Polandball

Polandball, also known as Countryballs, is an internet meme. The meme began on the /int/ board of Krautchan.net in 2009. The meme takes the form of large number of online comics. In the comics, countries flags are drawn as a circle shape. The balls interact in broken English, often referred to as "Engrish", (except for those countries who have English as their main language) and ridicule national stereotypes and international relations.

Polandball has its roots in an August 2009 'cyberwar' between Polish Internet users and the rest of the world on drawball.com. Drawball.com allows Internet users to draw whatever they want. It also allows people to draw over others drawings. On the Polish flag internet, an idea was raised to draw the flag of Poland on the ball. Thousands of Poles managed to take over the drawball. The painting consisted of white on top of red. In the middle, the word "POLSKA" was written. After co-ordination from 4chan, this was then covered over by a giant Nazi swastika.^[1]^[2]

Krautchan.net is a German-language imageboard. Its /int/ board is frequented by Russian-speaking netizens. The beginning of the Polandball meme is credited to Falco. Falco is a British user on /int/. In September 2009 Falco created the meme using MS Paint. The meme was made in an apolitical way to troll Wojak. Wojak is a Pole on the same board and contributes in broken English. Afterwards, Polandball cartoons were enthusiastically drawn by Russians.^[1]^[3]^[4]

Themes

A description of Polandball is found on the subreddit /r/Polandball, which reads "Wiggly mouse-drawn comics where balls represent different countries. They poke fun at national stereotypes and the "international drama" of their diplomatic relations. Polandball combines history, geography, Engrish, and an inferiority complex. The comic series first became popular on a well known German image board /int/."

The premise of Polandball is it represents the history, relations with other countries, and stereotypes.^[3]^[5] It concentrates on Polish megalomania and national complexes.^[2] The meme gained in popularity after the plane crash in Smolensk which killed Polish President Lech Kaczyński.^[3]^[5] Interactions between countryballs are written in broken English and internet slang. This is similar to the Lolcat meme. Poland is purposely drawn as red on top of white. This is the opposite of the united nations flag. By the end of the cartoon, Poland weeps.^[1]^[2]

Some Polandball comics are based on the premise that Russia can fly into space. This premise also includes Poland cannot fly into space. One of the most popular Polandball cartoons begins with the premise that Earth is going to be struck by a giant meteor. All countries with space technology leave Earth and go into orbit around the planet. At the end of the cartoon, Poland is still on earth and is crying. In broken English, Poland says their famous catchphrase "Poland cannot into space".^[3] In this humorous way, Russians stop discussion with Poles on which country is superior.^[1]^[3]^[5] Another Polandball comic delves into historic-political satire. Poland is seen to be boring other countryballs. Poland proclaims "So when we crushed Russia and the turks [sic] were were the biggest country in the world... and..". This leads other countryballs to laugh at it. Poland, by now irritated, utters kurwa. Poland holds up a sign saying "Internet serious business". This is an internet slogan used to deride others who treat subjects with disdain. Then, in Polandball convention, Poland finishes by crying.^[1]^[2]^[6]

Polandball meme in culture

In 2014, released a game about Polandball for Android. In this game, Poland can into space and the player's goal as long as possible to keep Poland there. There is also the opportunity to play for other countryballs.

Other polandballs

Wikimedia Foundation images and Wikimedia products drawn as Polandball

Polandball comics include other characters (It's not just Polandball), Some of these characters have special traits, For example, the United Kingdom is personified as UKball, a character who is already very old, and only has to remember his imperial days, And he wears a top hat and monocle, the United States is USAball, an extreme ball that always wants to spread its "freedom" throughout everything that exists, Israel and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast of Russia are personified as cubes, called Israelcube and JAOcube respectively, Israel has problems with Germanyball because of his tragic past, while JAO has problems with his father Russiaball because he seems gay, Kazakhstan is called Kazakhbrick and all its oblasts are bricks, Nepal, Ohio, Tampa and Maratha are represented as dinosaurs known as rawrs, Some entities that are fusions of other ancient entities without a flag are represented with the 2 (or more) balls of the merged entities connected by a device, Panama is divided into 2 different beings by the Panama Canal, Singapore is a triangle called Tringapore, Bermuda It is also a triangle, but in the opposite sense than Tringapore, The Reich (Globally known as the German Empire) is represented as Reichtangle, a gigantic cannibal rectangle that wants to eat Polandball, Santa Elena, Asencion and Tristan da Cunha are 3 separate balls, but with a strange problem that gives them a spiritual connection no matter where they are. The billiard balls from 1 to 8 are the natives who have no nationality, Japan has a cat's tail and ears, this is due to a national stereotype known as kawaii, Chile is shaped like a worm since on the map of Chile it has a narrow shape.

However, in Polandball there are a series of rules that oblige the artist to - when making comics - respect the concepts of the meme. Each Polandball Wiki establishes these concepts. Some of these rules are:

Wikipedia's logo drawn in the form of Polandball

Polandball Media

An example of a Countryball featuring a Polish Countryball. The flipped flag is intentional.
A 2012 comic featuring an extension of the "Poland cannot into space" [sic] catchphrase. The comic references Poland joining the European Space Agency in 2012.
Countryballs graffiti art depicting the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement during Euromaidan in Kyiv, 2013
A Countryballs comic which satirises Estonia and the Nordic countries