{"slug":"portal-companion-cube","name":"Portal Companion Cube","url":"/templates/portal-companion-cube.png","w":600,"h":554,"top":"","bottom":"","alternateFormats":[{"slug":"portal-companion-cube-gif","label":"GIF Version"}],"description":"The Weighted Companion Cube from Portal. Gray metal cube with pink hearts. For expressing attachment to inanimate objects or things you were told to let go of but refuse to.","keywords":"companion cube meme, portal companion cube, weighted companion cube, portal meme, companion cube hearts","year":2007,"origin":"From Valve's Portal (2007). The Weighted Companion Cube is a metal cube with pink hearts on its faces that the player must carry through a test chamber and then incinerate to proceed. GLaDOS tells you the cube cannot speak, will never threaten to stab you, and \"cannot love you back.\" Players became emotionally attached to it anyway. The 3D render shows the cube's gray metal body with rounded edges, circular panels containing pink hearts, and magenta accent lines. It became a symbol of irrational attachment, anthropomorphizing objects, and refusing to let go of things you logically should. For another Portal reference, see The Cake Is A Lie.","format":"classic","howToMake":["The Companion Cube is here and it loves you (it cannot love you back). Add text about what you refuse to let go of.","Top text is the setup. Bottom text names the object, habit, or attachment you will not abandon.","The cube's neutral gray and pink hearts mean most text colors work. Black or white both read clearly.","The nearly square format is versatile for posts and reactions.","Download your emotional attachment as a PNG. Do not incinerate it."],"exampleCaptions":["MY BOSS TELLING ME TO DELETE THE PROTOTYPE","ME SAVING A COPY ON MY PERSONAL DRIVE"],"exampleAltText":"Portal Companion Cube meme about secretly saving a work prototype you were told to delete","exampleRefreshDate":"2026-04-21","seo":{"aliases":["Companion Cube Meme","Portal Cube Meme","Weighted Companion Cube","Portal Hearts Cube","Love Cube Meme"],"description":"The Weighted Companion Cube from Portal, rendered in 3D against a light background. The cube is built from gray metal plates with darker gray edges and rounded corners. Each visible face has a circular panel inset, and inside each circle sits a pink heart. Thin magenta lines run along the edges where plates meet. The hearts are the only color on an otherwise industrial object. It is a piece of test equipment that Valve somehow made you feel guilty about destroying.","definition":"The Weighted Companion Cube from Portal, a gray metal cube with pink hearts. Represents irrational emotional attachment to objects, projects, or relationships that you know you should move on from but cannot.","useCases":[{"category":"Refusing To Let Go","examples":["Keeping clothes that do not fit \"just in case\"","Holding onto a phone case for a phone you no longer own","Saving files from a job you left three years ago","Refusing to throw away a gift even though you have never used it"]},{"category":"Object Attachment","examples":["Naming your car and feeling guilty about selling it","Apologizing to your Roomba when you accidentally kick it","Talking to your plants like they understand you","Feeling bad for the stuffed animal at the bottom of the pile"]},{"category":"Project Loyalty","examples":["Refusing to abandon a side project everyone says is dead","Keeping a prototype alive even though the team moved on","Maintaining a spreadsheet nobody else uses because it brings you comfort"]},{"category":"Gaming Nostalgia","examples":["Refusing to sell old consoles even though they are in the closet","Keeping a save file from a game you finished years ago","The attachment to a game item that has no practical value"]},{"category":"Relationship Artifacts","examples":["Keeping a playlist from a relationship that ended two years ago","Holding onto movie tickets from a first date","Refusing to unfollow an ex's playlist even though you said you were over it"]}]}}