i herd u liek mudkips

About

The Mudkip has a mediocre reputation amongst Pokemon fans, but ever since its first appearance on 4chan has become one of the de facto mascots of the subversive image board.

Origins

The origin stories of the Mudkip meme are many and varied.

Many cite a particular piece of copypasta as the origin, while others credit a thread on DeviantART.

One early instance of the copypasta can be traced back to 4chan circa 2006. (WARNING: nsfw)

A forums search for “mudkip” on DeviantART yields depressing results.

A journal search for “mudkip” on DeviantART points to the notorious April Fool’s Day prank when DeviantART replaced all users profile images with Mudkips.

A Google Trends search shows that something big had happened in the two weeks prior to the DeviantART April 1st prank.

March 15th, 2008 marked the second in a series of anti-Scientology protests spawned from Project Chanology and was chosen because it was L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday. At the protests, many an Anons’ signs or attire referenced popular 4chan memes, including the Mudkip.

4Chan traffic surged immediately following the the protests, climbing higher than ever before on April 1st, 2008; the highest it would be again until Time magazine interviewed moot in July.

”Mudkips” plural and “Mudkipz” appear in late 2006 and 2007, both exhibiting the same peak in March of 2008.

”So I herd” trend for just 2008

“So I herd you liek mudkips” was one of many memes swept up in the popularity peak of April 1st, 2008, but mudkips had a track record as a meme prior to either of these things.

By searching Youtube, one can find “So I herd you liek mudkips” videos from 2007.

Halo Mudkipz

Pirat Mudkipz

Then there’s even the odd “So I herd you liek Cyndaquils,” posted by Youtube user DelusionaryDiego on November 10th, 2006 which makes it the oldest “So I herd you liek” video on Youtube. The third comment on the video, from over 2 years ago reads, “That’s not a mudkip” confirming that this meme is older than widely accepted.

Pokemon vs. Meme

Could it be that Mudkip was already a popular Pokemon? Let’s compare.

Mudkip evolves into Marshtomp which evolves into Swampert.:

Google Trend shows Mudkip is far more popular than its more powerful forms. The basic form is the most popular, while the ultimate form is the next most popular with very little interest in the intermediary.

Squirtle evolves into Wartortle which evolves into Blastoise:

Google Trend shows a similarity.

Charmander to Charmeleon to Charizard:

In this case, Charizard has a long-standing history of being the most popular of the three forms, but the relative disinterest in the intermediary form, in this case Charmeleon, is again evident.

Compare the most popular of those, Charizard, Mudkip, Squirtle

Now let’s throw in Pikachu

And let’s add Pokemon.

In the big picture, the mudkip is not a highly notable creature in relative comparison with other Pokemon.

So what about the Copypasta that is widely regarded as rubbish?

The Mudkips Copypasta posted to Urbandictionary January 11, 2007

urbandictionary mentions “mudkips” and /b/ in the same sentence without “so I herd” on August 6th, 2006

If this screenshot is to be believed, then the Copypasta has been around since the meme’s birth in 2005.
If the copypasta is the original source of the mudkip as a meme, then it turns out it was all just a wealth of image macros, videos, and other derivatives grown from what was essentially just a hypothetical burn on Pokemon fans that ended up evolving into something like an unofficial mascot.