As a Kid / As An Adult

About

As a Kid / As an Adult refers to a series of exploitable Trollface memes which compare two excited reactions by the same person, first from their perspective as a kid and then as an adult. Originating from a 2019 Facebook meme, the format gained ironic popularity in late 2020.

Origin

On March 15th, 2019, Facebook^[1] truck customization community Custom Offsets posted a four-panel Trollface meme that compared excited reactions by the same person as a kid and as an adult. While the meme could be misinterpreted as if a person was intending to disassemble a delivery truck for parts, text included in the post clarified that "truck parts" referred to a package carried by the truck. The post received nearly 1,000 reactions and 1,500 shares in two years (shown below).

The feeling when your truck parts package says “out for delivery”!!!!

Spread

In the following year, the image received moderate spread, primarily on Facebook. For example, on October 22nd, 2019, Facebook^[2] page Bow-Tie Army reposted the meme, with the post gaining 560 reactions and over 520 shares.

On September 8th, 2019, Instagram^[3] page jacks_spams_n_such posted the first derivative meme based on the image, with the caption altered from "truck parts" to "research chemicals" (authorship unconfirmed; shown below, left). The post received over 1,200 likes in two years. The image was widely circulated along with the original meme, with reposts on Reddit^[4] and Facebook.^[5]

On July 14th, 2020, Instagram^[6] page fashion_wankers posted another version of the meme that gained over 15,000 likes (shown below, right).

Apart from separate examples, the format did not form a prominent trend until September 30th, 2020, when Redditor Veers_Memes reposted the original meme to the /r/comedyheaven^[7] subreddit, where it gained over 47,000 upvotes in six months.

Following the surge in popularity of the original post in late September and early October 2020, more versions of the meme were created. For example, on October 7th, 2020, Twitter user @trrvvb posted a meme that gained over 1,100 retweets and 8,400 likes (shown below, left). On October 30th, Redditor Big_Willy535 posted a meme that gained over 4,600 upvotes in the /r/okbuddyretard subreddit in six months (shown below, right).

The format maintained moderate popularity online in late 2020 and early 2021.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References