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Wonder Woman

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About

Wonder Woman is comic book superhero from DC Comics. She has had many origins but most involve her being an amazon of Themyscira, who travels the rest of the world as a superhero that fights for justice. Wonder Woman is also seen as a feminist icon for a multitude of reasons, and the creator himself was a feminist.

History

Comics

Wonder Woman first appeared in “All Star Comics no 8” in 1941 as a JSA member who’s role was being a secretary. Her original origin was that when an American WWII fighter pilot called Steve Trevor crashed in Paradise Island (later called Themyscira), Wonder Woman was allowed to take him back and see the world beyond the undiscovered island she lived on. She often fought the Nazis and other villains. Soon after her first appearance she became the lead in “Sensation Comics” and shortly after that she got her own title simply called Wonder Woman. She also got her alias, Diana Prince, from an army nurse.


In the Silver Age, Wonder Woman’s origin slightly changed, giving her more ties to Ancient Greek mythology. Additionally the idea of Wonder Girl was added to the Wonder Woman/DC mythos. Later on in the Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe, her origin changed and she was instead an amazon made from clay because her mother Hippolyta wished to have a daughter.


In the New 52 continuity, Wonder Woman is the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta, but was told that she was made of clay to protect her from the angry wife of Zeus, Hera. Wonder Woman is currently the God of War after killing her half brother and mentor, Ares. In the New 52 continuity, Diana kisses Superman and gets in a romantic relationship with him (spawning the series “Superman/Wonder Woman”)

Online Presence

Fandom


#MasculinitySoFragile

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About

#MasculinitySoFragile is a hashtag used to mock men who fit stereotypes and engage in behaviors associated with a type of Western machismo often referred to as “toxic masculinity,” arguing that they a sign of fragility and insecurity.

Origin

Starting on December 2nd, 2013, Twitter user @puppydogexpress posted several tweets with the hashtag #MascunilinitySoFragile, featuring jokes referring to the word masculinity as if it were a frail human being (shown below).



The hashtag was seldom used for nearly two years. On June 16th, 2015, BuzzFeed[1] published a listicle featuring tweets mocking the target demographic for products and advertisements featuring stereotypically macho packaging, brand names and slogans (shown below).



Spread

On September 23rd, BuzzFeed[5] published another compilation of tweets mocking products displaying overtly macho themes (shown below).



That day, Twitter users began using the hashtag #MasculinitySoFragile in tweets mocking American machismo culture (shown below). Meanwhile, several news sites published articles about the hashtag, including Digital Trends, Bustle, AskMen, The Mary Sue, Mic and Thought Catalog. According to the Twiter analytics site Topsy, the hashtag was mentioned over 80,800 times in the first 24 hours.



Meanwhile, other Twitter users began hijacking the hashtag with sarcastic tweets mocking social justice issues. Additionally, critics of feminism began posting similar tweets with the hashtag #FeminismSoFragile (shown below).



Meanwhile, a thread about the hashtag was submitted to the /pol/[6] (politics) board on 4chan, where many accused the tweets of being a type of flamebait. Also on September 23rd, Redditor frozen-silver submitted a post titled “Some irony from the #MasculinitySoFragile” to /r/TumblrInAction,[4] featuring a screenshot of a #MasculinitySoFragile tweet juxtaposed next to tweets defending the use of trigger warnings (shown below).



Search Interest

Not available.

External References

Cause Animale Nord Homeless Man Puppy Stealing

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Overview

Cause Animale Nord Homeless Man Puppy Stealing refers to an incident in which alleged members of the French animal rights activist group Cause Animale Nord are seen stealing a puppy from a homeless man in the streets of Paris, France. Following the viral circulation of the video, and subsequent listing of the dog for adoption, in September 2015, the story quickly went viral in the French social media and prompted a heated debate surrounding the group’s actions.

Background

On September 19th, 2015, members of the French animal rights activists group “Cause Animale Nord” were caught on camera stealing the puppy of a homeless man on the streets of Paris. Shortly after, witness Nghi Le Duc posted a video of this on his Facebook page (shown below, left), where it received over 1.8 million views in the following 5 days. The video can also be viewed on YouTube (shown below, right).[1] In the video, 2 members of the activist group are shown subduing the homeless man before trying to grab the man’s puppy. During the segment, both the puppy and the man are heard crying as the man tries to get his dog back, before a 3rd member of the activist group grabs the puppy and runs off; after which the homeless man chases after them while leaving all his possessions behind.



Notable Developments

On September 20th, the official Facebook group for Cause Animale Nord[5] created a post in which they shared they named the puppy “Vegan” and advertised the adoption of him (shown below). The post was deleted a few days later by the group as commenters condemned the group’s actions in the reactions.



“Vegan (name choosen in memory of our convictions), small bitch, rescue of the day during the “let their skin to the animals” protest in Paris. We withdrew it from a romani who was using it to beg. The police doesn’t do anything, we act. You can act too, you only need a little bit of courage… The “PA” (Animal protection) is not being behind a screen or parade in a demonstration, it’s to really act daily. She will be complied and proposed for adoption.”

On September 22nd, Anthony Blanchard, President of Cause Animale Nord, put up an official reply towards the situation regarding the puppy (shown below, left), claiming they believed the puppy was drugged which led to them taking it away. A day later, on September 23rd, the group made a new post in which they put the puppy up for adoption, this time including a price of €195 (shown below, right). As of September 24th, the posts have gathered respectively over 1,400 and 1,300 replies, with the majority still condemning the group’s actions.



On September 23rd, a Change.org petition[2] was created asking to “investigate the functioning of the association Cause Animal North” as a result of the video. In less than 24 hours, the petition was already signed over 75,000 times; which increased to over 125,000 signatures by the end of September 24th (local time).



Between September 23rd and 24th, various videos of the scene were uploaded to Imgur, reaching the site’s most viral images section on at least 3 occassions. The most popular video managed to gather over 850,000 views and 8,000 points within 18 hours;[6] following by the other 2 receiving respectively over 730,000[7] and 113,000 views,[8] 7,000 and 3,000 points, within less than 14 and 9 hours. Each of the posts also promoted the Change.org petition. The video was also shared on the r/videos subreddit,[9] where it received over 3,200 upvotes in less than 14 hours. The story was subsequently picked up by various non-French news outlets as well, including SBS,[10] LiveLeak,[11] BuzzKeys,[12] 9news,[13] DailyStar[14] and DailyMail.[15]

Official Investigation

By the end of September 24th (local time), the official Facebook page for the French National Police created a post in which they informed readers that they had been informed about the video various times, and subsequently opened an investigation towards the assault and theft by Cause Animale Nord.[17] In two hours after creation, the post had already received over 5,000 likes.



"[REPORTS] Many of you reported the video of the assault of a homeless man by animal rights advocates to remove his puppy.


An investigation was opened.

REMINDER: Victim or witnessed an assault, immediately contact Police -secours by dialing 17."


Search Interest

[Not Yet Available]

External References

European Migrant Crisis

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Overview

The European Migrant Crisis (or European migrant crisis) is the current humanitarian and political crisis in Europe, which could be traced back into 2013, but escalated dramatically in the summer of 2015. In the crisis, hundreds of thousands of war refugees and other migrants started to migrate into Europe, primarily into Germany. Most of the refugees are from Syria, where the multi-factional Syrian Civil War waged since years, made the country too hospitable to stay. Along with them, other refugees came from Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea, also areas in war, and economic migrants came from other countries from Africa and Central/Eastern Asia, to seek a better life in Europe’s more prosperous and advanced countries.

Background

In the first half of 2015, the most used migration routes were the sea routes on the Mediterranean Sea, causing a number of fatalities when crowded, questionably seaworthy migrant boats sank. These routes generally involved Italy, Greece, and Spain towards France and the United Kingdom. Later in the year, however, the bulk of the migration has shiften towards the Balkans route, which is mainly land-based, and takes through Turkey, Greece, various Balkan countries, Hungary and Austria, towards Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.

The European Union and Europe’s political leaders were slow to react in a coordinated way, and the crisis gave rise to a huge rift in politics in regard to Western and Eastern European political stances, whereas Western European governments tend to support migration and the relaxation of the relevant asylum and border laws, and Eastern European governments (most of them in post-socialist countries) tend to oppose migration, and support the enforcement or even tightening of the aforemented laws.

Key issues in the crisis are the European Union’s asylum policy and it’s travel policy. The so-called Dublin Agreement dictates that asylum seekers should be processed in the first EU country in which they arrive, but in reality, most of the refugees don’t want to apply for asylum or register in the Dublin system until they arrive in their destination country, most often Germany. The so-called Schengen Area makes it possible for EU citizens to travel between the countries in the area without visas and compulsory border checks. This policy collapsed as masses of refugees and migrants walked through countries and over borders, while not being EU citizens. Several EU countries imposed border controls, lockdowns or outright erected fences, either to allow the processing of the incoming people in a timely manner, or to channel them to official asylum processing points, so people would need to comply with Dublin Agreement rules. In some occasions, the border control or lockdowns caused violent protests, where riot police had to use tear gas, water cannons and other dispersing techniques.

The crisis saw countries constructing temporary refugee and humanitarian facilities, channeling refugees and migrants on government-owned buses and trains to processing facilities or temporary camps, or to a border of a neighboring country to avoid excessive crowding and rioting. The stances taken by individual governments and the statements made by politicians contributed to escalating diplomatic tensions, especially among Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.

Amidst the political debate, many of the world’s media outlets criticizes European politician’s apparent inability to act in coordination to mitigate the crisis and to help the refugees and migrants en route, while also criticizing the governments who oppose migration and erect border fences. Some outlets however claim that most of the mainstream media is biased, using dramatized footage, photographs and stories, and unfairly criticizing anti-migration governments as inhumane, even fascist powers, while distorting the nature of the refugees and migrants, withholding information about their negative aspects.

Online presence

The crisis has spawned parodic and sarcastic images both mocking Germany and German chancellor Angela Merkel’s apparent invitation of migrants, but also the apparent indifference or outright hostility of Europe, the European Union, or individual countries, most notably, the border fences erected and the lack of wide-ranging search and rescue operations on the Mediterranean Sea.

Search interest


Worrying Trend

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About

“A Worrying Trend” is an expression indicating feelings of apprehension toward something becoming increasingly commonplace. Online, the phrase is often used as an in-joke among League of Legends fans in reference to a controversial tweet regarding the in-game ranking of Cloud9 player Balls.

Origin

On September 14th, 2015, Riot Games shoutcaster Joshua Leesman (a.k.a. Jatt) posted a tweet[1] in which he referred to the solo queue rankings of player Balls from the North American League of Legends team Cloud9[3] as a “worrying trend” (shown below). Within two weeks, the tweet gained over 1,100 favorites and 240 retweets.



Spread

Immediately after the tweet was posted, Leesman’s statement was hotly debated by League of Legends players on Twitter. That day, Redditor MadlyChemical submitted a post containing various reaction tweets to the /r/LeagueOfLegends[2] subreddit, where it received upwards of 3,500 votes (82% upvoted) and 2,400 comments in 10 days. Also on September 14th, Cloud9 player Hai Lam published a blog post[4] responding to the controversy, in which he defended his teammate Balls and criticized Leesman for “posting the tweet without relevant context to it.”



Shortly after, Lam tweeted that the post was deleted to prevent causing more “drama.”[5] On September 19th, TwoPlusTwo Forums member NiSash1337 replied to a thread about the League of Legends World 2015 tournament noting that The following day, Redditor picflute submitted a post to the /r/LeagueOfMeta[6] subreddit noting that the /r/LeagueOfLegends moderators recognized that the phrase “worrying trend” had become a “meme.” On September 22nd, Leesman tweeted a graph displaying an upward rise in “Worrying trend meme usage” with the caption “A worrying trend indeed” (shown below). Within 48 hours, the tweet received more than 2,900 favorites and 870 retweets.



The following day, YouTuber WhoLetMeJungle uploaded a video titled “Sneaky & Incarnati0n – A Worrying Trend – Korean Solo Funny Moments,” featuring footage of Cloud9 players Sneaky and Incarnati0n playing League of Legends and making several jokes referencing the “worrying trend” tweet (shown below).



Search Interest

Not available.

External References

#AskTrump

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Overview

#AskTrump was a live hashtag-based Q&A event hosted on Twitter by American businessman and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on September 21st, 2015.

Background

On the morning of September 21st, 2015, Donald Trump announced that he would be participating in a live Q&A session on camera from Twitter’s New York City office. In the following hours, thousands of people tweeted their questions to the front-runner of the Republican presidential primaries using the hashtag #AskTrump.



Developments

That afternoon, Trump answered a dozen of pre-selected questions via a series of short video responses, most of which were tamed and predictable in nature, including his thoughts on gun control, poverty and student debt crisis.



However, measuring up to his widely established reputation as the most controversial Republican presidential candidate, most Twitter users jumped on the hashtag as an opportunity to take a jab at Trump’s most highly publicized statements and policy promises, from his rocky relations with the Mexicans and Islamophobic attitudes to his Slovenia-born wife Melania Trump, and of course, the iconic hair-do. According to Topsy Analytics, the hashtag was used more than 110,000 times on the day of the Q&A event.

Examples



Search Interest

[not yet available]

External References

Pope Francis

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About

Pope Francis is the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church. He has obtained notoriety online for what some people consider to be a more liberal approach to Catholicism than in the past.

Background

Born in 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Pope Francis was originally named Jorge Mario Bergoglio.[1] He was first ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1969, and was elected to the papacy in 2013 after Pope Benedict resigned.[2] He is the first pope in over 1000 years to not be from Europe, and the first to take the name Francis, after the Jesuit saint St. Francis of Assisi.[3]

Since his electiion, Francis has continued his work in advocating for action to fight climate change, poverty, and the death penalty, while still maintaining Catholic doctrine on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.[4] Pope Francis is often lauded for his progressive stance, respecting interfaith dialogues, and for leading an ascetic, humble lifestyle. However, the Vatican often claims that his proclamations are often taken out of context by the Western media in order to promote him as more liberal and less bound by the traditional strictures of Catholicism.[5]

Online History

Pope Francis has referred to the Internet as “a gift from God.”[6] His initial election, during the 2013 Conclave, was the first Papal Conclave to exist in the time of social media, and therefore made a large impression throughout the Internet. The conclave lasted two full days, and over 130,000 people signed up for a website called Pope Alarm,[7] which promised to text them the results when the new Pope was elected. In addition, thousands more people signed up for a “Fantasy Pope”, in the style of fantasy baseball] When the Pope was elected, the Twitter profile @Pontifex tweeted “HABEMUSPAPAMFRANCISCUM” and received over 33,000 retweets, but the tweet was later deleted when the feed was rebooted for Pope Francis.[9]

Pontifex Twitter Feed

@Pontifex is the official Twitter account of the Pope which serves as the official communication line between The Vatican and the Catholic community at large. It was originally launched under Pope Benedict XVI in December 2012 and re-launched following the pontification of Pope Francis in March 2013. Shortly after the election of Pope Francis on March 13th, the Twitter handle was restored from “Sede Vacante” indicating the vacancy of the papacy to Pontifex. Pope Francis’ first tweet read “Habemus papam franciscum,” which translates to “we have a new pope [Francis].”

Pope Selfie

On August 29th, 2015, an Italian twitter user named FabioMRagona became the first known person to ever take a selfie with a standing pope.[10] The selfie, which included the user, Pope Francis, and two others, received 230 retweets and 195 favorites. The practice has become frequent as users, especially children, take photographs of the pope with cell phones. The search term “Pope Selfie” produces hundreds of such photos on Twitter,[11] and has been documented by Mashable,[12] Good Morning America,[13] and the Washington Post.[14] On September 22nd, 2015, Mashable reported that the Pope’s security detail on his trip to the US would not allow bystanders to use selfie-sticks to take photographs of the pope.[15]

The Pope’s Visit to Cuba and the United States

In September of 2015, the Pope Visited both Cuba and the United States, countries for which he had helped to negotiate a defrosting of official relations. On his visit to Cuba he addressed the Castro family, and during his visit to the United States, he planned to address both a joint session of the United States Congress and the 2015 meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.[16] During his visit, the social media discussion was incredibly high, with over 1.6 million uses of the word Pope being used on Twitter alone, at a rate of about 500,000 per day, up from a normal volume of 5,000-10,000 per day.[17]

Twitter Emoji

To celebrate the Pope’s visit, Twitter unveiled four different hashtag-based emoji for use during his visit. Any user who tweeted the hashtags #popeinUS, #popeinDC, #popinNYC, and #popinPhilly would automatically see a celebratory emoji appear next to the hashtag. [18]



After the first 24 hours of the pope’s visit, when the Pope was in Washington, the hashtag for DC was used over 263,000 times.[19]

Search Interest



External References

I Am The One Who Knocks

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About

“I Am The One Who Knocks” refers to a memorable monologue from the hit American drama series Breaking Bad spoken by main character Walter White (portrayed by Bryan Cranston).

Origin

The monologue, said by main character Walter White, originated from the sixth episode of the fourth season of the American drama series Breaking Bad[1] in which Walter explains to his wife Skylar that they are not in danger of being killed, but that he himself is the one whom others fear. The scene was uploaded to YouTube on August 22nd, 2011, by YouTuber Dan Lysiak (shown below).[2]



Spread

On June 5th, 2013, actor Samuel L. Jackson read the monologue as part of a charity event organized by charity organization Prizeo on Reddit.[3] The monologue was also recorded and uploaded to Prizeo’s YouTube channel (shown below, left). Less than a week later on June 10th, fellow actor Gilbert Gottfried appeared on the YouTube entertainment channel What’s Trending and also recited the monologue (shown below, right).



The monologue has also been used for various remixes across various sites such as SoundCloud.[4] The two most popular of which have over 64,000 and 57,000 plays, respectively (both shown below).



Various Examples




Search Interest

External References


Hit That Like

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Bare Bones for the moment

About

Tumblr photo fad originating in September, 2015. Made up of increasingly artifacted jpg images telling whoever sees the image to “Hit/Smash that Like.”

Crabs Smoking Cigarettes

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About

Crabs Smoking Cigarettes are videos and images of crab crustaceans with cigarettes strategically placed between a clasped claw to appear as if they are smoking.

Origin

On January 15th, 2007, YouTuber Bobby Brasko uploaded a video titled “Funny Video of Crab Smoking,” which contained footage a crab holding a lit cigarette in one of its claws (shown below).



Spread

In October 2009, the Chinese blog XinhuaNet[5] posted a photograph of a crab holding a cigarette with the caption “资料图片“哥抽的不是烟,是寂寞”” (English: “I’m not smoking cigarettes, it’s loneliness”)



On January 18th, 2013, the /r/smokingcrabs[2]subreddit was launched to highlight photographs of crabs holding cigarettes. On February 4th, the “CrabsWithCigarettes”[3]Tumblr blog was created. On March 18th, 2015, YouTuber Whatzaa uploaded a Thug Life Remix of Bobby Brasko’s original smoking crab video (shown below).



On September 12th, Twitter user @mghnbtts[1] tweeted a photograph of a crab holding a cigarette in Philadelphia, which gained over 25,700 favorites and 21,800 retweets in the first two weeks (shown below). On September 14th, Gawker[4] published an article about the crab photo fad. On September 23rd, CollegeHumor[6] published a compilation of smoking crab photographs.



Various Examples



Search Interest

External References

Man Bun

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About

A Man Bun, also referred to as a “top knot,” is a hairstyle featuring a ponytail or bundle of hair prominently placed high in the back-center of a man’s head. While historically associated with a range of traditional haircuts for men in East and West Asian cultures, the top-knot gained much of its popularity during the early 2010s as a fashion trend among Western men, and later, a stereotype of hipster fashion.

Origin

The topknot hairstyle may have originated in China during the 3rd century BCE. In a collection of sculptures known as the Terracotta Army, buried in approximately 210 BCE, soldiers in the collection are depicted with hair bundled in a knot placed high in the back of the head (shown below, left). During the Edo period in Japan between 1603 and 1868, a topknot hairstyle called the “chonmage” was commonly featured in portraits of men and samurai warriors (shown below, right).



In 2003, the man bun hairstyle was adopted by professional soccer player David Beckham (shown below). The earliest known use of the term online dates back to October 13th, 2010, when Urban Dictionary[4] user MelonTeets submitted an entry for the man bun as a “slighty greasy” hairstyle often work by hippies or “just general hotties.”



Spread

On January 25th, 2012, The New York Times[9] published an article about man buns, noting they had begun appearing in “arty neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Bushwick” in Brooklyn, New York. On March 23rd, the “Fuck Yeah, Men With Buns” Tumblr[2] blog was launched, which highlights photographs of attractive men with man bun hairstyles. On October 19th, a similar Tumblr blog titled “The Man Bun”[3] was created. On February 20th, 2014, Urban Dictionary[1] user Ron_diggity submitted another entry for “man bun,” defining it as “questionably sexy hairstyle.” On May 10th, the Tumblr blog “The Real Manbuns of Vancouver”[5] was launched, featuring surreptitiously taken photographs of men in Vancouver, Canada. On February 18th, 2015, the YouTube channel Derick Watts & The Sunday Blues uploaded a prank video in which they chop off man buns with a pair of scissors (shown below). Within seven months, the video gathered more than 9.1 million views and 11,200 comments. On February 23rd, the channel published an announcement that the video had been staged (shown below, right).



On August 25th, the Instagram feed ManBunsofDisneyLand[8] was launched, which highlights photographs of men with man bun hairstyles at the Disney Land amusement park. On September 2nd, the local Seattle news site Capitol Hill Seattle[7] posted a photoshopped image of a man wearing a tiny fedora on top of his man bun (shown below).



On September 21st, BuzzFeed[6] published a compilation of man bun photographs titled “19 Pictures That Prove Man Buns Have Gone Too Far.” On September 9th, the CollegeHumor YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “Should You Wear a Man Bun?”, in which a man has an internal crisis while debating wearing a man bun (shown below).



On September 22nd, the news site Vox[10] published an article about man buns, which contained an infographic depicting commonly-seen versions of the hairstyle (shown below).



Search Interest

External References

Hiroyuki Nishimura

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Work in progress.


About

Hiroyuki Nishimura is a Japanese Internet entrepreneur, creator of the imageboard 2channel and ex director of Niwango Inc., known for its media hub service niconico. In September 21st, 2015, Christopher Poole announced that he has sold 4chan to Nishimura, making him the new owner of the website.

Online History

4chan Adquisition

Data Selling Controversy

Mootwo / Hiro-tan

Following Nishimura’s adquisition announcement, 4chan users started choosing a nickname for the new owner, in similar vein on how Poole choose moot as pseudonim, also creating a personification of him as a usagimimi (boy with rabbit ears), similar moot-tan. This persona has recieved two nicks: Mootwo (as reference to Nishimura being the second owner of 4chan)[1] and Hiro-Tan.[2]



Search Interest

External References

[1]archive.moe – Search for mootwo

[2]archive.moe – Search for hiro-tan

[3]Hiro.asks – FULLCIRCLE by hiroyuki

Scrap The Dipper

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About

Scrap The Dipper is a meme surrounding the Gravity Falls character: Dipper Pines. The picture shows badly drawn elongated Dipper Pines with long hair and bulbous red nose. The picture doesn’t have much context but it’s known that it is suggesting that Dipper is a species.

The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy

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About

The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy is a widely successful and influential Sci-Fi comedy series revolving around the character of Arthur Dent who escapes the destruction of the earth with his friend Ford Prefect and his subsequent adventures in the universe. HHGTTG started off as a series of radio dramas/comedies commissioned by the BBC in 1978 and was created by comedic author Douglas Adams. The series has since been adapted into various mediums such as Books, TV series’, Video-Games and a Film.

History

After Adams proposed a radio series called “The Ends of the Earth” for BBC Radio (the central premise being the Earth being destroyed). Adams realized that he needed someone to provide some context to Earth’s destruction and this person would have to be an alien with a reason to be on Earth. Adams finally settled on making the alien a field researcher for a “wholly remarkable book” named The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.


From this base idea, Adams wrote a radio script which revolves around the character of Arthur Dent who is saved by his friend Ford Prefect (not from Guildford as originally thought, but from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse) from the Destruction of the Earth to make way for an interstellar express-way. The comedy then revolves around Arthur coming to grips with his new situation and his inability to adapt to living in the universe while having various adventures.

The radio-drama along with its subsequent novel adaptations have become international best-sellers being translated into 30 languages along side an equally well received TV series and film. The books and to a lesser extent the TV series has had a major impact on modern popular Sci-Fi culture with HHGTTG being hailed as the genesis for modern Sci-Fi comedy with various subsequent Sci-Fi comedies taking inspiration from HHGTTG (such as Red Dwarf).


Related Memes

Don’t Panic

Don’t Panic refers to the phase emblazoned on the Guide to prevent user of the guide panicking while Hitch Hiking across the galaxy. The book also states that "It is said that despite its many glaring (and occasionally fatal) inaccuracies, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy itself has outsold the Encyclopedia Galactica because it is slightly cheaper, and because it has the words “DON’T PANIC” in large, friendly letters on the cover."

“Don’t Panic” has become one of the best known phases in Science Fiction with its message being both funny and sound advice for readers. This phase has been paid homage to various times in many Sci-Fi productions and was a meme in the early days of the internet.


The Answer To Life, The Universe and Everything

The Answer To Life, The Universe and Everything refers to an answer that a group of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings demand the supercomputer, Deep Thought, specially designed and built for this purpose to calculate. It takes Deep Thought 7 and a half million years to compute and check the answer, which turns out to be 42 much to the annoyance and confusion of the hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings.

The number 42 has subsequently entered popular culture as the definite answer to the question “What is the answer to life, the universe and everything” partly due to its strong affiliation with online science fiction fan communities. The answer has been parodied and paid homage to by various tech firms such as IMB and Google and been referenced online since the days of Usenet.


Knowing Where One’s Towel Is

Towels are regarded in the HHGTTG universe as being the most useful object in the universe for a person to have. The connection between Towel’s and HHGTTG is due to advice Ford gives Arthur in the first book in the series after Arthur and Ford survive the destruction of The Earth: “any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with”.

This idea has subsequently been reinforced by fans of the series due to the consistent use of towels in all adaptations of the series. Towels have also become a symbol of fans of Douglas Adam’s with fans organising international Towel Day to pay tribute to Adams and HHGTTG. Towels have also been used as a symbol to make fun of various Doomsday dates with fans carrying towels in case the earth does end.


So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

According to HHGTTG, Man was not the most intelligent life-form on Earth but the Third most intelligent, with the second being dolphins who knowing that the earth was going to be destroyed, left Earth behind with the message: So Long and Thanks for All the Fish.

This phase has became a fan favourite and a substitute for traditional goodbyes due to its comedic nature. The phase’s popularity has made it the source of parody and a song was created based on the phase for the film adaptation of the series.


Popular Creations

Marvin the Paranoid Android

Marvin is a secondary character in HHGTTG and is widely regarded as the fan favourite in the series. He is the starship Heart of Gold’s robot, Originally built as a prototype of The Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, he was given Genuine People Personalities technology which caused Marvin to afflicted with severe depression and boredom. He is said to have the brain the size of a planet which he is seldom ever given the chance to use. Throughout the series, his crippling depression has caused various other computer or robotic devices he has interfaced with to commit suicide.

Due to his bleak outlook on life and his pragmatic and pessimistic outlook on the other characters fortunes, he has been regarded as one of the most human characters in the series with his phases “Life, Don’t Talk to me about Life” and “brain the size of a planet” being reference by fans online. The actor who voices Marvin has also had two comedy records released in the UK while in the character of Marvin.


Deep Thought

The character Deep Thought is introduced as the Supercomputer that was created to calculate the Ultimate Question and subsequently calculates the Ultimate Question to the answer 42 leading to the creation of The Earth.

Deep Thought has been referenced and paid homage to by various Tech firms for his role in calculating the ultimate question and being the second most powerful computer ever created in the HHGTTG universe. IBM have named various Supercomputers after Deep Thought such as “Deep Thought” and “Deep Blue”.


Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster

The Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster is a fictional cocktail created by Zaphod Beeblebrox which is described as “the alcoholic equivalent of a mugging – expensive and bad for the head and drinking one is like having your brain smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick”.

Due to its reputation as the best and most powerful drink in the galaxy, many mixologists and bartenders have paid homage to the drink by attempting to create their own Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters.

Search Interest

8-Bit Theater

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About

8-Bit Theater is a classic online sprite web comic based on a parody of the NES video game Final Fantasy, created and published by Brian Clevinger (also known as Kurosen in the forums) of Nuklear Power.

History

Brian Clevinger started making 8-Bit Theater on Nuklear Power in March 2, 2001. In 2002, 8-Bit Theater has grown to be a very popular web comic and won the Web Cartoonists’ Choice Awards for best fantasy comic. 1UP.com described 8-Bit Theater as the sprite comic “that took the style to its fullest expression and greatest popularity.”. Flash movie versions of 8-Bit Theater on Newgrounds are made by The Legendary Frog (TLF for short). In June 1, 2010, Brian Clevinger made a long epilogue comic page that takes place three years later, ending the 8-Bit Theater web comic series with a history of 1,225 episodes published.

Search Interest

External References

[1]Nuklear Power – 8-Bit Theater

[2]Newgrounds – 8-Bit Theater

[3]8-Bit Theater Wikia – Sardapedia

[4]TV Tropes – 8-Bit Theater

[5]Final Fantasy Wikia – 8-Bit Theater


The Author of the Journals, My Brother

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Editor’s Note: This entry contains spoilers from Gravity Falls


About

“The Author of the Journals, My Brother” (sometimes known as “Dramatic Author Meme”) is a quote by Stanley “Grunkle Stan” Pines from American animated series Gravity Falls announcing the arrival of his twin brother Stanford Pines in the episode “Not What He Seems”. The climactic quote and scene (specifically the reveal shot) gained memetic traction and became something of a catchphrase in the fandom.

Origin

“Not What He Seems” is the eleventh episode of the second season of Gravity Falls. Airing March 9, 2015, it was Disney XD’s most watched series broadcast ever with just over 2 million viewers [1]. The climax in question involves Grunkle Stan’s mysterious giant portal about to go off. His great niece Mabel Pines, despite her twin brother Dipper’s demands to shut it down, trusts her great uncle and allows the machine to activate, risking the fate of the universe. After a long, bright flash and a gravitational anomaly, a man walks out of the portal. Dipper says, “What? Who is that?” to which Grunkle Stan replies, “the author of the journals, my brother” as the twin reveals his face. That night, YouTube user TheNextBigThing uploaded a clip of the scene (quote starting at 2:11) which received upwards of 900,000 views as of September 27, 2015.



Spread

References to the scene and quote, mostly on Tumblr [2], ranged from GIF’s, text posts, fan art, edited images of the reveal shot, to remixed videos of the scene, including at least two Unexpected John Cena derivatives shown below (the lower one containing clips from “A Tale of Two Stans”, the episode following “Not What He Seems”)



The quote and scene often crossover with the Steven Universe fandom, such as in the video below by YouTube user Morgan Wable-Keen, an edit of the Steven Universe theme song which received upwards of 100,000 views as of September 27, 2015.



Various Examples



Search Interest

Not available

External References

Spy (Team Fortress 2)

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About

The Spy is a playable character from the video game Team Fortress 2 that has gained popularity among fans for his unique gameplay mechanics and humorous quotes, as well as notoriety for his excessive usage in multiplayer matches.

Origin

Some of the Spy’s gameplay mechanics were based off his counterpart from the previous game in the series, Team Fortress Classic, including disguises, feigning death and backstabbing. In Team Fortress 2, he is also given the ability to stealthily destroy Engineer buildings by applying a “sapper” to them.


Online Relevance

The Spy is one of the most popular characters in the game, having the second most art entries on DeviantArt (45,892) and the most forum post mentions on the Steam Discussion forums.[1][2]



A popular headcanon among the fanbase is that the RED Spy is the BLU Scout’s father, originating from a scene in the “Meet The Spy” (shown below) trailer where the BLU Spy displays several photographs of the RED Spy dating the BLU Scout’s mother (at the 1:06 mark), resulting in lots of fan art related to the headcanon.



Related Memes

Spycrab

Spycrab refers to an animation quirk where if a Spy has the disguise kit equipped and is looking upwards while crouching and walking, he will look like a crab. This animation quirk has been used as a method of trolling where players would “Spycrab” during an entire multiplayer match, instead of attacking the other team. Valve has taken notice of this trend and, as a result, added a rarely occurring taunt to the game that resembles the Spycrab.[3] This led to another gambling game within the playerbase, where players would place one of their items as a bet over who would first trigger the Spycrab taunt in-game.

Gentlemen

Gentlemen is one of the voice commands available for the Spy. Online, the quote is associated with an exploitable image of the Spy with a large mouth full of cigarettes.

GentleMentleMen

GentleMentleMen refers to a YouTube Poop Music Video where the Spy’s quotes from “Meet the Spy”, “Gentlemen” and “And now he’s here to (bleep) us”, are remixed to the rhythm of the song AGEHA by Ryu, originally featured in the video game beatmania IIDX 11.[4] The remix became very popular among YTMPV creators, resulting in lots of deriatives.

Surprise Buttsecks

Surprise Buttsecks refers to a remix of the Spy’s voice made by the YouTube user Scoutelite whose channel was taken down. The remix became very popular among the game’s fanbase, resulting in several fan-made music videos and fan art.

Tentaspy

Tentaspy refers to a fan art fad in which the Spy is portrayed as a half octopus. Many drawings and cosplays of the Tentaspy exist on DeviantArt.[5]

This Is Scout, Rainbows Make Me Cry!

This Is Scout, Rainbows Make Me Cry! is a memorable quote uttered by the Spy whenever he dominates an enemy Scout. The quote spawned numerous fan art in which the Scout cries at the sight of rainbows, as well as a short flash animation made by DeviantArt user Kobb (shown below) which spawned several remixes.

Search Interest

External References

[1]DeviantArt – TF2 Spy

[2]Steam Community – Results for “Spy”

[3]Official TF2 Wiki – Community fads, Spycrab

[4]YouTube – Ryu☆ – AGEHA

[5]DeviantArt – Tentaspy

Rosalina is Cute! CUTE!

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About

“X is cute! CUTE!” is a snowclone and a form of shitposting, popular on 4chan. It involves inserting a specific character into a phrase, and posting it with an image of the character, usually to start a thread of posting images on said character.

Origin

On June 7th, 2014, an anonymous poster on /v/ posted “ROSALINA IS CUTE! CUTE!!!”, the earliest known post of the phrase on 4chan in this context.
https://archive.moe/v/thread/246874423/#246874770

Spread

Over the next few months, the phrase was posted steadily on /v/ and other boards, usually about the characters Lucina from Super Mario Bros and Lucina from Fire Emblem

seriously i’m not good at writing articles

Who Up Clik Like / Real Nigga Hours

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Editor’s note: Very WIP, it’s 12:30 AM and I’m on my phone, not quite real nigga hours but getting there


About

Who Up Clik Like, alternatively known as Real Nigga Hours, is a series of images which ask the viewer for likes due to how late in the night they are awake at. The images are typically associated with heavy compression and filtering, emoji, and gramatical errors. They are typically associated with “ghetto Internet” communities.

Origin

“Real nigga hours” refer to the time of night between 2:30 AM and 5:00 AM.[1] The meme likely started on Facebook.

Spread

Example Images

Search Interest

not available

External References

[1]Urban Dictionary – real nigga hours

Requests Channel

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About

requestschannel was a YouTube channel that created videos out of things people requested for him to say. He gained over 13,000 subscribers on his final channel before having hard drive problems and becoming unable to create videos. His final video was his 11,852nd.

Online History

requestschannel, real name Andrew, began YouTube as “screwyouchannel.” He had this channel for many months before it was terminated by YouTube for allegedly violating Terms of Service on hate speech. Andrew appealed the termination but it was denied. Defeated, he moved all of his videos to requestschannel. His oldest archived video is of him saying “Fuck you, Alicia.” He also began Tinychat streams at an unknown date, originally just for his Patreon supporters. However, he eventually began doing open streams for everyone to watch. His streams usually consisted of him reading the requests in the Discussions tab of his YouTube page then doing requests made in the chat once he was finished. The streams were hosted every week or so.
A signature of his videos was bizarre faces made after reading the request. He said that he did this to boost the length of the video so YouTube won’t cut off the audio. He also wore a number of strange hats during his streams and while reading requests. Some of these hats include a TMNT bike helmet, a sombrero, and a witch’s hat. Requestschannel also owned a cat, which he sometimes brought into the stream and requests.



Italian Viewers and Blockland

In early 2015, requestschannel was noticed by many Italian viewers from an unknown site. The Italian viewers had dozens upon dozens of Italian-language requests, which Andrew became frustrated with. Most of the Italian viewers disappeared after a while, but some stayed.
Around this same time, members of the Blockland Forum took notice of requestschannel, and submitted many requests centered around forum users and Blockland. Andrew one day jokingly went on a rant about Blockland Forums, and how their users were “lazy” and “never donated.” Taking offense to this, most users left and very few remained.



Taringa!

In April – May 2015, requestschannel was discovered by Argentinian social media site Taringa! . Thousands of viewers from Taringa! subscribed to him, increasing his subscriber count from about 4,000 to 13,000 in just a few weeks. Most users were friendly and submitted normal Spanish requests, but these requests usually ended up in the wrong place like video comments and not the Discussions tab. However, a group of Taringa! users calling themselves the “Lynx Army” attacked requestschannel’s videos and his streams, calling him a “racist Yankee.”
Eventually it got to a point where requestschannel had to speak both English and (broken) Spanish in his public streams. He tried to make streams just for his Patreon supporters again, but Lynx Army members found the stream password and spammed the chat.
Requestschannel’s final video was uploaded on May 29, 2015. In it, he talked about how he had run out of hard drive space and so he couldn’t make new videos. He asked for his viewers to crowdfund 120 dollars for a new external hard drive, but this failed and he has not uploaded a video since. As of September 2015, his videos are on an indefinite hold.



Criticism

Requestschannel was frequently called an e-begger, and was known for his hostile attitude towards public stream viewers. He would frequently permaban people for minor offenses, even his own mods. However, these bans were not actually permanent as the banlist was cleared every so often. Critics of requestschannel also said he was a “pathetic e-beggar” and was “wasted potential for a good idea.” Requestschannel began charging people $5 for room requests for an arbitrary number of minutes during his streams. Eventually his “rates went up,” and it was around $10 for 10 minutes during his last streams. This was a heavily criticized move, and was another factor into Blockland Forums’ leaving. However, he never went back to a lower price or even free room requests like in the beginning.
One good example that came out of his e-begging was when he ate a bar of soap live in March 2015. He spit the soap out, saying “it tastes like corn barf!” He takes the bite out of the soap bar at 9:01 in the video below.



Search Interest

External References

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