Solar Flare (Plants vs. Zombies)

About

Solar Flare is a playable character in the 2016 mobile card game Plants vs. Zombies Heroes. An anthropomorphic sunflower wearing a pair of goggles, the character has been featured in a popular Friday Night Funkin' mod and achieved virality on X / Twitter in 2024 as it was depicted as a tomboyish young woman, with multiple pieces of fan art of the character being spread.

Origin

On March 10th, 2016, a collectible mobile card game Plants vs. Zombies Heroes of the Plants vs. Zombies franchise was announced and soft released in selected countries, with the global launch following on October 18th, 2016.^[1]

In the game, the player fights opponents with their cards and a Hero, the main playable character with several powers that can be activated during the match. Solar Flare, the leader of the Kabloom and Solar classes, can be unlocked early in the game.^[2] Solar Flare is an anthropomorphic female sunflower wearing goggles and a black shirt with a leaf design on it (shown below).

Spread

Prior to 2024, the character saw moderate presence in fan art. For example, on March 18th, 2016, DeviantArt^[3] user Magicwaterz16 posted a fan art of the character that received over 210 favorites and 27,500 views on the site in nine years (shown below). On March 15th, 2020, artist @SniperZeon posted a fan art that gained over 50 upvotes and 230 likes on X^[4] in five years.

On January 14th, 2021, artist PEAR哥 (@Peargor) posted a fan art that depicted the character as a young tomboy woman. The artwork (shown below) garnered over 2,800 reposts and 24,000 likes on X,^[5] and has since been cited^[6][7] as a trigger point for the character's online popularity.

In February 2021, developer BRUHMYNAMEISDYLAN released Plant's Night Funkin', a reskin mod for the rhythm video game Friday Night Funkin', with Solar Flare replacing the protagonist Boyfriend.^[8]

On October 4th, 2021, BRUHMYNAMEISDYLAN released Plant's Night Funkin' Replanted, a mod that included custom backgrounds, animated cutscenes and original songs in addition to character skins, with Solar Flare again replacing Boyfriend (video shown below).^[9] As of late October 2024, version 3.0 of the mod is available, featuring three weeks (playable chapters).

On April 8th, 2023, @Peargor posted another artwork of Solar Flare based on his 2021 design. The post received over 4,400 reposts and 37,000 likes on X^[10] in two years. On April 17th, BRUHMYNAMEISDYLAN (@BRUHMYNAMEISDY1) shared an artwork of Solar Flare inspired by @Peargor's design, which gained over 140 reposts and 1,400 likes on X^[11] in two years (shown below).

In 2023 and 2024, BRUHMYNAMEISDYLAN and other artists on X posted multiple fan art of Solar Flare depicted as a young human woman. For example, on April 8th, 2024, BRUHMYNAMEISDYLAN posted a dancing animation of the character that received over 1,600 reposts and 11,000 likes on X^[12] in seven months.

On September 4th, 2024, BRUHMYNAMEISDYLAN posted a Let's Go Gambling meme featuring the character that gained over 181,000 views, 1,100 reposts and 9,300 likes on X^[13] and over 1.1 million views and 43,000 likes on TikTok^[14] in two months (shown below).

Solar Flare attempts to get the diamond jackpot pic.twitter.com/tusAWzgZFI

— BRUHIMSPOOKY 🎃🌻 (@BRUHMYNAMEISDY1) September 4, 2024

The character achieved further recognition online in September and October 2024 after on September 14th, 2024, BRUHMYNAMEISDYLAN started posting weekly artworks of the character referred to as Solar Saturdays.^[15]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References