Quan Chi From the MK4 Arcade Cabinet
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About
Quan Chi From the MK4 Arcade Cabinet refers to an image of Mortal Kombat character Quan Chi, portrayed by actor Richard Divizio, against a backdrop of fire which decorates the side panels of the 1997 Mortal Kombat 4 arcade machine. The artwork and the arcade cabinet have been a subject of memes since 2019, propagated by the X gimmick account Daily Pics of Quan Chi from the MK4 Arcade Cabinet.
Origin
On September 11th, 1997, fighting video game Mortal Kombat 4 was released for arcades.[1] The arcade cabinet for the game has an image of evil sorcerer Quan Chi, who debuted in the game, on its side panels, with the character staring intently. The character is portrayed by actor Richard Divizio.
On June 6th, 2019, an unknown Redditor posted an photograph of himself sitting next to the machine in the /r/MortalKombat[2] subreddit, where it gained over 160 upvotes in five years (shown below).
On June 12th, 2019, X[3][4][5] gimmick account
Daily Pics of Quan Chi from the MK4 Arcade Cabinet (@DailyMK4) launched, posting two images of the arcade cabinet (shown below).
Spread
In the following years, the gimmick account continued to post images of the arcade cabinet and the artwork, as well as memes based on them. For example, on August 21st, 2019, the account posted an Awkward Party Reaction meme with Quan Chi edited in which received over 970 upvotes and 2,200 likes on X[6] in five years (shown below).
As of October 16th, 2024, the account had over 13,500 followers on X.
Following the initial spread by the account, the images saw further use in memes created by other users on X. For example, on July 31st, 2020, X[7] user @UltraZeroX27 posted a Wombo AI Baka Mitai meme of Quan Chi that received over 170 reposts and 420 likes in four years (shown below).
@DailyMK4 It had to be done… pic.twitter.com/EXlQzb1aKb
— UltraZeroX7 //M.A.V.E.R.I.C.K// (@UltraZeroX27) July 31, 2020
On September 25th, 2023, X[8] user @Murdoink posted a meme in which Quan Chi was replaced with an edit of Kevin James Smirking on the arcade cabinet. The edit (shown below) gained over 2,200 reposts and 14,000 likes in one year.
The image saw continued use in various memes in 2023 and 2024.
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