Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Patch 8 stress test went live on January 28, and it is giving its participants an opportunity to spend some time with the update’s 12 new subclasses. This opportunity has led to a flood of new information about the subclasses, and players now have a solid understanding of their actions, spells, and features. While many of these new abilities are notable due to their power or flavor, there is a class action that stands out for its meme potential, and it will almost certainly have its moment in the sun when Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Patch 8 is made available to all players.
The class action in question is Dirty Trick: Sand Toss, and it becomes available to Swashbucklers in Baldur’s Gate 3 upon reaching Level 4. For full clarity, the Swashbuckler is a Rogue subclass in Patch 8, and Sand Toss allows them to throw a handful of sand that has a chance of blinding an enemy. While players who have not studied their meme history may not give this ability a second glance, the minds of internet connoisseurs will undoubtedly turn to a meme that has been around for years.
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The “Pocket Sand” Meme
That meme is none other than “pocket sand,” and, indeed, Dirty Trick: Sand Toss is its bedfellow. For the uninitiated, “pocket sand” has its origins in “Soldier of Misfortune,” a King of the Hill episode from 2001. In this episode, one of the show’s main characters, Dale Gribble, has an altercation over a briefcase that ends with Dale reaching into his pocket and coolly saying “pocket sand” before throwing a handful of sand into his adversary’s eyes. Dale’s immediate retreat after tossing the sand makes the moment even funnier and further emphasizes the dirtiness of his trickery.
Despite the brevity of this moment, the idea of having a pocket full of sand, and using it for self-defense, struck a chord with some King of the Hill viewers. This resonance allowed Dale and his dirty trick to reach meme status, and GIFs, images, and video clips that reference “pocket sand” have been circulating on the internet for more than two decades. There was even a pocketsand.com, which showcased a “pocket sand” GIF, at one time, and there is now a subreddit, r/pocketsand, where 52,000 subscribers work to “increase awareness of the necessity to carry around sand in order to escape a violent situation.”
“Pocket Sand” in Baldur’s Gate 3
While it is perhaps unlikely that the Swashbuckler’s Dirty Trick: Sand Toss class action is an intentional reference to King of the Hill‘s “pocket sand,” the similarities will undoubtedly be noticed by some percentage of the playerbase. This will almost assuredly lead to memes that connect Sand Toss to “pocket sand,” and fans should expect to see “Dale Gribble builds,” videos of powerful enemies being brought down by handfuls of sand, and more following the official release of Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Patch 8.
This would certainly not be the game’s first foray into the realm of memes, and players will likely have come across some viral Baldur’s Gate 3 image or clip since the game’s release in 2023. Maybe they even saw Batstarion, a meme that centered around a glitched Astarion in bat form, though that is far from the only one that has been shared across the internet.
It is also possible that mods could appear that add Dale’s iconic delivery of “pocket sand” to the game. While such a Baldur’s Gate 3 mod might not be ideal for a preliminary playthrough, as it would definitely change the tenor of the game’s combat sequences, it could be a source of amusement for veteran players. Indeed, it could be quite humorous to hear the words “pocket sand” as a Swasbuckler hurls sand into the eyes of an unsuspecting goblin, and, if things go smoothly with the Patch 8 stress test, players may not have to wait long before they can turn that idea into reality.
- Released
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August 3, 2023
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence