Internet secara ritual membunuh maskot kartun Discord

Last week, Discord finally pulled the trigger on the global rollout of its age estimation systems, which require users to provide age verification through an ID scan or selfie if the company's estimation model can't confidently surmise that you're older than 18. While Discord estimated that 90% of users wouldn't need to prove their age, accompanying bugginess drove the company to address the emerging issues by posting on X with the air of being just a little guy.

Nobody liked that. Discord's ill-advised smol bean-posting has become a flashpoint for the internet's collective frustration over being forced to swallow what's widely perceived—with good reason—as the prelude to an inevitable exposure of private information. To vent that simmering resentment, X users have turned to creative outlets. By which I mean they've been drawing Wumpus, Discord's mascot, meeting a variety of grisly ends.

While I don't recommend you browse the full selection of ritualized Wumpus-slayings—some of them are pretty gnarly—here's a survey of how the internet is processing its feelings about age verification.

And, in emulation of that moment from the 2014 Godzilla that made me say "Jesus, Godzilla, who taught you that," there's this work from X user @Atlanticaph0tic:

There are more, of course: There are illustrations of Wumpus being drawn and quartered in historically brutal fashion, and .gifs of Wumpus being squished in a space pod by a legendary super saiyan before being exploded—both of which have been amassed a combined 400,000 likes and 8 million views.

I'm not an expert, but when the masses are cheering for your company mascot's cruel unmaking, I suspect there's been a PR misstep somewhere along the way.