Leeroy Jenkins

Origin

The original video, titled Leeroy!!, was released by the World of Warcraft player guild "Pals for Life" to video-sharing site Warcraftmovies on May 11, 2005. The video features a group of players discussing a detailed battle plan for their next encounter while Leeroy is away from his computer, preparing a plate of chicken. This plan is intended to help Leeroy obtain a piece of armor from the boss monsters, but is ruined when Leeroy himself returns and, ignorant of the strategy, utters "Let's do this!" then immediately rushes headlong into battle shouting his own name in a stylized battle cry. As he runs in, one of the companions says "oh my God, he just ran in." After his companions sit silent for a moment in disbelief, they try to save him, but the chaotic nature of the fight leads into everyone being killed by the boss monsters. The guild chastises Leeroy for rushing into the fight without any planning, to which he retorts, "At least I have chicken!"

The Internet meme started with the release of the video clip called A Rough Go to the World of Warcraft game forum in a thread titled "UBRS (vid) Rookery Overpowered! blue plz.", which presented the video in a serious context. The thread requested that other players provide help with strategy and that Blizzard reduce the difficulty of the encounter. The video spread as an Internet meme, and Leeroy's response to the other players' chastisements, "At least I have chicken!", was also much mimicked.

When asked in April 2008 about his actions in the video by National Public Radio, Ben Schulz said the players "were drinking 40s and just yelling at each other." As time went on, some began suggesting that the video may have been staged, which Schulz refused to confirm or deny. Vinson stated, "We didn't think anyone would believe it was real, we thought it was so obviously satire."

Legacy

Leeroy Jenkins was included as a card within the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game released on October 25, 2006, with art by Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade fame. A "Leeroy Jenkins" Legendary card was later released in Blizzard's online card game Hearthstone, as part of the game's base ("Classic") set, using the same art as that of the WoW Trading Card Game. Upper Deck Entertainment released a World of Warcraft Miniatures game in fall 2008, which included a Leeroy Jenkins figurine.

The May 2005 issue of PC Gamer UK featured an article on the video, titled "The Ballad of Leeroy Jenkins". The article took the position that the video was designed as a negative commentary on the kind of "nerd-guilds" whose members fastidiously plan raids with all the seriousness of actual military tacticians. They added that they felt Leeroy is the hero acting against the geekiness of his guild. In a 2009 article in the Armed Forces Journal titled "Let's Do This!: Leeroy Jenkins and the American Way of Advising," Capt. Robert M Chamberlain links Jenkins to the American approach to advising the indigenous armed forces in Iraq. IGN placed Jenkins 10th on their 2017 list of best Blizzard characters, noting that he represents the crossing of a line which typically separates a game's content and its community.

In 2008, Blizzard added an achievement to World of Warcraft called "Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy!", which awards the title of "Jenkins" to players who kill 50 of the rookery whelps from the video within 15 seconds. Blizzard also added a "Leeroy Jenkins" card to their popular online card game Hearthstone. In March 2022, Leeroy Jenkins debuted as a playable mercenary character in Hearthstone's Mercenaries game mode.

Jenkins has also been referenced in popular culture outside World of Warcraft, including a question on Jeopardy!, mentions on television programs such as How I Met Your Mother and Barry, in a World of Warcraft–based Toyota Tacoma truck advertisement, deleted scenes from 2009 movies Year One and Monsters Vs. Aliens and appearances in video games not developed or published by Blizzard, such as Mass Effect. Part of the Family Guy episode "Veteran Guy" is based on Leeroy!! video. On March 12, 2012, Jon Stewart's The Daily Show used Leeroy Jenkins in a clip when talking about the Republican Convention. In 2019, political commentator Ben Shapiro compared US president Donald Trump to Leeroy Jenkins in episode 817 of The Ben Shapiro Show titled President Leeroy Jenkins. During the prolonged vote for the Speaker of the House of the 118th United States Congress in January 2023, Representative Jared Huffman evoked the meme when voting for candidate Hakeem Jeffries.

References

References

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2. (May 11, 2005). "Leeroy!!".
3. Joel Warner. (March 8, 2007). "The Legend of Leeroy Jenkins".
4. Abduhl. (May 10, 2005). "WoW BlueTracker: UBRS (vid) Rookery Overpowered! blue please.".
5. (April 28, 2008). "My ROFLCon Weekend: Breakfast with Tron Guy". [[National Public Radio]].
6. Anf Pal. (December 22, 2017). "Leeroy Jenkins First Take/Dry Run (NEW)".
7. Schreier, Jason. (December 25, 2017). "The Makers Of 'Leeroy Jenkins' Didn't Think Anyone Would Believe It Was Real". Kotaku.
8. Ziebart, Alex. (June 28, 2011). "WoW Archivist: The legacy of Leeroy Jenkins". [[Engadget]].
9. Marshall, Cass. (March 25, 2021). "Hearthstone's 2014-era Classic mode is now live". [[Polygon (website).
10. Mejia, Ozzie. (March 17, 2020). "Hearthstone sends Leeroy to Hall of Fame, reworks Priest class". [[Shacknews]].
11. Deschamps, Marc. (May 11, 2020). "World of Warcraft's Leeroy Jenkins Video Celebrates 15th Anniversary". ViacomCBS.
12. Miller, Amanda. (February 8, 2008). "A closer look at the WoW miniatures". [[Engadget]].
13. Pearson, Craig. (August 2005). "The Ballad of Leeroy Jenkins". [[PC Gamer UK]].
14. Chamberlain, Robert. (June 19, 2009). "Let's Do This! Leeroy Jenkins and the American way of advising".
15. (November 3, 2017). "Top 25 Best Blizzard Characters". [[IGN]].
16. Miller, Amanda. (October 14, 2008). "Five easy achievements you can snag right now". WoWInsider.
17. Clark, Tim. (November 12, 2014). "Time's up for Leeroy Jenkins as Blizzard finally nerf him and Starving Buzzard".
18. (March 17, 2022). "22.6 Patch Notes".
19. Beale, Scott. (October 10, 2007). "World of Warcraft Toyota Tacoma Commercial".
20. (October 29, 2009). "Leeroy Jenkins Hits DVD With Year One and Monsters vs. Aliens".
21. Rea, Jasmine Maleficent. (October 27, 2009). "Year One Deleted Scene: Leeroy Jenkins".
22. (November 16, 2005). "Jeopary! round: Computer gaming category – 1000$". J! Archive.
23. Ziebart, Alex. (June 28, 2011). "WoW Archivist: The legacy of Leeroy Jenkins". Engadget.
24. Bramesco, Charles. (April 22, 2018). "Barry Recap: Shakespeare's Whiff".
25. (April 2018). "Family Guy - Leeroy Jenkins WOW Parody - 1080p".
26. Gray, Michael. (March 8, 2012). "Leeroy Jenkins appears on The Daily Show".
27. (July 19, 2019). "President Leeroy Jenkins". [[YouTube]].
28. Lee, Jonathan. (January 4, 2023). "House member cites Leeroy Jenkins meme during speaker vote". [[The Washington Post]].