The Hidden Blade is an assassination gadget featured on the open world videogame series Assassin’s Creed. Its unique appereance and mechanism inspired many Assassins Creed fans to create their own custom hidden blades, both on Youtube tutorials and related fan arts.
Origin
On the Assassin’s Creed series, the hidden blade is a signature-like weapon used by the members of the Assassin clan. On the gameplay, hidden blade can be used in sneak / insta kills or direct battles.
Spread
On April 2nd, 2014, Urban Dictionary user [1]GrImReApEr submitted an entry on the hidden blade, describing as “A hidden wrist blade that will deploy with the pull of a ring pulley system that causes the blade to extend and retract.”
On November 23, 2011 the videogame distribution platform steam relased an update for the multiplayer first person shooter Team Fortress 2. It featured a new melee weapon for the spy class, called “Sharp Dresser”[4] to reference the Assassin’s Creed game series.(shown below)
On October 21st, 2013, Youtube show [2]Man At Arms uploaded a video titled “Hidden Blade & Pirate Cutlass (Assassin’s Creed 4)” where they describe how the hidden blade has become one of their most requested weapon to make by the fans. By 2015 the video has gathered more than 5 million views.
On the artist community site Deviantart, typing the keyword “Hidden Blade” would yield more than 16.000 results which range from fanart to custom made replicas of the weapon.[3]
Super Troopers is a 2001 comedy film about a team of five Vermont state troopers who patrol near the Canadian border of the state. In March of 2015, an Indiegogo campaign was launched to crowdfund a sequel for the film.
History
On January 19th, 2001, Super Troopers was released, in which a team of prankster state troopers attempt to solve a murder and uncover a drug-smuggling ring. The film stars the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, consisting of members Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske.
Online Presence
On February 1st, 2012, YouTuber JustinSantiago99 uploaded a clip of the opening scene from the film, which gathered upwards of 2.7 million views and 2,000 comments in the first three years. On April 11th, a Facebook[6] page titled “Super Troopers” was launched, garnering more than 1.3 million likes in the following three years.
Sequel Crowdfunding Campaign
On March 24th, 2015, the Broken Lizard group created an Indiegogo[1] page with a goal of $2 million to crowdfund the sequel Super Troopers 2. That day, the promotional video for the campaign was submitted to the /r/videos[7] subreddit, where it gained over 5,100 votes (92% upvoted) and 1,900 comments in the first 48 hours. In 24 hours, the campaign reached its goal.[2] As of March 2015, the project is #37 on the Wikipedia “list of highest funded crowdfunding projects”[3] with more than $2.8 million received.
Reception
As of March 2015, the film has a score of 35% on Rotten Tomatoes[4] and a score of 48 on Metacritic.[5]
Related Memes
“Meow” Game
During the film, a trooper performs a prank in which he replaces the word “now” with “meow” when interacting with a detained driver (shown below, left). Since the film’s release, the prank has been performed by several professional sports players during interviews. On September 28th, 2012, the Atlanta Falcons football player Thomas DeCoud played the “meow” game during an interview on the television show SportsCenter (shown below, right).
On November 28th, 2014, YouTuber gokwingsogo uploaded a video of hockey player Ray Kaunisto saying the word “meow” seven times during an intermission interview (shown below, left). In four months, the video gathered upwards of 1.1 million views and 170 comments. On March 11th, 2015, YouTuber masn National uploaded a video of baseball pitcher Gio Gonzalez fitting the word “meow” into an interview 11 times (shown below, right).
“You’re Not My Dad!,” also known by the hashtag #NOODLEHEAD, is a phrase uttered by a young child in a Vine video uploaded by user Jessi Lockett. Since its upload in November 2014, the boy’s comical retort has gone viral and the soundbite from the clip has been paired with a variety of other videos for comedic effect, in a similar vein to the Lebron James Kid remix series.
You’re Not My Dad!, also known by the hashtag #NOODLEHEAD is a phrase uttered by a young child in a viral video on Vine uploaded by user Jessi Lockett. The child yells at the camera, saying “You’re Not My Dad! You always wanna hear something!”, then calls the person holding the camera an “ugly a** f***in’ noodlehead.” Both the initial and last lines of the video have been used in mashup videos on Vine, or videos where the soundbyte is paired with other clips for comedic effect, similar to The “Lebron James” Kid.
Origin
On November 16th, 2014, Vine user Jessi Lockett uploaded a video clip in which a child yells at the cameraperson saying “You’re Not My Dad! You always wanna hear something!” before calling them an “ugly a** f***in’ noodlehead.” As of March 27th, 2015, the video garnered over 24 million loops, 422.7k likes, and 286k reVines, and 20.9k comments.
Spread
In late January and early February of 2015, the video enjoyed a surge in popularity as Vine users re-Vined it, posted it on YouTube, remixed the audio to music, and re-appropriated the child’s soundbytes onto other videos. User JMerks remixed the audio with a trap beat to create a VineTrack on Soundcloud[3]; this clip has 143k plays as of March 27th, 2015.
Another popular video, by user ClutchChris, transposed the boy’s audio onto a video of Darth Vader telling Luke Skywalker that he’s his father. The ClutchChris watermarked version of the video has been posted by several users, garnering at least 150k loops between February 3rd, 2015 and March 27th, 2015.
There are more than 500 videos tagged with #Noodlehead as of March 27th, 2015.
Bloodborne is a action role-playing game directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki for the PlayStation 4 console, in which players engage in fast-paced combat against large hordes of enemy monsters.
History
On June 9th, 2014, the PlayStation YouTube channel uploaded a trailer for Bloodborne, which gained over 1.9 million views and 2,900 comments in nine months (shown below, left). On March 2nd, a commercial for the game began airing on television (shown below, right).
On March 24th, 2015, Bloodborne was released on the PlayStation 4 console. In the game, players explore the gothic city ruins of Yharnam, where citizens are infected with a disease that transforms them into horrific monsters. Players must destroy large groups of enemies in fast-paced combat using a variety of melee weapons and firearms.
Online Presence
On December 11th, 2013, a Bloodborne Wiki was created on Wikia.[4] On April 30th, 2014, the /r/bloodborne[1] subreddit was launched for discussions about the role-playing game, which gathered more than 24,500 subscribers over the next 11 months. On September 12th, a Bloodborne Facebook[5] page was created, accumulating over 19,900 likes in eight months. On November 1st, a second Bloodborne Wiki[3] was created. On February 2nd, 2015, IGN released a video showcasing the first 18 minutes of the game (shown below). In two months, the video gained upwards of 1.5 million views and 7,500 comments on YouTube.
On March 26th, the Rooster Teeth YouTube channel uploaded footage of a player rage quitting in the game (shown below, left). The same day, the Funhaus YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “Drunkborne,” in which several gamers play Bloodborne while inebriated (shown below, right).
Reception
As of March 2015, Bloodborne holds a score of 93 on the review-aggregating website Metacritic.[2]
ShipYourEnemiesGlitter is an online business which allows customers to purchase envelopes containing glitter bombs that are subsequently mailed to a specified address. Following the launch of the service in early 2015, various spin-off sites were subsequently created that ship other gag items to unsuspecting victims.
History
On December 31st, 2014, Australian resident Matthew Carpenter[6] registered the domain for website ShipYourEnemiesGlitter.com,[1] which mails glitter bombs to a specified addresses for a fee of $9.99. On January 12th, the site was officially launched. That day, Redditor claudette45morgan submitted the site to the /r/InternetIsBeautiful[4] subreddit, where it reached the front page and gained over 5,100 votes (95% upvoted) in the first two months. On January 22nd, The Guardian[2] reported that Carpenter sold the site for $85,000 on the Flippa online marketplace to Internet entrepreneur Peter Boychuk. On January 27th, The Observer[5] published an interview with Carpenter, in which he revealed the website was an elaborate viral marketing stunt inspired by the book Trust Me I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator by Ryan Holiday. On March 2nd, Carpenter published a blog post titled “The Entire Ship Your Enemies Glitter Story,” in which he detailed the history of the marketing stunt.[7]
Spin-off Sites
RuinDays
The website RuinDays[3] allows customers to ship a wide variety of gag items, including a “bag of dicks”, “annoying sand,” “poop in a box” and a spring-loaded glitter bomb. On January 15th, 2015, YouTube edamame uploaded a video of her father being pranked with a spring-loaded glitter tube, gathering upwards of four million views and 760 comments in the next two months (shown below).
ShipYourEnemyConfetti
The site ShipYourEnemyConfetti[9] allows customers to purchase glitter packages for $7.99 or confetti packages for $6.49 to send to a specified address.
PoopSenders
The website PoopSenders[8] sends packages purportedly containing various types of animal excrement, including cow, elephant and gorilla.
Traffic
As of March 2015, ShipYourEnemiesGlitter.com holds a United States rank of 82,752 on the traffic analytics site Quantcast.[10]
(Notes : Editors Needed to help fully cover this.)
About
Funhaus is a videogame Youtube Channel comprised of former members of Inside Gaming from Machinima. After leaving Machinima on late January, 2015, the group form a partnership with Rooster Teeth as part of the newly formed west Coast branch of the company. Similar to their earlier works on Inside Gaming, Funhaus covers video game news, gameplays, live action skits, Q&As, and podcasts on their channel.
History
On January 27th, 2015, The Inside Gaming crew announced that they are leaving Machinima on their daily news program. The news was later covered by several gaming sites. The last episode of the daily was aired on January 30th as their farewell to the company.
On February 5th, 2015, Rooster Teeth Co-Founder Burnie Burns announced via his Journal on the Rooster Teeth that the Inside Gaming Crew will be joining the company under the name Funhaus as part of their newly formed West Coast branch[1]. On the same day, The Funhaus Youtube channel was created and alongside the Rooster Teeth Channel uploaded a video regarding the announcement.
On February 7th, 2015, Funhaus uploaded a video titled “SO WHATNOW? (With Burnie!)” where they further discuss in detail about the crew joining Rooster Teeth alongside Burnie Burns. As of March, 2015, the video has gathered more than 560.000 views. The Channel officially became active on February 16th, 2015.
Crew Members
1. Adam Kovic
2. Bruce Greene
3. James Willems
4. Lawrence Sonntag
5. Sean “Spoole” Poole
6. Joel Rubin
7. Matt Peake
Notable Examples
Related Series
Demo Disk
Demo Disk is a series where the crew would install play random old demo games from a PCGamer which was submitted by reddit user Kage_Oni. Usually by the end of the gameplay, Bruce Greene would destroy the disc for comedic reasons.
Dude Soup
Dude Soup is a podcast show where the crew would get together to talk about the latest hot topics in videogames, their current daily lives, and highlight fanart that was submitted by the fan community with one of the crew members playing a game as the discussion goes on.
Open Haus
Open Haus is a Q&A series where the crew would answers that were submitted to them from /r/funhaus, usually in a laid back on non serious style.
GTA5 Gameplay
GTA5 Gameplay is a series where the crew (either one person or 4 crew members) would play GTA Online matches, usually with the fan community.
The Know
On February 10th, 2015, Funhaus began their collaboration with fellow Rooster Teeth Channel The Know in delivering the latest news from the video game world similar to Inside Gaming Daily on Machinima. Similar to their previous work on Machinima, The crew would rely on clickbait style thumbnails and titles with a laid back style o their reporting while keeping as informative as possible.
Online Popularity
As of March, 2015, The Funhaus Youtube Channel has gathered up more than 459.000 views[2]. Around the same the channel’s announcement, /r/funhaus[3] was created and has since gathered more than 25.000 users or “hausmates”. The official Funhaus “Twitter page”:":http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sites/twitter has garnered more than 80.000 followers [4] while the Funhaus official Facebook page has gathered more than 10.000 likes[5]. On March 28th, 2015, an unofficial fan youtube channel called “CommunityHaüs” was launched which aims to highlight fan created content from the community.
Tom Cruise is an American film actor prominent for his work in the 1980s through 2010s, including well-known roles like Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the 1986 feature Top Gun, the nominal character in Jerry Maguire and Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible action series[1]. Cruise has been nominated for an Academy Award three times and is generally regarded as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. He is also a well-known member of the Church of Scientology.
Related Memes
Tom Cruise Jumps on Oprah’s Couch
Tom Cruise Jumps on Oprah’s Couch refers to the appearance of Tom Cruise on The Oprah Winfrey Show, possibly originally to promoted the upcoming remake War of the Worlds. Instead, Cruise went wild, exclaiming he had “never felt this way” and that he needed to let the world know he loved his then-wife Katie Holmes.
The clip quickly became subject to parody including photoshop manipulation and film parody.
Laughing Tom Cruise
Laughing Tom Cruise refers to a series of photoshopped images and remix videos based on a press photograph of the famous American actor laughing manically during his on-stage appearance as a guest speaker at a Yahoo! conference in early 2006.
Scientology Video Leak and Project Chanology
In 2008, a promotional video for the Church of Scientology featuring Cruise explaining his faith was posted online. The video featured Cruise being interviewed and talking about the practices of the Church, which are often considered mysterious and opaque.
After the Church of Scientology issued a DMCA takedown notice to YouTube for hosting the video, users of the forum board 4Chan and other online forums gathered together to begin Project Chanology[2], a group that organized protests against the Church of Scientology. Many regard this instance as the beginnings of the formation of the online hacktivism group Anonymous.
Center Tooth; You Will Never Unsee This
Although the subject had been explored several times[4], on- and off-line, a thread on Reddit[3] pointing out a misalignment in Tom Cruise’s front teeth became quiet popular, garnering 1,426 points (80% upvoted) and the imgur image received 66k views as of March 2015.
The title of the thread, “You will never unsee this, has a tooth at the exact center of his face” has become a copypasta used whenever anyone brings up Cruise on a forum board.
Tom Cruise Clinging
Tom Cruise Clinging is a photoshop series featuring a cut-out image of Tom Cruise, taken from a stunt he performed for his film Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, transposed into a variety of unlikely environments.
Kemp Bush / Unfair Plane are terms of broken english that many players of World of Tanks use. The origin is found in a Youtube video titled “World of Tanks – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly 7” by The Mighty Jingles in a game of World of Tanks where a player named “schrader” in a Löwe tries to report a player in a Waffenträger auf Pz. IV multiple times on several different charges including being AFK, being a bot, etc even though the only thing the Waffenträger ever did was say “Fuck you Löwe”. He also argues with his own teammates and even tells the enemy team where the rest of his teammates are after he was destroyed
View on YouTube
Due to schraders childlike attitude, questionable sportsmanship and his ridiculously broken english, the two phrases went viral in the World of Tanks community, spawning several image macros
I EnderClan have created this meme while i was bored at a party then i had the idea to post this on different things like twitter and instagram. This is a tru gamer.
Kenshiro hiding in a haystack is a memorable scene from popular anime Fist of the North Star in which the main protagonist, Kenshiro, has to hide inside a cart full of hay in order to get across a bridge. Due to its overly dramatic tone acknowledged by many as unintentionally funny, the scene would spawn a great number of parodies after a gif animation was posted online.
Origin
In season 4th episode 92, titled “Juza of the Clouds Resurrects! I Have No Fear for Raoh!!” of anime Fist of the North Star that was first broadcasted on October 30th 1986, one of the scenes involved the main protagonist, Kenshiro, hiding inside a cart of hay with the help of his friends in order to cross a bridge rigged with explosives without being seen. Before letting them pass, enemy guards sent an unnamed blond character checking the cart. Upon revealing the hero’s face inside, the character looks in surprise at Kenshiro dramatically staring back at him. A Japanese version with English subtitles of that peculiar moment, titled “Death Awaits…”, was uploaded to Youtube by Beware the girth! on November 8th 2008 (shown below).
One of the first online parodies from that scene was posted to Nico Nico Douga on May 20th 2008[1]. Accumulating to more than 330 000 views as of March 2015 before being taken down, it was a MAD video replacing the original soundtrack from the anime with popular Idol M@ster song 春香 目が逢う瞬間 (Me Ga Au ToKi which means “The Moment Our Eyes Met” in English). A Youtube version was uploaded on March 20th 2010 (shown below, left). Then, on May 22nd, 2008, another Idol M@ster parody featuring a character’s face hiding inside another character’s hair was posted to Nico Nico Douga[2]. A Youtube version followed on December 21st 2008 (shown below, right)
Spread
While the Japanese MADs didn’t start a noticable trend on Nico Nico Douga, it’s on the western web that the scene would catch attention. An animated gif version was posted to a Blue Gartr forum thread about the Fist of The North Star video game on October 5th 2010[3]. It then made its way to Imgur as early as feburary 2011[4] and even Live Journal on March 18th[5]. A YTMND parody was also created on March 17th[6].
On December 9th, 2014, an edit featuring Javert from Les Miserables was posted to Imgur[7]. As of March 2015, the animated gif has garnered more than 1 million views and about 12 000 upvotes on the site (shown below).
Anti-Racist is Code for Anti-White, also known as the Anti-Racist Copypasta or The Mantra, is a copypasta which claims that people who commonly identify as being anti-racist are actually racist towards white people. And that there is a conspiracy to wipe white people off the face of the planet. There are different derivatives of the copypasta.
Origin
The original text comes from a mantra created by the political activist Bob Whitaker, claiming there’s a genocide against white race and everyone who identifies himself as anti-racist are really against the white race.[2] This mantra was featured on the blog “Anti-Racist Canada” on July 21st, 2011.[1]
ASIAFORTHEASIANS, AFRICAFORTHEAFRICANS, WHITECOUNTRIESFOREVERYBODY!
Everybody says there is this RACE problem. Everybody says this RACE problem will be solved when the third world pours into EVERY white country and ONLY into white countries.
The Netherlands and Belgium are just as crowded as Japan or Taiwan, but nobody says Japan or Taiwan will solve this RACE problem by bringing in millions of third worlders and quote assimilating unquote with them.
Everybody says the final solution to this RACE problem is for EVERY white country and ONLY white countries to “assimilate,” i.e., intermarry, with all those non-whites.
What if I said there was this RACE problem and this RACE problem would be solved only if hundreds of millions of non-blacks were brought into EVERY black country and ONLY into black countries?
How long would it take anyone to realize I’m not talking about a RACE problem. I am talking about the Final solution to the BLACK problem?
And how long would it take any sane black man to notice this and what kind of psycho black man wouldn’t object to this?
But if I tell that obvious truth about the ongoing program of genocide against my race, the white race, Liberals and respectable conservatives agree that I am a naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews.
They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-white.
Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white
Spread
The copypasta is commonly posted in the Youtube comment section on videos related to race issues, and sometimes on videos that have nothing to do with race. It is also commonly shared on facebook and has been discussed on sites such as Stormfront and on image boards like /pol/
Do You Think I give a Heck, is a a series of captioned stock photos of 3D smilies. The original Facebook community, as well as screenshots of the posts, have received plenty of spread, specifically in 4chan and Tumblr.
Origin
The original Facebook community was created on March 4th, 2013. The page was dedicated to posting 3D smilies and phrases about “not giving a heck”. The page eventually stopped by December 28th, 2013, and has received over 17,000 likes.
Spread
The screenshots of the posts on the Facebook page, have spread around to sites such as 4chan and Tumblr. 4chan’s /v/ board, which is also one of the more popular boards on 4chan, has over 120 posts featuring the words “don’t give a heck”[2]. Tumblr’s do you think i give a heck taglist[1], is still quite popular, considering the activity of the original Facebook page.
Japanese Honorifics are a series of sufixes used on Japanese language as a way to adress or refer to people. They are often used by anime or japanese culture fans.
Origin
Honorifics are an important part on the Japanese sociolinguistic. Normally they are used when one is refering to it’s interlocutor, as using on oneself is often seen as arrogant, and dropping it implies a high degree of intimacy and it’s often reserved for close friends, one’s spouse or social inferiors (for example, a teacher adressing to its students). The honorifics fall on three different categories depending on the type of speech the transmitter use (shown bellow).
[work in progress, feel free to request editorship]
About
Iggy Azalea Rapping Nonsense, also known by the hashtag #StopIggy2015, refers to a Vine clip of the Australian rapper improvising an a capella rendition of her 2011 self-released hip hop single “D.R.U.G.S” during her performance at a concert in 2013. Following the late emergence of the video clip in March 2015, it spurred a host of remix and mashup videos mocking her perceived lack of rapping skills both on Vine and YouTube.
Origin
The original footage of Iggy Azalea performing “D.R.U.G.S” at the 2013 European hip hop music festival Splash! in Ferropolis, Germany was uploaded by YouTuber ItsIggyIgz on December 28th, 2014, only days after another clip of the rapper performing an awkward freestyle verse on the morning radio program Sway In The Morning surfaced on Vine. Within three months, the full-length video on YouTube garnered more than 317,000 views.
Spread
A short vine clip of the video was posted by user damn tommy on March 16th, 2015, and in two weeks received 22 million loops, 75k likes, 34.2K Revines, and 6,021 Comments.
On March 17th, the video was featured on many popular blogs, including Mashable[1], New York Magazine’s “Vulture” blog[2], and the Huffington Post[3]. Remixes and repurposed sound-bytes of the piece began to appear on Vine using the hashtag #StopIggy2015. There are now more than 500 posts with this hash tag. Some of the most popular vines have almost as many loops as the original, with the most popular, by user Don Jesus[4], nearing 20 million loops in five days.
On Twitter[5], user @desusnice posted a video attempting a humorous translation of the rap, which received 827 retweets and 834 favorites in three days.
Grimes is the stage name of Canadian singer-songwriter Claire Boucher, who has gained a large following and critical acclaims online for her eclectic and experimental style of music that draws influences from a variety of musical genres, including electronica, pop, hip hop, R&B and noise rock.
Online History
In 2007, Boucher created a Myspace[8] page for her music titled “Grimes,” which was named after the popular British music genre. In January 2010, she released her debut studio album Geidi Primes. In September, her second studio album Halfaxa was released. In January 2012, Grimes was signed on the label 4AD Records and released her album Visions to critical accalim. On March 2nd, the music video for her track “Oblivion” was posted to the GrimesVEVO YouTube channel, gaining over 15 million views and 13,000 comments in the next four years (shown below, left). On August 22nd, the music video for her single “Genesis” was released, garnering upwards of 26 million views and 34,000 comments within three years (shown below, right). In 2013, Grimes was named “Artist of the Year”[10] at the annual Webby Awards ceremony.
Social Media Presence
As of March 2015, several official Grimes social media accounts have been created, including a Facebook[3] page with more than 720,000 likes, a Twitter[4] feed with over 273,000 followers and the Actually Grimes Tumblr.[2]
Related Memes
Grimeth
“Grimeth” is an alternate spelling of Grimes, which is often used by 4chan users on the /mu/ (music) board to mock the artist’s lisp.[6][7]
Grimes Love Mayonnaise
“Grimes Loves Mayonnaise” is an expression used to poke fun at Boucher’s habit of eating mayonnaise, despite claiming that she eats a predominately vegan diet.
Close-Up Photograph
Critics of Grimes often post an unflattering close-up photo of the artist in order to troll her fans on various imageboards and discussion forums.
Personal Life
Claire Boucher was born in Vancouver on March 17th, 1988 and is of Québécois, Ukrainian and Russian descent.
#WearYellowForSeth is a hashtag campaign launched by five-year-old Seth Lane to raise awareness for his condition severe combined immunodeficiency disorder (SCID) by urging people to post photographs of themselves wearing the color yellow in late March 2015.
Background
On March 10th, 2015, Leanne Lane uploaded a video titled “#WearYellowForSeth,” featuring her five-year-old son Seth holding several signs asking viewers to post photos of themselves wearing yellow with the hashtag “#WearYellowForSeth” on March 27th to raise awareness for SCID (shown below).
Notable Developments
On March 11th, 2015, the ourlittleheroseth YouTube channel uploaded a second “#WearYellowForSeth” video (shown below). On March 17th, the video was highlighted on BuzzFeed.[1] On March 19th, the single topic blog WearYellowForSeth[5] was launched, which highlights social media posts containing the hashtag “#WearYellowForSeth.”
#WearYellowForSeth Day
On March 27th, the band A Blank Slate posted a music video dedicated to Seth titled “Thumbs Up” (shown below).
The same day, actor Ashton Kutcher tweeted a video showing support for Seth, gaining over 2,800 favorites and 1,700 retweets in the next 72 hours (shown below).
Meanwhile, singer Joe Jonas[3] of pop group The Jonas Brothers tweeted the hashtag along with a photo of himself wearing a yellow shirt (shown below, left). Also on March 27th, comedian Craig Ferguson[4] tweeted a photograph of himself wearing a yellow Pikachu costume with the hashtag (shown below, right).
According to the Twitter analytics site Topsy,[6] there were over 29,900 tweets containing the hashtag posted that day.
GoFundMe Page
By the end of March 2015, Seth’s GoFundMe[2] page had accumulated more than £28,232 in donations.
Working!!, known in America under the title Wagnaria is a Japanese 4-panel comedy manga written by Karino Takatsu, and later adapted into an anime by animation studio A-1 Pictures. The series has garnered a significant online fandom, particularly surrounding the show’s anime adaptation, spawning a number of fan works and sub-memes.
Premise
Working!! follows the story of Sōta Takanashi, a 16 year old High school student who gains a new job working for local family restaurant Wagnaria, after being recruited by fellow student Popura Taneshima. While there, he meets a number of equally eccentric colleagues, including the androphobic waitress Mahiru Inami, Katana-wielding Chief of staff Yachiyo Todoroki, stoic chef Jun Satō and lazy manager Kyōko Shirafuji.
History
Working!! first began as a 4-panel comedy manga written by Karino Takatsu and serialized in Square Enix’s Young Gangan manga magazine, first beginning in January 2005 before ending in November 2014, lasting for 13 volumes. An anime adaptation produced by A-1 pictures, also known for their work on shows such as Sword Art Online, also aired, running from April 4 to June 26, 2010 and lasting for 13 episodes. A second season was also created, running from October 1 to December 24, 2011, also lasting for 13 episodes. A third season has also been announced, and is planned to begin airing starting in July 2015.
Reception
The manga received much popularity after it’s orginal creation, especially in Japan, where the fourth manga volume of was the seventh highest selling manga volume in Japan for the week of October 23 and October 29, 2007.[1] The sixth manga volume was also the sixth highest selling manga volume in Japan for the week of March 24 and March 30, 2009, selling over 73,000 volumes[2].
Online Relevance
In America, Working!! is licensed by NIS America, with the second season available for streaming on Crunchyroll[3]. The series has gained a large online following on many sites, including on Tumblr[4], 4chan’s /a/ (Anime and Manga) board[5], Facebook[6], Fanpop[7], My Anime List[8], and DeviantART[9]. There are numerous sites that provide episodic information about the series, such as the Working!! wiki[10], TV Tropes[11] and Anime News Network[12]
Fandom
The Working!! series has spawned a significant online fanbase since it’s creation, which has created much fanart and fanfiction. On the Japanese fanart site Pixiv, there are over 23,000 images tagged under “化物語”[13], as well as over 6,000 videos on the video sharing website Nico Nico Douga[14]. On DeviantART, there are also over 300 images tagged related to the series[15].
Notable Sub-Memes
X Plays The Tambourine
X Plays The Tambourine refers to a series of MADs based on a scene from the ending sequence of the second season of the Wagnaria anime, featuring the characters of Yamada & Souma playing the tambourine while a confused Takanashi stands in the foreground. The scene garnered many parodies, featuring different characters from a number of other franchises.
Someone Else / Working!! Season 1 Opening Parodies
Working!! Season 1 Opening Parodies refers to a series of Anime Opening Parodies based around the opening to the first season of the Working!! anime, titled Someone Else. The parodies garnered popularity on sites such as Nico Nico, spawning many derivatives[16]
Coolish Walk / Wagnaria Season 2 Opening Parodies
Working!! Season 2 Opening Parodies refers to a series of Anime Opening Parodies based around the opening to the second season of the Working!!anime, titled Coolish Walk. The parodies garnered popularity on sites such as Nico Nico, spawning many derivatives[17]
Am I Poplar Yet
Am I Poplar Yet refers to a phrase which has gained popularity within the Working!! fandom, in reference to the character of Popura Taneshima, who was named after the Poplar tree in hopes she would grow up to be tall, ironically contradicting her short height. Because of this, the phrase gained popularity, with much fanart being created featuring the character with Poplar plants. The phrase also gained popularity among the “Katawa Shoujo”: fandom, due to the character of Emi, who at the time was considered the least popular character, often being associated with the phrase “Am I popular yet”, which was often mistyped as “Am I poplar yet”.
Ellen Pao’s Gender Discrimination Lawsuit refers to a lawsuit filed by executive Ellen Pao in 2012 against the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. After the case went to trial in February 2015, many online debates were held regarding Pao’s character and the problem of gender discrimination in the technology industry.
Background
On May 10th, 2012, Pao filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins, claiming that a male junior partner had retaliated against her after she ended a romantic relationship with him by promoting men ahead of her. On October 1st, Pao claims she was terminated from the firm, while Kleiner Perkins alleges that she rejected an offer for an operating role. In the suit, Pao sought to receive $16 million in lost wages and $144 million in punitive damages.
Notable Developments
Position at Reddit
In 2013, Pao was hired at the social news website Reddit. On November 13th, 2014, it was announced that Pao would become the company’s interim CEO following the resignation of Yishan Wong.
Trial
In late February 2015, the case went to trial at the San Francisco Superior Court before Judge Harold E. Kahn and a jury consisting of six women and six men. On March 27th, the jury announced their verdict in favor of Kleiner Perkins.
#ThankYouEllenPao
Following the verdict announcement, journalist Lisen Stromberg posted a tweet praising Pao in spite of the loss along with the hashtag #ThankYouEllenPao (shown below).
That day, some Twitter users tweeted the hashtag applauding Pao for bringing awareness to the issue of gender discrimination, while others critics used the hashtag to criticize Pao and her defenders (shown below).[3][4][5] On March 30th, Business Insider[6] published an article about the hashtag titled “People on Twitter say #ThankYouEllenPao.” The same day, Breitbart[7] published an article by staff writer Milo Yiannopoulos, which criticized Pao’s character, calling her a “bullying, vexatious opportunist.”
Tokyo Drift in a Barbie Car refers to a FAIL video of a man sliding down a driveway on a battery-powered ride-on toy at a high speed shortly before losing control and crashing into a bush. Since entering circulation in 2006, the footage has gained notoriety as a memorable example of drift-driving in unconventional vehicles.
Origin
On March 15th 2006, eBaum’s World user ebaum uploaded a minute-long video titled Super Power Wheels,[1] which shows a group of friends test driving a variety of Power Wheels-branded toy vehicles under difficult conditions, including one of a young man sliding down a slippery road on a Barbie-themed Corvette for kids. On the following day, the video was uploaded to YouTube (shown below).
Spread
That same month, the Barbie Corvette drift scene from the video was made into an animated GIF (shown below, right), with the earliest instance posted on a Russian GIF catalogue site[2] on March 24th.
On March 25th, YTMND user HACaboose made a site titled “Barbie Corvette Crash”, reusing the animation and adding the captions “No Brakes! No Brakes!”[3]. As of March 2015, its has gained a over 21,000 views. While not starting any lasting fad on the website, the animation was still used in at least 8 other YTMND sites between March and August 2006[4]. Then on June 7th, 2006, YTMND user deadlyevans uploaded a site named “lol, Tokyo Drift?”[5]. While being part of the Lol, Internet fad, the title is also a reference to 2006 movie Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift, released three days prior. As early as January 12th, 2007[6], a demotivational image macro with the caption “Tokyo Drift, You can’t do it in a Barbie car” began circulating online (shown below).
Between June 2007 and May 2008, this version became incorporated into at least three additional YTMND sites. One of the most well-known instances is a derivative of the Epic Maneuvers fad titled “Epic Tokyo Drift Maneuve,r”[7] which has accumulated more than 21,000 views as of March 2015.
