“[Blank] Killer” is often times either used erroneously, or a tired meme
The “NickelodeonSmashKiller” meme has been running rampant ever sinceNickelodeon All-Star Brawlwas announced (comparingAll-Star BrawltoSuper Smash Bros.), but one developer has asked the fanbase to calm down a bit.
Character designer and programmer Thaddeus Crews took to Twitterto share the following statement:
“Some videos/comments/etc are doing the ‘Smash killer’ shtick again…I’d really rather you not…I’d really, REALLY prefer any other joke or punching bag or whatever that doesn’t have the kind of proven track-record of instigating conflict as a result of this branding. I can’t stop anyone from making those jokes & I’m not personally bothered by them. It’s clearly all in good fun by the overwhelming majority of people & is ‘clickbaity’ to a absurd degree; I get that, and in a vacuum it’s absolutely hilarious…But ramifications aren’t in a vacuum. There’s no real way to not come off as a buzzkill in addressing this, but the image this kind of message creates has been so thoroughly harmful to a degree that I can’t just sit back and watch it happen again…I strongly encourage finding hyperbolic absurdist statements elsewhere.”
In short, they don’t like all of the conflict that’s been derived from this fan-imposed “NickelodeonSmashKiller” comparison (joking or otherwise), often propagated by fighting game content creators: who admit as much in the Twitter replies. So far the plea has gone over surprisingly well, with many content creators responding in kind, noting that they will refrain from using the phrase/meme going forward as it relates to this particular project (it for sure won’t be the last we see of it!).
Point blank, the “killer” moniker has been a tired phrase for as long as I can remember. Having playedWorld of Warcraftsince its pre-launch phase, I’ve seen so many MMOs come and go, with fans ardently attaching the “WoWKiller” title to them in a bid to help them succeed and take down the established industry titan: with no accounting for a world where they can co-exist. These sorts of nuance-less campaigns are really easy to suss out, and lost their luster sometime in the early 2010s, but they persist to this day.
It’s refreshing to see a developer take it on headfirst, as some in the past have unfortunately leaned into that hubris: which didn’t age particularly well.
