About

Jacarina Shader refers to a series of memes that revolve around the black-and-white shader Jacarina in the video game Destiny 2, published by Bungie. Typically, these memes reference the fact that the shader appears to be all black and white, something the community has been desperately asking for, but when equipped on armor and weapons in-game, a vibrant blue color appears that is not present in Jacarina’s preview colors. The theme was primarily seen on Reddit throughout early August 2020.

Origin

On August 4th, 2020, the Jacarina shader was added to Destiny 2’s in-game store for purchase with the weekly reset, alongside a slew of other items and cosmetics. Due to the community’s desire for an all black-and-white shader, the hype for Jacarina’s release was widely discussed on a number of platforms. One such discussion was posted on August 4th, by Redditor^[1] ToBeFrozen to the /r/DestinyTheGame subreddit under the title “The Xenophage ornament and a new black and white shader (Jacarina) and available for bright dust this week!” The post received over 4,500 upvotes and 365 comments in roughly three days, and was later edited with “apparently jacarina isn't completely black and white” after users pointed out the blue color found in the shader (seen below).

The first example to use the shader in a meme appeared online shortly after. On August 4th, Redditor^[2] Sadicust posted one such example using the Patrick Star Wallet format to the /r/destiny2 sub (shown below), receiving over 13,400 upvotes, 258 comments and several Reddit awards. Twitter^[3] user iFatebringer then reposted it to their feed on August 6th, receiving over 3,500 likes and 416 retweets in 24 hours.

Spread

The theme continued to spread as more users discussed the shader in the following days. On August 4th, 2020, Redditor^[4] 4Oldfarmln made a discussion post on the /r/DestinyTheGame sub and said, “Bungie…if you make a shader with no blue in the 4 panels WHY WOULD THERE BE BLUE?” The post received over 8,100 upvotes, 459 comments and a few Reddit awards in roughly three days. Later that day, Redditor^[7] truenaagloshii pointed out in a post to the subreddit that the shader’s name actually refers to the Blue-Black Finch, Volatinia Jacarina, which shares similar colors.

On August 4th, Redditor^[5] BachelorBanana posted a meme to the /r/destiny2 sub (seen below, left), receiving over 2,700 upvotes and 42 comments in three days. On August 6th, Redditor^[6] PolishCurry posted another example to the /r/destiny2 sub (seen below, right), receiving over 13,200 upvotes and 220 comments in roughly 24 hours.

On August 6th, Twitter^[8] user Benjjjyy also made a meme about the shader, using the Confused Reporter format (shown below), receiving over 1,000 likes and 64 retweets in 24 hours.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References