# Michelangelo Open-Mouthed Stare Reaction Michelangelo Open-Mouthed Stare Reaction is a screencap of the TMNT character with his eyes and mouth flung wide open, pulled from a 1998 Power Rangers in Space crossover episode. After a 4chan user turned it into a vibrating GIF in 2012, the still became a Reddit go-to for shock, anger, and dark punchlines, eventually powering the 2018 'Cowabunga It Is' meme that pulled tens of thousands of upvotes on r/dankmemes. ## Origin The screencap is widely credited to 'Shell Shocked,' the fourth episode of Power Rangers in Space, a crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that aired on February 27th, 1998[1]. The frame catches Michelangelo mid-reaction during the episode, and later posters cropped it into the wide-eyed portrait now recognized as the meme[3]. The reaction started circulating online on August 6th, 2012, when an anonymous 4chan user dropped a vibrating GIF of the shot into an /a/ thread about Space Battleship Yamato[3]. That shaking edit set the template posters would keep reusing. - **Platform:** 4chan (vibrating GIF) / Reddit (viral spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2012 ## Overview The image is a tight shot of Michelangelo, the orange-masked turtle, frozen mid-gasp with pupils shrunk and jaw dropped[1]. Posters reach for it to convey stunned anger, panicked surprise, or the exact moment someone realizes a joke has gone off the rails[3]. Its expressive stillness is what carries it, no caption is strictly needed for the face to do the work. The reaction shows up in two main forms. The first is the plain still, dropped into replies and image macros as a stand-in for a horrified stare[3]. The second is the vibrating GIF edit, in which the frame shakes rapidly to punch up the intensity[3]. Subtitled variants often layer text along the bottom of the cap, most famously 'Cowabunga It Is,' twisting the turtle's catchphrase into a punchline of grim acceptance[2]. ## How It Spread The still crossed over from 4chan bait into open image-macro territory the next summer. On July 11th, 2013, Imgur user THAjuice posted a version captioned 'You know what rhymes with turtle? Rape,' one of the earliest documented macros built on the face[3]. By mid-to-late 2015 the same cap was being used in Spanish-language chats as the '¿Quieres pene?' bait-and-switch, punchlining fake sincere questions with the wide-eyed stare[3]. The format hit its biggest Reddit spike on November 27th, 2018. Redditor PopeBigWilly used the image, subtitled 'Cowabunga It Is,' as the closer to a joke about Germany's reaction to the end of World War II in r/HistoryMemes[2]. A crosspost to r/dankmemes pulled more than 42,000 points at 92% upvoted with roughly 370 comments in its first 24 hours[3]. 'Cowabunga It Is' then ran as a punchline template for the next day of posts, with users swapping in their own darkly resigned setups[3]. A text-blackout version aimed at veganism cleared 10,000 points at 96% upvoted with 45 comments in a day, showing how quickly the caption template was picked up[3]. ## How to Use The typical setup pairs a bleak or absurd realization with the wide-eyed still as the payoff panel. A common convention is to add a bottom subtitle like 'Cowabunga It Is' when the joke lands on grim acceptance, or to drop the plain image into a reply as a wordless shocked-face reaction[2]. The vibrating GIF version often gets used when the punchline calls for extra intensity[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Michelangelo Open-Mouthed Stare Reaction? It is a reaction image of the TMNT character Michelangelo with his eyes and mouth wide open, used to signal shock, anger, or frustration[1]. ### Where did Michelangelo Open-Mouthed Stare Reaction come from? The frame comes from 'Shell Shocked,' the fourth episode of Power Rangers in Space, a TMNT crossover that aired on February 27th, 1998[1]. ### What does Michelangelo Open-Mouthed Stare Reaction mean? It reads as a stunned, wide-eyed reaction, often standing in for horrified surprise or the 'Cowabunga It Is' shrug of grim acceptance[2]. ### How do you use Michelangelo Open-Mouthed Stare Reaction? Post it as the punchline panel to a shocking or absurd setup, either as the plain still, a subtitled version, or the vibrating GIF edit that first spread on 4chan in 2012[3]. ### Is Michelangelo Open-Mouthed Stare Reaction still popular? It is a classic reaction image, best known for its 2018 'Cowabunga It Is' Reddit run that pulled more than 42,000 points on r/dankmemes in a day[2][3]. ## References 1. [https://powerrangers.fandom.com/wiki/Shell_Shocked]() 2. [https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryMemes/]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/michelangelo-open-mouthed-stare-reaction]() 4. [https://imgur.com/user/THAjuice]() 5. [https://www.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/michelangelo-open-mouthed-stare-reaction Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library