Lolcore

Lolcore (also known as YTMNDpunk, spadinnercore, and thousandswave) is a subculture and aesthetic defined by the “revival” of Internet culture from the mid-2000s to early-2010s, such as LOLcats, Rage Comics, Advice Animals, “SpaDinner” YouTube poops, and YTMND fads. It also incorporates elements of Japanese “OTOMAD” culture. When newer memes are used, they are often either relatives of older memes (such as Dogelore being a derivation of the original 2013 Doge meme), have a similar “feel” to older memes (such as SiIvaGunner “rips” having a similar feel to SpaDinner YTPs, or “surreal memes” starring characters such as “Meme Man” and “Orang” having a similar feel to Rage Comics), or have history going back to the 2000s but were rarely used until the 2010s (such as Countryballs).

History
Lolcore goes back to 2011-13, with the slow revival of YTMND as a platform under ArgosyMTM Group leadership. The term “lolcore” originates from 2016. The lolcore subculture peaked in 2020, but it is still alive to an extent today.

Elements
The Fandom wiki site “UnAnything” forms one of the “cores” of lolcore culture, and its contents are often taken to be the canon version of events. Other wiki sites such as “Weegeepedia” and “Harkipedia” focus on specific characters within the “lore”. These sites share several volunteer admins, several of which are considered top users on Fandom. Fandom is one of the main platforms for lolcore.

ASCII art and shock images are often used as a part of lolcore; since Rickrolling is now considered “mainstream”, the infamous Goatse image has seen a revival as a bait-and-switch.

Modern meme “formats” are rarely, if ever, adhered to; several subreddits such as “OkBuddyRetard” and “ComedyHomicide” are sometimes considered lolcore, as a “counter-culture” against modern meme culture.

Lolcore is sometimes associated with trolling; several members of the subculture formed a “Sega Genesis cult” in 2021 as a way of deceiving mainstream media organizations.