About

Squidward Fad refers to a series of video edits that feature an image being flipped around, color-inverted, warped or otherwise altered to the beat of the song "Gentle Breeze" from the 2008 video game Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2. Originating from a 2008 video by YouTuber ChristopherCooler, the meme gained significant popularity in the late 2000s, maintaining a limited presence on YouTube in the following decade.

Origin

On July 1st, 2008, simulation / visual novel video game Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 was released in the United States.^[1] The game's soundtrack featured the song Gentle Breeze (やさしい風) by composers Manabu Namiki and Noriyuki Kamikura (shown below).

At some point between the release of the game and September 22nd, 2008, YouTuber ChristopherCooler uploaded a ten-second clip based on a still image of SpongeBob SquarePants characters Squidward and Mr. Krabs standing next to each other, with the image being flipped, mirrored, distorted and otherwise altered to the beat of the song. While the original video is no longer available, reuploads by YouTube users McNibbler^[2] (shown below, left) and Official Overwatch^[3] (shown below, right) received over and 15,900 and 25,600 views in ten years.

Spread

On September 1st, 2008, YouTube^[4] user skwidward23 posted the first known video contributing to the fad, a Handsome Squidward meme edit that received over 600,000 views in twelve years (shown below, left). Around the same time, prominent YouTube Poop maker Kortez3000 (SantaWithTeeth) posted a Moar Krabs version of the meme. While the original video is no longer available, a February 19th, 2009, reupload^[5] by biccyboy received over 292,600 views in twelve years (shown below, right).

Starting in late 2008 and through 2009, the fad maintained significant presence on YouTube with multiple notable edits. For example, on November 16nd, 2008, YouTube^[6] user New023 posted an edit that received over 206,400 views in 12 years (shown below, left). On April 10th, 2009, YouTuber^[7] PooPTuBeNooB posted an edit that received over 385,900 views in the same period (shown below, right).

At some point during mid-2010s, YouTube user Link Boy created a playlist for Squidward Fad,^[8] collecting over 530 videos.

The trend maintained limited popularity on YouTube through the 2010s, with examples of the meme also appearing on Twitter and other platforms. For example, on April 7th, 2020, Twitter^[9] user @conkface posted a YandereDev version of the meme that received over 267,000 views, 9,000 retweets and 35,500 likes in four months (shown below). A second part of the meme posted by @conkface^[10] on August 5th, 2020, received over 147,000 views, 4,000 retweets and 20,500 likes in one week.

pic.twitter.com/sEu3r8ezeb

— shut up (@conkface) April 7, 2020

Various Examples

External References