Countryballs date back to an August 2009 incident on drawball.com, where thousand of Polish internet users swarmed the website to transform the illustration into the Polish flag (a literal "Poland ball"); however, the creator of the modern Countryballs format is often credited to Falco, a British user of the German imageboard Krautchan.net who created the first strips to ridicule Polish internet troll Wojak, who used broken English on the same board. Falco created the strips using Paint in September 2009, where they gained popularity among other users on the board, particularly Russians. The meme gained further notoriety following the death of Lech Kaczyński, president of Poland, in the Smolensk air disaster in April 2010.
Countryballs continue to be popular on the internet, with the Facebook community reaching over 215,000 members by July 2015,[1] and several other communities being created on Reddit, VK, Telegram, YouTube, Twitter. It has also been the subject of research by various institutions, as well as positive and negative commentary for both their simplistic and offensive nature, with some feeling they could allow readers to learn about unknown events. Various video games and alternate history works have been based on the meme.
The origin of Countryballs can be traced back to drawball.com. On the website, users could freely draw on a circular canvas called a "drawball".[2][3][4] In August 2009, thousands of 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".[5][6]
The creator of the modern Countryballs format is often attributed to Falco, a British user of the German imageboard Krautchan.net who drew the first strips in Microsoft Paint, before posting them in September 2009 to the /int/ board. Notably, Poland was drawn with an inverted Polish flag (making it look like the flag of Indonesia or Monaco), which some have debated on whether or not was intentional, or Falco being unaware of its color pattern.[4][8][9]
After the initial strips, creating Countryballs cartoons became popular among other users on the board, particularly Russians who started adding several new characters to the comics.[5][11][12] As a result of its increasing popularity, a separate Countryballs community was created on 15 October 2009.[13] The comics would continue to gain notoriety following the Smolensk air disaster on 10 April 2010, in which the president of Poland Lech Kaczyński was killed.[11][14]
The style became widely popular as a meme and gained dedicated communities on internet platforms such as Reddit[12][15] and Facebook.[16] One reason for the popularity of this art style is its ability to convey short stories about different cultures simply and humorously. In addition, the group's characterization also lends itself well to a shorter comic format.[8][17] Another common format for Countryballs are alternate history videos, often involving maps of the world changing depending on the event.[18]
The premise of Countryballs is that they represent the country and its history, foreign relations, and stereotypes,[11][19] focusing on megalomania and national complexes.[6][20] Except for Anglophone countries, the dialogue of Countryballs tends to be written in broken English and Internet slang, reminiscent of the lolcat meme. By the end of a cartoon, Poland is typically seen weeping.[5][6] The representation of Poland in Polandball often relies on stereotypes. This can include portraying Poles as having poor English skills, frequently blaming others for their past failures due to repeated invasions by neighboring countries, having a tendency to glorify their history, and being perceived as unintelligent and overly religious.[4]
Some Polandball comics arise from the premise that some countries can go to space while Poland cannot.[21][22] One of the earliest Polandball comics begins with the premise that Earth will suffer an impact event, leading to all countries with space technology leaving Earth and going into orbit around the planet. At the end of the cartoon, Poland, still on Earth, is crying and says the phrase "Poland cannot into space".[c][11][24] In this humorous way, other Countryballs halt all discussions with Poles on which country is superior.[5][11][19]
Countryballs usually include comics from other countries: these comics are sometimes still referred to as Polandball comics.[5] However, they are more commonly referred to as Countryballs.[12] States, provinces, other subdivisions, multinational organisations (such as the European Union, NATO, and the United Nations), and former countries (such as the Roman Empire) are also used.[25] Other countries are typically seen recalling their glory days or individual events of success, including Russia repelling the Axis Powers' invasion of the country.[26]
There are various other established conventions in Countryball comics. The United Kingdom usually wears a monocle and a top hat while holding a cup of tea.[27][28] He is often portrayed as an old gentleman sadly reminiscing about his glory days as an empire. The United States wears big black sunglasses and is usually depicted as having an egocentric personality.[28] Japan is occasionally drawn with catgirl characteristics and is portrayed as being obsessed with anime, particularly hentai. Canada is often drawn with a coonskin cap, and is portrayed as a relatively friendly country who apologizes excessively, but is known for clubbing seals to death in his spare time. In a more bizarre example, Israel is usually depicted as a cube. A common joke is that Israel is depicted this way because of "Jewish physics". Coats of arms in the upper hoist side are most often depicted as eyepatches; the civil ensign, which depicts Austria-Hungary in the comics, has two coats of arms, rendering the country either blind or wearing tinted glasses.[29]
The simplicity of Countryballs, together with its recognition of world history and a focus on current affairs, makes the meme suited to commenting on international events.[25] Among the events that have been covered by Countryballs and have been noted in the media are the Senkaku Islands dispute,[32] the 2013 papal conclave (which saw Jorge Mario Bergoglio being elected the new Pope),[33] the Revolution of Dignity,[24][25][34] the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation,[15] and issues relating to Filipino workers in Taiwan.[35] In the prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and after the invasion, Ukraine and Russia saw an increase in comic appearances.
At the same time, Oleksiak notes that Polandball comics often employ exaggerated Polish stereotypes, such as Poles not being as proficient in English as other nationalities and Poland itself being a country full of dull-witted hyper-Catholics. On the other hand, he admits that some stereotypes employed in Polandball comics, such as Poles telling stories about the nation's glorious history and dwelling on a deep-rooted martyrdom, are mostly true. In contrast, the stereotype that Poles hold many national complexes and blame external forces for their failures is true but somewhat justified.[37]
An online multiplayer third-person shooter called Countryballs: Modern Ballfare was released on Steam in June 2021 for Microsoft Windows.[38] CountryBalls Heroes, a strategy game, was released on Steam in November 2021 for Microsoft Windows. The game later won the 38th Fan Favorite weekly vote at the Game Development World Championship 2021.[39]
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