4chan Board-tans

About

4chan Board-tans are anthropomorphized versions of the different boards of the imageboard 4chan. Board-tans exist for nearly every 4chan board and are used to symbolize the different politics between them.

Precursors

Before the idea of the board-tan became popular, several characters were popularly used to represent 4chan in visual media. These included the character Yotsuba Koiwai from the manga Yotsubato!, a cat used to represent founder moot, a blonde girl used to represent former admin W.T. Snacks, and a green-skinned, no-faced figure in a suit to represent the site’s anonymous posters as a collective.

Origin

The origin of using specific characters to represent different 4chan boards can be traced back to “4chan House”, an image of a house occupied by stick figures representing the boards that were active at its creation in 2008, to the then-new /r9k/ board (see below). In October of 2008, a comic by a 4chan user by the name of “Three Angled Blue” created a comic which featured several anthropomorphized boards and playing out the story of a raid on /v/ by /b/ that had happened around the time.^[1][3] This comic is considered seminal to the board-tan subculture as it was the first established work that used boards as characters, as well its establishment of /v/-tan’s appearance.

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Spread

Also in Autumn of 2008, the idea to create a series based on several anthropomorphized boards was proposed, with /a/, /v/, /co/, and /tg/ all having some say in the project at one time or another. The project was later deemed too off-topic for the site, prompting the website 4chan House to be created, taking its name from the original image on which the anthropomorphized board idea came about. The site hosts a booru-like gallery (refered to as a shimmie) for images of the different board-tans, as well as several boards of its own.^[2] Several wikis made for different boards on the site, such as /co/‘s Conservatory and and /tg/’s 1d4chan, feature detailed pages on most of the board-tans.^[4][5]

Notable Board-tans

/co/-tan

/co/-tan, sometimes refered to as /co/nrad, is the board-tan representing 4chan’s Comics and Cartoons board. He is portrayed as masked figure wearing a blue coat and a blue fedora with a slip of paper reading “/co/” tucked into the band. He is often seen acting as a detective, and is usually seen as married to /ck/-tan, the board-tan representing the Food and Cooking board. /co/-tan is one of the most popular board-tans, appearing in the highest number of images on the shimmie.^[6][7]

/x/-tan

/x/-tan is the board-tan for 4chan’s Paranormal board. She is a pale-skinned young woman with messy black hair, a black skull tank top, and rainbow-colored tights. Most notable of her appearance, however, is her left eye, which is shown to be either a glowing red or black with a red pupil. She is considered shy and intelligent, but also paranoid, and dabbles in witchcraft and conspiracy theories. She is commonly shown to be afraid of /b/ and is said to have been in a relationship with /tg/-tan.^[8][9]

/v/-tan

/v/-tan is the board-tan for the Video Games board. He is one of the oldest board-tans, debuting in the Three Angled Blue comics, and has maintained a fairly steady appearance. His design is fairly simple, being that of a young man with a round head derived from the appearance of Rage Guy wearing a t-shirt. He is seen as vitriolic and misanthropic, to the point that his rage allows him to perform many incredible feats of strength. He is occasionally seen alongside Vivian James, who is established to be his daughter, in comics about the GamerGate controversy.^[10][11]

/mlp/-tan

/mlp/-tan is the board-tan representing /mlp/, 4chan’s board dedicated to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. She is usually drawn as wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt and glasses, alongside a My Little Pony t-shirt. She also occasionally wears a hat to cover up a plastic unicorn horn she is said to have permanently glued to her forehead. She is commonly hated by many other board-tans, especially /v/-tan, though she is usually shown as friendly towards everyone, has a stable friendship with [s4s]-tan, and is currently in a relationship with /d/-tan.^[12][13]

/d/-tan

/d/-tan is the board-tan representation of 4chan’s Hentai & Alternative board, and as such is an amalgamation of popular fetishes found there. She is portrayed as either a busty woman with black hair or, more commonly, a monster girl with tentacle hair, three eyes, and horns; both forms are known hermaphrodites. She has the power of transformation, though can only do so at night when her third eye is open. She is said to rape many of the other boards, as proven by the large number of lewd and pornographic pieces of artwork involving her and the other board-tans.^[14][15]

[s4s]-tan

Sometimes called Keksandra, [s4s]-tan is a young girl used to portray 4chan’s dedicated shitposting board, Shit 4chan Says. She is often seen with two pigtails, a Top Gun Hat, and an ankle-length dress with an image of a meme on it. Though occasionally drawn realistically, her most popular form is a super-deformed version with noodle arms. She is usually seen carrying Topkek cakes and checking dubs and GETs. She is one of /mlp/-tan’s few friends and, after a raid on [s4s] by /pol/, has been commonly seen harassing /pol/-tan.^[16][17]

/a/-tan

/a/-tan is the board-tan used to represent 4chan’s Anime and Manga board. Originally appearing as a girl with black hair in the Three Angled Blue comics, /a/-tan changed over the years into a trap with glasses, flower hair pin, and an ahoge. He is typically portrayed as a tsundere with an elitist attitude toward the other board-tans, especially /v/-tan.^[18][19]

/pol/-tan

/pol/-tan is the board-tan who symbolizes 4chan’s Politically Incorrect board. Originally starting as /new/-tan, based off a now-defunct board for News, he was first seen as a typical reporter; after the deletion of /new/, however, he was commonly portrayed as homeless. After /pol/’s creation, he took to wearing a typical Nazi uniform with a black suit and a red Nazi armband. He is often seen as angry and stubborn, and is shown to hold racist, sexist, and anti-Semetic views. /pol/-tan is known to clash with other boards-tans, especially /v/, though his reception is generally mixed as opposed to primarily negative. Known daughterus include Ebola-chan, who may also be related to /x/-tan, as well as Christ-chan more recently.^[20][21]

Search Interest

References