Post Tagged with: "rule 34"

Readers, this is perhaps the least manly sentence I’ve ever typed: I’ve watched almost all of the first season of ‘My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic’ in order to prepare to write this article. I originally got the idea to do this after figuring out a new part to my favorite rule of the internet: Rule 34.

For those of you unaware, Rule 34 goes as such: “If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions.” But I’ve decided that this fits better as Rule 34.A, because, as it turns out, there should be a second part to this rule: If it’s a meme, there’s a pony version of it. Seriously, go to Know Your Meme and half the images have ponies in them. It doesn’t matter what the meme is.

Sad Keanu? Add a pony:

"You going to eat that pidgeon?"

Staredad? Add a pony:

"WTF"

I’ma drop some PONY JOSEPH DUCREUX on your ass!

"He's got mad skillz."

Fucking Ponies, why are they here?

"I think ICP said that."

PONIES, Y U HERE?

"I digg Mew's new haircut."

So yeah, ponies, ponies everywhere. But why? I couldn’t help but try to investigate this phenomenon, and found out that these ponies come from the most recent incarnation of the “My Little Pony” franchise, “My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic” (no, I didn’t forget a colon there, and that drives me CRAZY) and a particular internet subculture that originated from /co/ called ‘Bronies’.

Basically, Bronies are fans of this show who are nowhere near in the target audience of the cartoon (i.e., not 5 year old girls). And this was really, really confusing to me. Why? I could understand liking a show like Adventure Time, or Flapjack, because they’re random and crazy as shit. But seriously, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic?

But I was intrigued. I wanted to write an article about it, I liked what I saw of the artwork, and when I looked into the show, I saw it had excellent credentials. You see, the show was adapted for TV by Lauren Faust, who’s married to Craig McCracken, the genius behind both The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, series I was a big fan of while they were still on the air. She worked on both of those, and you can see the same talent brought forth in MLPFIM.

In fact, if you can get past the opening and closing credits, and the fact that it’s part of the ‘My Little Pony’ brand, it’s downright enjoyable as a cartoon. The writing occasionally falls into the same old cartoon clichés that most cartoons fall into, but at the same time manages to be rather original and, dare I say, funny. I laughed out loud several times over the course of the 21 episodes I viewed before writing this article.

The art is actually right up my alley, too. I’ve always enjoyed McCracken’s style, and his wife’s isn’t that far off of it. It’s got a very ‘Foster’s-esque’ feel to it, and the colors are bright and distracting, like every little kid enjoys.

As for Rule 34.B? I don’t think it’s going away any time soon. I think as long as there are people who enjoy the show sincerely, there will be ponies, and much more importantly to the Meme’s survival, as long as people on /b/ hate it, it will definitely stick around. Those Bronies are here to stay, and everypony better get used to it.

I set out watching it to make fun of the Bronies, and ended up actually enjoying the show. Like Jeff Goldblum in the Fly, all I really could do at that point is become morbidly fascinating with what I had become and write about it. I never really saw that movie, but I’m assuming that the circumstances are a tiny bit better, seeing as I’m not half-bug or anything.

Now I’m off to watch rest of the sho – I MEAN I’M GOING TO GO GROW MY BEARD WHILE HITTING GRIZZLY BEARS IN THE COCK WITH GREAT WHITE SHARKS. That’s super-manly, right? Right?

Your Friendly Neighborhood Lazy-Ass Librarian