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Countryballs continue to be popular on the Internet, with the Facebook community reaching over 215,000 members by July 2015,[2] and the subreddit r/Polandball reaching over 650,000 by 2024.
Background history
Precursors
An indirect origin of Countryballs can be traced back to drawball.com. On the website, users could freely draw on a circular canvas called a "drawball".[3][4][5] In August 2009, thousands of Polish netizens from Wykop.pl, PokazyWarka, and various other sites took over the entire drawball with an illustration of the Polish flag with the word "POLSKA" in the middle. The circular canvas constrained the flag in such a way that it became a literal "Poland ball".[6][7] The raid happened after a person on the Kibice.net forum asked for people to help them draw the Polish flag.[6]
Other users on the website attempted to sabotage the artwork by inverting the color scheme to match that of a Poké Ball, or defacing it with a large swastika.[5][6][8] Eventually, hackers attacked NK.pl and Wykop.pl on August 18. The sites withstood the attacks, but ran considerably slower for the rest of the day.[6]
British magazine The Shortlisted noted the strips were possibly inspired by the works of Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto, particularly the 1999 animated web shortEurope VS Italy, which acted as political satire on Italian and European Union cultural differences, and which also featured the characters as spherical.[9]
First Countryball strips and spread
Circa 2012 comic showing Poland being forced by the UK to clean the toilets after vandalizingWikipedia
The creator of the modern Countryballs format is often attributed to Falco, a British user of the German imageboard Krautchan.net who drew the first strips in Microsoft Paint, before posting them in September 2009 to the /int/ board. Notably, Poland was drawn with an inverted Polish flag (making it look like the flag of Indonesia or Monaco), which some have debated on whether or not was intentional, or Falco being unaware of its color pattern.[5][10][11] Unlike modern Countryball comics, the original strips were made to troll Wojak, a Polish user on the same board who often spoke in broken English.[6][10][8][12]
After the initial strips, creating Countryballs cartoons became popular among other users on the board, particularly Russians who started adding several new countries to the comics.[6][13]
Popularity
The style became widely popular as a meme and gained dedicated communities on Internet platforms such as Reddit[13][14] and Facebook.[15] One reason for the popularity of this art style is its ability to convey short stories about different cultures simply and humorously. In addition, the group's characterization also lends itself well to a shorter comic format.[10][16] Another common format for Countryballs are alternate history videos, often involving maps of the world changing to show an alternative scenario to a war or conflict.[17][18]
On July 2015, the Facebook community had over 215,000 members,[2] although the main community has been occasionally banned due to the constant usage of hate symbols including the swastika.[19][20] The r/polandball subreddit reached over 250,000 subscribers at around the same time, growing to over 650,000 by 2024.[10][21] while the Polandball Wiki had 480,159 edits before its deletion by Fandom.[10]
Themes
A 2012 comic featuring an extension of the "Poland cannot into space" [sic] catchphrase. The comic references Poland joining the European Space Agency in 2012.
The premise of Countryballs is that they represent countries and their histories, foreign relations, and stereotypes.[12][22] Mainly focusing on megalomania, history, current affairs, and national complexes.[23][7] Except for natively English speaking countries, the dialogue of Countryballs tends to be written in broken English and Internet slang, reminiscent of the lolcat meme. Countryballs often use bits of the countries' national language, incorporating them in a grammatically incorrect way.[1][3][6] The Countryball medium does not have a singular defined author, and anyone is able to make one.[6][23][5]
Poland
Poland is a central character in the meme.[5] The representation of Poland in Polandball often relies on stereotypes. This can include portraying Poles as having poor English skills, frequently blaming others for their past failures due to repeated invasions by neighboring countries, having a tendency to glorify their history, and being perceived as unintelligent and overly religious.[5]
Some Polandball comics arise from the premise that some countries like Russia can explore space while Poland cannot.[7][24] This premise was used to satirize Poland's former exclusion from the European Space Agency up until 2012.[21] One of the earliest Polandball comics begins with the premise that Earth will suffer an impact event, leading to all countries with space technology leaving Earth and settling into orbit around the planet. At the end of the cartoon, a tearful Poland, still on Earth, says the phrase "Poland cannot into space"[sic].[b][12][28]
Countryballs usually include comics with other countries. These comics are sometimes still referred to as Polandball comics.[6][12] However, they are more commonly referred to as "Countryballs".[13] States, provinces, other subdivisions, and multinational organizations (such as the European Union) may also be portrayed.[23]
Countries are mostly represented as balls,[23] although there are exceptions. Singapore takes the form of a triangle and is called Tringapore; Israel takes the form of a hypercube (in reference to Jewish physics); and Kazakhstan takes the form of a brick.[13] One common character, the Reichtangle, is rectangular. Decorated with the flag of the German Empire and bearing expressionless white dots for eyes; the Reichtangle often scares other countries (particularly Poland) by looming behind them poised to attack and saying the phrase "Guten tag".[3][29] Depending on the comic, it either represents the German military or German imperialism, although it is officially a fictitious Fourth Reich.[19]
There are various other established conventions in Countryball comics, such as the wearing of accessories and bearing of props — Canada wears a fur hat while the United Kingdom usually wears a monocle and a top hat while holding a cup of tea.[21][30] The United States wears big black sunglasses while also having a patriotic, idiotic, and prideful personality.[10][30]
Plot points may involve countries recalling their glory days or individual events of success. For example, Russia may remind themselves of their role repelling the Axis Powers' invasion of their country,[31] while the United Kingdom may reminisce about their Empire in the manner of an elder gentleman.
An online multiplayer third-person shooter called Countryballs: Modern Ballfare was released on Steam in June 2021 for Microsoft Windows.[36]CountryBalls Heroes, a strategy game, was released on Steam in November 2021 for Microsoft Windows. The game later won the 38th Fan Favorite weekly vote at the Game Development World Championship 2021.[37]
↑ Hagen, Sal (15 November 2017). "Polandball is of Reddit"(PDF). pure.hva.nl. Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Archived(PDF) from the original on 14 August 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
↑ Cegielski, Tomek (12 April 2011). "MEMY LEGENDY INTERNETU". Hiro (in Polish). Hiro.pl. Archived from the original on 15 April 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
↑ "Apple Daily" 台灣最美麗的風景是人 真的嗎？[The most beautiful scenery in Taiwan is the people. Really?] (in Chinese). Apple Daily (Taiwanese edition). 31 July 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
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![A 2012 comic featuring an extension of the "Poland cannot into space" [sic] catchphrase. The comic references Poland joining the European Space Agency in 2012. Poland can into the European Space Agency.png](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Poland_can_into_the_European_Space_Agency.png/250px-Poland_can_into_the_European_Space_Agency.png)
