Wojak (Feels Guy)
Wojak, also known as Feels Guy, is an umbrella family of MS Paint reaction images built around a bald, sad cartoon face — the original 'I Wish I Was at Home' comic. Its exact origin is unknown: the earliest documented appearance is December 16, 2009, and accounts differ on where the drawing first surfaced, with one self-claimed account tracing it from the Polish imageboard Vichan to German Krautchan in early 2010.
Names & aliases
What’s it called?
One umbrella name, many instance formats — here is how the names nest.
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UmbrellaWojak memes
The original bald, sad Feels Guy drawing ('I Wish I Was at Home')
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InstanceFeels Guy
KYM entry name: 'Feels Guy, also known as Wojak.'
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InstanceWojak's face / ciepła twarz ('warm face')
Krautchan-era names per KYM ('the picture became known as Wojak's face and ciepła twarz').
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InstanceMS Paint guy
Descriptive community name for the crudely drawn bald man (KYM: 'an MS Paint illustration').
Usage
How to use it
Tone
melancholy / regret.
Where it lands
The original register: loneliness, missed chances, 'that feel when' moments.
How it evolved
Exact origin unknown (disputed); earliest known appearance December 16, 2009 ('I Wish I Was at Home' comic on Sad and Useless); per a self-claimed Krautchan AMA, the drawing surfaced on Vichan as 'twarz.jpg' and was posted to Krautchan, with the earliest archived post April 26, 2010.
Easy to get wrong
Wojak is an umbrella with 200+ documented variants, and several of them (NPC, Soyjak, Chudjak) are politicized weapons, not the gentle sad meme of 2009. Also note the origin story is partly based on an unverifiable self-claimed AMA — treat it as the best available account, not settled fact.
Origin
Origin & timeline
- 2009Exact origin unknown (disputed); earliest known appearance December 16, 2009 ('I Wish I Was at Home' comic on Sad and Useless); per a self-claimed Krautchan AMA, the drawing surfaced on Vichan as 'twarz.jpg' and was posted to Krautchan, with the earliest archived post April 26, 2010 — Polish/German imageboard culture (Vichan, Krautchan), then international boards and Reddit
- 20092009-2010: the 'I Wish I Was at Home' corner-at-a-party comic (December 16, 2009) and the Krautchan posts make the face a reaction image; it spreads to Italy's Pastachan and Russia's Dobrochan (KYM).
- 2012February 2, 2012: a user claiming to be the original Krautchan Wojak does an AMA on r/datfeel (KYM).
- 20132013-2015: Bustle covers the Feels Guy's origins (October 3, 2013); the 'Feels Guy' Facebook page launches (November 19, 2013) and r/Wojak opens (March 14, 2015) (KYM).
- 20102010s-2020s: the character explodes into a family tree — Doomer, NPC, Soyjak, Crying Wojak, Grug and hundreds more; by February 2023 a 'wojak' search on KYM returns over 200 entries (KYM).
Verifiable sources
Templates
Make your own
- No canonical blank template for this meme — captions go on any image of the subject.
We link out to generators and blank templates; meme images are never rehosted on memefern.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the Wojak meme?
An MS Paint drawing of a bald, melancholy man, originally called Feels Guy, used to express sadness, regret and loneliness. It grew into a whole family of variants — KYM lists over 200 wojak-related entries as of February 2023.
Where did Wojak come from?
The exact origin is unknown. The earliest known use is the 'I Wish I Was at Home' party comic on Sad and Useless, December 16, 2009. According to a Reddit AMA by someone claiming to be the Krautchan user Wojak, the drawing was found on the Polish imageboard Vichan as 'twarz.jpg' and popularized on Krautchan, with the earliest archived post April 26, 2010 (KYM).
What does Wojak mean?
'Wojak' is the handle of the Krautchan user who popularized the image. In Polish, wojak roughly means 'warrior' or 'soldier' — the diminutive suffix can even read as slightly self-mocking, which fits the meme (KYM).
What are the most popular Wojak variants?
KYM's index groups them into early formats (I Wish I Was at Home, I Know That Feel Bro, Crying Wojak, Grug), soy formats (Soyjak and friends), and standalone characters like Doomer and NPC — the NPC wojak even has its own imgflip template.
Is Wojak the same as Feels Guy?
Yes — Feels Guy is the original name; Wojak (after the Krautchan user) stuck as the family name once hundreds of variants existed (KYM).
When did Wojak become political?
The character drifted from sad-reaction territory into debate memes as variants like NPC (2018) and the Soyjak family (2020-2021) emerged. Those formats are about mocking opponents, which is a long way from the 2009 'standing in the corner at a party' feels.