Wojak

Wojak (from Polish , loosely 'soldier' or 'fighter'), also known as Feels Guy, is an Internet meme that is, in its original form, a simple, black-outlined cartoon drawing of a bald man with a wistful expression. The origin of the Wojak illustration is unknown. It may have emerged in 2009 on a Polish imageboard named vichan, from where it was later reposted to the German imageboard krautchan in 2010 by a poster called "wojak". Others theorize it may have originated from the comic series I Wish I Was At Home.
The meme subsequently grew in popularity on 4chan, where the character became associated with the phrases formerly used by wojak such as "I know that feel, bro", "that feel" or "that feel when".
History
The earliest currently known "Wojak" is the nickname of a Polish user on the English-speaking board /int/ of the defunct German imageboard Krautchan, who started posting the image around 2010, often accompanied with lament about not having a girlfriend. According to him, the image originally came from the Polish imageboard vichan, where it was posted with the filename ".jpg" (from Polish 'warm face'). Brian Feldman of Intelligencer describes the meme Wojak's expression as "pained but dealing with it".
The image spread to other imageboards, including 4chan, where by 2011 an image of two Wojaks hugging each other under the caption "I know that feel bro" gained popularity.
Wojak was also paired with the template phrase "that feel" or "that feel when", shortened to "tfw".
Some variants paired him with the character Pepe the Frog (catchphrase "feels good man/feels bad man") in what Feldman describes as a "platonic romance within the memescape".
Variants
NPC
In October 2018, a Wojak with a gray face, pointy nose and blank, emotionless facial expression, dubbed "NPC Wojak", became a popular visual representation for people who cannot think for themselves or make their own decisions, comparing them to non-player characters – computer-automated characters within a video game.
NPC Wojak has gained online notoriety.
The meme gained media attention, initially in Kotaku and The New York Times, due to its usage in parodying the supposed herd mentality of American liberals.
This usage of the meme has been attributed to Donald Trump supporters.
About 1,500 Twitter accounts falsely posing as liberal activists with the NPC meme as a profile picture were suspended for spreading misinformation about the 2018 United States elections.
On January 13, 2019, a conservative art collective known as "The Faction" hijacked a billboard for Real Time with Bill Maher, replacing Maher's image with that of the NPC Wojak.
Coomer
In November 2019, the "Coomer" Wojak picked up in popularity with the "No Nut November" trend. The Coomer depicts a smiling Wojak edit with unkempt hair, red rimmed eyes, and an untidy beard. This Wojak is sometimes depicted with a skinny frame, and a large, muscular right arm resulting from excessive masturbation. It is generally understood to represent someone with a pornography addiction. Much of this meme's popularity can be attributed to the "Coomer Pledge", a viral internet trend which dared people to abstain from masturbation for all of November, and change their profile picture to an image of the Coomer if they were to fail.
Doomer
The doomer is an image macro and character archetype that first appeared on 4chan. The image typically depicts Wojak wearing a black watch cap and a black hooded sweatshirt, with dark circles under his eyes, while smoking a cigarette. The archetype often embodies nihilism, clinical depression, hopelessness, and despair, with a belief in the incipient end of the world to causes ranging from climate apocalypse, to peak oil, to alcoholism, to (more locally) opioid addiction. The meme first appeared on 4chan's /r9k/ board in September 2018.
A related meme format, "doomer girl", began appearing on 4chan in January 2020, and it soon moved to other online communities, including Reddit and Tumblr, often by women claiming it from its 4chan origins. This format is described by The Atlantic as "a quickly sketched cartoon woman with black hair, black clothes, and sad eyes ringed with red makeup". The doomer girl character is often associated with the e-girl and alternative subcultures. The character often appears in image macros interacting with the original doomer character. The format is often compared to rage comics.
Soyjak
Soyjak, a portmanteau of "soy" and "wojak", is a variation of Wojak that combines Wojak-style illustrations with features of a soy boy or "nu-male". It is typically used in online discourse, such as on 4chan and various other sites and imageboards, to mock an opponent's position by quoting them (via "greentexting", a feature of imageboards that makes the text turn a pale green color by the usage of the > sign in front of the greentexted text) alongside a Soyjak image ("soyquoting"). The first example of Soyjak appeared in December 2017 on 4chan's /int/ board, created by a Swedish poster, commonly referred to as "The Swede". It quickly gained notoriety on the site, spawning many edits and variants, commonly mocking interests associated with "soy boys", including use of sites such as Reddit or 9gag, playing Nintendo Switch, or cuckoldry, among other things. Soyjaks usually have large open mouths. Aside from the original Soyjak variant, a Wojak edit with glasses and a scraggly beard, it became popular to trace real-life people perceived to fit the "soy boy" stereotype.
Big Brain
The Big Brain Wojak is a variation with glasses, a significantly enlarged head, and visible brain wrinkles. The most common form of Big Brain Wojak has a head so comically large that the Wojak sits on it like a chair. The meme was initially used on 4chan to mock others' political or controversial opinions. It is typically used online when attempting to call out those who are pretentious or wannabe intellectuals. There are many subsequent versions of the big brain meme, typically with slightly varying messages. The opposite of the Big Brain Wojak is the Brainlet Wojak, depicted with a tiny bump of a brain on top of a small head.
Tradwife
The "tradwife" or "trad girl" Wojak depicts a blonde woman in a blue dress with a daisy pattern print. The "Tradwife" Wojak specifically embodies traditional gender roles and conservative values, often depicted as a woman dressed in vintage or modest clothing, emphasizing homemaking, traditional family values, and a rejection of modern feminist ideals.
Chudjak
The chudjak, also known as poljak, is a wojak variant featuring short black hair, large square-rimmed glasses, and an angry facial expression. Chudjak is modeled after the 2019 El Paso shooter Patrick Crusius. Chudjak is a variant that embodies authoritarian right-wing politics and incels which have a tendency to cause mass shootings. Its origin is debated however it can be traced to 4chan and Bunkerchan and was originally known as "le pol face" and "le pollack." Chudjak could also be associated with the catchphrases "the west has fallen" and "billions must die" which reference other "it's over" or "the great reset" memes.
See also
Polandball – another meme which originated on Krautchan to make fun of the user Wojak before spreading to the English-speaking world.
Rage comic – a similar meme which also uses copies of black-and-white Microsoft Paint illustrations.
Meme Man – a 3D render of a face often used in surreal memes and reaction images.
Trollface – a similar internet meme character.
References
External links
A Wojak collection at the Internet Archive
Wojak Paradise: A Wojak Gallery
Wojak Studio : A photoshop-like editor with 2000+ layers to create your own Wojaks
4chan phenomena
Fictional Polish people
Internet memes introduced in 2010
2010 drawings
2010s fads and trends
2020s fads and trends
Fictional characters introduced in 2010
Internet meme characters