Newgrounds

Newgrounds is a website founded in 1995 by Tom Fulp. The site allowed users to create their own Flash based animations and games, and has gone on to birth many well known creators like Egoraptor, SpazKid, and Chris O'Neil (of OneyPlays fame), as well as popular games like Friday Night Funkin. Newgrounds also served as the birthplace of both the Pube Muppet and the Barney Bunch, and the site has not been the same since.

One of several logos the original Barney Bunch used during their time on Newgrounds.

Format

The style of content that the Barney Bunch produced on Newgrounds differs greatly in comparison to what is usually produced, though they tend to follow the traditional format of cartoon/preschool show characters and mascots being homosexual deviants with text to speech voices. They were more made with the intent to troll the audience thinking that they would be watching something that wasn't truly intended. Many of them had some animations (though it was mostly restricted to tweeting and flipping side to side) with crudely drawn penises, fecal matter, and semen being common, accompanied by fast flashing lights. There were some that were actually fully animated, though these are quite rare, as well as having unique intros before the flashes started.

History

Rise of the Pube Muppet (2002-2004)

The first piece of what could be considered early Speakonia content on Newgrounds as we know it was pube mupit gos shoping!11 by user Drunkmagikoopa on July 21, 2002. The idea was for Drunkmagikoopa to troll his viewers with what appeared to be an elaborate shitpost of a submission, but it completely backfired and the character would quickly become popular among users on Newgrounds. After a couple more submissions, Drunkmagikoopa wanted nothing to do with his creation when other users began to make their own submissions featuring the Pube Muppet. Soon the Pube Muppet's relevancy would wane, but the idea of taking a beloved character and turning them into an over the top gay deviant with Speakonia voices would plant the seeds for what's to come. Pube Muppet himself wouldn't be relevant until he began appearing in YouTube videos made by members of the Speakonia Community, though they were a little different than the ones on Newgrounds.

Birth of the Barney Bunch (2005-2006)

On August 25, 2005, BarneyPoop, along with StrawberryBarney formed the legendary group we know today as the Barney Bunch. They followed the example of the Pube Muppet in having beloved characters as sexual deviants with Speakonia voices, with Barney, Arthur, and Ronald McDonald taking centerstage. Drew Pickles would quickly become the primary character used in said videos following the creation of Drew Pickles is REALLY REALLY Gay! Soon enough, the flashes made headway across corners of Newgrounds and a whole community of users formed around this simple but appealing joke. Various users would pitch in ideas and even host collabs together, but one practice that was common was partaking in file swaps, where they would steal long-old submissions so that way they would pass submission to the portal, and later changed to traditional BB flashes, often with ALL CAPS porn-esque names.

Backlash, Exile, and Return (2007-2009)

From August to October 2005, the Barney Bunch had turned Newgrounds upside down. They faced immediate and ruthless backlash from the Newgrounds community, with several threads and flashes made decrying the group and hoping that they would ultimately be permabanned from the site. By October, a number of Barney Bunch flashes were removed and several members were banned. One of the most famous claims was that HIT Entertainment, who owned the Barney and Friends franchise, threatened legal action against Newgrounds, which may have been the result of the Bunch's activities. There was also a lot of behind-the-scenes drama unfolding within the group as well, with BarneyPoop and CybeRen (known as ItchyBarney) fighting over who would lead the Barney Bunch. Either way, this lead to many users being banned and the word "Barney" was blacklisted from the site for many years (though as of 2021, it appears that this has been lifted).

Many members then considered the group "dead" and decided to move on. However, StrawberryBarney, after doing some searching around, finally found YouTube and uploaded the very flash entry that set the Bunch in motion a year prior. Soon, many of the members migrated to YouTube and began producing content there. A few other members would also take refuge on YTMND, posting in a similar manner to what was on Newgrounds. It would seem that the story ended there, but on Clock Day 2007, the Barney Bunch claimed to have returned onto the site, linking to their new website, and started posting more submissions again, though it was on a smaller scale. But by then, there was a lot of change, especially since many have set up and started the community on YouTube. By 2009, it would seem that the Barney Bunch, at least on Newgrounds, disbanded, bringing an end to that era of Speakonia Community history.

Legacy and Attempted Revivals

In 2014, just shy a year towards the 10th anniversary of the Barney Bunch, BarneyPoop, under a new account, would comment on several BSS forums regarding his experience with the group, and even feeling regret in some areas. He would also go on to give an update as to where many of the original members have been since, and would state his and StrawberryBarney's strong disapproval towards the community on YouTube. Of the Newgrounds-era users, only L and Ghey Carl Winslow are still making content today, albeit unrelated to the Barney Bunch.

While the modern era of Barney Bunch content creators tend to stick to YouTube and other sites, there were many that do pay tribute to the original Newgrounds-era in different ways. The highly acclaimed Blood-style was heavily influenced by many of the classic Newgrounds flashes, in both their content and their ALL CAPS, porno-esque titles. Some members, like SavageBoy and MrSpike, had usernames that ended in "Barney" (ala SavageBarney and TerroristBarney respectively) as a nod to some of the original Newgrounds members using similar names. The Pube Muppet also enjoys a nice dose of appearances to this day, in fact when the character hit his 20th anniversary in 2022, many members of the community celebrated with numerous videos, with TheSwellObserver creating a video of Pubey visiting the site. In addition, a handful of original Newgrounds flashes have been uploaded to YouTube, Tracle, and Internet Archive.

Some members of the community also attempted to relive the original glory days and tried setting up shop back on Newgrounds. One of these instances took place during the latter half of the 2010s, amidst the Renaissance eras, when several members of the community at the time talked about potentially reviving the Barney Bunch on Newgrounds, but this plan never went into effect. The second and most recent attempt was in early 2023, when StraightFusion and some others would try set up the Barney Bunch back on the site following Tracle's mass-ban on all Barney Bunch/Speakonia content, though it didn't go as well given that that landscape of Newgrounds was much more different than it was back then (notably new Flash entries are deleted unless they reach a certain rating), and it seems only StraightFusion is doing it as everyone else decided not to do it for reasons.

Notable Users

Below are the known members on Newgrounds from back in the day.

• BarneyPoop (founder)
• StrawberryBarney (co-founder)
• SovietBarney (MrSovietBarney)
• SwellBarney
• TwistedBarney
• RetardedBarney (RetardedRevoluton)
• PrincessBarney
• DiaperBarney
• GheyCarlWinslow
• L
• LongneckBarney
• MrRCrap
• MidgetBarney
• ItchyBarney (CybeRen)

Notable Flashes

Most of the original Barney Bunch flashes have since been lost, though a handful are still up on the site to this day.

• The Drew and Barney Show!
• Drew Pickles Sunday
• Barney Bunch Collab Gay
• Drew Pickles Fucks All!
• The Drew Pickles Story
• Barney Bunch TT 1
• BB Clifford Trials