Simple clean illustration of Me Gusta character as circular face with thick black border showing iconic creepy satisfied expression.

Me Gusta

2010Rage comic face / reaction imageclassic

Published March 10, 2026 · Updated March 23, 2026

Also known as: Me Gusta Face

Me Gusta is a Rage Comic face with bulging, bloodshot eyes and a wide, unsettling grin, used to express guilty pleasure about something awkward, gross, or socially unacceptable. The Spanish phrase, meaning "I like it," became internet shorthand for enjoying things you probably shouldn't2. Artist May Oswald created the face in March 2010 and deliberately seeded it across 4chan, making it one of the defining characters of the Rage Comics era.

rage comics reaction memes early 2010s memes guilty pleasure memes 4chan memes

Overview

The Me Gusta face reacts to awkward or off-color setups with a wide, teeth-baring grimace paired with the Spanish caption 'me gusta,' which translates as 'it pleases me' or 'I like it'1. On rage comics it usually appears in the final panel to punctuate an uncomfortable reveal, and the meaning widened from an originally sexual context to cover any moment of disturbed, guilty enjoyment3.

The drawing became a template with several offshoots. 'No Me Gusta' flips the mouth downward for a look of awkward dislike. 'Me Gusta Mucho' swaps the grimace for a broader smile that signals extreme pleasure. A related image called 'Bubbles No Me Gusta' pulls from a Powerpuff Girls scene where the character says 'no me gusta' while making a face that resembles the NO Guy expression2.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan (first post), Reddit (simultaneous post)
Key People
May Oswald
Date
2010

Illustrator May Oswald (who went by Matt at the time) created the Me Gusta face and uploaded it to 4chan and Reddit on March 18, 2010, also posting it to her personal Tumblr blog and DeviantART account3. But Oswald didn't just drop the image and hope for the best. In a 2021 Know Your Meme interview, she revealed the whole thing was a calculated operation: she posted example comics using the face from multiple accounts and different IP addresses to create the illusion of organic spread3.

The first Me Gusta comic to appear after the initial upload featured a four-panel strip about a cat reacting to being pet. Oswald later admitted she made that comic herself as part of the seeding campaign. It worked. Within months, people who had no idea the meme was engineered were creating their own Me Gusta comics organically.

Oswald publicly identified herself as the face's creator on March 8, 2011, through a Reddit thread and an Ask Me Anything session.

How It Spread

A dedicated single-topic blog called "Me Gusta Face" launched in December 2010 to collect and curate comics featuring the character, and by May 2012 the meme ranked in the top tier on Memegenerator3. Thousands of Me Gusta rage comics populated Memebase, Tumblr, and Reddit's popular F7U12 (r/fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu) subreddit1. The face became a core member of the Rage Comics cast alongside Trollface, Forever Alone, the FUUUUU face, and Challenge Accepted.

Tumblr users in particular adopted "me gusta" as a quick-fire reaction phrase, especially in fandom spaces, to signal appreciation for something appealing2. The expression worked because it was punchy, bilingual, and carried the right amount of self-aware cringe.

Me Gusta's peak popularity lined up with the broader Rage Comics golden age of roughly 2010 to 2013. As internet humor shifted toward image macros, deep-fried memes, and eventually TikTok-era formats, Rage Comics as a whole fell out of mainstream rotation. Me Gusta went with them, though the face and phrase remain instantly recognizable to anyone who was online during that period.

Platforms

4chanReddit9GAGTumblrFacebook

Timeline

2010

Me Gusta appears as part of rage comics

2010-2011

Becomes one of the most iconic rage comic characters

2011-01-01

Me Gusta started spreading across social media platforms

2012

Continues popularity as rage comics peak

2013+

Declines with rage comics as meme formats evolve

2015-01-01

Me Gusta entered the broader pop culture conversation

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The Me Gusta face typically closes out a four-panel rage comic. The earlier panels set up an awkward, taboo, or off-color situation, and the final panel switches to the wide grimace with the 'me gusta' caption to show the narrator quietly enjoyed the discomfort. Common swaps include 'no me gusta' for reluctant dislike and 'me gusta mucho' for exaggerated pleasure.

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Frequently Asked Questions