Comic I made for Shortaki Week 2023 for a series I had no idea was gonna blow me away on a full rewatch...
I still can't believe Hey Arnold has future lore & Helga almost had a teen spinoff...and she still can! If you want to see more of "The Patakis" era of Hey Arnold get greenlit like fans did for “Hey, Arnold! The Jungle Movie,” sign the petition here! (x)
#thepatakisweek day 2 (I’m late whoopsie) - word prompt: Closet 🍬🚪
One of the things that always bugged me when watching Hey Arnold! was one of Helga’s main… “romantic” outlets, one of the few objects she could proclaim her secret love: the famous(and kinda creepy) ”Arnold gumhead”
As shown in “The Patakis” mini-Bible spin off, Helga would have gotten a scholarship at a very prestigious school due her creative art projects, that being photography, creative writing pieces and so on, as much as I’m thankful she got a ~healthier~ way to let her emotions out, I’d love to see what happened to her “Arnold collection” on #thepatakis .
In this piece, I imagined Helga deciding to throw everything “embarrassing” or “Arnold-related” away before emerging herself into writing her application letter (And therefore a “new Helga”) everything but- the Gum-Arnold and Her beloved locket (next fanart will be about so said locket!).
For young Helga, that closet was her safe heaven, from her family, from school, from the facade she created for herself, from everything. There, she could finally let go and be herself, before her final act, she locks herself once again in her closet and writes precisely the piece that settled the deal for her scholarship. Giving a proper beginning for Helga’s journey exploring her feelings more openly, while simultaneously a proper ending to young Helga’s dedication to her first love.
This is the my first piece for the #thepatakisweek , if you have no ideia what I’m taking about: hi! Did you know Helga almost had her own TV show? No? Then please watch the video at the end of this post (swipe right) with more details over #operationthepatakis 🎀@opthepatakis
The Patakis is a concept focused on Helga’s home life as a teen while Arnold is away living with his parents after Jungle Movie. A motif of the series is Helga writing him letters, envelope, stamped, and all, and shoving them in a binder in her closet, never sending them out.
Following the prompts, my idea was that they both attended a party for a mutual friend and Arnold popped up as a secret/surprise. Since I’m an adult, I usually think party = alcohol, but midway through drawing I thought “ah crap! They’re under aged!!” So now the story is that Arnold picked up a “soda” 🥴 (which is really easy to do now-a-days, with hard seltzers looking like energy drinks a lot of the time).
Anyway, Helga is not fitting in so well, and all of the attention is on Arnold, causing her negative conscience to confirm that she was better off having not sent him her letters. Time did not stop for him the way that it did for her, and he isn’t enthralled in conversation with her like he is with everyone else.
Deciding to skip early to spare herself some emotional damage, Arnold catches her at the door, and is feeling very honest 😉
If you read this far, please leave a 💜 and lmk if my fanfic writing skills are rusty 😝
AGHH GUYS IF I COULD DRAW AS FAST AS I THOUGHT AHSGSJGD- Yesterday I had a very long conversation with a friend about Hey Arnold and we reached the College era OUFFFF!!!! IF YOU KNEW DAAAANGGGGGGGGGGGG AAAAAAAAAAAA- AGHJSH LIKE THE WHOLE STORY AAHJSHF- Anyways College era and The Patakis are very different,,,
(also- Arnold and Helga aren't dating here, L,,,,)
yes, it’s me, a lover of teenage vulgarity, and I also change my mind like gloves, a month ago I didn’t like Helga’s costume, but now I love it, especially since this red hat is perfect for the leader of a gang of boys consisting of Stinky, Harold and Sid, here is such a joke