Riot Games just reached a new high with the tweet from the official VALORANT account and honestly?? It was like a different universe. Especiailly the fathers got Tejo as a character who was too over the top sad to get a taste of the rare tsukemen ramen that was only available twice a year. The whole list of hurdles and still the result was… no taste. Ouch buddy.
Along with all this there was a photo of Tejo showing he was sulking and honestly? It seems quite reasonable. Every one of us has experienced it at least once when we had to wait for some gaming merchandise or had to apply for a beta testing and got rejected. But the reactions to this post? They were completely opposite and it’s quite amusing how disunited the VALORANT community is.
The first group of players are those who upfront got the reference to the ramen. The user @avizhkatoo gave a very to-the-point response “Man I want some tsukemen now” which is like… same?? I am also dying for dipping noodles at 2 AM just due to a video game tweet. Thanks, Riot Games.
Then it gets really strange the other players that totally did not get the reference were, in fact, stating how Tejo was holding his gun in the picture. The user @PlayasiaXP asked “Why is Tejo holding the gun like a dirty diaper?” which… well, yes, now that you direct the attention, the grip appears a bit odd. Other users became involved in the conversation and started swapping opinions on whether it was a “press check” or a “phase guard inspect” animation. Gamers are really going to scrutinize up to the last frame of anything, right?
At the very same moment, there were people completely out of the topic like @JhonnyWoke asking “And ps5 when?” like seriously this is a discussion about ramen and gun animations not consoles?? And @luwrzy saying “dude give me your unix” which I guess is some kind of ship name for characters? The VALORANT fandom keeps on shipping characters even when the tweet is about food disappointments.
The most interesting part, however, is how this connects back to the game. The user @ElumiLab popped in with “The ramen shop on Split… what were they doing there?!” and that is a strong point because, yes, there IS a ramen shop in the Split map! So, maybe, this whole tsukemen catastrophe is actually a turning point in Tejo’s character? Like, maybe he was a regular at that shop before he became an agent? Riot, you are making us suffer emotionally over nonexistent noodles.
All in all, this situation appears to be very … like the nature of VALORANT. The game has always offered these tiny but significant character moments that gradually reveal their humanity, even when they are armed to the teeth and conducting movements. Do you remember the tears shed over Phoenix’s voice lines? Or do you remember how the news of Killjoy’s involvement with Raze made the whole community ecstatic? Now, we have Tejof’s ramen-induced suffering and honestly? It’s a match made in heaven.
Some replies were more philosophical contemplating the whole issue. User @v_illainsVTG noted “Sometimes the wait isn’t worth it” which is indeed very profound statement if one allows him/her thoughts to brood over the situation for a moment. How many times, for example, have we lined up for a game only to be totally slaughtered? Or have we spent weeks grinding for a skin that ended up looking mediocre? The struggle is real.
However, the most entertaining aspect of all is that @Techc0nix commented “it cannt be that deep 💔” which is most probably the kind of reaction that ordinary folks would have when reading this melodramatic tweet about noodles. Yet, the VALORANT account is up there portraying disappointment over ramen that rivals Shakespeare’s tragedies.
On the other hand, the good news is it is a sign of the company’s policy on character development. They do not create agents as mere machines for combat but, on the contrary, they endow them with personalities, backgrounds, and apparently… very precise food preferences. When characters share these trivial human problems, the world of the game becomes more alive amidst the shooting and exercising their powers.
The conversations that people are having – around gun animations, map locations, character lore, and so on – is the perfect evidence of how much the community around the game is. Even if the official account tweets something that seems totally random about the game, players will always find ways to connect it back.
So, Tejo didn’t get his tsukemen after all. But, a whole weird and wonderful chat was born out of this. And, to be honest? That’s the very core of gaming communities. They will take any random thing – and I mean ANYTHING – and turn it into lore theories, debates on animation techniques, and people peeved-off-of-their-cravings-at-2 AM.
