I Made a Comic About Internet Explorer (or alternatively Browser Waifu
) is a web comic written by Merryweatherey and illustrated by Princess Hinghoi, in which various web browsers and other internet services are portrayed as cute anime girls.
The comic is available on Webtoon and Merryweatherey's Twitter page. Comic dubs (in Japanese) are also available in Merryweatherey's youtube channel.
Compare Stalker x Stalker, another twitter webcomic by this duo, and OS-tan, a similar concept from the decade prior. Also compare Console Waifu, a more direct Spin-Off of this webcomic featuring Moe Anthropomorphism of video game consoles/platforms.
I Made a List of some Tropes:
- Adaptational Nice Guy: The April Fools' Day comic had Male!Chrome go from a power-hungry murderer to a lovestruck clingy senpai.
- Alpha Bitch:
- Firefox is first introduced as an aloof, but popular newer browser who is dismissive of Internet Explorer due to the latter being comparatively old, but she comes to respect Internet Explorer after the latter transforms into Microsoft Edge. She's also dismissive to Duck Duck Go, but eventually and wholeheartedly asked for her help to fight off Chrome and UC, but that's because she literally had no idea on who UC is due to China's refusal to advertise her outside her home region.
- Google Chrome, on the other hand, fully embraces this trope. She wholly believes herself to be a gift to mankind and takes it very badly if another browser challenges that view, intentionally or not.
- Firefox is first introduced as an aloof, but popular newer browser who is dismissive of Internet Explorer due to the latter being comparatively old, but she comes to respect Internet Explorer after the latter transforms into Microsoft Edge. She's also dismissive to Duck Duck Go, but eventually and wholeheartedly asked for her help to fight off Chrome and UC, but that's
- Anthropomorphic Personification: Well, duh.
- Art Shift: The Final Battle between Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge is illustrated almost entirely by artists other than Princess Hinghoi. It certainly exemplifies the "Holy Shit!" Quotient.
- BFS: As Microsoft Edge, Explorer's weapon and the weapon she uses in her Final Battle with Chrome is a giant sword.
- Big Bad: Google Chrome. She's a remorseless RAM-hungry monster, who is not above directly and indirectly offing potential rivals.
- Broken Ace: Internet Explorer was very beloved in her youth, but has long since been overshadowed by faster and more effective browsers like Google Chrome. In the comics present she is an old, constantly crashing and agonizingly slow browser who has trouble attracting users.
- Netscape Navigator was one of the first web browsers made, but with the rise of Internet Explorer she became obsolete and was eventually banned to the Deep Web.
- Bullying a Dragon: Google Chrome's bad treatment of World Wide Web comes back to bite her hard, when the latter gets Bing to free her and prepares to wreak havoc upon the entire internet to get her revenge.
- Cast of Personifications: Apart from the occasional user, almost every character in this series is the personification of either a web browser or a search engine.
- Character Death: Netscape Navigator, due to being discontinued, cannot exist outside of the Deep Web.
- Later, Bing is also seemingly murdered by Chrome for her RAM, though she's later confirmed to have survived the attack.
- Darker and Edgier: The comic's story became a lot more serious after the apparent death of Bing and Internet Explorer's escape from the Deep Web.
- Gender Flip: The April Fools 2019 episode featured male versions of both Internet Explorer and Google Chrome, both of whom are on much friendlier terms.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Article 13. He was essentially created to enforce copyright law more effectively, but ends up being such a Knight Templar about it that even Chrome gets scared of him.
- The corporations that created the browsers can count. Microsoft Corporation left Internet Explorer to wane out and then die in the Dark Web (but still allowed her to rise as Microsoft Edge). Google Corporation has such an utter perfectionist streak that any of failed product of theirs is unceremonially discarded, as seen with Stadia, perhaps explaining why Chrome is such a ruthless bitch. And whichever company created Naenara locked her up in a secluded area that she became very lonely in despite her capabilities.
- World Wide Web. Continuous verbal and physical abuse from Google Chrome has made her bitter and vengeful, so much so that after she is finally freed by Bing she turns into an Omnicidal Maniac with plans of destroying the entire internet once and for all.
- The corporations that created the browsers can count. Microsoft Corporation left Internet Explorer to wane out and then die in the Dark Web (but still allowed her to rise as Microsoft Edge). Google Corporation has such an utter perfectionist streak that any of failed product of theirs is unceremonially discarded, as seen with Stadia
- Hate Sink: Google Chrome and Opera are both internet browsers with aspirations of power. Google Chrome tortured Bing for her RAM and ultimately left her a hollow husk. Opera pretends to team up with Internet Explorer but backstabs her solely so she can keep on living off Google's Chromium OS.
- Hostile Show Takeover: Kind of in the Youtube series, which featured something of an anime ending sequence. By default it featured Internet Explorer, but at some points, the background fizzles and Chrome takes over. When Chrome became the more prominent character of the story/videos (like when she served the Users successfully or brutally murdered Bing), it starts and begins with Chrome, complete with her own Villain Song.
- Hypocrite: When alone, Google Chrome fumes about how Internet Explorer is just like the company that created her (Microsoft), a power-hungry, merciless rival-destroying entity and even calls her 'evil'. That description actually fits Google Chrome more; although she did have a point in that Microsoft the company tend to perform questionable acts. But then again so do Google the company.
- Moe Personification: A bit downplayed, as the characters are less "Moe" and are meant to be portrayed as older, but yeah. Bing in particular seems to embody Moe-ness more than the rest of the cast.
- Next Tier Power-Up:
- Internet Explorer transforming into Microsoft Edge.
- Firefox upgrading to Firefox Quantum.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Google rightfully points out that Internet Explorer all but wiped Netscape Navigator from existence, as she did to Bing, and that both Internet Explorer and Google are owned by greedy multimillion-dollar corporations.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Opera. She only works for Google Chrome because she needs her Chromium OS to survive and chickens out the second it becomes clear that Microsoft Edge is way too strong for her.
