A recent post on Japan's X (formerly Twitter) featuring a photo of whey protein unexpectedly blew up, but not for the product itself. Instead, it was the photo's bizarre presentation that got everyone talking.
The image instantly triggered a massive wave of netizens to think of the item inspection screen from the "Resident Evil" series. Some even went as far as to turn the photo into a rotatable 3D model, sparking a hilarious online discussion.
It all started when X user "Utsugaki" shared a photo of a foil-pouch whey protein, captioning it: "This whey is unbelievably delicious. Japanese politics, by comparison, are trash."
What was supposed to be a simple product recommendation completely missed its mark, as netizens' attention veered far away from the product's taste. The reason? The photo showed the whey protein pouch seemingly floating in mid-air, with no visible support, and a peculiar composition that immediately gave off an uncanny vibe.
After the post went live, many users were initially baffled by the photo itself. Some immediately quipped, "Is it floating?" Others joked, "Has whey protein learned to fly now?" or "Is an invisible person holding it for the photo?" Many were curious about the photography technique, asking, "How in the world did they take this picture?"
As the discussion heated up, more and more gamers realized that the photo's composition bore an uncanny resemblance to the "item inspection mode" in the "Resident Evil" game series.
One player commented, "It's exactly what pops up after you hit 'Examine'." Another even suggested, "This totally looks like 'Resident Evil' from the RE Engine era." The visual was so familiar that many started imagining they were actually playing the game.
The topic escalated further when a netizen actually took the whey protein photo and turned it into a rotatable 3D version, allowing everyone to spin it around just like an item in a game's inspection screen. The video quickly went viral, racking up tons of shares.
Netizens flooded the comments with remarks like, "I absolutely love this kind of 'waste' of technical skill!" and "There was absolutely no need to go this far (lol)."
Given the incredibly high resemblance between the photo and game screens, many started extending the conversation to the inventory systems common in RPGs and survival horror games. One comment read, "It's clearly just opening your inventory!" Another added, "Someone said it's in their backpack, and eating it should restore HP lol."
What began as a simple whey protein recommendation post unexpectedly tapped into a shared memory for countless gamers, all thanks to its unique shooting angle and background treatment.
From "floating whey protein" to "item inspection screen," then to "inventory slot," "left joystick rotation," and "press X to open," the entire discussion thread completely veered off from the product itself, transforming into a massive collective roast session for game fans. After all, for many players, the first reaction to seeing a floating item is never "Does this taste good?" but rather: "Hold on, can I rotate this to check if there's a hidden item on the back?"