# All your base are belong to us. Huh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 12, 2001, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677 "2001-03-12T17:51:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GeneralRipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/2bfe46/32.png) [@GeneralRipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GeneralRipper)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2001, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/1 "2001-03-12T17:51:09Z")
In the “Foxtrot” comic strip published today (03/12/01) Jason says to his parents “All your base are belong to us.” (I looked for a link but the official Foxtrot web site is about a month behind posting the comics). I am as clueless as the parents in the strip and have no idea what that particular phrase refers to. Could someone enlighten me? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![rayniday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecc23a/32.png) [@rayniday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayniday)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2001, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/2 "2001-03-12T18:20:46Z")
Oh sweetie. I’m a newbie, and I know that there have been multiple posts on this subject. Go here [http://curtis.curtisfong.org/fobonics/bases/](http://curtis.curtisfong.org/fobonics/bases/) It’s a display of terrible translating from a game called Zero Wing. For more info on this game, I suggest you go here [http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/genesis/game/31239.html](http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/genesis/game/31239.html) (go to the only FAQ there is.) Good luck, and hope you find this enlightening. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2001, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/3 "2001-03-12T18:21:35Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=56293](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=56293) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=56320](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=56320) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=60217](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=60217) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=59818](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=59818) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=61043](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=61043) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=61664](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=61664) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=61368](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=61368) Among others. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2001, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/4 "2001-03-12T18:28:10Z")
You are witnessing one of those bizarre cultural phenomena that happen from time to time. There was a fairly unremarkable Japanese video game called “Zero Wing”. It was translated into English for US distribution - very badly. The translation included the phrase “All your base are belong to us”. This phrase has struck the collective funnybone apparently, and is being inserted into all sorts of contexts: [http://hubert.retrogames.com/history.htm](http://hubert.retrogames.com/history.htm) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2001, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/5 "2001-03-12T18:35:42Z")
:warily peeks in: Is secretly dissapointed that [Coldfire](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=61664) didn’t get to him first. ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2001, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/6 "2001-03-12T18:45:01Z")
Is it me, or is this developing into a new “-gry” phenomenon ? S. Norman ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/7 "2001-03-13T03:11:50Z")
I thought it was hilarious! Not because I am intersted in the whole thing, but because it has been a pretty hot topic around here lately. My husband thought I had really lost it when I started giggling uncontrolably. See, he doesn’t come here and has no knowledge of the whole thing either. I was wondering how many others here thought of the boards right away after reading that strip. ---
**Author:** ![GeneralRipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/2bfe46/32.png) [@GeneralRipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GeneralRipper)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/8 "2001-03-13T03:17:26Z")
Yikes! I didn’t realize it had been discussed before. I only lurk around from time to time so I don’t get to see all the threads. That comic was the first time I’ve run into that phrase. I did try a search on the board before I posted but I must not have set the date range or search correctly because I didn’t get anything back that answered the question. Back to lurking. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/9 "2001-03-13T07:22:29Z")
[This](http://hubert.retrogames.com/history.htm) is the best site I have seen yet for explaining the history of AYBABTU. There’s a rumor that the phrase will show up in next season’s ‘Family Guy’. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/10 "2001-03-13T09:58:56Z")
Alrighty, here’s that rust breadknife you ordered. You may cut at will. ---
**Author:** ![eirroc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f1d935/32.png) [@eirroc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eirroc)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/11 "2001-03-13T10:14:37Z")
Ahhhhhh!!! [sub]::eirroc runs to the window and jumps, taking coldfire with her::[/sub] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/12 "2001-03-13T12:20:35Z")
(Since the thread’s already open) So what’s the deal with the phrase: “I don’t want to be Elfstar, I want to be Debbie”? I’ve seen it cropping up on two websites already in a similar way as AYBABTU. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/13 "2001-03-13T12:27:30Z")
That’s (Presumably) a reference to Jack Chick’s anti-D&D tract Dark Dungeons. (All the links I once had to the tract are now dead…😕 'Little help?) Elfstar was Debbie’s character, and when Elfstar died, so did Debbie. (I think Elfstar/Debbie was the suicide…now that I think of it she might have been the one who ‘repented’ because of it…) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/14 "2001-03-13T15:27:50Z")
Found another “All your base” site. Its a bastardization of the phenom known as “Am I Hot or Not?”. You can find it [here](http://www.amiallyourbaseornot.com/). ---
**Author:** ![AETBOND417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@AETBOND417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AETBOND417)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/15 "2001-03-13T15:40:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Connor \* > \*\*Found another “All your base” site. Its a bastardization of the phenom known as “Am I Hot or Not?”. You can find it [here](http://www.amiallyourbaseornot.com/). \*\* **Connor** , that site is great! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/16 "2001-03-13T16:09:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tengu \* > **That’s (Presumably) a reference to Jack Chick’s anti-D&D tract Dark Dungeons. (All the links I once had to the tract are now dead…😕 'Little help?)** Check out this link: [http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046\_01.asp](http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/17 "2001-03-13T16:24:05Z")
Oh man…this isn’t _fair_! I spent years playing D&D and no one ever taught me how to cast spells to control my parents. What a gyp! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/18 "2001-03-13T17:18:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pestie \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Tengu \* > > **That’s (Presumably) a reference to Jack Chick’s anti-D&D tract Dark Dungeons. (All the links I once had to the tract are now dead…😕 'Little help?)** > > Check out this link: > > [http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046\_01.asp](http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp) > \*\* Uhm pestie, you forgot to tell us that the link was religious propaganda. Shit now I have to burn my D&D manuals, put on a skirt and thump bibles. F_ck, F_ck, F\*ck. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/19 "2001-03-13T21:46:52Z")
Mermaid that’s what Chick tracts are… all those religious propaganda. I read it (again) and it still looks as dumb as it did the first time to me. Yes some people believe that stuff but it’s just weird and makes me laugh considering I do lots of role playing online and such. _shrugs_ ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677/20 "2001-03-13T22:38:51Z")
Please. no more AYBABTU threads. Please stop. For great justice. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us-huh/57677.md?page=2)