| Published: December 20, 2011
The StarCraft scene is renowned for the passion of its fans. Perhaps no other current gaming scene can boast such a palpable, vibrant culture, with both fans and pros constantly churning out a creative wave of side content and humor. From pumpkin carvings to heartwarming photos, here is a review of some memes you might’ve missed in 2011.
Lego Siege Tank
Petzoldhaus has made a remote-controlled siege tank out of Legos, and yes, it can indeed deploy into siege mode. There's a list of power functions in the video description.
Top 12 Fan Memes!
Day[9], All Mine…
Romance was in the air at MLG Orlando when this bawdy fan gave Day[9] a time and a hotel room. The caster wrote the invitation down and gave a suggestive thumbs-up, which was answered with a blown kiss.
Sadly, Day[9] never showed up despite the fan’s anticipation. The bizarre photo trended so highly that it appeared on the /r/all subreddit and brought forth a pilgrimage of perplexed non-StarCraft redditors asking for context.
Thanks, Mom!
Submitted to /r/StarCraft by the ironically named disownme, this redditor’s friend received some loving texts of encouragement from his mother. She not only wished him luck but also asked if she could watch his matches online, and didn’t finish a single text without a “love you.”
Go and call your mothers right this instant.
DANIEL!!! DANIEL!!! DANIEL!!!
In the spirit of Halloween, Day[9] did a full playthrough of Amnesia: The Dark Descent over the course of several pants-wetting nights. Sean’s terrified shrieks and labored grunting inspired a host of memes, but none quite so polished as this portrait of the caster with his trusty stuffed companion Manfred by DeviantArt member G-e-e-r-s.
The illustration includes several inside jokes, highlighting Day[9]’s hatred of chairs and Brutes.
Poor Idra…
During his NASL entrance, Idra left a fan hanging, perhaps fearing another repeat of when Artosis pulled back a congratulatory high-five.
StarCraft Fans are Really, Really Good at Pumpkin Carving
For many Europeans, this year was their first exposure to the American pastime of carving pumpkins for Halloween. There were some excellent StarCraft-themed carvings this year, but this carving of Kerrigan with a hydralisk is our favorite.
Blizzard has hosted a variety of contests, including pumpkin carving, for several years. Visit their contest site regularly to receive information on previous winners and upcoming events.
The Emperor Remains
Boxer holds the distinction of being StarCraft’s first 본좌 (bonjwa) and acts as the face of StarCraft to the world. Eminently mannered and almost always the fan favorite in his games, this photo of the Emperor practicing into the late hours at MLG Orlando caused a outpouring of community praise and admiration for StarCraft’s most legendary figure. The photo became the inspiration for various wallpaper, notably this one, which appropriated a quote from Boxer’s autobiography 나만큼 미쳐봐, which roughly translate to “be as crazy as me.”
The sobering photo reaffirmed the community’s deep love and respect for Boxer. Jessica, manager of Team SlayerS and Boxer’s girlfriend, is not pictured here but she was supporting Boxer by playing nearby.
Hell, It’s About Time
Dreamhack CEO Robert Ohlen stomped out to the Dreamhack Winter Finals in a replica CMC-300 Powered Combat Suit, complete with cigar and gauss rifle.
Unfortunately, there were no stimpacks to help alleviate the extreme heat of wearing the suit.
An Inevitable Front Page Picture
If there’s anything that rivals /r/StarCraft’s love of StarCraft, it’s cats. Marrying the two subjects into a single, monolithically appreciated meme was inevitable.
Even cats go stark with horror when they see the laser that signals a nuclear launch.
A Dubious Gift
Cella, Team SlayerS’ head coach, is a hit in the foreign StarCraft scene for his highly entertaining streams and his Konglish catch phrases.
Here he completely revolutionizes the metagame by creating a strategy that allows a Zerg to scout a Terran wall off through guile and treachery.
So… Many… Nukes…
VTavilo dropped 40 nukes in a single Open Bracket game at MLG Columbus. No, that was not a typo. 40 nukes.
Our very own Adam Contini made a compilation video of VTavilo’s nuclear rampage set to Tchaikovsky’s famous 1812 Overture. Staff here in the office has watched this video roughly 3,000 times, and it gets better with each view.
He Said What!?
/r/StarCraft has a reputation of being a haven for memes and gossip that seem detrimental to in-depth discussion about strategy and tournaments. It’s a divisive issue, but the frequency of memes that get upvoted to the front page of the subreddit seems to indicate that the majority of redditors like that /r/Starcraft is more focused on the celebrity aspects of the scene.
Love it or hate it, the fact that such a voluminous amount of gossip and memes exists is an indication that people are really into StarCraft. If anything it is a barometer that reveals how far the scene has come and how much it is still growing. We’d like to thank the StarCraft community for a hilarious year, and we look forward to what 2012 will bring!
© 2011 Major League Gaming, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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