The Square Hole

About

The Square Hole refers to a viral video on TikTok in which user @brock1137 incorrectly puts pieces into the shape sorter toy, which was followed by a viral reaction video from TikToker @tired_actor in which she gets increasingly frustrated and distressed as @brokc1137 continues to put all the pieces through the square hole. The video is also used as a video caption format and inspired fan art and memes in the following years.

Origin

The original TikTok^[1] video was posted by @brock1137 (formerly known as @brockbenson8) on December 30th, 2020. In the video, Brock places toy blocks into the shape sorter toy but only uses the square hole instead of other shapes as all pieces fit into it. The video (shown below, left) received over 20.2 million views and over 4.6 million likes in one year. On January 1st, 2021, TikToker^[2] @tired_actor posted a duet video in which she gets increasingly frustrated and distressed as all the pieces get placed into the square hole. The video (shown below, right) received over 5.3 million views, and over 830,000 likes in one year.

Spread

On December 31st, 2020, iFunny^[3] user TheWinstonDude posted a Wojak Comic meme referencing @brock1137's video, which was featured on the app and gained over 34,700 smiles in one year (shown below).

On January 1st, 2021, Twitter^[4] user @chriswade_ then posted @brock1137's video to Twitter, where it gained over 2.6 million views, 44,300 retweets and 145,800 likes in one year (shown below).

Me designing games: pic.twitter.com/oUktC4u9Y4

— Chris Wade 🌭🐸 (@chriswade__) January 2, 2021

On January 2nd, 2021, @brock1137 posted^[5] another video in which he placed the pieces in the correct holes that gained over 642,600 views and 91,300 likes in one year (shown below, left). On the same day, @tired_actor responded^[6] with a video in which she gets calmer and happier as she correctly predicts @brock1137's choices. The TikTok gained over 1.9 million views and 423,000 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

On January 22nd, 2021, Twitter^[7] user @sanjazakovska posted the first reaction TikTok by @tired_actor, captioning it, "Devs watching QA test the product." The tweet went viral, with the video gaining over 7.5 million views, 68,200 retweets and 332,600 likes in one year (shown below).

Devs watching QA test the product pic.twitter.com/uuLTButB3x

— zakovska 🌻 (@sanjazakovska) January 22, 2021

Following the viral spread of the clip, it has been referenced and used as source material for memes throughout 2021 and 2022.

Various Examples

Devs watching streamers play their game for the first time like: pic.twitter.com/SIvVD1Q6mL

— Disobey 🌵 (@disobey) April 13, 2021

Search Interest

External References