Cereal Guy is a stick figure character commonly used on imageboards and discussion forums as a multi-purpose reaction face.
Origin
The original comic was posted by graphic designer Bob Averill (a.k.a Lego_Robot) on the SomethingAwful forums sometime in 2007. Depicting a long-distance couple’s argument over the phone, the comic strip served as a parody of TV commercials for Reese’s Puffs cereal featuring the tagline “Candy?!… For breakfast? It’s Reese’s!” The popularity of the comic prompted Averill to start his own webcomic series Lego Robot Comics, now known as Plastic Brick Automaton.
4chan’s Cereal Guy
In late 2009, Averill’s character resurfaced as a reaction face on 4chan where he received the name “Cereal Guy”. For some time, the images were referred to as “STFU when I’m talking” through a successful 45 GET-- however that name ultimately did not catch on.
Following the generally positive reception of Cereal Guy, a number of derivative instances were introduced by other users on 4chan, such as Cereal Guy 2.0 the polished version of original MS paint image, Bubble Pipe Cereal Guy who appears to be taking a break from eating cereal and Cereal Guy Ninja doing a roundhouse kick.
As per suggestion of user “dexter (zdza@hotmail.com)”, efeFzefefergf in typical 4chan fashion.
There is also a single topic blog titled Fuck Yeah, Cereal Guy[3] which is dedicated to answering various people’s questions with counterpoints in character of Cereal Guy.
Obama Rage Face (also known as “Not Bad” Face) is a rage comic reaction face based on a press photograph of Barack Obama wearing a sturgeon face during his official state visit to the United Kingdom in May 2011. The image is used as a positive response to a pleasant surprise or an outcome of an event that has surpassed one’s expectation, similar to the usage of “everything went better than expected” face.
Origin
On May 24th, 2011, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama paid a visit to the Queen of England at the Buckingham Palace.[1] During the presidential couple’s first state visit to the United Kingdom, a peculiar photograph of the couple looking rather startled was taken by a Reuters photojournalist. The Obamas’ summit with the British royal family was widely covered by the British news media and the photograph was featured two days later as “Picture of the Day” by The Telegraph.[10]
On the May 26th, 2011, Redditor joeyjoejoe99 posted a rage comic on the f7u12 subreddit called “Not Bad Obama.”[2]The multi-pane comic strip depicted Computer Reaction Guy photoshopping the news photograph into a rage comic reaction face and being satisfied with the result, accompanied by the caption in red letters “Not Bad.” Later that day, a version of the first lady Michelle Obama’s O RLY face was posted by Redditor thrsdy titled “Not Bad, Michelle”.[3]
Spread
Shortly after the Reddit post, several comic strips and threads were submitted including a faceswap instance posted by Redditor eyes_of_disapproval in a thread titled “Not bad, Mobama”.[4] The Daily Mail[6] held a captioning contest using the photograph and The Daily What[5] featured the Obamas’ rage faces on the same day.
In the following weeks, derivative comics and reaction faces were highlighted by internet humor site Memebase[7], as well as resource sites for reaction faces like Ragefac.es[8] and All The Rage Faces.[9] Meanwhile, the caption “Not Bad” became associated with “sturgeon face” images in general:
AMA Recognition
On August 26th, 2012, Obama visited Reddit for a 30 minute AMA[11]. In address to what he thinks about reddit, the president makes a direct mention to his rage face. Though this is not confirmed as intentional, it is highly likely, with “NOTBAD” in all caps.
“You Don’t Say?” is a rage comic face based on a contour drawing of Nicolas Cage that is that is used as a sarcastic response to an obvious observation or statement, in similar vein to “O RLY” image macros.
Origin
The phrase “you don’t say” is an idiomatic expression used to convey surprise or astonishment but it can be also used sarcastically in response to an obvious statement.[8] The image of Nicolas Cage was taken from a scene in the 1988 black comedy film Vampire’s Kiss, which revolves around a troubled literary agent’s descent into madness after convincing himself that he is turning into a vampire. His unique facial expression was taken from a particular scene in which Cage’s character Peter Loew torments his secretary in a disturbing manner.
The scene from Vampire Kiss was featured in a video titled “Nicholas Cage Freaking Out,” uploaded by YouTuber twoworldsfreak01 on July 27th, 2009. A still from the scene was also used as a reaction face in a in a demotivational image captioned with “Nicolas Cage / Available in Stoic and Batshit Crazy” uploaded to Roflrazzi[13] on August 15th, 2009. The contour drawing of Nicolas Cage first appeared in a rage comic uploaded to Reddit[1] by user LeechHax on October 1st, 2011. It had been vectorized by Redditor Aveilleux[10] for LeechHax to use specifically in his comic.
Spread
On the same day, LeechHax’s comic was reposted to FunnyJunk[9] where it received 4,211 up votes in the span of a month, and again posted onto image-sharing site Lowbird[5] on October 3rd, 2011. Another instance was submitted to the r/funny subreddit[3] on November 25th, 2011, with the vectorized face placed next to a bag of carrots that only listed “carrots” as its ingredient. The image reached the front page, accumulating over 4,000 up votes in 5 days.
On November 27th, 2011, a Facebook screenshot with the face was posted to the r/trees subreddit.[4] Additional derivatives can be found on FunnyJunk[7], Reddit[11] and with the tag “#you don’t say” on Tumblr.[6] A Facebook fan page[12] for the face has over 9000 likes as of March 2012.
Yao Ming Face (sometimes referred to as “Fuck That Guy” or “Dumb Bitch”) is a rage comic-style contour drawing of the professional basketball player Yao Ming wearing a hearty smile. The image is typically used as a reaction face to convey a dismissive attitude towards someone else’s input in online discussions, then usually following something that one ups their input.
Origin
The drawing is based on a stillshot photograph of Yao Ming captured from a post-game press conference in May 2009. At :18 in the video below, the athlete is seen making the face after his teammate Ron Artest leaves the site of interview.
On July 11th, 2010, a Reddit[1] post was submitted by artist “downlow”[2] which featured numerous drawings he had created for rage comics that were never used, including the Yao Ming drawing. In the same thread[3], downlow confirmed that the drawing was based on a screen capture of Ming from the press conference in May.
Redditor alkalait replied to the thread remarking that it appeared as if Yao Ming was saying “bitch please.”
Spread
On August 31st, 2010, the face was included in an updated rage template image post in the f7u12 subreddit.[15]Redditor wallish[16] replied to the thread referring to the face as “Asian Laughing Guy.”
On September 13th, 2010, a rage comic featuring the Yao Ming face accompanied by the caption “dumb bitch” was submitted to the f7u12[17] subreddit by Redditor fifa10. The image was often referred to as “dumb bitch” until February 19th, 2011, when a rage comic titled “I let my 7 year old cousin use the rage editor and this is what she made” by Redditornagem reached the front page of the f7u12 subreddit, accumulating 3,990 up votes prior to being archived. Redditor chotheamazing replied to the post calling the Yao Ming drawing “fuck that shit face guy.”
In April of 2011, a series of rage comics were submitted to the f7u12 subreddit[17][18], using the Yao Ming face as a response to discovering spiders. The comics typically end with the Yao Ming face setting fire to an entire house in order to destroy a single arachnid. While several spider burning rage comics did appear before hand the one first associated with the Yao Ming face was by Redditor punkhobo. The original comic was the following one
On May 23rd, "dumbbitch"" was replaced with “fuckthatshit” for the Yao Ming face label in the Reddit[14] rage face comment icons list. The meme has since spread to Tumblr[7], FunnyJunk[12] and MemeBase.[4] Several Facebook[11]pages have been created for the rage face, the most popular of which “Yao Ming (Face)”[10] has accumulated 44,628 likes as of February 16th, 2011.
A female version of the meme has also been sighted
Usage
The “dumb bitch” varieties are often used in misogynistic jokes in rage comics, while “fuck that” versions tend to express a more flippant attitude towards an unworthy remark made by someone else. The reaction image can be used with a tone similar to that of the Are You Serious? Face.
Left to right: Dumb Bitch, Fuck That
Notable Examples
Rage Comics
"
Imitations
The face is often imitated by users on Reddit[9], who upload pictures of themselves next to the original Yao Ming drawing.
Derivative: Fuck No Guy
“Fuck No” Guy is a derivative image of “Fuck That” Guy which portrays Yao Ming with a similar but far more disgusted/horrified expression. The face comes from a rage comic made by Reddit user wholemilk[8] in a thread titled “Son, you forgot to take out the trash” posted on October 6th, 2010.
Neil deGrasse Tyson Reaction is a rage comic character and reaction face of astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson making a defensive gesture. The character image is sometimes associated with the catchphrase “Watch out guys, we’re dealing with a badass over here” that is used to mock arrogant and boastful statements made by Internet users.
Origin
The outline drawing was based on a still image from an interview with Tyson by the online knowledge forum Big Think[4] on living and longevity (shown below), which was uploaded to YouTube on June 3rd, 2011. The non-plussed reaction occurred when Tyson explained how Sir Isaac Newton invented calculus before his 26th birthday.
An animated GIF of the reaction was submitted to the marijuana enthusiast r/trees[5] subreddit in a post titled “when asked if i smoke weed often” on August 25th, 2011 (shown below, left). User Hippopoptimus_Prime replied to the thread with a rage comic version of the face (shown below, right).
Spread
On October 23rd, 2011, Redditor Onlyhereforthelaughs submitted a rage comic featuring the Tyson rage face to the /r/f7u12 subreddit.[6] On October 25th, Redditor GiggleAtTheGoatse uploaded a screen capture of a Facebook status update that read “Smokin Weed” accompanied by the Tyson rage face and the caption “Watch out guys, we’re dealing with a badass over here.” An updated rage face with the “Watch out, we got a badass over here” caption was uploaded by Redditor fairlydeadfellow[3] on November 7th.
Notable Examples
Most examples of Neil deGrasse reaction comics are intended to poke fun at self-gratuitous comments, status updates or photos found on social networking sites.
Ay Si Ay Si
In January of 2012, image macros featuring the Neil deGrasse Tyson rage comic illustration began circulating on the Spanish-speaking web, often captioned with the phrase “Ay si ay si” (“Oh yes oh yes” in English) conveying a patronizing and sarcastic tone. On January 18th, a Meme Generator[7] page for “Ay Si” was created and a Facebook page titled “Ay si, ay si” was launched, gaining upwards of 580 items and 150,000 likes in the next 13 months respectively. On March 23rd, a Quickmeme[8] page titled “Ay Si! Ay Si!” was created.
On December 23rd, the Spanish-language rage comic blog Cuánto Cabrón[11] posted a photograph (shown above) of a sign with the message “Ay si, ay si / El bar del meme” (“Oh yea oh yes / Meme’s Bar” in English). Within the next two months, the post received over 3,400 up votes and 490 Facebook likes. Additional examples can be found on the microblogging and social networking site Tumblr under the tag “#ay si.”[10]
