I remember sharing the Techno Viking video with a co-worker back in 2007 when it went viral. We worked a job that had a whole lot of down time and we'd message humorous internet links back-and-forth to pass the time. I honestly don't recall if back then we talked about videos being "viral" material, but there was definitely a sense that Techno Viking belonged on a short list of epic internet videos.
Other than what transpired on the 4-minute video, nothing more ever really came of the Techno Viking. Usually there'll be interviews of viral video stars as they're stretching out their 15-minutes of fame. Typically they give their account or some additional context as to what was going on in the video. We get closure and move on to the next viral video. To my knowledge no one ever tracked down Techno Viking. I guess it helped that the video caught fire some seven years after it was filmed during the 2000 German "Fuck Parade".
It turns out that the Techno Viking prefers to stay anonymous. So much so that he sued the original uploader of the video for the unauthorized profit he made off of his image... but somehow remained to still stay anonymous.
Some some reason I had a random memory recall of this video. Maybe something else pinged my brain that triggered the mythical dancing Viking-looking man to come back to the top of mind? Either way, an idea for a custom parody card was subsequently birthed.
The idea was to make a football card where the Minnesota Vikings team name was played upon. Kind of like was done with the Rangers on this card, and the Giants on this one. I considered a couple of templates but I landed on the old trusty 1987 Topps football inspired design. Basically, I just thought that the way that the Vikings team name was displayed would end up working better than some of the other '80s templates I was considering.
