Expanding Brain
TL;DR · OriginExpanding Brain, also known as Galaxy Brain, is a multi-panel meme in which the brain grows larger and brighter with each panel until it finally bursts like a galaxy. Each pa…
Origin
Expanding Brain, also known as Galaxy Brain, is a multi-panel meme in which the brain grows larger and brighter with each panel until it finally bursts like a galaxy. Each panel carries an idea or phrase, and the basic joke is that ideas get more "enlightened" as the brain grows.
The first known post is an image uploaded to Reddit's r/dankmemes by user janskishimanski on January 31, 2017, which received nearly 1,200 upvotes. It enlarged the brain alongside increasingly overwrought fake-archaic versions of "who": "whom," "whomst," "whomst'd've." The irony of attaching bigger brains to ever more ungrammatical words, as if intelligence were rising, was the punchline.
Spread
Throughout February 2017 the format spread across r/dankmemes and r/MemeEconomy, a subreddit that treats memes like stocks, with its subject changing endlessly. That month a video version by YouTuber BagelBoy passed 2.1 million views. It was applied to video games, politics and pop culture, and outlets such as PopSugar, New York Magazine and Mic covered the trend. The name Galaxy Brain came from the cosmic, glowing brain in the final panel and later took on a life of its own as a word for mocking overthought, not-actually-smart ideas.
Spin-offs followed. In April 2017 a template using a motion-blurred astronaut photo appeared, versions pairing each panel with WWE chairman Vince McMahon's escalating reaction faces became popular, and in June 2018 a remix mixing in a Sprite commercial featuring Drake came out.
Usage
- An ironic ranking that lays out about four options on a topic and gives the biggest brain to the most absurd answer
- Mocking an idea that sounds clever but is off the wall: "truly a galaxy-brain take"
- Self-deprecating humor that dresses up a bizarre method as transcendent intelligence compared with the normal one
It is mostly used ironically, getting laughs by presenting derided ideas as the most elevated.
Sources
- Know Your Meme, "Galaxy Brain" — janskishimanski's first post on r/dankmemes on January 31, 2017 and its upvotes, the whomst variations, spread across r/dankmemes and r/MemeEconomy in February 2017, BagelBoy's video with 2.1 million views, the Galaxy Brain and Expanding Brain names, the April 2017 astronaut template, Vince McMahon reactions and the June 2018 Drake Sprite remix, coverage by PopSugar, New York Magazine and Mic, ironic usage
