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Stick Stickly: A Friend Who'll Always Stick Around

When I was a child, there was only one journalist I trusted, and that was Stick Stickly.

We return now to the domain of the weird ass early years of Nickelodeon, back when the network was apparently in film school and obsessed with student art flicks, willing to try anything, no matter how bizarre it might seem in hindsight. Stick was the host of Nick In The Afternoon, a programming block on the network that ran summers 94-98 every weekday afternoon. While likely the most uncreative fictional character ever made, he holds a special place in my heart, and apparently many others as well. Some claim him to be boring and uninspired in design, but I think he's brilliant. I mean, who else besides children used popsicle sticks for entertainment? This is why he succeeded, because he was a visual medium they understood.

I don't really remember much about Stick Stickly, I just remember Stick Stickly himself. I remember that he existed, and that he really made me happy. Much like Face, he was a friend in simplicity, someone who felt like he was only there for me, and I think this is something only children are capable of. They think everything exists for them and them alone, hence why we often have to tell them, or were told ourselves as kids, "the world does not revolve around you", because when you're that young, you don't know any other world except the small space you yourself inhabit, and therefore you assume that, yes, the world does indeed revolve around you.

As a child, I did crafts all the time, probably much like any other child growing up in the early 90s. Arts and Crafts were a real thing, boy. Macaroni pictures and glitter and glue and friendship bracelets made of beads and lanyards and you name it we made it. But none were more prevalent than the popsicle stick. We used them for everything, man. We built houses out o them, we put faces on them, you have no idea the magnitude of inspiration we had for goddamned popsicle sticks. And the thing is, the crux of early Nickelodeon was that it was a "network for kids, by kids". This meant they didn't really rely on advertising because they felt children could tell when they were being advertised to. This also meant their merchandising was very slim to none. Oh how the times have changed. We have Spongebob and Rugrats to thank for that. But this is why Stick Stickly exists and works, because he feels like he was made by a kid for other kids. He is the physical living embodiment of the concept Nickelodeon was founded on, ultimately, and I think that's why children who came of age when I did remember him so fondly.

After more than a dozen years off the air, he finally returned in various promos and then in 2011 he returned fulltime to host the Friday blocks version of U-Pick. Even with the fact that it was clear his new segments were targeted to a different demographic, what with more mature language, humor and an emphasis on modern technology, it was still nice to see him come home. It was like greeting an old friend you didn't realize how much you'd missed until they came back. He went on hiatus again in 2012 only to return once more to host fulltime in 2015, where he's been ever since.

In some ways, I'd argue he's just as iconic as Face or anyone else on the early Nickelodeon, but I don't think I could make that argument very strongly considering he doesn't seem to have retained as much a following as Face or other entities from that time period did. Still, he's residing in my heart, and I'm sure many others, because he felt like a friend we created, that we made for ourselves, and he never talked down to us, he never insulted us, he merely was.

And when you're a kid, that's really all you need from a friend.

Is for them to be.

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