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What Is Going On With 'We Have Come For Your Nectar' Memes?
What started as a rumble in "That Corner of the Internet" has become a rapidly growing mind virus in recent months. We refer to a meme called "We Have Come For Your Nectar," a truly bizarre umbrella for a series of memes that feature several characters, mostly SpongeBob SquarePants as flies, annoying Squidward and others with their need for "nectar."
While the genre reads like a one-off shitpost that might be worth a few Reddit updoots, it's become something of a viral sensation over the summer, as video riffs on the simple template have racked up millions of views, sometimes in less than 24 hours. Let's walk through the summer's weirdest meme.
Where Did 'We Have Come For Your Nectar' Come From?
The meme started as a surreal, humble Instagram meme. On May 6th, 2022, user absolutenutcase162 posted a meme that featured several images of a comedic SpongeBob drawing from the episode "Spongeguard On Duty" repurposed as flies invading Squidward's house and saying "We have come for your nectar."
How Did 'We Have Come For Your Nectar' Spread?
The meme, an expansion of the Squidward 'Get Out Of My House' template, imagines an extremely niche situation, but it somehow resonated with a larger audience, as YouTubers began dubbing the meme over the following weeks.
Then the floodgates opened, as many meme creators crafted increasingly bizarre scenarios in which the SpongeBob flies circled the globe in search of nectar. Other characters then made it into the template, as it proved surprisingly malleable to many pieces of pop culture.
One spinoff, in particular, featured the cast of the Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course approaching (as flies) the game's Chef Saltbaker and saying "We have come for your Wondertart." The image, created by TikToker @chefsaltbaker, became a meme in its own right, as animations and dubs of the image rapidly gained millions of views, sometimes cresting seven figures in less than 24 hours.
What Does 'We Have Come For Your Nectar' Mean?
Well, it doesn't mean anything exactly. It's in the genre of internet meme where its sheer absurdity is enough to drive interest, but crucially, it's also grounded in a scenario that's simple enough to inspire creativity from memers: the protagonists are flies annoying the antagonist.
A show like SpongeBob works well for the scenario, as many of the show's episodes revolve around SpongeBob annoying Squidward in some way, much like a fly. Memers saw an opportunity to fit other shows with similar character dynamics into that mold, helping the meme grow with each new variation.
Once animators hopped on the meme, particularly in the "Wondertart" variation, viewers were in awe at the level of craftsmanship poured into what amounts to mildly amusing shitposts, which further fueled the meme's popularity.
For more information on "We Have Come For Your Nectar" and "Wondertart," check out the entries here and here.
