These days, viral videos are a dime a dozen. Every day there’s at least one that makes the rounds and by the time the next one comes around tomorrow we’ve already forgotten about it. Such is the internet in 2017.
But way back in 2004, a good viral video had the ability to take over the world, so to speak. Such was the case with Leeroy Jenkins.
For those too young to remember, the infamous video involves a game of World of Warcraft wherein a group of players is in the midst of discussing a detailed battle plan. One member of the group, a character named Leeroy Jenkins, is conspicuously silent and unmoving. All of a sudden, without any regard for the intricate plans and strategies, Leeroy springs into action. Ben Schulz, the person controlling Leeroy, shouts “Alright, let’s do this. LEEEEROYYYYYY JENKINS!” He then runs directly into the melee, forcing the rest of the group to join him reluctantly. The group is promptly slaughtered. Exasperated, other players say “Goddammit, Leeroy” and “You moron.” Once it becomes clear that the battle is officially lost, a dejected Leeroy utters, “I’m trying, it’s not my fault.”
You didn’t have to be a fan of the game to love the video. Everyone knew a Leeroy Jenkins in their life. Hell, you might have been the Leeroy Jenkins in your life. The meme eventually took on a life of its own, leading to the creation of official Leeroy trading cards and even a miniature. In the ultimate sign that he’d broken through into the mainstream, he even became a clue on Jeopardy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJT20WxfHss
Eventually, the world moved on but the Leeroy Jenkins battle cry was never far from our hearts. A pure moment of stupidity and oafishness that made us all feel better knowing he was still out there, ruining well-laid plans.
However, if 2017 has taught us anything it’s that there is nothing good in this world. You can add Leeroy to that list because a new video proves that the entire incident was, in fact, staged. YouTube user Anf Pal decided to release the “dry run” version of the event.
This version doesn’t quite have the oomph of the viral version and you can hear the other people “break character” upon hearing the classic Leeroy Jenkins yell for the first time.
Pal says he was waiting for the right time to release the video and was spurred on in reaction to Ajit Pai’s condescending video released after the vote against Net Neutrality.
I am releasing this never-before-seen first take/dry run of the Leeroy Jenkins video in hopes of raising awareness about Net Neutrality. I’ve been holding onto this for over a decade waiting for the “right” moment to make it public, and then last week Ajit Pai created his awful/condescending video and it riled me up so much that I decided it was finally time to unleash this gem of Internet history on the world to do my part to help out.
As For The Win notes, the fakery has actually been well-known within the WoW community for some time, it’s only now becoming common knowledge. To be honest, we preferred it back when we didn’t know.
[FTW]
