Blam (meme): Difference between revisions

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==In Bungie lore==
==In Bungie lore==
The [[wikt:onomatopoeia|onomatopoeia]] "blam!" is traditionally credited to Robert ("Robt") McLees and dated to 1995; for instance, bungie.org's [http://marathon.bungie.org/story/blam.html page on Blam] says:
The [[wikt:onomatopoeia|onomatopoeia]] "blam!" is traditionally credited to Robert ("Robt") McLees and dated to 1995; for instance, bungie.org's [http://marathon.bungie.org/story/blam.html page on Blam] says:
Introduced by Rob McLees (Art Director) blam is commonly used by Bungie folks as "an exclamation upon decisively killing someone in a netgame".
{{quote|Introduced by Rob McLees (Art Director) blam is commonly used by Bungie folks as "an exclamation upon decisively killing someone in a netgame".}}
 
However, as that page later notes (search "Jan 31"), an earlier use of "Blam!" in the same context can be found in the read-me for Bungie's 1992 game, Minotaur: Labyrinths of Crete, predating McLees by three years.
However, as that page later notes (search "Jan 31"), an earlier use of "Blam!" in the same context can be found in the read-me for Bungie's 1992 game, Minotaur: Labyrinths of Crete, predating McLees by three years.



Revision as of 08:47, 5 January 2022

"Blam!" is a recurring phrase in Bungie lore with violent or otherwise impactful connotations. The Oni community mainly uses "blam" to designate a crash of the Oni app, as discussed HERE, because of the dialog that pops up on such occasions (Windows builds only).

In Bungie lore

The onomatopoeia "blam!" is traditionally credited to Robert ("Robt") McLees and dated to 1995; for instance, bungie.org's page on Blam says:

Introduced by Rob McLees (Art Director) blam is commonly used by Bungie folks as "an exclamation upon decisively killing someone in a netgame".

However, as that page later notes (search "Jan 31"), an earlier use of "Blam!" in the same context can be found in the read-me for Bungie's 1992 game, Minotaur: Labyrinths of Crete, predating McLees by three years.

At Bungie West, "Blam!" was used to punctuate the silence after staff members would hear squealing tires outside the office, but no subsequent sound of a car crash (apparently this was a frequent occurrence).

Occurrences are found throughout the Myth series: the most prominent in-game occurrence is probably in Myth II's Stair of Grief, shouted by grenade-happy dwarves.

Later on, "Blam!" became a codename for Halo, with Bungie going as far as to register the blam.net, blam.org and blam.com domains. See the Blam page linked above for an overview of "Blam sightings" and community speculation from that era.

In Oni

Blam!.png

Apart from the fatal error dialog (right), the single most remarkable occurrence of "Blam" in Oni is when Konoko, having disrupted Muro's plan, feels compelled to type "blam! love, little sister" at the final Sturmanderung console. While in line with the violent satisfaction of Myth dwarves or Bungie LAN sessions, it's a bit discordant with the tone of the game's ending, considering that Konoko thwarted ("pwned") Muro at the cost of countless innocent lives.

On a visual level, "Blam" occurs in the form of a (barely readable) badge worn by ACC engineers, possibly foreshadowing Konoko's decision to blow up the ACCs (and the engineers) later on. In early development, "British Land & Air Mobile Transport" was written acrostically on some cargo containers; possibly this was a precursor or an alternative to BGI.

A minor occurrence of "blam" occurs in kana form, ブラム (buramu), as an element of the Oni matrix. Somewhat strangely, "Blam!" is not referenced at all by Oni's Mad Bombers.

Also see