About

Kids Had Their Fun Already, Now It's Real Men's Turn refers to a series of exploitable comparison memes that label a media target primarily for adults as one meant for kids and one that is targeted for children and teenagers as entertainment for "real men." The format gained prominence on Twitter and Reddit in March 2022.

Origin

On March 12th, 2022, Twitter^[1] user @SlowEstus posted a meme comparing the recently released video game Elden Ring and the then-upcoming video game Kirby and the Forgotten Land. The post, which humorously labeled Elden Ring as a game for kids and Kirby and the Forgotten Land as a game for "real men," gained over 11,200 retweets and 72,200 likes in one month (shown below).

Spread

On March 14th, 2022, Redditor^[2] magicmaster69 reposted the image to the /r/gaming subreddit, where it gained over 40,400 upvotes in three weeks.

On March 13th, 2022, Twitter^[3] user @NanaHiragi posted the first derivative meme based on the format, a meme comparing Elden Ring and Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. The tweet gained over 1,800 retweets and 9,400 likes in three weeks (shown below).

Starting in mid-March 2022, the format saw further spread on Twitter and Reddit. For example, on March 15th, 2022, Twitter^[4] user @RealYouTubeKids posted a meme that gained over 3,100 retweets and 26,900 likes in three weeks (shown below, left). On March 18th, 2022, Redditor^[5] caballotransparente made a meme comparing The Batman and Morbius which gained over 480 upvotes in the /r/moviescirclejerk subreddit and was widely circulated^[6] in the following weeks (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References