About

What's That? We're From the Future! refers to a four-panel webcomic by artist and YouTuber Tortie in which three kids meet their adult selves who arrive through a time portal, with one kid astonished about becoming a transgender woman. Originally posted in August 2022, the webcomic gained virality as an exploitable in September of that year.

Origin

On August 29th, 2022, artist and YouTuber Tortie tweeted^[1] a four-panel webcomic in which a group of teenagers in 2017 meet their older selves who time-traveled from 2022. One of the kids (who is believed to be Tortie's self-insert) appears surprised upon discovering that in the future they become a transgender woman (shown below). The comic gained over 22,800 retweets and 275,300 likes on Twitter in two months.

On August 31st, 2022, iFunny^[2] user SouthDacota posted the earliest discovered edit of the comic, replacing the kid with Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. The edit gained over 350 smiles in two months (shown below, left). On September 3rd, iFunny^[3] user Danklord_oftheMeme posted a Chris-Chan edit that gained over 10,200 smiles in two months (shown below, right).

Spread

Parallel to iFunny, the webcomic also spread on TikTok in a video format. For example, on September 2nd, TikTok^[4] user @hinderlijkste0 posted a military meme that gained over 215,000 views and 28,600 likes (shown below, left). On September 9th, TikTok^[5] user @memeyourself_ posted a Breaking Bad edit that received over 1.1 million views and 176,100 likes in two months (shown below, right).

Through September 2022, the format saw more use on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and other platforms. For example, on September 5th, 2022, Tortie tweeted^[6] a Steven after not surviving meme based on the format that gained over 2,100 retweets and 19,400 likes in less than two months (shown below).

Various Examples

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7141752484812442886

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7139781670084889861

Templates

Search Interest

External References