What is Jacarina Shader?

Jacarina Shader is an August 2020 Destiny 2 meme format mocking Bungie for a shader that previews as black-and-white but paints equipped gear bright blue.

Where did Jacarina Shader come from?

It came from Reddit's /r/destiny2 and /r/DestinyTheGame subs on August 4, 2020, right after Bungie added the shader to Destiny 2's Eververse store.

What does Jacarina Shader mean?

The joke centers on the gap between the shader's clean monochrome preview panels and the vivid blue that appears on armor when equipped, a mismatch tied to its namesake bird, Volatinia jacarina.

How do you use Jacarina Shader?

Players typically pair the all-grayscale preview with a screenshot of the blue-tinted equipped look, often inside reaction templates like Patrick Star Wallet or Confused Reporter.

Jacarina Shader

Q: Is Jacarina Shader still popular?

No, the format peaked on Reddit during early August 2020 and faded as the Destiny 2 community moved on to new seasonal content.

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Published October 25, 2026

Jacarina Shader is a meme format from August 2020 mocking Bungie's Destiny 2 for releasing a shader advertised as black-and-white that paints a bright blue onto armor and weapons once applied. Players flooded /r/destiny2 and /r/DestinyTheGame with reaction images using templates like Patrick Star Wallet and Confused Reporter to vent at the mismatch between the preview swatches and the in-game result.

gaming bait and switch memes subreddit origin memes frustration memes fandom discourse memes

Overview

Jacarina Shader memes play on a single disappointment: Bungie's preview panels for the shader show four flat black-and-white squares, but the in-game result splashes a vivid blue across armor plates, weapon frames and ornaments1. Posts in the format pair the clean preview with a screenshot of the actual equipped look, often with reaction-image templates like Patrick Star Wallet or Confused Reporter standing in for the betrayed player2 3.

The joke works because Destiny 2 players had been asking for a true monochrome shader for years, so the apparent fulfillment, followed by the blue reveal, read as a bait-and-switch. One widely shared discussion thread captured the exact complaint in its title: if there's no blue in the four preview panels, why is there blue on the armor4? A separate post pointed out that the shader's name actually refers to Volatinia jacarina, the Blue-Black Grassquit finch, which has the same color scheme Bungie used5.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Reddit (r/destiny2, r/DestinyTheGame)

Date

2020

Bungie added the Jacarina shader to Destiny 2's in-game Eververse store during the weekly reset on August 4, 2020, offered for Bright Dust alongside the Xenophage ornament and other cosmetics6. The same day, Redditor ToBeFrozen posted an announcement to /r/DestinyTheGame titled "The Xenophage ornament and a new black and white shader (Jacarina) and available for bright dust this week!" which pulled more than 4,500 upvotes before being edited to admit "apparently jacarina isn't completely black and white" once players tried it on their gear6.

Earliest known meme: hours later on August 4, Redditor Sadicust posted the first image-macro take to /r/destiny2 using the Patrick Star Wallet template, where Patrick swaps a white wallet for a blue one, and the post gathered over 13,400 upvotes and multiple Reddit awards within three days2. Twitter user iFatebringer reposted that image on August 6, picking up roughly 3,500 likes and 416 retweets in 24 hours7.

How It Spread

Within the first 48 hours, the Jacarina Shader joke dominated both main Destiny subreddits. On August 4, Redditor 4Oldfarmln's complaint post about the missing blue in the preview panels drew over 8,100 upvotes and 459 comments on /r/DestinyTheGame4. Later that day, Redditor BachelorBanana circulated a meme pointing out the shader's namesake, Volatinia jacarina, the Blue-Black Grassquit, which naturally carries the exact blue-and-black plumage Bungie had rendered in-game5.

By August 6, the format moved onto other reaction templates. Redditor PolishCurry posted a /r/destiny2 example titled "That's how shaders work" that pulled over 13,200 upvotes and 220 comments in about a day8. The same day, Twitter user Benjjjyy adapted the Confused Reporter template to the gag and gathered more than 1,000 likes and 64 retweets in 24 hours9.

According to Know Your Meme's writeup, the theme peaked on Reddit during early August 2020 and faded as the Destiny 2 community moved on to later seasonal content releases1.

Timeline

2020-08-04

Bungie adds the Jacarina shader to Destiny 2's Eververse store during the weekly reset, triggering community complaints after players discover the equipped version is blue[6].

2020-08-04

Redditor Sadicust posts the first Jacarina Shader meme to /r/destiny2 using the Patrick Star Wallet template[2].

2020-08-04

Redditor 4Oldfarmln's "why would there be blue" complaint post hits over 8,100 upvotes on /r/DestinyTheGame[4].

2020-08-04

Redditor BachelorBanana notes the shader is named after Volatinia jacarina, the Blue-Black Grassquit, which carries the same colors[5].

2020-08-06

Redditor PolishCurry's "That's how shaders work" post gathers over 13,200 upvotes on /r/destiny2[8].

2020-08-06

Twitter user iFatebringer reposts the Patrick Star Wallet version, and Benjjjyy posts a Confused Reporter adaptation[7][9].