Did Pocahontas’ Kocoum give us the greatest reaction GIF of 2015?

11 Dec 2015

Epic Kocoum cosplay by Junkers Cosplay. Photo via Martin Wong/Facebook

Whether you hate smelling leaves or just can’t get enough of ’em, Kocoum has the right reaction GIF for you.

Disney fans will recognise Kocoum as the man ditched by Pocahontas for English explorer John Smith in the 1995 animated movie about a Native American princess.

Though a marriage had been arranged between Kocoum and Pocahontas, he caught his beloved smooching with the enemy while he concealed himself in the forest. At this shocking sight, Kocoum goes wild, running screaming towards the loved-up pair.

A high-quality GIF of Kocoum’s jealous rage was posted to Reddit by ajaxknight back in February 2014, but it was when user BigJ76 had the wherewithal to add this rollercoaster of emotion to the Reaction GIFs subreddit in June this year that the online world was gifted with a new favourite reaction GIF.

And what was BigJ76’s scenario warranting a Kocoum-style sprint?

View post on imgur.com

You see how this works, right?

The Kocoum reaction GIF instantly took off on image-sharing network Imgur, a community that found countless situations in which a raving battle cry would be appropriate.

Like, when you remember that you’re allergic leaves.

View post on imgur.com

Or, in reverse, when you remember that you actually love leaves.

View post on imgur.com

With more advanced editing skills, came even more Kocoum scenes, such as this contribution from Phillster Killster on Tumblr.

Kocoum reaction GIF

MRW my shift is over at work and they ask if I want to stay later

You see, the second-in-command warrior of the Powhatan tribe is no one-trick pony.

He robs banks.

View post on imgur.com

He gets abducted by aliens.

FP-Edit: <a class=”imgur-image” data-hash=”R0kVasB” href=”//i.imgur.com/R0kVasB.gif”>http://i.imgur.com/R0kVasB.gif</a>

He plays games.

View post on imgur.com

He satirises homophobic sentiments.

How I imagine Australia vs our Prime Minister Tony Abbott right now: <a rel=”noreferrer nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”https://imgur.com/gallery/lVXBqbY”>https://imgur.com/gallery/lVXBqbY</a>

He enjoys real-life Mortal Kombat re-enactments…

GET OVER HERE!

… but Super Mario is his real passion.

View post on imgur.com

He cooks.

Merde!

He loves a treasure hunt.

View post on imgur.com

In fact, he fancies himself a bit of a general huntsman…

SHOOT HER!!! SHOOOOOT HER!!!!

… after all, he is an outdoorsy type.

Instant re-leaf

His day-job, however, is at the airport.

Thanks for the cutout /u/AncientSilverback!

And, like all of us, he gets really frustrated when technology fails him.

View post on imgur.com

He may have lost the girl, but the Imgur community crowned Kocoum “the new Javert” (in reference to 2013’s reaction GIF of note, if you didn’t already know).

View post on imgur.com

(Although, there is that crazy rumour that Kocoum is Javert.)

View post on imgur.com

He brought joy to the internet this summer and, for that, we love Kocoum.

View post on imgur.com

His legacy lives on.

View post on imgur.com

You go Glen Kocoum.

Keep watching Siliconrepublic.com as we look back on the greatest memes of 2015. Let us know your favourite at @siliconrepublic on Twitter.

Main image of Kocoum by Junkers Cosplay via Martin Wong/Facebook

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com