All Your Base Are Pissing Us Off.

February 25, 2001 4:04 AM

All Your Base Are Pissing Us Off. The backlash has well and truly begun.
posted by tobyslater (27 comments total)

ahh, who reads seethru.co.uk anyway these days :) regardless of the opinion of some world-weary hacks, the fact remains that it's a damn successful meme. it's interesting to see how something can spread so quickly where countless viral marketing stunts have failed miserably. personally, i think it's nice to see people catch on to something that is as harmless and neutral as AYBABTU. whether it's funny and whether it's going to pester us for years to come is irrelevant.
posted by dutchbint at 5:36 AM on February 25, 2001

Wouldn't "ALL YOUR BASE ARE PISS OFF US" be better? We should hold a contest to see who can come up with the most variants. Winner gets a $150 Amazon gift certificate, to ensure the maximum number of inane attempts.
posted by WalleySegap at 6:36 AM on February 25, 2001

All Your Bases...sort of like religious scripture for me. All the comments that follow are but commentary upon The Truth and Revelation. Why drink at a fountain when you can go right to The Source?
posted by Postroad at 7:11 AM on February 25, 2001

In other words, "It was cool when I was the only person I knew who had ever heard of it." The faster it spreads the sooner it will be gone ... faster than you can say "I kiss you!!!"
posted by dhartung at 8:06 AM on February 25, 2001

This article was worth reading for just the phrase "Ironically-mulleted Hoxton fashionistas". Ironic haircuts for eveyone! Down with sincere haircuts!
posted by rodii at 8:43 AM on February 25, 2001

Seethru.co.uk are the making stupid.

It's so cool to be an alternative website, cause no matter how cool something is, there are always a shitload of jackoffs that get their jollies from shooting it down.

Angst-ridden vitriol is SOOOOOO mid 1990's. Get over it, Kurt Cobain is DEAD, Foo Fighters SUCK ASS, and Jerry Garcia is making maggots high with the residula drugs in his system.

And that catch phrase is only the tip of the iceberg..."The Truck Have Started to Move!"
posted by Capn_Stuby at 8:59 AM on February 25, 2001

That article was written by Mike Fisher. Mike Fisher was a character on the BBC TV series Attachments.... Mike Fisher is not real.

So let me get this straight... we've got a fictional character telling us not to propogate a meme... but all he is doing really is generating more publicity, more links, more awareness of "All Your Bases". Hmmmm.

Weird.
posted by LMG at 9:16 AM on February 25, 2001

Okay, this has suddenly got just a bit too meta. Seethru.co.uk was the tie-in for Attachments, right? And the Seethru Who We Are page has the photos/names of all the characters, not real people. So who does the 'site, and why is it still going, even though it's completely fictional? Is there a new series coming up?
posted by mattw at 9:23 AM on February 25, 2001

please... NO more 'attachments'. i may have to stop watching tv altogether.
posted by dutchbint at 9:33 AM on February 25, 2001

It's a meme. Meme's don't last forever. All Your Base will eventually get stale and fade away. There's no reason to get pissy about it.
posted by tomorama at 10:24 AM on February 25, 2001

Yeah, they apparently booked a second ten-part series before the first one aired... and they decided to keep the site running to make it seem like a real internet startup...

Here is a link to a Guardian Unlimited profile of the show before it started which explains in a bit more detail.

Everyone Hates Attachments was also good for a laugh when the show was being shown...
posted by LMG at 10:29 AM on February 25, 2001

More ranting against Zero Wing quoting.
posted by chesuta at 12:09 PM on February 25, 2001

NEWS FLASH!
The damn thing just spread to Mars!
posted by Dirjy at 3:35 PM on February 25, 2001

I don't care if the show sucks or not, the phrase is getting old. This whole AYBABTU phenomenon also strikes me as a bit xenophobic: "Oh, hahaha, the Japanese can't speak 'ploper engrish'!"
posted by xtrmntr at 4:05 PM on February 25, 2001

I suppose if you want to look on the negative side of things, it is. The desire to rag on something is directly proportional to it's popularity. The cycle of these things is the same everytime as well as the race to see who claims superoirity by considering it 'old' first.

I'm sure when fire was discovered there were folks scoffing at all the excitement while enjoying their new discovery of cooked food before the rest caught on.
posted by john at 6:23 PM on February 25, 2001

It's spreading.
posted by Mark at 6:40 PM on February 25, 2001

I fail to see the analogy between the discovery of fire and "All your base...."
posted by xtrmntr at 7:11 PM on February 25, 2001

It is annoying that every new meme fad that comes along gets hammered into a bloody pulp by overzealous fan parodies faster than the last one. Seems like "Wassup!" (the last one as annoying as AYBABTU) took a lot longer to take hold (though I might be wrong).Please, dear god, make it stop!
posted by Mr. skullhead at 7:16 PM on February 25, 2001

Wah! Wah! Sniffle! Your sense of humor is so inferior to mine. Don't you realize this isn't funny anymore?! You are contributing to the degeneration of American culture! Wah!
posted by daveadams at 8:32 PM on February 25, 2001

...Foo Fighters don't suck that much ass, do they?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:23 PM on February 25, 2001

Seems like "Wassup!" (the last one as annoying as AYBABTU) took a lot longer to take hold (though I might be wrong).

I remember seeing the Zero Wing animation over a year ago - I chuckled, it was amusing. Why the hell it exploded now, and why it exploded like it did baffles me.

"Wassup" was funny when most people didn't get the reference - it was fun in the early days, then thanks to adcritic links spreading, it completely lost it. (One thing though, without wassssup, chances are, adcritic wouldn't be where it is now)
posted by mkn at 10:23 PM on February 25, 2001

The Foo Fighters happen to be one of the few rock bands today that don't suck.
posted by xtrmntr at 10:55 PM on February 25, 2001

Foo Fighters suck arse and appear to enjoy doing so.

The Zero Wing animation wasn't funny about two weeks ago - then I wanted it to quickly die quickly - now it's funny again. For me it's ticked over. I hope they keep pushing this one for years and years and years.
posted by holloway at 11:09 PM on February 25, 2001

Oh Jesus, I'm in highschool again.
posted by xtrmntr at 11:27 PM on February 25, 2001