Every Masterpiece Has Its Cheap Copy

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Every Masterpiece Has Its Cheap Copy, known as Toda Obra Maestra, Tiene Una Copia Barata in Spanish and Неповторимый оригинал и жалкая пародия in Russian, is a meme format in which two similar things, usually characters or franchises, are compared against each other, with one referred to as "masterpiece" and the other as "cheap copy." Used both in a sincere and ironic manner, the meme format gained a viral presence online in June 2021.

Origin

In June 2015, ironic two-panel format Inimitable Original vs. Pathetic Copy (rus. Неповторимый оригинал и жалкая пародия) gained popularity among social media users in Russia. In the format, two people, events or media were compared against each other, with one being proclaimed "an imitable original" and the other "a pathetic copy," usually ironically. While the exact origin of the format could not be discovered, the earliest available public post utilizing the format was made by 1001mem^[1] user FREON on June 3rd, 2015 (shown below, left). Starting in mid-2015, the meme format gained a notable presence among Russian-speaking users on social media, with multiple notable examples posted on VK,^[2] Twitter,^[3] Facebook and other websites^[4] (examples shown below, center and right).

Starting in April 2017, the format gained popularity among Spanish-speaking users on social media as Every Masterpiece Has a Cheap Copy (sp. Toda Obra Maestra, Tiene Una Copia Barata). On April 6th, 2017, Facebook^[5] page FAN10 made the earliest found meme utilizing the format, with the post gaining over 20,000 reactions and 6,100 shares in four years (shown below, left).

Prior to April 27th, 2017, the Facebook page Regimen Visual posted a meme that humorously compared SpongeBob SquarePants with Frozen (original post no longer available, shown below, center). On April 27th, the Facebook^[6] page Me Estas Retando? reposted the meme, with multiple viral reposts by other pages following in 2017 and 2018. In November 2018, an English translation of the meme became viral on Facebook, with the earliest found repost made by the page The Memegraph^[7] on November 22nd, 2018 (shown below, right).

Spread

On November 25th, 2018, iFunny^[8] user highqualitymemes123 reposted the translated meme, with the post being featured on the app and gaining over 73,300 smiles in three years.

Prior to June 2021, the English version of the format saw occasional use online, primarily on Facebook, while Russian and Spanish versions also maintained their presence. For example, on November 23rd, 2018, Facebook^[9] page The Star Wars Hub posted one of the earliest derivative memes based on the English version of the format, with the post gaining over 910 reactions and 150 shares in three years (shown below, left). On January 14th, 2020, Redditor My_Memes_Will_Cure_U posted a version that garnered over 56,000 upvotes in the /r/BikiniBottomTwitter^[10] subreddit in six months (shown below, right).

The format achieved viral spread in June 2021 after a June 10th post from the Facebook^[11] page Hey It's me, Goku shared a version of the meme that gained over 1,000 reactions and 270 shares in two weeks (shown below, left). In the following days, the meme was reposted multiple times. For example, a June 15th repost by Instagram^[12] page goku4life12 received over 17,300 likes in two weeks.

On June 21st, Twitter^[13] gimmick account Images That Make Your You Feel Pain reposted an ironic version of the meme comparing Fortnite and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild created by an unknown author. The post accumulated over 3,900 retweets and 74,900 likes in three days (shown below, right).

In the following days, users on Twitter, Instagram and other platforms posted multiple versions of the meme that humorously compared various franchises and characters.