Young man with shocked open-mouthed expression used as the Pogu emote

PogU

2018Twitch emoteclassic

Published September 21, 2026

PogU is a FrankerFaceZ Twitch emote showing fighting game personality Ryan 'Gootecks' Gutierrez wide-eyed in surprise, a zoomed-in cousin of the classic PogChamp emote. FrankerFaceZ user Amiccuz uploaded it in June 2018, and within weeks it swept through Forsen's chat and other big streamer communities as the summer's favorite hype reaction.

twitch emotes reaction memes twitch chat memes facial expression memes streamer memes

Overview

PogU pulls a single frame from a 2010 Cross Counter TV blooper reel, where Gootecks reacts to an off-camera stumble with a look of half-shocked, half-delighted surprise1. The image sits closer to the face than PogChamp does, giving it a punchier, more intense read that fits chat spam. Urban Dictionary describes it plainly as a 'zoomed in version of PogChamp'4.

The 'U' in PogU nods back to PogChamp, since both emotes come from the same 2010 blooper3. Twitch viewers fire PogU during clutch plays, highlight moments, or any on-stream reveal that calls for a beat of exaggerated shock. Later spinoffs like SandPog and phrases like 'Pogus Mogus' grew off the same PogChamp family tree4.

Origin & Background

Platform
FrankerFaceZ (Twitch emote extension)
Creator
Amiccuz
Date
2018

The source clip goes back to November 26, 2010, when fighting game entertainment channel Cross Counter TV released a blooper reel with hosts Gootecks and Mike Ross, capturing the frame that later became both PogChamp and PogU2. Eight years later, on June 3, 2018, FrankerFaceZ user Amiccuz uploaded the PogU emote to the third-party Twitch emote site using a still of Gootecks facing the camera mid-reaction1. Amiccuz is the confirmed creator of the PogU emote as a chat asset, even though the underlying footage is Gootecks' own.

How It Spread

On June 4, 2018, Amiccuz posted PogU to the r/forsen subreddit to push adoption, and the thread pulled over 260 upvotes within six months as commenters pushed to make the emote 'meta'3. Ten days later, on June 14, 2018, moderators added PogU to Forsen's Twitch chat banlist, a move that tends to nudge streamers into trying an emote in other channels3.

Through summer 2018, PogU worked its way into other big Twitch channels including pokelawls and xQc, where chat used it for clutch moments and reveal reactions3. It settled in alongside PogChamp and Poggers as a standard hype emote, with the FrankerFaceZ page keeping a public record of its ongoing installs across channels1.

Timeline

2010-11-26

Cross Counter TV publishes the Gootecks and Mike Ross blooper reel that later provides the source frames for PogChamp and PogU.

2018-06-03

FrankerFaceZ user Amiccuz uploads the PogU emote to the FFZ Twitch extension.

2018-06-04

Amiccuz posts PogU to the r/forsen subreddit; the thread pulls over 260 upvotes within six months.

2018-06-14

PogU is banned from Forsen's Twitch chat.

2018

PogU spreads into pokelawls, xQc and other big Twitch channels during the summer.

How to Use This Meme

PogU is typically fired in Twitch chat during a hype beat: a clutch play, a big reveal, or a stat that hits harder than expected. Common convention treats it as a bigger, closer-in cousin of PogChamp, often spammed for a few seconds when something wild happens on stream. It also shows up in reaction screenshots outside chat, where posters use it to signal shock and excitement in the same frame4.

Frequently Asked Questions