The Wojak Meme: History, and Variations.
According to English Wikipedia, an internet meme is something famous on the internet, such as an image, a video, or even a person. Generally, internet memes are usually created when someone publishes something, and that thing becomes widely shared on the Internet.
Indeed, memes have constantly served the purpose of conveying emotions and a means of expression beyond words. These characteristics can be said of the Wojak meme, one of the earliest memes that have stood the test of time.
In this article, I will be reviewing Wojak’s meme and diving into its history.
What is Wojak Meme?
The word ‘Wojak’ itself is a Polish word meaning soldier or fighter, but the ‘Wojak’ meme, also known as the “feels good guy,” is a simple Microsoft paint illustration of a bald man with a melancholy look. The image shows a bald head, and its most noticeable characteristic; is a lifeless face void of any hint of excitement, emotions, or enthusiasm.
The meme gained popularity on 4chan, where the character was tied with phrases previously used by Wojak, such as “I know that feel, bro,” “that feel,” and “that feel when.” This also came with the abbreviation ‘tfw.’
The Wojak meme has evolved over time and now has variants communicating a wide range of emotions. To fully understand where the meme originated from and how it grew in popularity, I have to dive into its history.
History of Wojak Meme.
Although the artist of the Wojak artwork is unknown, it first appeared on Vichan, a Polish imageboard, in 2009 as a comic book series “I Wish I Was At Home (Playing Videogames).” The artwork depicted the man alone in a party corner, with accompanying text reflecting his inner struggle.
It was believed to have been uploaded under the filename “ciepa twarz.jpg,” which translates as “warm face.”
It was later republished in 2010 by the user ‘Wojak’ on Krautchan, a German imageboard. The individual who posted the meme frequently associated it with his grief over singlehood.
The image gained popularity on several image boards, including 4chan, in 2011 when an image of two Wojaks hugging each other with the comment “I know that feel bro” gained popularity. Occasionally, the meme was associated with Pepe the Frog, which Brian Feldman defined as a “platonic romance within the memescape.”
Since its popularity, the Wojak meme has slowly become the unanimous visual representation of male grief and emptiness.
Over time, the memes have evolved and now have different variations, which we will be mentioned in the following subheading.
Variations of the Wojak Meme.
Since 2009 when Wojak came into existence, there have been several iterations and additions to the simple basic sketch. The variations are pretty numerous, but the most popular can be divided into four.
In this section, we will be explaining the four in detail:
NPC
The NPC is an acronym for a non-player character. It is an internet meme that depicts individuals who are incapable of thinking for themselves or making their own choices. The NPC is grey in colour and has a plain design with an expressionless face, a triangle nose, and a blank stare.
The meme was published on 7 July 2016 by an unidentified contributor and was originally posted on the imageboard 4chan. This was followed by the explanation of the concept -”Are you an NPC? If you get in a discussion with them, it’s always the same buzzwords and hackneyed arguments. They’re the kind of people who make a show of discomfort when you break the status quo, like breaking the normie barrier to invoke a real discussion. It’s like in a [video game] when you accidentally talk to somebody twice, and they give you the exact lines word for word once more”.
The NPC meme gained great popularity and was featured by several news publications in October 2018. It was popularly used by Donald Trump’s supporters to stoke the fires while being used to stoke the fires by Trump supporters.
How and why? According to 4chan conversations, liberals lack ‘inner thoughts, and their mentality renders them incapable of decision-making, much like a video game NPC.
Naturally, this is a broad generalization that should be taken with a dose of skepticism or a drop of reality. It did not, however, deter online trolls from raising a stir. At its peak, about 1500 Twitter accounts (perhaps more) had the Wojak NPC as their profile picture.
These individuals posed as Liberals in order to spread significant disinformation about the 2018 Election. It was a sickening social critique in which progressives were practically portrayed as zombies. Ironically, the NPC avatar enabled the user to troll anonymously without admitting guilt for their activities. Following several media press coverage, Twitter subsequently deactivated these NPC accounts.
COOMER:
Coomer is a Wojak characterized by a terrible masturbation addiction. The “Coomer” Wojak gained popularity in November 2019 as part of the “No Nut November” movement.
The image features an untidy Wojak with messy hair, bloodshot eyes, and an unruly beard. It is commonly believed to refer to someone who is addicted to pornography.
The meme’s prominence can be linked to the “Coomer Vow,” a viral internet movement in which participants were challenged to refrain from masturbating for the whole month of November. If they fail, they must change their profile picture to that of the Coomer.
The Coomer meme is characterized by the following features described in the image below.
DOOMER:
The Doomer is primarily a medium for emotionally stunted digital-era youth to communicate. The meme first appeared on 4chan in September 2018, with the graphic featuring Wojak wearing a beanie and smoking a cigarette. This version frequently epitomizes hopelessness and despair, with a belief in the impending end of the world as a result of different causes, from climatic disasters to peak oil to opiate abuse.
In January 2020, a related meme style known as “doomer girl” began emerging on 4chan and quickly spread to other online communities such as Reddit. According to The Atlantic, this format features “a hastily sketched cartoon woman with black hair, black clothing, and sad eyes surrounded with crimson makeup.”
Soyjak
This is a combination of soy boy, a slang phrase for a facial expression related to men identified as nu-males, or Soy Boys, who are captured with their mouths gaping, showing surprise or excitement, and the Wojak meme. So, Soyjak is basically a variation of Wojak with an open-mouthed smile.
The Soyjak meme surfaced on 4chan for the first time in December 2017. It soon gained popularity as a result of the growing number of alterations and variants, most of which mocked pastimes associated with “soy boys,” such as using Reddit or playing Nintendo Switch.
Wojak YouTube Presence.
The Wojak meme is known to have a huge following online, and YouTube is no exception. The meme can be seen to have a solid presence with much content in the YouTube space. This is evident by the thousands of views on several videos, with one of the videos recorded on the 24th of April, 2019, raking in close to 5 Million views. The video focused on the outlook of the ‘doomer’ generation, and some potential means of overcoming the pessimism found within it. Asides from the views, it also recorded close to 25,00 comments. Pretty impressive!
In addition, the Wojak meme is portrayed to cover several characters in different shows and animations. These range from comics to crypto, mental health, and a wide range of discussions where the Wojak meme is constantly being used as a voice and symbol of an era.
Now, let’s talk about the Wojak meme NFTs.
The Wojak meme predates the invention of NFT, but in 2021, NFTs gained widespread attention, and currently, the Wojak meme has thousands of variations as NFTs.
There are two collections of Wojak NFTs, they include:
- The Rare Wojak NFT
The Rare Wojak NFT is a Solana-based collection of 4200 Wojak with over 50 randomly generated unique traits. Among the 4200 Wojak NFTs, there are 120 Legendary Wojak. These are video NFTs starring Wojak’s character. Notably, this is Solana’s first video-based offering.
- World of Wojak
The world of Wojak NFT is an Ethereum-based collection of 10069 unique Wojak variations. The collection cuts across all walks of life, representing day-to-day life and every one of us.
Conclusion
For years, the wojak meme has served as a means of communication, one quite a number of people can relate with. Also, the meme depicts the mental health and thought patterns of the generation we live in.
Truly, the meme has evolved from one variation to another, but the only constant thing is how each variation is riddled with many emotions, from sadness to fear and hopelessness.
Now, we are in a meme-dominated era with the evolution of different NFT works, and the Wojak meme is not left behind. In a few years, we can only expect to see more variations of the Wojak meme as innovators add more colors and characters to the meme.
