Around 2008, a stock photo of a passionate Komodo dragon hit the internet. More than a decade later, the lizard has become the new face of Twitch’s PogChamp emote. Here is the story of KomodoHype.
The Komodo dragon is a unique lizard species native to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores and Gili Motang. The lizards are grown to a maximum length of 10 feet and £ 150 and are absolute animals that prey on everything from unsuspecting birds to … horses.
Although it is widely speculated that the Komodo dragon possesses poisonous saliva that can produce larger mammals, this is disputed. What can not be disputed, however, is that a seemingly smiling Komodo, known as KomodoHype, was officially infected and spread by Twitch.
Only a month of experimentation after the platform removed the original PogChamp emote, KomodoHype was crowned as the permanent successor. Based on a photo from around 2008, the chopped lizard emote has emerged and is now here to stay.
The Origins of KomodoHype
THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED pic.twitter.com/UveQ3mXr0L
– slweeb @ (@slweeb) 7 January 2021
According to KnowYourMeme, the original Komodo dragon stock photo was shared on the Daqi website around 2008. During the years that followed, the possibly smiling, possibly surprised, undoubtedly hype lizard was phototonized and edited like DeviantArt and Reddit.
A decade later, in 2018, KomodoHype – a clipped, face-to-face emote from the original stock image – began circulating on Twitch. Although it did not gain enough traction to become widely known, it changed in January 2021 when the PogChamp Removal opened a vacuum for a non-problematic emote with similar energy. Soon, KomodoHype grew a cult following as streamer communities (like xQcs) promoted the charismatic reptile.
After weeks of daily changes to the PogChamp emote based on community submissions, Twitch finally did A PogChampening contest to decide the winner. On February 12, KomodoHype is reduced to a true lizard king and Pog champion.
As the prophecy predicted, KomodoHype is @Twitchis new #PogChamp 🦎 pic.twitter.com/aa2jOPXwaW
– DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) 12 February 2021
What became of the original PogChamp?
As for the original PogChamp emote, based on Ryan ‘Gootecks’ Gutierrez, it was removed from Twitch in January 2021 following Gutierrez’s comments about the storms of the American Capitol.
When he decided that the original emote had encouraged ‘further violence’ due to some tweets about the day’s events, Twitch completely removed his face from the platform.
Now, finally, Gutierrez has a successor. And with lizards not needing the opposite thumb for Twitter, it seems KomodoHype is destined for lifelong rule as Twitch’s new PogChamp.