History Memes / TrailsSeries

* "Time for ul-tra-vi-o-lence!" [[labelnote:Explanation]] Just before she's about to lay a beatdown on Gilbert, she says this with an [[https://68.media.tumblr.com/f517b42b7f8045bbfef549d36890baa5/tumblr_nzeo056urL1syhowzo1_500.jpg amazingly smug expression]] that quickly grew popular when ''SC'' was released internationally.[[/labelnote]]

!!VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesKuroNoKiseki

* "X female character is the Grandmaster!"[[labelnote:Explanation]] The reveal in ''The 3rd'' is that the Grandmaster of Ouroboros has a female voice which leads people to believe that any female character could actually be the Grandmaster. After ''Cold Steel IV'' and ''Reverie'' revealed the Grandmaster's actual appearance, the theorizing got even more intense, with fans noting her similarities to Kureha from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfNayutaBoundlessTrails'', or insisting that the Grandmaster is some kind of shapeshifter who uses another female character as a disguise outside of her EvilLair. [[/labelnote]]

* Elie, Tio and Wazy's bait. [[labelnote:Explanation]] A very popular strategy, especially for bosses on Nightmare difficulty is to arrange your party in a way that the member (particularly Lloyd) at the front to DrawAggro with a '''90%''' and above evasion rate, guaranteeing constant dodging and counters while the other three members hang out at the back cast arts for the main bulk of damage. Elie, Tio and Wazy are usually the stop picks for this because of their high ATS value along with Tio's [[SingleUseShield Zero Field]]. [[/labelnote]]

* [[spoiler:Lianne's]] a cuck. [[labelnote:Explanation (Spoilers!)]] In ''Cold Steel IV'', Lianne loved Dreichels but couldn't be with him. She then saw his {{Reincarnation}} in Osborne except he also married Kasia and had a son with Rean. Then Osborne's life went downhill and made a DealWithTheDevil with Ishmelga while Lianne wasn't looking. Finally, Rean gives her a chance to come with them to life except Rufus back stabs her at the worst moment. [[/labelnote]]

* Cube [[labelnote:Explanation]] Fans noted that there seems to be a lot of cube-based bosses. [[/labelnote]]
* "Crossbell is getting invaded again."[[labelnote:Explanation]] Before the release of the game, many players thought that SSS would have to fight against Rufus and his army to obtain their freedom and then it would be a brand new story afterwards while Rufus will keep his promise with his fellow Ironbloods by taking the fall (as depicted by ''Cold Steel IV's'' events). When the game was released, it turns out that Crossbell was about to declare its independence when it turns out that it would get invaded once again by Rufus and a rogue detachment of the Erebonian army. Compounding the issue even further is that [[spoiler:the real Rufus is actually in jail and is already in the middle of his sentence when someone tries killing him. Then Rufus breaks out, dons the "C" mask and find out what exactly is going on.]] [[/labelnote]]

* "Kondo hates fat guys!"[[note]]Thanks to TheReveal of both ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Trails to Azure]]'' where it's revealed that [[spoiler:Ian Grimwood being the guy who shot and killed Guy Bannings]] and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Cold Steel III]]'' where [[spoiler:George shot Angelica and rigged the Courageous with explosives]] and both characters are fat, the rallying cry for fat characters in this series ends up being this.[[/note]]
* Professors and secretaries, too. [[note]]Professors and secretaries in the ''Trails'' series tends to turn out to be evil: [[spoiler: Gilbert, Alba, Earnest, Joachim, Franz.]][[/note]]
* "X female character is the Grandmaster!"[[note]]The reveal in ''The 3rd'' is that the Grandmaster of Ouroboros has a female voice which leads people to believe that any female character could actually be the Grandmaster. After ''Cold Steel IV'' and ''Reverie'' revealed the Grandmaster's actual appearance, the theorizing got even more intense, with fans noting her similarities to Kureha from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfNayutaBoundlessTrails'', or insisting that the Grandmaster is some kind of shapeshifter who uses another female character as a disguise outside of her EvilLair.[[/note]]
** Dorothy is the Grandmaster! [[note]]A meme exclusive to the English-speaking fanbase takes that a step further, as many players found her GeniusDitz tendencies and surprisingly convenient arrival in situations where she helps out the party to be a little suspect.[[/note]] This one was noticed in a fan interview with Kondo himself, where he seemed a little surprised at the reaction, as Japanese fans say the same about Towa.
** "Kondo": '''''laughs'''''[[note]]Anytime the president of Falcom dodges a question with his laugh, many fans take it as a sign that it is a plot point and that it shouldn't be dismissed.[[/note]]
* "[[WillfullyWeak Holding]] [[CutsceneIncompetence Back]]"[[note]]A phrase used ''very often'' in the series for characters who are not going all out with their abilities in situations where you'd expect them to. It gained even more traction during the Erebonia arc where it ends up being a stock phrase for almost every single character.[[/note]]
** "Stop Holding Back"[[note]]An addendum to the statement above.[[/note]]
* Haha [[note]]The series infamously attempts to avert RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic, with the casts pausing, mumbling, trailing off, grunting, and most memetically laughing, chortling, chuckling, and any variation there of. It's such a common site in the games with voice acting that characters have their own notable laughs, something the fandom delights in making fun of.[[/note]]
* [[LongBusTrip "Where's Kevin?"]][[note]]Due to his lack of presence throughout the entire Erebonia arc, many start wondering where he's at considering he's one of the protagonists of the series. It doesn't help that more recent official artwork of the main protagonists together ''often exclude him and even Kondo doesn't seem to remember who he is.''[[/note]]

* "Time for ul-tra-vi-o-lence!" [[labelnote:explanation]] Just before she's about to lay a beatdown on Gilbert, she says this with an [[https://68.media.tumblr.com/f517b42b7f8045bbfef549d36890baa5/tumblr_nzeo056urL1syhowzo1_500.jpg amazingly smug expression]] that quickly grew popular when ''SC'' was released internationally.[[/labelnote]]
* "By my Arts, you will make a new save on Normal." [[labelnote:explanation]]Kurt's Craft abilities have him announce "By my Arts, (insert simile here)," and he's such a notorious WakeUpCallBoss for ''SC'' that players starting on Hard tend to restart on Normal.[[/labelnote]]

* If a female character is from Crossbell and has big boobs, then fans claim that it's because of "Crossbell water."

* Arianrhod's helmet has its own HP. [[note]]The sign that you can continue with the story in the SSS's fight against Arianrhod is her helmet cracking while she TurnsRed and restores her HP to full, hence people joked the reduced HP is the helmet's. Actually ''beating her afterwards'' is how you get the bonus DP.[[/note]]
* Joachim Gunter is the first player of ''Azure''. [[note]][[spoiler:After effectively overdosing on Red Gnosis, he states that he was able to figure out how [=KeA=] was in the trunk during the Schwarz Auction, who killed Guy Bannings and the eventual fate of Crossbell. Jokes that he spoiled himself in the plot of ''Azure'' ran wild.]][[/note]]
* Elie, Tio and Wazy's bait. [[note]]A very popular strategy, especially for bosses on Nightmare difficulty is to arrange your party in a way that the member (particularly Lloyd) at the front to DrawAggro with a '''90%''' and above evasion rate, guaranteeing constant dodging and counters while the other three members hang out at the back cast arts for the main bulk of damage. Elie, Tio and Wazy are usually the stop picks for this because of their high ATS value along with Tio's [[SingleUseShield Zero Field]].[[/note]]
* The bruh bass. [[note]]The Gluttonous Bass has a [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYKmqcJWkAEtxKE.png very distinctive and exploitable appearance]] that quickly made the rounds in the fandom as a Twitch and Discord emote, and even a speedrun category. Became an AscendedMeme when Pin Box produced an official pin of the fish.[[/note]]

* "Haha..." "That's our Rean!" "holding back" "Rean-sama, I kneel!"[[note]]The first three examples are phrases that pop up with alarming frequency throughout the series. Usually used to mock the series' writing or characterization with the last one being used to mock Rean's superiority and nature as a ChickMagnet instead.[[/note]]

* Head patting can make people fall in love with somebody.[[note]]While Rean does pat a lot of heads towards the girls, he also gets head patted by Crow which many fans explain why he's obsessed with him.[[/note]]
** Somebody stop this serial head-patter! [[note]]Rean, especially in the second game, pats the heads of almost every female character in either optional or mandatory events, and almost every girl he pats the head of is noted to or seems to have feelings for him, leading many to jokingly accuse him of the above as if he was taking their virginity.[[/note]]

* "That won't be necessary." [[note]]The third game makes a RunningGag of other characters stopping Rean from summoning Valimar or using Spirit Unification with this phrase. See InterruptingMeme. Notably, [[https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1g4411S79M even Japan and China]] caught on to the meme before the game got released in the West.[[/note]]

* [[SarcasmMode "It's gonna be alright!"]][[note]][[spoiler: A lyric from ''Cold Steel III'''s end credits theme, which became quite quotable among fans, due to being the only English line in the song, and because [[DownerEnding it couldn't be any further from the truth.]]]][[/note]]
* Machias and Elliot are the Gunlord and Crimson Virtuoso Enforcers of Ouroboros while Karl Regnitz is the most powerful Anguis.[[note]]The meme comes from the pre-release months of ''Cold Steel IV'' by Machias and Elliot fans who felt sorry that their characters and arcs are DemotedToExtra and felt they should have been elevated a bit more. Needless to say, the meme did die when ''Cold Steel IV'' came out but some fans do look back on it fondly.[[/note]]
* Musse wants you to join her and her Weissland Army![[note]]During the pre-release of ''Cold Steel IV'', [[Website/FourChan /fg/ users]] have posted that they wanted to join the Weissland Army after pre-release screenshots depict [[spoiler:Musse as Osborne's equal in politics with Osborne declaring that Musse's a more WorthyOpponent than Olivert was.]] Needless to say, this meme did die in ''Cold Steel IV'' when [[spoiler:Juna says one friendship speech about Musse needing to help them find their instructor Rean and Musse immediately joins them.]][[/note]]

* [[spoiler:Lianne's]] a cuck.[[note]]In ''Cold Steel IV'', [[spoiler:Lianne loved Dreichels but couldn't be with him. She then saw his {{Reincarnation}} in Osborne except he also married Kasia and had a son with Rean. Then Osborne's life went downhill and made a DealWithTheDevil with Ishmelga while Lianne wasn't looking. Finally, Rean gives her a chance to come with them to life except Rufus back stabs her at the worst moment.[[/note]]]]
* Ayy Lmaos[[note]]In ''Cold Steel IV'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:[=McBurn=] and Ishmelga are not from Zemuria but from a different world.]] The alien jokes wrote itself.[[/note]]
* Laura will make you get in the cave. [[note]]Laura's first bonding event in ''Cold Steel IV'' has her [[spoiler:lifting Rean up with one hand, pinning him against the wall, and kissing him passionately.]] This one stuck out with fans as the rest of the girls' bonding events are tame by comparison (barring Musse's 2nd event but it didn't stick out as much, mainly for the {{Squick}} factor of [[spoiler:Musse kissing her teacher while he was off-guard]]).[[/note]]
* Flirting with Altina! [[note]]An excerpt from an edgy snuff fic. It was spammed at such a high frequency that it quickly turned into a meme. Variations are now common (ie: Flirting with Shirley!, Studying with Rean!, etc) though they're far less squicky and generally more humorous than the original.[[/note]]
* [[https://i.imgur.com/pKOg9Ls.png Estelle unintentionally dabbing]] has become one during the release of the game.[[note]]It comes from when [[spoiler:the group is putting a show in order to distract security while Rean and his group sneak in to Orchis Tower and disable the beam surrounding the barrier.]][[/note]]
* Rean's Family [[note]]Thanks to promotional material often featuring Rean together with Alisa and Altina, some end up referring to the trio as a family. With ''Cold Steel IV'', one can add Crow to that mix as well.[[/note]]

* "Chicken clucking"[[note]]Refers to "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpkBHTOn0ms Flash your Fighting Spirit]]" because a few people think that the first part sounds like chicken clucking.[[/note]]
* Cube[[note]]Fans noted that there seems to be a lot of cube-based bosses.[[/note]]
* "Crossbell is getting invaded again."[[note]]Before the release of the game, many players thought that SSS would have to fight against Rufus and his army to obtain their freedom and then it would be a brand new story afterwards while Rufus will keep his promise with his fellow Ironbloods by taking the fall (as depicted by ''Cold Steel IV's'' events). When the game was released, it turns out that Crossbell was about to declare its independence when it turns out that it would get invaded once again by Rufus and a rogue detachment of the Erebonian army. Compounding the issue even further is that [[spoiler:the real Rufus is actually in jail and is already in the middle of his sentence when someone tries killing him. Then Rufus breaks out, dons the "C" mask and find out what exactly is going on.]][[/note]]
* C's from the Middle East.[[note]]This is based off on the hakama DLC costume for C where, due to his red hoodie, he ends up looking like someone who hails from the Middle East. Even more hilarious is that [[spoiler:Rufus is at Calvard in the next story arc because he's a PersonaNonGrata in Erebonia and Crossbell and that one of Calvard's issues is the desertification of the east.]][[/note]]
* The Albarea line is finished.[[note]]A joke fans have due to Jusis and Millium having a huge ShipTease in conjunction with [[spoiler:Rufus and Lapis' growing friendship]] in the game.[[/note]]

* Shizuna is [[RuleSixtyThree Reana/Female Rean]][[note]]Due to her status as a female Divine Blade, many fans perceived Shizuna as the closest thing that they're going get to a genderbent version of Rean. Her "Ransetsu" Craft looking like an icy version of Rean's "Helix" only further drove the point home.[[/note]]
* Shizuna is [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening now motivated.]][[note]]Fans noticed that Shizuna has a few moves that look similar to Vergil's, most notably his "Judgement Cut".[[/note]]
* Van knows everyone.[[note]]Due to the amount of people he's worked with, Van ends up knowing people especially from past games, but fans exaggerate it to where he knows everyone ''who's been in a Falcom game'' even when they're not even in the same franchise.[[/note]]

* "X female character is the Grandmaster!"[[note]]The reveal in ''The 3rd'' is that the Grandmaster of Ouroboros has a female voice which leads people to believe that any female character could actually be the Grandmaster.[[/note]]

* Barring [[RunningGag Kevin being the odd one out]], fans have noticed that every ''Trails'' protagonist will always have a little girl being a big motivator for them. Estelle with Renne in the ''Sky'' arc, Lloyd with [=KeA=] in the ''Zero'' arc, Rean with Altina in the ''Cold Steel'' arc, newcomer "C" with Lapis in ''Reverie'', and Van with Yume in ''Kuro''.

* Van knows everyone.[[note]]Due to the amount of people he's worked with, Van ends up knowing people especially from past games, but fans exaggerate it to where he knows everyone ''who's been in a Falcom game'' even when they're not even in the same franchise.[[/note]]
[[/note]]

%%* Market Manager Otto[[note]]A ''very'' minor NPC in the game who appears in the first chapter of ''Cold Steel I'' and ''II'' who ends up dying during the CivilWar in ''Cold Steel II'', and yet all the major characters that the players care about act like he's one of the most important people in the series. It’s mainly used to mock how the game plays up Otto dying as some huge tragedy when all of Celdic got burned to the ground, yet he was the ''only'' person to die, which is actually something only present in the English localization as in the Japanese version it's stated that multiple civilians died in the razing.[[/note]]

%%* Singa music[[note]]An extremely derogatory meme referring to quite a number of tracks composed and arranged by Mitsuo Singa that several fans find quite bad to extremely bad. It started picking up during ''Cold Steel IV'' but ''Reverie'' took it to a whole new level.[[/note]]

%%* Two seconds.[[note]]Lloyd's NeverLiveItDown moment where he gets curb stomped in one hit at the end of Chapter 1 has him powering up and assaulting Rufus, only to get downed in exactly two seconds.[[/note]]

%%* Another Dead End.[[note]]Due to the TimeTravel granted by the Genesis and the numerous amounts of ways the characters die due to random circumstances, this has become the calling card of ''Kuro II''.[[/note]]

* Market Manager Otto[[note]]A ''very'' minor NPC in the game who appears in the first chapter of ''Cold Steel I'' and ''II'' who ends up dying during the CivilWar in ''Cold Steel II'', and yet all the major characters that the players care about act like he's one of the most important people in the series. It’s mainly used to mock how the game plays up Otto dying as some huge tragedy when all of Celdic got burned to the ground, yet he was the ''only'' person to die, which is actually something only present in the English localization as in the Japanese version it's stated that multiple civilians died in the razing.[[/note]]

* Singa music[[note]]An extremely derogatory meme referring to quite a number of tracks composed and arranged by Mitsuo Singa that several fans find quite bad to extremely bad. It started picking up during ''Cold Steel IV'' but ''Reverie'' took it to a whole new level.[[/note]]

* Two seconds.[[note]]Lloyd's NeverLiveItDown moment where he gets curb stomped in one hit at the end of Chapter 1 has him powering up and assaulting Rufus, only to get downed in exactly two seconds.[[/note]]

* Another Dead End.[[note]]Due to the TimeTravel granted by the Genesis and the numerous amounts of ways the characters die due to random circumstances, this has become the calling card of ''Kuro II''.[[/note]]

* Market Manager Otto[[note]]A ''very'' minor NPC in the game who appears in the first chapter of ''Cold Steel I'' and ''II'' who ends up dying during the CivilWar in ''Cold Steel II'', and yet all the major characters that the players care about act like he's one of the most important people in the series. It’s mainly used to mock how the game plays up Otto dying as some huge tragedy when all of Celdic got burned to the ground, yet he was the ''only'' person to die.[[/note]]

** Barring [[RunningGag Kevin being the odd one out]], fans have noticed that every ''Trails'' protagonist will always have a little girl being a big motivator for them. Estelle with Renne in the ''Sky'' arc, Lloyd with [=KeA=] in the ''Zero'' arc, Rean with Altina in the ''Cold Steel'' arc, newcomer "C" with Lapis in ''Reverie'', and Van with Yume in ''Kuro''.

* Van knows everyone.[[note]]Due to the amount of people he's worked with, Van ends up knowing people especially from past games, but fans exaggerate it to where he knows everyone ''who's been in a Falcom game'' even when they're not even in the same franchise.[[/note]]

* C's from the Middle East.[[note]]This is based off on the hakama DLC costume for C where, due to his red hoddie, he ends up looking like someone who hails from the Middle East. Even more hilarious is that [[spoiler:Rufus is at Calvard in the next story arc because he's a PersonaNonGrata in Erebonia and Crossbell and that one of Calvard's issues is the desertification of the east.]][[/note]]

* A portion of the fanbase also loves to make a lot of salt-related puns towards [[BigBad Weissmann]]. [[labelnote:Explanation (Spoilers!)]] In reference to getting impaled and turned to salt at the hands of Kevin in the end-game.[[/labelnote]]

* Singa music[[note]]An extremely derogatory meme referring to quite a number of tracks composed and arranged by Mitsuo Singa that a few fans find quite bad to extremely bad. It started picking up during ''Cold Steel IV'' but ''Reverie'' took it to a whole new level.[[/note]]

* Market Manager Otto[[note]]A ''very'' minor NPC in the game who appears in the first chapter of ''Cold Steel I'' and ''II'' who ends up dying during the CivilWar in ''Cold Steel II'', and yet all the major characters that the players care about act like he's one of the most important people in the series. It’s mainly used to mock how the game plays up Otto dying as some huge tragedy when all of Celdic got burned to the ground and he was the ''only'' person to die.[[/note]]

* Market Manager Otto[[note]]A ''very'' minor NPC in the game who appears in the first chapter of ''Cold Steel I'' and ''II'' who ends up dying during the CivilWar in ''Cold Steel II'', and yet all the major characters that the players care about claim that he's one of the most important people in the series. While many players are shocked at what happened to Celdic, they do also mock at how the game plays Otto as this really big character when he's just a minor forgettable NPC that the characters do talk to.[[/note]]

* The ArcWords "Get over the barrier" have been repeated by the English fanbase in regards to the difficulties in translating the games. Fortunately, a FanTranslation of ''Zero'' is on its way to completion with ''Azure'' soon to follow, which it did in 2018. Even the term "The Crossbell Problem" which describes the situation the titular state is in at the start of ''Zero'' is now used as an analogy for the translation issue.

** Market Manager Otto[[note]]A ''very'' minor NPC in the game who appears in the first chapter of ''Cold Steel I'' and ''II'' who ends up dying during the CivilWar in ''Cold Steel II'', and yet all the major characters that the players care about claim that he's one of the most important people in the series. While many players are shocked at what happened to Celdic, they do also mock at how the game plays Otto as this really big character when he's just a minor forgettable NPC that the characters do talk to.[[/note]]

With a LongRunner like the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'', memes were bound to happen at some point.