Across the internet, memes are a great way to bring people together and make them laugh and smile. A lot of video games have seen and helped make a fair deal of memes over the course of internet history, with plenty of memes about Final Fantasy in particular. A fan on Reddit decided to take Pop-Tarts and a staple of Final Fantasy 7 to create a meme that presents a hilarious idea: Mako-flavored Pop-Tarts.
Mako is the name for the energy pulled from the planet in the world of Final Fantasy 7. The corporate conglomerate that is the Shinra Electric Power Company siphons the energy from the Lifestream, the source of the planet's energy, to make Materia and help strengthen those in the SOLDIER program. The use of the energy for Shinra's capitalistic greed is what leads AVALANCHE to action, which likely serves as a deeper joke on top of the meme.
A Reddit user named God-Emperor-Pepe has taken the time to photoshop a box of Pop-Tarts, editing as much of it as they could to create a fake package for "Frosted Mako" toaster pastries. The meme itself is incredibly well-edited to the finest detail. Three sides of the box are edited, with even a Shinra Electric Power Company logo under the instructions. "Tastes like the Earth," the title of the post says, almost like it is meant to be an advertising slogan that brings the joke home.
The comments are filled with how people would actually like to try this flavor of the snack, saying that SOLDIER operatives probably eat them on their lunch breaks. Others in the comments are lamenting that customers would probably have to moderate their intake to once a day unless they want to fall victim to Mako Poisoning, the same affliction that Zack and Cloud suffered from in Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core. Of course, people are also seen quoting Barret's speech from FF7: Remake about Shinra "sucking up Mako."
The comments are full of fans laughing and making plenty of FF7-related jokes regarding the Pop-Tart flavor, which means that all of the work the Reddit user put into the meme was a success. It's no surprise that the fun image has resonated with fans, though, as it practically looks as if the box actually exists.
Sadly, for those saying that they would stock up on a supply of Frosted Mako Pop-Tarts, the item only exists in this photo. For fans wishing parts of FF7 were real, it seems like aspects of the game truly can exist in other ways, like the Aerith-like garden found by a gamer in France. Unfortunately, though, these Pop-Tarts do not seem to have a real world counterpart.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is available now on PS4 and PS5.