One Piece’s live-action Buggy the pirate clown is inescapable on TikTok

Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, and die-hard fans will find something lovable about nearly any character — no matter how deplorable or slimy they seem.

Netflix releases the live action adaptation of the anime show One Piece In August. It was a show that not only revived the interest of the whole series but brought new attention to one member in particular. Buggy, the clown pirate from TikTok is now getting dozens of fan-edits. Some might be confused by the trend, but others will see it as a much needed renaissance for the character.

One PieceFollows a young boy named Luffy on his quest to be the best pirate in the entire world. Luffy encounters a colorful cast, among them Buggy, an eccentric clown pirate who has a Joker-like vibe. Buggy challenges Luffy, his crew, and himself to a battle. The perfect match to Luffy’s rubber powers, Buggy wields the power of the Chop Chop Devil Fruit, which allows him to break his body apart and control individual parts with ease.

Jeff Ward, a charming Buggy is played by Jeff Ward in live action. However, you barely get to see his face due to how heavily he has clown makeup on. Equal parts goofy and self-aggrandizing, Ward effuses a certain kind of swagger in Buggy that the character doesn’t always earn. He’s not exactly suave, but his confidence has a certain magnetic pull. Whatever he’s doing, it seems to be working for him, because I — along with every seemingly other person interested in One Piece —The TikTok algorithms has served up a lot of Buggy Edits.

Videos edited together from live action series showcasing Buggy. A lot of them are set to sexy girl pop songs, like Britney Spears’ “Circus” and the allegedly leaked Ariana Grande single “Fantasize.” A rather simple edit with blurred transitions of footage has over 2.3 million views at the time of publication, and TikTok is filled with dozens of other viral Buggy fan videos.

I’m not joking when I say there are just so many of them.

There is truly no need for these, but I’m glad they exist. Many people have made jokes regarding the flood of Buggy Edits on TikTok.

This man’s fans seem to be willing to do just about anything in exchange for some crumbs. It’s just an audio recording of Buggy being shown on television. This TikTok has over 1.7M views.

Buggy’s current popularity is largely due to the Netflix show. However, there was a pre-existing Buggy following that had been dormant. Polygon talked to a longtime Buggy fan. One Piece fan and self-identified Buggy simp who goes by the name L online and said they originally liked Buggy for his “good vibes, thick thighs, and a small waist,” but later liked getting to know him as a character.

The best way to spoil the fun is by saying too much. One PieceBuggy is continuing to appear in the series in new and exciting ways. L’s comments and other TikToks from fans emphasized that a part of his appeal is that he is incompetent and continuously fails upwards.

Each fan is going to love different aspects of each character. Buggy represents certain tropes or ideals that are popular amongst girls online. For L, Buggy’s androgynous appearance in later arcs was a draw as well.

“I also think an aspect of it is that he reads as somewhat queer and gender non-conforming, which I personally like. He’s very masc at the beginning but still, no completely cishet person dresses like that. His whole Ariana look for Impel Down was flawless. And then post-timeskip, what gender-nonconforming person hasn’t wanted to be just a head atop a giant shapeless sack?”

Buggy has always been a sleeper character, and now there’s more to love.

“I think the live-action Buggy is like if he escaped and had been running around in the woods for a while,” L continued. “A little dirty, kinda feral, but he just needs a bath and a snack — I don’t love him any less.”