Shadowy Buff Guy in a Doorway

Submission 21,700

Part of a series on Buff Guys Typing on Laptops / Why Yes, How Could You Tell?. [View Related Entries]

About

Shadowy Buff Guy Standing in Doorway is an image macro meme featuring bodybuilder Lexx Little. Many online captioned the image, particularly variations on "Mom, I threw up," imitating a small child entering their parents' bedroom in the middle of the night to tell them they vomited.

Origins

On July 18th, 2020, bodybuilder Lexx Little posted the image on Instagram stories with the caption, "If this got posted on a meme page, I'd die happy. I don't even care if I was tagged or not" (shown below).^[1]

Spread

That day, Instagram^[4] user @dark_iron_gains shared the image juxtaposed against a family at a large dinner. They captioned the post, "Look who finally came out of their cave!" The post received more than 7,800 likes in less than two months (shown below, left).

On August 4th, 2020, the image went viral, following posts by Instagram user @negusflex (shown below, center).^[2] That day, Redditor wrestling_is_decent shared the image in the /r/me_irl ^[3] subreddit and received more than 10,000 points (98% upvoted) in less two months.

Days later, on August 8th, Redditor Walei254 shared the image on the /r/dankmemes^[5] subreddit with the caption "14 year olds who go weightlifting be like." The post received more than 44,000 points (96% upvoted) and 230 comments in less than two months (shown below, right).

Mãe Tenho Medo / Mom I’m Scared

On August 5th, 2020, Reddit user u/wrestling_is_decent^[6] shared the image of a very muscular man in brief underwear and dark socks standing in a dark room. He is illuminated from behind by the hallway light with an overlay text saying "Mom I Threw Up." The image was uploaded in the subreddit r/me_irl, garnering 10,100 upvotes and 57 comments in three years. (Seen below)

The image stayed in the Reddit community throughout 2020, reaching a Brazilian audience on May 1st, 2021, when Twitter user @santosmemes1912[] posted the image with the Portuguese caption "mom, can I sleep with you? I’m scared of Bragantino." The post garnered 365 likes and 81 retweets in two years. (seen below)

Later on 2021, variations of the meme started to be used as image macro for posts with the overlay text in Portuguese "Mom I’m Scared of X." For instance, Reddit user u/lost-cup-2073^[8] posted the meme with the overlay text "I’m scared of [Sonic Remake Creepypasta]." The image (seen below, left) received 25 upvotes and one comment in a year. IFunny user @zetisk^[9] posted another example of the meme, with the text in Portuguese "I’m scared of [Minecraft 314]." The post (seen below, right), uploaded on June 8th, 2021, garnered 14 likes and 2 comments in a year.