The origin of :awesome:
So you’ve probably seen this around:

I’ve been wondering where the smiley came from for a while now (keeps me up most nights), and over the last couple days today I’ve done some digging to find out its history. As :awesome: is part of the emoticon set for the f13 forums, I began by asking schild, f13 founder.
driph: so whats the story of the gigantic smiley anyway?
schild: some guy on something awful made it
schild: some guy on 4chan made it BIGGER
schild: some guy on neogaf made it small
schild: schild made a tiny set of smilies out of them.
schild: fin.
That gave me a place to start, and further searching on the f13 boards led to this post by Fabricated, referring to the use of the smiley by Yahtzee in the most recent Zero Punctuation:
Um no.
That smiley originated from a Cyanide and Happiness comic, and became a smiley on Something Awful’s forums long before it was beaten to death here. He’s a goon.
Ah ha, Cyanide and Happiness! I was getting closer, and a random pumpkin carving blog entry led me to the particular comic referenced:

So, the source was found, or so I’d thought.

This epic thread on Something Awful from January of 2007, over a month before the comic went up, shows the escalation of the icon already well underway.
Originally purchased and added to the Something Awful smiley roster (SA has a pay system allowing members to add smileys) just prior to the above linked thread, it took off like a rocket. Known as :awesome:, the emoticon eventually reappeared as :fuckyou: and later :iamafag: after excessive overuse within GBS and other areas of Something Awful. This explosion of popularity led to its migration onto other forums, most notably 4chan (especially within /v/), where it was embraced with great vigor and enthusiasm.
*** Interstitial! A couple more web comics that have been erroneously linked as the source at one time or another.
After learning that the original purchaser of the smiley on SA was a user named Whalley, my next step was to get in touch with him. Finding Whalley wasn’t too difficult, and we chatted for a bit about :awesome:. Still amused at how widespread the whole thing has become, Whalley told me about its genesis:
driph: you originally bought that one on SA, right?
whalley: that i did
driph: was it a BYOB invention, or did you find it somewhere else?
whalley: much to my dismay of what i started
driph: I’ve heard everything from 4chan to SA to newgrounds, etc etc
whalley: some guy in byob drew it for this tiny little offsite forum he was at
whalley: i can’t remember who it was, i haven’t looked at an internet forum for like two months
whalley: he posted it one day though and i went “THAT IS SO AWESOME”
driph: nice.
whalley: and well now it’s the mascot for 4chan and has infected the entire internet
driph: the internet is a weird place.
whalley: i have come to be afraid of it
There you have it. Even with potential loose ends to tie up (who the artist was and the site he’d originally drawn it for), this wraps things up enough for me. schild was right, :awesome: did originate at SA, and while it was enormously popular there for a while, it wasn’t until its spread to 4chan that things really went nuts. Peaking in popularity in mid to late 2007, the reign of :awesome: has not yet ended. Spend any amount of time in /v/ on 4chan and you’re bound to see it pop up, and with its continued spread across forums and exposure to new audiences, :awesome: is here to stay.
An update!
Yes, as sleuthed by folks in the comments, the icon (and several other expressions) was indeed originally drawn for Pokemopolis. I recently corresponded with the creator of the smiley, and with her permission, here’s the story of the genesis, in her words:
I drew the icon years ago as part of an emoticon set he wanted for their new forum software, and I think he showed you all the other ones that were designed along with it. I’m not really sure what exactly I wanted it to represent but I think the ‘ridiculous childish glee’ that it now signifies is probably close!
I’m also a member at Something Awful and the first time I saw it posted I did a double take… I even remember my mind racing as to why and HOW someone had picked up a crappy lil’ icon off a tiny website, and I’m still not sure to this day… I assume a Pokemopolis member posted it on 4Chan. At that point I thought its posting would be a one time thing, but then I saw it more and more. It got to the point where I couldn’t read SA because everytime I saw it I’d just be completely freaked out, and naturally I came to hate it! I hoped every day that it would become bannable to post it, but the next best thing was replacing the VBCode. I also posted in BYOB in a thread Whalley made saying that I had made the icon originally, trying to get him to divulge where *he* had gotten it from. Most of SA assumed it was a ‘BYOB thing’ which was probably good because they’d probably want to lynch me if they actually knew where it was from.
I never expected it to become such a widespread meme, and I can’t say I even understand why its popular or why people want to make bag pins of it (Sure wish I could get some commission for the design though haha). It still weirds me out when I see webcomics use it though I’ve grown used to it now, sometimes I even tell nerdy neckbeard types that my dirty secret is *psst I drew THAT smiley*, which makes them say “MOAR!” or whatever is cool on 4Chan this week.
Though just for clarity sake my excuse for being on a Pokemon site in the first place was that I was young and stupid. But that’s the price of Internet fame!
So there ya go, mystery solved.
![]()
108 Responses to “The origin of :awesome:”
Trackbacks
- » Awsome Face The Teachings of Taffin Foxcroft
- Is it just me… | Aaronspringer.com
- Istoria :awesome:
- The New GM8 Logo Stinks – Marty Blog
- Sabe o que vai nos matar em 2012? « Soco no Saco
- Wondering what this smiley face is from??? - PreCentral Forums
- Wondering what this smiley face is from??? - PreCentral Forums
- The Origins of AWESOME FACE! « Q8GEEKS.ORG
Leave a Reply

LOL dude hehehe I waonder if cliffy B has anything to do with it and i must say 4chan for the win!
Thank you. You have helped unfog the mists of internet time. <3
thank you
God, that was bothering me for so long. thanks for clearing that up.
goddamn, you did your homework.
finally i can sleep easy knowing that this corruption has gotten out of hand and is completely-gay now, instead of the earlier slightly-gay.
thank you for clearing this up for and -most- of the tubes.
Rules 1 and 2, newfag.
:awesome:
Wrong board, anon.
add this to encyclopedia dramatica
In no way shape or form was the “/b/” word mentioned in this article, Anon.
Stop failing.
http://rapidshare.com/files/100384261/awesome_face_collection_2.rar.html
There’s a big ass RAR full of them.
Hahah. Gaiafag.
Nice post, haven’t been wondering that myself though..
STUMBLED
@reggin
you really don’t want to know what 4chan or /b/ is. Lets just say it is the sewage of the internet, the cancer of humanity… what ever you prefer.
Erm…well, C]Arowman it’s not so bad.
also see a list of *chans, not just 4chan
http://www.2ch.us/
Well let me take it back, it is pretty bad. But I think he’ll be interested in it. But yah it is bad
Rules 1 and 2 are only for raids or places full of faggots, the latter being the entire internet.
and here we are
Indeed, I remember when that smiley started to gain popularity on the forums. Eventually Lowtax got tired of seeing it overused. :awesome:
So then he changed the image of the emoticon to another image that was much more… grotesque.
And soon :awesome: disappeared. Not Before multiple spin offs and a Santa variation though.
Actually, it seems to have come from the Pokemopolis boards.
http://pokemopolis.net/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1195648914/
Interesting link, Dodge. I’m talking to the folks over at Pokemopolis now, I’ll post an update if I find out anything. Perhaps they are the original forum that whalley refers to in the interview.
anonymous on May 8, 2008 1:48 pm
“Rules 1 and 2, newfag.”
m00t himself says that those rules were made up. They were never official rules on /b/, and were barely used on /i/.
NEWFAG.
cheers dude, you have no idea how long i have been trying to figure out where this came from for. good work
I found the true beginning of the “Awesome” face. Its coming from Sean William Scott’s face in “Dude where’s my car?”. I cant remimber when exactly this happen but he says “Awesome” with that marvellous look. I know, i know…
More from pokemopolis, perhaps a lead towards the ur site whalley referred to above?
http://pokemopolis.net/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1213219220/11
not to offend you or anything, but this smiley originated on deviantart: http://imhappyplz.deviantart.com
caia:
It’s been around longer than that deviantart account has been in existence. :]
HOLY SHIT THANKS SO MUCH I WAS WONDERING ABOTU THIS ALSO.
You should remove the Cyanide and Happiness images. They’re misleading and people who don’t like to read text will think they were the origin rather than a copy.
I hate to poop on the parade but without knowing who Whalley got the image from in the first place and whether or not that guy just made a smiley out of an expression he’d seen elsewhere in cartooning (which seems likely) all you really know is the person responsible for popularizing it and that he got it from someone else.
thank you so much for this, i have been wondering about the origins of this smiley for quite some time
It sure is nice to know that the origin of awesome.
Even if it turned out to be Pokemopolis O_O
:awesome: Thanks for the info.
“Shii on July 23, 2008 7:16 pm
You should remove the Cyanide and Happiness images. They’re misleading and people who don’t like to read text will think they were the origin rather than a copy.”
Well, that’s their own stupid fault, you know.
Ah, and so the origin has been found.
Honestly, where else could it have come from? ;)
favorited this one, bro
formula for 4chan
1. steal source from somethingawful or something else
2. add some kind of pedophile joke
3. use in repetition
I always thought it was a reference to this girl:
http://blog.jimmyr.com/Meet_Mouth_Open_Girl_13_2008.php
Lol, this smiley makes me laugh everytime I see it. :D
Sorry but no, this particular facial expression has been around for YEARS, I’ve seen it on the internet and various webcomics since at least 2002, the origin is probably unknown.
To clear something up that i read up there, to be honest i don’t care if it has been said.
Rules 1 & 2 are for raids yes.
But it is also practiced for both real life, and other parts of the internet.
I have seen a 16 year old kid running down the street screaming, “Mudkipz! EFG!” while with his friend, i then proceeded to chase this teen and tackle him. I got right up and stared him in the eyes from 2 inches away and said in a monotone, “Rules…1…and…2, you fucking newfag.” i then threw him back to the grass in which i tackled him, and walked away.
They should be practiced to avoid such incidents as this.
Rules 1 and 2 dont apply, as the rule does not apply to 4chan itself, just /b/
and does anyone know his real name, its not awesome, its something like Xynta (sounds like Zinta) but i dont know how to actually spell it
o.oUUU
this is so lol…
My life is completed now that I know where the thing that is held so close to my heart came from.
thank you so much for the research. not knowing the origin of this face was destroying my life. and whoever speaks ill of the 4Chan needs to GTFO
@below: wtf, why would cliffyb have anything to do with it
wow i fail at commenting, i meant comment #1
That’s from BF2S…
tards
Sorry BF2s guy, the emoticon pre-dates the domain registration of bf2s.com, but nice try nonetheless.
it comes from the welcome page of jj.am the not-so-soft-porn site with questionable-age girls on it
There are 5 houses in five different colors
In each house lives a different nationality.
These 5 owners drink a certain beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar and keep a certain pet.
No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar, or drink the same beverage.
The CLUES:
The Brit lives in the Red house.
The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
The Dane Drinks tea.
The Green House is on the left of the White House.
The Green House’s owner drinks coffee.
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
The man in the center house drinks milk.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats
The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
The German smokes Prince.
The Norwegian lives next to the Blue House.
The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.
The QUESTION:
Who owns the fish?
So what is the identity of the original artist?
yeah
what’s the name of the original artist?
The real origion is East718 on Wikipedia. He created the image long before, and it’s his creation. It spread to 4chan, where it was discovered.
Hi Wikipedia admin, [citation needed].
Awesome! I think I’ll run down the street and yell “MudKIPZ” again.
God I have wondered for so long too. Thank you for your research in this. I really appreciate it.
hahaha
good sleuthing sir, FUCKN AWESOME SON!
She was :awesome: until she expressed a shame at being on a pokemon site.
Seriously.
Awesome!
(Seriously though, thanks for clearing that up. Been wondering where it started for a while now since everyone seems to have an opinion about it. I’ll make sure to link back to this frequently.)
so can you post what the original drawing looked like?
That was an :awesome: investigative job.
HOT. A girl made it x]
schild: some guy on 4chan made it suck*
Had to correct a typo.
YOU ARE :awesome:
I personally try to avoid reading boards of any type, so what year did the “Awesome Smiley” Appear.
Coz i’m pritty sure i saw that face in dude where’s my car.
just saying that if it was after 2000 or 1999 or what ever, the awesome Smiley would have come from that movie
Fink about it :j
“Rules 1 and 2, newfag.”
Only applies to raids, newfag.
Also: :awesome: find on the origin.
now everyone that wants the origen of that memorable picture will be able to find it here .
I just went and joined Pokemopolis and it’s known as “Cheesy” over there.
where can i get more of these awesome faces? im in love with them i want like all of them
What the hell does BYOB stand for here??
Awesome. The source of “Awesome” has been found
BYOB is a SomethingAwful subforum (along with GBS)
so I presume there *is* no copyright on the face, correct?
The origin seems to be around september 2008.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=awesome+face&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
good research, though i can’t help but wonder if you could have found where osama bin laden has been hiding in the time it took you to figure all that out. next time think about your country before going and using your valuable resources on such hosh posh. shame shame!
kidding of course :D
Hi guys, I have managed to find the girl.
Oh, and I found ‘proof’ that regardless of what she has said, she is, in fact, proud of her work!
Nope, all of those are wrong. The true origins of the Awesome Face is in the Koffing sprite in Pokemon Yellow. Play the game or look up the sprite, its definately fucking Awesome Face.
o-o that “awsome face” is so dang popular! thanks for telling me were it came from…. now i can sleep one agen ^-^
It’s all over Flipnote Hatena as well.
:awesome: has now officially infected Flipnote Hatena! p.s. my username is An!m3Fr3@k p.p.s im posting this from my DSi !!! /b/
RULES 34&35!!!!!!!!!!!!! NAO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is there any copyright on this image? my bank wont let me put it on my creditcard.. so i need to prove to them that its not copyrighted..
This icon looks suspiciously like the “sun” enemy in Saturn Bomberman Master Mode.
Here is a link to a video, but the resolution is to small its hard to tell for sure, but it predates this by alot.
Guys, this post is about the origin of the IMAGE, not the EXPRESSION. The expression has undoubtedly existed for decades, and it may have been in a movie or game or two, but the IMAGE originated from a smiley made for the Pokemopolis forums, which was redrawn into its current version. The only other pre-dating “source” that sounds plausible is the Koffing sprite in Pokemon Yellow, and since the image was made for a Pokemon-related forum, the image may very well be based off of Koffing’s expression. Koffing’s expression isn’t the source, but it could be the inspiration (key difference).
And for the love of god, check your goddamn dates before claiming a different source. JJ.AM, DeviantArt, Something Awful, Wikipedia, etc. are not the real source, and each one of those had the supposed “source” image being created/submitted WELL after the original was made. Some of the users that were the so-called “source”, and some of the sites even, didn’t exist when Pokemopolis made their smiley pack.
Things don’t suddenly become insanely popular overnight. Their popularity grows as time goes on until it has a growth spurt. That is exactly what happened with the alternative “sources” being mentioned: they’re dated before it’s popularity encountered a growth spurt, but after it was originally made. That’s why there’s so few of them dated in ’07 or prior, and so many dated in ’08 or later. But that does NOT mean that one dated in ’07 or prior is the original, it means whoever posted it jumped on the bandwagon early on.
TL;DR: Read this shit lazy asstard
Thank you.
My god. This is the first time I have ever read a thread and not look at the size before i read it. You kept me interested and informed about a topic I just need to know about and in the same minute findind it. Thank you[;
xD the Awesome Face is just amazing, it makes people laugh! i use it all the time in my Silly Flipnotes!
Haha goodness, I’m surprised people are still commenting on this article (or wondering about where the thing came from.) At least the meme is dying off though, finally. Maybe it’s slightly retarded for me to step forward as the maker, but I’m sure nobody gives a toss by now ;)
@Sniffadoodledoo You’d be surprised, this article still pulls in a couple hundred or so visitors each day, with the occasional spike here and there.
Congrats on stepped out from behind the shadows. :]
It was actually a one Evan Klug of Raleigh NC, look it up!
Actually, before the asian chick’s prom photos. There are chances the awesome face originated from a famous pose of Dylan and Cole Sprouse on the Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Search for “Zack Cody” on Google.
It amazes me that not only can the origin be right there, and the person who made it comments (hi) and yet people will still post “ACCCCTUALLY I think it came from the side of a mouldy hot dog that Sir Reginald Fartypants stepped on in Episode 305 of Spiderman the Animated Adventures”.
By the way, that was an awesome investigative article =)
Says the girl that screams “Cheerios!” …
There was an Awesome Face sticker on the interior of a bus I ride. It showed up last year. This year, however, the bus driver removed it. I’m contemplating whether or not to make another one, maybe put it in the bus driver’s pocket to freak them out.
the epic face was actually invented by will epucfas in 1934 and then yaers later in 2000 someone found a copy of the picture on the ground and made the first CARTOON epic face
So, can we have the contact info of the original author for copyright inquiries? :)
Does no one find it weird that shortly after this story was first published, Whalley went off the grid? His last known whereabouts were in the Australian outback with his longtime lover Tangerina and it’s been years since we’ve heard a peep from them. To be frank, they’re probably dead, and it doesn’t take much to realize how convenient their deaths would be for those who want to obtain full credit for the :awesome: image. Yes, this artist from a Pokemon site claims to have first drawn the image, but can we really verify that now that Whalley is encased in concrete underneath the Sydney Opera House and unable to answer our questions? There are so many who’d love to profit off the proliferation of this image and I find it laughable that some would believe it’s such a cut and dry case.