Glowing Eyes / Laser Eyes

About

Glowing Eyes or Laser Eyes is a Photoshop meme in which the eyes of various people, characters and animals are edited to appear as if they are glowing with bright energy, mimicking a common trope found in various animated films and television shows.

Origin

On January 26th, 2010, the game Mass Effect 2 was released, in which the enemy Reaper ship Harbinger causes Collector enemy units eyes to glow yellow when "assuming direct control" of them. Over the next several months, images of various animals and characters photoshopped with glowing eyes and variations of the caption "assuming direct control" began circulating online (shown below).

Spread

On January 30th, 2011, a page titled "Glowing Eyes" was created on TV Tropes,^[1] describing the use of glowing eyes in media as a way to "show off someone's Life Energy" or indicate "someone's just triggered their Super Mode." On May 13th, 2013, Tumblr user maohshounen^[2] posted and edited picture of a skeleton in a rocking chair with glowing eyes with the description “ah yes my throne” (shown below, left). On August 13th, 2014, a thread mocking a newspaper headline about American doctor Kent Brantly "growing stronger" following his contraction of the Ebola virus was submitted to 4chan. In the thread, a user suggested someone edit a photograph of Brantly "so he has glowing eyes," leading to several photoshopped pictures of the doctor (shown below, right).

As Deep Fried Memes grew in popularity, the glowing eyes effect was incorporated into the the set of distortions used for the deep fried filter. Later, the effect was used in memes such as Gordon Ramsay's Lamb Sauce, Whomst and Begone, Thot. Additionally, the effect gained widespread usage on the /r/dankmemes/ subreddit.

Photoshop Tutorials

On February 15th, 2017, YouTuber Bubway uploaded a photoshop tutorial for creating red glowing eyes (shown below, left). On March 16th, 2017, YouTuber PolarSaurusRex uploaded a similar tutorial titled "How to Make Lens Flare Memes" (shown below, right).

DarkMAGA

Dark MAGA or #DarkMAGA refers to a hashtag and series of memes that depict a "punished," more unhinged version of Donald Trump running for reelection in 2024 who has abandoned all optics, replacing his slogan MAGA with "Dark MAGA." The memes became popularized on Twitter in March 2022 and often depict Trump and other Republicans with an edgy aesthetic implying they're done playing the "nice guy." The memes often share similarities with schizoposting.

Dark Brandon

Dark Brandon refers to a series of memes centering on a darker, edgier alter ego of US President Joe Biden. Defined by the use of laser eyes and deep-fried aesthetics, Dark Brandon memes frequently depict Biden as cunning, violent and all-powerful. The memes appropriate DarkMAGA imagery originally used by rightwing posters to depict Donald Trump as well as the Let's Go Brandon catchphrase used by conservatives to mock Biden and the media.

Laser Eyes Bitcoin Trend

Laser Eyes Bitcoin Trend refers to a February 2021 social media trend among Bitcoin holders participants of which edit their profile pictures by adding the Laser Eyes effect. The trend is associated with #LaserRayUntil100K hashtag which indicates that those changing their profile pictures should keep them until the price of Bitcoin reaches 100,000 US Dollars.

2024 X Profile Laser Eyes

Shortly after the announcement of Joe Biden Dropping Out of the 2024 United States Presidential Election, many different people on the social media site X started to change their profile pictures to be a laser-eye edit. Among them, were prominent figures in either crypto, tech, or aligned themselves politically with Trump, with many believing it to be related to the previous Bitcoin trend (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References