Trollface
Trollface is a rage comic character wearing a mischievous smile that is meant to represent the facial expression of an Internet troll. The image is most commonly used to portray a character as a troll in Rage Comics, or alternatively, to identify oneself or another participant as such in online discussions.
| U MAD BRO? Trollface is a featured article here on Rage Comics Wiki |
| NOTICE! Trollface was the March 2025 Page of the Month |
| File:Trollfile.png Info |
File:Trollfile.png [[:{{#sub:{{#replace:Trollface|/Assets}}|-{{#len:{{#replace:Trollface|/Assets}}}}-1}}/Gallery|Gallery]] |
“”U MAD BRO?
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| — A phrase commonly associated with Trollface |
Origin
The Trollface was originally drawn by Carlos Ramirez, an Oakland-based artist known by his DeviantART handle Whynne, as part of a MS Paint webcomic about the pointless nature of trolling on 4chan's /v/ (video games) board. The comic was uploaded to deviantART on September 19th, 2008.
In the deviantART post, Ramirez added a note revealing that he was attempting to draw a comic character known as the "Rape Rodent."
Spread
In the following months, Ramirez' drawing quick gained traction on 4chan as the universal emoticon of an Internet troll and a versatile Rage Comic character. For a brief time, the face became alternatively known as "the Coolface" after a Rage Comic-style webcomic took off on 4chan and Ebaumsworld, though only for a brief period of time.
Throughout the first half of 2009, Trollface quickly gained favor with Redditors and Rage Comic artists in particular, in part owing to the rapid growth of the /r/f7u12 subreddit around that same time. On August 1st, 2009, the first Urban Dictionary definition for "Trollface" was submitted by user A Terrible Driver. Thousands of additional webcomic and photoshopped instances featuring the face can be found Tumblr, Cheezburger, Reddit, Facebook, Quickmeme and Memegenerator among many others.
Copyright Infringement Dispute
On July 16th, 2011, a screenshot of an email sent to an undisclosed recipient from a man named Carlos Ramirez claiming to be Whynne was posted to Reddit. The email stated that the use of Trollface on Reddit violated his copyright on the image and requested the subreddit to be removed from the site.
The email was reposted to f7u12 in a thread titled "Looks like f7u12 is done". Then, a Redditor named Whynne reponded to the thread saying:
"You know what also makes me happy? Trolling reddit and seeing a shitstorm like this develop."
The background image for the f7u12 pages was changed to a picture of Trollface with the text "HEY WHYNNE… U MAD BRO?".
On March 3rd, 2015, Meme Run, an endless-running 2D platformer video game featuring a plethora of internet meme references, including the Trollface, was removed from the Wii U eShop following the issuance of a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notice from Ramirez as the copyright holder of the character.
Profitability of Trollface
On April 8th, 2015, Kotaku ran an in-depth interview article with Ramirez about his now-iconic Rage Comic character. In the article, the Trollface artist estimated that he has earned more than $100,000 in licensing fees, settlements and other payouts since registering with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2010, with monthly revenues reaching as high as $15,000 at its peak in popularity. In addition, Ramirez also offered a backstory behind the removal of Meme Run from Wii U eShop, quoted as saying: A handful of you might remember me, but (hopefully) most of you probably have no clue who I am. To keep it brief, I own the copyright to the Trollface image, and seeing as the image was the ‘star’ of Meme Run, I sent a DMCA takedown notice to Nintendo and want to try and settle the matter amicably. I don’t really intend to have a discussion on fair use or explain my motivations beyond the fact that my business with other parties compels me to make sure that instances of copyright infringement are addressed and resolved. Typically the result in these matters is simply having the use of the image be credited, recovering some kind of monetary compensation, or simply have it removed from the work.
To that end, takedown notices are a necessary first step to quickly open a direct line of communication with the offending party and work on remedying the situation.
I did try to reach out to the creator earlier this year and obtain the information I needed, but he claimed that he was not at liberty to speak about his relationship with Nintendo or any of the particulars regarding the game’s sales data. My lawyer had been busy working on another case (which I am actually not at liberty to talk about lest I void the terms of our agreement) and I prefer to let him handle the matter of my legal representation, so I sort of dragged my feet on actually setting this in motion so he could wrap up our current case.
So, whatever you may have thought of Meme Run, it's absence might only be temporary. For those of you who were hoping to pick it up and missed their opportunity, I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
Quotes
“”U MAD BRO?
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| — A phrase commonly associated with Trollface |
“”Problem?
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| — Another phrase commonly associated with Trollface |
“”Problem, ___(-f*g)?
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“”___ will go bankrupt!
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| — A phrase commonly used in Troll Science |
Counterparts
WIP
Relationships
Herp Derp/Rage Guy
Derp's relationship with Trollface depends on the media. In Trollge Incidents, Derp is usually shown to be Trollface's best friend, whilst in Rage Comics, Derp, when he's pissed, is almost always Trollface's enemy, but there are also comics where Derp is portrayed as a friend of Trollface.
As for Trollface's relationship with Derp, in the Rage Comics, he keeps trolling Derp, in Trollge Incidents, Trollface's relationship with Derp depends on whether Trollface is Trollge or not.
Derpina
Derpina is usually either a relative of Trollface or a close friend, though there are times when Derpina is portrayed as Trollface's girlfriend or even wife.
Doge and Wojak
The relationship between these two people and Trollface can be best described as "frenemies", because even though Doge and Wojak are rivals of Trollface, they are still friends with Trollface.
Trollina
Trollina is portrayed as either a relative or a wife of Trollface, nothing more should be said about their relationship.
Trollface 2.0
Trollface 2.0 is a rival of Trollface, however Trollface is still more popular than Trollface 2.0.
Trollge
Depends whether Trollge is Trollface or not, if Trollge isn't Trollface, than Trollface is an enemy of Trollge.