The Stand User Could Be Anyone

Submission 9,192

Part of a series on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. [View Related Entries]

About

The Stand User Could Be Anyone, continued The Stand Users:, refers to a viral catchphrase used in ironic memes by the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fandom to indicate people or characters that dress extravagantly like the stand users from the anime and manga series. The phrase has been used in memes on Reddit since September 2019 but resurfaced in December 2022 on TikTok using fashion show footage featuring models wearing flamboyant clothing to indicate they're the stand users.

Origin

The earliest known mention of the catchphrase "the stand user could be anyone" being used in a meme comes from an example on Reddit^[1] by user @some_skinny_guy on September 25th, 2019, which shows an image with several people and a flamboyantly dressed Shrek in the corner and the text "the stand user" above it. The post received roughly 3,600 upvotes and 35 comments in five years.

Spread

In December 2019, Redditors continued to use the "The stand user could be anyone" meme as it became more prevalent in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure communities. For instance, on December 11th, 2019, Redditor^[2] TTV_OreoLover posted a picture of a man wearing office clothing and another dressed as a clown with the caption "Which one is the enemy?" The post (shown below, left) received more than 14,000 upvotes and 80 comments in five years.

On Jully 22nd, 2021, iFunny^[3] user @clearmemes1_2020 posted a picture of two people dressed extravagantly in a music festival paired with the caption (shown below, left), which amassed more than 56,000 likes and 580 comments in three years.

The JoJo's Bizarre Adventure catchphrase also became the subject of memes and jokes on TikTok as people used footage of fashion shows to indicate who's the stand user. For instance, on April 3rd, 2024, TikTok^[4] user @imbrandetta posted a video of a man posing on the sidewalk while showing his outfit (shown below, left) paired with the phrase, which amassed over 2 million plays and 427,000 likes in two weeks.

On December 21st, 2023, TikTok^[5] user @zoomtitanr posted a montage of footage from several fashion shows paired with the catchphrase meme (shown below, right), which garnered roughly 600,000 plays and 127,000 likes in five months.