Memescape: How Wojaks Infiltrated Political Compass Memes

Political Compass memes and Wojak memes each have been successful in their own right, with both formats managing to stay relevant for years amid the ever-changing meme meta. In 2020, the two memes formed a powerhouse, with Wojaks infiltrating Political Compass memes and providing them with a level of complexity never seen before. But was the introduction of Wojaks really what Political Compass needed most, and what did it have to gain from it?

Until 2019, Political Compass and Wojak memes had been evolving separately, with the evolution of both formats starting to accelerate rapidly around 2018. Thanks to the efforts of the 300,000-strong /r/PoliticalCompass subreddit, the main hub of Political Compass memes on the internet, memers had been building upon the success of the original four-square formula by making the classic Political Compass more flexible and more complex. The experiments varied from adding an extra quadrant or splitting the existing ones, using the squares separately from each other and mixing the Compass with other meme formats.

While the Political Compass was evolving rather rapidly, it didn't hold a candle to Wojak, a supermeme that has been spawning one format after another with a speed of lightning. Starting with 30-Year-Old-Boomer and the plethora of Oomer Wojaks that followed in 2018, in-mid 2019 Wojak entered a union with Nordic / Mediterranean to spawn Yes Chad and spawn the Wojak Comics supertrend. The amount of new Wojak Comics formats has been growing ever since, with the extremely successful and extremely flexible Dick Flattening, Printer Go Brrr and Soyjaks vs. Chads formats becoming some of the signature memes of 2020.

Despite having different origins and a different format, the Political Compass and Wojak thave one important thing in common: both formats have over time grew to become arch-formats, spawning multiple sub-variations that helped them stay fresh and popular through variety and constant evolution. In 2019, some started experimenting with mixing them together – an experiment that would become the dominant trend in Political Compass memery in 2020.

Unfortunately, the exact first hybrid of two comics has been lost in meme history. Marrying the two formats was not a breakthrough idea: by 2019, the Political Compass had a history of conveying the ideas through memes rather than words. Before Wojaks even came along, the early experiments included assigning the squares to Polandball, Virgin vs. Chad and Pepes.

While Wojak did make cameos in Compass memes before, it wasn't until the arrival of the core Oomer Wojaks in early 2019 that the two formats found each other – and it wasn't until Yes Chad's arrival in mid-2019 until they really hit it off. The great Wojak incursion into Political Compasses started off simple with the signature four square memes that regarded Wojaks as a subject rather than a vehicle for the political views. Yes Chad changed that, allowing Political Compass memers turn any of the quadrants into a Chad quadrant, showing the other three just how wrong they are.

This set the ground for 2020 when Political Compass memes went through one of their most important recent mutations: the further split of each quadrant into nine additional squares, which turned it a 36-square format compared to the classic four. This additional level of complexity enriched the meme, but also made it much more demanding: it would not allow for simply adding some text and calling it a day, because, honestly, nobody has time to read 36 squares of that. This is where the introduction of the Wojaks into the format really came in handy.

Consider two things: first, the extreme flexibility Wojak has and the mind-blowing variety of already existing variations of the meme. Filling 36 squares with an assortment of Oomers, Brainlets and Nordic / Mediterranian is an easy task for any memer with a moderately-sized meme folder, while creating a custom Wojak or two doesn't take too much image editing skill.

Secondly, Wojaks provide a level of visual clarity that can hardly be matched by any other meme in 2020. The omnipresence of Wojak memes has resulted in instant recognition of the ideas that memers put into each variation. Most of those who dabble in memes won't take more than a second to recognize the ideas that meme community has collectively decided to put into a sad-looking Wojak wearing a black hoodie, or a grey Wojak with neutral, machine-like expression, or the female one wearing a flower dress. This symbolic meaning each Wojak variation holds, combined with the level of recognition these Wojaks have achieved, allows finding a Wojak to illustrate each of the 36 squares of the extended political compass format with ease. At the same time, one has to realize that while an experienced memer has no trouble drawing the meaning from this complex crossover format, for the layman it will appear infinitely unapproachable.

We do not know how long Political Compass and Wojaks will keep their relevance in the meme meta before they both fade in popularity – but the crossover of these formats feels like a collab between music superstars. Only instead of someone like Queen and David Bowie, it's hundreds of creative meme geniuses who are working behind the scenes, tying years of memescape evolution into memes of unparalleled complexity and pushing the boundaries of once simple four-square format ever further.