That's the post.

Ok, that's not the whole story, but let's start with the shortest version: Magic Con Atlanta was announced for the same weekend we've been penciling as a start point for the last couple years now. This caused a ripple effect that had the organizing committee settle on a new date.

As you may well know, we're graciously given access to LRR's office, equipment, and performers each year. Even if DB2026 isn't at the Moonbase, the logistics of trying to set up and run an event a week before or after the Magic Con doesn't really work for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to: quarantining anyone who goes to Magic Con per LRR's guidelines, avoiding American thanksgiving for our U.S. volunteers, and working within Child's Play's availability (PAX Unplugged is the first weekend of December). So, we decided to pull forward a couple weeks, into October. James did mention that running our party on Halloween was a bonus.

We've had multiple meetings for DB2026 already (ooooh!), and once we determined the date, we wanted to share in a timely fashion. Andrew thought it'd be funny to do New Years, and a lot of us agreed. [Note: This post was drafted during the original launch announcement on January 1st across BlueSky and Mastodon.]

How does this affect things like the Craftalong?

We'll be opening applications slightly earlier this year to match the new timeline to bus. If you were considering participating, please sign up for the email list on the bottom of our Craftalong page to be notified of when those will open.

This happens during the European Time Change!

Yep. Not much we can do there, but giveaways, etc. are displayed on the site and stream with time remaining countdowns.

So you're saying we can push you to Halloween?

Good luck, and godspeed.

WE DID IT!

YOU DID IT! THE DONATION POWER IS OVER 9000!!!

WE ALL DID THIS TOGETHER!

It's been a rough year, but a wonderful week. For the last seven days, we have been able to flood our corner of the internet with laughter, kindness, and generosity. We meaning not just the crew, but our viewers, our sponsors, and everyone who came together in any way to make this wonderful event!

We topped off the run with over $1million USD raised for Child's Play Charity. The money you donate goes to put people in hospitals bring therapeutic games and technology to children in the hospital, and you have made such a difference.

Until next year, friends! Keep being good, brave, and weird.

Where to find us...
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/desertbus.org
Mastodon: https://kind.social/@desertbus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/desertbusforhope/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DesertBusForHope

This 1:1 scale Buster Sword from Final Fantasy 7 is FIRST CLASS. If you carry it around with you in real life, everyone will CLOUD around you to get a closer look and you will get an AVALANCHE of praise. It's anything but MID(gar)! Showing it to people is actually important for sword care because this Buster Sword thrives on attention; you need to regularly bring your sword out and AERITH out. Just don't put the sword in Aerith, please?

Donate $7.77 (or multiples thereof) by 11:45am PT for a chance to win and who knows, maybe help extend the run! No matter what, this is the FINAL (fantasy 7) giveaway of Desert Bus 2025. Let's mosey.

Starting at 10am PT! THAT'S RIGHT NOW! Get on Twitch (make sure your donor account is linked) and put your bids in chat!

Auction is over! That was the raciest bid-fight we've seen in some time. 🥵 Enemies to lovers to enemies to... well, we'll let you two (three?) follow up in your own time. 😘 Congrats chimera8990 and thank you for donating $6392 to the children!

The inimitable M. Lee Lunsford has once again been the short-form documentarian of Desert Bus, condensing all our antics and (not a cult) goofs into one beautiful poster. Many posters will be printed, but none (other than this one) will be this large. Ever. Again! And it could be yours!

Thank you, M., for once again highlighting the best moments of Desert Bus! Check out their webcomic and portfolio for more of their lovely art.

OMEGA BEGINS! Time to make numbers go brrrrrr! Let's get things started with the Time Boyz scarf that already went brrrr (in terms of making it) but will stop you from going brrr (in terms of being so goshdarn long that you could wrap your entire body in it and stay unbelievably warm forever).

Donate $7.35 (or multiples thereof) before 9:50am for a chance to win the SCARF GO BRRRRRR!

Desert Bus is FOR THE CHILDREN, and we're always delighted when children tune in to watch the show! Even more so when they participate by sending in entries for the art challenges. We've collected the kids' entries* from Dawn Guard Art Challenges this year to share and show our appreciation for all our younger viewers and their artistic talents. Now that's some Dawn Good Newz!

*We counted kids' entries based on self-disclosure from whoever sent the email, usually their parents. Thanks for helping out, parents!

Jack, 7 years old (he/him): Dawn Good News Logo

TinyPenguin (she/her): Dawn Good News Logo

Friend of the Show, 11 years old: Two Submissions

Willow, 8 years old (she/her): Dawn Good News Logo

Zoey, 8yo: Dawn Good News Logo

Isla, 5.999999999yo: Dawn Good News Logo
Isla will be 6 next Wednesday! Happy (early) Birthday, Isla - we love you, too!

Well friends, the time has come. For 24 hours a day, we have driven the Bus (mostly on the road) and danced and done things on video that we will probably regret. But now, Omega approaches, and with it the end of the 2025 run.

But wait! Just because the shifts are ending doesn't mean you have to leave them all behind! This 24-hour wall clock with the symbol of each shift will let you live that 24/7 Bus life every single day of the year.

Donate $7.45 (or multiples thereof) by 8:45am PT for a chance to win and keep the good times rolling!

Chat, before getting into the silly vids or goofy gifs, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you from all of Zeta shift. Without y'all, we couldn't do whatever this is every single year. It's thanks to you that we have raised ___ so far this year, and we still have more to go. It's thanks to you that we were able to get a full compliment of Zeta shifts in, and thanks to you that we have made so many memories.

Thank you.

But on a crab note, here's what you may have missed on Zeta this year!

We had A Lot of fun with theme nights this year, from slumber party night to Camp Zeta to goth night. We like to keep you on your toes, chat.

We also created a totem to man's hubris! And invited all of the other shifts to get on in!

We also managed to bricksplode only a little!

Zeta really let the music take control this year, and had a wonderful time with karaoke, live instruments and Paul singing acapella... Paulcapella.

We were also given the gift of enrichment, in the form of full song dance party achievements! And you know what? We CRUSHED the dance party cheevos. Zeta shift got the majority of them crossed off the list, and here's one of them!

We also, like the other shifts, had puzzles from everyone's least favorite air freshener, Freshie... We managed to get through all of the puzzles, and our reward? MOLLY BUSSIN' LEWIS!!

But friends, that is a wrap on Zeta. We love you, we'll miss you, throw a 'Z' up for us, and we'll see you next year!

Keep the stream on, we haven't hit Omega shift yet!

LoadingReadyRun not only hosts the Bus and loans us a fine selection of its funny people, it also gives away merch! With this prize, you can pick up to $250 worth of whatever's available in the LoadingReadyRun Store. That's a whole lotta merch! Thanks LRR!

Donate $5.22 (or multiples thereof) before 7:15am PT for a chance to win all these yummy yummy good goods!

This is it, y'all. We're running up against the very end of the bus. But we're not there yet! And our last silent auction just went live!

It's time to sponsor our afterparty! By that, we mean getting a shiny certificate that thanks you for donating a bunch of money to Child's Play Charity under the guise of buying us beer and snacks. I don't know about you, but I would LOVE a shiny certificate!

But now is the time to enter our VERY LAST silent auction! Make sure to get in your bids, and buy us a keg of Miller High Life, the champagne of beers.