Action Taunts

Mad scientists are prone to drawn-out monologues, but Dr. Wily lets his eyebrows speak for him. There comes a time in most Mega Man games where the mad doctor shows up in his flying saucer, waggles his eyebrows in a menacing fashion, and jets off to his perilous fortress on the horizon. Waggling eyebrows might seem like a trivial gesture, but it highlights Dr. Wily’s arrogance. He’s one of the world’s greatest minds, but he consistently overplays his hand. You’d figure that he’d show a little humility given how frequently he’s defeated, but I guess it’s easy to be optimistic when your lair is filled with killer robots, mecha dragons, and myriads of instant-death spikes. No matter how many times he ends up groveling on his hands and knees, Dr. Wily always reverts back to his eyebrow-waggling self.

Nox is a mage of the Roman pantheon who mothered other gods and all certainties of life. The Goddess of Night reigns in the darkness between sleep and death and is feared by even the mightiest figures since she loves and protects all her children equally. Nox is an elegant goddess who carries herself with grace, so her initial taunt didn’t fit her character at all. You don’t expect a regal figure grab their breasts and emphatically shake them back and forth, but that’s ultimately what made her taunt so effective. Sadly, Hi-Rez Studios received so many complaints about the taunt that they felt compelled to replace it with one that was less sexualized. The purpose of a taunt is to garner attention and rile people up, so the fact that Nox caused so much outrage with her boobs speaks to the effectiveness of her original taunt.

Luigi has a number of taunts at his disposal in the Smash Bros. games, but his despondent “dirt kick” is one of the only taunts in the series that actually damages opponents. It only deals one or two percent damage (depending on the game), but it can be deadly if its used near a ledge or against an airborne opponent. Luigi just looks like he’s having a bad day when he kicks the ground, but the otherwise harmless taunt functions like a Meteor Smash in the right situation and strikes opponents downward with incredible force. Needless to say, it can be pretty embarrassing to be defeated by such a weak move. The fact that Luigi doesn’t even look like he’s trying to hurt anyone makes it even more shameful. It’s not an easy thing to pull off, but a successful “Weegee Kick” is always sure to get a reaction.

Joe Higashi is an accomplished fighter, but the young Muay Thai champion is mostly used for comic relief. Joe used to live for training, but his once-stoic personality became more and more ridiculous over time. He loves fighting and the glory of victory, but he doesn’t take his battles as seriously as some of his rivals do. Joe can handle himself in a fight, but his arrogance sometimes gets the best of him and he enjoys taunting his opponents to show his superiority. His most infamous taunt involves him pulling down his pants and mooning his opponent for no apparent reason. This taunt became so iconic that it was used as his winning portrait in The King of Fighters 2001. You have to admire his liveliness if nothing else, and I’d like to see other KOF characters like Mai Shiranui capture the same energy.

Destiny‘s slow clap is a great way to troll other players and it’s especially obnoxious after an embarrassing death takes place. The sarcastic taunt walks the line between wry and infuriating, and it’s safe to say that everyone would rather perform the taunt themselves than land on the receiving end of it. In fact, people will actually pay to be condescending or passive-aggressive! The slow clap is a “legendary emote,” and anyone who didn’t buy the game’s expansion pack had to purchase the taunt through the game’s micro-transaction system if they wanted to use it. (Forcing players to spend real money on a simple animation? Great. Just great. That’s really, really great.) Legions of fans have paid for the privilege to perform the taunt, and this speaks volumes about how fun it is to mock other players.

In the Dark Souls games, gestures are used to convey emotions or provide direction to other players. It’s an easy way to communicate in the absence of voice-chat and more immediate than sending messages. Some of the gestures are friendly while others are smug, but none are more arrogant than the “Well, what is it?” taunt. While performing this taunt, players extend their arms, puff out their chests, and slowly walk forward as though they own the ground beneath them. This taunt is a great way to get underneath someone’s skin and is commonly used to bait other players into attacking. All of the gestures take time to perform and players are unable to move until the gesture is finished, so an element of risk is assumed each time the taunt is performed. This only serves to make the gesture even more aggravating.

Tea-bagging can technically be performed in any first-person shooter that allows players to quickly switch from a crouching to a standing position, but it’s most often associated with the Halo franchise. When a player dies in the multiplayer mode, the camera follows them to the ground and stays there for a moment until they respawn elsewhere. During this time, other players can humiliate their fallen opponents by repeatedly crouching down over their heads to simulate a demeaning sexual act. Tea-bagging is idiotic and sophomoric, but it became a phenomenon in the world of first-person shooters. Some games purposely incorporate tea-bagging into their mechanics, but the concept was conceived from the collective imaginations of gamers and the gesture came about organically.

Anyone who grew up with the NES is familiar with the dog who would laugh every time you missed a shot in Duck Hunt. (He’d also pick the ducks up for you when you hit them, but his reactions made it obvious that he wanted you to fail.) His sinister laugh was demoralizing and his primary purpose was to mock players. It’s safe to say that everyone who has played the game has wanted to shoot that dog at some point. Nintendo realized how much of an asshole the dog was, and the arcade version of Duck Hunt had a bonus round in which players could take their aggression out on their exasperating canine sidekick. This bonus round is sadly missing from the home version, however, so the dog has free reign to laugh at you all he wants and you will have no means of retaliation. I hate that dog!

The various taunts in Team Fortress 2 are an ideal way for players to either announce that they’ve just shot someone or that they want to be shot themselves. Each character class has their own unique taunts, but anyone can join the conga. After someone initiates the conga, others can join the fun simply by taunting near a dancing player! Other group taunts in the game are limited to two people, but no such limit exists for the conga and the game actively encourages players to partake in the Latin dance adventure. Conga lines can continue even after the instigator stops dancing, and there’s even an achievement for forming a conga line with more than 10 players. After the conga was added to the game, it wasn’t unusual for entire servers to be filled with people who would rather conga than play the game competitively.

Dan Hibiki’s attacks are slow and clumsy, but he has the utmost faith in his abilities and often taunts his opponents to show his superiority. Dan’s Super Taunt (also known as the Legendary Taunt) allows the feeble martial artists to perform a series of taunts consecutively. While the specific gestures vary from one game to the next, they typically involve rolling, flexing, and posing in a dramatic fashion before invariably sticking his ass out and giving a cheesy thumbs-up to the camera. The scene is punctuated by a cheesy smile and a loud “ping” noise. The elaborate taunt is useless in most circumstances, but it can be surprisingly lethal in Street Fighter IV since Dan can cancel the taunt and immediately transition into his Ultra Combo. It’s not often that a joke character gets the last laugh.