Pepe - The Original Dank Meme

NSFW - Language and Adult Themes

This is perhaps going to longest and worst post on this blog simply because there is so much to cover. In total our friend Pepe the Frog spans over a comic, at least 1252 submemes and so many variants that it would literally take weeks to finish this post so here's the deal. This post is going to be the highlight reel of some of the most memorable and altered Pepe's on the internet crème de la crème if you will. So sit back, relax and enjoy the sweet sweet sounds of the internet moaning in disapproval because their favourite variant was not mentioned.

Pepe originated as a character within the 2005 Gross-out comic Boy's Club. Written by Matt Furie, the cast consisted of a group of teenage monsters named Brett, Andy, Landwolf and Pepe the Frog. This comic and Pepe in particular first became relevant in early 2008 when one of the comic strips was uploaded on the 4chan's /b/ board. It depicted Pepe pulling his pants down in order to use the bathroom. This along with the expression "Feels Good Man" were the first among many Pepe variants to become popular on 4chan.

An example of Furie's Comic Boy's Club

Throughout most of 2008, Pepe was mostly affiliated with the "Feels Good Man" reaction image. Shitposters began to use photoshop to edit the final frame of the comic so that Pepe's face was on the body of different characters. During the initial photoshopping of the Feels Good Man meme, the face and caption would be edited onto primarily pokemon. The phrase itself had also become separate from Pepe himself as shitposters would use the phrase to justify their actions or behaviour.

An example of early implimentation of the "Feels Good Man" Pepe Varient

The "Feels Good Man" variant, "Feels Bad Man" was first posted on January 22nd 2009. The varient is depicted as a photoshopped version of the original "Feels Good Man" meme with the smile being turned 180 degrees into a frown and the accompanying text saying "Feels Bad Man". This was taken even further when on August 17th 2009, a user on the 4chan body building forums posted a sad frog image of Pepe which said "Not Good Man".

A comparison between the "Feels Bad Man" and "Not Good Man" Meme

It was not until early 2009 that Pepe would be paired with the "You will never X" meme. This pairing is first seen on June the 11th 2009 on the /a/ forums.

An example of the "You will Never X" meme being paired with "Feels Bad Man"

Another notable variant of Pepe is Angry Pepe also known as Angry Frog or REEEEEE. Angry Pepe is a reaction image of a hostile looking variant of Pepe the frog which is used in combination with expressions of rage or frustration. The oldest use of this meme comes from 2014 where it was posted on 4chan's /R9k/ (ROBOT9001) board. The image is a greentext rant about normal people or as the user would refer to them as being; 'normal fags'. 

This image continues to be reused by all members of the 4chan community and beyond as it is such a strong statement of pure frustration and irritability. On February 9th an anonymous Tumblr user created variations of the Angry Pepe meme gathering over 12,500 notes over the following week. 

 

Variants of the Angry Pepe Meme

There are just too many Pepe memes to cover. I may come back to this in the future as a part 2 but, this is all I can do for now. So until the next time this has been Cluedo100 over and out. 

NOTABLE MENTIONS

To the following people; thank you so much for helping me gather information and images for this final post as well as help me choose what to write about!

Hannah, Jake, Jank and Riley - Thank you so so so much :)