You know this person. We all do. Ohhh yes. Even though you haven't even watched the show, even if you have no idea which video game they're from, you know them and have every one of their lines memorized. Their every word has a place in lulzy eternity.
This person — nay, this deity of popular culture, can come in many forms, but regardless of form, He or She is known as a Fountain of Memes.
Be it due to Narm Charm, Large Ham-ness, or simply due to their own glorious Badassery, every line this sacred being spouts is an instant Memetic Mutation, to be repeated by the Internet-savvy throughout the ages.
For more information regarding these characters' holy exploits, see Memetic Badass, Memetic Sex God, and similar pages. See also Youtube Poop for practical applications of their blessed dictions.
When in doubt about examples, keep in mind the Rule of Three. There's no specific cutoff point for awesomeness, but three Memetic Mutations is generally a good baseline. It is also recommended, though not required, that you give us a sample of the character's works, so we too may revel in their awesomeness.
The name is a pun on the Fountain of Dreams from the Kirby series.
Compare Reference Overdosed.
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Anime & Manga
Kamina of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Nearly everything he says is a meme. And putting his epic sunglasses on anyone (or anything) makes them instantly badass. WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK HE IS?!
Hell, he's even a Fountain of Memes in-verse. His Team Gurren symbol, his Catch Phrases, his glasses, his speeches, his very methods of speaking and posing are all adopted by the human species as the very pinnacle of manliness, to the point that they named the first city on the surface Kamina City.
Osaka from Azumanga Daioh. So many scenes featuring her have become memetic; there are at least three YTMND memes involving her. And then there's the Macintosh ad parody from AMV Hell. And none of those are even actual lines of dialog; though she's got a fair number of those as well, she's far more well-known for her Crowning Moments of Funny, up to and including her knife-Yukari scene.
Cilan from Pokémon has been spouting these like crazy: He whips his Stunfisk back and forth; he's a rapist; he eats his Pokemon; "It's Tasting Time" and "It's Lunch Time;" he's FABULOUS~; screams like a girl...
Several other characters as well....GARY MOTHERFUCKING OAK, Professor Oak, Ash, Brock...
"Who's the man? I'm the man! I'm a bad man! How bad? Real bad! I'm 12.0 on a 10.0 scale of badness!"
Then there's me, Deadpool, naturally. There's just too much to list here. Also of note is my inclusion in Marvel Vs Capcom 3. See this section on that page's YMMV tab? Approximately 75% of those phrases were uttered during the first peek at the game.
The incomparable Enoby Draknes Dimenta Rave Way (Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way), "goff" protagonist of My Immortal.
Film
The Alien films spawned a lot of memes, mostly from Aliens including, "Get away from her you BITCH!!," "We're on an express elevator to Hell — going down!," "Game over, man. Game over!," and "Not bad for a human."
Samuel L. Jackson If he's in it, he'll not only create a few memes, but also a Memetic Badass in the process. And that certain scene in Pulp Fiction is a meme from start to finish.
Said scene (starting from about 4:30) really deserves to be expanded upon—there are five memes*
"What ain't no country I ever heard of! Do they speak English in What?" "English, motherfucker! Do you speak it?" "I dare you, I double-dare you, motherfucker, say "what" one more goddamn time!" "Does he look like a bitch?" and "Marcellus Wallace don't like to be fucked by anybody except Mrs. Wallace"
Humphrey Bogart, especially in Casablanca. Indeed, lines like "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine." and "Here's lookin' at you kid." are so iconic most people who've heard of them have no idea of any context.
Kirk Lazarus, LEAD FARMER, MOTHERFUCKER! (Never go full retard.)
Les Grossman who asks you to take a step back, and literally fuck your own face, or he'll fuck you up!
R. Lee Ermey has spawned many, many memes, as various characters and as himself, maggot!
Mel Brooks has made a career out of memes, with nearly all of his films containing at least a handful.
Jim Carrey is another who has made a career full of memes.
The Joker in The Dark Knight, as played by Heath Ledger, to the point that literally every line he says in that film is a meme. Every. Line. Hell, Heath Ledger's entire script in that movie was one big meme.
Considering that the Nolan-verse Joker has been theorized to be a personification of lulz itself, this may not be so surprising.
And now Bane's managed to follow in his footsteps and spawn a bunch of memes.
Monty Python films are filled to the brim with memes of all kinds, with Monty Python and the Holy Grail in particular quoted and repeated so frequently that it has become a meme itself to mock people who quote it.
How I Met Your Mother: Barney Stinson continually spouts lines that are legen... wait for it, and I hope you're not lactose intolerant because the next part is DARY.
Papa Lazarou only appeared on three episodes of The League of Gentlemen, and he has reached this status. Isn't that right, DAAAAAAAAAAVE?
Doctor Who has the one, the only, the Doctor, who offers people jelly babies while wearing a vegetable, will Reverse The Polarityof the neutron flow and declare it "Fantastic!" even if it's just a pile of rocks (because, "Look! Rocks!"), and while bow ties and enormous scarfs are cool, pears are absolutely rubbish. And do shut up, K9.
Politicans with "colorful" personalities, tendencies to use malapropisms, and cases of foot-in-mouthsyndrome are often meme fountains.
Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States, whose title is frequently prefaced with "gaffe-prone." Possibly the only man to call something "a bunch of malarkey" on national television in decades.
A non-gaffe example would be his coining of the phrase "noun, verb, 9/11," during a moment of snark at Rudy Giuliani.
George W. Bush, what with his famous "Bushisms" and his unusual friendliness toward foreign leaders ("looking into Vladimir Putin's soul" at his Texas ranch and giving Angela Merkel a shoulder massage at a NATO summit, for instance).
Before Dubya, there was Dan Quayle. Anybody want a potatoe? Murphy Brown sent him a truckload.
Silvio Berlusconi, whose insensitivity, corruption, love of orgies, and persistence in the pursuit of power are the source of incessant joking in Italy and abroad.
Unsurprisingly, Canadian Prime Minister and Bunny-Ears Lawyer-in-Chief Pierre Trudeau generated innumerable memes in his day, from "Just watch me" to pirouetting behind the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
One of the most famous political memes (and one of the most famous memes period in the pre-Internet age) came from a debate between Democratic Presidential hopefuls Walter Mondale and Gary Hart in the early 80s (when they were vying to ultimately go against Reagan in the general elections) where Mondale accused Hart of being empty on substance by asking "where's the beef?" The phrase was co-opted from a popular Wendy's advertising campaign of the time, but Mondale's use is still widely recognized as the Trope Codifier.
The great-grandaddy of sports meme generation has to be Yogi Berra, who gave us such gems as "It ain't over until it's over", "Nobody goes there any more, it's too crowded", and "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Also, "It ain't over until the fat lady sings." And, famously, "I never said most of the things I said."
For those who do not understand Yogi-ese, some explanation my be required. "It ain't over until it's over" is a quote from a season when the Yankkes were 9 games behind with 10 games left to play. "I never said most of the things I said" was Yogi's way of disavowing the (many) quotes that are wrongfully attributed to him
Ilya Bryzgalov of the Philadelphia Flyers seems to be on his way to this after his appearances in NHL 24/7. "The solar system...it's so humongous big" and his meditations on the similarities between his Siberian Husky and a hot blonde in particular are experiencing Memetic Mutation.
Captain Falconsays "HYESZ!" to being shown some moves. "FALCAWN PAWNCH!"
Perhaps the enigmatic writing style that may have been attributed to the website's translator of the series' official site can also be considered a Fountain of Memes? You have no time to ponder such questions, as Link has just grabbed the meme ball!
Solid Snake, of Metal Gear Solid fame has appeared in the series as of Brawl. Since that series is also a Fountain of Memes... "Mei-Ling! Samus took her clothes off!"
Speaking of Metal Gear, Metal Gear Rising Revengeance introduced a certain Senator that instantly became this in spite of only appearing at the end.
Mario in the CD-i Hotel Mario game is well known for, among other things, proudly proclaiming that All toastas toast toast and looking about 300 pounds overweight, leading to the nickname "Fat Mario". It has more memes:
Mario: "Nice of the Princess to invite us over for a picnic, Gay Luigi?"
Star Fox: Peppy Hare would like you to Do a Barrel Roll! Additionally, Falco would like to inform you that he's on your side, Einstein! But Wolf can't let them do that.
Taken Up to Eleven. Every single line is a meme, referencing any besides the well known ones can STILL derail a topic on a forum into a reference battle.
"Son of a submariner!" "Run run, or you'll be well done!" "I hate hate hate hate HATE YOU!" "'Wait' he says. Do I look like a waiter?" "This is sickening! You sound like chapters from a self-help booklet!"
Vaan of Final Fantasy XII is an interesting case — Western fans hate him, but a particular sidequest where he has to spread word of the supposedly dead Basch's survival to draw attention from people. has caused every line he shouts during said quest to go memetic.
"I'm Captain Basch fon Ronsenburg of Dalmasca!" "Don't listen to Ondore's lies!" "Basch lives!"
"GET THE FRUIT!" "Naive weekly!" "VOID!" "TURTLE!" "Tasty arrow...is yummeh!"
The Mass Effect series brings us Commander Shepard, who is known for punching a certain reporter in response to her snide insinuations / disingenuous assertions / tabloid journalism, and proclaiming various stores to be his / her favourite on the Citadel (s/he can even give multiple stores the same endorsement).
Mass Effect 2 gives us Harbinger, who becomes this despite never actually appearing in person, thanks to his habit of ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL. Oddly, after spending the entire second game churning out memes, he has only one scene in the third game - and spends it shooting at you rather than talking.
"Shepard." "Wrex."
"I should go."
And with The Citadel DLC, "I should go...I should go...I should go..."
"Attention, all yoctograms! (It's x 2) DIE!" You aren't forgetting Sho Minamimoto, are you? So zetta slow!
Guile tells you to Go Home And Be A Family Man, because his theme goes with everything, as a proof, he does Flash Kick FADC into Shades!
Fighting game pro IFC Yipes has a whole stable of memes associated with him. He's best known for screaming "IT'S MAHVEL, BAYBEE!" along with other memorable phrases during matches.
This even gets lampshadedon Cross Counter Live when Yipes is commentating on his match against Fanatiq in UMvC3: "Are these descriptions going on in your head when you're playing the match?"
Genji: Days of the Blade, though not the game itself, but its E3 presentation. "Story is based on Japanese history and battles which took... actually took place in ancient Japan." "So here's this Giant Enemy Crab..." (This shortly after saying the battles were historical!) "Attack Its Weak PointFor Massive Damage!"
The PSX era of the Mega Man franchise sure has some infamous voice acting. After all, in Mega Man 8 Roll has a deeper voice than Mega Man, Dr. Light sounds like Elmer Fudd, and Mega Man pronounces the "w" in sword.
We can't forget Mega Man X4 with Zero's infamous line. "No, this can't be happening! There's no reason for me to go on! W-What am I fighting foooOOOOORAGH!"
"DEMOCRACY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE!" "EMBRACE DEMOCRACY, OR YOU WILL BE ERADICATED!" "CHAIRMAN CHENG WILL FAIL, CHINA WILL FALL!" "OBSTRUCTION DETECTED. COMPOSITION: TITANIUM ALLOY SUPPLEMENTED BY PHOTONIC RESONANCE BARRIER. PROBABILITY OF MISSION HINDRANCE...ZERO PERCENT!!" "BETTER DEAD THAN RED!"
Pretty much almost every single line in The Legend of Zelda CD-i games is a meme. Here are some meme lines:
King Harkinian: "Mah boi, this peace is what all true warriors strive for!"
King Harkinian: "Enough! My ship sails in the morning! I wonder what's for dinner!
Gwoman: "Squadallah! We are off!"
Merchant: "Lamp oil? Rope? Bombs? You want it? It's yours, my friend! As long as you have enough rupees!"
Merchant: "Sorry, Link, I can't give credit! Come back when you're a little... MMMMMMMM... richer!
Ganon:: "Join me, Link, and I will make your face the GR-RREATEST in Koridai! Or else you will DIE!"
Ganon:: "You DARE bring light to my lair?! YOU MUST DIE!"
Cave Johnson, Aperture's insane founder, tends to say insane things that tend to be absolutely hilarious.
Cave: All right, I've been thinking: when life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade! Make life take the lemons back! GET MAD! I don't want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these?! Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am?! I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm going to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!
G La DOS also qualifies. Her cake is a lie. Because she's a POTATO.
Reggie "The Regginator" Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, is well-known amongst Nintendo fans for his many meme-worthy phrases.
"My name is Reggie. I'm about kicking ass, I'm about taking names, and we're about making games!
"My body is ready." This was later referenced again at E3 2012, 5 years later. (And referenced yet again several times during the Wii U release at Nintendo World Store, where he seemed to have made it into a Catch Phrase of sorts.)
"What's wrong with you?"
"I feel like a purple Pikmin."
Zombie Reggie, from E3 2012 when he tested a feature from Zombi U which made your picture into a zombie. Phrases said during this include "I'm hungry now." and "I like French food."
Web Comics
In-universe example: Dave Strider of Homestuck, whose magnum opus, Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff, is regularly referenced by other characters.
Web Original
Ben Croshaw of Zero Punctuation has inspired quite a few himself, largely due to his idiosyncratic style of humor. Notables include "pants-on-head retarded", mumorpuger, Press X to Not Die, and triple-cunted hooker.
Egoraptor and Jon Tron were both memetic fountains on their own, so when Game Grumps combined them it wasn't a surprise that they had over a dozen memes literally just two weeks into the show.
Ghost wants everyone to know he's a melting pot of friendship (HE'S A NICE GUY!) before cans.waving.
The page quote comes from Nappa in Dragon Ball Abridged, lampshading this concept and how most of the funny and memorable moments in the first season come from him. In the second season, he has to share with Super Kami Guru and the Ginyu Force.
Robotnik from that otherSonic cartoon is also like this, mostly because he's voiced by Jim Cummings.
South Park in general tends to generate memes, but Eric Cartman is a particularly active meme fountain. "Screw you guys, I'm going home" and "Respect my AUTHORITAH!" were popular very early on.
Let's face it - everypony. You could have less than one second of screen time and become an instant meme. Isn't that right, Lyra?
To be fair, Lyra was sitting in a human-like pose, in a world where everypony else was doing the norm. She was sticking out like a sore thumb. A better example would be Derpy, with her blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of derped eyes, or Octavia. She had no speaking lines, little screen time, and three bandmates. But of all the ponies selected by the fandom to join the Background Six, it was her.
A good amount ofcartoondads can be considered this by some.
The Simpsons is full of memes, most of which are perpetrated by Homer.
Futurama, much like the Simpsons, is full of memes. Fry and Zoidberg are usually the main source for them, such as "Not Sure if X or Y", "X is bad and you should feel bad!", "Shut up and take my money!", "Why not Zoidberg?" and more.
Nigel Thornberry from The Wild Thornberrys has a simply smashing amount of memes revolving around him! His Cloud Cuckoolander nature, Large Ham tendencies, distinctive schnoz, and Tim Curry's hilarious performance (coupled with the fact that it's one of his more different roles) probably have something to do with it.
