Raskulls - Tumblr Posts
Finding An Old, Weird, Forgotten Raskulls Website
this post is dedicated to those in the Raskulls fandom... do you believe in the teapot?
![[image id] A drawing of The King from Raskulls in the form of a teapot in the shape of his skull on a dark purple background. He wears a golden crown with a single purple jewel in the middle. There is white text below him that says "I believe in the teapot." [end id]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/ea8aba9dcbe6eb4d8eb23cc06a3ed812/65bb076fd89dc493-8f/s500x750/9727ff2d8312afde4c865e2f3107f824b54a93fc.webp)
this was a sort of inside joke going around Halfbrick's emails, specifically an email to a Destructoid writer in 2009. it started as a simple image attachment (the one above), before another, slightly more threatening email was sent saying you WILL believe in the teapot, as well as containing a URL to the now defunct "believeintheteapot" website. you can find the articles about this here and here. under the cut is me exploring an archive of this website and the many wack ass oddities on it.
i found out about this a little while ago, around the same time i was messing around with the Wayback Machine on Halfbrick's old blog from 2010, but i never knew there was a website related to it. seeing that the URL no longer worked, i popped it into the Wayback Machine and this is what i got:
![[image id] A screenshot of the believeinttheteapot.com website, featuring the same drawing of the King teapot on the purple background, except this time it is a there is text below him asking "Do you believe in the teapot?". There are two lighter purple buttons below this text. The one on the left says "I believe" and the one on the right says "No, but the cake is a lie". [end id]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/b1262c5ca7e114493e0c79777a597669/65bb076fd89dc493-ed/s500x750/3a2f174290118cb255ec5c9646f8ba4b21b6f9bc.jpg)
.... a bit threatening of a question. even weirder, if you click "I believe", this is what you get:
![[image id, this is a long one] A mobile screenshot of the archived website, featuring an image on the top and working Flash embed, all on the same purple background.
The first image depicts and Angel Raskull with white wings and a robe ascending up to the Heavens, arms outstretched with a calm look on their face. Their eyes are closed, they have long blonde hair and they have a golden halo above their head. The landscape depicts lush green hills, lakes, trees and dirt paths decorated about the valley. The sky is blue and cloudy, with a white angelic glow shining out from the clouds. There is big, white heavenly text that reads "A HEAVENLY CHOICE." in all capitals. Below this is a smaller passage that reads "Is the teapot an answer to the questions we face in life every day?". Finally, there is text at the bottom of the image that reads "Is the teapot life itself?"
Below this image is a Flash embed with a paragraph of white text to the left, and the Duck Raskull holding a staff that is pointing to a countdown. It is counting from the number "35760". The costume the Duck Raskull is wearing is purple. The paragraphs read as follows: "Your choice has lead you to the promised land where legendary guardian of justice, Duck, is counting down under the watchful eyes of Angel." "What is he counting down to? The descent of the Holy Teapot of the skies to bring prosperity to all Raskulls? Perhaps he's counting down to when he will next devour a double-glazed cheeseburger." "We don't know." "But there is one thing we do know." "Duck can't count for quack.".
Below this Flash embed is the Raskulls logo, followed by a broken embed to the game's trailer, before finally having the logos of Halfbrick, XBox, some game ratings and a little teapot icon. [end id]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/1a1ee3eb19f57604052284a88355dd54/65bb076fd89dc493-76/s640x960/cb797b40f729110940f0a5059e41c595f1a88470.jpg)
if you're wondering what that countdown is counting down to, it's... well, Duck isn't the best counter as the website says, so it just continuously boosts up to random numbers in the thousands. guess we'll never know what godly endeavors the Holy Teapot has waiting for us... let's explore more of the site! what if i say "no" this time?
![[image id] Having the same structure as the previous page, this page features a depiction of what seems to be Hell, named "Cave Of The Damned". The environment is a dark rocky cave, only lit up by fire torches hooked on the walls. There is a view of the faraway darkness of the cave mouth, the walls getting darker and darker and more uncertain. Two menacing yellow glowing eyes stare back from the depths of the cave walls. In the forefront is a Raskull dressed like The Devil, resting their hands on a red staff (with its own little horns), with an angry look on their skull. They are depicted with large claw-like hands and goat's legs, as well as what seems to be a long red cape. There is a neon bar sign with the words "THE CAVE OF THE DAMNED", as well as a neon skull with an arrow pointing towards the menacing dark cave depths. Behind the Devil Raskull is the King Raskull, who doesn't seem to bothered about being in the cave and actually seems to be having a ball of the time dropping a slice of strawberry cake down a blue portal (a reference to the Portal series). To the top left corner is another orange portal where the cake is barely sticking out from.
The flash embed, like before, features a few paragraphs to the left, the Pirate Raskull to the right and a sign counting down from "79781". Pirate Raskull has a little wooden peg leg, an eyepatch, a nifty pirate hat, and a black costume with red highlights. They are looking up excitedly with their arms outstretched upwards. The paragraphs read as follows: "You've been punished for being a heathen." "The Teapot is legend, perhaps the greatest beverage dispenser since the Great Stein War of 1361. The Cave of the Damned welcomes you." "Pirate offers a way to redemption. Survive in the cave for just a short time to discover where the lore of the Teapot can lead you. He's counting down the days until all is revealed, though not necessarily in the right order." "You will believe in the Teapot." "It's like a suspense mystery, only with more booty."
Below if the Raskulls logo, a trailer embed, Halfbrick and XBox's logos, and that damned little Teapot at the bottom of the page. [end id]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/4f41d0b047950ff4cb32ca2b98e7e3d7/65bb076fd89dc493-12/s640x960/136f006c6e543db484419683f0cce475346fcc9e.jpg)
... cool! i just got sent straight to Hell! awesome! i guess the Teapot has more power than i first thought... just how many poor damned heathens are trapped within that cave? what the hell is that thing in the back? could it be the byproduct of the combined sins of those who denied lour lord and savior the Teapot? i never knew Raskulls had this much hidden lore.
according to the second article, the website feature only this image on it...
![[image id] A grainy black and white photograph of the fabled Loch Ness Monster poking its head out of a lake, only its head is replaced with a superimposed silhouette of the Teapot. [end id]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/bce52294638a286e09e6eea29dfb3814/65bb076fd89dc493-c4/s500x750/80f852bc2ea4636893f2821de3c6db3fb51b87c5.webp)
... which i didn't find when searching the website on the Wayback Machine. the article is dated on the 5th of October 2009, and the earliest capture on the Wayback Machine is on the 9th. at least there are plenty more captures of the website's more updated incarnation up to 2016 and that i get to show this anomaly to you :)
praise be the all-knowing Teapot, for it is our lord and savior. tell me... do you believe?
fun fact: i recently discovered that this pin was sold/given out at PAX Prime 2012! Halfbrick has a video up on their channel documenting a bit of their time there, including a shot where this pin appears in a big container, along with some Fruit Ninja pins at 14 seconds!!
this video is generally just really cool because of how much rare merchandise is featured in this video that not a lot of people really talk about.
also, i found an image on Flickr of the other pins from this event. most of them are Raskulls pins, which i find interesting because Raskulls, despite not being as well known as Halfbrick's other games, actually has a fair bit of merchandise for it!! the photo is in low quality unfortunately because it doesn't load correctly on Flickr and no other archives seem to exist. i think this is the only image of all of these pins online, unless there are more that i just haven't found yet.
shoutout to this 2012 Jetpack Joyride promotional button i found on ebay
can't wait to stab randoms on the street with a sick ass Barry pin :3