Valve boss Gabe Newell becomes unwitting underwear model in China

Hundreds of Redditors were left reeling after coming across a photo of an underwear model wearing the face of Valve president Gabe Newell.

The photo came from a post by a Reddit user on the r/pcmasterrace subreddit. It showcases a package of underwear with Newell’s doppelganger appearing on the front of the parcel under the brand name Long Dian.

At first glance it's hard to explain how this came to be, but upon closer inspection it's clear that Newell’s face was poorly photoshopped onto another model’s body. The image used for the photo edit can be easily located by doing a simple Google image search for the name “Gabe Newell.”

This isn’t the first time Newell’s likeness has appeared on Long Dian’s drawers. A similar photo was posted three ago again on the same subreddit. Intrigued Reddit investigators went to work to uncover the product’s backstory. It was soon discovered that the text on the package roughly translated to “extra large size underwear” and that the underpants went into circulation in 2015.

There is no concrete explanation behind Long Dian’s usage of Newell’s face. Some have guessed that the package’s designer came across the Valve president’s portrait while searching for most popular images of distinguished plus-size men.

Newell has long been a meme icon among the PC gaming community. Numerous jokes have been produced about the man including his nickname “GabeN,” Valve’s pattern of never publishing a third installment of any of their popular franchises, and Newell acting as many PC gamers’ savior, spreading discounts and sales across the Steam storefront.

There’s no shortage of memes surrounding Newell, although they are typically innocent and silly, lacking any ill will towards the man. Valve’s president is a beloved icon in the gaming community, but with that fame comes the invitation for fans and trolls alike to concoct jokes and parodies of their favorite PC overlord.

“All we know is there won't be a pack with 3,” one user said.