Welcome again to Joyful Stick, our erotic game review series. Miss the last entry? You can read it here. Today, we go to the land of Definitely Not Canterlot to sample fine anthro vaginas. Let’s begin.
Of Fair Use, Parody and Avoiding Being Sued
Mocking a media giant as either a homage or with genuine criticism is a hallmark of entertainment. Long before any of us were reading this (or alive), Charlie Chaplin was making fun of Hitler. Parody can be the most sincere form of flattery-but also cast a mirror to all going ary within something held sacred. In the modern era parody abounds in the form of Youtubers making skits, stand up comedians and far, far too many projects to list here. However, these are often done within something called “fair use”.
Let me be perfectly blunt: There is absolutely nothing stopping you from outright taking a character, a concept, or an established intellectual property and putting it in your own projects. Absolutely nothing. Copyright laws exist exclusively because of the lobbying of Disney, who all can unanimously gag on my fat hairy cock. However if you want to mock something and your project not get de-platformed immediately, you have to do so well within the realm of artistic parody. This is where “fair use” comes in. To save yourself a click, under fair use you can do the following:
Make “parodies” featuring the likeness of a pre-established intellectual property.
Make homages featuring the same.
Have characters and ideas that are the “Great Value” brand of pre-existing brands.
Create “fan versions” of characters and intellectual properties.
Full disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, so don’t do something and cite me as a source when Nintendo breaks down your door. Which brings us to another facet of this-while fair use absolutely exists and enables tons of different avenues of creative freedom, you’re ultimately at the mercy of whatever corporate entity you’re riffing on. Nintendo very openly and famously slams almost anything that goes against their image with cease and desist letters. Disney again is rumored to be aware of what people do with their characters, but are far more concerned about screenings of their IPs without a profit being generated for themselves. No, really. They’ve sent representatives and lawyers to neighborhood screenings.
For the record, you’re welcome to make fan art of anything here on Splathouse. Go nuts. Just credit me and lemme see it first.
Anyways, that places porn parodies in a really weird niche, especially when using properties with an obviously non-NSFW target demographic. It’s ultimately a toss up if a project gets hit with legal trouble, with larger studios securing themselves with lawyers well before starting something. Where does that leave much smaller teams?
For the most part, they secure themselves by removing their projects and connotations of association with palette swaps, complete character dynamic overhauls, and bright, bold disclaimers the moment you boot a title up. All resemblances are purely coincidental, et al. It pushes a project just enough into fair use for a team to feign ignorance if lawyers come knocking. This isn’t always enough, but it’s usually enough.
Which brings us to Friendship With Benefits.
A Clopping Stampede
Friendship With Benefits is a “Definitely Not My Little Pony!” porn parody from TwistedScarlett60, a professional artist who specializes in art of famous characters. Their art is the backbone of the game, and initially what drew me to consider the title for review. Regardless of how you feel about the title and this review? Go check them out. Their work is fantastic.
Our story begins as Faceless Male Protag is settling down at home after a date. As they lay their head down, they feel an odd sort of excitement. They can’t place what’s making them feel this way, but lay their head down all the same. When they wake, it’s to the radiant glow of a voluptuous unicorns horn. This is Moxie, and in no time at all you come to know her intimately.
After an evening of fucking vigorously, Moxie tells you there’s no way you should be able to talk. Or think. The spell she was attempting simply wasn’t for that, and she’s not nearly talented enough. Despite her trepidations on the subject, she states you’re going to need help and offers to let you stay in her wagon. Neither of you have any idea how long you’re going to be there and Moxie tells you to get familiar with Not Ponyville and it’s denizens. From this point on, the game gives you free reign to choose the order in which you take jobs, make friends and advance the plot. It keeps track of all of this with a “To Do” (literally) list and inventory, which keeps track of your money and gifts.
Moxie herself guides you towards the library, but tends to shy away from interacting with other ponies. At the point you arrive, the Not Elements of Harmony have lost touch with each other. Sometimes for very dramatic reasons. It’s up to you to decide how best to reunite the girls, or if you reunite them at all. Your primary goal, should you choose to make it that, is to satiate the sexual desires of as many mares as you possibly can. It’s mating season after all, and stallions are super rare. Being that you’re another species, you can’t even get them pregnant.
You’re explicitly told this through long, scrolling sections of dialogue.
Thus begins my only true criticism of the game. Friendship with Benefits is a wonderfully drawn, incredibly relaxing collection of side plots that rarely overlap into a larger narrative. You can, quite seriously, drop into the game for tens of minutes at a time and feel like you accomplished something. All the female characters are inexplicably nude all the time, but occasionally wear kink-centric clothing like stockings or a nun outfit. If you’re looking to crank out a quick one before a nap, the game excels at that. Which is a shame, because unlike other titles reviewed in this series?
I actually gave a damn about the plot. No, not that plot, like the narrative plot.
While the game doesn’t explicitly guide you on a certain path, it heavily hints towards Moxie being romantically interested in you. It’s done with heart and care in the shy, blushing style of two people trying to find the right words. It’s a cute central narrative focus and one I genuinely wanted to see to the climax. Despite Moxie assuring you it’s okay to have sex with other characters, the question of if she’s saying that just to protect herself comes up time and time again. Yet despite having the option to turn down whomever you wish, you often find yourself encouraged to have sex to advance the plot.
The narrative takes some incredibly weird angles, sometimes waxing philosophically in a lofty way that sounds incredibly intelligent on whatever subreddit is into those kinds of points this week. One memorable moment came from going after Not Pinky Pie on top of a mountain, who did a thinly veiled gaslighting attempt at convincing the player everything they experienced was a delusion. This would have been an incredible twist had it not been directly contradicted when we speak to the queen later. While some plot points (like reuniting the girls) do come to fruition, there are entire scenes and walls of text that serve zero purpose or seem gratuitously out of place in a title about fucking anthromorphic cartoon horses. As someone outside of the MLP fan community, I have zero idea if discussions about Ponyville being a parallel universe to our own are common or not. It was incredibly fucking jarring to stumble across with my dick in my hand though.
Speaking of which, the sex scenes in the title were absolutely aided by TwistedScarlett’s art. The more intimate scenes came naturally enough, though it suffered from the incredibly common problem of all erotica-finding different ways to say the same thing. Here’s some free professional advice folks: “Pussy” is a word for middle school boys. Say “cunt” and “cock” with authority and watch your audience drip. It’s more than okay to use “cunt” and “cock” in place of finding a million different ways to describe genitals so long as the rest of your writing can back up the scene. Likewise, never describe a wet cunt as “dripping with gruel”. Ever. Dear fucking god.
Conclusion
I’m in a weird place recommending Friendship With Benefits. There are parts of the game that absolutely shine. The art is great, and the narrative has some heart warming and horny moments. Were it slightly less ambitious in allowing you to fuck everyone and more focused? I’d have zero qualms of recommending this. There’s multiple hours of gameplay and many different characters to fuck in all kinds of sexual situations. Yet it’s when the plot and dialogue absolutely side steps the central focus to wax faux poetically for twenty minutes that made my erection wilt. I feel it’s also pertinent to mention this game has several moments of flashing white lights and I didn’t spot an epilepsy warning, which seems like a major miss.
As such, I’ll state this:
At nearly 11 dollars, it has extensive value compared to other media. As a professional performer, I can’t even give the amount of time and variety this title does even with my highest commission tier. It’s a fabulous “parody” and well worth your ten dollars at that price point. However, be prepared to click straight through some scenes.
-j