x-ray of a brain

Galaxy Brain

Part of a series on Whomst. [View Related Entries]
[View Related Sub-entries]

Updated May 17, 2022 at 11:09AM EDT by Zach.

Added Feb 17, 2017 at 06:58PM EST by TheYolocast.

PROTIP: Press 'i' to view the image gallery, 'v' to view the video gallery, or 'r' to view a random entry.

About

Galaxy Brain, also known as Expanding Brain, is a multi-panel exploitable image series comparing the brain size of a person relative to other variables. Though the expanding brain is usually implied to showcase intellectual superiority over various objects, it is more often used in an ironic sense to imply the opposite, where objects of derision are implied to be of higher standard than objects that are usually highly regarded. For example, when used with Whomst, a person who uses "who" will be shown with the smallest brain, while a person who uses the most ridiculous variation, i.e. "whomst'd've", will be shown with the largest brain.

Origin

This meme originated as part of the "Whomst" meme where the left column was derivations of the word "Who" were paired with increasingly elaborate pictures of brains depending on how intense the "who" variation was. One of the most popular early examples was posted to /r/dankmemes on Reddit on January 31st, 2017 by janskishimanski[1] in a post that gained nearly 1,200 upvotes.


Original Expanding Brain Meme about Whomst

Spread

As "whomst" variations on the Expanding Brain template grew more elaborate, other subjects were applied to Expanding Brain, such as video games and politics. Expanding Brain variations continued appearing on /r/dankmemes and /r/MemeEconomy throughout the month of February.


Expanding Brain Meme about using Harry Potter or Star Wars for political comparisons as opposed to Transformers expanding brain meme about Overwatch Expanding brain memes about different hoodies

A video version of the meme posted by user BagelBoy in February 2017 gained over 2.1 million views (shown below).



The meme was covered by media outlets including PopSugar,[3] New York Magazine,[4] Mic,[5] and others.

Similar Memes

The template of the Expanding Brain meme has been used with various other characters.

Vince McMahon Reaction

While the Vince McMahon Reaction existed as a video and GIF meme prior to its use as an Expanding Brain meme, the clips of McMahon were used in the Expanding Brain template after that meme got popular.


Fallout 76 HAL3 INFINI TE SQUARE CNIX STAR FIELD ler MRE XBOX XBOX 360 XBOX ONE XBOX ONE X XBOX ONE XXX xxx BOX ONE xx xXx Box One_xXx XBOX TWO IPHONE< 8 IPHONE 8 IPHONE 8 PLUS IPHONEX IPHONE XXX xxx IPHONE xxx xXx iPhone xXx IPHONE Y

Motion Blurred Astronaut

Motion Blurred Astronaut refers to three images of an astronaut in a photography textbook taken to demonstrate the effect shutter speed can have on motion-blur. It began being used in memes in April 2017 due to its aesthetic similarity to other popular memes of the time which use motion-blur and distortion effects.

On April 2nd, 2017, Tumblr user the-captains-on-shore-leave uploaded a picture of a photography textbook demonstrating the effects shutter speed has on motion blur by showing three different pictures of an astronaut. They captioned the post, shown below, "i can’t stop laughing like i know it’s supposed to be educating me on shutter speed but it just looks like a fucking meme." The post has gained over 35,000 notes as of April 11th.


duction to Digital Cinematography 19 Figure 9 The variation of the camera shutter changes the amount of motion blur re time with the shutter of 22.5 (1/400h s). Li- i can't stop laughing like i know it's supposed to be educating me on shutter speed but it just looks like a f------ meme

Various Examples


The moon landings were real The moon landings were faked in New Mexico The moon landings were faked on the moon going to the moon for scientific reasons going to the moon to brag about it to the soviets going to the moon because you need cheese for your picnic being a textbook example being a meme being a textbook example of a meme

Drake Sprite Commercial Remix

In 2010, Sprite released a commercial featuring rapper Drake, drinking a Sprite while recording and exploding (shown below).



Eight years later, a series of Expanding Brain memes featuring three respective stages of Drake's explosion.[2] On June 23rd, 2018, Instagram account @SonnySideUp[6] posted a Tanking the Bus Driver edition of the meme, garnering 43,600 likes within the first 90 days. Two days later, it was shared on Reddit. Shortly after, more users began using the format (examples below, center / right).


Saying thank you to the bus driver Asking the bus driver how their day was Offering The bus Driver a Ride home Impeach Gorsuch Impeach all conservative justices Pack all the courts with progressives using the drake template using the expanding brain template combining both of them and making a meme abt them jontykun

Various Examples


Expanding Brain meme about pineapple pizza Expanding Brain meme about playing Smash Bros Expanding Brain meme about different ways of nutting
P--- Fetish P--- JoJo P--- An orogy consisting of all of the different JoJo's Expanding Brain meme about persons who bicycle 2013 2016 2017 2018 imgfip.com

Search Interest

External References

Recent Videos 29 total

Recent Images 780 total


Top Comments

Mistress Fortune
Mistress Fortune

The images in the gallery seem to be more of a mix of ironic and unironic usage of the meme so it certainly feels like the usage of this fad varies from person to person.

One that's clearly meant to be ironic:

And then one that certainly feels unironic:

+48

+ Add a Comment

Comments (46)


Display Comments

Add a Comment


Yo Yo! You must login or signup first!