Truly, Madly, Deadly_ The Unofficial True Blood Companion - Becca Wilcott [116]
They also jumped aboard the Twitter train by creating the profile @BonTempsGossip to dole out teasers and plot points. And the fans followed suit, borrowing the voice of the show and its characters to astonishing effect. “True Blood on Twitter” (www.truebloodtwitter.com) organized a troupe of almost 200 True Blood roleplaying identities, all characters from the books and/or series. These didn’t include the countless more profiles created under similar usernames, or, in some cases, to subvert the characters, such as @GayVampireBill or @ButchAssSookie. Even locations and wardrobe have a voice — @FangtasiaBar, @GrabbitKwik, @LafayettesThong, and @Erics_Racerback. The list gets even more “just for fun” with tools, cell phones, food items, and iconic hairstyles all represented. Bill’s bangs alone are the source of much-heated debate (@BillsBangs), so to see them reenacted on Twitter — bangs! — is a nod to those of us who love the series and worry at times for Bill’s hair.
“We may be declaring our love or ripping someone’s head off or serving a customer at Merlotte’s or going to the GrabbitKwik for a gallon of milk,” says the description on the website. “Some call it roleplay, but we like to call it Twitterfic. Unlike typical RPGs, our characters don’t just interact with each other. We respond to anyone who talks to us, and often they join our stories.”
For their efforts, the players have been featured by TV Squad, Geek Speak, American Way Magazine, Screamtress, and Entertainment Weekly — where TV writer Ken Tucker notes that the roleplayers prove “once again that True Blood and Twitter are taking over the culture.”
Unlike the AMC network, who suspended all Mad Men roleplaying Twitter accounts only to reinstate them after realizing how much free publicity they were losing, HBO openly endorses the True Blood players, stopping just short of full affiliation. The real testament to this troupe, however, is their dedication to their craft, extending the show further into our realities in the shape of real-time conversations with the likes of @EricNorthman, just when we want and need him. (Which, based on the level of activity on any given evening, is quite often!)
When I interviewed a number of the roleplayers for my site, there were moments when I could fully imagine the characters sitting on the other end, typing (or pounding) out their replies. I asked them about their reactions to recent events in Bon Temps. Here’s a taste:
@SookieBonTemps: All the folks in town were actin’ like black-eyed zombies what with their lo-lo-chanting. I swear it was like some unholy zombie Kumbaya they were singing to Bacchus.
@MerlottesBar [Sam]: I like it here. Life’s pretty quiet usually. I got good customers, and I can own a little piece of land. Everybody gets in everybody else’s business and I hear most of it at some point because it all comes through the bar, but that’s a small town for ya. If folks stopped gossiping, they’d be dead, and we’ve had enough of that around here lately.
@JasonBT: To be a man is to fix what ya broke. Make what ya done wrong right. Maudette would scream, “Man your so damn good” so ya have to be good too.
@LafayetteTB: I woulda blow da witches head off but when ya don’t know what your fightin’ might as well be shootin’ blanks. Maryann did her vibratin’ thang and that was all she wrote.
@JaneBodehouse: Ifn’ i rememberin’ correctly when Mr. Compton came inta tha bar i was pritty good inta mah cups, but i vaguely rememba thinkin’ he was a hot piece a new ass. *fans self*
@EricNorthman: I see only the difference between Godric and myself. He turned me to give me what I love most: life. He obviously did not feel the same. When I reach his age in another thousand years, perhaps