Grotto Beasts

About

Grotto Beasts is a fictional children's cartoon franchise invented by Jerma985 invented as part of an elaborate sketch parodying a recent surge in interest in Pokémon card booster packs on Twitch. In Jerma's sketch, he goes on an archaeological dig and discovers trading cards from the fictional franchise Grotto Beasts. The sketch inspired others to further the Grotto Beasts lore, insisting it was a real show and inventing characters and music for the series.

Origin

On March 6th, 2021, Jerma985 posted a Twitch^[1] stream parodying Pokémon card unboxing streams in which he goes on an archaeological dig and discovers trading cards from the fictional television show and video game franchise Grotto Beasts. Jerma remained in character throughout the sketch, acting excited to receive cards of non-existent characters like "Chromanova." The cards were created by artists @Hollulu, @Sturnerart, @melscribbles, @BellymouthArt,^[6] whose handles can be seen on the cards Jerma unboxes. On March 7th, YouTuber Skye posted an edit of the stream (shown below).

Spread

After Jerma's stream, lore surrounding Grotto Beasts began appearing online as though it were a real show. For example, a Grotto Beasts website claiming to be from 1997 is viewable online.^[2] On March 7th, 2021, YouTuber Skandall posted a video featuring the "encounter" music Grotto Beasts character Meowdy (shown below, left). User Tagaichigai posted a video made to look like the Grotto Beasts credits airing on television in the 90s (shown below, right).

Fans have also produced various Grotto Beasts characters and cards, maintaining the joke that the franchise actually existed. The subreddit /r/GrottoBeasts^[3] was created March 6th, 2021, the day of Jerma's stream, and fans there have been sharing their art of fictional characters from the franchise^[4][5] (examples shown below).

Fan art for Grotto Beasts is also popular on Twitter. ^[7] The trend was covered by Kotaku.^[6]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References