For a retro internet themed Meh-rathon starting off with a gif seems extra appropriate

GIF of all the faces

7 Years Of Internet: A Meh-rathon

Part 1

Somewhere along the line, we entered the era of a digital fossil record. Modern events can be viewed through the lens of endless selfies, memes, and viral trends. We’re not entirely sure that’s for the best, but it is what it is.

We mention that so we can mention this: IT’S OUR BIRTHDAY.

The meh.com prelaunch happened on July 7, 2014 at 11:00 PM CST and the response was…meh (in the best sense of the word). To celebrate, we’re going to hit you with a relentless onslaught of deals, each one accompanied by little snippets of internet history from 2014 to today.

Our first deal was a meh t-shirt, similar to this one. We invite you all to be a part of the meh phenomehnon by wearing it proudly.

As for your snippet of internet history, 2014 is also the year that brought to the mainstream one of the greatest uses of text characters ever.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Long live Shruggie.

If it was easier to type, it probably would have been our URL.

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If you’re familiar with our Instant Regret Kits, you know they’ll probably sell out before you’ve read down to the sweet, sweet meme below. Order before it’s too late. The meme will still be there when you’re done.

Of course, there are perhaps better uses of your time and money than self-described bags of nonsense and reading about memes from years ago…

Kermit has been sipping tea and keeping his opinions to himself since 2014. Not a bad run, considering you probably saw him on your Twitter feed in the last week at least onc

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A quick moment in the “Star Wars” prequels marked a turning point in the iconic character arc that begins with a little blonde kid racing space go-carts and ends with the iconic badassery that is Darth Vader.

It also turned out to be supremely memeable.

Next-level prequel nerds: yes there’s an extra double twist joke here about what it means when Anakin orders lightsabers…for kids.

But differently order your own right now. For kids!

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In an ocean of animal memes competing to be vehicles for our daily commentaries and witticisms, the awkward sea lion had a strong run. Through this strange sea mammal’s face, we have retold awkward encounters from the horrifying to the mundane.

Give a nod to the iconic “Obey” fashion aesthetic with a very “meh” twist and stay one step ahead of the propagandists and their insidious agendas.

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Netflix and chill?

If ever there were a sexual euphemism to define a generation, it’s Netflix and chill.

Your grandparents might have knocked boots, but for many there’s no stronger connection to sensual human desire as curling up in the red and black glow cast by the thumbnails of competitively priced streaming selections.

Of course, things don’t always go as planned. So when Netflix and chill turns out to be hours of watching actual Netflix by your actual self, you might want a phone case that gives you enough battery for a long, lonely night.

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Over on mediocritee, we offer two screen-printed t-shirt designs from one artist each week. Usually, the designs are more or less equal in cleverness and popularity, but every once in a while, one will stand out as a real left shark.

We’ll let you decide if this design is an overachieving left shark or a right shark to be forgotten by history, but the most important thing is that you always remember the 2015 Super Bowl halftime show and the background performance of our lives.

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Lin-Manuel Miranda dropping #PopeBars on Twitter in 2015? Kind of random. Unless of course you remember the pontiff’s penchant for poses that look like he’s rapping freestyle in front of a screaming crowd.

You know what else is random? Another Instant Regret Kit offer.

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Ah, 2015…when Straight Outta Compton came out and invited us all to fill in the STRAIGHT OUTTA blanks with whatever we wanted. You can still find the resulting novelty t-shirts in the wild today.

If you’re straight outta patience for annoying bugs, we’ve got the flyswatter for you.

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We’re not sure what Ryan Seacrest’s commentary on the five-year anniversary of New York’s pizza rat phenomenon says about the zeitgeist, but we do know that what delighted internet users across the globe mostly earned a quiet “meh” from the average New Yorker.

Tuck your pants into your new “meh” socks and protect your ankles from pizza rodents during your underground commute.

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Remember this damn dress?

Just your friendly reminder that there is no such thing as universal truth and nothing matters. The only response is to stare into the abyss by ordering an Instant Regret Kit and seeing what happens.

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Deflategate—proof positive that we’ll put “gate” after anything and get ten times the news coverage. For a hot minute, even people who had never pretended to care about the NFL were memeing their way into the conversation about Tom Brady’s allegedly misinflated footballs, with takes ranging from the litigious to the absurd.

The next time you want to overanalyze a pop culture controversy, do it with this very scientifically authoritative t-shirt.

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R.I.P. Harambe.

Honestly, the sad death of the Cincinnati Zoo gorilla in 2016 should probably have just been a bummer of a headline, but Harambe somehow became the martyred saint of the internet in 2016.

In retrospect, historians of the future may choose the event as the global flashpoint when all of modern humanity descended into the unprecedented absurdity which arguably continues to this day. Strange times.

We’re not sure what else to really say here. Maybe buy some headphones about it?

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Evil Kermit represented our darkest desires, reflected back unto our very selves.

Like eating this entire order of novelty gummies and telling your family they never arrived.

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Roses are red, violets are blue…

…completing this verse has its own subreddit (who knew)?

Elementary grade rhyme schemes were never so fun, or so absurd.

You know what else is fun and absurd? Your next shot at an Instant Regret Kit!

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You know what’s hilarious? When corporations try to get in on internet culture with ham-handed meme retrospectives and everyone makes fun of them for it. Can you imagine?

#tealizard had to be an intern screwing around, though, right?

Either way, embrace this dystopian present with a t-shirt featuring a robot being reclaimed by nature

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When you try to calculate how many USB car chargers you need before ordering 16 just to be safe.

https://i.imgflip.com/1v318j.jpg?a451296

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Remember Ken Bone? His brief flash of popularity after a viral appearance asking a question during the 2016 presidential debates was odd and random.

You know what else is odd and random? We know that you do.

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Remember bottle flipping?

It was basically an international pastime for a little bit in 2016 or so.

Its intense popularity probably makes as good a case as any for investing in some good educational STEAM toys, you know…instead of playing with half-empty water bottles.

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Not to get all snarky towards our naive past selves, but they aren’t here right now so let’s do it: we really thought 2016 was a very hard and difficult year, the likes of which we’d never see again.

What sweet summer children we were.

We should probably go easy on our 2016 selves, since there was really no way of knowing what was coming after that. Curling up in a good hoodie is as good a source of comfort as any.

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You’ve heard of Elf on a Shelf…

2017ish was a magical time, when a bunch of us were walking around trying to come up with mildly amusing ways to reframe the Elf on a Shelf rhyme.

We promise we did our best to make “Instant Regret Kit” work with this meme and are sorry to have let you down.

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In 2017, THE MOON LITERALLY BLOCKED OUT THE SUN and oh it turns out that this is an occasional cosmic phenomenon that does not (necessarily) herald the end times.

Still, it was pretty fun when we all got together as a hemisphere to enjoy it and/or post nonsense online.

Be ready to pretend you aren’t impressed with the next one with this striking meh shirt.

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The galaxy brain meme was (is!) a delightful way to express the evolution of thought in that remarkable mind of yours. Use it responsibly, to advance human knowledge or drive digital retail

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Salt Bae (also known as #SaltBae, because of course) is this Turkish chef dude who is very handsome and sprinkles his salt in a compelling way. That’s all there is to know.

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Spotify playlists.

This wasn’t always a thing. Once there were mixtapes, lovingly curated one song at a time like the universe intended. Then there were burned CDs, usually Shapie labeled and full of illegally downloaded tracks. But the mixtape equivalent for a streaming generation really didn’t catch on until you could piece together your playlist with a couple of clicks and share it with the world and disinterested potential romantic partners alike.

If only you had enough phone battery to keep the good times going…

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Remember porgs?

They were kind of a thing for a while, basically Ewoks for the Last Jedi generation. They were cute.

This troubling-looking pug mask is not particularly cute. (But neither are pugs. There we said it.)

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Legend has it that Drake went out of his way to make his 2015 Hotline Bling music video perfect for viral riffing. Whether that’s helpful for your street cred as a rapper we’re not sure, but indeed the memes would flow.

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The RompHim was billed as a subversive boundary-defying clothing concept for men, but we’re pretty sure it was mostly a pun first and a fashion statement a distant second.

We’ve pushed some puns pretty far ourselves, though, so it’s all good. Game recognizes game.

This deal, on the other hand, is intensely practical and not at all funny.

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We…don’t remember Meryl Streep belting out lyrics to various popular tunes being a thing, but when you’re digging back to 2017 for your internet trend and meme retrospective, you’re going to find some stuff.

Some really delightful stuff.

Buy this creepy horse man puppet and make it sing like Meryl.

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We’re not sure what this Gru fellow is all about, but we do love the circa 2018 memes that he’s generated over the years.

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This sly duck knew what was up.

You can know what’s up, too. Wrap yourself in this realistic guinea pig mask and peer out at the world with secrets that are just for you. Nobody on the bus needs to know what you’re up to in there.

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Boy, we’re not really sure what this trend was all about. It feels a little bit like early evidence of Gen Z taking over a meaningful portion of the internet with their weird non-sequiturs and general weirdness. (Don’t worry, they aren’t here reading about fridge mats anyway.)

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Oh, and whatever this was. That was pretty fun at the time.

Or hold real power in the palm of your hand with a four-pack of MiniBooms.

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Ahh, the Distracted Boyfriend meme, a perfect analogy for…something.

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Nothing says “2018” like the need to produce public service announcements featuring Ron Gronkowski begging kids not to eat Tide Pods.

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Remember somewhere around 2018 when a big chunk of internet discourse revolved around, well…big chunks?

Absolute unit of a meme trend.

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Since the early days of the internet, well-meaning authority figures have failed hilariously at warning parents of the dangers hidden in the cryptic typings of their digitally savvy kids.

A 2018 attempt went viral, leading to endless riffing on the concept.

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In some sort of dark-humored nod to the modern surveillance state, many in 2018 were imagining what the FBI agents monitoring our internet activity must think of us.

Usually it was a mix of amused, horrified, and perplexed by how much some people are invested in daily deal websites.

Take the sticky note off of your webcam for a second and wave!

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This poor kid had the absolute crap memed out of him after the 2018 Super Bowl, when he was caught messing with his phone during an amazing event. You know, like everyone always.

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Don’t ever say Steven Crowder never contributed to the world, because this photo was infinitely memeable.

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This image captures a lot. It’s the way we’ve all felt about some modern preposterousness—and will indeed feel again. But mostly we like that the internet has dubbed this image “White Guy Blinking” because you really can’t argue with that.

It’s definitely a white guy blinking.

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“American Chopper” may have faded away, but overly long memes that are usually trying too hard live on.

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2018 was a frustrating year for Lebron.

We get it.

Championships can be elusive. So can the right USB cord.

Unless you have 8 of them.

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Sloths are so hot right now. This gem of a meme template from 2018…maybe not so much.

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The dress is definitely gold and white. Wait, what’s this one?

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Slaps Roof of Car

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“Weird flex, but OK.”

As in…“I’m a digital retail kingpin running multiple websites, but still find time to pursue my real passion of designing science-oriented t-shirts like this one.”

Weird flex, Dave. But OK.

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Remember Momo?

She haunted kids through their phones and told them to eat Tide Pods.

Or something.

You can’t really read about Momo without looking at a bunch of pictures of Momo, so we’re going to call that good enough.

Also, instead of subjecting our readers to a Momo image, we’ll just go with a nice Rick Roll instead.

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The weird and wild popularity of “Old Town Road” seems like it was more recent than 2019, but hey, here’s some digital evidence that Lil Nas X doesn’t need any achy breaky cameo support to bring down the house.

Pair that old-timey feeling with this old-timey shaving shirt.

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It was 2019 and a surprisingly well-mannered crowd of internet pilgrims made their way to Area 51, for…reasons.

Honestly, it was pretty great. But it doesn’t take alien technology to steal your credit card info right out of the damn air, so probably get yourself a dozen of these handsome and effective RFID protector sleeves.

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To be continued