Sonic Blank Stare In The Dark / Sonic CD Title Screen Opening

About

Sonic Blank Stare In The Dark or Sonic CD Title Screen Opening is an exploitable image macro of Sonic The Hedgehog giving a death stare or side-eye look while surrounded by darkness. The image became the subject of memes in September 2022, particularly on Twitter / X and TikTok where it is often used as a reaction image when a person shares a controversial opinion or hot take.

Origin

The image of Sonic The Hedgehog giving a death stare while shrouded in shadow comes from the title screen of the Sonic CD game, released on November 19th, 1993. YouTube^[1] user @Carls493 uploaded one of the earliest examples of the Sonic CD title screen opening (shown below) on January 11th, 2012, which amassed over 98,000 views and 1,300 likes in 11 years.

Spread

The still frame from Sonic CD's title screen started to be used as a reaction meme on X and TikTok around mid-2022. For example, TikTok^[2] user @144p_wurmple posted a clip of Sonic in the dark (shown below, left) on May 20th, 2022, amassing more than 14,000 plays and 248 likes in a year.

On August 8th, 2023, TikTok^[3] user @lavell____ posted the clip paired with the overlay text "POV: Someone is pissing you off," which garnered roughly 2,000 plays and 53 likes in four months.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References