I've Only Had Arlo For A Day And A Half — Hand-drawn parody of the Rosa Diaz and Arlo scene with a pug replacing the puppy.

I've Only Had Arlo For A Day And A Half

2016catchphraseclassic

Published November 14, 2026

"I've Only Had Arlo For A Day And A Half" is a quote from a January 2016 Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode where Rosa Diaz tearfully declares her love for a puppy she just received, vowing to kill everyone in the room and then herself if anything happened to him. Fans on Tumblr picked up the line in 2017, photoshopping Arlo's face onto anime and video game characters to express instant, protective attachment. By 2019, the reveal of Pokémon Sword and Shield produced a crop of Scorbunny edits in the same template.

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Overview

Posts usually feature the exact subtitled shots from Rosa's funeral speech1, with the puppy's face replaced by a character or creature the poster has fallen for. Some versions swap both Rosa and Arlo for characters from the same fandom7, often to signal a protective relationship like mentor-and-mentee or senior-and-junior.

Earnest and melodramatic in tone, captions tend to mirror Rosa's threat to "kill everyone in this room and then myself." Typical subjects include newly announced game characters or small cartoon animals, and Arlo's line works as a one-line reaction when something cute or unexpectedly endearing debuts6.

Origin & Background

Platform
Fox (source) / Tumblr (viral spread)
Date
2016

On January 19, 2016, Fox aired "9 Days," the twelfth episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's third season3. In the subplot, Rosa Diaz tries to cheer Charles Boyle by handing him a puppy named Arlo as a replacement for his late dog Jason; Charles refuses, so Rosa ends up with the dog herself. At a surprise funeral for Jason, Rosa delivers the now-famous speech explaining how one and a half days with Arlo helped her understand Charles's grief1.

The earliest preserved copy of the speech online is a TVGag page hosting four MP4 clips from the funeral scene, the last two of which contain the full quote2. An early animated GIF of the line also circulated on a since-deactivated Tumblr account3.

How It Spread

On March 23, 2017, forum user Madame Pererine on One Piece community Oro Jackson posted a two-panel subtitled edit replacing Rosa's face with Sir Crocodile, referencing the opening illustration of chapter 8605. Eight days later, Tumblr user help-what-do-i-name-my-blog shared a My Hero Academia version with Shoto Todoroki as Rosa and Izuku Midoriya as Arlo, captioning it "their post competition relationship in a nutshell"7.

Summer 2017 brought two more character-swap versions. Tumblr user galacticonejos posted a Fat Gum and Kirishima Eijirou take on July 218, and on July 28, crystalzenaida uploaded a Fire Emblem Heroes version with the owl Feh pasted over Arlo, writing "They gave the Borb a voice. She must be protected"6. That Feh post set the pattern for a looser variant where only Arlo's face is swapped and the poster is implied to be Rosa.

The r/brooklynninenine subreddit boosted the source clip itself on March 15, 2018, when a four-panel subtitle screenshot reached over 2,900 upvotes and 32 comments4. The Arlo-only variant found wider circulation in 2019, when Tumblr users adapted it to newly revealed Pokémon Sword and Shield starter Scorbunny3.

Timeline

2016-01-19

Fox airs Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 3 episode "9 Days," in which Rosa Diaz gives her Arlo funeral speech[1].

2017-03-23

Madame Pererine posts the earliest known parody on Oro Jackson, pasting Sir Crocodile over Rosa in a One Piece reference[5].

2017-03-31

Tumblr user help-what-do-i-name-my-blog shares a Todoroki-and-Midoriya version captioned about their post-competition relationship[7].

2017-07-21

Tumblr user galacticonejos posts a Fat Gum and Kirishima Eijirou version from My Hero Academia[8].

2017-07-28

Crystalzenaida uploads the Fire Emblem Heroes "Borb" version with the owl Feh replacing Arlo[6].

2018-03-15

A four-panel subtitle screenshot of the original scene reaches over 2,900 upvotes on r/brooklynninenine[4].

2019

Pokémon Sword and Shield's Scorbunny reveal inspires a new round of Arlo-face swaps on Tumblr[3].

How to Use This Meme

A common convention is to take the two-panel subtitled screenshot of Rosa's speech and paste a new face over Arlo, so that the poster stands in for Rosa and the character fills the puppy role. Two-character versions also work: swap Rosa for an older or stronger character and Arlo for a younger one they would protect. Captions often add a tagline about a recent announcement or episode, like the "borb" line used for Feh in Fire Emblem Heroes6.

Frequently Asked Questions