[Disclaimer: While this blog post documents and discusses Rule 34 statistics, it doesn't contain excessive coarse language, explicit imagery or embedded links to pornographic material.]

It's the tenth of the month, so you know what that means. That's right! It's time for another in-depth analysis of clop!



My previous Rule 34 blog posts are available at the following links.

August 2012 / At the rate things are going...

September 2012 / Famous Bronies

October 2012 / Digimon

November 2012 / Equestrian elections

December 2012 / Top 11 Hottest Animated Women

January 2013 / General porn statistics

February 2013 / Touhou review

March 2013 / Season three wrap up

April 2013 / Idolm@ster

May 2013 / OC woes

June 2013 / Ribald Rivalries

July 2013 / A major announcement

August 2013 / Rule 34 Origins

September 2013 / Equestria Girls Review

October 2013 / Three years of MLP:FIM

Without further ado, here's the latest Rule 34 statistics!

As of November 10, 2013, here's the state of Rule 34, according to Rule34.paheal.net:

Pokemon still holds the lead with 67,647 images. 1,696 new explicit images were added during October, giving Pokemon a 2.5% increase in porn from last month. Touhou is in second place with 43,229 images. 438 new explicit images were added during October, giving Touhou a 1% increase in porn from last month. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is in third place with 40,852 images. 929 new explicit images were added during October, giving My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic a 2.3% increase in porn from last month. DC Comics is in fourth place with 22,841 images. 338 new explicit images were added during October, giving DC Comics a 1.5% increase in porn from last month. Street Fighter is in fifth place with 17,138 images. 360 new explicit images were added during October, giving Street Fighter a 2.1% increase in porn from last month. Naruto is in sixth place with 16,707 images. 218 new explicit images were added during October, giving Naruto a 1.3% increase in porn from last month. Marvel Comics is in seventh place with 16,339 images. 248 new explicit images were added during October, giving Marvel Comics a 1.5% increase in porn from last month. Sonic Team is in eighth place with 14,471 images. 265 new explicit images were added during October, giving Sonic Team a 1.8% increase in porn from last month. Digimon is in ninth place with 11,399 images. 119 new explicit images were added during October, giving Digimon a 1% increase in porn from last month. Idolm@ster is in tenth place with 10,395 images. 3 new explicit images were added during October, giving Idolm@ster a 0.02% increase in porn from last month.

Pokemon dominated the field this month by generating more new porn than Touhou and My Little Pony combined!



This huge surge is due to Pokemon X and Y being released on October 12, 2013. In my February Rule 34 update, I mentioned that X and Y would help to stoke the fires of the already prodigious Pokemon porn production. Artist were busy churning out explicit drawings of the new Pokemon in the days and weeks following the game's release.

Many fans were disappointed to learn that X and Y only included 69 new Pokemon. It should be noted that this number excludes the new "Mega Pokemon," which are basically just super forms of a small group of Pokemon from previous versions. The number of new Pokemon may increase with downloadable content, but as of this writing, here are all the new additions in X and Y.



Just for perspective, here's how many new Pokemon were included with the previous versions:

Generation 1 - 151

Generation 2 - 100

Generation 3 - 135

Generation 4 - 107

Generation 5 - 156

Generation 6 - 69

Total Pokemon - 718

For the first time since January of 2012, My Little Pony failed to generate more than 1,000 explicit images. With only 929 Rule 34 pictures being added, October 2013 was a bad month for pony porn. To those who are feeling disheartened, remember that creative expression is filled with peaks and valleys. While October 2013 may have placed My Little Pony at its lowest production point in nearly two years, July 2013 helped MLP to break the record for the most productive month of new porn by any series since the premiere of Friendship is Magic. The 2,751 new images added during July 2013 were partially due to the theatrical release of Equestria Girls, which premiered the previous month. Think of this current lull as the calm before the porn. I expect My Little Pony Rule 34 will see a dramatic increase in the months following the season four premiere of Friendship is Magic.

Now that we've gone over the monthly update for the top ten porn producers, it's time to analyze the latest data regarding Rule 34 images for the mane six.

As of November 10, 2013, here's the state of Rule 34 for the mane six, according to Rule34.paheal.net:

Twilight Sparkle has 6,068 images. 177 explicit images were added during October, giving her a 3% increase from last month. Rainbow Dash has 5,304 images. 147 explicit images were added during October, giving her a 2.8% increase from last month. Fluttershy has 4,572 images. 118 explicit images were added during October, giving her a 2.7% increase from last month. Pinkie Pie has 4,553 images. 102 explicit images were added during October, giving her a 2.2% increase from last month. Applejack has 3,920 images. 111 explicit images were added during October, giving her a 2.9% increase from last month. Rarity has 3,860 images. 103 explicit images were added during October, giving her a 2.7% increase from last month.

It should be noted that both Fluttershy and Applejack managed to retain the higher positions which they both earned last month. Just for a contrast, here's a recent look at the total number of images for the mane six on derpibooru.



These numbers reflected MLP Rule 34 trends until very recently. Pinkie Pie and Rarity may have more total images than their rivals, but Fluttershy and Applejack have a higher percentage of porn.



Congratulations to Twilight Sparkle, who now has more than 6,000 explicit images!



Special thanks to Infinion, who made these amazing graphs of the data I collected.

To start off with, here's the master chart of the top ten Rule 34 producers.



This chart represents more than three years' worth of Rule 34 data. In order to more closely examine the numbers, Infinion has broken the data into more manageable semi-annual charts.

Oct. 2010 - Mar. 2011.

Apr. - Sept. 2011.

Oct. 2011 - Mar. 2012.

Apr. - Sept. 2012.

Oct. 2012 - Mar. 2013.

Apr. - Sept. 2013.

Which brings us to Nov. 2013.



To get an idea of how far My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has come since its premiere, here's a chart highlighting the monthly numerical and percentage increase of MLP porn.



For those who desire a more consolidated look at the raw data, here's the numbers for the top ten porn producers, as well as their monthly increase.

Now let's take a look at the Rule 34 stats for the mane six. Here's their master chart.



In order to discover what these numbers mean, we'll need to delve deeper. In order to do that, we'll break down the data into semi-annual chunks.

Oct. 2010 - Mar. 2011.

Apr. - Sept. 2011.

Oct. 2011 - Mar. 2012.

Apr. - Sept. 2012.

Oct. 2012 - Mar. 2013.

Apr. - Sept. 2013.

Which brings us to Nov. 2013.



For those who desire a more consolidated look at the raw data, here's the numbers for the mane six, as well as their monthly increase.

Season four of My Little Pony is almost upon us, so I thought I would take the time to provide a retrospective of the last two episodes from season three... which first aired nine months ago. I stopped doing season three recap blog posts after Just for Sidekicks because I was too stymied by the drama surrounding alicorn Twilight to properly talk about the last two episodes.

Now seems like the perfect time to play catchup, so let's have a double header retrospective of Games Ponies Play and Magical Mystery Cure.

Games Ponies Play could be an allusion to the television series Games People Play, which aired on NBC during the early 1980s.

Games Ponies Play is a unique experiment for MLP, in that the narrative runs parallel to the storyline of another episode; Just for Sidekicks. Whereas the former narrativ focused on Spike curtailing his cavalcade of cumbersome critters, the latter story revolves around the mane six in the Crystal Empire.

Watching Games Ponies Play for the first time was really confusing because it opened with a scene from Just for Sidekicks. I was watching online and when I saw a scene I recognized from last week's episode and assumed that something had gone wrong with the feed. Most places which streamed new episodes online would play previous episodes prior to the premiere of a new one. Instead of thinking that I was watching a new episode, I assumed that the person streaming had messed up and was playing a portion of the previous week's episode. So I exited the stream and began to frantically search for another one to join. After finding a new stream, I realized that a scene had been recycled. I wonder how many other bronies made a similar mistake during the premiere of Games Ponies Play?

Other notable mentions from this episode include the appearance of Rainbow Dash's father. This opened the door for a whole slew of new fanfic ideas, including a collaboration I was involved with.



Rainbow Dash's complaint about Cloudsdale not being allowed to host the games has been scrutinized several times within the brony fandom.



That being said, it's nice to see that Rainbow Dash exhibits such high levels of hometown pride. I find it funny that Rainbow Dash wants the Crystal Kingdom to host the games because its citizens "lost 1,000 years to an evil king's curse. They've had enough bad news." That's like saying Israel should host the Olympics because the Jews were enslaved by the Egyptians. "No way we're letting them experience the pain of losing out on these games."



The crux of the episode involves around a case of mistaken identity, in which the main characters confuse someone of little importance with someone of great importance.



In the case of Games Ponies Play, the mane six mistake a random tourist named Ms. Peachbottom for the Games Inspector.



If her name is Ms. Peachbottom, why is her cutie mark a cock? Because her right foreleg looks like a penis.



Here's the top five porn producers from amongst the mane six. (Sorry Rarity.)



Ms. Peachbottom is a very interesting character who actually has a surprising amount of depth, considering that this is her first appearance. From this episode we learned that Ms. Peachbottom is friendly and athletic. In addition, she has a country accent and is relatively well-informed regarding architecture, as evidenced by her knowledge regarding rotundas. It's also strongly implied that she's claustrophobic (afraid of enclosed spaces) and altocelarophobic (afraid of high ceilings).



Ms. Peachbottom also has no qualms about flirting with a married stallion. She'd like to blow Shining Armor's whistle, if you know what I mean.



Another new character introduced this episode is the actual Games Inspector, Ms. Harshwhinny.



We don't learn as much about her, since the joke is that she's ignored until the end of the episode. Ms. Harshwhinny also appears as a teacher in IDW's Equestria Girls comic.



Some of the scenes from Games Ponies Play which also occur in Just for Sidekicks have inconsistencies between the two versions.



Overall, this episode is interesting because elements of the story are running parallel with Just for Sidekicks. Games Ponies Play takes the well-worn premise of mistaking identity and keeps it fresh by including new ponies with genuine personality as opposed to stock characters. Ms. Harshwhinny never had much time to develop as a character, but Ms. Peachbottom's appearance more than made up for it. It's especially enjoyable to watch Just for Sidekicks and Games Ponies Play back-to-back.



Now on to the big one. The season three finale, Magical Mystery Cure The title is an allusion to The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour.



There was a lot of controversy swirling around this episode even before it aired. I took a poll from amongst my readers to determine the biggest controversy of season three. According to the results, Hasbro sending a cease and desist letter to the creators of Fighting is Magic was more controversial amongst fans than Twilight Sparkle becoming an alicorn.

After the season three finale aired, Twilight's alicorn status has been a constant source of contention within the fandom. The fact that Twilight Sparkle is an alicorn Princess now doesn't bother me, but I can understand why this change would be so upsetting to some people. Now that the controversy has been addressed, let's proceed to the actual episode.

The increased musical numbers were a welcome surprise. At the 2013 Leo Awards in Vancouver, British Columbia, Daniel Ingram and Steffan Andrews won "Best Musical Score in an Animation Program or Series" for Magical Mystery Cure.



Several people have issues with the story of Magical Mystery Cure, which has been called rushed and sloppy.



Twilight goes on to say that it's more than their memories. Their very selves have been altered. "They're not who they're meant to be anymore. Their destines are now changed." Twilight Sparkle's talk of destiny made me hope the episode would include a scene which paid homage to Young Frankenstein.

Starfall Leyline on YouTube echoes my feelings regarding Twilight's coronation. The core of the episode is solid, but the story suffers from a rushed pace. This could've been an excellent two part episode. Instead, one of the most important moments in Twilight's life played out like a scene from the Court Jester.

During her coronation, Twilight tells the huddled masses that she considers herself "the luckiest pony in Equestria."

Her comments are an allusion to Lou Gehrig's farewell speech.

Considering the somber nature of Lou Gehrig's famous address, the decision to have Twilight echo his sentiments was more appropriate than the writers may have realized.

Some bronies view Twilight's coronation as the death of the adorkable bookworm. She's no longer relatable now that she's a princess. It's still too early to say how her new responsibilities will affect her personality. I'm not upset by the change, but I think the path to Twilight Sparkle's coronation was rushed with very little foreshadowing. I complain about the trip; not the destination.

It will be fun to see what new adventures await Twilight Sparkle and her friends in season four! Thanks for reading and feel free to share any thoughts or opinions in the comments section. I'll be back next month with another Rule34 update.

Don't forget what happens on Nov. 23!



Well, yes. I suppose it is the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who. I was actually talking about the fourth season premiere of Friendship is Magic.

