# Even In The Fog Of War A Tank Is Still Visible "Even In the Fog Of War, A Tank Is Still Visible" is a catchphrase and copypasta that went viral in late 2023 as a creative insult comparing an overweight or unattractive person to a military tank that can't be hidden even through visual obstruction. The phrase originated as an Instagram comment by user draganthompson1 and spread across X (Twitter), Reddit, and Instagram through 2024 and 2025, becoming a widely copied roast format. ## Origin On November 23, 2023, X user @McNasty shared a two-image post[2]. The first image showed a dating app notification where a woman had liked the user's profile. Her profile picture was blurry but appeared to show an overweight woman. The second image was a screenshot of a comment left by Instagram user draganthompson1 that read: "Even in the fog of war, a tank is still visible"[2]. The screenshots were taken from the Instagram page autistic.browniez, though the exact date of the original Instagram post and draganthompson1's comment are unconfirmed[2]. @McNasty's X post picked up over 40,000 likes over the following two years[2]. - **Platform:** Instagram (original comment), X/Twitter (viral spread) - **Creator:** draganthompson1 (original commenter), @McNasty (viral X post) - **Date:** 2023 ## Overview The phrase works as a layered insult that borrows military and gaming terminology. "Fog of war" is a concept from strategy games (and real military doctrine) describing the limited visibility a player has of the battlefield[1]. The joke flips this: even when visual information is obscured, the person in question is so large they're still clearly identifiable, like a tank on a battlefield. It's typically deployed in response to blurry photos, obscured profile pictures, or reflections where someone's appearance is still discernible despite poor image quality[2]. The format sits alongside similar body-shaming catchphrases like "The Fridge Protects the Snacks," where the humor comes from an elaborate metaphor used to deliver a blunt observation[2]. ## How It Spread The phrase circulated steadily through late 2023 and into 2024, with the original screenshot being reshared and the comment itself taking on a life as a standalone copypasta. People began dropping the line in comment sections whenever they spotted someone they perceived as overweight or unattractive in a photo, particularly in images with poor quality or obstructed views[2]. Between September 30 and October 17, 2024, the meme hit Reddit hard. Variations of the original comment and screenshot landed on r/cursedcomments, r/rareinsults, and r/madlads, with each post pulling in thousands of upvotes[2]. By early 2025, the phrase had evolved beyond its original dating app context. On April 2, 2025, Instagram user freememevan21 posted a meme applying the fog of war line to a shadow on window drapes that happened to resemble the shape of another meme, earning over 2,100 likes[2]. On April 23, Instagram user oogiebooogiewitdahoodie shared a screenshot from a video captioned "My friends and I making a list of what makes men feminine," where a woman's reflection was visible in the phone screen. The post description used the fog of war catchphrase to mock the reflection, pulling in over 21,500 likes[2]. The biggest single viral moment came on May 27, 2025, when X user @weirddalle posted a similar screenshot with the fog of war comment attached. That post exploded to over 286,000 likes and 9,200 reposts in a single day[2]. ## How to Use The catchphrase typically follows a specific setup: 1. Find or encounter an image where someone's appearance is partially obscured (blurry photo, reflection, shadow, low resolution, fog, distance shot) 2. The person in the image should be visibly large or otherwise recognizable despite the obstruction 3. Drop "Even in the fog of war, a tank is still visible" as a comment or caption ## Cultural Impact The phrase drew its power from bridging gaming vocabulary with real-world social commentary. "Fog of war" is a well-established term in strategy and real-time strategy games, where portions of the map are hidden until a player's units explore them[1]. By framing a dating app photo as a battlefield reconnaissance scenario, the original comment created a metaphor that landed with both gamers and general internet users. The insult spread particularly well on Reddit's insult-curation subreddits like r/rareinsults and r/cursedcomments, which function as galleries for creative put-downs[2]. The comment's appeal came from its wordplay rather than direct cruelty. It packages a body-shaming observation inside enough military/gaming abstraction to read as clever rather than blunt. ## Fun Facts - The "fog of war" concept in gaming traces back to real military strategy terminology first popularized by Prussian military analyst Carl von Clausewitz in the 19th century[1]. - The original comment by draganthompson1 was posted on autistic.browniez's Instagram page, but the exact date of the comment has never been pinpointed[2]. - The single biggest viral post using the phrase hit 286,000 likes in just one day, posted by @weirddalle on X in May 2025[2]. - The meme is structurally similar to "The Fridge Protects the Snacks," another elaborate metaphor used as a body-shaming punchline[2]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is "Even In the Fog Of War, A Tank Is Still Visible"? It's a catchphrase used as a creative insult, implying someone is so large they're visible even through visual obstruction, like a tank on a foggy battlefield[2]. ### Where did "Even In the Fog Of War, A Tank Is Still Visible" come from? It originated as a comment by Instagram user draganthompson1 on a post from autistic.browniez's page, then went viral when X user @McNasty shared it on November 23, 2023[2]. ### What does "Even In the Fog Of War, A Tank Is Still Visible" mean? The phrase compares a person (perceived as overweight) to a military tank, saying that even when visibility is limited (the "fog of war" from strategy games), they're still impossible to miss[2][1]. ### How do you use "Even In the Fog Of War, A Tank Is Still Visible"? Post it as a comment or caption under images where someone large is partially obscured by blur, reflection, shadow, or poor photo quality[2]. ### Is "Even In the Fog Of War, A Tank Is Still Visible" still popular? Yes. The phrase saw its biggest single viral moment in May 2025 when an X post using it hit 286,000 likes in one day, and it still circulates as a copypasta across platforms[2]. ### What does "fog of war" mean in gaming? In strategy games, fog of war refers to unexplored or hidden areas of the map that players can't see until their units move through them[1]. ### Who is draganthompson1? The Instagram user who wrote the original "fog of war" comment that started the meme. Little else is publicly known about the account[2]. ### When did the meme hit Reddit? Between late September and mid-October 2024, it spread across r/cursedcomments, r/rareinsults, and r/madlads, with each post accumulating thousands of upvotes[2]. ### What was the most viral post using this phrase? X user @weirddalle's post on May 27, 2025, which received over 286,000 likes and 9,200 reposts in a single day[2]. ### Is this meme related to "The Fridge Protects the Snacks"? They're structurally similar. Both are elaborate metaphors used to mock someone's weight, wrapping the insult in creative wordplay rather than stating it directly[2]. ## References 1. [Glossary of video game terms]() 2. [Even In the Fog Of War, A Tank Is Still Visible - Know Your Meme]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/even-in-the-fog-of-war-a-tank-is-still-visible Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library