Astolfo / Rider of Black

About

Astolfo also known as the Rider In Black is a character that appears in both Fate/Apocrypha and Fate Grand Order as a summon able servant character of both Rider and Saber class. Online, the character has become a fan favorite for his unique aesthetic, personality, and meme potential.

Origin

Astolfo was first seen in the anime adaptation of Fate/Apocrypha on July 2nd, 2017, which is a single piece of the larger Fate franchise. Within the anime, Astolfo is one of several paladins that are fighting on behalf of Charlemagne, and following this appearance in the anime they appeared within Fate:GO. Memes about the character started popping up almost instantly, for they are the prime example of an Anime Trap which means male character who looks overtly feminine. Because of this, the most common memes surrounding Astolfo come from Fan Art that depicts them as a female for comedic effect, knowing that the character is really male. One of the first memes inspired by Astolfo comes in the form of Haunted Doll That Drinks All Your Pepsi And Calls You A Bitch in which a variant was made and posted to Twitter^[1] on February 2nd, 2018, by the user @Kiburuzu, who made a variant using Astolfo (shown below).

Spread

Memes of Astolfo began to spread fast as discussion about traps and character infamy increased. This can be seen in the meme posted to Facebook by the account Anime Bir Dunya^[2] on May 13th, 2018 (shown below), in which Astolfo is seen being preferred over the main character and actual female Jeanne D'Arc, with Astolfo Object Labeled to say Traps.

While memes about Astolfo being feminine, submissive and breedable, and other sexualized ways continued to spread, another meme was on the horizon. On February 10th, 2021, a Twitter^[3] user by the name of @kotomiko posted pictures of his Cosplay in which he was dressed as Astolfo, holding a can of Monster Energy in a seductive way (shown below).

Further pictures posted by the cosplayer showed that the can itself was used for size comparisons, with the can coming up short. This event caused renewed interest in the character, as this trait was quickly adopted into fan headcanon for the character. This can be seen in the meme made by Twitter^[4] user DankoDeadZone08 on February 13th, 2021, which gained 2,100 likes in 10 months (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References