The Grown-up LPStuber Tag

As mentioned in a previous post, I recently left LPStube again. But I wanted to salvage some of my scrapped ideas for non-video projects.

The Grown-up LPStuber Tag was created by LyssLpsTv on Youtube (original video). It's a successor to the LPStuber tag, this time catered towards adult and long-term community members. It was sitting in my drafts for well over a year now.

A few things have been modified from my original script to fit the text-based format, and to be more updated since I last modified it.

1: How long have you been in the community?

On LPStube I'd say about 6 or 7 years? Like 2015-19, even when I didn't make LPS videos I'm pretty sure I still watched them. Then I left 2020-23, came back in 2024, and left again in 2025. I want to see what means I can keep up with the wider LPS community off of Youtube, but with the uncertainty of things right now, as well as the community gathering on sites I don't frequent, I'm unsure of what the future holds for me in terms of LPS.

2: Do you make family friendly content or content for teens?

(In terms of LPStube) I'd say I was more family friendly/general audience leaning. I prefer the label 'general audiences' because technically I made my videos with adult collectors in mind. But the stuff I was making there doesn't really fit 'teens and older'.

It's funny because in truth, I'm less PG. It's kinda why I didn't share my non-LPS socials on my channel until the very end. Because even though there's a lot more adult collectors here these days, I know this community has a lot of teens. Art wise, I consider my dream projects to be Older-YA, I swear, and I admittedly feel more comfortable interacting with other adults

3: Do you consume family friendly content, content for teens or both?

Referring to LPStube, I'd say both. I find myself watching a lot more vlog-type, collection & haul videos, customs, commentary which generally tend to be PG from what I've noticed. But In terms of series or skits, I usually go for teen-older oriented ones. Part of it is that's where I want to work in terms of comics & other art projects so I connect a lot more with older oriented stuff.

I will say, looking back to some older series, I do feel a lot of them teeter into "being edgy for being edgy", even for ones I am nostalgic for. But I feel more modern PG-13 LPS creators have done a far better job at making sure mature themes aren't just there for shock value.

4: Quick honest opinion on each generation of Littlest Pet Shop?

Alright, time for a lightning round:

Kenner: It'd feel weird to just not acknowledge them at all. They exist I guess, but they're not something I'd go out of my way to collect

G1: The foundation. These guys are classic and iconic. I like the airbrushing and the overall soft look they have. Though they're not my first pick in terms old-style pets. That goes to...

G2: The most Iconic and the peak of the franchise, and also my favorite. What can I say, my brain sees cartoony stuff and brighter colors & I go crazy for it.

G3: I know I defend some of these guys but also WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?? I feel like it would've worked better as a separate toy line not a new gen of LPS.

G4: These days I'm mixed on them. They have things I like, things I don't. But this generation gave me Zinnia so....

G5: (or is it G6? LPS gens are weird). A much needed clean-up after G4 with a style that respects the old pets a lot more and got rid of the main issues I had with the last gen. If only they didn't shove half of them into blind boxes.

G7: The Renaissance. I've said it a bunch already but uh, I like the plastic animal.

5: What was your favourite year for the Lps community?

I'd say 2015 maybe? This was around the time I started my channel and watched a ton of LPS videos. And I'm pretty sure that was also when a lot of the iconic LPStubers like LPS Hannah and LPS Ace were the most active. I'm not sure how else to elaborate on this one outside of this was the golden age for the community.

Though I'll give an honorable mention to 2024. Due to the fact there was this broader revived interest, people returning, newcomers, etc. It was genuinely heartwarming to see the community still thriving even with the many complications from modern Youtube.

6: What kind of collector are you? Main 5’s? Everything? Or do you not collect Lps anymore?

Casual collector. Mostly because as much as I like LPS, I'd rather it not overtake other interests of mine because this is a very expensive and space consuming hobby. And my main hobby outside of LPStube is arcade rhythm games aka: also expensive. Not even accounting for my art needs and expenses or wanting to save for other life-related things. So keeping it a slower-paced hobby will keep it sustainable for me in the long run.

Lately I've been going after G7s since I can just pick those up in person without worrying about shipping fees.

7: Has your channel changed throughout the years or has it stayed the same?

Absolutely. When I started off I don't think I had much of a theme outside of doing whatever? Like, some challenge and tag-type videos? I eventually wanted to do a series, but that ended up falling through due to being way too much for me at the time.

Then I switched over to being custom focused under the name Everstone Labs, though I branched out from just doing LPS customs into doing repaints in general.

The breif period I returned, it was mostly rambly-type stuff made whenever I feel like it.

8: What’s something you’ve learned during your years in the community?

Probably my biggest takeaway is don't overwhelm myself. I mentioned earlier I wanted to do a series, the title would've been "The Search for Audia". But for reference, that series was pretty high-concept for younger me? Like, a longer fantasy story that required a ton of crafting & extra effects to get right. And also at some point it was supposed to be a partial music-video series, then something with original music. Keep in mind that I was conceptualizing this as an easily-overwhelmed 15 year-old. And to top it off, also I wanted to make a long-term fantasy fully colored web comic completely separate from that, which was a whole other disaster in itself.

I'm gonna be blunt here, don't take on this much work solo. The web comic never made it past 16 pages, and outside of a few teasers and concept artworks the series never even saw an episode 1. And I pin it on the fact both projects were formats that aren't suited for the amount of time and energy I had. If I want to make a series again (which honestly, it's unlikely), I think I'd want to scale it way back or get some help somehow since even though I'm out of school, I don't want to spread myself too thin. Especially when I factor in other hobbies, or when I eventually land myself a job. Energy is limited, gotta leave some time to rest too.

9: Have you ever quit or considered quitting

It's the reason I made this post in the first place, though it's not the first time I left.

Technically, I 'left' in 2018 when I rebranded to Everstone Labs & pivoted towards custom toys vs LPS videos. But I think what truly caused me to quit was in 2019 when the COPPA rule changes were announced.

In hindsight, I probably would've lost interest in customs and by extension LPStube naturally because at the time I was more busy with college. But the damage done to the LPS community by well, removing community features like comments from videos deemed 'too kiddie' ended up speeding that up. And given my preferred socials at the time didn't have an active LPS or art toy community, there really wasn't an incentive to stay around if my only options was dance around unfair rule changes, or use websites I don't like.

In my initial script, I said that I didn't want to make any comments on quitting since I didn't want to jinx everything, and that I wanted to leave based on a natural loss of interest versus something out of my own hands. But unfortunately, it ended up being the latter.

10: Some motherly/fatherly/parental advice you could give to your subscribers?

Some parental advice... Ok so this was a WIP that's been sitting in my drafts folder for a while now and part of it is because I'm having a hard time coming up with something? But I think I've settled on something that ties back into 'don't overwhelm yourself' and is something I've been trying to do better on in my own life, but.

Never underestimate the value of a break. Take them!

I feel like especially on the modern internet, there's this huge pressure from both audiences and especially platforms to be constantly pumping out fast high-quality content, which unless it's your fulltime job is unfeasible without a studio. And I think it's extremely unfair to just about anyone who's starting off in any field. This pressure for fast content is a plague in itself, and hard to avoid if you want to stay active in online circles. But people should still take the time to make sure it doesn't eat them alive.

And the thing is, taking a break is actually really good for creative hobbies and jobs. You can't pour an empty cup after all. Creative block happens. Hell it happened with making this video. But one of the biggest steps to getting out of it is to just walk away and do something else. It doesn't have to be another creative hobby, it can just be something simple like taking a walk, making yourself a cup of coffee, watching that show you've been putting off for a while. By not constantly forcing yourself to work on a project you can let yourself rest and come up with ideas another day. Or even during said break, I've actually found out ways to fix issues in some of my own works just by aimlessly thinking about things versus trying too hard in one session.

And if you're still in creative block... well that's fine too. It's not that uncommon for people to go for months, or even years without doing art and come back later. So if you need a longer break time, don't be ashamed to take it.

I feel this is very relevant to LPStubers, as this is a creative hobby and I've seen some people beat themselves up over not posting much and like, it's fine to not have inspiration sometimes. And hell, it's fine to have other reasons to not post like minding your physical & mental health, school, or just wanting to spend more time offline. At the end of the day, we're people, not content machines.

So, I guess that's the end. In a way, I regret not making this an actual video earlier. But I feel better that I posted it here than never posted at all.