# Yiiking Out Yiiking Out names the YIIK: A Postmodern RPG sprite of protagonist Alex clutching his head with his mouth agape, a reaction the OneyPlays community turned into a running joke during their 2021 Let's Play. Fans coined the name on /r/OneyPlays that June, and by March 2022 Twitter artists were redrawing their original characters in the same pose for a viral art challenge. ## Origin Catalyst: on January 17, 2019, indie developer Ackk Studios released YIIK: A Postmodern RPG, a dialogue-heavy adventure about a man investigating a missing woman[1]. During cutscenes, protagonist Alex Eggleston repeatedly throws both hands against his head and opens his mouth in a wide screaming shape, the panic sprite that would later get named[3]. Earliest known meme: on April 2, 2021, the YouTube channel OneyPlays began a 30-episode Let's Play of YIIK and spent much of the run mocking the sprite for appearing during low-stakes dialogue[10]. The in-joke spilled onto the subreddit, and on June 9, 2021, Redditor Aperture_Mann published the first notable post calling the pose 'yiiking out,' gathering more than 980 upvotes on /r/OneyPlays[2]. Ackk Studios made the game and the sprite; Aperture_Mann is credited only with the name, and the original image maker of the first fan edits is unconfirmed[3]. - **Platform:** YIIK video game / Reddit (naming) / Twitter (redraw spread) - **Creator:** Unknown (name coined by Redditor Aperture_Mann) - **Date:** 2021 ## Overview Yiiking Out works in two modes. As a reaction image, the Alex sprite answers any minor annoyance with wildly outsized panic, the hands-on-head, mouth-wide pose standing in for mock horror[3]. The joke lands because OneyPlays viewers first saw the exact sprite trigger during trivial in-game dialogue where the overreaction made no sense[1]. As a redraw template, artists swap Alex for another character while keeping the two-handed head grab and gaping mouth. Early fan edits on /r/OneyPlays treated the sprite as a Soyjak-style pointing meme and a cosplay reference[5][6]. Later Twitter redraws aimed the pose at anime characters, webcomic stars and personal OCs, with posters captioning them in the form 'X yiiking out'[7][8]. The spoken verb carries the same meaning. 'Yiiking out' functions as an online portmanteau of YIIK and 'freaking out,' used the way you would say someone is losing it[3]. ## How It Spread Through the back half of 2021, /r/OneyPlays cemented the name with a stream of variants. On August 21, 2021, Redditor kleppy123 uploaded an edited image titled 'Alex yiiking himself' that earned more than 1,400 upvotes[4]. On October 19, Redditor Zimtschock reworked the sprite into a Two Soyjaks Pointing template and offered it for reuse[5], and on October 26 Redditor p3nny-lane published a full cosplay of the pose that gained over 2,100 upvotes[6]. In early 2022 the pose found Twitter. On February 16, 2022, user @Luminian_ shared a redraw of Touhou's Reimu Hakurei in the Alex pose, collecting more than 350 retweets and 1,300 likes within a month[7]. On March 22, 2022, @ManInBookshelf uploaded the sprite with the caption 'Draw your OC YIIKing out,' kicking off an artist challenge that drew over 2,000 retweets and 14,700 likes in four days[8]. Participants from across the webcomic and indie art scene joined in. On March 24, 2022, Tails Gets Trolled author Lazerbot answered with a redraw of Tails yiiking out that gained over 60 retweets and 420 likes in a day[9]. The naming trail, the OneyPlays in-jokes and the Twitter challenge are documented together on Know Your Meme[3]. ## How to Use Pick the Alex sprite with both hands clutching his head and his mouth open, then either use it as a plain reaction when something minor goes wrong, or redraw your character of choice in the identical pose. Captions typically follow the pattern '[Character] yiiking out' or 'Me when [tiny inconvenience]'[7]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Yiiking Out? It is a sprite of YIIK: A Postmodern RPG protagonist Alex clutching his head with both hands and holding his mouth open in a scream, used as a reaction image and a redraw template[3]. ### Where did Yiiking Out come from? The sprite is from YIIK: A Postmodern RPG, released January 17, 2019[1], and gained its online name during OneyPlays' 2021 Let's Play of the game[2]. ### What does Yiiking Out mean? It is a portmanteau of YIIK and 'freaking out,' coined by Redditor Aperture_Mann on /r/OneyPlays in June 2021 and used as slang for losing it[2]. ### How do you use Yiiking Out? Post the Alex sprite as a reaction to a minor annoyance, or redraw a character of your choice in the same two-handed, open-mouthed pose, as seen in the March 2022 'Draw your OC YIIKing out' challenge[8]. ### Is Yiiking Out still popular? It peaked in early 2022 with the Twitter art challenge led by @ManInBookshelf[8] and stays an in-joke in the OneyPlays community that named it[3]. ## References 1. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YIIK:_A_Postmodern_RPG]() 2. [https://www.reddit.com/r/OneyPlays/comments/nvxlgu/haha_alex_yiik_has_some_of_the_funniest_oneliners/]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/yiiking-out]() 4. [https://www.reddit.com/r/OneyPlays/comments/p8vbvt/alex_yiiking_himself/]() 5. [https://www.reddit.com/r/OneyPlays/comments/qbir0l/yiiking_out_template_i_made_feel_free_to_use_it/]() 6. [https://www.reddit.com/r/OneyPlays/comments/qggbey/im_yiiking_out/]() 7. [https://twitter.com/Luminian_/status/1493995169292632067]() 8. [https://twitter.com/ManInBookshelf/status/1506460872461406217]() 9. [https://twitter.com/tailsgottrolled/status/1507015178939887620]() 10. [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIGWVDu9gdfTbBaUZHAG1qGb6o-cnf7Wb]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/yiiking-out Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library