In the most recent example of the trend of corporations trying to seem hip and cool on X (née Twitter), Opera GX, the gamer branch of Opera, a company which has previously come under fire for scandals such as creating predatory loan apps on Google Play with interest rates as high as 876% and allegations of Opera being spyware, seemingly in partial response to the Homestuck: Beyond Canon update last Sunday, posted its trollsona in an X (née Twitter) post on Saturday, October 14th.
Replying to a tweet of YouTuber Pyrocynical kissing fellow YouTuber Chad of Cold Ones with the caption "I'm gay", Opera GX responded simply "Huge if true", after which, X (née Twitter) user TransKarkat asked, "WELL WHERES THE TROLLSONA?!"
This, of course, led to Opera GX posting one.
Named Opreah Geeyex after a suggestion by dave swagalicious, the current gag seems to be that they were bullied into creating one by the Homestuck fandom. With Trollian Handle "bulliedBrand", they are a "Cardinal"-blood with three-pronged horns in a crimson hoodie adorned with the Opera logo. They are 8 sweeps old and type https: in a way reminiscent of the bar above this webpage.
This sort of brand marketing works, but it does not make it any more palatable to those like myself who see it as a cynical attention-grab, no matter if it was done because of community interaction, corporate opportunism, or by a rogue intern with a drawing tablet. We have to remember, however harmless this seems, brands aren't our friends, and data harvesting companies often use memes like this to distract from their more pernicious aspects.
In short…
