Sigma Stare

About

Sigma Stare is a slang expression used to describe a type of unsmiling, direct stare associated with Sigma Males, usually ironically. Starting in May 2021, the phrase has been used as a humorous caption for images of characters staring, and later gained an association with "After Party" by Don Toliver in video edits.

Origin

Prior to May 7th, 2021, the phrase "sigma stare" saw limited examples of non-ironic use in connection with Sigma Male classification, with examples of use on Twitter^[1] and 4chan.^[2]

On May 7th, 2021, Twitter^[3] user @Dottorilla posted four images of characters from animated series and video games looking directly at the camera with an unsmiling stare (Leorio Hunter x Hunter, Reiner Braun Attack on Titan, Omni-Man Invincible, and Tohru Adachi Persona 4), writing, "The sigma stair" (sic). The post (shown below) received over 1,100 retweets and 8,100 likes in two months.

Precursors

The format is a development of two previous "stare" memes, INTJ Stare and Leorio Stare. The video edits of Sigma Stare format borrow their edit style and signature composition, "After Party" by Don Toliver, from a Leorio stare meme that went viral in November 2020 (reupload shown below).

Spread

On May 10th, 2021, iFunny^[4] user FriendFox reposted @Dottorilla's meme, with the post gaining over 1,000 smiles in two months. On May 11th, 2021, Instagram^[5] user asdfcobii reposted the meme, with the repost gaining over 2,200 likes in the same period.

Starting on May 8th,^[6] users on Twitter and other social media platforms posted more Sigma Stare memes, including edits of @Dottorilla's and FriendFox's memes in which the last panel was replaced with humorous images (examples shown below).

On June 5th, Instagram^[7] user owen_kung posted a video edit in which the four images were set to "After Party" by Don Toliver (authorship unconfirmed, shown below). The format inherited the composition from a viral November 2020 Leorio Stare meme. The post received over 103,000 views and 15,800 likes and was widely circulated in the following days.

In the following weeks, the phrase gained further use as a humorous comment on images and videos of various characters maintaining an unsmiling, direct stare. For example, on June 26th, 2021, content creator Largetrap posted a meme that gained over 102,000 likes on Instagram^[8] in one week.

Related Memes

Staring Animals

Staring Animals, also known as The Council, refers to a series of reaction image macros of animals and people facing the camera taking a photograph of them. The perceived effect of these images is that the subjects are staring directly at the person viewing the meme as if they are purposely breaking the fourth wall. These characters such as Nelson the Bull Terrier (Walter), Staring Hamster, Staring Cat, Staring Fish and Leonard the Lizard, Yotube, Staring Kanye, Linus Sebastian and others have grown in popularity on various platforms, particularly /r/okbuddyretard subreddit, iFunny and Instagram from 2018 through 2020.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References