"For the majority of Helldivers 2 fans, that's the start and end of the story. However, if you scroll through the comments for the War Horse trailer on X, you'll immediately notice that 90 percent of the 860+ replies feature the same picture: a recreation of the "Tank Man" image, an iconic photograph taken during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, using Helldivers 2 assets."
"From what I can tell, the first instance of this image appearing online was on the r/Helldivers subreddit, in a post titled "Liberty Square Massacre" on February 3. This date lines up with the release of the Helldivers 2 patch Into the Unjust: 6.0.1, which introduced the TD-220 Bastion Mk XVI tank stratagem."
"The post in question has been locked and all of its comments have been deleted, with the official Helldivers-ModTeam account citing Rule 1 as the reason. Rule 1 on the r/Helldivers subreddit states "No insults, racism, toxicity, trolling, rage-bait, harassment, inappropriate language, NSFW content, etc. Remember the human and be civil!""
Arrowhead Games announced the War Horse armor set for Helldivers 2 on February 17 with a Mandarin-language trailer referencing Lunar New Year. The announcement sparked widespread commentary on X, where approximately 90 percent of replies featured a recreation of the iconic Tank Man photograph from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, created using Helldivers 2 assets. The meme originated on the r/Helldivers subreddit on February 3, coinciding with a tank stratagem patch release. The original post was locked and deleted by moderators citing community conduct rules. The coordinated image spam represents a complex response involving the game's significant Chinese playerbase and broader geopolitical sensitivities.
Read at Kotaku
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