Rage Faces, a collection of badly-drawn cartoons often referred to as Rage Comics, rose to internet fame in the early 2000’s—but where did they come from? Let’s find out…

Rageguy

Bio

Rageguy was the main character of a series of crudely-drawn comics typically consisting of four panes portraying situations which brought about extreme disappointment, irritation or displeasure of any particular situation. The result was a fourth pane of Rageguy screaming in anger as a result of events occuring in the first 3 panes. Due to its simplicity, Rageguy has been become very popular—even being adapted into the series of web comic we know to be Rage Comics.

History

Rageguy orginated from a comic strip posted on the popular imageboard website 4chan—August 2008, using a four-panel template provided by the original poster. The image popped up on 4chan’s /b/ (Random) imageboard and was originally drawn in Microsoft Paint (good ole paint). The first three panes described the phenomenon that is the “Toilet Splashback”—and led into a depiction of Rageguy screaming with a caption that read “FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU-” or later referred to as F7U12 by a subreddit board.

Trollface

Bio

Trollface, a.k.a. “Coolface” is a character wearing what looks like a mischievous smile used to imply the look of an internet troll or one who intends to troll another. It’s often used in comments or forums as a response to individuals who exhibit “troll-like” characteristics.

History

Trollface was originally created by a guy named Carlos Ramirez, an Oakland-based artist known by his deviatART handle Whynne as part of a Microsoft Paint webcomic series about the essentially pointless nature of trolling on 4Chan’s /v/ (Video Games) board.

Cereal Guy

Bio

Cereal Guy is a stick figure character commonly used on discussion forums as a multi-purpose reaction face.

History

Cereal Guy originated from a cartoon strip about a long-distance couple’s argument over the phone. The strip was originally posted on the SomethingAwful forums in 2007 by graphic designer named Bob Averill. The comic strip served as a parody of TV commercials for Reese’s Puffs cereal featuring the tagline “Candy?!… For breakfast? It’s Reese’s!” The popularity of the comic prompted Averill to start his own webcomic series Lego Robot Comics, now known as Plastic Brick Automaton.

Okay Guy

Bio

Okay Guy is a morose-looking character who’s response to provocation by others is always a pathetic “okay”. Okay Guy is easily one of the softest members in the Rage Comic compilation.

History

The illustration is rumored to have originated on the imageboard 4chan, but no archived thread has been found. The earliest known instance of the face was posted on the Russian Internet humor website Joy Reactor on June 24th, 2009.

F**k Yeah Guy

Bio

F**k Yeah Guy is a self-complacent looking character used to express pride or victorious sentiments, like when your pumping gas and it clicks on a full dollar amount. Boss type ish…

History

F**k Yeah was originally posted on 4chan’s /b/ board on February 11, 2010. The character is most commonly used to illustrate triumphant moments in our everyday lives that make us feel dope. Kinda like when you wake up right before your alarm.

Forever Alone Guy

Bio

Forever Alone Guy is a character used to express loneliness and disappointment with life. Creators of this variety of rage comic occasionally alter one word or both of the words “forever alone” for a more humorous effect.

History

Forever Alone is considered one of the first major rage comic spin-off characters to be created after the original Rage Guy. According to various sources, the original comic was uploaded on May 28th, 2010 in a thread titled “April Fools” by a FunnyJunk user named Azuul.

“Y U No” Guy

Bio

“Y U NO” Guy is a character using SMS shorthands and carefree grammar as a way to bring someone’s attention on a particular subject or issue.

History

The character’s facial expression, full of frustration and rage, can be found in Gantz’ Chapter 55: Naked King (裸の王様), a Japanese sci-fi manga originally released in February 2002.

“Me Gusta” Guy

Bio

“Me Gusta” Guy is a character that is typically used to respond to awkward or disgusting events with the the Spanish phrase “Me Gusta,” . The illustration was originally used to convey an odd sense of pleasure pertaining to perverse contexts, but the meaning has since broadened in scope to more generally classify a state of simultaneous disgust/pleasure.

History

The colloquial Spanish phrase “Me Gusta” was first adapted into a Rage Comic drawing by an illustrator named Matt Oswald on 4chan as well as Reddit on March 18th, 2010. Oswald eventually revealed himself as the creator of the “Me Gusta” face in a Reddit thread on March 8th, 2011. He would later apologize to the internet for Me Gusta Guy in an interview with The Daily Dot.

Join the Conversation