User:ChickenScuttleMonkey/sandbox

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'''Polandball''', also known as '''Countryballs''', is an internet meme, a genre of geopolitical satire, and an art style primarily used in webcomics and videos in which countries or other political entities are personified as anthropomorphic balls bearing the design of their national flag that are generally referred to as "countryballs." Polandball comics usually feature plots that satirize international relations, historical events, and stereotypes associated with featured countries, and are created with widely available graphic art software, such as Microsoft Paint, though comics created with more advanced software are often intentionally made to look crudely drawn.

'''Polandball''', also known as '''Countryballs''', is an [[internet meme]], a genre of geopolitical [[satire]], and an art style primarily used in [[Webcomic|webcomics]] and videos in which countries or other [[Polity|political entities]] are personified as [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] balls bearing the design of their national flag that are generally referred to as "countryballs." Polandball comics usually feature plots that satirize [[international relations]], historical events, and stereotypes associated with featured countries, and are primarily created with widely available graphic art software such as [[Microsoft Paint]], though comics created with more advanced software are often intentionally made to look crudely drawn.

The first Polandball comics are often attributed to a British user of the German [[imageboard]] Krautchan.net named Falco, who drew the first comic strips in Microsoft Paint, before posting them in September 2009 to the /int/ board. The name "Polandball" is derived from the comics' origin as a means to [[Trolling|troll]] [[Wojak]], a Polish user on the same board who often spoke in [[broken English]]. Notably, in these early comics, [[Poland]] was drawn with an inverted Polish flag (resembling the flag of [[Flag of Indonesia|Indonesia]] or [[Flag of Monaco|Monaco]]), and it is debated whether this was an intentional decision by Falco, or a result of Falco being unaware of the flag's color pattern. Despite this technical inaccuracy, Poland's flag continues to be drawn upside down in comics, and is considered to be a defining feature of the genre.

Polandball comics originally gained popularity on the German image board Krautchan.net before spreading to other parts of the internet and spawning active communities on Facebook and Reddit, while "Countryballs" videos have grown and continue to be popular on YouTube.

After the initial strips' focus on Wojak, comics featuring other countryballs became popular among other users on the board before spreading to other parts of the internet and spawning active communities on [[Facebook]] and [[Reddit]], while "Countryballs" videos have grown and continue to be popular on [[YouTube]].

== Background history ==

=== Possible influences ===

The Polandball meme, as noted by the British magazine ''The Shortlisted'', was inspired by the work of Italian animator [[Bruno Bozzetto]]. In his 1999 cartoon "Europe vs. Italy," the [[European Union]] and Italy are depicted as circles. ''The Shortlisted'' writes that the clip highlights the cultural and social differences between Italians and Europeans through satire "in such a clever and funny way that in today's idiotic culture it would undoubtedly be classified as 'stereotypical and offensive'".

An indirect origin of Polandball can be traced back to drawball.com, where users could freely draw on a circular canvas called a "drawball". In August 2009, thousands of [[Internet in Poland|Polish netizens]] from [[Wykop.pl]], PokazyWarka, and various other sites took over the entire drawball with an illustration of the Polish flag with the word "POLSKA" in the middle. The circular canvas constrained the flag in such a way that it became a literal "Poland ball". The raid happened after a person on the Kibice.net forum asked for people to help them draw the Polish flag.

Other users on the website attempted to sabotage the artwork by inverting the color scheme to match that of a [[Poké Ball]], or defacing it with a large [[swastika]]. Eventually, hackers attacked [[NK.pl]] and Wykop.pl on August 18. The sites withstood the attacks, but ran considerably slower for the rest of the day.

=== First Polandball comics and spread ===

The first Polandball comics are considered to have been published on the German [[imageboard]] krautchan.net by a British user of the site under the name Falco, with the intention of [[trolling]] a Polish user called [[Wojak]]. Coincidentally, this trolling campaign also led to the creation of the Wojak meme and the phrase "I Know That Feel." Unlike modern Polandball comics focusing on satirizing geopolitical entities and their relationships, history, and stereotypes, the earliest Polandball comics were primarily intended to troll Wojak, but Falco's style of irreverent humor, crude drawing, and emphasis on broken English and stereotypes proved popular with other users for the purpose of satirizing political entities represented by countryballs.

The style eventually proved popular enough with users, and began to be shared in other places on the internet outside of krautchan.net. On November 11, 2009, a Facebook page named ''POLANDBALL'' was created, reaching over 215,000 likes by July 2015 (cite 2016 Prochazka paper), and later in May 2011, a subreddit named r/Polandball was created that had reached over 350,000 subscribers as of September 2017 (cite Sal Hagen), which both became active and popular hubs for user-created content (cite something here, probably).

== Characteristics and Themes ==

=== Artwork ===

Unlike [[Rage comic|Rage Comics]] or other internet memes, the Polandball style is generally user-drawn, with copy-pasted elements from other sources heavily discouraged by members of the community. The subreddit r/Polandball is known for its strict moderation of Polandball comics, enforcing many of the stylistic conventions from the earliest Polandball comics, such as the countryballs' lack of hair, mouths, ears, noses, or limbs, and pupils in the eyes. Other rules enforced by the subreddit (and often followed by users outside of the subreddit) include the avoidance of Microsoft Paint's line and rectangle tools (except when creating panel dividers), and the avoidance of the circle tool when drawing countryballs.

=== Broken English dialogue ===

One of the most defining characteristics of Polandball comics is its use of [[broken English]] employed to write dialogue for non-[[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo]] countries, or countries where English is not an official language, which was a distinct feature of the earlier Wojak-centric strips. The use of broken English dialogue is a source of controversy as well as a convention adhered to by most members of the wider countryball fandom, and is even employed in comments sections. While there is no exact model by which Polandball comic creators write their broken English dialogue, many comic creators use grammatically incorrect phrases like "can/cannot into" and "is of," and often add the plural progressive present tense suffix "-ings" to the end of verbs.

=== Stereotypes ===

Polandball comics often employ [[Stereotype|stereotypes]] when depicting countries, with the intent being [[Satire|satirical]] commentary, however many stereotypes depicted in Polandball comics are rooted in [[racism]] and [[xenophobia]], such as Poland's common appearance in the comics as a poorly-educated, low-income immigrant speaking broken English. Other stereotypes are rooted in depictions of countries in popular media and historical narratives.