The Foundation: What Made Pepe So Iconic?

🟢 Case Study: Pepe the Frog

Pepe started in Matt Furie’s Boy’s Club comics - not as a meme, but as a laid-back, relatable frog. The internet transformed him into a global icon through:

• Expression (rare Pepes, reaction memes)

• Subculture (4chan, Twitter, crypto traders)

• Identity (used by both normies and fringe communities)

Pepe’s real power was narrative flexibility:

• Instantly recognizable

• Easy to remix

• Deeply cultural

📌 Great memes evolve. Pepe became a vessel for identity.