This is obvious trollbait, but wouldn’t drawing the characters as anything but their original depictions be more creative than simply copying the standard templates?

A troll is a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, troll may have been a negative synonym for a jötunn (plural jötnar). In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings.  
Later, in Scandinavian folklore, trolls became beings in their own right, where they live far from human habitation, are not Christianized, and are considered dangerous to human beings. Depending on the region from which accounts of trolls stem, their appearance varies greatly; trolls may be ugly and slow-witted, or look and behave exactly like human beings, with no particularly grotesque characteristic about them.  
Trolls are sometimes associated with particular landmarks, which at times may be explained as formed from a troll exposed to sunlight (e.g., Risin og Kellingin). One of the most famous elements of Scandinavian folklore,[citation needed] trolls are depicted in a variety of media in modern popular culture.  
Contents [hide]  
1 Norse mythology  
2 Scandinavian folklore  
3 See also  
4 Notes  
5 References  
6 Further reading  
7 External links  
Norse mythology  
In Norse mythology, troll, like thurs, is a term applied to jötnar, and are mentioned throughout the Old Norse corpus. In Old Norse sources, trolls are said to dwell in isolated mountains, rocks, and caves, sometimes live together (usually as father-and-daughter or mother-and-son), and are rarely described as helpful or friendly.[1] In the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, a scenario describing an encounter between an unnamed troll woman and the 9th century skald Bragi Boddason is provided. According to the section, once, late in the evening, Bragi was driving through “a certain forest” when a troll woman aggressively asked him who he was, in the process describing herself:  
Old Norse:  
Troll kalla mik  
trungl sjǫtrungnis,  
auðsug jǫtuns,  
élsólar bǫl,  
vilsinn vǫlu,  
vǫrð nafjarðar,  
hvélsveg himins –  
hvat’s troll nema þat?[2]  
Anthony Faulkes translation:  
‘Trolls call me  
moon of dwelling-Rungnir,  
giant’s wealth-sucker,  
storm-sun’s bale,  
seeress’s friendly companion,  
guardian of corpse-fiord,  
swallower of heaven-wheel;  
what is a troll other than that?’[3]  
John Lindow translation:  
They call me a troll,  
moon of the earth-Hrungnir [?]  
wealth sucker [?] of the giant,  
destroyer of the storm-sun [?]  
beloved follower of the seeress,  
guardian of the “nafjord” [?]  
swallower of the wheel of heaven [the sun].  
What’s a troll if not that?[2]  
Bragi responds in turn, describing himself and his abilities as a skillful skald, before the scenario ends.[3]  
There is much confusion and overlap in the use of Old Norse terms jötunn, troll, þurs and risi, which describe various beings. Lotte Motz theorized that these were originally four distinct classes of beings; lords of nature (jötunn), mythical magicians (troll), hostile monsters (þurs) and heroic and courtly beings (risi)—the last class being the youngest addition. Ármann Jakobsson calls this theory “unsupported by any convincing evidence”.[4] He has gone on to study the Old Norse examples of the term troll and has concluded that in the Middle Ages, the term is used to denote various beings such as a giant or mountain-dweller, a witch, an abnormally strong or large or ugly person, an evil spirit, a ghost, a blámaðr, a magical boar, a heathen demi-god, a demon, a brunnmigi or a berserk.[5][clarification needed]  
Scandinavian folklore
 
The Princess and the Trolls –The Changeling, by John Bauer, 1913.  
Later, in Scandinavian folklore, trolls become defined as a particular type of being.[6] Numerous tales about trolls are recorded, in which they are frequently described as being extremely old, very strong, but slow and dim-witted, and are at times described as man-eaters and as turning to stone upon contact with sunlight.[7] However, trolls are also attested as looking much the same as human beings, without any particularly hideous appearance about them, but where they differ is in that they live far away from human habitation, and, unlike the rå and näck—who are attested as “solitary beings”, trolls generally have “some form of social organization”. Where they differ, Lindow adds, is that they are not Christian, and those that encounter them do not know them. Therefore trolls were in the end dangerous, regardless of how well they may get along with Christian society, and trolls display a habit of bergtagning (‘kidnapping’; literally “mountain-taking”) and overrunning a farm or estate.[8]  
While noting that the etymology of the word “troll” remains uncertain, John Lindow defines trolls in later Swedish folklore as “nature beings” and as “all-purpose otherworldly being[s], equivalent, for example, to fairies in Anglo-Celtic traditions” and that they “therefore appear in various migratory legends where collective nature-beings are called for”. Lindow notes that trolls are sometimes swapped out for cats and “little people” in the folklore record.[8]  
A Scandinavian folk belief that lightning frightens away trolls and jötnar appears in numerous Scandinavian folktales, and may be a late reflection of the god Thor’s role in fighting such beings. In connection, the lack of trolls and jötnar in modern Scandinavia is sometimes explained as a result of the “accuracy and efficiency of the lightning strokes”.[9] Additionally, the absence of trolls in regions of Scandinavia are described in folklore as being a “consequence of the constant din of the church-bells”. This ring caused the trolls to leave for other lands, although not without some resistance; numerous traditions relate how trolls destroyed a church under construction or hurled boulders and stones at completed churches. Large local stones are sometimes described as the product of a troll’s toss.[10] Additionally, into the 20th century, the origins of particular Scandinavian landmarks, such as particular stones, are ascribed to trolls who may, for example, have turned to stone upon exposure to sunlight.[7]  
Lindow compares the trolls of the Swedish folk tradition to Grendel, the supernatural mead hall invader in the Old English poem Beowulf, and notes that “just as the poem Beowulf emphasizes not the harrying of Grendel but the cleansing of the hall of Beowulf, so the modern tales stress the moment when the trolls are driven off.”[8]  
Smaller trolls are attested as living in burial mounds and in mountains in Scandinavian folk tradition.[11] In Denmark, these creatures are recorded as troldfolk (“troll-folk”), bjergtrolde (“mountain-trolls”), or bjergfolk (“mountain-folk”) and in Norway also as troldfolk (“troll-folk”) and tusser.[11] Trolls may be described as small, human-like beings or as tall as men depending on the region of origin of the story.[12]  
In Norwegian tradition, similar tales may be told about the larger trolls and the Huldrefolk (“hidden-folk”) yet a distinction is made between the two. The use of the word trow in Orkney and Shetland, to mean beings which are very like the Huldrefolk in Norway may suggest a common origin for the terms. The word troll may have been used by pagan Norse settlers in Orkney and Shetland as a collective term for supernatural beings who should be respected and avoided rather than worshiped. Troll could later have become specialized as a description of the larger, more menacing Jötunn-kind whereas Huldrefolk may have developed as the general term applied to smaller trolls.[13]  
It has been remarked that stories about trolls were exploited by national romantics in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who sought to construct a national past and thus a national image from apparently ancient and unsullied rural traditions.[14] James MacCulloch posits a connection between the Old Norse vættir and trolls, suggesting that both concepts may derive from spirits of the dead.[15]

I’d feel more compelled to defend humanizations if I could figure out whether this was serious of not.

HEY! Humans can be interesting!
 
When the artist tries, that is.

But she still has interesting pink hair and boobs that make her even MORE interesting.  
bottom line: Pinkie Pie is always interesting.

So the pic’s saying that the only interesting thing in Pinkie Pie is that she’s a pony?

@Minus  
I actually quite like humanized art, its fun to see how people will interpret them as humans.
 
But there is one thing I will definitely agree with you on. Slapping pink hair on anime character and saying “ its them”
 
Personally I feel that if you’re going to make them human, there should be something that makes them distinctive to who that character is. Admittedly with ones like Applejack and fluttershy this can be harder.

@Minus  
Wait, this is an art site?

@Minus  
i agree with you man.  
but hey i dislike humanization because i do not like humans so my opinion is not valid here.

just oozes with interesting characterization.
 
But I do sense Poe’s Law in effect.

@Minus  
It wasn’t meant to be taken seriously?
 
Oh….oooooooh.
 
Well don’t I just have all the egg on my face then?
 

I’ve seen several youtube videos where someone has re-animated a scene from the show, making the characters humans instead. That’s kinda fun and neat to see. Also seen pictures and comics that show what FiM would look like as a Magicl Girl Anime which is cool. But I really don’t get why humanisation has gone so out of control here now. It’s My Little PONY afterall. Why do people insist on changing them so drastically? It feels like a lot of the time it’s done on purpose to cause arguments over weight and race, as those are always present on humanisation pics.
 
Then again, it’s probably the most simple answer. Humans have boobs. God I despise how many “artists” draw a big boobed anime girl, colour the hair pink and then say “This is fluttershy” even though it looks like a generic anime girl. If they’re so different that I cannot tell who it is without you telling me, then you’ve gone too far. You actually HAVE stripped the character of what it is that makes them who they are.
 
I’d be fine with this if I didn’t have to see these usually poorly drawn images taking up the Top score area on the main page. Hiding away the REAL art. And these images are genuinely badly drawn most of the time. I often see comments on these 500+ scoring images pointing out how the character’s spine cannot bend that way, and they have two left hands. But this is ignored because boobs. Makes it feel more and more like a joke when I call this place an art site.
 
Before you guys even mention the blacklist, I have to remind you, there is no tag for “bad art with a good score”. I’d be missing out on too many good pictures to blacklist any other tag like “boobs” or “human”. It is as usual the few making the many look bad. The more I think about it, the more good human art I can remember. It’s just those truly bad ones that make it to top-scoring so often that are the problem. Because it takes away from teh art that should be taking it’s place, the art that someone put tim and effort into. It’s not fair to them.
 
Also I realise this image is probably a joke and was never meant to be taken this seriously.

@Background Pony #4F62
 
Did somebody say chaos?  

 
I coulda sworn somebody said chaos.

@Princess♠Molestia
 
Not so much purge as consume toast, butter, and whatever planet it happens to be on in its entirety, but I’ll concede you that.

I honestly can’t tell if the artist is being critical of artists who draw humanized ponies, or if they’re being ironic.

I hate using this term but it’s appropriate.
 
OP confirmed furf@g.

@Zincy  
Maybe not. But I know something that can!
 

@Princess♠Molestia
 
>An Ultramarine  
>Actually managing to purge anything
 
Those Codex humpin smurfs couldn’t purge butter from toast.

@Zincy  
>not loving pones in all forms
 

 
Fucking filthy xenos! I’m gonna cleanse this whole planet of you!

Oi, dis nob is talkin me langaug’e, fuckin hummies out runin me pone.
 

That is actually ridiculously funny XD

Kind of a point.

>2015  
>Still complaining about humanized artwork.