Isometric RPG Bel-Air Crime Scene

Submission 816

Part of a series on Accidental Isometric RPG. [View Related Entries]

About

Isometric RPG Bel-Air Crime Scene refers to an aerial photograph taken at a Bel-Air, California armed break-in crime scene showing two cops in the backyard pool patio who appear to be in an isometric RPG video game or The Sims due to the framing, angle and grid of the tiled floor. The photo was originally posted to Twitter / X in early September 2024 by the official account of local Los Angeles news outlet KTLA. The photo was then reedited by meme creators who inserted different video game exploitables.

Origin

On September 6th, 2024, the X^[1] account of @KTLA tweeted an aerial photo of police investigating an armed break-in in Bel-Air. The image showed two police officers standing on the house's outdoor pool patio (shown below). Over three days, the tweet received over 4,900 likes.

Spread

In the following days, users on X reacted to the image by quoting it and reediting it. For instance, on September 7th, 2024, X^[2] user @axian replied to the tweet, saying, "Send in the isometric cops," receiving over 5,600 likes in two days (shown below).

Later on September 7th, X^[3] user @JamrockHobo quoted the tweet, writing a similar statement that read, "They sent in the isometric RPG cops," gaining over 82,000 likes in two days (shown below).

Exploitable usage quickly followed that inserted video game imagery into the photo. For instance, on September 8th, 2024, X^[4] user @airbagged tweeted a The Sims version of the photo, gaining over 12,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Other users compared the image to other photographs that looked like isometric RPG screencaps. For instance, on September 8th, X^[5] user @Meelsie143 tweeted two more photos, writing, "I’m putting together a collection," receiving over 96,000 likes in a day (shown below).