Ah, Mother’s Day is here. Like many, this stirs up vivid images of brightly colored tulips with a slight but welcoming scent in the air, the smell of warm, syrup drenched French Toast with overly cooked bacon that is too cold sitting on the side at a crowded brunch, and the often forced and sometimes genuine smile of so many mothers as they unwrap treasures bestowed upon them by their children.
But alas, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, so we digitally present a tribute to the OG godmother of streaming: Catie Wayne, aka Boxxy!
In an era where we have lived through the rise of the egirl. Initially starting as a misogynistic insult, we now see the term embraced by the current generation on the internet and social media, especially on tiktok. Others like Belle Delphine exploited the egirl phenomenon, knowing a distinct market opportunity awaited whoever could seize it. Last year, BuzzFeed attempted to trace the origin of the term egirl, but landed upon the term showing up sometime around 2013, based upon Urban Dictionary. It is important to build upon this work, and remind the world of the original egirl, MoldyLunchbox, an avid Gaia Online player better known for her YouTube and 4chan explosion under the alias Boxxy, who hit the digital airwaves in early 2008 and was discovered early 2009.
Wayne’s Boxxy fame, unlike many online personalities, seems like it was rather unintentional. While many claim the video was explicitly meant to drum up followers and that Wayne was trolling, the video that skyrocketed her to celebrity status was a simple video to her friend Admiral Awesome from Gaia Online. Boxxy wasn’t deliberately asking viewers for likes, follows, or subscriptions, rather, reaching out to her dear friend as promised. Over the years, Boxxy has turned into a consistent meme, often making satire of the all over the place, high pitched, heavily-eyelinered, overly emotive and quirky monologue offered in her internet breaking video. In the first video, Boxxy describes her famous sound, “...Just so you know Addy, cause I know you’re watching this… I don’t normally talk like this, I’m normally like all over the place like I am right now but it’s a calmer voice most of the time…”
So what, exactly was she doing?
The internet broke with the arrival of Boxxy, with two sides forming in a quasi civil war. One side were champions of the star for being herself and letting her personality shine; the other determined she was a trolling fraud, and didn't only try to dethrone her, but flamed, threatened, and doxxed her to expose her true identity. Mainstream news outlets covered the ensuing war, which escalated into DDoS attacks upon 4chan itself for failing to block Boxxy threads, which had played a role in invigorating this previously dormant YouTube video through a post on the infamous /b/ message board. The controversy began immediately, with fans flocking to join in support of Boxxy, while opponents insisted this was staged and deliberate pandering for viewers. Either way, it worked.
This civil war of sorts became the fuel to the fire, and only fanned the flame of celebrity upon Catie Wayne and Boxxy. The internet was surely fascinated by the quirky antics of the original videos, but the world was truly mesmerized by the ensuing attempts to not only hack her accounts, but to dox her information and share with the world, especially since she was a minor at only 16. Nearly a year into her discovery and continued controversial attempts to silence her videos and fans, Catie attempted to return to her normal life and take a step out of the limelight after users from the internet showed up at her front door.
Over the ensuing years, despite a few years of understandable silence, Catie had several more appearances online, sharing comedy sketches, vlogging, makeup tutorials, and trying out other personas. She was then hired professionally as a YouTube presenter for The Animalist News, and went on to be hired as voice actor in 2017 by Disney in Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer, and in 2018 for the movie Year 3000. A video made years later captures Catie’s own reaction to viewers being recorded watching the Boxxy videos offers a more unfiltered look at Catie, and her love for the persona she created, as well as her fans.
The rise and fall of Boxxy offer the collective internet a myriad of lessons, but also questions. It is clearly important to be yourself and genuine, even in the face of extreme adversity. At the same time, important questions remain unanswered. Probably the most important unanswered question, did Catie ever get a picture of Admiral Awesome in return for pushing Boxxy into the limelight?
She has demonstrated how an entrepreneurial streamer can transition from self running things into professional production, either on their own or as part of a larger corporation. Catie has teased the return of Boxxy numerous times, but most importantly, laid the groundwork for the relationship a streamer or online personality can, or even must have and maintain with their fans. Catie describes Boxxy and her video origins as videos for her friends, and even almost a decade later reminds fans how much she appreciates them and loves them. This is the secret sauce we should all celebrate.
To the godmother of streaming personalities, happy Mother’s Day! Thank you for laying the groundwork for all future streamers to embrace the internet culture in new and exciting ways, and for sticking with us despite the many attempts to silence your message. The internet is better for having hosted your videos.
Sorry about all the haters.