What's the Matter Lagerboy

Submission 318

Part of a series on Exploitables. [View Related Entries]

About

What's the Matter Lagerboy, also known as What's the Matter X Boy, refers to a series of recaption memes based on an exploitable poster advertising Hobgoblin beer depicting a goblin at the bar with a pint captioned, "What's the matter lagerboy, afraid you might taste something?" The poster was shared online as early as 2008 and became the subject of memes in the late 2010s through the 2020s in which the caption is altered in a variety of ways, most often replacing "lagerboy" and "taste something" with another phrase. In October 2024, a screenshot of a YouTube comment reading, "What's the matter, wokey boy? Scared of a few boobies?," a likely reference to the meme, became the subject of its own series of memes.

Origin

As early as 2008, Hobgoblin^[1] beer released an advertisement for its alcohol product featuring a drawing of a goblin or hobgoblin holding up a pint at a tavern as other goblins drink behind him. The caption on the ad reads, "What's the matter lagerboy, afraid you might taste something?"

The earliest available post of the advertisement online was made on August 20th, 2008, on Larsblog^[2] as part of a piece titled "How we judge beer in Norway."

On November 1st, 2016, the ad was posted to the subreddit /r/beerporn,^[3] garnering over 250 upvotes in eight years. On January 12th, 2018, X^[4] user @tristandross posted the earliest known edit of the ad, altering the caption to read, "What's the matter irony boy, afraid you might feel something?" garnering over 370 likes in six years.

Spread

The meme saw an increase in virality in 2024. On October 10th, 2024, X^[5] user @torusVEVO posted an edit of the meme referencing ambient music, reading, "What's the matter ambient boy, afraid you might hear something?" garnering over 39,000 likes in 12 days.

On October 19th, X^[6] user @dank_ackroyd posted a photograph of the outside of a music shop called "Hobgoblin Music," writing, "'What’s the matter lager boy – afraid you might PLAY something?'😏" garnering over 1,900 likes in three days.

On October 21st, 2024, X^[7] user @buckfastbadlad posted an edit as a quote-repost to a post reading, "dr pepper gotta be the worst soda to ever grace this earth," in which the goblin holds a Dr. Pepper can, reading, "What's the matter Cola boy, afraid you might taste something?" garnering over 48,000 likes in a day.

What's The Matter, Wokey Boy?

On October 20th, 2024, X^[8] user @akeurajitsukasa posted a screenshot of a comment left on a YouTube^[9] video by the Zenless Zone Zero channel, showcasing the character Burnice. The commenter makes a likely reference to the hobgoblin poster, using the phrase, "What's the matter, wokey boy? Scared of a few boobies? A few breasts? Pathetic." The post gained over 111,000 likes and 10,000 reposts in two days. On October 21st, it was reposted to /r/Gamingcirclejerk,^[10] garnering over 1,100 upvotes in a day.

As an ZZZ enjoyer myself, I do find it quite hilarious how these flea-ridden tourists from Twitter keep getting mad at this masterpiece and comparing it to street trash What's the matter, wokey boy? Scared of a few boobies? Of a few breasts? Pathetic Burnice's heat is too much for you to handle, stay away from the kitchen and go play Silent Hill 2, you can't cook my brother in christ.

The post inspired numerous edits over the following days in which sections of the text and the video are replaced. For example, on October 22nd, X^[11] user @danhengposting posted an edit that garnered over 660 likes in a day.