Oh Shit, For Real?
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About
Oh Shit, For Real? is a webcomic by Tumblr user cooltimesonline in which a man tells BonziBuddy that he's feeling depressed, BonziBuddy replies, "I can send email," and the man responds, "Oh shit, for real?" The comic was posted to Tumblr in September 2019, and it became a prominent exploitable meme format over the following years as users recaptioned the text and image of the BonziBuddy to alter the context.
Origin
On September 1st, 2019, Tumblr[1] user cooltimesonline posted a comic in which a man laying on a therapist's couch, talking to BonziBuddy on TV as if he's a therapist, says, "Oh BonziBuddy, I'm just feeling real low." Bonzi responds, "I can send email," gaining the man's attention, who says, "Oh shit, for real?" The post garnered over 30,000 notes in four years (shown below, left).
On July 2nd, 2021, Tumblr[2] user thyrell posted an edit of the comic changing the image of BonziBuddy to an image of spinach in response to a news report claiming that scientists taught spinach to send emails, garnering over 257,000 notes in two years (shown below, right).
Spread
The format became increasingly popularized over the following years. On July 13th, 2021, Tumblr[3] user gamebiadvance posted an edit of the format using a hairless cat that looks like Bingus in place of Bonzi, garnering over 30,000 notes in two years (shown below).
On May 9th, 2022, Tumblr[4] user trashcanalienist posted a version of the meme referencing Dracula Daily, garnering over 30,000 notes in a year. On May 24th, Tumblr[5] user horse-is-a-horse-of-course posted a version that gained over 90,000 notes in the same span of time.
On June 15th, Twitter[6] user @HemlockBou posted a version of the meme about pill bugs, garnering over 111,000 likes in a year (shown below, left). On July 4th, Redditor u/SoundsLikeHarry posted a version to /r/Pokemon,[7] garnering over 8,100 upvotes in 11 months (shown below, right).
On March 15th, 2023, Tumblr[8] user catgirlfingies posted a version of the meme about transitioning, garnering over 3,700 notes in two months (shown below).
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Tumblr – cooltimesonline
[3] Tumblr – gamebiadvance
[4] Tumblr – trashcanalienist
[5] Tumblr – horse-is-a-horse-of-course
[6] Twitter – HemlockBou
[8] Tumblr – catgirlfingies
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