Sometimes, it’s hard to explain memes. Then there is the image macro memes. The basic formula is taking an image and superimposing text (traditionally with the font Impact) on top of it. Pictures and captions, it’s the bread and butter of internet humor.
There are some reoccurring characters in macro memes. I’ve compiled some of my favorite characters (or just rather popular ones) and few examples of what people write in them. These are all from the website Meme Generator, which makes it easy to create macro memes. I’ve also quoted the explanation/origin of each character from Meme Generator, as well as a link to the character’s page that I got the quotes from. They are not all shown here, because there are a ton of them.
Let the image-heavy blog begin.
Philosoraptor
Obviously, the best place to acquire philosophical musings is from a velociraptor. And the best velociraptor to go to in order to ponder the deeper meanings of life is Philosoraptor.
Philosoraptor muses about all the questions in our lives that we should be asking. Sure, Plato had some interesting thoughts. Aristotle made some minor contributions. But it was only Philosoraptor who had the courage, the fortitude, and the insight to ask: “If a vegetarian eats vegetables, does a humanitarian eat humans?” Indeed, these are valuable philosophical thoughts for our time.
Foul Bachelor/Bachelorette Frog
Foul Bachelor Frog is one of the more easily understood and recognized memes, as his sayings commonly reflect the disgusting shortcuts and rather questionable personal habits of the male bachelor species.
Foul Bachelorette Frog is a partner meme to Foul Bachelor Frog. This is the female version of the meme, with little else different from the other meme.
These were the least disgusting ones I could find.
Courage Wolf
The meme itself pictures the aforementioned wolf’s head, centered on a wheel of color for a background, radiating out as the text is included above and below the wolf. The courageous (?) advice of Courage Wolf starts off usually outlining a particular problem, issue, or challenge, and then the second line comes in and the brave advice is offered. One example is, “Pain is temporary – Glory is forever”.
Y U NO
The Y U No meme actually began as Y U No Guy but eventually evolved into simply Y U No, the phrase being generally followed by some often ridiculous suggestion. Originally, the face of Y U No guy was taken from Japanese cartoon Gantz’ Chapter 55: Naked King, edited, and placed on a pink wallpaper. The text for the item reads “I TXT U … Y U NO TXTBAK?!” It appeared as a Tumblr file, garnering over 10,000 likes and reblogs.
Socially Awkward Penguin
Socially awkward Penguin has a little bit of difficulty determining how both people and penguins are supposed to behave in certain social situations. This flightless waterfowl often comes across as clunky, confused, and just doesn’t quite get it.
Hipster Ariel
Hipster Ariel began to show up in 2011. Blogger Braden Graeber is named as the blogger responsible for the creation of Hipster Ariel. He has also gone on to develop other hipster macros as well. But regarding the Ariel one, he simply took a photograph of the mermaid from the 1989 movie and photoshopped the hipster glasses on her to create the meme.
The photo chosen captures Ariel in an expression of extreme consternation, which is perhaps why it was chosen by Graeber in the first place. Often, a pained, angst-filled expression is mistaken as a normal neutral hipster expression. It’s easy to get them confused.
Hipsters are often talking about how much cooler they are than other people, and how they have discovered interesting things way before anyone else has. It is important to them that they found (whatever it is) first. It’s also important to them that they remind people of how much less cool and hip they are than the hipster themselves.
There are hundred of other memes and I encourage you to go to memegenerator.net and post your own memes in the comments. (Or link to them. I think posting images isn’t functional in the comments.)
Next week: No idea, toss me some ideas.