Where did Gremlin Dva come from?

The look traces to a May 27, 2016 chibi D.Va drawing by Tumblr user radtone, then got its gremlin framing from Tumblr user dakkpasserida's June 3, 2016 illustration captioned "haha get rekt nerds".

What does Gremlin Dva mean?

It's a joke playing on the old gamer-nerd stereotype, casting Overwatch's pro-gamer character D.Va as a feral snack goblin instead of a polished esports star.

How do you use Gremlin Dva?

Fans typically draw D.Va shorter, chubbier, and dirtier than her canon design, buried in Doritos bags and Mountain Dew bottles while yelling gamer trash talk at her teammates.

Is Gremlin Dva still popular?

It's a classic Overwatch fandom bit from mid-2016, best known for that summer's Tumblr wave and Blizzard's answering Doritos-and-Mountain-Dew emote added on August 17, 2016.

Gremlin Dva

2016fan art / character caricatureclassic

Published August 25, 2026

Gremlin D.Va is a fan-made chibi caricature of the Overwatch character Hana Song, drawn as a grubby gamer stereotype fueled by Doritos, Mountain Dew, and 3 AM McDonald's runs. The bit spread across Tumblr in early June 2016 and later got a nod from Blizzard itself.

fan art memes gaming tumblr memes character archetype memes fandom discourse memes

Overview

Gremlin D.Va is a fan-made chibi version of Hana Song, the Korean mech-piloting pro gamer from Blizzard's team shooter Overwatch. Artists redraw her shorter, rounder, and grubbier than her canon portrait, usually mid-snack and surrounded by Doritos bags, Mountain Dew bottles, and fast-food trash1.

The joke leans on the old gamer stereotype and stretches it to a cartoonish extreme. Instead of the sleek esports star pilot, this D.Va is a feral little goblin who screams "haha get rekt nerds," bullies her Overwatch teammates into midnight McDonald's runs, and refuses to leave her mech long enough to eat real food3.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Tumblr (viral spread) / Twitter

Key People

radtone, dakkpasserida

Date

2016

Overwatch launched on May 24, 2016, and within days Tumblr artists started sketching D.Va in a smaller chibi style. On May 27, 2016, Tumblr user radtone posted a chibi D.Va drawing paired with an old IRC copypasta about gaming gloves, which pulled more than 1,300 notes in its first week3. A follow-up piece pairing chibi D.Va with the Overwatch character Soldier: 76 hit over 7,400 notes and locked in the visual template that later artists built on3.

How It Spread

The gremlin framing crystallized on June 3, 2016, when Tumblr user dakkpasserida posted a jumping D.Va illustration captioned "haha get rekt nerds," while Twitter user @OhHeyDJ posted a companion piece of D.Va scratching herself while chewing a bag of Doritos3. The day before, Tumblr user fumeknight had posted a comic of D.Va waking up Mercy and Pharah for a McDonald's run, which pulled roughly 17,000 notes before it was deleted3.

Kotaku picked up the trend on June 6, 2016, in a piece titled "Overwatch Fans Have Turned DVA Into a Dorito-Eating Gremlin," which cemented the "Gremlin D.Va" name across the wider fandom1. The same day, Tumblr user automaton-dreams posted an aesthetic-style version of the character, and blackbookalpha followed up on June 7 with a short webcomic of Pharah blasting Mountain Dew bottles at D.Va1.

Blizzard themselves nodded to the bit on August 17, 2016, when an Overwatch PTR patch added a new D.Va emote showing her mech playing a handheld video game while she snacked on chips and soda2.

How to Use This Meme

Artists typically draw D.Va shorter, chubbier, and messier than her canon design, surrounded by junk food packaging and gaming gear. Common conventions include her shouting gamer trash talk mid-jump, getting scolded by "mom" characters like Mercy, or dragging Soldier: 76 into her snack habits as part of the fan-invented Overwatch family bit1.