R)

`R)` is Twitch's pirate smiley: a robot face with one eye hidden by an eye patch. A 2012 emoticon reference records `R)` as a TwitchTV robot pirate while the same shortcut produced a monkey pirate on Justin.tv.

Twitch revived Justin.tv's monkey-emoticon tradition in 2013 with the Richard Turbo set, an expressive monkey designed by Twitch's David McLeod as a throwback to Justin.tv. The current `R)` artwork uses a robot rather than Richard. `R-)` is the hyphen-nose spelling in the same current artwork family, so the two commands are variants of one pirate reaction rather than separate characters.

Viewers type `R)` or `R-)` for pirate jokes, eye-patch references, nautical scenes and other moments where Twitch's old robot pirate fits.