I Made This

I made this is an internet proverb that is meant to express the claim of one’s intellectual property claim towards an object that they supposedly created.

This expression online is often paired with an exploitable meme format, signaling that the person’s claim of originality is half-honest.

i made this little comic, hope you like it

The original comic which has laid down the foundation for the exploitables, is a Tumblr comic from 2013, created by the artist Nedroid. 

The short comic features 2 doodle characters, with one holding an unidentifiable object.

This character utters ‘I made this’, as he hands the object to the other character, who asks ‘You made this?’.

This other character then appears to be thinking, after that, he exclaims ‘I made this’, as his facial expression brightens up.

The original comic saw a wide spread on Tumblr, and especially Imgur. Reposts of the comic generated millions of likes and shares in a relatively short notice.

Soon other platforms started to feature I made this as the base of exploitable memes.

Other than exploitables, the phenomenon was also discussed on Reddit’s /r/outoftheloop.

• Tumblr – The Internet by Nedroid
• Imgur – I made this by Efreeti
• Reddit – What is with the whole ‘I made this, you made this’ thing?