Amogus

About

Amogus is a bastardized version of the name of the 2018 video game Among Us. In January 2021, the word gained popularity as a catchphrase used in ironic memes, often used to replace dialogue in cartoons, and as a way of shitposting by spamming the phrase alongside sus. Additionally, Amogus refers to the simplified drawing of a crewmate from Among Us used in the memes. In May 2021, the Amogus panel regained popularity as a pop culture and history reference format, with the word altered to three-syllable names ending with "us," such as "Columbus," and the panel redrawn accordingly.

Origin

On December 11th, 2020, Redditor^[1] star-platinum___ posted the earliest known meme that referred to the 2018 video game Among Us, which gained viral popularity during Autumn 2020, as "Amog Us." The post received over 680 upvotes but did not spawn a trend.

On January 16th, 2021, Redditor^[2] Lewdvik posted an edit of a panel from a cartoon^[14] by webcomic artist StoneToss (shown below, left), replacing one of the people in the comic with a white crewmate from Among Us and changing the the dialogue line to the single word "amogus." The post received over 4,600 upvotes in the /r/antifastonetoss subreddit in one month (shown below, right).

Spread

In the following weeks, the image received viral spread online. For example, on January 20th, 2021, iFunny^[5] user bamboosle posted a cropped version of the meme, gaining over 27,200 smiles in three weeks.

On January 16th, 2021, Redditor^[3] Transformers1_480 posted the earliest derivative meme reusing the caption, editing another cartoon by StoneToss. The post received over 8,600 upvotes in /r/ComedyNecrophilia subreddit in one month (shown below). On January 23rd, Redditor^[4] AtbBerare posted another version of the meme, gaining over 2,200 upvotes in three weeks (shown below, right).

Starting in late January 2021, the catchphrase gained notable popularity in ironic meme communities on Reddit, such as /r/ComedyNecrophilia and /r/okbuddyretard, and on iFunny, often being used to replace dialogue lines in various comics and being combined with When The Imposter Is Sus meme. For example, on January 27th, 2021, Redditor^[6] Icerob711 posted a meme that received over 2,300 upvotes in two weeks (shown below, left). On January 30th, iFunny^[7] user MenesSlavos posted a dub of an earlier meme, with the post gaining over 16,300 smiles in one week (shown below, center). On February 5th, Redditor^[8] KindaCringe2 posted a meme that gained over 11,100 upvotes in one week (shown below, right).

In addition to its use in memes, the catchphrase has been used as an ironic comment on social media.

Pop Culture and History References

On April 22nd, 2021, Redditor _ceo_of_unfunny posted an edited version of the Amogus panel, redrawing it to reference the exploration of North America and changing the caption to "Colombus." The post received 590 upvotes in the /r/amogus^[9] subreddit in three weeks (shown below, left).

In the following weeks, the image received viral spread online through multiple reposts; for example, an April 25th repost by iFunny^[10] user CumMoment received over 23,000 smiles in two weeks. On May 3rd, YouTube^[11] user Bread Defender posted a dubbed version of the meme that received over 1.5 million views in one week (shown below).

Starting on May 6th, 2021, users in the /r/196 subreddit created a number of cultural reference memes based on the panel. For example, on May 6th, Redditor^[12] Catwhistle_ posted a history meme that received over 7,700 upvotes in five days (shown below, left). On May 7th, Redditor^[13] faygoshill posted a meme that referenced Fullmetal Alchemist. The post gained over 16,000 upvotes in four days (shown below, right).

In the following week, the format gained a notable presence on Reddit, Facebook and YouTube.

Sugoma

"Sugoma" is the word "Amogus" backward, and is often used in shitposts telling people not to read it backward. It can also replace the word "sugma" in the Ligma joke format. On March 22nd, 2021, YouTuber xpstq posted a reversed Amogus meme in which the StoneToss character says "sugoma," gaining over 1.8 million views in five months (shown below).

Amogus Grammar

On May 18th, 2021, YouTuber Dencher memes posted an Oreo Grammar edit showing a number of custom Amogus character drawings with a voice reading each name into a low-quality microphone, including characters like Amogus, Sugoma, Amogusus and Gugu, gaining over 31,000 views in three months (shown below).

On June 22nd, Twitter^[15] user @TsuyuHortenshia posted a chart including all of these characters plus more, asking users to "tag themselves" picking which character they are (shown below). It is unclear if the user-created this image.

On July 4th, YouTuber Bread Defender posted a video voicing over every Amogus variation from the Twitter post, gaining over 3.3 million views in a month (shown below, left).

On July 19th, Redditor u/GranataReddit12 posted a version of the chart to /r/Amogus^[16] ranking each row on how weird the characters are (shown below, right).

Related Memes

Things That Look Like Among Us

Things That Look Like Among Us refers to a series of image macros depicting various objects and images that resemble the crewmate from the video game Among Us. In memes, many of these typically appear alongside text expressing insanity and frustration over seeing the character in everyday life. The meme is closely related to absurd Among Us formats like Amogus and was popularized on Reddit in late 2020 and early 2021.

Various Examples

Templates

Search Interest

External References