What is So Unbelievably Lazy and Terrible?

It is a Twitter copypasta from January 2020 built on an angry comment an animator made about the Thundercats Roar reboot, which users then reapplied as a joke to clips of beloved cartoons.

Where did So Unbelievably Lazy and Terrible come from?

Animator @Aaron_Sparrow posted the original line on January 10, 2020 in a quote-tweet of a Thundercats Roar preview clip shared by @RealClownfishTV.

What does So Unbelievably Lazy and Terrible mean?

In its original use the sentence was a sincere complaint that modern American animation was being ruined by 'tumblrites,' but as a copypasta it is used ironically to praise cartoons the poster actually likes.

How do you use So Unbelievably Lazy and Terrible?

People typically paste the full quote and attach a clip of a cartoon widely regarded as good, like SpongeBob or Billy and Mandy, so the mismatch reads as a joke.

Is So Unbelievably Lazy and Terrible still popular?

The copypasta peaked on Twitter in January 2020 and still gets pulled out when a divisive animated reboot drops, though it is no longer in heavy daily use.

So Unbelievably Lazy and Terrible

2020copypastaclassic

Published October 28, 2026

So Unbelievably Lazy and Terrible is a copypasta that started on Twitter in January 2020, when animator @Aaron_Sparrow posted a scathing reply to a clip from Cartoon Network's Thundercats Roar. Within days, users attached the same angry quote to clips of beloved older cartoons as a joke, turning a sincere rant about modern animation into a self-mocking format for praising retro shows like SpongeBob and Billy and Mandy.

copypasta memes retro cartoon memes cartoon network memes animation memes sarcasm memes

Overview

So Unbelievably Lazy and Terrible is a Twitter copypasta built around a single sentence written by animator @Aaron_Sparrow in response to a Thundercats Roar preview clip1. The original line reads, 'So unbelievably lazy and terrible. American animation is falling to tumblrites who can't create things, respect nothing, and can only disrespect and destroy things they had no hand in building'2. Users ripped the quote from its original context and started pairing it with video of cartoons widely considered good, flipping the complaint into absurd overpraise or affectionate roasting.

A typical post is just the pasted sentence plus an attached clip, with no extra commentary needed. The humor comes from the mismatch: the furious tone of the quote aimed at animation styles that most viewers already love, like The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy or SpongeBob SquarePants3. The joke also lampoons the original tweet's use of 'tumblrites' as a slur against younger animators, mocking the sincere-anger register of online animation discourse.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter

Creator

@Aaron_Sparrow

Date

2020

On January 10, 2020, the Twitter account @RealClownfishTV shared a preview clip from Cartoon Network's reboot series Thundercats Roar4. Animator and comic writer @Aaron_Sparrow quote-tweeted the clip the same day with the comment 'So unbelievably lazy and terrible. American animation is falling to tumblrites who can't create things, respect nothing, and can only disrespect and destroy things they had no hand in building'2. According to Know Your Meme, Sparrow's tweet gained roughly 240 retweets and 1,300 likes3.

The word 'tumblrite' as an insult referring to younger artists who had migrated from Tumblr into professional animation is what pushed the tweet into joke territory. Readers found the framing dramatic enough that lifting it wholesale and sticking it onto almost any clip read as parody.

How It Spread

Within days of Sparrow's post, Twitter users began copying the sentence verbatim and attaching it to clips of older cartoons. On January 12, 2020, @saltykdan paired it with a scene from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and gained over 970 retweets and 7,000 likes5. Around the same time, @RiseAndFall attached the quote to the SpongeBob SquarePants walk cycle, a stretch of animation widely studied as a craft highlight, pulling over 1,100 retweets and 6,500 likes6.

The pattern of applying the rant to animation already respected by online audiences carried the format further. A post by @Scorchle collected over 2,000 retweets and 7,500 likes7, while @fishtick134 posted a version citing the infamous amateur web series Nyan Neko Sugar Girls to flip the joke back into sincerity8. By mid-January, the format was common enough that a user asked /r/OutOfTheLoop for an explanation of why the same angry sentence kept appearing under cartoon clips9.

Mainstream outlets did not pick up the copypasta, and its heaviest use stayed on Twitter during January 2020. The quote still gets reposted whenever a divisive new animated reboot is announced3.

Timeline

2020-01-10

@RealClownfishTV posts a Thundercats Roar preview clip, and @Aaron_Sparrow quote-tweets it with the 'so unbelievably lazy and terrible' complaint.

2020-01-12

@saltykdan attaches the quote to a Billy and Mandy clip, one of the first viral uses of the copypasta format.

2020-01-12

@RiseAndFall pairs the quote with the SpongeBob walk cycle, racking up more than 1,100 retweets.

2020-01-13

@Scorchle's version of the copypasta collects over 2,000 retweets, pushing the format past the initial wave.

2020-01-14

A /r/OutOfTheLoop thread asks what the recurring 'so unbelievably lazy and terrible' posts mean.