Timeline of a Meme: How 'Imagine If Ninja Got a Low Taper Fade' Took over the Web
By Robert Thorne
By late 2024, most internet observers expected the joke to disappear. Instead, a second wave of engagement erupted around Ninja's own relationship with the meme. As reported by internet culture outlets like Know Your Meme, Blevins routinely referenced the joke on his streams, claiming to his chat that the low taper fade meme was "still massive."
Commentators and TikTok satirists seized on the phrase. Saying something is "still massive" became an ironic catchphrase used to roast creators who refuse to let go of old viral hits. A video showing an empty room or a dead multiplayer lobby would be captioned: "The lobby is still massive."
Then came the absurd visual mashups. In early 2025, internet humor merged the fade joke with the green "Locked In Alien", a CGI alien render used to symbolize intense focus during competitive gaming. The Daily Dot documented how these two separate viral tropes collided, resulting in edits where the Locked In Alien sported a fresh low taper fade while Ericdoa's original song played in slow motion. The meme had drifted completely away from hair styling. It had become abstract visual shorthand for irony.
Robert Thorne covers electric vehicle innovations, autonomous driving systems, global mobility trends, and automotive engineering developments.
