You Probably Don't Recognize Me Because of the Red Arm

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Part of a series on Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. [View Related Entries]

About

"You probably didn't recognize me because of the red arm" refers to a quote by the character C-3PO from the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Online, people have made jokes about the line because C-3PO looks relatively exactly the same, despite having a mysterious red arm.

Origin

"You probably didn't recognize me because of the red arm" is a quote from the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In the film, C-3PO interrupts a reunion between former lovers Han Solo and Princess Leia. However, C-3PO mistakes Solo's surprise to see Leia, who is standing directly behind the droid, for his inability to recognize C-3PO, which he blames on his new, mysterious red arm.

Much speculation has been made about the origins of C-3PO's red arm, and Disney answered the mystery in a 2016 comic book set before the events of The Force Awakens. According to Uproxx:^[1]

It turns out he gets the arm from the Imperial droid he’s been escorting, who sacrifices itself to protect him and let Threepio fulfill his mission. The droid is sick of the memory wipes, the lack of free will, and the actions it has to take, and makes the only decision it’s really allowed to. The arm, it turns out, is a memory of sacrifice from an unlikely friend, and a tribute to what Threepio, of all characters, has to struggle with.

On April 30th, 2016, Redditor Marcusbolt^[4] posted one of the earliest Red Arm memes to the Star Wars-themed subreddit /r/PrequelMemes. In this image (shown below), Obi-Wan Kenobi confronts General Grevious and reveals that he has a red arm. The post received more than 4,200 points (95% upvoted) and 100 comments in 24 hours.

Spread

On May 1st, 2017, the quote became the subject of numerous memes as members of the /r/SequelMemes subreddit flooded the subreddit /r/PrequelMemes with jokes about the red arm. Many of these memes have since been removed by moderators, but there continues to be discussion about the raid with several threads and memes referencing the event.

One of the most popular Red Arm memes appeared on /r/PrequelMemes^[3] at this time. This one again features a scene from the Star Wars prequels, only to reveal one character, Anakin, has a red arm. The post has received more than 23,600 points (78% upvoted) and 390 comments in 24 hours.

On May 2nd, moderators of /r/PrequelMemes announced that they would "Execute Order 66" and "eliminate" all red arm memes.^[2] The wrote:

Red arm memes are against the rules and will be removed to ensure subreddit integrity. This will also include meta posts about the "Red Arm" phenomenon. Thank you all who voted, I too love democracy.