# Cereal Guy > Cereal Guy is a 2007 stick figure meme created by Bob Averill for Something Awful, depicting a casual character eating cereal and used to convey indifference or detached observation of unfolding drama. Cereal Guy is a stick figure character depicted casually eating cereal, originally drawn by graphic designer Bob Averill for Something Awful's forums in 2007[2]. The character became a staple reaction face on imageboards and forums, typically used to convey indifference, nonchalant observation, or the act of watching drama unfold without getting involved[2]. ## Origin Graphic designer Bob Averill, posting under the handle Lego_Robot, created the original Cereal Guy comic on the Something Awful forums sometime in 2007[1]. The comic depicted a long-distance couple arguing over the phone and was a direct parody of television commercials for Reese's Puffs cereal. Those ads used the tagline "Candy?!... For breakfast? It's Reese's!"[1]. The comic struck a nerve with Something Awful's community. Its popularity encouraged Averill to launch his own webcomic series called Lego Robot Comics, which later rebranded as Plastic Brick Automaton[1]. - **Platform:** Something Awful (original comic), imageboards (viral spread) - **Creator:** Bob Averill, a.k.a. Lego_Robot (graphic designer, original artist) - **Date:** 2007 ## Overview Cereal Guy is a simply drawn stick figure sitting at a table eating a bowl of cereal. The character's defining trait is his unbothered demeanor. In most uses, he's either calmly spooning cereal into his mouth while chaos happens around him, or doing a dramatic spit-take when confronted with something shocking. The clean, minimal art style made him easy to redraw and drop into comic strips, which helped him spread rapidly across early meme communities[1]. The character exists in two primary modes: the calm version (eating cereal while ignoring something) and the spit-take version (spitting cereal in shock). Both versions became widely used reaction faces in forum posts and imageboard threads throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s[1]. ## How It Spread After its debut on Something Awful, the Cereal Guy character quickly migrated to imageboards and discussion forums as a standalone reaction image[1]. Users extracted the stick figure from Averill's original comic strip and began inserting him into new contexts, particularly multi-panel comics where the punchline involved either calm indifference or an exaggerated spit-take. Search interest data for "Cereal Guy" shows a visible trend, though the phrase "STFU when I'm talking" (a caption sometimes paired with the character) never gained comparable traction as a search term[1]. A TinEye reverse image search found that of indexed versions, most retained the "Cereal Guy" name, confirming the character's identity stuck with the community[1]. The character became closely associated with the rage comic format that dominated sites like Reddit, 4chan, and 9GAG between roughly 2008 and 2012. Cereal Guy was one of several recurring stick figure characters (alongside Trollface, Forever Alone, and others) that formed the core cast of rage comics during this period. ## How to Use Cereal Guy typically appears in two formats: **The calm version:** Place the Cereal Guy eating his cereal in a panel where something dramatic, absurd, or chaotic is happening. The joke is his total lack of reaction. This works for situations where you want to convey "I'm just here watching the mess unfold" or "not my problem." **The spit-take version:** Use the spitting variant when reacting to genuinely shocking or unexpected information. The cereal spray adds comedic exaggeration to the surprise. In both cases, the character often appears in multi-panel comic strips alongside other stick figure characters. The simple art style means anyone can recreate or modify the character in MS Paint or similar tools. ## Cultural Impact Cereal Guy was part of the first wave of reaction face characters that defined internet humor in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Alongside Trollface, the Y U NO guy, and Forever Alone, he helped establish the rage comic as a dominant meme format across Reddit, 4chan, Tumblr, and Facebook[1]. The character's creator, Bob Averill, parlayed the comic's success into a full webcomic career with Plastic Brick Automaton, making Cereal Guy one of the earlier examples of a meme launching a creator's broader work[1]. Urban Dictionary entries for "Cereal Guy" describe the character with typical internet reverence, calling him "a based Chad" and "the most epic cringelord around," reflecting the character's lingering nostalgic status among internet communities[3]. ## Fun Facts - The original comic was a parody of Reese's Puffs cereal commercials, not a random creation. The specific tagline being mocked was "Candy?!... For breakfast?"[1]. - Bob Averill's meme success led to an entire webcomic series that went through two name changes: Lego Robot Comics, then Plastic Brick Automaton[1]. - TinEye reverse image searches showed the "Cereal Guy" name stuck to the character across the internet, unlike many memes that get renamed as they spread[1]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Cereal Guy? Cereal Guy is a stick figure reaction image showing a character eating cereal, used to express indifference or shock depending on the variant[1]. ### Where did Cereal Guy come from? The character was created by graphic designer Bob Averill (Lego_Robot) on the Something Awful forums in 2007 as part of a comic parodying Reese's Puffs commercials[1]. ### What does Cereal Guy mean? In the calm eating version, it means "I'm just watching this unfold without getting involved." In the spit-take version, it expresses genuine shock or disbelief[1]. ### How do you use Cereal Guy? Place the calm cereal-eating figure in a scene of chaos to show indifference, or use the spitting version as a reaction to surprising news[1]. ### Is Cereal Guy still popular? Cereal Guy peaked during the rage comic era of 2008-2012. While no longer commonly used in new content, the character is recognized as a classic internet meme from that period[1]. ### Who created Cereal Guy? Bob Averill, a graphic designer who posted under the name Lego_Robot on Something Awful[1]. ### What was the original Cereal Guy comic about? It depicted a long-distance couple's phone argument and parodied Reese's Puffs TV commercials with the tagline "Candy?!... For breakfast? It's Reese's!"[1]. ### What is Plastic Brick Automaton? It's the webcomic series Bob Averill created after the success of his Cereal Guy comic. It was originally called Lego Robot Comics before being renamed[1]. ## References 1. [Bad Guy (Billie Eilish song)]() 2. [Cereal Guy - Urban Dictionary]() 3. [Cereal Guy - Know Your Meme]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/cereal-guy Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library