It's a Trap

2009reactionactive

Also known as: It's a Trap Meme · IT'S A TRAP · IAT · It'S A Trap

It's a Trap! is a 2009 image-macro meme featuring Admiral Ackbar's catchphrase from *Return of the Jedi*, deployed as a humorous warning against deceptive situations.

"It's a Trap!" is a catchphrase and reaction image based on Admiral Ackbar's famous line from the 1983 Star Wars film *Return of the Jedi*. The image macro version first appeared on Something Awful in the early 2000s and quickly spread to FARK, YTMND, 4chan, and YouTube, making it one of the most recognizable and long-lived memes from the early internet era. The phrase is used as a humorous warning about anything deceptive, misleading, or suspicious.

star warscatchphrase memesreaction memesimage macro memesearly internet memes

Overview

The meme centers on Admiral Ackbar, the fish-like Mon Calamari military commander from the Rebel Alliance, who shouts "It's a trap!" during the Battle of Endor in *Return of the Jedi*4. Despite having only 14 lines of dialogue and roughly three and a half minutes of total screen time across all his film appearances, Ackbar became a fan favorite, and this single line became one of the most quoted phrases from the original Star Wars trilogy4.

The standard meme format uses a screenshot of Ackbar's face from the film, paired with the caption "IT'S A TRAP" in bold text. The image works as a reaction to anything that looks suspicious, too good to be true, or deliberately misleading. It's one of the earliest and most durable reaction images in internet history.

The line itself comes from Erik Bauersfeld's voice performance as Admiral Ackbar in the 1983 film *Return of the Jedi*4. Bauersfeld reportedly made up the voice on the spot after looking at a photograph of the character4. In the film, Ackbar realizes the Rebel Alliance fleet has flown into an Imperial ambush near the second Death Star and exclaims the now-iconic warning3.

The meme version was born in the early 2000s when Something Awful administrator OMGWTFBBQ created an image macro using a screenshot of Ackbar with the caption "IT'S A TRAP"2. This image quickly became a go-to reaction image for warning other forum users about bait-and-switch pranks, misleading links, and deceptive posts.

Origin & Background

Platform
Internet forums
Creator
Admiral Ackbar
Date
2009

The line itself comes from Erik Bauersfeld's voice performance as Admiral Ackbar in the 1983 film *Return of the Jedi*. Bauersfeld reportedly made up the voice on the spot after looking at a photograph of the character. In the film, Ackbar realizes the Rebel Alliance fleet has flown into an Imperial ambush near the second Death Star and exclaims the now-iconic warning.

The meme version was born in the early 2000s when Something Awful administrator OMGWTFBBQ created an image macro using a screenshot of Ackbar with the caption "IT'S A TRAP". This image quickly became a go-to reaction image for warning other forum users about bait-and-switch pranks, misleading links, and deceptive posts.

How It Spread

By mid-to-late 2002, the phrase had migrated from Something Awful to FARK, where it gained traction as a running joke in Photoshop Phriday threads. The image macro was adopted as a standard warning whenever someone spotted a suspicious link or a setup for a prank.

Starting in 2004, "It's a Trap!" exploded on YTMND, where users created hundreds of parody sites built around the Ackbar soundbite. The most popular YTMND page, uploaded by user MultiKoopa on June 2, 2005, pulled in over 313,000 views.

Around the same time, 4chan adopted the phrase heavily. On the imageboard, "It's a Trap!" became closely linked to the slang term "trap," used to describe photos where a person's gender appeared ambiguous or androgynous. This usage became one of the more controversial applications of the meme.

After YouTube launched in 2005, over a thousand fan-made videos featuring or parodying Ackbar's line were uploaded to the platform. An Urban Dictionary entry for the phrase was created on May 20, 2009. In the 2008 Wii version of *Star Wars: The Force Unleashed*, LucasArts included an Easter egg where entering the cheat code "ITSATWAP" unlocked Admiral Ackbar as a playable character.

On February 11, 2010, both *The Daily Show* and *The Colbert Report* on Comedy Central aired segments using Ackbar's soundbite, intercutting it with footage of Republican leaders calling President Obama's health care summit invitation a "trap".

Family Guy got in on the action too. On December 21, 2010, the show released a direct-to-video special titled "It's a Trap!" as the final installment of its Star Wars parody trilogy. The episode, written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and David A. Goodman, retold *Return of the Jedi* with Family Guy characters and later aired on Fox on May 22, 2011 as the ninth season finale. The title was a direct nod to the internet meme, and the episode even borrowed characters from *American Dad!* and *The Cleveland Show* because Family Guy had run out of its own characters to cast.

Platforms

4chanForumsRedditTwitterDiscord

Timeline

2009-04-16

Know Your Meme entry created

2025-06-20

Last updated on Know Your Meme

2024

Remains actively used in gaming and internet circles

2025-01-01

It's a Trap is still actively used and shared across platforms

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

1

Spot a situation online (or in real life) that looks suspicious, deceptive, or too good to be true.

2

Post the Admiral Ackbar "IT'S A TRAP" image macro as a reply or reaction.

3

Optionally, customize the image with new caption text that fits the specific situation (e.g., "Free iPhone giveaway? IT'S A TRAP!").

4

The meme also works as a simple text reply, just typing "It's a trap!" is enough for most people to get the reference.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

"It's a Trap!" crossed from internet culture into mainstream media multiple times. The Comedy Central appearances on *The Daily Show* and *The Colbert Report* in 2010 brought the meme to a television audience of millions. Family Guy dedicated an entire episode to the phrase as a title, acknowledging that the line had taken on a life far beyond Star Wars fandom.

Admiral Ackbar himself became more famous for the meme than for his actual role in the films among younger audiences. He had just three and a half minutes of screen time across three movies, yet ranked No. 16 on *Star Wars Insider* magazine's "Top 20 Star Wars Characters" list in 1998. The meme only boosted his popularity further, and he was brought back for *The Force Awakens* (2015) and *The Last Jedi* (2017).

The phrase also influenced how the Obama-era "Troubled Asset Relief Program" (TARP) was discussed online. Because of the phonetic similarity, "It's a Tarp!" derivatives flooded the internet starting in 2008, with search queries for "it's a tarp" spiking on Google Trends around April of that year.

Fun Facts

Erik Bauersfeld, who voiced Admiral Ackbar, improvised the character's voice after simply looking at a photo of the puppet. He voiced Ackbar in both *Return of the Jedi* and *The Force Awakens* before his death.

Ackbar's total screen time across all three of his film appearances is only three minutes and 30 seconds.

Ackbar didn't actually debut in *Return of the Jedi*. His first appearance was in a Star Wars newspaper comic strip by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson that ran from November 1982 to January 1983.

The character's first name, Gial, wasn't officially established until April 2012, almost 30 years after his film debut.

In the Family Guy parody, Klaus from *American Dad!* plays Admiral Ackbar because the show had used up all of its own characters for the Star Wars trilogy.

Derivatives & Variations

Gaming Trap Warnings

The meme used specifically to warn about in-game traps and ambushes

(2003)

Scam Detection Meme

Used to warn about online scams and suspicious offers

(2003)

Admiral Ackbar Variations

Different screenshots or quotes from the character

(2003)

Frequently Asked Questions

It's a Trap

2009reactionactive

Also known as: It's a Trap Meme · IT'S A TRAP · IAT · It'S A Trap

It's a Trap! is a 2009 image-macro meme featuring Admiral Ackbar's catchphrase from *Return of the Jedi*, deployed as a humorous warning against deceptive situations.

"It's a Trap!" is a catchphrase and reaction image based on Admiral Ackbar's famous line from the 1983 Star Wars film *Return of the Jedi*. The image macro version first appeared on Something Awful in the early 2000s and quickly spread to FARK, YTMND, 4chan, and YouTube, making it one of the most recognizable and long-lived memes from the early internet era. The phrase is used as a humorous warning about anything deceptive, misleading, or suspicious.

star wars catchphrase memes reaction memes image macro memes early internet memes

Overview

The meme centers on Admiral Ackbar, the fish-like Mon Calamari military commander from the Rebel Alliance, who shouts "It's a trap!" during the Battle of Endor in *Return of the Jedi*. Despite having only 14 lines of dialogue and roughly three and a half minutes of total screen time across all his film appearances, Ackbar became a fan favorite, and this single line became one of the most quoted phrases from the original Star Wars trilogy.

The standard meme format uses a screenshot of Ackbar's face from the film, paired with the caption "IT'S A TRAP" in bold text. The image works as a reaction to anything that looks suspicious, too good to be true, or deliberately misleading. It's one of the earliest and most durable reaction images in internet history.

The line itself comes from Erik Bauersfeld's voice performance as Admiral Ackbar in the 1983 film *Return of the Jedi*. Bauersfeld reportedly made up the voice on the spot after looking at a photograph of the character. In the film, Ackbar realizes the Rebel Alliance fleet has flown into an Imperial ambush near the second Death Star and exclaims the now-iconic warning.

The meme version was born in the early 2000s when Something Awful administrator OMGWTFBBQ created an image macro using a screenshot of Ackbar with the caption "IT'S A TRAP". This image quickly became a go-to reaction image for warning other forum users about bait-and-switch pranks, misleading links, and deceptive posts.

Origin & Background

Platform
Internet forums
Creator
Admiral Ackbar
Date
2009

The line itself comes from Erik Bauersfeld's voice performance as Admiral Ackbar in the 1983 film *Return of the Jedi*. Bauersfeld reportedly made up the voice on the spot after looking at a photograph of the character. In the film, Ackbar realizes the Rebel Alliance fleet has flown into an Imperial ambush near the second Death Star and exclaims the now-iconic warning.

The meme version was born in the early 2000s when Something Awful administrator OMGWTFBBQ created an image macro using a screenshot of Ackbar with the caption "IT'S A TRAP". This image quickly became a go-to reaction image for warning other forum users about bait-and-switch pranks, misleading links, and deceptive posts.

How It Spread

By mid-to-late 2002, the phrase had migrated from Something Awful to FARK, where it gained traction as a running joke in Photoshop Phriday threads. The image macro was adopted as a standard warning whenever someone spotted a suspicious link or a setup for a prank.

Starting in 2004, "It's a Trap!" exploded on YTMND, where users created hundreds of parody sites built around the Ackbar soundbite. The most popular YTMND page, uploaded by user MultiKoopa on June 2, 2005, pulled in over 313,000 views.

Around the same time, 4chan adopted the phrase heavily. On the imageboard, "It's a Trap!" became closely linked to the slang term "trap," used to describe photos where a person's gender appeared ambiguous or androgynous. This usage became one of the more controversial applications of the meme.

After YouTube launched in 2005, over a thousand fan-made videos featuring or parodying Ackbar's line were uploaded to the platform. An Urban Dictionary entry for the phrase was created on May 20, 2009. In the 2008 Wii version of *Star Wars: The Force Unleashed*, LucasArts included an Easter egg where entering the cheat code "ITSATWAP" unlocked Admiral Ackbar as a playable character.

On February 11, 2010, both *The Daily Show* and *The Colbert Report* on Comedy Central aired segments using Ackbar's soundbite, intercutting it with footage of Republican leaders calling President Obama's health care summit invitation a "trap".

Family Guy got in on the action too. On December 21, 2010, the show released a direct-to-video special titled "It's a Trap!" as the final installment of its Star Wars parody trilogy. The episode, written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and David A. Goodman, retold *Return of the Jedi* with Family Guy characters and later aired on Fox on May 22, 2011 as the ninth season finale. The title was a direct nod to the internet meme, and the episode even borrowed characters from *American Dad!* and *The Cleveland Show* because Family Guy had run out of its own characters to cast.

Platforms

4chanForumsRedditTwitterDiscord

Timeline

2009-04-16

Know Your Meme entry created

2025-06-20

Last updated on Know Your Meme

2024

Remains actively used in gaming and internet circles

2025-01-01

It's a Trap is still actively used and shared across platforms

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

1

Spot a situation online (or in real life) that looks suspicious, deceptive, or too good to be true.

2

Post the Admiral Ackbar "IT'S A TRAP" image macro as a reply or reaction.

3

Optionally, customize the image with new caption text that fits the specific situation (e.g., "Free iPhone giveaway? IT'S A TRAP!").

4

The meme also works as a simple text reply, just typing "It's a trap!" is enough for most people to get the reference.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

"It's a Trap!" crossed from internet culture into mainstream media multiple times. The Comedy Central appearances on *The Daily Show* and *The Colbert Report* in 2010 brought the meme to a television audience of millions. Family Guy dedicated an entire episode to the phrase as a title, acknowledging that the line had taken on a life far beyond Star Wars fandom.

Admiral Ackbar himself became more famous for the meme than for his actual role in the films among younger audiences. He had just three and a half minutes of screen time across three movies, yet ranked No. 16 on *Star Wars Insider* magazine's "Top 20 Star Wars Characters" list in 1998. The meme only boosted his popularity further, and he was brought back for *The Force Awakens* (2015) and *The Last Jedi* (2017).

The phrase also influenced how the Obama-era "Troubled Asset Relief Program" (TARP) was discussed online. Because of the phonetic similarity, "It's a Tarp!" derivatives flooded the internet starting in 2008, with search queries for "it's a tarp" spiking on Google Trends around April of that year.

Fun Facts

Erik Bauersfeld, who voiced Admiral Ackbar, improvised the character's voice after simply looking at a photo of the puppet. He voiced Ackbar in both *Return of the Jedi* and *The Force Awakens* before his death.

Ackbar's total screen time across all three of his film appearances is only three minutes and 30 seconds.

Ackbar didn't actually debut in *Return of the Jedi*. His first appearance was in a Star Wars newspaper comic strip by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson that ran from November 1982 to January 1983.

The character's first name, Gial, wasn't officially established until April 2012, almost 30 years after his film debut.

In the Family Guy parody, Klaus from *American Dad!* plays Admiral Ackbar because the show had used up all of its own characters for the Star Wars trilogy.

Derivatives & Variations

Gaming Trap Warnings

The meme used specifically to warn about in-game traps and ambushes

(2003)

Scam Detection Meme

Used to warn about online scams and suspicious offers

(2003)

Admiral Ackbar Variations

Different screenshots or quotes from the character

(2003)

Frequently Asked Questions