Microsoft to Ditch MS Paint, Amazing Meme Software

It appears Microsoft is considering to retire its clunky yet lovable graphics painting program after 32 years of service. Microsoft recently announced its Windows 10 "Fall Creators" Update, and with every update comes a list of features that are outright removed or "deprecated," meaning "not in active development and might be removed in future releases." Appearing on the latter list is more or less a death sentence. MS Paint is on that list.

Since 1985, MS Paint has appeared in every version of Windows OS, with its technology gradually evolving from the basic 1-bit monochrome graphic support to the 256-color bitmap throughout its lifetime. Microsoft Paint was always simple to use and never featured any fancy-shmancy image manipulating tools, meaning almost everything drawn MS Paint ended up looking charmingly amateurish, the internet equivalent of a toddler's doodle.

This made it perfect for memes. As online culture spread into the mainstream, art created in the noble MS Paint began to become visual shorthand for the internet's brand of humor, encompassing both the most cringeworthy and most surreal expressions of shitposting. To celebrate the life of Paint, we're remembering some of the most influential memes born out of the classic program.

Rage Comics

Much of what we associate with the MS Paint meme aesthetic comes from Rage Comics. Dozens of crudely rendered characters spread first through 4chan and later Reddit and 9GAG were long understood as internet shorthand for a specific emotion, the internet-dweller's answer to emoji. Trollface, Derp and Derpina, Forever Alone and so many more all became vital characters to internet lexicon. By virtue of their popularity and simplicity, Rage Comics over the years grew into the vehicle for some of the most embarrassing memes, such that looking upon them now elicits the same "was I really into that?" feeling one would get looking at photos from when they were in high school. Nevertheless, Rage Comics are undoubtedly one of the most important meme genres and certainly one of the most influential creations of MS Paint, even if now they look like a giant sack of cringe.

Stoner Comics

If you were high often between 2010 and 2012, chances are you took a deep dive into Stoner Comics and laughed your ass off. Stoner Comics, aka "Tree Comics," were often the perfect expression of what it's like to be stoned out of your mind, thanks in no small part to MS Paint. A great stoner comic hinges on the epic feelings a person has while super high in contrast to the reality of that person actually sitting on a couch craving food. MS Paint provided the perfect vehicle to convey this emotion, for while characters went on grand adventures in their heads, the crude style of MS Paint perfectly captured the contrasting, banal reality.

Wojak / Feels Guy

As the Rage Comics generation grew older, a desire for more relatable, less cartoonish emotional stand-ins arose. Enter Feels Guy. Feels Guy is a cousin of Forever Alone, but whereas Forever Alone took the concept of "forever alone" and portrayed it with a garish, oversized weepy face, Feels Guy took the concept and made it instantly more recognizable. The weathered brow; the thousand-yard stare; the flat expression; all seemed in line with the more existential reality of a life's worth of experiences and hurt. It's no coincidence one of the most popular iterations of the character featured him saying "I know that feel, bro." Feels Guy just gets "it," whether that feel be when you're wishing you were at home playing video games or when you have no gf.

Dolan

Ah, Dolan. Dolan is a perfect example of how MS Paint could make jokes from a giant cesspool of rape, incest, pedophilia, body horror and gore. Dolan is an MS Paint rendering of Disney character Donald Duck drawn from below, such that he appears oddly sinister. Dolan comic creators took this image and made it outwardly horrifying. Dolan comics often feature the character doing horrible things to disturbing renderings of other beloved Disney and Loony Toons characters, most often "Gooby." On the tame side, this includes murdering Goofy's girlfriend and attempting to feed it to him. On the darker side, well… just don't look at too many Dolan comics, for your own mental health. Despite its graphic content, Dolan comics grew wildly popular, and have endured on the internet for seven years as a sort of postmodern precursor to the Hey Beter series.

I Told You About Stairs

Within the Homestuck universe is "Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff," an MS Paint comic drawn by the character Dave Strider. I Told You About Stairs may be his best creation. It's difficult to explain what makes this comic so goddamn funny and trying to would likely ruin it, so I won't. Whatever it is, it is a prime example of the surreal capacity for MS Paint art, something that at the same time makes no sense and is utterly hilarious. "I Told You About Stairs" has inspired dozens of parodies and tributes online and remains one of the best things to come out of the Homestuck universe.

These are but a few of the dozens of great memes made possible by MS Paint, a program whose limited capabilities inspired the amateur artist in all of us. It will be sorely missed.

What are some of your favorite MS Paint memes?