# Pepe Punch Pepe Punch, also known as Punching Pepe, is a reaction image showing Smug Pepe winding up a fist aimed straight at the viewer, built from a Dragon Ball Vegeta pose. First seen on 4chan's /biz/ board in August 2018, it spread through /pol/ and Reddit before Twitter users turned it into a go-to reply image by January 2020. ## Origin The image combines Smug Frog, a Pepe variant that first archived on 4chan's /tv/ board on June 2nd, 2011, with a Dragon Ball still of Vegeta rearing back a punch toward the camera[1]. The first instance of the composite is unknown, but it was circulating on 4chan by 2018. On August 13th, 2018, an anonymous user posted it to the /biz/ board with the caption "Yes, I hope you don't actually take /biz/ seriously. If you do, than this punch is for you"[1]. Pepe Punch also shares DNA with 4chan parodies of the "Welcome To The Family, Son" scene from July 2016, where Pepe stood in for the father swinging at the camera[1]. Those edits predate the Vegeta composite but seeded the idea of Pepe throwing a punch at the viewer. - **Platform:** 4chan (/biz/) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2018 ## Overview Punching Pepe takes the Smug Frog variant of Pepe and grafts his face onto a pose borrowed from Vegeta in Dragon Ball, with one arm cocked back and the fist stretched toward the camera[1]. The result reads like Pepe is about to deck whoever is reading the thread, which is exactly the joke. Posters drop the image in replies to imply the original poster deserves a punch, or caption it with the specific grievance that set Pepe off[2]. Formats vary from the plain image to drawn redraws like HWANKO's "One Punch PEPE" illustration on DeviantArt, which cleaned up the stitched-together look of the original edit[3]. Captions usually sit above the image, setting up a complaint or a frustrating interaction, with the fist delivering the punchline. On 4chan it reads as menacing in-group hostility, while on Reddit and Twitter the same image skews more cartoonish and self-deprecating[4][5]. ## How It Spread The image moved from /biz/ to /pol/ on November 1st, 2019, when an anonymous poster uploaded it with the caption "Hello fed department," aimed at suspected federal agents lurking on the board[1]. A week later, on November 8th, DeviantArt user HWANKO posted an illustrated redraw titled "One Punch PEPE," giving the meme a cleaner, art-friendly version to pass around[3]. Reddit picked it up in late 2019. On December 7th, user brefbee posted a version to r/MinecraftMemes, where it collected more than 6,500 upvotes and 53 comments[4]. The Minecraft repost helped move the image out of 4chan's culture-war context and into general-audience subreddits. Twitter adopted it next. On January 16th, 2020, user Mattmaaan replied to a video with the image and the caption "Me: WHAT DO YOU WANT ???!! Her: AnYtHiNG," earning more than 1,600 likes and 161 comments[5]. That tweet locked in the reply-image usage pattern that still gets copied today: drop Pepe Punch under a post that annoyed you and let the fist do the talking[2]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Pepe Punch? Pepe Punch is a reaction image showing Smug Pepe cocking back a fist aimed at the viewer, pasted onto a Vegeta pose from Dragon Ball[1]. ### Where did Pepe Punch come from? It began circulating on 4chan's /biz/ board on August 13th, 2018, with an anonymous post warning readers not to take the board seriously[1]. ### What does Pepe Punch mean? Posters use it to imply they want to punch the original poster or the subject of the caption, usually as a reply reaction[2]. ### How do you use Pepe Punch? Reply to a post with the image, or caption it with the frustrating thing that set Pepe off, like Mattmaaan's "Me: WHAT DO YOU WANT ???!! Her: AnYtHiNG" tweet from January 2020[5]. ### Is Pepe Punch still popular? It is a classic Pepe reaction image that stayed in rotation after its 2019 to 2020 spread across 4chan, Reddit and Twitter[4][5]. ## References 1. [https://warosu.org/biz/thread/10677548]() 2. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pepe-punch]() 3. [https://www.deviantart.com/hwanko/art/One-Punch-PEPE-819613211]() 4. [https://www.reddit.com/r/MinecraftMemes/comments/e7dzcw/pepe_is_the_meme_of_the_decade/]() 5. [https://twitter.com/Mattmaaan/status/1217911440897540096]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/pepe-punch Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library