Before It Becomes Overrated, I'll Let You Know That I'm A Fan Of X

About

Before It Becomes Overrated, I'll Let You Know That I'm A Fan Of X refers to a catchphrase in which a person explains that they were a fan of an anime, game or film before it became overrated. It became a meme when it was paired with an image of Tobey Maguire and was used to show ironic appreciation of various pieces of media.

Origin

On July 12th, 2022, iFunny^[1] user thejokesonyou19 uploaded the earliest known use of the meme format by using a photo of Tobey Maguire in a suit, accompanied by the caption "Before it becomes overrated. I'll let you know that I'm a fan of Chainsaw Man," a manga series. The post received 437 smiles in two months (shown below).

Spread

On August 9th, 2022, Facebook^[2] page "Weebs and Their Memes" uploaded a meme similar to the one posted by thejokesonyou19. This one received more than 21,000 reactions and 10,000 shares in one month (authorship unconfirmed, shown below).

Starting September 2022, the format became popular on Facebook, where users used it to claim that they were fans of some franchises before they became overrated, but for the most part, these memes were ironic and mentioned some media with limited popularity potential. For example on September 16th, 2022, Facebook^[3] user Christian Paul Acuña uploaded an edit about being a fan of Akudama Drive to "LowRes MKUltra" group. The post received 667 reactions and 113 shares within two weeks (shown below, left). On September 15th, 2022, Facebook^[4] user Eroge Exterminatr uploaded similar meme about Cyberpunk Edgerunners to the same group. The post received more than 3,600 reactions and 2,300 shares within two weeks (shown below, right).

The phrase also became snowclone. For example on September 27th, 2022, Facebook^[5] user Gutz Berserk uploaded a variant of the edit that claimed they became fans of Kiss X Sis anime series before it becomes forgotten instead of overrated to the "That Time I got Reincarnated as a LowRes member" group. The post received more than 4,600 reactions and 1,600 shares in two days (shown below, left). On the next day, Facebook^[6] user Alvaro García uploaded a similar meme about the Asobi Asobase anime series to the same group. The post received more than 1,200 reactions and 728 shares in one day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Templates

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References