Who is the meme man?
Who’s is that mysterious meme head man? You know, the stonks guy – also sometimes referred to as Mr. Succ, stalwart hero of a million surreal memes? And could he actually beat Goku in a fight?
You’ll have no doubt encountered, out there on the wild and essentially lawless plains of the meme universe, a man. A bald man. A poorly-rendered, disembodied head man. A pensive dude, most often wearing a serene, zen or otherwise ‘chill’ expression on his smooth, slightly-shiny, inscrutable face.
So who is this ‘meme man’. Why does he go by so many alternative handles, where is he from, and what – if anything – does he want?
MEME MAN ORIGIN
Almost a decade ago now, in the summertime – August 9th, 2014, to be precise – the Facebook group Special Meme Fresh posted what’s reckoned to be the earliest known version of Meme Man.
The image didn’t do especially well, receiving a little over 500 reactions in about seven years.
So who is Special Meme Fresh?
He – or she – was – or is – a meme creator. They’ve been credited with popularising or creating a bunch of popular memes, including ‘snek’, ‘gnome child’, ‘longboi’ and even – hold onto your hats – the very term ‘dank memes’.
According to Special Meme Fresh, Meme Man was originally conceived as a joke on the 4chan board 3DCG, some years ago (the exact date is lost to the mists of deep meme history, alas).
What was the vision? Meme Man, apparently, was supposed to be “a wonky attempt of a human head”.
Nailed it, I guess.
MEME MAN SURREAL MEMES
Something in the shoddy execution, poorly-rendered features and smooth, bald pate makes Meme Man inherently amusing.
Hence his current position as a regular fixture of the Surreal Memes multiverse, one of the most popular and most reoccurring characters.
Despite the fact Meme Man’s neutral face and, we can only assume, mild personality usually gives ‘chill’ vibes, he is sometimes digitally manipulated to reflect different emotions.
These are usually prompted with misspelled words that usually convey certain deep feelings, like “ANGERY”, “SUCC”, ¨KALM¨, or other associated phrases like ‘cool and good‘.
STONKS GUY
Meme Man’s greatest moment in the global spotlight – so far! – was as ’the stonks guy’. You remember, the meme man wearing a suit, standing in front of a line indicating that his ‘stocks’, and overall finances, are in splendid health.
This meme rose to prominence against the backdrop of the infamous 2021 GameStop short squeeze. You remember, when all those dorks on reddit took a hedge fund to the cleaners for trying to eliminate their beloved mall hangout.
Nerd king Elon Musk, at the height of his powers and respectability before all that Twitter foolishness kicked off, even tweeted a pic of our glossy-faced hero, a couple of times actually,
Loads of rich people lost money, good times.
And for an April fools day joke that same year, Fortnite introduced a character called ‘Diamond Hanz’, based on the design of our beloved meme head dude.
Looking online today, a lot of the conversations around Meme Man concern whether or not he’d, in all his multi-versal omnipotence, be able to beat other powerful characters like Goku from Dragon Ball in a straight fight.
This, I feel, reflects Meme Man’s sheer memetic potency. As an icon of all of our lost childhoods.
A dumb drawing, an imaginary friend. Currently serving as a cheery companion on this freight train to hell we call the internet. What will AI make of him? Does he represent the AI revolution we’re all dancing on the cusp of – a revolution we scarcely want and absolutely do not understand?
Because compared to the potential (inevitable!) power of an AI-supported Meme Man, the human mind may as well be a vegetal.
Ever wondered if you could GET RICH MAKING MEMES?
Are CLASSROOM MEMES actually good for teaching?
Also, while we’re here, IS STEALING MEMES ILLEGAL?