Polandball

thumb|Selection of Polandballs representing several parts of the world. Polandball, also known as Countryballs, is a user-generated internet meme which originated on the /int/ board of German imageboard Krautchan.net in the latter half of 2009. The meme is manifested in a large number of online comics, where countries are presented as spherical personas that interact in often broken English, poking fun at national stereotypes and international relations. The comics style may be referred to both as Polandball (even in case there is no Poland among the cartoon characters) and countryball (or, collectively, countryballs). Quotes thumb|Polandball for Poland In recent years, a little ill-drawn circle called Polandball has gained world fame quasi-instantaneously. http://culture.pl/en/article/polandball-a-case-study 1 November 2014 Polandball - A Case Study Wojciech Oleksiak 9 June 2014 Culture.pl Adam Mickiewicz Institute Polandball has its own brand of lolspeak, and only Anglophone countries speak with good English. Other countryballs speak a farcical rendition of their own language into English. http://culture.pl/en/article/polandball-a-case-study 1 November 2014 Polandball - A Case Study Wojciech Oleksiak 9 June 2014 Culture.pl Adam Mickiewicz Institute Polandball speaks in an English that mimics Slavic grammar, and confuses the finer points of English usage. http://culture.pl/en/article/polandball-a-case-study 1 November 2014 Polandball - A Case Study Wojciech Oleksiak 9 June 2014 Culture.pl Adam Mickiewicz Institute Polandball was born out of a strange cyber war that took place in August 2009. On Drawball.com, a website which allows users to draw on a huge circular canvas, a group of Polish Internet users somehow coordinated their efforts to take over the ball. http://culture.pl/en/article/polandball-a-case-study 1 November 2014 Polandball - A Case Study Wojciech Oleksiak 9 June 2014 Culture.pl Adam Mickiewicz Institute thumb| Participants in 2013 "Juwenalia krakowskie" celebrations holding a Polandball representation of Poland (right) and Hungary (left) The idea of ridiculing international stereotypes turned out to be so catchy that it soon resulted in the creation of hundreds of Polandball stories. http://culture.pl/en/article/polandball-a-case-study 1 November 2014 Polandball - A Case Study Wojciech Oleksiak 9 June 2014 Culture.pl Adam Mickiewicz Institute Polandball is the story of one guy creating a worldwide phenomenon by making fun of another guy, creating a new format of expressing one’s views on nationality, race, language and recent history along the way. http://culture.pl/en/article/polandball-a-case-study 1 November 2014 Polandball - A Case Study Wojciech Oleksiak 9 June 2014 Culture.pl Adam Mickiewicz Institute Why did it become so successful? Maybe because the basic rules that apply to Polandball offer every creator a good basis for developing a funny story, yet offering very few restrictions. http://culture.pl/en/article/polandball-a-case-study 1 November 2014 Polandball - A Case Study Wojciech Oleksiak 9 June 2014 Culture.pl Adam Mickiewicz Institute Polandball memes function almost like some sort of cultural genes – they self-replicate, freely mutate, and respond to selective pressures. http://culture.pl/en/article/polandball-a-case-study 1 November 2014 Polandball - A Case Study Wojciech Oleksiak 9 June 2014 Culture.pl Adam Mickiewicz Institute Is there anything Poland itself can learn from Polandball? Perhaps a lesson in having a sense of humour about our long-time grudges, if nothing else. http://culture.pl/en/article/polandball-a-case-study 1 November 2014 Polandball - A Case Study Wojciech Oleksiak 9 June 2014 Culture.pl Adam Mickiewicz Institute Polandball, based on a ball in the colours of the Polish flag, has become a gathering point online for protesters against Russia's actions in Ukraine. http://www.businesspost.ie/#!story/Home/News/Polandball+is+Reddit's+answer+to+Crimea+crisis/id/87198161-2385-315c-abda-d92435575507 1 November 2014 Businesspost.ie Polandball is Reddit's answer to Crimea crisis 4 March 2014 Emmet Ryan The Daily Business Post Polandball is being portrayed as a hero in comics that exaggerate the nation's response to the crisis. http://www.businesspost.ie/#!story/Home/News/Polandball+is+Reddit's+answer+to+Crimea+crisis/id/87198161-2385-315c-abda-d92435575507 1 November 2014 Businesspost.ie Polandball is Reddit's answer to Crimea crisis 4 March 2014 Emmet Ryan The Daily Business Post One comic, in which Poland flies into space and stops Russia using Crimea as a means of ramming the United States, has shot to the top of the charts in the Polandball sub-forum on Reddit. http://www.businesspost.ie/#!story/Home/News/Polandball+is+Reddit's+answer+to+Crimea+crisis/id/87198161-2385-315c-abda-d92435575507 1 November 2014 Businesspost.ie Polandball is Reddit's answer to Crimea crisis 4 March 2014 Emmet Ryan The Daily Business Post In August 2009, Polandball artists took over the popular Drawball site, making its logo look like Polandball. http://www.businesspost.ie/#!story/Home/News/Polandball+is+Reddit's+answer+to+Crimea+crisis/id/87198161-2385-315c-abda-d92435575507 1 November 2014 Businesspost.ie Polandball is Reddit's answer to Crimea crisis 4 March 2014 Emmet Ryan The Daily Business Post There are clear rules defined by the community stating that country balls can not have limbs nor can they speak proper English, keeping in line with the original Polandball style. http://www.businesspost.ie/#!story/Home/News/Polandball+is+Reddit's+answer+to+Crimea+crisis/id/87198161-2385-315c-abda-d92435575507 1 November 2014 Businesspost.ie Polandball is Reddit's answer to Crimea crisis 4 March 2014 Emmet Ryan The Daily Business Post What is Polandball, exactly? No, it's not a Calvinball variant — it's a type of webcomic that has been steadily gaining attention on Reddit. http://mic.com/articles/57651/polandball-the-world-s-most-sophisticated-subreddit Polandball: The World's Most Sophisticated Subreddit 1 November 2014 Eric Tillberg 2 August 2013 Arts.Mic Mic.com Polandballs also generally speak mangled English ('Engrish') of a type supposedly common in whatever countries are being portrayed. http://mic.com/articles/57651/polandball-the-world-s-most-sophisticated-subreddit Polandball: The World's Most Sophisticated Subreddit 1 November 2014 Eric Tillberg 2 August 2013 Arts.Mic Mic.com Polandball presents a nice medium ground between single-panel political cartoons and longer-form political satire. http://mic.com/articles/57651/polandball-the-world-s-most-sophisticated-subreddit Polandball: The World's Most Sophisticated Subreddit 1 November 2014 Eric Tillberg 2 August 2013 Arts.Mic Mic.com What keeps the quality of these comics so high? Each and every submission to the Polandball subreddit is reviewed by a very diligent team of moderators who demand only the highest quality. http://mic.com/articles/57651/polandball-the-world-s-most-sophisticated-subreddit Polandball: The World's Most Sophisticated Subreddit 1 November 2014 Eric Tillberg 2 August 2013 Arts.Mic Mic.com They have even implemented a mechanism to keep jokes from getting overdone and ruined, the Joke Life Preserve, which limits the ability of submitters to use certain jokes that have become annoying memes. This is part of the genius of the success of Polandball. http://mic.com/articles/57651/polandball-the-world-s-most-sophisticated-subreddit Polandball: The World's Most Sophisticated Subreddit 1 November 2014 Eric Tillberg 2 August 2013 Arts.Mic Mic.com ...these comics don't have a specific author. They're treated as public property. Anyone can make their own "Polandball" using the following recipe: you have to have something to say about history or international politics and translate it into a simple comic, in which balls symbolizing different countries (which is manifested by painting them in the colors of the national flag) talk to each other using internet slang. Orliński Wojciech Wojciech Orliński 16 January 2010 Wyniosłe lol zaborców, czyli Polandball http://wyborcza.pl/1,86116,7462232,Wyniosle_lol_zaborcow__czyli_Polandball.html https://web.archive.org/web/20120101071958/http://wyborcza.pl/1,86116,7462232,Wyniosle_lol_zaborcow__czyli_Polandball.html 1 January 2012 18 March 2022 Komentarze gazeta pl thumb|Ukraine divided. Polandball's jokey simplicity, its nerdy love of history, and its focus on current affairs have made the form well suited for the Ukraine crisis. Fisher Max 3 September 2014 Everything you need to know about the 2014 Ukraine crisis https://www.vox.com/2014/9/3/18088560/ukraine-everything-you-need-to-know Vox 30 June 2025 See also Comedy International relations Politics Satire External links qsaylatherainbowpuffy saylatherainbowpuffy Category:Comedy Category:Politics