# Pikachu > Surprised Pikachu is a 2018 reaction-image meme featuring the Pokémon's wide-eyed, open-mouthed face, used to mock feigned shock at predictable outcomes. Pikachu is the electric-type Pokémon mascot that became one of the internet's most recognizable meme subjects, most famously through the "Surprised Pikachu" reaction image that took over social media in late 2018. Originally designed for the 1996 Game Boy games Pokémon Red and Green, Pikachu's wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression from a 1997 anime episode became shorthand for feigning shock at predictable outcomes. The character's near-universal name recognition made it perfect meme material, spawning fan art, reaction images, and format templates across every major platform. ## Origin Pikachu was designed by Atsuko Nishida at Game Freak, with the design finalized by lead designer Ken Sugimori, for Pokémon Red and Green on the Game Boy, released February 27, 1996[2]. Nishida modeled Pikachu after squirrels rather than mice, inspired by how squirrels store food in their cheeks. She adapted this into Pikachu storing electricity in its red cheek sacs[2]. Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri later changed the species classification to a mouse[2]. The franchise originally planned for Clefairy to be its mascot, but Pikachu's popularity in the anime series made it the obvious choice[1]. In the show, protagonist Ash Ketchum receives Pikachu as his starter Pokémon after arriving late to Professor Oak's lab, and the two develop a bond that drove the series for over 1,000 episodes[4]. The specific screenshot that became the Surprised Pikachu meme comes from Season 1, Episode 10 of the anime, "Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village," which aired in Japan in 1997[6]. In the scene, Ash foolishly sends his Butterfree against a wild Bulbasaur and gets easily beaten. The camera cuts to the group's shocked reactions, with Pikachu visible in the lower right corner looking stunned[5]. On TV, it was a blink-and-miss moment[6]. A Tumblr user named Angela (handle "angrypokemon") posted the screenshot on September 26, 2018[7]. She later told Wired that she had taken the screenshot back in 2017 but sat on it for a year before posting[4]. Her caption paired the image with a joke about addiction, and the format clicked immediately[7]. - **Platform:** Pokémon anime (source image), Tumblr (meme format) - **Creator:** Atsuko Nishida (character designer), Ken Sugimori (lead designer / finalizer), Angela / "angrypokemon" on Tumblr (Surprised Pikachu meme creator) - **Date:** 2018 (Surprised Pikachu meme); 1996 (character origin) ## Overview Pikachu is a yellow, mouse-like Pokémon with a lightning bolt tail, red cheek pouches, and pointed ears with black tips[2]. As the franchise mascot, Pikachu appears on everything from video games to lunchboxes, making it one of the most recognized fictional characters worldwide. In meme culture, Pikachu shows up in two main ways: as a general subject for fan art, edits, and shitposts (with over 460,000 DeviantArt results alone[1]), and more specifically as the "Surprised Pikachu" reaction image. The Surprised Pikachu format uses a screenshot of Pikachu with its mouth in a small "O" shape and wide eyes, conveying exaggerated shock. The joke is almost always the same: someone does something obviously stupid, faces the obvious consequence, and Pikachu reacts with surprise nobody should actually feel[7]. It works because the expression is simple, the character is universally known, and the format requires zero explanation[5]. ## How It Spread Within four days of Angela's Tumblr post, the image hit Reddit's r/MemeEconomy[6]. A few days after that, it appeared on the Facebook page "Meme Extreme"[6]. The format then leaked into unrelated subreddits like r/Freefolk (Game of Thrones), r/me_irl, and spread heavily across Twitter[6]. By late October 2018, "Surprised Pikachu" was everywhere. The format worked for politics, gaming, relationships, and self-deprecating humor. Even corporate social media accounts started using it for engagement[7]. Despite debuting in late September, it became the most-used meme of 2018[4]. The timing raised eyebrows. Pokémon's Detective Pikachu film was announced and its first trailer dropped in November 2018, right around the meme's peak[4]. Some wondered if the meme was stealth marketing. Angela shut that down: "I WISH Pokemon hired me as a sleuth marketing coordinator. That seems like a fun job"[4]. The official Pokémon Twitter account leaned into it, using the Surprised Pikachu format to promote the Detective Pikachu trailer with the caption: "When you star in a trailer for a new movie, but everyone's talking about Mr. Mime"[6]. In March 2019, Twitter users discovered their accounts were being suspended for "depicting gratuitous gore" after posting the meme[6]. The leading theory on r/OutoftheLoop was that enough users mass-reported the image to trigger Twitter's automated content removal system. In other words, the meme got so oversaturated that an organized effort by annoyed users tried to get it blanket-removed from the site[6]. ## How to Use The Surprised Pikachu format typically follows a three-part structure: 1. **Set up a bad decision or obvious cause.** ("Me: eats an entire pizza at midnight") 2. **State the predictable consequence.** ("My stomach at 3am:") 3. **Drop the Surprised Pikachu image as the reaction.** ## Cultural Impact Surprised Pikachu crossed over from meme culture into mainstream awareness faster than most formats. The Pokémon Company's official Twitter account used it in November 2018, making it one of the rare cases where an IP holder embraced rather than fought a meme based on their property[6]. The meme's popularity overlapped with the marketing cycle for the 2019 Detective Pikachu film, starring Ryan Reynolds. While the meme was not a marketing stunt, the timing created a feedback loop where Pikachu was inescapable across both social media and traditional advertising[4]. Twitter's automated moderation system flagged the meme as gore in March 2019 after mass-reporting campaigns, leading to account suspensions that themselves became a story covered across social media[6]. The incident became a case study in how platform moderation systems can be gamed by coordinated user behavior. Beyond the Surprised face, Pikachu's meme presence is vast. The character's redesign history, from pudgy 1996 sprite to slim modern version and back again with the Gigantamax form, generated its own discourse among fans[2]. Pikachu also appears as a fighter in every Super Smash Bros. game and as the protagonist in the Mystery Dungeon series, keeping the character in gaming conversation across decades[1]. ## Fun Facts - Pikachu was modeled after squirrels, not mice. Designer Atsuko Nishida was "obsessed with squirrels" and based the cheek pouches on how squirrels store food. Satoshi Tajiri later reclassified it as a mouse[2]. - Pikachu was supposed to have a third evolution called Gorochu, but it was cut due to Game Boy cartridge space limitations[2]. - Developer Koji Nishino made Pikachu harder to find in the original games because he liked it so much, joking he wanted to "keep it for himself"[2]. - Angela, the Tumblr user who created the Surprised Pikachu meme, had the screenshot sitting unused in her camera roll for a full year before posting it[4]. - The Pokémon originally chosen to be the franchise mascot was Clefairy, not Pikachu[1]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the Pikachu meme? Pikachu is a Pokémon character that became a major meme subject, most famously through the "Surprised Pikachu" reaction image showing Pikachu with a shocked, open-mouthed expression. The format is used to mock feigned surprise at predictable outcomes[7]. ### Where did the Pikachu meme come from? The Surprised Pikachu image comes from Season 1, Episode 10 of the Pokémon anime, "Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village," which aired in 1997. A Tumblr user named Angela posted the screenshot as a meme on September 26, 2018[6]. ### What does the Surprised Pikachu meme mean? It expresses mock surprise at something that should have been obvious. The joke is that the "surprising" outcome was completely predictable, and everyone, including the person posting, knew it would happen[5]. ### How do you use the Surprised Pikachu meme? Set up a situation where someone makes a bad decision or ignores an obvious warning, state the predictable consequence, then use the Surprised Pikachu image as the punchline reaction[7]. ### Is the Surprised Pikachu meme still popular? The meme peaked in late 2018 and early 2019 but still gets regular use, especially during news cycles involving predictable outcomes like elections and corporate PR disasters[7]. ### Who created Pikachu? Pikachu was designed by Atsuko Nishida at Game Freak for the 1996 Pokémon Red and Green games, with the design finalized by lead designer Ken Sugimori[2]. ### Why was Pikachu chosen as the Pokémon mascot instead of Clefairy? Clefairy was the original choice for franchise mascot, but Pikachu's popularity in the anime series made it the clear favorite[1]. ### Was the Surprised Pikachu meme a marketing stunt for Detective Pikachu? No. The meme went viral in September-October 2018, before the Detective Pikachu trailer dropped in November. Angela, the original poster, told Wired: "I WISH Pokemon hired me as a sleuth marketing coordinator"[4]. ### Why were people suspended from Twitter for posting Surprised Pikachu? In March 2019, Twitter's automated moderation flagged the image as "gratuitous gore" after what appeared to be a coordinated mass-reporting campaign by users tired of seeing the meme[6]. ### What is Fat Pikachu? "Fat Pikachu" refers to Pikachu's original pudgier design from the 1990s. Pokémon Sword and Shield brought it back as a special Gigantamax form, designed by art director James Turner[2]. ### Did the Pokémon company use the Surprised Pikachu meme? Yes. The official Pokémon Twitter account used the format to promote the Detective Pikachu trailer, joking about everyone talking about Mr. Mime instead of Pikachu[6]. ### What was Pikachu's design based on? Despite being classified as a mouse Pokémon, Pikachu was originally based on squirrels. Designer Atsuko Nishida was inspired by how squirrels store food in their cheeks[2]. ## References 1. [Clefairy (Pokémon) - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia]() 2. [Search 'pikachu' on DeviantArt - Discover The Largest Online Art Gallery and Community]() 3. [Surprised Pikachu Memes Explained]() 4. [Pikachu - Know Your Meme]() 5. [Pikachu]() 6. [Pikachu - Urban Dictionary]() 7. [The Origins Of The Surprised Pikachu Meme]() 8. [The Origin Of The Surprised Pikachu Meme]() 9. [Meme History: Surprised Pikachu Meme]() 10. [Surprised Pikachu Meme — Origin, Meaning, History | MemesGuy]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/pikachu Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library