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Raiden Punching Armstrong refers to a quick-time result from the 2013 video game Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance in which the protagonist Raiden apace punches the main villain Senator Steven Armstrong in the stomach to no effect. The scene, often combined from the vocal "It Has to Be This Way" (better known by its kickoff lyric "Standing Hither I Realize") from the game'due south soundtrack, has been used as source material for image macros, video captions, GIF captions and remakes.

Origin

On February 19th, 2013, the hack-and-slash video game Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, a spin-off installment in the Metal Gear series, was released.^[1] The final boss fight of the game, a duel between the protagonist Raiden and the chief villain Senator Armstrong, included a quick-time event in which Raidens rapidly punches Armstrong in the breadbasket to zero effect (scene shown below).

Prior to Feb 2021, the scene saw a small presence in memes online. For example, on July 22nd, 2015, Pikabu user raf996 posted^[two] the GIF, captioning it, "when you're fighting your older brother." The post gained nearly 590 upvotes on the site. On June quaternary, 2018, Twitter^[3] user @OolongEarlGrey posted the GIF to Twitter, captioning it, "When you commencement putting downwards coin on student loans in pocket-sized weekly payments." The post received 26 retweets and over 100 likes in iii years.

On February 20th, 2021, iFunny^[4] user ElliotRogerisAllah posted a GIF caption meme based on the GIF, speeding it up and captioning it, "Cyberbullies trying to bang-up me after I turn off the computer." The post gained over 80 smiles in one year (shown beneath).

Cyberbullies trying to bully me after I turn off the computer SENTOR Font

In the following weeks, an unknown user paired the GIF caption with the final theme Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, with the video caption going viral in early on March on Discord.^[8]

On March twelfth, 2021, gimmick Twitter^[5] account @TheFunny_mp4 reposted a video caption meme based on ElliotRogerisAllah'due south postal service, with the GIF caption at present paired with the concluding theme Mario and Luigi: Bowser'south Within Story. The post gained over 2,300 retweets, 15,300 likes and 113,500 views in 1 year (shown below).

film.twitter.com/e594nwe3t2

— The Funny (@TheFunny_mp4) March 13, 2021

On March 14th, 2021, YouTuber^{[half dozen]} Rad Dude uploaded another version of the video caption, now paired with the song "It Has to Be This Way" (better known by its commencement lyric "Standing Hither I Realize") from the game's soundtrack. The video received more than 723,000 views in 10 months (shown below).

"It Has to Exist This Way" / "Standing Here I Realize"

While the song "Standing Hither I Realize," amend known by its first lyric "Standing Hither I Realize," does not appear during the quick fourth dimension event, it appears later in the fight against Senator Armstrong. The song is heavily associated with the fight scene and with the Raiden Punching Armstrong meme (music sound shown below). The song was composed by Jamie Cristopherson & Logan Mader and features vocals by Jimmy Gnecco.^[7]

The vocal has been used as source material for memes at least since April 2014, primarily being used to accompany diverse fighting scenes. For example, on April tenth, 2014, YouTuber^[9] NotTimWakefield paired a fighting scene from Star Trek fighting scene with the song, with the video gaining over 189,600 views in 8 years (shown beneath, left). On January 15th, 2015, YouTuber^[x] Iceberger posted a modded cutscene from Saints Row 4 with Senator Armstrong edited in, with the video accumulating over one.3 million views in seven years (shown below, right).

Spread

Prior to 2021, the song has been used in more similar memes posted on YouTube. For example, on October 14th, 2018, YouTuber^[xi] The Memester uploaded a Thor: Ragnarok battle scene paired with the song, with video gaining over 103,000 views in three years (shown below, left). On June 6th, 2021, YouTuber^[12] ElMaxitos uploaded a Dark Souls edit that gained over 241,000 views in six months (shown below, correct).

On May 18th, 2021, Instagram^[13] user lynx.mf posted the earliest found derivative GIF caption meme based on the GIF of Raiden punching Armstrong; the post (shown below), captioned "me trying to fight my boozer father to protect my siblings," gained over 2,000 views and 620 likes in eight months, with a aforementioned-twenty-four hour period repost by Instagram^[14] user bokudere gaining over 86,000 views and 20,100 likes in the same menses.

On July 26th, 2021, YouTuber^[fifteen] Hemotoksin uploaded the looped clip of Raiden punching Armstrong, which gained over 1.1 meg views in six months.

Starting in late 2021, the two formats merged into a single tendency equally the GIF set up to the song has been used both for video explanation memes and for remakes. For example, on November 17th, 2021, Redditor YeetBomer23 posted a GIF caption meme to the /r/subnautica^[16] subreddit, where it gained over 3,000 upvotes in 2 months. On December 18th, 2021, YouTube^[xix] user Andra uploaded a Stick figure remake of the video which received more than 185,000 views in one month (shown beneath, left). On January seventh, 2022, YouTube^[18] user Verdigus uploaded a video titled "Standing Here I Realise merely it'southward ROBLOX" which gained over 18,000 views in two weeks (shown below, right).

The tendency also spread to other social media, including Twitter and Facebook. For example, on January 2nd, 2022, Twitter^[19] user @ARgaytec uploaded a Girls' Frontline version which received over 110 retweets and 330 likes in 3 weeks. A January 4th, 2022, repost by Facebook^[20] page "Girls' Realine Raifuposting Echelon" gained over 430 reactions and 150 shares in the same menses. On Jan 18th, 2022, Facebook^[21] user John Salsa uploaded a Team Fortress 2 version (created by Discord user cimex749) to the "Team Fortress 2" grouping. The video received over ane,100 reactions and 770 shares in two days.

Additionally, the video has been used as source fabric for object-labeling memes. For example, on January 2nd, 2022, Facebook^[22] user Luis Ramos uploaded the video with the characters labeled "Weakest Tomboy" and "Strongest Femboy" to "Metal gear rising Nanoposting," where information technology gained over 660 reactions and 660 shares in 3 weeks (shown below, left).