YMMV / Them's Fightin' Herds

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Oleander's nervous reaction when Fred brings up Cashmere near the end of the first chapter. Was it because she doesn't want to admit she does like her, or the complete opposite and Cashmere's flirting made her uncomfortable? Similarly, Fred brought up Cash as "that reindeer [Oleander] likes so much" in a trollish way, bringing a She Is Not My Girlfriend kind of reaction from Ollie and said she just liked Cashmere's glasses. Which one was telling the truth? If both or neither of them.
  • Unlike the Book of Lore, Paprika is shown to be living by herself in a tent far away from the rest of her tribe. This explains a lot about her behavior as it can be interpreted◊ that she's probably very lonely. Even then, it's up in the air whether her insanity is the cause of her isolation or the result of it.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: A FHTNG bodypillow design that was advertised on April Fools 2021 sounds like an obvious joke. It was, but they actually sold them for a limited time as a real product.
• Awesome Ego:
  • Oleander and especially Velvet might be full of themselves, but there's a good reason they're the Champions of their respective homelands.
  • Stronghoof is so boisterous and bombastic in personality that it's hard not to love him.
• Awesome Music:
  • Velvet's theme, as one fan aptly puts it, really captures the beauty and power of a winter storm. In-game, it plays during Arizona's final battle against Velvet.
  • The Target Practice music combines upbeat rock and chiptune in a great way. The track was originally a placeholder to demonstrate the Dynamic Music System, but it was so well-received by fans that it was made into a Permanent Placeholder. The variation used for training also counts, especially if you have seen the livestreams were it was used as background music during the Q&A sessions. Unfortunately, the player 1 and player 2 variants of the track heard in streams went unused in the final product.
  • "Huacaya Mountains (Paprika's Stage)" will be playing in your head long after you turn off the game thanks to its catchy violin, accordion, and guitar.
  • Pre tty much every variation on The Woodlands' theme. Each haunting and hard to shake.
  • If you liked The Woodlands stage themes, The Woodlands pixel lobby theme is just as awesome.
  • The battle against Oleander in the temple is split into three phases. The theme used for the first two is her already amazing character theme, but the second, "Dark Cataclysm", is for the third and final round against her. This tune basically tells you, without a single word, that Oleander and Fhtng are one hundred and ten percent done playing games with you, young calf. It's also full of metal.
• Breather Boss: While she still puts up a good fight, Paprika's boss fight is decidedly more fair than the bosses that come before and after, with hardly any extra gimmicks aside from her occasionally doing a belly flop from the foreground.
• Breather Level: Foggy Mountaintops, especially compared to the challenging mountain climb that preceded it. There are no enemy encounters, just you navigating a maze covered in fog before encountering Paprika at the end.
• Creepy Awesome: Oleander and Fred, whenever they use their eldritch powers.
• Crossover Ship: You could find a few shipping works with the game's six main characters and their Friendship is Magic counterparts.
• Demonic Spiders: First appearing in chapter 3 of Arizona’s Story Mode are the birds (nicknamed Flappy). They move fast, hit hard, and are very hard to hit thanks to them being perpetually airborne. This is exacerbated by the fact that they are introduced in a platforming section, that they have a bad habit of knocking you off platforms with their charge attack, and that a good chunk of Arizona's moves only work on grounded opponents.
• Designated Villain: The predators, from what we've heard of them, appear to be just trying to eat and survive. While it's understandable that the herbivores want to protect themselves, getting banished to another dimension is kind of an extreme punishment. In the October 10th livestream, Ms. Faust herself acknowledged this, saying that while it's true that the predators have to eat other creatures to survive, from a herbivore's perspective such actions are vile. She also explained the predators were originally planned to be straight villains until the fans began bringing up this trope, and that the final game "wouldn't be all black and white". It's also pointed out the Predators that were banished were ones who ate sapient prey, while those who don't were not.
• Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game: Many are more interested in hearing about the lore of Foenum and the backstories of the six fighters than the actual fighting gameplay. This is actually encouraged by the devs themselves and one of main reasons for the creation of the Visual Lobby, in which players can explore the world, watch matches and other stuff even if they are bad at Fighting Games. This ultimately came to backfire on the devs when the rest of the story mode was cancelled in 2023. Many, who admitted they bought the game mostly for the lore and promised story mode, were furious and started demanding refunds.
• Even Better Sequel: Though Fighting Is Magic was never really released, Them's Fightin' Herds has several improvements over the leaked unfinished demo, including a few that would never be in a finished version of that game. Among them: widescreen HD graphics, the Dynamic Music System and a story mode written by Lauren Faust. For people who weren't fans of MLP:FIM (and even for a lot of fans) the new roster of characters is an improvement too, since the use of multiple animals will result in a bigger range of visual diversity than a roster composed only of ponies that were almost identical aside from wings and horns.
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception: None of the Champions are ponies, they are various types of ungulates (and a half-dragon), a very common misconception that arises from TFH's prior history as a My Little Pony fangame and the art style very much borrowing from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic; conflating the two is a reliable way to torque off TFH fans, MLP fans, and the two works' shared fandom alike. Expect many non-fans or dissenters to derisively refer to it as "the pony fighting game", regardless.
• Fandom Rivalry: After it was revealed that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate would not be part of the EVO 2020 lineup while Them's Fightin' Herds was, a rivalry between the two communities was stoked. Many fans of the former were mad at the fact that a "brony game" overshadowed the much more popular Ultimate, while the latter's fans defended the organizers' decision, claiming that it's better for a smaller indie game to be in the spotlight rather than a big-budget AAA title.^note A similar situation happened in 2013, in which Fighting is Magic was nominated for the EVO charity auction, which Super Smash Bros. Melee won, and caused Hasbro to issue a cease-and-desist letter to Mane6 to shut down Fighting is Magic's production. Ultimately, neither side won, as EVO 2020 was cancelled following the discovery that its co-founder Joey Cuellar was accused of sexual misconduct, which prompted several game developers, Mane6 included, to pull their games from the event. Them's Fightin' Herds ended up on top as next year EVO was bought out by Sony, and with a majority of titles to be played on Sony Consoles, Smash Bros. Ultimate was nowhere to be seen and Them's Fightin' Herds would be featured as an online side tournament as the sole exception of the Console mandate.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Since Them's Fightin' Herds is kind of a mouthful and even "TFH" doesn't roll off the tongue well, some people have decided to just call it "Fightin' Herds" and some even propose to call their fanbase "Fightin' Nerds".
  • Before the name was announced, "Fighting Ungulates" was used to refer to the game.
  • Before Shanty's reveal, she was nicknamed "Stretch" as she was made possible through stretch goals.
  • Tianhuo is often called "Tina" in match commentaries because it's easier to pronounce than her Mandarin name.
• Foe Yay Shipping: Since all of the Key Seekers are all rivals for their role as the Champion, all ships involving the playable characters are technically this.
• Friendly Fandoms: Seeing as how the game was originally based on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, it should come as no surprise that fans of the show also like this game. Even the fans who like Herds without being bronies have been known to get along well with them.
• Game-Breaker: When the game's final two Downloadable Content characters, Nidra and Baihe, were being developed, the team in charge of quality assurance and balance was fired in the middle of their job due to the game's untimely cancellation. The result: Baihe has an infinite combo in the corner, meaning that if she can corner you, she instantly wins the round if she can pull it off. Some of her moves also have a lot of invincibility frames, with the worst offender being her fireballs which have so much invulnerability that she becomes perpetually unhittable if you consistently cancel them into each other. Making it worse, their release was the game's final update, meaning that players have very little hope of ever seeing her be balanced.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: For a long time, Oleander had the reputation of All of the Other Reindeer as a part of her backstory. Then, much later, her ship tease with Cashmere started to form when she began flirting with her more often (Probably Cap too, to a lesser extent, being the way that he is.). Serious or not, it's nice to see at least someone legitimately like her.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Pom's character bio reveals that while she's the most timid amongst the Key Keepers, she's considered the bravest amongst her fellow Sheepkin (since she's the only one brave enough to form an opinion). Several months later, season 6 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic introduces Fluttershy's family in the episode "Flutter Brutter". It turns out Fluttershy, whom Pom was based on, despite being the most timid of her friends, is actually the most assertive member of her family.
  • The entire reason the game exists is because Fighting Is Magic got shown off at EVO 2013, which caught Hasbro's attention in an unavoidable way, resulting in a cease & desist. Several years later, Them's Fightin' Herds would end up getting included in EVO 2020. Though it would turn Harsher in Hindsight when this game would be taken out of EVO for different legal problems, this time on EVO's side. However, things changed in 2021 after Sony took over EVO, and TFH was featured at EVO 2021 in an online side tournament.
  • Oleander and Arizona had tennis balls impaled on their horns in one piece of early fanart◊ six years before Izzy Moonbow made tennis balls stuck on unicorn horns cool. (And although far from the same shade, Oleander even has purplish coat, pink eyes and blue mane in the picture like Izzy does.◊)
  • Speaking of Izzy and Oleander, you could view Izzy as a composite character of both Oleander and Paprika. Oleander physically because they're both unicorns living in colorful forests inhabited by unicorns, and Paprika mentally as both are the only one in a society of dull, lifeless citizens to be outgoing and joyful.
• I Knew It!: Following the release of Texas as a DLC character, one frequent guess for another DLC fighter was Stronghoof, due to being another notable parent of a base-roster fighter. Come the second DLC for the season pass and that fan-speculation turned out to be correct.
• Les Yay:
  • Paprika and her ridiculous amounts of affection to the other fighters, who are almost all female. Some of her moves have her hug and even kiss her opponents. The move on Oleander in particular is very close to her mouth.◊
  • Cashmere will get really flirty if the player character has a lot of salt, and most of the playable cast is female. ^note Her flirty interactions with Oleander are not examples as it's deliberate Ship Tease.
• Like You Would Really Do It: Like Arizona would really get killed by Fred and/or give up just because her playable role is finished.
• Memetic Molester: Paprika's overly affectionate personality, lack of a sense of personal space, stalker tendencies (she follows Arizona throughout a section of her chapter) and certain parts of her playstyle makes her an easy target for this. With jokes and fanart portraying her as worse than she really is (whether or not she's aware of what she's doing) not hard to find.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Touch the COW. Do it now," associated with Arizona of course.^ExplanationOriginates from the children's book Touch and Feel: Farm.
  • MY HAIR IS ON FIRE!^ExplanationComes from this, and is usually associated with Tianhuo's fiery mane. Could be considered ascended with Tianhuo's Book of Lore title: "Oh my god, my hair's not on fire!''
• Moe:
  • Pom, being a shy and nervous little lamb with an adorable Scottish accent, is impossible not to fall in love with, and really hard to want to fight.
  • Paprika, if you can get past her psychotic nature, is also really lovable, being a fluffy alpaca with big round eyes and a charming smile. The fact that her dialogue consists entirely of trills, giggles, and other miscellaneous noises instead of real words adds to the cuteness factor.
• Narm Charm: The ridiculously bad pun that is the title.
• Never Live It Down: Despite the identity overhaul, it seems that the game still won't shake off its reputation of "that My Little Pony fighting game". Some places, such as 4Chan, even still consider it MLP-related because of its roots.
• Obvious Beta: Not the base game, but the final DLC characters, Baihe and Nidra. The developers and quality assurance team were laid off by the studio before the fighters were play-tested, and as a result the characters quickly became notorious for being utterly broken at launch, with the ability to perform infinite, unblockable combos, remain in a nigh invulnerable state for the entire match, and even induce game-breaking glitches (such as permanently freezing the opponent in place or outright crashing the game when performing certain moves).
• Popular with Furries: It's a game about talking animals (ungulates specifically), so attracting the furry demographic was pretty much inevitable. Velvet, in particular, seems to get the brunt of the fanart.
• Shipping:
  • Velvezona (Velvet and Arizona) is very popular. This is partly due to those characters being expies of Rarity and Applejack (who are already frequently shipped), and seemingly supported by the developers' social media, where they often post or retweet pictures of the two of them. They even sometimes use the name "Velvezona" themselves, making it an officially supported (but likely not canon) pairing.
  • Cashleander (Oleander and Cashmere) was hinted in the December 2019 holiday update, and has gradually picked up steam following the Story Mode update and Halloween 2020 update. In the shop dialog, Cashmere openly flirts with Oleander (a treatment that none of the other characters get^note Unless they backed up a lot of salt.), and the Story Mode implies Oleander likes her back but won't openly admit it.
• Spiritual Successor: To Fighting Is Magic, though Mane6 never actually released it (except for a leaked unfinished demo).
• Surprise Difficulty: The game stars an adorable cast of hooved mammals designed by Lauren Faust, which is more likely to appeal to casual gamers rather than hardcore fighting game fans. Surely the gameplay and the controls are easy right? Nope. This game plays like a traditional 2-D fighting game like Street Fighter, Guilty Gear, or Skullgirls.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: When Shanty's teaser trailer dropped, many people pointed out that her theme sounds similar to "Gangplank Galleon".
• That One Level: The mountain climb at the beginning of "At the Mountain of Sadness". It has a lot of tricky platforming that requires mastery of the superjump mechanic (especially in the second half) and introduces the bird enemies who themselves are annoying to deal with. Prior to Patch 1.0.3., there were also no checkpoints, so if you died at any point, you had to start the whole climb over again.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Some fans of Fighting Is Magic disliked the new direction that Mane6 took their game after the Hasbro C&D, mainly due to the new characters and setting having no relation to Friendship Is Magic. ^*Of course, if they wanted to continue the project at all, they didn't have much of a choice. But the feeling of What Could Have Been still exists to this day. However, the fact that they're designed by Lauren Faust has somewhat softened the blow.
• Unexpected Character: Nobody was expecting Texas, Arizona's father, to be the first character of the DLC season pass, in part due to being the first character of the same species as another playable character, and in part due to being the first male playable character in the game.
• Ugly Cute:
  • Shanty might not be as traditionally cute as the characters that were introduced before her, but she's still kind of cute in her own way.
  • Tapirs usually aren't the most visually appealing mammals, but the team managed to make Nidra rather pretty.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: It's hard to tell if Ribbon is a colt or a filly, but is identified as a female in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in the story mode's prologue.
• The Woobie: Pom, easily. She doesn't want to be here, at all, but was forced into it, and most of her intros and victory quotes are showcasing how scared she is. One of them is telling her opponent she's jealous they lost because they get to stop. This is added onto when animations were added, which include things like her puppy having to push her into the fight because of how much she doesn't want to. Her idle animation consists of her bracing to flee, locking eyes with her enthusiastic puppy, and stopping because she doesn't want to disappoint him.

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