To put it mildly, Granblue Fantasy is abundant with various memes particularly some commonly-circulated fandom phrases, and that definitively contributed to it becoming well-known towards its related gacha communities on the Japanese and Englsh-speaking sides of the internet.
Please add entries in the following format if possible:
- The meme. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme, if necessary.[[/labelnote]] ExplanationLike this.
- Further mutations and successor memes, if any.
- "Turn back. Run while you still can" ExplanationPar for the course in any gacha game or grind-heavy RPG for that matter, this is a fandom catchphrase used in joke responses to newcomer posts and questions from those who wish to try out Granblue for the first time. Little do they know, the game offers much content and requires grinding to make the most out of your gacha characters.
- "Remember. You are here forever." ExplanationIn relation to the above catchphrase aimed at beginners. This one is specifically aimed at the veterans or long-time players of the game. Even if one manages to catch-up with the latest batch of content, or have obtained end-game items that can sufficiently clear out higher raids, the game is being constantly updated with more content, especially during the game's anniversary events, when this phrase is commonly used. No matter if you have cleared everything, there are always new upcoming additions to keep even veterans busy again. It has also been used during Magnafest announcements which encourage players to grind out or complete their to-do-lists thanks to the half-AP/double-EXP or RP benefits
- Grindblue FantasyExplanationA common, tongue in-cheek Fan Nickname given to the game by the players and fans alike.
- thăm ngànExplanationTaken from this anti-alcohol ad from Thailand, the ad describes a man who went to a constant drunken rage before realizing the error of his ways and start working non-stop until he became rich enough and raise a wealthy and happy family and improve the livelihood of the country. The ad has been taken by playerbases of games with grindy progression, especially Granblue fans, for its tongue in-cheek similarities with your typical Granblue players who grind the game nonstop to obtain all the needed materials for their characters and weapon grid.
- "Cygames' Armpit Fetish"ExplanationA common thing that's noticed in most, if not all, IPs that Cygames has made, is the abundance of Fanservice that focuses on the characters' armpits regardless of their gender or fictional race. It has led to fans making compilations of armpits, or joking that this particular form of fanservice is the fetish of the company's art department. Nonetheless, fans of their games generally just go along with it though, with fanartists even giving an emphasis on the "pits" just like the official versions. This phrase has seen a resurgence in the late 2010's from the Gateway Series cases of their games, such as Dragalia Lost and Granblue Fantasy Versus.
- "Praise Ghandi" ExplanationBack in 2016, the first iteration of the Arcarum mode was met with game-breaking bugs, one of which is the exploit that allowed players to completely remove a team from the map. An elite player named "Noir" (ノワール) from the Blue camp triggered the bug at the end of the third quarter, permanently removing the Blue camp from the map, This later resulted into an outrage that caused Cygames to entirely cancel this bugged event. Seeing as "Noir" was the one who ended it, the players of the Blue camp labeled him as "The Ghandi of our time" or something similar, because he "ended the war". However, this phrase is considered as a Discredited Meme now that the Arcarum mode has been reworked, with only the veterans of Granblue who played the event on 2016 being the ones who remember most of the details.
- "Lucha Gran" ExplanationGran's Luchador costume sprite had been a joke in the Japanese fandom due to the fact that Gran gained muscles in the sprite. Edits of Gran in his Luchador sprite are more often than not, common.
- The Japanese fandom had an edit field day in Twitter the moment the Anime came out. The common edit at the moment being the scene of Gran finding Lyria.
- "HRT Tier" ExplanationA collective fan nickname to two game-breaking characters. Named after the producers who are more or less responsible for Summer Zooey and Korwa's release. It was coined by a western tier list, but even Japanese players find it amusing.
- "Happy End" ExplanationA phrase associated with Korwa and her buffing abilities; once she gets going, you're likely to make it through even the toughest battles.
- "All Coming" ExplanationRefers to the unfortunate translation of Yngwie's first skill, which comes out if you read this official news page of his debut way back 2016 using Google Translate. Some even deliberately refer to it as All Cumming.
- "Legend of Rackam" Explanation (Which also applies to Rackam's character and Running Gag in general), something born out of the 4komas where various stunts of his end up immortalized and he gets blown up. A lot. Outside of them, he's mainly known for having a really useless skill (Duration) and his SSR version not being that effective (until Feb 2017 where he became rather viable).
- The Sky Compass app's image customizer has been the basis of several jokes as fans arrange character artwork, the event titles and background around to make some kind of meme, like Lunalu fantasizing about Vane and Lancelot having a picnic together.
- "Gran(d) Slam" ExplanationGran's method of defeating a Clay Golem in the anime by slam-dunking a bomb to the golem's mouth has not gone unnoticed by the community.
- "Gran Blue was still a fantasy" Explanation"Dissecting" the franchise's Granblue Fantasy title and spinning them into joke sentences. These have context because the primary male protagonist is named Gran, is associated with the color blue, has a moment/outfit where he has blue hair, and the franchise itself has a fantasy setting. Though this trend can be traced back for years and also used within the original gacha game's online community, it mostly became popular because of the Versus, Rising and Relink spin-offs, albeit to varying lengths. For example, a Steam review upon the release of Rising goes "It's called Granblue Fantasy because you're playing as Gran wearing blue in a fantasy world."
- "One Radish, Please" ExplanationThe Siegfried sticker that could be unlocked through the Dragon Knight CD code, based on one of his lines from Grand Blues #217, has become subject to memes. Some image edits even replace his sword Balmung with a BFS daikon radish.
- "Snek Laugh" ExplanationSome players have interpreted the open-mouth pose of the Leviathan Omega summon as mocking them in laughter for getting yet another selfie instead of something that can at least be used to increase skill levels on other weapons.
- "SOIYA!!!" ExplanationEugen, Soriz, and Jin, or often nicknamed as the Fundoshi trio are quite iconic to the fandom due to their song. Any mention of the three or the song will at least have players and fans shout this phrase.
- Everyone gets Mikazuki ExplanationBack when the Touken Ranbu collaboration was announced in 2017, Cygames later released the information that Mikazuki Munechika is the free SSR collaboration character. Fans aware of how much of a Rare Random Drop Mikazuki was in Touken Ranbu itself then made jokes of the differential treatment Granblue Fantasy players get, like how the Granblue Fantasy players get Mikazuki easier than the Touken Ranbu players themselves.
- Sky Knights! Prepare for battle! Explanation Originating from Shadowverse, this is the Catchphrase of Albert when he is played into the board. Albert, Levin Saber, is a Swordcraft follower who can attack twice in a turn, and if you play him at Turn 9, he becomes immune to damage. And it is due to these reasons why many consider him one of the most decent and common game-winning card at that time, cementing his status as an Ensemble Dark Horse. Because the CCG game didn't support multi-language when he was released, most of the western players got used to the baritone of the voice actor and they liked it. Ever since, most of Albert's English lines were treated as memes, sexual innuendos, or used in chain comment reactions whenever the character is being discussed in a Cygames-related western fandom including Granblue Fantasy and Dragalia Lost (games which some Shadowverse players also branched into). Many of his other lines were treated the same:
- "Seiyuu References" ExplanationIn the Japanese fandom, there is a meme about how several characters share the same voice actors. Players tend to create teams of characters voiced by one VA, while fighting a raid boss also voiced by that same actor. One example being this video of Gran and Lancelot battling Sagitarrius... all whom are voiced by Yuki Ono.
- "Crossover Seiyuu References" ExplanationIt also extends to the artworks posted by the Japanese fandom on Twitter, particularly collaboration and cross-over characters. Two or more characters who share the same VA are seen interacting with one another (i.e. Cagliostro and Sakura Kinomoto voiced by Sakura Tange, while Niyon and C.C. eat pizza because they are both voiced by Yukana). In some cases, an artwork of a Granblue character will reference a previous role of the actor from the event (i.e. Quatre/Feower sleeping with a cat in time with the "Persona 5: Thievery in Blue" event, referencing a meme in the Persona 5 fandom where Morgana advises the protagonist, voiced by Jun Fukuyama, to sleep).
- "Placenta" ExplanationDue to a rather infamous doujin starring Clarisse, specifically "Sexual Deviant Mode -Alchemic abortion-" , saying this word is a good way to enrage those that are aware of it. (Yes it's quite squicky) Ditto "Atomic Abortion", "Placenta handjob"
- "You'll never see it it coming" ExplanationIn light of the crossover with Persona 5, people have taken to quoting the memetic lyric of the game ever since its teaser trailer. This later applied to events or updates that were rather unexpected and left players surprised.
- "I've been waiting for this!" ExplanationOn the other hand, some would also quote the meme from Persona 3 when an expected or a long-awaited update or event becomes implemented in the game. Additionally, this applies to the Surprise Ticket banners as well.
- "Looking cool, Joker" ExplanationMona's memetic quote was also brought up when it was revealed how stylish Joker was in the game.
- "Check out my character in Granblue Fantasy!" / "I need backup!" ExplanationAmongst non-players on Twitter, the game is best known for its pre-formatted tweets that players can post, particularly the two mentioned phrases.
- Summon call combinations result in some amusing combos like combining the White Rabbit with anything results in stuff like "Sword Hop" or "Catastrophe Hop" and Kero will get combo calls like "Death to the Rescue!" or "Lancey to the Rescue". Comboing Kaguya has infamously resulted in "Moon Moon". Interestingly, the Lunalu event summon in "Handsome Gorilla" even adds the "Husbando" internet slang as a keyword to call combinations. Gabriel's summon added "Password Is" and "Pink Hair" to the list. When the Gacha version of Cerberus' Summon was released, it also added "Such Wow".
- "Walderposting" ExplanationAs stated in the Good Bad Bugs entry of the YMMV page, Walder is known by the players for randomly replacing the uncap arts of characters. This is a bug that is still present since 2014. And every time Walder becomes the focus of an event or the topic of a thread, expect someone to mention him replacing artworks. Even the English community's Reddit and Wiki sites poke fun at it on the April Fools' Day of 2018.
- "Punradise Lost" ExplanationThe 4th Anniversary event "What Makes The Sky Blue II: Paradise Lost" circulated specific keywords and nicknames that fans mostly associated with the starring characters, such as "Nonesense" and "Coffee" for Sandalphon, "Head" for Lucifer, and "Climax" for Belial.
- "I demand Apologems" ExplanationA phrase often said by the English community every time a game-breaking bug, or an unannounced server maintenance happens. This is due to crystals being one of the two compensations given for these unfortunate events (the other compensation is a half-pot, but crystals were more common). Such things were quite common under HRT while with KMR, both compensation crystals and game-breaking updates have become far less common.
- "Vampy is Core!" ExplanationA common catchphrase dating back to the times when Vania/Vampy was considered as one of the ideal characters in a Dark team. Her kit was notable for bringing an all-around utility, such as a Charm, dispel, multiple self-buffs, and a conditional party-wide Charge Attack meter gain. She was good for a number of early and end-game content. Her Dispel ability is a boon ever since Luminiera raids took a huge time of the newcomers during the game's early years, by removing the Stone Wall buff of the boss, making it trivial. But the meta has now changed into favoring characters who can provide a good amount of DPS over a short number of turns (her rather lacking accuracy with those debuffs don't help), and more sources of Dispel became available. As a result, Vania slowly dropped down in the rankings of several tier lists, causing use of the term to become ironic. However, this fandom catchphrase resurfaced with the release of Vania's 5★ uncap, with some even stating that she now deserves a permanent spot in the team. In 2023, however, this phrase has seen another major resurgence thanks to her Yukata version, which rivals Grand Narmaya in terms of being a Game-Breaker.
- "Cag is Core!" ExplanationSaid ironic usage was often applied to Cagliostro's original earth version due to how she got power creept, but when she got some major buffs, it became very much unironic.
- "Bully Bea" ExplanationAssociating Beatrix with the word "bullying". Being the resident Chew Toy of the game, Beatrix has been bullied or harassed, whether it be by the hands of other characters, the captain or even herself. To explain the latter, she even decided to wear a swimsuit in the middle of the freezing cold. She dropped her sword in a hole in a frozen lake and switched into her swimsuit to avoid getting her armour/clothes wet. Though she then nearly dies from the cold multiple times and rolls to the bottom of the mountain she was on after she gets her sword.
- "Sled On, Cagliosled" ExplanationA phrase circulating in the English community shortly after Cagliosled (i.e. Cagliostro's head with the body of a Sled) was introduced in the 2018 re-run of the "Big Bad Shadow" event which uses characters from the Grand Blues! comic strips. It gained attention after a picture of Cagliosled with the said phrase was posted in some of the game's English forums, such as images with the character having full captions like the following (which often resulted to repetitive comment chains):
"You've been visited by the Cutest Sled of Alchemy. Good rolls and many rupies will come to you but only if you reply Sled On, Cagliosled."
- "Cursed ____ that ______ and calls you _____" ExplanationA variation of the Cagliosled meme applied as an exploitable phrase, the most common one at that time being "Cursed Sled that does alchemy and calls you dumbass" and to boot there was art of The Astolfo bean plushie that made that meme) riding her while drifting Initial D style, leading to a remark of "Multi-meme drifting".
- "Immunity Lily" ExplanationPrior to Cagliosled, there was also a similar case in the Discord server with Immunity Lily◊ about saving you from a cursed gacha streak:
"This is immunity Lily. Immunity Lily will save your gacha from Golem of Bad Rolls. Now that you have seen immunity Lily, your gacha will not be cursed. Because immunity Lily is always with you."
- "GROUND ZERO!" ExplanationDue to how Threo's Signature Move outright one-hit kills almost all mobs of the Normal and Hard-difficulty Arcarum expeditions, players quickly labelled the skill as a Game-Breaker during the re-release of "Arcarum: The World Beyond" on the last quarter of 2017. In any forum that discussed the mode, there would usually be one who comments this phrase, which later spawns comment chains of this exact same phrase. It got to the point where the game's Reddit community had to moderate this act and label it as a spam. And even if the skill got Nerfed in the mode's Extreme difficulty, the majority of the playerbase still associates Threo and Ground Zero as the "breaker of Arcarum".
- The Gorilla summon. Full stop. It comes from the "Handsome Gorilla" event which gave the context that anyone that drink the "Handsome Gorilla" dietary supplement cause the consumer to see their enemies as Gorillas and also acting almost like one. And there's the combination you get when you chain said summon with other summons available such as "Ooh-Aah Paradise".
- "Now is the period of arbitration. Henceforth your guilt shall be judged." ExplanationJudgement's first line when introduced is this and has been commonly used as a reaction picture for the sheer absurdity of multiple cats playing around on a brass instrument passing judgement as presented seriously.
- Or in another case a real-life cat with a brass instrument, which led to players even referring to the main animal of Judgement as the "Funk Engine" cat.
- "What happens after Magnafest ends? Magnafest." ExplanationThis has been a common phrase as Cygames has been running 1/2 AP off campaigns on a regular basis since the beginning of 2018 with only up to a week of respite between each campaign. Happened quite literally at the end of 2018, where a Magnafest happened one day after the previous one ended.
- "The Double AP/EP event has ended!" ExplanationWhen Magnafest does begin, this phrase has become a common response every time Cygames makes early announcements of Magnafests coming up.
- "[Insert series/game here] When?" ExplanationAs Granblue already had numerous Crossovers with other franchises in the past, fans use this phrase to express their desire for more possible crossovers with popular games and anime.
- "Bandori When?" ExplanationAfter announcing that Love Live! is the next collaboration in August, many a fan in Bang Dream want it to be the next collaboration, even though the next one after that is confirmed to be Pretty Cure.
- "Playable [insert character name here] when?" ExplanationLike the previous example, this is a phrase used by players who anticipate the day when a specific NPC, (or a character from another Cygames franchise such as Rage of Bahamut and Shadowverse) receives a playable version in Granblue.
- "Missing Dogs" ExplanationThe Fenrir/Cerberus Showdowns are two of the most-awaited events due to the general usefulness of the farmable weapons they provide. The thing is, they have a random yearly schedule and often have a large gap between their re-runs. Coined after a fan nickame that applies to the mythology-based raid bosses. This phrase pops up everytime Cygames releases the monthly schedule of in-game events.
- "How far away the ideal world?" ExplanationTaken from the lyrics of the Arcarum boss battle theme New World Order, basically a lament from players waiting for the game mode Arcarum's 10 unlockable playable characters to finally get released from Development Hell . Now that the Evokers have all been released, the phrase is used to express the grind hell required to recruit them instead.
- "Oracles? Delayed!" ExplanationA simpler version of the above situation, which is more direct and easier to understand. Now obsolete thanks to Cygames actually released them for the 5th anniversary.
- "Katalina? In Smash?" ExplanationOn November 2018, a leaker mentions the possibility of having Granblue's Katalina as a DLC character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate among many other speculations and so-called "evidence". It was met with criticism from both communities for specified reasons. First, Granblue is not a Nintendo property and if Cygames could import a character from their franchises, Dragalia Lost "could" be a better choice since it is co-developed with Nintendo. And the Smash fandom mainly demands popular characters who are known worldwide, at the time of SSBU's release, Granblue is well-known only mostly in Japan and in niche gacha communities. Third, there is already a sizeable number of sword-wielders already in SSBU, and adding Katalina would offer less or no diversity. If one looks at the Google Trends graph for the English term "granblue katalina", there is a spike of those who searched this specific Granblue character on November 2018 mostly from the West. That is before the period wherein the English-speaking online users arent't so much aware of the franchise yet, aside from the trend rising when the anime was released on April 2017.
- "Remember when they said Katalina will be in Smash?" ExplanationAs it turns out, the leak was proven false, as it is nothing but a misunderstanding. The leaker actually misinterpreted the rumors about having a "Granblue Fighter", and because the recent iteration of Smash was the talk of fighting gaming communities at that time, they immediately concluded that the "Fighter" is referring to SSBU. It was during Cygames Fes 2018 that Arc System Works is announced to be developing Granblue Fantasy Versus, which is the actual "Granblue Fighter" that was mentioned months ago, and not a Granblue DLC character in SSBU. The previous "Katalina? In Smash?" speculation has now turned into a Discredited Meme.
- "Sasuga KMR" ExplanationA template phrase used by fans who congratulate Cygames for their general positive reception from the players and the success of their multiple franchises, whether by popularity or financially. KMR refers to Yuito Kimura, the current producer of the company, whom the fanbases associate for bringing up such ideas. This phrase is commonly used whenever games make it to top charts, or when Cygames ventures into favorable decisions such as partnering with Nintendo, sponsoring Juventus, EVO 2018, an employee winning an MTG championship, among others.
- "KMR Laugh" ExplanationRefers to a screenshot of Producer KMR laughing with his eyes closed in one stream. Both English and Japanese fans have noticed it and turned into some image macro representing him as the fandom's scapegoat, mostly used on any Granblue-related announcements on social media. Other variants include a "Smiling KMR" with him facing forward instead.
- "Is Kokkoro Grimnir's kid?"ExplanationDue to Kokkoro giving boosts to elemental attack in the same way Alexiel and Europa give boosts, her spear specialty, and white hair, people started joking that the two were related to each other in some way.
- "Kokkoro is Grimnir." ExplanationWith Shiva's release, fanart of the Disciples has appeared with Grimnir replaced by Kokkoro.
- Now that Grimnir has been Promoted to Playable as of April 15 2019, this has died down a bit.
- Hamsa is no mere duck. ExplanationA fandom catch-phrase borrowed from the Shadowverse community. It is based on the line spoken by his English actor whenever Hamsa is played into the board. It has then been used in Granblue posts that involve Hamsa's inclusion in this game as an SSR gacha summon.
- KENKYUU NO SEIKA DEExplanationYurius's debuffing skill has no cooldown and can be used over and over as long as he has sufficient meter, thus resulting in this line being constantly repeated during battle. In fact, when Yurius got his final uncap and replaced this skill line with another, some players opted to swap back to his pre-uncap lines just so they could still listen to this one.
- JINKYOU TENKAIExplanationIn a similar vein stemming from how fast Godsworn Alexiel's HP bar goes down in public raids that she will often activate Mirror-Blade Eruption because she has several HP thresholds for using that one specific attack.
- KENKYUU NO SEI-KAEDEExplanationWhen Kaede Takagaki's debuffing skill was found out to mechanically work just like Yurius' infamous debuffing skill (i.e. 0-cooldown, 10% charge bar cost), puns have quickly risen in both the Japanese and English fandoms. To some, it also spawned "Kaede is Yurius" memes similar to how "Kokkoro is Grimnir" memes were common.
- Cat ExplanationWhen the details for the event "The Many Lives of Cats" reveals that you can get your very own cat to join you for the event, many players took fun with bringing the same cat to various raids, even to an Ultimate Bahamut raid as done by this user here.
- Now it also includes party positioning to make it look like the characters are playing with the cat in both the western and eastern hemisphere, like this and this.
- 6-digit numbersExplanationAt a glance, a 6-digit number shoehorned into a commentary is an arbitrary large number used for comedic purpose. What the number is, though, is the catalog number for a H-doujin site (typically nhentai), and it's used as a means of reference without dropping any names. Here's an example and here's how the "code" was used. This practice is also seen outside of the Granblue fandom.
- "Batman Siegfried" ExplanationIn the western fanbase at least, Siegfried being seen as a borderline Mr. Perfect is memed quite a bit due to the prospect of him almost always showing up in Dragon Knights events to solve their problems. The memes often portray him as a Memetic Badass, capable of doing anything should the situation call for it.
- "Jade in Sword/Shield" ExplanationWhen Pokémon Sword and Shield was announced along with the starters, Granblue Fantasy Players are quick to make jokes of how similar Grookey, the grass starter, looked like to Ranger Sign Bravo's Jade.
- "Sandalphone" Explanation Basically people making puns on what Sandalphon’s name. Sandalphone, however, is the most prominent.
- Luciface or “ルシ顔” in Japanese is a term that now has sprung up a lot in the Granblue community due to the number of characters that look like Lucifer from Rage of Bahamut. People have even joked that it imitates the Saber-face trend from Fate/Grand Order. Albert has been declared an honorary "Luciface" as well due to his appearance looking similar to Lucifer’s in his original art. His 5★ uncap art changes this however, making the two look more distinct due to the art style having evolved.
- "Sieteface"explanationIt has become a common trend in the English fandom to photo-shop Siete's memetic smugface to newly-released versions of characters in order to annoy their fans.
- "Belialface"explanationA lesser variant is having Belial's creepy orgasmic smile photoshopped on top of the female characters.
- "Cygames said Gay Rights!" Explanation In the west, this began to appear after the removal of the gender restrictions for the Valentine’s and White Day events. Even more so during the What Makes The Sky Blue: 000 event when Belial confirmed his feelings for Lucillius are romantic, and later hinted that Sandalphon and Lucifer have romantic feelings for each other.
- "000 stands for the number of casualties/deaths that were in these events." Explanation Started at the end of What Makes The Sky Blue: Part 3 000 due to the fact that despite a nearly world ending catastrophe nearly killing everyone, only 3 people actually died that the players are aware of over the 3 events. They were Lucifer, An NPC Erune girl and Israfel, though temporarily as she apparently is still alive in Azreals heart. Others have pointed out that the third "0" is stylized with a diagonal slash to represent said NPC Erune being beheaded, which combines this meme with the Double-Meaning Title trope
- "Give praise for he has no equal!"ExplanationTaken from the first line of Lucilius' leitmotif, "Zero", this line of adoration is commonly used as a form of Creator Worship by the fandom towards Cygames' Producer KMR and/or Director FKHR, praising them for any positive or favorable news regarding the Granblue franchise.
- "Cygames' new direction is MURDER."ExplanationAfter it was discovered how dark the Evokers' storylines are in stark contrast to the rest of the game, jokes began cropping up about the general intent of Cygames. Further permutations note Sandalphon/Belial's grand offenses don't even come close to being as visceral as the various deaths occurring in each storyline.
- Depicting the summon stone version of Lucifer as giant has become a meme in the Japanese side of the fanbase due to the fact that summons and bosses of the Primals in particular are Not Drawn to Scale when seen in battle compared to the Chibi sprites of the party characters.
- 「ルシフェル・・・・・・?」 Explanation Pulled directly from the 000 event when Lucilius first sees Lucio and mistakens him for Lucifer, Fans on the JP have taken to use the screenshot to pertain to situations when pulling a Luciface in the gacha but it ends up being Lucio rather than the summon stone Lucifer (Followed by a screenshot of an annoyed looking Lucilius), being unsure if official content is Lucifer or just using it to pertain to Lucifer content in general.
- Drawing the Primarchs, including the male ones, and Lucilius in leotards popped up in the fandom on both sides of the sea due to the Granblues comic #1274 mentioning the uniform of the female Primarchs, as that’s what they’re all shown to be wearing. It sparked a conversation in the fandom as well on whether or not leotards and giving his creations nice legs are Lucilius’ “hobby”. A joke also popped up that Lucifer inherited this “hobby” from Lucilius due to how he made Sandalphon.
- Along with the other memes that have sprung up from the WMTSB trilogy, the term “Gayngels” is another one due to the amount of ship tease between most if not all of the Primarchs we’ve been shown so far. Explanation The most obvious examples that come to mind are Lucifer/Sandalphon who have the most blatant of Ship Tease together of all the Angels and are all but stated by Word of God outside of the game to be romantically coded and Belial who is unambiguously a Depraved Bisexual and in love with Lucilius. Halluel and Malluel have no sense of personal space, are always seen together and have a very intimate sprite holding each other. It’s confirmed that Halluel is into cute girls in her official profile, and she’s seen putting the moves on Lyria in multiple events. There’s official art in the Creators Book of Ship Tease between Gabriel and Michael. Lastly, it’s heavily implied that Sariel has feelings for Belial, even going to find the rainbow/dimensional rift as of The Maydays to be reunited with him. His relationship with Belial is compared with Sandalphon’s relationship with Lucifer. His voice actor says that to Belial is someone Sariel loves even though they’re apart. Halluel and Malluel are particularly referred to as “Yuri Angels” by the western fandom due to their dynamic.
- In the JP fanbase, along with some of the western fanbase, the term “Annei” or “安寧” in Japanese has been popping up as a word to describe Sandalphon in reference to Lucifer, or as a nickname for Sandalphon from Lucifer due to his line in JP telling Sandalphon he will eternally be his “安寧” which means “peace” in Japanese.
- "So this is the island the rumors speak of." ExplanationAll Guild Wars (Unite and Fight)/Dread Barrage events open up with a story cutscene, with this line coming from Vyrn being the first line of dialogue to appear. It has rather evolved into the following related phrases that are also repeated by the fandom whenever a Guild Wars event starts.
- "Gokkuri" / *"Gokkuri" intensifies* ExplanationPrior to the above line, Vyrn also gulps down, with the voiced line saying "gokkuri" (the Japanese word for "gulp").
- "Ah shit, here we go again."ExplanationA snowclone of CJ's memetic line from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This refers to how the aforementioned story cutscene always plays at the beginning of a Guilds Wars event, and is bound to repeat for the first time in each event no matter how many times the player has heard it before. As such, it has turned into a tradition in the fandom to edit CJ and this meme into Vyrn's initial dialogue/cutscene.
- Geo has defeated evil ExplanationMay 2019's Guild War was put on maintenance twice in a row at the night in the preliminaires due to connection issues and server crashes. Since "Primal Resonance" is the story event preceding the May 2019 Guild War event regarding the lore of the island the Guild War's took place, many players joke that the errors are caused by Geo in order to put an end to guild wars in general. Ever since then, whenever something happens that caused the Granblue Fantasy servers to require a maintenance during Guild Wars events, many players would joke and attribute the errors to be caused by Geo.
- Gisla-chanExplanationOn June 19, 2019 Kolulu got added to the permanent gacha pool to which players noted one specific detail - She wields the Gisla spear, a Game-Breaker end-game weapon for Dark Enmity grids, also previously being memed before as it was the third dakimakura merchandise alongside Vira and Narmaya. This quickly gave birth to the "Gisla-chan" Fan Nickname to Kolulu on her release date by both the Japanese and English-speaking sides of the playerbase.
- It also helped that Yuki Ono (also a hardcore Granblue veteran who has collected a dozen Gisla spears in-game) expressed satisfaction on getting Kolulu and giving her a Perpetuity Ring to the point where he made a Tweet about "Gisla-chan".
- Albert is a Luciface. ExplanationAlbert looks a lot like a Lucifer clone, having the similar colour and stylenote Alberts hair is blonde while Lucifer/Lucilius’ hair is white., as well as having a similar face to them. This is despite him not being a seraphic being and boiling down to the artist happening to draw him like that (as the Luciface fad hadn't started yet) and (in-universe) being a total coincidence that nobody even points out. This has been an ongoing joke ever since Lucifer and Alberts original appearances in Rage Of Bahamut, with many people pointing out that they look similar. They even got a card together in that game due to popular demand.
- "That conversation was enough to make any girl jealous."ExplanationCC's Lampshade Hanging of the heavy Ho Yay between Lelouch and Suzaku quickly became the reaction to other Ho Yay moments in the crossover and any other M/M pair in Granblue.
- Himbo Lucio. Explanation Lucio’s summer appearance got this reaction out of the western fans due to his open shirt, deep tan and Cool Shades. Doesn’t help that he acts more like an airhead/The Gadfly to Sandalphon and The Casanova, whether intentionally or unintentionally to his in-game fanbase.
- New punny “nicknames” for Lucio have popped up as of “The Maydays” summer event such as Holy Shit, due to the unfortunate incident that lead to Sandalphon forcing the mutated shark Old Bruce to shit him out after he was eaten. “Poopio”, which is what Azrael calls him in-game but was quickly adopted by the fanbase. The Eastern fanbase has also taken to calling him ”うんちょ“ and different variations of it, which translates to “poop”.
- In the same vein as Mochichika from the Touken Ranbu official merchandise line, Lucifer’s official Nui◊ has ascended into meme territory far more so than the other Nui’s from the same line, it’s reign most likely starting when official art came out of Sandalphon holding the Nui version of Lucifer◊ in his 5th anniversary art. From then on in the fanbase, Sandalphon is depicted as owning a Lucifer Nui which is in turn is depicted as being sentient and acts as an extension of Lucifer’s consciousness. In a lot of cases it is depicted as being a companion to Sandalphon while Lucifer is away.
- Bird ExplanationSummer 2019's stream reveals that a new skin that can be obtained when you purchase "Happy New Genesis"... is a bird. Not a fancy-smancy outfit or anything. But a bird (To be specific, the Okinawa Rail bird). And you can get that skin for both Gran/Djeeta and Diantha. Cue many bird related jokes from the fandom.
- Let's go beat Lucilius as birds. ExplanationJapanese fans started to take fun in it and created raid groups where players who had the bird skin from "Happy Summer Genesis" bonus album are the only ones allowed to enter the Co-Op raid room to give the hilarious image of Lucilius, the closest thing to Voidwing Lucifer from Rage of Bahamut... being defeated by birds.
- Athena, μ‘s fangirlExplanationShe quickly becomes very supportive of whatever the idol group does in the crossover, leading to jokes that she would do all the things a typical idol fan would do in real life.
- Fraux and bicycles.ExplanationEver since the backstory of Fraux was revealed, the mere act on getting akin to getting a bicycle or anything related to it.
- Vira's Infinity Gauntlet.ExplanationThanks to Vira having multiple versions of herself for every element, fans have joked that her alternate versions are the Infinity Stones to complete her Infinity Gauntlet in her quest to become the "Ultimate Waifu".
- Siegfried's/Narmaya's Infinity GauntletExplanationSiegfried and Narmaya are runner-ups for having a plenty of alternate versions of nearly every element.
- Europa the hellspawn.ExplanationWhile Europa's demeanor is very gentle and kind, she also retains this demeanor even when battling her in her raid, leading many fans to portray her as a Memetic Psychopath. It doesn't help that a Japanese fan artist known as "pasi" often portrays her as a murderous psycho who torments her fellow Water summons (ESPECIALLY Bonito), and it also doesn't help that she's considered one of the more difficult Omega II raids compared to Shiva, Alexiel, and Grimnir.
- Water is truly the gayest element.Explanation Due to the high amount of Ho Yay and Les Yay among the Water-element characters (Silva/Tweyen, Yuel/Societte, Lancelot/Vane, Gabriel/Europa, Anne/Summer Grea, Summer Sandalphon/Summer Lucio, Sahli Lao/Milleore), Water has been dubbed "the gayest element". Also, because it makes people... wet, heh.
- Water is the scariest/most sadistic element.ExplanationMany of the Water-element bosses are infamous for being That One Boss, usually due to packing nasty crippling debuffs against the party, Europa in particular being infamous for her Held Under debuff (causes heavy damage over time, prevents healing, AND also comes with Blind), and her and Leviathan Omega's Azure Spike debuff (forcibly changes the party's attacks into Water elemental and heals the boss for every attack they land). Gabriel is also considered among many players to be the most difficult of the Four Primarchs to face. Additionally, 2023 and 2024 would bring much fortune to Water with plenty of incredibly powerful releases (Hraesvelgr, Gabriel, Haaselia and Europa's fifth uncap, Payila, and more), leading Water to become on par, if not outright beating out Dark as one of the most powerful elements in the meta, leading to jokes about their sadism and scariness growing as revenge for often getting screwed over in the previous years.
- Wind is the F2P/newbie element.ExplanationMany of the free units, weapons, and summons obtained through events and side stories have a heavy focus on Wind, which leads Wind to be praised and occasionally mocked for being the element for free-to-play and new players. Doesn't help that up until the Primal summons obtained their 5-star uncap and Wind finally receives good grindable/drawable Primal weapons (Evanescence, Wind Clams, Ewiyar's Beak and Premium Dagger) their Primal/Optimus counterpart are considered to be weaker than their Omega counterparts, due to the fact that both grindable and drawable Primal Wind weapons is not worth the price because the regular grindable Omega weapons offers so much more for less price, further supporting the meme. Even after the aforementioned weapons and Primal 5-star uncap came to live servers, Wind Omega is still stronger than Wind Primal, and in hybrid setups, the Primal weapons are more like a supplemental item and only fill 1-2 piece in a grid, usually for mainhands/aux-hands.
- Wind is the most sadistic element.ExplanationLategame Wind bosses (particularly Ra, Ewiyar, and Seofon) have also gained notoriety for being an absolute pain in the ass to face, being just as bad, if not even worse than Water bosses, as they often hit extremely hard.
- Earth is the wimpiest element.../Earth is the most screwed elementExplanationThe Earth element is often mocked and lamented by players to be the weakest of the elements. This is due to the fact that many of their extremely powerful and core characters (Summer Alexiel, Christmas Narmaya, Mahira, Grand Sandalphon, Summer Illnott, Galleon, Uriel, etc.) are limited, with the regular options being rather mediocre in performance or at the very least overshadowed by the others, and also the fact that many of the Water bosses are That One Boss as stated above in "Water is the scariest and most sadistic element". Doesn't help that in the mid 2022, with the restrictions for Qilin summon so there can only 1 Qilin in a grid, which more the less nerfed the element so hard (probably the most affected element of the change) and caused the massive downgrade to the element's meta as a whole. Despite Cygames best effort to reworking multiple Earth characters into powerhouses (Aletheia, Arulumuya, and Soriz receives the much needed 5-star uncap, which boosts their overall effectiveness and their position in the tier list) and releasing very good permanent/Gala Earth SSR like Earth Satyr, SSR Yaia, Earth Olivia, Galleon, and Uriel, the element is still seen as weak by players, further solidifying its infamy.
- Hrunting is the best Earth character in the gameExplanationLate December 2022 saw the release of Illustrous Weapons, set of Gold Moon exclusive weapons that pretty much powercrept the Superlative weapons by a good bunch, on top of being 50-moons more expensive. Among one of them is Hrunting, an Earth Sabre that gives the wielding Captain the properties of Fire Siegfried, strength and weakness and all, except that the strength greatly outweighs the drawbacks, to the point that the drawbacks were actually more beneficial than anything. It's so strong that it's considered your second most picked Illustrous Weapon after Ereshkigal, and probably the reason for playing Earth again. Similar to the Ereshkigal, many fans are joking that the Hrunting is considered the best Earth character in the game, in the same league (if not stronger) of both Threo and Eahta of the Eternals, despite being a mere mainhand weapon. It's led to both jokes and serious statements that you simply cannot play Earth without the Hrunting, no questions asked.
- Noa disliking VikalaExplanationHis official profile states that one of his dislikes is rats. Vikala is the Divine General for the Rat and they were released together in the same banner, causing a lot of jokes about how Noa's going to bully her over this.
- Moon's hauntedExplanationA lot of players started to chant, talk or joke about how the moon is haunted after the many Wham Episode's given throughout "Spaghetti Syndrome".
- Cassius jokes are a no-brainer.Explanation (spoiler!)The fandom's method of coping with Cassius' brain being removed for examination is to make any kind of Black Comedy joke about it.
- WE'RE GOIN TO THE MOONExplanation (spoiler!) In the wake of Spaghetti Syndrome, the fandom has become very eager to head for the moon to mount a rescue mission for Cassius. The 7th Anniversary event, Home Sweet Moon, confirms this to be its main plot.
- Bahamut can't remember what Shalem looks like.ExplanationLucilius is essentially an identical copy of Lucio in looks. However besides skin and hair color, Beelzebub bears almost no resemblance to Shalem, causing several jokes about why exactly Beelzebub ended up so much more buff than Shalem.
- Spaghetti Syndrome was a great anniversary event!note After the very underwhelming performance of Seeds of Redemption (mostly due to the weak Stardust Town segments, which took up almost the entire event), people have taken to treating the much, much better received Spaghetti Syndrome as the "real" anniversary event, as it ran right before Seeds did.
- "Sturm and Drang: A Mercenary's Life" was a great anniversary event!note Similar sentiments were expressed about the Sturm and Drang event, which ran right after Seeds of Redemption and was also much better recieved.
- Boy, KnickKnack sure is generous! ExplanationThe 6th Anniversary featured a Scatcher minigame by Sierokarte which allows players to "test their luck" playing a scratch card that gives rewards ranging from a whole selection of mundane to useful items. After each attempt, Vyrn would often say this line no matter what reward the player receives. However, this phrase is used sarcastically by those who receive the most common or mundane rewards (such as Soul Berries or Half Potions) almost every time.
- This sure will come in handy for our journey!ExplanationThe successor from Summer 2020 for the Treasure Rush where players have the chance to pick nine randomized chests but get locked out the moment they pick an empty chest as Vyrn will comment this even when players get only just one useless item, or worse, nothing from their first chest.
- We Azur Lane now.ExplanationBecause some few characters (i.e. Sandalphon, Zeta, Aoidos) require a limited-time item from an event in order to be uncapped to 5★, Granblue fans who also play Azur Lane have compared this mechanic to the latter's Ultra Rare retrofit shipgirls (i.e. San Diego, Warspite) that also required a unique item to reach the character's full potential. It is seen as a Scrappy Mechanic otherwise, especially for those who have missed the event or forgot about the item, thus leaving them hoping for the event's rerun to have their characters fully upgraded. Bonus points for both games whose characters involving this mechanic, are also called "Sandy" by their fans. A later update made the uncap items available in the shop without needing the event re-run so this (and the fact that the same thing happened in Azur Lane's Prototype shop) made this a Discredited Meme.
- "Arousal"ExplanationThe "Awakening" mechanic introduces a new way to enhance individual characters. But one thing that the fandom easily noticed is that the URL for the Awakening page is called "arousal" in the browser. Naturally, the fanbase laughed at this and did not let it slide, sometimes joking that Anthuria, Clarisse, and Narmaya would benefit the most in their Awakening buffs since they are the most popular characters shipped with Gran in fanarts and doujinshi, hence easily aroused by him.
- "Total (damage): 0"ExplanationThe Unite and Fight Nightmare boss for June 2020 is Elil, who has the ability to apply Dodge buffs to herself frequently because she only has two Charge Attack diamonds and the Dodge buff activates constantly, leading to proclamations of her being one of the most annoying bosses in the entire game. Not helped is the fact that she buffs herself with an attack buff, which requires dispelling first before being able to dispel the dodge buff due to how the game's dispel system is set up.
- "Forfeit all mortal possessions to rat."ExplanationA snowclone of this Twitter post, used in the GBF fandom in any Vikala-related content since her Animal Motifs are rats.
- Element/summon/character taxExplanationAny subpar weapon or character of a certain element is explained by the fandom to be Cygames penalizing the element after introducing a ridiculously broken character/weapon into that element and compensating with as many mediocre releases into that element as possible.
- There is no Dark tax in Granblue Fantasy.ExplanationOne trend that has not escaped the notice of players is the fact that Dark keeps gaining increasingly powerful rebalances (Seox, Olivia, Narmaya), and absurdly strong new characters (Rei, Predator, Lich, Fediel, Yukata Ilsa, among other things) and weapons (Fediel's Spine, Agonize, Pain and Suffering, Ereshkigal, and many more). Comparing it to the other elements whose new things range from decent to outright mediocre, it's not uncommon to call out the fact that Dark just keeps getting stronger at the expense of other elements.
- THE DARK TAX IS REAL?! ExplanationHowever, with the release of new endgame raids like Super Ultimate Bahamut, Hexachromatic Hierarch, and Dark Rapture Zero, several endgame players began to notice that Dark actually struggles in said endgame content, revealing a surprising truth: the element is known for packing amazing burst damage... but that's it. The mere fact that the famous golden child element of Granblue was actually suffering did not escape the notice of many shocked players.
- "Sandalphon turns you blue."ExplanationSandalphon's Grand version is the first to come with a unique debuff that can convert all enemies with other elements to Water denoted by a blue debuff icon, fan jokes ensued about this ability like "Sandalphon is what makes the sky blue".
- Nier did nothing wrong.ExplanationDue to Nier's horrific backstory, several fans of hers like to say this phrase, whether as a joke or not. The thing is, Nier is a Serial Killer and one of the most twisted playable characters in the game, and thus, did MANY things wrong.
- Fuck this, I can't fix her.ExplanationNier's fifth uncap episode has everyone's favorite Yandere become more obsessed with keeping Gran/Djeeta and the crew to herself, effectively becoming even worse than she was before. Some players who were hoping to try and reform her somehow lamented this fact.
- Lobelia did nothing wrong.ExplanationWhenever Nier is brought up in terms of character, expect Lobelia to come up too, and with this phrase to go with it. Unlike Nier, however, this phrase is entirely said as a joke, as Lobelia is far more unapologetically twisted and evil than Nier is.
- Haaselia did nothing wrong. ExplanationHaaselia is shown to be a shrewd, manipulative, and twisted lady who has no problem engaging in vicious slaughter, as shown in her fifth uncap episodes. That said, she only exacts her vengeance against those who wronged her, who are shown to be such horrifically disgusting garbage, that players mostly cheered Haaselia on anyway.
- Anila did nothing wrong.ExplanationDue to their similar sheep/ram Animal Motifs, brown horns, blonde hair and white clothes, Anila's reveal trailer from Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising has attracted a crossover of memes and jokes from the hololive fanbase of Watame Tsunomaki, most particularly the latter's "Watame did nothing wrong."/"Warukunai yo ne?" quote. Alongside these, Granblue fans also remind others that Anila actually came first (she debuted in Granblue Fantasy in 2015) than Watame (who debuted in hololive on 2019).
- Good luck, Enyo.ExplanationEnyo's Fate Episode has her express a desire to enjoy Gran/Djeeta's suffering by planning to murder the entire crew one by one. Considering the crew has people like Lucio and Shalem (the Speakers of the Omnipotent), Sandalphon (the Supreme Primarch), Zooey, Yuni, and Cosmos (godlike primals who preside over balance), the Eternals (the strongest skyfarers in the realm), the Six Dragons (the elemental wedges of the world, who are basically gods), the Four Primarchs (self-explanatory), and Nier (Yandere and Violently Protective Girlfriend incarnate), many players expressed amusement at Enyo's Suicidal Overconfidence.
- Communist roulette/Comrade GachapinExplanationThe results of the gachapin roulette for the end of 2021 campaign are now predetermined by Gachapin for all players, leading to many jokes about how every player must share the same result and salt when Gachapin gives player a low number of rolls.
- Twelve Cunny GeneralsExplanationA relatively new but not uncommon nickname given to (most of) the Twelve Divine Generals, which attributed due to their relatively young age and childlike design, which ofter skirts to fanservice territory. The only exception to this rule are the first two Draph girls; Anila and Kumbhira, who looks more late-teens than their other zodiac generals, and the newly released Makora, who's at least a young adult and looks the part, on top of being taller than the other released generals so far.
- Zeta's pubesExplanation (Warning! Slightly NSFW!)Fire Zeta alternate art show's her underside in a different angle, revealing a clearer detail in her tightpants. Many players often mistaken the details for her pubic hair thanks to the detail being cast in the same color as her skin tone, which doesn't help. It slowly died down with the release of Figuarts Zero Zeta scale figure, which cast the detail in a different shade of gold.
- Lucifer is strong/Lucifer beating up Bahamut Explanation A meme that originated from "Created by the Stars, Loved by the Skies". Chapter 4 of part 2 has Lucifer going toe-to-toe with Bahamut to seek out answers for the future of the Sky Realm, which is depicted as them fighting to demonstrate Lucifer's kit as a playable unit. Lucifer is shown to be very strong and would have come very close to killing Bahamut if it weren't a scripted battle and Bahamut healing every turn, with his Paradise Lost attack halving Bahamuts health before the battle ends and the story progresses. Some fans have interpreted this as him beating the answers out of Bahamut, intimidating him into giving a vision of the future after being annoyed at Cryptically Unhelpful Answer.
- Bahamut showing favoritism toward Lucifer/Lucifer is Bahamut's favorite childExplanation A meme that showed up during part two of "Created by the Stars, Loved by the Skies" from the fourth chapter. It comes from Lucifer contacting Bahamut to seek answers and guidance from him and Bahamut responding fairly quickly to his call, which is something he hasn't been shown to do with the other Lucifaces. In Lucio's case despite being a creation of Bahamut, he hasn't been in direct contact with Bahamut in thousands of years despite his frequent efforts to seek guidance from him. In Lucilius' case, he made a near world-ending display to get Bahamut's attention, which amounted to nothing in the end as Bahamut doesn't even show up to try and stop him, nor does he acknowledge his efforts. This has lead to fans interpreting Bahamut as having Parental Favoritism toward Lucifer, sometimes attributed to him being the youngest of the Lucifaces and reflecting on how parents tend to treat the youngest child better than their older siblings.
- CONTINUE THE ISTAVION BLOODLINE!!!Explanation (spoilers)The offer of marriage for the Captain to Alliah/The Golden Knight has been a Running Gag throughout the fanbase. Then Chapter 155 of the story drops, and the True King suddenly abdicates his throne and declares Gran/Djeeta as the new True King/Queen, but not before also declaring them as married to Alliah. Cue the utter shock and joy from the fanbase as they realized a recurring meme had now become canon!
- Mao Ichimichi freaks out over Sandalphon/MAO faces.ExplanationThe actress is a notorious Sandalphon fan and will scream without fail if he's ever brought up on a stream she's participating in, rambling over how much she loves him and makes very passionate faces while doing so that have become popular to screenshot by viewers.
- Wilnas' Cake/WilnASSExplanation (NSFW Warning!)Upon the first teasing, Wilnas' Valentine's Day outfit splash art◊ become quite a sensation in the fandom thanks to basically wearing nothing but strapped apron and a thong that exposes his well-chiseled cake, which explodes even more after the release where he clenches his muscular pecs including the aforementioned bottom. This, combined with the fact that prior to his mini rework Wilnas receives the rating of A, SS, and S respectively in gaming site Gamewith, ensures that Wilnas will forever be associated with the word "ASS" for as long as Cygames could maintain
- Ayo, the new Sui sibling released in the wrong game/Whoa, it's Imbibitor Lunae's sister?!ExplanationThe Dragon Divine General, Payila, has several aspects of Chinese dragons, and her jade color scheme brings to mind other dragon-based characters such as Dusk from Arknights and Imbibitor Lunae from Honkai: Star Rail, which quickly led to funny crossover memes.
- What is Fauna doing in GBF? ExplanationWhen the new recruitable units linked to "Rise of the Beasts" were revealed, the green-haired Erune girl quickly drew comparisons to Ceres Fauna from hololive due to their similar hairstyles and hair color. To a lesser extent, the Harvin girl also drew comparisons to Koseki Bijou from the same company.