About

Let's Take a Look 👀, also known as Let's Have a Look 👀, and Noticing 👀 are catchphrases from a series of memes utilizing the Eyes emoji "👀" as an exploitable element in GIFs, memes and videos. The Apple iOS emoji depicts a pair of wide-open eyes looking rightward, giving a side-eye expression. It was approved as part of Unicode 6.0 in 2010, and in the following years, it was commonly used to represent the act of looking, including a questioning, skeptical look or an acknowledging look.

Memes that added 👀 to animals and characters notably started in 2024, when Spanish-speaking meme creators started using the emoji for Void Memes. Then, a meme called Un Vato Bien Despierto, meaning A Wide Awake Guy in English, developed, centered on an image of a realistic Philip J. Fry from Futurama with the 👀 emoji.

In late 2024, a GIF of Resident Evil character Leon Kennedy with the 👀 emoji and a caption reading, "Let's take a look," surfaced online, later inspiring more 👀 memes like a cheetah with the 👀 emoji and bald South Park characters all looking in the same direction. 👀 Memes primarily surfaced on Twitter / X, Instagram and TikTok, peaking in October 2025.

Origin

On September 25th, 2024, Tenor^[1] user idklol321 shared a GIF, showing Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil with the Eyes Emoji (👀) stickered to his face and a Whisper text caption, reading, "Let's take a look…" The post is currently the first known upload of the meme.

On December 31st, 2024, X^[2] user @derpatron6000 reposted the GIF, gaining over 16,000 likes in 10 months.

Precursor

On March 3rd, 2024, Redditor candersnapvivamaau99 shared a post to the /r/MAAU^[16] subreddit, which referenced Void memes and used the 👀 emoji as an exploitable, gaining over 340 upvotes in a year. In the post's comment section, several users shared similar edits using other templates. The post is currently the first discovered Void meme to use the 👀 emoji.

In the following weeks, others on the /r/MAAU^[17] subreddit shared Void memes that used the 👀 emoji.

On May 19th, 2024, TikToker^[3] @liquoronme shared a photo slideshow, including a recaptioned image caption meme, using a realistic render of Fry from Futurama with the 👀 emoji over his eyes. The recaption referred to him as "Un vato bien despiertos." Over one year, the slideshow received over 55,800 likes. It's currently the first known upload of the meme.

In English, the meme translates to:

*Guillermo del Toro answers audience questions
A wide awake guy:
Guillermo, what was that thing you signed in 2009?

The caption was referencing a petition that Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro allegedly signed in 2009, which demanded the immediate release of Polish director Roman Polanski from detention in Zurich, Switzerland, over an underage sex case.^[6][7]

On May 23rd, 2024, X^[4] user @MundoVyr reposted the meme from @liquoronme's TikTok slideshow, gaining over 6,000 likes in a year.

More iterations of the Un Vato Bien Despierto meme surfaced in the following weeks, like one shared by Instagram^[5] user @cine.visionn on May 27th, gaining over 820 likes in a year.

On September 8th, 2024, TikToker^[14] @gato10xdwi shared a black and white clip from the animated series Gravity Falls in which all of the characters had 👀 emojis, gaining over 29,800 likes in a year.

On October 2nd, X^[15] user @IcebergsOOC reposted the video, gaining over 21,000 likes in a year.

The use of the 👀 emoji in Spanish-language Void memes seemingly led to its use in Let's Take a Look 👀 and Noticing 👀 memes from 2025. For instance, in the replies to X^[2] user @derpatron6000's repost of the Leon Kennedy GIF, some X^[8] users attached the Un Vato Bien Despierto meme.

Un Vato Bien Despierto memes continued to go viral on X^[9] in early 2025, as the exploitable use of the Eyes Emoji spread outside of Spanish-speaking circles.

Spread

On June 16th, 2025, X^[10] user @slogbuzz tweeted a reaction image of a man and a cat, each with 👀 emojis, captioned, "When the video essay goes 'I haven't entirely been truthful with you.'" Over four months, the tweet received roughly 160,000 likes.

On August 3rd, X^[11] user @splorting tweeted a GIF of a cheetah backing away with the 👀 emoji on its face. Over two months, the tweet amassed over 40,000 likes.

On August 20th, 2025, Instagram^[12] user @cheesemachine111 reposted the abovementioned GIF, gaining over 12,100 likes in two months.

On October 24th, TikToker^[13] @fujindere shared a GIF of a dog with the 👀 emoji on its face, gaining over 82,000 likes in five days.

On October 26th, 2025, TikToker^[19] @shyper6467 posted a video caption meme, showing a leopard rolling around with the Eyes emoji pasted on it. The caption used the hashtag "#noticing" and included several 👀 emojis. Over nine days, the video received over 251,800 likes.

On October 27th, TikToker^[18] @whurveiserased shared a video of himself with the 👀 emoji on his face, and a caption reading, "I'm so ugly / I said I'm so ugly," with each sentence separated by 👀 emojis. Over two days, the video received roughly 116,800 likes.

On October 30th, 2025, Instagram^[20] user @ananas_.nasdas shared a video edit meme that used a scene from South Park in which the characters are bald. The edit included a skeleton running by the boys, who are all given 👀 emojis to represent that they are scared. Over five days, the video received over 269,400 likes.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References