Nice Argument. Unfortunately...

Submission 47,110

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About

Nice Argument. Unfortunately… is a phrasal template setup for replies on social media that is often followed by one particular response, which achieved major popularity in recent years, such as ratioing, notifying the person that one is living in their walls, posting "their" IP address and others. In January 2022, the setup spawned an exploitable format in which these cliché responses were distributed between characters in a specific franchise, similar to alignment chart and Tumblr Grids.

Origin

While Nice Argument. Unfortunately… memes ultimately formed a complex format fusing its predecessors in an alignment chart/grid structure, most of the variations originated in 2021 and were used independently until January 2022.

Nice Argument, Unfortunately, Your Mom…

On January 31st, 2021, Redditor^[1] ExaltedLordOfChaos posted a Trollface meme captioned, "Very nice, well structured argument buddy. Though I am afraid that my sexual intercourse with your mother makes it completely invalid." The post, which parodied the practice of replying to one's posts in in-game chats and on social media with claims that one had sex with an opponent's mother,^[2] gained over 1,500 upvotes in six months (shown below).

In the following months, the image found limited use as a reaction and was reposted across various social media, including Reddit^[3] and Instagram.^[4]

In mid-April 2021, the first derivative of the format, a less verbose Trollface version, went viral (shown below, left). The earliest public post of the image was made by iFunny^[5] user Luger on April 15th, 2021, although the original author is unknown.

In May and June 2021, the image achieved viral spread through reposts.^[6] In early June 2021, another version of the format, this time based on an image of Shadow the Hedgehog, went viral (shown below, right).^[7]

In mid-June 2021, the budding format achieved recognition online as more versions (both images and videos) were made, as well as the phrase being used as a comment. For example, on June 5th, 2021, TikToker^[8] bigstevee posted a video that gained over 2.4 million views and 610,700 likes in eight months (YouTube reupload shown below, left). On August 17th, 2021, voice actor Gianni Matragrano uploaded a voiced version of the Shadow the Hedgehog meme that gained over 2.1 million views on YouTube^[9] in six months (shown below, right).

Nice Argument, Unfortunately [IP Address]

In September 2021, with the advent of IP-posting triggered by a series of SpongeBob SquarePants memes, the two formats were combined together. The earliest discovered Nice Argument, Unfortunately [IP Address] meme was posted by meme page @eternalclassic_ on September 22nd, 2021 to their Twitter,^[10] Telegram and VK pages (shown below, left), although earlier posts are likely to exist. More similar memes (one example shown below, right) were created^[11] in the following months.

Nice Argument, Unfortunately, I Am Inside Your Home and Other Versions

On October 14th, 2021, Redditor^[12] morbidly_obese_cat posted a James Bond meme captioned, "That's a nice argument Mr. Bond, but too bad I will depict you as the soy wojak!" (shown below, left). Versions of the caption appeared in other memes in late 2021.^[13]

In early November 2021, a meme based on the image of An Intruder from The Mandela Catalogue analog horror series, captioned, "Nice opinion. One small issue. I am inside your home." went viral on social media; for example, a November 4th repost in the /r/okbuddyretard^[14] subreddit received over 9,800 upvotes in four months (shown below, center).

Nice Argument. Unfortunately, Alignment Charts and Grids

On January 14th, 2021, Redditor^[15] PieNinja314 posted an alignment chart in which the responses that could follow Nice Argument. Unfortunately… were distributed between the nine archetypes. The post (shown below, left) gained over 350 upvotes in three weeks.

On January 15th, 2021, Twitter^[16] user @SMTChile posted the earliest found meme which expanded on the alignment chart, adding Shin Megami Tensei characters to it. The post gained over 1000 retweets and 3,800 likes in three weeks (shown below, right).

In the following days, the alignment chart version of the format achieved notable popularity, with versions being posted on Facebook, Reddit and Twitter. For example, a Thomas the Tank Engine version posted by Twitter^[17] user @thequeenofsodor on January 17th, 2022, gained over 130 retweets and 470 likes in three weeks.

Later in January 2022, a simpler, grid version of the format gained popularity. The earliest found meme based on this template was posted by Twitter^[18] user @otterlysik on January 24th, 2022 (shown below, left). The format did not see further presence until January 29th, 2022, when Twitter^[19] user @kierankinnie posted Honkai Impact 3rd meme based on the grid (shown below, center), with the post gaining over 760 retweets and 3,800 likes and prompting active use of the format in the following days.