Overview

The 2016 Dallas Shooting refers to the ambush of a group of police officers by several armed gunmen during demonstrations against the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile in early July 2016. During the shootout, a total of five police officers were fatally shot, while seven officers and two civilians sustained injuries.

Background

Shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile

On July 5th, 2016, Baton Rouge, Louisiana resident Alton Sterling was fatally shot by a police officer while being detained in a convenience store parking lot. The following day, Minnesota resident Philando Castile was fatally shot by a police officer during a routine traffic stop after informing the officer he had a firearm he was licensed to carry according to his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds. Following the shooting, Reynolds streamed the aftermath on Facebook (shown below, right). After videos of the incidents surfaced online, many reacted with outrage, speculating that the shootings were racially motivated.

Dallas Shooting

Following the two shootings, the Next Generation Action Network (NGAN) organized a demonstration in Dallas in protest of the killings, which gathered approximately 800 protesters. According to the Dallas Police Department, at least four snipers fired upon police officers near the Belo Garden Park area, with shots coming from an alleyway, the upper level of a parking garage and other elevated areas. Two suspects were apprehended by police officers and a third was killed by a bomb device deployed by a police-controlled drone. A total of 12 police officers were shot, five of which died due to the injuries. In addition two civilians were injured in the shootout.

Developments

Identity of Shooters

Police revealed that one suspect was 25-year-old Texas resident Micah Xavier Johnson, who told police during negotations that he was motivated by the Black Lives Matter movement and wanted to “kill white people.” The additional suspects have yet to be identified.

Mark Hughes’ Misidentification

That evening, Texas resident Mark Hughes was wrongly identified as a suspect by the Dallas Police Department Twitter^[8] feed, since he had been photographed at the protest carrying a rifle (shown below). Within 24 hours, the tweet gathered upwards of 40,000 retweets and 18,700 likes.

After turning himself in to the police, Hughes was released after it was determined he had nothing to do with the attack.

Online Reaction

As news of the shooting circulated online, a live-updated thread was launched on Reddit.^[3] That evening, a video taken during the shooting, in which gunfire can be heard in the background, reached the front page of the /r/videos^[2] subreddit (shown below).

Additionally, the Kapitol YouTube channel uploaded footage taken during the incident (shown below).

That same night, a photograph of an officer crying at the Baylor Hospital immediately after the shooting reached the front page of /r/pics^[3] (shown below). Additionally, several discussion threads regarding the shootout reached the front page of the /r/news,^[4] /r/AskReddit,^[5] /r/Dallas^[6] and /r/The_Donald^[7] subreddits.

President Obama’s Response

The following morning, United States President Barack Obama spoke to reporters in Warsaw, Poland, where he described the incident as a “vicious, calculated, despicable attack” and called for increased gun control regulations (shown below).

Search Interest

External References

Overview

The Death of Philando Castile refers to the fatal shooting of 32 year old Philando Castile, who was killed by an officer after being pulled over for a broken tail light in July 2016. The shooting took place in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. The incident was live streamed by Castile’s girlfriend on Facebook.

Background

On July 6th, 2016, Castile was pulled over in a routine by an officer who has been identified as Jeronimo Yanez. When Castile informed Yanez that he was had a firearm and a license to carry, when he reached for his ID, Yanez opened fire on Castile. A video showing what happened after the shooting took place was uploaded onto Facebook. It shows Castile’s girlfriend Diamond Reynolds asking the officer why he shot Castile. The video was widely viewed on Facebook before being removed, only to be re-uploaded and hour later.

Developments

Protests

Castile’s death and the Death of Alton Sterling who died only a day earlier has sparked outrage across the country, leading to multiple protests and demonstrations, most notably by the Black Lives Matter Movement

Online Reaction

Investigations

External Refrences

^[1]Heavy – Philando Castile: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

^[2]Startribune – What we know about Philando Castile

^[3]The New York Times – After Philando Castile’s Killing, Obama Calls Police Shootings ‘an American Issue’

^[4]The New York Times – Details Emerge of Philando Castile Shooting, and Minnesota Protests Carry Into Morning

^[5]The Washington Post – Minn. governor says race played role in fatal police shooting during traffic stop

^[6]BBC– Philando Castile death: Aftermath of police shooting streamed live

About

Lady Reportera is a photoshop meme based on a photograph of Mexican reporter Lydia Cumming being carried through a flooded street in Puebla, Mexico, which began circulating widely on social media in late June 2016.

Origin

On June 27th, 2016, Mexico’s TV Azteca reporter Lydia Cumming was photographed while a man and woman ferried her through a flooded street in Puebla, Mexico (shown below). According to Cumming, the photographer posted the photos to Facebook that evening.^[3]

Spread

On June 27th, journalist José Daniel Hernández^[1] reshared the photographs on Twitter, along with the hashtag “#LadyReportera” (shown below). Shortly after, Cumming replied to Hernández with the tweet “Only publishing for the sake of publishing without context” (shown below). The tweet has since been removed.

Over the next 24 hours, many Twitter users posted photoshopped images featuring a cutout of Cumming superimposed into various other base images, along with the hashtag “#LadyReportera”^[4] (shown below).

TV Azteca’s Statement

On June 29th, TV Azteca issued an official statement announcing its decision to part ways with the reporter due to “the lack of respect shown towards the neighbors” (shown below).^[2] That day, the Spanish-language news site El Pais^[3] published an interview with Cumming, who claimed she had only been carried a distance of a few meters before being let down. In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the viral photographs, including BuzzFeed,^[5] USAToday^[6] and the New York Post.^[7]

Search Interest

External References

About

The Myth of “Consensual” Sex is a LOL Jesus-style image macro based on a stock photograph of a couple lying on a bed together alongside a photoshopped cutout of Jesus with the caption asking the viewer “isn’t there somebody you forgot to ask?” Due to the humorous juxtaposition of Jesus objecting to a couple’s mutually consensual relationship, the image has spawned a series of photoshopped parodies depicting other social situations in which Jesus stands out as the sole opposition to an otherwise agreeable situation.

Origin

On August 1st, 2014, Imgur user Tyth3sly submitted the earliest known instance of the image macro in a post titled “Never Forgetti,” though it failed to draw any substantial traction from the community.

Spread

On the next day, Tumblr user Toronjas^[2] shared the image macro with a note citing Facebook as the place where it was discovered. Although Toronjas’ post has been since deleted from the original blog, the image went on to garner more than 293,000 notes in approximately two years. In addition, one of the Tumblr users who reblogged Toronjas’ post eventually provided a link to a Facebook page titled Christians for Michele Bachmann,^[2] which is believed to be its origin as the name of the Facebook page corresponds with the watermark embedded in the image macro.

That same day, the image macro made its way to other major image-sharing platforms, such as Imgur^[4][6] and Reddit,^[4] where it garnered more than 850,000 views and 3,587 votes (87% upvoted) respectively, as well as FunnyJunk,^[6] where the image garnered more than 1,170 upvotes and nearly 40,000 views. in 2015, the image continued to spread and gain traction on Tumblr and Twitter, soon giving rise to a handful of photoshopped derivatives. In June 2016, the image macro was featured in compilations of Christian-themed memes published by Dust Off The Bible^[9] and The Daily Dot.^[8]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Saving Private Ryan Sniper Parodies are video remixes featuring a clip of the character Private Daniel Jackson (played by Barry Pepper) sniping from a tower in the 1998 American epic war drama film Saving Private Ryan, which are edited to appear as if he were executing people in a variety of humorous contexts.

Origin

On July 24th, 1998, Saving Private Ryan was released, in which the character Private Jackson attempts to hold off Germany’s 2nd SS Panzer Division while shooting from a bell tower in the city of Ramelle (shown below). After being discovered by a tank, Jackson is killed by a high-caliber explosive round.

On December 7th, 2010, YouTuber SubSammich uploaded a video edited to with to appear as if Jackson were sniping his fellow United States army soldiers (shown below).

Spread

On June 1st, 2011, YouTuber Sampletext uploaded a parody version of the scene recreated with LEGOs (shown below, left). On December 25th, 2011, YouTuber Jezza Clemdawg posted a remix featuring footage of soccer players falling to the ground edited between clips of Jackson shooting from the bell tower (shown below, right).

On August 14th, 2012, YouTuber pepoop930 posted an edited video titled “Football (Soccer) Sniper,” containing additional footage of falling soccer players shot by Jackson (shown below, left). On July 3rd, 2013, YouTuber panzerNEWB uploaded a video in which Private Jackson is shown blowing the tires out of Formula One racing cars (shown below, right).

On October 1st, 2015, YouTuber Joker, uploaded a montage of edited clips in which Private Jackson is shown shooting before various people fall down (shown below, left). On June 6th, 2016, YouTuber VVC uploaded a video in which Private Jackson appears to shoot various people causing them to fall down.

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

Overview

The Ghostbusters Reboot Controversy refers to the online backlash directed toward the 2016 supernatural comedy film Ghostbusters, a reboot of the titular 1980s comedy film franchise. While many claimed the criticisms of the film were based on the script and casting decisions, others claimed the backlash was largely rooted in sexist attitudes towards the all-female cast.

Background

While rumors of a potential third film in the Ghostbusters series have been circulating since 2010, the plan for the project came to a halt following the death of co-writer and co-star Harold Ramis on February 24th, 2014. Despite this unexpected setback, Sony Pictures continued to seek the production of a new Ghostbusters film, and by January 2015, a completely original reboot of Ghostbusters was announced under the direction of Paul Feig, the creator of the critically acclaimed TV series Freaks and Geeks and the director of the 2011 comedy film Bridesmaids, with an all-female main cast starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon. In June 2015, the principal photography for the project began in Boston and New York City; following the conclusion of the filming on September 19th, Sony Pictures announced that the box office release of the reboot is slated for July 15th, 2016.

Developments

Online Reactions

On January 28th, 2015, Donald Trump posted a video to his official Instagram^[6] page lamenting the all-female casting in the new Ghostbusters film (shown below).

The following day, The Daily Dot^[7] reported that the upcoming reboot was “generating a sexist backlash” online. On February 5th, 2016, Redditor JoeDaEskimo submitted a 4chan screenshot of a green text story parodying a scene from the upcoming film to /r/4chan^[2] (shown below). Prior to being archived, the post gathered upwards of 8,500 votes and 440 comments.

Official Trailer

On March 3rd, 2016, the official trailer for the film was released (shown below). Within four months, the trailer gained over 35 million views, 925,000 dislikes and 264,000 likes. The following day, Redditor Jimmy_Black submitted the trailer to /r/videos,^[3] noting that it had already received 60% dislikes within the first 24 hours.

On March 13th, YouTuber Darren Wallace uploaded a video titled “Marshmallow Man Reacts to Ghostbusters Trailer,” featuring an animation of the fictional mascot Stay Puft Marshmallow Man committing suicide after viewing the trailer (shown below). Over the next four months, the video accumulated more than 3.5 million views and 4,200 comments.

During an interview on The John, Jay & Rich Show on May 2nd, Ghostbusters actress Melissa McCarthy revealed that she expressed concerns about the trailer to the studio but had been “ignored” (shown below).

“No Review I Refuse”

On May 16th, 2016, pop culture review site Cinemassacre released a six-and-a-half-minute-long video titled “Ghostbusters 2016. No Review. I refuse” featuring James Rolfe, the longtime YouTube vlogger best known for his character The Angry Video Game Nerd. In the video, Rolfe declares that he refuses to go see the reboot of Ghostbusters or review it based on what has been revealed thus far about the film (shown below).

Although the video was met with positive reception from his fans and others who shared his sentiment, Rolfe’s statement was also mocked by several media outlets and celebrities for his bias against the movie that has yet to have been released.

Jimmy Kimmel Live Appearance

On June 9th, the cast appeared as guests on the late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live, where they addressed online critics of the reboot and referred to them as men who live with their mothers at 45-years-old (shown below). Over then next month, a YouTube upload of the appearance gathered upwards of 769,000 views, 12,000 dislikes and 3,800 likes.

Theme Song

On June 23rd, 2016, the FallOutBoyVEVO YouTube channel uploaded the audio for the theme song for the film, performed by the pop punk band Fall Out Boy featuring rapper Missy Eilliot (shown below). Within three weeks, the upload received upwards of 6.1 million views and 36,000 comments, with many expressing disappointment with the quality of the theme song. The following day, Redditor NixonForBreadsident submitted the song to /r/KotakuInAction^[1] with the tag “[Cringe]”.

Also on June 24th, an image macro featuring a photograph of comedian Justin Drew captioned with a joke about the theme song was submitted to /r/standupshots,^[4] where it accumulated more than 7,100 votes (84% upvoted) and 650 comments within three weeks.

Release

On July 8th, 2016, YouTuber WrecklessEating posted a negative review of an early screening of the film, which criticized the characters for having poor chemistry and promoting outdated stereotypes (shown below). In 72 hours, the video gained over 842,000 views and 3,900 comments.

The following day, Ghostbusters premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Within 48 hours of release, the film held a 76% rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes^[8] and a score of 62/100 on Metacritic.^[9] On July 11th, a screenshot of a deleted comment from /r/movies speculating about why the film received positive reviews was submitted to /r/KotakuInAction,^[5] where it gathered upwards of 5,900 votes (85% upvoted) and 980 comments in the first 24 hours.

Search Interest

External References

About

I Love Bread is a parody and remix video series based on a clip of television personality Oprah Winfrey proclaiming a fondness for bread during a commercial for the weight loss products and services company Weight Watchers.

Origin

On January 25th, 2016, Weight Watchers uploaded an advertisement in which Oprah Winfrey enthusiastically expresses her love for eating bread “every day” (shown below).

Spread

On January 26th, Winfrey tweeted the video along with the message “Eat bread. Lose weight. Whaaatttt?” (shown below). Within six months, the tweet gained over 3,600 likes and 1,700 retweets.^[3] That day, the financial news site MarketWatch^[4] reported that Winfrey collected $12 million from Weight Watchers for posting the tweet.

On January 29th, the Giphygiff Tumblr^[6] blog posted an animated GIF of Winfrey saying “I love bread” (shown below).

On January 30th, YouTuber AL D TV uploaded a “chopped and screwed”: version of the original commercial (shown below, left). On February 1st, YouTuber bulitz postede a YouTube poop version of the ad (shown below, right).

On February 11th, MyFitnessPal Forums^[2] member tracefan submitted a thread titled “If I hear Oprah say she loves bread one more time…” The following day, YouTuber GloZell Green uploaded a parody version of the Weight Watchers ad (shown below).

On July 5th, Viner probably britney posted a clip of Winfrey saying “I love bread” edited with the Snapchat “Breading” filter (shown below). Within one week, the video received more than 5.8 million loops, 19,000 likes and 7,500 revines. In the coming days, other Viners posted parodies of the commercial under the hashtag #Ilovebread.^[5] On July 7th, the entertainment news blog E! Online^[1] published an article comparing the “I Love Bread” meme to the “You Get a Car” series.

Search Interest

External References

About

SpobngeBob Sings is a popular YouTube series where the SpongeBob Cast sings popular songs.

Origin

The first SpongeBob sings video was made in May 31, 2007 by a YouTuber called “Welcome!” the video was called “Spongebob sings I’m blue”. (Shown Below)

Spread

In Jul 21, 2009 a YouTuber called “The SpongeGuy’s Channel” uploded a video called “SpongeBob SquarePants Sings and Dances to Billie Jean by Michael Jackson (WITHLYRICS)”. (Shown Below)

Notable Examples

Search Interest

About

March of Progress Parodies are a series of spoof charts based on the famous scientific illustration of the same name depicting 15 stages of human evolution in a linear sequence, which was originally featured in the Early Man volume of the natural history book series Life Nature Library commissioned by Time-Life Books in 1965.

Origin

The original illustration, which shows the figures of 15 different antecedents in the gradual process of human evolution over the course of 25 million years, was illustrated by American-based Austrian-Russian artist Rudolph F. Zallinger and featured as a foldout section titled “The Road to Homo Sapiens” in the Early Man volume of Time-LIfe Books’ natural history book series Life Nature Library published in 1965. Upon its print publication, the chart soon gained an iconic status as one of the most comprehensive visual representations of human evolution, though it has been often misinterpreted as a chronological sequence of human development due to its linear arrangement.

Spread

Pre-Internet

It didn’t take long for the chart to become a popular subject of parodies and spoofs, with the earliest known instance found in a 1966 advertisement for Greg Noll Surfboards’ “Da Cat” product which illustrates the evolution of “surfing personas.” In 1968, Leakey Foundation, an American non-profit scientific organization focused on funding of human-origins research, adopted the silhouette of the March of Progress illustration as its official logo. In 1972, the image served as an inspiration for Joe Garnett’s cover art of Doors’ eighth studio album Full Circle. In 1985, a colored silhouette of the original chart was featured as the cover art of Supertramp’s eighth studio album Brother Where You Bound. In 1992, a parody illustration depicting the evolution of a skateboarder was featured as the cover art of the soundtrack album for the American comedy film Encino Man. During the 1990s, the visual format of March of Progress was used as cover illustrations for special issues of news magazines, including TIME, Rolling Stone and The Economist, among many others.

Online Parodies

In June 2005, Patrick Bolvin created a cynical modern adaptation of March of Progress in which the Homo Sapiens devolves into a fast food-addicted glutton before transforming into a pig. In November 2009, MyConfinedSpace user Tiki God submitted a nuclear apocalypse-themed parody of the original illustration. In 2013, Mike Jacobsen created a video game-themed parody of March of Progress in his illustration titled “Evolution of Gamers.” In the 2015 video game Splatoon, one of the Sunken Scrolls shows the evolution of the Inklings in the style of the March of Progress.

Examples

[currently in progress]

Search Interest

External References

About

Fingermouthing is a facial expression made by resting one’s fingers near or directly on the lip that became a popular pose for selfies and other photographs beginning in 2015.

Origin

American model and reality TV personality Kylie Jenner is often credited with popularizing the pose by sporting the look in her selfie photographs on Instagram (shown below).^[7]

In December 2015, Jenner told the women’s interest magazine Elle UK^[5] that she picked up the habit of molding her hand next to her mouth in photographs because she was “insecure” about her lips, which has been a subject of fascination and a photo fad challenge among beauty-conscious teenagers since as early as 2014.

“I was so insecure about my lips. Even now I always post photos where my finger is always in front of my mouth…it’s a habit. I would always cover my lips.”

Spread

In February 2016, Canadian model Kristen Hancher began sporting the pose in her selfies posted on her Instagram^[4] account (shown below), which drew even more attention to “fingermouthing” as an emerging photo fad and a trend in selfie poses.

On July 1st, BuzzFeed^[2] published an article titled “‘Fingermouthing’ Is The New Hot Pose For Selfies,” which cited Kylie Jenner as a “prominent early adopter” of the pose. On July 2nd, Teen Vogue^[3] published an article questioning whether the pose should be considered a “trend.” On July 5th, The Sun^[8] highlighted several examples of the selfie pose (shown below).

On July 8th, the women’s interest magazine Allure^[6] published an article calling fingermouthing “the new duck face.“ On July 10th, the Pop Trigger YouTube channel uploaded a video in which several hosts discuss the photo fad (shown below).

Examples

In addition to Hancher, the pose has been associated with other fashion models, celebrities and beauty trendsetters in pop culture, including Bella Hadid and Lily Allen, as well as most of Jenner’s sisters, including Kendall, Khloé and Kim Kardashian.

Search Interest

External References

About

“Yeah… Sorry” is a memorable quote spoken by the character Sasuke Uchiha in the ending of the shonen manga Naruto, in which Sasuke is pardoned of his crimes and apologizes for his actions (which include murder). Following the release of the chapter many fans mocked the quote do to the nonchalant manner it was said as well as the sudden and nonsensical forgiveness of Sasuke. This resulted in many edits of other characters from other series saying the quote.

Origin

The quote was spoken during a scene from the Chapter 699 of the manga, released on November 6th, 2014, in which the character Kakashi informs Sasuke that he has been pardoned due to his actions during the Forth Shinobi World War. He mentions that under normal circumstances he would have been imprisoned for life but was forgiven thanks to Naruto to which Sasuke replies “Yeah… sorry”.

Spread

During discussion of the chapter on online anime/manga communities such as 4chan’s /a/ board and Myanimelist many users found the quote ridiculous due to the weight of Sasuke’s crimes which include the attempted murder of Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and all four of the Kage.

Various Examples

Search Interest

About

“Gotta Get A Grip” is a memorable quote uttered by the character The Son in the 2015 shooter action video game Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. Online, the phrase has become a popular subject of shitposting within the Hotline Miami fandom.

Origin

The quote originally stems from Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, the sequel to the shooter action video game Hotline Miami, in the final level of the game “Apocalypse.” In the early phase of the level, The Son, the leader of Miami’s Russian Mafia and the playable protagonist character of the final act, accidentally overdoses on an unidentified drug and begins hallucinating, which leads him to a battle of survival against malformed apparitions of his own men. Upon clearing some of the “Hallucinatory Demons,” the character experiences another intense hallucination and tells himself “gotta get a grip,” before being sucked into his own mouth.

Spread

On March 14th, Redditor scb_weedwizard uploaded an “If You See This Image While Scrolling” image macro featuring The Son to /r/HotlineMiami, where it garnered 114 points (94% upvoted) and 51 comments prior being archived.^[1] On May 12th, 2015, YouTuber Scoop Dugg uploaded a parody of the scene using clips from the 2001 American mafia comedy film Corky Romano.

On March 15th, YouTuber Snipey McQuickscopes uploaded a parody of a scene from The Room with The Son’s face superimposed over Tommy Wiseau’s character, gaining over 180,000 views in the following year. On the following day, the /r/gottagetagrip^[3] subreddit was launched. On March 21st, redditor snoomoo submitted a GIF of an infomercial for the helping handle “Get a Grip” featuring several Hotline Miami characters, gaining 452 points (96% upvoted) and 27 comments prior being archived.^[2]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Civilized Discussion is an exploitable comic series in which a social gathering representing “a civilized discussion” is disrupted by a group of naked people who proceed to relieve their bowels on the ground. In the series, the two groups are often depicted as rival factions from a variety of nations, fandoms and subcultures.

Origin

On September 7th, 2015, iFunny^[6] user ArmenianNationalist uploaded a comic depicting a “civilized discussion among medieval Caucasian kingdoms” which is subsequently ruined by a group of naked Turkish men wearing fez hats (shown below).

Spread

On December 2nd, 2015, Meme Center^[5] user okurwa reuploaded the comic. On December 28th, a blank template was uploaded to Imgur (shown below).^[4]

On January 3rd, 2016, a comic showing an anime discussion being disrupted by weeaboos was uploaded to 9gag (shown below, left).^[3] On January 20th, a comic mocking gaming discussions between console players and the PC Gaming Masterrace was posted on 9gag^[2] (shown below, right).

On April 9th, FunnyJunk^[8] user grindoff posted a version of the comic mocking the behavior of Australians on the internet (shown below, left). On July 6th, the @Liberwehr^[1] Twitter feed posted a comic titled “A civilized discussion on the Internet,” in which a group of Turks disrupt a social gathering by relieving their bowels on the street (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

Magnum Dong is a series of remixes based on a memorable quote uttered by the character of Frank Reynolds in an episode of the American TV sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The remixes typically involve, but are not limited to, sampling Frank’s soundbite in verbatim, “I dropped my monster condom that I use for my magnum dong.”

Origin

On November 19, 2009, FX ran an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia titled “The D.E.N.N.I.S. System” (Season 5, Episode 10). The plot of the episode revolves around Dennis Reynolds (portrayed by Glenn Howerton), trying to develop an elaborate six-step method to seducing women, although it is met by lukewarm reception from the rest of the gang. In one particularly memorable scene from the episode, Frank Reynolds (portrayed by Danny Devito) attempts to strike up a conversation with a woman in public by “accidentally” dropping an extra-large condom and boasting about the size of his penis, or in his words, “magnum dong.”

Spread

Remixes of the scene involving Danny Devito’s character began popping up on the video sites of Vine and YouTube, that rose to modest popularity in early 2016. Many of these remixes are popular among “dank meme” Vine users and YouTube channels, with compilations being made involving said remixes.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Mimikkyu is a Ghost-Fairy type Pokémon that will be featured in Nintendo’s next generation of Pokémon: Sun and Moon. The actual appearance of the Pokémon is unknown as it wears an old Pikachu-themed cloth disguise to hide from the sun and as a way to be loved like Pikachu^[1].

Origin

Pokémon Sun and Moon is set to release on November 18th, 2016, which will feature Mimikkyu. Mimikkyu was first introduced in a CoroCoro magazine alongside Kiteruguma (shown below). The leak was tweeted by Serebii, a Pokémon focused website, on July 12th, 2016, and gained over 4,900 retweets and 3,800 likes within the time of being posted^[2].

Spread

After the reveal of the character, Youtuber shofu uploaded a video the same day discussing and analyzing parts of the CoroCoro magainze, gaining over 76,000 views and 4,000 likes (shown below). On 4chan’s /vp/ board, users replicated the Give Pikachu a Face exploitable with Mimikkyu, with two templates made and several edits created^[3][4].

Various Examples

Shortly after it’s unveiling, the character quickly gained a fandom due to its Pikachu-like appearance and saddening origin story. Fanart and mentions of the Pokémon exploded on Twitter^[5], DeviantArt^[6], and Tumblr^[7].

Search Interest

External References

About

New Weapons Soldier is a character based on the Soldier from the online first-person shooter video game, Team Fortress 2. The character appears in a series of Garry’s Mod videos focused around impressions toward each major update to Team Fortress 2 where new weapons are absent. Since New Weapons Soldier’s debut, the character gained popularity among the Team Fortress 2 community for parodying Valve’s apparent reluctance to add new, unique weapons to the game.

Origin

On December 8th, 2014, Valve released the End of the Line Update to Team Fortress 2^[1] in promotion of a fan-made Source Filmmaker production of the same name (shown below). The update was anticipated to include a series of new in-game weapons contributed by players via the Steam Workshop, and a community-created map based on the production.

Upon release however, it was revealed that the new weapons, with the exception of one reskinned melee weapon, were ultimately scrapped for failing to make the quality cut, and the map was also cut for, according to Valve, being “too confusing and challenging for new players”^[2] (though it was added later on in the Gun Mettle Update on July 2nd, 2015^[3]). As a result, the update was met with widespread disappointment and criticism among the community upon release.

The following day, YouTube user Genowhirl70^[4] uploaded a video titled “End of the Line update in a nutshell” (shown below). The video, animated in Garry’s Mod, shows the soldier asking Merasmus for new weapons, but instead receives rubber ducks, to which he responds by screaming loudly in frustration. The soldier is shown to be on the RED team, wearing the in-game cosmetics, the “Antarctic Parka” and the “Condor Cap”. As of March 2016, the video currently has over 600,000 views.

Spread

Following the popularity of the original video, Genowhirl70 produced similar videos corresponding to each following major update to Team Fortress 2 in which new, unique weapons aside from cosmetic reskins are absent (shown below). Although these videos introduce other similar characters such as Out-Of-Touch Sniper and Hipster Spy (voiced by YouTube user Dr. Lazlo^[5]), New Weapons Soldier still remained as the most popular factor. The most popular of these videos is Gun Mettle, with over 800,000 views as of May 2016.

The music used during New Weapons Soldier’s appearance (shown below) is a custom-made chiptune song called “Sky Funk”. It was made by YouTube user Raxxo^[6], but it was posted on his alternate channel Raxxo2^[7]. The song had approximately 10,000 views until July 2015 when it gained a noticeable rise in popularity following the release of Gun Mettle.

Search Interest

External References

^[1]Team Fortress 2 – End of the Line Update page

^[2]TF2Maps – Joe “Fr0z3nR” Radak’s forum post regarding the map’s cut

^[3]Team Fortress 2 – Gun Mettle Update page

^[4]YouTube – Genowhirl70

^[5]YouTube – Dr. Lazlo

^[6]YouTube – Raxxo

^[7]YouTube – Raxxo2

W.I.P

About

The Nutshack is an American animated sitcom which aired on Myx TV in the United States and Myx in the Philippines. The first animated series geared towards a Filipino American audience. The show is known for its poor quality, juvenile humor, and repetitive theme song. The show gained a minor recognition after the end of GiIvasunnerARG^[4].

History

The Nutshack was created by Ramon Lopez & Jesse Hernandez. It was the first animated televsion series aimed at a Filipino-American audience. It first aired in 2007, with its second season airing in 2011 . The show follows Filipino American San Francisco native Phil, whose cousin Jack flies in from the Philippines to live with him in the Tenderloin district of the city ^[1].

Reception

The show received negative reviews from critics and is widely considered the worst animated series ever produced, with a 1.4/10 rating on iMDB from 101 users. Many online reviewers such as Pan-Pizza and The Mysterious Mr. Enter have voiced their disapproval of the show, with the latter describing it as the worst cartoon of the 2000s ^[3].

Memes

IT’S THENUTSHACK/The Nutshack Opening Theme

“It’s The Nutshack” is the part of the intro lyrics of the show. The song was written by Filipino-American hip hop artist NUMPTRUMP and produced by Steven King. After a link to the secret video at the end of the Giivasunner ARG, song become a gag on the channel.

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About

“Taylor Swift is Over” is an expression spread online by critics of Taylor Swift, speculating that her career in the music industry has come to an end. The phrase began circulating after her ex-boyfriend and music producer Calvin Harris claimed that Swift had been trying to tarnish his reputation over their collaboration on Harris’ 2016 house song “This is What You Came For.”

Origin

On July 13th, 2016, TMZ^[1] reported that Swift secretly wrote Harris’ hit song “This is What You Came For,” and that the relationship fell apart due to Harris’ refusal to reveal they had collaborated together. That day, Harris posted a series of tweets defending himself, noting that Swift was the one that wanted to keep the collaboration a secret (shown below).^[3][4] The same day, Swift’s representative confirmed she had written the song under the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg to People^[6] and The Rolling Stone^[2]

Spread

Meanwhile, Twitter user @itsjazmarie^[11] posted an animated GIF of singer Joe Jonas with the caption “Providing some quality entertainment at the #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty” (shown below).

Shortly after, additional Twitter users began tweeting other reaction images along with the #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty^[7] hashtag (shown below). Also on July 13th, Redditor DetectiveBeluga submitted a post asking “Why is everyone on Twitter saying ‘Taylor Swift is Over’?” to /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[5] In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the online backlash directed at Swift, including Hollywood Gossip,^[8] The Daily Mail^[9] and Perez Hilton.^[10]

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About

Black Food refers to edible items that arrive at a dark ebony color after being prepared using a variety of ingredients, including charcoal, food dye and cephalopod ink. Online, photographs of black-colored food are often circulated as a novelty on social media platforms.

Origin

One of the classic black-colored foods is the Valencian Arròs negre,^[7] a seafood and rice dish which uses cuttlefish or squid ink for its signature dark color (shown below).

Spread

On October 31st, 2007, the news site OnlineAthens^[8] published an article reporting that ebony-colored foods had gained popularity in Japan and other Asian countries.

Black Burger King Burger

In September 2014, Burger King began selling a black Whopper burger colored with bamboo charcoal (shown below).

In September, 2015, Burger King released the similar A.1. Halloween Whopper nationwide in America (shown below). The Whopper was distinctive because of the black shade of its bun and the use of A..1 Steak Sauce instead of the traditional Burger King Special Sauce. The United States version would not contain charcoal, but instead the flavoring of the steak sauce and “less than 1% food dye.”

Black Ice Cream

Black ice cream may have originated with the black sesame ice cream in Japan, which often contains black sesame paste, milk, vanilla seeds, sugar and salt. On June 6th, 2012, Redditor oxsouls submitted a photograph of black soft serve ice cream to the /r/pics^[2] subreddit, where it gained over 1,700 votes (93% upvoted) and 490 comments prior to being archived (shown below).

On February 26th, 2015, Redditor Octopusmouth posted a photograph of Japanese black sesame ice cream to /r/pics,^[6] where it received more than 5,900 votes (86% upvoted) and 790 comments before it was archived (shown below, left). On May 6th, 2016, Instagram^[1] user daryabulykina posted a photograph of a scoop of black ice cream in a black waffle cone (shown below, right). That day, the photo was reposted by the timandtimicecream Instagram feed.

That month, the Manhattan-based ice cream shop Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream began selling black ice cream. On May 25th, the entertainment news blog People published an article titled “Jet Black Ice Cream is Officially a Thing We Need to Eat.” On June 6th, Tech Times^[5] published an article titled “Black Ice Cream is the Latest Summer Treat Trend.” On June 20th, the PopSugar Food YouTube channel posted an instructional video on making black ice cream at home (shown below). In July, the news sites UpRoxx^[3] and Foodbeast^[4] published articles about the trending novelty ice cream.

Black Croissant

On May 6th, 2016, Instagram user @yennyeeee^[11] uploaded a photograph of a black croissant dyed with squid ink at the Agathé Pâtisserie bakery in South Melbourne, Australia (shown below). The photograph was subsequently highlighted in an article about ebony-colored cuisine published by The Daily Mail.^[10]

Black Hot Dog

In July 2016, IKEA Japan^[9] began selling a “Ninja Dog” hot dog, which contained a black-colored bun made out of edible bamboo charcoal (shown below).

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About

“Last Time I Came This Early” is a YouTube comment meme in which the poster replies to a recently submitted video with the phrase “last time I came this early,” followed by a sexual innuendo in which “came early” refers to the act of premature ejaculation. In a similar vein to “first!”, the comment is typically posted shortly after the video is made public.

Origin

On July 28th, 2015, YouTuber Haz Marshall posted the comment “Last time I came this early I had to pay your mum double” to a YouTube video showcasing the game FIFA 15 (shown below).^[4]

Spread

On September 13th, 2015, Twitter user @Gbay99^[2] posted a tweet sarcastically praising the comment meme as the “best ‘first’ post” on YouTube (shown below).

On October 21st, FunnyJunk^[3] user vampireinarm replied to a post with the comment "Last time I came this early it was embarassing to explain. On April 10th, 2016, a screenshot from the game Clash Royal showing “0 Views” was uploaded to Imgur^[5] with the title “Last time I came this early, I was with my EX”.

On June 26th, YouTuber JinkiesTV uploaded a video titled “Last Time I Came This Early She Got Pregnant,” featuring various pranks against random pedestrians at a public beach (shown below). The following day, Redditor bluebush56 submitted a post against about the comment meme to /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[1]

Search Interest

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