My Little PogChamp

About

My Little PogChamp refers to a catchphrase used in memes in which various characters address the viewer in an endearing manner, calling them "my little PogChamp." The catchphrase received viral popularity in November 2020 following two viral videos, inspiring similar memes and being used for bait-and-switch videos.

Origin

On September 24th, 2020, Facebook^[1] page Smol dom gf reposted an image macro based on 홍두제비's (@hong_doo_jv2)^[17] fan art of Kill la Kill character Ryūko Matoi, captioned "Ugh fine I guess you are my little pogchamp, come here" (exact origin unknown). The post received over 460 reactions and 400 shares in two months (shown below).

On the same day, Instagram^[2] user mcchickenism reposted the image, gaining over 1200 likes in two months. Also on the same day, Twitter^[3] and Instagram^[4] user gothmei posted a dubbed version of the meme (shown below), with the post gaining over 236,000 views and 6,000 retweets on Twitter and 47,800 views and 9,700 likes on Instagram.

Retweet to be my little pogchamp ☺️🖤 pic.twitter.com/jz3VCI9IX7

— Mei/Max (@gothmei) September 25, 2020

Spread

The post received viral spread online, with multiple users reposting the video on Twitter, iFunny and other platforms in the following days. For example, a September 24th, 2020, repost by Twitter^[5] user @dexter_kw gained over 350 retweets and 1,200 likes in two months. A same-day repost by iFunny^[6] user iRubes gained over 1,900 smiles. Reposts by iFunny^[7][8] users HatKid and LordAndSlayer made on the following day received over 1,100 smiles and 1,600 smiles, respectively.

Starting on September 26th, the audio from the dub gained popularity in lip sync videos on TikTok. On September 26th, 2020, TikTok^[9] user rad_cool_bad posted one of the earliest TikToks using the script, gaining over 81,900 views (shown below, left). In two months, more than 1800 videos using the audio were posted^[10] (examples shown below. center and right).

Prior to October 21st, 2020, an unknown user posted the first bait-and-switch meme based on @gothmei's video, with clip cutting off to an fan art of Dragon Ball characters Goku and Vegeta, accompanied by "Shootaz" by Northside Boys. On October 21st, iFunny^[11] user AddictedToZQuil made the earliest found repost of the video. An October 22nd, 2020 repost by Instagram^[12] user nitro_if gained over 46,900 views and 10,300 likes (shown below).

On November 14th, 2020, animator PEAR哥 (@Peargor) tweeted^[13] a fan-made animation of Ryūko Matoi saying the phrase (shown below). The post received over 477,200 views, 12,100 retweets and 68,800 likes in one week.

Ryuko finally confesses. pic.twitter.com/FBQv9b3lbm

— PEAR哥 (@Peargor) November 14, 2020

In the following days, both gothmei's and PEAR哥's videos gained popularity as source material for bait-and-switch memes,^[14][15] being cut off to memes that shame the viewer. Additionally, more My Little PogChamp dubs were posted in the following days; for example, a Team Fortress 2 version posted by Twitter^[16] user @skurletonVA gained over 67,500 views.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References