threads where I’m trying to understand myself, and why I cried when I heard that he had passed. I think it’s that mix of a fantastic man meeting a tragic death, and knowing the Viacom vultures will be picking at his work for decades to come.

Imagine if that were you. I’d feel sick to my stomach knowing that something I made and means so much to people would be milked for a profit, even when I’m dead.

I’m not sure how to end this thread, so here’s this: be creative, take chances, and take peeks behind the curtains of your favorite games, shows, and songs. There’s usually a creative mind behind them that deserves to be appreciated, and should be defended, even after death.