Wait Its All Ohio Always Has Been

2016image macroclassic

Wait, It's All Ohio? Always Has Been is an exploitable two-panel image macro of two astronauts in space, where one asks about a shocking truth and the second answers with a gun drawn. It started as a 2016 MS Paint flat-Earth joke and mutated into an Ohio-themed punchline that dominated the format from 2019 onward.

Overview

Wait, It's All Ohio? Always Has Been is an exploitable image macro built around two astronauts floating in space. One astronaut looks back at Earth and asks, "Wait, it's all [X]?" while the second astronaut, quietly pointing a gun at the first, answers, "Always has been"1. Both the visual and the phrasal template get swapped constantly, with the punchline usually calling out something absurdly universal about the planet.

The format exists in several drawing styles, from crude MS Paint scribbles to a cleaner high-resolution astronaut illustration that took over around 20203. Ohio became the single most repeated punchline after 2019, when the astronaut format merged with the Ohio vs. the World joke wave that treated Ohio as a horror dimension quietly running everything1.

How It Spread

The Ohio variant is what pushed the template into heavy circulation. On October 17th, 2019, iFunny user iOhioian posted an Ohio edit that pulled in over 46,000 reactions and 1,700 comments within a year3. Reposts hit Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and Instagram, and a Facebook page called Twingo Memes ran a France variant that cleared 530 reactions3.

By 2020, the cleaner artwork of the two astronauts was in wide use. Redditor nickslicktricks posted an example to /r/memes on June 7th, 2020, that hit more than 33,000 points4. Twitter user @Alexis_Grump 5 made a Bugsnax-themed version on June 19th, 2020, riding the pre-launch buzz around that game.

Ebaumsworld published a roundup of standout entries on July 14th, 2020, treating the astronaut format as a full gallery piece1.

How to Use This Meme

The template typically reads as a two-beat comic. In the first beat, the surprised astronaut asks, "Wait, it's all [thing]?" The second beat has the armed astronaut replying, "Always has been." A common convention swaps the Earth's continents for one label like Ohio, America, or France, and object-labeling edits often place text directly over the planet and both astronauts1. The catchphrase alone also gets used as a standalone reply online, no image required3.

Frequently Asked Questions