AboutWhat does the meme depict?
"A Wild X Appears!" or "Wild X Appeared!" is a snowclone that suggests the sudden appearance of a character or object, echoing a notification style from Nintendo's Pokémon games. Typically, it's used in social media and discussion forums to comment humorously on the entry or mention of someone or something unexpected. The phrase originates from the game's notification "Wild X Appeared!" used whenever a random monster encounter occurs.
OriginWho did it first?
The phrase traces back to the Pokémon series by Nintendo, which debuted in the United States with the release of Pokémon Red Version and Blue Version on September 28, 1998. The games featured an encounter formula where, as the player navigated through areas with tall grass, they could suddenly encounter wild creatures. Initially, the game displayed the message "Wild X Appeared!" during these encounters. This format evolved over time, but the meme version "A wild X appears!" was never actually used in the games themselves. The meme gained popularity in a different context before spreading as a versatile snowclone. One of the earliest instances was a meme caption "A Wild Snorlax Appears!" used humorously with photos to poke fun at oversized individuals. This became prominent with a photo featuring a woman in a yellow Pittsburgh Steelers shirt, which had been circulated online prior to becoming meme material. The first meme-specific usage linked to this idea appeared on YTMND](https://wildsnorlax.ytmnd.com/) on November 5, 2007.[1]
Origin: 1998