Zappy Boi

About

Zappy Boi is a nickname given to a troll shaman character shown in cinematic trailers promoting the "Battle for Azeroth" World of Warcraft expansion.

Origin

On November 3rd, 2017, a cinematic trailer was released for the World of Warcraft expansion "Battle for Azeroth," which contained a scene in which a troll shaman casts a lightning spell during a battle (shown below).

On November 6th, 2017, Redditor Pingu4Lief submitted a Who Would Win? image macro featuring the troll shaman labeled as "one zappy boi" (shown below). Prior to being archived, the post garnered more than 3,800 points (92% upvoted) and 370 comments on /r/wow.^[4]

Precursor

On September 28th, 2017, YouTuber Bricky uploaded a video titled "Cult of the Zappy Boi" about The Doctor character in the survival horror game Dead by Daylight (shown below).

Spread

On January 11th, 2018, the official @Warcraft Twitter feed posted an animated GIF of the shaman with the caption "#Zappyboi" (shown below). Within seven months, the tweet garnered upwards of 2,200 likes and 400 retweets.

On April 9th, Redditor Queuedodge submitted a post asking "Ootl: What is zappyboi" to /r/wow.^[2]

"Old Soldier" Trailer

On August 2nd, 2018, the World of Warcraft YouTube channel uploaded a trailer titled "Old Soldier," which featured an appearance of the troll shaman (shown below).

The following day, Redditor Pac0theTac0 posted a screenshot of the shaman to /r/wow, asking "Half Naked Elves Gets Thousands of Upvotes, But How Many for Our Blue Boi?" (shown below, left). Within seven hours, that day, the post gained over 8,500 points (87% upvoted) and 350 comments on /r/wow.^[1]

Meanwhile, Redditor Mz0r submitted a picture of the troll shaman above a series of survey questions in a post titled "Zappy boi must be protected at all costs" (shown below, right). Within 10 hours, the post gained over 1,500 points (94% upvoted) and 150 comments on /r/wow.^[3]

Search Interest

External References