Trollge

About

Trollge refers to a unsmiling Trollface partially obscured with shadow. Circulated since July 2020, Trollge gained its name and popularity from to a series of creepypasta-styled countdown videos that warn the viewer about the upcoming arrival of an entity named "Trollge" and advice to seek shelter. The videos were posted in /r/196 and /r/okbuddyretard subreddits in mid-November 2020 and received further spread online through reposts.

Origin

The meme is based on an older GIF of Trollface going from a neutral expression to smiling. The GIF was created approximately in late 2012 by an unknown author (shown below).

The exact origin of the unsmiling, partially obscured Trollface referred to as "Trollge" is unknown. On July 1st, 2020, iFunny^[14] user JolyneC reposted the earliest found video of the face, with the post gaining over 1,700 smiles in seven months (shown below).

In July and August 2020, the video, GIF and image of the face saw moderate circulation on iFunny. For example, on August 6th, 2020, iFunny^[15] user poolnoodle posted a still image of the face captioned "something has awoken." The post received over 2,800 smiles in seven months (shown below).

On November 17th, 2020, Redditor unfunny_man123 started posting countdown videos about the upcoming arrival of an entity named "Trollge." The videos depict the distorted version of Trollface and contains a message warning the viewer, similar to the original Random Chimp Event posts. The first video in the series (shown below) received over 1,100 upvotes in /r/196^[1] and over 100 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard^[2] subreddit in two weeks.

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️ from r/196

Spread

Between November 17th and 20th, unfunny_man123 posted a total of five videos in which they counted down five days remaining until the arrival of "Trollge." On November 21st, 2020, unfunny_man123^[3] posted the final video "documenting" the arrival of the entity. The post received over 2,900 upvotes in /r/196 subreddit in ten days (shown below).

Hm. (Please if you are disgusted by nasty sound effects dont watch) from r/196

In addition to the meme miniseries, on November 26th, unfunny_man123^[4] posted a Cover Yourself in Oil Trollge meme that gained over 120 upvotes in one week.

In late November 2020, the meme series received further spread online through reposts on iFunny and Instagram. For example, a November 26th, 2020, reupload of the final video by Instagram^[5] user lemonrepost received over 7,100 views and 1,600 likes in one week. A November 27th repost by iFunny^[6] user Sloano gained over 110 smiles in the same period.

Further Use

The unsmiling, partly obscured Trollface introduced in the videos gained further spread online separate from the original videos. On November 18th, 2020, Redditor^[7] trollface_gaming posted a video "Le Cops Have Found Me" to /r/trollface subreddit which used the face, gaining over 390 upvotes.

The video was widely circulated online in the following weeks. For example, on November 18th iFunny^[8] user Dozet and YouTube^[9] user Biden Gaming both reuploaded the video (YouTube reupload shown below). A November 20th, 2020, reupload by Instagram^[10] user honeynut.woomy received over 80,000 views and 14,600 likes in two months, while a November 23rd, 2020, repost by Redditor^[11] Uchihabreed gained over 12,500 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard in the same period.

Starting in early December 2020, Trollge gained notable popularity in Trollface-related subreddits such as /r/trollface and /r/coveryourselfinoil. On December 16th, 2020, Twitter^[12] user @Slictzer posted a meme that used the Trollge as a punchline, gaining over 3,600 retweets and 30,300 likes prior to being removed (shown below, left). The tweet inspired a two-panel format, a derivative Cover Yourself in Oil meme. For example, a on December 17th, 2020, Redditor^[13] LeOnYx2017 posted a meme that received over 4,800 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard in one month (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References