Alright, who's here for the chaos?!
"Funny little storyteller with a pinch of education."
Ilyssa Levy, better known online as illymation
or Illy for short, born September 15, 1997, is a Storytime Animator who first started posting on YouTube in 2018. Like other storytime animators, most of her videos are based around "draw my life" animations where she recaps stories about her life in an animated format, with visual gags to add more variety. She's also known for narrating her stories in a more soft-spoken tone, rather than the hammy performances of most storytime animators.
However, what truly separates Illy from most storytime animators is that a large number of her videos tackle much more dark and mature topics. For every instance she talks about her former job as an after school teacher or going to fast food playgrounds as a kid, there's just as many that discuss topics such as workplace sexual harassment, abusive relationships, or mental health problems. Many of her highest-viewed videos are stories pertaining to these heavier subjects, leading to Illy gaining a reputation as one of the most mature storytime animators on the platform.
illymation contains examples of:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Illy begins "Why I got an 'Abortion'" with a list of the physical and mental afflictions she's suffered throughout her life, including eczema, pnemounia, asthma, depression, autism... and lactose intolerance.
- Bait-and-Switch: Subverted in "Why I got an 'Abortion'". While Illy never experiences pregnancy, but rather benign tumors in her uterus, the procedure she undergoes to remove these tumors is considered an "abortion" by US law. Illy ties her experience with the repeal of Roe v. Wade, and how this will hurt women beyond those who need to terminate their pregnancy.
- Blonde Republican Sex Kitten: Karen, Bo's mother in "My summer as an after school teacher" is a mixture of this and an Obnoxious Entitled Housewife, chewing Illy out for not allowing him to pretend a block was a gun.Karen: Why was my son in time-out?!
Illy: Oh! Well, I may be new here, but, I've been caught up with his behavioral history.
Karen: And what do you mean by that?
Illy: Well, Bo likes to use blocks and other things, and pretend they're guns, and then pretend that he's... killing his friends, and... we don't allow that kind of pretend!
Karen: Well, why not? It's just pretend! It's not real.
Illy: Uuhhh... Because that's very inappropriate for a six-year old?
Karen: Why? What's wrong with guns?
Illy: (beat) Ma'am, this is a child! - Break the Cutie: Illy isn't afraid to touch on her experiences of abusive relationships, workplace harassment, and mental health struggles.
- Damned by Faint Praise: Illy ends up not happy with her goth makeup, and tries to make it sound more palatable.Illy: Wow...! I love... blue!
- Faux Horrific: MaxStix were the fan-favorite food at Illy's school, and it was a race to see who could get them. Illy describes it with her Face Framed in Shadow using a flashlight at a campfire.Illy: And in the distance, beyond the fingerprinted glass, we could see... there were only... five MaxStix remaining!
(Dramatic Thunder; Infamous Swoosh and Haminations run and scream) - Fingore: While trying to peel a potato for soup, Illy ends up peeling her finger instead.Illy: Oh... Oops.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Illy's videos often tackle dark and mature topics, including workplace sexual harassment, abusive relationships, and mental health problems.
- G-Rated Drug: In "Panic attacks", she treats the scent of a scented candle as something that gets her high, leading to a brief skit where she buys candles from a drug dealer type character named Carl.
- Insistent Terminology: Illy repeatedly describes her getting a tumor removed from her uterus as an abortion, because it would be classified as such by legal definition.
- Interspecies Romance: "My Animal Crossing Burnout" starts with Illy being wed to Biskit. ...With Tom Nook as the priest.
- Introverted Cat Person: She owns two cats, one named Luigi and the other named Junie.
- Jewish and Nerdy: Illy plays herself up to be a nerd, down to her Nerd Glasses and Youthful Freckles, and dedicates the entirety of "The Problem with Me being Jewish" to discussing how she comes from a Jewish background on her father's side.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: When Jimmy attempts to grope Illy, she immediately becomes serious and tells him to back off, causing him to never try to harass her again:Illy: Don't you fucking touch me... EVER again.
Jimmy: Uh, o-okay... - Only Known By Her Nickname: Dedicates the entirety of "Why I don't use my real name" explaining why she generally goes by her YouTuber handle, Illy, rather than her real-life name, Ilyssa.
- Precision F-Strike: She generally tends to censor any swear words, but leaves them uncensored for the times when she gets really angry. For example, in "How I Met My Abusive (ex) Boyfriend", after the strawman character tells her that she's invading said ex-boyfriend's privacy by using his real name, she responds with an angry reminder that he invaded her body, goes Laughing Mad, then shouts "Fuck your privacy!" twice.
- Sizable Semitic Nose: Discussed in "The Problem with Me being Jewish", where the fact that she lacks one of these (along with other stereotypical Jewish features) is used to make the point that Jews are a diverse group, not a monolith.
- Sound-Effect Bleep: Illy will sometimes censor swears words with a random sound effect in her videos, such as a car horn in "Fast food playgrounds" or a bell jingling in "Why I HATED School Art Competitions".
- Stereotype Flip: In "My summer as an afterschool teacher 2", Illy is pleasantly surprised to find that her Southern Belle co-worker has strongly pro-LGBT opinions.
- Suck E. Cheese's: As a kid, Illy's parents refused to take her to Chuck E. Cheese because the tokens were too expensive, pretending that it was closed every time. However, after going to a friend's birthday party there...Illy: Mommy, I wanna go to Chuck E. Cheese!
Illy's Mom: No, sweetie. It's closed, remember?
Illy: Nuh-uh! Jessica had her birthday party there!
Illy's Mom: (beat) F(car horn)K! - To the Tune of...: When discussing her snowman art project in elementary school, Illy describes the process as, "You take a bowl and you take a sponge," singing it to the tune of the Chowder theme song.
- Troubled, but Cute: Despite the dark themes she explores, Illy's artistic and animation style often incorporates cute and visually appealing elements.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Some of the kids Illy worked with at daycare had some rather problematic behaviors due to their parents' influence, such as Bo pretending to kill his friends with a gun that's actually a block, or Hope saying that her mom told her that gay people are going to burn in Hell.
- The Un-Reveal: Illy chooses to keep her current boyfriend's real name private and refers to him as "Kermit" due to his ability to imitate Kermit the Frog.
- Visual Pun: Sometimes, one or more of Illy's positions will be criticized by an indistinct figure with devil horns and a tail... in other words, a Devil's Advocate.
- Voice of the Legion: Illy proving her strawman wrong in "Harassed at Chick-fil-A (Work Stories)" is punctuated by her voice being deepened and having reverb:Strawman: Pfft. Well, why didn't they just say no?
Illy: Oh, my silly, misogynistic friend! You see... THEY DID.
Strawman: Well, why didn't they just tell a manager?
Illy: Oh, that one's easy! THEY DID.
Strawman: Well, why didn't they just fire him? Touching is bad!
Illy: (inhale) I dunno, buddy! Maybe because they didn't BELIEVE US.
[…]
Strawman: Pfft. Why not? All you have to do is say no.
Illy: O-O-O-Ohh, my silly, victim-shaming friend! You see... THAT SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING TO BEGIN WITH. - The War on Straw: The designated strawman in Illy's videos is a blobby, white figure with only a mouth, who later on grows devil horns and a tail, and constantly tries to state the simple solution, before Illy deconstructs their argument.
- Wolverine Publicity: The thumbnail for "The stupid way I played Pokemon Diamond" features Dialga front and center, despite the fact that it doesn't actually appear in the video.
