Pages

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Honk, Honk! I love my fandom.


Last Thursday, I posted this picture:


I thought it was cute, and since I was about to go on a drive, a pony-car seemed relevant. It turns out there's a lot more going on here than I originally realized, and so I'm going to share with you the memeological roots of this picture. Since it also brings me full circle to when I stopped blogging due to out-of-townness, I think it's an excellent way to officially start up again.

About eight years ago, "Duckrolling" was a thing:


This is a duck with wheels. There is a story behind it, and this is also the root of the "Rickroll" phenomenon, but I shall leave the details of both of those as exercises for the apt pupil. Right now all you need to know is "duck with wheels." That's the background you need to "get" this. Now let's watch pony fandom in action:



1) This exchange happened in a chatroom:

⋖Unmaned⋗ Hmm, somepony find an appropriate soundtrack for this: http://derpiboo.ru/338010
⋖+MajorMattMason⋗ D'aw!
⋖+StevenRoy⋗ "Beep beep, I'm a wheelie!"
⋖+MajorMattMason⋗ Kyoot wheelie poneh!
⋖TwoToneDearly⋗ o.o
⋖+MajorMattMason⋗ Anyhoo, about a soundtrack for the wheely pony: How about this? http://youtu.be/cK5pl6W2CFE
⋖Unmaned⋗ Oh, that's great, MMM!
⋖+MajorMattMason⋗ ^.^
⋖+KinkyTurtle⋗ Definitely!
⋖+StevenRoy⋗ It's the right kind of honking!
* +StevenRoy downloads that animation and the Tijuana Taxi song...
⋖Unmaned⋗ Uh oh, someone's getting craetive again.
⋖+StevenRoy⋗ Yup.
⋖+StevenRoy⋗ "From the producer of that 'corn' clip, comes another thing!"
⋖+MajorMattMason⋗ SR: Woo-hoo! :D
⋖+StevenRoy⋗ I had a feeling you'd approve.


2) Somepony made a video on June 9th of this year:





3)  This aforementioned animation was then made:



4) It was posted on My Little Brony on June 20th and the fans immediately took a shine to this character. 

One of the posters quipped:
So who's the new guy?
Oh don't look at me that way! By the end of the month this character will have a name, backstory, screen caps, and different variations.
Speculation as to the proper name for this pony. "Wheely Bopper" is generally regarded as the favorite, although I have to confess a fondness for "Speedy Spectrum."


5) There is now fan art of the character.

Including the obligatory slightly sexy look (this one is titled "Draw Me Like One Of Your French Renaults"),



the vaguely military look,



and a "Let's tell a story and give the character personality and hobbies" comic  Apparently Wheely likes to sleep late and paint metal miniatures.



So there you have it: in approximately 20 days, a character goes from silly sketch to a personality with fan art and videos. I fully expect that Wheely will become a mascot and figurehead for handicapped bronies (she has wheels instead of feet, which suggests a wheelchair, which means disability of some sort) in much the same way that Derpy is a beloved figurehead for the mentally awkward.

Pony fandom:  Incredibly talented; more than mildly obsessive-compulsive; completely batshit insane. 

3 comments:

  1. Honk Honk! I've figured out the missing comment box on your blog is just with Internet Explorer. Firefox works. Love the pony, and the duck, some of the best things in the world are created from sillydom. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Are you an Oz fan? Remember the wheelers?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Heh, now I need a Wheely sticker for my pony car...

    ReplyDelete