Purple Francis
Purple Francis is a nonexistent protagonist of the Left 4 Dead video game franchise, created as a hoax by two teenagers on February 12, 2021 on the Left 4 Dead community wiki, which subsequently received a cult following within the fandom.[1][2][3] The hoax consisted of a series of vandalistic edits to the Left 4 Dead wiki,[2] describing a nonexistent playable character named "Purple Francis," who is visually identical to the character Francis with the exception of a "purple hue".[3] The edits provided detailed nonexistent lore, and cross-references to over a dozen edited pages,[1] where Purple Francis was discussed in detail alongside other existing characters.[4][5] Purple Francis was described as having been born in a candle factory, and turned purple through an iron-rich diet, which made him "incredibly attractive to women".[6] The edits also claimed that Purple Francis's daughter had an affair with Ronald Reagan, that ten players passed out after hearing his voice in the game for the first time,[7] and that he was later removed from retail copies of the game by Valve, "due to negative feedback."[1] "Screenshots" of Purple Francis were also supplied, depicting the character photoshopped into existing artwork throughout the wiki.[7]
While the edits were eventually reverted a few days after creation, the Left 4 Dead fan community seemed to embrace the concept of Purple Francis, and a mod on Steam Workshop was released on February 14 by a developer who’d worked on official Left 4 Dead content in the past, claiming to restore the "cut content" depicting Purple Francis.[1] The original creators of Purple Francis were later identified as "Lucy" and "Unknowntrope," two teenagers who had originally come up with the concept as an inside joke.[3]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Phillips, Tom (2021-02-15). "Left 4 Dead's "secret" Purple Francis character goes viral". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 2021-02-21. Retrieved 2021-05-07. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 "New 'Left 4 Dead' Character 'Purple Francis' Was Created by Wiki Vandals". www.vice.com. Archived from the original on 2021-04-09. Retrieved 2021-05-07. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Clayton, Natalie (2021-02-15). "Left 4 Dead wiki 'vandalised' with references to a lost fifth survivor". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 2021-02-27. Retrieved 2021-05-07. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Wilson, Mike (2021-02-15). "'Left 4 Dead' Fan Wiki "Discovers" Long-Lost Fifth Character in Purple Francis". Bloody Disgusting!. Archived from the original on 2021-03-01. Retrieved 2021-05-07. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Left 4 Dead Wiki Desecrated To Add Fifth Survivor, Who Is Now Canon, That's The Rules". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2021-05-07. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "'Left 4 Dead' Wiki Vandalized With Bizarre Purple Francis Character". www.gamingbible.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-05-07. Retrieved 2021-05-07. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 7.0 7.1 "'Purple Francis' Is The New King Of The Left 4 Dead Franchise [Updated]". www.msn.com. Archived from the original on 2021-05-07. Retrieved 2021-05-07. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)
External links
Archive of original Purple Francis edit
Steam Workshop Purple Francis mod
This article "Purple Francis" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Purple Francis. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
