I'm Not Gonna Sugarcoat It (Tekken)

About

I'm Not Gonna Sugarcoat It is a catchphrase used in memes about the fighting game Tekken, predominantly associated with the character Kazuya Mishima saying it before his "Rage Drive" combo. In video memes referencing it, Vine Boom sound effects and the Bye Felicia "Damn!" sound effect from the 1995 movie Friday are typically used alongside the phrase. The trend started on Twitter in mid-2022 and later became notable on YouTube.

Origin

The original video from the "I'm Not Gonna Sugarcoat It" trend is a moldy video showing Kazuya Mishima from Tekken performing his "Rage Drive" combo while the Bye Felicia "Damn!" sound effect and the Vine Boom sound effect fill the video's background noises. On July 2nd, 2022, Twitter^[1] user QuetzacoatlKing tweeted the video within a quote retweet, captioning it, "GRAAAAAAAH ONLY I CAN BULLY HIM HOP OFFFFFFFFF," and earning roughly 2,400 views and over 100 likes in two months (shown below). In the replies^[2] of their QT, they reiterated that the video was a "group effort," in that, "Like 3 other dudes’ work is in here."

Spread

On July 6th, 2022, Twitter^[3] user billetskillet tweeted a screenshot of the Kazuya "I'm Not Gonna Sugarcoat It" meme from the video, gaining roughly 1,400 likes in two months (shown below). On July 7th, 2022, Twitter^[4] user downloadmelty quote retweeted billetskillet's tweet with the original video, gaining over 900 views and 80 likes.

On July 27th, 2022, the video was reposted to YouTube by the channel same old booze, same old tears, gaining roughly 29,600 views in two months (shown below, left). On July 29th, 2022, Redditor Chillyrope posted the video to /r/Tekken,^[5] earning over 435 upvotes in two months. On August 9th, 2022, YouTuber ElRain uploaded a new "I'm Not Gonna Sugarcoat It" video that used footage of the character Sol Badguy from the video game series Guilty Gear. Over the course of a month and a half, the video received roughly 9,000 views (shown below, right).

Despite the aforementioned Guilty Gear iteration, a day prior, on August 8th, 2022, Twitter^[6] user bentzacka tweeted the first known variation of the original video, gaining roughly 38,800 views and 4,900 likes in one month (shown below). Their iteration showed the character Kazuma Kiryu from Yakuza.

Continuing into August and September 2022, more "I'm Not Gonna Sugarcoat It" videos surfaced on YouTube and elsewhere with each one representing characters from different games.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References