About
Gaijin 4koma (Japanese: 外人四こま, “4-frame foreigners”) is a series of four-paned comics based on two photographs of IGN employees reacting to Nintendo’s announcement of new titles at the E3 conference in 2003 and 2004 respectively. The multi-pane set up is typically used to express one’s disappointment and excitement over two separate things, in similar vein to the At first I was like X, but then I was like Y snowclone.Origin
The photograph of four IGN reporters (Matt Casamassina, Craig Harris, Chadd Chamers, Peer Schneider) looking rather disinterested was originally taken during Nintendo’s conference at E3 2003 Expo[1], where Nintendo’s CEO introduced “Pacman vs.” for GameCube.
The photograph of the same men looking excited was taken one year later during Nintendo’s conference at E3 2004 Expo[2], where they announced the release of a new Zelda title.
Originally posted on IGN board[3], these two photographs were incorporated into the Yonkoma comic-strip format on Futaba Channel’s Game Hardware Board[4], where it was dubbed “Gaijin 4koma” or “4-frame foreigners” in Japanese. According to the archived threads, the comic strips became popular on 2chan as early as in June 2004.
stu's addition
this is us at the race, we rolled the truck at one point
