# All Your Base Are Belong To Us? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233 "2003-11-20T01:58:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/1 "2003-11-20T01:58:59Z")
What is the origin of this phrase? The first time I heard about it was three years ago in a PC games magazine, but it was just referred to as the flame of the week. Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/2 "2003-11-20T02:09:39Z")
It appeared originally in a Sega Genesis game called _Zero Wing_ in 1991. At the time, Japanese-produced animé and other cultural imports were starting to gain a foothold (the big-league animated film _Akira_ had come out just a few years earlier). The phrase appears in the opening animations, and is just one of a big pile of comical mistranslations. For an amusing shockwave animation on the subject, including footage from the original game, go [here](http://rmitz.org/AYB3.swf). ---
**Author:** ![CaptBushido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@CaptBushido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptBushido)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/3 "2003-11-20T02:17:06Z")
It should be noted, that the animation (not the game) is the reason this phrase came to be the biggest “in-joke” in the history of the internet. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/4 "2003-11-20T02:23:27Z")
ROFLMAO! Hehe, thanx Bryan. I was wondering about “somebody set up us the bomb” too. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/5 "2003-11-20T02:58:15Z")
for great justice ---
**Author:** ![Wheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4da419/32.png) [@Wheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheel)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/6 "2003-11-20T03:57:23Z")
[Planet Tribe](http://www.planettribes.com/allyourbase/index.shtml), the official “All Your Base” site. This site has both video versions and info about the whole All your Base happening. ---
**Author:** ![Brad\_Pittiful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Brad\_Pittiful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brad_Pittiful)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/7 "2003-11-20T04:42:09Z")
ive been saying a related all your base things recently…like one of my friends said…i have no cash this week…i then said…_all your cash are belong to us_…he was like…wth you talking about ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/8 "2003-11-20T07:12:29Z")
Whoa… I found myself amused by the video for the first time since… well, since about a week after it first appeared. Maybe it has faded enough from the internet consciousness that it can be genuinely funny, rather than the most over-quoted geekery since _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_, again. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/9 "2003-11-20T07:37:06Z")
Creepy, I was just thinking about this today. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/10 "2003-11-20T15:39:19Z")
I blame myself for this, since I used it in some Truman thread. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/11 "2003-11-20T16:49:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GMRyujin \* > \*\*I blame myself for this, since I used it in some Truman thread. \*\* Heck, unless it was more than 18 months ago, I beat you with [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=2019835#post2019835) reference. ---
**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/12 "2003-11-20T20:51:05Z")
There was another one too, I can’t remember it, something about becoming death. Maybe I’m remembering something wrong ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/13 "2003-11-20T21:30:05Z")
“I am become death, the destroyer of worlds” ? It’s from Hindu scripture, a warning from the god Vishnu. Possibly the Hindu language make no distinction between “I am” and “I have”. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/14 "2003-11-20T21:31:07Z")
Some one set us up the 1920’s style “Death Ray!” ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/15 "2003-11-20T21:33:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DreadCthulhu \* > \*\*Some one set us up the 1920’s style “Death Ray!” \*\* You have no chance to burning your dog, make your time. ---
**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/16 "2003-11-21T00:31:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*“I am become death, the destroyer of worlds” ? > > It’s from Hindu scripture, a warning from the god Vishnu. Possibly the Hindu language make no distinction between “I am” and “I have”. \*\* Yea that its. Thanks. I thought there was some connection between that and _All your base_. ---
**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/17 "2003-11-21T02:41:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CaptBushido \* > \*\*It should be noted, that the animation (not the game) is the reason this phrase came to be the biggest “in-joke” in the history of the internet. \*\* I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/18 "2003-11-21T03:30:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*“I am become death, the destroyer of worlds” ? > > It’s from Hindu scripture, a warning from the god Vishnu. Possibly the Hindu language make no distinction between “I am” and “I have”. \*\* Shiva is the destroyer, not Vishnu. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/19 "2003-11-21T04:34:29Z")
I thought the “All Your Base” phrase was on a protest sign in the Phillipines to get the US military bases out. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233/20 "2003-11-21T22:45:56Z")
And I think that “I am become death, destroyer of worlds” was also uttered by Susan Ivanova at some point in Babylon V. Which may be a more relevant reference for nerds. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-your-base-are-belong-to-us/214233.md?page=2)