Around 2008, a photograph of a passionate Komodo dragon appeared on the Internet. More than a decade later, that lizard became the new face of Twitch’s PogChamp emote. Here is the story of KomodoHype.
The Komodo dragon is a unique species of lizard indigenous to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores and Gili Motang. Growing up to a maximum length of 10 feet and 150 pounds, lizards are absolute beasts that attack everything from unsuspecting birds to … horses.
Although it has been widely speculated that the Komodo dragon has poisonous saliva capable of knocking out larger mammals, this research is contested. What cannot be disputed, however, is that an apparently smiling Komodo, known as KomodoHype, has been officially infected and has spread throughout Twitch.
Just a month of experimentation after the platform removed the original PogChamp emote, KomodoHype was crowned the permanent successor. Based on a photo from around 2008, the cut lizard emote emerged and is now here to stay.
The origins of KomodoHype
THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED pic.twitter.com/UveQ3mXr0L
– slweeb 🪱 (@slweeb) January 7, 2021
According KnowYourMeme, the original photo of the Komodo dragon was shared on the now defunct Daqi website around 2008. In the years since, the possibly smiling, possibly surprised, undoubtedly exaggerated lizard has been photoshopped and edited on sites like DeviantArt and Reddit.
A decade later, in 2018, KomodoHype – an emote cut out and focused on the face of the original image – started circulating on Twitch. Although it did not gain enough strength to become universally known, that changed in January 2021, when the PogChamp removal opened a vacuum for a non-problematic emote with similar energy. KomodoHype quickly grew a cult following, as streamer communities (like xQc) promoting the charismatic reptile.
After weeks of daily changes to the PogChamp emote based on community submissions, Twitch finally conducted a “PogChampening” contest to decide the winner. Reducing the options to 35, KomodoHype was crowned true king of the lizards and champion Pog on February 12.
As the predicted prophecy, KomodoHype is @Muscular contractionit’s new #PogChamp 🦎 pic.twitter.com/aa2jOPXwaW
– DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) February 12, 2021
What happened to the original PogChamp?
As for the original PogChamp emote, which was based on Ryan ‘Gootecks’ Gutierrez, it was removed from Twitch in January 2021 after some comments by Gutierrez about the invasion of the United States Capitol.
Deciding that the inspiration for the original emote was “encouraging more violence” due to some tweets about the day’s events, Twitch removed his face completely from the platform.
Now, finally, Gutierrez has a successor. And, with the lizards without the opposable thumbs needed for Twitter, KomodoHype looks set to rule for life as Twitch’s new PogChamp.