Morshu

About

Morshu is a minor character in the 1993 video game Link: The Faces of Evil who owns a general store in Goronu area. In the late 2000s, Morshu's cutscenes gained significant popularity in YouTube Poops along with other scenes from the Zelda CD-i games, particularly due to his dialogue line "Sorry, Link, I can't give credit! Come back when you're a little – mmmm – richer." In early 2020, GIFs of the character regained popularity in ironic memes. The meme is closely associated with Thanos Beatbox.

Origin

On October 10th, 1993, video game "Link: The Faces of Evil" for Philips CD-i, developed by Animation Magic, was released.^[1][2] In the Gonoru area of the game, the player encounters shopkeeper Morshu, from whom they can buy bombs, rope and lamp oil with rupees (cutscenes shown below).

Lamp oil, rope, bombs – you want it? It's yours, my friend, as long as you have enough rupees.
Sorry, Link, I can't give credit! Come back whey you're a little – mmmm – richer.

Starting in mid-2008, the cutscenes of Morshu gained popularity in YouTube Poops based on "Zelda CD-i" games. On July 21st, 2008, YouTuber^[3] Xaragon64DS posted one of the earliest known YouTube poops based on the Morshu's cutscenes, gaining over 71,800 views in twelve years (shown below).

Spread

In the following years, Morshu's cutscenes maintained a significant presence in YouTube Poops, with the "mmmm" soundbite gaining particular popularity. For example, an August 18th, 2008, YouTube Poop by YouTuber^[4] WLB91 received over 228,400 views in twelve years (shown below, left). A September 14th, 2008, poop by YouTuber^[5] CPT received over 431,600 views in the same period (shown below, right).

In many edits, Morshu's "mmmm" soundbite was used to recreate various popular musical compositions (examples shown below).

Following the decline in popularity of the YouTube Poop genre, the character maintained a limited presence online, particularly on YouTube. For example, a May 4th, 2017, Source Filmmaker video by YouTuber^[6] KronkyDonk received over 76,500 views in three years (shown below).

Starting in early 2015, a GIF based on one of Morshu's cutscenes gained popularity has been used in GIF captions on iFunny.^[7][8]

2020 Resurgence

On October 31st, 2019, Twitter^[12] user @5dollarlongfoot posted used the GIF of Morshu in a joke about Hazbin Hotel which received over 1,300 retweets and 4,900 likes in four months (shown below).

This is how hazbin Hotel characters move pic.twitter.com/CqWVZOnS5w

— 👻 (@5dollarlongfoot) October 31, 2019

On January 7th, 2020, YouTube^[14] user AnonyMorshu posted a Kek or Cringe meme based on Morshu's cutscenes and several other cutscenes from the game (shown below). The video accumulated over 1,800 views in two months. On January 8th, 2020, iFunny^[9] user Morshu reposted the edit, with the video receiving over 4,800 smiles on the platform in two months.

On February 15th, Twitter^[13] user @CherryGuts posted an Ugly Bastard meme based on the GIF which received over 1,200 retweets and 5,100 likes (shown below).

the ugly bastard trying to convince the female lead to fuck him pic.twitter.com/Dm4kdQWqiq

— ワニノコ🌸 ♡ 💫 (@CherryGuts) February 15, 2020

On February 24th, 2020, iFunny^[10] user Drift posted a Thanos Beatbox meme based on Morshu's GIF which received over 1,900 smiles in two days (shown below). A similar edit was posted by iFunny^[11] user Necrophilia on February 25th.

Following the iFunny posts, starting on February 25th, 2020, GIFs of Morshu saw a surge in popularity in the /r/okbuddyretard subreddit. For example, on February 25th. 2020, Redditor^[12] wizardstone66 posted a GIF Caption meme which received over 22,600 in /r/okbuddyretard prior to being removed.

RTX Morshu

On January 22nd, 2021, animator Hoolopee posted a 3D animated recreation of the Morshu shop cutscenes, titled, "MORSHU – RTX ON" to YouTube,^[15] garnering over 1.8 million views in 6 days (shown below, left). He also made a post announcing RTX Morshu on Twitter^[21] garnering over 500,000 views, 55,000 likes, and 13,000 retweets in the same span of time.

Hoolopee uploaded a video^[16] comparing his Morshu video to the original the next day (shown below, right).

The RTX Morshu video received high praise for its detail and accuracy, inspiring a new wave of Morshu edits using Hoolopee's video as the source. On the day the video was uploaded, Buddy Duck uploaded a Thanos Beatbox edit to YouTube,^[17] garnering over 500,000 views in just under a week (shown below, left).

On January 23rd, camo uploaded a video to YouTube^[18] that alternates between the original Morshu and the RTX morshu in perfect sync, garnering over 700,000 views in 5 days (shown below, right).

On January 25th, GameRant^[16] published an article about RTX Morshu. On the same day,
ScanTheMan uploaded a video edit of RTX Morshu as a Telltale game to YouTube,^[20] garnering over 850,000 views in 3 days (shown below).

On January 26th, u/CptGoingViral uploaded a Plants Vs. Zombies themed RTX Morshu video to /r/plantsvszombies,^[19] garnering over 890 upvotes in two days.

Related Memes

Thanos Beatbox

Morshu received close association with Thanos Beatbox due to the viral spread of the video combining the two memes originally posted by iFunny user Drift on February 24th, 2020.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References