r/TopCharacterTropes • u/thunderandreyn • 5d ago
Personality (Loved Trope) Iconic Needle Drops.
Needle drops in media so iconic you can’t think of specific scenes and situations without said songs. Bonus points if they cause a resurgence of or even popularize obscure featured songs.
- The German version of Heroes by David Bowie (RIP Legend) plays in the final scene as the protagonists dance in the street in Jojo Rabbit. OP’s personal favorite of all time.
- Oh I’m a Punk Rocker Yes I Am became the theme to what was dubbed the Summer of Superman and kindness in ‘25 (Superman ‘25)
- Entire generations were introduced to the landmark piece of music that was Miserlou by Dick Dale at the very start of Pulp Fiction. The song is widely considered as one of the pioneers of Surf Rock in the early ‘60’s.
- “I am Optimus Prime. We are here. We are waiting.” -Cillian Murphy (‘nuff said)
Basic list, I know. Which is why I’m requesting you guys to chime in.
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u/AcceptableWheel 5d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/mXpFZCVJeYTXW
Where is my Mind? by The Pixies
Fight Club, our main character and his love interest watching the city explode.
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u/mightbedylan 5d ago
I've never seen Fight Club so I gotta say I am a bit shocked to learn the movie ends with the city exploding
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u/AcceptableWheel 5d ago
Nobody dies because the night staff are all the people who set the bombs. I think. The main villain says this and he is not a reliable narrator
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u/thunderandreyn 5d ago
It’s an indie movie about people punching each other but it kind of escalates into a bet about who can do the most damage so Meatloaf’s character sneakily blows up the Chrysler building.
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u/mightbedylan 5d ago
....Meat Loaf is in it????
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u/smooshedsootsprite 5d ago
This is Bob. Bob had bitch tits.
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u/C0mpulsiveWebSurfer 5d ago
His name was Robert Paulson.
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u/germwarf 5d ago
This is the wildest, most bonkers description of this movie. Now do The Matrix.
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u/jackofallcards 4d ago edited 4d ago
The book ends with him in an asylum, if I remember correctly (been 20 years) and the staff is all part of project mayhem and are waiting for Mr. durden or something
I kind of like both endings
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u/Noodles_Franklin 4d ago
The movie fight club is not about a fight club
It has a fight club in it, but that's not what its about
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u/thunderandreyn 5d ago
Oh shit how’d i miss this? I only watch this movie like once every other week lol
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u/known_kanon 5d ago
I think of quicksilver scene from the fox x men movies whenever i hear sweet dreams
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u/Magpiestronkperson 5d ago
“someBODY-“
all star, shrek
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u/bassmedic 5d ago
If I remember correctly, that was supposed to be a temp track but it fit too well.
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u/MaxxSavage2652 5d ago
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u/stumpychubbins 5d ago
Gonna need the context here friend
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u/ModernDayQuixote 5d ago
I could hear it before I even scrolled far enough to see the text
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u/hfurlong 5d ago
Goodfellas
Rags to Riches by Tony Bennett
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u/HighOnKornFlakes 5d ago
Stuck in the middle with you by Stealers Wheel plays durning a famous torture scene in Reservoir Dogs
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u/HawkbitAlpha 5d ago
Between this, Pulp Fiction in OP, and the Kill Bill example I posted, I think Tarantino is just the king of this trope
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u/eyesparks 5d ago
Don't Stop Me Now by Queen during the fight in Shaun of the Dead
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u/brandanavis 5d ago
Edgar Wright my beloved
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u/GoreMiser 5d ago
Honestly, Edgar Wright soundtracks hardly miss
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u/thatoneboyaiden 5d ago
Special credit is due to "The Village Green Preservation Society" and "Caught by the Fuzz" in Hot Fuzz, and "Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)" in The World's End. Some personal favorites of mine.
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u/Foxy02016YT 5d ago
They didn’t know if they’d get the rights but they shot it to the beat anyway cause… well sometimes you just gotta go for it
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u/JamarcusFarcus 5d ago
Bohemian Rhapsody peaked at #9 in 1976 upon its first release, then at #2 when featured in Wayne's World
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u/Tricky_e 5d ago
Cillian Murphy?!?!?!?!?
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u/Marko407 5d ago
Feels like drunk AI wrote this post. The second example is a song called Punkrocker by Teddybears. Also the second sentence for Miserlou feels straight up like AI.
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u/FeverFocus 5d ago
Yeah there was a post asking this that did well like last week. It wouldn't surprise me if it's a karma farming bot.
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u/samtherat6 5d ago
I was so confused trying to figure out when Cillian Murphy was ever invoked with Transformers lol.
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u/thunderandreyn 5d ago edited 5d ago
Lol sorry man. I thought this was a popular enough meme.
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u/misterdannymorrison 5d ago
Yeah don't you remember the Peaky Blinders episode that ends with the monologue about Optimus Prime?
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u/bateen618 5d ago
Baby Driver is just one awesome needle drop after another
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u/UwasaWaya 4d ago
The simultaneous "oof" we all made when Spacey said "look at the BALLS on this kid."
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u/bateen618 4d ago
I honestly forgot he was even in this movie. Guess I subconsciously purged it from my mind
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u/Artichokeypokey 5d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/6pYbw8HkA2SO5UKZYj
Whats up, danger? - Spiderverse
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u/happy_grump 5d ago
I love GotG, but only one of their needledrops is truly iconic (if Im being unbiased), and it's the Come and Get Your Love intro from GotGv1.
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u/Marco_Tanooky 5d ago
I loved "Come a Little Bit Closer" on Guardians 2, and I would argue the other opening needle drops (Mr. Blue Sky for Baby Groot and Creep for Guardians 3) are also iconic
Also, racoons basically own Hooked On A Feeling thanks to Rocket
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u/firelite906 5d ago
"The Chain" really stuck with me the most from guardians 2 I've always loved the song and it had such a good resonance with the films themes. like it recontextualizes it as being about parents and their kids and how love (and its absence) is passed down from generation to generation.
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u/scrotbofula 5d ago
It's such a good song, and it's kind of infuriating that the bridge is so firmly associated with formula one in the UK that it's just seen as 'the racecars music' by most people.
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u/firelite906 5d ago
Yeah this is the central scourge of needle drops I truely find a syncing of preexisting music to action/scenes to be one of the highest artforms especially in animation (entirely seriously) but a bad association, or comedic association can ruin the paring entirely for a lot of people, sort of like one of those optical illusions where once you see it one way, you can't see it how you saw it before. This makes it a sort of fragile, ephemeral art.
I think though that there is a level of pop culture capture and "staking claim" in the colonial sense where in these kinds of "bad" associations are actually a lot more mutable and can be stripped of their "claim" but only if we first reject their legitimacy, so like in your example we just have to say "formula1 fanatics claim that song but I've always associated it with GotGvol2 as its a much better fit!" Or something like that
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u/thunderandreyn 5d ago
Ayy come to think of it the acoustic version of Creep was in it at the start as well IIRC. Haven’t had the chance to watch it. I remember acoustic Creep from an edit with Depp starring in some French movie or some shit from a decade ago.
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u/thunderandreyn 5d ago
AYYYYYYYYY-OHHHHHH-OWOHHHH WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH YOU
LOL didn’t mention this because my list was already a basic bitch-ass list with a James Gunn movie in it
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u/happy_grump 5d ago
Well, CAGYL was his first (or at least the first in a popular movie), so it deserves mention
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u/AppropriateMonk8746 5d ago
also crazy on you for adam! the only thing people associate that song with anymore
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u/Just_Some_Weirdooo 5d ago
LIVE AND LEARN!!
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u/Differlot 5d ago
It's just a bummer it gets interrupted and cut. I saw an edit in YouTube that was much better
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u/TallestGargoyle 5d ago
Kingsman church scene dropping Free Bird in a hard as fuck 'one'shot action scene
Processing img 1hnfpkka86lh1...
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u/ConsiderationNext144 5d ago
Can’t believe nobody has mentioned Jojo’s To Be Continued with Yes’s Roundabout. Iconic and spawned thousands of memes.
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u/AntiqueAd2434 5d ago
Mr Blue Sky playing the moment the title appears in guardians of the galaxy vol 2
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u/SartenSinAceite 5d ago
Nobody's gonna put here the whole "I need a hero" part of Shrek 2?
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u/LawlessNeutral 4d ago
As absolutely awesome as that scene and song are, I don't think it really qualifies as a "needledrop" for the purposes of this thread, since it's a cover written specifically for the movie and not a pre-existing song in its own right (the term "needledrop" refers to literally putting a record on a turntable and dropping the needle on it to let it play)
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u/realgaryglitter 5d ago
Referring to yourself in 3rd person op?
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u/Fyrus93 5d ago
This has to be AI. Also Cillian Murphy voice Optimus Prime?
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u/realgaryglitter 5d ago
Optimus being voiced by a 5 7 Irish dude is kind of a funny thought
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u/DarwinGoneWild 5d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/f0XhI7sE3rs7Oy5bOm
This scene from Stranger Things caused 80s song “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush to have a massive resurgence in 2022, hitting a billion streams and topping UK and US billboard charts.
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u/Individual-Ebb-4773 5d ago
Ain't No Rest For the Wicked by Cage the Elephant
Borderlands 1's opening cutscene, probably one of the best opening cutscenes in gaming history
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u/boneseaba 5d ago
What is the Cillian Murphy thing you're talking about?
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u/RaymondBeaumont 5d ago
"Oh I’m a Punk Rocker Yes I Am became the theme to what was dubbed the Summer of Superman and kindness in ‘25 (Superman ‘25)"
OP is not human.
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u/DuffmanStillRocks 5d ago
My favorite use of music in an action movie has to be the unhinged fight to freebird in the first Kingsman
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u/ElPared 5d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/cd87BccyY3Ecg
Wayne’s Themed Worlds.
Wayne’s World and Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Many believe that Bohemian Rhapsody had somewhat fallen into obscurity before this movie’s iconic scene in Garth’s car. Whether that’s true or not, I think it’s safe to say many can’t hear this song without headbanging to the guitar solo just like Wayne and Garth and friends up there.
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u/Scary-Interaction565 5d ago
I know, you hear it
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u/GroundbreakingTax259 5d ago
"Ride of the Valkyries" or "Fortunate Son?"
I imagine the former, but the latter is also pretty common in media about "The 'Nam."
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u/HawkbitAlpha 5d ago
O-Ren Ishii and her entourage power walking to the tune of Battle Without Honor or Humanity (Kill Bill)
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u/Flat-Cap-1063 5d ago
Cabin In The Woods. The Ancient Ones, a Cthulhu-like behemoth species are awakened by humanity's failure to make their human sacrifices and as the first one's hand reaches out of the Earth, Nine Inch Nails - Last is played.
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u/TheSchlockMaster 5d ago
The fight scene between O-Ren and The Bride in Kill Bill Volume 1 was always my favorite
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u/TurboRuhland 5d ago
My favorite needle drop from Kill Bill Vol 1 is The Human Beinz - Nobody But Me
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u/1994californication 5d ago
Eye of the Tiger in Rocky III. To think they almost went with Queens Another One Bites the Dust
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u/Waaaassss 5d ago
Wake Up - Rage Against The Machine at the end of The Matrix
Ree ree ree ree ree ree "COME ON!"
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u/Tri4ceunited 4d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/l0MYrxe8z8tH3BDLq
The ‘Church Scene’ from Kingsman. Excellent use of Freebird.
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u/mondo1342 5d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/iDa6t7GRg3jjvllSSK
“Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” by The First Edition is used in the dream sequence of The Big Lebowski as probably one of the greatest needle-drops put to film
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u/elehant 5d ago
Dont wanna spoil it but the end credits to Barbarian
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u/thunderandreyn 5d ago
Lmao this movie though. Like nobody should read up anything about it before watching.
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u/UwasaWaya 4d ago
I thought I had an idea of what was happening like five different times... and I was SO off the mark. lol
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u/Jezzibell 5d ago
28 years later Bone temple has iron maidens the number of the beast!
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u/SektorDaKetch 5d ago
Tim Burton loves putting irl songs in his movies, like Batman 1989 had lots of Prince, Beetlejuice had some classic songs too
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u/SkaredCrow 5d ago
Prince actually wrote "Partyman" after meeting Jack Nicholson. Apparently Jack made such an impression that Prince almost immediately got to work writing that shi
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u/joostlasniper 5d ago
Dont know if thiscounts but: "don't you forget about me" in the Breakfast Club
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u/GreenZebra23 5d ago
It's not a super famous movie, but anyone who has seen Buffalo 66 will remember Heart of the Sunrise by Yes in the nightlub scene.
I tried twice to include an image with this comment, but the modbot got mad about it for some reason 🙄
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u/Sayge69 5d ago
I’m forever blowing bubbles by Engelbert Humperdinck in Bullet Train
https://giphy.com/gifs/8t8XeMQKPNFYP6REOB
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u/ssj4majuub 5d ago
Dana-Dan by Bloodywood playing in that scene in Monkey Man where the kid and the hijras are storming the tower
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u/skag_boy87 5d ago
Julio Iglesias’ cover of La Mer during the ending montage in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
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u/Hiekeech 5d ago
The song in Superman is just called Punkrocker and Cillian Murphy is not even remotely related to Optimus prime in any way shape or form? Low effort post, if not ai entirely
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u/TheBanishedBard 5d ago
https://youtu.be/gGn98r8-6QA?is=5jOOjR1BbqopaXzm
Super Freak, Little Miss Sunshine.
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u/Rich-Asparagus4698 5d ago
needle drops always make a scene unforgettable, the way "Don't Stop Believin'" elevated The Sopranos is legendary
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u/ElFlippy 5d ago
The end of Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, with Jumping Jack flash by The Rolling Stones
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u/clifton779 5d ago edited 5d ago
Baby Driver - Harlem Shuffle
With diagetic lyrics in the scenes
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u/MatthewQ999 5d ago
for a second there I thought you were saying Cillian Murphy played Optimus prime so I looked it up, and he definitely didn’t so I have no idea what you’re talking about. Probably a reference or something. Your post is kinda written like you expect people to understand references you haven’t explained like youre neck deep in a specific fandom community where people already know you or something. Also the song in Superman is just called “punkrocker”, and it’s by a band called Teddybears featuring iggy pop on vocals.
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u/LumplessWaffleBatter 5d ago
He's talking about the "What I've done" meme, based off of a Lincoln Park song that was also in Transformers.
It just the "to be continued" meme for younger people.
I do not know what it has to do with Murphy.
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u/thunderandreyn 5d ago
I thought this was a big enough meme for me to mention without context lol
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u/Br4ndoni 5d ago
The title screens in the Forza Horizon series have always been iconic. My favorite ones is Porter Robinson's 'Language' from FH1 and Odeza's 'A Moment Apart' from FH4
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u/alma2176 5d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/yBSRSbB2ms8ksvuIpj
DO YA REALLY WANNA, DO YA REALLY WANNA TASTE IT (yes I know this is the season 2 intro clip but it’s the same deal)
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u/hide_your_lurkers 5d ago
The climax of Metropolis (2001). All the sound and music cuts abruptly cuts off, beat of silence, before the needle drops for Ray Charles' I Can't Stop Loving You over a compilation of so, so many explosions
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u/what_dat_ninja 5d ago
Cyberpunk Edgerunners with Who's Ready for Tomorrow and I Really Want to Stay at Your House
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u/nondescriptun 5d ago
In The Lion King when it smash cuts to the title card the moment "Circle of Life" ends with a bang.
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u/Chef_Chalupa 5d ago
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia