About

Even In the Fog Of War, A Tank Is Still Visible is a catchphrase often used online as a way of pointing out someone that the poster perceives as ugly or overweight, describing them as a "tank." The phrase first went viral online in November 2023 after it was left as a comment under an Instagram post by user draganthompson1. The comment was reposted on social media and went viral, inspiring further memes over the following years and spreading the phrase online. It is comparable to the catchphrase, "The Fridge Protects the Snacks."

Origin

On November 23rd, 2023, X^[1] user @McNasty posted two images. The first shows a like from a woman on a dating app, whose profile picture is blurry, but appears to depict an overweight woman. The next image is a comment left under the post by draganthompson1, reading, "Even in the fog of war, a tank is still visible." The post garnered over 40,000 likes in two years and was taken from the autistic.browniez Instagram^[2] page, but it is unconfirmed when they originally posted it and when dragantheomspon1 made their comment.

Spread

The meme garnered viral spread over the following months, often attached to the comment by draganthompson1. The comment itself also garnered viral spread as a copypasta and a way of pointing out a person someone perceives to be ugly or overweight in an image.

Between September 30th and October 17th, 2024, variations of the original comment and screenshot were shared to Reddit, including the subreddits /r/cursedcomments,^[6] /r/rareinsults^[7] and /r/madlads,^[8] with each accumulating thousands of upvotes in seven months.

On April 2nd, 2025, Instagram^[3] user freememevan21 posted a meme using the phrase in reference to a shadow on a set of drapes that resembles the shape of the Jakeing It meme, garnering over 2,100 likes in around two months.

On April 23rd, Instagram^[4] user oogiebooogiewitdahoodie posted a screenshot from an unknown video captioned, "My friends and I making a list of what makes men feminine," in which the person's reflection can be seen in the phone screen. The post description reads, "“Even in the fog of war a tank is still visible," suggesting the woman's reflection is ugly. The post gained over 21,500 likes in a month.

On May 27th, 2025, X^[5] user @weirddalle posted a similar screenshot from what appears to be the same video, attaching the "fog of war" comment to the post screenshot, garnering over 286,000 likes and 9,200 reposts in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References