Memes / Guilty Gear

Transcending human existence since 1998.

Please add entries in the following format:

• The meme. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme. [[/labelnote]] ^ExplanationLike this.
  • Further mutations and successor memes, if any.

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General

• HEAVEN OR HELL! DUEL 1! LET'S ROCK! The GGXX announcer's rendition is the most iconic, to the point that there has been backlash against the new voicework starting in Accent Core for not living up to the precedent set (that is, taking your usual Fighting Game round call and making it metal).
• RAIDA ZA RIGHTNINGU! ^ExplanationOne of Ky's longstanding Overdrives, yelled out in Gratuitous English.
• COCONUT! ^ExplanationKy's yell of "Koko da!" when performing Stun Edge or his Heavy Slash quickly caught on with fans.
• GAHN FURAYME! (Gun Flame) is at least semi-memetic. (GURLFRIEND!) Although Ishiwatari isn't a regular at anime conventions, you can already guess the single line fans ask him to do when he does attend one.
• Due to the notoriety of the Dust Loop, Sol's yells of "TEYAH! TEYAH! TEYAH!" etc. ^note perhaps most prominently associated with Ishiwatari's voicework in the earlier installments of XX, as heard here have also reached such a status, to the point that other ASW characters who use this Kiai for attacks (like Izayoi) are said to be channeling Sol.
• Sol Badguy vs. Saul Goodman^ExplanationThe two characters sport similarly patterned names, to the point where if you only know these names, one could assume Sol Badguy is an Evil Counterpart to Saul Goodman. For added irony, Sol Badguy is a heroic protagonist of his franchise while Saul Goodman is an Anti-Villain Protagonist, making both of them the opposite case of having what's called an "aptronym". This leads to jokes about the two characters from wildly-different series being arch-nemeses.
• Chipp Zanuff, jokes about his cripplingly low health and aspirations to become President aside, is something of a minor meme himself on account of the hilarious novelty of having an American ninja voiced by a native Japanese speaker peppering his speech with random Japanese phrases like "SUSHI!", "SUKIYAKI!", "BANZAI!", "FUJIYAMA GEISHA!", and so on.
  • Jokes about how buff Chipp is by -STRIVE- also circulate from time to time.
  • Also as of -STRIVE- and the release of Bedman?, Chipp can now be taken out in a single hit when certain incredibly simple conditions are met.^ExplanationBedman's "call 4CC" reversal super can take out Chipp's entire lifebar if Bedman? uses "call 13C" beforehand to buff its damage and if Chipp is performing Gamma Blade, which has him take double damage if he's hit during the attack.
• Glue Eater Gameplay/Certified Glue Eater Moment^ExplanationA joke aimed at Potemkin mains (often by themselves) poking fun at how they only appear to capable of performing three moves: the Potemkin Buster, the Potemkin Buster and the Potemkin Buster. This makes the average match against a Potemkin feel like it primarily consists of dodging his one grab as the Potemkin player furiously inputs it over and over and over again, because if Potemkin lands just two or three back-to-back Potemkin Busters it's usually an instant kill, leading to the joke that Potemkin mains are as dumb as rocks and would presumably enjoy eating glue, with many video clips of people performing egregious Potemkin Busters that are shared being called "glue eater moments". Can also apply to his anti-air super, the Heavenly Potemkin Buster, due to the fact it does absurd amounts of damage and it's very easy to read a jump or a uppercut against certain players (usually those who tend to jump or DP a lot) with one, which often results on the Potemkin player stealing the round right under the opponent's nose because of one mistake. In fact, a Running Gag on various Potemkin clips is the Potemkin player getting bounced around like a beach ball only for them to do one read and kill/nearly kill the opponent (or at least flip the entire round on it's head) with HPB despite all the effort the other player took.
• An old "You have to have a very high IQ to play Johnny" copypasta tends to pop up in western player communities whether someone is doing something awesome playing as Johnny. ^{Full text}To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to play Johnny. The spacing is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of mist finer cancels most of his pressure will go over a typical player's head. There's also Johnny's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy of burning all of his money draws heavily from the (killer) Joker, for instance. The Johnny mains understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate enkasu, to realise that they're not just talented at execution- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Johnny truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the brilliance in mashing 5K, which itself is a cryptic reference to the Five K's of Sikhism and its relation to Eastern mysticism. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as the Johnny player's genius dash up throw into 50% damage unfolds itself on their monitors. What fools.. how I pity them. And yes, by the way, I DO have a tattoo of a katana and a giant flaming letter J. And no, you cannot see it. It's for my harem's eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 1 mist finer level of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.
  • And here's the Xrd variation. ^{Full text}To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to play Johnny. The spacing is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of mist finer cancels most of his pressure will go over a typical player's head. There's also Johnny's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy of burning all of his money draws heavily from the (killer) Joker, for instance. The Johnny mains understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate zwei YRC, to realise that they're not just talented at execution- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Johnny truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the brilliance in mashing 5K, which itself is a cryptic reference to the Five K's of Sikhism and its relation to Eastern mysticism. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as the Johnny player's genius dash up throw into 50% damage unfolds itself on their monitors. What fools.. how I pity them. And yes, by the way, I DO have a tattoo of a katana and a giant flaming letter J. And no, you cannot see it. It's for my harem's eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 1 mist finer level of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.
• "God created Guilty Gear" copypasta tends to crop up in forum posts and video comments from time to time. ^{Full text}In the beginning God created the OST and the stages. Now the game was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of Ishiwatari was hovering over the waters. And God said, Let there be Neutral, and there were airdashes. God saw that the neutral was good, and he separated the neutral from the setplay. God called the neutral Slayer, and the setplay he called Millia. And there was Oki, and there was abare — the first day. God's gift.
• "Block" is not a word in the Slayer main's vocabulary. ^ExplanationWhile Slayer still retains regular guarding, his core game plan revolves around using Dandy Step and his ground dashes to dodge the opponent's attacks and capitalize on the whiffed move. Good Slayers can make excellent dodges and bring stylish beatdowns without needing to block; bad Slayers never block while getting hit during mistimed Dandy Steps/dashes and get destroyed.
• The Guilty Gear Player Archetype Chart that was flying around in r/guiltygear spawned some of the memes that ended up circulating in-community. The most notable one would be the rumor that all Bedman players you see online are actually one single wizard, on the account of the character's small playerbase.
• Gorilla Gear ^ExplanationIn the anime FGC, it's not uncommon to refer to large characters with massive normals that they can easily throw out and convert for high damage as "gorillas." It largely started with Leo in Xrd (see below), but has since also expanded to include Anji (particularly his XX/Accent Core incarnation), Sol (mostly in vanilla -STRIVE-), and others. Ascended with the English dub of -STRIVE-, in which Lucifero refers to Leo as a "big bear-looking gorilla" in one of the conversations with Ramlethal.
  • UNGA BUNGA^ExplanationIn mid-2015, commentator Jose "Mr. Biscuits" Lopez popularized the word "unga" when referring top American player Zidane's Leo. Zidane embraced the meme, wearing an unga t-shirt at EVO 2015 and entering tournaments as "Unga Bunga" on several occasions. Since then, the phrase has has become indicative of gorillas from all fighting games.
  • Sol players don't block ^ExplanationBecause of Sol's status as a gorilla who will rush in and press buttons without any regard for their safety, it became a small stereotype that Sol Badguy players won't block in any circumstance in favor of pressing buttons. Which makes it even more hilarious when a Sol player actually blocks, but as denoted on this video, they will NEVER be happy about it and might kill the opponent with one combo for wasting their time.
  • Wife gone, think about wife, wife fight back, kill wife ^ExplanationOnce -STRIVE- Sol was declared a gorilla, this video summarized his life as a loop of the "Ride Wife, Life Good" meme story.
• Sol snapping Sin out of his problems.^ExplanationSin, Ky's son introduced in Guilty Gear 2: Overture, had a very contentious debut due to Wangsting over his (not unjustified) family issues and getting in over his head more than a few times. Sol's reactions to these antics range from indifference to snark to outright beating some sense into Sin, such as literally kicking Sin out of Valentine's brainwashing or punching Sin in the epilogue so that he can stay behind in Illyria and make up with his father. Keep in mind that Sol is Sin's guardian/foster father and, as heavily speculated since Overture and all but outright said in -REVELATOR-, his maternal grandfather.
• Daisuke's new album comes with a free game. ^ExplanationJokes abounded about how some people are more excited about Ishiwatari releasing more music than they are about Guilty Gear -STRIVE- itself.
• Chipp vs. Potemkin ^ExplanationPerhaps the single most memed matchup in any Guilty Gear installment, Chipp and Potemkin lean heavily into being a Fragile Speedster and Mighty Glacier respectively. As such, this matchup is basically the epitome of an Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object scenario, with Potemkin struggling to land hits on Chipp but being able to kill him very quickly if he does, and Chipp desperately attempting to KO Potemkin through vigorous application of Death of a Thousand Cuts while being unable to mess up once without exploding from a single punish.
• Guilty Gear players hate all other characters they aren't playing. ^ExplainationCommon mantra among competitive Guilty Gear players, due to the games often featuring 20+ characters each with their own deep learning curve and matchup strategies.
• The Boi ^ExplanationNew Zealand YouTuber Rad Chad has a series of Guilty Gear parody videos featuring the characters drawn in a signature chibi art style. One of his most popular is his depiction of Happy Chaos, often referred to as "The Boi", who has become a sort of mascot for his channel.

The Missing Link

• Kill your friends Guilt free!^ExplanationAn infamous tagline used on a US ad for the game. Ties in with the meme around this series and Bill Clinton, who scrutinized that very tagline in his video game violence speech.
• Potemkin Can't^ExplanationThe entire dustloop wiki page for Missing Link Potemkin is a prolonged rant about his Low-Tier Letdown status (the very first sentence at the top of the page reads "Potemkin is god awful"). When listing his Pros and Cons, the Cons are three times as long as the pros, each of which start with the word "can't", and the word "Can't." appears by itself on a separate bullet point at the bottom. Even though Potemkin was Rescued from the Scrappy Heap, people like to use this phrase to joke about just how bad he was in his debut.
• The Mega Man Next Boss Theme^Explanation "Conclusion", the theme for Ky vs Sol, is much better remembered as the boss theme for this Flash game, partly due to all sequels to The Missing Link displacing it.

X and XX

• The English trailer for Guilty Gear X is infamous in the community for having So Bad, It's Good voice acting and animation.
  • "Oh no, I'm falling." ^ExplanationKy's very Dull Surprise reaction to falling in a pit. Ascended with the English dub of -STRIVE-, in which Ky yells out "I'm falling!"... when he's tripped by a low attack.
  • "You'd let her live?! HEH, YOU'RE SUCH A BOYSCOUT!" ^ExplanationSol's idea of a taunt when facing Ky in the trailer.
  • "Guilty Gear... Zex." ^ExplanationThe narrator at the beginning and at the end of the trailer pronounces the name of the game rather bizarrely. Officially speaking, the "X" in Guilty Gear X is actually pronounced as "zex", but it (and "igzex" for XX) strikes a lot of English speakers as weird nonetheless.
• Loud Sol ^Explanation Guilty Gear XX is already considered a game with loud sound effects, but none of them compare to Sol's loudness. His moves tend to have massive explosions at the end that are way louder than normal. It is even taken to the next level with Grand Viper and Tyrant Rave: the moves are so god damned loud it genuinely sounds like someone fired a shotgun right beside the player's ears. Just listen for yourself.
• Everyone is gay for Bridget. ^Explanation Prior to actually identifying as female in -STRIVE-, Bridget was often mistaken for a little girl by others, despite considering herself entirely masculine when first introduced. This line is a popular Image Macro phrase used for trolling, especially towards people who aren't familiar with either Guilty Gear or the character. (Before it was renamed, the trope Unsettling Gender-Reveal was known as Dropped a Bridget on Him/Her.) The meme still persists -STRIVE-, though repurposed for the female crowd instead.
  • Trap ^ExplanationPictures of Bridget would often be used in conjunction with the Admiral Ackbar "It's a trap!" meme, the idea being that Bridget is in fact a "trap" because of her former gender, giving rise to "trap" as a slang term for any cross-dressing or otherwise feminine male. This has, however, become a Discredited Meme in some circles due to its perceived transphobia, further contested after -STRIVE- where Bridget came out as a transgender girl at the end of her arcade mode.
  • Straight for Bridget ^ExplanationWith -STRIVE- having her transition to being a woman, many of the male fans who were "gay for" her back in the XX days can now be considered "straight for Bridget".
  • Still gay for Bridget ^ExplanationPerhaps unsurprisingly, many of the "male" fans who thought of themselves as gay for Bridget back in the day have since transitioned, so when Bridget came out as trans they made jokes about being gay for her both before and after.
• Not unlike how the BlazBlue in L.A. Vocal Edition album gave us THE NAME IS HAKUMEN!, the earlier Guilty Gear XX in N.Y Vocal Edition featured vocal versions of the XX cast's themes, all of varying lyrical quality. Perhaps the best-known example is "Haven't You Got Eyes In Your Head?", the jazzy theme of classy vampire monarch Slayer, featuring the line "Step back, bitch!" among all sorts of gratuitous swearing and otherwise edgy lyrics.
  • "NEVER FORGIVE A SHENANIGAN!!!" ^ExplanationA particularly hilarious and out of place lyric in Ky's vocal version of his theme, "Holy Orders".
• I'VE FOUND THE BURRITO! ^ExplanationThough not as widespread as COCONUT! and GURLFRIEND!, Testament's soundbyte during their Master of Puppet(s) Overdrive has likewise led to humorous interpretations by English-speaking fans.
• "Just Fuujin." ^ExplanationThe Accent Core +R version of Anji Mito's Fuujin special attack has invulnerable startup, a decently sized hitbox and several mix-up follow-up attacks that can be done even on Fuujin whiff. Just the first two points alone led to Western Anji beginners spamming Fuujin over and over trying to plow their way through neutral in online matches. Even competitive-level players considered the move being core to Anji's gameplan, though not entirely flawless.
• I-No players are too busy labbing combos to be horny. ^ExplanationI-No in her GGXX iterations is infamous for tight and demanding inputs for her long combos. Most of the time you'll be practicing her moves instead of admiring whatever fanservice she provides.

Xrd

• RATED R!!!^ExplanationA mutation of the introduction vocals of the song "Ride the Fire", which plays whenever Sol enters Dragon Install in Guilty Gear Xrd.
• Elphelt is everyone's waifu. ^ExplanationXrd newcomer Elphelt is literally willing to become the wife of anyone on the roster, especially when doing her Instant Kill version of Cupid's Arrow.
• Selecting "Birthday Train" as your battle theme for online play in Xrd is a prevalent joke. It's been known to get Sol players to Dragon Install incessantly just to get a different track to play.
• You're my pockets, Eddie ^Explanation A Tumblr post where a roleplay account of Eddie laments over his lack of pockets, only for a Zato-1 roleplay account to respond with "You're my pockets Eddie." It's actually referencing an infamous Daddy Dom/Little Girl post (SFW), but those who don't get the joke are drawn to it for how bizarre it is.
• Icarus Clip/TAAAAKE ME TAAAKE ME TO THE END OF THE WOOOOOORLD. ^ExplanationThe song from Xrd tends to be used for clips where one mistake (usually a wakeup reversal that the opponent managed to predict) leads to a massive combo or losing the round. Usually synching the fateful moment where it all goes down hill to the start of the very emotional chorus. And not just with Guilty Gear either.

-STRIVE-

• THAT IS BULLSHIT BLAZING ^ExplanationThe opening line in the theme of the EVO 2019 reveal trailer for Guilty Gear -STRIVE-, which immediately caught on, often in reference to the incredible animation.
  • Jokes about how "the smell of the game" (the title of -STRIVE-'s main theme) is obviously in reference to Melee players. ^ExplanationAs yet another facet of the rivalry between Melee players and the rest of the FGC, Melee players have a reputation for poor hygiene.
• "Mankind knew that they cannot change society. So instead of reflecting on themselves, they blamed the Beasts." ^ExplanationA new line added to the match intro in -STRIVE-. On top of reinforcing the SOCIETY meme (see below), the phrase is highly quotable, right up there with "The Wheel of Fate is Turning..." and "Can't Escape from Crossing Fate!"
• Guilty Gear CBT ^ExplanationWhen the Closed Beta Test was announced for -STRIVE-, deliberate Acronym Confusion with Cock and Ball Torture arose.
• The initial menu interface and in-game HUD for -STRIVE- in the first beta were met with criticism from the FGC because ASW seemed to go along with simplistic designs instead of the metallic, punk rock aesthetics that the GG franchise has always been known for. As such, the UI incident spawned some commonly used phrases by the FGC:
  • "It's just a placeholder!" ^ExplanationUsed by some to defend how the UI in the beta can still be different from the final product, and it's open to changes. However, another side opted for Never Live It Down, especially since first impressions are important.
  • "Ah yes, Mobile Game." ^ExplanationComparing the general simplistic and colorful aesthetics of the interface to one that can be found in mobile games. The character select screen having stat parameters for the characters also led to comparisons with MOBA games and JRPG titles. This was also fueled by the fact that ArcSys released Granblue Fantasy Versus, a fighting game based on a JRPG mobile/browser gacha game.
  • "One Two" ^ExplanationThe combo hit counter had numerical fonts that took up a large part of the screen, larger than the in-game character model. But what stood out was that the numbers also had written text inside them. It got jarring when there were more than 10 hits in a combo, like how a 12-hit combo showed the words "One Two" on screen, with a large font.
  • "Hey ArcSys, I'm a UI designer now." ^ExplanationBefore ASW changed the UI based on feedback, fans attempted to change the initial UI themselves via photo-editing software. After a while, parodies of this trend (where the creator would simply copy another fighting game's UI to replace the current one) began popping up in droves.
• No Baiken, no buy-ken! ^ExplanationAfter the final reveal of the initial base roster of -STRIVE-, many Baiken fans voiced their frustration of Baiken's exclusion, protesting that they would not buy the game until she got added to the roster. This was an offshoot of the "No Mai, no Buy" protest from SNK fans upset that Mai Shiranui was left out of The King of Fighters XII.
  • No Testament, no invest-ament! ^ExplanationThe "No Baiken, no buy-ken!" meme eventually produced several clones involving other characters, with this Testament-related one becoming one of the more prominent ones.
• Daisuke's vision ^ExplanationUsed both derisively and comically whenever something odd in regards to the game's balance happens in actual gameplay, or when mods are used on stream.
• Dragon Uninstall/Dragon Install Into Lose^ExplanationA joke ribbing on Ky's Dragon Install's Awesome, but Impractical nature, since it only activates when Ky is already at extremely low health and is only a combo starter at extremely close range, meaning it's pathetically easy for his opponent to just block the Dragon Install and immediately kill him.
• Legal May ^ExplanationMay's new design in -STRIVE- shows that she underwent a very noticeable growth spurt, to the point where she now looks her established age (22). As such, the longstanding implications regarding those who play her no longer apply.
• 🐬TOTSUGEKI🐬 ^ExplanationThe phrase that May says whenever she uses her Mr. Dolphin special attack. Became a meme in -STRIVE-, where it became hideously easy to spam and almost singlehandedly got May declared a gorilla. It even got a whole romhack of Mario 64 based around it.
  • "lol just 6P it!" ^ExplanationDue to the disjointed hitbox of Totsugeki, it was hard to properly counter the move, and cries for it to be nerfed quickly followed. Fans of May were quick to dismiss this, countering that players should just "6P" or use a forward punch which often doubled as an anti-air, if they had so much trouble with the move. This is in spite of the fact that they knew the hitbox was disjointed, making even this not a guaranteed counter. Eventually, ArcSys did follow through with properly nerfing the Totsugeki move.
• The Disaster of Passion ^ExplanationWhen the official preview of -STRIVE-'s official soundtrack came out, giving preview snippets of the all the starting roster's themes, the fans immediately took to May's extremely upbeat theme, "The Disaster of Passion", and memes containing the song sprung up at a rapid pace.
• Pants ^ExplanationAxl's new design in -STRIVE- was particularly well-received and came as a pleasant surprise to those who may have started with Xrd, since the jean shorts he used to wear have been replaced by black pants similar to the ones he wore in X and XX.
• ZA WARUDO Install/The Ultimate Whiff Punish/"Good heavens, look at the time!" ^ExplanationAxl's new One Vision Overdrive showcases his Time Master abilities as seen in the Story Modes of previous games by allowing him to completely stop time whenever he wants after activation, basically giving him a free combo. While doing this, he also does the Jotaro Kujo pose, so anyone who wasn't freaking out and calling Axl OP was busy making a slew of JoJokes instead.
• "OOOOOOOOOO" ^ExplanationAxl's theme "Out of the Box" features a consistent vocalized chorus in the background. Much like the May theme, it quickly went viral.
• SOCIETY ^ExplanationPotemkin's new theme in -STRIVE- prominently features the word "society." As expected, Joker (2019) jokes soon followed. Then the full version of the song released, and was revealed to also feature heavy usage of the word "clown".
  • We live in an Armor-Clad Faith. ^ExplanationDue to the heavy usage of the word in the song, general consensus among the fanbase was to give Potemkin's theme the Fan Nickname of "Society" before the official title, "Armor-Clad Faith" was revealed. After the official title's reveal, the fans still joked around about the fan title they gave the song, leading to using the official title in the "We live in a society" meme.
  • I'M A CLOWN OF FATE^ExplanationBefore the official lyrics were revealed, those who tried to note down what the lyrics misheard the song's opening lines ("Armor-Clad Faith!") as "I'm a clown of fate!", which was rationalized as continuing the usage of "clown" as appropriate. As with the reveal of the official title, fans took to self-deprecatingly use the misheard version of the lyrics to make light of their mistake.
• Potemkin Jumpscare^ExplanationAn informal term for a technique that Potemkin can only pull off in -STRIVE- where he Hammer Falls over to his opponent and then immediately Roman Cancels into a Potemkin Buster, giving him the appearance that he's lunging at his opponent in a manner resembling a FNAF animatronic before dealing high damage to them with his signature command grab.
• Is Faust okay? ^ExplanationFaust's redesign in -STRIVE- makes him appear zombie-like in appearance and animations, with his wacky animations being mixed in with mild creepiness. On top of this, his new theme "Alone Infection" sounds very much like an epic swansong to the good doctor. Ultimately, his reveal left many fans worried about what's wrong with Faust in -STRIVE- and what's going to happen to him. As After Story reveals, he's not okay.
  • Vore ^ExplanationFaust's -STRIVE- reveal trailer prominently displayed a new move where Faust eats his opponents alive, leading to jokes within the fandom that Faust is into vore.
  • Faust's favorite food ^Explanation... Chipps.
  • COVID Faust^ExplanationIn between the announcement of -STRIVE- and its release, the COVID-19 Pandemic swept through the world and affected millions. Mental health in general took a plummet (as people were forced to stay away from friends and loved ones for months at a time), but doctors, nurses and medical staff were especially effected due to a cocktail of stress, exhaustion and justified worries about the wellbeing of themselves and their families. So when Faust was shown to have become a lethargic, barely-coherent wreck, saying something along the lines of "COVID got him good" became something of a darkly humorous inside joke.
• Unstoppable force Vs. Immovable object^ExplanationThe Season 3 update which added the Deflect Shield function, was not without a Game-Breaking Bug, in which -STRIVE- would crash if the shield was used to block Faust's banana peel of all things.
• But she's got a new hat.^ExplanationRamlethal's -STRIVE- redesign was quickly noted as being almost exactly the same as her original look from Xrd, with the only major difference being a new hat.
• Ky's Dragon Install / Dragon Uninstall ^ExplanationGamespot released a video showcasing some new moves for returning characters in -STRIVE-, including Ky Kiske using Dragon Install (the video also showed that Sol Badguy, the move's original user, no longer has his own Dragon Install, instead entering his gear form in a cinematic overdrive). There was no shortage of memes about Ky somehow stealing Sol's power. Some even compared Ky's appearance after using the move to Grøh or Charlie Nash.
  • Ky's WHAT!? ^ExplanationThe aforementioned video dropped the bombshell of "Ky Kiske's Dragon Install" not twenty seconds in and with the bluntness of a sledgehammer, the general reaction to which split between shock at the reveal and shock that they would reveal it so casually.
  • Gear AIDS ^ExplanationDragon Install turns Ky's left eye red, (further) implying that he is partially a Gear himself now. Fans quickly began to joke that this happened due to sexual contact with Dizzy. Though the joke existed as far back as Xrd -SIGN- (where Ky first revealed this change after taking a seemingly fatal attack from Axus late in the story), it really took off following the above bombshell.
• BOOSH ^ExplanationGiovanna's theme, "Trigger", features Naoki Hashimoto pseudo-rapping in a questionably funny voice. His hilariously stilted take on the lyrics "Stop beating around the bush" quickly caught on due to the heavy emphasis of the final word.
• FIGHT LIKE A TIGER, HEALTH OF A FLY! DROPPED MY COMBO, NOW I DIE! ^ExplanationFans were quick to retool the lyrics of Chipp's -STRIVE- theme, "Play The Hero!" to mock his notorious inability to take a hit.
• The gameplay starter guides have spawned multiple memes, especially whenever a character's kit revolves around a unique gameplay mechanic:
  • Ky Kiske: "Shock State" ^ExplanationKy's gimmick is that when certain special moves contact the opponent (on hit or block), it triggers a temporary condition called Shock State. His starter guide explains this mechanic at the beginning and also mentions it for each applicable move; the narrator always says the phrase with the same enunciation (and in a couple of early cases, a noticeable pause just before saying it).
  • Ramlethal: "The range and damage become quite poor when you have none left." ^ExplanationRamlethal has two swords that hover behind her, which she can throw as a special move. She has to either wait for the sword to return automatically or move over to the sword to pick it back up. This impacts the efficiency of other specials that use her swords, which the guide's narrator explains using the same phrase in each case.
  • Leo Whitefang: "Leo is an all-rounder." ^ExplanationThis is the opening sentence of Leo's guide. Comments point out how this phrase understates or just plain mismatches the Gorilla/"Unga Bunga" (see above) reputation the character has among the player base.
  • Nagoriyuki: "(X) increases the Blood Gauge." ^ExplanationNagoriyuki's guide explains his Blood Rage mechanic and what moves increase the associated gauge. As it just so happens, all of Nagoriyuki's specials increase the gauge, which the narrator notes each time, leading fans to joke about every mundane thing causing an increase in the Blood Gauge.
  • "Basic Actions/Eagle is a character" ^ExplanationAfter the first thirteen starter guides were character-specific, ArcSys published a guide for the actions/mechanics shared among all characters, with the splash image showing a bald eagle with the caption "BASIC ACTIONS" in place of the usual character name. Many jokes were made in the comments welcoming "Basic Actions" as their new main and/or claiming the eagle would be playable.
  • Goldlewis Dickinson: "In this Behemoth Typhoon..." ^ExplanationGoldlewis has eight variations of said move, and when his guide describes each one (which takes up about half the video in total), the narrator begins every explanation with this phrase. The comments were immediately flooded with wacky phrases starting with the line, especially other memes.
  • Jack-O': "Servant Gauge is required to activate this move." ^ExplanationJack-O' has a separate meter that limits how often she can use specials that involve commanding her summoned minions. The narrator says this phrase during the description for each such special. Amusingly, this even applies to the description of her "Recover" move, even though using that move completely refills the gauge.
  • Testament: "Stain State" ^ExplanationSimilar to Ky's "Shock State", this is a temporary condition that Testament can inflict on the opponent with a special move. The repetition isn't as prevalent in Testament's starter guide, but still frequent enough to get a few comments on it.
  • Bridget: "Bridget is a well-balanced character." ^ExplanationThis is the phrase that opens Bridget's guide. A number of comments repeat the phrase ironically, either because Bridget's kit is more technical than, say, Sol or Ky, or because the developers should be aiming for a balanced roster in the first place and it sounds odd to call out a single character for it.
  • Bedman? has two:
    • "Error 6E State" ^ExplanationMuch like "Blood Gauge", Bedman? has a unique mechanic that triggers off of each of its special moves; "Error 6E" causes a follow-up move to happen automatically a short time after the special executes. The narrator uses the same or near-similar enunciation each of the numerous times the phrase is said throughout the video.
    • "...To an extent." ^ExplanationAlthough several guides use this phrase when describing special moves whose trajectory the user can influence, Bedman?'s guide uses the phrase with greater frequency, in part because explaining Error 6E means that if the initial move has a controllable property, so does its follow-up, which gets mentioned both times.
  • Asuka R#: "Asuka can bookmark spells."^Explanation Asuka is without a doubt one of the most complex characters in -STRIVE-, in no small part due to his confusing mechanics involving saving spells and casting them with mana similar to a character in a MOBA or turn-based RPG. When Asuka's starter guide came out, the sheer complexity of his moveset instantly became a meme, with the phrase above being reiterated multiple times throughout the starter guide.
  • Johnny: "Mist Finer."^ExplanationIn Johnny's starter guide, the narrator for some reason feels the need to re-explain how Mist Finer works every single time it's brought up, which instantly got memed on.
  • Elphelt: "Here I go!/Nailed it!"^Explanation The narrator of Elphelt's guide reading out the perky names of her Chain Lollipop specials in their signature monotone voice made for a lot of unintentional hilarity.
• The Behemoth Typhoon narrator got fired ^Explanation The narrator for all the character starter guide videos had his last appearance voicing over Goldlewis' guide, where the "In this Behemoth Typhoon..." meme was born due to how many times he repeated the phrase (also fuelled by the narrator's somewhat uninterested tone). When he was replaced by a narrator with a more dramatic voice in the Jack-O starter guide, people started theorising that the original narrator got sacked because the endless "Behemoth Typhoon" lines in the previous guide made people sick of him.
• Darius Rose ^ExplanationA fake leak for -STRIVE- that popped up on 4chan back when it was first revealed contained a list of newcomers that would be appearing in the game, with the first name at the top of that list being "Darius Rose", which was thought by many to have been the name for the then-unknown Nagoriyuki. Funnily enough, the name ended up sticking with some fans.
• Nagoriyuki explaining Onigiri ^ExplanationNagoriyuki's taunt involves him chowing down on some rice balls while giving a lengthy monologue on their nutritional value. The Overly Long Gag nature of the taunt endeared it rather quickly, and of course, it wasn't long before it became the subject of memes.
• Bazinga ROCK PARADE ^ExplanationAnji's new theme "Rock Parade" has a lyric that says "blessing us", but due to the way Naoki pronounces it, it's been commonly misheard as "bazinga." It's also led to edits of Sheldon Cooper wearing Anji's costume.
• "BE MY BOTTOM BITCH!" ^ExplanationI-No's incredibly in-character grab quote in the English dub for -STRIVE-. It's her VA's favorite line and it caught on with the fans very quickly.
• Jack-O' Pose/Jack-O' Challenge ^ExplanationJack-O''s crouching animation has her with her head to the ground, back arched, butt in the air and legs spread. It's ludicrous-looking but sexy. While it's same crouching animation she had in Xrd, and it had a minor degree of popularity beforehand, it got a lot more attention following her DLC announcement for -STRIVE-. It became popular for artists to draw other characters doing the pose and people themselves trying to do the pose in real life with varying degrees of success, as it would require a lot of flexibility in real life.
• Burger Sherriff ^{Explanation (Spoilers!)} A background character first seen in Xrd, originally appearing as a rotund, bearded man with a sheriff's badge eating burgers in Sol's -SIGN- stage. The character gained a bit of fan popularity, sometimes interpreting him as a Memetic Badass or with his takeout bag as an infinite supply of burgers. He gained even more notability when a story trailer for -STRIVE- revealed Goldlewis Dickinson, who bears more than a few similar features, leading several fans to jokingly refer to him as "Burger General" or "Agent Burger." Then speculation on them being one and the same flared up again when, in one of the ending scenes, Dickinson is shown eating a burger. This was later acknowledged in a developer blog, where it was also revealed that while the two are not the same person, they are related as the sheriff is actually Goldlewis's older brother.
• Chad Goldlewis Dickinson ^ExplanationAs mentioned above, one of the newcomers in -STRIVE- is a guy named Goldlewis Dickinson. With his awesome name, massive build and stature, weird eyepatch glasses (with a target painter for a Kill Sat), suave voice, big beard, and ridiculous weapon (which is an alien in a coffin which he wields around like a flail), and with the fanbase loving him and memeing him up, he quickly reached Memetic Badass status. Naturally, people were elated when he was revealed as the game's first DLC character.
  • Golddick Lewinson ^ExplanationA mondegreen nickname for Goldlewis coined by Maximilian Dood that steadily began picking up steam and further fueled the character's memetic status.
  • "Literally Vaush in Guilty Gear?"^ExplanationGoldlewis vaguely resembles socialist streamer Vaush, and there is a long-running gag is in his community that all white men with a beard and glasses look exactly like him, so members of his community who were also Guilty Gear fans took the joke and ran with it.
• American Heavy^ExplanationDickinson's Skyfish special move sees him pull a gatling gun out of the coffin and lets loose on the opponent. Given Dickinson's pose and the fact that he's a heavy-set guy himself, comparisons started instantly.
  • Here's your gatlings. ^Explanation-STRIVE- removed the series' trademark gatling combos (the ability to freely chain normal attacks of ascending strength in a combo) in an attempt to lower the execution barrier and make it easier for newcomers. With the reveal of Skyfish, the joke pretty much wrote itself.
• Mighty Girth^ExplanationA YouTuber named Moustached Villain created this "leaked trailer," with people considering the featured song as Goldlewis' true theme, even to the point where on the video of the full version, people have repeatedly clamored for it becoming a mod for the game (with one saying they're working on it).
• It's not a big deal ^ExplanationThe first lyrics of Goldlewis's theme, "The Kiss of Death". As with many of the other themes in the game, it quickly became the signature line of the song and has been used in multiple contexts, most prominently in a manner similar to the "HOES MAD" meme in defense of Goldlewis being the first DLC character over heavily requested legacy characters like Baiken and later as a reaction any time Goldlewis manages to land an extraordinarily high damage combo.
• You see what happens, That Man, when you fuck A Country in the ass?^ExplanationGoldlewis has been noted to resemble John Goodman both visually and vocally, especially his role as Walter Sobchak in The Big Lebowski. As such, jokes were made that he's the ultimate weapon of defense that only happens to work when America (known as "A Country" in the original Guilty Gear) is getting in extreme jeopardy.
• Goldlewis choking Ramlethal ^ExplanationA screenshot made by a player when Goldlewis performs his throw on Ramlethal, where she has an extremely distressed expression on her face that a lot of people find cute.
• Goldlewis has also earned the nickname "Fat Millia" by some fans in reference to his play style.
• Zato typing ^ExplanationOne of the scenes in the story trailer shows Zato typing on a keyboard, with Leo and Millia behind him. The internet immediately went viral with it, framing it in several different contexts. With the common joke being "ZATO GAMING", in a somewhat similar vein to the jokes of "X Gaming" from Team Fortress 2.
• Giovanna simping for Leo led to several memes.
  • "Why yes, I AM single!"
  • "No. Cuz I'm gonna eat him."
  • "Can I drag you home with me?"
• The Jar. ^{Explanation (NSFW)}One shot in the Story Mode opening cinematic features new villain Happy Chaos holding up a small bottle containing a strange, white, mist-like substance. The white substance in the bottle, combined with Chaos' deranged expression whilst looking at it made viewers instantly draw similarities to the infamous "Cum-Jar" 4chan thread, and images featuring characters such as Isabelle, Jack-O', and, naturally, Rainbow Dash being photoshopped into the bottle quickly started popping up over social media.
• Happy Chaos's chair. ^ExplanationOne of Happy Chaos's signature moments has him playfully spinning around in a revolving chair after he's invaded the White House. Fans took to the scene and several videos of the scene being looped have been uploaded.
• "So anyway, I started blasting..." ^ExplanationHappy Chaos wields two guns in his playable state, and he's one of the most technically complex characters that relies a lot on them, and this has drawn comparisons to Frank's famous gun scene in IASIF.
• Sol using a giant statue of Abraham Lincoln as a weapon against a couple of soldiers in the Main Story Mode. It's exactly as ridiculous and awesome as it sounds.
• Dunny Missiles ^ExplanationIn -STRIVE-, Danny Missiles — an in-universe parody of Johnny Rockets — was renamed to "Dunny Missiles". A "dunny" is Australian slang for an outhouse or toilet.
• "It took me 10 years to land this combo in Training Mode. Online, I dropped it in 2 seconds." ^ExplanationA snowclone of the first few words in Happy Chaos's theme, "Drift", poking fun at the level of dexterity required to weave gunshots into his combos, much less generally play him effectively.
• Drift but Happy Chaos forgot^ExplanationA joke where Happy Chaos' theme "Drift" cuts off and becomes an instrumental piece after the words "I forgot", pretending like he literally forgot the words to the song. Loosely correlated with the "I Forgor" meme. Ascended when Naoki Hashimoto literally forgot the lyrics from that point in the song in the recent 2024 Guilty Gear concert.
• Happy Chaos' Disney section/segment. ^ExplanationHow fans refer to one part of Happy Chaos' theme, "Drift", thanks to the bombastic, whimsy and orchestral feel to it, like something out of a musical from said company. This even led to some fans referring to Happy Chaos as a Disney Princess and drawing fan art of him dressed up as a princess.
• Baiken has a gun?! ^ExplanationBaiken's gameplay trailer featured one of her Overdrives, in which she pulls out her flintlock cannon and fires a firework explosion at her opponent. This led to a lot of excitement from Baiken fans online over how cool that Baiken pulled out a gun... but then this also led to quick mockery because the Baiken fandom rather notoriously has a reputation of people claiming to be a Baiken fan without actually playing her. People were quick to point out that Baiken also had this weapon in Xrd so the people who claimed to be her fan shouldn't have been shocked by this revelation (unless they are new to Guilty Gear).
• Baiken Pog^Explanation A shot from Baiken's victory screen has her making a face remarkably similar to the "PogChamp" twitch emote.
• The They/Them Mix-up ^ExplanationTestament's new appearance took the FGC by surprise, especially them now identifying as non-binary, which became a hot topic of discussion, and as such, this meme quickly spread across the community. Applies to a degree to Bridget as well, given that she accepts herself as trans.
  • "They have transcended human existence, just like me." ^ExplanationThe official statement made by Daisuke Ishiwatari on Testament's gender. It quickly became memed and added to the "Lord Daisuke"/"Daisuke-as-Jesus" meme imagery.
  • Yassified. ^ExplanationTestament's redesign funnily coincided with the "yassification" meme, and their once sharp features have become more feminine and softer in -STRIVE-, leading to this notion as well.
  • Gender Neutral ^ExplanationWith Testament's non-binary status and their focus on a defensive playstyle involving controlling the neutral space, this pun and more like it were inevitable. As with the above trope, can also apply to Bridget.
  • Estrogen normals^ExplanationBridget has very quick, long-range normal attacks using her yoyos, similar to Poison's playstyle using her whip in Street Fighter V. Despite Capcom famously tapdancing around the issue, fan sentiment has settled on Poison being a trans woman as well.
• Phalanx guy ^ExplanationAnother Story features an Audience Surrogate character in one of the Illyrian Phalanx guards. His design became unexpectedly popular in much the same manner as Goldlewis's brother (the "burger sheriff" from Xrd), to the point where many began to ask for him as future DLC.
• Bridget vibing ^ExplanationBecause Arcade Mode's story scenarios are rendered using the in-battle models and animations, the more serious scenes involving Bridget's gender identity crisis have her unfittingly dancing despite her serious dialogue.
• "Mentally, I'm already at lunch!" ^ExplanationA line from Bridget's trailer that gained a bit of popularity among fans, sometimes complete with Bridget photoshopped in front of different real-world eateries.
• Goldlewis the Ally ^ExplanationWhile Goldlewis was already fairly popular among fans, his popularity skyrocketed with Bridget's release, showing the big guy being a very compassionate and understanding friend to Bridget as she finds her identity in her Arcade story. The trans fanbase immediately embraced Goldlewis as an ally.
  • Goldlewis is Bridget's dad/"I love my trans daughter" ^ExplanationA derivative of the above, a lot of fan art has cropped up of Goldlewis being a father figure to Bridget.
• Brisket <3^ExplanationA nickname for Bridget born from an anonymous Tumblr user's friend mistaking her name. The silliness of the moniker led to it becoming a popular Fan Nickname for Bridget before turning into an online game of telephone where people continue distorting Bridget's name in comically absurd ways (similarly to fellow Tumblr meme "bone apple teeth"), usually by replacing it with any two-syllable word or phrase starting with B and ending in T.
  • Bridget <3^ExplanationIn response to the above, people will use Bridget's actual name, but juxtapose it with pictures of brisket. We've come full circle.
• "She will never be Ballin'. *Spit Take* BRIDGET BALLIN!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?"^ExplanationA variant of the "he will never be ballin'" meme that references a popular Bridget mod which changes her outfit into a basketball jersey and her yo-yo to a basketball.
• "You're telling me this girl has an ENTIRE TOWN inside of her?"^ExplanationA riff on Bridget's battle theme, "The Town Inside Me", which is about her struggles with self-esteem and her crisis of identity, acting like the lyrics are meant to be taken at face value.
• She/Her They/Them Cool Hat^ExplanationA variation on a preexisting meme based on a photo of three mugs with these words written on them. The pic is often applied to Bridget, Testament, and I-No, with Bridget being described with She/Her, Testament being described with They/Them, and I-No being described as having a Cool Hat.
• Kyle Kiske ^ExplanationA nickname for Ky derived from a similar convention as the "Brisket" nickname for Bridget - a simple misspelling of his name that caught on. It is often used specifically to refer to online Ky players in a derisive manner for a variety of reasons that correlate to the "online Ken" memes in Street Fighter.
  • Robert Kyle ^ExplanationA similar nickname used for Ky's robot clone Robo-Ky
• The Pride Avengers^ExplanationDue to Bridget's popularity after coming out as a transgender woman, people have begun to associate her with other characters (plus Jerma) that are associated with the LGBTQ community, such as Venom (due to romantic overtones between Venom and Eddie), Daisaku Kuze (as his voice actor has stated he supports transgender people after having good sex with a trans woman), Vegeta (due to his pride as a Saiyan), and Jerma (who stated he supports trans rights on stream)
• Himbo ^ExplanationAn epithet used exclusively for Sin, as he's a Bishōnen Stock Shōnen Hero with not much going on upstairs and some weird ideas when he actually does try to utilize brainpower.
  • What have they been feeding him ^ExplanationSin got a hefty serving of Fanservice Pack between the Xrd series and -STRIVE-, resulting in quite a few series veterans wondering just how he packed on that much muscle in a matter of weeks.
  • Sin doesn't know where babies come from^ExplanationIn Another Story, Sin mistakenly assumes that Baiken's eyepatch means she's pregnant and give a confusing explanation as to why, and the whole scene is treated like Sin just said something unforgivable. Jumping off of the other memes about Sin's empty-headed tendencies, this scene gets memed a lot because it's a jarring reminder that despite looking like a ripped guy in his 20s, Sin is, chronologically, five years old.
  Baiken: You're in for a shock when you learn the whole story.
• Bedman?/Manbed!/Bed/Bed with no Man ^ExplanationWith "Bedman?" (the name for the team of Delilah and her late brother's bed mecha) being revealed as DLC after Sin, they got their own fair share of nicknames, with some people even insisting that "Bedman?" should always be addressed with an inquisitive tone of voice.
• "BEDMAN INSTALL!?"^ExplanationBedman?'s Overdrive Attack "Call 13C" has it power up in a way which is extremely reminiscient of Ky Kiske's Dragon Install, leading to the joke that Bedman? is also somehow a Gear despite being a Mini-Mecha.
• I SEE THE CIRCLE ^ExplanationThe opening lines of Bedman?'s theme "The Circle", which instantly became memed similar to "Armor-Clad Faith".
• Bed-voting ^Explanation The subreddit for Guilty Gear replaced their upvote and downvote icons pictures of Delilah and Bedman's heads respectively because of the arrow-thingies on their hair.
• Asuka's drip ^ExplanationWhen Asuka R. Kreutz was revealed as the final DLC character of Season 2, everyone reacted with awe at his finalized design. To wit, his outfit consists of what can only be described as a mishmash of clashing themes that somehow manage to blend together into the textbook definition of Costume Porn: a pastor's robe underneath a Shinto priest's robe, with a wizard's cloak that has a galaxy inside of it... and a pair of cool looking sneakers.
  • Asuka the Invoker ^ExplanationAsuka's gameplay is reminiscent of the Invoker class from Dota 2. His design also happens to resemble Aleister the Invoker, one of the most infamous monster cards in all of Yu-Gi-Oh.
  • Shadow Wizard Money Gang/Asuka Loves Casting Spells ^ExplanationUpon Asuka's official reveal, videos and memes depicting his gameplay over the audio in question sprouted rather quickly. The Shadow Wizard Money Gang meme on its own has seen a resurgence ever since Asuka's release, be it from Guilty Gear fans or not.
• Asuka is a Touhou character^Explanation Most of Asuka's playstyle involves covering the entire screen with spell projectiles so that it's impossible to approach him, leading to the joke that he's actually from Touhou or another Bullet Hell game.
• Anji: "How big's that dick, handsome?" Asuka: "Small, leave me alone!"^ExplanationWith the addition of new interactions between Anji and Asuka that consist of what seems like Anji flirting with him, this exchange quickly became popular among the fandom, especially since Asuka is very aloof and it fits his character like a glove.

• Strive Rush^ExplanationThe Wild Assault mechanic, a universal move that allows a player to lunge forward with an armored move, introduced in Season 3, has been compared to the very similar Drive Rush mechanic from Street Fighter 6, which released a few weeks prior to Season 3.
• Crippled Johnny^ExplanationYouTuber Uzelac (better known as Red) had found a datamined model for Johnny within the files of Guilty Gear Strive that was seemingly left unfinished, as he was missing his hat, sunglasses, and most peculiarly his legs. Whether this was simply leftover from Xrd or if Johnny was planned for an earlier season is unknown, but it didn't stop Uzelac from making memes about it, as well as the comments equating Johnny to another paraplegic Johnny. Hilarious in Hindsight considering that three days after the "JOHNNY GUILTY GEAR" video, Johnny was officially announced for -STRIVE- to kick off Season 3.
• "The God of Failure HATES HIM! Learn how to get rich quick with these simple steps!"^ExplanationMany people tend to crack jokes about the lyrics of Johnny's theme in -STRIVE-, specifically the lyric about "the guy who was hated by the god of failure", equating it to ads that advertise things like "Doctors HATE HIM", and other such similar phrases.
• Just Lean^ExplanationThe title of Johnny's theme, naturally, sparked references to the infamous "Purple Drank".
• Johnny Test^ExplanationA common pairing name for Johnny and Testament, brought back into the limelight by their unique interactions in Strive. Of course, some people noticed that their names put together sounded similar to a certain infamous animated series, and adore the naming convention for its sheer comedy value.
• Hackerman^ExplanationRefers to a rather infamous security exploit present in Arc System Works games which utilize the R-Code system for player profiles. Through a series of very specific inputs, it was possible to change the details of other players' R-Codes, which ended up causing a variety of drastic and sometimes system-deadly side effects. This includes, and is not limited to, the frame rate slowing down to an unplayable crawl, connection drops, game crashing, and in really bad cases for the PC version, memory leaks and system bricking. These issues lasted for a good 3 years before ArcSys finally patched it out in September 2023, but during that period it became a popular method for trolls to torment popular FGC streamers who played the game, preventing them from playing online against other people and forcing them to either do training mode or play a different game.
• Extras is a Christmas song/Mariah Carey's "Extras"^ExplanationBetween Elphelt's birthday being on Christmas, the character herself (and her theme by extension) being released in Strive's Season 3 DLC character pass in December of 2023, Several instances of "Hallelujah" being sung, and two lines whose melodies sound similar to Amazing Grace and, more infamously, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You", fans have jokingly (some even seriously) stated that Elphelt's theme is a holiday special.
• Editing other memetic screams over Elphelt's victory animation where she screams a Metal Scream into her microphone (such as the Lego Yoda death sound or Tom yelling) has become very popular.
• A.B.A fans are bigger coomers than I-No fans^ExplanationAfter A.B.A's reveal as the third DLC character for Season 3, jokes immediately started cropping up about how she was only picked due to the gargantuan amount of Perverse Sexual Lust the fandom has directed her way ever since XX.
  • "I CAN FIX HER"^Explanation A joke about fans who are attracted to A.B.A seeing her as a "goth gf" and ignoring more unsavory aspects of her character, like that she's a blood-covered homunculus and a Yandere.
  • "God, I wish I was Paracelsus"^ExplanationA joke about fans wishing they were A.B.A's Living Weapon Paracelsus due to how she's madly in love with him and carries him at her side at all times, especially with her new -STRIVE- victory animation where she cuddles up to him and seductively strokes him as if he were human... as well as her Jealous Rage taunt, wherein she bites him repeatedly.
• A.B.A oxidized^ExplanationSince her first appearance in XX, A.B.A's hair color has changed from orange-red to mint green, giving the impression that her hair is made out of copper and oxidized over time (a famous real-life example of this being the Statue of Liberty). Given her status as an Artificial Human, this may not be too far from the truth.
• Key Morty^ExplanationParacelcus' voice in the English -STRIVE- dub is high-pitched and whiny, just like Morty's.
• A.B.A's arcade ending^{Explanation (Spoilers!)}Fans like to simplify A.B.A's stage 9 arcade mode ending as "Paracelsus solves A.B.A's problems by turning blue". While it is an emotional turning point in the story, it is quite silly when taken out of context.
• They made Slayer even COOLER!?^ExplanationA meme developed after the long-awaited reveal of Slayer as Season 3's final character and based upon the previous somewhat controversial redesigns of previous characters appearing in -STRIVE-. Instead of being divisive, the immediate consensus was that ArcSys somehow managed to make Slayer's design even more badass than he already was.

Meta

• "UMEHARA GA KIMETAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"^TranslationVariable, with literal translations being "Umehara (has) finished (it)!" and "Umehara (has) decided (it)!" (in the sense of a decisive win). For the purpose of the meme, most fans go with "Umehara decides/decided the destiny!", but "Umehara has settled it!", "Umehara did it!", "Umehara takes it all!" etc. are also valid.^ExplanationA comment from a Large Ham tournament announcer (Gama no Abura) when powerhouse Daigo Umehara (source of the Daigo Full Parry) beat his opponent Shisamo's Faust during a 3v3 Guilty Gear XX tournament held during the 2003 edition of Tougeki SBO. (A retrospective of Daigo and his team (Ore to Omae to Daigorou)'s participation in this event can be found here.) Possibly acknowledged by ASW themselves in their arcade Fist of the North Star fighter, where the announcer yells "Decide the destiny!" to start off each round.
  • The above moment has been the subject of several Voice Clip Songs (most originating from Nico Nico Douga) as part of a trend known as Denpa Jikkyou ("Crazy Live Report").
• WOSHIGE, NOOOOO! WHAT ARE YOU STANDING UP FOR!? ^ExplanationDuring the Winner's Semi-Finals of Guilty Gear Xrd at EVO 2015, Woshige's Millia Rage went up against Ogawazato's Zato-1. At 1-1, Ogawazato took the first round of Match 3, while Woshige took the second round. Unfortunately, Woshige took the time after the second round to celebrate... forgetting that there was still one round left to go. This mistake allow Ogawazato to utterly decimate Woshige, culminating in one of the most iconic moments from the show, albeit as a Medal of Dishonor for Woshige.
• When REV 2 was announced, pictures of series director Daisuke Ishiwatari depicted as Jesus started making the rounds on Twitter, now pictured above.
• Guilty Gear and Super Smash Bros. Melee both not making the cut for EVO 2019 while Under Night In-Birth made it in led to memes that Guilty Gear performed a Heroic Sacrifice to finally get Melee out of EVO.
• Hotashi killed Guilty Gear! ^ExplanationThis meme in the community sprouted after Maximilian Dood was Instant Killed in a match of Xrd REV 2 by Hotashi during a livestream and then dipped instead of playing a rematch. Fans reasoned that this enraged Max to the point of never playing the game again and, due to Max's popularity as one of the biggest faces in the FGC as a content creator, seemingly killed the game's chance of crossing over with casual gamers. Hotashi later referenced this meme by tweeting out he "saved Guilty Gear" by defeating SonicFox in the Grand Finals of the North American Evo 2021 tournament, due to the latter being vocally critical of -STRIVE- on Twitter prior to the tournament.
• N'zig Ironmaiden ^Explanation In September 2020 a Twitter user illustrated a joke comparing the average fighters from Guilty Gear and Tekken. The latter character is an average Joe who just punches (with the odd one out being "Spinning Energy Disc Wait Why Can He Do This He's Wearing Fucking Wrangler Jeans") named Jimmy. The former character is an amalgamation of ArcSys character designs, riddled with a bunch of random steampunk features, hard rock allusions, elaborately named special moves, and edgy-as-all-hell character quote; his name is N'zig Ironmaiden.
• Average Goldlewis Player^ExplanationAt Red Bull Kumite 2021, Gobou pulled out a surprise Goldlewis pick against Diaphone's I-No and proceeded to go to town on Diaphone, all while giving a very creepy Slasher Smile whenever he got a hit. People began to joke that all Goldlewis players make a face similar to Gobou's when they get a hit.
  • "Kore ga...Behemoth." ^ExplanationRoughly translated from Japanese as "This is...Behemoth", these were the parting words spoken by Red Bull Kumite 2021 champion Gobou after winning with Goldlewis in Grand Finals. Up to that point, Goldlewis's status within the competitive metagame had been the subject of much debate.
• Bill Clinton & Guilty Gear ^ExplanationDuring his term as the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton once held up an ad for Guilty Gear to use as an example in a speech about violence in video games. Some time after the release of -STRIVE-, the internet remembered and ran wildwith it. Later became an Ascended Meme when ArcSys themselves put a poster of the former president into the DLC White House stage.
• Low-Damage Game^Explanation In response to complaints about the Rocket-Tag Gameplay of -STRIVE-, videos of earlier games have popped up showing that comparable amounts of damage could be inflicted in prior games, too.
• Latif, a highly skilled Zato-1 player from Saudi Arabia, has become famous as a Fountain of Memes for his endless quotability.
  • "WALLAH YOU'RE CARRIED!" ^ExplanationSaid in a streamed match with his friend and training partner, Slash.
  • "I dont care what anybody says or think, i am the best at this game by FAR." ^ExplanationA rather salty now deleted Tweet made by Latif after placing 9th at Evo 2022, where he lost to two Zato players.
  • "Nago, Happy Chaos, Ram players..." ^ExplanationLatif hops on commentary after a tough loss. Memes ensue.
• "sex with a man" ^ExplanationGuilty Gear Whispers is a Twitter account dedicated to captioned image shitposts of the Guilty Gear cast, with one of their most notable being a picture of Anji doing his parry with the caption "sex with a man". Potentially ascended with Anji having a rather flirtatious line ("Hello, handsome!") when pitted against Asuka.
  • "sex with a woman" ^ExplanationThe above, but with Baiken doing her parry.
  • "sex with That Man" ^ExplanationA version with Asuka R#, otherwise known as "That Man".
  • sex with a key^ExplanationA version of the meme playing off of A.B.A's one-sided attraction towards her keylike weapon and "husband" Paracelsus. According to I-No in XX, A.B.A may genuinely use Paracelsus to pleasure herself (though this is I- No we're talking about).

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