Dying Is Gay

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Part of a series on Team Fortress 2. [View Related Entries]

About

"Dying Is Gay" refers to a memorable quote from a Team Fortress 2 fan animation "Endless Unusual Troubles" by YouTuber STBlackST. Starting in September 2019, an image macro in which old Soldier tells baby Soldier that "dying is gay" has been circulated in meme communities on Reddit, particularly in memes about long-living cultural phenomena, as a part of Mods Are Gay memes and for various other jokes.

Origin

On September 14th, 2019, YouTuber^[1] STBlackST posted a Source Filmmaker Team Fortress 2 animation video "Endless Unusual Troubles" (shown below). The video received over 945,000 views in three months. In one scene of the video, Soldier experiences a flashback and remembers his father teaching him that "dying is gay."

Son, always remember: dying is gay.

On September 14th, 2019, Redditor^[10] RuskiDan posted the first known meme based on the scene to /r/dankmemes subreddit. The post had no significant impact (shown below, left). On September 15th, 2019, Redditor slavicock posted a two-panel image macro based on the scene to /r/dankmemes,^[2] /r/PewdiepieSubmissions^[3] and /r/MiniLadd^[4] subreddits (shown below, right), gaining over 24,300, 3,800 and 3,800 upvotes in three months, respectively. On the same day, the image was reposted to /r/UnexpectedTF2^[5] subreddit, where it gained additional 930 upvotes.

Spread

Starting on September 15th, 2019, the format has been used in memes posted to /r/dankmemes, /r/tf2, /r/marvelmemes and other subreddits. For example, a September 15th, 2019, Team Fortress 2 meme by Redditor^[6] marcostar2205 received over 10,200 upvotes in /r/tf2 in three months. The same day a Mods Are Gay meme by Redditor^[7] SilencePriest gained over 15,200 upvotes in /r/dankmemes in the same period (shown below, right).

Starting in mid-December 2019, the meme regained popularity in major communities on Reddit as a single-panel format. For example, a December 17th, 2019, meme by Redditor^[8] BillOnMyPoopButt69 received over 41,200 upvotes in the /r/memes subreddit in two weeks (shown below, left). A December 21st, 2019, meme by Redditor^[9] TKLA2000 gained over 107,000 upvotes in nine days (shown below, right).