About

Ace Combat 8 Summoning Rituals or Ace Combat Subreddit Summons Shipping Container Drones refers to a series of memes on the /r/AceCombat subreddit in which users jokingly attempted to summon an announcement for the next game in the Ace Combat video game series, Ace Combat 8. The memes were popularized on the subreddit in late May and early June 2025. Days after they began, it was reported that Ukraine attacked a Russian airbase using drones that were deployed from shipping containers on trucks (known as Operation Spider's Web), which is similar to a plot from Ace Combat 7 involving the MQ-99, a UAV fired from shipping containers. The reports inspired memes on /r/AceCombat about their rituals accidentally causing Ace Combat 7 to come true, rather than manifesting a new game.

Origin

On May 30th, 2025, Redditor u/Scarlet-Highlander- posted an image to the /r/AceCombat^[1] subreddit of a Satanist standing in a pentagram surrounded by candles, as if trying to summon a demon. The post is titled, "ነገር ግን ይህ ሁሉ ተድላን 'Summer Game Fest'የማውገዝ እና ህመምን የሚያወድስ የተሳሳተ ሀሳብ እንዴት እንደተወለደ 'Ace Combat 8'ላስረዳህ እና የስርአቱን ሙሉ 'Cinematic trailer'ዘገባ እሰጥሃለሁ እና የታላቁን የእውነት ተመራማሪ ፣የሰውን ደስታ ዋና ፈጣሪ'Winter 2025' የሆነውን ትክክለኛ አስተምህሮ ላስረዳህ።." The post garnered over 2,200 upvotes in five days.

Spread

The post by Redditor u/Scarlet-Highlander- inspired several posts over the following days about summoning an Ace Combat 8 announcement.

For example, on May 31st, 2025, Redditor u/katzu01 posted a meme to the /r/AceCombat^[2] subreddit based on the concept, titled "<< We are going feral. >>," garnering over 2,300 upvotes in four days. That same day, Redditor u/alezcoed posted a version of the The Darkest Timeline meme to /r/AceCombat^[3] about the rituals, garnering over 2,900 upvotes in four days.

On June 1st, it was reported that Ukraine attacked Russian airbases using drones that were deployed from shipping containers carried by trucks, known as Operation Spider's Web.^[4] This resembles a plot from Ace Combat 7 regarding the MQ-99, a UAV that is deployed discreetly from a shipping container.^[5]

That day, Redditors began posting memes on /r/AceCombat, joking that the rituals accidentally caused the events of Ace Combat 7 to come true and generally joking about Ukraine stealing ideas from the game.

For example, on June 1st, 2025, Redditor u/cobalt999 posted a meme to /r/AceCombat^[6] about the incident that gained over 3,900 upvotes in three days.

Later that day, Redditor u/PaleHeretic posted a meme to /r/AceCombat^[7] about inadvertently causing the attack on Russia, garnering over 4,400 upvotes in three days.

On June 2nd, 2025, Redditor u/Kiri_118 posted a version of the Cat Looks Inside meme about the situation to /r/AceCombat,^[8] garnering over 3,000 upvotes in two days.

That same day, Redditor u/arkham1010 made a post to the /r/SubredditDrama^[9] subreddit about the memes, garnering over 700 upvotes in two days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References