Henry Stickmin

2008Video game / reaction images / bait-and-switch video / catchphraseclassic

Also known as: Henry Stickmin Collection · Distraction Dance · Stickmin

Henry Stickmin is a 2008 Flash choose-your-own-adventure game by PuffballsUnited about a stick figure criminal whose poor choices lead to absurd, hilarious fail screens.

Henry Stickmin is a series of Flash-based choose-your-own-adventure games created by Marcus Bromander (PuffballsUnited) starting in 2008 on Newgrounds. The games star a stick figure criminal navigating absurd scenarios through player choices, with most options leading to hilarious fail screens. The series became a major meme source in August 2020 when *The Henry Stickmin Collection* launched on Steam, spawning the Distraction Dance bait-and-switch meme, "This Is the Greatest Plan" quotes, and numerous fail screen templates that spread across YouTube, Reddit, TikTok, and Discord.

choose your adventure memesinnersloth memesdeath screen memesstick figure memes2020 memes

TL;DR

Henry Stickmin is a series of Flash-based choose-your-own-adventure games created by Marcus Bromander (PuffballsUnited) starting in 2008 on Newgrounds.

Overview

Henry Stickmin is a stick figure character who appears across six point-and-click adventure games. At each decision point, players choose from multiple options. The "correct" path advances the story, but almost every other choice triggers a FAIL screen with a short comedic message. The games are stuffed with pop culture references, from *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure* poses to *Dragon Ball* fusion dances to NES Zapper callbacks. With 347 total fail screens across the series, the sheer density of jokes made the games a goldmine for reaction images and quotable moments.

The stick figure art style keeps things simple, but the animation quality improved dramatically across the series. By the final entry, *Completing the Mission*, full cutscenes with custom music and multiple branching storylines gave players dozens of endings to discover.

Marcus Bromander, an American animator who goes by PuffballsUnited online, released the first game, *Breaking the Bank*, on Newgrounds on August 27, 2008. The premise was straightforward: Henry Stickmin tries to rob a bank, and the player picks how. Most choices end in cartoonish failure.

Bromander followed up with *Escaping the Prison* in April 2010, which hit 3.2 million views on Newgrounds. Three more entries followed over the next five years: *Stealing the Diamond* (2011), *Infiltrating the Airship* (2013), and *Fleeing the Complex* (2015). Every installment from the second game onward hit Newgrounds' front page and topped the Weekly Users' Choice rankings.

In 2015, Bromander co-founded Innersloth with Forest Willard, the studio that would later create Among Us1. After three years of development, *The Henry Stickmin Collection* launched on Steam on August 7, 2020, bundling remastered versions of all five original games plus the brand-new finale *Completing the Mission*.

Origin & Background

Platform
Newgrounds (original games), Steam / YouTube / iFunny (meme spread)
Key People
Marcus Bromander / PuffballsUnited
Date
2008 (series debut), 2020 (meme peak)
Year
2008

Marcus Bromander, an American animator who goes by PuffballsUnited online, released the first game, *Breaking the Bank*, on Newgrounds on August 27, 2008. The premise was straightforward: Henry Stickmin tries to rob a bank, and the player picks how. Most choices end in cartoonish failure.

Bromander followed up with *Escaping the Prison* in April 2010, which hit 3.2 million views on Newgrounds. Three more entries followed over the next five years: *Stealing the Diamond* (2011), *Infiltrating the Airship* (2013), and *Fleeing the Complex* (2015). Every installment from the second game onward hit Newgrounds' front page and topped the Weekly Users' Choice rankings.

In 2015, Bromander co-founded Innersloth with Forest Willard, the studio that would later create Among Us. After three years of development, *The Henry Stickmin Collection* launched on Steam on August 7, 2020, bundling remastered versions of all five original games plus the brand-new finale *Completing the Mission*.

How It Spread

The Steam Collection's launch in August 2020 triggered the main meme wave. The game earned a 98-99% positive rating ("Overwhelmingly Positive") from over 55,000 reviews and sold roughly 1.39 million copies.

Major YouTubers including Markiplier and Jacksepticeye posted let's-play videos that introduced the series to millions of new viewers. The timing proved significant: the Collection's release happened right as Among Us was beginning its own massive surge in popularity, and coverage of the Henry Stickmin games helped draw attention to Innersloth's other title.

The Distraction Dance became the breakout meme. The dance originates from *Fleeing the Complex* (2015), where Henry wiggles and grooves to "Dance Mr. Funnybones" (a track composed by Bromander himself) to distract prison guards. On August 11, 2020, iFunny user RonaldUlyssesSwanson_ posted an ironic demotivational poster captioned "You have been distracted, repost this to distract someone else," which received over 34,700 smiles in ten days. A green screen template uploaded to YouTube on August 18 pulled 112,000 views in two days. The dance quickly became a bait-and-switch format similar to a Rickroll, with users editing the dance into unexpected contexts across Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, TikTok, and Discord.

Charles Calvin, a helicopter pilot who appears in the later games, became a fan-favorite character. His habit of yelling "This Is the Greatest PLANNNNN!" while crashing his helicopter into obstacles turned into a widely quoted catchphrase. The "Valiant Hero" ending of *Completing the Mission*, where Charles sacrifices himself to save Henry, generated emotional reaction videos and compilations on YouTube and TikTok, catching viewers off guard with genuine pathos in an otherwise comedy series.

The fail screen format also took off as a meme template on Imgflip and similar generators, with users creating custom fail messages for real-life situations.

Platforms

RedditTwitterTikTokInstagram

Timeline

2020

Henry Stickmin first appears online

2020

Gains traction on social media

2021

Reaches peak popularity

2022-01-01

Henry Stickmin reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

2023-01-01

Brands and companies started using Henry Stickmin in marketing

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

Distraction Dance: The most common format. Edit the Henry Stickmin dance animation into an unrelated video as a surprise interruption, typically cutting away from normal content to the dance with the "You have been distracted" caption. Works like a Rickroll. Green screen templates are widely available on YouTube.

Fail Screen: Take the game's distinctive red FAIL screen format and add your own caption describing a real-life mistake or bad decision. Templates are available on meme generators.

"This Is the Greatest Plan": Quote Charles Calvin's catchphrase when describing an obviously terrible idea that someone is fully committed to. Often paired with clips of the helicopter crash scene.

Teleporter: Reference the recurring teleporter item, which appears in every game and always fails differently. Good for jokes about things that never work no matter how many times you try.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The Henry Stickmin series and Among Us share deep connections through their developer Innersloth. The Airship map in Among Us is directly based on the Toppat Clan Airship from the Henry Stickmin games. Among Us contains multiple Easter eggs referencing the series, including a Hall of Portraits mirroring Toppat Clan members, a diamond from *Stealing the Diamond*, the teleporter device, and purchasable Henry Stickmin and Ellie Rose pets. In return, *Completing the Mission* hides 12 Among Us Crewmate plushies throughout its levels.

The Collection maintained strong sales at roughly $14.99 per copy, with approximately $14.1 million in gross revenue. As of late 2024, it ranked as the 11th highest-rated game on Steam.

PuffballsUnited expressed mild frustration that the Distraction Dance was primarily used as a bait-and-switch rather than in more creative ways. He also confirmed the series is finished with no plans for new entries, citing burnout from the three-year development cycle of the Collection.

The original Flash versions became inaccessible after Adobe retired Flash Player on December 31, 2020, though some are preserved through Flash emulators.

Fun Facts

The Distraction Dance music, "Dance Mr. Funnybones," was composed by Bromander and originated from a move he did while playing ping-pong to annoy his roommates.

The teleporter is the only item that appears as a choice in all six games, and it fails every single time in a different way.

*Fleeing the Complex* was the second-highest-rated game in Newgrounds history at the time of its release.

The series contains 347 individual fail screens, each with a unique joke.

Bromander handled nearly all animation for the series solo, which contributed to significant burnout during the Collection's development.

Derivatives & Variations

Distraction Dance edits

— Green screen versions where the dance is spliced into other videos as a surprise, functioning as a visual Rickroll.

"You Have Been Distracted" chain posts

— Repost-bait images using the Distraction Dance still with the caption, originating on iFunny in August 2020.

Charles Calvin tribute edits

— Emotional compilations of the "Valiant Hero" ending set to sad music, popular on YouTube and TikTok.

Custom fail screens

— User-generated FAIL screen images applying the game's format to real-life scenarios.

Among Us crossover memes

— Memes connecting the two Innersloth properties, especially around the Airship map release[1].

Frequently Asked Questions

References (2)

  1. 1
    Among Usencyclopedia
  2. 2
    Henry Stickmin - Urban Dictionarydictionary

Henry Stickmin

2008Video game / reaction images / bait-and-switch video / catchphraseclassic

Also known as: Henry Stickmin Collection · Distraction Dance · Stickmin

Henry Stickmin is a 2008 Flash choose-your-own-adventure game by PuffballsUnited about a stick figure criminal whose poor choices lead to absurd, hilarious fail screens.

Henry Stickmin is a series of Flash-based choose-your-own-adventure games created by Marcus Bromander (PuffballsUnited) starting in 2008 on Newgrounds. The games star a stick figure criminal navigating absurd scenarios through player choices, with most options leading to hilarious fail screens. The series became a major meme source in August 2020 when *The Henry Stickmin Collection* launched on Steam, spawning the Distraction Dance bait-and-switch meme, "This Is the Greatest Plan" quotes, and numerous fail screen templates that spread across YouTube, Reddit, TikTok, and Discord.

choose your adventure memes innersloth memes death screen memes stick figure memes 2020 memes

TL;DR

Henry Stickmin is a series of Flash-based choose-your-own-adventure games created by Marcus Bromander (PuffballsUnited) starting in 2008 on Newgrounds.

Overview

Henry Stickmin is a stick figure character who appears across six point-and-click adventure games. At each decision point, players choose from multiple options. The "correct" path advances the story, but almost every other choice triggers a FAIL screen with a short comedic message. The games are stuffed with pop culture references, from *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure* poses to *Dragon Ball* fusion dances to NES Zapper callbacks. With 347 total fail screens across the series, the sheer density of jokes made the games a goldmine for reaction images and quotable moments.

The stick figure art style keeps things simple, but the animation quality improved dramatically across the series. By the final entry, *Completing the Mission*, full cutscenes with custom music and multiple branching storylines gave players dozens of endings to discover.

Marcus Bromander, an American animator who goes by PuffballsUnited online, released the first game, *Breaking the Bank*, on Newgrounds on August 27, 2008. The premise was straightforward: Henry Stickmin tries to rob a bank, and the player picks how. Most choices end in cartoonish failure.

Bromander followed up with *Escaping the Prison* in April 2010, which hit 3.2 million views on Newgrounds. Three more entries followed over the next five years: *Stealing the Diamond* (2011), *Infiltrating the Airship* (2013), and *Fleeing the Complex* (2015). Every installment from the second game onward hit Newgrounds' front page and topped the Weekly Users' Choice rankings.

In 2015, Bromander co-founded Innersloth with Forest Willard, the studio that would later create Among Us. After three years of development, *The Henry Stickmin Collection* launched on Steam on August 7, 2020, bundling remastered versions of all five original games plus the brand-new finale *Completing the Mission*.

Origin & Background

Platform
Newgrounds (original games), Steam / YouTube / iFunny (meme spread)
Key People
Marcus Bromander / PuffballsUnited
Date
2008 (series debut), 2020 (meme peak)
Year
2008

Marcus Bromander, an American animator who goes by PuffballsUnited online, released the first game, *Breaking the Bank*, on Newgrounds on August 27, 2008. The premise was straightforward: Henry Stickmin tries to rob a bank, and the player picks how. Most choices end in cartoonish failure.

Bromander followed up with *Escaping the Prison* in April 2010, which hit 3.2 million views on Newgrounds. Three more entries followed over the next five years: *Stealing the Diamond* (2011), *Infiltrating the Airship* (2013), and *Fleeing the Complex* (2015). Every installment from the second game onward hit Newgrounds' front page and topped the Weekly Users' Choice rankings.

In 2015, Bromander co-founded Innersloth with Forest Willard, the studio that would later create Among Us. After three years of development, *The Henry Stickmin Collection* launched on Steam on August 7, 2020, bundling remastered versions of all five original games plus the brand-new finale *Completing the Mission*.

How It Spread

The Steam Collection's launch in August 2020 triggered the main meme wave. The game earned a 98-99% positive rating ("Overwhelmingly Positive") from over 55,000 reviews and sold roughly 1.39 million copies.

Major YouTubers including Markiplier and Jacksepticeye posted let's-play videos that introduced the series to millions of new viewers. The timing proved significant: the Collection's release happened right as Among Us was beginning its own massive surge in popularity, and coverage of the Henry Stickmin games helped draw attention to Innersloth's other title.

The Distraction Dance became the breakout meme. The dance originates from *Fleeing the Complex* (2015), where Henry wiggles and grooves to "Dance Mr. Funnybones" (a track composed by Bromander himself) to distract prison guards. On August 11, 2020, iFunny user RonaldUlyssesSwanson_ posted an ironic demotivational poster captioned "You have been distracted, repost this to distract someone else," which received over 34,700 smiles in ten days. A green screen template uploaded to YouTube on August 18 pulled 112,000 views in two days. The dance quickly became a bait-and-switch format similar to a Rickroll, with users editing the dance into unexpected contexts across Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, TikTok, and Discord.

Charles Calvin, a helicopter pilot who appears in the later games, became a fan-favorite character. His habit of yelling "This Is the Greatest PLANNNNN!" while crashing his helicopter into obstacles turned into a widely quoted catchphrase. The "Valiant Hero" ending of *Completing the Mission*, where Charles sacrifices himself to save Henry, generated emotional reaction videos and compilations on YouTube and TikTok, catching viewers off guard with genuine pathos in an otherwise comedy series.

The fail screen format also took off as a meme template on Imgflip and similar generators, with users creating custom fail messages for real-life situations.

Platforms

RedditTwitterTikTokInstagram

Timeline

2020

Henry Stickmin first appears online

2020

Gains traction on social media

2021

Reaches peak popularity

2022-01-01

Henry Stickmin reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

2023-01-01

Brands and companies started using Henry Stickmin in marketing

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

Distraction Dance: The most common format. Edit the Henry Stickmin dance animation into an unrelated video as a surprise interruption, typically cutting away from normal content to the dance with the "You have been distracted" caption. Works like a Rickroll. Green screen templates are widely available on YouTube.

Fail Screen: Take the game's distinctive red FAIL screen format and add your own caption describing a real-life mistake or bad decision. Templates are available on meme generators.

"This Is the Greatest Plan": Quote Charles Calvin's catchphrase when describing an obviously terrible idea that someone is fully committed to. Often paired with clips of the helicopter crash scene.

Teleporter: Reference the recurring teleporter item, which appears in every game and always fails differently. Good for jokes about things that never work no matter how many times you try.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The Henry Stickmin series and Among Us share deep connections through their developer Innersloth. The Airship map in Among Us is directly based on the Toppat Clan Airship from the Henry Stickmin games. Among Us contains multiple Easter eggs referencing the series, including a Hall of Portraits mirroring Toppat Clan members, a diamond from *Stealing the Diamond*, the teleporter device, and purchasable Henry Stickmin and Ellie Rose pets. In return, *Completing the Mission* hides 12 Among Us Crewmate plushies throughout its levels.

The Collection maintained strong sales at roughly $14.99 per copy, with approximately $14.1 million in gross revenue. As of late 2024, it ranked as the 11th highest-rated game on Steam.

PuffballsUnited expressed mild frustration that the Distraction Dance was primarily used as a bait-and-switch rather than in more creative ways. He also confirmed the series is finished with no plans for new entries, citing burnout from the three-year development cycle of the Collection.

The original Flash versions became inaccessible after Adobe retired Flash Player on December 31, 2020, though some are preserved through Flash emulators.

Fun Facts

The Distraction Dance music, "Dance Mr. Funnybones," was composed by Bromander and originated from a move he did while playing ping-pong to annoy his roommates.

The teleporter is the only item that appears as a choice in all six games, and it fails every single time in a different way.

*Fleeing the Complex* was the second-highest-rated game in Newgrounds history at the time of its release.

The series contains 347 individual fail screens, each with a unique joke.

Bromander handled nearly all animation for the series solo, which contributed to significant burnout during the Collection's development.

Derivatives & Variations

Distraction Dance edits

— Green screen versions where the dance is spliced into other videos as a surprise, functioning as a visual Rickroll.

"You Have Been Distracted" chain posts

— Repost-bait images using the Distraction Dance still with the caption, originating on iFunny in August 2020.

Charles Calvin tribute edits

— Emotional compilations of the "Valiant Hero" ending set to sad music, popular on YouTube and TikTok.

Custom fail screens

— User-generated FAIL screen images applying the game's format to real-life scenarios.

Among Us crossover memes

— Memes connecting the two Innersloth properties, especially around the Airship map release[1].

Frequently Asked Questions

References (2)

  1. 1
    Among Usencyclopedia
  2. 2
    Henry Stickmin - Urban Dictionarydictionary