It's been a week since Apple's iOS 8.3 update arrived with more than 300 new emojis, including the highly anticipated set of racially diverse options. With so many new additions, it's going to take a while before you're able to use and experience the magic of each and every one of them. At this rate, I don't think the novelty will ever wear off.
That is until some more brand-spaking-new emojis come with a future iOS update, of course. The Internet has already been abuzz with suggestions for emojis that should be added next. It seems that a middle finger, a taco and a unicorn emoji have long been in demand by smartphone users.
And real talk, Unicode. Don't you think it's time that these did become real-live emojis? The people have spoken. Let's give them what they want already.
But aside from these beloved symbols, emojis are seriously lacking in terms of pop culture-related iconography. Of course, Spock's famous Vulcan salute was just added to the set of emojis approved by Unicode. You can also find a few third-party emoji keyboards featuring some of your favorite aspects of pop culture, such as Seinfeld, Saturday Night Live and Burger King Chicken Fries, of all things.
Still, emojis are sincerely lacking in the pop culture department, which may be due to licensing issues and that sort of thing, but isn't this really what we want out of our emojis? I'll keep wishing for it until it happens.
Until then, in case the powers that be need any help deciding what emojis to add next, I've got a few suggestions to help them narrow it down. Here are seven pop culture emojis that should come to a smartphone near you.
1. Game Of Thrones
Game of Thrones is such a phenomenon, I'm surprised the HBO fantasy series doesn't have its own set of emojis yet. How cool would it be to let Drogon loose, sit on the iron throne or try to cheer up Jon Snow, all through text? Luckily, Elite Daily dreamed some up some Game of Thrones emojis for us last year, but looking at them will only make you want them more.
2. The Avengers
Marvel is so good at creating merchandise for its comics, movies and TV shows that I am super surprised that it hasn't gotten into the emoji game yet. Creating emojis in the likeness of the Avengers would be the logical first step. This set would include all of the heroes from the movie (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, the Hulk and Hawkeye), in addition to some baddies (Loki, Ultron, Thanos) and of course some objects (Loki's helmet, Infinity Stone, shawarma). Designer Louie Mantia even created a few awesome emojis of the heroes in case any inspiration is needed.
3. Hillary Clinton
Clinton confirmed the worst-kept secret ever last Sunday when she officially threw her hat into the ring to run for president in the 2016 election. Creating a set of emojis just for the presidential hopeful would be an awesome campaign tactic that would definitely help secure the youth vote. In addition to an emoji of Clinton, this set could also include one of her husband Bill, one of her texting and a Chipotle burrito bowl. If Unicode just wanted to recreate this New Yorker cover by artist Barry Blitt, that would be fine too.
4. Orphan Black
Orphan Black returns for Season 3 April 18 on BBC America, and wouldn't it be great to usher in the new season with a set of Orphan Black emojis? This series about a conspiracy involving clones has star Tatiana Maslany playing several different types of characters, from British rebel Sarah to soccer mom Alison to PhD candidate Cosima. With all of those different personalities, if there's any show that's just begging to be made into emojis, it's Orphan Black.
5. Music Festivals
It's music festival season, and that means the kids are going to be spending their weekends listening to some live tunes, chilling in the great outdoors and overall feeling very, very good about life. Of course, they're going to be spending a lot of time on their phones trying to track down their friends in the crowds of people and documenting the whole festival since they're not going to remember any of it the next day. Music festival emojis should definitely exist then to please these heavy mobile users that prize free expression. Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses, a fanny pack and a porta potty should all be included in there.
6. Mad Men
The end is near for Mad Men, but wouldn't it be lovely if we could keep the critically acclaimed AMC drama alive forever and ever with emojis? I can think of no better promotional opportunity that the SC&P crew would approve of than having a Don Draper, Old Fashioned cocktail and tractor emoji for the whole world to use.
7. The Star-Studded Supporters Of Tidal
Beyonce, Madonna, Kanye West and a whole slew of today's biggest music stars came out in support of Tidal, the new music streaming service recently purchased by Jay-Z. It's unclear if Tidal will be a hit with music listeners, but there's no doubt that this would be one cool collection of emojis.
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