He Ruined My Dream Journal / Mr. Electric, Send Him to the Principal's Office

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About

"He Ruined My Dream Journal!" is a memorable quote from the 2005 science fiction comedy film The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, which is used in various posts on Tumblr and remix videos on YouTube. Starting in July 2021, "Mr. Electric, Send Him to the Principal's Office!," another line from the same scene, gained prominence as a phrasal template and exploitable on iFunny.

Origin

On June 10th, 2005, the superhero adventure film The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl was released. In one scene of the film, school bully Linus (Minus) steals the protagonist Max's (Sharkboy) dream journal. After the teacher Mr. Electricidad (Mr. Electric, portrayed by George Lopez) forces Linus to return it, Max notices the journal has been vandalized and exclaims "He ruined my dream journal," which Linus denies, requesting that Max be sent to the principal's office.

Max: He ruined my dream journal!
Linus: I did not! Mr. Electric, send him to the principal's office and have him expelled!
(Max throws the journal at Linus)
Mr. Electricidad: You're in my class! Not the other way around! I know everything! And you know nothing! At the end of class, both of you report to the principal's office… with your parents!

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He Ruined My Dream Journal!

On May 27th, 2015, The Nostalgia Critic posted a review of the film, which mocked the "he ruined my dream journal" scene (shown below).^[1]

On April 13th, 2016, Tumblr^[5] user AllLevelsAtOnce published a post quoting the scene substituted with characters from the The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (shown below).

On April 17th, 2016, YouTuber Neo the Meme King uploaded a scene from the animated television series Gravity Falls dubbed with the Sharkboy and Lavagirl scene audio (shown below, left). The same day, YouTuber Wunkolo posted an edited version of the Sharkboy and Lavagirl scene in which Max blasts Linus with a ball of energy (shown below, right).

On April 21st, 2016. Tumblr^[2] user ask-the-fnaf-nightguards posted a video showing various illustrations depicting the Sharkboy and Lavagirl scene (shown below).

The following day, Tumblr^[3] user plutopiah posted an illustration of the scene (shown below). Meanwhile, Tumblr^[4] user superhglg posted a hand-drawn comic of the film scene (shown below, right).

Mr. Electric, Send Him to the Principal's Office and Have Him Expelled!

The other part of the scene did not see viral presence online until October 2020, although it was used before that in conjunction with the first part of the dialogue.^[6]^[7]^[8] On October 10th, 2020, iFunny user Amerikaner posted a 21st Century Humor edit that included a voiceover meme based on the scene, with the post going viral on the app (original post no longer available). On the same day, Amerikaner uploaded the video to YouTube,^[9] where it gained over 7,700 views in one year (shown below).

This is cringe! Mr. Electric, send him to the Chungus chamber and get him an inflation f--ish!

On October 24th, iFunny^[10] user Quake1500 posted a meme based on Amerikaner's edit that received over 1,800 smiles on the app in one year (shown below, left). On October 26th, 2020, iFunny^[11] user Pineapplekat posted a meme that used a panel from April 2016 Tumblr post by Tumblr^[12] user curioscurio as a template (original and edited panels shown below, left and right), with the post gaining over 360 smiles in the same period.

The format did not see further spread until June 22nd, 2021, when iFunny^[13] user GoodSamaritan posted a Whisper meme referencing Buck Breaking that received over 3,500 smiles on the app in five months (shown below, left). On July 8th, 2021, iFunny^[14] user Weaponized posted a Pagan meme based on the format that received over 2,000 smiles in four months (shown below, center). The format went viral on the app with a now-deleted post, made in early July 2021 by an unknown iFunny user, that was actively reposted outside the app in the following months (shown below, right).^[15]^[16]

Following these viral posts, the format achieved notable spread on iFunny^[17]^[18] in July 2021, maintaining significant popularity on the app in the following months. Starting in late September 2021, original versions of the meme appeared on other social media; for example, on September 26th, 2021, Twitter^[19] user @Zari_Wari posted the earliest found original version of the format outside of iFunny.