i herd u like mudkips

added Dec 12, 2008 at 08:14PM UTC

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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.

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.

If you remember, March 15th, 2008 marked the second in a series of anti-Scientology protests spawned from Project Chanology. At the protests, many an Anon’s sign or attire referenced popular 4chan memes, and the mudkip just happened to be very visible. March 15th was also the birthday of L. Ron Hubbard, drawing even more attention to the situation.

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.

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22 Comments

saphiroko
Mar 15, 2009 at 04:01AM UTC , saphiroko wrote:

On April 1, 2008, every single one of the millions of deviantART.com users experienced the same April Fool’s prank: every single user icon on the website, including those of the administrators, had been changed to an animated .gif of the Pokemon called a mudkip, saying the now-famous “so i herd u liek mudkips??” When a user tried to change his or her user icon, the Browse button was replaced with “u dont liek mudkips?” in big blue letters. Immediately, deviantARTists started protesting—posting journals about the scandal and filling them with all their friends’ icons, which just covered their journals with thousands upon thousands of mudkips. Many artists took screenshots of the phenomenon, posting them to forums and complaining all the way. Some took it upon themselves to use their popularity on the site to draw pictures of them destroying the mudkips, one user making a mock animation with a mudkip getting stomped on, the user saying “NO! I don’t like mudkips! Now give me back my d**n icon!” The prank only lasted for 8 hours, when all users’ icon were restored back to normal, but it will forever be known as the greatest deviantART prank in history.

Saphiroko, http://saphiroko.deviantart.com

Chris Menning
Mar 18, 2009 at 02:28PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

That may be a contributing event worth researching, but the “So I herd you liek mudkips” meme can be traced back to 2006 from what I’ve found so far. I’m changing the status of this meme to “Researching” until the story is confirmed.

Re2deemer
Apr 28, 2009 at 05:35PM UTC , Re2deemer wrote:

Regarding the “depressing” amount of Deviantart fourm results – the furm search has been broken for a loong time. It DOES NOT show results after about 2006-2007. And the Mudkip panic started at 2008

mudkipz
Jun 20, 2009 at 06:01AM UTC , mudkipz wrote:

one for me? this is great!

Jacob Namthro
Jul 20, 2009 at 12:35PM UTC , Jacob Namthro wrote:

Mudkip? Wow, I thout he was just an awkward little pokemon, but now he’s a meme!

Memex
Jul 29, 2009 at 05:17PM UTC , Memex wrote:

I hurt you. Hate moodgybbz.

Inkessential
Aug 06, 2009 at 11:50AM UTC , Inkessential wrote:

I’m surprised at the lack of comments on these mudkipz, I though people liekd them.

Nismo
Aug 08, 2009 at 05:54AM UTC , Nismo wrote:

Halo mudkipz is just so epic.

Mudkipninja
Aug 17, 2009 at 10:34AM UTC , Mudkipninja wrote:

I put up some images I made, don’t know if they’re okay. Responses wanted :D.

Adler
Aug 27, 2009 at 10:53PM UTC , Adler wrote:

I thought it was a typo on a forum (similar to How do I shot web?) which was the catylist for the DA Prank.

Mack Clarke
Sep 07, 2009 at 09:40PM UTC , Mack Clarke wrote:

The one tornberry made…mmmm

Mediocre-Mudkip
Sep 20, 2009 at 07:04AM UTC , Mediocre-Mudkip wrote:

Best meme.

Jessie
Sep 22, 2009 at 05:32AM UTC , Jessie wrote:

You should change the name of this meme so it is liek not like.

Last HCompany
Oct 09, 2009 at 08:46AM UTC , Last HCompany wrote:

From the Republik ov Soviet Lolsia, All must liek Mudkipz, and they liek you bak. If not, you shall be Mudkipz.

thegiantcookie
Oct 12, 2009 at 09:42AM UTC , thegiantcookie wrote:

yeah guys seriously, it LEIK mudkipZ
i know my memes
the question is
do you

cybergon
Oct 28, 2009 at 07:03PM UTC , cybergon wrote:

this video was made in march 27 2007, before the april fool’s day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7l28AWt4_A

its about a girl drawing, and in it she asks “So… i heard you like mudkips”

april fool’s was just the official birth day of the meme, but it was concieved way before.

G1drake
Dec 01, 2009 at 02:59PM UTC , G1drake wrote:

so…when a episode will be made?

OMG =3
Dec 11, 2009 at 08:36PM UTC , OMG =3 wrote:

LEARN TO SPELL

Nicholas Potter
Dec 14, 2009 at 07:45AM UTC , Nicholas Potter wrote:

I herd sum people haet Mudkipz. Tehy must be terminated.

hana-obachan
Jan 03, 2010 at 04:30PM UTC , hana-obachan wrote:

So, i heard you liek mudkipz

http://hana-obachan.deviantart.com/art/i-heard-you-like-mudkipz-148800044

OMG =3
Feb 23, 2010 at 02:54AM UTC , OMG =3 wrote:

uhh, I should warn people of the comment above

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