About

Dr. Livesey Walk is a viral edit of the Soviet Treasure Island character Dr. Livesey walking with much swagger alongside two other characters, set to the phonk song "Why Not" by Ghostface Playa. After going viral in early August 2022, the edit has been used as a reference for fan animations or redraws and as a video caption format.

Origin

In 1986, the first part of the Soviet animated film Treasure Island, based on the novel of the same name, premiered.^[1] In one scene, the character Dr. Livesey is walking down the hall in a bar alongside two other characters, Jim Hawkins and Squire Trelawney, moving with swagger (scene shown below).

On July 2nd, 2022, TikToker^[2] weirdyunus posted a fancam edit of the character set to the phonk song "Why Not" by Ghostface Playa. The video received over 2.7 million views and 265,000 views on TikTok in one month (shown below).

Spread

On July 23rd, 2022, TikToker^[3] @pec_vr posted an object-labeling meme based on @weirdyunus' edit that received over 320,000 views and 33,000 likes in three weeks (shown below, center). On July 25th, @pec_vr uploaded^[4] a crop of @weirdyunus' fancam that received over 242,000 views and 17,100 likes in two weeks.

In late July 2022, @pec_vr's crop gained virality as a source material for memes. For example, on July 28th, TIkToker^[5] @kingleojk posted an object-labeling meme that received over 468,000 views and 59,000 likes in two weeks (shown below, right).

On August 2nd, Twitter^[6] user @PeteyHatesYou reuploaded the fancam, with the tweet gaining over 62,000 views, 1,600 retweets and 6,700 likes in two weeks. Also that day, YouTuber^[7] rpowNiko posted a looped, 39-second long version of the edit that received over 350,000 views in two weeks.

On August 7th, 2022, Twitter^[8] user @JackdawJackal reposted the loop, writing, "This is how I NEED to walk EVERYWHERE." The tweet gained over 268,000 views, 5,100 retweets and 27,200 likes in two days (shown below).

This is how I NEED to walk EVERYWHERE pic.twitter.com/8luXImEMyk

— JayNico the Immovable (@JackdawJackal) August 7, 2022

In the following days, the video achieved prevalence on Twitter as a source material for captions^[9] and as an animation reference.^[10] For example, on August 11th, Twitter^[11] user @CaekPhish posted a fan animation of Potemkin from the Guilty Gear series, which used the edit as a reference. The post gained over 67,500 views, 1,800 retweets and 8,000 likes in one week (shown below).

audio and visual effects added by @BrodTsumi https://t.co/09XJF0ZOjh pic.twitter.com/JN33f6u3W0

— Phish Caek (@CaekPhish) August 11, 2022

More viral fan animations using the looped edit as a reference were posted on Twitter,^[12] YouTube^[13] and Newgrounds in the following days.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References