Mememaker Spotlight: KinoFabino

Memeing characters from Duke Nukem, Doom and many other classic video games, content creator and self-proclaimed hoagie boy KinoFabino has made a name for himself with his quality posts that fuse that retro feel, deadpan humor and a lot of effort. From giving Doomguy voluptuous butt cheeks to doing JC Denton impressions, for KinoFabino, it is always time to meme retro FPS games and chew bubblegum – and he's all out of gum.

KinoFabino's memes feature a roster of characters from the video games of the 90s and early 2000s: Duke Nukem, Doomguy, Gordon Freeman, JC Denton from Deus Ex, Caleb from Blood and many others. Infused with the surreal, ironic, non-sensical energy of the modern-day memes, the old meets the new in a way that both appeals to retro FPS aficionados and invites a new audience to experience the classics.

While dozens of characters from dozens of games made their appearance in KinoFabino's memes, he does have a few games that he calls his all-time favorites: Half-Life 2, Blood and Deus Ex – while his favorite meme subjects are Duke Nukem and Doomguy. When asked about why he chooses to meme the way he does, KinoFabino replied: "There is something amusing about putting classic macho FPS characters in extremely mundane or bromance situations."

While many of KinoFabino's memes are takes on what's popular here and now, he has some signature memes of his own. Giving chiseled butt cheeks to Doomguy and the Doom monsters is one of his hallmarks.

The humor behind the cheek memes is that they're supposed to be unexpected, but people went batshit crazy and it turned into something out of even my control. I've seen a few people partake in the adding of the cheeks in certain characters. I will likely keep making these memes, men's asses have almost become a piece of my personality.

- KinoFabino

Another thing one inevitably notices while scrolling through KinoFabino's feed is the abundant presence of delicious, juicy hoagie. What does it really mean and why is it there? Nobody will ever know.

For me to explain the hoagie is like David Lynch explaining what his work means.

- KinoFabino

And while the hoagie and the "Doomcheeks" are his best-known signatures, KinoFabino has some special love for his Timbaland-sporting Shambler from Quake (aka The Timbler).

Speaking about his all-time favorite memes, KinoFabino names the infamous Tourette's Guy, mentioning that "he can still think back on some of the shit that man said it will still make him laugh almost 20 years later." As for the recent memes, a certain video made a bigger impression on KinoFabino rather than any format – that of a guy straight-up crushing an entire wasps nest and stuffing it into his mouth.

Dubbing memes has been the big trend of 2020, and KinoFabino's memes did not slip by talented voice artists such as Gianni Matragrano (@GetGianni), who gave voice many of his works. "They end up improving on my memes significantly," KinoFabino admits.

Was told by @KinoFabino that I had to dub this.J u s t S t r a i g h t U p M i s s i n g T h e B o y shttps://t.co/hqtCw7oP6K pic.twitter.com/jSQIgtxjrO

— Gianni Matragrano (@GetGianni) May 6, 2020

The one in which Matragrano does a perfect expression of Blood's Caleb announcing the beginning of the night shift is one of KinoFabino's favorites. He also dabbles in dubbing himself and can pull off a decent JC Denton at any time of the day.

I'm sorry. I know. I haven't dubbed enough @KinoFabino memes. I'm going to keep working on this problem. pic.twitter.com/NjRHHiIjVA

— Gianni Matragrano (@GetGianni) February 28, 2020

pic.twitter.com/WtvTfhoEgR

— FABINO (@KinoFabino) September 12, 2020

You can find more of KinoFabino's memes on his Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.