Pico Day

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Pico Day is an official holiday celebrated on Newgrounds, which showcases Pico and various other mascots on the website. The annual custom was created and popularized in 2006 and is held on April 30th (nearly) every year, which is the birthday of Pico creator Tom Fulp.

Each Pico Day that year included a customized preloader for animators to use for their submissions, and a cash prize was also given to entries that were the most popular and/or critically acclaimed.

Origins

On January 23, 2006, Galloglasses proposed the idea of a "Pico Day" based off the Clock Days that had started earlier, since they noticed that, despite being a mascot of Newgrounds, Pico was becoming irrelevant.[1] Mogly then suggested the date to be April 30th, coinciding with Tom Fulp's birthday.[2] Fulp loved the idea, and he announced on February 21st that he was making it official, and from that point onward, the holiday would be celebrated every year on Newgrounds.[3]

The site's Flash Portal would be filled with submissions yearly, based after characters of the Pico universe, making up the majority of Pico works today. However, as time went on, it eventually became a celebration of every IP that originated from Newgrounds. In 2016, the siterunners even joked that they could simply rename the holiday to "Newgrounds Day", but the name of Pico Day "kinda stuck".

Pico Days by year

2006

Title 238.gif

The first official Pico Day was announced on February 21st, 2006, and held on April 30th. Originally, Tom Fulp was going to give five prizes, 1st through 5th place, and give $2000 to 1st place, $1000 to second place, $500 to third place, and $250 to fourth and fifth places. However, due to the overwhelming response, Tom added another Grand Prize for best game, as well as $50 prizes for the 6th through 10th best submissions.[4] Major submissions included DeadToast's remake of the original Pico's School, Pico vs. Convict by Luis, the PICO DAY anthem by JAZZA, and the highly popular Pico Sim Date by Moosh. Tom Fulp also resubmitted Pico's School and other Pico entries that day.

Flashback 00, the winner of Pico Day 2007.

2007

In 2007, Newgrounds would celebrate its second annual Pico Day. Ten of the submissions would be ranked as prize winners, with over $15,000 being given out in prizes. Ranked at 1st place, the winning submission was EvilSeed and Voodoll's FlashBack 00, which portrayed numerous Newgrounds mascots fighting in a stadium, and would also be nominated for the 2007 Tank Awards. In 2nd place, Pico's Time Tank by TheSwain and Toonimated, was praised for its excellent imagery and original soundtrack. In 3rd place, Überkid's Revenge by Zombie-Pimp (who was last year's third place winner), portrayed Nene in a new light as the final heroine. Squeezy's Newgrounds Joyride 2007 (originally titled "Pico Unleashed 2.007") won 4th place and showcased "an adventurous hyperactive joyride on amphetamines". HansAlmighty's platform shooter, Pico's Blam Jam, was put in 5th place and was generally considered the best game that year.

For 6th place, calcoA and swiftstylerX's PicoDay: PathwayThroughNG was a rather lengthy tribute to Pico, Newgrounds and the site's various original series. dietzribi's Pico's Surprise Party made 7th place, affectionately described as "a side scrolling version of Pico 2, only it's actually been released." Pico: The Herpes Escape by Nogfish won 8th place, described as "the second most insane entry" of Pico Day. In 9th place, mongoid's side-scroller action game Pico of the Dark Ages would earn praise as a more fantastical take on the Pico mythos. Finally, Lalo's Pico's School the Movie 2, a continuation of his "film adaptation" of Pico's School, was put in 10th place.[5]

2008

For the third annual year in a row, Pico Day was once again a major hit on Newgrounds. This time, the top three winners also won silver-plated Pico trophies with the winner's name printed on them. The 1st place winner, Zombie-Pimp's House of 1000 Cats, portrayed a "perfect homage to NG's past and present" as Pico, Nene, Darnell, P-Bot, Tom Fulp, and Pegasus the Penicorn unite together to fight against the Kitty Krew; it would later be nominated for the 2008 Tank Awards. Tankmen Infinity by Pikanjo parodied the Tankmen series instead of Pico, but still won 2nd place. In 3rd place, Granfaloon of The Real Legend fame created NG Showdown, which depicts another three-for-all battle between the main trio. Nogfish's Pico: The Shitty Power, a sequel to his previous submission from last year Pico: The Herpes Escape, won 4th place. 5th place's Pico Blast, a Run 'n Gun game by Luis and BoMToons, was also a nominee for that year's Tank Awards.

Another depature from the standard Pico Day flash, ImpendingRiot's Purple Sawdust, acts as a tribute to Dad 'n Me and would be put in 6th place. The 7th place winner, The Press & Punch Collab, is a feature-length collaboration movie organized by Almighty-Hans that showcases varying art styles in a "choose-your-adventure" format. In 8th place, nathanielmilburn's Picofun.FLA is noted as being the most psychedelic out of all the entries. Jeinu's Operation: Warehouse was the 9th place winner; there, Pico breaks into the titular warehouse and fends off an army of Überkids in order to save Nene. Lastly, in 10th place was Tank Epic by thelonelyduck, which as the name implies, is an epic short film featuring the Tankmen characters engaged in full-out war, fully rendered in 3DS Max 9.[6]

2009

Nogfish's Run, Darnell, Run! was awarded as the "Best Movie" of Pico Day 2009. It combined 1920s style monochrome animation with Pico characters and Newgrounds humor. Fatherly Bonds by Gonzossm featured the characters from Dad n' Me, Tom Fulp, his newborn son, and various Newgrounds characters. Tom himself used the final scene from this movie as the banner on his user page. Pico's Portal Party was a collaboration between Nogfish, LeafWorthy, FleckoGold & Zombie-Pimp. Joelasticot's A Bad Taste of Pico, another Run n' Gun game, was the top-rated game in 2009.[7]

2010

Jeinu's Operation: Graveyard, a spiritual sequel to 2008's Operation:Warehouse, was named the best movie of Pico Day 2010. It won the $1500 1st Place Prize. LewToons' Pico's Brother, a dramatic story about the origins of P-Bot, Pegosho's Pico PWNS!, an action movie that shows Pico fighting a mecha-wearing Überkid, and Hulalaoo's Hunting to Piconjo, a crossover between several Newgrounds heroes as they fight Piconjo, won the $1250, $1000, and $500 prizes respectively. Eleven other games won cash prizes, as well as two games.[8]

2011

The Pico Day 2011 banner, featuring Pico and Piconjo.

Pico Day 2011 also doubled as the day the 2011 Tank Awards were announced. Warriors of the Portal by Osuka, an action crossover movie that used 3D models of various Newgrounds mascots, won the $1500 prize for best movie. boybogart's Portal Hoppin', a humorous movie about a misadventure of the Newgrounds staff, won the $1250, while Zombie-Pimp's Picoday Piñata Party, featuring Pico and his friends fighting the relatives of old enemies, won the $1000 prize. Two other movies won $500 prizes and six won $200 prizes. Newgrounds: Retaliation by Torrunt, a Run 'n Gun game, was the winning game, and three other games also won prizes. Three pieces of art won prizes, and several more were recognized.[9]

2012

A piece of art made for Pico Day 2012 created by moustapha662.

Pico Day 2012 was celebrated on April 28th, a deviation of the usual April 30th. In that year's animation segment, Awesome Tribute won. Made by RicePirate, it featured parodies of many video games in the style of Egoraptor's Awesome series; the animation ends with a piece of text wishing the viewer a happy Pico Day.

For the game category, Elvidian Entertainment's Portal Panic won. It is a run-and-gun platformer in which Blockhead breaks P-Bot and Tankman, along with many other Newgrounds characters, have to save P-Bot. It was praised for its graphics, story and soundtrack, but criticized for various gameplay elements, such as with Dad and Salad Fingers. For the art category, Osuka's Cake Party at the Meadow won: a period with two ponies, one green pony and a robot pony in a tree holding a Cake.[10]

2013

A bit earlier than last year, Pico Day 2013 was celebrated instead on April 27th. For the movie category, rhye11's Undies-Puted! won the top prize of $300, digsBot's Newgrounds TV Bump won $200, and Screwit's BabyGroundz won the $100 prize. As for games, Pico's School DX by Kenney was rewarded with the 1st Place prize of $200. deathink's The Ventures Fulp won $100, and squidly's project flup won $50 in store credit. In the art category, Preparing for war by haitam won the $200 prize, Dad vs. Bitey by Jazza won the $100 prize, and Darnell by beastkid7 won the $50 store credit prize.[11]

In the audio contest, which also doubled for the Newgrounds Audio Portal 10th Anniversary Contest, "FD - Dreams" by ForgottenDawn won in 1st Place with a score of 38.5/40 and the $150 prize.[12]

2014

Deviating again from the April 30th date, Pico Day 2014 was celebrated on April 26th. This year, five movies were selected for the animation segment; Pico Day by RyanStorm earned the top prize of $500. JamalMason's Newgrounds game teaser won $300, KameStudios' Pico's happy Day won $200, TS-Romulus' Pico Day Battle! won $100, and destructin's Pico's Cat Fight won $50.

RigaHeaD's Pico goes to Hell had been awarded as the best game, $500 prize withstanding. Two other games, SinclairStrange's Cathode Raybits & Manly-Chicken's P-Bot Has No Hope In NG, won the $300 and $200 prizes, respectively. Pegosho's Newgrounds Revolution received praise as the best art piece, so much so that Tom Fulp uses it as the new banner for his User Page. Enemy is Near by Izzy-A, and Calamity Blaze by test-object also earned prizes.

In the audio section, Sequenced's track "Acid Paradox & Sequenced - Ignite" won the top prize of $200. "Beatbox Pico Day!" by AnalogByNature and "BloodLie (PicoDay2014)" by LichLordMusic each gained the $100 and $50 prizes. For the special collab category, 2014 Pico Day Collab by ForNoReason received the accolade. NG Supporters were also given access to the unfinished Pico 2 build created by MindChamber.[13]

2015

A piece of art made for Pico Day 2015 created by PepVerbsNouns.

2015 would mark 20 years of Newgrounds, April 25th would be celebrated as Pico Day 2015, five days earlier than the original date. For the movie category, The color brown by OrganizedApeShape won the 1st Place prize in $500, featuring a rather vulgar animation of the Tankmen "taking shits". Four other movies earned their cash prizes; $300 for LutzBay's Ice cream from space, $200 for artistunknown's FrogMan and Pico, $150 for Brewster's Darnell for President, & $100 for Cherubas' Everything Pico Day.

As for games, Pico's School Reunion by 14hourlunchbreak won the top prize of $500, while Moosh's Pico Sim Date <3 and HappyWhaleStudios' Pico's Exile earned the $300 and $200 prizes, respectively. Butzbo's art submission, '20 years of creatures!', received the $200 prize as 1st Place winner, beating both NG-20 | Pico Day 2015 by PepVerbsNouns and Halfway to Pico Day by MateusAbrantes. With music, DESHIEL earned $200 with the track, "Dual Uzi". Special attention was given to the collab Picollage 2015, which was organized by Sabtastic to celebrate Newgrounds' long of tenure 20 years.[14]

2016

Celebrated on May 7th, a week after April 30th, Pico Day 2016 would be celebrated with a large party that took place at the NG office.[15] As for the submissions, Urbs' Pico Joins the Army, SinclairStrange's Cathode Raybits 2, hbrunav's Dia de Pico, and Phonometrologist's "Enter Newground" would win the 1st Place prizes in movies, games, art, and music, respectively. ThePsychoSheep's Hey Captain, YakovlevArt's PICO DAY and ScepterDPinoy's Super Smash Pico Day 2016 were acknowledged as runner-ups.[16]

2017

Surprisingly, Pico Day 2017 was celebrated on April 30th, the first time in 5 years to do so. 2XXX A.A by johnathan-wrathborne won the 1st Place prize of $300 for best movie. Girl Grounds by moawling won $200 for best art. Bootleg Newgrounds by Gurgie won in the game section, and "Chaos Distortion" by Sequenced won in the music section.[17]

2018

2018 would mark the 13th Pico Day, while also celebrating 23 years of creation on Newgrounds. ExCharny's At the Top of Heaven [ Pico Day fanart ] won that year's art segment, earning $200; three other games also won prizes in money. For the music category, DESHIEL's "The Uzi of War" won, and two other songs received prizes. For the animation category, SuperColoroid's Starbarians meet Ark & Kerrigan was rewarded the top prize of $200. Lastly, Pico Rising, created by ninjamuffin99 of Friday Night Funkin' fame, was the top-rated game, created as a topdown shooter inspired by Hotline Miami.[18]

2019

Once again breaking from the traditional date, Pico Day 2019 was celebrated on May 11th. However, the focus would be placed more on fan art centered around Newgrounds; cash prizes were still offered for the favorites on the site. DeimosArt's entry PICO DAY 2019 ENTRY -"Endless Handbag" won the top $200 prize, jagondudo's NG Battle Arena earned $150, and $100 each was gifted to Marckel's Club Par, gatekid3's Pico Day 2019 & HongKongBong's Pico Pool.[19]

A few users created some Flash movies as well, like Pico n' Me by destructin and Bad-ish (Less Than Less Than Rad?) by gatekid3.

2020

Pico Day 2020 was celebrated on May 9th. However, it does not have its own collection; instead, much like last year, it focused entirely on art submitted to the Art Portal, though a handful of movie submissions were still made, such as Wandaboy's Pico day collab 2020.

2021

Celebrated on May 1st, Pico Day 2021 received a boom of newer content thanks to Friday Night Funkin' renewing interest in the Pico franchise.

With a selection of nearly 1,000 entries, PKettles's PICO DAY MF won the 1st place prize of $500. Out of seven movies, Wandaboy's Pico Day Cartoon won $580. In music, ARAMort's "Nechromatic - World Wide Web [FULL EP]" earned $500, and Stepford's MADNESS: Off-Color earned $580 as the top-rated game. In addition to cash, each 1st place winner would be part of an interview with TheInterviewer.[20]

2022

Possibly the largest time gap in the celebration's history, June 11th would mark as the 16th Pico Day.

The top 3 movies that year were FulpWare by EGPAnims, Picos Lesson by SmileGrenade, and End Days with the Tankmen by Stradomyre. TheBlueHatted's PICO'S BRAWL ARENA, a fighting game, won 1st place in the game category. For art, MicroBihon's Welcome to the Newgrounds Parade also won 1st place, including almost 115 characters in the composition. The soundtrack for NG Stars would be crowned as the best music submission.[21]

2023

Pico Day 2023 was celebrated on May 6th. Over $2,000 had been put towards the event, split across the top 4 movies, top 3 games, top 3 audio, and top 5 art. An additional $1,000 was also contributed to the event by the team behind Friday Night Funkin', increasing the tiers for the prizes.

Highlights of the movie category included MADNESS COMBAT: reREDEEMER by zayJax, NEWGROUNDS VS YOUTUBE by NoobClock666, Pico Becomes an Statistical Analysist by Catoblepas, and Pico's Unloaded: RELOADED by kubernikus18.

In the gaming category, Spagato's light gun shooter Rushdown Rivals Reloaded was awarded the 1st place prize. Runner-ups were Pico's Boss Run! by JalenBrah, Pico-Cross Collab 2023 by Karlestonchew, and Pico's Puzzle UFO: Shooting Stars by Eydi.

The highest ranked art piece was PKettles' PICO DAY: LETS GO TO PHILLY! and the top audio track that year was Dieswyx's Rushdown Rivals Reloaded - Rushstep.[22]

2024

Pico Day 2024 was celebrated on May 18th. This time, a total of $3,240 would be split between the four categories of animation, games, music and art. In the movie category, the top four winners were Don't stop by DegoDraws, Rushdown Rivals - ENA Reveal Trailer by KeithGarces, "Castle Crashers OVA 4-A Poisonus Nightmare-{VHSAnime}-[sub]" by KokoroHatsaru, and "Pico's Revenge" by Frosty. Entries like Crashgen's Phantom Arcade 2: Jeff & Cory and Tyro1301's JohnnyUtah's Abusive Husband won the unique "Jeff Abuse" award, both earning $25 each. kubernikus18's Garden Guardians (Caslte Crashers Cartoon) earned the complementary "Better Late Than Never" award of $100, and Luis would win the fitting "Luis Award" for his entry Pico in Wildwood, NJ.

The top six winners in the gaming category were "Heroes of Pico's School" by [Eydi ($700), "Citizen Pico: Pico's School IV" by Kolumbo, Portal Patrol by Guy-Unger, PICO.exe by mrstiK101, Pico's Date by Hattsoff and Pico Skate by tydaze.

Top five highlights of the art category included IT ALL ENDS ON PICO DAY!!! by leroyalmess, Saturday Morning on Portal Avenue by neatoshin, The rain is over by AzurraMysteria, 1592 (Pico Day 2024) by BridgeofFaust and PICO DAY 2024 by Adamas28. MishayAk's Welcome To NG - Happy Pico Day 2024! would also get the $100 "Better Late Than Never" award.

The highest ranked four regarding the audio category were Heroes of PICO'S SCHOOL OST by Adehm, BACK TO IT AGAIN by Dieswyx, Uzi and Joy by DESHIEL and FORMULAIC - VS. Ghostface by wh4tsh1sn4me.[23]

In New Jersey, a group of 300 people would attend a public Pico Day Party which was hosted by BrandyBuizel, Tamag0 and Coby. A theater screening was held there, showing a variety of animations allhandpicked by Newgrounds staff.[24]

2025

Pico Day 2025 was most recently celebrated on April 30th, but as an informal holiday for that year. For that reason, no prizes were given for any sumbissions made for the celebration.

Links

References

  1. ↑ "The Push For Pico Day!" on Newgrounds
  2. ↑ "The Push For Pico Day!" Response
  3. ↑ "Pico Day, Charity, News, Fun!" on Newgrounds
  4. ↑ "Pico Day Winners" on Newgrounds
  5. ↑ "Pico Day 2007 Winners!" on Newgrounds
  6. ↑ "Pico Day 2008 Winners!" on Newgrounds
  7. ↑ "Pico Day 2009 Winners!" on Newgrounds
  8. ↑ "Pico Day 2010 Winners" on Newgrounds
  9. ↑ "Pico Day 2011 Winners" on Newgrounds
  10. ↑ "Pico Day 2012 Winners" on Newgrounds
  11. ↑ "Pico Day 2013 Winners" on Newgrounds
  12. ↑ "N G A P 10th Anniversary Results" on Newgrounds
  13. ↑ "Pico Day 2014 Winners" on Newgrounds
  14. ↑ "Pico Day Winners & Picollage Print" on Newgrounds
  15. ↑ "Pico Day 2016 Pics" on Newgrounds
  16. ↑ "Pico Day 2016 Winners" on Newgrounds
  17. ↑ "Pico Day Winners & Construct 3 Jam" on Newgrounds
  18. ↑ "Pico Day 2018 Winners!" on Newgrounds
  19. ↑ "Pico Day 2019 Winners!" on Newgrounds
  20. ↑ "Pico Day 2021 Winners" on Newgrounds
  21. ↑ "Pico Day 2022 Winners!" on Newgrounds
  22. ↑ "Pico Day 2023 Winners!" on Newgrounds
  23. ↑ "Pico Day 2024 Winners!" on Newgrounds
  24. ↑ "PICO DAY NJ 2024 | NEWGROUNDS MEETUP" on Newgrounds
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