“It’s Finally A Friday” is a three pane comic edit of a page from the Japanese manga series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure normally used to display happiness or relief at the end of a wait for something. Within the JJBA community, the edit has been associated with an airing of a new episode of the TV anime adaptation.
Origin
The original image (pictured below, left) comes from a page in Chapter 179 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders[1], where the characters Jotaro Kujo, Joseph Joestar, Jean Pierre Polnareff, Noriaki Kakyoin, and Mohammed Avdol finally arrive near Egypt after a long journey from Japan and numerous enemy encounters. The original image though only features the former three.
The earliest appearances of the image coincide with the airing of the first episode of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure TV anime adaptation’s second season[2], as in April 4th, 2014, a NeoGAF user Ezlac posted a comment with the image hotlinked from Tumblr[3].
Spread
On September 4th, 2014, it was mentioned on TV Tropes[4]. On September 5th, 2014, the day when the episode covering the original scene aired, a Tumblr user Seviper uploaded a collection of gifs, depicting the comic in anime form[5]. Over 8 months, the post got over 19,753 notes. On October 1st, 2014, a Tumblr user sassybang uploaded a derivative comic, used to show excitement for at the time upcoming release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. As of May 2015, the post had around 6,596 notes[6].
Duwang is the nickname given to an English-translated version of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable, the fourth part of the Japanese manga series, which has gained notoriety within the English-speaking JJBA fanbase for its exceptionally low quality scans and poorly translated Engrish quotes.
Origin
According to JJBA community forums[1], the Duwang scanlation (scan-and-translation) of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable was done by a Chinese JJBA fan as a school project for his English class over a period of about a month. The name, Duwang, comes from the mistranslation of Morioh, the name of the fictional town where the story takes place, in Japanese kanji characters.
Spread
For the longest time, the Duwang translation was the only one available for the Part 4, and had got a sizable following within the fandom, enough for Duwang to be considered a “rite of passage” for those who read the manga[2]. Duwang can also refer to several joke translations of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure 2012 TV Anime series[3]. Throughout 2013 and 2014, a group named Invincible Trio, had been making a better quality re-translation of Diamond is Unbreakable. Despite the translation this time being in proper English, some of the most known Duwang quotes were kept in as a homage[4][5].
On June 21st, 2015, Exinthevatican Uncut uploaded a Youtube video of a couple of pages from the Duwang translation dubbed by Joel from Vinesauce. Over a period of two months, the video got over 77,600 views[12].
Notable Phrases
“What A Beautiful Duwang”
“What A Beautiful Duwang” is a phrase spoken by Yoshikage Kira in chapter 342[4], referring to the town the manga takes place in. It is one of the most well known examples of the Duwang translation, often used in parody and often to refer to the translation itself.
Get A Feeling So Complicated
“Get A Feeling So Complicated” is phrase spoken by Koichi Hirose at the end of chapter 302[5]. It is used to refer to a feeling of some kind of strong emotion, usually as a reaction.
ABAJ / 啊
Among many traits in Duwang scans, sound effects and characters in speech bubbles weren’t translated. One of these is “啊”, translated to “Ah”. Many western fans read the character as “ABAJ” and have associated it with the Duwang translation ever since.
Shit 4chan Says, alternatively known as [s4s], is a board on 4chan dedicated to ‘funposting’ and “making memes”.
History
Shit 4chan Says was created on April 1st, 2013, as a parody of the Shit Reddit Says sub-reddit, with fake upvote/downvote arrows added on the board, before being changed back to the original 4chan board layout.
Board Culture
For its shitposting, ironic attitude and focus on the creation of memes, [s4s] has created a great amount of injokes.
Dubs Guy / “Check ’Em”
Dubs Guy is a nickname given to an image of Christian Bale pointing to the area where the user’s post number shows up; signifying that the user has attempted to get a post ending in double-digits. As a metameme dating back to the time when 4chan had only a few boards, Dubs Guy is a meme that comments on the 4chan-specific meme of declaring a Dubs Get, commonly combined with the catchphrase “Check ’Em”. Dubs Guy’s infamous reputation on 4chan as a form of spam made [s4s] embrace the character to use with their shitposting focus.
Kek
‘Kek’is a translation of the acronym “LOL” (laugh out loud) when reading text written by members of the Horde faction as an Alliance player in the online multiplayer game World of Warcraft (WoW). On [s4s] is associated with the unrelated Turkish snack food Topkek.
This is Nice Board / Bury Pink Girl
This is Nice Boardis a phrase commonly accompanied by a picture of a recolored version of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica character Madoka Kaname, also known as Bury Pink Gril (very pink girl). It’s normally used as a form of shitposting.
Chaika Face / Mwee
Chaika Face,sometimes referred as “mwee”, is a photoshop meme based on an exploitable image that is orginated from a stillshot frame of the main character Chaika Thrabant from the anime Chaika – The Coffin Princess. On [s4s], it’s often as a form of spam and as a faceswap fad.
Lel
Lel is a mispelled form of the acronim LOL and asociated to a poorly drawntrollface. It’s commonly associated with the phrase “Comedy Gold LEL”.
Gippo Dudee
Gippo Dudee is a popular user on s4s, proclaimed by users of the board to be the “owner” of the board. He is commonly associated with the phrase “Today I will remind them”.
Froge
Froge is a slang term for “frog”, normally associated to a image from Keroro, the main character of the anime Keroro Gunso (also known as Sgt. Frog). The image is often spammed on the board, gaining some popularity and "having it’s own imageboard.[2]
- Le X Face (shown below, left) is a series of poorly vectorized images used as a parody of rage faces.
- Flowre (shown below, middle) is a term associated to a poorly drawn flower, used as exploitable and often featured on fanarts.
- Donut Man (shown below, right) is the nickname given to a African American man consuming a powdered donut. It is often used as an exploitable.
[s4s]-tan
[s4s]-tan is the mascot of the board, created to personify the board’s culture. She is most commonly found doing a “check em” sign while wearing a “top kek hat”.
“Cringeworthy” (a portmanteau of the words “cringe” and “worthy”) is an Internet slang term used to describe a wide range of social media blunders and FAILs that may evoke feelings of awkwardness, embarrassment or even pity.
Origin
According to Cringeworthy.net,[9] the word “cringeworthy” was popularized by the introduction of the character Cuthbert Cringeworthy to the British comic strip The Bash Street Kids[3] in 1972.
Spread
On January 25th, 2004, KillerMovies[8] Forums member shadowy_blue submitted a thread to discuss the most cringeworthy moments in the fantasy film series The Lord of the Rings. On June 13th, 2005, The Daily Mail[14] published an article listing ten notable cringeworthy films.
On March 28th, 2007, Urban Dictionary[1] user Apollo Bar submitted an entry for “cringeworthy,” defining it as an action that causes an uncomfortable response. On December 6th, the Internet humor blog Cracked[13] published an article listing eight cringeworthy moments from comic book films. On February 1st, 2009, the site Cringeworthy.net[9] was launched, which serves as a database for cringe-inducing material.
On September 10th, Redditor ABsynth808 created the /r/cringe[4] subreddit, featuring embarrassing and awkward videos. In the following four years, the subreddit gained over 179,000 subscribers. On August 2nd, 2010, an entry titled “Cringe Humor” was created on the trope database website TV Tropes.[15] On October 14th, 2012, the /r/cringepics[7] subreddit was launched by Redditor drumcowski, which accumulated more than 220,000 subscribers in the first year. On November 7th, Redditor BathtubZombie submitted a video titled “My Video for Briona” to the /r/cringe[5] subreddit, featuring a shirtless teenage boy’s monologue addressed to his girlfriend (shown below, left). Prior to being archived, the post garnered upwards of 12,600 up votes and 1,000 comments. On December 13th, Redditor MrGrock submitted a video to /r/cringe[6] featuring an awkward end to a date from the reality television dating show Blind Date (shown below, right), which received over 11,500 up votes and 900 comments before it was archived.
On February 14th, Redditor illskillz1 submitted a photo gallery on the image-hosting website Imgur to the /r/cringepics subreddit,[12] highlighting several pictures of the Iraqi student and aspiring male model Ahmed Angel. Within the first five months, the post gained more than 11,500 up votes and 800 comments. On March 16th, the website Cringe Channel[10] was launched, featuring cringe-inducing media, a gift shop and a web forum. On June 10th, the viral content site BuzzFeed[11] highlighted several photographs and screenshots in a post titled “22 Cringeworthy Ways to tell the World You’re Pregnant” (shown below).
Twilight Sparkle Alicorn Controversy refers to a plot twist in the animated television show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in which the character Twilight Sparkle is transformed into an amalgamation of a pegasus and a unicorn known as an “alicorn.” The character change sparked many discussions among those in the brony fandom after rumors began to spread online in September of 2012.
Background
On September 30th, 2012, the plushie manufacturer Funrise posted a picture on their Facebook page with several My Little Pony plushies in an office, with one Twilight Sparkle plush toy wearing wings (shown below, left).[1] On October 17th, the licensing convention Brand Licencing Europe shared a picture on their Twitter with a poster featuring Twilight Sparkle with a pair of wings (shown below, right).[3] The same day, Redditor Lusht submitted the photo to the /r/mylittlepony[12] subreddit, where it received over 490 up votes and 200 comments within the next three months.
Notable Developments
The news was met with a variety of responses from the brony fandom. Many felt that changing Twilight Sparkle into an alicorn could severely damage the character by over-idealizing her, similar to the Mary Sue phenomenon in fanfiction. On November 1st, 2012, a poll was posted on the MLP Forums,[6] to which over 43% said they did not approve of Twilight Sparkle becoming an alicorn (shown below).
Announcement
On January 29th, 2013, the entertainment news site Entertainment Weekly[1] published an interview with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic head writer Meghan McCarthy, who announced Twilight Sparkle’s transformation into an alicorn, noting the character “was set up from the very beginning to be on an important journey.” The same day, the announcement was reblogged on several brony news sites, including Equestria Daily[4] and Derpy Hooves News.[5]
Online Reaction
Shortly after the announcement, the header of 4chan’s[10] /mlp/ (ponies) board was changed to “WHERE IS YOURGODNOW” (shown below, left) while playing the Metal Gear Solid 4 Love Theme in the background. An Equestria Daily[7] poll was posted on January 20th, 2013, which indicated that a majority of voters were ambivalent toward to the transformation (shown below, right).
On January 27th, DeviantART user PixelKitties created a badge reading “I Believe In M.A. Larson”,[13] being related to M.A. Larson being the writer for the episode in which transformation occurs. Following this, numerous fans changed their avatars to include the button to show their support for the show.
On January 30th, Tumblr[11] user bronychilensis-gwain published an animated GIF pointing out that 4chan’s /mlp/ board was relatively calm regarding the Twilight Sparkle news in comparison to the websites DeviantArt, Equestria Daily, Ponychan and Reddit. Within five days, the post received 1,900 notes.
On February 1st, a thread was created on The Round Stable Forum,[8] featuring various “Thanks, Obama!” GIFs edited to include My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic writer M.A. Larson’s name (shown below). In less than 3 days, the thread garnered more than 80 responses.
Reasoning
Within the show’s canon, alicorns[9] commonly fulfill roles of deities and royalty, maintaining abilities that often far exceed regular ponies such as controlling the sun and moon. Although Twilight Sparkle already has an exceptional skill in magic compared to the average pony on the show, she still maintains no function as either a deity or royalty.
When Twilight Sparkle does become an alicorn, various fans fear that her new position and abilities will seperate her too much from the regular cast and that she will become over-idealized, in a similar vein to the Mary Sue phenomenon. By extension it also makes them fear for the series’ direction, with this event representing the peak of character and plot development.
Creator Response
Episode writer Mitch Larson and Twilight Sparkle’s voice actor Tara Strong responded to the online reaction by publishing tweets directed to fans joking about the controversy (shown below).
The developer of the series, Lauren Faust, has implied in tweets that the current course of Twilight Sparkle doesn’t match her original intentions for the character but noted that she has no intention of undermining the show’s current writers.
Episode Airing
On February 16th, the season 3 final episode, “Magical Mystery Cure,” aired,[14] which featured Twilight Sparkle turning into an alicorn.
Transformers is a toy franchise created by children’s entertainment company Hasbro.[1] The story itself involves sentient robots who have the ability to change shape. These robots come from the planet Cybertron, which has been ravaged by civil war between two factions, the heroic Autobots (led by Optimus Prime) and the evil Decepticons (led by Megatron). Since it first appeared, Transformers has been a huge success with kids and lurkers everywhere. Multiple television shows and comic book series have been made, as well as four live-action movies directed by Michael Bay.
History
Transformers’ earliest roots can be traced back to Japan in 1983. While at the Tokyo toy show of that year, representatives from Hasbro discovered a toyline created by the toy company Takara, called Diaclone,[2] which featured Robots that could transform into vehicles. Hasbro partnered with Takara to create a new franchise called Transformers. The Diaclone toys were released as part of the Transformers brand alongside new fiction, including a cartoon and a comic series published by Marvel Comics. The original cartoon series (called “Transformers Generation 1” or just “G1” by fans), ran from 1984 to 1987 with a film released in theaters in 1986. The film featured the voices of A-list actors such as Orson Welles and Leonard Nemoy, but the movie was a commercial flop and became infamous among fans for killing off major characters such as Optimus Prime and Starscream, and replacing them with new characters in an effort to sell new toys. The movie has however recently been seen in a more positive light by most fans. Several series had succeeded Generation 1 over the years, but Dreamwave Productions obtained the right to publish Transformers in 2001 and rebooted the G1 series. However, Dreamwave went out of business in 2005 due to financial troubles[8] and was replaced by IDW Publishing which currently has the rights to publish Transformers.
The Generation 1 Cartoon
The Generation 1 Cartoon was written and distributed by Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions, and animated by Korean animation studio AKOM and Japanese animation studio Toei. The series was prone to animation errors and unusual or awkward moments, leading to GIFs, macros and reaction faces in a manor similar to 60’s Spider-man.
Live-Action Movies
The live-action film series, with the first movie in 2007, has been an international success grossing over $2.5 billion worldwide.[7] They were directed by Michael Bay, notorious for his over-use of explosions. Bay has also directed other big-budget action movies such as Armageddon,Bad Boys, and Pain and Gain. The fan reaction to the movies has become polarized over the years, with criticisms of the focus on humans instead of the robots and the new complex robot design (dubbed “Bayformers” by fans) as opposed to the classic “blocky” aesthetic. Nonetheless,the financial success of the films has led to Universal Studios releasing a Transformers-based attraction called “Transformers: The Ride”.[6]
Beast Wars
Beast Wars was an animated CGI squeal to the Generation One Cartoon. The series was about two rivaling factions based on the original Autobot and Decepticon sides, the Maximals and Predacons, fighting on a prehistoric earth. The Beast Wars was also considered to be one of the most well received series in the Transformers fandom.
The Aligned Continuity
The Aligned Continuity is a contemplation of multiple modern Transformers series as a whole canon, making series such as High Moon Studios’ Transformers video games and “Transformers Prime” part of the same timeline.
Due to the diversity of each series, errors and inconsistencies within the canon are widely notorious and lead to confusion for some viewers and fans alike.
Impact
Since its release in 1984, Transformers has remained one of Hasbro’s top selling brands, a pop-culture phenomenon, and a household-name. Transformers has become so popular that several television shows, movies and other media forms have made countless references and parodies relating to the franchise.
Online Presence
While Transformers has been mainly marketed towards children, over the years older fans have emerged as the toy line itself has aged. In the 1990s, fans began communicating online and eventually created their own fansites. The growing fandom eventually led to the first official convention, “Botcon”, in 1994 running annually to the present day. The live action movie series, which was launched in 2007, has brought Transformers back into the public eye, causing a major growth in the fandom.
According to Transformers Wiki, “Transformers fans can be referred to as Transfans. This may raise eyebrows among the uninitiated, but it sure beats ‘Trannies.’”[3] Aside from the obligatory fan art and cosplay, multiple websites such as Transformer World 2005[4] or Seibertron[5] have been created where people can discuss Transformers and share images of their collections of Transformers toys, which may number in the hundreds or even thousands. These sites also give fans the opportunity to show off custom-made Transformers, which can be as simple as repainting a toy or as complex as scratch-built Transformers.
jaAm is an edit from the Transformers Aramada comic series that portrays Hotshot delirious and craving “jaAm”; it is also known for the usage of a red comic sans font as Hotshot speaks throughout the comic.
Give Me Your Face!
GIVE ME YOURFACE! is an infamous one liner that Optimus Prime says in the second live-action Transformers movie, as he rips off The Fallen’s face off just before finishing him off. This phrase is often repeated among fans and is currently a well-known in-joke.
Overly Upset Optimus Prime / Kneeling Prime
Overly Upset Optimus Prime / Kneeling Prime is an image macro featuring a poster of the character Optimus Prime from the 2014 Movie “Transformers: Age of Extinction”. The macro series often portrays Optimus in a heavily emotional state of sorrow.
FIRRIB
FIRRIB stands for “Frenzy is red, Rumble is blue.” This refers to the widely-argued subject among the Transformers fandom where fans argue about which color the Decepticon mini-cassettes Frenzy and Rumble are. There is ambiguity about their colors due to the fact that they are identical aside from their colors, which are inconsistently portrayed. In the original cartoon, Frenzy was red and Rumble was blue, but in the accompanying toy line and comic, Rumble was red and Frenzy was blue. This has still been an issue in recent years as they have been portrayed in the IDW comic series as different colors at different times due to errors.
Trukk Not Munky
“Trukk Not Munky” is a term used by fans to mock fans who complain about changes in Transformers fiction. The term comes from the era of the series “Transformers: Beast Wars”, when the Transformers were reinvented as robots who transform into animals as opposed to vehicles. In the series, Optimus Prime was replaced with “Optimus Primal”, who transformed into a gorilla, and Autobots and Decepticons were replaced with “Maximals” and “Predacons.” The radical changes in the franchise caused some fans to complain, leading to the use of the phrase “Optimus Prime is supposed to be a cool truck, not a stupid monkey.” Beast Wars would however evolve into one of the most beloved Transformers franchises, causing fans to turn the phrase into the derisive “Trukk not Munky”
Geewunn
Geewunn is a term for fans of the original Transformers G1 series, many of whom apparently have knee-jerk reactions to anything not from the Transformers G1 series, assuming that any change to the franchise is for the worse. It was originally coined by a TFArchive user cliffjumper back in 2003 as a term to mock such fans. Similar terms also exist for fans of Pokemon and the original Kanto carnations.
Spider-Man Ass Slap is a video mutation originating from a homosexual pornographic video featuring two men dressed in Spider-Man costumes, specifically a series of scenes featuring prominent loud spanking. In 2015, the spanking scenes were frequently used in music remixes and similar videos on Youtube and Vine.
Origin
The earliest upload of the original homosexual pornography video, entitled “Spider Sex”, can be found on the adult entertainment website Pornhub, where it was created by an anonymous user in 2013,[1] although the watermark present in the video implies it was first created for Redtube, another pornography site owned by Pornhub. The video shows two adult males wearing Spider-Man bodysuits laying on a bed; during the first portion of the video they are frequently shown spanking each other. In the following two years, the video gathered nearly 100,000 views.
Spread
“The iconic spider man ass slap” video was first spread via a Vine video from user JoeyD on August 8th 2015 (shown below, left). As of October 27th, the Vine video has over 20,000 loops. The video gained more notability on Vine through a vine by user 9/11 did Bush, uploaded on September 12th, featuring a Gamecube intro remix which replaced the final part with a slap scene (shown below, right). As of October 27th, the vine has over 23 million loops, making up over two thirds of the user’s total loops, and over 71,400 likes as of October 27th, 2015.
On October 17th, the r/spidermanbuttslap sub-reddit was created,[2] focusing on remixes of the ass slap video. In the next 10 days, the sub-Reddit managed to gather over 450 subscribers. On October 18th, the Thug Life Vines Youtube channel uploaded a compilation of various Spider-Man ass slap vines (shown below); which received over 56,000 views in the next 9 days.
Poot Lovato is the nickname given to American singer and actress Demi Lovato based on an unflattering photograph of the celebrity that was uploaded to Tumblr in October 2015. Since emerging online, the photograph has spawned a series of photoshopped parodies and a myth centered around the entirely fictional twin alter ego of Demi Lovato.
Origin
On the red carpet before Demi’s performance at the 2014 Royal Variety Performance at the Palladium Theater on November 13th, 2014, an unknown cell phone user took a snapshot of Demi Lovato.[10] At some point, the photo was edited, possibly by the liquify and skew tools in Photoshop. As of November 3rd, 2015, both the original photographer and the original editor remain unknown.
A comparison of the original photo and the Poot edit.
On October 3rd, 2015, Tumblr user Versaceslut posted a sketch drawing of Demi Lovato based on the edited image of the pop star in the style of the “I Have Drawn You” fan art meme. In just a little over two weeks, the post garnered more than 75,000 notes.
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Spread
On October 11th, 2015, Tumblr Cstcrpt posted the image along with the caption that read: “Demi’s twin sister. She was locked in a basement her whole life. This picture was taken the first time she went outside. Her name is Poot.” The post received over 87,000 notes before the user deleted the Tumblr account.
In the following days, the image instantly began spreading throughout Tumblr, with some users incorporating the photo into photoshopped images and otherwise adding to the story.[2] On October 12th, Twitter user @OfficialPoot began tweeting in character of Lovato’s alter ego; the user has gained more than 3,700 followers in the first week.[3] On October 16th, Wattpad user KayleeMarieTodd began expanding the backstory of Poot in a fanfiction called “The Secret History of Poot Lovato.” Incorporating some aspects of the Demi Lovato fandom, including the phrase “Delete It, Fat!”, the backstory has received over 40,500 reads and 820 votes.[4] In addition, others attempted to create a Wikipedia page for Poot Lovato, but it was removed and identified as a hoax.[5]
Demi Lovato’s Response
On October 23rd, Demi Lovato tweeted, then deleted, a response to the Poot meme. “Cool to see a shitty angle turn into a meme that circulates the Internet to people’s amusement ha” she wrote, and then a second tweet said, “Oh and make actual "headlines"".
As of October 25th the tweets were deleted, according to Cosmopolitan Magazine.[9]
Criticism
Many Tumblr users have complained that the Poot Lovato meme is problematic, marking it specifically as ableist, because the backstory seems to include aspects of Poot’s personality that would make her differently abled, and anti-Feminist, because much of the humor comes as a critique of both Demi Lovato and Poot Lovato’s looks.[12] In addition, because of the appearance of Poot’s altered skull structure, many have compared her to the microencephalic character Pepper of the show American Horror Story; this comparison has also been called ableist by disability activists.[11]
LeafyIsHere is the YouTube handle of Calvin, an American video game streamer and vlogger known for his satirical commentaries and narrations while playing a variety of first-person video games, most notably the surf mode in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Online History
On October 7th, 2011, Calvin launched his YouTube channel under the handle “LeafyIsHere.” During the early years, LeafyIsHere began growing his audience base by hosting Let’s Play-style gameplay videos[6] of Fallout 3 and Minecraft, before expanding into commentaries on a broader range of topics relating to the streaming subculture and social media at large beginning in late 2013, most notably on the initial reception of Google Plus and its controversial integration into YouTube’s commenting system (shown below, left). On July 30th, 2014, LeafyIsHere uploaded his second commentary video addressing the cultures of crowdfunding, donating and advertising on Twitch and YouTube (shown below, right).
Later that same year, on October 28th, LeafyIsHere uploaded a video in which he tells a story of his encounter with a pedeophile, gaining over 1.3 million views in the following year. On November 17th, he uploaded a video wherein he talks about people who threatens others with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks in online gaming communities, gaining over two million views in the following year.
Reception
Calvin’s commentary style has often been replicated by other channels, who are often referred as “Leafy clones”.[7] Some notable channels include Pyrocynical,[8]NFKRZ[9] and LtCorbis. In middle 2015, Leafy fans started using the catchphrase “Leaf a Like” to spam YouTube comment sections and Twitch chats, initially coined as part of a photoshopped parody series depicting the video game commentator as a reptile.
Online Presence
As of March 2016, Leafy commands over 1,5 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, more than 12,000 likes on his Facebook page,[1] over 200,000 followers on Twitter[2] and over 1,000 subscribed users on his subreddit.[7]
Controversies
TommyNC Video
On March 19th, 2016, LeafyIsHere uploaded a reaction video criticizing and mocking the physical appearance and on-camera persona of fellow YouTube vlogger TommyNC2010. The video garnered over 460,000 views in less than 24 hours, though it was removed from his channel shortly thereafter. The same day, TommyNC2010 uploaded a response video in which the vlogger revealed that he has been living with autism and as a result of Leafy’s commentary, he has received death threats from his fans. In less than 48 hours, the video gained more than 600,000 views.
On March 20th, 2016, the YouTube channel h3h3 Productions uploaded a rant video criticizing Leafy and the nature of his video content, as well as the mob mentality of his fanbase that have led to episodes of cyberbullying against minors and vloggers with learning disabilities on YouTube. Within a few hours, the video gained over half a million views and 60,000 likes, prompting Leafy to hide the videos in question from his YouTube channel and issue a formal apology via Twitter,[10] uploading the next day an apology video that got over 800,000 in the following hours.
Related Memes
Leaf a Like / Hisss
“Leaf a Like” is a catchphrase used by the fans of Leafy to spam the comment sections of popular video pages on YouTube. Initially coined as part of a photoshopped parody series depicting the video game commentator as a reptile, the in-joke has also spawned a number of other related terms used in the comments section of YouTube, including the Reptilian Army, Reptilian Brotherhood and most notably “Hisss…”, an onomatopoiea of the high-pitched sound commonly associated with reptilian creatures.
Personal Life
Little is known about Calvin’s life, except that he was born on August 18th, 1996 and lives in Utah.[4][5]
“Some of You Guys are Alright, Don’t go to School Tomorrow” is an expression uttered by a 4chan poster believed to be Umpqua Community College shooter Chris Harper-Mercer, warning /r9k/ readers not to attend school the following day if they lived in the Northwest United States. Following the shooting, many 4chan users posted mock warnings using variations of the phrasal template “Some of you guys are alright, don’t go to X tomorrow.”
Origin
On October 1st, 2015, a mass shooting took place at Umpqua Community College near Roseburg, Oregon. Chris Harper-Mercer, a 26-year-old student, fatally shot nine people and injured nine others before killing himself following a gun battle with responding police officers. Following the shooting, many revealed that a poster on the board /r9k/ submitted a thread warning students living in the Pacific Northwest to “not go to school the next day” one day prior, leading many to speculate that it was the shooter (shown below).
Spread
On October 4th, 2015, an anonymous 4chan user posted a warning for viewers to avoid “the general store” if they were in “Edgeville,” referencing a town in the MMORPGRunescape (shown below).
The following day, a 4chan user posted a warning to students in Austin, Texas (shown below). Also on October 5th, Redditor Kossa2013 posted a screenshot of the post to the /r/UTAustin[1] subreddit. In the coming days, other 4chan users began posting mock warnings using the phrasal template “some of you guys are alright, don’t go to X tomorrow,” featuring substitutions with a variety of references, including historical events, fictional characters and video games.
“Bush Did 9/11” is a catchphrase often used in jest to implicate the former United States president George W. Bush as the perpetrator behind the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. While it has long been used to mock the adherents of 9/11 conspiracy theories and the infamous slogan “9/11 Was an Inside Job”, the phrase saw a notable resurgence of popularity in 2015, including subliminal inclusion in the music video for “Where Are Ü Now,” a Skrillex-Diplo collaboration, starring pop star Justin Bieber.
Origin
The exact origin of the phrase is unknown, however one of the earliest examples of its discussion online dates to 2006, when American actor Charlie Sheen stated it in an interview with InfoWars founder Alex Jones.[1]
Spread
The phrase has been in wide use since the mid-2000s, especially by people discussing the 9/11 Truth Movement in a sincere way. However, in spring of 2015, it became popular among Vine users to create posts with the phrase as the title and the subject.[2] On April 7th, 2015, user WTF Von posted one of the most popular videos of this genre, titled “HE PAUSED SO HARDOMGBUSHDID IT GUYS I KNEW IT” in which he uses the phrase in conversation with his teacher (below left). As of September 9th, 2015, the video has over 4.2 million loops, 44,000 likes, 22,900 revines, and 2,300 comments. In addition, an older clip of an interview with George W. Bush, in which he addresses the threat of terrorism cavalierly and then asks journalists to watch him take a shot in golf, also became popular; that video has been posted by many different users, but one popular YouTube version (below right) has over 50,000 views as of September 2015. This video was also used as part of the Unexpected Jihad YouTube editing trend in early 2015, although it does not feature any Arabic elements.
On Instagram, the hashtag #BushDid911 has been used on over 20,000 posts as of September 2015, many of which are photographs of teenagers (often selfies) that are otherwise unrelated to the September 11th attacks.[3] This trend is often mirrored on Vine, where there are thousands of results for each permutation of the phrase, with the most popular hashtag being #BushDid911.[4] The phrase is frequently used on Tumblr and Reddit, especially in comments, and often in tandem with dank memes or illuminati confirmed] On YouTube, 43,700 results are returned for the phrase Bush Did 9/11, which are a mix of parody and legitimate 9/11 Truther videos.[7]
Justin Bieber’s “Where Are Ü Now” Video
On June 29th, 2015, Skrillex and Diplo released the video for “Where Are Ü Now” featuring Justin Bieber on YouTube. The video had been created partially by inviting fans to draw on animation cells in a gallery exhibition at the Seventh Letter Gallery in Los Angeles, and then composing the cells into a video.[8] Soon after its release, fans began to notice that of the video’s stills contained the phrase “Bush did 9/11.” While several popular Vines and YouTube videos were made, slowing the video down so that people could see the frame clearly, the most measurable impact was in people searching for the phrase “Bush Did 9/11”; as seen in the search interest below, users Googling the phrase peaked in July of 2015.[9]
The full video is above right; the phrase can be seen around 1:41. Above left: a slowed-down version.
Sleep Tight Pupper is an “If You See This While Scrolling” image macro featuring a photograph of a Chihuahua dog wearing a hooded sweater while tucked into a bed, promising good night sleeps to whoever replies with the text “sleep tight pupper.”
Origin
The earliest known used of the image macro can be traced back to May 30th, 2015, when it was submitted in a thread on the /b/ (random) board on 4chan.[7] Although this one instance wasn’t met with much popularity, another image was posted on a /b/ thread with multiple replies successfully derailing the thread, an album[2] containing all the replies was then posted on imgur by user Isplooshedmyself.
Percursor
A similar instance of the image can be found on “Pizza of sleepiness”, a “If You See This While Scrolling” picture despicting a pizza on a bed and promising good night sleeps to whoever replies with the text “sleep tight pizza.” The picture first appeared on 4chan’s funposting board [s4s], on a thread featuring the original picture submitted on September 16th, 2014.[11] A reply to that thread featured the image that would be used onwards.
Spread
On June 5th, 2015, the image macro was posted on a Team Fortress 2 general thread on the /vg/[1] (video game generals) board. On June 11th, Imgur[10] user Isplooshedmyself uploaded a gallery of “sleep tight pupper” posts from 4chan (shown below).
On June 21st, Body Building Forums[9] user sickdevildog1 posted the image macro to a thread on the /misc/ board. On June 23rd, Redditor OvenBakedRhombus submitted the image to the /r/4ChanMeta[8] subreddit. On July 3rd, 2015, YouTuber Bonin Maxime uploaded a video titled “sleep tight pupper,” featuring a captioned fight in the video game Street Fighter IV. As of August 2015, the keywords “sleep tight pupper” yield upwards of 4,600 results on the 4chan archive site Archive.moe. The image has since appeared on other forums and Internet humor sites, including 9Gag[3], BodyBuilding[4], FunnyJunk[5] and r/4chanmeta.[6]
Straight Outta Somewhere is a series of parody images based on the original theatrical poster for the upcoming 2015 biographical hip hop drama film Straight Outta Compton. Since the launch of the image generator site for the promotion of the film in July 2015, the images have been circulating on social media.
Origin
The Red Band trailer of Straight Outta Compton was released on February 8th, 2015, and will be released on theaters on August 14, 2015. The film shows the rise to popularity and disbandment of the 1990s rap group N.W.A. (Niggaz Wit Attitudes). The title of the biopic film was borrowed from their debut album of the same name.[1]
On July 23th, 2015, a promotional site for the film named Straight Outta Somewhere was created as an image generator based on the film’s logo. The images made from it can be saved and shared via Facebook and Twitter.[2]
Spread
Most of the images are posted on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag “#StraightOutta” or “#StraightOuttaSomewhere.” As of August 9, 2015, both hashtags have a total of approximately 206,000 tweets.[3] On August 7, 2015, Vine comedian LeJuan James posted on a picture from the site on Twitter with the caption “HISPANICPARENTS #StraightOutta #TeamLeJuan” (shown below, left), and has acquired 140 retweets and 195 favorites. On August 9th, 2015, rapper Lil’ Kim posted a picture also made from the generator on Instagram, with the caption “#StraightOutta BROOKLYN!! @beatsbydre” (below, right). The image has gained over 16,100 likes and 360 comments.
Also on August 7th, the 120 Sports Facebook page[6] posted a video about the pictures from the site, specifically the sports-related ones. The video currently has over 1,700 views and 62 likes.
Comin' straight outta Compton!In honor of Ice Cube's new movie Straight Outta Compton, the internet had a FIELDDAY creating #StraightOutta memes that did not disappoint!
On the same day, Dime Magazine[4] published an article about the NBA-related images from the generator, featuring pictures poking fun of DeAndre Jordan, Chris Broussard and other NBA star athletes. On August 8th, USA Today’s sports news site For The Win ran an article on mixed martial artist Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino’s post on Instagram to “troll” Ronda Rousey (below, right). The article currently has more than 8,000 shares.[5]
On August 13th, The Obama administration chimed in on the #StriaghtOutta sensation by sharing its own parody with the caption “Straight Outta Uranium” via the White House’s newly launched @TheIranDeal account, which garnered roughly 900 retweets within the first 24 hours. However, the official White House tweet was quickly struck down by many followers on Twitter as a self-congratulatory remark with less-than-accurate implications, since the agreement doesn’t actually call for complete removal of Iran’s uranium stockpile, as BuzzFeed subsequently pointed out in the article titled “The White House just completely ruined the ‘Straight Outta Compton’ meme.”
Unpopular Opinion Puffin is an advice animal image macro series featuring a photograph of a baby puffin[1] and various captions conveying opinions that are thought to be unpopular, in similar vein to other non-conformist advice animal characters like Confession Bear and Angry Walter.
Origin
According to an email sent to our site by the imgur user Daemoos, the photographer of the original stock photo (shown below, left) is Andreas Mulder[16], a student in Netherlands. The image has been included in a photography book, early titled as “Silly Walk”.
The image appeared online as early as July 2010 on That Cute Site.[2] On July 24th, 2013, it was used as an image macro for the first time in a submission to the /r/AdviceAnimals[3] subreddit. In the post, the OP suggested using it as an alternative to Confession Bear, which had been frequently used on the subreddit as a way to express an unpopular opinion disguised as a confession.
Spread
Before the image had become an image macro, the uncaptioned image was submitted to a number of subreddits in 2012 including /r/aww[4], /r/pics[5] and /r/PhotoshopBattles.[6] In February 2013, the photo was submitted to /r/aww[7] a second time. On August 23rd, an Unpopular Opinion Puffin supporting the announcement of Ben Affleck’s role in the latest Batman film[8] (shown below) hit the front page of Reddit, gaining more than 22,000 upvotes, 1,600 points overall and 900 comments within two months. In late September 2013, the subreddit/r/UOPuffin[9] was created. Over the course of the following month, Unpopular Opinion Puffin instances appeared on 9gag[10], Meme Dad[11], Memebase[12] and FunnyJunk.[13]
Notable Examples
As of October 2013, there are more than 250 search results for “Unpopular Opinion Puffin” on Reddit.[14] Additionally, more than 450 instances have been submitted to MemeGen.[15]
“Swiggity Swag” is catchphrase expression originally quoted in the cartoon television series Ed, Edd n Eddy, which is often used to create rhyming captions in image macros.
Origin
The phrase originates from Season 1 Episode 2b from the animated television series Ed, Edd n Eddy, originally aired on January 11th, 1999, Ed says the phrase “swiggity swag, what’s in the bag?” while trying to sound “cool” (shown below). However, the phrase didn’t enter widespread usage until sometime in late 2012, shortly after the slang term swag began to rise in popularity.
Spread
On October 24th, 2012, YouTuber Aussie Jordan uploaded a video titled “Swiggity Swag” featuring a 3D animated character walking with a song titled “N*gg* N*gg*” playing in the background (shown below). In the first 13 months, the video gained more than 560,000 views and 3,000 comments.
On May 29th, 2013, Tumblr user donechesters[3] posted an image macro featuring pop star Katy Perry captioned with a swiggity swag parody of the lyric “do you ever feel like a plastic bag” from her 2010 single “Firework” (shown below, left). On the same day, Tumblr user theinfernaldevices[4] posted a swiggity swag image macro of the villain Darth Vader from the Star Wars science fiction franchise (shown below, right). In the following five months, the posts received upwards of 96,000 and 66,000 notes respectively.
On June 8th, the Internet humor blog Smosh[2] published a compilation of notable swiggity swag image macros. On June 21st, Urban Dictionary[1] user kimjongamazing submitted an entry for “swiggity swag,” defining it as a term used to mock the slang term “swag”.
Notable Examples
Swiggity Swooty, I’m Coming for That Booty
“Swiggity Swooty, I’m Coming for That Booty”, the most commonly used derivative form of “Swiggity Swag”, has become a popular online expression in its own right. It is most often used as a tongue-in-cheek way of expressing sexual interest, and is typically paired with images of characters creeping or crawling.
The phrase has an entry on Urban Dictionary,[5] where it is defined as “the act of going after a piece of ass”. The subreddit /r/SwiggitySwootyGifs,[6] launched on July 23rd, 2014, hosts user-submitted GIFs relating to the expression.
Nintendo is a japanese video game company originally founded in 1889 as a hanafuda card manufacturer. They are most famous for their video game franchises and consoles such as NES, Wii U, and DS as well as their company mascot Super Mario.
History
Pre Video Game Era (1889- 1974)
In late 1889, Nintendo was founded as a playing card company by Japanese entrepreneur Fusjiro Yamauchi in Kyoto, Japan. In 1956, Yamauchi’s grandson Hiroshi acquired licenses to use Disney character likenesses on Nintendo playing cards. In 1963, Nintendo launched the taxi company Daiya, a love hotel chain, a TV network and an instant rice food company. In 1973, Nintendo abandoned many of its ventures to focus on their family entertainment Laser Clay Shooting System devices.
Retro Era (1974 – 2001)
In 1974, Nintendo obtained the rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey game console in Japan. In 1977, Nintendo began producing and distributing the Color TV-Game video game consoles. In 1983, Nintendo released the Family Computer (Famicom) video game console in Japan. In 1985, a variation of the console named the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was launched in North America. In 1988, the Game Boy handheld system was released. In 1990, the Super Famicom was released in Japan, followed by the Super Nintendo (SNES) in North American the next year. In 1996, the Nintendo 64 console, named for its 64-bit central processing unit, was released in North America and Japan. In 1998, the Game Boy Color was launched.
Modern Era (2001 – Present)
In 2001, Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance handheld system and the GameCube console. In 2004, the Nintendo DS handheld device was launched. In 2006, the company released the Wii home video game console. In 2011, Nintendo released the Nintendo DS handheld device. In 2012, the Wii U video game console was launched.
Reception
E3 2013
In April 2013, Nintendo announced[1] that they would not be holding a keynote press conference at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). As the event drew closer, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed[2] via the Nintendo Facebook page[3] the company would be holding a Nintendo Direct conference online, relying on the company’s official Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts to announce their new releases.
At 7 AM PST on June 11th, the Nintendo Direct live stream began, during which they announced new games including Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Super Mario 3D World (shown below, left), a new Fairy type for October’s Pokemon X and Y and a Wii U edition of the Super Smash Brothers series (shown below, right). While the main event introduced two new characters for Super Smash Brothers, Mega Man and Animal Crossing’s default Villager, an event later in the day revealed the Wii Fit trainer avatar would be joining the game as well.
That day, Nintendo was mentioned more than 390,000 times on Twitter according to Topsy Analytics[4], peaking at 130,737 mentions during the hour of 7 a.m. EST. A discussion thread of Nintendo’s events was started in the /r/Games subreddit[5], gaining more than 2,900 upvotes, 1,600 points overall and more than 1,800 comments within 13 hours. Additionally, many of the announcements yielded a number of screen captures, GIFs and fan art on Tumblr under the tags Pokemon X and Y[6], The Villager[7], Wii Fit Trainer[8], Mega Man[9] and Nintendo.[10]
Online Relevance
Fandom
Leaked Document Generator
On June 6th, 2015, artist Brian Lee tweeted[12] a link to his website[11] which generates a fake announcement list for the Nintendo Digital Event at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The following day, the tech news blogs Destructoid[13] and Kotaku[14] published articles about the generator. Meanwhile, threads about the generator were submitted to the NeoGAF,[15] /r/wiiu[16] and /r/nintendo.[17]
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Highlights
Satoru Iwata
Satoru Iwata is the Executive CEO of Nintendo who gained a significant online following since becoming an executive in 2002, similar to fellow Nintendo employees Shigeru Miyamoto and Reggie Fils-Aime.
Reggie Fils-Aime
Reggie Fils-Aime is the president of Nintendo[1] of America, and a regular speaker at the E3 Entertainment Expo[2]. Most of his popularity has spawned from notable lines he has said during his E3 conferences, as well as unpopularity from fans of the video game series Mother.
Shigeru Miyamoto
Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game producer, and manager of Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development. He is well-known for producing the Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Donkey Kong, F-Zero and Pikmin franchises, some of the most popular, influential, and critically acclaimed in the industry.
Nintendium
Nintendium is an Internet myth which refers to a chemical element supposedly discovered by Nintendo and used in all of Nintendo’s console systems. The fictional substance can be seen as a tongue-in-cheek observation about the reputed durability of Nintendo video game consoles, similar to customer reviews of the Indestructible Nokia 3310 and Huge Like XBox.
It Prints Money
“It prints money!” is a catchphrase referring to the Nintendo DS portable gaming system often used in GIFs and image macros with the CEOs of Nintendo.
Notable Subcultures
Super Mario
Super Mario (also known as “Super Mario Brothers” or just Mario) [1] is a critically acclaimed video game franchise developed by Nintendo. The games typically feature Nintendo’s mascot Mario and his brother Luigi as playable characters that venture through different areas in the fictional land known as the “Mushroom Kingdom.”
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda is a fantasy adventure video game series published by Nintendo. The games revolve around the playable hero, Link. In many of the games, Link is tasked with rescuing Princess Zelda from the main antagonist, Ganon.
Pokémon
Pokémon is a media franchise spawned from a role-playing video game series developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo beginning in 1996. The title is a portmanteau formed by combining the Japanese words “Poketto Monsutā” (ポケットモンスター), “Pocket Monsters” in English. The games and other media surrounding it revolve around the capturing different types of these creatures, the titular Pokémon, and using them in battle.
Metroid
Metroid is a series of science fiction adventure video games created by Nintendo. Since the series’ creation, it has received a large online following with many of fan-created websites.
Kirby
Kirby (Japanese: 星のカービィ, Hoshi no Kābī; lit. “Kirby of the Stars”) is a fantasy video game franchise starring a pink-skinned spherical creature as the eponymous protagonist created by Masahiro Sakurai, developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo. Since the release of the original title in 1992, Kirby has grown into one of Nintendo’s most widely recognized video game characters with nearly 20 sequel titles and cross-media adaptations into comics, manga and anime series.
Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem is a strategy RPG video game series developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. Fire Emblem has a large online following, spawning fan art and fiction, among other things.
Metal Gear Solid V is a 2-part stealth action video game developed by Kojima Production, published by Konami and directed by famed designer Hideo Kojima. It is the sixth installment in the Metal Gear Solid series and centers around the adventures of the protagonist Snake as he seeks revenge against the organization Cipher.
History
On September 1st, 2012, Metal Gear Solid V was first announced during the PAX 2012 conference under the title Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes (shown below, left). On December 10th, Kojima Productions, under the fake name of Moby Dick Studios, unveiled a trailer to a game titled The Phantom Pain during VGA 2012 (shown below, right).
During GDC 2013 on March 27th, 2013, Kojima announced that Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain were part of the upcoming game Metal Gear Solid V: the Phantom Pain (shown below, left). On March 18th, 2014, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was released as a standalone prologue to The Phantom Pain for the Sony PlayStation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One (launch trailer shown below, right). A PC port of Ground Zeroes was released on December 18th, 2015, via Steam.
On September 1st, 2015, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was released worldwide for the Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC. The game’s online multiplayer component titled Metal Gear Online or Metal Gear Online 3, was released on October 6th, 2015 (shown below, right).
Reception
Ground Zeroes was met with mixed reponses while The Phantom Pain was met with critical acclaim upon launch. Both games have been praised for their open ended and emergent gameplay.The Phantom Pain was met with further praise due to its scope, replayability, and themes that delves into subjects such as the cold war, nuclear weapons, child soldiers, language, and disease. Ground Zeroes was criticized for its short length and steep price tag. The Phantom Pain was met with criticism due to its more lighter approach in storytelling in favor of gameplay which differs from previous installments in the series that were more story focused.
Game
Platform
Metascore
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC
During Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’s demo at GDC 2013 on March 27th, 2013, fans noticed that Snake was not voiced by David Hayter. On the same day, David Hayter tweeted his disapproval, noting that he wasn’t even approached to reprise his role.[8] Kotaku subsequently submitted an article regarding the replacement.[9]
Also on the same day, a NeoGAF thread was submitted where users discuss their disappointment regarding Hayter’s replacement.[10] A petition was submitted to Change.org demanding David Hayter’s reprisal as Snake. The petition gathered over 22.000 supporters prior to being closed which is short of the 25.000 goal.[11] On March 29th, 2013, Kojima stated during an interview that the change was made because he and his team are trying to “recreate” the Metal Gear series.[12]
On June 6th, 2013, Konami announced during a pre-E3 conference that actor Kiefer Sutherland will replace David Hayter as the voice of Snake.
Quiet’s Design
After her official debut during E3 2013, the character Quiet was met with criticism due to her revealing attire being considered over sexualized. In the following months, Kojima posted several tweets in defense to her design choice, most notably stating that once the player know about her secret, they will be “ashamed of their words and deeds.”
A Hideo Kojima Game
A Hideo Kojima Game is a brand used on the Metal Gear games to signify director Hideo Kojima’s involvement. Following a fracture between Kojima and Metal Gear publisher Konami, the brand was removed from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’s box art and advertising campaign. Fans reactied to this removal through various means, most notably the hashtag #AHideoKojimaGame.
Konami Review Event
On August 20th, 2015, Konami held a review event for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain by inviting various game journalists and personalities to play the game for three days and make a review prior to the game’s launch. On August 24th, 2015, Forbes submitted an article that criticizes the event.[20] On the same day, a NeoGAF thread was submitted where users discuss whether or not the reviews for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has been compromised.[21] The thread gathered 337 posts as of September, 2015. On August 31st, 2015, Video Game personality Jim Sterling posted an episode of The Jimquistion that criticizes Konami’s review event which gathered over 218.200 views in 3 weeks.
Cut Content
Upon The Phantom Pain’s release, players began noticing that certain aspects of the game’s story felt either incomplete or were rushed. On September 2nd, 2015, Youtuber Inzaa uploaded a video about the 51st episode of the game that was cut from the finished product. The video was taken from the blu ray bonus content disc that came with The Collector’s Edition of The Phantom Pain. Within 3 weeks, the video gathered over 487.000 views.
On September 11th, 2015, data miners at the Facepunch forums discovered unused files inside Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, among them are unused textures and an image which reveals that the game was originally going to have a third chapter titled “Peace” (shown below).[22]
2015 Game Awards Ceremony
On December 3rd, 2015, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain won the awards for Best Score/Soundtrack and Best Action/Adventure Game at the Game Awards ceremony. After the award was accepted by actor Kiefer Sutherland, who voiced the character Big Boss in the game, host Geoff Keighley announced that Hideo Kojima could not attend the ceremony due to his contract with Konami (shown below).
Following the announcement, many fans of the series expressed outrage with Konami barring Kojima from the event, posting tweets including the hashtag “#FuckKonami.”[23] Meanwhile, several posts about the incident reached the front page of Reddit.[24][25][26]
Online Presence
On March 23rd, 2013, a subreddit dedicated to the game discussion was created, gaining over 250 subscribers withn three years.[16] On January 27th, 2015, Game Theory uploaded a video discussing the possibility of Punished “Venom” Snake being a stoner due his use of the Phantom Cigar, gaining over 3 million views in the following months. On July 18th, 2015, Youtuber Kikenzo uploaded an animation titled “ROCKETOPUUUNCH!!!!!”, showing Snake throwing his prosthetic arm against Konami’s offices, gaining over 250,000 views in the following months. At game’s release, various Let’s Play channels uploaded gameplays of it, like Game Grumps or Angry Joe.
After its announcement, the game quickly gained a fandom, spawning fan art and discussions on the released trailers. As September 26th, 2015 the japanese artist community pixiv leads to over 470 results under the tag “MGSV”.[2] The artist community DeviantART leads to over 2,200 results under the keyword “metal gear solid v",[17] and over 8,200 results under the keywords “the phantom pain”, being most of them related to the game.[18] Fandom presence can also be found on other communities like 4chan[13][14] or Tumblr.[15]
Related Memes
Punished Snake
Punished Snake is an alias used by the character Big Boss in The Phantom Pain. He is noted by his mechanical arm, multiple scars, and the shrapnel sticking out from the side of his head which resembles a horn. Following his reveal in 2013, fans began to make parodies of the character by giving other, unrelated characters from various media Snake’s physical features.
A Weapon To Surpass Metal Gear
A Weapon To Surpass Metal Gear is a memorable quote from Metal Gear Solid V’s E3 2013 trailer which is often used in response to abnormal weaponry. It is often associated with the songs “Sins of the Father” and “nuclear” due to their use in said trailer.
They Played Us Like A Damn Fiddle!
“They played us like a damn fiddle!” is a line from the first part of Metal Gear Solid V, Ground Zeroes. The line, spoken by the character Kazuhira “Kaz” Miller during a rendezvous with Snake, was seen as out of place for the scene, and thus became notorious among fans.
Such A Lust For Revenge
“Such A Lust For Revenge” or “Who?!” is a memorable quote uttered by the character Skull Face in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The quote gained notoriety online due to its cheesy delivery by voice actor James Horan.
Nuclear
“Nuclear” is a song composed by British musician Mike Oldfield, and released on his album Man on the Rocks in 2014. Due its use as backgroun music for the E3 2014 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain trailer, the song was adopted by the Metal Gear fandom and some of his lyrics started being posted on online forums, most prominently the starting lyric “Standing on the edge”.
Kaz, I’m Already A Demon
“Kaz, I’m Already A Demon” is a quote uttered by Big Boss at the end of the E3 2013 trailer of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The quote has since gathered popularity among fans of the series, appearing in discussions and video titles related to the game.
The Phantom Pain
Prior to the announcement at GDC 2013 that The Phantom Pain is the official sub title for Metal Gear Solid V, fans began speculating if The Phantom Pain that was shown during VGA 2012 is part of another ruse orchestrated by Hideo Kojima for the upcoming installment in the series. Evidence in support of this speculation include Moby Dick Studio’s CEO Joakin Mogren being an anagram for Hideo Kojima, the similar game engine used in Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, and reports of Konami officials wearing Moby Dick Studio and The Phantom Pain t-shirts.
Fan Theories
Prior to the release Metal Gear Solid V, fans of the series began speculating and creating theories regarding the events surrounding the game based on the analysis from various trailers released by Konami. Among those popular theories include Quiet is Chico, Eli is a younger Liquid Snake, and that Punished Snake is a body double of Big Boss.
Flaming Buffalo
Flaming Buffalo is the name of a female soldier that players can obtain by completing episode 31 of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Due to her high combat stats and awkward wheezing that she makes after doing a running animation, the character gain a fan following online, primarily on Tumblr.[27]
“Fake and Gay” is an expression that is commonly used as a stock comment in response to various online media or stories of highly dubious nature or questionable authenticity, in a similar vein to the use of other expressions of skepticism like “this looks shopped”, “seems legit” and “that happened.”
Origin
While it is difficult to pinpoint the precise origin of the phrase due to the common nature of the words, its usage in the context of online media most likely dates back to sometime in the early 2000s when the term “gay” was commonly used as a synonym for “lame,” a once-popular colloquialism that has since become stigmatized due to its homophobic connotation. On June 14th, 2008, Urban Dictionary user MonkSEALPup submitted the earliest known entry[1] for the phrase, which attributes its coinage to commenters on the Internet humor site Break.
Something that is both fake and gay. Popularized by Break.com.
In late February 2010, Break uploaded a comedy skit as a tribute to the community’s long-running comment joke.
Spread
However, the popularity of the phrase skyrocketed in early 2010 shortly after YouTube celebrity vlogger Ray William Johnson began using the expression in his web series =3 on a regular basis to describe various viral videos and stories of questionable authenticity. Throughout 2010, the phrase became widely adopted as a catchphrase by the fans of Ray William Johnson, which soon rise to a noticeable influx of “fake and gay” spam comments on YouTube videos.
On November 22nd, 2011, SoundCloud artist d74g0n uploaded a track titled “Fake and Gay Song,”[3] garnering nearly 30,000 plays over the course of the next four years.
Australian Intelligence Report Leak
In 2012, Michael Scerba, a former Australian intelligence officer at Department of Defence, anonymously leaked a highly sensitive document that he had obtained from the spy agency in a 4chan thread. According to the court documents[5][6] released in August that year, Scerba’s thread was largely met with skeptical responses from the imageboard community, with many users dismissing the files as “fake and gay,” and subsequently buried after failing to gain any substantial attention.
“To my dismay, I just got a bunch of ‘fake and gay’ remarks and the secret documents went 404 [website not found] about 4 comments and 1 hour later.”
Derivatives
Since being adopted as a popular practice of comment spamming and trolling on YouTube, a number of derivative expressions have emerged from “fake and gay” comments, including the spoonerist phrase “Gake and Fay,” the antonym “Real and Heterosexual” and the backronym “F.A.G.”
Vertical Posting refers to the practice of writing a message vertically, and sometimes vertically and horizontally, which is typically considered a form of spamming or shitposting in imageboards and comment sections.
Origin
The exact origin of vertical posting is unknown. The practice is rumored to have originated with “Bravo Nolan”, a sarcastic expression coined on 4chan’s /tv/ in July 2010.
Spread
On July 17th, 2012, a 4chan user vertically posted the phrase “Bravo Joss” on 4chan’s /co/ (comics & cartoons) board, mocking American director Joss Whedon (shown below).
On April 30th, 2014, a 4chan user submitted a vertical post of the word “London” to the /fit/ (fitness) board,[8] in reference to the /fit/ meme “please be in London”.
According to the Desustorage archive,[9] there were upwards of 4,600 “London” vertical postings on /fit/ and 3,200 on /r9k/[10] between April 2014 and June 2015. In March 2015, 4chan users began submitted vertical posts of the phrase “Bravo Vince” in threads about the television crime drama series Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul producer Vince Gilligan.
On May 26th, Redditor that_random_potato submitted a post asking where the meme came from to the /r/OutOfTheLoop[6] subreddit, where several users cited various 4chan boards as the origin. On November 4th, Redditor guidance submitted another post about the vertical typing practice to /r/OutOfTheLoop.[7]
Tubgirl is a shock site image depicting a naked woman lying in a bathtub with her legs placed behind her head while a fountain of orange liquid gushes from her anus and falls back onto her face.
Origin
On December 12th, 2000, Rotten.com featured the image in a post titled “Feco Japanese I Really Think So.”.[1]
Spread
According to the shock image database Shock Chan,[3] the image appeared on the entertainment/news blog Stile Project in 2001. On February 15th, 2002, the domain TubGirl.com was registered.[2] On August 1st, 2005, Urban Dictionary[4] user Mike Oxlong submitted an entry for “tubgirl,” which describes the photo in detail. On October 18th, 2007, the tubgirl image was featured on the frontpage of the gaming news site Kotaku as part of a prank orchestrated by Gizmodo editor Briam Lam.[6] That day, Kotaku[7] posted an apology to readers who had seen the explicit image. On November 30th, YouTuber bambammargerashane uploaded a reaction video featuring two young boys viewing tubgirl and other shock sites (shown below, left). On December 11th, YouTuber Kat[8] uploaded footage of herself mimicking the tubgirl pose on the floor of a dressing room. Within nine years, the video gained over 1.7 million views. On December 18th, YouTuber AutomaticTLC uploaded a short reaction clip in which a young woman views the tubgirl image and says “is that poop? It’s like water” (shown below, right).
On January 4th, 2008, Gawker[9] published an article by writer Nick Douglas providing a descriptions of tubgirl and other shock site media. On June 30th, 2009, YouTuber MultiCoolTV22 uploaded a reaction video in which two young women view the original tubgirl video (shown below, left). On July 21st, YouTuber Mama Dorkiness Everyday uploaded another reaction video of two women viewing the video (shown below, right).
On April 16th, 2011, YouTuber Billy Nunez uploaded audio of comedian Patrice O’Neal’s appearance on The Black Phillip Show, during which he discusses tubgirl and other shock sites (shown below, left). On January 9th, 2016, YouTuber PewDiePie posted a video titled “Things You Should Never Google (Warning Gross) #2”, in which he views the tubgirl image along with other shock media (shown below, right). Within three months, the video gained over 5.3 million views and 32,000 comments.
Search Interest
The large spike in search queries for “tubgirl” in early 2016 coincides with the release of PewDiePie’s “Things You Should Never Google (Warning Gross) #2” video.
