A service of Hubert - Written by TV's
Ian The Official Shirt
of the AYB History Page
Attention everybody: This page is
retiring. There are a couple of reasons - the most
important one is that it's now so common, it's virtually
impossible to keep a complete listing. I'll be updating the
page in the near future with whatever's currently in my inbox,
and I'll be accepting corrections. I'll also accept new
store/MP3/site links (for now, anyway). You can still contact
me, but any history items for AFTER April 28 (the official
cut-off date) will be ignored.
As you probably know, the phrase came
from a badly translated video game intro. The game was Zero
Wing, released on the Sega Genesis/Megadrive. The
English version seems to have been a Europe-only
release. As to WHY it's so popular... That's a bit of a
mystery. My personal opinion is that it's a perfect summary
for the badly translated games of our youth. Not only that,
but "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US" and "FOR GREAT JUSTICE"
are just plain random fun. Most of the early spread can be
attributed to gamers. In many team games, the object is to
capture, steal a flag from, or otherwise infiltrate the
enemy's base. It's a natural fit with the
phrase. |
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Here's the sequence of events - Major events
are highlighted.
- 1989: Zero Wing's english version is
released in Europe. - The origin of AYBABTU
- Mid 1998: A different
version of the Zero Wing .gif is posted on the now-defunct
quote page at Rage Games. When the site morphs into Whazzat!, the .gif
is replaced by text.
- Late 1998/Early 1999:
The current Zero Wing animated
.GIF is posted on Zany Video Game Quotes,
submitted by Seymont. It begins slowly circulating the internet. -
The current AYB image, and source of all this
- Fall 1998: Zero Wing (the
arcade version) is first emulated. The
arcade version is missing the intro, but the ending has a similar
translation.
- March 13, 2000: Toaplan.com
opens. The site contains info about Zero Wing and other Toaplan
games.
- June 5, 2000: The Zero Wing Dub
Project is posted at OverClocked. - The first
original AYB humor
- July 31, 2000: The
Mistranslated Ship Captain becomes a guru at the True Meaning of Life. His
first post is here.
- Summer 2000: The forums at
Something
Awful start to get infected. The .gif is in at least one
person's signature. It gets posted with some regularity in various
threads. A few people link back to the dub.
- Fall 2000: According to
one visitor, AYBABTU was appearing on Stile Project as the title
& in images. This was reportedly a result of Jeff K.'s hack
of the site - Stile liked it and kept it a while.
- September 6, 2000: On the SA forums, a gimmick
poster called Alf posts a picture of Alf on the phone. Starscream
adds a speech bubble saying "All your base are belong to us." It's
a hit, and gets posted a few more times. Here's a
copy of the picture. - First AYB photo edit
- October 12, 2000: AYBABTU
begins appearing on the relic.com forums.
- November 6 - 21, 2000:
The Something Awful era -
The Photoshop explosion, and source of a LOT of
images
- A thread is posted - The title is "ALL
YUOR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!!" (yes, it was spelled "YUOR"), and
the only message is "ON THE TABLE!!" By the end of the first
page, the photoshopping had begun.
- The first
image, a skeleton from Army of Darkness, was done
by Starscream (again!). A copy of the first page of the thread
may be found here. Thanks to
clockworkjoe of the SA forums, who saved the first (and most
important) page!
- As further evidence, this
thread linked back to the SA one.
- Around page 10, word begins to spread. HardOCP is one
of the first to link back to it.
- Some of the pictures are incredible works
of Photoshopping (like the Times Square pic done by The Yellow
Yell).
- Some sites, like Planet Namek, temporarily
add AYBABTU to their pages. PN had it in their title tag for a
couple of weeks.
- The first(?) two stores open, here and here. -
First AYB merchandise
- The forums collapse in on themselves.
Suddenly, the last couple of pages of the thread
disappear.
- A short time after, somebody using a
hacked moderator account deletes the first page of the thread.
This basicially kills the thread, since it no longer appears in
the listings.
- Finagler's archive of the
early parts of the thread remains.
- People who had been exposed to the
phenomeon (mostly 3D game fans) take it back to their own
boards, and similar threads (often using the same pictures) are
started.
- November (?) 14, 2000:
JRR, one of the
SA forum regulars, releases Invasion of the Gabber
Robots, the Zero Wing remix. NOTE: I'm
not 100% sure of the month - the
thread is still archived, but the forum doesn't show months.
It was most likely either November or December. - First AYB
Music
- November 28, 2000: A
report/poll on the US elections appears on Ars Techinca: All Your
Votes Are Belong to Us!! Check the archive page here.
- December 16, 2000: Tribal War's thread
begins. As this is one of the oldest remaining threads, they are
often mistakenly given credit for starting the phenomeon. -
Source of more pics, and the Flash
- January 12, 2001: Part 4 of "A
Winner Is You," Hubert's game
quote-based storyline is posted. It passes completely beneath the
pop culture radar. - First AYB in a web comic
- January 14, 2001: Solidsharkey.com puts up
a
history. It's not as complete as this one, and may have some
inaccuracies (WAS the Genesis version of ZW ever a US release? I
can only find the info/ROM for a European version), but it is the
first attempt at documenting ZW history. Note that I didn't find
out about this until 10 minutes ago.
- February 11, 2001: Eskimo Bob posts Episode 12:
AD 2101 - First AYB Flash
- February 13, 2001: memepool.com
posts about AYBABTU. They link to the Tribal War thread.
- February 15, 2001: Bad_CRC of Tribal War releases
the now-infamous music
video. There are some copyright issues (permission wasn't
asked to use JRR's song), but it continues to spread like
wildfire. - Birth of the Flash, and most people's introduction
to AYB
- February 16, 2001:
- Plastic reports the Flash
video. Read the story and see comments here.
- Online comic EverCrest has an AYBABTU in
this
strip.
- February 18, 2001:
- February 19, 2001:
- GameFaqs posts a FAQ
for Zero Wing (authored by Frank Provo), which
includes a better translation taken from the Japanese
version.
- id Software releases an add-on
level pack for Quake 3: Team Arena. Here's
a shot of a hidden message. - First AYB in a game other than
Zero Wing
- February 20, 2001:
- The San Francisco Chronicle (both
print & web versions) runs a story
about AYBABTU. - First AYB in print
- OverClocked returns with a Zero Wing
based comic.
- Around this time, "All Your Base Are
Belong to Us" was accepted into Eijiro's database (I'm told
it's the world's biggest online English-Japanese dictionary -
the FAQ is here, but I
can't read a word of it). It'll be added next update, which
should be April or May sometime.
- February 21, 2001:
- Salon.com runs this
story (scroll down a bit), about the US Army's use of the
phrase, as well as a brief expanantion.
- Online comic Real Life has a
(subtle) AYBABTU in this
strip.
- Somebody chalks All Your Base Are Belong to Us on
the roof of Wean Hall at Carnegie Mellon University. Photo 1
- Photo 2
- Photo 3
- First major real-life AYB
- February 22, 2001:
- February 23, 2001:
- February 24, 2001: Online
comic Doctor
Fun changes their logo to a CATS/AYBABTU one. The pic is
mirrored here,
just in case it gets changed.
- February 26, 2001:
- Time
Magazine had a small article about it (Issue dated March 5).
Scanned version here
(scan by GODHED). Online version here.
JRR finally gets credit! - First national media
AYB
- As several people have informed me, the
cancelled Fox TV
show Freaky
Links has had it's page replaced with AYBABTU.
- Sluggy Freelance features
Somebody Set Up Us the Bomb and AYBABTU in the background of this
strip.
- MyDivX.com posts an interesting
image in one of their updates.
- MP3.com pulls Invasion of the Gabber
Robots from TLMOM's site. They claim copyright
violations, as the song uses Zero Wing samples. They don't seem
to realize that Toaplan has been bankrupt and gone for 6 years.
The SA thread where this is brought up is located here.
- AYBABTU-related posters were put up at
Harvard - more information & photos can be found here
and here.
- February 27, 2001:
- "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" makes
its debut at #46 on the Lycos 50.
- Angelfire posts this
page, which is where the Lycos 50 entry links.
- Invasion of the Gabber Robots is
put back on MP3.com after they recieve numerous complaints about
it's removal, and realize that Toaplan no longer exists.
- Finagler's archive is
updated. The pics are now at full size, and the animated .gifs
are included. There do still seem to be some missing,
though.
- Neopets introduces a new
shopkeeper - a cat-like
CATS. Currently on the New Features
page is a picture, captioned "All your Neopet are belong to
us!"
- AYBABTU in
real life - some guys put up a banner on a bridge in
Australia.
- Another one - "All Your Base Are Belong
to Us" was written in chalk all around the Georgia Tech
campus.
- Another AYBABTU comic - check out this guest
strip at PDI.
- February 28, 2001:
- The Lycos 50's article is up.
- Another User Friendly cartoon
includes AYBABTU.
- The Guardian runs a story.
Hmm... Mention of the Alf picture, DrEldarion's store, and
credit to SomethingAwful - wonder if they've been here...
- March 1, 2001:
- The Detroit Free Press ran a story.
It seems they forgot to give credit to JRR/TLMOM for the song
(seemingly giving it to PlanetStarsiege) - anybody want to set
them straight?
- NetSlaves posts a story.
- AYBABTU in this Soap on a Rope
comic.
- Another AYBABTU in real life. At the
University of Pennsylvania, pictures of their president Judy
Rodin begin appearing. They have a speech bubble that says "All
your base are belong to us."
- March 2, 2001:
- March 3, 2001:
- The Daily Mirror runs a
full-page story
about AYBABTU, including a link to this web site!
- The Disco Scottie Show
played Invasion of the Gabber Robots during the show - coming
back from every break, as a matter of fact. - First Invasion
of the Gabber Robots on radio
- The website for upcoming game
Doom 3 launches - check the hidden text (Select all, try
dragging underneath the logo, or view the source). I'm not sure
of the date - IE properties said March 3, so that's what I'm
using. If anybody knows otherwise, let me know.
- March 4, 2001:
- CATS-Mania infects HP: Check out the monitor on this
page. - First AYB on a major corporation's
page
- TechTV airs part of the flash. -
First AYB on TV
- The Osdorp Posse's home page
is hacked to include "What You Say?" in the main image
map.
- The Dutch postcode lookup website was
altered - ALL YOUR POSTCODE ARE BELONG TO US!! It's back to
normal now.
- All Your Base with lasers at the Harshman
dorm at Bowling Green State Univ in Ohio - Check it out here.
- AYBABTU is painted on Coolidge Bridge in
Northampton, Mass. Photo
1 - Photo
2
- On national television, someone in the
crowd of the MU vs KU men's basketball game held up a sign that
read "All your base are belong to us." Anybody have a screen
capture?
- March 5, 2001:
- March 6, 2001:
- March 7, 2001:
- USA Today runs an article.
- "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" moves up
10 places to #36 on the Lycos 50.
- The Internet TOURBUS runs a
story
about the AYB "conspiracy." Not to mention changing their front
page a bit...
- TheTripleHelix.com
posts a short blurb - it also makes it into their poll (check
the previous poll archive).
- The author of Schlock Mercenary
declared he won't have AYBABTU in his strip. Ah, well -
somebody had to.
- The Parking Lot is Full's author
posts this...
novelization? of the Zero Wing Intro. Kids - don't click
those links. Rated M for Mature.
- Fourth and Inches, a comic in the Notre
Dame newspaper the Observer, features an
AYBABTU. I'll add a link once the page is working - it's down at
the moment.
- Newgrounds sets up a page
dedicated to AYB. One mistake I can see - they say that Eskimo Bob is
parodying the original flash - Eskimo Bob was released a few
days earlier.
- March 8, 2001:
- From a reader: "In a limited run of 200
from Steve
Jackson Games, the now famous line appears prominently in
bold at the bottom of the instruction sheet of a new game called
Frag."
- Jiminy Critic, a movie
review site, reviews
the Flash.
- Audiogalaxy runs a story
on Japanese Pop called "All Your Base Are Belong to Us"
- AYB sighted on the official Tomb Raider
Movie web site - click on the "Image of the Week"
link.
- As a result of the Ethermoon forum
posting on March 2, a fan creates this Java
game - watch the intro. The first AYB in a game (besides
Zero Wing, of course)? Possibly.
- March 9, 2001:
- March 10, 2001:
- ESPN.com mentions AYB in a humor
story.
- Reports indicate that somebody is posting
AYBABTU stickers in Toronto.
- March 11, 2001:
- March 12, 2001:
- March 13, 2001:
- March 14, 2001:
- ABC's "World News Now" ran a
story.
- A Vectrex version of the Zero Wing intro
is made. It can be found here.
- March 15, 2001: An article
appears in the LA
Times.
- March 21, 2001: AYBABTU on
the front page of the Onion. Archived here. I
got this story from a TON of people, but the first was Gabe Jones.
Thanks!
NOTE: I'm not 100% sure of
some of the dates - not every site dates their pages, and some of
the real life events have come in undated. If there's no date given,
I list it under the date it was sent to me. If you see a bad
listing, let me
know. I'm especially interested in anything coming before
the "first" events.
Other
Links
AYBABTU Stores (on Cafepress or
elsewhere):
Music (on MP3.com or elsewhere):
Sites & Galleries:
Other Stuff:
Special thanks
to: Lord_BEEF, Andrew,
Paul M., Matthew S., Ryan K., clockworkjoe, Alain M., Ant, Diane,
Bri, Jeremy S., Krysty Y., Aaron Schatz, MrRoboto, GODHED, DrEldarion, Matthew
G., Zach B., JRR, DJ Phear, Lee M., Ed K.,
Mmmkay, Grahame, DooMStalK, Finagler, Frank Provo,
Mark P, draven, Glenn, Tom D., Rich J., Nathan S., CATS aybabtu,
Amir, Dan C., Dr. Strange, Sean B., Darren Stuart Embry, Matt
S., petmar, akent, S. Zoogz
Jamison, John Kovalic,
Lynn H., Heavy_T, GBrooksasCGaines, Richard C., ManBeast, Neil M.,
Carl, Barbara
J., Nathan M., Ren H., J.D. F., Steph P., Douglas Cook,
Jonathan L., Joey, Dave M., Chris W., Zachary Houle, Chad C., Ze`elle, Sheldon
S., Disco
Scottie, Gidon R., Inzomnia, McGoo, Scott K., Steve C., toma, Norm L.,
Zachary H., Mark / ECC, Laurie N., Paul
G., Danger, Scott, Matt H., Neil M., Zach D., Stephan L., Carl, Brett
S., Kirsten, Jashim A., Xodiac, CyricZ, nyeates, Lord Xarph, Michael, Gellarboy, Frank,
winjer,
Bernard, David S., Tim E., Aaron Z.,
Bryan L., Teri, Mangraa, Roland H., Alan J., Shawn
H., Scrubbo,
Transport, CATS,
Janet
Kornblum, Psi, Skan, afree, Matt,
Fear Bush, Josh
G., Andrew G., Dan H., Kyle G., moetown, Kerm, Michael P., Mark S.,
Michael J., Koganuts, Glenn F., Jonathan H., RavenBlack, Scott E., Robert
W., Sean B., Finite, Bad_CRC, Rod J., Ben F., Brian S., Egor,
Afterburner, John C., metsallica, Colin, Rodrigo S., Lee C., Warner
W., Christopher C., Tom "Zileas" Cadwell, Mike, The
Rushes, Mark R., Hyper, KiloDelta, Daniel W., Brian L., Scott H.,
Waletski S., Scott
M., Bannon, AllInTheMind, Nial
M., Allen, Caleb
C., David V.,
Phantom DJ, Brian S., Gabe Jones, Afterburner, Tavis, Kany0n, Howard
Dawber, Daan
R, ebin, Marcus
Aanerud, Gavin R., Nivek58311, Bill
C., Mark S., Peter N., Steve, Troy D., Numair, Manu, Ryan R., and YOU for
playing! If you sent an update and would
like to switch to a nickname or have a link, let me know. I'm saving
all the mail I get.
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©2001
TV's Ian - Please
link back to this page if you use any of the
information! Page last modified Monday, 07-May-2001
19:13:48
EDT
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