Soyjak
Internet memes pertaining to soy boys
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Soyjaks are a group of internet memes that are black and white drawings depicting the soy boy stereotype, sometimes described as having an "MS Paint style." They are usually made by tracing over an existing photo and giving it "soy boy" qualities. These typically include a bald head, thick-rimmed glasses, a neck beard, and a gaping mouth. These drawings are then used as templates for further editing.[1] They originated in 2017 as a type of Wojak used to mock the "soy boy-like" or "neckbeard-like" traits attributed to the person the poster is replying to.[2] On September 20th, 2020, an imageboard dedicated to the posting of these memes named soyjak.party was created.
History
The first Soyjak meme was created on 4chanâs /int/ board in September 2017 by a user named "The Swede." The character was a version of the Wojak with nu-male features, getting excited about a Nintendo Switch in front of him.[3][a] It gained popularity as people started editing him to appear excited about other products, such as Rick and Morty DVDs and soy milk.[1] These memes were made to satirize the left-wing for their "effeminate behavior" and "geeky pastimes."[4]
The character was often paired with the Chad, a type of Wojak based on the chad stereotype.[5] A reaction image with the two went viral as users posited the Soyjak's position as their opponent's and the Chad's position as their own. Eventually, users started satirizing the meme itself for being commonly used as a thought-terminating cliché, with users making memes where popular villains say they have already drawn the hero as the Soyjak and themselves as the Chad.[2]
As the meme developed, Soyjaks stopped following the Wojak template and started being traced off of real people, such as Andrew Tate and Elon Musk.[6] Some internet users have also used the meme to express their own enthusiasm instead of as a negative portrayal of an effeminate person.[1]
Variations
Fell for It Again Award
The Fell for It Again Award is a subvariant of the award ribbon, which is a blue rosette ribbon with a yellow circular center that has the text "___ award" on it. The meme was originally posted on April 16th, 2023, on SoyBooru, a Soyjak-themed booru site.[7] A subvariant of the Soyak wearing the ribbon and a MAGA hat became a popular meme on X in late 2024 to mock Trump supporters who were negatively affected by his second presidency.[8]
Two Soyjaks Pointing
Two Soyjaks Pointing is a variant that depicts two Soyjaks gawking at the camera, with one pointing behind himself. It was drawn from a photo attached to a tweet by animal rights advocate John Oberg in which he praises KFC for adding Beyond Meat items to their menu.[9] The meme went viral in 2020 as people began editing the meme to appear as if they were gawking at something in the background and redrawing different characters doing the pose.[1]
Serious Hat
The Serious Hat is a box-shaped, beige hat with its name on the front. It is edited onto the top of a Soyjak's head to satirize people who are "too serious online." It was originally made in 2022 by DeviantArt user SoyGemArt.[10]
Troonjak
Troonjak, also known as Trannyjak or Troonella, is a transphobic subvariant named after the slur troon. It depicts a trans woman Soyjak with emphasized masculine features, messy purple hair, red lipstick, and a jumpsuit of the transgender flag.[11] A common version of the meme has the character depicted as the Bernd variant committing suicide via hanging to mock the high suicide attempt rate of transgender people. The meme originated from 4chan's /qa/ board and experienced an increase in popularity during Trump's second inauguration.[12]
Impish Soyak Ears
Impish Soyak Ears, also known as Impjak, is a variant with large ears, a shrunken forehead, a large face, and a double chin. He is a heavily edited version of the Gapejak, who is drawn from Bernd Schmidt, the former Guinness World Record holder for "largest mouth gape." He was also created by The Swede, the original creator of Soyjaks. The character was used in a popular meme named "Dancing Swede," in which he dances to the credits theme from Super Mario World. An illegal shock video version of this meme intended to bait users into clicking it was created by a user known as "Goth," where it immediately cuts to a piece of CSAM upon start.[3]
Meximutt
Meximutt is a variant depicting a morbidly obese, frowning Mexican caricature. It is usually accompanied with the phrase "Obsessed with me o algo."
Cobson
Cobson is a variant with thick eyebrows, white irises, and a "somewhat smoother drawing style" when compared to other Soyjaks. He was drawn from Jobe Smith, a character from the 1992 science fiction film The Lawnmower Man. He spread primarily on soyjak.party and has become a base for multiple subvariants.[5]
Feraljak
Feraljak is a variant with an angry expression and large teeth. He was drawn from a thumbnail by the YouTuber Jacksepticeye.[13]
Soyjak.party
 The website's logo | |
Type of site | Imageboard |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Predecessor | /qa/ |
| Owner | "Quote" |
| Created by | "Soot" |
| Key people | "Limeade," "Soysneed," "Mustard" |
| Launched | September 20, 2020 |
Soyjak.party,[b] also known as the Sharty,[14] is an imageboard dedicated to the Soyjak meme. It was created by 4chan user Soot in September of 2020, and gained popularity in 2021 after /qa/, 4chan's question-and-answer board, was removed from the site[15] due to raids on the /lgbt/ board.[16] In a later blog post, Soot stated the forum was "intended to be a joke" and that he didn't expect it to be "such a popular gathering place."[1]
Users of soyjak.party, colloquially referred to as soyteens or 'teens,[17] often participate in the creation of new Soyjak memes and variants, colloquially known as soyjakking or 'jakking. A "gem" is a Soyjak or post that is considered high-quality by the community[14] while "coal" is the opposite.[3] Soyjak.party has been said to have a "strong influence on the right-wing culture of its users" due to its spreading of slang terms and internet memes.[18]
Controversies
Soyjak.party has been described by the Anti-Defamation League as a "reactionary imageboard filled with crude, racist and antisemitic humor"[19] due to the large amount of far-right users.[18] Criticism has also been given to its official, community-run encyclopedia, The Soyjak Wiki, due to its article on trans women named Trannies. In the article, it claims that transgender people are a "loud minority" that "take up space" trying to "spread the troon virus" and therefore were chosen by society as an "unwilling source of entertainment" and as the subject of "hateful memes."[11]
The perpetrator of the 2025 Antioch High School shooting made several references to the board in the manifesto he wrote before carrying out the attack.[20]
There is a board on the site named /raid/, where soyjak.party users organize online raids, which have been described as "online harassment or extremist propaganda campaigns" intended to "shock or intimidate others."[21] A popular version of this on the site is called Jackbox raiding, which involves raiding a Twitch streamer's Jackbox server.[14]
On April 14th, 2025, a soyjak.party user breached 4chan and leaked its custom source code and the admins' personal information.[16] The previously disabled board, /qa/, was reopened with the message "/qa/ returns, soyjak.party won."[15] Administrators later forced the site to go down at 10:30 pm that day, claiming it would "not be up for some time."[22] In a post on soyjak.party, an anonymous user referred to the hacking of "4Cuck" as the "true Operation Soyclipse"[c] and that it was a "cathartic night" for "nuteens, the last oldGODs, and everyone in between."[23] 4chan went back up on April 25th, with a post on the site stating, "No other website can replace it, or this community. No matter how hard it is, we are not giving up."[24]