Robbie Rotten Reveals Nothing

Submission 6,377

Part of a series on Stefán Karl Stefánsson / Robbie Rotten. [View Related Entries]

About

Robbie Rotten Reveals Nothing, sometimes simply written as "Robbie Rotten Nothing," is an exploitable image macro series featuring the LazyTown character Robbie Rotten (played by actor Stefán Karl Stefánsson) lifting a cloche tableware cover to reveal an empty plate underneath. The image series is usually used to reveal a disappointing, anticlimactic or unexpected response/fact to the text overlaying the top frame.

Origin

Robbin Rotten has been featured in a number of various forms and templates for memes over the years, but the Robbie Rotten Nothing meme in particular comes from Season 2, Episode 14 under the title, “The Lazy Genie.” In the scene (featured underneath), Robbie attempts to wish for cake, ice cream and soda upon learning from Stingy that wishes come true. As he lifts up the plate cover, he sees that there’s nothing beneath and reacts with disappointment and frustration.

[This video has been removed]

The earliest example of this scene being used as a meme comes from the r/MemeTemplatesOfficial subreddit posted by a deleted user on August 24th, 2018.^[1]

Spread

Shortly after the initial upload previously mentioned, u/idea4granted posted the template with an example to r/MemeEconomy where it got 1,100 upvotes and a number of users investing in the new format (below).

On September 4th, 2018, the meme then spread to Twitter where @mellowdmelons posted another version of Robbie Rotten Nothing to their feed about going back to school.^[2]

The template was then posted by user mcpickle666 to Imgur on September 16th, 2018 -- uploaded as part of a collection for meme templates for users to create their own versions.^[3]

Popping up on the r/MemeTemplatesOfficial sub for the second time, u/TheWanderingWeeaboo posted a request (dated November 27th, 2018) asking for a clean version of the meme using the title “Robbie Rotten Nothing.” This is also the earliest use of that title to describe the image series (shown below).

Towards the end of 2018, another upload to Imgur by bonebone99 on December 2nd, 2018, uses the format to discuss the infamous “No Nut November” event, receiving over 136,000 views, nearly 3,000 points and 336 comments.^[4]

The meme would also spread to Facebook in 2019, seen on the page Red Dead Redemption II Memes on August 28th. This variation (seen below) is captioned with a reference to the game’s character Dutch who is often made fun of online for being a terrible leader over the course of the storyline.

Resurgence In 2020

In early 2020, the Robbie Rotten Nothing meme resurfaced again on Reddit when u/organic_crystal_meth began creating and posting a series of “Robbie’s Unsettling Facts” to the r/DankMemes subreddit over the course of several days. The first post went up on January 10th, 2020, and received over 14,000 upvotes. As each day went on, the posts continued to garner tens of thousands of upvotes, peaking in day 2 with a meme racking up nearly 60,000 upvotes.^[5]

After the success of the series, u/organic_crystal_meth then created the sub r/Robbiesfacts where all of the posts are collected in one place.^[6]

Since the series was uploaded, Reddit began using the format heavily over the next few days, prompting another post to the r/MemeTemplatesOfficial sub on January 22nd, 2020, with nearly 7,000 upvotes.^[7]