Goku With Open Mouth / Unhinged Jaw
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About
Goku With Open Mouth or Unhinged Jaw Goku refers to a specific facial expression that Goku occasionally makes in Dragon Ball Z when screaming in which he appears to have unhinged his jaw, with his wide open mouth obscuring the majority of his face. The face became the subject of memes as early as 2009 when Team Four Star edited squeaking noises over Goku as he makes the face as part of their Dragon Ball Z abridged series, continuing to inspire memes and reactions over the following years.
Origin
On June 8th, 2009, YouTuber[1] Team Four Star posted episode 10, part two of their Dragon Ball Z abridged series. Around the 3:11 mark, Great Ape Vegeta squeezes Goku and his jaw appears to unhinge as he screams. Instead of a scream, he squeaks like a dog toy. The video gained over 15 million views in 15 years.
It is unclear exactly when in the Dragon Ball Z anime Goku first makes the face, with the Team Four Star video being the earliest known example of a meme utilizing the face.
Spread
The face was called out online for being funny, cursed and generally bizarre numerous times over the following years. On July 2nd, 2021, Redditor u/SkorpioW made a post to the subreddit /r/dbz[2] sharing a screenshot of Goku making the face, writing, "Been watching DBZ movie 3 and this frame looked kinda cursed to me," garnering over 520 upvotes in three years.
On April 25th, 2023, Redditor u/Super_Loquat_9893 posted images of Goku doing the face to /r/Ningen,[3] writing, "Is there a lore reason for why Goku is able to unhinge his jaw?" garnering over 1,900 upvotes in a year. On June 4th, 2024, a post with the same name was made to /r/Dragonballsuper,[4] garnering over 2,800 upvotes in four months.
On October 19th, 2024, X[5] user @King_Sukunaaa posted two images of Goku with his unhinged jaw, writing, "I fucking hate this face Goku does sometimes," garnering over 95,000 likes and 3,700 reposts in four days.
The post inspired several memes and edits referencing the unhinged jaw scenes. On October 20th, X[6] user @DennyMazku posted an edit of a Judge Judy scene using the image, garnering over 1,100 likes in three days.
https://t.co/fUz8ezuWJB pic.twitter.com/RxBLxCHEP5
— DennyMaz (@DennyMazku) October 20, 2024
Later on October 20th, 2024, X[7] user @JamsDX_ posted an edit of an unhinged jaw image in which it appears as if there are two glowing eyes in Goku's throat, writing, "thats withered goku from fnaf 2 bruh," garnering over 99,000 likes in the same span of time.
Various Examples
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