Happy birthday, Niero & Destructoid!

Happy birthday, Niero, and champagne birthday, Destructoid! 

Not sure what else to say that hasn't been said a million times over. Whether it's playing or talking about games, live chatting shows, being goofy, arguing about controversies or sharing about your personal lives, y'all rock and make dtoid feel like home. Thank you!

Sometimes it's weird looking back and noticing how much this place has changed. But the same could be said for all of us. 16 years is a long time! Crazy to think about.

I only got to meet Niero once and he was exactly how you'd imagine. Radiant smile, incredibly friendly and nonstop running around doing what needed to be done. The familiar energy that kept the lights on here for so long. The one and only! Happy birthday, meng!

That was at EGLX 2018 where I also got to meet CJ, Wes, Jordan, Chris, Brett and Singapore Sling and looking back it instantly warms my soul like a secret lifehack. All of them so generous, hilarious and down to earth.

(thanks for taking this pic, CJ!)

Some of my other favourite memories include:

- Friday Night Fights! Probably what drew me in so much originally. Exactly what I needed at that time of my life, getting to play games like Killzone and MAG with Dtoiders.

- PAX season. I never went but getting to see Dtoiders hanging out was always heartwarming. Plus people who went would "adopt" other users' avatars to print out and take to the event so they too feel included.

https://www.destructoid.com/heading-to-pax-this-week-adopt-an-avatar/

- This video:

- Anytime there's a keynote, press conference or direct. Taking it in with the peanut gallery in the comments will have me in tears laughing every time. You all are just fun people to interact with.

- Chris Moyse's Whatcha been playing this week?/ ChronoLynx's TGIF posts. Those posts and the participation are the essence of what make this place feel like a community.

- The time Soulbow joined my No Man's Sky instance, flew down to the planet I was on, found where I was hiding and then asked me face-to-face if I would play Siege with him. Just the amount of effort he did makes me laugh. And then he got me hooked on the game.

- Whispering Willows' E3 predication posts! Always a fun yearly tradition.

https://www.destructoid.com/destructoid-community-2021-e3-predictions/

Anyways, tis but a few. Now go read some fp articles, leave comments and let the staff know how much they're appreciated. Do the same on cblogs. Think twice about making the mods' lives difficult. Fap the caps and so forth. Happy birthday, Destructoid! 🥳🎂

Also (cocks) here's one of my favourite Angie gifs for prosperity:

LOOK WHO CAME:

CelicaCrazed   

Occams   367

DeadMoon   152

Boxman214   146

Seymour   111

Retrofraction   54

Robo Panda Z   47

NinjaSpeed   37

Zoey Handley   32

PatBateman17   29

The Actual Charlton Heston   26

Chris Moyse   25

PhilKenSebben   23

Dr Mel   14

Sharukurusu   13

Whispering Willow   12

Roager   10

RLZ   2

taterchimp   2

beatlemaniaxx   1