Mushroom Soldier's "Eee"

Submission 9,458

Part of a series on Western Animation. [View Related Entries]

About

Mushroom Soldier's "Eee" refers to a short clip of a mushroom soldier pointing his gun and squeaking. The clip originates from the 2017 animated short film "Double King" by Felix Colgrave. Starting in early November 2020, the clip gained significant popularity as source material for remixes and other memes.

Origin

On April 2nd, 2017, animator Felix Colgrave uploaded his short film "Double King" to YouTube.^[1] In one scene of the film, the titular protagonist Double King enters a forest to seek out Mushroom King and steal his crown. He then encounters Mushroom Soldier (also referred to as Mushroom Guard) who attempts to stop him by pointing his gun at him and screaming. Due to his miniscule size, the sound comes out as a squeak. The film accumulated over 45.7 million views in three years.

On April 6th, 2017, YouTube^[2] user Sagueanay Dashcamp posted a two-second clip of the scream to YouTube, where it gained over 594,200 views in three years (shown below).

Spread

On October 17th, 2020, Sagueanay Dashcamp^[3] posted a 10-hour looped version of the video which gained over 57,800 views in one month (shown below, left). The format did not see viral spread until on November 5th Sagueanay Dashcamp^[4] posted the earliest viral meme based on the format, "Eee, but extremely menacing" (shown below, right). The post received over 126,700 views in one week.

The post inspired a remix trend on YouTube, with users combining various sound effects with the video or otherwise editing it in a humorous manner. On November 5th, YouTube^[5] user Danny 176 posted the second edit of the video, "Eee but it is 8-bit," gaining over 7,400 views in one week (shown below, left). On November 6th, 2020, YouTube^[6] user VocaPigeon posted a Furret version of the meme, gaining over 6,300 views in one week (shown below, right).

On November 7th, 2020, the format achieved its viral point, with multiple edits posted on YouTube on that and the following days. On November 10th, 2020, YouTube^[7] channel Lessons in Meme Culture covered the trend.