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I Don't Have a Favorite Pony

2012-08-10 · song · Hank · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Pop culture (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Comedy & performance · tags: song or performance, community lore, self promotion

Hank answers fans' repeated question about his favorite My Little Pony with a comic song insisting he has none, while praising each pony and ending on Spike; he then promotes the Kickstarter for an Evil Baby Orphanage card game with a Nerdfighter expansion.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Why the song exists (people kept asking a question); first verse about the pony craze online and the chorus 'I don't have a favorite pony'

  • ★★ Hank says he wrote the song after the tour because people kept asking him a question he had no answer to; the song is his answer. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ In the song Hank says something is happening on the internet that he doesn't get, with thousands of fans making Tumblrs, fanfics and bulletin boards, and that all that excitement is great. (playful) — 00:00:06 · Tumblr
  • ★★★ The chorus claims Hank has no favorite pony because he has never seen the show, is 31 and a self-respecting dude, and finally because he just can't choose. (joke) — 00:00:37

00:01:08 — Second verse praising each pony; bridge about spending six hours on a cartoon instead of changing the world; ending 'I like Spike'

  • ★★ The second verse contradicts the chorus by praising each pony: Rainbow Dash's hair, Applejack's strength, Fluttershy, Rarity's beauty, Pinkie Pie's excitement and Twilight's nerdiness. (playful) — 00:01:08
  • ★★ Hank sings that his goal is to make the planet better, but it is equally probable he spent six hours watching a cartoon made for little girls instead; real-world battles are complex, Equestria simpler. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:38

00:02:10 — Thanks for effects and green-screen ponies; Hank at LeakyCon; Evil Baby Orphanage card game Kickstarter: origin of the idea, game mechanics, $50,000 Nerdfighter expansion, $40 pledge, later sale

  • ★ Hank thanks Michael Aranda for the effects and the people who made green-screen ponies. — 00:02:10
  • ★ Hank says he is at LeakyCon as the video goes up, having filmed it earlier, and that John is at LeakyCon too. — 00:02:20
  • ★★ Hank says he is an unashamed tabletop card game kind of guy; his original Nerdfighter song was about Magic: The Gathering. — 00:02:32
  • ★★ Hank recalls the Evil Baby Orphanage as an idea he and John conceived to escape the dilemma of killing baby Hitler: you could instead abduct him to an evil baby orphanage. — 00:02:40 · Evil Baby Orphanage
  • ★★ Hank says the people at Weird Games took up the idea; when he saw their Kickstarter he asked to help and they showed him the whole game. — 00:02:57 · Kickstarter, Evil Baby Orphanage card game
  • ★★ Hank describes the game: players are time nannies collecting babies for mischief points, with high-scoring babies passed from time nanny to time nanny. — 00:03:05 · Evil Baby Orphanage card game, time nanny
  • ★★★ Hank says at $50,000 the Kickstarter adds a Nerdfighter expansion in which players can play John and Hank as time nannies. — 00:03:17 · Evil Baby Orphanage card game, Nerdfighteria, time nanny, Kickstarter
  • ★★ Hank reminds viewers that the expansion and other perks come only with pledges of more than $40. — 00:03:24 · Evil Baby Orphanage card game
  • ★★ Hank says the Kickstarter ends in two or three days, but the game will be sold at local game stores and probably at DFTBA.com. (hedged) — 00:03:31 · Evil Baby Orphanage card game, DFTBA Records, Kickstarter

00:03:45 — Chorus reprise

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description links acoustic and studio versions of the song on iTunes. — video description

Humor (significant)

  • After 'never seen that show', '31 years old' and 'self-respecting dude', the last reason in the chorus — 00:00:54

    “And I don't have a favorite pony 'cuz I... I just can't... choooooose!”

  • His goal is to make the planet better, but it is equally probable that instead of changing the world — 00:01:43

    “I spent the last 6 hours watching a cartoon made for little girls.”

  • Having insisted he has no favorite pony, the song's last line — 00:02:06

    “I like Spike!”

  • Seeing the Evil Baby Orphanage game on Kickstarter, Hank begged its makers — 00:03:01

    “Guys. Guys. Guys, can I? Can I help? Can I help? Guys, can I help?”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Evil Baby Orphanage · Evil Baby Orphanage card game · I Don't Have a Favorite Pony · My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

Also: People: Adolf Hitler

Projects: DFTBA Records

Works: Magic: The Gathering

Organizations: Kickstarter · Tumblr

Terms: time nanny

Events: LeakyCon

Characters: Applejack · Equestria · Fluttershy · Pinkie Pie · Rainbow Dash · Rarity · Spike · Twilight Sparkle

Only in the description or credits: Michael Aranda · Weird Games

Also centred on Evil Baby Orphanage: May 21st: Comment Bashing, Anniversaries and EBO Ladies · Brotherhood 2.0: June 8: Studying the Clues · The EVIL BABY ORPHANAGE Returns for North Korea · The Evil Baby Orphanage Returns...for George Washington?

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