Kocoum Reaction GIFs — Kocoum from Disney's Pocahontas with a stern, unimpressed expression in the forest

Kocoum Reaction GIFs

2015reaction GIFclassic

Published November 9, 2026

Kocoum Reaction GIFs pair the jealous warrior from Disney's 1995 Pocahontas with My Reaction When captions, showing his wide-eyed sprint through the woods as a response to any moment of shock or rage. The clip gained traction after a 2014 Reddit remake, then took off on Imgur in June 2015, where captions about the smell of leaves drew over a million views in four days2. By June 29, 2015, BuzzFeed was rounding up fan captions like 'Seeing way too many colors of the wind right now'1.

reaction memes gif memes disney memes subreddit origin memes delayed virality memes

Overview

On Imgur and the /r/reactiongifs subreddit, Kocoum Reaction GIFs work as an all-purpose stand-in for freaking out: the warrior's flung arms and open-mouthed scream get matched with captions about mundane household panic or sudden regret5. The Pocahontas reference sits in the background, since the comedy comes from using an operatic Disney moment to react to something trivial, like finding an unlabeled VHS tape or recalling a smell you cannot stand6.

Captioners rely on the MRW ('My Reaction When') template, usually first-person and present tense, with Kocoum's charge keyed to one specific small-stakes trigger1. A common variation flips the clip to run in reverse, sending Kocoum back out of frame for the opposite sentiment: love where the original says hate, or relief where the original says panic2.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit (HQ GIF source) / Imgur (viral spread)
Date
2015

Disney released Pocahontas on June 23, 1995, with a forest scene in which the Powhatan warrior Kocoum, promised to Pocahontas in marriage, charges at John Smith after catching the two kissing4. His open-mouthed sprint was later isolated for reuse online. Reddit user ajaxknight posted a high-quality GIF remake of the charge to /r/HighQualityGifs on February 1, 20143, giving later captioners a clean, loopable version of the moment to paste under MRW setups.

How It Spread

Kocoum's run first turned up as a reaction on June 8, 2015, when user BigJ76 posted it to /r/reactiongifs captioned as a response to a spouse asking what's on an unlabeled VHS tape, where it earned 4,580 points at a 95% upvote rate5. The format caught on through Imgur on June 25, 2015, when user ruinedeye uploaded a high-quality version captioned 'MRW I remember that I hate the smell of leaves,' drawing 1,129,665 views, over 9,000 points, and 195 comments in four days2. That same day, ShagPurple reversed the clip and reposted it as 'MRW I remember I love the smell of leaves,' which hit over 933,000 views and more than 10,000 points2.

From Imgur, Kocoum Reaction GIFs spread to Tumblr, where users tagged edits under the character's name8. CollegeHumor's sister site Dorkly compiled examples on June 28, 20157, and BuzzFeed followed a day later with a roundup headlined by lines like 'Seeing way too many colors of the wind right now'1.

Timeline

1995-06-23

Disney releases Pocahontas, featuring the forest scene in which Kocoum charges John Smith.

2014-02-01

Reddit user ajaxknight posts a high-quality GIF remake of the charge to /r/HighQualityGifs.

2015-06-08

User BigJ76 posts the clip to /r/reactiongifs as a VHS-tape reaction, earning 4,580 points.

2015-06-25

Imgur user ruinedeye uploads 'MRW I remember that I hate the smell of leaves,' hitting over 1.1 million views in four days; ShagPurple posts the reversed version the same day.

2015-06-28

Dorkly publishes a roundup article highlighting the growing Kocoum meme.

2015-06-29

BuzzFeed runs its own roundup of fan captions, including 'Seeing way too many colors of the wind right now.'

How to Use This Meme

Pair the GIF with an 'MRW' line describing a petty, low-stakes trigger: a smell, a chore, a question from a spouse. Match the extremity of Kocoum's scream to the triviality of the caption, which is where the joke lives. For the reversed sentiment, flip the clip and swap the hated thing for a loved one, as ShagPurple did with the smell-of-leaves bit2.

Frequently Asked Questions