# Trollface
**Trollface** (sometimes spelled Troll Face) is a crudely drawn cartoon face with a wide, mischievous grin, created in [Microsoft Paint](https://www.edgepedia.org/microsoft-paint) in 2008 by the artist Carlos Ramirez and used online to signal trolling, the deliberate provocation or baiting of someone for amusement.[1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface) • [2](https://amazeshirt.com/2026/08/26/trollface-meme-origin-meaning/) It is most often paired with the one-word caption "Problem?" and became one of the core characters of the rage comics that dominated internet humor from roughly 2008 to 2014.[1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface) • [3](https://giveupinternet.com/blog/history-of-the-rage-face/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Created | September 19, 2008, drawn in Microsoft Paint by Carlos Ramirez (DeviantArt user "Whynne"), then 18 and studying in Oakland[4](https://knowthismeme.com/memes/trollface) • [1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface) |
| Original context | The final panel of a six-panel comic called "Trolls," about the futility of arguing online[4](https://knowthismeme.com/memes/trollface) |
| Spread | Adopted on 4chan within weeks; spread in 2009 to Reddit, Urban Dictionary, and the wider web[1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface) • [4](https://knowthismeme.com/memes/trollface) |
| Copyright | Registered by Ramirez in July 2010; enforced against the game Meme Run, removed from the Wii U eShop on March 3, 2015[6](https://www.memearchive.online/meme/trollface) • [1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface) |
| Creator earnings | In a 2015 Kotaku interview, Ramirez estimated more than $100,000 in licensing fees, settlements, and payouts, with peak monthly revenue around $15,000[7](https://thatpainter.com/troll-face-who-created-it-where-it-came-from-and-what-it-means/) |
| Peak | Search interest in Trollface and rage comics peaked around February 2012[8](https://memepulse.net/meme/rage-comics) |
| Later life | Reinterpreted from about 2021 in the horror-tinged "Trollge" format; in 2025 Ramirez licensed the image to a Solana meme coin in a six-figure deal[9](https://knowyourmeme.com/editorials/meme-insider/the-rage-report-rebecca-blacks-friday-trollface-incidents-and-peach-time) • [1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface) |
## Meaning and use
Trollface represents the expression of an internet troll: someone who provokes, misleads, or baits others for fun. The drawing shows a wide, toothy, smugly satisfied grin, and its meaning depends on that grin rather than on anger or embarrassment; it marks the moment a prank or setup lands, or concedes that a conversation was never carried on in good faith.[2](https://amazeshirt.com/2026/08/26/trollface-meme-origin-meaning/) • [4](https://knowthismeme.com/memes/trollface) In rage comics, the face portrays a character as a troll; in discussion threads, it identifies oneself or another participant as one.[1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface) The image travels without translation: even in non-English forums the captions usually stay in English, because the drawing carries the meaning on its own.[4](https://knowthismeme.com/memes/trollface)
## Origin
On September 19, 2008, Ramirez drew the face in Microsoft Paint as part of a comic titled "Trolls" about the pointless nature of trolling, and uploaded it to his [DeviantArt](https://www.edgepedia.org/deviantart) page; he later noted in the post that he had been attempting to draw a comic character known as the "Rape Rodent."[1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface) In late 2008 he posted the comic to 4chan's video-game board, /v/, where users adopted the face as a universal emoticon of trolling.[4](https://knowthismeme.com/memes/trollface) • [1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface) For a brief period the image was also known as "the coolface" after a related webcomic spread on 4chan and Ebaumsworld.[1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface)
## Spread through rage comics
Trollface became a central figure in the rage-comic format, short multi-panel strips drawn in MS Paint from a shared cast of faces such as Rage Guy, Me Gusta, and Forever Alone. The first rage comic had appeared on 4chan's /b/ board in 2008, and the format moved to Reddit's r/fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu ("F7U12") subreddit in 2009.[10](https://knowthismeme.com/memes/rage-comics) Through the first half of 2009 Trollface gained favor with Redditors and rage-comic artists in part because of that subreddit's rapid growth, and on August 1, 2009 the first [Urban Dictionary](https://www.edgepedia.org/urban-dictionary) definition of "trollface" was submitted.[1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface) The face also spawned its own subgenre, "Troll Physics" comics, and circulated on Tumblr, Cheezburger, Facebook, Quickmeme, and Memegenerator.[11](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470412914544516) • [1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface)
The crude look was not incidental. The media scholar Nick Douglas, then a PhD student studying internet culture, described this style as "Internet Ugly," a celebration of the sloppy and the amateurish that signals user-generated, community-driven content rather than polished corporate media.[11](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470412914544516) • [12](https://vectree.io/c/trollface)
## Copyright and earnings
Trollface is unusual among memes in having a named, enforceable owner. Ramirez registered the copyright in July 2010.[6](https://www.memearchive.online/meme/trollface) In July 2011, a screenshot of an email from Ramirez claiming that Reddit's use of the face infringed his copyright was posted to the site, prompting a hostile reaction from users; a commenter speaking as Whynne replied, "You know what also makes me happy? Trolling reddit and seeing a shitstorm like this develop."[1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface) Enforcement was real: on March 3, 2015, the endless-runner game Meme Run, which used the face as its main character, was removed from the [Wii U](https://www.edgepedia.org/wii-u) eShop after a [Digital Millennium Copyright Act](https://www.edgepedia.org/digital-millennium-copyright-act) takedown notice from Ramirez.[1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface)
In an April 2015 Kotaku interview, Ramirez estimated that he had received more than $100,000 in licensing fees, settlements, and other payouts since registering the work, with peak monthly revenue of about $15,000; these were his own estimates, not audited totals.[7](https://thatpainter.com/troll-face-who-created-it-where-it-came-from-and-what-it-means/) Later commercial moves followed the same pattern: Ramirez minted NFTs of the character in 2021, and on September 3, 2025, Decrypt reported that he had granted the team behind the $TROLL Solana meme coin an exclusive IP license to the image following a six-figure deal.[13](https://knowyourmeme.com/news/trollface-creator-whynne-mints-nfts-for-the-legendary-meme) • [1](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface) A bust of the face was also exhibited at the Museo del Meme in Mexico City.[6](https://www.memearchive.online/meme/trollface)
## Decline and later revivals
Rage comics faded as internet humor moved to faster, image- and video-based formats; by the mid-2010s Trollface and its companion faces had largely disappeared from daily use, and search interest had peaked around February 2012.[14](https://mediarep.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/48b8f64d-5b46-463c-86a2-507a02907b91/content) • [8](https://memepulse.net/meme/rage-comics) The image returned around 2021 through the "Trollge" format, in which the familiar grin was reworked into cosmic-horror and surrealist "incident" videos; a dedicated subreddit, r/TrollfaceIncident, opened in January 2021 and quickly passed 10,000 members.[12](https://vectree.io/c/trollface) • [9](https://knowyourmeme.com/editorials/meme-insider/the-rage-report-rebecca-blacks-friday-trollface-incidents-and-peach-time) On TikTok and YouTube the face later shifted again, appearing in "sigma" and "coldest moments" edits and in AR filters that distort the user's face in real time.[15](https://sulfachar.com/trollface-in-real-life-what-really-happened-to-the-internets-most-famous-smirk-w0m)
## Racist versions
As with other 4chan-era cartoon memes, racist and anti-Semitic versions of Trollface appeared, most commonly depicting the face as a Nazi or as [Adolf Hitler](https://www.edgepedia.org/adolf-hitler). The [Anti-Defamation League](https://www.edgepedia.org/anti-defamation-league) notes that the great majority of Trollface memes are not racist, and that only versions used together with Nazi, racist, or anti-Semitic imagery or language are considered hate symbols; ordinary use of the image carries no such connection.[5](https://education.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/trollface-racist-versions)
## Legacy
Trollface is among the oldest and most recognizable rage-comic faces, and it remains a reference point in accounts of how meme culture works: its grinning face is cited in academic and journalistic writing on trolling, meme aesthetics, and platform culture, and the 2020s "Meme Maximalism" revival treats it as a key motif of late-2000s internet style.[4](https://knowthismeme.com/memes/trollface) • [16](https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/2010s_Meme_Maximalism) Its career also stands out for the intersection of meme lore and intellectual property law, a rare case in which a viral image stayed commercially owned and licensed by its creator.[12](https://vectree.io/c/trollface)
## References
1. [Trollface, Know Your Meme](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface)
2. [Trollface Meme: Origin, Meaning and Internet History, AmazeShirt](https://amazeshirt.com/2026/08/26/trollface-meme-origin-meaning/)
3. [The Rise and Fall of the Rage Face, Give Up Internet!](https://giveupinternet.com/blog/history-of-the-rage-face/)
4. [Trollface Meaning & Origin, Know This Meme](https://knowthismeme.com/memes/trollface)
5. [Trollface (Racist Versions), ADL Education](https://education.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/trollface-racist-versions)
6. [Trollface, Meme Archive](https://www.memearchive.online/meme/trollface)
7. [Trollface Explained: Creator, Origin, Meaning, and Context, That Painter](https://thatpainter.com/troll-face-who-created-it-where-it-came-from-and-what-it-means/)
8. [Rage Comics: Origin, Faces and Internet History, MemePulse](https://memepulse.net/meme/rage-comics)
9. [The Rage Report: Trollface Incidents, Know Your Meme](https://knowyourmeme.com/editorials/meme-insider/the-rage-report-rebecca-blacks-friday-trollface-incidents-and-peach-time)
10. [Rage Comics Meaning & Origin, Know This Meme](https://knowthismeme.com/memes/rage-comics)
11. [Nick Douglas (2014). It's Supposed to Look Like Shit: The Internet Ugly Aesthetic, Journal of Visual Culture](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470412914544516)
12. [Trollface Visual Explainer, Vectree](https://vectree.io/c/trollface)
13. [Trollface Creator Whynne Mints NFTs For The Legendary Meme, Know Your Meme](https://knowyourmeme.com/news/trollface-creator-whynne-mints-nfts-for-the-legendary-meme)
14. [METAMEMETICS reader, mediarep.org](https://mediarep.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/48b8f64d-5b46-463c-86a2-507a02907b91/content)
15. [Trollface in Real Life, Sulfachar](https://sulfachar.com/trollface-in-real-life-what-really-happened-to-the-internets-most-famous-smirk-w0m)
16. [2010s Meme Maximalism, Aesthetics Wiki](https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/2010s_Meme_Maximalism)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Philosophy, religion, and mythology › Philosophy › Philosophical disciplines › Value theory: ethics, politics, and aesthetics › Aesthetics and philosophy of art › Internet and popular aesthetics*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license