Friendship is Madness

A.K.A. The Saga of Ponythulhu

It was almost two years ago that my warped brain stumbled upon the idea of combining adorable, magical ponies with the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft. I was running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to print our first card game, Building An Elder God, and we were looking for ways to promote it.  I turned to artist and pony-expert Joie Brown to bring the idea to life, and it started with this concept sketch:

Ponythulhu Concept

Original Concept Sketch

The tagline “Friendship Is Madness” was adopted and the sketch turned into a terrifyingly cute final image:

Ponythulhu: Friendship Is Madness

The result was deafening. So many people wanted the pony on a t-shirt that it inspired the creation of an entire online shop dedicated to just that. The shop is now filled with fun and nerdy designs, but Ponythulhu is far-and-away the best-seller, even if it’s still more of a fun side-project rather than big earner for anyone. (In 2014 I’d really like to master the ways of online marketing and make some changes to really push the t-shirt business into something more.)

On New Year’s Day a bunch of friends emailed me about something they saw over on Laughing Squid (a delightfully geeky blog with more readers a day than I get in a year). Something that looks a bit familiar:

Maddie

Meet Maddie

According to the blog post, “Little Maddie is a Cthulhu-themed My Little Pony designed by Bigshot Toyworks for ‘Friendship is Maddness,’ a project encompassing a series of animation shorts and toys.”

I’m not accusing anyone of intellectual theft. Ponythulhu was a mashup of two pop-culture icons and I truly believe this was a case of independent invention. I’m just a bit bummed out that newcomer “Little Maddie” got an instant bump from such a popular website, whereas Ponythulhu is still relatively unknown.

How Can I Help?

Help us spread the word! If you like Ponythulhu, please consider linking her on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, Pinterest, and anywhere else you hang out online. If you’re in a hurry, just copy/paste the following:

Meet Ponythulhu: Magical #ponies meet #Cthulhu — Friendship is Madness! https://www.signalfirestudios.com/shirt/shop/ponythulhu/

If you’re a Facebooker, Like our t-shirt shop and Ponythulhu fan page. If Twitter is more your speed, Follow our shop or Ponythulhu herself. Google+ user? Add us!

Right now friends and customers create the word-of-mouth (fingers of click?) marketing that keeps the new designs coming. I appreciate any and all help showing off the creations of our goofy team of nerds. Each and every sale directly helps my family and keeps us creating. Thank you all, and have a fantastic 2014!

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