About

Amateurs, also known as What Was That, Punk?, is a webcomic by Shen Comix in which human representations of years 2014 and 2015 have an argument about which one of them saw more celebrities dead, only to be called amateurs by a hooded figure who is then revealed to be the year 2016. Online, the format gained popularity as an exploitable, with the participants of the exchange usually re-labeled and their arguments altered.

Origin

On December 31st, 2016, comic artist Shen Comix, known as Owl Turd Comix at that time, posted a four-panel comic in which anthropomorphic representations of years 2014 and 2015 have an argument about which year saw more celebrities dead (shown below). In another panel, a hooded figure calls them amateurs and is later revealed to be year 2016. The comic received over 8,400 retweets and 16,000 likes on Twitter,^[1] 92,900 likes on Instagram^[2] and 41,700 likes and reblogs on Tumblr in three years.^[3]

On January 3rd, 2017, Redditor Duckwillo3 posted the earliest known meme based on the comic to /r/FULLCOMMUNISM subreddit, receiving over 500 upvotes in six months (shown below).^[4]

Spread

Until June 2019, the format saw limited spread online, with several notable examples posted on Reddit. For example, on February 7th, 2018, Redditor NishanthVM posted a Dark Souls meme based on the comic to /r/gaming subreddit,^[5] gaining over 3,000 upvotes in six months (shown below, left). A November 28th, 2018, /r/historymemes post by Redditor Cet336 received over 34,200 upvotes in six months (shown below, right).^[6]

On June 23rd, 2019, Redditor oh_look_its_a_poob posted a Minecraft meme which received over 50,600 upvotes in five months in the /r/dankmemes subreddit (shown below).^[7] In the following months, the format saw an increase in popularity on Reddit.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References