MLP Rule 34 Update: December 2014 / Top 10 Princesses of Porn · 5:58am Dec 11th, 2014
[Disclaimer: While this blog post discusses Rule 34 statistics, it doesn't contain explicit imagery, embedded links to pornographic material or excessive coarse language.]
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! 
(Read right to left)
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
November 2013 / Season Three Episode Retrospective
December 2013 / Twilight Sparkle's Rival
January 2014 / Passing the Bechdel Test
February 2014 / CP Atone
March 2014 / Loli and Stitch
April 2014 / The Binding of Wonder Woman
May 2014 / Cybersix Showdown
June 2014 / Sailor Moon and he Celestial Sorority
July 2014 / Misunderstood Monsters
August 2014 / Monogamous Malaise
September 2014 / All You Need is Love
October 2014 / Hub Homage Part 1
October 2014 / Hub Homage Part 2
October 2014 / Hub Homage Part 3
November 2014 / Rainbow Rocks Review
Without further ado, here's the latest data from Rule34.paheal.net!
As of December 10, 2014, here's the state of Rule 34:
Pokemon still holds the lead with 88,035 images. 1,365 new explicit images were added during November, giving Pokemon a 1.5% increase in porn from last month.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is in second place with 62,608 images. 1,210 new explicit images were added during November, giving My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic a 1.9% increase in porn from last month.
Touhou is in third place with 53,110 images. 816 new explicit images were added during November, giving Touhou a 1.5% increase in porn from last month.
DC Comics is in fourth place with 25,312 images. 187 new explicit images were added during November, giving DC Comics a 0.7% increase in porn from last month.
Street Fighter is in fifth place with 19,561 images. 79 new explicit images were added during November, giving Street Fighter a 0.4% increase in porn from last month.
Naruto is in sixth place with 19,425 images. 209 new explicit images were added during November, giving Naruto a 1% increase in porn from last month.
Marvel Comics is in seventh place with 18,538 images. 284 new explicit images were added during November, giving Marvel Comics a 1.5% increase in porn from last month.
Sonic Team is in eighth place with 18,349 images. 224 new explicit images were added during November, giving Sonic Team a 1.2% increase in porn from last month.
Digimon is in ninth place with 13,839 images. 134 new explicit images were added during November, giving Digimon a 0.9% increase in porn from last month.
Super Mario Bros is in tenth place with 12,945 images. 192 new explicit images were added during November, giving Super Mario Bros a 1.5% increase in porn from last month.
Pokemon took a hit in terms of porn production, yet it still managed to generate more explicit imagery than My Little Pony. Naruto is currently less than 140 images away from surpassing Street Fighter!
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 December 10, 2014, here's the state of Rule 34 for the mane six, according to Rule34.paheal.net:
Twilight Sparkle
has 9,238 images. 255 explicit images were added during November, giving her a 2.8% increase from last month.
Rainbow Dash
has 7,662 images. 84 explicit images were added during November, giving her a 1.1% increase from last month.
Fluttershy
has 7,310 images. 124 explicit images were added during November, giving her a 1.7% increase from last month.
Pinkie Pie
has 6,631 images. 107 explicit images were added during November, giving her a 1.6% increase from last month.
Rarity
has 6,109 images. 120 explicit images were added during November, giving her a 2% increase from last month.
Applejack
has 6,009 images. 127 explicit images were added during November, giving her a 2.1% increase from last month.
Congratulations to Twilight Sparkle, who has become the first character on rule34.paheal.net to garner more than 9,000 explicit images! To celebrate this momentous milestone, here's a special music video set in the Equestria Girls universe.
Warning! Video contains copious amounts of sandwiches and "mayo."
Each member of the mane six has more than 6,000 explicit images!
Rainbow Dash has been getting less porn each month since September. For the first time since November 2011, Rainbow Dash has garnered less than 100 explicit images in a month. She's constantly getting beaten by Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy.
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 four 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.
Oct. 2013 - Mar. 2014.
Apr. - Sept. 2014
Which brings us to December 2014.
Here's a bar chart illustrating the monthly increase for the top 10 porn producers. (Total number; monthly increase)
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.
Oct. 2013 - Mar. 2014.
Apr. - Sept. 2014.
Which brings us to December 2014.
Here's a bar chart illustrating the monthly increase for the mane six. (Total number; monthly increase)
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.
For the past two years, it's been a tradition in December to compare Twilight Sparkle to popular characters from other series. In 2012, Twilight Sparkle was measured against 11 of the hottest cartoon characters. In 2013, Twilight Sparkle was compared to her rival, Chun-Li. This year, I thought I would take a look at the top ten most popular characters on rule34.paheal.net. What does it take to become popular in porn?
Each member of the mane six made the list of the top ten most popular characters in terms of porn production. The other four characters on the list are Chun-Li from Street Fighter II, Lara Croft from Tomb Raider, Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII and Princess Peach from Super Mario Bros. The top ten most porn-generating characters includes six ponies and four female video game characters. Here's a chart by Infinion that shows the progress made by the top ten characters since the Premiere of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Here's a bar chart illustrating the monthly increase for the top ten porn-generating characters. (Total number; Monthly increase)
Chun-Li was already discussed in-depth last year. 
She may be strong and beautiful, but Chun-Li can no longer boast about being the Princess of Porn. She's currently in third place, after Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash.
In a surprising upset, Tifa Lockhart recently fell to 9th place. Lara Croft is now in 8th place!
Lara Croft, Princess Peach and Tifa Lockhart all make up the bottom three positions of the top ten. It's staggering to think that six of the top seven porn-generating characters on rule34.paheal.net are from My Little Pony. This month, we'll be taking a look at the characters who make up the three lowest positions of the top ten list on rule34.paheal.net. Be forewarned. This discussion may include minor spoilers for the Tomb Raider series, Super Mario Bros and Final Fantasy VII.
Lara Croft
Lara Croft is one of the most easily recognizable video game characters in the world. First appearing in the original Tomb Raider from 1996, the brown-haired archaeologist with a penchant for blue shirts has become one of the most iconic female action adventure game characters of all time. She was originally designed as a male character similar to Indiana Jones until someone requested a more original idea to avoid a lawsuit. 
In an effort to counter the predominantly negative female stereotypes in video games, Lara’s creator Toby Gard wanted to avoid oversexualizing Lara Croft. The goal was for her to have a realistically-proportioned body and a calm demeanor. A simple design fluke and marketing interference caused Tomb Raider to stray from the creator's original vision. When Gard accidentally increased Lara Croft's breast size by 150 percent, the creative team insisted that it be included in her design. The marketing team latched on to Lara's large lactating lady lumps and milked them for all they were worth. 
Sadly, this mentality isn't limited to pixelated protagonists. In the poster for the 2005 film King Arthur, Keira Knightley's breast were altered to make them appear larger.
Left: Movie poster; Right: unaltered photo
Keira Knightley recently posed topless in a photo shoot with Interview Magazine. Her one caveat was that the photos of her breasts not be altered in any way. Keira said: "I've had my body manipulated so many different times for so many different reasons, whether it's paparazzi photographers or for film posters. That [shoot] was one of the ones where I said: 'OK, I'm fine doing the topless shot so long as you don't make them any bigger or retouch.' Because it does feel important to say it really doesn't matter what shape you are."
Much of the responsibility also falls on society and the consumer. If the video game industry sees consumers purchasing Dead or Alive: Extreme Beach Volleyball, then it will continue to produce products which marginalize female protagonists and portray them as sexual objects. Most of the time, it simply comes down to voting with ones wallet.
Here's an actual ad for Soul Calibur V.
With all of that being said, there's no denying that sex sells. By focusing on Lara Croft's sex appeal, the parent company climbed out of a $2.6 million dollar deficit to a $14.5 million dollar profit within one year after the debut of Tomb Raider. Whether it was her cunning, independence, or resplendent rack, Lara attracted the eyes of the world. She landed countless sponsorship opportunities for swimsuits, credit cards, music videos, cars and more. She had success, fame and product endorsements.
At the center of it all was a disheartened creator, who wanted to make a compelling character as opposed to a pixelated pin-up girl. Her conventional feminine physical beauty coupled with the high-profile nature of her character has led Lara to become a sex symbol for the industry.
Although Lara was strong and independent, her personality took a backseat to her buxom physique. Marketing had reduced her to a sex symbol when there was so much more to her character.
That's part of the problem with character development for Lara Croft. In her early games, she frequently raided tombs or explored ruins, much of which was done in isolation. This didn't leave Lara with the opportunity for much character development through dialogue. Whenever she spoke, it was usually to advance the plot or to deliver cheesy one-liners.
It should be noted that Lara chooses her own path and is driven by her own force of will, curiosity, and desire to succeed in her task. Throughout the series she defends herself against aggressors and wildlife with pistols, magnums, Uzis, machine guns, rocket launchers and pretty much any handheld weapon known to man. In addition to being a sexual fantasy for men, her independence has always made her a role model and rare power fantasy for women. Lara’s combined independence, strength and intelligence make her a great role model. She can speak several languages. She was born into a life of privilege and walked away from it all, only to prove herself by surviving in the harshest of conditions. She has the tenacity and survival instincts of Indiana Jones mixed with the suave refinement and sex appeal of James Bond. What’s not to love? A lack of dialogue is not indicative of poor characterization. There are plenty of silent male protagonists in video games.
After releasing Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness in 2003, Eidos handed over development to its subsidiary Crystal Dynamics, the franchise’s current developer, who reached out to the original creator Toby Gard. They refocused their efforts to create a more lifelike version of Lara Croft.
Tomb Raider: Legend was released in 2006. In the game, Lara’s backstory becomes the focus with the search for her mother. Although women are commonly brought to the forefront of gaming, many of them become mere plot devices for the male protagonist. The mother / daughter dynamic afforded Lara Croft additional nuances to her character. After Tomb Raider: Anniversary was released in 2007, Crystal Dynamics and Gard were eager to implement new changes into the third installment of their trilogy. In 2008, Tomb Raider: Underworld was released. A Hollywood stunt actress was hired to breathe new life into Lara’s movements and make them more realistic.
In spite of these improvements, Tomb Raider: Underworld experienced underwhelming sales which prompted an overhaul of the Tomb Raider franchise. Eidos and its subsidiaries, including Crystal Dynamics, were acquired by Japanese publisher Square Enix. The Tomb Raider brand was rebooted in 2013. Emphasis was placed on Lara’s depth of character instead of her physique. Realistic proportions made her more relatable to the gaming audience. Survival was the focus of the game, which saw Lara fighting through the pain, environmental hazards and her own psychological baggage. Rise of the Tomb Raider was announced at E3 2014, a sequel to the reboot.
Lara Croft was toned back from full-blown sex symbol to someone still conventionally attractive, but was given a creative clean slate from which her character could be reborn and her past explored. The marketing for the Tomb Raider reboot was one of rebirth and restructure. Lara Croft was no longer being exploited as a sex symbol in the marketing campaign. The presence of dialogue and other characters to interact with allowed her personality to be fleshed out through her speech. The reboot is a step in the right direction, but it will take time for these new games to overshadow the previous marketing campaign.
In spite of making huge strides to add depth to Lara Croft's character, the Tomb Raider reboot isn't without its share of controversy. In a published statements from Crystal Dynamics, executive producer Ron Rosenberg said that gamers will want to protect Lara. When asked about the difficulty of developing a female protagonist, Rosenberg said “When people play Lara, they don’t really project themselves into the character. They’re more like ‘I want to protect her.’ There’s this sort of dynamic of ‘I’m going to this adventure with her and trying to protect her.’"
So, the player isn't supposed to identify with Lara Croft? Rosenberg sees the whole game as one long escort mission, like Eek the Cat for the SNES?
In the new Tomb Raider, Lara Croft will suffer. Her best friend will be kidnapped. She'll get taken prisoner by island scavengers. And then, Rosenberg says, those scavengers will try to rape her. "She is literally turned into a cornered animal," Rosenberg said. "It's a huge step in her evolution: she's forced to either fight back or die."
Some will point out how comparing a rape victim to a cornered animal is dehumanizing. While that's certainly inappropriate, I'm more upset about Rosenberg's improper use of the word 'literally.' Oh? She's literally turned into a cornered animal? Did someone cast a spell on Lara Croft to literally turn her into a cute bunny?
Oh. I guess they did. Point goes to you, Rosenberg.
Crystal Dynamics later responded to the controversial comments by saying "One of the character-defining moments for Lara in the game, which has incorrectly been referred to as an ‘attempted rape’ scene is the content we showed at this year’s E3 and which over a million people have now seen in our recent trailer entitled ‘Crossroads’. This is where Lara is forced to kill another human for the first time. In this particular section, while there is a threatening undertone in the sequence and surrounding drama, it never goes any further than the scenes that we have already shown publicly. Sexual assault of any kind is categorically not a theme that we cover in this game.”
In other words, they aren't supporting the statements of their own executive producer and not exploring the theme of sexual assault in any way. The real controversy surrounding the Tomb Raider reboot has more to do with Rosenberg’s comments than with the game itself.
There is no rape, attempted or otherwise, in Tomb Raider. All that happens is a man strokes Lara’s side and a struggle breaks out. He's not depicted as a rapist, but as a madman savoring a kill. This is a familiar trope in television and movies. The villain caressing their victim right before murdering them. Interestingly, this mainly happens with female villains or effeminate male villains. If the trope were to be picked apart and examined, one could find sexual undertones, but that's a far cry from attempted rape.
It seems like Lara Croft's constant failing is poor public relations and marketing departments. If they aren't promoting her butt and boobs, they're turning her into a victim of sexual assault in need of protection. Neither of those are an accurate depiction of how Lara Croft is portrayed in the reboot.
While Rosenberg's comments have gotten the most press, there's also some controversy surrounding the Lara Croft death scenes. Is the Tomb Raider reboot torture porn?
The Tomb Raider reboot features several gory death scenes. Make a wrong move and Lara Croft may end up impaled through the neck on a stick, clutching her throat, her blood mixing with the water as the screen drains of color. The issue isn't the level of violence. Pulling a person's spine out through their neck hole in Mortal Kombat isn't torture porn, because it's cartoonishly exaggerated and over quickly. No. For some, torture porn is what occurs when the camera lingers on a character in their final moments and voyeuristically watches them clinging to life before eventually dying a in grisly fashion. The death is a spectacle.
It should be noted that there's a huge difference between torture porn and snuff films. No one actually dies in torture porn. It's all movie magic and digital wizardry. Some people derive pleasure and enjoyment from watching someone else suffer. There's a sadistic glee in fetishizing another person's pain.
Some people argue that the lengthy death scenes in the Tomb Raider reboot are sexist. Lara Croft merely traded one form of objectification for another. Instead of short shorts and huge breasts, now most of her deaths end with her being stabbed, impaled or penetrated by phallic objects like pointed sticks, shrapnel, knives or arrows. It's like a hentai game, where failure to protect the female protagonist results in a cut scene of her being raped. Some people speculate that if Lara Croft was male, then the game wouldn't exude a sense of sadistic glee whenever she dies. I can think of at least one video game that included dozens of detailed death scenes for the male protagonist.
Lara Croft's death scenes aren't sexist. The Tomb Raider reboot isn't guilty of torture porn anymore than Dragon's Lair. Dirk the Daring has been victimized by more tentacles than an entire school of hentai cheerleaders. 
While the deaths in Dragon's Lair are admittedly more cartoony than a spear through the throat, the focus is still on Dirk's pained expression as he struggles to avoid his fate. The camera purposefully lingers on the death, not for the sake of glorifying violence, but because the scenes are uncomfortable to watch and will cause the player to try harder in order to avoid seeing their character die again.
Some people are aroused by pain and suffering. Violence which lingers on death shouldn't be classified as "torture porn" anymore than the shoe section of the Sears catalog needing to be labeled "foot fetish porn." Just because some individuals are turned on by something, there's no need to stigmatize it by dismissively labeling it as a form of pornography.
Cory Barlog, Tomb Raider director, addressed questions regarding the gratuitous violence in the game. He told people that if players are not accustomed to this level of violence, they should just go back to playing Nintendo.
“Violence and death is just another part of life,” Barlog said, "...This is one reason why Tomb Raider is just not going to the Wii U. The audience on Nintendo consoles are unaccustomed to realistic death and violence. They would rather play their cartoony games that depict no real life consequences. We don’t want any part of that as Tomb Raider is meant for mature audiences. ...So to sum up, if you can’t handle Lara Croft being impaled in the head with a spike repeatedly, you should probably just go back to playing Mario games until you’re mature enough to handle this game."
Mr. Barlog is right! Nintendo needs to have more "realistic violence," like this scene from the Tomb Raider movie in which Lara Croft punches a shark.
Mario's never going to be taken seriously until he starts punching sharks, dang it! (Was the sarcasm in those last few sentences apparent?)
Princess Peach
I've already discussed Princess Peach a couple of times on these blog posts. The first time was during the March 2014 update, when Super Mario Bros officially became one of the Top Ten Porn Producers. In Part 3 of the October 2014 update, I discussed Super Princess Peach and why it was wrong to label stereotypical female attributes as inferior to their male counterparts.
In August, Nintendo declared it the month of Princess Peach. The question is, does Princess Peach deserve to be celebrated? Is she reinforcing negative feminine stereotypes? Are the Super Mario Bros games sexist? Princess Peach is often viewed as the poster child for a damsel in distress, but there's so much more to her character.
When she made her debut in 1985, she rewarded Mario with a kiss at the conclusion of Super Mario Bros. Peach holds the distinction of being one of the oldest female video game characters. Created by legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Princess Peach was envisioned as a cute blonde with a stubborn and independent demeanor. She wears makeup, bakes cakes, and speaks in a soft high-pitched voice. While she plays on classic feminine stereotypes, adorned in pink and jewelry, she is still a symbol of girl power. Even though Lara Croft has gone through many revisions in an effort to tone down her sexuality and make her more realistic, Princess Peach has remained virtually unchanged after nearly 30 years. Nintendo never made any attempts to make her conform to modern sensibilities by removing the pink frills from her dress. There's something timeless and endearing about her innocence and compassion.
As early as 1988, players could choose to play as Princess Peach in Super Mario Bros 2. Instead of making her weaker than her male counterparts, Peach's ability to hover made her the strongest character in the game. Peach may as well have been the star of Super Mario Bros 2, since there was rarely ever a reason to play as any of the other characters.
Princess Peach has appeared in more than 70 different video game titles; more than any other female character. She's able to seamlessly transition from kart racing to golf, from battling in Smash Bros to joining a Mario Party.
When Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was released, Peach was once again able to battle by Mario's side as the team healer. Square Enix helped develop the game and they have an excellent track record with designing strong female characters. Peach did more than give her teammates an HP boost. She also had a powerful weapon in the form of... a frying pan? Were they considering giving her a rolling pin but thought it might be too sexist so they went with their second option of a frying pan?
Here's some interesting Princess Peach trivia. In the original Japanese-version of Mario Kart, Princess Peach chugs the champagne when she wins first place in a cup series. This was edited out of the American release.
Princess Peach kicked all kinds of butt in the official Super Mario Bros comics.
A "strong" female character is not always the one who most resembles a male hero. Peach embraces her femininity. The push to create more "strong" female characters often results in women who shun feminine traits in favor of more masculine qualities. This topic has already been discussed before, so there's no need to go into much detail here. Female characters can be "strong" without eschewing their emotions. They don't have to be ruled by their emotions, but the concept that showing emotions means you aren't strong is extremely damaging for people of all genders, not just girls. 
That's why Peach is so important as a character. Does she have flaws? Certainly. In spite of her weaknesses, Peach should be praised for being a girl when popular culture often views embracing feminine traits as the opposite of being a "strong" female character. Blondes in pink princess dresses can be strong, too.
Tifa Lockhart 
Tifa Lockhart is a fictional character from Final Fantasy VII (FFVII). In FFVII, Tifa is a member of the environmental activist group AVALANCHE and owner of the 7th Heaven bar in the slums of Midgar. Tifa is also the childhood friend of Cloud Strife, the main protagonist of FFVII. She convinces him to join her group and later assists him in saving the world from the game's villain, Sephiroth. Tifa has also made appearances in other video games and the CGI film sequel to FFVII, Advent Children. 
When Final Fantasy VII debuted in 1997, it was a massive hit and one of the first JRPGs to resonate with a western audience. FFVII was considered revolutionary for its cutting edge graphics and gameplay, immersive world and fully-developed characters and story. The plot centers on conflict, betrayal and triumph, with a little environmentalism thrown in for good measure. When a vigilante named Cloud Strife is hired by the environmental activist group Avalanche to take on the evil Shinra corporation, things quickly escalate out of control and our heroes must join forces to save the world. While this may sound like the standard fare for video game storytelling, FFVII distinguished itself from its contemporaries by having characters who deviated from their traditional archetypes and became iconic video game characters in their own right. One of the best examples of this transformation was Tifa Lockhart.
Named the pin-up girl of the "cyber generation" by The New York Times, Tifa shares many similarities with Lara Croft, in that they are both considered to be strong, independent and attractive female characters in video games. In the January 2014 update, I talked about how the mane six met most of the criteria for conventional feminine physical beauty, with the one caveat being a lack of breasts.
Lara and Tifa are both endowed with long, healthy hair, large, expressive eyes, wide, child-bearing hips and massive, milky mammaries. Tifa is physically attractive in the conventional sense and she wears revealing attire. However, her skimpy clothes are more than mere fan service. Tifa is a martial artist who relies on using her body as a weapon, so it makes sense that she would need to wear clothing which wouldn't restrict her ability to punch or kick.
I can't really come up with an excuse for those suspenders, though. It looks like they would give your enemy something to grab.
Tifa is one of the most well-developed characters in the FFVII universe. She owns a successful bar and stands up to the authority of the evil Shinra Corporation. She also makes sure that Cloud is emotionally stable throughout the game. In a world where female characters are often portrayed as frantic and prone to hysterics, it's nice to see a role reversal where Tifa is the voice of reason and Cloud, the male protagonist, is in need of emotional stability. It's a far cry from the stereotypes which are all to common in other media. Just to be clear, there's nothing wrong with a strong character having feminine interests. The problem comes when a character with feminine interests is relegated to unfunny comedic baggage which the hero is saddled with.
More than just emotional support, Tifa has some equally strong moments in the narrative; from her willingness to lead the party in Cloud's absence, to escaping from Shinra's clutches. She is also one of the only characters to stand up to Sephiroth and live. To top it all off, Tifa's dependability is reflected in-game by being the only character that can acquire a never-miss accuracy. Tifa is the real hero of FFVII. She's a true friend who remains loyal to Cloud in spite of tough trials. At one point in FFVII, Cloud is badly poisoned and Tifa chooses to temporarily leave the party to take care of him. Tifa is strong in her convictions and willing to sacrifice anything for those she cares about.
In 2007, Tom's Hardware listed Tifa as one of the 50 greatest female characters in video game history, describing her as "one of the more richly drawn and intricate female characters around." In 2009, IGN named Tifa one of the ten best heroines in gaming, describing her as "without a doubt, a legendary heroine of the Final Fantasy universe." In 2013, Gus Turner of Complex ranked Tifa as the 12th greatest Final Fantasy character of all time, stating that "next to Lara Croft and Samus, Tifa Lockhart stands out as one of gaming's most independent and empowered females ever." That same year, Scott Marley of Daily Record ranked her as the second most attractive female video game character, while CheatCodes.com declared her "the #1 hottest" female video game character of all time.
For those who missed out on playing FFVII, Square Enix will be re-releasing it on the Playstation 4 in the Spring of 2015.
Thanks for reading this article! Please feel free to leave some feedback in the comments section. Does the list of top ten characters surprise anyone? Who should've made the cut? Since season five of My Little Pony has been delayed until the Spring of 2015, we have a few more months before new episodes begin airing.
I'll be back on January 10th with another Rule 34 update! I'd like to go ahead and wish everyone happy holidays and a very merry new year!
Hawt
2645988
Could you be more specific? We are talking about the most pornified characters in Rule 34. Or were you referring to the charts? Does hard data make you hard?
2646000
A bit of both.
Speaking of the Tomb Raider reboot, I must say that while it was a good game mechanically, story- and character wise it was a real mess a lot of the time. For instance, they talked a lot beforehand about how Lara would react to killing another human being, and the first time, yes, she has a reaction. But afterwards? After that little tidbit she seems just fine to let the player cap a guard in the bum with an arrow and watch him tumble down a hillside into a combine harvester to be powderised, and that shock of having killed someone never comes up again. (I know that isn't an actual death scene, but I'm trying to make a point)
I dunno, but I think that, and a lot of other character stuff in the game should've been focused on more, rather than the death scenes being over the top and lingering too hard on the whole thing.
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insidethegame.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/comics-games-virtualshackles-lara-croft-674120.jpg
Thanks for the feedback!
I can completely understand why some people would have problems with the grisly death scenes in the Tomb Raider reboot. Some people call it "torture porn." I personally hate that label, but I'll concede that Lara Croft's death scenes are needlessly prolonged and graphic.
Yeah, the first thing I thought when they came up was that the death scenes were really torture porn-y. Not necessarily in a bad way, but none-the-less. I suppose it's possible I've just never seen highly cinematic explicit death scenes before.
2646130
Do you think you (and others) would've had that reaction if Lara was a guy? Because I get a feeling that one reason so many people dislike the prolonged death scenes is because, in this game at least, Lara is being portrayed (albeit rather poorly) as a slightly inexperienced young woman, and many people just don't want to see that particular character get killed in such ways. And while I understand that sentiment, I still think there are a lot of things in the game that are more problematic in terms of storytelling that people gloss over. For instance, they try quite hard to convey how exposed and out of her element Lara is, but only in the story segments, and even then we hardly see that the things we do in-game are affecting her at all. That she can climb onto hanging railings, run away from explosions and collapsing mountains and take shotgun blasts and machetes to the face, but still manage to more or less brush the whole thing of in the next cutscene, it just gets silly, and I think poses a much bigger problem than the drawn out death sequences.
This is one I felt the need to skim through, but frankly Rosenberg makes me want to literally smack a crowbar upside his stupid head.
2646000
Well they didn't call it soft data for a reason
Another excellent update good sir.
Season five was not delayed. That was when they originally planned to air it. Keep in mind that before they revealed the spring 2015 timeframe they had only ever said "2015" as the timeframe.
I can't help but be tickled by opening the monthly Rule 34 analysis with Rule 43.
I have to respect any song that uses "hackamore."
Those are some fantastic image choices for the Mane Six bar graph. More kudos than usual to Infinion.
As for the top ten... dang, really? It's still stunning to see the exponential growth of pony porn in comparison to the other front runners. Seeing the Mane Six's meteoric rise to pornographic prominence on an individual basis only underscores this. I have to wonder, who are eleven through sixteen? Who did Twilight and the girls supplant?
2646541
I was just going off of one of the "selling points" of Rainbow Rocks, which lists Season Five as starting in November 2014.
4.bp.blogspot.com/-3a3yJKpSSj8/U-kUkuUtpaI/AAAAAAAB4S4/txESVIhskA4/s1600/1.PNG
2646613
Yeah, Infinion always manages to go above and beyond by taking the dry data and breathing some life into it with his colorful charts!
What would the top ten characters of Rule 34 look like if Friendship is Magic never existed? That is an analysis for another day...
2646714 Says "expected to start", meaning they were guessing just like everybody else was. There was never an official statement other than "2015" prior to the announcement that it would be "spring 2015" and all official statements from DHX state that they are on schedule and that there is no delay.
2649753
Yo, dawg. We heard you like surfboards, so here's a surfboard holding a surfboard!
derpicdn.net/img/2013/6/10/345088/large.png
2650029 I'd ride both.
i.imgur.com/Hwf5raw.png
2650995
Cowabunghole.
I knew humans were gross, but really? I was kinda expecting this...
2731473
What in particular did you find to be gross?
2733970
not exactly gross, just if I were someone else I would find it gross.
but the weird thing I found was picichu(?) Porn, I mean really? It seems some people live BY R34.
2733976
Pikachu has less than half as much porn as Applejack on Rule34.paheal.net. The ever increasing number of characters is why Pokemon has so much more explicit content than anything else.