Bait Used to Be Believable

About

Bait Used to Be Believable refers to a series reaction images captioned with the phrase that express disappointment with obvious attempts to bait -enrage and provoke others into an argument. The original version of the image is based on a drawing of Dragon Ball character Vegito dressed in a suit and smoking a cigarette, and multiple redrawn versions of the image were posted online in 2023 and 2024.

Origin

On September 19th, 2014, artist GoddessMechanic2 posted a fan art of Dragon Ball character Vegito, a fusion of Goku and Vegeta, dressed in a black suit and smoking a cigarette to DeviantArt^[1] (shown below).

On April 29th, 2023, X^[2] user @kamuii_e posted an image macro based on the artwork captioned "Bait used to be believable", reacting to a post about Markiplier filming a live-action adaptation of Iron Lung. The post (shown below) received over 1,000 likes in one year. The authorship of the reaction image is unconfirmed.

Spread

The image saw active use as a reaction on X^[3][4] and Reddit in the following months. On August 9th, 2023, DeviantArt^[3] user Quillobyte posted the earliest found redraw of the image, an Optimus Prime version that gained over 5,500 views and 60 favorites in one year (shown below).

On September 14th, 2023, Redditor SharpteethStudio posted a fan art version featuring Hollow Knight character Hornet which received over 1,200 upvotes in the /r/HollowKnightMemes^[5] and achieved major popularity as a reaction along with the Vegito version (shown below).

In 2023 and 2024, more redrawn versions of the reaction image were posted on Reddit, Instagram, X and other sites.

Additionally, versions of the meme based on a snowclone Bait Used to Be- Holy Shit Is That X saw spread in 2024 following a viral version about Library of Ruina character Kali / The Red Mist (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References