Gary I Need X (SpongeBob)
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About
Gary I Need X refers to an exploitable meme template that uses a screencap from SpongeBob SquarePants where SpongeBob is curled up on his bed telling his pet snail Gary that he needs something, being an ironic portrayal of addiction. The phrasal template and image were first used on Reddit's /r/OkBuddyRetard subreddit in mid-2018. From there, it was re-edited by meme creators and shitposters on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr, among other platforms, going into the early 2020s.
Origin
On August 24th, 2018, a Redditor (since-deleted) posted a meme to the /r/OkBuddyRetard[1] subreddit that captioned a screenshot from the season one SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Suds."[2] The meme read in Impact font, "Gary I Need Heroin." It received over 290 upvotes in four years (shown below). Although the image is slightly cropped at the top and bottom, it is the first known posting of the meme.
Spread
On September 9th, 2018, Redditor Myceliemz24 reposted the meme to /r/OkBuddyRetard,[3] cropping it into a circle and receiving roughly 3,000 upvotes in four years (shown below, left). On October 5th, 2018, Redditor xZere0n posted a new iteration to /r/OkBuddyRetard[4] that replaced the word "Heroin" with "Nicotine," earning 14 upvotes in four years (shown below, right).
The meme's exploitation started to receive multiple layers of text, alluding to many iterations being created in a short period of time. For instance, on September 23rd, 2018, Redditor CoinECG posted a version to /r/OkBuddyRetard[5] that referenced Bruh Moment, earning over 85 upvotes in four years (shown below).
On December 22nd, 2018, Twitter[8] user dan1mals posted a voiceover of the "Gary I Need Heroin" meme, earning roughly 143,900 views and 5,700 likes in four years (shown below).
— Daniel☣️ (@dan1mals) December 22, 2018
On December 14th, 2019, Instagram[6] user boomer.jim posted an over-exploited version of the meme that referenced needing a master's degree in order to make minimum wage, earning roughly 26,200 likes in three years (shown below, left). The template became increasingly cryptic and over-exploited going into the 2020s. For instance, on June 21st, 2020, the Twitter[7] MemesSurreal posted a red-stained version that replaced the last word with "Salvation," earning over 940 likes in two years (shown below, right).
Various Examples
Templates
Search Interest
External References
[1] Reddit – /r/okbuddyretard
[3] Reddit – /r/okbuddyretard
[4] Reddit – /r/okbuddyretard
[5] Reddit – /r/okbuddyretard
[6] Instagram – @boomer.jim
[7] Twitter – @MemesSurreal
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