Today, September 26, is the awkwardly titled “The Last Of Us Day.” As part of this annual international day of celebration, developer Naughty Dog has released 10 new animated gifs featuring characters from the game, like Joel and Ellie.
In the universe of The Last Of Us, September 26 is the day when the in-game virus reached a critical mass. What a fun anniversary to celebrate! The Last Of Us Day started back in 2013, and was originally titled Outbreak Day, which is definitely a better, less clunky name. However, this annual celebration of all things Last of Us had to change its name in 2020 due to the real-world, ongoing, and deadly covid-19 pandemic. And today, in honor of the celebration, Naughty Dog has released 10 new animated gifs featuring characters from the series, inspired by popular online memes. It’s time to get yourself in the The Last Of Us Day day spirit.
Did you ever want to see Joel recreate the famous Robert Redford smiling gif? Well, here you go!
Perhaps you’ve long wanted a Last of Us-themed gif based on the internet classic “Dramatic Hamster?” Good news, your oddly specific dream has been fulfilled.
According to Naughty Dog, with every game release its animators pick some of their favorite memes and recreate them using characters and assets from their own games. Earlier this month, the team released some gifs in honor of The Last Of Us: Part 1‘s launch. But the team had even more gifs to share and that’s it what’s been released today on Giphy. Such joy.
“The opportunity to laugh, pay homage to some of our favorite TV shows and movies, and collaborate with artists of different disciplines to make these GIFs has truly been a delight,” explained Naughty Dog. “Thank you to everyone who contributed your talent and sense of humor to create these! Our feeds will never be the same again.”
You can find more of Naughty Dog’s meme recreations here on its official Giphy page. For those who like this kind of thing, there’s a treasure trove of content to be found. For others, like me, who find all this stuff terrible and off-putting, well, why are you even reading this…
Also, as part of today’s celebrations, Naughty Dog and HBO released a new trailer for the upcoming live-action show based on the first game. It’s set to release sometime next year.
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