How I Imagined X as A Kid vs. Actual X

About

How I Imagined X as A Kid vs. Actual X is a phrasal template used in a series of exploitable image macros comparing what someone thought a certain type of person, such as a "kidnapper" or a "drug dealer," looked like as a kid vs. what they actually tend to look like IRL. The memes often use imagery from SpongeBob SquarePants and began on iFunny in May 2019, gaining virality on the /r/BikiniBottomTwitter subreddit in December 2019 and becoming increasingly popularized on sites like Facebook, Reddit and Instagram over the following years.

Origin

On May 23rd, 2019, iFunny^[1] user Meme_Beast_2015 posted a meme using two side-by-side images of The Hulk, one where he's roaring and one where he's put-together, writing over the left one, "what I thought drug dealers were like as a kid" and over the right, "What drug dealers are actually like," garnering over 90 smiles in four years (shown below). The meme was reposted to /r/memes^[2] on September 23rd, garnering over 15,700 upvotes in the same rough span of time.

Spread

On October 14th, 2019, a version of the meme using SpongeBob characters to represent drug dealers was posted to Imgur,^[6] gaining over 1,600 upvotes in four years. On October 15th, a now-deleted Redditor reposted the meme to /r/memes,^[3] garnering over 34,900 upvotes in four years. The meme was recreated by Twitter^[4] user @weedthotss on December 13th, garnering over 6,700 likes. On December 27th, a version of the meme was posted to /r/BikiniBottomTwitter^[5] about kidnappers, garnering over 57,000 upvotes (shown below).

On January 5th, 2020, the Facebook^[7] page University of MEMES posted a version of the meme about depressed people, which was reposted by Instagram^[8] user memeslobber on January 8th, garnering over 36,000 likes in three years (shown below, left). On March 22nd, Instagram^[9] user zarposts posted a version about high schoolers, garnering over 61,000 likes in the same rough span of time (shown below, right).

On March 17th, 2021, Redditor ROCKSTARNO4251 posted a version of the meme to /r/memes^[10] about murderers, writing over the right image, "how I actually look like," which was originally posted by iFunny^[15] user Soselo in 2020 (shown below, left). On August 12th, Redditor HoxxAuthCode posted a meme to /r/memes^[11] about cat snakes, garnering over 10,600 upvotes in two years (shown below, right).

On February 7th, 2022, Redditor dilli ka-londa posted a version of the meme to /r/memes^[12] that gained over 10,000 upvotes in a year. On August 18th, Facebook^[13] page Okami Anime posted a version that gained over 20,000 reactions and 10,000 shares in eight months.

On March 13th, 2023, Facebook^[14] page Deception, Fraud and Fakery posted a version of the meme about evil, using an image of Bill Gates as a true representation of evil, garnering over 9,400 shares and 20,000 reactions in a month (shown below). The meme was originally posted by Facebook^[16] user Jammy prior to February 19th.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References