Red Leader Standing By (1977)

added Oct 29, 2009 at 02:00AM UTC

part of a series on Online Forum Games

About

Red Leader, Standing By is an online forum game that involves relay-posting images that are explicitly red (ex: red_cross_symbol.jpg) or more ambiguous items associated with the word “red” (ex: red_foreman.jpg). It is an especially popular pastime on 4chan’s /b/ board.

Origin

The phrase “Red Leader Standing By” comes from a memobrable scene in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope where the rebel alliance is launching their assault on the Death Star. Approaching the enemy trench zones, the Red Squadron leader performs a roll call over the radio:

Red Leader: “All wings check in.”
Red 3: “Red 3 standing by.”
Red 6: “Red 6 standing by.”
Luke Skywalker: “Red 5 standing by”
Red Buttons: “Red Buttons standing by.”
Redd Foxx: “Redd Foxx standing by.”
Big Red: “Big Red standing by.”

The earliest instance of “Red Leader Standing by” roll-call thread can be found in a Jedi Council Forums thread created in May 2001. “Red Leader” style roll-calling has been extensively used in imageboards and discussion forums.

Usage


Each round begins when the OP starts a new thread with an image of a Red Squadron pilot and a caption reading “Red Leader, Standing By”. Sometimes “All Wings Checked In” can be used interchangeably. But it is necessary that at the end of each reply post, the submitted character, thing, place, object, etc. must be followed by an affirmative: “standing by”.

Thread Examples

Family Guy Parody of “Red Leader Standing by”

Red Leader: All wings check in.
Red 3: Red 3 standing by.
Red 6: Red 6 standing by.
Luke Skywalker (Chris): Red 5 standing by
Red Buttons: Red Buttons standing by.
Redd Foxx: Redd Foxx standing by.
Big Red: Big Red standing by.

[camera zooms out to show a Russian submarine floating with the squad of X-Wings]

Red October: [in Sean Connery’s voice] Red October standing by.
Helen Reddy: Helen Reddy standing by.
Simply Red (Mick Hucknall): [Entire band is in one X-Wing cockpit] Simply Red standing by.

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10 Comments

Captain Blubber
Oct 29, 2009 at 09:57AM UTC , Captain Blubber wrote:
Brad Kim
Jan 07, 2010 at 02:19AM UTC , Brad Kim wrote:

bumping this up to submissions! filed under online forum games. The earlier report will be merged with this one!

Skankin Streetlights
Jan 11, 2010 at 08:10PM UTC , Skankin Streetlights wrote:

needs examples of this for other forums
other than that
+1 confirm standing by

Georgivs
Jan 22, 2010 at 12:24AM UTC , Georgivs wrote:

Red herring standing by.

Strawer
Jan 22, 2010 at 02:00AM UTC , Strawer wrote:

Family guy affect aghain

Jumpstyler
Jan 22, 2010 at 07:39AM UTC , Jumpstyler wrote:

Red Bull standing by…

An Hero
Jan 22, 2010 at 06:38PM UTC , An Hero wrote:

Don’t worry guiz I got this one!

Jack Candle
Jan 25, 2010 at 10:15PM UTC , Jack Candle wrote:


Red eye, standing by.

katz
Feb 02, 2010 at 09:06AM UTC , katz wrote:

This meme is made of Win!

EatTheBreadwinner
Feb 04, 2010 at 02:21PM UTC , EatTheBreadwinner wrote:

In reference to “RED RING STANDING BY,” my red ring problem was fixed by a simple 3-character alphanumeric:

P S 3

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