The Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) meme, frequently featuring the 'Flork of Cows' sock puppet characters, exploded in popularity in early 2023. It originated from real-life photos of Ukrainian soldiers mounting Soviet-era Contact-1 ERA bricks onto modern Western tanks, like the Leopard 2, to increase their survivability. The internet, particularly the Non-Credible Defense (NCD) community, turned this into a viral sensation by photoshopping the distinctive green rectangular blocks onto everything imaginable—ranging from anime characters and public transport to historical landmarks. The meme satirizes the practical, yet aesthetically chaotic, military habit of 'up-armoring' anything with a flat surface, symbolizing a hilarious obsession with protection at all costs.