The Mary Sue’s 10 Most Popular Posts of 2012

The Mary Sue

By The Mary Sue StaffDec 28th, 2012, 12:33 pm

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Allow Us To Explain

Yesterday we gave you our most commented on posts of 2012, but most commented on is not the same as most popular. And by popular we mean looked at. The number of time a specific URL was visited. And what holds true on the internet holds true here: people like galleries (as long as they're not too annoying). So without further ado, here's the ten most viewed posts we wrote this year. We would have had to go to twelve to reach a post that didn't have a gallery of some kind in it (although that post would have been the announcement of The Casual Vacany, J.K. Rowling's first post-Harry Potter novel).

10. And They All Lived Happily Ever After: If the Disney Villains Had Won

Justin-mctwisp's mind went to a dark place one day. A place where the heroes lost and the villains won (those poor Dalmatians!). Usually any Disney imagery winds up being pretty popular on the site but Justin's Disney Villains are only one of two that made our top ten this year (and the only one of those two that wasn't controversial) so I guess you all have wicked imaginations too.

Read: And They All Lived Happily Ever After: If the Disney Villains Had Won

9. Animal Sex, As Illustrated by Humanoid Cartoons

Oh, "Animal Sex as Illustrated by Humanoid Cartoons." You're such a cool series of very nearly worksafe images of cute cartoon people in relationships. You're an education in how cool and diverse the animal world is! You're a great counterpoint to the "living that way t'aint NATURAL" argument. You're also the reason why "animal sex" is the most common search term that leads folks to TheMarySue.com that isn't some derivation of the site name. Thank you, "Animal Sex as Illustrated by Humanoid Cartoons." We love you, "Animal Sex as Illustrated by Humanoid Cartoons."

Read: Animal Sex as Illustrated by Humanoid Cartoons

8. This is What a Gender Neutral Toy Store Looks Like (Thanks Harrods)-gender-neutral-harrods

While gender roles mean different things to different people, we here at The Mary Sue were very interested to see Harrods Department Store trying something new - a gender neutral toy section. Stereotypical "boys" toys sat next to stereotypical "girls" toys and everything looked, well, awesome. It's certainly a place we'd like to visit and the images and story got some good discussion going.

Read: This is What a Gender Neutral Toy Store Looks Like (Thanks Harrods)

7. Introducing: The Hawkeye Initiative

It was a banner year for Marvel Comics character Hawkeye. Thanks to The Avengers, a lot more people know who he exists. While tumblr has had a field day regarding anything having to do with Jeremy Renner and the role, something interesting emerged that was right up our alley. The Hawkeye Initiative. Not everyone gets the point of placing a superhero in the exact poses as comic book women of course, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy helping people learn.

Read: Introducing: The Hawkeye Initiative

6. Man Repaints Harry Potter, Twilight, LOTR Dolls to Spectacularly Realistic Effect

6. Man Repaints <em>Harry Potter</em>, <em>Twilight</em>, <em>LOTR</em> Dolls to Spectacularly Realistic Effect

Either Noel Cruz knows magic, or he's just really, really talented. We'd hope for the former but assume the latter. The artist took dolls of some of our favorite genre characters, which are usually disappointing in their likenesses, and painted them to look more like the actors who played the role. They cost a whole lot of money but once you see the work involved, you'll understand why.

Read: Man Repaints Harry Potter, Twilight, LOTR Dolls to Spectacularly Realistic Effect

5. Disney Princesses Re-Imagined as Women of Color

This summer, a Tumblrer's daughter used one of those online dollmakers that I (Susana) feel I'm way too old for but always play with anyway like every time to execute a little thought experiment. Despite the dollmaker lacking options like non-caucasian facial features or hairstyles, she tried to redesign Disney princesses of white-European descent into ladies of color. Lots of folks saw it as a lazy redesign, but we thought it was a neat opener to thinking about race in Disney movies, and a reminder that it took them a long time to get around to a WOC princess, and even longer before we got one in a starring role.

Read: Disney Princesses Re-Imagined as Women of Color

4. A Challenger Appears for the Fake Geek Girl

As we said in the post, "if there's one we wouldn't mind eradicating from the internet, it'd be the Idiot Nerd Girl Advice Animal meme." In a world where women weren't consistently called out for being inauthentic geeks who only cosplay because they can't get guys any other way (and, naturally, the only thing they want is a man's attention) by not just random folks but industry insiders, the meme might feel innocent instead of charged with sexism, judgement and inclusivity. But unfortunately, that's not a world we live in. Dark Horse Comics editor Rachel Edidin's idea was to attempt to take back the meme, however briefly, by flooding its Quickmeme page with examples of an inverted Fake Geek Girl instead. And yes, it also made our most talked about list this year.

Read: A Challenger Appears for the "Fake Geek Girl"

3. Comic-Con 2012 Cosplay That Really Impressed Us

I (Rebecca) would not want to go to San Diego Comic Con. Too crowded, too crazy, too-long lines. Much of the cool footage and exclusive pictures are on the Internet hours after the SDCC crowd sees it anyway. I don't know if that makes me a geek heretic, but it's the truth. But every year when SDCC rolls around I relish seeing pics of all the cool cosplay that the con is host to. And you apparently feel the same, as two of our top three posts in terms of traffic this year were of cosplay.

This particular gallery housed cosplay that really impressed us like Sarah and Jareth from Labyrinth, FemShep, and Steampunk DC characters.

Read: Comic-Con 2012 Cosplay That Really Impressed Us

2. Genderswap and Other Alternative Cosplay From Comic-Con 2012

It's easy to see why this gallery was a hit. It's one thing to cosplay a particular character exactly how they're depicted in the media, it's another to do something different with it. Genderswapped and other alternative cosplay (like superhero Disney Princesses) was very popular this year.

Thank you, Comic-Con, for giving us (and you) intricate, gorgeous cosplay to ogle at each and every year.

Read: Genderswap and Other Alternative Cosplay From Comic-Con 2012

1. 10 Anime You Should Watch (And That Are Easy to Find!)

This was one of our most commented-on posts this year in addition to being the post with the highest traffic. It's not hard to see why: Both the post and the comments (168 and counting) are a treasure trove of info on good, female-friendly anime easily accessible through Netflix or Hulu.