What is Snorting the Blue Pill and Red Pill?

It's a two-panel image macro, also called Taking the Purple Pill, that pairs Morpheus from The Matrix offering a red pill and blue pill with a stick figure from xkcd 566 who crushes both and snorts the mixture.

Where did Snorting the Blue Pill and Red Pill come from?

The two-panel template first appeared in a January 13, 2020 Reddit post by Baka_Tsundere_ on r/yurimemes, which borrowed the bottom panel from Randall Munroe's xkcd 566.

What does Snorting the Blue Pill and Red Pill mean?

It rejects the forced binary choice from The Matrix by taking both pills at once, usually to signal that the poster wants both of the labeled options instead of picking just one.

How do you use Snorting the Blue Pill and Red Pill?

Label each pill in the top panel with one of two opposing choices, then caption the bottom panel so the stick figure snorts the combined 'purple pill' to say the poster wants both.

Is Snorting the Blue Pill and Red Pill still popular?

Its standout viral moment came in late 2020, with the r/HistoryMemes Roman Republic edit earning over 45,800 upvotes and the r/PrequelMemes version hitting more than 6,300 upvotes.

Snorting the Blue Pill and Red Pill

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Published October 20, 2026

Snorting the Blue Pill and Red Pill, also known as Taking the Purple Pill, is a two-panel image macro that mashes Morpheus's Matrix choice scene with a stick-figure gag from xkcd comic 566, in which someone crushes both pills and snorts the mixture1. Redditor Baka_Tsundere_ posted the earliest known example to r/yurimemes on January 13, 20202. By October 2020, variants with Roman helmets and prequel Star Wars labels were earning tens of thousands of upvotes on r/HistoryMemes and r/PrequelMemes5.

matrix memes two panel memes exploitable templates stick figure memes choice dilemma memes

Overview

Each post labels the red and blue pill with two options the poster can't decide between, then shows the stick figure smashing both into a purple pile and snorting the result as the punchline2. Common pairings include ideological opposites, pop-culture fandoms or outcomes that would normally be mutually exclusive. Posters frequently photoshop costume items onto the stick figure, such as goggles or a Roman legionary helmet, to tie the gag to a specific topic5.

The top panel usually keeps Morpheus holding the two pills, though some versions substitute a different Matrix still or a different character while keeping the pill setup4. Tone ranges from political jabs to fandom crossovers, with the template especially common on meme subreddits where posts have earned tens of thousands of upvotes5.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

xkcd (source art) / Reddit (viral spread)

Date

2020

The bottom-panel stick figure originates from Randall Munroe's xkcd comic 566, titled 'Matrix Revisited', in which the character takes both pills, grinds them into powder and snorts the resulting purple mix as a joke about refusing the binary choice1. Morpheus holding out the pills in the top panel comes from the 1999 film The Matrix, with the illustration used alongside Munroe's panel attributed to an unknown artist3.

The two-panel template first surfaced on January 13, 2020, when Redditor Baka_Tsundere_ shared it to r/yurimemes with a yuri-themed caption2. That early post earned over 1,600 upvotes and 24 comments within six months2.

How It Spread

After the yurimemes debut, posts stayed sparse for most of 2020 before fresh variants surfaced on larger subreddits that fall. On September 24, 2020, Redditor apeiteados1024 posted a version to r/PrequelMemes using an alternate Morpheus still, collecting more than 6,300 upvotes and 102 comments over the following month4. Three days later, the Facebook page Revolutionary Memes Extreme ran a variant with goggles photoshopped onto the stick figure3.

Instagram user tbs_tulane posted a version on September 28, 2020 that gathered 893 likes in about a month6. A standout post came on October 15, 2020, when Redditor mcflymikes shared a Roman-themed edit about the late Roman Republic to r/HistoryMemes, earning over 45,800 upvotes, 140 comments and several Reddit awards within a week5.

Timeline

2020-01-13

Redditor Baka_Tsundere_ posts the earliest known two-panel example to r/yurimemes, pairing Morpheus with the xkcd 566 stick figure.

2020-09-24

Redditor apeiteados1024 posts a Star Wars prequel variant to r/PrequelMemes using an alternate Morpheus still, earning over 6,300 upvotes.

2020-09-27

Facebook page Revolutionary Memes Extreme posts a variant with goggles added to the stick figure.

2020-09-28

Instagram user tbs_tulane posts a version, bringing the template to the platform.

2020-10-15

Redditor mcflymikes posts a Roman Republic edit to r/HistoryMemes that earns over 45,800 upvotes within a week.

How to Use This Meme

Posters typically label the red pill with one option and the blue pill with its opposite in the top panel, then let the stick figure in the bottom panel crush and snort both as a visual gag about choosing all of the above4. A common convention is to add costume items to the stick figure, like a Roman legionary helmet or goggles, to anchor the joke to the subject of the labels5.